Chapter 73

*8 weeks later*

"Hey, Derek! Are you coming by the lab today? We're starting to lose all our phase two momentum?" Callie says excitedly running over to Derek and I as we walk through the hallway.

"Yeah. Actually, they're setting up my new office today. Oh, you know what? I got to grab a sensor. The guys are going to duplicate one." He says. Derek and Callie have been working on this brain mapping initiative for the last couple of weeks and it's so impressive that the president contacted Derek and wants him to work on a brain mapping initiative with the White House , which he has agreed to, so he's in constant contact with the president and he'll be working on the initiative from Seattle.

"Ah, yes. The Washington guys, mapping the brain. You're actually gonna have time to do this too hough, right?" Callie asks.

"Yeah. I hope so. I plan to." Derek says.

"All right. Well, let me know when you're ready." She smiles before walking away.

"I haven't seen a blowoff like that since high school." I joke.

"It was not a blowoff." Derek laughs.

"Sure." I smirk.

"So how does it feel to be back at work?" He asks me.

"Great. I thought I was about to go crazy sitting at home all day. The only thing that kept me sane were the days I had Bailey and Zola around to keep me company." I say. After the first four weeks of being out of work I couldn't handle sitting in the house doing nothing all day, so Derek and Meredith let me keep Zola and Bailey these last couple of weeks, which I really enjoyed.

"Well they enjoyed being at your house, especially Zola. She had a fit every time we came to pick her up. I'm starting to think she likes you better than she likes Meredith and I." He laughs.

"She does." I smile.

"You know, you're really good with kids. When are you and Avery going to start a family of your own?"

"Not anytime soon. I love babysitting your kids, but with how busy Jackson and I are both are, I couldn't imagine us having kids of our own anytime soon." I say before my pager goes off. "I have to go. I have an angioplasty surgery."

"Okay, have fun." He smiles as I walk away. I get my patient prepped for surgery before taking her to the O.R. and operating. It honestly feels so good to be back in the O.R. operating again. Not being able to operate was one of the worst parts of my recovery. As a surgeon, I don't feel complete when I'm not at work saving lives. The only enjoyable part of staying home besides keeping Zola and Bailey, was getting to spend free time with Jackson. He took a lot of time off to spend with me while I was recovering, because he knew how much I hated sitting at home all day and he definitely kept me distracted from thinking about work. Jackson is honestly the best thing that's ever happened to me. Through every situation I've been in, he's always there for me and helps me through it. I'm so lucky to have him.

I complete my operation successfully and I take my patient to recovery before going to the front desk.

"Hey you." I smile as Jackson walks over to me while I read over charts.

"Hey." He smiles kissing me. "How's your first day back going?"

"Good, I just did a angioplasty." I say.

"And how do you feel?"

"Spectacular." I smile. I was actually supposed to stay home for another two weeks, but I couldn't bear being out of work any longer, so I came back early, which Jackson did not want me to do so he's been constantly checking on me to make sure I'm not overworking myself.

"You wouldn't tell me if you didn't feel good anyways." He chuckles.

"Yeah, that's true." I laugh, before his pager goes off.

"I have to go, but I will text you to check on you again in a little while." He smiles.

"And I'll still be spectacular, just like I am now." I smile kissing him, before he walks away. I turn my back and begin focusing back on my chart, before I hear a thud along with gasps, making me turn around to see what is going on and I turn around to see that Stephanie has accidently hit Jackson with a gurney, knocking him to the ground.

"Oh my god. Baby are you alright?" I ask as Webber and I run over to him.

"I'm fine." He says.

"Oh my god, Dr. Avery. I'm so sorry." Stephanie says as Richard and I help Jackson up.

"Don't be sorry, be careful." I say looking over at her. "Come on baby, you need to get checked out." I say as Webber and I walk with him to an examination room.

"You guys I'm fine." He says as he limps to the bed and takes a seat.

"Again, I'm so sorry." Stephanie apologizes as she follows us into the room.

"No, no. It was an accident, it's fine."

"No it's not. You're a doctor, you need to learn to pay attention." I say sternly.

"Sweetheart, it's fine." Jackson says to me, but I shake my head in disagreement.

"You know what Edwards just go. I'm about to take his pants off, so I can examine his leg and make sure you haven't damaged it to bad. Go be someplace where you won't be a danger to others." I say, before her and Richard leave so I can examine Jackson's leg.

