A/N: I've had this story stuck in my head for a few days, especially since there has been a lack of Japril and no reconciliation in sight for them. In this story, Meredith is not suspended. This doesn't really follow anything that's going on in Season 13 but Japril are still not together so two original characters show them the way back together. Owen and Amelia are still having problems, Jo and Alex are not together, etc. This will be a one-shot and I don't really see it going beyond a short story but let me know what you think. Francois Arnaud plays my Original Male Character Kay. Please, enjoy.
Meredith, Maggie, and Alex were in Meredith's SUV on their way to work when they encountered an accident. Being sworn doctors, they felt they had no choice except to see if anyone needed their help. What they came upon did not really faze them as they had seen much worse, but the sight was still gruesome.
There was a female stuck in the windshield of a large red pick-up truck. The driver was gingerly getting out of the truck and Alex went to steady him and check him over while Meredith and Maggie checked on the female and called an ambulance. As the two friends got closer to determine the damage, they noticed the midnight blue motorcycle at the front end of the truck.
Maggie opened the passenger door and noticed that the female had a Black Pride full face helmet protecting her head. However, she also noticed that the glass from the visor of the helmet had cut into the area of woman's right eye. She decided to leave it there and feel for any other gashes or broken bones in her torso. The woman's other injuries on her upper body included a nasty cut on her right shoulder and shards of glass stuck in her stomach. Maggie placed pressure on the woman's shoulder to lessen the bleeding. There was nothing she could do at the moment for the woman's stomach. The woman briefly stirred when she felt the pressure on her shoulder but didn't fully waken.
Meredith checked over the woman's legs and found the woman's right knee had dislocated but found no other serious injuries. She then checked the woman's pockets for identification so that her admission process would be swift once they got her to the hospital. Her name was Angel Fitzroy and she was twenty-three. Her phone had a passcode so they would have to wait until she woke up before they could call someone for her.
The loud wail of the ambulance's sirens was soon heard and the doctors meet the paramedics as they arrived on the scene.
"What do we have?" the female paramedic asked as she stepped from the back of the ambulance.
"Twenty-three-year-old female," Meredith answered. "Angel Fitzroy. She went head first into the truck. Dislocated knee."
"She has on a helmet," Maggie added, "but the visor broke and there are some shards of glass in her right eye area as well as in the abdomen and a large gash in her right shoulder."
"Poor kid," the paramedic muttered before getting to work. She, the three doctors, and her partner carefully lifted the woman from the windshield, placing gauze on her wounds, but left the glass in until they get to the hospital. Angel was lifted onto the gurney, placed in the Ambulance, with Maggie riding with her, and headed to the hospital. Meredith and Alex quickly followed them.
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"What do we have?" Owen asked as he and April met the ambulance. They were surprised to see Maggie get out but said nothing as they noticed she was not the patient.
"Angel Fitzroy," she told them as she helped to push the gurney into the emergency room. "Twenty-three. Was in an accident. Went halfway through the windshield of a truck. Has numerous lacerations, a large gash in her right shoulder, large shards of glass in her right abdomen, a dislocated knee, and shards of glass in the area of her right eye."
Maggie quickly got a gown and helped her co-workers as they worked on Angel. Meredith soon came in to also help. Alex had gone to the Pediatric surgical wing to help Arizona with whatever she needed. First, they cut Angel's leather jacket and t-shirt, took out the large shard in her caramel colored abdomen and replaced it with gauze and bandages so that she wouldn't bleed out on her way to CT. They also hastily bandaged her shoulder. Angel's head would be the most difficult as they would need to take the glass shards out before they took off her helmet but it would have to be quick so that she would not lose more blood.
As everyone got into position, Angel abruptly woke up and started to hyperventilate and thrash around. The doctors held her down and Meredith tried to calm her down.
"Angel? Angel!" Angel stopped moving at the sound of her name but her breathing was still heavy and irregular.
"Where am I?" Her voice was soft and sounded a bit younger that her actual age. "Who are you? Where's Kay?"
"I'm Dr. Meredith Grey and you are at Grey-Sloan Memorial. Is Kay your boyfriend?" Angel's breathing started to slow and her left eye drooped but she still answered.
"He's my husband." The doctors were a bit shocked that she would get married so young but it wasn't any of their business and they had to take care of her so that she would be with her husband again. "He's number one on speed dial on my phone." She said no more as she her breathing got slower and she was unconscious once again.
