chapter thirty-eight: if/when
If there's one regret Briar has, it's that she chose Seattle Grace Hospital as her pick for her surgical residency.
She's in her fifth year at the hospital, and she hates every day of it. Her fellow residents are so annoying, and all anyone at this hospital does is kiss Ellis Grey's ass. If they're not accommodating Ellis, they're running around after Richard and Meredith Webber–her husband and daughter–and Briar can't stand watching it. It's embarrassing, honestly.
That's what April Kepner is currently doing, fawning over Meredith's new engagement to Alex Karev while Briar rushes to get dressed as quickly as possible. The screaming is giving her a headache.
"Oh my god!" Kepner squeals, examining the new ring on Meredith's finger. "When?"
"Last night!" Meredith tells her, beaming. "I mean, I kind of thought he would, and then, sure enough. Are you okay, April? 'Cause I know, I mean, I knew this was gonna be hard for you, but–you are going to find someone, April. And Charles is really into you."
Briar rolls her eyes, pulling her stethoscope around her neck. That relationship sounds like even more of a nightmare than Meredith and Alex and that's saying something.
"Ugh! I know, I know, but Charles is–" Kepner starts, getting interrupted by Percy walking through the doors.
"Hi." He chuckles. "Hi, April. Charles is what?" He asks, proving that he caught at least the last part of them talking about him.
"Nothing." Kepner says, turning back to Meredith. "No, no, no. I am thrilled! Have you told anyone else?"
Why can't Briar find her goddamn ID badge? Seriously, what did she do in a past life to deserve listening to this conversation?
"Besides my parents, no. You're my person!" Meredith tells April, who smiles even wider at the words.
"Oh, god, this is so beautiful." Kepner gushes. Briar gives up and tips her bag upside down, watching the contents fall to the floor before squatting down to try and find the badge easier. "You guys, you're gonna be like, the next Shepherd's."
"Screw that. We're gonna be the next Webber's!"
"You good?" Avery asks from above her, sounding amused. "If you need an extra penlight or something, I've got them in my locker."
"Do you have my ID badge in your locker? No? Then you can't help me." Briar tells him flatly, groaning when she still can't find the thing. She can't have lost it–she lost one last month.
"Maybe try retracing your steps." Avery suggests, sounding as amused as ever. It doesn't matter how much attitude she gives him, he always thinks it's hilarious. "That helps when I've lost something."
"What do you think I'm doing?" Briar shoots back, rolling her eyes as she scoops everything back into her bag, shoving it in the locker. She always puts it back in her bag at the end of a shift–sure, she'd left work without changing yesterday, in a rush to–oh.
Briar is never telling Avery that he helped her.
Ignoring Meredith, now describing whatever boring proposal Alex gave her, Briar whips out her phone and frantically texts the last texted person.
Hey I know you're awake
Is my ID badge in my room at all
Well hello to you too
I can look hold on
Where's your coffee?
I don't have any
What is WRONG with you?????
I will buy you the largest, most expensive coffee ever if you find my badge and bring it to the hospital right now
Hmm add a meeting in an on-call room and I'm in ;)
You've got it now go!!!
If the badge isn't there, Briar might actually cry. She can not deal with another lecture about responsibility blah blah blah by Richard Webber–or worse, Owen Hunt. He drives her nuts, and if she wasn't so determined to become an orthopedic surgeon and get the hell out of Dodge she would try a different specialty just to get away from him--unfortunately, trauma and orthopedics go hand in hand.
"Good morning." Avery sings out and Briar finally looks up from her phone, seeing him talking to Cristina. That makes her roll her eyes again, beyond tired of them making fun of her only friend here.
"Are you talking to me?" Cristina asks, not even looking over at him.
"Jackson . . . don't feed the animals." Meredith tells him, while Cristina and Briar both give her withering looks.
