Chapter 26

"Tell him that you were instrumental in getting the chief's trial approved for phase one human testing, from mice to humans."  I mumble to Jackson as we stand in the bathroom brushing our teeth. Today the interviews for chief resident are officially starting and I'm giving Jackson some pointers before we go in for them.

"I'm not doing that." He shakes his head.

"Look, I know you don't like bragging about yourself, but you don't even have to brag. Your diabetes trial does it for you. It's going to win every award. Seriously. Just make sure that he knows..." I start before Jackson interrupts me.

"I got it." He says spitting into the sink and walking away.

"That you've been instrumental." I yell so he can hear me.

"Got it." He yells again.

"He don't got it." I mumble to myself. I don't know why Jackson has been acting like this. Anytime I even mention the diabetes trial he changes the subject. If it was me I would talk about that trial 24/7, I mean it's not everyday you make steps towards curing diabetes. I finish getting ready and I leave and head to the hospital. Jackson and I decided to drive separate since lately our shifts have been ending at different times and one of us always gets stuck sitting in the waiting area until the other one gets finished. I  wasn't nervous at all about my interview today. After talking to Derek the other day I've realized that even if I don't win Chief Resident I'm still one of the best residents at Seattle Grace.

Once I arrived at the hospital I go to the locker room and got dressed in my scrubs. I go check on a couple of Shepherd's post ops and grab a couple of lab results. As I'm walking down the hallway I hear what sounds like a baby crying, but I'm not sure if I'm just hearing things because baby's are always taken to the pediatric floor not the surgical wing. I turn around and see Mark walking down the hallway with, Sophia.

"Oh my god, she is so adorable." I smile walking over to them.

"Of course she is, she's a Sloan." Mark smiles proudly making me laugh.

"You know it's probably not the best idea to have her at the hospital with all of these germs." I say.

"It's fine to bring her here. Just have to keep her out of the actual OR with all of the blood and germs.." he said. "Here, you want to hold her?" Mark says gesturing for me to grab the baby.

"Of course I do." I smile grabbing Sophia. As soon as I get her she stops crying.

"How'd you do that. She's been crying all morning. " He chuckles.

"Baby's like me, plus she probably likes being actually held better then that little carrier thing you had her in." I say.

"I will keep that in mind." He smiles.

"She's gotten so big since the last time I saw her." I say looking at the now smiling baby.

"Yeah, she's really growing." Mark smiles proudly.

"You know, I'm really happy for you Mark. You deserve to finally be a dad." I tell him.

"Thank you. This little girl has changed my life for the better, I never knew I could love someone this much. Almost everything in my life is perfect now."

"Almost?"

"Yeah, the only thing missing is Lexie." He sighs.

"You know she still loves you, right?" I ask.

"I don't think she does." He says.

"Mark, believe me I know she does. She might try to pretend that she's over you, but when Callie got into that accident and almost lost the baby, who rushed to your side to comfort you?"

"Lexie."

"Exactly, so don't give up on her. She'll come around." I tell him.

"Thanks Garcia. You know you give really good advice." He says.

"I know." I smile making him laugh.

"Sophia really likes you. Have you ever thought about having a baby, you know after what happened last time?"

"Yeah, one day I would like to have a baby. I mean when I look at Jackson I can't imagine not building a family with him, but definitely not anytime soon." I shake my head. "With us both being residents we don't have anywhere near enough time for a child." I say honestly before my pager goes off and I see that the Chief is paging me.

"Looks like the Chief needs me." I say as I hand Sophia back to Mark, before going to the Chief's office to see what he needs.

"You paged, sir." I say closing the door behind me as I walk into his office.

"Yes, I know it's not really any of my business, but do you have any idea why Jackson decided to quit our diabetes trial?" Chief asks me.

"He did what?" I say raising my voice.

"I thought he would've told you. He came to me today and asked to be taken off of the trial." Chief says.

"No, I had no idea, but believe me when I see him I will make sure to find out why he made that decision." I say before walking out of the Chief's office.

I don't get why Jackson would do something like this, not only would that trial have raised his chance to become Chief Resident, but he could've went down in history. I mean curing diabetes is a big deal. Before I can go find Jackson I get paged to do my Chief Resident interview. It lasted about an hour. I basically just got asked about why I want to be Chief Resident and what qualifications I have for the job.

After I finish I get paged by Nelson to assist on a craniotomy, which goes smoothly. As soon as I get scrubbed out I go to the locker room to get dressed since my shift is over then I go to find Jackson, so I can speak to him about why he quit the trial.

"Avery". I call as I see him walking down the hallway.

"Hey, how'd your..." He starts to say before I interrupt him,

"We need to talk now." I say dragging him into an on call room and closing the door behind us.

"Did I do something?"

"Why did you quit the Chief's trial?" I frown.

"Really, this why you dragged me in here?" He frowns.

"Yes, now answer the question." I say.

"I don't have to answer anything. Why does it matter why I quit the trial anyways?"

"Because I'm trying to understand you Jackson, but I can't think of any reason that someone would quit a clinical trial that made them a contender for Chief Resident and I especially don't understand why you would quit the Chief's trial. He is the head of this hospital, most residents would kill to be on a trial with him." I sigh.

"I quit because of my name, okay." He yells.

"What does your name have to do with the trial?" I ask.

"The diabetes trial is doing great. It has a chance to win every medical award out there, but I'm an Avery if my name is associated with that trial, there's no chance the Chief can win a Harper Avery. It'll look like favoritism." He sighs.

"Jackson, that was very selfless of you. You put the Chief and his trial before yourself and I am sorry for yelling at you, but don't let your name hold you back, okay? You are one of the most hard working people I know and you deserve to be recognized for it." I say.

"But see the thing is I don't feel like I'm being held back. Lily, the awards don't matter to me, what matters to me is getting to come to this hospital and save lives and what matters to me is having you in my life. As long as I have you I'm happy, I don't need anything else." He says making me smile before giving him a kiss. "What was that for?"

"For being so sweet and perfect, now let's head home," I smile.

"I have to check a couple more post ops then I'll meet you there." He smiles.

"You sure you don't want me to wait for you?" I ask.

"No, it's okay. You go ahead and head home. The weathers supposed to be bad tonight and I don't want you driving in it."

"Okay, well I'll be waiting up for you when you get home." I smile before kissing him again then leaving.

"Crap." I say to myself when I see it's already started raining. I open my umbrella before running to the car. I leave the hospital turning my windshield wipers on so I can see better since it is raining so hard. I've always hated driving in the rain, the only thing I liked to do while it was raining was to snuggle up to Jackson and binge watch shows.

I strained my eyes trying to see better, but as I was driving another car pulled out in front me making me slam on brakes which causes me to hydroplane and lose control of the car. I tighten my hands around the steering wheel trying to gain control of the car again, but I can't and my car drifts into the other lane. The next thing I knew all I heard is the sound of horns blowing before I collided head on with a truck, causing me to automatically fade into unconsciousness.