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chapter forty four ━ love, loss and legacy
season eight, episode five

❝ just leave me, my boyfriend,
and my penis alone! ❞

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"Ow." Jackson grumbled into the pillow his face was currently buried in, half-asleep in the complete and total darkness of Aliya's room.

Well, technically, it was their room now, seeing as Jackson's old room was currently being used as a dumping ground for the random stuff their roommates didn't want anymore, instead of taking the boxes to the thrift store.

They didn't really sleep in Jackson's bedroom anymore, Aliya's mattress was so much better anyway.

(Even though Jackson was perfectly capable of buying a much better mattress of his own.)

"Sorry." Aliya whispered from where she had been staring at the ceiling for the past five hours.

Five.

Whole.

Hours.

Though it felt like a lot longer.

It felt as if a lifetime had passed, and it didn't help that the clock was passive aggressively telling her that it was 4:32am, and not in fact 8:00am.

It was as if she had been staring at this goddamn ceiling for the last six days without looking away,  to the point where she had memorised every single mark and every single cobweb above her.

She was going crazy — certifiably.

It was confirmed.

"Aliya—" Jackson's grouchy corpse turned towards the supposed crazy person, his eyes still screwed shut. "—you're squirming."

It was a very clear observation, seeing as the brunette had been tossing and turning in bed ever since they crashed into it at the end of their shift.

She hadn't slept a single wink.

Usually, Aliya's insomnia was something she could manage with the pills on her bedside table, however there was a pretty obvious reason why this particular insomnia wasn't something pills could fix.

Because, Jackson's mother was coming into town, and that was enough to send Aliya to insanity.

"I'm not squirming." Aliya denied all accusations, gripping ahold of the bed sheets, tugging them up further to her neck.

"Hm." Jackson murmured, his lips pursed as he tried (and failed) to open his eyes.

"What does that hm mean?" Aliya shuffled around in bed in alarm, kicking Jackson yet again as she manoeuvred around to face him. "Don't hm! It's off putting, and when you hm I know exactly what you mean—"

"It was a 'I want to sleep seeing as it's 3am' kind of hm." Jackson interrupted, his eyes now open ever so slightly, though Aliya couldn't see him one bit, just the outline of the mound under the duvet.

"It's actually 4am." Aliya corrected, and if the light was on, she could almost imagine what his face would be like — tired, grumpy and unimpressed.

Though, she couldn't exactly blame him. It was 4 o'clock in the morning.

"But, that's completely irrelevant, of course." She quickly added, squirming yet again, though this time she pressed her cheek into his bare shoulder with a sigh.

And, after a few more minutes nestled into his arm, the heat of his breath warming her temple, Aliya let out another very over exaggerated sigh, and she felt his jaw tense against her.

"Don't pull that face." She pouted, prodding his rib.

She could almost feel his lips purse.

"You can't even see me." He spoke, matter-of-factly, his fingertips tracing circles up and down the skin of Aliya's arm.

"Yes," The Levine woman said, her chin raising in the air, brushing his chest as she moved. "But, I know exactly what face you're pulling."

"Should've eaten your carrots." Jackson responded with yawn.

Aliya frowned. "I'm actually allergic to carrots so that's very insensitive."

"My bad." He mumbled, his lips curving into a soft smile as light gradually began to make its way through the gaps in the curtains. "What's wrong?"

"What's right?" Aliya questioned immediately back, letting out a huff as she dropped her arms dramatically onto the bed sheets, then saying (rather dramatically, which seemed to be the theme of this morning): "Your mother is coming into town."

"She's gonna love you." Jackson assured, the theatrical tone of her voice making him chuckle into her hair. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, but—"

"No buts—"

"But," Aliya said pointedly, carrying on anyway despite the whole 'no buts' thing. "My Mom already hates you, so if your Mom hates me then we're totally screwed."

It wasn't as if she had spoken to her mother since the last time she saw her, after she found out simultaneously that her daughter was dating an Avery, and that she didn't get Chief Resident.

And of course, according to her mother, both events must have a direct correlation, which only gave her mother another reason to hate the Avery's even more.

Aliya didn't even know why her mother was still holding a grudge against them, and at this point in her life, Aliya didn't really seem to care all that much about the woman who raised her with as much care as a reversing dump truck.

"Well, screw them." Jackson spoke, his voice assertive. "We're consenting adults, we don't need their approval. I certainly don't need the approval of that woman."

He pressed a soft kiss to her temple. "What if your Mom doesn't like me?" She leant deeper into him, though her face was now a hundred times less tense than before he kissed her. "Then what? We're gonna have to change our names, move to Rome, and buy a goat named Bill—"

"A goat?" Jackson chuckled, his fingers trailing through her hair. "Can't we just get a dog?"

"We already have a dog." The brunette informed, making grand hand gestures as she spoke. "Reese. The one you let out every night when you hear her scratch at the door."

"I thought that was just an hallucination." The Avery man joked, smirking into her hair, his eyes gliding over to the foggy outline of the dog, sprawled out on the rug (who will in fact scratch at the door in approximately two hours). "And, you don't need to worry, okay? My mom always wanted a daughter, and we've already talked, she doesn't care that you're a Levine, and she's pretty thrilled about it actually. Believe me, my mother is pushy, but it's gonna be fine."

Usually, Aliya wouldn't be so nervous to meet her boyfriend's mother. Mothers usually liked her.

But, somehow, meeting Jackson's mother felt like, well—

She was pretty sure she was going to marry this man, so it felt like meeting her future mother-in-law, not to sound too premature or anything.

