DINNER & DIATRIBES. . . JACKSON AVERY!

chapter thirty-five: put me in, coach/heart-shaped box

trigger warning:
discussing of previous sexual assault — if you want to skip that, it's the section that starts with "it happens again." it's not a detailed scene and i'll never ever write out SA but please know your limits and stay safe everyone!! love you guys <3

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Let it be known that Briar knows nothing about baseball.

That knowledge doesn't stop Owen from adding her to the Seattle Grace Mercy West game against Seattle Presbyterian. Despite her protesting and explaining that she's only ever played soccer, she finds herself practicing multiple days a week. That's where she is now, watching as Alex runs to grab the ball from where it almost hit Meredith and Cristina, who are laying in the grass and talking.

"Karev, throw the ball!" Owen shouts when Alex stops to talk to the girls. Mark is quick to catch it and then throw it to Arizona, who screams and jumps away from it. Derek groans loudly, while Owen starts lecturing her.

"Robbins, don't be afraid of it!" He calls, all of them watching as Arizona scrambles for the ball on the ground, somehow falling down in the process.

"What! I–oh! Well, it flew at my head." She defends herself, while Briar turns and watches Jackson run across all the little squares on the ground.

"Whoo!" She screams, jumping up and down when he clears the last one.

"You realize that you're not supposed to be cheering for that?" Derek asks her, making her frown in confusion.

"What? He's on our team!" She points out, and Derek rolls his eyes at her.

"Yeah, but he's pretending to be on the opposing team for practice. We don't want them getting home runs."

"Riiiight." Briar says slowly, dragging out the word. "Well, he looked hot doing . . . whatever it is he just did, so." She shrugs at him, laughing when he shakes his head and tells her she's helpless.

"Sloan! Hey, Sloan!" Derek calls out, and Briar turns to see Mark kissing his new fling, some woman from Seattle Pres. "Focus! Hello?"

"Who is that?" Teddy questions, her face twisted up as she watches them.

"Oh, Julia Canner . . . or Kinney. She's an ophthalmologist from Seattle Pres. Mark's been seeing her." Arizona explains, and Briar snorts. 'Seeing her' is certainly a word for it.

"Every night this week." Callie adds on, laughing.

"I'm so glad that I moved out of his place." Briar laughs with them, grimacing at the thought of sleeping in that bed ever again. She'd gotten tired of the air mattress quickly and bullied her way into his bed. They'd had a lot of late night giggly conversations, and Briar learned a lot about him at 3 am.

"Alright, nice throw, Robbins!" Richard calls from his spot in the stands, a book in his lap, after Arizona throws the ball to Derek.

"Sinclair, you're up to bat!" Owen tells her, making her jump before she grabs the bat from Lexie. Derek throws it, and Briar completely misses it on the first go.

"Strike!"

"Come on, you've got this!" Jackson calls to her, and Briar can't help but wince. She does not have it. "Just, uh, fix your stance."

"Avery, help her." Owen tells him, and Briar looks up when Jackson jogs over.

"Here, you want to bend your knees a little bit." Jackson explains, helping position her. "And hold the bat closer to you, just like that. Perfect. Okay, now look at Shepherd. He throws underhand, so you want to hit like this." Briar watches carefully as he shows her the best way to swing twice before letting go and jogging backwards.