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there are times in our lives when love really does conquer all. we are always looking for ways to ease the pain.
- - -
"hey, where are you going?" derek asks lia as he and meredith catch her wheeling her suitcase through the hallway as they are on their way out to work.
"um, to visit sabrina for two days," lia explains, referring to her cousin.
"oh, that's great," meredith smiles at her.
"jackson arranged it. it was a surprise," she explains further.
"oh.." derek says, dropping his smile slightly.
"what so you mean by that?" lia asks, frowning at him.
"nothing," he unconvincingly shakes his head. "just 'oh'."
"'cause it sounded like you meant, 'really, he arranged for you to visit your cousin at the exact time his mother's coming into town? guess he's not really that into you, otherwise, he'd want you to meet his mother like a normal person'." lia rambles with a forced chuckle.
"no. you two had a mother," meredith interjects softly, referring to lia and derek. "jackson and i had surgeons who procreated. it's just a little complicated."
"i- i- i shouldn't go, right?" lia asks meredith.
"no, i think it's sweet that he wants you to get out of the line of fire," meredith smiles as a car horn honks from outside.
"that's my cab," lia informs them. "yeah, i- i should stay."
"i think you should probably get out while you have the chance," derek says, and lia nods before fumbling with suitcase and exiting the house. as she closes the door, meredith and derek shake their heads at her and exchange a chuckle before leaving as well.
■ ■ ■
"i can't believe robbins postponed our surgery for grand rounds," alex rolls his eyes as the residents are sat in the lecture theatre. "it's just a boring lecture."
"the chief said it was mandatory," meredith reminds him.
"one more hour of sleep, that's what it is," alex scoffs.
"oh, no. it's not gonna be boring," april shakes her head with a smile. "this is jackson's mother; catherine avery."
"she's a urologist, right?" cristina raises a brow.
"yeah," april nods. "i met her when i was an intern at mercy west. she was amazing."
"she is... a lunatic," jackson interjects, rolling his eyes.
"no, she's not. she's brilliant," april frowns. "she says these things that shock you, but then when you think about them later, they change your whole life."
"or they ruin your whole life," jackson rolls his eyes. "she's toxic. she's a meddler. my mom has no boundaries. be warned."
"hey, is that why you shipped lia out of state?" cristina challenges him.
"oh. you shipped lia out of state?" alex asks with a slight chuckle of disbelief.
"who hides his girlfriend under a rock while his mom comes into town?" cristina shakes his head with amusement.
"someone who's got a hypercritical surgeon for a mom," meredith defends jackson. "i get it."
"is your mom ambidextrous? i bet you she is," cristina asks jackson. "lia is. all the best surgeons are. why do you think i am in love with her? i wouldn't ship her out of state if she was my girlfriend."
"wait a second," jackson pauses, frowning at and ignoring cristina, before turning to april. "how often do you talk to my mom?"
"we're facebook friends," april explains, smiling.
"you're... you and my mother?" jackson furrows his brow with confusion.
"she's a brilliant surgeon and woman. she's a trailblazer," april defends herself.
"and she's got a stalker," cristina adds, earning a chuckle from everyone else except april and jackson, who shoot her a look.
"hey, you know what? just meet her. you'll see it," april informs the other residents.
■ ■ ■
"so nice to see you again, too, really," catherine smiles, interacting with several doctors, following her presentation. "thank you. thank you,"
"gotta make a big show out of everything," jackson says, approaching his mother.
"there's my baby boy. come here," she beams, wrapping him in a hug as the group of doctors disperse. "ohh. you look skinny. you're not sleeping."
"okay," jackson says, pushing her off him. "i'm fine, mom."
"which one is she?" catherine asks, looking round the busy corridor of surgeons. "she's a brunette, right?"
"we're not doing this today, okay?" he rolls his eyes.
"oh, maybe the real question is, what kind of name is lia?" she raises her her brow at her son.
"i never told you her name," jackson shakes his head.
"i have my ways," she informs him with a smug grin. "where is she?"
"she's not here. she's out of town," he attempts to brush her off.
"i come into town, and you smuggle her across state lines?" catherine frowns at jackson. "are you always ashamed of her?"
"dr. avery," mark says, approaching the two doctors. "sorry to interrupt."
"oh, interrupt, please," jackson pleads.
"oh, mark sloan, plastics," catherine greets, playfully mocking his interruption of her presentation, earlier. "the man who doubts."
