DINNER & DIATRIBES. . . JACKSON AVERY!

chapter thirty: I will survive/unaccompanied minor

Jackson and Briar barely close the front door behind them before Briar is being yanked into a bedroom. She yelps when she's dragged down to the bed, barely getting a second to kick off her heels, and almost smacking her head on the bed frame.

"Meredith, what?" She asks, gaping at her friend, who is clearly panicking. Her hair is a mess, and she's pacing in front of Briar, looking terrified. "Mer? Hey, come on, speak to me."

"Derek wants to adopt Zola." She blurts out, before letting out a whimper and falling onto the bed next to Briar with her hands covering her face.

"Do you . . . not want to adopt Zola?" Briar asks carefully, worried that that's the issue. She doesn't actually know Zola since she wasn't assigned to her case, but Derek, Alex and Arizona seem enamored with her. Derek really is, if he's dreaming of adoption paperwork. "'Cause if that's the case, you need to be honest. Adoption is difficult and the last thing you need is–"

"No." Meredith says, although it comes out sounding muffled. "No, I want to. I just–I don't know how to be a mom. No sane person would let me adopt a baby. They're going to look at my history and blacklist me. How did you do it?"

"I haven't." Briar says slowly, starting to worry that there's something wrong with Meredith's memory. "I've never adopted a baby, Meredith. I think you'd know if I had."

"No, no." Meredith scoffs, waving her hand in the air. "Not that, just–you're a foster parent, right? How'd you do that?"

"Oh!" Briar says, feeling like an idiot. Of course that's what the question was. "Um, it seems overwhelming, because there's a lot of paperwork and interviews and the home visit and–I'm not helping. Mer, you've got this. How about we do a mock interview?"

Meredith perks up at this, sitting up straight. "Really?"

"Yeah." Briar nods, before frowning and standing up. She rifles through Meredith's dresser for a moment, pulling out a pair of her pajama shorts and an old t-shirt. She gets changed right there, tossing her dress at Meredith with a laugh before throwing herself back on the bed. "Alright! Um, first question: Why do you want to adopt?"

When Derek comes home hours later, it's to find them sleeping wrapped around each other. He just laughs and slips into Meredith's other side, used to this sight from their intern year.

✦

"Hey." Briar greets Jackson, leaning against the doorway to the bathroom. Jackson is brushing his teeth, but he nods at her through the mirror. She laughs when the movement makes toothpaste drip down his chin, moving in to grab her hair products and start braiding. "Sorry that we didn't get to talk last night. Meredith really needed me."

"I noticed." He says after spitting, sounding amused. "She almost made you trip with how hard she pulled you. Is she okay?"

"Yeah." She says, beginning to comb through her hair. "Just . . . girl stuff."

She's not sure how public Meredith plans to be about the adoption right now, and she won't be the one telling anyone. They don't talk for a few minutes, Jackson washing his face while Briar works on her dutch braids.

"So . . . want to have that talk?" Jackson asks after he's done, turning to face her. He leans against the counter, and Briar looks at him for a second before she returns her gaze to the mirror, wanting to make sure the braids stay even.

"I don't really know what to say. I had a great time." She admits, because she did. She really liked how easy it was: no pressure, no big expectations. Just them with her favorite people in the world. As far as first dates go, she couldn't ask for a better one. "And I–I want to continue that. I just . . ." She trails off, frustrated with her own inability to word what she wants.