Code Blue | Grey's Anatomy // Book 2 // COMPLETED

8 | Cheer Him Up

As Alex and I entered the waiting room that night, we saw Nico and his mother still there. "No! No! No!" Nico refused.

"Honey, we're leaving now." Nico's mother told him.

Nico tried to free his arms from his mother's grip, "No, I'm not! I promised Clem I'd stay with her!"

"Nico, don't make me pick you up." his mother warned, "You're too big for this."

"Come on. She's-she's right, dude." Alex stepped up, "This is embarrassing, you know? I'm a little embarrassed for you."

"I don't care." Nico told him, "What's Clem gonna think if she wakes up and I'm gone? She'll think that I don't love her."

Alex sighed, "Uh...look, uh...what if I'm there when she wakes up? I'll tell her whatever you want. It's like the next best thing to being there."

"Trust me." I looked down at Nico, "You stayed with Clem all day today. She knows you love her. Girls, we're smart like that. We always know."

Nico thought for a moment before looking back at Alex, "Promise?"

Alex nodded, "Yeah."

"You're gonna need a pen and a pad of paper," Nico said.

Once Alex had gotten down what Nico wanted to say, the two of us took off to wait for Clementine to wake up. About ten minutes after we arrived, she began to stir. "Hey." Alex said as she opened her eyes, "How you feeling?"

"Okay." Clementine answered, "W-where's Nico?"

"Well, he wanted to stay, but, you know, his mom made him go," Alex explained.

Clementine sighed, "Figures."

"Yeah." Alex sat forward and pulled out the paper, "Oh, but he, uh, he told me a few things he wanted to say. But, uh, well, here we go. 'Dear Clementine, I'm really sorry you're sick. But I'm not sorry you're my girlfriend. It's the worst, being alone on Valentine's Day...but I'm thinking about you right now. I'm thinking about holding hands with you and jumping on the trampoline together. I love you.' Whoa. 'And P.S...I don't care who gave who lice, I'm just glad we both had it together. Love, Nico.'" Alex folded up the paper again as Clementine smiled, "I'd say you picked a good one."

Clementine nodded. "Okay." I placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, "I'm off. You good?"

"Yeah." Alex looked up at me, "Have fun."

I chuckled as I walked to the door, "I'm babysitting. No promises."

As I changed out of my scrubs in the lounge, Jackson entered. "Ready?" he asked.

"Just about." I pulled my shirt on.

He smiled, "Plans have changed. Julia stood Mark up so we're going over to his place to cheer him up."

I shrugged, "Fine by me."

After driving over to Mark's apartment, we walked up the flight of stairs and rung the doorbell. Once Mark answered, Jackson held up the bag of stuff he had brought, "I got steak and I bought a really good red, and a salad, and we're gonna cook for you."

"Avery..." Mark stared at us, "I have a girlfriend."

Jackson nodded, "And she's operating tonight, so as soon as you put Sofia down, you and Ellie can help me study for my boards, 'cause I am behind. Way behind."

"What'd you pay for that bottle of wine?" Mark asked as Sofia made cute little sounds in his arms.

"Fifty bucks." Jackson scoffed and I smiled.

Without another word, Mark opened the door wider and let us in. "Happy Valentine's Day, Mark." I laughed, "And you, too, Sofia."

As we were in the middle of cooking, the doorbell rang. Mark walked over and answered it. "Hey." I heard Lexie's voice, "I thought maybe the, uh, the girls could have a play date. And, um, we could, uh, uh, to talk, you know, about stuff, 'cause there's some stuff that I've been wanting to say."

As Jackson and I tried to stay quiet and listen, he accidentally backed into an empty frying pan and knocked it off of the counter. "Dumbass." I giggled.

"Oh." Lexie's tone changed, "Is that Julia? I'll-I'll go."

"Avery and Forrest are cooking me dinner," Mark replied.

"Is that Julia?" Jackson called, "'Cause we can go."

Lexie was silent for a moment, "Oh. That's..."

"But they can go." Mark repeated what Jackson had said, "If you want to talk. Should they go?"

Walking over to the door, Jackson stared at Lexie as I waved. "Hey," Jackson spoke up.

Lexie shook her head, "Nope. It's nothing. I...you...I'm ju-I'm gonna...you know what? You three have a very pleasant evening."

"Don't be stupid. You love steak." Mark grabbed Lexie's arm and pulled her in, "Sofia, your friend's here."

As Lexie walked into the apartment, I could feel Jackson tense as he huffed. "Don't worry." I told him, not really holding a grudge against Lexie, "It's just one night. You'll be fine."

We are always looking for ways to ease the pain. Sometimes we ease the pain by making the best of what we have. Sometimes it's by losing ourselves in the moment. And sometimes all we need to do to ease the pain...call a simple truce.