However ultimately, Aliya was still sceptical, no matter how hard Jackson tried to convince her that his mom did in fact love her already. "She's thrilled that your girlfriend is the daughter of a woman she despises?"

"It's more of a frenemy type thing." Jackson pointed out to her.

"Rivals?"

"Yeah, something like that." He nodded his head, and Aliya seemed to have finally stilled, just for a moment. "And, she's thrilled because a) I've actually told her about you, and b) she sees it as an opportunity to hold power over your mother, and, well, c) you're you."

In a way that Aliya totally could not have helped, the corner of her lip tugged upwards. "You've talked with her about me?"

"I've told her that you're a pain in my ass."

Aliya laughed, dryly, prodding him in rib at his attempt at a joke. Though, she cracked a laugh anyway.

"Kidding," His voice was still husky, from having only just woken up. And, it was the kind of tone that should be bottled up, so you could come back to it later. "I've told her you're kind, funny, beautiful—"

"Stop," She waved a hand, their limbs tangling together from underneath the bed sheets. "You're making me blush."

"—Great in bed."

Aliya gasped so loud Reese stirred from the rug, prematurely scratching at the door in an attempt to get away from these crazy people. "Jackson Robert Avery you did not tell your mother that I'm good in bed!"

"I wouldn't be wrong." He smirked, visible to her now that tangerine light soaked through the cracks of the curtains.

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Despite her lack of sleep and the anxiety gnawing away at her gut, Aliya arrived at the hospital fairly energised to say the least.

That was mainly due to the fact that she was running off of about five coffees, give or take.

Now, after changing into a pair of scrubs and checking up on a few of her patients, she was ready to meet her fellow residents to observe Catherine Avery's lecture.

"Aliya—" The voice of Henry Burton appeared behind, catching her off guard. Because, as much as she loved Henry, every time he stepped into this hospital her mind convinced her that he was dying.

"Henry! Thank god!" Aliya breathed a sigh of relief, because for some reason her brain also managed to trick her that Catherine Avery had just jumped her in the corridor, without Jackson for backup. "Honest opinion, have I used too much blush?"

Henry quirked a brow, glancing at Aliya's particularly pink cheeks. "No? Your cheeks look, uh, like they always do."

"Great—" She grinned, smoothing down her scrubs. "That's what I was going for. What are you doing here anyways?"

"I have a follow-up visit with Bailey," Henry explained, walking alongside Aliya as she made her way to the lecture theatre. "But, I'm also here to extend an invite."

"An invite?" Aliya smirked, stopping quickly at a vending machine to grab a bottle of water, hoping that would balance out the coffee jitters. "To what exactly?"

"Dinner." The Burton man cleared up quickly as the brunette inserted a dollar bill into the machine. "A Dinner Party."

"I never thought I'd see the day Henry Burton invited me to a dinner party, but here we are." Aliya said with a smirk, seeing as he was more of a take-out delivery kind of guy.

"I'm a very dignified man." Henry laughed with extended arms, continuing on their trek once Aliya retrieved her bottle. "And, I'm cooking."

"Married life has changed you." Aliya teased, happy for him and Teddy finally working it out — they belonged together, and their origin story may be far from conventional, but they just worked out. "But, I might need to take a rain check on dinner. Jackson's mother in is town, and I haven't met her yet, and—"

"You're totally freaking out?" Henry deduced from the way Aliya's palms were shaking, and she had broken out into a somewhat hot sweat.

"I'm totally freaking out." She agreed, not even attempting to deny it.

Because, it was certain the brunette was losing her shit.

"And, that's why you're freaking out over the pinkness of your cheeks?" Henry commented, gesturing towards the cheeks in question, amused at how freaked out she was.

She must like the guy.

"Yes, very much so."

She had resorted to picking at her nails in an attempt to calm herself down, though it appeared to not even work, she was spiralling.

God, she felt sick.

"Hey—" Henry said softly, placing a hand on either one of her shoulders to draw her back down to the land of the living. "You're going to be fine, she's gonna love you."

"What if she doesn't—"

"Don't even entertain that thought." Henry cut her off, his palms tightening around her shoulders as they were now stopped outside the entrance to the lecture theatre. "You're very lovable, Aliya Levine."

Aliya's face dropped completely, bile rising to her throat as the worst possible thought crossed her mind. "God, you're not dying are you?"

"What?" His hands dropped from his shoulders, brows knitting together at the sheer out of pocket question Aliya just pulled out. "No, I'm not dying!"

"Oh, thank god." Aliya clutched her chest, with a very loud phew! "You know, you were giving one of those 'I'm about to die' pep-talks, and I—"

"I can confirm, I'm not about to die, now go, meet your boyfriend's mother, and don't freak out."

And with that, Henry practically pushed her through the door, where she stumbled conveniently towards Cristina, Alex and Meredith.

"Aliya, you look green." The Grey woman observed as she came face to face with her.

The Levine woman gulped. "Please tell me you're joking? Are you joking? Because, Meredith, I'm gonna throw up in the next ten seconds—"

"You don't look green." Meredith assured, suddenly worrying about the brunette's current mental state.

"She's meeting her boyfriend's mother," Cristina stated as the four of them descended the steps to where Jackson and April had saved them a row of seats. "I would've run for the hills by now."

Aliya scrunched up her face, unscrewing the cap of her water bottle and downing half of the contents. "That doesn't make me feel any better, someone change the subject, or I'm gonna hurl myself down a flight of stairs."

