Chapter 14: Another Birthday and Hi
This went on for about three months. Mark being pissed almost all the time, Jackson feeling alone, Julia feeling pushed away, and Callie feeling sorry for them all. Everyone else was just as much a mess. Meredith had potentially lost her sister and Zola was her distraction. April and Alex were upset that their friend was missing. Cristina felt bad but she wasn't as close to her as everyone else. Jackson focused on his work and didn't really talk to anyone. Derek felt as if he was in the middle of everything. Lexie was his sister-in-law, Masen and Anna were his niece and nephew, Mark was his friend, and Jackson was his house mate and friend. He didn't know what to do. The twins were…
Anna was screaming for the hundredth time that morning. Mark sighed and continued to rock her.
"Shhh," he cooed. Almost one or not, she and Masen both knew their mom wasn't there and wanted her badly. "It's ok. Go back to sleep." He could tell she was barely holding on. She was so tired. Heck, he was exhausted, but his kids came first. Anna kept screaming for another half hour before she cried herself to sleep. Mark kissed her forehead and set her in her crib, before heading back to bed. He slept for two hours before his alarm went off. Great…
Cold… Dark... Foggy…
When he got to the hospital and had left the twins at the nursery, Mark was all but attacked by Callie and Arizona. They didn't say anything, just stared at him while standing really close. He tried walking away but they just followed him. He went and checked on patients but they waited for him. It wasn't till about an hour later while he was filling out a chart by the nurse's station that he really just lost it.
"What?" he all but yelled. They both looked at each other and gave him and obvious look.
"You know that thing coming up?" Arizona asked.
"What thing?"
"You know," Callie said.
"The special thing," Arizona added. Mark put down the chart and just stared at them.
"Starts with birth…"
"Ends with day…" He sighed and went back to the chart.
"I didn't forget," Mark said while handing a nurse the chart.
"Well Callie and I thought that, if you wanted, we could host their birthday party at our apartment." He looked over at them annoyed.
"Excuse me?"
"Well," Callie started. "We've hosted a lot more parties at our place than yours. Plus we know you don't want people over there."
"I can plan my own kids' party."
"Or we could."
"How about we split it?" Arizona suggested, sensing there was about to be a fight in the middle of the hospital. "We plan half and you plan half. And we have to coordinate and put it together." Callie and Mark were about to object. "You two also need to remember it's in a week and we can't keep fighting like this." The other two glanced at each other and nodded in agreement, causing Arizona to smile. "Awesome."
Confused… Scared… Lost…
Jackson sat in the cafeteria, eating his lunch alone. He did that. He hated sitting with the others now. It reminded him of Lexie. They were her friends and family too. He often wanted to move out of Meredith's house, but he didn't have enough money for his own place and he didn't want any more roommates.
"Hey Avery," Callie said while sitting next to him. She knew he wanted to be alone but she didn't care. His displeased glance didn't faze her as she ate her salad. "So Masen and Anna's birthday is in a couple days and I wanted you to know that you're invited." Jackson ate his fries and stared at his sandwich. She sat back and sighed. "Jackson I know all of this is hard, but you can't just-"
"You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do," he said through gritted teeth as he stood and left.
"I have every damn right." She smiled smugly to herself and went back to her salad.
What…? Where…? When…?
"I think the pink balloons should be by the couch and the blue ones by the door," Arizona said while bringing them into the house.
"Why don't we put them both on either side of the door," Callie suggested while icing the cake. Arizona smiled and kissed her check before placing the balloons.
"Awesome idea, it looks great. Now, all we have to do is hang the streamers and banner, finish cooking, and get Sophia ready." Callie nodded and covered the cake.
"Do you know when Mark's bringing the twins over?" Arizona's smile fell as she looked at Callie.
"I thought he told you…" Callie shook her head and stuck some food in the oven. "It's fine. I'll go over and see." She quickly left and made her way over across the hall before knocking. Mark opened the door, holding a very tired Masen. "Hey are you almost ready to come over?"
"I was going to put him down for a nap. Let him sleep for maybe an hour."
"I'll do it because we need help hanging the streamers and banner." He arched an eyebrow in question, causing her to give a nervous laugh. "You're taller than us." He held back a laugh and gave her Masen before making his way across the hall.
"Where have you been?" Callie asked while decorating the coffee table.
"Putting my son to sleep," Mark replied. "Where's the banner?"
