𝐒𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐄 | 𝐉.𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘

s3 e5: "thank you. i don't think i've told you that enough lately"

☁︎·̩͙✧ ❝ I THINK I LOVE YOU
A LITTLE BIT MORE
EVERY DAY ❞ ✧·̩͙☁︎

─── ∙ ~𑁍~ ∙ ───
"𝐧𝐨, 𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐲. 𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐲"

slowly opening her eyes, kelsey squinted into the darkness of the room in the direction of jackson's bed.

"come on" she slowly sat up, lifted her upper body and allowed for her back to stretch, pushing her arms into the air as she let out a yawn. finishing her yawn, she blinked until her eyes adjusted in the dark and looked at jackson, watching as he started to squirm. with furrowed eyebrows she slowly stepped over to the bed, placing her hand softly on his chest.

"jackso—"

"kelsey! kelsey—ow!" he moaned as he popped up, immediately hissing in pain.

"hey. what's wrong?" she softly asked as she sat on the edge of his bed, covering her mouth with her hand as she let out another yawn.

"nothing, nothing" he dismissed as he readjusted himself, staring up at the white ceiling above then.

"come on j, talk to me" she insisted, pulling the rim of the hospital gown up past his collarbone.

"i.....guess, i had a dream that i was back at the house. the burning one. i wanted to give up so bad. it was hot as hell, my leg was going numb, i couldn't breathe. but i thought about you. and how i did it again" he said, dropping his head to the right, putting his attention on kelsey. "doing things without thinking about you first. i mean i thought about but....not long enough. i had to come home to you, to apologize" he admitted in a low tone, running his hand along her thigh. "i'm sorry, kelsey. sorry i keep—"

"it's okay, jackson, really. i told you, i'll be the selfish one. as long as you can make it back home to me in one piece, you can continue to go out there and be a hero" she smiled, lovingly caressing his cheek with the back of her index finger. his hand moved up to grab hers, a lot less shaky than it had been the day before, planting small butterfly kisses in the middle of her palm.

"it's nice that your voice was the first thing i heard today" he professed gruffly, a small smile forming across his tired face. kelsey let out a giggle before softly kissing his forehead, moving and laying her head on his chest, under his slinged arm, with a smile.

"don't good morning me, where is my son?!" a voice that couldn't be anyone other than catherine avery herself boomed throughout the halls. jackson's eyes popped open, peeking over at the door with slightly widened eyes.

"how did she?....did you call my?...."

"maybe" she insinuated in a somewhat high pitched tone, slowly sliding out of the bed while avoiding eye contact with her. kelsey immediately stood up from the bed as the door swung open, noticing catherine's facial expression soften as she seen her son lying in the hospital bed in pain.

"oh baby, what happened to you?" her voice trembled as she placed her purse on the chair closest to the door, walking over to the bed with open arms.

"i'm—ah. i'm fine, mom" he assured, wincing as she expressed her concern for him a little too tightly.

"fine? you're in a cast for goodness sake!"