A/N: Yes, I'm back yet again. Since the show is on hiatus and not killing my buzz, I'm really feeling my story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Spoiler alert, this chapter was a bit emotional for me. I actually teared up writing this.

Chapter 13

Maggie sat in her lab looking down at a tablet at the lab work that Carina had run. Well, if she was honest she had run the test herself. Several times. She had Carina draw the blood. She took the urine and the blood down to the lab and watched the techs run it. She even had them run it twice more. She had to be sure.

Now she sat in her lab and right there before her eyes in black and white where the confirming results. She was indeed pregnant with Jackson Avery's child. How in the hell were they going to co-parent a child together, when they couldn't even come to terms with the state of their relationship.

Maggie took her phone out pulling up a picture of her mother. She propped the phone up against one of the beakers in her lab. She sat quietly for a moment staring at her mother's beautiful brown face. She missed Diane so much that it hurt. She missed everything about her mother. Her smell. Her voice. Her advice, both solicited and unsolicited.

She said, "Hi mom. I miss you. Well, I must've taken your last words of wisdom to heart. I made a mistake. I am now faced with the consequences of this mistake. I want to be happy about it, but at the same time I honestly don't know what to do about it, and you're not here to help me. That's what scares me the most. I don't know what to do and the one person who I trust to tell me what to do in this situation isn't here. I'm sorry. I'm glad you're not in pain any longer. I just don't know what to do with myself. I miss you mom. I just wish you were here to tell me how to proceed with this thing with Jackson. Did I mention that the mistake is that I'm pregnant with my ex's baby? My ex who is none other than Jackson Avery, the love of my life, who turned on me and now wants to be forgiven and make things right."

Maggie looked at her mother's photo. She said, "I know what you would ask me. Yes, I love him and yes when we're together he's good to me and we honestly bring out the best in one another, but I'm afraid I can't trust him any longer. I would just love to hear what you would have to say about all of this."

Maggie continued to sit in her lab pouring out her heart and her true feelings to her mother when a text from Jackson popped up on her screen. He said that he had been called in for a trauma and had dropped Harriet off with Catherine and Richard. He asked if she could pick Harriet up on her way back to the penthouse.

Maggie sighed. She had been so caught up with talking to Diane that she completely forgot that she needed to go back to Jackson's. She knew that he was probably over the moon that they were having a baby. To be honest, so was she. She just wished the circumstances were different. Like, that she and Jackson weren't in the middle of a dissolving relationship.

She sighed again and texted Jackson back that she would pick up Harriet. Maggie stood putting on her coat. Grabbing the tablet, she emailed the lab report to herself and to Jackson.

By the time she got to Catherine and Richard's house, it was late and she hoped that she wasn't waking anyone up. She rang the doorbell and then turned her back to the door looking out over the street as she waited. When she heard the door unlock from the other side she turned in time to see Richard.

She smiled at him, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Maggie said, "Richard, hi!"

Richard stepped onto the porch closing the door behind him. He embraced her saying, "Maggie, it's good to see you. How're you doing?"

Maggie returned his hug and then looked at the closed front door. She wondered why they were on the porch instead of going inside. Richard said, "It's nice out here this evening. Our gardener planted some new flowers. Let's take a walk and look at them."

Maggie said, "I came to pick up Harriet for Jackson."

Richard put his arm around Maggie and started to walk down the path to the garden with her. He said, "Surely you have a few moments to spend with me."

Maggie hesitated a moment then said, "Surely I do."

Maggie and Richard walked the path in silence for a moment, then Richard asked, "How are you, Maggie? How are you really?"

Maggie said the customary thing, "I'm fine. Thanks for asking, Richard."

Richard sighed. Then he said, "When Diane was at Grey Sloan, I used to sneak in and talk to her when you weren't around. One day, in particular, I went in to ask her to put her foot down with you. You were trying so hard to make her better, but she was only getting sicker. She told me you were, she actually said, 'My Maggie'. She told me that you were the universe giving her a gift."

