jackson's point of view

she looked peaceful, laying there. her surgeon told us that she was sleeping and would wake up soon, that the surgery went great. i wouldn't believe it until i see it.

i was sitting in the room with george and lexie, holding zoey's hand. mark had left an hour before we came in here, as he had to work in the morning and it was already pretty late.

the room was silent, besides the machines that zoey was attached to for the time being. they told us that once she's responding to anything at all, we could move her to seattle grace mercy west.

it's a waiting game, really. it's known across all surgeons or even anyone in the medical field. typically, if it were anyone else, i would be off taking care of others. but, zoey comes first and there's no way i would make it to work in the morning.

the three of us agreed to stay with her as much as we possibly could, but i didn't plan on going beyond this room until she's awake.

the two of them were sitting on the couch across the room, while i was sitting directly next to zoey, with my hand in hers.

"what are we going to do about alliya? should i wait until she wakes up to bring her here?" i ask the two of them. 

"you know that she could never wake up, it was a brain injury. i could bring her here in the morning if you would like? we could lay it down easy to her, just tell her that she was hurt and she's taking a nap to recover," george suggests.

"yeah, cause that's so easy, right?" i sigh and relax back into my seat.

"i know it'll be hard, but she sees you as her dad, it can't come from lexie or i, it's got to come from you," he replies. 

"i was going to ask her to marry me," i say quietly and the two of them look up at me, "i don't know when, but soon. we haven't known each other long, but we already live together and have a family. i love her and i can't lose her. especially not like this,"

"you're serious about that?" george asks me.

"of course i am. i wouldn't lie to you, would i?" i ask him.

he stayed silent and i turned away from him, my focus going back on zoey. i didn't know what else to say to him or lexie, as the room went dead quiet again. i didn't mind the quiet though, as long as i had her.

i hoped and almost prayed that she would wake up and that the doctors weren't lying when saying that the surgery went perfectly fine. i mean it's their job to tell us the truth, otherwise they would get sued.

i knew i had to work in the morning, but i was going to call the hospital here soon, to let them know that i won't make it in, for obvious reasons. i also knew that george was working a midnight shift, so he wouldn't need to be at the hospital until 6 tomorrow night.

it took a while before i noticed that george and lexie were fast asleep on the couch that they were sitting on together. i decided against sitting in the silence, and turned on some soft music on my phone, one of zoey's favorites coming on, dandelions by ruth b, instantly.

^^ play song above ^^

"cause i'm in a field of dandelions,
wishin on every one that you'd be mine, mine,
and i see forever in your eyes,
i feel okay when i see you smile,
smile,
wishin on dandelions all of the time,
prayin to god that one day you'll be mine,
wishin on dandelions all of the time,
all of the time,"

i sang softly to her, as tears welded up in my eyes. all i wanted in the moment was for her to be awake and smiling, squeezing my hand in response and singing with me.

i listened to the remainder of the song, with my head resting on the edge of the bed. i soon found myself falling asleep, with my head next to hers.

• • •

it was nearly 8am when i woke up, in the same position as i had fallen asleep, my music still playing on my phone. george was still asleep as well as lexie, who was resting her head on his shoulder.

i felt bad that she had to sleep on the couch, her being pregnant and all. i could never let zoey do that, even if we were arguing, i would take the couch in a heartbeat over her taking it.

"good morning sleepy head," i heard a small voice, soft enough for only me to hear it, before my hand was being grasped.

"god, your hands are sweaty," she chuckles. i look up to her with a smile, as she was already smiling, sitting up slightly in the bed.

"hey, how do you feel? can you breath alright?" i ask her, becoming more alert by the second.

"i'm fine, really. my head hurts a little bit, but that's normal after having brain surgery," she states, matter of a factly.

"how'd you know you had brain surgery?" i asked her.

"i can feel the bandage around my head, and my head also hurts, as i said before,"

"well yeah, but you could've just hit your head, or have a head lac," i answer.

"jackson, i know i had brain surgery, don't play dumb. and i know i'm not at seattle grace mercy west, because the rooms don't look like this. where am i at?"

"we're at seattle pres, i can see if you're stable enough to be transported to seattle grace mercy west?" i suggest and she nods.

i reach over to the button that calls someone in the room and hit it, before getting up from the chair i'm sitting in.

"be prepared to be bombarded," i laugh, warning zoey. i gently shake george and lexie awake, who stir in their sleep before opening their eyes.

"hey- what'd i miss? is she up yet?" george asks groggily, rubbing his eyes trying to adjust to the light.

"she's awake, she actually just woke up," i tell him.

"i did not just wake up, you just woke up. i've been awake for nearly an hour, but you looked so peaceful so i couldn't wake you up," she butts in.

