Stole My Heart ❤️ {a Jackson Avery Love Story} (continued)

Chapter 268: part 2

Leon was paged to check my ankle out while Andrew checked Bailey's ankle.

Bailey: sorry I took you down with me Avery.
Delilah: it's fine Bailey. I've always said if you go down, I go down with you. And you know I'm a woman of my word.

I could hear Kayden's father a couple beds away complaining.

Kayden's dad: I swear, if that idiot broke my nose, I swear I'm gonna sue—
Bailey: sir, shut up!
Delilah: Andrew, take the other father over to bed 7. If it's occupied, we don't care where he goes, as long as he's 15 yards away from that one.
Andrew: yes ma'am.

Andrew walks over to Kayden's father as Nico comes up to us.

Levi: there's tissue swelling in both ankles, they both had trouble putting weight on it, and I can see some slight bruising in both of them. It's probably a sprain, but I ordered an x-ray to be safe.
Nico: what happened exactly?
Delilah: she rolled it or someone stomped on it, and when she fell, I went down with her. It happened really fast.

Nico checks out Bailey's ankle, then mine.

Nico: alright, well, the both of you most likely just have a sprain, but Schmitt, Drake, shout when you get an x-ray. I'll take a look.
Leon: yes Dr. Kim. Come on you, let's get you to x-ray.

Leon wheels me to radiology.

-later-

Once I got checked out, I wheel myself to the executive conference room and I see mom going over paperwork.

Delilah: hey mom.
Mom: hey baby. What did you do?
Delilah: patient's family members got aggressive with each other and it resulted in Bailey and I spraining our ankles. Anywho, need a pair of booties? We have plenty to spare.

Mom lets out a snort.

Mom: why did you leave Koracick in charge of ordering PPE? That's your job as chief of chiefs!

Mom gave Koracick's position to me a while back and it's been stressful. I didn't want to take it, but it's hard to say no to mom.

Delilah: mom, you have to understand that my life is hell, much like everyone else's! When I'm here, I'm working around the clock trying my best to keep my patients alive! And when I'm in my hotel room, I am on FaceTime with my husband or my kids, who I'm not allowed to see unless I've been quarantined for 2 weeks or I get a negative test! But no, I am surrounded by this god damn virus every single day! So yes, I had Koracick order the PPE, because me being the idiot I am, I thought I could trust him. But I was wrong! Don't yell at me, my anxiety is bad enough!
Mom: I'm not yelling at you, I'm yelling at the world through you! I hate this. I hate this!
Delilah: what, you think that I don't hate this too?! I do!! I hate this! More than anything else! I hate that I can't keep a patient alive! I hate that I haven't held my children in weeks! I hate that I'm missing getting to know my oldest son just as he's starting to become a part of our family! I hate that I can't hug my husband when I need him the most! I hate that I'm slowly starting to hate my job, the job that I worked so hard for, more and more every day! I hate this, all of this!

Mom and I continue to scream at the top of our lungs until we just burst into laughter, overwhelmed by the release of emotion.

Mom: and I hate that my husband hasn't come back to me.

I let out a shaky breath with tears in my eyes.

Delilah: I hate that too. But he'll come back mom.