TRIGGER WARNINGS:
talk of past sexual assault; alcoholism; drug use; abuse; foster care

i think that's it, but if anyone notices anything else, let me know and i'll add it. if you want to skip that part, it's when Mr. Bailey joins Briar outside during Christmas dinner. NOTHING happens except for a talk about Briar's past. If anyone needs more info, feel free to comment or dm me, and i'll discuss it. keep yourself safe <3

Briar hates Thanksgiving.

She has deep-rooted, long-standing reasons to despise the holiday, and she has for as long as she can remember. Every Thanksgiving is worse than the rest: it's a curse. Which is why, when she's scheduled to work the holiday, she can't help but be scared that something awful will happen to her at work.

That is, until she walks into work and finds herself on Derek's service with Lexie, helping a kid in peds.

"When did the bleeding start?" Lexie questions the kid's parents while Briar talks to him about his drawing, trying to keep his focus on that instead of a nosebleed that's surely very scary for a child.

"This morning. He's had these before, I just. . . I've never seen a nosebleed go on like this." His mother says, her voice full of worry, and Briar turns to give her the most reassuring smile she can.

"There's blood on Timmy, mom." He says, referring to the turkey he's been coloring.

"Well, red's a great color for a turkey." Briar answers when his parents get called over to Derek and Arizona, smiling at him as she hands him another crayon.

"Hey, do you go by any nicknames? Like Nick?" She asks, and he nods with a small smile. Briar hums, "Well, I love Nick. That's a cool name."

"I've never heard of Briar before." Nick tells her, and she nods very seriously as she hands him a black crayon, watching as he colors in the turkey's feathers.

"It's from Sleeping Beauty–" She starts, but he frowns and turns to her, Lexie moving with him so that she can keep the bleeding under control.

"Sleeping Beauty's name is Aurora." He tells her, sounding unimpressed. Briar nods as seriously as she can, knowing that children don't like feeling as if they aren't being taken seriously.

"It is, you're right. But it was Aurora before it was Briar Rose, like how you're Nicholas before Nick."

"Oh, okay. Why'd they change it?" He questions, making her hum as she considers the question.

"Well, Sleeping Beauty's parents named her Aurora. It's a nice name, don't you think?" He nods, mouthing the name to himself, and she shares a grin with Lexie, who's watching her with interest. "But when she gets cursed by Maleficent, she gets taken to the woods and they name her Briar Rose, so that Maleficent can't find her."

"Cool." He breathes out, before frowning. "Are you Briar Rose?"

"Nope. Briar Penelope. I wish my middle name was Rose, though, that'd be cool. What's your middle name?"

"Michael." He says, making a face as if not liking it. Briar understands that.

"That's cool. My best friend Alex's middle name is Michael too!"

"Mine is Caroline, and my older sister Meredith doesn't have one." Lexie jumps in, starting up a discussion about how some people don't have middle names until his parents come back over with Derek and Arizona.

Nick is having an arteriovenous malformation, a cluster of tangled blood vessels in his brain, which is causing his nose to bleed. They have to surgically remove it.

Briar does her best to keep the excitement out of her face; it's a cool surgery and she can't wait to scrub in, but she knows this must be terrifying for his parents. They don't have time to sit on it, either, since they have to have the surgery done as soon as possible.

Briar hovers for a second, watching Arizona and Derek discuss a plan outside the room while Lexie slips away. In a moment, Briar will gather up all the paperwork Nick's parents have to sign, and help them understand what it is that they're reading.

"Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Robbins are truly the best." She says softly, smiling at both of them when they look at her with hopeful, worried eyes. "They're who you want in that room. They'll do everything they can. I'll be right back in with the informed consent forms, and I'll help you go through them. Do you want anything else; water maybe?"

"Yes, please." Mr. Jacobson tells her while his wife nods, and she slips out of the room with a quick smile, coming back a moment later with the forms, two water bottles, and a coloring book to distract Nick.

