Hi so here is chapter 3. I've been away and only just got back which is why this chapter is a little late.
Also someone asked me if I will keep the whole Jackson/Lexie Jackson/Stephanie cannons I intend to keep this as cannon as possible but obviously certain storylines will change as I continue this story. And obviously we know which couple is endgame.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine only Hugo.
Please read and review, I love feedback...
And hopefully I will update sooner than I did this time.
Little Lion Man
Chapter 3-6x07-Give Peace A Chance
Jackson has the surgery of a lifetime to preform while Hugo begins to feel under the weather.
"Hugo!" Jackson yelled once again wondering why he was waiting for his troublesome son to make his way down the stairs. He eventually climbed up them feeling irritated. Charles had been on Bailey's nightshift meaning that he had most of the morning in bed and Jackson needed to get into work. He was on Derek Shepherd's service today and he damn well wanted to get to work. Tumours were one of those things-if you had a patient with one you knew you would be scrubbing in.
Much to his surprise (and annoyance) Hugo was still curled up in bed, face white surrounded by his dark bedcovers. He was shaking slightly as if he was cold. "Hugo what the hell?" he snapped "You know I have work to get to"
Hugo shot him a look from the bed wincing slightly. "Dad" he croaked carefully his voice small and pitiful. Jackson carefully sat down on the edge of the bed reaching out to feel Hugo's forehead "You feeling alright?" he said carefully. He wanted to go into work but he knew instinctually that he wouldn't be moving the slightest inch unless he knew that Hugo was well enough to go into school.
"Tired" Hugo muttered under his breathe sitting up and letting Jackson put an arm around him and hoist him up until he was practically in his lap. "…And cold" he said finally.
"You wanna stay home?" Jackson asked carefully only to receive a shrug in return "Not an answer Hugo" he said carefully. Hugo sighed again "Nah" he said finally "I just need to sleep" he shrugged "Haven't been sleeping well" he paused and Jackson was suddenly very aware of how painfully small and young Hugo actually was.
"…Missed you" he slurred quietly and Jackson nodded wrapping both of his arms around his son like he did when he was little and had a nightmare or when his Mom would drive him down to college and they would have the whole day together. "I miss you to" he confessed because it was true, he did miss Hugo, they had both known that the surgical residency would be a long strain on their relationship but he hadn't factored in how much he would miss of his kids life. He now knew why many doctors waited to have kids until after they were board certified.
"Tell you what" he said carefully "As far as I am aware Dr Shepherd has no surgeries today so I will hopefully be home on time, Charles and Reed are going out to eat their own weight in Chinese, how about I pick some up and we can stay in all night and re-watch all those Marvel Movies you love so much?"
Hugo made an approving noise "You don't have to drop me in" he said quietly "I can take care of myself"
"I know you can" Jackson muttered quietly because he knew that all too well. Painfully well. "But I like taking care of you remember" he said ruffling the dark hair in front of him.
He kept a close eye on Hugo all the way to the school instructing him to text him the second he felt under the weather. Hugo just rolled his eyes at him but Jackson could tell he was paler than usual and tired. He hoped it was just the lack of sleep that was keeping him up, he felt guilty for not being there as much as he knew he should be. Hugo was his entire freaking world and who would know better than his teenage father how quickly the time went by? It seemed just yesterday that he was a little baby and Jackson was still sleeping by the incubator always wondering and waiting for the alarm to go off and for them to whisk his son away.
He was just finishing up the release of one of Dr Shepherds patients who had been released after her tumour had been operated on when his pager rang. Dr Shepherd himself was requesting a meeting of all the residencies. Urgently.
"Hey" Reed said popping up next to him grinning brightly "Do you think it's his wife, she's still on bed rest for her kidney transplant, do you think she might be dead?" she didn't sound nearly as upset as she could have done about the death of a work mate.
"Jesus" Karev said from behind him his expression probably the same as Jacksons if his tone was anything to go by "She really is quite something" Jackson really didn't want to say he agreed, even if he did.
And then Dr Shepherd said the magic words that made every single surgical resident in the room sit up and stare with complete attention, he described what could only be described as a brilliant surgery which was probably the longest and most complicated surgery Jackson had ever seen.
'Spinal Tumour'
Everyone was on edge and Jackson couldn't even believe the size of the thing when the scans were shown. The removal of this would take at least sixteen hours if not longer and would probably be the most complex thing he could ever do.
And Jackson got it.
Lexie Grey got it to but he was the only resident of his year who got it. He beat out Karev, he beat out Charles and Reed and the one thing that gave him a great personal satisfaction was that he beat out Christina Yang the resident who seemed to think she was God's gift to medicine.
By the time the prepping and the plans were out the way and Dr Shepherd had spent nearly half an hour arguing with Chief Webber about whether or not the tumour could be removed without cutting the spinal cord and the Chief had finally given the go ahead.
Charles had pulled him aside to remark that he wasn't going home he was gonna stay and watch the tumour dissection. Jackson accepted that, he wasn't assuming that Charles was Hugo's babysitter and therefore he wasn't angry.
He rang Hugo to let him know as soon as he had a spare second before scrubbing in. "I thought spinal tumours were inoperable?" Hugo asked carefully his voice bland and Jackson nodded before remembering that Hugo couldn't see him. "It's probably the biggest thing I will ever do Hugo" he said revisiting the urge to jump up and down in glee.
