"𝐒𝐎 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍, 𝐓𝐎𝐎, 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔. 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔"
"gotta make a big show out of everything" jackson said as he walked up to his mom.
"there's my baby boy. come here" she said, grabbing his face and kissing his cheek"
"hi, mom"
"ooh. you look skinny"
"ah"
"you're not sleeping"
"okay, i'm fine, mom"
"mm-hmm. which one is she? curly hair, right?" catherine asked, looking around the sea of doctors.
"we're not doing this today, okay?"
"oh, maybe the real question is, what kind of name is kelsey?"
"i never told you her name" jackson said, squinting his eyes at her.
"i have my ways. where is she?"
"she's busy"
"dr. avery, sorry to interrupt" mark said as he walked over.
"oh, interrupt, please"
"oh, mark sloan, plastics. the man who doubts"
"listen, i'm all for standing up for the johnson, but this is a transplant, and transplant patients reject organs. now i see a 28-year-old guy who could have a pretty good life with a reconstructed organ that my boy here and i could make tomorrow"
"excuse me. you're working with jackson?"
"i'm mentoring him. he didn't mention it?"
"no, he didn't. first your little girlfriend and now this?" catherine asked, raising her eyebrow at him.
"oh livginston? she's over there, talking to the doctor with the blond hair, great girl" mark said, pointing to where she was talking to arizona. "got a great set of hands, this kid. you should be proud"
"why don't you scrub in with me? and you can tell me all the reasons why"
"i'll be there"
"all right" she said as he walked away.
"can't you just stay out of it?" he sternly asked, crossing his arms.
"he's your mentor. why not get to know the man? now come introduce to this kelsey girl" she said. looking over, they noticed that she and arizona were now gone.
"see? i told you, she's busy"
"whatever" she said, pinching his nose before hugging him once again.
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"𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐁 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐄𝐘. 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍?"
catherine asked as her, kelsey, and jackson sat in joe's. after april, cristina, then meredith got kicked off, alex forfeited, leaving kelsey and jackson the last two standing.
"pediatrics, obstetrics, and neonatal surgery" kelsey proudly answered with a smile.
"really?" she asked unamused. "don't you think that's a bit much?"
"well, maybe, but i think it can handle it" she assured, still with a smile on her face.
"that's a lot to take on i mean when are you gonna have time to be a women?" kelsey's smile dropped.
"excuse me?"
"mom" jackson warned, looking at kelsey.
"i mean to get married, to start a family. when are you going to have time to do all of that?"
"well i'm not looking to do any of that any time soon"
"but when the time comes what's gonna happen? you're saying you're gonna leave your husband to take care of the kids and the house?"
"n-no i'm not saying that at all i—"
"i'm not trying to overwhelm you, dear. i'm just saying. you're young. you're beautiful. don't overwork yourself" kelsey gave her a small smile before taking a sip of her drink.
"i'm gonna go to the bathroom" she said, looking at jackson before getting up and walking away.
"why?"
"i'm just trying to get to know the girl. so, tell me about plastics"
"mom, come on. 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. but since you don't want to talk about that we might as well talk about this girl you've been so love struck over" he looked down at his drink and smiled.
"well i'm that case, you can't do that"
"can't do what?"
"ask questions that you have no business asking. you did it with sloan today, too. you can't just ask her questions about kids and marriage. you're gonna run her away"
"sloan can take it. you're saying kelsey can't?"
"i like her. a lot. i don't want to start this" he said, looking in the direction of the bathroom for kelsey.
"i'm gonna meddle one more time"
"yeah. see, if only i could believe that, maybe we could talk—"
"are you in love with her?" she asked, moving the small stick with olives on it around her glass.
"we're not gonna talk about this" he said with a smile.
"ayiee!" she smiled, reaching for him. kelsey came back and sat the table, giving them both a small smile before looking down at her glass. jackson subconsciously smiled while drinking his drink.
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"𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐌𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐅?"
kelsey asked as she walked into his office.
"livingston, yes. have a seat"
"is everything okay?"
"oh yes, yes. everything's fine. i just wanted to talk to you about chief resident"
"o-oh. those interviews were today? i thought those weren't for another few weeks" kelsey stammered as she sat up straight in her seat.
