Remember Your Worth | Jackson Avery

forty-eight

"How's our baby doing?" Jackson whispered in my ear as he rubbed my poking stomach. 

"Your baby is kicking me, I wish you'd tell her to stop."

"Clearly, he has a reason."

"What makes you think it's a boy?"

"I'm not totally sure." He shrugged. I laughed.

"Sage!" I heard Aunt Mir's voice.

I turned, seeing her with an older, bald man.

"I wanted to catch you before you got your day started."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"This is Doctor Cormac Hayes. Dr. Hayes will be your new co-chief in peds."

"My new what?"

"Uh, co-chief. You know, the other person in an equal partnership. Frankly, I'd be grateful for the extra help."

"Respectfully, Chief, this is a partnership I didn't ask for."

"Well, as chief of surgery, I don't need your permission. You're gonna work with Dr. Hayes and you're gonna like it."

I huffed, rolling my eyes as I walked away.

~

"Any bleeding?" Carlos asked.

"For the tenth time, no."

"Don't get snappy with me. I'm just checking on baby."

"I feel fine."

"Well, then, you are cleared from me. Get out of here."

"I was planning to operate anyway."

"The fatigue will set in soon, you're gonna be begging to get out of that OR."

"Whatever."

I waved off Romero, leaving the room. My first case was with Hayes, how lucky was I? We met up at CT, waiting for the scans to pop up on the screen.

"No offense to you. I wasn't expecting you." I said.

"Completely fine, love. Trust me, I understand. Shall we start over?"

"I'm Sage."

"Cormac Hayes. From what I've picked up on, everyone calls you Sage. You can call me Hayes if you'd like."

I remembered the picture Cristina sent me. McWidow was the nickname she'd given him. I paused, fighting the urge to call him McWidow.

"Hayes.. got it."

We reviewed the scans, coming up with a course of action. While waiting for the boy's new labs, I sat in the cafeteria, eating lunch.

"Hey, beautiful." Jackson smiled, kissing my cheek then sitting down.

"Hey, I thought you had a surgery."