A/N: I'm so terribly sorry it has taken me this long to update. I had some family issues to deal with and had to travel out of state where I didn't have internet. And then I was having horrible writers block. And then when I FINALLY wrote most of the chapter I had computer problems and it got deleted. And then I just didn't have the energy to re-write it... But, alas! Here it is, and I hope you like it :) Reviews are appreciated!


It was a few nights later when Alex knocked on Meredith's open door-frame and held up a bag of take-out.

"Chinese?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled, and put the magazine she'd been reading back on her nightstand. Alex walked over to her and crawled on the bed with her.

"Mmm," Meredith said, as she began pulling cartons out of the bag. "All of my favorites."

"Yeah." Alex responded. "I didn't know what would agree with your stomach, so I just got a little bit of everything."

Meredith gave him a small smile. Alex had definitely been standing up to the plate, and she would be lying if she said it didn't surprise her a little bit. She thought back to what Cristina had said a few days earlier. Don't underestimate him. Meredith was beginning to see what her friend was referring to. This was definitely a knew side to Alex.

It was then that the man in question suddenly jolted her out of her thoughts.

"So, how'd it go with Derek?" He asked. "When you went to go tell him about your appointment?"

Meredith shrugged. "I overheard him talking with Mark. You know, he telling Derek to lighten up on us and everything. Which is kind of surprising, by the way. And anyway, Derek started getting pretty pissed off. So I just ran in, said what I needed to say, and got the hell out of there."

But, Alex was only half listening. While Meredith was talking, he had looked around the room and noticed things he had missed when he first walked in. Like the boxes stacked in the corner, the half empty closet partially hidden by a curtain, and the faded square on the wall where a framed post-it had previously been hanging.

"What's with the stuff?" He asked curiously, nodding towards the boxes. He was praying it was what he thought it was. For a moment, he was shocked at his own hopes, and the underlying implications they had. But he brushed the feeling off.

"It's most of Derek's things." Meredith answered quietly. Alex looked at her with a look of shock and pride. "It's over. Really, truly, over." She finished.

Alex put down his fork so he could reach over and squeeze her hand.

The feeling gave Meredith the confidence to continue. "I know it'll be hard to raise this baby on my own. Especially if it's Derek's. He's going to be angry. I mean- really angry. And don't get me wrong, I'm scared. But I think I can do this." She blinked back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. "I'm finally growing up." She laughed.

But, Alex was stuck on something else Meredith had said.

"You don't have to do this on your own." It was in this moment Alex swore to himself, he wouldn't let her down. He would be there for her through this experience, and he would be here for this child. Whether it was his or not. This was his chance to become the man everyone said he had the potential to be. "I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere."


Meredith fell asleep that night snuggled up to Alex. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. On the contrary, it was the only place she wanted to be in that moment.

It wasn't the first time they'd slept together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. Although Alex's reputation was somewhat cocky and harsh, he was a surprisingly good cuddler. In fact, Alex and Meredith had only had sex a fraction of the time that they'd spent sleeping in the same bed. It was him that she went to when she was upset. He was the one that held her close. The one that comforted her.

Meredith was realizing more and more how much she hoped that Alex was the father of her baby. It freaked her out at first. But she decided to go with it. It felt right, and she was finished second-guessing everything. She deserved some damn happiness, after all.

Alex's thoughts were traveling along the same line as Meredith's. He had admitted to himself that he had feelings for Meredith, awhile ago. And now that she was pregnant, it only confirmed those thoughts. He'd decided before that he wasn't going to say anything to her about it. I mean she was 'married' to Shepherd... He had decided he could live with just having a part of her. It was better than losing her completely.

That had been his thought process before. But now... Derek was out of the picture. Meredith and himself were quite likely having a baby together. It was time to let his feelings out in the open.

He heard Meredith sigh in content, and pulled her closer. And it was just before sleep took over her that she heard the man beside her whisper, "It wasn't just sex."