Chapter 6

It was Thanksgiving and of course I was at the hospital working which I didn't mind. I don't like holidays, so I had no desire to be off. The only reason I celebrated holidays during previous years was because it was so important to George and Izzie, but with George being dead and Izzie being gone again I didn't really have a reason to try to be festive this year.

"Happy Thanksgiving." Jackson smiles joining me at the front desk where I was finishing working on a chart

"Happy Thanksgiving." I smile. It's been 2 weeks since we hung out at Joe's and we've been spending a lot of time together lately. We actually went on our first official date which went really well.

"It sucks having to work on Thanksgiving." He says.

"Are you kidding? Holidays are the best time of the year to work. That's when the best cases come in. It's so much better then sitting at a table making forced conversation." I shrug.

"I'm taking it you're not much of a holiday person." He jokes.

"Oh, is it obvious?" I chuckle before my pager goes off.

"Off I go. Surgery awaits." I smile before going to scrub in and joining Derek, Arizona, and Lexie in the OR. We were operating on a little boy with a cluster of blood vessels in his brain that were causing continuous nose bleeds. Lexie spent most of the surgery was busy talking about the fact that Mark might possibly have a daughter who appeared out of nowhere.

"She's 18. That's not very much younger then me." Lexie says.

"It's not that shocking actually. The way Mark got around before he met you. There could be a gaggle of Sloan's. Sloan Jones, Sloan Smith, Sloan Sloan." Derek jokes.

"Derek, you are not helping the situation at all." I say while holding back a laugh.

"Oh damn it, son of a bitch. I can't access the feeders." Derek says as he runs into a problem with the surgery.

"So what does that mean?" Lexie asks.

"It means he can't get at it. He can only do a temporary fix and once he starts bleeding again which he will, there won't be anything we can do." I explain.

"So we're just going to send this child home to die?" Lexie asks.

"Pretty much." I sigh.

"Happy Thanksgiving Jacobsen family." Arizona sighs disappointed. We get the bleeding stopped for now before scrubbing out. Arizona and Derek go inform the family about what's happening while I join Meredith, Cristina, and Alex in the skills lab.

"This day sucks. I have a 6 year old who came in for a simple nose bleed and got a death sentence." I sigh.

"That does suck." Meredith agreed.

"Look on the bright side at least we don't have to spend all day with obnoxious relatives practicing stupid traditions and saying what we're grateful for." Cristina says.

"I think we should do the opposite. Talk about what we're not grateful for." Alex scoffs.

"The merger." Cristina says.

"The Mercy Westers." Meredith says:

"They're like the plague. I mean stealing all of our surgeries, eating all that pie in the nurses station." Alex says.

"They're actually not that bad once you get to know them." I say even though I only meant Jackson. I actually didn't like any of the other Mercy West residents.

"You're only saying that because you're into Avery." Alex smirks.

"Shut up, he's right behind us." I glare at Alex.

"Oh you didn't deny it." Alex smirks.

"Shut up." I say through gritted teeth.

"You're doing that wrong." Meredith says to Alex who's practicing sutures.

"I am not." He scoffs.

"You are. Can I show you?" Meredith asks him.

"Private lessons with the Chief. Man, those daddy issues are working for you." Cristina smirks referring to the time that Meredith's been spending with Webber who's been teaching her different surgical techniques.

"I don't have daddy issues. He's teaching me." Meredith says.

"You're his bitch." Alex says,

"Well in that case you're Teddy's bitch, and you're Derek's bitch." Meredith says looking at Cristina and I.

"Maybe that's my problem. I'm nobody's bitch." Alex says.

"You were Izzie's bitch." Cristina says making me kick her under the table.

"Ouch." She frowns.

"You're the bitch." Alex frowns making me kick him also.

"Ouch."

"No name calling." I scold.

"Yeah, please." Cristina agrees.

"Just show me that stitch again." Alex says to Meredith.

I was with Mark and Derek looking at a 3D brain and working on equipment for the surgery. With Marks help we're trying to find a way to save the little boy. Mark was busy complaining about Sloan. His daughter, who's currently living with him and Lexie.

"I wanna bolt, I want to quit. I want to go back to New York or I don't know Arkansas. Somewhere no one can come looking for me. I don't know how to talk to her, I don't know what she wants for me. It's the guilt you know. It's how every time I look at her I just, the guilt is like a punch in the gut everyday." Mark says.

"Well you shouldn't feel guilty. You didn't know." Derek says and I nod my head in agreement.

"I knew when her mom got pregnant. She told me. I gave her a couple hundred bucks and I left town, I never saw her again. I figured she got an abortion, hoped, but I did know." He admits.

"But you're a different, more responsible person now. We both know that." I say to him.

"Yeah, you've grown. You're capable of better." Derek agreed.

"Nicholas is back in the ER. He's got a nose bleed, bad. I've tried to stop it for an hour." Arizona says entering the room.

"We can't operate, we're not ready." Derek says.

"Then I'll admit him and keep transfusing till the equipment's done, which is going to be soon, I hope." Arizona says. We continued working on the equipment before I left to check in on Derek and Mark's patients while they continued working on the equipment.

"Here we are working on another holiday. I'm sure it's much to your satisfaction." Jackson says walking beside me.

"Of course it is. Surgery is the best Christmas present there is unless you're the one getting it." I say.

"Yeah, that would suck." He agreed.

"So how are things going with no heart girl?" I ask him referring to his patient.