⇢ CHAPTER 59

finishing marking up the last thing on her checklist before she heard sneakers hitting the floor at a rapid speed outside of her office, making her look up in time to see Jackson enter the room and close the door behind him quickly with a thud as he leaned against it, "Uh..." Holly stood up slowly with a concerned look on her face, "what--"

"Holly." Jackson breathlessly smiled, glad that he found the girl he was looking for.

Holly walked over slowly, "What's--"

"I need you to promise me something." Jackson asked, his eyes darting back and forth between hers as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

Holly looked up at him and answered with no hesitation as she nodded, "Anything."

"I need you to say in here for the rest of the day."

"I--" Holly squinted at him, "Why? I was going to do a craniotomy today with Derek and--"

"My mother's here." Jackson answered bluntly, making Holly roll her eyes and remove his arms from her shoulders.

"Jackson," She lectured as she walked back over to her desk, "why does it matter if she sees me?"

"Uh..." Jackson attempted to come up with a reason other than the obvious 'My mother force us into a room and expose my feelings,' "she--"

"Oh, my God." Holly sank into her seat as she brought her hands to her face, "She hate me. I knew it!"

"She doesn't hate you, Holly." Jackson assured, looking out of the window worriedly before he ran over to close the blinds, "Can you, please, stay in here?"

"I'm not staying in here." Holly reasoned, "I have a surgery--"

"But you promised--"

"That was before I knew what I was getting into!"

"Holly." Jackson gave her a pleading look, one which Holly would usually fold for but today was not one of those days.

"Jackson." She gave him a look as well-- both so intense in their looks that the two hadn't heard the door open as they stared at each other.

"Jesus," Alex commented, making the two quickly look away from each other, "the sexual tension in here is--"

"." Meredith spoke as Jackson and Holly felt their faces redden, "Stop it."

"I--" Holly grabbed her papers and began to walk away, "I have a surgery to prep."

Jackson's eyes widened as he looked at her, "Holl--"

"I'll make sure to stay out of your mothers way." Holly added, squinting at Jackson over her shoulder as she did so.

✧

Seeing Meredith, Jackson, Alex, and April standing outside of a patient's window, Holly decided to walk over and see what they were looking at, "Hey," She stopped next to Meredith and looked inside with a quirked eyebrow, "what are we looking at-- , never mind." Holly immediately corrected herself as she saw a nurse who was shielding her view walk away, showing Holly a patient with an enlarged scrotum.

April, noting Alex's shocked face held on the patient's scrotum, chuckled, "Can you imagine becoming so swollen that a surgeon needs to use a scalpel to dig out all that excess tissue until the testicles and cords hit open air?" Alex and Jackson cringed, "I mean, who even knows what happened to his penis in all that mess?"

Alex shook his head, almost in pain, "That's not okay."

Meredith and Holly chuckled at April finally having an upper hand against Alex, "Nice."

Holly high-fived April and chuckled, making Jackson snap out of his thoughts and look at her, "Holl!"

Holly looked up at Jackson with frowned eyebrows, "What--"

"My mom's inside the room with the patient." Jackson reminded before shooing her, "Don't you have a surgery to get to?"

"I--" Holly scoffed and attempted to reason with him, "I really can't just stay here and--"

"Please?" Jackson added, making Holly glare at him.

"Fine." Holly grabbed onto April's hand and dragged her away, wanting to talk to her.

April threw Meredith a confused look and Meredith gave her one right back before she looked at Jackson, "If you're trying to keep Holly from seeing your mother, you're gonna end up making her stop seeing you."

Jackson scoffed and watched as his mother hugged Richard before he revealed, "My mom keeps asking me when I'm gonna ask her out."

Meredith quirked an eyebrow, "And are you going to?"

"Yes." Jackson nodded before pausing, "...When the time is right and my mother doesn't bother her."

Meredith let out a chuckle before she patted Jackson's back, "If you keep waiting, you might miss your chance-- ."

✧

"How are your lectures with the interns?" Holly asked as she sat down in her couch next to Derek in the office, finishing writing in her patient's chart, "Are they still unbearable?"

"No, actually," Derek chuckled as he plopped a grape in his mouth, "they're coming around-- slowly. But they're coming around."

"That's good to hear." Holly smiled before she stared at the grapes in front of her as she remembered an earlier incident where she almost passed by Catherine and Jackson pushed her into a room, "Jackson is keeping me away from his mother-- who, actually, is a delight to talk to but he's making me avoid her."

Derek quirked an eyebrow, "Do you know why?"

Holly frowned, "No."

"Perhaps, maybe," Derek shrugged, connecting two and two together, "and this is just me assuming, but maybe there's a chance he could be keeping you away from his mother so she doesn't accidentally tell you something-- since she's so chatty?"

Holly looked at him with frowned eyebrows, "Don't be ridiculous. Of course she's not."

She looked back down at her food and Derek almost facepalmed as he nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure she's not."

The two brought their head up at the sound of someone knocking on the door, making Holly frown her eyebrows at Derek before she spoke, "Come in?" Upon seeing Jackson enter, Holly squinted at him, "Oh, what now? Do I have to hide in the bathroom? Or should I just wait for you to push me in?"