"Let's get this glass out of her eyes so we can take her to CT before we operate," Meredith commanded. They once again crowded around Angel. April took the glass out and Maggie quickly covered Angel's eye with gauze. "On three." She nodded to Owen as she held Angel's neck still. "One. Two. Three." Owen carefully but quickly removed the helmet when Maggie moved the gauze. April placed new gauze on Angel's eye and taped it there as they rolled the gurney out of the Emergency room and to the elevator for CT.
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"There's some abdominal bleeding," Meredith said as she and April studied the scans. They would be the two main operating doctors. Jackson would come in when it was time to work on Angel's face. "A lot of abdominal bleeding. That will have to be fixed soon."
"Her knee shouldn't be too hard to pop back in to place but she'll have to get a brace," April added. "I'm more worried about her eye."
"Well, it doesn't look like anything vital was damaged, no nerves severed but we won't know for sure until Jackson takes a look." April's heart still skipped a beat that the sound of his name but she quickly placed her focus back on Angel. It would do her no good to think about her ex at this point in time.
"Let's get her prepped and get O.R. 3 scheduled. I want this done quickly. Poor girl." April nodded before leaving the room.
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A young man in his late twenty's or early thirties burst into the entrance of Grey-Sloan Memorial and ran right up to the information desk where Jackson was going over paperwork and talking to his mother and Bailey.
"Excuse me," he gasped out franticly to the doctors. "I'm looking for my wife. Angel Fitzroy. I was told by a Dr. Owen Hunt that she was being treated here. Please, tell me where she is. Is she alive? Oh, God." He knees started to give out but Jackson quickly caught him and brought him over to the chairs in the waiting area, his mother and Bailey close behind him.
"Hey, hey, you should calm down," Jackson told the man. "You'll be no good to your wife if you're admitted here as well." Angel's husband nodded but his breathing was erratic. Jackson sat beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder as Bailey looked up the information. "What's your name?"
"Kay," he said softly as he breathing became normalized. "Kay Fitzroy." Kay ran his hand through his black hair and over his scruffy beard.
"Okay, we're going to look up your wife and see how she's doing. Alright?" Kay just nodded but kept his hands over his green eyes and fair face.
"It says here that your wife suffered from a car accident and is currently being prepped for surgery," Bailey informed Kay.
"Surgery?" Kay asked. "For what." He swallowed loudly but didn't look at anyone.
"Bleeding in the abdominal, a dislocated knee, and…" Baily trailed off and tried to keep her face professional.
"And what? What is it?"
"She has deep lacerations in the area of her right eye."
"So, her eye is gone?"
"We won't know until we get in there."
"How long will her surgery take? Do you know? I need to call her mom and dad." Kay was frantic as he searched his pockets for his phone. He would have to tell his in-laws, the people who had really welcomed him into the family despite his obvious differences with their daughter, that Angel was in the hospital.
"The surgery should take a few hours," Jackson told him softly. His mother was suspiciously quiet as she saw the interaction between Jackson and Kay. He shouldn't be so close to patients' families. "I will personally operate on her eye and I promise I will do my best. Okay?" Kay nodded again as he finally found his phone and unlocked it. "Okay, we'll keep you updated."
Jackson stood up and left Kay to make his calls. "That's rough," he told the two women as he took the tablet from Bailey to look at Angel's file. He noticed that April would be one of the surgeons operating on Angel. Like always, her name made him feel warm but he couldn't focus on that. He made a promise and he intended to keep it. "They can't have been married long. She's only twenty-three. They've still got their whole lives ahead of them."
"Baby, was it wise to promise that man?" Katherine asked. Bailey stayed quiet and quickly but covertly left the scene, not wanting to witness the mother-son fight she was sure was about to happen.
"What do you mean?" Jackson asked as he turned to his mother with an unreadable expression. He knew that his mother loved to interfere in his life. His failed relationship with April was proof of that. "I just said that I would do my best. And I do my best every time."
"Yes, but what if he takes that out of context?" He looked at his mother, obviously confused. "What if he expects you to cure her? What if she can't see and he blames you?"
"What's wrong with comforting him? He's worried about his wife. The love of his life. Look at him. He's still freaking out." They looked at Kay to see him pacing and talking rapidly on his phone, tears in his green eyes. "Besides, I've looked at the scans. So far, it looks like the glass missed her eye and her nerves. More than likely, I'll just be going in there to double check and to make sure she doesn't scar too much as she recovers."
"Jackson!" she whispered yelled. He didn't want to hear anything else she had to say.
"Enough, mom," he said calmly. "Now, I don't have any other surgeries today, so I will be checking on his wife for him and I will be checking on him as well. He's not taking this very well and who could blame him? They're probably newlyweds and then this happens. He could use all the support he can get." Jackson quickly left his mom stunned standing at the receptionist's desk and headed toward the surgical wing to see if April and Meredith had started the surgery yet.
