Something changed | Merluca

Part 2

Two days later

Last evening Meredith ordered pizza, much to the delight of her kids. After they all told her what was going on in school, she helped them to get ready for bed, before she came downstairs again. Andrew was still staying at her house. He tried to not be in the way too much. Meredith offered him to eat something from the pizza they ordered, and after some convincing, that it was really no problem, he accepted the offer. They sat down on the couch and talked for a bit.

Today went almost the same. Amelia was at Owen's again and Maggie was at Jackson's. Meredith heated up some leftovers for her kids. She brought them to bed. And when she came downstairs, she picked up two plates with lasagna and walked over to Andrew, who was sitting on the couch.

She still hasn't completely figured out why she felt how she felt. What that meant. But for now, she just wanted to enjoy his presence. She liked talking to him. And even though, she never was someone who talked much, they always found something to keep the conversation floating.

They almost finished their "dinner" if you could call the lasagna, she just heated up, that, when Meredith put her empty plate on the small table in front of the couch. While doing so she moved some of the books that were lying there aside. One of them was her mother's journal. She immediately remembered their conversation from the other day, where she told Andrew she would tell him about them 'the next time'. She hoped he had forgotten it already. But if he had, seeing the journal now definitely reminded him of the same thing.

"So, what is it with these journals?" He asked curiously. Putting his now also empty plate next to Meredith's, leaning back against the couch again.

"You really want to know, huh?" She was still a bit surprised why he was so curious about these journals.

"Yeah, I think you are lucky to have them. I wish I had something like this from my mother." He answered. She never really thought about it this way. To her they were a source to maybe understand why her mother was the way she was. But reading theses journals, wasn't necessarily something she would describe as luck.

She didn't really like to talk about her mother, which inevitably came with talking about her journals. But it was already to late to get out of this situation without awkwardly changing the subject or walking away like she did the other day. And if she was honest, she enjoyed talking to Andrew. She felt comfortable talking to him. So maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, to talk about these journals…

"You liked your mother, didn't you?" she asked him, before she continued. It was more a rhetorical question, but by the little smile that appeared on his face she could tell that he did "The thing is, these journals are mostly about my mother's medical career. And if there is something personal in them, it's not necessarily the best memory. My relationship to her wasn't always that good."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to-"

"Don't be sorry. It's fine. I said I would tell you." She quickly replied. "What about your mother?"

"It wasn't always easy, especially when we left Italy. But she always tried to do the best for me." He answered with a small smile.

Meredith was surprised how he made it so easy for her to talk about these things. Most of the time she avoided that topic completely. But he somehow managed to get her to talk about it. It was an honest conversation, while at the same time keeping it light with not going into too many details. For which she was thankful.

Before she could answer, she heard someone using their key to get in the house. It could only be Amelia or Maggie. Or Cristina, since they were the only people who had a key. But Cristina was somewhere on the other side of the world, so it had to be one of her sisters.

...

"Oh, hey. I thought you were already sleeping. Wha- What are you doing?" It was Amelia, who was clearly surprised to see them on the couch. Together. Talking.

"Talking."

"Nothing." Meredith said almost at the same time. 'Talking' was definitely a better answer than denying whatever they were doing. Because if it was really nothing, she would be upstairs in her room and not sitting on the couch with him, eating dinner together and talking for hours. But she still hasn't figured out what it was, what she wanted this to be. And she definitely didn't want Amelia to know, whatever that was. But it was too late for that. Because now she really had Amelia's attention.

"I think, I will go upstairs now." Meredith said after a long moment staring at Andrew first and then at Amelia. Once again, she was trying to avoid the whole situation, by just leaving. It was easy way out.

"Good night, Andrew." She said turning around one more time, before she went upstairs.

Amelia was following her. Meredith really had hoped that fleeing would somehow get her out of that situation, but Amelia was way to curious to just let that go like this. At least now this conversation wouldn't happen in front of Andrew.

"So, do you want to tell me what you were doing there? Since when is this happening?" Amelia started again, with a big grin.

"Why are you even here?" Meredith countered, trying not give into her so easily. Also, not really knowing what else to say.

"Owen had to stay at the hospital and I thought I would stay here and pick some things up, before work tomorrow. But, what is DeLuca doing here? And didn't his girlfriend just get deported?"

"He didn't have a place to go to, so I offered him to stay. We were just talking." Meredith answered, trying to sound as neutral as possible. Judging from Amelia's grin, it wasn't very convincing.

"Well, it seemed to be more than just talking. To you at least. I'm not judging. He's very handsome." Amelia gave her that knowing grin of hers, teasing her.

"Amelia." Meredith half shouted. "Stop it." But she couldn't hide that smile. Amelia was right, he was good looking, but that wasn't the only thing she liked. But she was not ready to admit all of that yet. And before this conversation could go any further, she decided that it was best to leave and go to her room now. Trying to avoid Amelia's teasing.

"You know I'm right." She heard Amelia from behind her closed door.