DINNER & DIATRIBES. . . JACKSON AVERY!

chapter three: i saw what i saw

"Someone's getting fired." Pixie Cut announces to the room, Briar rolling her eyes from where she's sitting next to Alex, who's glaring at his lap. Everyone who'd been in the pit is gathered in the hallway outside the conference room where the Chief sits with who Briar assumes are board members.

It doesn't look good for them.

"Stop it," Ginger whispers to her friend, while Briar stares them down and wishes they would shut up for once. Nothing good has ever come out of that group opening their mouths, and today only proves that. Briar might not know who's at fault for today, but she knows that it wasn't one of the Seattle Grace residents who messed up: she'd bet money on it being one of the Mercy West residents.

She hopes it was Percy, she'd love it if he got fired.

"She wasn't even my patient." Percy says, Briar glaring into the side of his face.

"What?" Cristina snaps, and Percy scoffs back.

"Nothing."

"How long is this gonna take?" Alex grumbles, and just as Briar opens her mouth, Avery jumps in, sounding annoyed.

"Why? You need to make a phone call?" He mocks him, Percy snickering next to them. Briar has one second to think that this is going to be bad, before Alex's temper finally breaks and he jumps forward to pull Avery up by his scrubs.

Briar throws herself into the mix, getting in-between the two after Avery starts fighting back, getting a scratch on her arm for the trouble. Briar goes to shove Avery back, not willing to let anyone touch her best friend, just as the attendings jump into the fray. Derek gets Alex, Owen grabs Avery, before Chief Webber's shout makes them all freeze.

"Enough!" Alex gets dropped into his seat, Briar sitting down next to him, looking him over for any injuries. "I said enough!"

"What happened here tonight, what happened to that patient, was inexcusable." Webber announces, looking around the hallway at them all. Briar shrinks away from his gaze, hating the disappointment he's showing, and Alex reaches over to take her hand. "We're gonna be here until I find out who's responsible for it! So until then, you will sit down, you will shut up, and you will wait to be called! Hunt."

Briar watches Hunt walk past them into the office, biting back a sigh as she sees how many interviews they're going to have to sit through. Alex squeezes her hand and she squeezes back, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder.

It's going to be a long night.

✦

Waking Alex Karev is difficult on a good day, and this is absolutely not a good day.

It's been a little over a week since Alex rushed into Meredith's hospital room, where they'd all gathered, and announced that Izzie had left him. She'd gotten fired after messing up with a patient, right after the fiasco with Charles Percy, and she'd left a note for Alex in his locker.

She hasn't answered anyone's phone calls. Out of desperation Briar had emailed her a few times, texted and called her dozens more. Her phone bill is going to be insane this month, but it'll all be worth it if Izzie at least lets them know she's alive. That's a genuine concern, seeing as she has cancer.

Briar doesn't blame her for leaving, not really. If she got fired, she'd run away too. But she isn't married: that changes things. Cancer also changes things, and it's making them all worried sick.

"Alex, come on." She snaps, throwing his duvet off from where it's covering his face. She stands over him, ready to pull him from the bed if she has to. Alex just shoves his head into his pillow, so Briar snatches that away too, his head bouncing once before landing on the mattress.