"So are you excited about today?" Maggie said few weeks later while Jackson drove them to work. After moving back home things were much better between the two, Maggie had committed to her therapy sessions which were rather helpful. She wasn't having any nightmares. Jackson raised his eyebrow as he looked at her like someone who had no idea of what she was talking about "Rafi`s surgery, it is today right?" Jackson had met Rafi an 11 year old boy with scapular osteochondroma the time he had left for his spiritual quest. He had told Maggie about it a while back but he didn't think she would remember all things considered. Besides he hadn't mentioned it to her lately because that trip had led to one of the biggest fights they had ever had. He gave her a smile interlocking his hand with hers.

"Yeah its today" he said as he kissed the back of her hand that was interlocked with his

"So are you excited" Maggie said with a smile that was encouraging

"Yeah kind of, I mean he is an adorable kid, he was diagnosed when he was 8. He loves to swim, skips rocks and climb trees and today is the day his life will change and I hope it's for the best"

"It shouldn't be complicated; you said they were benign overgrowths in his bones and all you need to do is shave them down and reshape them. So don`t stress too much, you will be fine"

He once again took his eyes off the road and gave Maggie that warm look where his eyes just light up with happiness. She knew how to be supportive of him and it was one of the things he loved about her

"You are right, the risk isn't any different if we do it now or later and besides I have Alex and Link so it shouldn't be that hard"

"You are working with Link?"

"Yeah, he is head of ortho and bones are kind of his thing. Why, don't you like him or something?"

"No, no, I just…..you know what never mind" Jackson said nothing but could tell something was up. Before they knew it they were already at the hospital. They went to change into their scrubs with Jackson kissing Maggie goodbye to get started with their rounds. Maggie`s day was a light one, she only had a coronary bypass scheduled with Meredith and she had told herself she would spend most of the day in the lab after the surgery.

...

Jackson, Link and Alex were busy with their surgery. Jackson was telling them about how he had met Rafi with Link expressing his love for outdoors and hiking. He and Jackson talked at length with Link ending up inviting Jackson for his upcoming camping trip while Alex only said he wasn't much of an outdoor guy. The nurse walked in to give them the path report which showed that Rafi had cancer. Jackson realised at that moment that they only had two options which is to remove the scapula entirely and take the cancer with it but that would leave him with severely limited range of motion or just remove the growths, which would mean he'd require radiation treatments, which can be dangerous in a child that young. He went out to speak with Rafi`s dad who told him to do what he could to save his life.

Maggie finished her surgery and decided to go check on Jackson`s surgery but she found him in the gallery. He told her about how they had found cancer. Even though he was grateful and glad to have caught it early he couldn't help but feel like he had taken the young boy`s life.

"He loves to swim and climb trees and run around, and he is going to wake up and find out he can't ever lift his own arm. So I'm saving his life, but he's not going to see it that way. He's a little kid, a little kid who wants to play, and I'm the guy that took that away from him"

"My mum used to say everything's clearer on the mountaintop" he turned to look at her listening attentively. Maggie hadn't talked about her mum in a long time "just, you know, when you can get some distance, separate yourself from your problems. They all seem so solvable but then when you get back into real life nothing is black-and-white and everything is just all muddy"

"Everything is clearer on the mountaintop, thanx so much babe I got to go" he said running off the gallery leaving Maggie by herself. His conversation with Maggie gave him the idea to do extracorporeal radiation since the bone was already out. It was the radiation outside the body where he could crank up the dose as high as he wanted, basically like putting it in a microwave and it wasn't going to hurt him but it would kill the cancer. Just like that they managed to save Rafi`s life and to reattach the ligaments in their natural position with minimal loss of movement. He was also cancer free and he was not going to need any more surgeries for his entire life.

….
Jackson surgery had taken way longer so Maggie had asked Bailey to drop her off, she had texted Jackson letting him know she was already home.

