scrub caps | grey's anatomy

xviii. somethings you just can't speak about

Bursting through the door, her eyes settled on the Avery man, tangled up in his blanket, shaking back and forth in a battle with his sheets, a panic look on his face as his eyes bolted shut, his limbs thrashing around.

"Jackson?" She whispered, cautious of him as he continued to kick around. Her hands knotted around her stomach as she moved closer into the room.

"Charles!" The name slipped from his mouth during mid-scream.

"Hey! Hey!" Aliya approached him quickly, placing her hands on his shoulders to steady him. In an attempt to wake him up, she pushed him down onto the mattress, trying to ease him back into consciousness.

Aliya watched as his eyes flew open from the contact, widening and dazed as he finally woke up.

"Your hands are cold." He spoke, rather breathless and disorientated, after a moment of silence. His head dropped slightly to look at her palms on his shoulder, that brought him back to reality.

"Oh." She pulled her hands away carefully, balling them into her lap quickly.

He wiped his eyes with his hand, taking away the majority of the tear stains, his eyes however, still remaining red and puffy. "Did I wake you up?"

She shook her head as he pushed himself upright on the mattress, before slouching against the head board. "I was already up."

He nodded, reaching to grab his water from the bedside table, and taking a long sip.

"How long has this been going on for?" She asked, carefully.

"You know, you should get back to bed. We have to be up in—" His eyes flicked to his clock, clearing his throat. "Five hours, and I need my beauty sleep." He placed the water back down, his eyes wandering back to Aliya, though she clearly had other plans seeing as she remained sat upright on the end of his bed. "You're not moving."

She sighed, throwing her head back, realising how insanely and overwhelmingly tired she actually was. "I'm rallying up my last available energy."

Jackson looked at her more closely, the light casting reflections onto her face, lighting up her sunken cheekbones and drowsy eyes. "You can't sleep too?"

"No."

He raised his brows. "No to you are sleeping or no to you can't sleep?"

She reached a hand up to rub her eye. "No to I can't sleep."

"Ever since—"

"Ever since." She confirmed with a slight nod, smiling lazily. "Sleep depravity never looked this good, I'm sure of it."

He chuckled quietly at her attempt at a joke at two in the morning, his hand resting on his forehead.

"Ever since?" She angled her head in his direction, referring to her previous question.

He narrowed his eyes at the woman dressed in a shirt which he was pretty sure had a mitochondria on it with a six pack, and he wondered how his life had resulted to this particular moment. "You're pushy."

She smirked, shrugging her shoulders. "I prefer the term delightful."

"And stubborn." He looked her up and down, causing Aliya to suddenly feel heat rush to her cheeks, glad that this interaction was happening at night, so Jackson couldn't see her blush like a sixteen year old with a crush on the captain of the football team.