⇢ CHAPTER 64

touch this thing," Meredith began to complain, tapping her finger on her tablet as Jackson slid up next to Holly at the Nurse's station, "it deletes another file."

"How was the photoshoot?" Holly asked Jackson as she momentarily gazed up from her book, "Did you try on different outfits and poses?"

Jackson rolled his eyes at the joke with a smile before answering, "It went pretty good." 

"Mm." Holly hummed as she looked around the room with her nose scrunched up, "Listen, I'll support you, always, but if I see your face around every corner of the room, I'm going to get tired of it."

Jackson quirked an eyebrow at her, almost challenging her statement, "Really?"

Holly failed at hiding a smile before she confessed, "No."

"Who are your stalkers?" Meredith asked Jackson and Alex as Jo attempted to fix the problem with her tablet.

"Oh, uh," Alex moved his head to look at the photographers before answering Meredith's question, "the new guys are looking for a hospital show pony-- a face for the brochure."

"Alex and Jackson are competing head-to-head for this." Holly informed Meredith with a shrug, not understanding why Pegasus need a 'face' for the hospital.

Meredith quirked an eyebrow, "And why are there no women in the running?"

"Oh, there was." Cristina nodded as she bit into her apple, "I turned them down."

"I'm not an attending." Holly noted, sinking in her chair as she buried her nose back into her book, "So, they were interested, but couldn't formally ask me." 

As Alex, Cristina, Meredith, and Jo continued their conversation, Jackson leant down to whisper into Holly's ear, "There wouldn't have been a competition if you were a candidate."

Holly's face turned red before she turned around, inches away from kissing him before her eyes caught onto the cameraman readying their camera. Looking back at Jackson, Holly whispered, "I'm not kissing you if your entourage is going to tail me with questions about you."

Jackson momentarily looked at Larry, the cameraman who would be following him around for the day, before he glanced back at Holly with a smile, "Then I'll get Larry off my tail."

"Mm." Holly nodded as she smiled back at him as she reached over and grabbed her patient's tablet, "And then you should come find me."

✧

After hearing from Jackson about April bringing in a patient to the hospital, Meredith helped as much as she could to prepare the E.R. for their incoming patient, "So," Meredith started after setting up the monitor for vitals, "what are we doing here?"

"," Jo's voice was heard from behind the door, "."

Meredith glanced up at Jackson with frowned eyebrows, "Who else did you page?"

Jackson sighed, thinking over how the plan would've gone better if he had simply informed Jo of the people he wanted in the room, "Holly."

"Okay, Josephine," Holly began, folding her arms in front of her, "do you want me to put you on scut for the rest of your intern year or are you going to let me in?" She quirked a brow, "Let me through."

"No." Jo shook her head, stepping in front of Holly.

Holly squinted at Jo before she started again, "I'm not a violent person, and I like you, so don't make me force you."

Jo chuckled as she took a step forward, "I'd like to see you try."

"Hey, Jo." Jackson popped his head out of the door and nodded at Holly, "She's cool, I paged her."

"Oh." Jo paled, stepping out of the way to make a clear path for Holly before she apologized, "I hope you understand that I'd never normally speak to you that way because I highly respect you and you're an amazing surgeon and I hope to be on your service one day when you become an attending, if you'll let me."

Holly chuckled at Jo's brown nosing before following Jackson inside, "You know," Holly looked around, not spotting Meredith, "when I said you should get rid of Larry, I didn't expect for us to end up here and with Jo guarding a door."

"April has a patient coming in that needs our help." Jackson informed as he began to set up the gurney once more and Meredith popped into her view.

"Oh." Holly's brows rose before she nodded as she placed her hair in a ponytail, "Then let's get to work."

✧

Hearing the door open, Jackson began to list to his friends the things he got for their patient, "I just snagged a monitor, a ventilator, and central line kits."

Holly looked down at the materials Meredith had gotten her to get from the supply closet, "I got saline, infusion pumps--"

"A crash cart," Meredith added, "and Cristina."

"I'm sorry." Jo apologized as she stopped a few feet away from Jackson, "They overpowered me."

"The fewer people who know about this, the better, guys." Jackson advised as he hung up the oxygen.

"I brought lackeys." Cristina admitted, pointing behind her to show Brooks and Ross rolling in a crash cart.

"What?" Jackson's head went up to look at the interns as he, Meredith, and Holly began to put things in their correct spots, "No, I don't need interns."

"No," Cristina agreed, "this room had three internal exits. You have a lookout on one. Happy," Cristina began to throw out directions, "Ponytail, you man the doors. Mousy, um, be the nurse. We need gloves."

Ross nodded at his instructions, "On it."

Brooks sighed, raising her hands up in complaint, "Why do I have to be the nurse?"

"We are gonna need lights." Meredith reminded, looking at Jackson through the dimly lit room.

Jackson sighed, "No, if I turn on more overheads..." His phone rang, "you can see it from the hallway."

"What about those?" Holly asked, pointing at the lights by the corner of the room that was used for construction.

"Yeah." Meredith nodded, making the redhead walk over to turn it on as Jackson answered his phone.