two months later

"hey, come on, we've slept all morning,"

i turned to the sound of jackson's voice and roll to face him, in his bed. i had been staying at jackson's house for a couple weeks now, and honestly, i practically lived there. we had gotten closer to each other, and you could definitely say that i was in love with him.

"good morning, beautiful," he smiled and leaned in to kiss me. although we had been seeing each other for two months now, we weren't official. it definitely seemed like we were in a relationship, but we never really brought it up.

that was until today.

i had rolled out of bed and went to the laundry to change into a sweater and jeans. jackson and i both had the day off, so we decided to spend it together and do a couple things. after i had finished getting dressed, i met jackson in the bathroom where he was also already dressed and brushing his teeth.

i joined him in the bathroom and grabbed my brush out from one of the drawers and brushed my hair before putting it into a half up style, with a small ribbon hanging out of the ponytail. i then finished off getting ready by brushing my teeth and putting on deodorant and perfume.

by the time that i was done getting ready, we heard the door bell and i turned to jackson, confused. "were you expecting anyone?" i ask him and he shakes his head no. "i never invited anyone over, but i'll go get it,"

jackson walks out of the room and i follow him down the hall and to the front door, i was a good ways away from the door, but close enough to the door to see him open it and see none other than the catherine avery at his front door.

"mom? what are you doing here?" he asks, stepping aside to let her in, before engulfing her into a hug. "well, i was in town and i talked to richard and found out you were off today, so i of course wanted to stop by to see my only son,"

she pauses for a second before making eye contact with my nervous ridden self. even though the guy who i was seeing was born into the avery family, i never expected myself to meet catherine avery in person.

"and who is this beautiful young lady?" she asks, looking to jackson, before looking back at me with a smile. "mom, this is my girlfriend, zoey," i step up from behind him when he says my name and smile at her. "it's great to meet you miss avery,"

"oh please, honey, call me catherine. and jackson, how dare you not tell your mother that you had a girlfriend, not to mention a gorgeous one at that," she smiles at me once again, before giving jackson a scold.

i was shocked to hear jackson call me his girlfriend, he could have introduced me as his friend who was just over to hang out, but instead he introduced me to his mother as his girlfriend.

"i'm sorry, i was waiting for a good time for you to meet her, come on into the living room, and excuse us for once second," his mom nods and takes a seat on the couch before i drag jackson by the arm and back into his bedroom.

"i'm sorry, zoey. i had no idea that she was coming and she can be over the top," he apologizes.

"it's fine, but you introduced me as your girlfriend. did you mean that?" i ask him, trying to avoid all eye contact possible.

"if you're okay with it? i wanted to ask you in a different way but them my mom showed up on my doorstep and i kind of freaked out," he rambles and i shut him up before he could continue by kissing him.

"of course i'm okay with it, jackson, i've been waiting for you to ask me. i'm in love with you, and  i have been for over a month now. i know we haven't known each other long, but look how far we've gotten. i practically live with you at this point, and i've met your mom," i laugh in response.

"i'm in love with you, too, and i have been since the day that i met you. you're the only one that i want, and man am i glad that you're okay with this, because i was kind of freaking out there for a minute," he chuckles.

"okay, come on now, let's not keep your mom waiting on us, bored out of  her mind," i respond and walk out of the room, jackson following behind me. i take a seat on the opposite couch, across from where catherine was sitting, and jackson takes a seat next to me.

"so, jackson, i know you're still a little early into your residency, but do you have an interest in a specific specialty yet?" she asks him and he nods.

"yeah, right now, neuro. i've also taken a small interest in plastics," he answers. i hadn't known about his interest in plastics until now, but he was working more closely next to mark sloan. he had been typically trading between mark and derek.

"what about you, dear? what do you do for a living?" she turns to me.

"oh, i'm also a resident at seattle grace mercy west," i answer and her smile grows brighter. "oh really? do you have a specialty interest yet?" she asks.

"i've wanted to specialize in peds since i was a little girl, i couldn't imagine myself going into any other specialty," i reply.

"awh, how cute. kids are always such a thrill to take care of. have the two of you thought of kids yet?" she asks and jackson laughs.

