Chapter 40

Today is the day. All of the fifth year residents are leaving for the boards. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at all, but it's not out of fear of taking the test. It's the realization that after the boards we will all be deciding where we are going to do our fellowship at and go our separate ways. In a way it's like we're starting our lives all over again.

"You've got this Liliana. You've been preparing for this for months. All of your hard work and dedication is about to pay off. I know without any doubt that you have nothing to worry about, you are about to kick the boards ass." Derek assures me. He has been following me around giving me pep talks all morning.

"Derek, I know I've got this. There's no doubt in my mind that I'm going to pass the boards. Now you need to go get Meredith, she's still in the daycare with Zola." I say.

"Yeah you're right. You sure you're not nervous?"

"I'm sure, now go get Meredith." I laugh.

"Okay, make me proud Garcia." Derek smiles giving me a hug before leaving to go find Meredith. I get on the bus and take my seat beside Jackson who was beyond nervous for the boards.

"Baby, you're going to do great. You don't need to be nervous." I tell him.

"I know, it's just I'm an Avery. If I don't pass the boards I'll be an embarrassment to my family name." He sighs.

"Hey, I don't want to hear any negative talk. You're going to pass the boards and make your family proud, okay."

"Okay." He sighs. We wait a little while longer for Alex and Meredith and once they arrive the bus leaves and before we know it we're at the airport waiting for our flight. After a brief wait we board our plane for San Francisco. I slept for the whole flight, until the plane landed and Jackson woke me up to tell me we had arrived. We all grab our bags and catch a taxi to the hotel we'll be staying in and also taking our boards at. We walk into the crowded hotel and find a place to sit, except for April who's having what looks like a heated conversation with some guy.

"Well he hates me." April sighs walking over to us and sitting down.

"How do you do that? You've been here, like two minutes." Alex smirks.

"My examiner is gonna hate me too, instantly." April sighs.

"Stop complaining, you're going to sike your own self out." I say.

"One in six people fail the boards." April says.

"Fine, psych yourself out." Cristina shrugs.

"It's just a test, we've all dealt with worse. It's not like someone's on our operating table, we'll be fine." I say before Meredith and Cristina walk away for a couple of seconds.

"So do you guys wanna go register and then go get some lunch." April asks walking over to them. Meredith throws up as soon as she hears the word lunch, causing us to all walk over and check on her.

"What just happened?" April asks.

"Stomach flu." Cristina sighs, before they explain that Meredith caught the stomach flu from Zola.

"Zola has the stomach flu and you didn't say anything?" Jackson asks.

"How could you, are you trying to sabotage us all?" April asks.

"It's not like it's the Black Plague." Meredith says squinting her eyes at April.

"You are supposed to be our friend." April says dramatically.

"Oh April, calm down." Meredith says as she begins to step towards us.

"Oh, you stay right where you are typhoid Mary. Come on let's get registered." Alex says before we walk to the front desk to get our registration packet.

"Dude is that your mom?" Alex asks Jackson as we stand in line, making Jackson and I look over and sure enough we see Catherine walking our way.

"Baby." She smiles as she walks towards Jackson.

"Oh no." He mumbles.

"I know, I know. You don't want to see your mother before the boards, but they are wearing this old girl out. Got me examining three sessions tomorrow, and I might not see you so I had to say good luck to both of you." She says to Jackson and I.

"Thank you." I smile.

"Yes, thank you mom we appreciate it." Jackson says.

"And I brought it." She smiles reaching into her purse.

"Mnh-mnh, no, no that's fine." Jackson says trying to stop her.

"It's here somewhere." She says still rummaging through her purse.

"That's fine, that's okay." Jackson reassures her.

"That's what you always say, but you always want it in the end."

"Okay, alright. Mom, I'm good I am."

"Well I'm in room 809 when you change your mind." She says.

"Alright." He says before she walks away.

"Mommy bring your binky?" Alex asks messing with Jackson.

"It's my lucky pencil."

"Why? This is an oral test, you won't even need it?" I say.

"I know, okay. It's just, I used it for my S.A.T's and my M.C.A.T's and my intern exam." Jackson says.

"So it's your binky." Alex says.

"Yeah." Jackson sighs making me giggle at the embarrassed expression that is on his face. We make it to the front of the line and sign all of the paperwork for registration before putting our stuff in our room and going to April's room where we are going to review for the exam.

"Okay. 56 year old presents with pancreatic ductal obstruction and dilated main pancreatic duct, post op procedure, yes." Jackson says reading a flashcard.

"Dude give it a rest. If we don't know it by now we're screwed, besides you've got your magical pencil to see you threw." Alex jokes, so I throw a pillow at his head.

"Ouch." He mumbles as it hits him.

"He's got a magical pencil? Oh say more." Cristina smirks.

"His mommy brought it." Alex smiles.

Wait, how magical is this pencil and can it stop that?" Cristina says pointing at April who's sitting on the bed crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. This all just got really, really real." April cries.

"And man down." I sigh.

"Two men down, first Grey now.." Jackson says.

"Meredith's not down, she's fine." Cristina says before walking out of the room.

"Shut up." Alex says standing up as he calls Arizona. "Dr. Robbin's...well you don't answer my text, I just want to know if you got Tommy's X-rays back yet...Is Morgan, are, are you going to operate?" He asks before hanging up a couple of seconds later.

"I gotta go." Alex says.

"Go where, to eat?" Jackson asks.

"No, I gotta go back to Seattle."

"What? Alex you can't." I say.

"I have to." He says before walking out of the room. After that Jackson and I go back to our room to get some rest for a little while, by the time we wake up it's time for dinner so we freshen up before meeting April in the restaurant downstairs.