Stitches of Survival

Love, Loss and Legacy

Chapter Fourteen: Love, Loss and Legacy

*~*~*~*

"Why aren't you dressed yet?" Mark asked when he found me sitting in bed, only a towel wrapped around me when I was supposed to be getting dressed so we could drop Joel off at school and get to work.

"I should have taken Jackson's bribe." I said.

"What bribe?" He frowned, taking a seat next to me on the bed.

"He offered to fly Joel and I out to Pennsylvania." I informed him. "He knows that my mom's birthday is coming up so he thought it'd be nice for Joel and I to go out there, visit her grave or whatever. It was really sweet, but I turned him down. Now I'm thinking that I should have taken him up on the offer, escaped while I could."

"You're really not that scared of facing the woman, are you?" He asked, knowing full well what I was talking about. Today was the day that Jackson's mother would be visiting Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, leading my brother to take steps to try and make it as smooth as possible. That included sending Lexie out of town to visit her sister, Molly, while also trying to send Joel and I to Pennsylvania. Sadly, Lexie had been the only one smart enough to follow through with his plan. "Come on, I'm sure she doesn't even know who you are. After all, you took your mother's name."

"Jackson and I told Harper Avery who I was." I reminded him. "I think it's safe to say that the entire Avery family knows about me, including my father's ex-wife."

*~*~*~*

"I can't believe Altman postponed our surgery for grand rounds." Cristina complained as she, Alex, Meredith, and I took a seat in the lecture hall, in the row right in front of Jackson and April. "It's just a boring lecture."

"Your husband said it was mandatory." Meredith reminded her.

"One more hour of sleep, that's what it is." Alex balled up his lab coat as a makeshift pillow.

"Oh, no. It's not gonna be boring." April assured us. "This is Jackson's mother, Catherine Avery."

"She's a urologist, right?" Meredith asked as I saw my brother sink deeper into his chair, as though he wanted nothing more than to disappear into thin air.

"Yeah." April nodded. "I met her when I was an intern at Mercy West. She's amazing."

"She is... a lunatic." Jackson rolled his eyes.

"No, she's not. She's brilliant." April insisted. "She says these things that shock you, but then when you think about them later, they change your whole life."

"Or they ruin your whole life." Jackson said. "She's toxic. She's a meddler. My mom has no boundaries. Be warned."

"Hey, is that why you shipped Lexie out of state?" Alex asked.

"And tried to do the same with Bethany?" Meredith added.

"What?" Cristina looked around at us in confusion. "Oh. You shipped Lexie... Wow. Who hides his girlfriend and sister under a rock while his mom comes into town?"

"Someone who's got a hypercritical surgeon for a mom." Meredith defended Jackson. "I get it."

"Hey, I'm gonna give you the same warning I gave about your- our- grandfather." I pointed a finger at my brother. "She says one bad thing about my mother or my son, I'll kick her ass."

"Oh, please say something." Alex chuckled.

"Alex." Meredith scolded the man while I slapped him upside the head.