"Every single one of you can suck my–"
"Hey! How's everybody doing this morning!?" Alex shouts, coming into the room with his purple polo and dorky glasses, and Briar makes the executive decision to take some Tylenol now. "Everybody ready to kick some butt? Let's run the board, guys. Avery?"
"Covering the pit."
"Noble work. Y–Yang?"
"Solo thoracic aortic aneurysm."
"Huh." Alex nods slowly, unsure how to speak to her.
"Well, I guess that means I'm doing Torres' post-op's." Meredith says, since her and Cristina are often battling it out. Cristina wins every time, through talent, unless Meredith goes over her head to her mom. Honestly, the nepotism in this hospital is exhausting.
"Kepner?"
"Uh, I'm on Shepherd's service. Good Shepherd." She tacks on, since she's referring to Addison Shepherd, not Derek Shepherd.
"Oh, hey. I'm on Bad Shepherd." Percy tells her. "Maybe we're gonna be the next Shepherd's."
"No, we aren't." Kepner turns him down, sounding and looking disgusted.
"Great, uh, Bri–Sinclair. What are you on today?" Alex asks her, and she rolls her eyes.
"Shouldn't you know, since you make the schedules?" She points out, tired of having this conversation every day. He's a horrible Chief Resident. She can't help but smirk at the way he turns red, not expecting to be called out, and quickly brushes past him while Cristina follows.
"Oh my god, did you see his face?" Cristina whispers to her when they're down the hall, and Briar laughs then.
"He looked dumber than normal, and that's saying something." She jokes back, walking with Cristina to the coffee cart. "God, I can't believe they're engaged."
"What a nightmare." Cristina scoffs.
"Karev is gonna be even further up Ellis's ass." Briar snorts, shaking her head in disgust.
"It's a miracle he pulled himself out of it long enough to propose to her daughter." Cristina shoots back, and the two of them are laughing hysterically by the time they arrive at the coffee cart. As usual, it's empty: the attendings are in yet another meeting with Ellis Grey, and the other residents are still aweing over the proposal in the lounge.
"What do you think he's saying right now?" Briar asks, placing an order and ignoring Cristina's curious look. She normally leaves Cristina at the coffee cart without placing an order, not a fan of coffee.
"Hmm." Cristina considers the question after placing her own order, both of them stepping aside even though no one else is there. Cristina likely wouldn't be talking as much if someone was–she's taken to being cold and calculating around other people, and while she's seen with Briar in public, they don't act this way around anyone else. "Probably some crap about seizing the day–"
"Add in some cheesy lines about Seattle Grace being the 'best hospital in the world' and you've got it, I think." Briar tells her, laughing at the thought of the pep talks Alex gives them every single day. A moment later both of their coffees are being handed over, and they happily take them. "Thank you, Angela."
Briar swallows thickly, trying not to throw up at the smell–Izzie Stevens ruined coffee for her forever, unfortunately– and Cristina finally asks about it.
"Okay, who is that for?"
"Who says it's for anyone?" Briar tries, not sure why she even bothers. Cristina will get it out of her. She always does.
"You hate coffee, ever since that bitch spilled it all over you during her rampage." Cristina scoffs, shaking her head while Briar tries not to remember that. God, Izzie turned out to be such a psycho. That had burnt and she still has scars on the side of her neck and her arm. "Is it for whoever spent the night last night?"
"Maybe." Briar deflects, grinning down at her shoes. Her and Cristina live together, in this amazing firehouse-turned-actual-house that Cristina found last year. It has a fire pole and everything, and the open floor plan is mostly great, except for when one of them has someone over. It's a good thing neither of them is shy.
"I didn't get a good look this morning, but she sounded like she knew what she was doing." Cristina says approvingly.
"Well, thank you." They hear from behind them, and Briar almost drops the coffee in shock. When she calms down, it's to the sight of Amelia Shepherd taking the coffee Briar bought for her with a smirk. Briar barely notices Cristina leaving them alone, narrowed in on Amelia as she takes a step closer until she's all in Briar's space. "Sooo, where's that on-call room?"