✦

"She's 18!" Lexie exclaims while they're all in surgery, standing next to Derek while Briar stands next to Arizona. "That's not very much younger than me."

"Well, it's not that shocking actually." Derek says what they're all thinking. "I mean, the way Mark got around before he met you–ask Briar–there could be a gaggle of Sloan's."

"Ugh, I hope they're not all named Sloan." Briar says with a grimace, imagining that. Having two Sloan's is already going to be confusing. Assuming she sticks around.

"You slept with Mark?" Arizona asks her, and she hums.

"Yeah, after I got my divorce. I went to Joe's and, well, the rest is history. Long, mostly forgotten history." She adds on when she sees the way Lexie is looking at her, smiling sheepishly behind her mask. "Seriously Lex, it was before you were around, and neither of us wants a repeat."

"That bad?" They all ask, even Lexie seeming genuinely interested, and Briar laughs.

"That bad." She assures them, and then shakes her head. "But we made a very serious pact to never discuss it again, so that's all I'm saying."

"Sloan Jones. Sloan Smith. Sloan Sloan." Derek continues his previous thought, chuckling to himself. Briar can't help but join in. "Ah, damn it."

Two words you never want to hear in an operating room.

"Son of a bitch. I can't access the feeders."

"So. . . what does that mean?" Lexie questions while Briar gives herself a second to feel the disappointment.

"It means I can't get at it. I can do a temporary fix, but once he starts bleeding again, which he will, there won't be anything we can do."

"So we're just gonna . . . send him home to die?" Lexie questions, and Derek sighs.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Jacobson family." Arizona says quietly, the four of them sharing a quick look before Derek goes back to work.

Briar hates Thanksgiving.

✦

"Sinclair, I need you!" Derek calls out, making Briar shrug at her favorite nurse, Alanna, as she rushes to join him.

"What's going on?" She questions, frowning when she sees that they're heading to a conference room. A conference room with Sloan, Callie, and the blonde who must be Sloan's kid. . . Sloan. This is already confusing. "Did you call me over to have a Sloan family intervention? This is my nightmare, oh my–"

"Relax, we just have to pull Mark from the room." Derek tells her with a chuckle, making her sigh in relief just as they get to the room, Derek smirking as he pulls the door open.

"Sloan." He says, making both Sloan's answer, and Derek laughs again. Briar eyes up Mark's daughter. Damn, she's hot. It's a shame Briar's had sex with her father, or she would absolutely be trying to win her over for at least a night. Briar has never regretted a drunken affair more in her life.

"Mark, I need you on something." Derek continues, Briar pulling her eyes away from Sloan and catching an amused look from Callie. She pointedly doesn't look back at her as they leave the room, Mark rushing to follow them.

"I have a daughter, Derek." Mark grumbles, Briar snorting from her spot next to Derek. She's glad she gets to witness this.

"Yeah."

"An 18-year-old daughter. I am too young to have an 18 year old. It's a nail in my coffin. It's like death has come to call."

"Okay, can we put a pin in your existential crisis for a minute?" Derek asks while Briar pulls out her phone and texts Alex.

Dude, this Sloan shit is so funny

Wait, are you with them?? He texts back instantly. Hopefully he isn't with a patient.

Yeah. Update later!!!

"No, that's why they call it a crisis." Mark is griping, Briar holding in more laughter.

"Look, Dr. Robbins and I–" Briar coughs pointedly, and Derek sighs before adding her name. "Okay, fine. Dr. Robbins, Dr. Sinclair, and I have a 6 year old with an inoperable A.V.M. We need your help to make it operable."

Oh, fuck yeah. Briar has no idea what the plan is, but she's here for it.

Mark exhales deeply but they all know he's going to say yes, if only to get away from his newfound biological daughter for a little while.

✦

"Oh, thank you." Derek says when Briar walks into the learning lab with a tray of coffee, both him and Mark rushing to grab theirs. She rolls her eyes and shoves their hands back, handing them their actual cups.

