Maggie managed to get a late flight out to Seattle. She woke up in the quiet penthouse by herself, she had thought of going to her sister`s when she landed but dismissed the idea. She knew Meredith would be the best person to understand seeing she also had a dad who was never in her life. Meredith`s dad had recently died and she had also found out from Richard. Maggie told herself she was going to talk with her the following morning. She was now going through her emails when she saw one that reminded her of how she had planned for them staying for a couple of days to celebrate his project being picked up but things hadn't turned out the way she had hoped. She had gone to extreme lengths planning in a short space of time to try and make those few days memorable but according to her Jackson had managed to sabotage all of that. She groaned tossing her phone away as she got ready for work. She and Jackson never had a serious conversation about his father but she knew that he left when Jackson was little and that he had tried to reconnect with him but the trip hadn't turned out the way he had imagined.

Maggie was working with Alex on a twelve year old who had chronic heart failure, they were just going to put her on Maggie`s trial for rechargeable hearts. The patient had been rejecting all the heart transplants so they had to let her keep her heart but it was becoming unbearable the way it was failing. Even though it wasn`t FDA approved the parents had asked for them to do anything they could to help her so for today they were just going to do a bypass and then do more tests before they start. Maggie was against the idea but Alex had managed to bring the parents so they could ask Maggie themselves. She explained all the risks but seeing that the child was destined to death anywhere they agreed to sign every form that covered Maggie`s back. Deep down she was happy that her work that she had been doing so far will finally come to fruition with time. They were prepping for their surgery in Maggie`s lab. She found herself smiling a little and Alex noticed

"What are you smiling about?" Alex asked

"Nothing"

"Liar"

"Well I am just glad I could try out my work on humans, even though it's not there yet but the fact that I have this chance is amazing so thank you I guess" she said smiling at Alex who just nodded

"Well if there is anyone who can do it it's you"

"You and Jo now okay? Mean are you married"

"Yes we legally married now"

"Congratulations, how's that going? I mean the hypothetical kids and everyone"

"Nope, I am not going to tell you about the ups and downs of marriage so you could freak out"

"Whatever"

"Heard Avery got in bed with Stanford, how's that going?"

"Yep, he is still in San Francisco hopefully working on that"

"Oh don`t tell me you are jealous?"

"No I am not" Maggie said throwing a paper away in frustration

"Hey it`s human to feel a little jealous, I am not judging" Alex said lifting his hands in surrender

"It`s not that, he just found out his dad is dying and he is now mad at everyone"

"Ouch that`s rough"

"He is just being a brat, we had this fight last night, he started drinking and being unreasonable so I left"

"Well, I don`t know much about Jackson's dad but I do know a thing or two about deadbeat dads that show up when they are about to die" Alex said as they were finishing up in the lab. Maggie looked at him as Alex started telling him about his dad. The conversation continued in surgery with Alex telling Maggie to give Jackson space and that he would come around eventually and the two would be fine. Maggie appreciated Alex`s talk very much as it made her feel much better about the whole thing.

...

Jackson was in the hotel when he got a call from Alex. Alex told him he had managed to score two courtside playoffs tickets to a Warriors game in Oakland from one of his patient's parents. He told him he had planned to take Jo but she had gotten really busy and she was not going to finish on time for them to get a flight that will allow them to catch the game. Jackson was so excited; he hadn't been to a basketball game for as long as he could remember. He loved the game but the nature of his job didn't exactly allow him some time off to attend games. Alex landed on time and the two narrowly made it for 7pm tip off. Alex had planned to fly back after the game so he could be there when his patient woke up in the morning. They were seated at a bar after the game talking about their love for it. They had managed to at least have small conversations with some of the players. They talked at length from how Jackson`s project was taking off and what it meant for his day to day job. The conversation went deep about the game and how different it was now. Jackson was privileged to grow up attending games while Alex didn't have that much considering where he grew up. They loved attending college games when they were residents but after they became attendings they never got a chance. Jackson was so glad Alex was there as it was taking his mind of his life problems.

"How rich are your patient`s parents because firstly no one gets those tickets ever and secondly you don`t just give them away like that"

"Well, they are loaded" Alex said sipping his beer

"Are we talking Silicon Valley loaded or what?"

"Why do you care? You are loaded, you can get those tickets if you wanted" Alex said trying to dismiss Jackson.

"Trust me I have tried, many times and not even my Avery name could pull that"

"Well you keep forgetting your name isn't everyone`s favourite anymore"

"That`s a good point but those tickets are kind of impossible to get"

"Okay, it was Pierce, she told me not to tell you. She got the tickets yesterday, looks like she knows very important people. She had planned on surprising you but well you know why she isn't here"

Jackson didn't expect that at all, he was having a great time trying to forget his problems. He had been angry at almost everyone and everything ever since finding out about his dad so going to the game with Alex had really helped taking his mind off things and now Maggie was out telling his business to people.

