Doing The Dance (Jackson Avery Fanfic)

nineteen

2015

By the time we were riding back to the hospital, it was nearing 11 pm. We were at the site for twelve hours and we were replaced by a new batch of emergency workers as there were still people trapped, but not a mass influx like we'd just dealt with.

No one spoke on the way back. We were exhausted and I don't think too many people were keen on complimenting me when everyone either hated me for getting surgeries or hated me for showing up when I should have been at home. I didn't mind, the last thing I needed was a group of half-assed apologies.

Entering the ER, I didn't know what to expect. Things had calmed down on the patient front and only a few trauma rooms remained in use. Everyone else wasn't from the roof collapse and April looked as exhausted as I felt.

"What happened to running my ER?" April teased. I laughed and then yawned.

"Owen needed trauma hands down there. Letting you go would have cost Grey Sloan another trauma surgeon so I went."

"I thought you were sent home"

"You paged me" She nodded.

"I did"

"Why?" April shrugged.

"Well, I figured we needed you and you'd be here if you were up to it. You know your own body better than anyone else. If you were feeling half as bad as you had last night, you wouldn't have answered or shown up."

"How do you know I wouldn't have?" April shrugged.

"Because I do. You make bold choices, and maybe not everyone agrees with them, but you're not stupid Doctor Dawson"

"Thanks, April"

"Any time. Now, you go home and get some rest, you look like hell" I nodded and began to head towards the door when Jackson ran into me, like actually ran into me.

"Oh shoot, sorry Taylor. Hey, are you busy?" I shook my head. "Good, I need another set of hands in OR 3. Scrub in?"

"It's almost the middle of the night"

"Yeah? We've all been here all day working but this guy needs surgery. You in?" I nodded and followed him towards the ORs, scrubbing and entering the OR with him.

"So what are we doing?"

"Complete facial reconstruction. He was crushed by rubble and then burned by the fire."

"I've never done something like this before"

"So? Neither had I until Sloan pulled me into one. Just do what I tell you and you'll be okay" I nodded and we began the surgery.

"Do you miss him?" I asked after a while.

"Who? Sloan?" I nodded, Jackson sighing. "Yeah, I do. He was hard work at first but he was a freaking good doctor" I chuckled from under my surgical mask.

"I kind of wish I'd let him talk me into a pair of implants so that I'd always have a piece of him with me"

"Why didn't you?" I shrugged.

"I was angry. I'd lived an entire year 'cancer-free' only to find out it was an entire year of metastasizing cells in my breasts. I just wanted to be done with it. I knew taking them off wasn't going to fix it, but at least it gave me a fighting chance."

"If you could go back and never had cancer, would you?" I looked at him, his turquoise eyes drilling into my own.

"I-I don't know"

"Where would you be if you hadn't?" I smiled, though he couldn't see it.

"I'd be a professional dancer, hopefully in LA or New York. Maybe even Chicago. I always dreamed of living in a big city and doing what I loved"