"You're ridiculous." Briar rolls her eyes even as she reaches a hand out and grabs Amelia's, pulling her with her into the hospital and into the first one she sees. "I only have maybe ten minutes."
"I only need five." Amelia tells her with a smirk, already pulling her shirt over her head. Briar absentmindedly wonders why she bothered putting her scrubs on while slipping out of them, taking an extra second to lock the door behind her.
They don't leave the room for twenty minutes.
✦
"Briar!" Amelia calls after her, laughter in her voice. Briar slowly turns around, worried about what she'll say. As much as she wants to go for round four this morning, she does need to get back to work. Her breath catches when Amelia bounds forward into her space again, reaching out and clipping her ID badge to the front of her scrubs. "There, now go save lives!"
"Are you leaving today?" She asks, because Amelia is only here for a short visit, interviewing with hospitals. Briar is secretly hoping she'll take her brother's spot at this one, since they could really use a skilled neurosurgeon on staff. Plus, it would be fun for her: they aren't dating, just fooling around, and Briar would love to do that more often.
What can she say, there's a reason Amelia's contact in her phone is 'The Hot Shepherd.'
"In a few hours, yeah." Amelia shrugs, looking around before planting a kiss on Briar that makes her grin. "I'll let you know next time I'm in town, okay?"
"You do that." Briar tells her, watching her go before cursing when she realizes how late she is to the pit. Avery is going to be so insufferable about it.
✦
Sure enough, Briar's arrival to the pit is noticed. Not that Briar really cares–why would it matter to her what Avery thinks?–but it's still enough to sour her mood slightly. Not all the way, of course, because it would take a lot to ruin a day that started with Amelia Shepherd waking her up with sex. That woman is insanely gifted in multiple ways.
"You're late." He sings as soon as he sees her, and she just rolls her eyes.
"Do you need something?" She asks, scoffing when he starts following her to the nurses desk, where she grabs a stack of charts from Tyler.
"You missed a fun case. We got a cokehead." He tells her gleefully, always eager to shove a case in her face.
"Fascinating." She says dryly, not interested in that at all. "Is that the white girl with the dreadlocks?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Cool. She's trying to leave." Briar tells him, smirking when he whips around and has to rush over there. "I guess your bedside manner isn't all that!"
Victims of a car crash take up her attention, although they're mostly really lucky–a few broken bones, some lacerations, and cuts and bruises. She gets them casted and on their way. Unfortunately for her, she can't sit around and wait for orthopedic cases all day, and she often finds herself on a trauma rotation.
"Do you have a sister?" Avery asks her as soon as he finds her at the nurses station, submitting some outpatient paperwork.
"What?" She asks, confused by the question.
"My patient," He starts, and she looks over his shoulder at the girl with the dreads. She's watching them, looking curious. "She, uh, she said that she has a sister who works here."
"Are you going to ask every woman here if they have a long lost sister?" Briar questions, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Not every woman." He says, and she shakes her head in disbelief. Surely he can find something else to occupy his time with. "But you two look a little similar. Brown hair, brown eyes . . ."
"Congratulations, you've just described half the population." Briar tells him with false cheer. "No, she isn't my sister. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have actual work to do."
"Wait!" He blurts out before she can go find another patient, and she slowly turns back to face him. "Yang won't put in a pacemaker for her, and I need someone to."
"Awe." Briar coos, smirking at him. "Did no one teach you how to?"
"I know how." He scoffs, shaking his head. "Hunt wants me in the pit today, not operating, so I need someone else to do it for me. Yang keeps refusing."
"That sucks, but I have my own patients. Grow a pair and do it yourself."
"Is it true?" He asks before she can walk away, and she rolls her eyes at the way he never quits. Honestly, she has actual things to do.
"Is what true?"