"On the counter with the streamers. Hang it above the window and I don't really care where all the streamers go." He rolled eyes and got to work. Fifteen minutes later, conveniently when Callie and Mark were finished, Arizona walked in carrying both Masen and Anna.
"I thought I told you it was nap time," Mark said while taking Masen from her. The little boy yawned and looked around at all the colorful decorations.
"I tried but he just wouldn't go to sleep," Arizona said while sitting Anna on the couch. The little girl just smiled and crawled towards the end of the couch.
"No you don't," said Callie as she picked Anna up and sat with her in her lap. Anna squirmed for a minute before laughing as Callie tickled her.
"So I'm gonna go pick up Julia," Mark said handing Masen back to Arizona. "I'll be right back. Take care of them." Callie and Arizona rolled their eyes as Mark smirked and left.
"He's not going to make it through today is he?" Arizona asked. Callie shook her head and sat Anna on the floor.
"He won't," Callie answered. "He's gonna pretend that he is, but he won't. So it's up to us to make sure that he makes it as believable as possible."
Line… Seat… Leave…
Just like Sofia's party, everyone was there. Derek, Meredith, and Zola were the first to arrive and brought toys for the twins. Owen and Cristiana came next and brought stuffed animals, much to Cristiana's dislike. Then one by one, Chief Webber, Teddy, and Bailey and Tuck all came with more toys and clothes. April and Alex were the last to arrive, getting there just in time for presents.
"Sorry we're late," April said as they made their way inside. "We had some last minutes patients to assess."
"Yeah," Alex grumbled. "Last minute idiots." April glared at him and hit his arm. "Ouch! What the hell was that for?"
"That wasn't nice." Alex rubbed his arm as he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a beer.
"It's true. They came in drunk saying they that were all dying, and it turned out to be nothing more than heartburn and headaches."
"And some cuts."
"That they got from passing out, BECAUSE THEY WERE DRUNK!" Anna, Masen, and Sofia all started crying, causing everyone to look at Alex.
"Way to go Karev," Mark said as he picked up Anna and rocked her.
"Yeah," Callie agreed. "Nice one." She picked up Masen and rubbed his back soothingly, while Arizona gently bounced Sofia on her knee.
"Sorry," Alex said while sitting next to Cristina on the couch.
"I don't want you next to me," Cristina said, moving closer to Meredith.
"Why not?"
"Because, Evil Spawn, when all the babies stop crying they're gonna wanna spend time with Uncle Alex, and I'm so not in the mood for drool." Alex rolled his eyes before moving over to sit next to Mark. He took the toddler from her dad and held her so she was eye level with him. Anna looked at Mark, pleading for him to take her back, before looking at Alex. He smiled and blew raspberries on her cheek, causing her cries to instantly turn to giggles.
"There. Is Uncle Alex forgiven?" Anna only giggled and clapped her hands happily.
"How do you do that?" Arizona asked, sitting a now happy Sofia next to a now happy Masen. "Every time I try that she just squirms and tries to crawl away." Alex shrugged and sat Anna between himself and Mark. The little girl sat contently between the two.
"I don't know. I guess she can somehow remember me doing that when she was in Lexie's-." He stopped and looked down at the floor. Even after three months, no one could really say Lexie's name comfortably.
"I almost forgot," April said, trying to change the now somber mood. "Jackson sent over his gift with us. He said he was sorry he couldn't make it, but something came up last minute." Callie, Arizona, and Alex all shared a glanced.
"Did he say what it was?" Callie said while cautiously eyeing Mark. Things between Mark and Jackson had become very tense. Being in the same room with them could bring down the most cheerful person and make them as nervous as a little kid at the doctor's. But Mark seemed unphased, most likely still lingering on the Lexie comment.
"Something about an important patient and that he needed to be with them." This time it was Meredith and Bailey who shared a glance while holding onto Zola and Tuck a little tighter, starting to fully understand Jackson's absence.
"Hey Callie," Meredith started. "I just remembered, you asked me to bring the candles and I left them in my cubby."
"You might want to go get those," Bailey added. "Can't really have a birthday party without candles."
"I can go get them if you want."
"I'll go with you," Callie said as Meredith handed Zola over to Derek. "Cristina weren't you supposed to bring something?"
"No," Cristina answered. Owen and Meredith gave her a look, causing her to groan and get up. "I forgot. I was supposed to bring the one thing." She shrugged and followed the two women out the door.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Derek whispered to Own and Webber, who both nodded in agreement.
