Something changed | Merluca

Part 4

Half an hour later dinner was ready. Meredith actually enjoyed cooking with Andrew. And with some of his instructions, she managed to not mess up. One time she almost forgot to look if the spaghetti were ready. She was helping Zola, who had a question with her homework, but she was back in time to get them out. The little sprint back, when she realized that she almost forgot them, earned her a little laugh from Zola and Andrew. But otherwise everything went well, and it was probably the first time that she really had fun while preparing dinner.

After the table was set, she got her other two kids and they enjoyed the dinner together. It was the first time Andrew joined their dinner. The first day he tried to not get in the way as much as possible and the other days, the kids had already eaten when Andrew came back from work. And Meredith had just warmed up some of the leftovers for them to eat.

During dinner the kids told them about their day at school, Zola talked about the new science project they had to do for school, Bailey told them about the soccer game they had, and Ellis wanted to sing the new song she learned in daycare. The conversations were joined by a lot of laughter and some question for Andrew from her kids. She listened curiously to his answers. Why he could speak Italian, or what kind of surgeon he was or wanted to be, if he could play soccer or sing… Most of the answers she already knew, but she liked listening to him and to learn some of the small things about him. and once or twice she found herself smiling at him for a little too long, quickly looking away when she noticed.

After they finished their dinner, they thanked Andrew for preparing it for them. Meredith went upstairs with the kids to bring them to bed. Bailey and Ellis were currently running around with their toothbrushes, playing some game while brushing their teeth, which she didn't understand. But as long as they did brush their teeth and had fun, she was okay with it. Zola was in the bathroom and Meredith helped her to untie her hair.

"Mommy, do you like Andrew?" Zola asked her when she finished brushing her teeth.

"Why are you asking, Zozo?" Meredith was a bit surprised by her daughter's question. She wasn't exactly sure how to answer her.

"Because you were smiling a lot. And you usually don't like cooking." Zola said smiling, looking up at her.

"You are so curious, Zozo." Sometimes she forgot how smart her daughter was. Of course she had noticed the way she was smiling at him today. She just hoped it wasn't too obvious to all the other people around the hospital. "I like him, Zozo, as a friend." She finally answered her daughter with the half-truth.

Zola gave her a questioning look, as if she was asking herself if she should believe her mother or not.

"I think it's time for bed now." Meredith started to tickle her daughter slightly, trying to change the subject.

…

A few minutes later her kids were in bed and she was downstairs again. She found Andrew in the kitchen, cleaning the plates and putting away the things they had for dinner.

"You really don't need to do that." Meredith said while approaching him, so she could help to put away the last few things.

"It's fine. I made a mess in your kitchen, so I will also clean it up again." He laughed a little.

"Then you haven't seen the mess I usually make here, when I try to cook." She chuckled in response.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad when you helped me earlier. " He gave her a warm smile, while meeting her eyes. They were looking at each other for a moment, both smiling at one another. And she had that feeling again. It was more than just feeling comfortable when he was near her. He made her feel 'more' again. Something that could become more…

"Uhm, do you also want a glass of wine? " She ended their moment after a minute, not knowing how to feel about all these feelings that came up. She had missed that kind of feeling for a long time, but it was also something that scared her.

"Yeah, thank you."

She poured them two glasses of wine and then they went over to the couch, sitting down there to talk for a bit, like they did the last few evenings.

"So, what do you usually eat, when you don't cook?"

"Amelia and Maggie help out a lot. Sometimes it does have advantages to have siblings." She laughed a bit, remembering how she complained about them to Andrew just this morning at work. But he seemed to get it, because he chuckled slightly. "And my kids aren't that picky about what they get to eat… in contrast to when it comes to convince them to go to bed." Rolling her eyes while laughing.

"I heard it, it seemed like they had a lot fun upstairs." He smiled at her.

"Yeah, they started to play this game a few weeks ago… I still don't get what exactly it is they are doing.. And they won't tell me… I really start to think it's just to stay up a little longer."

"Well, you have three very smart kids."

She smiled in return. Her kids were everything to her. And talking about them to Andrew, even if it seemed to be just a simple conversation… Hearing Andrew say these things about them gave her a happy and warm feeling.

"Thank you… and thank you for the dinner again." She added after some time, feeling the need to say something more.

"Of course. And I also wanted to thank you for letting me stay here. I really appreciated it." He once again gave her his warm smile.

After a moment he added "And I think I might have found an apartment."