Sorry for the long break, but I'm back and I am thankful for your continued support. I understand its been a rough season for us—but I hope this brings some happiness in the midst of it all.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Jackson noticed the nurses, medical assistants and other physicians walking around the ICU floor, some gave him a sideways glance but the rest continued on their way without stopping to speak to him. If they knew what he was on the floor to do, they ignored it and went about their business and it was exactly what he wanted.
His steps were measured and with every step he took, he flashed back to seeing Maggie in that room with Iris.
He could feel the officers and security grabbing onto him as he fought to get to Maggie. She was bent over grabbing onto her stomach and his heart was in his throat. He watched everything in slow motion as Maggie grabbed one of the metal pans from the supply closet and swung it, hitting Iris in her face. The weight of the three men holding onto him made him feel as if he was walking through quicksand while he made his way to the door. He needed to get to Maggie…he needed to get to his children. Then it happened…POW! POW! POW!...the sound of the gunshots shook the entire ER and his very core. At that moment, it was chaos and the three men holding onto him loosened their grips and he ran into the room.
Maggie was standing in the middle of the floor staring down at Iris who was bleeding profusely from the gunshot wounds in her chest. "Baby…Maggie…look at me," he pleaded as he gently placed his hands on her cheeks attempting to focus her eyes on him and not the bloody scene at her feet. Her eyes were trained on Iris who was on the floor with Meredith working rapidly with two nurses. He glanced over and looked down, "Meredith…what are you doing?!"
"Saving her life, get Maggie out of here!" Meredith glanced up at him with eyes blazing.
Jackson turned back to Maggie whose eyes wouldn't leave Iris on the floor, "Maggie, look at me…only look at me," he whispered leading her slowly out of the room.
Once they stepped outside of the room, he watched Maggie look down at her blood covered hands and he watched her eyes go big and she gasped, "Oh my god…oh my god…oh my god," she breathed in and out turning her hands around looking at the blood covering them, "Owen…I tried…I tried to save him, she wouldn't let him go for a long time…is he alive?"
"Owen's in surgery," he tried to calm her by rubbing her shoulders, "I need you to calm down."
"I…I had to shoot…shoot her, I had to…she was…she was…oh my god…she was…she almost killed us…she…" Maggie hyperventilated as he tried to calm her.
"Maggie…"
"We almost died…our babies almost died," she hiccupped trying to catch her breath but failing as he held onto her.
He watched as she started to drift deeper and deeper into her hysterics staring down at her hands with tears streaming down her face. He tried to get her to look at him, but she continued to focus on her hands. The fact that he wasn't sure what to do caused his hands to shake as he tried to get Maggie to focus, "Maggie, you have to calm down…please baby…"
"I almost died, I almost died…we almost died," she repeated over and over again with tears streaming down her face.
"Maggie's it's ok," Richard came over rubbing her back.
"Maggie, I'm here…Baby," Jackson tried to comfort her as Richard motioned over for one of the orderlies to bring over a stretcher, "Baby, we just need to get you out of here, so please…" he said biting back his tears, he lifted her up and placed her on the stretcher as she curled up in fetal position and wept. He held her hand kissing it softly before Richard instructed the orderlies where to take her.
"Go with her Jackson, Carina will meet you upstairs," Richard touched his shoulder lightly.
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Maggie's sobs could be heard from outside of her hospital room as the nurses slowly wiped her hands of the blood while Jackson spoke with Carina. With every sob, Jackson felt his heart break into another piece. "Her vitals are scaring me Jackson; I think there is only one option here…we need to give Maggie some time to just rest and sleep. She had a trauma today and her brain just needs some time to relax."
"You want to sedate her…is that safe?"
Carina looked towards Maggie in the room, "I think it's probably the best thing at the moment for her and the babies," Carina sighed.
"Will it have any side effects on the children? The last thing we need is Maggie to know that you had to sedate her and the babies suffered from it."
"I will give her a low dosage, just enough to make her relaxed," Carina answered.