"no, no. this isn't the interview. i wanted to talk about you being the chief resident"
"really?" kelsey asked, a small smile creeping onto her face.
"yeah. i don't want you to run"
"what?" she whispered, her smile slowly dropping
"i don't want you to run for chief resident" he simply stated, shrugging his shoulders. "you're so committed to peds, and obstetrics, and neonatal. it's like you say to hell with all the other specialties"
"dr. webber, if this is about me not picking trauma or ortho as a specialty i thought we were far past that"
"oh yes, we are, we are. but that's not the reason i don't want you to run for chief resident"
"w-w-well what other reason is there? i haven't done anything else"
"that's exactly the point. you haven't done anything else. you show a great commitment to those three specialties that i've only seen in one other person before. hell, i've barely seen someone go into three specialties. they always end up dropping one"
"so....what, you want me to drop a specialty?"
"no, i don't—"
"good. because i have my reasons for going into those three so i'm going to continue to show a commitment to those three because i made a promise to myself that i would go through with it and i sure as hell am not stopping just because someone else doesn't like it" she assertively explained.
"i don't want you to drop a specialty. i'm just saying you wouldn't make a good chief resident because you don't have the time"
"what do you mean i don't have the time?! yeah i have to study for three specialties but i can handle it! i don't know why your underestimating me but i assure you, i would make a damn good chief resident"
"livingston—"
"no disrespect sir but i don't see or hear about you doing this to any of the other fifth years"
"you don't have the time—"
"i am just as capable of being chief resident as any of the other fifth year residents!"
"you don't have the time to be chief resident because you are going to be head of neonatal surgery and co-head of OB/GYN!" he exclaimed, cutting her off from saying anything else.
"what?"
"when i said you show a great commitment to those three specialties that i've only ever seen in one person before i wasn't saying it as an insult. i was saying that as a complement. since addison montgomery was a resident i have never seen a surgeon as dedicated towards those two specialties and the talent to match it like you do"
"sir, doesn't that seem a little....unrealistic? i mean the OB attendings have taught me so many things since i've gotten here and now you're saying they have to take orders from me?"
"you're not the first resident to become a department head after passing their boards, kelsey. especially in neonatal, i mean look at addison montgomery " she blinked a few times, trying to process everything she was being told.
"granted once you pass your boards you won't go straight into being the department head but if you don't want the guarantee of those spots and would rather take the possibility of being chief resident instead then by all means go for it—"
"n-n-n-n-no. no. it's mine, the spots are mine. if-if that's what you want, sir"
"is it what you want though, livingston?"
"yes, yes more than anything"
"good. you keep scrubbing in on surgeries and studying for your boards and you're gonna be a department head in no time" he said with a smile.
"thank you sir!" kelsey beamed before standing up and heading towards the door.
"livingston"
"yes?"
"don't tell anyone about this"
"yes sir" she said with a smile and nod before walking out.
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"𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐅?"
kelsey greeted richard the following day as she walked up to him at the nurse's desk.
"livingston. what are we looking at here?" he asked, pulling out a scan and holding it up to the light.
"lung cancer. yeah, definitely lung cancer. it looks as though it hasn't spread into the lymph nodes, the liver, the bones, or the spine so a good approach would be a pulmonary lobectomy"
"good work. you ever scrubbed in on one of these?"
"no sir" she responded, trying not to get her hopes up that he'd let her scrub in.
"follow me" smiling once he turned around, she followed him to the room of the patient. once they turned the corner, they seen two nurses rushing in the room and miranda rushing down the hallway.
"it's your lung cancer patient" she said before running into the room. the two followed and seen the patient being held down by two nurses.
"james!" a young man shouted, trying to run over to the bed but was held back by two nurses.
"what happened?"
"he's complaining about abdominal pain, dizziness, and numbness in the legs" a nurse explained, struggling to hold him down.
"the cancer could've spread to his brain or spine" kelsey lowly said to richard.
"and there's no time to get a CT" he replied, shaking his head.
"we could sedate him?" kelsey suggested.
