Unexpected Love (Editing)

Chapter 57

Liliana's pov

"Jackson Avery really has a bigger say than any of us in running this hospital?" Arizona frowns as we all gather in the board room reading over paperwork as we get ready for our first board of directors meeting.

"That can't be true. Can it?" Cristina asks.

"It is, but believe me he is not happy about it. He makes sure to remind me of that over and over again." I sigh sipping my coffee. Jackson doesn't like the fact that his mother put him in this position, a position he never wanted and since I'm the one who convinced her to help the hospital, of course he's blaming me for it.

"He's a voting member of the management team and he also represents the Harper Avery foundation." Derek says.

"And their 175 million bucks." Callie adds.

"As opposed to our $15 million apiece." Arizona says as her and Callie sit down.

"According to Stan, not only does he have the deciding vote, he can veto ours." Derek says.

"That is ridiculous. He is a fellow." Cristina scoffs.

"You guys relax. Jackson won't veto anything. He'll respect our decisions. " I assure everyone.

"And you're a fellow too." Meredith adds looking at Cristina and I nod my head in agreement.

"But he's a plastics fellow and I'm me." Cristina says.

"You guys, just give him a chance before you start judging how he's going to run the board of directors." I say.

"Yeah, it's Jackson. He's not some corporate stranger. He's one of us." Meredith says and I nod my head in agreement.

"No, you're right. He's a smart kid. He's gonna follow our lead." Derek says.

"No, no. We made this plan. We pulled it together. Look, I'm grateful to the Harper Avery Foundation for an infusion of cash, but I'm, I'm not gonna let some, some.." Callie says.

"Plastics fellow." Cristina chimes in.

"Plastics fellow tell me how to run my service 'cause his mommy said he could." Callie says.

"Preach." Arizona says.

"Well just like you're not going to let Jackson tell you what to do, I'm not going to let anyone bash him when he isn't here to defend himself, so how about everyone shut up and focus on what we're here for. A meeting." I say raising my voice, causing everyone to become silent. I was not about to sit here and let everyone talk bad about Jackson, even if he has been acting like an ass to me lately. After sitting in silence for a little while we begin our meeting.

"Okay, so we agree that the peds and adult E.R.' s will be combined to save on personnel?" Arizona asks.

"Yeah." We all say in unison.

"I'm sorry, guys. I was running on timeand then my last rounds' patient turned into a crier." Jackson explains as he walks into the office with a bunch of files and some donuts and sets them on the table as everyone continues to blankly stare at him, except for me. I send him a friendly smile that he doesn't return as he sits down in his chair.

"We were discussing the reopening of the E.R. and the trauma department." I explain.

"Oh, yes. Um, I'm not ready for that just yet." Jackson says.

"If you need more time with the material, we can go ahead..." Derek says.

"No, no, I've, I've read it. Uh, it's just that the foundation feels like the E.R. is not a forgone conclusion. They need a site visit, a chance to look over the numbers. It could be a month before a decision." Jackson explains as he reads over some paperwork.