Maggie had nothing scheduled for the day, she needed to focus on her rechargeable hearts for Layla her patient with Alex. It was lunch hour and they were supposed to meet and go over their plan for the next day. She texted Alex asking him to grab some food for her as well, he walked in with Meredith and Amelia carrying their food.

"I thought you were in LA" Maggie said surprised seeing Meredith walking in with Alex and Amelia

"Bailey said Jackson and Collins will manage" Meredith said "so are you excited about tomorrow?"

"Wait, Jackson is in LA with the new trauma surgeon?" Amelia chimed "is she even familiar with that procedure?"

"I don`t know, Bailey thinks so" Meredith shrugged her shoulders. Maggie grabbed her food from Alex and the whole gang sat down to eat

"I am sure she loved it, she has hots for Avery, Maggie you got to watch out for her" Alex said

"What?" all sisters said in unison

"I knew there was a reason I didn't like her" Meredith said

"Come on Mer, you hate everyone the first time you meet them" Amelia said "Alex what do you mean she has hots for Avery?"

"We were out having drinks sometime back, myself, Link and Jackson. She was with a group of friends, they bought us drinks, and I went over to thank them because I kind of wanted to set Link up but they were all about Avery. We played darts with them and Collins wouldn't take her eyes off him but Avery left after just one round. Even after he left she kept asking about him"

"Hmmmm" Meredith said making a face

"What? What is it Mer?" Maggie asked

"Nothing" she shrugged her shoulders

"You are lying and you made a face" Maggie insisted

"It's nothing; it's just it all makes sense now, Jackson said he met her couple of times before she came here, I thought they knew each other from somewhere"

"A couple of times" Maggie said softly hoping no one heard her but they all did

"No, it was one time and I can promise you that-"

"Alex you are not helping" Amelia said cutting him off looking at him

"Come on Maggie, I know you and Avery are on time out" Alex said biting an apple "the dude still wants to do you, he only has eyes for you"

"I am not insecure okay; I am just – I am worried about him"

"Jackson is a grown man" Amelia said "you don`t have to worry about a woman being around him"

"We kind of fought about his father`s situation, he is angry at everyone and we haven't spoken since, he left me a voicemail saying he will be in LA for a couple of days and that was it"

"Well, did you try calling him back?" Amelia asked

"No, he told me to stay out of his business so I am doing just that, right now he has Collins I guess to make him all warm in his manparts"

"Come on you got to understand him, he was just mad. He told me the same thing yesterday but it's not like he meant it"

"Wait, what is wrong with Jackson`s father?" Amelia asked

"He is dying and Jackson found out, Catherine kept it from him, made Maggie and I to also keep the secret so he found out"

"I mean I get where he is coming from, it's like you guys lied to him, if someone kept my father`s sickness from me I would be mad too"

"Well his father wasn't exactly like your father, he was more like Thatcher if you get what I mean" Meredith said

"Oh, that`s messed up but still that`s his father though"

"I get that he is mad but he is being childish about it, you should have seen how he was back in SF, he was just cold so I left"

"Come on Maggie, Jackson loves you and you two will be fine" Amelia said

"I agree with Amelia" Alex said standing up while everyone finished their food "like I told you yesterday, give him some time"

"Yah, time away with a hot, perky, happy blonde doctor" she said and everyone looked at her "what? It`s a joke" she said

"Ha ha, very funny" Amelia said

...

Meanwhile in UCLA

Jackson had arrived safely and had just finished the final preps with Dr Collins. He had gone through the procedure with her a couple of times seeing she had never done it. He went out to get some air, when he walked back into the tech room he found Dr Collins crying holding her phone.

"Oh I am sorry, I am just going to come back later"

"I should go" she said standing up

"No, no, you stay I will just head back to the office, the surgery will start in about 30 minutes" Jackson said walking out. She said nothing as she continued silently crying uncontrollably. He stopped at the door, closed it and walked back in.

"You okay, you want to talk about it?"

"It's nothing"

"You know, most people I know don't cry over nothing, can I sit down?"

"Yeah" she said wiping the tears off "it's about my ex boyfriend"

"You having boyfriend troubles?" Jackson said grabbing the chair seating down

"Kind off, he was emotionally abusive and I never told anyone about it. I broke it off just when I got the interview here but now he has been lying to everyone back home saying I cheated on him and they are all calling me all sorts of names, he has even turned my own parents against me because they love him so dearly. I don`t know maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe I deserve all of that"

"Hey there's nothing wrong with you and no one deserves to be abused no matter what" Jackson said handing her more tissues

"I wish I could believe that, every guy I have dated has either been a jerk, cheated on me or been abusive"

"Maybe you haven't met, the right guy yet"

"Looks like all the good ones are taken" she said looking at Jackson

"I'm no expert, but, you know, it's a good thing it didn't work out with him because there is nothing okay with someone who is abusive. This was clearly not your fault okay?"

"Maybe"

"You're going to meet the right guy and you wiII know immediately. Don't beat yourself up over what this guy is saying about you. Look at you, you are a surgeon, you're bright, you are beautiful, you are attractive and any man would be lucky to have you so from where I am standing it`s his loss and he is a damn fool to do that to you" he smirked

"You're just trying to make me feel better"

"Is it working?"