"right, uh nurse, push one of ketamine"
"ketamine. w-what is that?"
"it's a sedation medicine, we're gonna give it to him for his pain and then take him up for surgery but you should step outside" kelsey calmly told the man as she tried to help the nurses usher him out of the room.
"sedation—wait i have to say something to him"
"sir, i'm sorry but you have to step outside—"
"no! get off of me!" after they finally got him outside, she walked back in to see the nurses prepping him.
"livingston page neuro and tell them to get to OR 1 immediately" miranda said as she and richard walked out.
"yes ma'am" she paged neuro on the phone in the room before walking out and heading towards the OR floor, only to be pulled back by her wrist. she turned around and seen the man that had to get escorted out of the room a few moments earlier.
"you better make sure my little brother lives"
"we're gonna do what we can to the best of our abilities—"
"no, no, don't give me that doctor-to-family member reassurance mess, i said you better make sure my little brother lives" he said lowly so that just she can hear, gripping her wrist tighter. she looked down at it before back up at him.
"i have to go operate on him now" she said, slowly moving her hand. once he let her go, she quickly turned around and walked away, huffing out a breath.
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"𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓. 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓! 𝐈𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐁𝐄"
richard said as they looked around inside the open cavity in front of them.
"how old were those scans?" miranda asked.
"a week. he had them taken at hopkins but it took him a week to get here. more suction, livingston"
"we could still resect his first lobe and do follow up CTs?" miranda suggested.
"well by the looks of it it wouldn't do him any justice. the cancer's now in his second lobe"
"did you see this dr. webber?" kelsey asked, pointing the sponge stick towards his liver. "right here, along the edge?" miranda and richard looked at it before up at each other.
"gently lift his liver" she complied, slowing lifting his liver with the sponge stick to reveal a blackened surface.
"liver's infected, too" miranda said, shaking her head and looking over at the patient's head.
"it could still be treated with radiation and chemo though, right? his skin isn't yellow"
"i'm here. what do we have?" derek asked as he walked into the OR while tying his mask.
"stage 1 lung cancer but it's spread to the second lobe and liver. he was complaining about abdominal pain, dizziness, and numbness of the legs" kelsey explained. derek shined a light over his eyes before shaking his head.
"unresponsive to light" he said, clicking his light off and walking around to where miranda stood.
"james don't do this is" miranda said with her eyes closed, shaking her head.
"no reflex" he said after tapping the inside of his arm with the small reflex hammer.
"so that means....." kelsey started.
"he stroked out" kelsey squeezed her eyes shut and sighed.
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"𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑?"
"we had our brain and nerve specialist dr. shepard here come in and do a neurological check on your brother during surgery"
"yes, his pupils were unresponsive to light and his arms showed no signs of reflex which are signs of a stroke"
"so you're saying...."
"that your brother could be brain dead. we're getting some tests ran right now to confirm but he showed clear signs of a stroke. i'm sorry for your loss" as derek explained, the man glared at kelsey.
"you!" he yelled, pointing his finger at her. "i told you not to let my brother die!" he yelled, getting up and rushing towards her. she quickly moved behind derek who stopped him from coming any further with the help of richard.
"there was nothing anyone could do to prevent this from happening—"
"you didn't let me talk to him! you let them sedate him before i could say goodbye!" he exclaimed, still trying to get past richard and derek.
"kelsey, come on" miranda said, guiding her out of the room by her shoulder. miranda called for security before walking back into the room, leaving kelsey looking into the room through the door's small window.
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𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐖 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓, 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓.
"come on. just admit it. you're still a virgin" alex said to april, their topic from a few days ago being brought back up.
"no, i'm not"
"hey, there's no shame in it"
"really?" april asked, relief and comfort laced in her voice.
"no, there's shame" jackson laughed, taking a gulp of his beer. kelsey in response slapped his upper arm before laying her head on it.
"a lot of shame. tell her, mer" alex said, tapping meredith across the table.
"i, um.....i was gonna say something, and then i forgot to stop drinking. has anybody seen cristina?" meredith giggly answered.