"Don't thank me, you're paying for it." She tells him with a laugh, him sighing. The two of them keep hoping that she'll forget about the arrangement they made, but she is never one to lose free things. She told all the employees at the coffee cart about it, and they made her a tab for Derek and Mark to pay off. It's glorious.

"Ha! I'm loving this not paying for coffee thing." Mark mocks his friend, although Briar is quick to pull him back to earth.

"Enjoy it while you can, Pal. Derek's turn is over at the end of the month, and then it's your turn. I drink a lot of coffee."

"Uh, hold on, I have a daughter now. Daughter's are expensive. I think–"

"I think that we made a deal, and you aren't getting out of it." She tells him firmly, Derek mocking him now. "Also, your daughter's 18. Make her get a job. How's that going by the way?"

"Like Lexie hasn't told you." Mark scoffs, turning back to the diagram of a brain that Derek is working on.

"Hmm, I'm not asking Lexie. I'm asking you." She says, moving closer to see what Derek's doing. It's been a month of working on this every chance they have, and it's still so fascinating. She really hopes that they get it. It would be life-changing for Nick, and for other patients who need smaller instruments.

"Nicholas is back in the E.R." Arizona declares, all of them turning to face her as she enters the room in a rush. "He's got a nosebleed, bad. I've been trying to stop it for an hour."

"We can't operate. We're not ready."

"All right, well, then I'll admit him and keep transfusing until the equipment is done. Which is gonna be soon, I hope?" She asks, Briar grimacing at the worry in her voice. None of them say anything as she leaves, just getting back to it with renewed vigor.

"This goes through the nose, to the base of the skull, and then I drill the bone off." Mark demonstrates to Meredith with Briar and Derek both listening. Briar feels half insane; there has to be an answer. A kid's life depends on it.

"Well, what happens once you drill the holes?" Meredith questions, looking between them and the diagram.

"We put miniature staple clips on the vessels." Derek explains, Meredith nodding as she takes that in.

"With what instrument?"

"We don't have it. Not yet." Derek says, Briar grimacing at the look Meredith gives them.

"But we will. We will." Mark says then, Briar biting back a sigh. She really hopes that they can pull this off. Not only will it be an impressive medical feat, but it'll change a family's life. It's Christmas, and Briar is really hoping for a miracle.

"Someone call Tony Stark." She mumbles, blushing when they all turn to face her. "What? It's a good movie."

"You just love Robert Downey Jr.," Mark says, making Briar shrug. "We're, uh, still trying to figure out how to build it, but we're on it."

Dr. Bailey joins them before Briar can talk anymore. She feels restless, and when she's restless, she rambles. Dr. Bailey's presence makes her shut up, though, leftover fear and respect from her intern year.

"Uh. . . I would like an invitation to your home for Christmas dinner." She tells Meredith, Briar biting back a smile at the awkward request. "I know it's very late for me to be asking for such an invitation, given that it is, in fact, Christmas day. However, I have a very worried father, and if I don't look like I have some sort of life, he'll never leave. I have a bowel infarction to repair, and then after that, I'll be free to come to your home."

"Sounds fine." Derek says, followed by an "absolutely" from Meredith. They both turn to face Briar, who blinks back until Mark nudges her in the side.

"What kind of pie do you and your father like?"

"Are you baking?" Bailey questions, and Briar smiles as she nods.

"Yes, ma'am. I stress bake, so there's going to be a lot of desserts. What's your favorite?"

"He loves eggnog pie." She says very slowly, still giving Briar a confused look. Briar gives her a cheesy smile and a thumbs up, making a mental note to look up the best recipe she can find.

"Great! We'll see you then."

"Thank you," Bailey sighs out, moving to leave the room with a weight off her shoulders just as Arizona rushes in.

"The chief just cut off the funding for our equipment." She pants out, the rest of them freezing.

"What?" They all practically whisper, Briar desperately hoping she misheard her. This can't be happening. They've been working on this for a month!

"We're way over budget," She explains, "And Nicholas is running out of time."

