Chapter 57

"Jackson Avery really has a bigger say than any of us in running this hospital?" Arizona frowns as we all gather in the board room reading over paperwork as we get ready for our first board of directors meeting.

"That can't be true. Can it?" Cristina asks.

"It is, but believe me he is not happy about it. He makes sure to remind me of that over and over again." I sigh sipping my coffee. Jackson doesn't like the fact that his mother put him in this position, a position he never wanted and since I'm the one who convinced her to help the hospital, of course he's blaming me for it.

"He's a voting member of the management team and he also represents the Harper Avery foundation." Derek says.

"And their 175 million bucks." Callie adds.

"As opposed to our $15 million apiece." Arizona says as her and Callie sit down.

"According to Stan, not only does he have the deciding vote, he can veto ours." Derek says.

"That is ridiculous. He is a fellow." Cristina scoffs.

"You guys relax. Jackson won't veto anything. He'll respect our decisions. " I assure everyone.

"And you're a fellow too." Meredith adds looking at Cristina and I nod my head in agreement.

"But he's a plastics fellow and I'm me." Cristina says.

"You guys, just give him a chance before you start judging how he's going to run the board of directors." I say.

"Yeah, it's Jackson. He's not some corporate stranger. He's one of us." Meredith says and I nod my head in agreement.

"No, you're right. He's a smart kid. He's gonna follow our lead." Derek says.

"No, no. We made this plan. We pulled it together. Look, I'm grateful to the Harper Avery Foundation for an infusion of cash, but I'm, I'm not gonna let some, some.." Callie says.

"Plastics fellow." Cristina chimes in.

"Plastics fellow tell me how to run my service 'cause his mommy said he could." Callie says.

"Preach." Arizona says.

"Well just like you're not going to let Jackson tell you what to do, I'm not going to let anyone bash him when he isn't here to defend himself, so how about everyone shut up and focus on what we're here for. A meeting." I say raising my voice, causing everyone to become silent. I was not about to sit here and let everyone talk bad about Jackson, even if he has been acting like an ass to me lately. After sitting in silence for a little while we begin our meeting.

"Okay, so we agree that the peds and adult E.R.' s will be combined to save on personnel?" Arizona asks.

"Yeah." We all say in unison.

"I'm sorry, guys. I was running on timeand then my last rounds' patient turned into a crier." Jackson explains as he walks into the office with a bunch of files and some donuts and sets them on the table as everyone continues to blankly stare at him, except for me. I send him a friendly smile that he doesn't return as he sits down in his chair.

"We were discussing the reopening of the E.R. and the trauma department." I explain.

"Oh, yes. Um, I'm not ready for that just yet." Jackson says.

"If you need more time with the material, we can go ahead..." Derek says.

"No, no, I've, I've read it. Uh, it's just that the foundation feels like the E.R. is not a forgone conclusion. They need a site visit, a chance to look over the numbers. It could be a month before a decision." Jackson explains as he reads over some paperwork.

"Okay. The foundation knows we plan on getting our level-1 trauma designation back, right?" Arizona asks obviously upset.

"They know that's the idea, yeah." Jackson says.

"Uh, it's the fact." Callie states.

"I think we should table this until we can bring in Owen. Uh, he'll have a lot of thoughts on this, too." Cristina says.

"Yeah that's, that's the other thing." Jackson says causing everyone to stare at him.

"What thing?" Derek asks.

"Okay. Since we are starting fresh, the thought is that new leadership would be good for morale." Jackson says.

"What, like, uh, chief of surgery?" Cristina says.

"Oh, no way." Callie says.

"Firing Owen?" Meredith asks.

"Okay, we're not firing Owen." Cristina says.

"Everybody just let him explain." I interrupt, before Jackson starts back talking.

"Okay, well, the foundation thinks that..." Jackson says.

"Your mother." Callie interrupts.

"The Harper Avery foundation." Jackson corrects.

"Your mother, Avery. Just say it." Callie interrupts again.

"Or you could just shut your mouth and let him finish." I say rolling my eyes at her.

"It's a recommendation." Jackson says slightly raising his voice.

"It's an inappropriate one." Cristina says as she stands up.

"Oh, tell your mom that, this is bull..." Callie begins to say before I interrupt her.

"And this is going nowhere because certain individuals are acting like children, so how about we just try this again later." I say and everyone agrees and begins to stand up and get ready to leave.

"You know, I don't care who's giving you your marching orders, this thing with Owen is not happening." Cristina says.

"Cristina you're not in charge here." I say.

"Say what you want, but without the Harper Avery foundation, none of us are here." Jackson says looking at Cristina and Meredith who are still in the boardroom with us.

"And we appreciate that, but no one expected them to come in and start dictating policy." Meredith says.

"Yeah, well, no one asked you to sue the hospital into bankruptcy either." He reply's.

"For the plane crash that killed Lexie?" Meredith frowns, before her and Cristina walk out.

"Really Jackson. That was uncalled for." I scold.

"No. No freaking way you get to judge me. I'm in this situation because of you." He frowns as he gathers his paperwork.

"Because of me? This isn't my fault." I yell.

"Yes it is. You're the one who convinced my mom to buy the hospital and now I'm stuck being the Harper Avery foundations show pony and it's turning my friends against me, so thanks." He says before walking out of the boardroom. I leave the boardroom and go meet Stephanie, so we can go on rounds. After we finish I leave to go to the front desk and as I'm walking towards it I hear arguing and as I walk closer I see that it's Jackson and Owen arguing.

"Nobody's saying anything. I've been shut out of every decision that you people make and now I hear this." Owen says raising his voice.

"Alright, calm down." Jackson frowns.