"Oh so she sent you, was she with my mother when she gave you the tickets?"

"What? Why would she be with your mother?" Alex said with a little scowl "Look, I was working with Maggie this morning and yes she told me all about your dad"

"That was not her business to tell" he took a sip of his drink

"Come on Avery" Alex said with a scoff while Jackson just gave him an un-approving look "fine, I get that you are mad"

"No Karev" he raised his voice a little "you don`t get it, you don`t know anything so don`t act like you know when you don`t" he slammed his nearly empty glass on the table

"So, in other words you don't want to talk about it?" Alex said calmly

"I'm not talking about it because there is nothing to talk about" he said looking sideways avoiding eye contact

"Fine" Alex leaned forward towards him "you are right, I might not know your father but I know something about a deadbeat dead that reappears when they are about to die. Trust me I get your anger and you have every right to be. Its okay to take some time as long as you don`t push away the people who are trying to be there for you dude, also you need to go see him and say goodbye"

"He didn't tell me he was sick and I don't know if I want to see him" Jackson said sitting up straight

"So who told you?"

"I thought you said Maggie told you all about it" he questioned him

"She just told me you found out about your dad but not how you found out"

"My mother told me, Maggie found out the night of the party and my mother threatened her not to tell me"

"Oh shit, that`s messed up"

"Yep she has known for months and she has been paying for his medical bills because apparently he is broke"

"They tend to do that, show up when they have no money or anything so that you could feel bad for them" Jackson said nothing but just looked at Alex "Remember my dad, the druggie, he wasn't father of the year either, but I got to say goodbye to him before he died" Alex continued.

"And did that make the birthday no-shows go away? Did having five minutes with him after a lifetime of nothing make you feel better? I tried opening the door for him to get to know me and he didn't walk through it instead he told me about how he was so happy in Montana with his coffee diner business" Jackson said ranting "You know the only thing I remember about him was when he would throw me up and catch me by the pool when I was little and then he completely disappeared. So no, I don't really need to see him because he's been a ghost for years"

"I get that it`s a crappy situation"

"I don`t know how long he has, for all I know he could be dead by now"

"According to Maggie he has a month max. Look I am not saying it will make all things okay when you see him but you will have at least some kind of closure. You deserve that at the very least" Alex said checking his phone "Oh crap, I got to go, didn't realise it was this late" he said grabbing his jacket while Jackson said nothing more following his lead driving him to the airport. Alex understood because he had been there before but Jackson wasn't sure if he was ready to see his father as yet. After Alex had said he was coming for the game he opted to stay one more night in San Francisco as he had thought the game would end very late. He drove back into the hotel where the receptionist handed him two boxes that were addressed to Jackson Avery and the other to Maggie Pierce. He took them up and put them on the counter wandering what it was. He opened the one that was addressed to him and found a Warriors jersey with his name on it with signatures of its core members. He couldn't help but smile looking at the jersey, he wasn't a warriors fan but he appreciated the way they played the game and he knew that Maggie understood how he loved the game and how this would mean to him. He gently opened the one for Maggie and saw the name Pierce-Avery on it. His heart was filled with warmth, he imagined her and how their last conversation had ended. He had been a jerk to her while she had been nothing but supportive of him. He hadn't spoken to her since she had left the night before but somehow she was managing to put a smile on his face. So was this Maggie`s way of telling him he was going to take his name? He couldn't help but smile at that thought; he took his phone off his pocket to call her. Somehow in the midst of it all his phone had died so he went on to charge it while he took a quick shower. He came out and switched it on only to find 27 missed calls from Bailey. His mind raced dialing Bailey`s number.

"Now that you are becoming a hotshot surgeon you don`t answer calls from your chief?"

"Dr Bailey I am so sorry my phone somehow died"

"You are a doctor; your phone is not allowed to die"

"I know Dr Bailey and I am so sorry"

"Listen, I needed you to go get the organs from UCLA for your patient so that you come operate tomorrow. There was no one available so they were about to pass the organs to someone else so I ended up sending the patient with Dr Collins because Grey was in surgery. UCLA will prep and Grey is supposed to fly there tomorrow for the surgery so if you are still working for Grey Sloan you better get yourself there. The surgery is at 2pm and you are still the primary surgeon in all this"

"Thank you Dr Bailey I will be there"

"By the way, congratulations on your spray on skin work. Catherine told me you were amazing"

"Thank you chief"

"That`s right I am still your chief"

Jackson dropped the call. He checked the time and saw it was almost midnight. He dialled Maggie `s number but she didn't pick up. Instead of flying home he now had to fly to LA the place he was trying to avoid.