Briar and Meredith watch as the attendings leave to speak to the Chief, hoping that they can convince him to put their holiday bonuses into the prototype. Briar would join them, but as a resident, she doesn't receive a bonus. Instead, she moves forward to work with the equipment again, taking turns with Meredith.

In the end, they're told that they won't be receiving bonuses this year, and the three attendings decide to split the cost.

✦

Dr. Hunt is on the guitar with Arizona and Dr. Webber singing to "Baby, it's Cold Outside." Briar smiles as she bustles around the kitchen, putting finishing touches on her famous mashed potatoes. They all make her make them for every gathering, not that she's complaining. Her pies are in the freezer, and she goes to help Meredith with her prep before seeing Meredith's father enter the room and quickly abandoning her friend to deal with that.

Briar claps as the singing ends, making them all turn her way with a grin, before she moves to sit next to Arizona and Richard.

"As amazing as that was, I have a song request." She declares, because there's only one Christmas album that she likes.

"And what is that?" Owen questions with a grin, all of them looking curious. She's always complaining about Christmas music, so she imagines they're expecting a non-Christmas song.

"'The Mistletoe Jam (Everybody Kiss Somebody)' by Luther Vandross." She declares, making Richard light up.

"You like Luther Vandross?" He asks her excitedly, and she laughs, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"He's the best! This Is Christmas is the only Christmas album that I like, I listen to it year round." She explains. "I have almost all of his albums on vinyl. His voice is so gorgeous."

"Alright, you want to do a duet?" He asks, Briar jumping up in excitement.

"Yes! Yes! Let's do this. Owen, do you know the guitar chords?" She asks, going over to show him when he shakes his head. She only has to show him twice before he gets a hang of it. He's not perfect, but it's not like they're doing an actual performance.

"Is Briar singing?" She hears Mark question, him and Derek coming over to join the rest of them.

"Yep. We're the only ones with taste." She laughs, gesturing between her and Richard with a wink. The two of them are standing in the middle of the living room, both with their eggnog in hand, as Owen gives them their cue to start.

Any other day, she would never be this personal with her Chief, but it's Christmas. They're all here, gathered as a family, and Briar knows that no one is viewing it as weird. They laugh their way through the start of the song, and then Briar starts dancing as they both sing.

"I like to party all night!" Briar sings, smiling widely as Richard twirls her around. "Yeah, and dance to the mistletoe jam, yeah, mistletoe!"

"Everybody kiss somebody! Glad I got big feet 'cause they're so good for dancin'" Richard sings slightly out of tune, laughing when Briar twirls him around next. They're laughing more than they're singing, the others in the room are laughing with them, and Briar is quick to pull Arizona to her feet, followed by Teddy.

It's perfect. It's everything she's missed out on her whole life, and she can't stop smiling when the song finishes and she goes to put the album on vinyl.

"Thanks." She hears from next to her, turning to see Derek watching her put the record on. He smiles when "With a Christmas Heart" starts playing, an automatic smile on Briar's face at her favorite singer's voice. "I think this is exactly what this party needed."

Briar hums, leaning back against the dresser as she scans the room. The big, bright Christmas tree; the pile of messily wrapped presents underneath it; another pile on the coffee table, a quick movement away from being knocked down; the fireplace roaring as laughter rises through the room; the smell of homemade food wafting out from the kitchen.

"You know, I never had good Christmas's until I came to this hospital." She says softly, although she doesn't let her mind focus on those cold memories when there's so much warmth around her. "This family is everything. Merry Christmas, Derek."

"Merry Christmas, Briar."

✦

"The house looks beautiful, Mer." Lexie compliments her sister's work, Briar smiling as she watches the two interact. It stings a little bit, knowing that she doesn't have that kind of relationship for herself, but it's nice to see the two of them getting along so well after their rocky start.

"Thank you." She responds warmly, giving Lexie a special smile, one that she seems to reserve just for her sister.

"Callie?" Derek questions Arizona, who explains that she's working.