"Did you, uh, did you know?" He asks, and she has a feeling she knows what he's referring to. She doesn't say anything, forcing him to say it if he wants an answer. "About, uh, Izzie and her plan? Because the others say that you did but that sounds crazy and–"
"You know what's crazy?" She asks, anger filling her at the questioning. She's so tired of people talking about her behind her back, and of being brought back to that awful day over and over again. Avery wasn't even working here when it happened, he has no right to talk about it. "The fact that someone as incompetent as you has kept his position here. Every time we work together, you spend half your time following me around and asking me what you should do with your patients. It's embarrassing. Be a goddamn doctor."
"That's not fair–"
"Oh, am I being unfair? Maybe you should go run to your grandfather, I'm sure he'll get it all sorted out for you." She snaps, smirking when he frowns at the mention of his grandfather, starting to look insecure. Good. "Actually, maybe it does make sense that you have a job here. How else would Ellis Grey be able to keep stacking up those Harper Avery awards, if she wasn't employing his grandson? God, it's pathetic."
She storms away at that, ignoring the way her hands have started to shake. She doesn't know how he always manages to get under her skin, but she truly hates him for it.
✦
"What have we got?" Briar asks, jumping straight into the fray when she sees Avery standing over a patient, still surrounded by paramedics.
"John Doe, mid-40's, stabbed in the back in a restaurant. Literally, not figuratively." The paramedic informs her. The joke makes her smile slightly, even as she starts examining the wound.
"I've got it." Avery tries dismissing her, but she ignores him, beginning to do a Babinski reflex test. "Seriously, I've got it. This isn't ortho."
"You don't count a spinal cord injury as orthopedics?" She asks him incredulously, shaking her head. "Wow, you're dumber than you look."
Avery watches her perform the tests before ordering corticosteroids, which Briar instantly cancels.
"Are you trying to kill my patient?" She asks him in disgust, turning to the nurse. "Do not order those. In fact, don't listen to anything Dr. Avery has to say about this patient."
"Steroids need to be administered in the first 8 hours to reduce swelling--" Avery begins to snap at her, but she holds her hand up, shaking her head.
"In most cases of corticospinal lesions, yes. However, I believe that he has Brown-Séquard Syndrome, and steroids will only cause infections."
"You believe." Avery scoffs, trying to grab the chart from her, but she refuses to hand it over. "What if you're wrong, huh? What then?"
"I'm not." She says firmly, twisting away from him to face the nurse again. "Shotgun him."
"Uh, that's a crazy over-reaction." Avery says slowly, and Briar has to shut her eyes again. He's even worse than an intern--at least they have an excuse for not knowing things. He's been doing this for five years.
"The patient, Dr. Avery. Shotgun the patient." She says through gritted teeth, wishing she'd never left her bed this morning. She doesn't get paid enough to deal with this.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that they are going to do every test in the book." She explains with as much patience as she can muster.
"Ha! So you don't think you're right." He cheers, although his smile falters when faced with her deadpan expression.
"No, actually, it means that they are going to do a CBC, CMP, PT, INR, and a type and screen. All of that will reveal that he does in fact have Brown-Séquard Syndrome. And, since he has a traumatic injury, they are going to do a CT of his cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. They'll follow up with CT's of his head, chest, abdomen, pelvis, as well as a chest x-ray. Do you understand all of that or should I see if we can send you back to medical school?" Briar questions coldly, turning back to Andrea. "Please page me when the results come in."
✦
Being proven right is the best feeling in the world.
"How did you even know?" Avery asks her, sounding resigned as he looks over the scans with her. She doesn't need his help, but she doesn't bother asking him to leave. Besides, it's fun to rub his face in his mistakes.
"You see that?" Briar asks him, tapping on the MRI. "Impingement in BSS looks like an owl's eye."
"That's such a weird comparison." Avery scoffs, tilting his head. ". . . I see it though."
"Well, I didn't come up with it." Briar snorts.
"Sureeee." He drags out, turning to face her properly. "Seriously, though. What made you think it was this before all the tests?"