"Hey" Maggie said to a Jackson who was entering while she was busy setting up for dinner

"Wow, it smells great in here" he said removing his coat and placing his bag in one of the kitchen chairs. He walked towards Maggie and hugged her from behind; she was busy with a salad spinner

"What can I do?"

"I am just about done so you can just get yourself ready to dig in" she turned her head to give him a slight welcome home peck, he buried himself in her hair before moving away to go wash his hands. They settled on the table as they enjoyed the food

"So how was your day, I never got the chance to ask you when you came over to watch my surgery"

"You mean after you ran off on me" Maggie chuckled "It was good, only had a bypass, you could say I had a session with Dr Carr"

"Oh yeah and how did that go?"

"It was good, I also managed to get some work done in the lab. How about you, how was it working with Link?"

"It was great actually; he invited me for a camping weekend"

"Oh, that's nice of him so, are you going?" Maggie said passing a bowl of salad to him

"Oh no, he is actually going this weekend so I told him next time"

"Babe, but you love camping"

"Yes I do but I love you more" he held her hand rubbing her knuckles. Maggie smiled looking at him. "Besides I don`t want something taking me away from you just yet"

"I like the sound of that"

"What do you have against him because I am sensing that you kinda don't like him?" Jackson asked

"He is sleeping with Amelia and I know she says it`s just sex, I just don`t want to see her getting hurt"

"Woah, I didn't see that coming. Well I get it, I mean Mer told me she would literally kill me if I ever cheated on you" Maggie knew her sisters cared but she had no idea Meredith had said that.

"Well it's not like I want to kill him, I just don`t know the guy and Amelia is my sister"

"Hey I get it, he seems like a pretty good stand up guy though" he said as they continued eating

"So how was the surgery?"

"We saved his life and his quality of life"

"Congratulations, that must have been something" Maggie said with a sense of pride and a huge smile on her face

"No, no "we," okay? Both of us because it was your idea so we did this together" he took her hand once again and kissed it. "I had an amazing day today, best day I've had in a very long time, and you were a huge part of that. I know it sounds corny but we make an excellent team and we are so much better together than we realize. I am grateful for you and I appreciate you more than you know"

"Well technically it was my mum`s idea but I will take the credit" she said those words forcing a smile. Jackson could see that she was trying to be cheerful but the mention of her mum was getting the better of her.

"You miss her, don`t you?"

"Every day" she said with her eyes getting a little teary

"I can't imagine what you are going through babe" he said rubbing her cheek with a little soothing. He had learnt to not try too hard when she went through her emotions as at times he would tend to make it worse so he just said "come here I want to show you a little something" he took her by her hand, led her to the lounge and let her sit comfortably. He then moved to grab his laptop in his bag he had initially left in the kitchen.

"Babe what`s going on?" Maggie asked anxiously

"Just give me a minute you will see" he said browsing through his laptop "okay here we go, I just want you to watch this okay and please use the headphones, I will just be cleaning up in the kitchen and I don't want you getting distracted

"Okay, what is it?"

"Just watch" he said giving her the headphones together with the laptop while she settled her legs comfortably on the couch with the laptop on her hitting play right away.

"Okay this is really crazy" Meredith `s voice and her beaming face appeared on the screen "Are you sure about this" she said turning the camera to Jackson`s face

"Yeah I am sure, I mean it's something I would have done if she was alive so I figured why not do it anyway"

"Well, I poured my mum`s ashes down the drain in OR 3 so what do I know?"

