Doing The Dance (Jackson Avery Fanfic)

fifty-three

2017

"You know, you weren't really supposed to wake up for hours, maybe a day or two" Derek's voice said at the door.

"Putting all your other patients to shame, am I?" I joked with a tired smile. Derek flashed a grin at me.

"Squeeze my fingers. Where are you?"

"Work, not working though"

"And work is?" He asked as he shone a flashlight in my eyes. I sighed.

"Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle"

"Good, do you know who I am?"

"Derek Christopher Shepherd" Derek chuckled.

"And who you are?"

"Taylor Dawson last I checked."

"One last question, do you know why you're here?"

"Because you just cut a giant freaking tumor out of my head. Leaving seemed rude"

"Well, good news and bad news. The good news is, I don't see any neurological problems."

"And the bad?" Jackson asked.

"She is exactly the same" Jackson finally cracked a smile and pulled my hand into his.

"Well, that is extremely good news for me" I flashed him a tired grin, yawning.

"How are you feeling, Dawson?" Derek asked.

"My head hurts, probably something you hear a lot"

"More from my wife than my patients these days" Derek joked.

"Your wife is a very good friend of mine, watch it"

"Noted. Besides the pain?"

"I felt a bit foggy, for the first five minutes or so. I'm getting clearer every second" I said. Derek nodded.

"Well, let me be the first to tell you that the surgery went excellently. We got the whole thing, and you were never even close to having your lungs give up, or any other part of your body" I nodded, having actually heard it already when Jackson was here. "Sats are looking good, vitals good, and you are making an impressive recovery already"

"So, you'll think about changing that two weeks here to one?" Derek sighed.

"Your cancer is determining that, not your recovery from brain surgery"

"That brain surgery removed most of my cancer"

"True, I'd like to be safer than sorry. Amelia has been showing me studies about getting brain surgery patients on their feet faster to axe recovery time so with your permission, we'd like to try that"

"Not right now I hope" Jackson added.

"No, not right now. But the sooner, the better. I'll send you the articles, it seems really promising. She's even started doing it to some of her patients in LA" Jackson and I both nodded as Derek left, promising to come back.

"I'm so glad you're awake" Jackson said. I nodded, closing my eyes.

"Me too. But I'm tired" I opened my eyes and saw Jackson nodding, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"You sleep, baby. I'm going to go check on some patients, but get a nurse to page me if you need me, okay?" I nodded, closing my eyes again before Jackson finished leaving the room.

I was relieved in a way I had never been before now. This surgery was always going to be the one I feared, even more than my lung transplant or any previous heart surgeries. Because if one of those had gone wrong, it wasn't as big a deal. I wasn't a doctor then, not like I am now. I wasn't a resident anymore; I was about to start a fellowship. The next time I was at work, it would be in dark blue scrubs. To lose my brain, or even my life right now would be devastating.