"My poor baby." I say as I examine him.

"Sweetheart, I'm fine. It's just a bruise." Jackson chuckles.

"I know, but your leg shouldn't be bruised in the first place. Edwards should've been watching where she was going, I swear these residents are clueless. I should put her on scut for the rest of the week." I grumble.

"Sweetheart, it was an accident. It's not like she meant to hit me with the gurney. Calm down." He says taking my hand into his.

"Okay." I sigh as my pager goes off. "I forgot I'm supposed to meet with a patient for a consult."

"Go, I'm fine." He says.

"But..." I begin to say.

"Lily, I'm fine. Go tend to your patients. I have a surgery to do anyways." He smiles.

"Okay." I say before kissing him, then leaving for my consult. My consultation only takes around 30 minutes and I still have a little while until my next surgery, so I grab some chips before going to Derek's office to talk to him.

"So Edwards almost knocked my husband's leg off today." I say taking a seat at his desk.

"Really?" He frowns.

"Yes. Our residents have the shortest attention spans." I frown.

"They definitely take a lot of patience." He agrees. "You know that's my chair right?" He asks me.

"I know, but it's comfortable." I smile making him laugh.

"I have to tell Torres that the president won't let her use my sensors for the research anymore." Derek sighs.

"Callie's a grown up. She knows how research works, just tell her and if she gets mad, she'll get over it." I shrug.

"You're not going to have many friends with that attitude." He laughs.

"So, I've been told." I smirk as I chew on my chips. "You know what this reminds me of?" I ask as I look around the room.

"What?" He asks.

"When you were Chief and me, you, and Mark used to hang out in your office." I smile.

"I remember that. I think you and Mark stayed in that office more then I did." He laughs.

"That's probably true." I laugh. "You know I still think about Mark a lot. Both him and Lexie." I sigh. Even though I rarely ever talk about anything involving the plane crash, I still think about it. I mean no matter how much I would like to forget it I can't. Being involved in a plane crash that killed two of my friends and left me stranded in the woods for four days isn't something I can ever forget no matter how much I want to.

"Me too." Derek sighs.

"Do you ever imagine what our lives would've been like if the plane hadn't crashed?" I ask.

"Yeah, all the time. Meredith and I would be in Boston right now."

"Jackson and I would be in Louisiana. You know sometimes when I think about the plane crash I still can't believe we actually survived it."

"Me either. I honestly don't think I would've made it out there without you. When everyone else kept falling asleep from exhaustion at night, you stayed up and kept disinfecting my hand and making sure I didn't start to bleed out. I don't think I ever told you how thankful I am to you for that." He says.

"It's no big deal you would've did the same for me. You're actually one of the few reasons I was able to keep it together out there. That first night when we were stranded out there and I thought we were really going to die out there, you reminded me that I had to keep it together if we wanted to make it back home so I pulled it together. After that every minute that passed out there I just kept thinking three things. That I had to make it home to Jackson, I had to keep your hand from getting infected, and I had to keep Mark's heart beating. I thought that if I kept him alive until we were found that he would be okay. A lot of times I still feel guilty that I couldn't save him, like I let him down." I sigh.

"Lily, you did everything you could out there. You have nothing to feel guilty about." He assures me.

"I know. I just wish I could've did more. Mark and Lexie, they both deserved better." I say.

"They did." He agrees.

"I have to go, it's time for my surgery." I sigh as my pager goes off, before leaving the room. I go prep my patient for surgery before taking her to the O.R. After operating for hours, I successfully finish surgery then I take the patient to recovery, luckily that's my last surgery for the day so I go to the locker room to change.

"Hey baby, how's your leg?" I ask as Jackson walks into the locker room.

"It's fine. How are you feeling?" He asks me.

"Great, I told you I was ready to come back to work." I smile.

"I guess you were right." He smiles as he kisses me.

"I always am." I laugh.

"Humble much." He jokes.

"Aren't I always." I smirk.

"I'm glad to see you're in a better mood. I'm pretty sure Stephanie is scared to even walk through the hallway because of you, actually I think all of the interns are still scared of you."

"What can I say? I know how to instill fear into people." I say making him laugh.

"You ready to go?" He asks as he finishes getting dressed.

"Yeah." I smile. Even though I'm glad to be back at work, I'm definitely exhausted and ready to go home and get some rest.