#mercy west forever

[beachy--head]

AU drabble set in season 9, because a) Mercy West forever, and b) both Jackson and April deserved to have friends they could confide in and that could have avoided us some angst.

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He’s been an attending surgeon for a few months already, but Jackson still feels a little something when he sees his name and those of his residents class marked as lead surgeons on the OR board. Part of it is pride to have made it, part of it is just plain incredulity, like they’re all children playing pretend doctors for the day and are not old enough to be trusted with a scalpel. 

“Dr. Adamson.”

Next to him in the OR, Reed Adamson, old friend and brand new ortho attending, only grunts in response to his greeting.

“Hmph.”

Reed is often gruff, so he lets it slide, but she doesn’t say one word during their whole surgery, except when she answers the interns’ questions, and that is very uncharacteristic of Reed. Two hours later, they’re scrubbing out, and she still hasn’t said one word to him.

“Okay, spit it out.”

She gives him a dirty look that makes Jackson ever more annoyed.

“What?”

Reed rolls her eyes and turns to him.

“What are you doing with April?”

“What am I doing with April?”

“I spent last night at Joe’s listening to her rant, and she didn’t talk specifically about you, but the poor girl is so confused, and we all know it’s because of you.”

“Oh really?” he says sarcastically, because the last thing he needs is for Reed to get involved in his thing with April.

“You’re acting like children, and it’s going to end badly.”

“Because you’re such an expert in relationships and human connections?”

Reed ignores him.

“I’m just saying. Don’t break her heart.”

He stops rinsing his hands and shoots his friend an incredulous look, speaking before he can stop himself.

“‘Don’t break her heart’? How about she doesn’t break mine?”

Shit.

“What?”

Reed can be pretty perceptive (when she’s not busy staring daggers at you), and he’s just given her ammunition. Great. He has to backpedal, and fast.

“I’m just saying. Her heart is not breaking, she only wants sex.”

His friend is small, but fast. In one second, she manages to roll her eyes, finish washing her hands and whack him on the back of the head.

“Ouch!”

“Jackson. Are you actually really dumb and have been hiding it the whole time?”

“What?”

“How long have you known April? Type-A, neurotic, has-a-life-plan-pinned-above-her-bed April?”

“Isn’t she supposed to be your friend?”

“You think that suddenly, she’d be chill with a no-strings attached relationship? That sex with you is so good she’d throw away her wedding scrapbook, white-picket-fence dreams? I had to teach her what ‘friends with benefits’ meant, and now you think that’s her life goal?”

“I don’t know what she thinks, okay? It’s not like we spend our time talking, you know?”

Reed’s face contorts in a grimace of disgust.

“Okay, ew, no, I don’t know, and I don’t particularly want to. Despite what April is saying, I don’t need the visuals, thank you.”

“I’m just saying, I don’t know what goes inside her head!”

“Have you tried just asking her?”

“Have you tried talking to Charles about whatever it is you have with him?”

It's a low blow, but he's ready to try anything to change the subject.

“Leave me and Charlie out of it. Grow a pair and talk to her. We used to never be able to shut the both of you up. What happened?” 

What happened is feelings, very, very big feelings, feelings he’s not sure he’s ready to handle yet, because in his experience, people you love tend to leave after a while, and why would he put his heart in the hands of someone with the power to crush it?

Reed still seems annoyed with him, like she can’t believe her best friends can be so clueless, but seems to soften.

“You’re not teenagers anymore. I know you’re both afraid to ruin the friendship or whatever, but you’re going to have to talk about it sooner or later. Sooner would be better.”

Jackson sighs and passes a hand on his face.

“I know, I know. Thank you.”

Reed bends her legs in a mock curtsy, and he suddenly remembers something she said.

“Wait, April has been talking about me? What did she–”

“Talk to her, Avery!”