Worthy •} jackson avery ; grey's anatomy

twenty two

I met Jackson outside of Nelly's room.
"Hey how'd everything go?" I asked.
"Good, I got enough skin from her back and stomach and already started them." He said. I nodded.
"Alright I'll see you I'm running late for the board meeting." He kissed my cheek and went off. I decided to go grab some lunch and walked to the cafeteria. I saw Amelia and Maggie sitting at a table.
"Mel come here!" Amelia said waving me over.
I walked towards them and said hi.
"Want some pizza we ordered some." Maggie said pointing to the small pie of pizza sitting infront of us.
"Yess I'm starving." I said grabbing a slice.
"Busy day?" Amelia asked me. I nodded.
"Yea kind of. I have this patient with a flesh-eating virus." I said taking a bite of my pizza.
Her eyes widened.
"Is she still alive?!" Maggie asked.
I nodded.
"She was just going into septic shock though. But me and Jackson got her into surgery immediately and luckily removed all the infected tissue."
"That's good." Amelia said.
"So how are you and Owen? I saw him today." I asked her.
"We're actually waiting for a call. His sister is believed to be alive." She said.
Our eyes widened.
"Oh my God." Maggie gasped.
"Yea, as soon as we get the call that she's being transported to the Army hospital we're going to drive there."
"How's Mer? She and Nathan have a thing right, and Owen's sisrer was his fiancé." I said trying to connect all the dots.
"Yea I just told her. She was going to go tell him but I'm not sure if she did yet."
"This is all crazy. I can't even imagine it. If someone called me and told me my mom was alive I'd be going crazy." Maggie said.
"I'd kill to have Derek back." Amelia said.
"I wish I could've met him." I said to her with a small smile.
"Yea me too. He would've liked you."
After that we finished eating our food and resumed to our patients.
I went to check on Nelly and saw that she was just waking up. Her temperature was starting to come back to normal it was at 91°. We still had her wrapped up in blankets.
"How are you feeling?" I asked her.
"Better. But I'm just really cold." She shivered out. I nodded.
"Yea, I thought so. But don't worry we have you nice and wrapped up in some blankets and your body temperature will be normal soon. We actually have to perform another procedure. We had to take out most of the tissue so Dr. Avery is making skin grafts out of healthy tissue he got from your back and stomach. We will operate tomorrow and let your body rest." I explained to her. She nodded.
Just then her boyfriend walked in with some flowers and food.
"I'll leave you too alone." I said giving them a small smile and walking out of her ICU room.
I saw Alex running to a patient and Meredith at the nurses station meaning that the board meeting had ended. I approached her as she was signing some papers.
"Hey." I said.
"Oh hey Mel, what's up?"
"Nothing just finished checking up on a patient. How was the board meeting?"
"Good. It was actually for April's shares.
50% of them are going to Harriet ofcourse but, Jackson decided to give the other 50% to Richard. "
"That was nice of him."
"He is the heart and soul of this program anyways."
I nodded and we then started walking off.
"So how was Jackson through all of this? I'm a little worried about him. I know you're one of the people that probably understands him the most right now because of Derek. But should I he worried? Yesterday he was completely heartbroken and today I see him as if nothing happened." I said desperately.
"We all have different ways of coping you know. I mean I was destroyed and came in here telling everyone that Derek was dead with a straight face. But that's just me, I'm a broken person. Jackson isn't.  Maybe you should look into it. I mean it wouldn't hurt to check up and make sure he's okay. We don't want to not do anything and then regret in the end."
"You're right. Thanks Mer." I said.
She nodded.
"Anytime. I'll see you later though, here's my post-op." She said pointing to a room. I nodded as she walked inside the room.
For the rest of the day I kept thinking if I should or if I shouldn't talk to Jackson. I do trust Meredith but I don't know. What if I just make him worse and...forget it. I'm going to say something later.
It's around just around 7 so it's just about time to head home. I walked towards the lab where Jackson was making the skin grafts.
I walked inside and sat down next to him.
"They're looking great." I said talking about the skin grafts. He nodded.
"Yup, I just about finished. You should go ahead and start getting ready for home."
