When Your Eyes Speak - Jackson Avery

fourteen

season six episode seventeen "push"

"We push ourselves because we have to, not because we like it. The relentless climb, the pain and anguish of taking it to the next level. Nobody takes pictures of that. Nobody wants to remember. We just wanna remember the view from the top. The breathtaking moment at the edge of the world. That's what keeps us climbing. And it's worth the pain. That's the crazy part. It's worth anything."

What a day it had turned out for Jackson. Jackson started his day doing rounds for Teddy Altman and it only got exciting when he couldn't find the heartbeat of a patient when he was very clearly alive. He got a second opinion from Alex and then paged Teddy when they both couldn't locate the man's heart. And that all happened before lunch time. Sitting down at his usual table that Charles saved, Jackson looks around the room trying to spot Adeline.

"She stayed back to fill out some paperwork." Charles didn't even have to question to know that Jackson was worried about the girl. He wished he could find an excuse to see her, make sure she was ok. "She said she'd come down soon." Jackson nodded and quietly thanked him as Reed marched over with April following in suit.

Jackson had gone home with Charles yesterday, stopping to get some pizza for dinner before they finally reached their apartment. He recalled hearing some laughter coming from Adeline and now April's shared apartment and he wanted to knock on her door, spend some time with Adeline but fought against it figuring they should bond with just the two of them. He had finally come to terms with his feelings but he hadn't told anyone yet. He was just trying to navigate with those in the back of his mind.

He arrived at the hospital earlier than when he was supposed to start his shift just to check on his grandfather. Harper seemed to be recovering smoothly and put in a request to transfer back to Boston, wanting to get out of the city which Jackson was grateful for. He said his goodbye's then knowing his grandfather would pay handsomely to get out of Seattle as soon as possible.

April broke out into a conversation with Reed, something about how she and Adeline had a great night talking and drinking but Jackson chose to ignore it, listening to what Charles had to say about his rounds this morning.

"I may as well be doing scut. We're not doing anything life changing, just checking up on patients, helping with physical therapy." Charles ranted. Adeline had offered to take the other half of the rounds whilst he started on therapy sessions with people getting back on track to live their normal lives. "Hey, tell me you've got a cool job or that you're scrubbing in on a surgery." Charles finally stopped talking, the girls now listening in on the conversation. Jackson sat back in his seat playing around with his food as he nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Dude came in and said he couldn't breathe and his girlfriend thought it was a panic attack. He had his lung removed when he was nine and it turns out that he developed postpneumonectomy syndrome and caused his heart to drift to his kidney. I'm scrubbing in with Karev, Sloan and Altman soon." Jackson explained to his friends as they grew interested in the case.

"Sloan? Why do you need plastics there?" Reed questioned, munching away on an apple.

"We're going to use saline implants to help hold the heart up where the heart is supposed to be." April eagerly opened a notebook, noting it down.

"That'd be a punch to the ego." Charles commented and laughed to himself. Jackson's patient was originally against the idea but once he was told it wouldn't be visible and it was necessary he complied.

"Keep eating those cookies and you'll have some boobs, Percy." Reed seemed to be on fire today, smirking as Charles flicked her the finger and continued to eat his cookie. Jackson and April laughed at the duo.