"Altman postponed our surgery for grand rounds, I can't believe it—" Cristina understood the assignment, changing the subject as the four of them shuffled into their seats, Aliya dropping down to sit beside Jackson.

"How are you doing?" He asked, his voice light and airy, as if he was talking to a literal flight risk.

"I'm good. I'm great, even. Totally calm." She blurted out, her knee bouncing up and down.

"—It's just a boring lecture." Cristina said with a huff, dropping down into her own respective chair.

"Your husband said it was mandatory." Meredith replied back.

"One more hour of sleep, that's what it is." The Karev man began to roll up his white coat into a make shift pillow from where he was sat beside Aliya, cramming it behind his head, and shutting his eyes.

"Oh, no." April shook her head, disagreeing with everyone's statements of how they wanted to be anywhere but here. "It's not gonna be boring. This is Jackson's mother, Catherine Avery."

"She's a urologist, right?" Meredith questioned, looking across at Jackson, who was now sinking into his chair.

"Yeah!" April answered for him, very enthusiastically may it be noted. "I met her when I was an intern at Mercy West, she's amazing."

"She is a lunatic." Jackson corrected, tracing his finger around the rim of his takeout coffee cup.

"Jackson, you're stressing me out, 'cause you're stressed out, and you can't be stressed out right now, you've met your mother before, I haven't!"

Just by the sheer speed Aliya was talking, nobody could actually full interpret what she was saying, though it seemed only Jackson and Alex could actually piece it together.

"Stop stressing." Alex muttered, half-asleep beside them, his eyes still screwed shut.

"Easier said than freaking done." Aliya muttered, bitterly.

"She's a lunatic, but it'll be fine." Jackson assured, but seeing as lunatic and fine were quite contradictory words, Aliya couldn't help but not quite believe him. "Hey—"

He reached over, placing a hand on her knee, gently stopping the anxious bouncing, causing her to tear her eyes away from where they had been fixated on the screen at the front of the room.

He lowered his voice, his fingertips tracing circles across her scrubs. "What did I say this morning? She's gonna love you. She's going to ask you a million questions a minute, but she'll love you."

What even was anxiety? 'Cause looking at him made it seem like a myth to Aliya.

For a split second of course.

"And, just so you know, she's totally not a lunatic." April came to Catherine's defence quickly. "She's brilliant. She says these things that shock you, but when you think about them later, they change your whole life!"

"Or, they ruin your whole life." Jackson corrected, jumping into to squash any misconceptions about his own mother. "She's toxic, she's a meddler. My mom has no boundaries, be warned."

"Now, Jackson," Aliya threw her arms down in frustration, stirring Alex out of his slumber. "This is totally different from what you were saying earlier. The no boundaries part, sure, but your mother is toxic?"

"You could say I'm now officially, slightly a little panicked, and I was more focused on making you feel better than actually—" He trailed off, hiding behind the coffee cup.

"Oh, you're totally freaked!" The Levine woman gawked, all sense of calm she had felt ten seconds ago disappearing within an instant as she turned to the other four people around her. "He's freaked! He's never freaked!"

"I'm not freaked." Jackson protested. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"That's, like, the fiftieth time you've said that in the past minute!" Aliya hissed, going back for another huge swig of her water.

"We've got hypercritical surgeons for parents, who's to blame him?" Meredith piped up, the third nepo-baby in the room. "What happened when your mom met Jackson, huh?"

"Well—" Aliya pursed her lips, the memory hitting her like a slap across the face.

Because, it was.

Literally a slap across the face.

"Is your mom ambidextrous?" Cristina asked out of nowhere, breaking the silence of a pending existential crisis. "I bet she is. All the best surgeons are."

"Wait a second," Jackson turned across to the Kepner woman, spinner her engagement ring around on her finger. "How often do you talk to my mom?"

April shrugged. "We're Facebook friends."

"You're— You and my mother?" Jackson looked horrified to say the least.

"She's a brilliant surgeon and woman." April marvelled, solidifying herself as Catherine Avery's biggest fan. "She's a trailblazer."

"And, she's got a stalker."

"Hey, you know what? Just meet her. You'll see."

"Wake up, everybody!"

And, catching all six of them completely off guard, the woman that was Catherine Avery walked onto the stage with a sort of elegance and grace only the most powerful people at the top of their game seemed to ever possess.

"I'm gonna be sick." Aliya panicked, holding a hand to her mouth.

Jackson, who also looked slightly queasy, extended his arm, passing his coffee over to her to have. "It'll help with the nausea."

She instantly took the coffee, bringing it up to her lips as gulping down over half of the liquid, almost burning her entire oesophagus.

"I know. I know, it's gran rounds," Catherine spoke to the lecture theatre, her voice commanding the attention of every single person in the room (except Alex, now breathing heavily from where he was falling asleep, his head drooping onto Aliya's shoulder). "Where we all have to sit and listen to somebody talk about how somebody did something and here's how they did it, and there's not enough coffee in Brazil for this."

Aliya seemed to relate to that particular comment on a spiritual level, seeing as she was the one that probably snorted the loudest out of all the now laughing crowd.

"Well, not today." Catherine's voice projected, a grin adorning her lips.

Because, she seemed to have drawn her eyes directly over to her son, and the woman whispering into her son's ear.

Catherine Avery had obviously heard about Aliya Levine.

Both from being Molly Levine's daughter, and her son's girlfriend. She was born to be a surgical legend.