Air… Rush… Fast…
Jackson had just finished changing in the locker room and was staring at his cubby. He felt bad for lying, but he couldn't face everyone right now. It didn't help that he had all these conflicting feeling going around too.
"Jackson?" He turned to see Callie, Cristina and Meredith standing in the door way.
"What are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the twins' party?"
"Aren't you?" Callie asked as she and Meredith sat on either side of him.
"I was going to come, but I just couldn't."
"Jackson," Meredith started. "I know it's hard, but you can't just run away from everything. I mean if I kept running from everything I thought was too hard, I wouldn't have Derek or Zola. And if this is about Mark-"
"It's not just about him."
"Then what is it?" Callie asked. Jackson closed his eyes, sighing as he thought back to three months ago.
"Do you remember that day in the cafeteria when you went on about how Lexie was most likely dead and I left with April and Alex running after me?" Callie and Meredith just gave him confused looks.
"Yeah," Cristina said as she closed the door. She could tell it was something he didn't want the whole hospital to hear. "By the way, sorry about that."
"It's fine. Anyways, I went into an on call room. Alex and April came in and we fought for a while before Alex finally gave up and left. I was mad and punched the wall. April locked the door and sat next to me. She just held my hand and didn't say anything." Jackson opened his eyes and stared at his cubby. "I don't what happened but she kissed me, gave me a sad smile, and left. A month later when we had the night shift, it happened again, except she didn't leave. She laid down with me and I had the best sleep I'd had in weeks. It's like with Lexie not being here, all my feelings just disappeared."
"So now you're in love with April?" Meredith asked. She was taking this a whole lot better than he thought she would.
"I don't know. I still feel something for Lexie, but I'm sure what it is. I also feel guilty and I don't know what to do. I love Anna and Masen. I use to want to be there step-dad."
"And now?" Callie asked.
"I don't know." They all sat there in silence, taking everything in.
"You've got problems," Cristina said coming up behind him.
"Cristina!" Callie and Meredith exclaimed.
"She's right," Jackson said. "I've got problems, and I don't what to do about it."
Callie… April… Meredith…
Anna and Masen had opened their presents from April and Alex. April gave them each a pair of rain boots and a rain coat. Alex gave them each a teddy bear: one dressed in a pink dress for Anna and one wearing shorts and a t-shirt for Masen. The twins seemed to understand the concept of thanking people, because whenever they got a present they would crawl over and hug that person. Alex seemed to get the biggest hug, which was probably only out of their familiarity with him.
"We're back," Callie said as she opened the door.
"And I brought the candles," Meredith said holding up a box.
"And I brought the one thing," Cristina said as Jackson followed her in. Everyone glanced nervously between him and Mark, who was somewhat glaring at Jackson.
"Sorry I'm late," Jackson said, sitting on the floor next to April. She smiled and pulled out a big box before handing it to him.
"I had a feeling you would show up," April said. Something seemed to pass between them that did not go unnoticed by anyone, especially Mark. Jackson crawled over to where the twins were sitting and helped them open their present, reveling two scrapbooks.
"Your mom and I had been working on them. When she…." He swallowed and cleared his throat. "When she went away, I kept working on them." He handed them to Mark, who looked through them both. There was a picture in both of them of Lexie lying asleep in bed, with Anna and Masen curled up asleep next to her. The picture was perfect. Mark looked up at Jackson and nodded his thanks.
Cristina… Derek… Arizona…
After presents, everyone started eating, except for Jackson. He was too busy talking to April to realize there was food. Every now and then April would drop a hint that she wanted him to eat, but he didn't seem to notice. After fifteen minutes, and looks from Callie and Meredith, she had finally had enough.
"Jackson go get something to eat," she all but begged before eating some more of her lasagna.
"I'm not hungry," Jackson replied. He looked around and saw that there was lasagna and what looked like roast, along with some vegetables.
"Please. You don't want all the kids to see you die of hunger, do you?" He looked at her and smirked, to which she returned with an almost innocent expression.
"No I wouldn't." He got up and made his way to the kitchen, grabbing a plate and topping it with some lasagna.
"Avery." He turned around to see Mark standing there. "We need to talk."
"Ok…" Mark glanced at the living room where everyone else was before stepping closer to the younger man.
"I need to know. Are you with Kepner?" Jackson swallowed and thought for a minute before looking at April. She was laughing at something Alex had said, oblivious to his stare. He looked back at Mark and shrugged.
"I don't know." Mark crossed his arms and leaned against the counter.
"What do you mean 'I don't know'?"