Jackson nodded as he turned to walk back in the room as one of the nurses smiled softly at him and he took a seat by Maggie's bed, she had quieted down but the tears were still running down her cheeks, "Carina's just going to give you something to relax," he stated quietly smoothing her hair away from her face.
She closed her eyes and nodded as Carina administered the sedative as Jackson slowly watched Maggie close her eyes while he held her hand.
Jackson stood across from Iris' room staring through the glass window. She was still hooked up to a ventilator and it looked as if she would be hooked up to one for the immediate future. "She still has a 65% chance of survival," Richard's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Good," Jackson allowed the word to roll off his tongue so easily. Staring at the woman who he had plucked from a database…a person's who life he wanted to improve...a woman who almost destroyed his life. He couldn't think of anything that would please him more than her disappearing into oblivion.
"How's Maggie? Catherine told me about yesterday with her father."
"She's still devastated, but less devastated than 2 days ago. Are you here to tell me to back away from her room?" Jackson looked over.
"No, that police officer will tell you that. Dr. Bailey called me up here to make sure that you don't make things worse for the hospital…and she didn't think it would be best to have you thrown in jail for threatening or murdering a patient when Maggie is at home trying piece herself back together."
"What am I supposed to do?" Jackson turned facing Richard, "just let her get away with what she did?"
"She may pay the ultimate price for what she did, but no matter what happens—she will suffer consequences."
"Dr Avery," a tearful voice said from behind them.
Jackson turned around to see the older short brunette woman walking up with an older man. The woman resembled an older and exhausted Iris. Jackson steadied himself, "We are so sorry," the woman began.
"You were supposed to make sure that she stayed away from me…my wife…" Jackson interrupted keeping his anger at a level short of fiery rage, "that was part of the reason why I agreed to not press charges against her and what…you just let her out of your sight?"
The woman looked at the man standing next to her with a quivering lip, "Dr. Avery," the man began in a steady but tired voice, "Laura has spent weeks and months looking after Iris. She just wanted to take a nap for a few hours and when she woke up, Iris was gone. We are sorry for what our daughter did to you and your wife. We are…" he sighed as he looked towards Iris' room and the tears welled up in his eyes, "we don't know what to say. We love our daughter, we are praying that she wakes up every day and we know that she will have to deal with her actions when she does. But we are sorry. We hope that you and your wife can forgive us," the man stated.
Jackson looked at the older couple in front of him, shaking his head and walked away as he heard Richard speaking softly with the pair. Stepping on the elevator, he allowed the doors to close without feeling an ounce of sympathy for Iris' parents.
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Maggie listened to Meredith and Bill laugh and joke about her childhood exploits and adventures. She would smile occasionally and laugh when the story called for it, but deep inside she wanted nothing more to be alone. She sipped her tea listening to Bill tell Meredith about the tea parties she and her mother used to have together.
"Well in a few months, Maggie will have her little girl to have parties with too," Meredith beamed looking over at Maggie.
Maggie touched her stomach as the babies shifted their positions, "Dad, do you want to feel?" she asked setting down her cup of tea.
Bill smiled, "Yes…I would love to," Bill grinned walking over as she guided her father's hand to her protruding belly and rested it on the place where one of the darling babies was finding it particularly enjoyable to kick her.
"Wow," he looked up at her with tears in his eyes.
Maggie smiled back, allowing herself for the first time since the emergency room incident to feel any type of happiness.
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"For someone who took a bullet to the stomach, you appear to be in great spirits," Jackson entered Owen's hospital room.
"Well that's because Teddy finally went home and Amelia's in a five-hour surgery," Owen smiled.
"They're just worried about you, after what happened…" Jackson drifted off.
Owen held up his hand, "And I would do it all over again. How's Maggie?"
Jackson shrugged, "She's alive. She's physically healthy and the children are fine. She will be ok with time."
Owen nodded, "I know she will need some time to deal with everything that happened, but you let her know that I am grateful for her saving my life. If she hadn't kept pressure on my wound and begged Iris to let me go—I would have died."
"You saved Maggie, you stood in front of a gun for her and I will never be able to repay you for that."