When Jackson had told her about Aliya, Catherine nearly fainted.

Because—

A) One Jackson Avery did not inform his mother about girlfriends of any kind, and

B) He finally informed her about his girlfriend.

And, ever since he told her about Aliya a month ago, she had been dying to meet her.

However, being a world famous surgeon did mean that her schedule was pretty full up.

For a brief second, she watched them, and how the Levine woman was smiling as she spoke, how she threw her head back in laughter. And, how her own son grinned wide at whatever joke she had just cracked.

"Today we are going to do." The Avery woman announced, finally letting her gaze pull away from the son, and his son's girlfriend. "Today I'm going to change a life, and maybe make medical history too. And, I can't do it alone, so who wants to step into the future with me?"

"Woohoo!" April hollered so loudly, it woke Alex up.

And, when April realised she was the only one to make such a noise, the Kepner woman sank back into her seat, completely mortified.

"Okay, that's all right, that's a start. Let's see if I can get a few more." Catherine smirked, turning away from the crowd for a brief moment. "Ryan, honey, would you come out here, please?"

Then, emerging from behind the stage, a man, presumably Ryan, stepped out, in nothing but a tied up robe.

"Everybody, this is Ryan." Catherine gestured to the man walking over towards her.

"Hi." Ryan said, looking out at the crowd, and Aliya leaned forward in her chair in anticipation, wondering what could possibly happen.

"Ryan, could you show everybody what we're here to do today?" Catherine asked, and as if on cue, Ryan started undoing his robe—

And, Aliya leaned in even closer. "I wonder—"

—And then, his robe dropped to the floor.

"No way!" Aliya gawked, along with every single person in the room around her.

"Ladies and gentleman," Catherine braced her hands on her hips, looking victoriously out at all the intrigued stares. "I'd like to invite a few very lucky residents to scrub in on this country's first penis transplant."

"Oh, you can sign me up right now." Aliya whispered under her breath, marvelling at how cool Jackson's mother was.

"Dude, she's joining Kepner in the Catherine Avery fan club." Alex snickered, peering over at Jackson, who was looking only slightly disturbed.

"Thanks to a case of penile cancer," Catherine continued on with her speech. "Ryan underwent a full penectomy eleven months ago. Good margins left him basically cured and cancer-free."

Catherine Avery held up her hand, giving Ryan a high-five.

"So that's gone!" Catherine enthused, turning her attention back towards the audience. "And, today we'll be replacing the other thing Ryan lost. A suitable donor's become available here at Seattle Grace Mercy West, and Ryan generously agreed to fly out and make this day a teaching opportunity. Who wants in?"

At that, Aliya's hand shot up into the air.

Along with practically all of the residents' hands, except Jackson of course.

The brunette quirked a brow at her boyfriend, sinking lower into his seat. "What, you don't want to give this guy a penis?"

Jackson pursed his lips, bringing his hand up to scratch his jaw. "With my mother? A penis transplant with my mother?"

"Hello!" The mother in question clapped her hands enthusiastically. "That's more like it!"

"Mark Sloan, plastics." Mark cleared his throat, rising up out of his seat. "Isn't penile reconstruction the standard approach in cases like these? Why a transplant?"

"Well, I can answer your question with a question." The woman standing before them audience lifted her chin. "Do you like your penis?"

Aliya practically choked on her coffee.

They didn't call him McSteamy for nothing.

"It does the job." The Sloan man chose to answer, and Jackson looked as if he wouldn't actually mind if he just stopped existing right there and then.

"If one day, it wasn't there, wouldn't you want it back?" Catherine asked, hypothetically speaking of course. "Or, would you be satisfied with a reconstructed organ that has very little function?"

"Satisfied? No." Mark shook his head.

"Neither would Ryan here." She gestured to the man beside her. "Yes, this is new ground. But, here's a young man with his whole life ahead of him, with the will to live it as a whole man, with a bravery and selflessness to help advance medical science along the way. So, let's give Ryan a hand!"

The crowd began to clap their hands as Catherine led them into a round of applause.

"And, now let's give Ryan a penis!"

Then, the whole audience began to cheer, even Aliya as she clapped very enthusiastically.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Jackson pointed out, because he was still distraught after hearing his mouth shout penis a bunch of times.

"Yes, very much so." Aliya practically beamed.

And, seeing how he was completely alone in his embarrassment, Jackson was barely noticeable, seeing as he was practically on the floor at this point of the lecture.

After the round of applause had finished, and everyone had begun filing out (and Jackson had finally scooped himself up off the ground), Aliya sat there, drumming her fingertips on her knees, watching as Catherine chatted to a group of residents.

"Are you ready?" Jackson asked, also watching his own mother from afar.

Aliya nodded her head, clearing her throat and rolling her shoulders, as if mentally and physically preparing herself. "No, yes? Yes. I am. I'm ready. I mean, she seems like an amazing woman who can say penis fifty times in the space of ten minutes— she's cool."

"Please don't remind me." Jackson squirmed getting up out of his seat, holding his hand out for Aliya to take.

The brunette smirked, taking his hand and letting him guide her past the sea of doctors all waiting to get a word in with Catherine.

"Are you cool?" Jackson asked, looking back over his shoulder at her.

"I'm very cool." Aliya confirmed, however, she gulped, and she was not very cool. "Sure, I feel green but, it's fine. It's gonna be fine, right?"

"Yes, sweetheart, it'll be fine." He urged, his voice barely distinguishable over the hustle. "You're perfect."