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"Hi, Mrs. James," Kay said softly into the phone, trying not to sniffle and get her upset before she even knew what was going on.
"Kay?" Mrs. James asked. "I thought you and Angel were going to tell your parents the news?"
"We did but, things didn't go so well." His breathing became stuttered and he knew Lois James could hear him.
"Kay, what's going on?" Lois asked. "What happened?" Kay could hear Mr. Morgan James in the back ground questioning his wife.
"Angel…was in an accident," he sobbed quietly as he paced back and forth in the waiting area.
"Wait a minute, honey. Start from the beginning. I'm going to put you on speaker phone."
Kay sighed before telling the story. "My parents…well, they're my parents. You know how they are." Lois made an agreeing noise so Kay continued. Morgan stayed silent. "Well, they were shocked that Angel and I got married and angry that they weren't invited. Some things got said, slurs were thrown and Angel ran out of there. She took off on her motorcycle before I could reach her. I was still arguing with my parents, giving Angel time to cool off when I got the call that she had been in an accident and was admitted into Grey-Sloan Memorial. She should be going into surgery soon." His sobbing got louder and his nose became congested. "I'm so sorry, Lois."
"Hey, it's not your fault, alright?" Kay nodded but he knew Lois and Morgan couldn't see him. "It's not your fault. We knew your family would act like this but we didn't know that Angel would get hurt like that." He heard some murmuring before Lois talked again. "We're coming right now, okay?"
"Okay," he whispered. He felt like a child again and knew that having Lois and Morgan around would comfort him.
"We're bringing the girls as well. It's a little short notice so we can't get a sitter and I'm sure Jamie and Amie would like to make sure Angel is okay when she gets out of surgery. We're on our way, baby, okay?"
"Stay strong, Kay," Morgan's deep voice came through the phone. "My little girl is tough. She'll get through this."
"I'll see you soon," Kay replied and hung up the phone. He wouldn't call his family. They wouldn't care and they had caused enough trouble for one day. Kay sat in one of the chairs, closed his eyes, and cried. He didn't know what he would do if Angel didn't make it.
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Jackson walked into the surgical wing, intent on finding Meredith and April so he could give Kay an update. For some strange reason, Kay reminded the doctor of himself. They didn't share any similar physical attributes but…maybe it was the way Kay showed how much he really cared for his wife. Jackson would examine these thoughts later. He was on a mission.
As luck would have it, he encountered Meredith going over paperwork at the nurses' station. "Jackson," she greeted. "I was just about to have you paged."
"For Angel Fitzroy?"
"Yes, how did you know?" she looked at him confusedly.
"I just met her husband down at reception. He's pretty torn up about her." Meredith nodded. If she had been in Kay's position, she was sure she would react the same way.
"Have you gone over the scans?" she asked him.
"I have," he replied. "They don't look too bad but I'll double check while I'm operating on her. Just in case." Meredith nodded as she finished her paperwork.
"Well, let's scrub in. April is bringing Angel."
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The three doctors had been operating on Angel for a few hours and were talking about her and Kay. "He really loves her," Jackson said. "At least, for the few minutes I spent with him he does." Jackson was double checking the area around her right eye but, thankfully, everything looked fine. The nerves were still intact and none of the glass had actually scratched or penetrated her eye so there was no need to bother a neurologist.
"They must be recently married," Meredith said. "If Angel is twenty-three. Did Kay say how old he is?"
"He didn't say. He looked late twenties or early thirties."
"Does he know what happened before the accident?" April asked as she and Meredith worked on staunching the blood flow in Angel's abdomen. Her leg had already been set and an intern had stitched her right shoulder after cleaning it.
"I overheard him talking to her family. Apparently, they were telling Kay's family that they got married but, since Kay's family doesn't really like her, they blew up at them because they weren't invited but Angel's family was. Angel ran out and left on her motorcycle before Kay could stop her."
"Hmm, that sounds a bit familiar," Meredith mused. "Family interfering in other's business." Jackson and April glared at her. "I was just saying. We should all take a page from Kay's book. It sounds like he stood up to his family, especially if he didn't tell them they were getting married."
Jackson and April ignored their friend but couldn't help but think of how similar their situation was to Kay's and Angel's. Sure, Kay and Angel were still married and the biggest fact was, Kay stood up to his family. He wouldn't let them dictate his life.
