Family member | Merluca

Part 10

Meredith was lying in her bed. Sleepless. She was waiting for Andrew's call; he's going to land in a few minutes. It was already 2 a.m. and she tried to sleep the past hours, but she was way too tense and nervous to actually get some rest. Before Andrew left, she made him promise that he would call her as soon as possible. He offered to call her in the morning when she had to stand up, so he wouldn't wake her up in the middle of the night. But Meredith knew herself too well, that's why she insisted that he calls her when he will have landed in Italy.

Now she sat there in her bed, her mobile phone in her hands, starring at the clock on it, waiting for the time to pass. Actually, waiting for his call. As the time passes by, she feels how she gets more nervous. She tries not to let the thoughts, about all the possible things, which could happen, come into her head. Right at the moment, when she was about to fail following her plan and she started worrying, her phone rang. It was Andrew. She managed to accept the call before it rang a second time. To be honest it wasn't that hard, because she was waiting for it and literally had her hands on her phone the whole time, so she could answer him immediately.

"Hey, Are you alright?" Meredith asked curious.

"Wow. Hey, you picked up quickly…" Andrew was a bit surprised when he had Meredith on the phone just seconds after he called her. After a moment he continued "Yes, I'm fine"

"Good" Meredith let out a relieved breath. She hadn't realized that she held her breath the last minutes.

"Are you okay?" he was a little worried when he heard her breathing loudly.

"I'm now." A smile appeared on Meredith face. And even if Andrew could not see it, he could hear it in her voice. "How was your flight?" she added after a moment.

"It was actually very quiet. I slept through half of it. I just woke up half an hour ago, short before we landed"

"Sleep sounds good…. But I don't know how you do it. I could never sleep on a plane."

"I know"

Meredith knew, Andrew couldn't possibly understand what that plane crash did to her. And she didn't blame him. It was quite the opposite. Even if he could not really know what it felt like to be in a plane crash, he was always understanding and not judging her for her fears. She appreciated that he believed the things she told him about this. That he listened to her and accepted her with all her fears. That he never tried to fix her, because there was no way he could, but instead tried to make her feel more comfortable.

After a few seconds he continued "I think I'll let you sleep now. After I can assume you haven't slept yet. I'll call you in the morning again"

"What makes you think I haven't slept?"

"Mer, nobody can answer a call that quickly like you did unless this person was waiting for this call. Also, I know you well enough. I figured that you probably wouldn't sleep until I call you… So, now you can get some rest and when you stand up in the morning, I'll call you and the kids."

"Okay… fine"

"Good night, Mer. Sleep well"

"Thank you…and…" She paused for a moment. Wait, he is in Italy, so it isn't evening there. How many hours where between them? Eight? Ten? No, it was nine, wasn't it? Either way, It wasn't evening… it was… morning over there. "…and good morning, I guess"

Andrew had to chuckle. Even if he couldn't see Meredith, while she was trying to figure out what time it was in Italy, he could hear how she was mumbling to herself. Also, she needed a while to figure it out. But maybe that was, because it was already 2:30 a.m. and she hasn't slept yet.

"Yes… Good Night, Mer"

"Andrew… I love you" Suddenly Meredith felt like she needed to tell him. She had thought about him, about their relationship for the past few hours. She realized how much she already missed him even when he was just gone for half a day. She knew for a while that she was falling for him and that she couldn't do anything against it. And she didn't want to change that. She was happy. But some part of her was afraid of it. The small part of her that still loves and will always love Derek. That's why she never said it to him before. But the last couple of weeks and days her feelings for Andrew grew. When she saw him taking care of her kids. When he cooked for the whole family. When he told them stories about Italy and when he took care of her. She could take care of herself, for sure. She didn't need someone to do it. But she would be lying if she said that she didn't like how he cared about her. Actually, she loved it. She loved how he made her feel when he was around. She hasn't felt so comfortable around someone in a long time.

And what she loved even more, that he accepted her the way she was, that he never pushed her. She was thankful that he was so patient. He gave her all the time she needed. She knew about his feelings. Even when he never said these three words to her. She knew. He expressed them in other words. The 'I miss you' or 'I just need you' were his way of telling her how he felt about her. And, she was thankful, that he didn't say the three little words back then, because it might have been too early for her to hear them. And maybe she would have run away… And she was almost sure that he knew this and that this was the reason he never said directly what he felt. But now she was ready or at least a lot more than she was back then. It still scared her a bit. But she needed him to know that she felt the same.

"I love you too"