Royal Blood ▪︎ Grey's Anatomy

episode ninety nine

"This foul mood has got to stop!" Mary snaps finally as James once again goes on a rager about something so tiny.

"I'm not in a mood!" He snaps, throwing things into the washer.

Mary scoffs. "Seriously? You have been all week since thanksgiving. Now it seems to be whenever we see your mom - is it her? Corey? Knox? Isob-"

"I'm in a mood because you won't fucking drop it!" He snaps, throwing the wash basket down with a loud crack as the plastic shatters.

Mary is stunned for a moment; he's never been like this when angry. "I think you need to leave for now. Get whatever this is out of your system." She snaps, moving to sort Albert who was startled at the noise.

James sighs deeply. "I got hi-"

"Don't bother." She snaps.

James hangs his head for a moment, staring at the broken plastic at his feet. That was way too close to his father's behaviour for his liking... he slowly gathers the pieces of plastic and takes it out to the trash, grabbing his keys, phone and wallet before heading out.

He has no idea where to go for a while so he ends up aimlessly driving around. His phone buzzes as he sits in a Target parking lot with a burger. "What?" He says around a mouthful, setting his phone on the dash.

"Your other half has just spent the past hour chewing my ear off." His mom says.

He rolls his eyes. "Course she has. Coz nothing I do is right." He throws the trash in the footwell of the passenger seat and rubs his forehead. "What's her problem then? Do tell."

"She doesn't have a problem, James. She's worried. What's going on with you?" Enora asks, concerned.

"Can't I have an off day?" He snaps and rubs his jaw. "Look mom, I'm fine. We had a disagreement, I'm gonna buy her some flowers and cook dinner. I gotta go." He hangs up.

Enora stares at her phone with a frown, scowling a little. She slips it into her lab coat and sighs; what she thought would be a quick call with Mary turned out to be an hour long. It did kill the time waiting for Core; he's got some official military doctors visiting the hospital to assess him, since she refused to leave him in their care.

She begins to pace until the door opens, Corey stepping out. "Why you scowling?" He raises a brow.

"My son is being an ass." She sighs. "What did they say?"

"Healing well, blood flow in the graft is good and I should be fit for work in the next 3 months." He smiles bitterly and rubs his throat subconsciously. The scars a little sore from being poked and prodded but he's had a much better week. Until now.

Enora scowls. "Are they fuc-"

He covers her mouth gently. "We are in your place of work right now, not mine. You can't be swearing your head off." He slowly removes his hand before kissing her lips. "You've haven't got to worry; I'm not going back. I'm seeing medical discharge or I'll hand my notice in and take a land-based role until I'm done."

She sighs and rests her head on his chest. "This is the last thing we needed." She mumbles.

He rubs her back, holding her close. "I know baby. Just think, it's 48 hours. That's it. My mom just needs to see I'm alive and well, have a little moan and then she'll go." He promises.

Enora sighs and looks up at him. "That's great. But my son seems to be spiralling and he's the stable one. I'm freaked."

Corey frowns as he gently strokes a stray piece of hair back from her face. "James still in a foul mood?"