It had been quiet a day and she had not expected it to end like that, she walked out with tears in her eyes. It was too much for her so she did the only thing she knew under such circumstances which is to run. Jackson had hammered hard on how she was closed off as well as how she often ran when things got a little tough; she seemed surprised by such a revelation.

Before they started seeing each other Maggie had always tried to find excuses not to go out with him until she ran out of the excuses. She had turned him down time and again citing the complications surrounding their union but he did not give up until he could win her over. All along she thought being supportive was enough for him since he was going through so much but it turns out he needed more for their relationship to work. When she got home she dragged herself to the staircase as she was emotionally drained and sat down. She had no one to talk to as Amelia had her own issues with Owen, Betty was missing and Meredith was in LA for a VIP consult. She felt the world crushing in front of her, the only thing she could do while she sat there was to send a text to her sister "Jackson and I might be over and I am convinced that the world is ending"

Maggie grew up as an only adopted child, she is super smart so she finished High school, pre-med and med school way earlier than her peers. She became chief of Cardio at 27 which is way too young. She never learnt most things that normal people learn in their teenage years, she was forced to keep up with those who she associated with. It was all nice when growing up being so academically gifted but that gift came at a price. She spent most of her life being five steps ahead of everyone but this time she was five steps behind and she didn't know how to catch up, she never learnt to love or to fight or heck anything which wasn't school related. Jackson had been married, divorced, had a child and had lost one too. She sat on that staircase and got lost in her thoughts as she started missing her mum until Zola came running to her. She thought about going back to Jackson`s but she couldn`t bring herself to stand up.

...

Moments later she managed to get the courage to go back, she had her own key as she practically spent most of the nights there but she decided to knock instead.

Jackson came to open the door.

''Hi'' she said, ''can I come in? "

He did not respond instead he just left the door and walked back in while Maggie closed the door herself. Maggie saw the disappointment and heartbreak in his eyes.

"Jackson" she paused as he turned to face her "I am so sorry for leaving when you asked me not to, I don`t expect you to just forget about it but I am asking if we can find a way to move past this because I do love you too. I am here to show you that I want to make this work"

"You know what, it's late and I don`t have the energy to deal with this right now so if you don't mind would you excuse me as I was already in bed"

"Oh, I didn't realise that it was so late, I will just see myself out then"

He did not say anything instead he just walked up the stairs and left her there. She stood in the living room alone and wondered if she deserved the cold shoulder Jackson was serving her. She had asked him to open up but to his defence she had left him even after he had begged her not to. With the way it was so tense, she told herself she wasn't going to prove Jackson right by running instead she chose to sleep in another room. She drowned herself in a big tub of ice cream and some wine.

In the morning the mood was still tense, Jackson was surprised to see her there

"Morning" Maggie said

"Morning"

"Do you mind if we talk, I do really want us to talk you know."

"I have just been called in for a consult, can we perhaps do this sometime later"

"Of course,"

He didn't kiss her goodbye as he normally did before the start of their shifts instead he just walked out. It was her day off so she thought of stopping by the hospital to take her mind of things by working on her rechargeable hearts. As she walked into the hospital she saw Meredith. It was surprising as she was supposed to be back the following day.

"Hey you back"

"Hey Maggie, yah I am back"

"I thought you weren't back until tomorrow"

"Things changed so I had to come back a little earlier than I had planned"

"Well you should have at least called me and I wouldn't have finished a bottle of wine and a tub of ice cream by myself,''

''I assumed you and Jackson were good since you were not home when I arrived''

''How was LA anyway?"

"Shoot I am being paged, wait what are you doing here on your day off?"

"Well things are pretty bad with Jackson so I just thought I could come here to take my mind of things"

"Well you could go to a spa or something instead of coming to work"

"Honestly I am hoping to find Jackson so we can talk, he is so mad Mere and I don`t know if we will get through this"

"Well I think you two will figure things out, it can't be that bad. I need to go let's talk later" Meredith quickly ran off leaving her sister behind.

Turns out Richard had been arrested and Meredith had to fly back in earlier to bail him out. She moved to the OR board and saw that Jackson was in OR 3 with Hunt. She wrestled with the idea of going to watch him but quickly dismissed it and made her way to her lab. She asked one of the nurses to page her when Jackson was done with his surgery.

Jackson`s surgery got complicated and it took longer than he had expected, he was with Owen and they had enlisted the help of another cardio surgeon as Maggie was off. He had thought of calling in for Maggie but Owen had quickly reminded him that it was her day off and it wouldn't be fair since there were other surgeons who could do the job. He knew that Maggie was the best; he smiled at that thought as it was one of the reasons why he loved her so much.

Maggie was in her lab when her phone started ringing; she wanted to ignore it but picked it up anyway.

"Dr Pierce hello"

"Maggie hi, this is Aunt Linda"

"Hey this is a surprise, how are you? I haven't heard from you in a while"

"You need to come to Boston dear, something happened"

"What do you mean something happened, is dad okay, what's going on, is everything okay?"

"Let's talk when you get here honey,"

"What's going on? Please tell me what's wrong"

"I can't do this over the phone so try to get here as soon as possible okay, I will see you soon" and the line went off

Maggie`s heart started racing, what could possibly be wrong that she couldn`t tell her over the phone. As a doctor she knew exactly what was on the other end of that line and her mind raced even faster. She quickly dialled her dad`s number but it went straight to voicemail. She had been talking to him a few days ago and there was no indication that something would be wrong with him

She tried her cousin but she didn't pick up.

She started thinking about all the worst case scenarios she could come up with, a few minutes later she stood up and grabbed her jacket to go look for Jackson.

Jackson`s surgery was done so she called him but he did not pick up.

She met with Owen in the hallway

"Hey Hunt"

"Pierce, what are you doing here isn't it your day off?"

"Are you and Jackson done with your surgery?"

"Yes we finished a few minutes ago, he said he needed some air so I am not sure where he is right now"

"Okay thank you"

"Is everything okay Maggie?" Hunt asked as he could tell that something was wrong

"Honestly I don't know but I hope everything is okay"

"Can I help with anything?''

"I am not sure if you can but thank you for the offer though, got to find Jackson"

Hunt was surprised by how Maggie was acting but he didn't think much of it so he shrugged it off and went on his way.

Maggie checked the time and realised that if she needed to be in Boston soon she had to go as soon as possible. She scurried in hallways looking for Jackson but she did not see him. She called Meredith but she was in surgery so she ignored her calls because she knew how her sister gets when she has problems. Heck there were other things that she was dealing with so she told herself Maggie was just overreacting with Jackson. Maggie knew her sister was probably ignoring her. The last person she thought of was Amelia, she thought of not worrying her because Betty had gone missing.

Before she realised it she was right in front of the chief's office

"Hey chief, ''Alex the chief" it has a nice ring to it"

"Maggie, isn't it your day off, I forget how much you love your job at times"

"Well speaking of that I kind of need a few personal days off"

"Sure no problem, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to go somewhere for a while"

"That's cool, going on a vacation I see"

"Thanks Alex will see you in a week or so and it's not a vacation"

''Call it what you want, I will stick to vacation''

She just forced a smile on her face and left Alex.

She walked in those hallways with tears falling down her face; her thoughts were all over the place. People were now starting to stare and she decided to leave so she could quickly be on the next flight to Boston. There was no one home so her packing wasn't much of a hustle and off she left.