I will be there for you | Merluca

Part 3

It was a few hours later when Meredith went to the hospital to visit Amelia when Dr. Hayes crossed her way. "I thought you had the day off?" He asked.

"I was just visiting Amelia and her baby. I'm on my way back home" Meredith tried to keep the conversation short. Because the only thing she wanted right now was to get back to Andrew. She enjoyed seeing Amelia with her baby, and as much as she welcomed the distraction, she also wanted to be there for Andrew. So, she tried to make her intentions to get home clear. At least she thought she did.

"Maybe, we could have that drink today?" he asked. Meredith had already forgotten about it. She said yes the day before, she liked him as a friend, but having a drink right now was the furthest from her mind.

"I can't, Hayes. I'm sorry." They arrived at the nurses station, and Hayes gave one of the nurses the tablet with the patient files back. He was about to answer when Carina came looking for Meredith.

"Hello, Meredith. Do you have a minute?" Carina asked. She seemed worried.

"Of course. What is it?" They stepped a few steps away, so they wouldn't have a dozen people listening. Hayes was chatting with one of the nurses in the meantime.

"Do you know where Andrea is, he tried to call me yesterday, I couldn't reach him since then. He left me a message on my mailbox. I think he was crying. I'm worried about him, he isn't at his apartment and he isn't at work."

"He went home with me yesterday. He's… He's not okay… But I think he's okay for now." Meredith hoped Carina knew what she meant. She saw how scared and worried she was about her brother. "I'm actually on my way back there. Do you want to come with me?"

"I'm not sure I'm the person he wants to see right now, we had a big fallout the previous day… And... I'm not the person he needs right now, I think. I'll come when he wants me to." In that moment Carina's pager went off. She turned around again, before she left "Thank you, Meredith."

"I thought DeLuca was doing better, didn't he solve that case yesterday?" Meredith startled a bit, when she heard Hayes behind her. She quickly turned around to face him.

"He did. But-" Meredith hesitated, she didn't really feel like it was her place to tell Hayes what was going on, neither did she want to have a long conversation right now. After a moment she continued, trying to answer his question "He is a great doctor. I know him. I know who he is. and that's why I trust him. And I'm glad he was on that case. But he's not okay." After a short moment she added "Hayes, I'm sorry. But I can't go out and have drinks right now. I-"

"You still love him" It was more a statement than a question from his side.

"I do" after a moment she added "I really have to go now." before she turned around and left.

...

She saw Andrew in the kitchen when she came back. It seemed like he was preparing pancakes. The kids loved them. They were about to come home any minute. He already set the table and was currently standing behind the kitchen counter. It reminded her of the time they were together before everything went downside. He always tried to make dinner in the evening when he had time. And not only her kids loved it; she too. But now was different. A lot has happened since then.

"You didn't need to do that" Meredith said as she went over to him.

"I know, I just wanted to distract myself a bit." He said turning to her.

They looked at each other for a moment before Meredith took one more step towards him to close the distance between them and then embraced him. It took Andrew a moment before he relaxed and hugged her back. Meredith rested her head against his chest. She was glad to finally be in his arms again. She mainly wanted to be there for him, but she couldn't help and seek comfort from this too. She could feel Andrew hugging her a little tighter, when he planted a kissed on her head. It was the first time in month that they were this close to each other again. They could make it. They were far from normal, if there even was a normal. But this was a start.

After a moment they heard the kids come home and Meredith went to open the door for them, while Andrew finished doing the pancakes.

The rest of the day went by really fast, they ate their pancakes while the kids told Andrew about what happened in their lives over the past few weeks, before they had to go to sleep.

...

Meredith came downstairs again, after she put the kids to bed, and walked over to Andrew.

"So, I talked to Maggie today, when I was at the hospital." Meredith started, sitting down on the couch next to him. "She will take the kids tomorrow, so we have the whole day and can visit the place you showed me the picture of."

"Thank you, Mer. This means a lot to me" Andrew thanked her while turning towards her.

"Of course." She gave him a small smile.

"I also ran into Carina today. " Meredith said carefully after a while. Carina told her that they had a big argument the day before. She wasn't sure if Andrew wanted to talk about it "She was looking for you."

Meredith saw how Andrew tried to avoid looking at her again. As if it would hurt him to look at her. "Andrew? What is?"

"I- I hurt so many people." He stated after a while. She could hear the guilt in his voice and she wished she could take that away from him.

"Andrew, this is not your fault. And Carina knows that, too."

"I- I can't talk to her right now.. I just- I can't think clearly- It's-"

"Hey. It's okay Andrew. She understands. She just wanted me to tell you that she would like to come over when you want to talk to her." Meredith tried to assure him when she noticed that he got caught in his own thoughts again. She wanted him to know that they'll give him the time he needs. And that it also was okay for him to take all the time to figure things out.

"Come. Let's get some sleep." she suggested after a few more minutes as she stood up. She motioned him to come upstairs with her.

"Are you sure? I can sleep on the couch again." Andrew asked her.

"Yes."

A few minutes later they laid down in her bed, before they fell asleep. Facing each other. And for now that was enough.