All the things he's said, Meredith can handle, though even now, she hasn't fully wrapped her mind around what she's been told. It's this she doesn't want, unnerved by the idea that he thinks she should be with someone other than him. So she gets a little how he must have felt, believing she thinks he's better than he is. Maybe that's just how this works, though. Maybe they just have to see for each other what they can't see for themselves.

"Don't tell me I deserve better again," she says, shaking her head at him as she turns her hand, threading her fingers through his as best as she's able. She can't bear to be made into some kind of saint just for being in love. It doesn't make her special or noble, it makes her scared and needy and maybe a little stupid, and right now, she's okay with that. "I don't want better, I want you. Whatever you did or didn't do, I want you. That's not changing."