Owen chuckled, "A new truck would be nice."
Jackson laughed, "We'll see about that."
Owen smiled and then his face grew serious, "Maggie will need to deal with what happened and it will take some time, just be patient with her."
Knowing that he and Maggie had a rough road in front of them, Jackson nodded slowly.
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Jackson could hear the sounds of jazz playing from inside the penthouse as he swiped his card outside of the apartment door and instantly smiled. He could smell the aromas of various seasonings within their kitchen, which meant that Maggie was feeling better. Opening the door, he widened his smile until the person at the stove in his kitchen was a 6'1" brown skinned man with salt and pepper hair and not the beauty he married with the belly.
"Bill…" he looked around, "hey, I didn't expect to see you here…"
"I asked Meredith to take Maggie out for a few, get her out of this apartment and maybe…we could talk? I cooked some steaks for us."
Jackson's eyebrow rose, "Maggie was ok to go outside?"
"Meredith took her to see the kids. I think that may help her a little or at least distract her and after the other day, I think I needed to talk to you—without anyone else around."
Jackson sat down on a stool. He would be lying if he didn't feel a little apprehensive about being alone with Bill so soon after what occurred. His relationship with Bill was never easy; normally, he could accept the way Bill went back and forth with his support for him. However, the effect that it had on Maggie was something different. He was angry with her father and he didn't see that dissipating with a steak and a man to man conversation.
Jackson sat back in his chair as Bill took out two plates and begin to pile food on them, "The other night, I was out of line…I was beyond the line," Bill began taking a seat next to Jackson, "I heard that my daughter was in trouble and I immediately went into protective and attack mode. I allowed my mind to run wild never taking into account the kind of man you are, the one that Maggie sees."
Jackson shrugged, "We've had these talks before and you seemed to believe that…"
Bill nodded, "I understand that. But, the other day…you threw your mother out. Your mother and I've met her before," Bill chuckled with Jackson joining in slowly, "so Jackson, I know that with time you will be able to forgive me for what I did and I hope my actions will show you that I mean what I say," Bill outstretched his hand, "I apologize for not believing in you, your love for my daughter or the fact that you would never do anything willingly to harm her or your unborn children. I'm a overprotective father whose daughter moved across the country and built a new family. I won't say that I will always be perfect, but I will try my hardest to be. You deserve it from me."
Jackson wasn't ready to forgive him but he felt like Bill was being sincere, so he nodded slowly before taking Bill's hand and shaking it.
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While answering emails regarding the foundation, the front door opened and Jackson immediately heard Maggie's measured steps, "Hi, is my dad still here?" she asked walking in slowly.
"You're lucky that I love you," he mumbled as she took a seat next to him with his guidance.
Maggie shrugged with a smile as Jackson wrapped his arm around her and rested his hand casually on her stomach, "You set me up."
"You two needed to talk."
"Maybe, but I didn't want to talk to him today," Jackson answered.
"He cooked you dinner," Maggie added.
Nodding, Jackson rubbed her stomach, "I think we came to another understanding, who knows," he shrugged.
"I think my dad understands what's at stake now, he will try."
Jackson wasn't so sure, but nevertheless, he would have hope—for Maggie. He kissed her softly on the forehead, "Are you feeling better?"
She glanced up at him, "Better changes every day."
"I don't want you to rush yourself and you know that at some point, you will have to speak to someone about what happened."
"A shrink, yes I know."
Jackson took her hand, "And I want you to talk to them, tell them all the things you can't tell me. I know you're holding a lot in."
Maggie melted into his embrace, "Where did you go today?"
Jackson kissed her hand softly, "Had to consult on a few cases that's all."
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Jackson glanced out of the corner of his eye at Maggie seated next to him as they made their way towards Grey Sloan. Two weeks had passed since what occurred with Iris and Carina was adamant that Maggie had to come in for an ultrasound to check on the babies. Jackson wanted to rent an ultrasound machine and bring it to the penthouse, but Maggie stopped him and insisted on going to Grey Sloan for her appointment. He was convinced she wasn't ready, but she assured him that she was and it wasn't an argument that he wanted to have with her. He watched her twist the empty space on her ring finger where her wedding ring would normally be—currently it found a new place hanging from a check on her neck due to the swelling of her fingers.