At last, they reached her, and Jackson gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance, and Aliya hadn't even realised that the four residents they had just left were staring down directly at them.

"Gotta make a big show out of everything." The Avery man said as they approached her.

Catherine turned away from the resident she was currently speaking to, her lips breaking out into a wild and wide grin. "There's my baby boy, come here."

"Hi, Mom." Jackson laughed as Catherine drew him into a hug, her arms holding onto him as if for dear life.

"You look skinny," Catherine commented, drawing away from the hug to analyse the son she hadn't actually seen in a while. Sure, they spoke on the phone, but she hadn't actually seen him in what felt like forever. "You're not sleeping?"

Lovingly, she reached up to his cheek, her hands holding them in her palms as she searched his features for any tells of sleep-deprivation.

Caused only by the brunette behind him.

"Hey, I'm fine, Mom." Jackson smiled warmly, before pulling his mom's hand away from his face, stepping back to allow the spotlight to shine on the woman behind him, waiting patiently to be introduced. "I want you to—"

"Oh my God, honey!" Catherine exclaimed so loudly it drew the attention of a few of the doctors loitering a round her.

You could have probably heard her from the other side of the country.

Catherine's jaw dropped to the floor, her hands flying to her cheeks as her eyes rested again on the woman opposite her, all from her rosy cheeks, to her brunette hair curling long past her shoulders.

Something about her reaction, her presence, brought Aliya out into a smile. Because, all worries seemed to disappear for a brief moment in time.

"You must be Aliya!"

And, before Aliya could even reply, Catherine had her in a hug that threatened to restrict her breathing.

"Hey!" Aliya chuckled into Catherine's shoulder, hugging the woman back. "I've heard so much about you!"

"Oh, please," Catherine grinned, pushing Aliya back from her shoulders to take a good look at her. "I bet he never even talks about me."

She mocked a look of despair, side-eyeing her son.

"Oh, he can never shut up about you!" Aliya enthused, her cheekbones starting to throb from holding a very wild grin for the past fifteen seconds.

Was this true? No.

But, somehow the words just rolled off her tongue, because it seemed like something you would say to your boyfriend's mother.

"Seriously?" That seemed to make Catherine smile very fondly, reaching over to pinch Jackson's cheeks, as if he were a toddler. "Missing your old mom, hey? Realising I'm not actually a pain in your behind?"

Jackson on the other hand, did not look very impressed at the whole cheek-squeezing thing, purely caused by Aliya's comment.

"I'd really— ow— appreciate it if you didn't squeeze my cheeks in public." Jackson squirmed, attempting to laugh it off (and get his mother's hands off of his face), he looked down at Aliya with furrowed brows. "This is all your fault, by the way."

Aliya shrugged with a wave of her hand, finding this whole interaction rather hilarious, though it was obviously humiliating for him. "You know how much I love embarrassing you, it's my favourite pastime."

"Well, I'm sorry, I haven't seen my baby boy in what feels like forever." Catherine frowned, dropping her hands away from his cheeks, her attention suddenly switching half a second later. "I want to know everything, he's feeding me breadcrumbs!"

"He's very ambiguous." Aliya agreed

"Isn't he?" Catherine agreed, leaning in close and placing a hand on Aliya's arm like it was the most natural thing to do in the world. "Ever since he was in diapers, I can't—"

"I'm not ambiguous," Jackson quickly cut in, before his mother shared any embarrassing anecdote. "You're just a meddler, mother."

Catherine shrugged him off. "I'm just asking questions mothers ask when they find out their son has a girlfriend, so, when did you two meet?"

"Over two years ago, during the merger." Aliya answered, her shoulder pressing into Jackson's shoulder, as if they were super glued together because right now, during the interrogation, they had to be a united front.

Catherine seemed to find this all very thrilling, as she clapped her hands together theatrically. "It's like Romeo and Juliet! How long have you been together?"

"Oh—" Aliya glanced up at Jackson, who looked just as thrown off at this question.

It wasn't even a bad question. Except that their relationship timeline was a bit—

How do you put it?

Rocky.

Jackson cleared his throat, placing an arm around Aliya's shoulder, already sensing her panic. "Well it's been—"

"About—"

Yeah, how long had they actually been together?

If they didn't count the time before the break up, that would be five months.

But, if they did, it would be seven.

"Um—" The Levine woman had appeared to sink closer into his side, as if searching for an escape, because how could one easy question throw her off completely? "Two plus five—"

"Two plus five?" Catherine raised an amused brow.

"Well," Aliya drew out every single letter, looking back at Jackson for help, urgently. "We were together for two months, then we broke up for, like, three months, and now, well—"

"We're together again." Jackson clarified, and the pair looked at each other, and the hole they had just dug for themselves. "That's it, that's all that matters."

Catherine's expression was unreadable, however, after a few seconds, the edges of her lips curved upwards. "Seven months is it?"

"Though, it isn't all that matters, because, Dr. Avery, your son snores in the middle of the night, waking the whole house up." Aliya informed, making an attempt to change the conversation to something a tad more lighthearted. "Like a freaking trucker."

"Hey!" Jackson defended, quickly snapping his head towards her. "You kick me!"

"You leave your dirty socks all over the bedroom floor." Aliya argued back, though they weren't really arguing, it was more of a theatrically attempt to distract his mother.

"My baby's in love." Catherine mused, holding her hands to her cheeks as she watched and smiled at the two residents before her, bickering like an old married couple.

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After the semi-successful meeting of her boyfriend's mother, Aliya was sat at a desk in the skills lab Catherine Avery was teaching.