"okay. so today only one person looked at me like a psycho who might run down the hall naked, and dr. bailey screamed like a little bitch baby over a spider, so i'm feeling pretty good, you know, for a crazy person" lexie ranted as she joined the group, sitting next to meredith.
"well, nobody gives a crap if you're crazy. we're all crazy" jackson said, to which kelsey nodded with her eyes closed and pointed up at him.
"yeah, look at april. she's still a virgin" alex joked as he nudged an annoyed april next to him.
"yeah, well, mark gives a crap, okay? he stares at me like i'm a menace to myself and everyone around me" lexie said as she played with her straw. "wait. you're still a virgin?" lexie laughed, causing kelsey to open her eyes and look at her.
"what? stop. okay? just stop. i'm a virgin. yes. so what? it's not something i talk about, okay? we all have things we don't talk about" april exclaimed before looking over at alex.
"alex, you've been afraid of the elevator for like, a month, but i never said anything because it's none of my business. and jackson. you wake up every night screaming because you have nightmares. and meredith. you don't talk about cristina because you're afraid she's never gonna be the same cristina again. and lexie...for god sake, mark never thought you were psycho. he loves you. that's why he stares at you, because he can't keep his eyes off the women he loves, much like jackson does with kelsey. but of course, they're never gonna say anything 'cause they don't feel like they can. look, we all have stuff we don't talk about. i am a 28 year old virgin, maybe because i wanted my first time to be special, and then i waited too long, and partially because i'm pretty sure guys find me annoying. i'm a virgin. that doesn't make it drinks conversation. we all have stuff we don't talk about" she ended, finishing off the rest of her drink in one big gulp. everyone awkwardly looked around at each other.
"oh, april. i'm liking you more and more" meredith said with a teasing smile.
"thank you" kelsey downed her last shot before getting up and walking over to the bar.
"whiskey please" she put her hands in her head and sighed for what she felt was the 20th time that night.
"hey" she looked to her left to see alex sitting next to her, ordering another beer. she placed her head back in her hands.
"look livingston. i'm sorry about the whole baby thing that happened last week. it was insensitive. i should've known better"
"you sure you're not only saying this so i'll help you with your sick african babies?" she retorted, not looking at him as she took a sip of her drink.
"no. i'm saying this from the heart. look, i'll admit when you first got here i kinda hated your guts because i thought robbins was replacing me. but then we started talking and....you're cool. we used to do this. if you weren't with lexie or avery we'd come to joe's and we'd talk and drink until you got piss drunk and would say you were going to quit being a surgeon to become a bartender"
"i have never said that" she said with a laugh, finally looking over at him.
"believe it or not, it happened. anyway, i miss that. so friends?" he asked, sticking his left hand out. she looked down at it before up at him.
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𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒. she was laughing, and he loved to see her laugh. but not if it was by alex. it can't be jealously, he thought. they technically weren't a thing. they acted like it, but neither of them made it official. all he knew was something about her smiling and laughing at alex made him angry. downing the last of his beer, he walked over to kelsey's right at the bar and ordered another one. placing his hand on her lower back, he leaned against the counter on his right elbow, slightly hovering over her with a small smirk on his face. she looked up at him and smiled, giggling as she leant into his chest.
"i'll leave you two to it" alex said, picking up his beer and walking back to the table.
"what were you two talking about?" he asked, taking a sip of his beer while still rubbing her lower back and hovering over her.
"nothinggggg. he just apologized for being a jerk aaaass alwaysssss"she slurred as she slowly swayed side to side in her seat, stopping and grabbing onto jackson's arm as she started to tip over, giggling it off as she pushed her hair out of her face.
"is that all?"
"why? are you jealous?" she giggled, turning towards him.
"no. just curious" he said, picking up his glass again.
"good. because you shouldn't be. we're just having fun. nothing more, nothing less" he furrowed his eyebrows and placed his glass down.
"what do you mean?"
"you and me. we are just two people having fun. no strings attached"
"no strings attached" he repeated, looking down at his glass.
"yep" she said, downing the rest of her drink, continuing to slowly sway to the music.
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𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐞|𝐣.𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲!
𝐈'𝐌 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐗 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒! 𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫😌
𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, + 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 !
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟑𝟒𝟗𝟏