Jackson slowly pulled into the parking spot and looked over at Maggie, who's skin had turned almost ashen, "You don't have to go in, Carina can just come to the pent…"
"Jackson," she turned to him speaking firmly, "this is where I work. I can't stay away forever and we're coming here for a good reason," she rubbed her hands over her stomach, "we're going to see the babies today. That's a good thing," she smiled kissing him on the cheek softly.
Jackson nodded as he slipped out of the driver side of the car and rushed over to Maggie's side. She sat looking at the front door of the hospital and breathed out slowly for a few moments. The nervousness bubbling up inside of her made her nauseous. She was aware of the fact that Iris was still in the ICU and there was still no change in her condition. She'd pressured Parker to give her updates along with the progress with the rechargeable hearts and her mice.
"Maggie?" Jackson held out his hand.
She climbed out of the car and stood staring at the door.
"You ready to go in?"
"Of course, of course," she started walking towards the door with Jackson following behind her.
The swish of the door opening, sent a shock through her body as she and Jackson headed towards the elevators. She had to smile a little, her husband brought them in an entrance where she didn't have to glance at the Emergency Room in any way. She took his hand as they stepped on the elevator and squeezed it.
Moments later, the doors open and Amelia was standing on the other side, "Hey," she brought Maggie into an embrace, "I wanted to be the first person to get a new picture of the bambinos," Amelia grinned touching Maggie's stomach.
"If they cooperate, Baby One has been lounging on my spine all morning," Maggie waddled down the hallway with Amelia and Jackson.
"Must be the boy," Amelia winked over at Jackson.
"Hey!" Jackson answered as they walked into the exam room.
"Well I will be back soon and make sure that I get the first picture," Amelia kissed Maggie's cheek before leaving the room.
"Maggie! How are you doing?" Carina entered the room as Jackson helped Maggie onto the exam table.
"You know, pregnant," Maggie rolled her eyes.
"We're going to try to get you to 36 weeks because after that, it will become very uncomfortable for the babies in there," Carina rubbed the ultrasound jelly on Maggie's stomach, "and so far, they look very, very good. Lungs look to be developing well," she narrated as she rubbed the wand across Maggie's stomach, "anything unusual feelings, pains?"
"No, everything's been pretty good," Maggie looked over at the screen, "it's amazing, right?"
"The fact that the human body can do some amazing things to bring other humans into the world?"
"Well yes, but also after what happened here a couple of weeks ago…" Maggie began staring at the screen as Jackson looked up at Carina, "after what happened or when it was happening, I thought for sure that the babies would be in distress or something would happen to them and look at them…perfect…healthy and growing."
"They are strong, just like their mother," Jackson commented kissing Maggie's forehead as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced down at it and grimaced.
"Go," Maggie nudged him.
"Maggie, it can wait."
"Jackson, you don't need to babysit me here. I want to go to my lab and check on my mice and I will wait for you there."
"Promise?" Jackson asked.
"I will deliver her there myself," Carina promised.
"Ok," Jackson kissed Maggie before heading out of the exam room.
"So how are you doing, really?"
"I'm good."
"You're BP is a little elevated, but I that could be because this is your first time back."
Maggie rubbed her face, "Thank you for not mentioning that while Jackson was in here. He's finally treating me like a grown up again," she sighed as Carina helped her sit up.
"After what happened, I can't blame him," Carina stated, "please keep a diary of your BP as the days go on."
Maggie nodded as she slid off of the exam table gathering her purse and her jacket. "So I promised that I would escort you to your lab, so shall we go?" Carina asked.
"Yes and maybe, just maybe I will remember what it feels like to be a doctor again instead of a pregnant mother to be and wife."
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As Maggie moved through the halls, she could see nurses and other doctors stealing glances at her. She wondered to herself whether they were thinking about the fact that she was held captive in a room by her husband's old patient or the fact that she shot said crazy patient multiple times or was it she had pretty much a nervous breakdown afterwards? Nevertheless, she smiled tightly as she made her way to her lab and found Parker inside typing away on a laptop.
