I will be there for you | Merluca

Part 6

“Hey. Are you okay?“ Meredith asked.

She had woken up to Andrew’s empty side this morning. Usually she wouldn’t consider this unusual. He had always been up early… except for the last few days.

Andrew was still on suspension, but Meredith knew that this wasn’t the only reason. She noticed how tired he still looked, not as exhausted as he was a week ago when everything was coming down, when she saw him sitting on the corridor of the hospital. But it seemed like he still couldn’t catch up on enough sleep. But, today he was up early, he was sitting at the table in the kitchen and she would take it as a good sign if she wasn’t so worried about him.

“Hi, yeah. I was just talking to Carina. I didn’t want to wake you up.“

She would consider it as thoughtful, except for the way it felt to her. He said it like he meant it. That he didn’t want her to wake up next to him. As if it was too much for him at the moment. She pushed that thought away as quickly as it came and tried to focus on the other part of his answer instead.

“You talked to Carina?“

“Yeah.” He looked up at her. “Carina wants to come here later. Only if that’s okay for you?“

“Of course.“ She gave him a smile. She had already told him that it was okay if he invited Carina over when he was ready to talk to her. And seeing that he felt like he was at a point where he wanted to make things right with her, made her happy. Despite the circumstances. She knew how hard it was for him to face what’s going on, but also how important his sister was to him.

“I'll be at the hospital later to visit Amelia and her baby, but I think I won’t be gone for too long.“ Meredith added after a moment of going through her head, trying to figure out what she had planned for the day.

Meredith had taken a few days off after they solved Richard’s case. Mostly because she wanted to be there for Andrew, but also to get a little break after the exhausting past few weeks. And since she had nothing to do for work and her kids would be in school for half of the day, there wasn’t really anything else she had to do, except for visiting Amelia. And as much as she loved her work, she actually enjoyed the free time she had for a few days.

….

It was a few hours later, Meredith was just getting ready to leave the house, when she heard a knock on the door. She was confused for a moment. Andrew was outside jogging. He had said that he wanted to get some fresh air… But she had told him where she hid the key, so he would be able to get inside again.

Meredith went downstairs to see who was there when she saw Carina at her front door.

“Hey Carina.“ She greeted her once she opened the door.

“Hey. I’m a bit early, I hope that’s not a problem.“

“Of course not. Andrew isn’t back yet, but come in.“ Meredith opened the door a little wider, so Carina could get inside.

“Oh, I can come back later.“ Carina gestured with her hand to her car, hesitating a moment, when she heard that her brother wasn’t there. “It seems like you were just about to leave. I don’t want to hold you up.“

“It’s not a problem. I have time. I can go later.“ Meredith let her know that she didn’t mind to stay and then Carina finally went inside.

Meredith had suggested to Andrew earlier that she would go to the hospital, when Carina came over, so he could talk to his sister alone for a while and that she would join them a little later when she would be back. But Meredith didn’t want to send Carina away again. She never really had the chance to talk to her before, and she didn’t want to miss this opportunity. Meredith still wasn’t really sure how Carina felt about her dating her brother. Not that she had said anything, and there wasn’t really any indication, but that’s how Meredith felt. But, how was Carina supposed to react if they never got to know each other better.

Meredith went into the kitchen to offer Carina something to drink. Meredith turned around handing her a glass of water. They were both standing at the kitchen island, Meredith slightly leaning against it, putting her glass in front of her.

“Andrew said he wanted to get some fresh air, but he should be back soon.” she gave Carina an explanation where her brother was.

“How is he?“ Carina asked, after she thanked Meredith for the glass of water.

“He seemed better today, but… We went to his aunt’s place two days ago. The place where you spent your holidays…” Carina nodded to show her that she knew what place Meredith was talking about. She had a slightly surprised expression on her face, and Meredith could only assume that she hadn’t expected Andrew to go there again. He had told her himself that he hadn’t been there for years. “He was talking a lot about your family. And then how everything changed.“ She stopped for a moment, thinking about what and how much she could tell her. Because Andrew had confided in her. He had trusted her with these things and she didn’t want to go behind his back now. But Carina was his family, she was his sister. “He- he doesn’t want the same things happening again, because of him now.“

“He never really talks about our dad.” Carina paused for a moment, looking over at Meredith, before she added with a small smile “I'm glad he has someone he trusts.”

Meredith returned her smile, before she took another sip from her glass. She wasn’t really sure what to answer, because she wasn’t even sure what Andrew and her were at the moment. But as long as he would let her be there for him, she would try to help him as best as she could.

“Are you two…?” Carina questioned, gesturing something with her hand in the air, seemingly not sure what they were at the moment, which probably described it better than she could have known.

“I try to be there for him. To help him…. As long as he lets me…” Her voice was getting a bit insecure when she added the last part. She usually tried to not let these thoughts get to her, but that was how she felt, what has been on her mind the last few days. She tried to be there for him, tried to figure out how to help, tried to figure out how much of her presence he wanted, because she loved him. But, the truth was, she wasn’t really sure what he wanted…

Carina seemed like she wanted to add something when they heard Andrew coming back.

“Thank you for being there for him.“ She looked at Meredith one more time, giving her a genuine smile, before they both went over to the door.