"Yes"

"Good, you hang in there, okay?"

"Thanks, Jackson"

"Now come on let's get to work"

...

Maggie was packing her things away when Amelia came with Harriet and Leo. She was watching Leo for the night. Catherine was in Boston and April was still not back yet so it was just going to be Maggie and Harriet. She took the little girl in her hands and walked out with Amelia to their cars. She was mentally exhausted from all the research she had spent the day doing. Tomorrow they were going to start on their project depending on how strong Layla`s body was after the bypass.

"Listen, you are my sister and I love you" Amelia said after they buckled the kids "stop sabotaging"

"What do you mean?" Maggie said leaning against Jackson`s car

"Collins"

"I am not"

"Are you sure?"

"Look, I get it, she is pretty and it doesn't help that Jackson hasn't called all day" she whispered "I know we are kinda not talking but still, he should have at least called to check on Harriet the very least"

"Maybe he was busy" Amelia said "and also he knows Harriet is safe"

"I know" Maggie said forcing a smile

"Do you want me to come over?"

"Nah, maybe tomorrow when we don't have kids"

"It`s a date" Amelia said getting in her car

Jackson`s surgery had gone great and his patient had passed post op with flying colours. He was seated at the bar having a drink when she heard Natalie`s voice

"You need to slow down there tiger"

"It`s been a long day and you know it"

"I will have the same" she said to the bartender "I am not blaming you, I get it. I never got the chance to congratulate you on your ground breaking project, next one is on me"

"Oh no, I think I have had enough but thank you"

"Come on, it's the least I can do after what happened this afternoon and you owe me a drink remember" she said

"Okay, just one drink then I am off to bed"

"Okay but it will be a drink of my choice"

"You have a deal" he said

One drink ended up being more than just one; they stayed there for a while with Natalie opening up about her past and how she had taken the job at Seattle

"Now that I think about it, I took it because of you actually"

"What! Why?"

"I mean the day we first met, it was kind of funny, my friends kept saying just buy him a drink and I was like I can`t be that desperate so let me buy one for everyone"

"Is that why Karev kept thanking me for the drinks, now it makes sense" Jackson said with laughter

"Yeah, when he came to thank us, we asked him your name; he told us but refused to tell us more so that is why we came to play darts with you"

"Alex never told me this"

"So I googled you"

"You googled me" Jackson said as though it was a statement not a question

"When I discovered you work at Grey Sloan I immediately told Bailey that I would accept her offer"

"That`s ...weird but interesting I guess, so where are your friends?"

"They are back home, they had just accompanied me to see the place before making the decision to accept the job" they were the only ones remaining at the bar

"Well, I am glad I helped in your decision making process, this was fun and thanks for the drink but I got to go. I need to get some rest" Jackson said standing up while Natalie went straight for his mouth planting a kiss.

"Hey, what was that?" Jackson said politely pushing her away

"Tell me that this is all in my head, that there isn't something between us"

"I am sorry I can`t do this" he said with a confused look

"I know it's there Jackson, I know you see it too, don`t deny it, you just said this was fun"

"Listen I don`t know how drunk you are but you need to know that I am engaged, I love my fiancée and I'm getting married to her and only her. I don't want anything other than what I have with her. I have to go. I mean right now I have to go"

"Where are you going? It's almost midnight"

...

Maggie was busy packing Harriet`s bag. Harriet kept running away refusing to wear her jacket. Maggie decided to first pack everything and chase after her last.

"Oh I will catch you"

"No you won`t" Harriet said running off again when suddenly the door opened and Jackson walked in.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Harriet said running off to him

"Hey sweetheart, I missed you so much" he said lifting her up and planting a kiss on her while Maggie stood there watching him in disbelief "how about you go hide and I come find you with your jacket?"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Harriet exclaimed in happiness, he put her down running off to hide

"Hi" he said approaching the kitchen where Maggie was

"Hi" she said without looking at him packing her lunch

"Can we talk?"

"Harriet is waiting for you to find her"

"Something happened" Jackson blurted out. Maggie stopped what she was doing and looked at him. She stayed quiet waiting for him to continue but instead words came off her mouth

"Did you screw her?" Even though the thought hadn't crossed her mind she kind of couldn't shake off what Alex had said about Collins having hots for Jackson. She wasn't insecure but it did bother her a little. Jackson looked at her in disbelief, why would she say that, was she expecting him to cheat on her and how would she think that way, these thoughts raced in his mind. He was speechless and he had no words "did you have sex with her?"

"What? -no, I did not...have sex with anybody"

"So what happened?" she said with a little relief that only her could feel

"We, I mean she kissed me, it was nothing okay, it meant nothing" she looked at him straight in the eye without saying a word "please say something" he said

"Is that it? Is that everything you have to say?"

"That's all there is to say"

"I wish I could believe you"

"You can, I'm here, Maggie please" he said reaching for her but she moved away

"It seems like you came home because you thought you were in trouble"

"I came home because we're in trouble, I came home to work on this, on us, and I came home"

"I have a very important surgery today and I need to get to the hospital" Maggie said grabbing her bags heading for the door

"Can't you get somebody to cover for you?"

"You should spend the day with Harriet, she misses you" she said closing the door behind her leaving Jackson standing all alone.

Oh Jackie Jackie, what did you do?