"Safely delivered," Carina declared as she opened the door.
"No delivery comments," Maggie warned as she placed her jacket and bag down before focusing on the 5 plastic cages spread out in the room, "oh my…look at them…"
"Yes, they are actually doing pretty well overall, only one didn't make it over the course of the last two weeks," Parker smiled standing beside her as Maggie peered into the plastic cage.
"Yes, poor Snow White," she made a sign of the cross.
"But the good news is that Mulan, Belle, Tiana and Moana are doing exceptionally well. Ariel is a little slower today, but we shall see what happens as the day progresses," Parker continued.
Maggie grinned as she looked down at the tiny mice with various stages of heart disease ran around their cages working their mini rechargeable hearts. All of her hard work over the past two years contained in these cages in these small animals. Her smile grew as she watched the data filling the computer screen, "Thank you so much for looking after them," Maggie beamed.
"This is cutting edge, it means a lot that I'm a part of it Dr. Pierce-Avery."
Maggie reviewed the computer outputs for a few moments as she hoisted her body onto a stool with Parker's assistance, "This is so…wow…I never thought that I would get so far with this so quickly."
Parker grinned as Maggie continued to read and then she put down the paper, "But now that we've spoken about the mice, let's talk about the other matter."
Parker's smile quickly evaporated, "Dr. Pierce-Avery, you're happy…"
"And I will continue to be."
"And you're pregnant."
"And I will continue to be, but you are the only one I can trust to be my eyes and ears here—so tell me, is there any change with Iris?" she asked as her facial expression changed and hardened slightly.
Parker closed his eyes and sighed, "No change."
Maggie felt her heart constrict and a small lump form in her throat, "I see."
"I mean, they don't think she will be in the coma forever, but…"
"But?" Maggie coaxed him.
Parker bit the inside of his cheek, "They just don't know when she will wake up."
"I see," Maggie answered.
"Hey! I heard you were here!" Richard's voice boomed from the doorway and Parker looked absolutely relieved that he would be prevented from divulging anymore.
Maggie smiled as Richard made his way over to her smiling widely, "You look great, how are you?"
"Dr. Pierce-Avery, I will come back in a few..." Parker made his way towards the door and Maggie smiled back at him, "Thank you for everything you've done Parker."
He nodded before making a hasty retreat out of the lab as Richard peered down at the mice, "Looks like you test subjects are doing well."
"Much better than I expected actually, I'm happy," Maggie grinned.
"And how are you doing?" Richard turned to look at her. She looked good, except for the tiredness around her eyes.
"I'm doing ok, Carina says everything looks fine and we are on track to having a delivery at 36 weeks…fingers crossed."
Richard crossed his fingers, "And how are you being back here?"
Maggie smiled softly, "I'm fine. I didn't crumble when I stepped in the hospital."
"I know, but this can't be exactly hard…"
"I won't lie and say that I didn't feel something when I walked in, but this is where I work. This is where part of my life is—I can't walk away from this, sooo I have to deal with it."
Richard nodded, "That's true, no matter what has happened in this hospital—we always find a way to come back."
Maggie looked down at her hands, "I avoided the emergency room. I'm not sure that I will ever be able step foot in that area again."
"Before you come back, you know you have to speak to the therapist and get cleared…"
"I know, but I'm not sure what I am supposed to say. I mean, I shot someone and I haven't quite figured out if I feel bad about it. Is that wrong?" Maggie asked with a frown.
"It's never a wrong thing to feel guilty about doing whatever you have to in order to survive."
"I hear she's still in a coma and there's no indication as to when she will come out of it."
Richard sighed, "You can't focus on that."
"I'm not…I'm not, I just…I don't know."
"And you don't need to. Just concentrate on yourself and those children," Richard reached out and took Maggie's hand.