"Oh, that's too bad."

For a few minutes the only sound around the table is of plates being passed around and Briar smiles to herself, looking around the large table full of people she loves and respects.

"Oh! How'd–how'd Kelsey do?" Teddy asks Cristina, who's sitting next to her, grabbing Briar's attention.

"Uh, well." Cristina answers, passing the bowl of stuffing down the table. Briar passes it up, not a fan of stuffing, but she accepts the green beans that follow.

"Who's Kelsey?" Derek asks, Briar nodding along. She couldn't ask with her mouth full; she's not Alex, always willing to spray the people in his vicinity.

"A girl with no heart." Bailey answers, Briar's eyes widening. "I had to do a laparoscopic bowel repair while the poor thing was awake on the table."

That's horrible for the girl, but Briar desperately needs more details. She meets Cristina's eyes, having a silent discussion, and grins when she nods at her. She can't wait to hear all about it.

"Miranda, mind your manners." The gentleman she's been introduced to as Bill Bailey chastises, making everyone uncomfortable. Briar stares at her plate, her ears turning red as she tries to block out their conversation. "Even if surgery is your whole life, it doesn't mean you have to talk about bowels at the dinner table."

Damn, Briar thinks, sharing a look with Cristina across the table.

"My child is healthy." Bailey says after a few moments, Briar's eyes shooting up to her.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Bailey asks.

"He may not be with me tonight, but he's healthy–"

"I didn't say he–"

"He's a well-loved boy." Bailey continues as if her father didn't interrupt her, Briar watching her defend herself with pride. "And he's a happy boy. And staying in an unhappy marriage–"

"Now is not the time or the place–" Mr. Bailey tries to reprimand his daughter, Briar rolling her eyes. He's the one that started fighting with Bailey in the first place.

"Staying in an unhappy marriage, a marriage that I've outgrown, a marriage full of ultimatums and numbness and resentment–"

"Miranda!"

"That is not the kind of life I want to model for my child." She declares, her eyes watering and her voice breaking. "That is not what I want him to believe married love is. Look, I know what's possible. I know what's out there for me because you taught me well. You and Mom showed me what true love looks like. So I chose not to settle, and I'm happier for it, even if I'm alone at Christmas. My child is healthy, and I'm happy."

Go Miranda!

"And, you know, part of my happiness is the fact that I got to repair a woman's bowel and save her life today. And that's God's work, which makes this appropriate Christmas dinner conversation."

The rest of the table nods and agrees; they're all doctors, they don't get grossed out by talks of bowel surgery, they get excited by it. Briar can understand why Mr. Bailey wouldn't feel the same way, but he shouldn't shame his daughter for it either.

"I'm happy." Bailey continues, her voice squeaking as she cries. "And my child is healthy. And that's enough for me today, Dad. That's enough."

"Uh, green beans, anyone?" Arizona asks after a moment, Richard quickly reaching to take the plate from her with a smile. Conversation continues, if a little more stilted than before, and Briar loses herself in it.

✦

"Miranda says you made the pie just for me." A voice fills the silence, Briar looking up and smiling as Mr. Bailey joins her on the stairs outside. He hands her a plate with the mentioned pie on it, placing the other on his lap, and hands her a fork and a napkin.

"Thank you, sir." She says softly, and then remembers the question. "Yes, I did. I know you probably would prefer to be at home for the holidays, so I thought I could make it more personal."

"That's very kind of you." He says, and for a moment they eat in silence. "This is very good. Miranda says you like to bake."

Miranda found that out a few hours ago, she thinks to herself, but only nods.

"I do. It relieves stress for me," She says lightly, cutting another piece away. Mr. Bailey gave her the perfect amount of whipped cream on top. "I'm glad you like it. I've never made eggnog pie before, but I think it's a new favorite."

He nods his head at that, the two sitting in silence again. It's oddly peaceful before he breaks it, looking straight ahead.

"You must think I'm a horrible father."