Not much else was said as Jackson stitched the area above and below Angel's eye. He then applied some antibiotic cream and covered the area with gauze bandages. "I'm going to give Kay an update. Have you stopped the bleeding yet?"
"Yeah, we should be stitching her up soon," Meredith answered. April was still thinking of how Angel and Kay had handled their situation. Maybe she should talk to Jackson when they both got the chance.
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"Kay!" He heard his name being yelled. When he looked up, he suddenly had his arms full with Angel's twin sisters Jamie and Amie. He buried his face in their dark curly hair and tried to halt the tears he felt coming. He had to be strong for his little sisters. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Morgan and Lois standing in front of him.
"Any news?" Lois asked as she sat down beside him. Morgan took a seat across from them.
"Not yet. There's still a few hours of surgery left."
"Well," Morgan rumbled, "no news is good news." Kay nodded and huddled with Jamie and Amie again as Lois rubbed his back. Lois looked at her husband with sad eyes and Morgan held back his tears. They could do nothing for Kay or Angel except just be there.
"How was school?" Kay asked, trying to keep his mind and the twins' from Angel. He listened intently as Morgan and Lois hugged each other in comfort.
It was a few hours later when Kay saw Jackson striding toward his group.
"How is she? How's Angel?" Kay asked, his eyes watery but clear. He had to be calm for Jamie and Aime.
"So far she's good," Jackson reassured the family. "Angel will probably be in surgery for another hour or so and then she'll be moved to post-op before she gets settled in Intensive Care. The nerves in her eye were fine, she just needed stitches." Kay nodded and held the twins close to him. Before Jackson could say anything else, there was a commotion at the entrance of the hospital.
Two people were hurrying in and, when they spotted Kay, they made a beeline toward him. Kay handed Morgan and Lois the girls. A skinny fair-skinned woman held her arms toward Kay but he quickly stepped back. The woman's hands fell and she sent Kay an irritated look. "Kay, are you alright? We heard you were here?"
"By who?" Kay growled out. "Because I sure didn't tell you. I don't want you here, mother."
"Hey," said a tall man that looked a bit like Kay, except Kay had a nice aura around him. This man just spelled trouble. "Is that any way to talk to your mother?"
"I don't know father," Kay retorted. "Was the way you addressed Angel any better?"
"Kay," his mother said. Kay would not let her finish. He was done trying to please them.
"No, I don't want you here. It's your fault Angel is in here in the first place. She wouldn't have gotten upset if you would have respected her. I don't get it. Why do you have to interfere? Shouldn't you want your only son to be happy?"
"You can be happy with another girl," Kay's father quickly said before his son could continue.
"No, I can't!" Kay yelled. Lois took the twins to the corner of the waiting area but Morgan stood beside his son-in-law, a strong pillar of support. This blow up was a long time coming. Jackson didn't know what to do but he felt he should stay. "I'm in love with Angel," Kay continued, his voice was not as loud but his tone has still hard. "Why is that so hard to believe? Because she's different? Because she stood up to you? Because she makes me happy? You know what, I don't want to hear it. I want you to leave. Leave and don't talk to me until you apologize to Angel. I've got enough things to worry about and I don't need you here harassing me, Angel, or her family so just go."
"Kay," his mother tried but Kay wouldn't hear it.
"GO!" he yelled. Tears were streaming down his cheeks but he made no move to clear them. Morgan placed his hand on Kay's shoulder and Kay turned toward him and hugged him tightly.
"I'm going to have to ask you both to leave," Jackson said sternly to Kay's parents.
"Who are you?" Kay's father tried to intimidate the Black man before him but Jackson would not be back down.
"I'm one of the doctors who operated on Angel Fitzroy and for her safety as well as that of her immediate family, I must ask you to leave. I won't ask a second time." He signaled to the security guard who had been watching the whole confrontation.
"Fine," Kay's father said, not wanting to cause an even bigger scene or worse, get arrested. "This isn't over, Kay."
"Yes, it is," Kay said quietly into Morgan's shirt. Jackson was surprised at the way Kay stood up to his family for his wife and was subconsciously taking notes.
By the time Kay's former family left the building, April and Meredith had come down to the waiting area to give Kay an update. "Kay Fitzroy? I'm Dr. Meredith Grey and this is Dr. April Kepner. We were the other two doctors who operated on your wife."
"How is she? When can I see her?" Kay was frantic, wanting to know information about his wife. Lois and the twins quickly came over to hear what the doctors had to say.
"She's fine," April reassured him. "We stopped the bleeding in her abdomen and her outlook is great. She's in post-op right now but she should be in intensive care in a few minutes." Kay breathed a sigh of relief as Morgan and Lois hugged him.