"you were up before i woke up?" i turn to her to face her and she nods, "why didn't you wake me?"

"i just told you this, you looked to peaceful, it was pretty much impossible,"

the room goes quiet again, before george gets out of his seat and goes to the side of zoey's bed and hugs her as lexie gets up and does the same.

"where's alliya at? is she okay?" zoey panics.

"she's at my house with evan, she's fine," george tells her.

"can you go get her and bring her here? please?" she begs.

"yeah, sure, i'll go get her now,"

george walks out of the room after, saying goodbye to us, then lexie following him out of the room, smiling at the two of us, clearly tired.

i sat there and looked at zoey, who just smiled at me.

"you know i could hear everything last night, right? i just couldn't open my eyes or move, like i was paralyzed,"

i looked at her in shock, my body flushing pale, before trying to choke my words out, nothing coming to surface.

"yes, i'll marry you," she smiled.

"well that wasn't the way i wanted to propose. i haven't even gotten a ring yet," i chuckle.

"i'll give you another chance, forget i said or heard anything, okay?"

"okay fine, but it'll be awkward cause i already know what you'll say,"

"yeah, yeah, shut up," she laughs.

"are you okay? like mentally? i know what it must feel like, waking up in a hospital bed,"

"i think i'm okay. shit happens, it's a part of life. are the twins all good?"

"yeah, they're healthy, no stress put on them at all,"

"what about alex? is he okay? he watched me get shot and then he got shot himself, i watched it happen," she asked.

"he's alright, he'll probably stop by to see you later, but you should be stable enough to get transported to seattle grace mercy west soon,"

"sounds good,"

we sat in a comfortable silence for a little bit, her almost drifting back to sleep, until alliya runs in, with nobody following behind her.

"mommy!" she shouted excitedly, running to her.

"hey baby, are you okay?" zoey asks her.

"i'm okay, are you?" alliya asks her, crawling next to her in the hospital bed.

"i'll be okay, i just need to rest," she answered.

alliya cuddled into zoey's side, as george walks back into the room with some food.
he hands zoey a yogurt cup as well as hands me one.

"thanks," i smiled at him and he nodded before sitting back down.

"did you already eat?" zoey asks alliya, who popped her head up and nodded.

"being a patient is boring, i wanna leave and scrub in on a surgery," zoey pouts.

"george and i skipped out on work for you and you just want to go back to work," i chuckle and she rolls her eyes.

"why would you miss work for me, i'm not that important. i'm literally fine," zoey replies with frustration laced through her voice.

"you're laying in a hospital bed and got shot plus had surgery, you're not fine,"

"you guys could be stealing surgeries at the moment, though, i don't want to hold you back from that experience,"

"you aren't," george replied, looking between me and zoey.

"you say that now,"

zoey's pov

i look at the two of them in silence, until my doctor comes in with a smile on her face.

"good news, looks like everything is checking out good enough for you to be transported over to seattle grace mercy west. a helicopter should be flying in within the next twenty minutes to take you there," she says before walking back out of the room.

"thank god, now you guys can be stealing surgeries and still see me," i look between the two and they shrug.

"i'm taking tomorrow off too, but then i'll go back, okay?" jackson asks and i nod.

"only one more day, though. even though you're rich, we could still use the extra money to spoil the hell out of the twins when they're born,"

"okay, deal," jackson smiles.

over the next couple minutes, the four of us sat in the room quietly, until george decided it would be a good idea to head over to seattle grace mercy wrest with alliya so that they get there when jackson and i do.

it was much lonelier without my daughter next to me and jackson took note of that as he climbed into the bed with me once again and cuddled into my side.

a few seconds later, the doctor entered my room with clipboards in her hands and unlocked the bed.

"you ready to go to seattle grace mercy west?" she smiled at me.

"hell yeah i am, no offense. i just want to see my friends more than anything," i smiled back at her.

she started to roll the bed out of the room, with jackson following, his hand in mine. she rolled me into the elevator and it took a while, until we reached daylight and fresh air.

it took my eyes a second to adjust to the light, until they were immediately dimmed of brightness and i was put onto the helicopter.

i watched as the pilot of the helicopter exited and walked to the doctor to speak with her, leaving jackson and i alone once again.

"i really thought i lost you last night," jackson mumbled, squeezing my hand tighter.

"yeah, well you aren't getting rid of me that easily,"

i smiled up at jackson, until i felt a stabbing pain in my head and everything went black.

***

"she's seizing!"

***

a/n :

i cant express how sorry i am that it took me absolutely forever to update. i had most of this chapter written already then took a break from it due to writer's block and finally picked up on it again.
also thank u guys sm for 5k reads :)

- jaelyn

word count : 2100 words