"I don't." Briar says honestly after contemplating his words. "I think you're a worried father, and a concerned grandfather. There's a difference, believe me."

"I saw your face, while Miranda was yelling at me." He responds, and Briar blanches. She hadn't seen him look away from Bailey, or look at her. "Everyone else was looking away, but you–you looked at her, and you looked proud. I've been trying to wrap my head around this whole divorce situation, ever since we found out she lied about it, but I can't. I'd like you to be honest with me. I think you're the only one who will be."

Briar processes his words for a moment, before deciding to just be honest with him. If he wants honesty, she can give that to him.

"I didn't have family holidays like this until I started at Seattle Grace." She says, taking another bite of her pie before grabbing his empty plate, stacking it beneath hers and setting it aside to take care of later. "My family. . . I have two biological siblings. A sister, whose name is ironically Grace, and a brother, Sebastian. I named him after the crab in The Little Mermaid."

She turns her body to face him, seeing him looking directly at her. She holds eye contact, smirking a little bit at her next comment: "It's a good thing we're outside, because this really isn't Christmas dinner talk, but I'll try not to be graphic." He chuckles lightly, nodding his head in deference to her comment.

"My mother and father never got married, and my father was never around. I didn't know him, he didn't come to birthday's or Christmases or school plays. My mom had–has–severe depression, and she turned to the bottle, and to drugs, and so I took care of my brother most of the time. It was the three of us, and it wasn't perfect or pretty, but it was my family. And then my mom met a man, and brought him home, and married him. He seemed perfect at first. He stopped my mom from taking drugs. They drank together, but I would rather have an alcoholic mother than a drug addict mother. He had a job, and he paid rent on time so we had access to electricity and heat. Things were perfect for a while."

She takes a deep breath, making sure that they're alone outside, before she continues with the story. "One night, he came into my room after drinking, and he thought I was my mother. I won't get into details, but he sexually assaulted me. That wasn't the last time. I was twelve, and I couldn't fight back. I completely froze. The next day, he threatened to hurt my brother, who was only seven, and so I never said anything. And it kept happening, and I kept not saying anything or fighting back, until one night when I was sixteen, when he hit my brother. That was the first time, and the last time, that he ever touched Sebastian. I made sure of it."

"And so we both ended up in foster care. The police took one look at me and decided that I was the problem. My mother and her husband got arrested for drug use–there were drugs in the house because he had long started using them along with my mom– and they separated my brother and I. He got adopted quickly, but I bounced around from home to home. I was too angry, and no one looked past my attitude to see the pain there. I made a lot of mistakes, and I ended up in juvenile detention for a while, before I had a wake up call and decided to do better for myself. I wanted to be more than a statistic."

"My brother doesn't talk to me. We haven't spoken in years. And my sister–well, we didn't know about each other until my father came into the picture and tried to adopt me. He only kept me for one summer before saying he couldn't do it, and so I lost touch with them too. He sends me a card every once in a while, sometimes with a picture of Grace in it. I save them all. That's all I've got, as far as biological family goes. So I don't know anything about growing up in a loving home with protective parents, but I do know what can happen when someone stays in an unhappy marriage. And I'm not saying anything about Dr. Bailey's marriage–I don't actually know much about the two of them– but I do think that it was a necessary move for her to divorce him in order to be happy."

Briar slowly stands up, gathering the plates as she does, and gives him a gentle smile.

"You are allowed to feel however you feel. I just hope you don't allow your feelings to put distance between you and your daughter. Dr. Bailey talks quite highly of you, and I understand why."

When he looks to be contemplating that, she nods to herself and turns to walk back inside.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Bailey."

✦

"He's in hypovolemic shock. He's lost too much blood." Arizona announces, standing over Nick's bed, while Briar bites her lips and tries desperately to stop the bleeding from his nose. "I didn't want to have to do this, but we're gonna have to put a tube down his throat to help him breathe."

"Don't tube him!" Derek says, rushing into the room. "Bag him till we get to the O.R."