"His sensory loss was ipsilateral to the injury." She explains, hoping that he'll pay attention and maybe be able to spot it in the future. "He also had hemiparalysis . . . honestly, I just took an educated guess."
"We should page Shepherd, right?" Avery asks, grimacing at the thought. Briar sighs, tilting her head before she grins, clearly surprising him.
"Oh, I can definitely do that."
"So weird." Avery murmurs to himself as she leaves, and the words make her smile slightly before it falters when she sees the doctor she needs to talk to, picking up her pace to reach him.
"Dr. Webber!" She calls out, quickly falling into step with the man. "Dr. Webber, I have a case that I need a neuro consult for."
"Page Dr. Shepherd." He tells her dismissively, but she shakes her head.
"It's Brown-Séquard Syndrome, and I need a surgeon that will actually take care of it." She tells him, refusing to call Derek Shepherd for something like this. He's too much of a coward, and not nearly good enough of a surgeon. "Doctor Amelia Shepherd is in town, and she's more than capable. Can we get a consult from her?"
"Well . . . I don't know." He sighs, looking around them.
"Isn't Dr. Grey always telling us to be more innovative?" She asks, hoping that the mention of his wife might talk him into it. "Dr. Shepherd is a miracle worker, and it'll be good press for the hospital."
"Okay, fine." He tells her, smiling slightly. "I'll give her a call."
"No need, I already did. She'll be here in a few minutes." Briar tells him, fighting back a laugh at the surprise on his face. "It's better to ask forgiveness, right? Thank you!"
✦
If there's anything Briar loves, it's getting to take off her scrubs at the end of her shift. She hates everything about them, especially the light grey color–because of course Ellis Grey would make them wear grey. Her ego is truly out of this world.
"Yang's a freakin' maniac." Avery is saying when Cristina and Briar enter the lounge. He's sitting with Kepner, Percy, Meredith and Alex, all of them clearly gossiping about Cristina. "And so is Sinclair. She stole my patient today."
"They're dangerous." Kepner adds on, shaking her head in disgust.
"My patient's fine." Cristina informs them all, walking further into the room. Briar follows her, making a beeline straight for her bag and starting to get changed. The sooner she changes, the sooner she can be anywhere else. "Awake, great vitals, if you were interested."
"Well, that's great, cause O.D. girl bolted." Avery snaps.
"You mean, your patient?" Briar jumps in, refusing to let him put that on Cristina. "It's not her fault that you can't keep control of the pit for one day."
"Oh, speaking of my patients, can you stop stealing them?" He asks, frowning at her.
"Well, stop making it so easy for me to steal them, and maybe I'll stop."
"So you admit that you stole him!" He shouts, throwing his hands in the air. "Honestly, you could've at least let me in on the surgery."
"Why would I do that?" She asks, genuinely confused. "It was an ortho-neuro surgery. Last I checked, you're specializing in neither."
"He was my patient!"
"You misdiagnosed him and probably would've paralyzed him." Briar informs him, not interested in arguing over this all night. "Admit it, you had no idea what you were doing. If you did, I wouldn't have to double check your work all the damn time!"
Avery gapes at her, heat flooding his cheeks, and Briar finally tunes into the other argument happening in the room. Cristina and Meredith are still going back and forth while Kepner, Alex and Percy look back and forth between them like it's a tennis match.
"You had no business in that O.R." Cristina is currently snapping at her. "I wasn't about to let that guy die watching you jack around with the internal graft."
"That was the right technique! Dr. Torres specifically–"
"Dr. Torres only sided with you because you're the Chief's little girl." Cristina mocks her, and Briar laughs–both at the words and the look on Meredith's face at the call out. "She's a pathetic lackey."
"Sounds familiar." Briar can't help but quip, looking pointedly to Avery.
