"Morning" Amelia says entering the kitchen early Saturday morning.
"Coffee?" Meredith asks in reply, looking up from her tablet and gesturing to the pot she made.
"God yes" Amelia says, getting out a cup and sighing as she pours the coffee into her cup.
"You sure you have the energy for four kids hopped up on excitement at the zoo?" Meredith says, raising her eyebrows.
Amelia takes the seat beside her at the island counter replying "just let my caffeine kick in and then I am ready to go. Besides, Link is coming too so it will be a walk in the park."
"If you say so" Meredith says sceptically, "but remember Link can be worse than our kids in terms of excitement. If I come home from my shift and I find you have put the kids in front of the TV and are off hiding in your room I am not above saying I told you so."
"Your shift? I didn't know you had changed your last name to Hayes, please, next time tell me before you decide to elope" Amelia says with a smirk, finishing her cup of coffee. "Another?" she asks Meredith, pointing to the coffee maker.
Meredith frowns at Amelia, trying to come up with a comeback before just nodding and saying "yes please."
"I was thinking I would pack some vege sticks and hummus, and some simple peanut butter and honey sandwiches for the kids, how does that sound? Then you can buy them sugary treats and don't have to worry about finding something nutritious for lunch or when they are starting to crash from the sugar." Meredith says, standing and walking around to the fridge.
"I didn't think of that, see this is why you are the smart sister and I am the fun sister" Amelia says with a wink.
They work in silence for a few minutes, Amelia cutting vege sticks while Meredith spreads peanut butter on one piece of bread and honey on the next.
"Would it bother you if I eventually remarried?" Meredith asks, breaking the silence.
"What? Oh, no, that was just a joke. Though I would like to know before hand, just so I can get you some embarrassing present" Amelia says. Seeing the pensive look on Meredith's face, she adds, "why? Are you thinking about it?"
"No, I just, I don't know, I never imagined myself ever moving on that completely from Derek, Riggs and I never had a chance to get that serious, and as great as Andrew was, if I was to marry someone, they would have a father role with my kids and I just never saw that. He made me feel young again, which I liked at the time. Anyways, your comment just made me think, would I ever consider getting married again, and I wondered how you would feel, would it feel to you that I was replacing your brother or forgetting about him."
"I don't think you can know yet whether you will ever feel the want to get married again, I think you have to let a relationship get to the point where when you imagine the future, you imagine that person by your side, until then, you can't just conjure that feeling so you won't know. You know, recently Link has started hinting at more kids or more commitment, and I see how happy he is when he is playing with the kids. Last night he said, imagine scout with a little sibling in a few years and I froze, I am with the most amazing man, and he is an incredible father, but when I picture the future I don't see I family of four living in a house with a white picket fence, and I don't know how I feel about this." Amelia says, pausing in her chopping and looking at the floor.
"I think that is ok as well" Meredith replies, "you love your son, and maybe right now you are scared of committing further and getting hurt or maybe you just don't have the same dreams as Link, either way, only you know what you want in life. Like you told me, you can't know until you get to that point, so you need to allow yourself to choose what is right for you, even if it doesn't fit with what others expect or hope. Have you talked about this with Link?"
"No, I don't even fully know these feelings myself. Thank you for understanding, you and Addie are the only people who get me like this, and she is in LA so I guess it had to be you" Amelia says, giving Meredith a small smile.
"Oh, so what you are saying is I'm the second-best choice? I see how it is" Meredith says, crossing her arms and both women break into laugher, smiling at each other in understanding.
"I have plans tonight after the kids are in bed, you good to be here for them?" Meredith asks.
"Oooo, a date?" Amelia asks, wiggling her eyebrows.
Meredith shrugs, saying, "none of your business, can you watch the kids of not?"
"Yes, yes, I can watch the kids, just don't do anything I wouldn't do" Amelia responds.
"I don't think I should do anything you would do" Meredith says, teasing.
"Morning lads" Cormac says as his boys stumble into the kitchen, rubbing their eyes at precisely 7:10 am on Saturday morning.
They nod slowly and Cormac smiles fondly, "I fried up some eggs and bacon, would you buys like a slice of this sourdough I picked up this morning with them?"
They nod again, perking up at the prospect of food, "you had time to go for your run and get bread? What ungodly hour did you get up at this morning?" Liam says, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Unlike you lads, I go to bed at a reasonable hour which allows me to get up and appreciate the beautiful start to the morning" he says, slicing the bread, and laughing when his sons roll their eyes in unison. "Why don't you lads go get dressed in your soccer gear while I finish breakfast" he says fondly, and they reluctantly stand up.
"I don't know why they had to make the first game so early in the morning" he hears Austin mumble as they walk up the stairs, "it isn't until 9am" Cormac says to himself, shaking his head.
Hope you enjoyed! I was planning to get through a lot more in this chapter but then i stumbled upon this conversation between Mer and Amelia and it just felt right. I wanted to show that Amelia is a conscious person, and thinking through her decisions, I absolutely love the conversations between her and Addison on greys, and wish that they could have shown more of progression before. Unfortunately the format of season 17 didn't allow this, but i think we have always seen her and Meredith understanding how the other thinks. Anyways, let me know what you think! xx