"we haven't been dating long enough to even think of kids, ma. i mean of course i would love to have kids but we aren't far enough into our relationship. i don't want it to fall apart like yours and dad's did," jackson answers for the both of us.

jackson was right, too. we definitely weren't even close to the having kids mark, because little did she know that we've only actually been dating since she got to the house. hell, george and lexie have been dating for god knows how long and i know for a fact that hey haven't talked about kids yet.

we ended up spending a good two hours with jackson's mom over at his house and i could finally feel myself breathe once she leaves the house. i found myself collapse onto the couch in exhaustion and jackson hovers over me looking concerned.

"are you alright?" he asks, sitting down next to me on the couch and rubbing my back.

"she scares me and i feel like i'm going to puke out of nerves," i reply, digging my face deeper into the couch. i wasn't exactly lying when i said that felt like i was going to puke. i honestly didn't know if it was out of nerves or not.

"you don't mean that, do you?" he asks and i nod. "i don't know what it is, but i feel like crap. i actually feel like i'm going to throw up, but i don't know if it is from nerves,"

i feel his presence leave the room, before he comes back with a blanket and a trashcan. i feel him lift me up and he sits behind me, leaning up against the arm of the couch, before leaning me against him and putting the blanket over us and putting the trashcan in my lap.

"do you want to watch anything?" he asks, reaching for the remote.

"can we watch friends?" i ask, looking up to him with begging eyes. he nods in response and turns on the tv and goes to his recordings, before playing the most recent episodes that were reran on nickelodeon.

i cuddled into his lap before feeling myself launch forward, with my head over the trashcan, emptying everything i had the night before into the once clean and freshly changed trash. jackson had grabbed ahold of my hair and held it up for me while i was throwing up.

i feel his hand rub circles around my back and i finally relaxed back against his warm chest, and i sat the trashcan on the ground so that i wasn't smelling the disgusting smell of stomach contents.

i feel his hand come up to my forehead and he places against it, then takes it off after a couple seconds. "you're a little warm, but it's nothing to worry about, right? probably just a stomach bug?"

"i'll be fine, jackson. than you though, for not running out of the room in disgust," i chuckle.

i've always hated getting sick, especially in front of other people. i ahte the feeling, everything about it. and honestly, when i was younger, i was terrified of getting sick because i knew how it made my body feel. but, within the past few days, this feeling was something that was sticking.

i had been feeling nauseous for a couple days, but i didn't actually get sick until today. maybe it was an underlying issue? i don't know, but i tried my best to cover the fact that i felt terrible, even though he just watched me throw up right in front of his face.

after a few hours, i had finally felt better, i didn't have a temperature or anything, and jackson and i went on with our day, despite the many attempts by jackson to get me to lay down since he didn't necessarily think that i was okay to be up and walking around.

"here, drink this," he says, tossing me a bottle of water as i sat down at the small bar type table that is connected to the counter. "jackson, i'm fine, really, it was just a small stomach bug and i feel one hundred percent okay now, okay?"

"can you at least drink it so you aren't dehydrated?" he pleads and i roll my eyes, taking the cap of the bottle off and taking a couple sips. "sometimes i hate the fact that you're a surgeon. i know that this is going to happen literally almost every time that i'm sick,"

"you got that right, cause there is no way that i'm going to let anything happen to you," he responds, looking at me with a smile. he walks over to me and goes to kiss me before i stop him. "are you sure you want to kiss me after i was on the couch puking my guts out like an hour ago?"

"yep, i'm going to kiss you, and i'm going to enjoy it," he smiles, leaning in to kiss me once again, as i don't stop him this time.

"are you going to want to do anything today? i mean personally, i'm tired and it's already four o'clock," i ask him and he sighs.

"i'm not letting you go anywhere until tomorrow, come on, let's go take a nap," he says softly before leading me back into his room and we lay in his bed, cuddled next to each other, before i eventually fall asleep.

1938 words

guess who turned 16 today :))
i figured i would update now before going camping with my family.
anyways, let me know any suggestions of things that should happen in my dms or comment them

have a great day yall

~jaelyn