"Well, we'd all be working under Dr. Preston Burke right now, but you screwed us out of that opportunity, literally!" Meredith shouts, taking it too far. Briar tenses, eyeing them and wondering if this is going to turn into a physical fight. If so, she's going to make getting kicked from the program worth it. "What exactly did you do to him? Because he left the state to get away from you."
"Good one." Cristina says, and Briar knows that look in her eyes: things are about to get dirty. "If you want to get personal, why don't you ask Prince Charming what he and the Virgin Mary like to do in his office?"
"What? What are you talking about?" Meredith asks, spinning to face Kepner and Alex when she doesn't answer. "What . . .?"
"She's a lunatic." Alex scoffs, but Briar feels her eyes widening. She used to be his friend, and she knows what it looks like when he's panicking. "You can't believe a word she says."
"What–what–what is she talking about?" Meredith asks, although it's clear that she's realizing the truth. "April?"
Kepner crying gives it away. "I–I'm sorry." She sobs. "I'm sorry, I–I–"
Honestly, Briar can't help but feel a little bad for Meredith as she shoves past everyone out of the room. The woman has been pissing her off since intern year, but no one deserves to be cheated on.
"Oh, just shoot me now." Percy says, his face crumbling with his disgust at the knowledge that his crush has been sleeping with Alex this whole time. The words make Briar flinch, and she ignores the way that both Avery and Alex seem to have noticed her reaction. God, she hates this place.
✦
Alex slides into the elevator before it can shut, and Briar wants to scream, but she honestly doesn't have the energy to. He doesn't deserve any of her energy.
"We create our own destiny." He blurts out, breaking the silence. His words make Briar want to laugh, but she just stares straight ahead, waiting for the elevator to stop moving so that she can go home. This day has felt impossibly long, but so does every other day she spends at this hospital.
It's hard to believe that this place had once made her happy.
Of course, because her life is a joke, this is the day that the elevator breaks down. No amount of hitting the emergency button, or the call button, gets any results and she eventually gives up, sitting down on the opposite side of the elevator.
"We create our own destiny." He repeats, stronger this time.
"Well, you're doing a great job with yours." She tells him. "I mean, really, cheating on the Chief's daughter? Amazing decision."
"That's not even the worst thing I've done." He sighs, exhausted, and she just hums. She honestly doesn't care to ask what the worst thing is, even if part of her is curious. "I–I'm sorry."
"Pretty sure you should be apologizing to Meredith, but what do I know?" She says, even though she knows what he's actually apologizing for. Too little, too late . . . but she does want to know . . . "Why'd you do it?"
"I got jealous." He admits, almost too softly for Briar to hear.
"Jealous." She repeats slowly, gaping at him. "What the fuck was there to be jealous of?"
"I–I overheard Ellis and Richard talking, after one of my appointments." He starts, fiddling with his polo shirt as he talks, not looking at her. "They, uh, they said that they were impressed by how well you were handling everything, and Ellis told Richard to make you Chief Resident when the time came—said it'd be a good look for the hospital—and–and–and I was angry, and hurt, and I'd just been shot and it just–it didn't feel fair."
"So you told them that I knew about Izzie's plan?" She asks him, incredulous. He nods, looking mortified, and she shakes her head in disbelief. "Alex, that–that ruined my life. I got interrogated by the police. They looked through every aspect of my life, took my phone and my laptop, I–I got suspended."
"I didn't mean for that to happen." He whispers, tears filling his eyes again.
"What, you thought you could tell them that I knew about a plan to shoot up this hospital and they would go, 'aw shucks, guess she just won't be Chief Resident?'" She asks, her voice rising. "That's a life-ruining allegation! I–I lost everything."
"I know." Alex chokes out, but Briar shakes her head, turning away from him. She can't stand to look at him.