"listen, i'm all for standing up for the johnson, but this is a transplant, and transplant patients reject organs," mark explains. "now i see a twenty eight year old guy who could have pretty good life with a reconstrued organ that my boy here and i could make tomorrow."
"excuse me. you're working with jackson?" she raises her brow in shock.
"i'm mentoring him. he didn't mention it?" mark explains.
"no, he didn't," catherine informs him, whilst shooting jackson a look.
"got a great set of hands, this kid," mark says, beaming with pride. "you should be proud."
"why don't you scrub in with me? and you can tell me all the reasons why," catherine suggests.
"i'll be there. alright," mark nods before walking away.
"can't you just stay out of it?" jackson shakes his head at his mother's interference in his life.
"he's your mentor," she protests. "why not get to know the man? at least he didn't skip town."
■ ■ ■
"catherine avery," richard greets with a smile, as he enters the scrub room catherine is currently in.
"richard webber," she beams. "oh, shame on you. i send you my son to educate, and you let him wander off into plastics."
"he seems happy," richard shrugs.
"happy is for ordinary people, he's my son. greatness is his legacy," she explains to him. "you should know that better than anyone, your daughter is twenty three and the head of cardio thoracics."
"and i wanted her to go into general," he reminds her, before pausing. "at a certain point, you have to realize that you've done everything you can. you can't force people to do things they don't want to do."
"don't i know it?" she teases. "when was it that we met at that convention in miami. and i just flirted with you shamelessly, and you had to tell me you were married."
"i remember," richard nods, smiling fondly at the memory.
"are you still married? 'cause after this surgery tonight, i'm gonna need some dinner," she asks, hopefully.
"i'm still married," he informs her.
"damn it," she groans with a chuckle. "well, there's always next time. you know I don't give up. oh... and you don't happen to know anything about jackson's new girlfriend do you? he seems to have smuggled her out of town, which can only mean that he thinks i won't approve."
"i do, as it happens," richard informs her, turning back to face her. "she's my daughter."
"really?" catherine raises her brow, clearly in shock. "april said her name is lia. i thought your daughter's name is alivia?"
"she is, but her friends call her lia," he explains.
"now i really don't know why he smuggled her away," she chuckles. "alivia webber is a phenomenal surgeon... just like her father."
"have a good surgery," richard smiles.
"thank you, richard," she returns the smile before heading into surgery.
■ ■ ■
"my son tells me that i have trouble admitting when i'm wrong," catherine says from behind mark, who is walking away from the o.r, following their surgery. "so this would be the place where i should say that was an impressive save."
"of course it was," mark says, spinning round to face her. "he's a good kid. probably cause you've give him such a complex, but for whatever the reason, let him find his own way. he'll do good."
"thank you," catherine smiles as mark turns to walk away again.
"oh," mark says as though he's remembering something, before turning back to face her. "and... don't count out alivia webber. she's smart, she's beautiful... she's perfect. the guy couldn't do any better."
- - -
sometimes we ease the pain by making the best of what we have, sometimes is by losing ourselves in the moment.
- - -
"tell me about plastics," catherine smiles at her son whilst they are sat at a table in joe's.
"mom, come on," jackson sighs. "i'm tired. and i don't want to spend all night trying to convince you it's a legitimate specialty."
"i'm asking you to share your interests," catherine argues. "or you can tell me about this girl you shipped off to another time zone in honor of my arrival."
"can you blame me? honestly?" he raises a brow at her. "i mean, look how you were all over sloan. i mean... sloan can take it."
"you're saying this lia can't?" catherine interrupts her son.
"i like her. a lot. i don't want to start this," jackson shakes his head, taking a sip of his drink.
"i'm gonna meddle one more time," she says softly, placing her hand on jackson's arm.
"yeah," he scoffs. "see, if only i could believe that, maybe we could talk-"
"sloan..." catherine says, cutting him off. "be careful of him if you really like her."
"why?" jackson frowns at his meddling mother.
"because he talks about her the way you should. that's why," she explains.
"yeah," jackson shrugs. "they were a thing. that's over now."
"mm-hmm," she nods with uncertainty, before pausing. "are you in love with her?"
"we're not gonna talk about this," he says, unable to hide his smile, indicating the answer is in fact a yes, and his mother squeals with excitement, wrapping her arms around him.
- - -
and sometimes all we need to do to ease the pain is.. call a simple truce.
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