Chapter 66

"Baby, you ready?" Jackson asks walking into the room where I'm doing my makeup and hair for the gala. The hospital is having a gala to raise money to cover the damages the storm did to part of the building a couple of weeks ago.

"No, I am not ready as I'm sure you can tell." I say as I begin removing my flexi rods out of my hair.

"Lily..." He sighs.

"Jackson, don't you dare try to use this as an opportunity to tell me how effortlessly beautiful I am. It is not the time." I say.

"I was actually going to say you look like a train wreck at the moment, but I see where it's going."

"You're an ass." I laugh throwing a flexi rod at him.

"I'm just joking. Of course you look beautiful, but are you almost ready. We need to go soon if we want to get to the gala on time." He says.

"Just give me 10 minutes, Avery." I say. I finish getting ready, then we leave for the gala. Once we arrive Jackson and I have our pictures taken and I go inside, while he stands outside talking to Owen.

"Well don't you look nice." Callie smiles as I walk over to her, Cristina, and Meredith.

"Thanks." I smile. "It's nice to see you outside of the house." I say to Meredith. Her and Derek have both been at home taking care of Bailey lately, so the only time I ever see them is when I go over to their house to visit.

"I was just saying that I haven't seen her in ages." Cristina says.

"How does Derek like maternity leave?" I smirk.

"He's on paternity leave." She says.

"Yeah, okay." I smirk.

"We have a deal. I don't work, neither does he. It's working out well." Meredith says.

"I live in your house. You're bored out of your minds." Callie says as she sips her water. Callie has been staying with Meredith and Derek, since she found out that Arizona cheated on her. "They've got all this pent up surgical energy and now everything's a competition." Callie says to Cristina and I.

"It is not." Meredith disagrees.

"And he's winning." Callie adds.

"He is not winning. He couldn't even get Zola to put her shoes on tonight. I did that. I got her to put her shoes on. So I'm winning." Meredith says pointing at us, making us all stare at her. "I need to come back to work." Meredith sighs and we all nod our head in agreement.

"Drink?" One of the waiters with a weird clown mask asks walking near us, making us laugh after he passes by. The gala had circus themed performers, so there was a bunch of weird stuff going on around here.

"That's the creepiest waiter I've ever seen." Cristina laughs.

"Bailey's gonna lose her mind. She can't stand clowns. This is gonna be hilarious." Callie laughs.

"Bailey's not coming." Meredith says.

"What?" Callie and I both say. "Wait, we can do that. Okay, I have been dreading having to be in the same room with Arizona, but if this isn't mandatory, I'm going home." Callie says.

"I'm with you. I hate these things." I say.

"Wait, nobody's going home. I'm giving 10 percent of tonight's take to the department that raises the most money. Spread the word." Jackson says.

"Well Derek is here to represent the neuro department and he is good at charming people, so I'm going home." I say.

"No, you're not. You're my wife, you have to suffer through this with me." He says kissing me before walking away.

"Derek is really good at this kind of thing. I should get started before he does." Meredith says.

"He already has." I laugh as I point in Derek's direction where he had a crowd surrounding him watching him juggle and he's met with plenty of cheers after he finishes.

"The neuro department has this." I smirk. Meredith walks over to Derek and we all leave to go our separate ways to advertise for our departments.

"You look stressed, this is supposed to be fun or somewhat enjoyable." I say walking over to Jackson.

"This is warm." He says referring to the champagne he had in his hand.

"Yeah, big bird said there's no ice. Miscommunication between the caterer and the venue." I say

"Cooling blankets. We have some back at the hospital. They can bring a patients temperature down in minutes. No reason those can't chill a bottle." Jackson says.

"That's ridiculous." I frown.

"Then it's on theme for tonight." He reply's. "And I can't leave. Could you please run to the hospital and grab some?"

"Avery, I did not dress up and do my makeup to transport cooling blankets. Plus I'm really starting to get into the magician act." I smile pointing towards the stage, where the magician was doing tricks.

"Please, please, please. I'll make it up to you."

"Fine." I say before leaving to go to the hospital, which is only a couple of miles away. I grab the cooling blankets before returning to the gala and chilling the wine, then I begin socializing again.

"Can I get a whiskey soda?" I ask the bartender walking over to the bar where Alex and Cristina stood.

"I'm surprised you're drinking. Don't you need to stay sharp so you can get people to donate to the gala." He says.

