- - -
people are really romantic about the beginnings of things. fresh start. clean slate. a world of possibility. but no matter what adventure you're embarking on, you're still you.
- - -
lia is stood doing laundry at meredith's house when jackson walks in behind her and removes his shirt.
"can you wash this too?" he asks with a cheeky smirk as she turns around to look at him.
"jackson,"she giggles as he throws the shirt to the side of the room before taking steps across the room until he's stood before her.
he begins to kiss her, and she smiles into the kiss, lifting up her arms in order to allow jackson to remove her shirt.
"ugh," april groans, as she enters the laundry room to find lia and jackson, who pull apart from their kiss to look at april. "is there anywhere you don't do it? no?"
april then shakes her head and throws her basket of laundry to the ground before turning on her heel and walking back out of the room.
"we should go upstairs," lia says, turning back to jackson.
"yeah," he breathes, before moving his head back towards hers and kissing her again.
lia's hands immediately go to either side of jackson's face to pull him deeper into the kiss. he then reaches down to the tops of her thighs to lift her onto the dryer so that he can stand between her legs, never breaking their kiss.
■ ■ ■
"ooh, avery," mark greets, squeezing jackson's shoulders. "today's the day. you, me, cross facial nerve graft. you pumped? i'm pumped."
"alright," jackson chuckles.
"get pumped," mark grins.
■ ■ ■
"how are we doing dr. park?" lia asks over the video call that is commencing during her surgery. "just a few more minutes, and my guy at u.c.l.a will have the heart he's been over a year for. okay. let's roll."
"got it," cristina nods.
"make sure that connection is secure," lia instructs. "that's right, and this tube removes waste."
"got it," cristina nods again.
"dr. park, your hospital's on the line. look at that," lia smiles from behind her surgical mask, using her head to gesture to the heart beating in a clear, plastic box. "she's about to catch a flight to la and not even know she left the body."
"damn it," dr. park groans over the line.
"what is it?" lia asks, concerned by his tone.
"my guy arrested," he sighs. "they weren't able to resuscitate."
"he's dead? damn it," she matches dr. park's groan from earlier. "it's all dressed up, and no place to go."
lia quickly leaves the o.r in order to phone around in order to figure out what to do with the heart now. after several useless phone calls, she eventually finds has success and then renters the o.r.
"looks like columbia's got a good match who's already consented," she informs cristina. "we're contacting them now to arrange pick-up, but it will be hours before they arrive. in the meantime, her vitals need to be monitored and lactate levels checked hourly."
"okay, so i'll find an intern to babysit," cristina nods.
"oh, i, uh, i'm not leaving her with an intern," lia shakes her head.
"you're not serious," cristina raises her brows in disbelief.
"i'm very serious," lia says with a straight face. "and you need more time to finish your list anyway. right? page if you need me."
■ ■ ■
"hey," mark greets, as he stands behind lia in the queue in the cafeteria.
"h- hey," she nervously returns the greeting.
"look, i know it's kinda awkward between us," mark frowns, as lia picks some fries off the counter and places them on her tray.
"no, you know, it's- it's not," she stammers. "it's... i'm- i'm hap- i'm happy for you, you know. and, uh, plus, i'm seeing someone else, so..."
"really?" mark asks, cutting her off and furrowing his brow, and lia nods in response. "that's, uh... good for you. do i know him?"
"i should go," she mumbles, paying for her lunch and heading over to the table that callie and arizona are currently sat at.
not long after she has sat down, jackson approaches her from behind and bends down to whisper something into her ear.
"yes, i will do a consult now," lia blurts out, standing up from the table.
"you're not fooling anyone," callie shouts as she heads out of the cafeteria with jackson guiding her out with his hand on the small of her back, whilst mark is stood watching them from the cafeteria line.
■ ■ ■
"hot diggity. there it is!" richard exclaims, as he enters the conference room where cristina is sat writing her list next to the heart in a box. "i, uh, ran into alivia this morning, and she told me what you were up to this morning. and i swear, i can't believe it. it's astounding. i'm so proud of her... uh, what are you, uh, working on there?"
"um, dr. webber is offering to track down, uh, surgeries i want to perform," cristina explains.
"uh, may i?" richard asks, reaching for her list.
"oh, no," she shakes her head. "this is..."
"thanks," richard cuts her off by snatching the list off of her. "yang, what is wrong with you? you're wasting an opportunity on three hundred pages of common procedures."
"she let a starving person loose in a grocery store," cristina sighs. "she asked what i want; i want everything. what am i supposed to do?"
"get creative. i mean- i mean, look- look at that," he gestures to the heart.
"okay..." cristina furrows her brow in confusion.
"it's the key," richard informs her.
"to what?" she asks.
"the list," he explains. "so use it. use the key. unlock your mind."
"what are you talking about?"
"i'm just talking about a heart in a box. a heart in a box. hot diggity," richard chuckles to himself as he exits the conference room.
- - -
you bring you into every new beginning in your life, so how different can it possibly be. it's all anybody wants, right?
- - -
jackson is lying on meredith's sofa with lia lying on top of him as they kiss when april walks in. she stops for a moment before proceeding to shove jackson's legs off the couch, and take a seat with her bowl of popcorn.
"do you mind?" jackson frowns, as lia pulls away and chuckles at april's intrusion.
"nope. although, if it were me, and i had someone to make out with, i might want to do it in private, like in a room, where there's a door that locks," april says before turning the tv up as loud as she possibly can.
"okay," lia chuckles, standing up from on top of jackson. "let's go upstairs."
jackson then stands up as well and takes a handful of popcorn from april's bowl, earning a scoff from her before he follows lia up the stairs.
- - -
clean slate. a new beginning. like that's gonna be any easier. ask the guy pushing the boulder up the hill. nothing's easy about starting over. nothing at all.
- - -