"Who has worked with the tissue of the penis before?" The Avery woman questioned the room as Jackson entered the room, slipping past his mother and taking a seat beside Aliya.

"Kepner keep you hand down." Alex joked, and Aliya desperately tried to stop herself from snorting with laughter (however, spoiler alert, she failed).

"Shhhh!" April hissed, looking at the Karev man as if she wanted to throttle him right there and then.

"Sloan just slapped my ass." Jackson said, bitterly, eyeing up the plastic surgeon from across the room, who was now giving him a thumbs up.

Aliya redirected her attention towards him, shocked at how abrupt his statement was. "He slapped your ass? Your full ass?"

It seemed Jackson's only emotion today was disturbed. "Yes, Aliya, he slapped my full ass."

"Well," She cleared her throat, trying hard not to laugh. "Are you okay?"

"Sloan touched my ass." He deadpanned, now slipping on his trauma gown. "Of course I'm not alright."

From the front of the skills lab, Catherine continued on with her speech, unknowingly. "Its delicate vascularity demands a grace and elegance that not many surgeons of your station have mastered. The two surgeons to do the best end-to-end anastomosis of their chicken's femoral vessels will scrub in with me."

Aliya sat up further in her seat, stretching out her back in preparation.

Because, there was no way she wasn't getting in on this surgery.

There was no way in hell.

"So be cautious," Catherine advised, walking the length of the skills lab, sizing up the residents on display. "Be careful, be brilliant. Begin!"

"Bet you twenty dollars I can do this in fifteen minutes." Jackson murmured, reaching across for his tweezers after pulling on his gloves.

"Oh, you're so on." Aliya agreed, reaching for her own tools to begin. "Let's not forget who won last time."

And, as the competitive surgeons began, it had seemed that both the ass-slapping plastic surgeon and the egotistical neuro surgeon were standing behind their mentees, looming over their shoulders like helicopter moms.

"My guy's gonna kick ass at this." Mark whispered to Derek as he watched Jackson work carefully, knowing full well he can hear whatever he said.

"You being serious?" Derek scoffed, crossing his arms in dismissal of Sloan's statement. "Levine's got this in the bag, she's got the steadiest hand out of all the residents in here."

Though, the two were too focused on actually responding back to their less than subtle whispers.

Catherine stopped in front of them, tapping on the Kepner woman's shoulder.

"Yes!" April beamed, excitedly. "You have no idea how—"

"No." Catherine quickly interrupted the red head before she had any ideas. "Sorry, sweetie. You're too tense. You're all wound up. This isn't wood shop. Step to the back."

And, at that April Kepner walked over to the back.

And, a few moments later, so did Cristina Yang (cause of elimination: too many lattes).

Then, Meredith Grey, distracted by the latte drinker.

"It's very simple people." Catherine called out once a few more had joined the eliminated residents. "All it has to be is perfect."

And, then there were three.

Alex Karev, Jackson Avery, and Aliya Levine.

That was until Alex's pager began to buzz aggressively on the desk, which he tried to ignore, but it proved impossible. "I gotta— I'm out."

And, he was off, leaving the skills lab in a hurry.

"Hey, he forfeits, right?" Mark and Derek both seemed to point out in unison, now that Alex was well and truly out of the door. "He walked out."

"Congratulations, we have our winners!" The Avery woman pointed towards Aliya and Jackson, now that it had been officially declared.

"Yes!" Aliya dropped her tools, turning to give Derek a victory high-five. "Ha! You did that in eighteen minutes, you owe me a twenty."

Cristina's hand shot up directly into the air. "He's your son, and she's your son's girlfriend, and you're the judge. Isn't there some rule against that—"

"I don't play favourites, dear." Catherine said, simply and gracefully. "Nepotism is for the weak."

"That's what my birthday cards always said." The Avery man informed the residents around him with wide green eyes.

The brunette snickered under her breath, patting him on his knee as she thought about a six year old Jackson, excitedly opening an envelope only to find "nepotism is for the weak" written in swirly cursive writing.

Because, even she couldn't help finding that funny.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"Now, it's gonna be big right?"

"Chad." Ryan gawked at his brother stood beside his bed, now he was finally in his room before being taking up to pre-op.

"What?" Chad surrendered, prodding Ryan's shoulder gently. "I'm just sayin', maybe you could be trading up, you know? Have you seen it?"

Chad pointed directly towards the youngest woman in the room.

More formally known as Aliya Levine, who apparently seemed to be the one to ask about the penis.

"Yes, I've seen it." Aliya confirmed with a nod of her head, smirking across at Jackson swaying on the balls of his feet beside her.

"How's it measure up? It's nothing to be embarrassed about?" Chad interrogated, seeming very interested in this whole thing.

And, very interested in the brunette, so it seemed.

He was practically drooling.

Ryan's cheeks flushed a very deep shade of red purely to do with his brother embarrassing the hell out of him. "Chad! Shut up!"

"I'm just sayin'." The brother defended. "My little brother's a good-lookin' kid. He's gonna need—"

"He's gonna be happy with it." Jackson cut in, before Chad had the chance to mortify Ryan even further.

"And, it's going work?" Chad persisted, relentlessly. "Not just the plumping, it'll stand up and report for duty?"

"Like a soldier, yes." Aliya helpfully answered.

"Chad I swear to God—"

"That's the point of doing a transplant, to hopefully restore full urinary and sexual function." Catherine cut in, looking over the rim of her glasses at Chad.