It was a testimony to how well Jackson knew his son that he could feel the raised eyebrow over the phone. "Charles staying?" he asked though by the tone of his voice Jackson could tell he knew.
"Yeah…look Hugo if you wanna come you can see through the gallery?" he asked carefully. Of course there was the added pressure of his son watching him perform surgery and being in a room with Christina Yang all at the same time but…
"Nah I'm fine" Hugo said carefully "I'm gonna order some pizza and then go to bed and sleep"
"You still not feeling great?" he asked carefully and Hugo sighed down the phone "I just…just go do your surgery" he said finally "I just wanna go to bed and get some sleep" Jackson paused torn between wanting to be at home with his child or to take part in the surgery of a lifetime. "I'll wake you up in the morning and tell you how it went…Hugo…if you feel sick ring the hospital and have them page me you understand?"
"Yeah" Hugo deadpanned "This isn't the first time we've been doing this you know?" it was meant to sound like a joke but something was twisted at the end of it that didn't sound right, and certainly didn't sit right. "Just…Good Luck…try not to clip the guy's spine"
And then just like that. It was gone. The three of them, Lexie, him, Shepherd spent what must have been half the night staring at an open spine-which ok-impressive in it's self but still. There was still the nagging doubt that he should be home with Hugo, and then Chief Webber swept through the OR like it was nothing.
And then the surgery was pulled.
By the time he got home he was hungry, exhausted, frustrated and in a dire need of a shower. He bit his lip when he saw Hugo. He had ultimately passed out on the sofa and had, had Netflix running by the look of it. Quietly he felt his forehead, Hugo was still hot and clammy but he looked a lot more peaceful when he was asleep.
"Hey" he whispered shaking him awake slightly and Hugo jumped slightly his eyes blurry with sleep. "You need to stop falling asleep on the couch" Jackson said tucking him back into the nest of blankets that were keeping him warm. Hugo shrugged. "How did it go?" he asked carefully leaning his head back against Jackson's shoulder his eyes closing again.
"Chief cancelled it after he realised that Dr Shepherd had spent ten hours staring at an open spine and didn't do anything"
Hugo sat up looking incredulous. Jackson couldn't help the smile that developed when he saw that looked because A. Hugo was adorable and B. That looked proved he was an Avery through and through.
"The idiot didn't do anything but make you stand there for ten hours?" he asked his voice rising in disbelief and Jackson nodded reaching for the cold pizza on the table. "Just stared at it" he said chewing. Hugo yawned leaning back against his shoulder snuggling down like he used to do when he was a kid and he and Jackson had the whole night to themselves when his Mom would drop him off when he was at college.
"What's an open spine even look like?" Hugo asked carefully reaching for his own slice of cold pizza. There was times like this that Jackson was pointedly reminded that Hugo was from a family of Doctors. "Let me tell you" he said gently wrapping an arm around him and pulling him back "Let me tell you all about it…"
The next day Hugo seemed a lot quieter than usual but it was a Friday so Jackson dropped him off at school and didn't think much of it. Probably exhaustion-they had spent half the night talking about open spine tumours until the two of them had fallen asleep on the couch.
"Derek needs you" Lexie said skipping up close to him grinning brightly. "He's going to cut the tumour, finally…" she sighed "If he's right and the Chief lets him then Isaac is gonna get a brand new lease on life"
Jackson decided to not comment on the fact that Lexie had spent the entirety of the surgery yesterday wearing a dipper. Somethings just shouldn't be mentioned when near attending's. Plus Lexie had a relationship with Mark Sloan under her belt and even Jackson knew that the womanizer was one of the best plastic surgeons in the country.
Ergo you don't piss of Lexie Grey.
And then what went and happened? Jackson went and botched it. He couldn't see past what he was seeing, couldn't think and when Lexie finally took the tools off him and Mark Sloan passed him a glass of water and Bailey told him to sit down and not move he did only then aware of how his legs were shaking.
And then nobody could move or speak, half of the attending surgeons that were free were all but throwing themselves into the room to see what was happening. Christina Yang who was on the phone to Derek's wife was all but thrown against the gallery glass watching with wide eyes.
And then just like that the tumour was cut.
The second the right cut was announced the whole of the surgical residents collapsed in a state of euphoria. Honestly Jackson wasn't quite sure how he had managed to live through the last two days.
"We did it" he said down the phone the second he could find feeling in his legs. "Get all the Pizza and Ice Cream you want because we did it!" Hugo carefully didn't say anything just let his father rant down the phone hysterically. "I mean it Hugo right now I am likely to get you whatever you want…"
"Your Credit Card number?" Hugo muttered under his breath and Jackson rolled his eyes feeling elated.
"No but you can order something if you want-anything in fact, and now this is over I think that I can finally go home and get some sleep"
When he did get home Hugo was upstairs asleep. It seemed stranger behaviour than usual his sleeping had now increased considerably and he seemed to struggle to eat the pizza he had brought home but Jackson suspected that that was because he kept bringing home pizza. He needed to start the shifts earlier and attempt to be home in time to make sure Hugo was eating right.
But other than that when he slid into his bed grateful for the first chance he had had to lie down in the last two days. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was out. He had a great job where he made a difference, good friends, and a wonderful son who he loved with everything he was and everything he would ever be.
Nothing could go possibly go wrong now.
Next Chapter-6x08-Invest In Love-Jackson gets involved with Christina while Hugo hides his steadily growing illness from his father.
