Doing The Dance (Jackson Avery Fanfic)

twenty

2010

The knock on the door scared me awake. I didn't even know I had fallen asleep. My jolt caused the body next to me to tighten its grip and whisper in my ear to calm me down. I opened my eyes and saw Doctor Avery still in the bed we had been in together however long ago, frightened for our lives.

"We got two civilians in here, one patient" A voice said and Doctor Avery sat up.

"I'm a doctor, she's the patient" A policeman entered the room as Doctor Avery climbed out of the bed. I grabbed his arm out of reflex. I had just been through so much with him and now I didn't want him to leave me. A wild change considering how the day had begun after my surgery.

"You are?"

"Jackson Avery, surgical resident. I hid my uniform and pretended she was my fiancé to avoid the guy" Doctor Avery shook the cop's hand.

"And the patient?"

"Taylor Dawson just had open heart surgery for a valve replacement." The cop nodded, checking some things off on the clipboard he carried.

"Is it safe to leave?" Doctor Avery asked, the cop nodding.

"The gunman has been dealt with and we're just checking the grounds but many doctors are down in the emergency room tending to victims" I shuddered, my hand still grasping Doctor Avery's arm. He rested his hand on top of mine.

"I'll stay with Miss Dawson. She's pretty spooked"

"A lot of the patients are. One a couple of doors down was in the same room as a doctor who was fatally shot" Doctor Avery swallowed what I assumed to be his fear, but might have been vomit, and spoke.

"How many doctors were shot?"

"Hard to tell. They're all from different departments. It was mostly surgeons"

"Do you know how many?" The cop shook his head.

"Two dead, a few nearly died, more injured" I could see Doctor Avery taking shaky breaths. He was breathing like me, pre-lung transplant. Dead surgeons meant that this man might have been successful in killing Lexie Grey or Derek Shepherd. I wasn't expecting what I heard next and I knew Doctor Avery wasn't either.

"Who?"

"Residents. Doctors Adamson and Percy" I let go of Doctor Avery and let my hand fly up to my mouth, choking back the sobs. They weren't just his colleagues, they were his friends. The people he did his internship with, who he survived a hospital merger with. The two other Mercy West doctors I met yesterday, were dead. And Doctor Avery had nearly joined them. Doctor Avery nodded solemnly at the cop and sat back down on the bed.

"I am no use in an OR right now. I'll stay here with Taylor" The cop nodded and left the room, Doctor Avery turning to look at me.

"You can go, be with them if you want" I managed to whisper. He grasped my hand in his own and shook his head.

"I'm not leaving you alone and you can't get up. I'm staying"

"Doctor Avery-"

"Jackson" He corrected and I nodded.

"Jackson? I'm sorry about your friends" He sighed and rested back on the bed, prompting me to shuffle over and allow him to sit next to me properly. Our fingers were still intertwined between us as he wiped his tears.

"Yeah, well thanks to you I didn't join them."

"You don't have to stay with me"

"Are you kidding? After what you did for me, I don't think I can ever leave you" I smiled tiredly.