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Later that night, Jackson's hand casually rubbed the empty space on the right side of the bed and his eyes immediately shot open to see Maggie's side was vacant. He sat up listening for her presence in the bathroom, but heard nothing. He slid out of bed and headed out of their bedroom and down the hallway, where he saw the light from the nursery that his mother had commissioned an interior decorator to assist with the design. He found Maggie standing in the middle rubbing her stomach, "Hey Baby, what's going on?" he rubbed his eyes standing beside her.
She was staring at a mural that the painters her recently finished of the Serengeti featuring elephants, lions, zebras and giraffes, "I couldn't sleep."
"So you came in here…"
"Yeah, I guess I just wanted to see what I could do in here—but it looks like everything is pretty much done," she looked around.
"Did you want to finish the rest? I can tell my mother to call everyone off…"
"No, no…I don't think I could do much now anyway and its very pretty, prettier than I would have done," Maggie turned to him, "in a month or so, they will be here…in this room and our lives are going to change."
Jackson moved to stand behind her wrapping his arms around her body, pulling her closer to his, "You've been a soldier Maggie."
"I'm not much of a soldier, I just know I need to be strong for our babies."
Jackson moved to stand in front of her, taking her cheeks in his hands, "You are strong."
Maggie smiled. The intense gaze that he gave her at that moment, made her believe every word he stated, "You've helped me so much, we are so lucky to have you," she whispered.
Jackson closed the minimal space between them with a kiss, that quickly deepened as Jackson reached for the strap on Maggie's nightgown, "We can't…"
"Why can't we?" Jackson broke the kiss for a moment.
"Not in the nursery," Maggie smiled nervously, "and let's not forget that there's a beachball where my stomach used to be."
Jackson smiled moving his lips towards her neck as he backed them out of the room, "Jackson, I still have a beach ball," she whimpered as his kisses began to wear her down. They hadn't connected in this way in weeks (and she was definitely smaller).
When they walked into their bedroom, Jackson stopped in front of their bed in front of the storage bench, Jackson slowly turned Maggie around and continued planting kisses on her neck before moving his hand to gently caress one of her brown mounds. She moaned as she felt his lips suck her ear lobe gently, "Kneel down," he whispered in her ear huskily.
She felt the liquid immediately pool in between her legs as she slowly placed one knee on the padded storage bench and then the other, as she felt his hand slowly caress the arch of her back. She bit her lip as he slowly entered her and she gasped slightly as her body adjusted to him. It was at that moment that she allowed all of the thoughts of Iris and what happened leave her mind.
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Maggie sat in the middle of the plush cream sofa in the office of the psychiatrist that she'd been sent to by the hospital. She looked around at the woman's degrees, pictures of her family and numerous books regarding different studies on mental health. She'd been sitting there for three minutes and so far all they covered was her name, her profession and how far along she was in her pregnancy. Once those questions were exhausted, they smiled at each other.
"Maggie, do you want to tell me why you're here?" Dr. Thelma Allen stared back at her with a gentle smile adorning her mahogany flawless face.
"Because I have to come see you before I can go back to work in an official capacity?" Maggie answered.
Thelma gave Maggie a smirk, "Yes, but I am sure in your condition, no one would have batted an eye if you decided to just start maternity leave early—giving yourself more time."
Maggie looked down at her hands and suddenly sitting in this office made it all real for her and her eyes filled with tears, "Sometimes I can see the blood on my hands," she whispered looking up at Thelma as tears slid from her eyes, "I don't sleep much, I blame it on the pregnancy and maybe its because of them partially—but every time I close my eyes, I can see that emergency room and the gun…and Iris."
"Iris, is the woman that held you in the room?"
Maggie nodded as Thelma handed her a tissue and she dabbed her eyes.
"And what do you feel when you see the emergency room…fear?"
Maggie looked over at Thelma and shook her head slowly.
"Then what do you feel, Maggie?"
Maggie met Thelma's warm brown eyes, "Unadulterated fury," she answered without a hint of regret.
We got a view of how everything looked to Jackson...Iris better hope he doesn't even enter her room.
Maggie's therapy session contains. Not sure if it will help or hurt, but some truths will be dropped.
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