Chapter Thirteen

A/N: Im so sorry for the long delay! i re wrote this scene many times, and have decided to split it into two seperate scenes. I hope you like it, and look forward to hearing what you think. Thanks for sticking with me! More to come!

The ride home had been filled with meaningful glances and sheepish smiles. He had reached out and held her hand, the innocent touch sending warmth surging throughout her body.

They rode in silence for a while, save for the occasional whir of the wiper blades against the wispy veil of rain cascading onto the windshield, content in each other's company. She watched him as they drove. He had fine lines around his eyes. Meredith wondered when that had happened. She had looked at him nearly every day for the past fourteen years and had never noticed them before. She smiled to herself, realizing that he had those lines from smiling. They smiled a lot when they were together. He was always able to make her smile, even when smiling seemed impossible, especially when smiling seemed impossible. He was the first person she wanted to talk to when something happened, the person she trusted over all others. It amazed her to think just yesterday he was her person, her best friend, and now she realized she was staring at his lips, daydreaming about kissing him again. It was, on the most basic level, a surreal feeling. She didn't have it all figured out yet, but she knew she wanted this. The kiss this morning had awakened something in her - she wanted a relationship with Alex.

He turned briefly to her, his eyes crinkled joyously at their edges. "Penny for your thoughts."

"Thank you for tonight. It's…been a long time since someone has gone through so much trouble for me."

He glanced at her, an eyebrow raised in surprise, and squeezed her hand. "That was nothing. That was dinner. It's going to take me a little more time to show you how much you mean to me. But none of it, none, would I ever consider trouble. You? You're worth everything."

She felt her breath catch, and her heartbeat thudded in her ears. She cleared her throat in an attempt to dislodge the lump that had formed there. "Well, I guess I have to agree to a second date after that." she said, softly, teasingly, but was truly touched by his words. Her thumb stroked the back of his hand. She gave him a thin lipped smile when he glanced at her.

Alex pulled the car into the driveway and parked. On the way home, the rain had become stronger and it was now a heavy, pelting rain. He jumped out of the car and came around to open her door. He extended his hand to help her out of the car, and escorted her quickly to the front door with his hand at the small of her back.

Despite their haste, they were soaked through. They reached the porch and shook the rain from themselves, laughing as they did so. Meredith was looking down, brushing the rain from her skirt. Alex watched her, enraptured by her beauty. Several droplets of rain, illuminated by the porch lights, glistened like diamonds in her hair. The rain dampened locks clung to her shoulders, while her saturated dress clung to all of the curves of her body. His eyes dilated with desire and he moved towards her.

Meredith raised herself to find Alex had entered her personal space. Her heart rate quickened and she sucked in air. His head was tilted ever so slightly to the right, his deep chocolatey eyes drinking in her form. A small smile played seductively at the corner of his mouth.

"You're beautiful, you know that?"

She scoffed. "I'm a mess!"

He laughed softly and took another step towards her, closing the gap between them. "Yeah, a beautiful one."

He lowered his face to hers and kissed her quickly, gently.

"I think we'll have more fun if we get out of these clothes," he said.

She smirked and raised an eyebrow. Before she could say anything, he chuckled and offered a clarification.

"What I meant is we should get out of these wet clothes. Go get changed, then meet me downstairs."

She nodded, and entered the house. She did a quick survey of her surroundings and found the downstairs empty, and gestured to Alex that it was safe to enter. She hurried upstairs to her bedroom, careful to avoid the stairs that squeaked. Having spent much of her childhood and most of her adulthood in this house, it was an easy task. Shivering, she quickly removed her shoes and dress, which she hung in the bathroom to dry. She rummaged through her closet for a change of clothes, settling on gray sweatpants and a light blue tee shirt. She looked in the mirror and grimaced lightly. Alex had said she was beautiful, yet her hair was plastered to her head and her makeup had become smudged in places. She quickly fixed her hair with her fingers and fixed the smudges with a moistened makeup remover. She crossed the hallway to check on the kids and found them all sleeping peacefully. She put her hand to her stomach to calm her nerves, and excitedly descended the staircase.

