Remember Your Worth | Jackson Avery

thirty-one

"It was a very different time then. It was his name. It was his foundation. He made the rules." She reasoned.

"Oh, please stop talking, Mom. You told me to step up. You wanted to buy this hospital, I wanted nothing to do with it, and you said, "Step up. Take the lead. Take part in what this family has built," right? You didn't tell me what the hell it was built on." He spat.

"No, no. You do not get to do that. You do not get to stand there in judgment of me. Thirty years ago, getting harassed at work, getting groped at work wasn't something we could protest. It was something we had to take with our morning coffee. It was part of the job, and if we made a noise, if we fussed, we were told we were overreacting.

"More often than not, we lost the job and our reputation along with it. I was not then who I am now. I didn't have the voice then that I have now. I had choices. I could stand there and let your grandfather fire those women and drag them through the mud, or I could make sure they got some money, a leg to stand on, a path to move forward on. I'm not ashamed of myself, Jackson, but I am ashamed of what your grandfather did. I'm so sorry that now you have to carry that burden along with me, and I'm sorry that that burden just might bring this family, this entire hospital, and all of his hospitals down." She truthfully spoke.

"You were put into a terrible position, Mom, and I doubted you. I forgot who you were for a moment. I'm sorry. We just got to tell the truth and get out ahead of this thing.'

"Tell me it isn't true." Meredith said, coming in.

"I've spent my whole life working for that award. What did Harper Avery do?"

'Well, I guess we might as well start now. We're gonna start with you, Meredith." Catherine sighed.

"So, these women, they were offered money in exchange for what exactly?"

"In exchange for silence and an agreement that they would never work at a Harper Avery hospital or enter the Harper Avery Awards.."

"I mean, my mother spent her career trying to win Harper Avery Awards. She lost her best friend over it. His initials take up half the space in her journals... Oh, my God. Does the name Marie Cerone mean anything to you?" Mer asked Catherine.

"Yes. She was one of the women."

"So my mother had to take her name off of the paper or she would never be able to win a Harper Avery. Son of a bitch." Meredith huffed, shaking her head.

"You guys can go now." She said, checking the time then walking out.

Once we grabbed our things and Rae, we were on our way out when we stopped by the TV in the lobby. Others gathered around, listening to the news about Harper.

"The women allege that Dr. Harper Avery made unwanted advances and then barred them from working at any hospital that received funding from his foundation, effectively crippling their medical careers. Today, they say they're finished being silenced." The woman reported.

"Well, we're not out ahead of it.." Jackson whispered, looking around.

~

I checked the calendar, marking how close I was to my due date. My hymen was healed and the bruising was almost gone.

My eyes met Nick's as he, Jackson and Daveed came over. Mer stood next to me, finishing up her reports.

"Ladies.." Nick smiled.

"Idiot.." mer whispered.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked Jackson, pulling his arm before he could even answer.

"Hey, what's up?" He questioned as we turned and walked down the hall.

"What do you think of Harvey? I think it's a good unisex name since we don't know what the baby is yet." I randomly questioned.

"That's what you pulled me away for? Babe, no. Harvey sounds too much like Harper.."

"Dr. Avery!" Qadri called.

"I finished the paper for your spray-on skin proposal, but the other Dr. Avery asked me to type up a proposal for the gender-affirmation surgery idea so I did both of them... in three days, without sleeping." We stared at her.

"Both of them." She repeated.

"Did I already say that? I may be over-caffeinated. Anyway, I know you asked me to do this one, but this one is really cool. Not that you asked.. I'm gonna stop talking now." She said, still holding the papers.

"Thank you." He said, grabbing the papers before we walked away.

"Can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course." I took his hand, pulling him into a supply closet.

I stood in front of the door, gulping, afraid to tell my husband what his "bestfriend" did.

"Are you okay? What's going on?"

"Has Nick told you about any of his ex-girlfriends?" I asked him.

"No.. he just told me about this one girl who lied and cheated on him then suddenly left one day. Never told me her name, though."

I eyed him. This story sounded almost like mine, except for the lying and cheating part.

"Why do you ask? What's your interest in Nick?"

"You don't break promises, right?"

"That's right. What does that have to do-" I cut him off.

"I need you to promise me that you won't lash out or get angry and do something stupid."

"I promise." He huffed. I took a deep breath, wiping my tears.

"I am Nick's ex-girlfriend, in his story, I'm the one that cheated, lied and left-"

"Wait, what?"

"I didn't cheat, or lie.. if he thought I was going to, he beat me until he somehow convinced himself that I learned my lesson. I left one day while he was at work. Lucky for me, he got caught in a nine hour session with since couple so I had to time to leave.."

"Wh..." Jackson stood, lost for words.

"He's the reason my dad is injured. Don't believe the nice guy picture he gives off, he's a monster." Jackson nodded, stepping in front of me.

"Move." He said.

"No."

"Move, please.."

His reaction paused my tongue. I was even more frightened to tell his about the recent events.

"There's something else.." I whispered. He lightly pulled me into a hug.

"He, um... he raped me."

"Hold on, what!?" He separated us, looking down at me.

"When did this happen? Was this while my child is in your belly?" I slowly nodded. He cringed, wiping a tear from his eye.

His arms embraced me, gently squeezing before I was picked up and moved away from the door. He snatched it open, angrily walking out.