"Want me to pass by for Harriet?"
He shook his head no.
"I just got off the phone with my mom. She wants Harriet to spend the night with her so she picked her up early and took her."
I nodded.
"You wanna meet me at my house, I wanna talk about something." I said to him as I got up.
"Yea sure. Should I be worried?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
I shook my head no.
"I'll see you there." I said leaning in for kiss but he turned his head and my lips landed on his cheek. Okay then..
I left the lab and went towards the attendings lounge. I changed and grabbed all my stuff before leaving. I was waiting for the elevator when I heard my name beig called.
"Gates!"
I turned my head to the left to see Ryan running up to me.
"Reynolds." I said with a smile. He took me in for a hug as we stepped inside the elevator.
"How are you?" I said remembering about our conversation we had days ago. He was just starting to develop feelings for April.
"I don't know, I feel weird. I guess it was just not meant to be. How's Jackson?" He asked.
"He's better."
"And how are you?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Me well, I'm okay."
"Are you sure? You didn't seem that way when I found you on the gourney."
"Yea well it was alot to handle and I was just in shock. But I'm fine now. Anyways, what've you been up to?" I said quickly changing the subject. I was just getting tired of talking about the subject and needed my mind somewhere else before I have to go over it again with Jackson.
"I've been planning a trip to go back home for a couple of days. I miss my family and they miss me too."
I smiled at him.
"Aw, you were always a Momma's boy." I said grabbing his cheeks like I would to a small baby. He gently removed my hands as he shook his head. The elevator door opened and we walked out and towards the exit.
"But I'm so jealous. I'm planning to go back in Decemeber." I said to him.
"Yea ofcourse you are. You're literally in love with the snow and the whole christmas season." He said shaking his head.
I chuckled as I shrugged.
"What can I say, I've always been a sucker for it."
He shook his head and smiled at me.
I smiled back as we just stood there in the middle of the walkway of the hospital entrance.
"I gotta get home. Take Care M." He said pulling me in for a hug.
"You too. See you." I said pulling away. We walked our seperate ways and I went home.
I got home and set my keys down. I turnd the lights on and hung my coat up. I went to the bathroom and came downstairs. I was about to heat up some left overs from last night when Jackson pulled into my drive way. Well that was quick. He rang my door bell and I went to open the door.
He walked inside and took his jacket off and set it down.
"So what was it that you wanted to talk about? Is it about Ryan? Are you leaving me for him?!" He started asking me furiously. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusement.
"Jackson what are you talking about?" I asked.
He walked closer to me a bit more calmed down.

"I saw you too from the lab window. You two were looking at each other...in a way that friends shouldn't be looking at each other."
I ran my hands over my face as I shook my head.
"Jackson, all we are is friends. We were talking about New York and -" I stopped as I glared at him.
"I shouldn't even be explaining myself. You should be able to trust me and know that I would never do that to you. I love you and only you."
He scratched the back of his head as he licked his lips.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I'll always get jealous when I see him around you or with you. But now I get how you felt when you saw me and April."
My face softened.
"That's what I wanted to talk about. How are you being all fine and okay with everything? I mean last night you were crying in my arms! I didn't share nearly half the time you and April did and I'm still shaken up. If I'm shaken up, imagine what you are?!"
He sighed and looked around the room and back to me.
"I'm not fine. But I'm trying to be! For you and for Harriet. I guess I thought I'd run you away always being broken like I was. I just want to feel like me again."
"I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
"Let me make you feel like you again." I whispered as I layed my hands on his chest.

Then he grabbed my face and kissed me hard. I smiled through the kiss as he picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his torso. He placed soft kisses on my neck as he carried me up the stairs. And well, me and Jackson reconnected.