Maggie smiled and continued walking. She said, "She was my gift."

Richard said, "She also talked about how happy and cheerful you are. She talked about how rare and special you are. Over the years as I've grown to know you, I really got to see what she meant."

They kept walking and Maggie swiped at some tears that fell from her eyes. Richard continued, "She said that her death would give you darkness and that she couldn't do that to the most special person in the world. She said that when she died you needed to know that you did everything that you could. I want you to know Maggie, that you indeed did. I told her how you were strong as iron for the people you love. When Diane died. The grief and pain were there but watching you and Jackson's friendship, the darkness never took over. Then when you two became a couple the light brightened a little more. But it dimmed considerably when you two broke up, but over the last weeks that you've been in one another's presence again, I've seen the light begin to brighten. Now, I'm not privy to what is going on in your relationship, but I know that you're brighter with him than you are apart from him. Jackson loves you. We're all a bit stupid when it comes to the women that we love. Don't give up on Jackson just yet. Don't give up on your happiness. You deserve it all."

Maggie's phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and looked to see a text from Jackson saying that he would be home in a few hours. She unlocked her phone so that she could text him back and her phone opened on the picture of her mother. Maggie looked at the picture of her mother and then back at Richard. She smiled. Maggie wasn't a religious or overly spiritual individual, but she believed that her mother was using Richard to get through to her.

She hugged Richard long and hard. Then they went inside. She visited with Catherine for a few minutes and then she took Harriet home and put her to bed. She was sitting on the sofa when Jackson finally came in.

Jackson came in and closed the door behind him. He said, "Thank you so much for getting Harriet. How are you feeling."

Maggie answered, "I feel fine. I'm still in shock. Did you get my email?"

Jackson came in and kicked off his shoes and took a seat next to her on the sofa. He said, "I did, but I didn't need the lab tests to confirm. Soon as I really thought about it I knew. I only purchased the tests because I knew that you would need the test to believe it."

Maggie said, "We have to talk."

"I know and I'm open and ready to talk when you are," Jackson said.

Maggie said, "Not just about the situation that we're in. I came over here to say some things to you before I got ill."

Jackson grabbed her hand. He said, "I'm not here for just the good times. I'm here for the complicated conversations. I'm here for it all. So, tell me what it was that you came here to say.

Maggie was silent for a moment then she said, "I came to say that I love you Jackson and of course I want to be with you, but I don't trust you. I don't trust you not to get frustrated and leave me again. What kind of relationship can we have if I don't trust you? I want to trust you, Jackson, more than anything, but at the end of the day, you left me. You gave up on me. You gave up on us and you knew that was one of my biggest fears."

Jackson watched as Maggie swiped at her tears and the severity of his actions really hit him. He pulled her into his arms. He said, "Babe, I'm sorry. Hurting you is the last thing that I ever wanted to do. What can I do to earn your trust back? I want you to know that you can always count on me. I want you to know that I'm in this."

Maggie said, "I honestly don't know what can be done. All you can do is be here in whatever compacity I need you in. Be here and show me that I can trust you. I can't commit to being in a relationship with you until I can trust that you're going to be here."

Jackson took Maggie's hand in his and kissed it. He said, "Whatever, you need babe. I'm sorry that I didn't understand and that I tried to handle it my way and didn't consider you and your needs. I want to be here for you during this pregnancy. I want to be here for our baby. Can you let me do that?"

Maggie looked at Jackson. She said, "I want that. I have no clue what is going to happen, or what to expect during this pregnancy. I need someone there for me and in my baby's corner."

Jackson said, "Our baby. Maggie, you're not doing this alone. I'm not going to be here because you're pregnant. I'm going to be here because I love you. You are the love of my life. I am here because I love you. I'm going to be here for our baby because I love their mother and we created our baby in love. So, however you want me here, I'll be here. I'm here for you."