"We'll take you to the room she'll be assigned," Jackson volunteered himself and April. "She won't wake for a few hours but you'll be able to sit with her."
"Thank you," Kay said as he hugged the three doctors. They were surprised but hugged him back. It was good to see someone care so much about their partner. It was a bit rare.
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Kay and Angel's family sat around Angel in her recovery room. She was breathing deeply but had a large gauze bandage over her right eye and her right leg was elevated on a pillow.
"She's going to be just fine, Kay," Morgan reassured his son. "She wouldn't leave you. Who would push you when you didn't want to be pushed?"
Kay snorted and held Angel's left hand in his. He had her ring and cell in his pocket.
"We should get going," Lois said. They had been in the room for quite a while. "Visiting hours are almost over and the girls have school tomorrow." The twins were sitting in Kay's lap fast asleep with their heads on his shoulders. Kay nodded to Lois and Morgan as they each grabbed a twin. Jamie and Amie briefly woke up, protesting that they didn't want to leave their sister but when Morgan's voice got a stern tone to it, they quickly requested that they kiss Angel and Kay good night before leaving.
"We'll be here when visiting hours start again," Morgan said. "I'll bring you and Angel some stuff from home."
"Thanks, Morgan." Morgan nodded as he lead his girls out of the room.
It wasn't very long before Jackson entered. "How are you doing?" he asked the younger man as he sat beside him.
"Better than before," Kay snorted. "I'm just glad she's alright." They were quiet for a while, Jackson not knowing how to ask what he wanted. "Just ask," Kay said, seemingly reading his mind.
"Was it difficult? Going against your family, I mean."
Kay shrugged but didn't take his eyes off his healing wife. "She is my priority now," he answered simply. Jackson scrunched his eyes together so Kay elaborated. "I took vows to be there for her. To be her best friend. To defend her and be her partner. What kind of husband would I be if I didn't defend her, even to my own family?" He shrugged again and looked at Jackson. "If my family loved me, they would not interfere when I asked them not to. They would respect Angel and be happy that she makes me happy. They didn't have to welcome her with open arms, but they didn't have to try to sabotage our relationship either. That's why we got married without telling them.
"When I told my family I proposed, they wanted us to have a prenup. They wanted to decide where our kids would go to school, what Angel would get in the event we divorced, who would get custody. All that stuff. But, the thing is, my relationship is a partnership with Angel. Not with my family or hers. It's ours and ours alone. Her family respects that but mine doesn't. So, until they accept us, they won't be seeing me. It's not that I don't love my family, it's just that Angel's needs and respect are put above theirs. Does that help your problem with your mother?"
"How did you…?" Jackson trailed off. Kay smiled his first smile since the first argument with his parents.
"Your mother isn't as quiet as she wants to be and the staff here are terrible gossips. Besides, I saw the way you and Dr. Kepner sneak looks at each other when you think no one is looking. Talk to your mother and get your woman back."
"Woman?" a quiet voice asked. Both men looked toward Angel as she slowly opened her left eye. "Is that what you say when I'm not around?" Kay huffed and kissed his wife's brow.
"You wake up from major surgery and that's the first thing you ask?"
"I had to get your attention somehow," Angel smiled slightly.
"You always have my attention."
Jackson smiled at the couple.
"You should follow Kay's advice," Angel told Jackson. "I may not know everything that's happened between you and Dr. Kepner, but if you really love her, you won't let anything stand in your way. Not even your mother."
Jackson nodded and quietly left the room to think over what the couple had said.
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"Hey, April," Jackson had caught her at the end of their shift as they were walking toward the parking lot. "Can we talk real quick?"
"Sure, Jackson," she said as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," he blurted out. She looked at him with a confused expression but let him continue, knowing he had more to say. "I should've stood up to my mother and not let her interfere in our relationship."
"It's not all your fault," April sighed. They sat down on one of the benches. "You're right, you should've stood up to your mother but you aren't the only one that make mistakes during our relationship. We both should've communicated better. We were best friends. We still kind of are." By the end of her little speech, she was sniffling and her eyes were wet but she wouldn't let her tears fall.
"If I can prove to you that this time will be different, will you give us a try again?" Jackson asked in a husky voice, trying to hold back his own tears. "Not for Harriet or because it's expected or just because, but for us?"
"I would like that," she told him with a small smile. She held out her hand and he quickly took it and helped her to stand, walking her toward the parking lot, still holding her hand. They both had a feeling that this second chance would not be interrupted by outside forces and they could work through everything life would throw at them together and get through it together.