"I mean I don't know. It's complicated." He leaned against the counter opposite Mark, making sure no one was watching. Mark cleared his throat to get his attention and signaled for him to continue. "I still have feelings for Lexie, but they're not as strong as they use to be. I'm not exactly sure how strong they were compared to now. I still like her, but I like April too. She's always there trying to make me feel better about all of this. I kinda want to be with her, but at the same time I wanna make sure she's more than just some distraction." Mark nodded understandingly.
"I just wanted to know because I was thinking that maybe, if it's alright with you, the twins could spend the night with you sometime." Jackson starred at him in disbelief. "It's just I thought you could use some time together and I don't want you to be the old me while being with them." Jackson shook his head and smiled.
"I don't think anyone could be you." Mark laughed, a real one for the first time in a while, causing everyone to look at the two.
"How right you are."
"I think it's safe to say to say it." Mark raised his eye brows in surprise.
"You sure?" Jackson nodded and picked up his plate, before making his way back over to April.
"Everything ok?" April asked.
"Yeah," Jackson said.
"Torres guess what?" Mark all but yelled from the kitchen. "The Plastic Posse is back in business." Everyone except Jackson and Julia just stared at him, but didn't say anything. He was too happy for them to ruin his moment.
"Plastic Posse?" Julia asked. "What's that?"
"It's was something Sloan's been wanting for a while," Jackson answered. "But then stuff happened and it just wasn't the right time to use it."
"Plus you never liked it," Mark said while sitting.
"It's not that I didn't like it. I just didn't want to hear it. Ever." Everyone laughed, causing all the kids to stare at them as if they were crazy.
Alex… Jackson… Mark…
"Happy Birthday!" Everyone cheered as Mark helped the twins blow out their birthday candles.
"Awesome guys," Arizona said as she took a picture.
"Cake time," Callie said as she started cutting. She game all the kids, starting with the birthday boy and girl, a small piece before giving one to the adults. The twins ate happily, every now and then trying to share with either Mark or Alex.
"No thanks little man," Alex said after Masen tried to shove some cake in his "uncle's" face. "I'm all good." The little boys didn't seem to want to take no for an answer, but stopped when Alex moved his little hand towards his little mouth, to which he happily accepted his birthday cake.
Babies… Anna… Masen…
Babies… Jackson… Mark…
Leave… Kids… Jackson…
Escape… Kids… Mark…
"This is fun," April said to Jackson.
"Yeah," he agreed. She smiled shyly and looked down at her cake.
"I'm glad you came." Jackson gave her a small smile and nodded.
"Me too." They stared at each other for a moment before being interrupted.
"Mind if I join you?" Mark asked as he made his way over to them.
"Not at all," April replied. "I was getting up anyways. I think I'm gonna spend some time with the birthday girl." She got and walked over to the kitchen. Mark glanced at her before sitting next to Jackson.
"I wasn't interrupting anything was I?" Jackson just shook his head.
"Not really," Jackson replied, his gaze held on his cake, causing Mark to sigh.
"I can go so she can come back."
"No, it's fine. I was just thinking about Lexie." Mark sighed again and nodded in understanding.
"I know, but Avery she's been missing for three months. I think it's time that you move on. Now I'm not saying forget about her, just move on to be happy." Jackson nodded and looked over at April. She glanced over at him and smiled when he motion for her to come back over. She kissed Anna's cheek and made her way back over there.
"Hey," she said as she sat next to Jackson.
"Hey," Jackson said as he put his arm around her, causing her to look surprised as she leant into his side.
"Now that's better," Mark said just as his phone went off.
"I thought you had tonight off?"
"Me too." He looked down at the phone and frowned. "Who the hell is calling me from New York?" He glanced at Jackson before finally answering. "Hello."
"Dr. Sloan?" a man asked on the other end.
"That's me." The man talked for a minute about some patient who wanted to speak with him, but didn't want him to give her name. "Sure, I'll talk to her."
"Who is it?" Jackson asked.
"Some doctor who wants me to talk with a random patient."
"Why?" April asked. Mark just shrugged and waited.
"Mark?" a female voice asked on the other line. Mark froze and stared at Jackson.
"What is it?" Jackson asked, sitting up in his chair. Mark looked pale and in disbelief.
"Mark, are you there?"
"Dr. Sloan who is it?"
"Mark? Can you hear me?"
"DR. SLOAN?" Mark glanced at the twins before looking back at Jackson.
"Lexie?" Mark asked quietly.
"Mark," she replied. "Hi."