The Insiders ↠ Jackson Avery

two; death and all his friends

"The human life is made up of choices- yes or no, up or down, and then there are the choices that matter. To love or hate, to be a hero or to be a coward. To fight, or to give in. To live or die"

Nola felt the fear grow with every second that Bennett didn't come back. There had been another gunshot since he left, and while her lip began to bleed as she held back her sobs, it didn't help that there was nothing to stop the thoughts. The very ideas that she might not ever see him again. Bennett was her everything, he was her person.

Nola didn't like him at first, in fact, she was more than positive he would be one of the first to drop out or be such an asshole that he'd make it. But then Nola lost her first patient, and she sat on the floor crying, much like she was now, and he placed his hand out and pulled her up. "Hey, you were badass in there, you did everything you possibly could, don't forget that. Plus, you're hot so you've got that going for you". The ending made her laugh in his face, and the two of them had been inseparable since. Bennett had changed a lot in the last four years, he was much like Yang when they met. Cold, distant, not as caring as he was now. In the beginning, Nola could hardly be in the same room as him, now she could hardly be in a room without him. Nola didn't know what she would do if she never saw him again when she walked into a room.

Nola felt new liquid spread between her thighs, the streams of tears getting thicker as she brought her hands down to the floor; the light shining through the small door window showing the red on her fingertips.

"N-No, please no" She sobbed, for only one second forgetting it all, being as loud as she felt like being. Another gunshot made her jump, hitting her head off the large metal shelf as she began to sob even harder, something she didn't know was possible. Nola let out a scream as she placed her hands on her very pregnant belly.

"Just hold on little guy, please baby"Nola whispered, the fear in her voice heavy as she tried to hold it in, as she tried with all of her might to make everything just stop.

Nola sucked her breath in as she heard the touch of the door nob from the outside, small sobs came from her mouth as she watched the light flood through, enough for her to see the large puddle of blood on the floor where she sat. Her head tilted up to see Bennett walk through the door. Blood all over his clothes as he looked at her with nothing but sadness in his eyes.

"Oh my god, were you shot?! What happened?!"

"It's not my b-lood, its- it's okay" Bennett told her, shaking his head more with every step he took towards her as his voice broke.

"Whos is it?Oh my god-"

"Charles-"Bennett sounded like he had more to say, but he cut himself off when his shoe made a smacking sound against fluid on the floor. Grabbing a flashlight from the top shelf, he clicked the button before lighting up the spot Nola sat around.

"How bad is it?"

"N-nnot bad at all" Bennett told her, making her roll her eyes at him as he bent down in front of her, his bottom scrubs absorbing the red pool as he looked at her, trying to hide his fear.

"You always were a horrible liar" Nola told him, leaning her head back to look at him. Now that she wasn't alone, now that she wasn't the only one protecting her child, the adrenaline was gone; and she was exhausted.

"How long have you been bleeding?"He asked her, making her head pop up as she looked at them, nothing about her appearing as awake as she was when he came in.

"I don't know, I only noticed about 5/6 minutes ago, it's bad, isn't it?"She asked, the panic in her eyes hurting him as he looked down once again.

"Im going to check how far dilated you are, okay?"He asked, watching as she laid her head back against the shelf, her eyes looking more tired by the minute.

"I have to say, this isn't how I imagined this would go" Bennett said, causing the tired girl to laugh- which only made her groan in response. It hurt. Laughing hurt,

"Only in your dreams B" Nola said, her voice going from silky smooth to drier by the minute.

She was deteriorating fast. Even she knew that.

"Bennett?" She called out, opening her eyes for the first time in a few minutes to see that he hadn't left her side, he was rummaging through the shelves to find something to stop the bleeding, something to help her.

It became apparent to Bennett, that his best friend was bleeding, showing the signs of blood loss more and more by the second. He knew how damaging that would have been to the baby. How he couldn't move her in fear of them being shot. Of really losing her for good.

They had only ever gotten into a fight once before, it was enough to make her feel like everything was falling apart. There was something strange between Bennett and Nola, something that no one else really understood; sometimes they didn't either. There wasn't anything romantic between them, they had established that early on, but either of them would jump out of a plan, or in front of a bullet for eachother. Maybe it was the fact that Nola was an only child to a single mom who worked more than she was ever home so Nola could live well. While she only did the required week rotation in psych, she knows that her childhood is the reason she is a loner, the reason too many people at once exhaust her, why it completely interfered with her love for medicine. Because she was always around people. Bennett was the first to not make her exhausted, no matter how long he was around, no matter how many times he made her roll her eyes or yell his name in frustration.

Nola had gotten better, she had accepted more people into her life, learned to enjoy people more. There was April, Lexi, which then by extension got the two of them into the Grey/Yang club. But Bennett was her best friend, the one who built her baby room so she wouldn't move out, the one who was going to save her life.

When Nola opened her eyes again, the bright sunlight from the windows made her eyes hurt, the muffled sounds and vibrations from Bennett's chest falling against her back.

"Someone help! Please!"Bennett screamed, placing his back against the door to push it open as he held her in his arms.

"Russo?!"Hunts voice carried across the parking lot as he ran towards the police and ambulance, the tears rushing down his face as his clothes got more soaked in blood by the minute.

"28-year-old female, 8 months pregnant and in labour, bleeding started roughly 45 minutes ago. She has been in and out of consciousness for the last 10" He told the paramedics as he placed her on the bed.

"Russo, what happen to her?"Altman asked, placing her palm on her scrub cap as the loaded Nola onto rig.

"She was at the beginning of Labour when the first gunshot went off, we both dropped to the ground; I think maybe the fall caused the bleed. Oh god" Bennett cried, everything really hitting him at once.

"Go, go with her. We will keep you updated with what's happened here, okay?" Altman told him, placing a hand on his shoulder while he sucked in a deep breath, nodding his head.

As soon as he sat down in the ambulance, it began to move, the paramedics working around him as he grabbed Nola's hand.

"You better not die on me today Washington, I swear I'll kick your ass"He threatened, using his free hand to wipe his face; which didn't stop the tears from falling.

He couldn't lose her.

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