"If you're worried, there's always penile reconstruction." Mark added from where he was stood beside Chad, earning a less than impressed glare from the Avery woman. "It's less risky."

"I saw the signs for months before I saw a doctor." Ryan informed the plastic surgeon, looking down at his bedsheets, ashamed of his waiting so long. "By the time I finally saw someone, they tell me it's cancer, it's too far gone, and I have to lose it. I'm tired of every time I look down being reminded of what a coward I am. This feels like a second chance, and like she says, if you can learn something from me, that might help out the next guy, then I can feel pretty good about that, too."

Mark nodded his head in understanding, deciding not to argue the reconstruction route even further.

"Okay," Catherine grinned, closing Ryan's chart infront of her. "I'll see you in surgery."

Jackson and Aliya took it as their cue to file out of the room, stepping out into the hallway to prepare for the surgery, and get Ryan taken up for him pre-op.

"I don't know if I can operate on a penis with my mother for twelve hours." Jackson gulped as the door shut behind them, and the two approached the desk.

"Oh, c'mon, you'll be fine," The brunette assured, wrapping her arms around his arm, chuckling as she pressed her cheek into his scrubs. "Instead of penis, pretend she's saying pancreas, the pancreas isn't very sexy."

"Pancreas." He repeated, as if to test to see whether it was sexy or not, his forehead creasing from how tense he had been all morning. "Okay, I can do that. And, if she says anything, you know—"

"I'll change the subject." Aliya said, coolly, before he could even finish his sentence. "It's gonna be fine, and when we're out of—"

Jackson raised a brow in alarm as she trailed off, because now the Levine woman was staring straight past his shoulder, rather than directly at him.

"What the hell—" She spoke, every single inch of her face tightening, her breath catching in her chest, her cheeks paling within an instant.

He reached out for her, a hand gripping hold of her shoulder as if to bring her back, because she looked as if she had just seen a ghost. "Aliya, are you alright?"

Before she could get the words out, he twisted around, bearing witness to what exactly Aliya had just witnessed.

And that was Molly Levine, and Elijah Beck rounding the corridor, heading directly towards the couple.

"We can just walk the other way, we don't have to talk to them." He murmured, ready to bolt down the corridor with her, if she just said the word.

She finally averting her gaze away from the woman now within ten metres of her, she looked back up at him, his eyes dark.

"It's okay, it's fine." Aliya gave him a brief smile, before they were faced with the devil herself.

"Aliya, I—" Elijah started to justify why he was with her mother, but Molly took the reins.

"Oh, Aliya, hello." Molly introduced, a very forced grin on her face, Elijah looking a little queasy beside her, as if he didn't actually want to be caught dead with Aliya's mother. "What are you doing here?"

Aliya pulled a face, smelling a waft of her mother's expensive perfume. "Well, I do work in this hospital, so why else would I be doing here? Better question is, what are you doing here?"

"I've come to help out on a surgery." Her mother explained, her hands braced on her hips. "Dr. Beck here is assisting me, it's a—"

"I really don't care." The brunette interrupted and Jackson snorted at her comment, before her mother could go into a twenty minute description of the procedure and then test her on it afterwards.

She really didn't have the patience for her mother, now or ever.

Molly pursed her lips, crossing her arms over her blue blouse. "You don't have to be like this."

"Me?" Aliya pointed to her chest, her brows raising to her hairline. "Being like this? Yeah, sure."

"We better be going now," Jackson cleared his throat, his hands finding the small of Aliya's back, ready to get the out of this shit. "We have a surgery to get to."

"A penis transplant?" Molly glared at Jackson, scoffing as she flicked her blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Yeah, I heard about that, you can scrub in with Dr. Beck and I, you know. Isn't it great he transferred over to Seattle? I really did miss you, Elijah. So did Travis."

"Well, isn't that lovely." Jackson spoke up, effortlessly sarcastic.

Molly, however, tried to ignore him and his very obvious glares, and his existence for that matter. "I really think you two should have a chat about all this, because it isn't very healthy to be—"

"You know what?" Aliya said with a laugh, before her mother could put her foot into Aliya'a life again.

If Catherine Avery was a meddler, what the hell did they call her mother?

"Just leave me, my boyfriend, and my penis alone!" She seemed to realise what exactly she said, about half a second after the words flew out of her mouth, and also judging by Elijah looking shellshocked, Molly looking horrified, and Jackson looking very entertained. "Oh, that came out wrong on so many levels."

It was safe to say, Molly looked horrified.

Elijah too, but he hadn't uttered a word in the past few minutes. He looked as if he'd been struck by lightening.

And, as if things couldn't get any worse, Catherine emerged from Ryan's room, with Mark Sloan at her side. "Well, isn't this nice. Molly Levine, still bitter?"

"Catherine Avery!" Molly's lips spread out into yet another incredibly false smile, so fake her eye started twitching. "Well, what a surprise! Still miserable?"

"Oh, I'm as happy as can be, honey." Catherine smiled through gritted teeth, waving the cardio surgeon off. "I just met your magnificent daughter, isn't she a dream? I mean, can you believe your daughter and my son are together?"

Molly seemed to pale at that particular comment, seeing as she would rather feed herself to wolves than see Aliya with him. "Something I can only believe in my nightmares."

Catherine's jaw clenched at the sudden dig towards her son. "And, what is that supposed to mean, Moll?"

"You know exactly what it means." Molly replied, her voice harsh and low. "That I want your son's paws off of my daughter."