When she reached the bottom step, Alex was waiting for her. Her heart did a little flip at the mere sight of him, eliciting a smile from her. He had changed into black sweatpants and a dark blue shirt, and was holding two glasses of wine, one of which he offered to her, and she accepted.

He led her to the sofa, and once settled, she asked, "What should we drink to?"

He tipped his chin up in thought for a moment. "How about 'to us'?"

She nodded. "To us." They clinked glasses, and each sipped their wine.

She turned to face him, her head tilted slightly to the side. They sat like that for a few moments, drinking each other in.

He took her wine glass and placed it, along with his, on the coffee table. He turned back to her, and caressed her face. "You really are beautiful," he said breathlessly.

She smiled appreciatively and leaned in to meet him halfway for a short kiss, after which he pressed his forehead to hers for a minute and sighed lightly.

He sat back on the couch. "So…" he said, drawing out the word. He hoped she would understand that he was asking her if she thought they could date.

She looked into his eyes which shimmered with happiness. She felt lighter than she had in quite some time, relishing the happiness reflected on his face. Suddenly, she worried that she could hurt him, really hurt him, if things didn't work out. Her heart lurched at the thought. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, and she reached for her wine. She tried to banish the thought. "We're going to have to talk about a few things first."

He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly, intrigued, but wanted more to focus on the way her honey colored hair danced along her cheek as she spoke. He had always thought she was beautiful, but had never allowed himself much time to reflect upon it, always putting their friendship first. "Okay. What are you thinking?"

She sighed softly. "I'm thinking that we have to protect our friendship, and to do that, we need rules."

He chuckled softly. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You and I have never been great with following rules."

She dipped her head slightly to the left in mock annoyance, but the thin smile on her lips betrayed her intention. "Alex, I'm serious!"

He nodded slightly, and reached out to brush the hair from her face, mesmerized by her beauty. "I know."

She closed her eyes against the pleasure of his touch and took a deep breath to steady herself. They needed to have this conversation, but she felt herself to be in real danger of abandoning the attempt in pursuit of a more entertaining venture. Steeling herself, she willed her eyes to open and pushed back from him, scooting back on the couch. Giggling softly, she teasingly admonished him, pointing her finger at him. "No! Talk first!"

He semi mockingly growled his disapproval, and begrudgingly sat back on the couch. "Fine." He tried to sound annoyed, but she saw the gleam in his eyes.

Despite herself, she chuckled at his mock indignation. "First rule, the friendship comes first. Nothing can come between us. If we're mad at each other for something, we talk it out. No going silent, sulking, or hiding how we feel."

He chuckled half-heartedly. "Yeah, we may want to write that down."

Her eyes widened. "Yes! Good idea." Before he could tell her he was joking, she jumped up and grabbed a notebook and pen from the nearby credenza. She settled back on the couch and hurriedly scribbled rule number one into canon.

"Hey, I got one." Alex said. "No making big decisions without consulting each other."

She leaned over the notebook, and scribed the new rule. He groaned softly in longing as her hair again grazed her cheek. He started moving towards her, and she put her arm out straight to stop him. He sat back again and rolled his eyes. He reached for his wine and took a big gulp. He set the glass down and gazed upon her. The lines of his face softened as he watched her. She sat pensively, her pen poised up by her mouth. He recognized this for what it was, she was scared.

"Put this one down." He softly suggested. "No one else gets to be your person. It's just us." He moved closer to her, and she sat up to face him. "We talk, to each other, when there's a problem. We don't run from each other, or to anyone else. No one climbs in our bed at night…unless it's the kids, of course." He moved slightly closer, and she put the notebook down. "It's just us, Mer." He repeated, closing the distance between them. He leaned in to her. "I know you're scared. I am, too. But we can do this. Just us."

She sucked in some air as he leaned in to kiss her, disarmed by how well he could read her. "Just us," she said breathlessly, as she melted into his kiss.