Chapter 75

"We're only like 15 minutes late." Jackson says as we get on the elevator.

"That's not the point. The point is we shouldn't be late at all, I hate late. When surgeons are late, people die. And you know we wouldn't be late at all if you would've just put the key on the hook. That's why I always put it on the hook by the door, so we know where it's at and it doesn't get misplaced." I grumbled folding my arms.

"Lily, I know that but, you know I'm not a hook kind of guy." He says.

"And I'm not a can't find my keys kind of girl." I remark.

"See, but that's what I'm saying. I do me and you do you, well I do you too, but you get the point." He smiles as he wraps his arms around me and kisses my neck.

"Avery, stop it. You know that's my weak spot and we're not having sex. I'm still mad at you." I say shrugging him off of me. It's been a couple of days since Jackson and I had our argument about kids and we've been arguing off and on about it ever since without making any kind of progress.

"That's not what you were saying this morning." He smirks.

"That was not to satisfy you. It was solely for my needs." I say as we walk out of the elevator to the front desk where Owen is speaking.

"There is a viral infection running rampant through this hospital. It feels like flu symptoms then G.I. stuff. It goes without saying that soap, water, and hand sanitizer are your best friends and if you do feel sick, and you can go home, then go home." Owen says to all of the doctors as I read my charts. I'm not really concerned about getting sick I never get sick. I think my body is so used to trauma that things like simple viruses don't affect it at this point.

After I read over my charts, I meet Leah who's on my service today, before going to prep my patient and going to the O.R. to start operating.

"Murphy, suction right here." I say before Leah begins suctioning.

"Yes ma'am." She nods. It was obvious from the nasally sound of her voice that she was stuffed up and congested.

"Murphy, are you sick?" I ask looking at the expression on her face and the grayish color of her skin.

"Yes ma'am, but I'm pushing through." She says.

"Good, because that's what surgeons do. We conquer illnesses." I say "Actually, go conquer your illness elsewhere I don't need you contaminating my patients." I say before Leah leaves and I focus back on the surgery. After I finish I take the patient to recovery, before grabbing my lunch then going to Derek's office.

"Yeah, this is a U.S. project, but I believe our best approach is to open our doors to welcome your participation. You know we're trying to gain a comprehensive understanding of the most complex object in the world, our brain. We are willing to take every great mind we can access to do it, your minds. We welcome you. Thank you for joining us." Derek says reading a speech he prepared to Bailey who laid in his carseat looking around the room. There are a bunch of scientist from all over the world coming to the hospital today to hear Derek speak to them about the sensors he created for brain mapping. "That was great. You did a good job." Derek smiles at Bailey not aware that I'm in the room.

"Derek, why are you torturing Bailey with this speech?" I ask making my presence known.

"I needed an audience. How about you sit and let me go over this again with you, okay?" He says. I'm pretty sure I know this speech by heart already. I mean I helped him write it and he literally already read it to me a thousand times.

"You know what? I'm going to leave my lunch here and I'm going to take Bailey back to daycare so he can nap and be surrounded by children instead of listening to a speech he can't even understand and then I'm going to come back and let you read me the speech one more time." I sighed.

"Okay." He smiles before I get Bailey and take him to daycare then I join Derek in his office again where he begins to read me his speech over and over again. Not at all what I agreed to.

"Derek, for the millionth time your speech is great." I say.

"Lily, I have 50 scientists from around the world coming to this hospital to listen to this speech. It can't be great, it has to be spectacular."

"Well it is, I would tell you if it wasn't. Now can you put your speech up so we can talk about our day like normal best friends do." I sigh.

"Fine." He agrees taking a seat at the chair across from his desk, since I was sitting in his chair.

"So what's been going on with you and Avery lately?" He asks.

"Nothing," I shrug as I eat my salad.

"Yes there is. I've been trying not to pry, but I noticed that these last couple of days you two have been distant, arguing more then usual, and I decided that as your best friend that's an expert in marriage, I get to pry so I can offer helpful advice where needed." He smirks.

"Well a couple of days ago, when Catherine was in town she started talking about these plans she has me and Jackson's nonexistent children, like how they're going to attend board meetings when they're teenagers and how they'll attend boarding school, and I don't agree with that at all and I didn't think Jackson would either, but he did and I just can't get past the fact that, that's how he wants to raise our kids. We have completely different outlooks on parenthood." I sigh leaning back in the chair feeling completely defeated.

