Paging Payton(A Grey Anatomy/Jackson Avery Fanfic)

T H I R T Y- T W O

"Payton... I'm afraid Jackson may never wake up."

Payton Arizona

It didn't register with me for a minute. I had heard exactly what Derek said and repeated the words in my head over and over but my mind couldn't comprehend what I'd just heard.

And then, when it finally registered, I only had one thing on my mind. I didn't care about it's repercussions, nothing could make the pain and grief and anger I felt any worse. I didn't even bother to change out of my scrubs as I stumbled across the parking lot to my car. I got in and drove home, barely paying attention to the road. I heard the blaring of car horns around me as I ran red lights and ignored basically every traffic law.

When I finally reached the house I fumbled to unlock the door and stumbled dazedly into the kitchen. I searched for the key to the liquor cabinet, leaving every drawer and cabinet I opened ajar. I finally found the key and grabbed the first thing I saw, not bothering to see what it was.

I fumbled up the stairs and made my way into Jacksons room. In a haze, I managed to take off my scrubs and pull on one of Jacksons shirts, inhaling his smell. I climbed into the middle of the bed and took a huge swig of whiskey, which is apparently what I'd grabbed.

Still holding the neck of the bottle, I pulled my knees up to my chest and let silent sobs rack my body.

--

When I woke up it was still dark in the room. I couldn't tell if I'd slept through the day into the next night or if I'd been sleeping for only a few hours. I couldn't remember falling asleep, or why I'd woken up.

"I didn't mean to wake you." A warm, soft voice whispered. My heart leapt at the sound of it and I turned to see Jacksons tired, smiling face looking at me. He set his bag down by the door and shut it softly. He was dressed in the clothes I'd last seen him leave in, as if he'd just come home from work.

"Sorry I'm home so late. I got caught up in a trauma." Jackson walked around the side of the bed and planted a kiss on my lips. It caught me by surprise and I found myself frozen in place. My mind was racing, trying to rationalize what was happening.

"Of course," Jackson continued to talk and get ready for bed as if none of this was odd. "I would have liked to do some follow up, but Weber just kept telling me 'go home to your new girlfriend, your girlfriend is waiting, go home, go home, go home."

"Girlfriend?" I questioned as Jackson peeled back the covers and climbed into the bed. He looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

"You, Payton. Remember, we were standing in Meredith's  recovery room and I asked you to be my girlfriend and you said ye-"

"No! No, this isn't right." I leapt out of the bed and stood in the middle of the room, my breathing heavy." You're-you- but-... you were in the car accident and then you were supposed to wake up but then you weren't cause it had been too long and-" I babbled on and paced the room. Jackson moved towards me across the room, his face a mix of confusion and concern.

"Payton, I'm here. I'm awake and I'm alive. I'm here with you." Jackson took me by the shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. He grabbed my hand and lifted it to his face. "You feel that? That's real, that's me. I'm here." I let my hand drop from his face and snake around his back. I pressed my face against his chest and felt his hand go to the back of head as he murmured softly to me.

--
When I woke up again it was still dark. How long had I been asleep? My pager, which had woken me up, kept beeping. 

"Nooo." I heard Jackson groan from beside me. His arm tightened around my waist as I sat up to grab my pager. I looked at him and smiled.

"Jackson I have to." The beeping grew louder and louder. When I picked up my pager, the screen was blank and I had no pages.

"That's weird, my page-"I dropped my pager and clapped my hand to my mouth. Lying next to me in the bed was an unconscious Jackson, attached to tubes and wires and monitors. On his chest sat a hospital chart and printed in huge letters was the words "You did this to me."

"No. No, I-I " I stuttered out nonsensical words before completely breaking down into screaming sobs. I backed into the corner and sank down against the wall, the monitors growing louder and louder until they mixed in with my screams.

--

"Payton, Payton." I was woken up by Alex shaking me awake. "Hey, you were dreaming."
I rolled over to face Alex.

"Sorry, I had a... horrible nightmare." I rubbed my hand over my face and sat up. My head ached like crazy and there was a loud beeping echoing in my eardrums. It sounded like it was echoing into my head from the nightstand beside me.

"Goddamnit, I told them not to page you-" Alex mumbled trying to shut off my pager, which was apparently the source of the beeping.

"Who is it? Who paged me?" I grabbed for the pager but Alex held it away from me. My head buzzed from my hangover and I wanted nothing more to go to back to sleep but I knew sleep would be rare from this point forward. I never wanted to relive those dreams again.

"Shepherds paging you 911, but I told them not to page you right now-"

"I'm fine. If I'm being paged 911 it's obviously important." I pulled on leggings and threw my hair up into a ponytail and slipped my feet into my sneakers. I kept Jacksons black t-shirt on and threw a denim flannel on over it. I grabbed my pager from Alex and made my way to my car.

--

"Where's Dr Shepherd?" I asked one of the nurses sitting behind the counter.

"He should be in the third floor west wing." She smiled at me. It was a pity smile that I couldn't stand to look at. I quickly thanked her and walked away, not wanting to be subject to her pity.

"Dr Shepherd, I'm sorry I'm so late-" I immediately started to apologize but he cut me off.

"Jacksons awake. He's been asking for you." Derek grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the hall to Jacksons room.

Outside the door stood Catherine Avery, who had just gotten off a phone call and looked extremely angry.

"No, absolutely not.  She is not allowed in this room. As a doctor or a visitor." Catherine looked at Derek and shook her head. Before Derek could even open his mouth to speak, Catherine turned on me.

"You, stay away from my son or so help me God, I will-" she was cut off by a weak, raspy voice from inside the room.

"Payton?"

Here's a short ass chapter I just wrote  cause I love you guys. I'm having such bad writers block. I know where I wanna take this story, I just don't have the patience to get there. And I don't want to write shittier chapters than I already do by moving really fast. Anyways, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee comment. If I get more comments I promise I'll try to update quicker and write longer chapters.