Christmas Presents

I decided to write this short little piece of fluff because of the lack of Merthan fanfics out here. I am happy that they are already such an important ship in this fandom. This is a little Christmas story. I am a bit late, but whatever. Picture this after 13x08, but out of context.

If you feel personally violated by the ship that is Merthan, don't bother reading this.

The kids were in bed, the candles on the christmas tree were blown out. Meredith hasn't thrown away the countless paper she wrapped her kid's presents with away. She wasn't really in a mood to do… well anything.

Part of her wanted to go to sleep, but she had to finish some paperwork, even though it was Christmas Eve. Mer really wanted to avoid that too, but there seemed to be no way around. You know, people's life were on the line. She sat down on the kitchen table and unpacked her stuff. Then the Grey just stared at the work, sighing.

She loved her kids, more than anyone or anything, and she was thankful for their cute little presents. But she had to admit, she was a little bit pissed at all her friends and family. They were either dead or had more important stuff to do. Geez, she should stop with all the dark humor in her mind. But, as said, no one was here to stop dark and twisty Mer.

She took a pen, when she remembered what she was being pissed about. She could forgive Amelia for not being here – the Shepherd-sister was married and probably eating dinner with Owen and his Mom and then having Sex.

Maggie also spent her time with her family. Sweet Maggie even invited Mer, but no. It was a very sweet offer, but she had enough of divorced families and strangers touching her children.

Alex was taking a night shift until 4 p.m. "So that the others can go home to their families." Yeah, great. Very helpful, Alex.

Jackson and April were probably sitting on a couch with their cute little baby singing Christmas carols in their cute little Christmas sweaters next to their cute little Christmas tree. Maybe they were having Sex, but Meredith really believed that their little family was the most important thing to be happy. On the other hand… whatever, they were happy, hallelujah.

Arizona was also singing, dancing and laughing with her daughter.

Meredith Grey sighed again. She was so unmotivated. She turned on the radio, but when she heard the cheesy lines

I need you like a heart needs a beat,

But that's nothing new

She immediately turned it off. She hated cheesy love songs at the moment, because whenever she heard one she thought of Nathan Riggs and – here we go – her concentration was now totally gone.

What was he doing on a day like this? Sitting at home, reading? Watching TV? Doing work, just like her? Was he at the hospital?

Meredith genuinely liked thinking about Nathan Riggs. His hair, his voice, his humor and even sometimes the dirty things. But what do they say? It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Maggie, for example.

Meredith herself.

However, the person she feared the most to get hurt was Nathan himself. She couldn't give him what he wanted. She could barely cope with her own feelings, and now his too? She knew how the whole thing with moving on works in theory. She was ready to move on, she knew Derek wanted that and she knew what felt right. But what if it didn't? Worse, what if Nathan couldn't understand her?

Maybe she didn't give him enough credit, but she just didn't want to think about that right now.

Meredith was very tempted to get herself Tequila, when she heard a knock at the door. She stood up, hoping it to be Alex. Maybe he was already done.

But the smiling face in front of her door wasn't Alex, it was Nathan Riggs.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She wrapped her vest tighter around herself. It was freezing.

"How about: 'Merry Christmas Nathan!' or 'It's so amazing to see you on a boring evening like this!'?"

She rolled her eyes, but it was kind of sweet of him to come here. But what did he expect? Flowers? Her naked? Not going to happen. Also, her concept of letting go and not feeling was kind of hard when he was just everywhere.

"So what are you doing here?"

"Visiting you, obviously. Before I'm heading to the hospital for work – Murphy is already alone for too long. But, don't worry, my visit has a reason, and-", he explained very seriously, "it is not to get in your pants."

Meredith really hated in when he was so smug. And what she also hated was the wheel of feelings. Hatred, Happiness to see him, her own Smugness or just Excitement… she wasn't used to be that kind of involved with a person of her level.

"That is really surprising", she shot back. "So why are you here?"

"Well, I don't take you to be the type who reads medical articles all the time, but I figured you would be very happy to read this article" – he pulled out a paper – "about Christina Yang, her newest work and her way to the top."

More like "my best friend is better than me and ten times more successful and can't even call me on Christmas Eve".

She grabbed the paper anyway. Christina had done something else incredibly amazing, and was getting richer and helped people. The same old stuff. Mer was proud of her, but why would he bring her that? Then she saw it. It was just a tiny little piece of the interview, that said:

I'll be very wrapped up around the holidays. The work doesn't do itself alone. So I am probably going to forget to wish anyone happy holidays. (laughs) So, Meredith Grey – I am sure you have already heard of her, an amazing surgeon – I wanna thank you especially, because without you I would not be here. Merry Christmas!

That was actually very sweet! Mer smiled, lost in her on thoughts.

"Thank you."

"Of course. Anyways, I'm gonna go now. See ya." He smiled. "Oh, and here, the article isn't really a present, so I also brought you chocolate. It should be very good against holiday depression."

Meredith felt something in her tingle and she took the present. It was a lovely gesture, it was very thoughtful. "Thank you. Really… I mean, I don't have a present for you. Didn't really expect you."

He had that smug grin again. "Now is the time to talk about the whole 'getting into your pants' thing."

She gave him a look and he laughed. "Okay, okay, too soon."

Meredith shook her head. "You're never giving up, are you?"

"You make me sound like an idiot. But you cannot deny-"

Whatever she couldn't deny, she would never find it. Because she didn't want to deal with emotions so she just let her worries go and gave him small kiss on the cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Nathan!"

Then she closed the door, because he had that adorable smile again on his face.

Now that her evening was saved – because of the chocolate of course, not because of Nathan, pfff – she sat down on the couch to watch scandal and ate the sweet. She also texted Christina and even Callie – she was in a good mood.

When Alex came home, finding her working in a clean living room while humming to Turn the lights down low he could only shake his head. When Mer was happy, he was happy, but sometimes she was just weird.