She hates thinking about her intern year. She'd fallen for Izzie so fast, and she thought Izzie felt the same way . . . finding out that she'd been sleeping around with a patient, of all people, behind her back had been awful. The quick sequences that followed had been the worst period of her life: Izzie cutting the LVAD wire and stealing a heart for that patient, getting fired and blaming Briar for not defending her, and then the shooting. Finding out that the woman she'd been dating for months was capable of actual murder. She'd thought she was going to be killed by her girlfriend, until Izzie turned the gun on herself at the last second.
"You were better than me." Alex admits, and his voice makes her flinch. She'd gotten lost in thought, her arms wrapped around herself in a semblance of a hug. He's looking at her now, looking pained. "At–at everything, really. Surgery and–and relationships, all of it. I got shot and all anyone would talk about was you and I just snapped. I–If I could take it back, I would."
"That might mean more if you hadn't treated me like shit for the last three years." She tells him, her voice hoarse. She clears her throat, looking away from him again. It does help to get an apology and an explanation, but it doesn't take away how awful the last almost four years have been for her. Even after there'd been no proof that she knew anything–and therefore no way for Richard and Ellis to fire her, lifting her suspension–no one had trusted her. Cristina had been the only one in her corner, when she used to have everyone.
"I know, I know." Alex sighs, leaning his head back against the wall. "How–is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
Slowly, a smile grows on Briar's face.
"Well," She starts slowly, smirking now. "If only you knew the guy in charge of the schedules . . ."
✦
"Did you seriously make Alex give you all my upcoming trauma surgeries?" Avery snaps as soon as he sees her, and Briar laughs in delight as she grabs her burger, taking a seat at an empty table at Joe's. Avery follows her, taking a seat across from her and still glaring at her.
"I sure did!" She cheers, smirking at him. "Why, do you have a problem with that?"
"Do I have–do I have a problem–yes, I have a problem!" Avery splutters, watching her in disbelief while she just smiles and dips one of her fries in ketchup. She enjoys every single bite while he just complains to her. "They were–are–they are my surgeries. I mean, what blackmail do you even have over him?"
"Oh, loads." She says cheerfully, laughing again when he looks a second away from an aneurysm. "Oh, relax, pretty boy. I'm sure you can get in on other surgeries. Have you ever tried plastics?"
"I'm specializing in trauma." He says, ignoring the suggestion. "I need to do trauma surgeries!"
"Well, I think the patients need a competent surgeon, so tough luck." She brushes his complaints off, taking another bite before taking a sip of her Coke. She'd love to drink, but she has a surgery to perform bright and early tomorrow morning.
"Just because my grandfather is Harper Avery doesn't mean that I'm not just as good as you." He tells her passionately, and Briar quirks an eyebrow.
"You know what, let's test it." She decides, shutting him up.
"What?"
"After I finish eating, we can go back to the hospital and use the skills lab." She clarifies, liking the idea more as she presents it. "Whoever wins the most skills gets the surgeries."
"Oh, you're on." Jackson says immediately, his eyes lighting up. He nudges her basket of food closer to her, a silent request to finish eating so that they can get to it. She does just that, excited at the thought of competing with someone who won't look down on her the whole time. She thinks that there might be more to Jackson than she's always assumed, and suddenly finds herself excited for work, if only for the chance to be proven right.
✦
me: wouldn't it be funny to write the what if episode ... you know, for the humor
(instantly gives briar even more trauma) ... oops?
i honestly had a blast writing this 🥰 i considered writing a version with firefighter/paramedic briar and now i have WAY too many thoughts about that so ... might write a one shot about it if anyone's interested. they flirt through post-it notes in that universe <3
anyway i chose drama over fluff sorry bout it
AMELIA AND BRIAR!! the vibes are there and in a world where briar doesn't consider derek & meredith her siblings... yeah 🥰 they're both hot bicons what can i say!!
it's canon in the what if episode that izzie was the shooter (they joke about it at lunch) so in this universe she dated briar... regular briar would attack me if she knew what i did to her. im sorry queen ☹️
anyway i feel kinda insane bc of all the meds im on rn ... how are you guys?? i love you all so so much <3
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