Motherhood Lessons²

Family Love

15x06

Ivy walks with Maggie into her cardio lab and sees Meredith staring off into the distance, "Mer, you okay?"

"My father's dying."

"Oh, my God. Of what?" Maggie asks.

"AML," Meredith almost laughs.

Maggie tries to comfort, "You want to talk about it?"

She shakes her head. They both pull up a chair. Ivy sits next to Meredith as Maggie sits across from them. Meredith points at Maggie, "He doesn't even know you exist. That's how much of a not-father he's been to me. He doesn't even know I have a sister."

"I mean, I was sort of a love-child situation-" Maggie comments.

Meredith ignores her, "And now he's dying, and he doesn't even tell me that."

Ivy questions, "Who did tell you?"

"Richard, of all people," Meredith chuckles.

"Thats kind of funny. What are you gonna do?" Ivy asks.

Meredith shakes her head, "I don't know. I'm supposed to grieve."

Jackson walks in carrying two cup, "Hello, I brought you, your favorite tea. Since, you know, you can't have coffee."

Ivy smiles, kissing his cheek, "Thank you."

"Hey, you have a deadbeat dad, don't you?" Meredith asks Jackson.

"Thats a weird segue, but, essentially, yeah."

With no context, Meredith openly asks, "How would you feel if you found out he was dying?"

"Whats he dying of?" Jackson thinks his dad is dying.

Ivy shakes her head, "No, no."

He thinks, "Oh, well, I mean, I'd be conflicted about it, sure."

Meredith guides his thinking, "Would you want to say goodbye?"

"That I don't know," Jacksons shakes his head.

"Thats not helpful," Meredith leaves, Maggie following.

Ivy explains, "Her deadbeat dad actually is dying."

Jackson nods, "Oh, well, that's, yeah, I don't know."

○○○○

Ivy sits in the attendings lounge drinking her tea when Jackson comes in with some bags, "Hey, what you got there?"

"Well, I wanted to bring you lunch, but I couldn't decide, so I got you enchiladas, no cilantro, spaghetti, and of course...pickles, because you need to have those with every meal," Jackson pulls each item out of the bag before kissing Ivy.

"You really didn't have to do this. I appreciate it though," she smiles, grabbing the spaghetti.

"Yeah, I did. Cause while I have been an excellent father lately, I haven't been as caring of a husband. When we first got married, I would bring you lunch at least once a week. I haven't done that in years. So, I'm gonna start doing that again," he tells her, handing her a fork.

Ivy grabs a pickle before sighing, "Theres so much death in the air today. I keep thinking of Derek and Mark. How they would be so overprotective during my pregnancy, showing up at the house randomly to make sure I wasn't overdoing it, standing in surgery with me to check that I take breaks when needed."