A/N: Thank you once again for the incredible reviews! I am thrilled that you like this story! Hope you like this chapter as well. Enjoy!

Meredith did not know what he was doing there, how he found her or why she just lunged herself in his arms so quickly. All she knew was that he was there. She could smell his scent that was so him and could feel his strong arms involve her smaller figure. She pulled from him, still in a trance.

"What are you doing here, Nathan?"

"Well, I thought you were happy to see me." He grinned in a way that, in any other circumstance, would make her take him to her room and have her way with him.

"I-. I don't-. How did you know-?

"Long story." Nathan said, sitting back down on the stool, followed by her. "I actually got an invitation from the hospital I'm working in Malibu. I was going to come see you on the actual ceremony, but… I took some wrong turns on the highway, got there too late." His face expressed his disappointment.

"How did you know where I was?"

"Maggie gave me the hotel's name. Is that stalkerish of me? I didn't mean to-" He said, afraid he had made a fool of himself.

"No. No. I just… didn't expect it. I'm- I'm glad you're here." She said softly.

He smiled with relief at her unexpected comment. He felt a tug at his heart when he looked at her because he didn't know what would happen. She had a power over him and, although it was good to truly feel something again, something real, it scared the hell out of him. The things he felt for Meredith were so strong that he would do anything she wanted him to. If she wanted him to go away, he would. If she wanted him to stay, he would. If she wanted him to stay but not really be with him, well, he would. He knew how hard life was for her. Not in the material, financial side; Meredith was wealthy, she could have anything she needed or wanted, forever. But emotionally? He knew how tiring it was to let herself have new feelings, new experiences. Her husband died. The love of her life died and she was left alone. Feeling was hard for her.

"I-" he sighed, passing his fingers through his hair and taking his eyes off of hers. Then, remembering the whole reason behind his surprise appearance, he turned to her once again. "You won." He smiled.

She laughed, looking at the ground slightly. "I did. Can you believe it? How's Megan by the way? She's the reason why I'm here, after all." She said, as she took notice of how his face fell down a bit.

"Oh, she's fine. Great. Better than ever. She is really thankful for you, I don't know what was going to happen to her if it wasn't for you, Mer."

She looked into his eyes, happy to hear about Megan, but sensing something more behind his words, but she didn't want to get into heavy subjects at the moment.

"But she's not the only reason you're here. This award was only a matter of time, Meredith, you know that. You deserve this. This is not the last one you're getting, I'm sure of it."

As he poured these words out to her, Meredith could only smile at him, not able to do anything else. She was always like that around him, come to think of it. The connection between the two of them was too strong to ignore, since that day they shook hands in front of the OR board. Although she manages to control herself at times, right now, after a couple of drinks, no one around and after winning that award, she wasn't really planning to restraint herself. He had Megan and he had another life, she knew that much, but as he looked into her eyes and said those honest, raw compliments, she couldn't help but wish for more with him. More time to talk, to touch him, to feel him. To let him know how much she missed him and how scared that made her feel.

"Thank you." She managed to whisper out. "And thank you for the flowers, they're beautiful. It had been a long time since someone had given me flowers." She laughed.

"You're welcome. Thought you'd like it. I thought of getting some red ones, but I figured you're more of a white rose type of girl."

"You were right."

"Yeah."

"So. How's life in Malibu? How's California treating you?"

"Oh, it's… complicated. I got a job at this hospital and I think this is the longer I've spent without seeing the inside of an OR since I came back."

"Wow. That's not good." Meredith said as she nursed her drink.

"You're telling me."

"What about Farouk? How's he adapting?" She tried to get more of Nathan, finding it weird that he wasn't saying much.

"He adapted fine, actually. I- I haven't seen him in awhile." He said, looking down. He didn't want to talk about it, but he needed to. If he wanted Meredith back, he had to clear things out with her.

"What do you mean? Don't you-" She stopped talking, realizing what had probably happened. "You and Megan…?"

"Yeah." He said looking up at her again. "It turns out that ten years change people. A lot. All we did was fight. And God, I couldn't live like that, Mer. I couldn't let her live like that. And Farouk, he was doing so well, we didn't want to make this harder than it already is for him."

"Yeah." She didn't know what else to say, she was shocked. She didn't see that coming, at all.

"So we… Broke up. I'm staying in a hotel in the city until I figure this all out."

"What about your job? What are you going to do?"

"I don't wanna quit yet. It was actually really hard to find something there, I don't know if I'm going to again. Not everyone has a Harper Avery Award in their curriculum." He teased her, glad to see her laugh, at least a bit. He hadn't wanted to blurt all of that out, but he really didn't want to lie. So he didn't. It was good. It felt good, to get all of that mess out of his chest.

"But, I mean, are you coming back to Seattle?" She asked as nonchalantly as she could, afraid of the answer. She wanted him near. But was she willing to start over with him? Was she disposed to wait him to get over Megan? He wouldn't just stop loving her. Now that he knew, one hundred percent sure that she was alive, moving on was going to be harder. Megan was there but he wouldn't be with her. And what if he was there, right in front of her, just to congratulate her and that was it? What if he had no intentions of being with her, of getting back together? It was probable. He had just left a relationship that meant the world to him. It wasn't going to be easy in the slightest.

"I- I don't know. I honestly don't know. I'm –" he laughed in desperation "I'm so lost. I have no idea what I'm gonna do." He looked at her and her heart hurt for him. He was vulnerable, she could see it. She had the urge to help him. She grabbed his hand.

"I-" as she looked around her, the bar was empty, and the only people there was them and the two bartenders. "Let's go to my room, we can talk."

"Okay. You sure?" He had to ask.

"Yeah. I need- Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay." He said softly, getting up.

Meredith opened the door of her room, hoping she hadn't left anything embarrassing out, knowing how messy she was. Not that Nathan didn't already know that, but still. Thankfully, there was only a couple of shirts and a towel laid out in her bed, which she quickly got rid of.

She grabbed two beers she had in her minibar and handed one to him.

"Thanks." He said, sitting down on the king size bed with her. Looking down at their hands touching.

"Listen. I know how hard this is for you, but-" she was interrupted by Nathan.

"No, you don't have to do this." He really wasn't gonna sit there and let Meredith console him when he didn't need to be consoled. "I'm fine, Meredith. Really. I think deep down I knew this wasn't going to work. And maybe that makes me an asshole, but it was for the best, I know it was. She knows it too. And you know what? I lied. I'm not lost. Not anymore at least. I- I came here because I had to see you. I really wanted to see you win that award and hug you and congratulate you. You-" He shook his head. "You have no idea how much I missed seeing you everyday. I missed you, I missed everything about you and I don't know what it is that I'm gonna do, but I know what I feel."

"Nathan. What-?" she was confused and she missed him too and she did not know what to say.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry everything got so complicated, you don't deserve this mess, but, Meredith-"

"I missed you too." she said softly to him. "I did, of course I did. But Nathan, what happens next? I mean, how can we possibly do this again? Every time we fix things something else ends up breaking. I-"

And then he kissed her. He put both his hands on her cheeks and kissed her. Softly at first and then harder, with pressure, like he had wanted to the minute he left her at the parking lot when she told him about Megan. He felt her kiss him back and tasted her tentatively with his tongue, feeling her open her mouth along with him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. His heart raced wildly as he felt her press against him.

And, once again, everything fit.

He was finally there.

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter! Thank you once again for all the support and your comments, they definitely make me write faster ;)