"You can`t compare your relationship with Ellis with that of Maggie and Diane`s and there is nothing wrong with what you did. You said it yourself she loved that OR so you were basically honouring her in the best way you knew" Maggie`s heart dropped a little when she had the mention of her mum`s name. She fixed her eyes on the screen "Okay, we are almost there now" they stopped talking and started moving slowly, she couldn't see Mer`s face but only Jackson`s back which eventually came to a stop as he knelt next to her mum`s grave. The camera pinned on the tombstone. Maggie gasped for air. She let out a deep breath. She watched a Jackson who knelt there in silence for a moment. The tears fell off her eyes when Jackson opened her mouth

"Hey Diane" he had a silly smile in a soft voice "this is Jackson, I know it's strange that I am here but it was important for me to come and talk to you. I get that we didn't get enough time to get to know each other but man I feel like with that short space of time you somehow had an impact in my life. I didn't know then of how important you would be in my life but I guess you did. I mean, I was just your doctor but somehow you saw it fit to entrust me with your daughter `s wellbeing when you said you knew I would do my best to take care of her. Trust me" he let out a little chuckle "she doesn't need anyone to take care of her because she is just amazing and believe you me she is the one taking care of everyone else. I wish you were here to see the Maggie we are all seeing. I have been fortunate enough to get to know Maggie and she has made me to want to be a better man. Her brilliance keeps me on my toes and don`t get me started with her resilience. She has been through so much but she has come through everything stronger and better, I bet she gets that from you. I just want to say thank you for raising such a beautiful, strong intelligent phenomenal woman. I know you are not physically here to hold her when she needs you but she knows you are watching over her. I guess what I am trying to tell you is, your daughter means everything to me and I am here to ask for your blessing to marry her. I know how much she values your opinion and how important it is for her to keep your spirit alive. I have already asked her dad and it was only right to also ask you. I promise you that I will love her, I will honour and respect her….."

Maggie couldn't bother wiping the tears that were streaming down her cheeks anymore as she continued to watch the whole video. All the emotions she felt, she felt joy and sadness at the same time. This was something she never expected and somehow it was something she needed. She hadn't even realized that Jackson had sat next to her when she finally finished watching it. She put the laptop away, wiping her tears and curled on his shoulder while he put his arm around her back.

"When did you do this?" Maggie asked

"The morning I intended to propose"

"The day I was…"

"Yeah, I thought it was the right thing to do. I mean I don`t know what it's like to lose a mum but I know most mums would love to be a part of their children`s lives"

"Thank you and you didn't have to do that"

"I know but I wanted to" he said kissing the top of her head

"I feel like she knew you were the one, I mean the very moment she saw you she was like is he the one you like and I was just like MUM" she said laughing at the memory

"Oh I remember, I even checked if there was someone behind me because I said to myself there was no way she was talking about me"

"And right before she died I mean right before she died, she told me to fall in love, to find a decent man and here I am with you. It makes me wonder if she had some super powers. Do you know she actually said I should be slutty, make mistakes, what mother tells their daughter that?" she said lifting her head and shaking it a little as she thought of that moment.

"She was right, she just wanted you to be happy, you were uptight before I got to know you, trust me you still are but you are better now"

"Shut up, you didn't know me; you literally refused to shake my hand the first time I met you. From then I told myself that Dr Avery is just so full of himself. Most plastic surgeons are just arrogant so I wasn't surprised at all" she said teasing him and moving away from his embrace

"Come on, you called me a moron so you kind of deserved that" he said with a smirk

"No, if I remember correctly I said your board was a bunch of morons" Maggie said trying to defend herself

"And how is that any different?" Jackson said with a laughter

"Okay fine I did kinda deserve that, to my defence I was just having a bad day" she paused and then said "who would have thought that from our first encounter we would be here"

"Yeah, who would have thought indeed, there are some people you don`t see right away, I mean some people just sneak up on you and…."

"Thank you" Maggie said looking sternly at him

"For what?" he said looking straight in her eyes

"For being you and I want you to know that I will gladly marry you when the time is right" Jackson`s eyes beamed with happiness. He leaned towards her to kiss her. Even though they were not officially engaged he was glad they had this conversation and most importantly the fact that they were both on the same page. He knew that was big for Maggie to say out loud and he was more than willing to wait and not pressure her.