"Well that isn't stopping you, now is it?" I smile taking my drink and sipping it.

"He's Alex, that's expected from him." Cristina says and Alex nods his head in agreement.

"Well I have Derek and he's much more social and better at this stuff than I am, so he's doing all the hard work, therefore I want to enjoy my drink. Because this is my first night off in awhile and I deserve it." I smile.

"Cheers to that." Alex says clinking his glass against mine.

"Does this look stupid? The kid spit up on my dress, and in my dress all over, really." Meredith says walking over to us with a jacket on over her dress.

"Meredith, you're making this so easy. Derek is winning right now." I say making her squint her eyes at me, before we turn our attention to the stage where Jackson's about to speak.

"Can I have your attention, please." Jackson says causing everyone to turn their attention to the stage where he stood. "Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am Dr.Jackson Avery and on behalf of the board of Grey Sloan memorial hospital, I just want to say welcome." He says as the room fills with cheers. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now over the past year, we have seen many changes, from a change in name to a change in leadership and it has all been a challenge, but it's been a challenge that we've all been more than happy to accept." He smiles as everyone begins to cheer again. "Thank you.As surgeons..." He begins to say before being interrupted by gasps as one of the female performers who was hanging from the roof by silk fell onto the ground by the stage.

"Was that part of it?" Alex asks.

"I don't think so." I say still surprised by what just happened, before all of the doctors in the room rush over to her.

"Oh, no, no, no! You need to stop.You could have internal injuries or breaks." Callie says to the performer as she begins standing up.

"Um I think I'm okay. See? I'm okay.I'm fine." The women says taking a step, but screaming and collapsing to the ground as a bone sticks out of her foot.

"So, yeah, I'd say there's a break:" Callie says beginning to tend to her. Jackson calls the paramedics, while we begin tending to the performer and the lady she fell on top of.

"What's the update on those paramedics, Avery?" Owen asks Jackson as he walks back over to us.

"Should be here any minute." Jackson says.

"No pulse." Callie says as she examines the performers foot. "Okay. Hold still.This is gonna hurt.Ready on my count.One, two, three." Callie says twisting the ankle so the bone goes back into the leg, making the woman scream out in pain.

"This way guys." Alex says as the paramedics follow him over to us. "Where are you going?" He asks Cristina seeing her as she begins to leave the building.

"Oh, back to the hospital. Some junkie with endocarditis is tamponading." Cristina says.

"Which junkie?" Alex asks.

"There's more than one." Cristina smirks, walking out as Alex follows behind her. Most of the doctors leave with the ambulance tending to the two injured people, but I stay at the gala, since I can't operate because I've been drinking and I get drunk really easy since I don't drink a lot so I definitely don't need to work right now.

"Murphy, those aren't for you." I say drinking my champagne as I see Leah Murphy stealing snacks.

"Yeah, I know." She sighs walking away as I continue drinking my drink.

"There's my best friend. How's your night going Shepherd?" I smirk as Derek walks over to me.

"You're drunk." He smirks.

"No, I'm buzzed. Not quite drunk yet." I smile.

"Well you will be if you keep ordering drinks." He says taking my champagne away.

"Hey, I wasn't finished with that." I whine

"Now you are. You'll thank me later." He says making me squint my eyes at him. "Have you seen Meredith?"

"She rode on the ambulance with the paramedics to the hospital." I say.

"We had a deal. We're both supposed to be on leave." He frowns.

"Well that deals been broken Shepherd." I smirk. "Hey, if you want we can go to the hospital and you can find a surgery too. I have my car if you want to go." I say pulling my keys out of my purse.

"Fine, but I'm driving." He says taking my keys.

"Well duh." I sigh, before we leave. As soon as we get to the hospital I go to an on call room and fall asleep and Derek goes to find Meredith.

"Lily, wake up sweetheart." Jackson says, pushing my hair out of my face as I wake up after hours of sleeping.

"Why is the room spinning?" I frown squinting my eyes as I lean up.

"Because you're hungover. I don't know why you drunk so much. You know you're a light weight." He laughs.

"Shut up, Avery." I smirk. "Baby, my head hurts and I'm tired. Can you carry me?" I ask.

"Really Liliana." He smirks.

"Please." I whine.

"Come here." He says picking me up and toting me out of the room.

"Thank you, Avery. You're the best." I smile.

"You're welcome sweetheart." He says. I definitely was not expecting to go home hungover, but I definitely enjoyed tonight more than I expected I would.