"That's big." Derek nods.

"I know and I don't know what to do. I mean if we're having disagreements like this now, imagine what it'll be like once I'm pregnant and we actually have a baby."

"I know it's difficult, but this is something you two can get through. You both need to sit down and honestly talk about what you're willing to compromise on when you have kids. No yelling or walking away when you two don't agree with the other ones opinion, just sit and talk about it like two adults that love each other. You two married each other for a reason and you're going to have plenty of arguments in the future, but the only way you're going to get through it is if you remember to love each other even when you hate each other." He said echoing those words that him and Meredith once promised to each other.

"Maybe I should try to be more rational the next time we talk." I admit.

"That sounds more like it." Derek smiles. We continue talking before I leave his office to go to the front desk and check my patients files.

"Well, its a potts puffy tumor. He should get to surgery right away, get it drained. Make sure it doesn't spread and..." Jackson says to Bailey who is standing beside me at the front desk. As soon as I see Jackson I can tell he's sick just by how tired he looks and the grey undertone of his skin.

"Jackson , you look horrible." I say feeling his forehead as he leans against the front desk.

"Yeah, correct. You look horrible. What's going on with you?" Bailey frowns.

"Oh, nothing. It's, my stomachs a little screwy I'm fine. I'm gonna, um, go book an O.R. though." He says.

"No, you're not. The best thing you can do for that kid is to be nowhere near him." I say looking in the room where the patient lays.

"Because you look horrible. Yeah I can drain a potts puffy tumor. Go home." Bailey frowns before walking away.

"Yeah, you should go home. You need to rest." I say caressing his face.

"I'm fine. Okay, I can take care of myself." He mumbles laying his head on the desk. One thing about Jackson is that he hates letting other people take care of him, even when he's sick. He's so stubborn I have to pretty much fight with him to convince him to let me help him when he's not feeling well. I've gotten used to it now

"Baby, you need to go home and relax." I sigh.

"Maybe I will." He mumbles weakly.

"You should. Go home lay down in bed and relax. There's soup in the pantry and the medicine cabinet is fully stocked, and you need Gatorade to stay hydrated and..." I begin to say.

"Lily, I know how to be sick. I'm not even sick." He mumbles walking away.

"Just trying to help." I sigh, before leaving for my consult. After I finish I walk back to the front desk to drop off my iPad, since I just updated my charts and I'm planning to leave early to check in on Jackson since he went home.

"Are you okay?" I ask Derek who looks like he's starting to get sick as well. This virus was hitting everybody.

"If you can speak Estonian. My translator called in sick." Derek says.

"Sorry, can't help you there. The only other language I speak is Spanish. Are you sure you're not getting sick?" I ask.

"I don't get sick it's an unspoken rule." Derek says.

"Spoken twice today." Leah, who's standing at the front desk says.

"Well even if I were gonna get sick, it's not gonna happen today. Murphy are you sick?" Derek asks her.

"Yes, but I'm pushing through." She says.

"No, get away from me." Derek frowns causing Leah to walk away.

"Well I am about to go home early and try to take care of my sick husband no matter how much he tries to keep me from helping him." I sigh.

"Actually, I need a favor. I was wondering if you could take my surgery in O.R. 2. I need to focus my time on this speech."

"Can't you get Nelson to take it?" I ask.

"He's out with the stomach flu." He sighs.

"What about Garrison and Anders?" I ask.

"There out too. Please, take this surgery for me. I'll pull some strings and introduce you to the president when I go to Washington." He smirks.

"Okay, fine but I'm holding you to that. You better be glad I like Obama." I say before leaving to get the patient prepped and taking him to the O.R. Luckily the procedure is simple and I finish within 2 hours.

As soon as I finish I change out of my scrubs and leave so I can go home and take care of Jackson.

"Baby I'm home and I brought some more chicken noodle soup." I yell as I walk into the kitchen setting the soup on the counter before walking towards the bathroom where I can hear Jackson throwing up.

"Baby." I say cracking the door open.

"Get out." He mumbles before beginning to throw up again. It honestly would be easy to go to the room and wait for him until he finishes throwing up, just because I absolute hate being around throw up, but I couldn't just walk away while he was sick so I ignored what he said and went into the bathroom anyways. I took a seat on the edge of the bathtub and rubbed his back as he threw up. Times like this remind me that marriage is about helping your spouse even when they don't want you too.