"The O.R.?" Mrs. Jacobson asks, everyone turning to Derek in surprise.

"We finished the instruments." Derek declares in a rush, and Briar gasps. They've been working on that every chance they get since Thanksgiving, and it's now New Year's Eve.

"We did?" Arizona asks with joy.

"Yeah, we're gonna operate. I just need you to sign a consent form." He hands it over, the parents quickly signing it, and he takes it back with a smile.

"Pretty dramatic timing, Dr. Shepherd." Arizona points out, Briar smiling with her at the news.

"I like to make an entrance." He points out, Briar barely stopping herself from making a joke, reminded that she's standing next to Nick's parents. The two hug, Mrs. Jacobson crying and her husband doing his best to console her.

✦

"Scrub in." Derek tells her when she moves to go to the gallery, freezing her. "You've been on this case since the beginning, I want you in the O.R. observing us. It'll be a tight fit, but we'll make it work."

"Thank you." She says before quickly taking off her bracelet, shoving it in her pocket and moving to scrub in. The handwashing alone takes four minutes, but it's a process that Briar has come to find therapeutic.

"How's it handling?" Arizona asks, Briar holding her breath as she waits for an answer.

"It could bend a little more gently." Derek admits.

"Don't get all critical. Thing cost me a fortune." Mark adds, Briar raising her eyebrows as she watches from a screen, standing next to Lexie and Meredith who also got to scrub in. Lexie sighs worriedly, but Briar doesn't take her eyes off the screen to reassure her.

"I could use one more day to practice." Derek admits. "Okay. Inserting the clip applier."

Briar has never wanted to be holding someone's hand more in her life, but they're all scrubbed in and not allowed to touch anything. The tension in the room is impossible to ignore, all of them wanting the instruments to work, and Briar isn't one of the three people who put money into the thing. Although, she did agree to hold off on making Mark and Derek buy her coffee, so maybe that counts. It definitely doesn't, but she can pretend.

"Why don't you try torquing it a little to get a different angle?" Mark suggests. Derek does just that while Briar holds her breath.

"There you go." Mark says, and they all watch as he very carefully moves the instrument in further. "Got it. That's the last clip."

"Oh my God!" Arizona exclaims, Briar letting out a relieved breath.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're done here." Derek breathes out, making Briar smile at the sisters next to her.

"Nice work. Beautiful." Mark compliments as the room breaks out into cheering. Briar smiles when Lexie and Meredith hug each other, and then laughs when Meredith tugs her to join them.

"Look at the clock!" Derek's voice breaks through their laughter, and they all turn to look where Derek is. "And that's, uh, seven, six. . ."

The rest of them get the idea and start counting down to midnight with him, Briar beaming as she does.

"Three, two, one, Happy New Year!" They all shout, Briar watching with happiness as Mark and Lexie, and Derek and Meredith, imitate kissing through their masks. That might be the cutest thing Briar has ever seen, and she laughs as she moves to Arizona and does the same.

"You're telling Callie!" Arizona tells her through her laughter, and Briar shrugs, feeling completely content.

"It's for good luck, she'll understand."

Besides, it's not like they actually kissed. Their masks did. Which isn't very sterile, but Briar is too happy to focus on that.

What a way to ring in the New Year.

i love the dinner party, i love the conversations between miranda and her father, i love this episode.

so... briar's got quite a heavy past. it's not something that will get brought up all the time, but you'll see little signs of how her upbringing affects her in the day to day. i'll do my best to include all the trigger warnings i can think of, but if anyone sees anything they want tagged, please tell me.

i don't think jackson was mentioned a single time this chapter. seriously, this is a slow burn. i want to focus on developing their personalities outside of each other, and then on them getting to know each other. right now, they're just coworkers, and briar has may more things on her mind than a guy she's barely worked and spoken with.

i wish we got more of the happy MALJAC. season 7 is truly a golden season for me. they're trauma bonded, sure, but i love their dynamic. i'm not the biggest fan of april honestly but i love watching everyone become friends with her and jackson.