Chapter 35: What are you thankful for? Part 3
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"April, oh my! What happened to you?" Catherine said and started examining the cut across the young girl's forehead.
"I…" April started, not knowing what to say next. "I fell." She knew Catherine wouldn't believe it but it was all she had.
Catherine yes April down suspiciously. She could tell by look on her face and the injuries she had that is could be abuse, so she decided not to elaborate.
"Okay, this will need stitches, but l have to go to that gala." She said. "Jackson, can you stitch April up? You're good at this. I'll see you two later."
"So l don't have to go to that gala?" Jackson asked hopeful. "No, you're off the hook, l can't let you go with a black eye!"
Once she had left, Jackson went to sit down right in front of April. He disinfected the wound and started stitching it up.
"Jackson-"
"We're not talking about it." He said. "You're going to stay with me for a little while and we're going to figure it all out, okay?"
"Okay."
"Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!" Izzie said cheerfully. Alex looked nervously at Bailey. They had all expected her to feel terrible by now.
"Iz." Alex said. "How are you feeling?"
"Hungry." She said and laughed.
"Iz…"
"I'm fine, can we just eat?" She asked and stared at Ben. "Yes, we can." Ben said and handed her a plate.
They chatted happily and Alex and Ozzie made fun of Ben and Bailey's relationship or whatever it was.
Once dinner was over Ben asked if she was okay again.
"I'm fine, Ben. See? No vomiting." Izzie said and watched as all three of them left the room. Once they were gone she let out a breath and gagged for the thousandth time, desperately trying to keep the contents of her stomach inside her body.
She wasn't fine.
"Derek." Ellis said. "You look very dapper in a suit, what are you doing here?"
"Meredith invited me." Derek answered and lightly conversed with Ellis.
"Oh, of course. You two are best-friends."
"Well, we were but now… I'm in love with her." Derek said and grinned.
"I'm sorry, you're dating?" Ellis asked unamused. "No, Meredith has no time for that, she needs to focus on school!"
"Mom." Meredith said and came over when she heard her name. "School is fine, everything is fine. You're the one who is stressing me! You keep complaining about school! I'm fine!" She said careful not to cause a scene.
"Derek, we're leaving." She said.
Derek and Meredith sat on the park bench in their gala uniforms with a picnic spread lay out in front of them.
"See? I told you that gala was going to be lame." Meredith said and bit into her slice of pizza.
"We're just lucky Mark and Lexie cooked and gave us their leftovers." Derek grinned.
"Come here." He said and wrapped his arms around her.
"I-uh. I want you to meet my parents."
All Meredith could do was stare at him with a shocked look in her face.
"Teddy, can l come in?" Addison asked when Teddy opened the door.
"Of course." Teddy answered a bit surprised.
"I'm sorry that l came on suck short notice…" Addie said. "No it's fine, you're always welcome." Teddy replied and hugged Addison.
"You don't need to tell me what happened." She whispered. Addison nodded and the two broke apart.
"Come." Teddy said and grinned. "I'll introduce you to everyone.
"So you're Cristina?" Owen's mom asked and set a turkey down on the table. "You seem to be the only thing Owen talks about." Owen blushed. "Mom." He said sternly.
"Yeah that's me." Cristina said and plastered on a polite smile. She had never been good at meeting parents.
"What do you want to do when you grow up?" Owen's mom asked.
"I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon." Cristina said proudly. "Wow, are your parents also surgeons?"
"No, my mom works on administration and my dad..." She trailed off and thought back to why she wanted to become a cardio goddess in the first place. Owen's mom seemed to understand and quickly turned to her daughter and Nathan.
"So, Nathan is it?"
After Meredith and Derek had come in to steal some of their pizza, Mark and Lexie sat down on the couch to eat it together.
"I'm so glad you're not one of those people who eats pineapple on their pizza." Mark chuckled. "Yeah so am l." Lexie said happily. "When l was 5, l used to only eat pizza with pineapple, though."
"How could you?" Mark gasped pretending to be angry.
"Oh shut up!" She chuckled. "Come let's watch a movie." She grabbed the remote and switched on the TV.
"Fine, but if l swear to God, of it's some stupid chick flick." Mark said and grabbed a blanket wrapping around both of them. He was overly aware of her legs that had been draped across his lap.
"Okay well…" Lexie said as she scrolled through Netflix. "We could watch The Imitation Game?" Mark nodded, satisfied with her movie chose.
Once the movie had started she snuggled deeper into the blanket and rested her head on his chest, practically sitting on his lap.
Mark switched the TV off as soon as he realised Lexie had fallen asleep. He wanted to get up and carry her to her own bed, but when he stared at her, at how peaceful she looked especially after what had happened. He didn't have the heart to.
Mark lay down on the couch himself, Lexie still lying on top off his chest. He fell asleep too.
R&R!