I will be there for you | Merluca

Part 4

Meredith took a few days off after they solved Richard's case. She took Andrew home with her that night after she found him sitting on the ground in one of the hospital floors. Now they were on their way to visit the place from the picture Andrew showed her yesterday. It was the house of Andrew's aunt. His aunt passed away years ago, but the property still belonged to his family. After his mother moved to Wisconsin with him, his aunt was the only family he had there, even if she was hours away in Seattle. His mother and her sister (his aunt) were his family in the States, while the rest of his family still lived in Italy.

Andrew told Meredith that his mother and he spent a lot of time in Seattle when he was younger, on weekends and school breaks, whenever it was possible. His mother and his aunt had a good relationship. He even had his own room in the house. He loved it there, too, just like his mother did. It was outside a small town near Seattle, near the forest.

They got out of the car, as soon as they arrived. The sun was shining on the empty property. The house was demolished years ago, after a storm destroyed it. There was no one of his family who wanted to live there. But they also didn't want to sell the property. There were a few trees standing on it. One tree seemed to have fallen after a storm. It was laying on one side of the property. On another side was the forest and on the third side you could see the mountains in the distance. Next to the fallen tree were some flowers in between the green grass that started to grow, where the house was once standing. It seemed like a quiet and peaceful place.

Andrew went over to the tree on the ground and laid his jacket on it so they could sit down there. Meredith followed close behind him. They sat there for a moment, the sun was shining down on them. It was completely silent, except for the birds around them.

Andrew broke the silence after a few more minutes "When I still lived in Italy, we would visit my aunt once a year. The last time we were here as a family was when the picture was taken. And then—When my mother moved to Wisconsin with me, she tried to get here as often as possible." After a moment he continued "She would sit outside the house for hours." He smiled slightly "I think I get it now… She loved the nature. Just listening to the wind and the birds."

"It is beautiful here, Andrew." Meredith turned her head to look at him. He was staring in the distance, it seemed like he was trying to take it all in. The sun. The nature. Everything around him. And it was the first time since she found him in the hospital that she saw him smiling.

"This place means a lot to you." Meredith stated after a few more minutes. She took Andrew's hand in hers, still looking at him.

"Yes" he answered turning towards her. "My mother loved it here. But not only her, me too. When we came here as a family, we always had a lot of fun. Carina and I would play hide and seek in the forest" he laughed a little, while thinking back to those times "or we went swimming in the small lake. It's 5 minutes from here, when you walk through the forest." He paused for a moment, before he added "I always loved coming here."

"You never mentioned this place before. When was the last time you were here?" Meredith asked softly. There was no judgement, just curiosity in her voice.

"I don't know. Probably before I started working at Grey Sloan. I- I didn't know I wanted to come here again; I think. But with everything that happened over the past few weeks, I- When I looked at that picture, I knew that I would like to visit this place again." He answered while looking at the mountains in front of them.

"I'm sorry for everything I said to you, for everything that happened. I'm sorry, Meredith" He said after a minute, turning his head to look at her. Being out here helped him to get some clearer thoughts again, he knew he hurt Meredith. Two days ago, when she took him home with her, that was when he started to realize that something was not okay with him. It was such an overwhelming feeling. He had so many thoughts and fears going through his mind. He started to realize that he hurt some of the people he loved most. But he couldn't quite put all of it into clear thoughts. And even now he had a hard time to sort through them. But going back to some old memories, thinking about the happy times he spent with his family, being here in the nature, the place that meant so much to him, helped him to at least clear his mind a bit.

"It's okay, Andrew. It is okay." She assured him, giving him a little smile, stroking her thumb over the back of his hand.

He was so thankful for Meredith. That she was still there for him and helped him to get through this.

Meredith carefully leaned against Andrew after a while. Resting her head on his shoulder. These past few days had been exhausting for both, and she was glad that Andrew opened up to her a little more again. This was far from over, and she knew that he needed more help than her and Carina could give him. But for now, for today, she was glad that he was at least feeling a bit better and that he let her get closer to him again.

They sat on the tree a bit longer, enjoying the sun and each other's presence for some more moments, before they decided to get back on their way to Seattle.

"Thank you for coming here with me today" Andrew said, as they stood up to get to the car.

"Of course." Meredith smiled at him.