DINNER & DIATRIBES. . . JACKSON AVERY!

chapter seven: holidaze

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
talk of past sexual assault; alcoholism; drug use; abuse; foster care

i think that's it, but if anyone notices anything else, let me know and i'll add it. if you want to skip that part, it's when Mr. Bailey joins Briar outside during Christmas dinner. NOTHING happens except for a talk about Briar's past. If anyone needs more info, feel free to comment or dm me, and i'll discuss it. keep yourself safe <3

Briar hates Thanksgiving.

She has deep-rooted, long-standing reasons to despise the holiday, and she has for as long as she can remember. Every Thanksgiving is worse than the rest: it's a curse. Which is why, when she's scheduled to work the holiday, she can't help but be scared that something awful will happen to her at work.

That is, until she walks into work and finds herself on Derek's service with Lexie, helping a kid in peds.

"When did the bleeding start?" Lexie questions the kid's parents while Briar talks to him about his drawing, trying to keep his focus on that instead of a nosebleed that's surely very scary for a child.

"This morning. He's had these before, I just. . . I've never seen a nosebleed go on like this." His mother says, her voice full of worry, and Briar turns to give her the most reassuring smile she can.

"There's blood on Timmy, mom." He says, referring to the turkey he's been coloring.

"Well, red's a great color for a turkey." Briar answers when his parents get called over to Derek and Arizona, smiling at him as she hands him another crayon.

"Hey, do you go by any nicknames? Like Nick?" She asks, and he nods with a small smile. Briar hums, "Well, I love Nick. That's a cool name."

"I've never heard of Briar before." Nick tells her, and she nods very seriously as she hands him a black crayon, watching as he colors in the turkey's feathers.

"It's from Sleeping Beauty–" She starts, but he frowns and turns to her, Lexie moving with him so that she can keep the bleeding under control.

"Sleeping Beauty's name is Aurora." He tells her, sounding unimpressed. Briar nods as seriously as she can, knowing that children don't like feeling as if they aren't being taken seriously.

"It is, you're right. But it was Aurora before it was Briar Rose, like how you're Nicholas before Nick."

"Oh, okay. Why'd they change it?" He questions, making her hum as she considers the question.

"Well, Sleeping Beauty's parents named her Aurora. It's a nice name, don't you think?" He nods, mouthing the name to himself, and she shares a grin with Lexie, who's watching her with interest. "But when she gets cursed by Maleficent, she gets taken to the woods and they name her Briar Rose, so that Maleficent can't find her."

"Cool." He breathes out, before frowning. "Are you Briar Rose?"

"Nope. Briar Penelope. I wish my middle name was Rose, though, that'd be cool. What's your middle name?"

"Michael." He says, making a face as if not liking it. Briar understands that.

"That's cool. My best friend Alex's middle name is Michael too!"

"Mine is Caroline, and my older sister Meredith doesn't have one." Lexie jumps in, starting up a discussion about how some people don't have middle names until his parents come back over with Derek and Arizona.

Nick is having an arteriovenous malformation, a cluster of tangled blood vessels in his brain, which is causing his nose to bleed. They have to surgically remove it.