sunshine ━ jackson avery

044. ━ jane doe

season eight // episode twenty
[ jane doe ]

❝That girl has been through hell
and back. I just want to help her
get back to a good place.❞

━ trigger warning: kidnapping, abuse, rape ━

"HOW DID I even lose that badly?" Jackson asked as Ellie got out of his car. "I mean—I'm usually very good."

She looked back at him. "You chose bowling," she told him with a chuckle. "The last time we went bowling, April beat you. April. And she got five gutter balls."

"Haha." He rolled his eyes and she laughed, unlocking the door to their apartment. "Well, I'm not the one who ate six slices of pizza."

Ellie squeaked in offense. "You offered them to me!" she countered, walking into the kitchen and pulling out a Diet Coke. "So, you don't get to use that argument." She let out a small breath and leaned forward on the kitchen island, looking at him. "We should talk."

Jackson nodded. "About our next date? I'm in."

"About whether we should tell people," she said and he glanced back at her. "I just—The boards are coming up in nearly three weeks. And everyone is on edge."

"Well..." He sighed and walked over to her. "What do you want to do? Because, I know for one, that April would lose her mind."

Ellie smiled to herself. "She would," she agreed, chuckling lightly. "So would Mark, I think. But..." She looked back up at him. "Do we even have to tell them? If one person finds out, the rest of the hospital will soon."

He nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist as she twisted around in his arms to look up at him. "That's true. And then we don't have to field any questions."

"I love it when we're on the same page," she said, pecking his cheek as she pulled herself out of his arms. "And we should get to bed. We have work in about—" She looked over at the oven clock. "—seven hours." She opened her bedroom door and glanced back at him. "You coming?"

☀️

ELLIE PEEKED HER head around the large basket she was holding. "Am I going to run into anything?" she called out and Jackson took it from her. "This is for Cristina."

"Oh, this is getting ridiculous," April groaned in annoyance.

"The NIH?" Jackson asked, taking the card from its clip. "Since when does the NIH bribe residents to come work for them?"

Cristina shook her head. "Oh, they don't, except when you're me—a God."

Just then, Alex walked in and stole one of the cookies, taking a bite. "Cookie's stale," he commented and Cristina looked at him with a pout.