Catherine scoffed so loud the whole state could probably hear her, and she stopped forward, as if she were about to throw her fists at the woman right here and there. "You did not just say that."

Molly, like the woman she was, also took a step forward. "I most certainly—"

"Oh, good god, mother." Aliya snapped, grabbing her mother by her elbow and dragging her away from her two ex's, her current boyfriend, and her boyfriend's mother.

"Ow, Aliya! Don't pull me for crying out I'm a grown woman—"

"You have absolutely no right to come here and act all high and mighty." The brunette hissed under her breath, now she had finally gotten her mother away from her.

That woman was a freaking ticking time bomb.

Aliya huffed, not realising she could hate her mother even more than she did now. "Why don't you just carry on with your surgery, and I'll carry on with mine, deal?"

Molly quirked a brow, crossing her arms tightly across her chest as she through about Aliya's proposition for a moment. "Yes—"

"Thank you." Aliya sighed in relief—

"—BUT—"

—Oh God.

"You'll have dinner with me." Molly proposed, and Aliya's jaw hit the floor. Because, she couldn't think of anything worse than having dinner. With her mother. "I'm in town until tomorrow evening, so is your father. So, you'll have dinner with us tomorrow."

Aliya stiffened, pursing her lips tightly together in an effort not to look so shocked. "What if I said I didn't want to? What if I said there's nothing you could possibly to say to me to get me to change my mind?"

Molly lifted her chin in a superiority move, as if sizing her own daughter up. "I would say the reservation is for four people at seven o'clock."

"Four people?"

"Well," Molly clicked her tongue. "You'll have to bring that boyfriend of yours, seeing as he barely ever leaves your side."

And with that, she left her in the hallway.

With only the scent of her Chanel perfume looming in the air.

This woman always seemed to have a knack for randomly appearing at the worst possible moment, and lingering like a bad rash.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"You were very impressive in the skills lab, Aliya." Catherine told the brunette as they prepared for the surgery, waiting on the surgical floor for Ryan to be brought down. "What are you specialising in?"

"Thank you." Aliya smiled wide, managing to ignore the bad omen that was in fact, her very own mother. "And, I've gone with neuro."

"I can see why," She nodded in approval of her choice. "You've got the steady hands for it."

"Jackson had a chance to be on neuro," Mark announced, a wide shit eating grin on his face, patting his protégé on the back. "But, he turned it down to follow me into plastics."

Catherine looked positively horrified at the news, turning her head quickly towards her son. "You had an opportunity to work with Derek Shepherd? And you turned it down? For plastics? Jackson Avery, who raised you when I wasn't looking?"

Jackson sighed whilst tying his scrub cap, ignoring the very loud gasp coming from his mother. "Mom, let's not—"

"He confessed he had a thing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer when he was a kid." Aliya blurted out, making an attempt to change the subject away from anything related to disappointed mothers.

"I'm standing right here." Mark frowned at the disappointment mother in question, and the comment she made previous.

Aliya's efforts were in vain, so it seemed.

"I know, honey, but this isn't about you." The Avery woman informed, very nicely might it be noted.

It seemed, the very obvious difference between Catherine and Molly was that at least Jackson's mom actually gave two shits about him.

"This is about this boy," She gestured towards her son, who looked like he needed to be handed a shovel so he could dig a hole to crawl into. "And— here he is!"

Jackson looked quite thankful that the elevator opened at that moment in time, and Ryan was wheeled through it on his gurney.

Because, at least it stopped his mother from whatever it was she was about to say.

"The man of the hour!" Catherine clapped her hands together, approaching the gurney, meeting them in the middle of the hall. "Chad, honey, this is as far as you can go."

"Buddy, as soon as this is over, I'm gonna take you to test drive that thing in every strip club in Long Island." Chad informed his brother (who didn't look too thrilled about this deal), clapping him on the shoulder, which was where Aliya noticed Chad's hand was shaking with anxiety.

Ryan rolled his eyes at his brother, and the comments he had been making all morning, and ever since they got here. "Chad, stop. For the past year, all we've talked about is this. I miss talking about the Knicks." He then turned to Catherine with a hopeful expression. "Tell me this is gonna work so I can have my brother back."

"It's gonna work." Catherine reassured. "I'm gonna go harvest the organ right now. I'll see you in the OR."

Ryan nodded his head, turning back towards his brother. "When this is over, you can never mention my penis again."

Chad gave in with a laugh, taking his brother's hand, accepting the deal. "Promise."

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"All right my dears—" Catherine cleared her throat, looking around the operating room at all the residents gathered around to watch them operate, to watch her make history. "What do you say we get to anastomosing these deep dorsal vessels?"

"Suction." Mark requested, and Aliya held the suction lightly, making sure not to screw any of this up. Especially seeing as Catherine was there, standing right beside her.

"Hmmm—" Catherine made a satisfactory noise from where she was looking through the eye pieces. "Very good, Dr. Levine, very nice."

"Thank you." Aliya smiled from behind her mask, because usually whenever someone complimented her surgical abilities, there would be the necessary follow up comment that had something to do with her parents.

But, with Catherine, she never mentioned them once.

As she said, nepotism was for the weak.

"I see your mother hasn't changed." Catherine commented idly as they operated on Ryan.

Aliya chuckled, lightly. "I just tend to phase her out, she's just white noise."

Catherine seemed to find that quite amusing, laughing as she continued. "She's a brilliant surgeon your mother is. Difficult, though."

"Try living with her for eighteen years," The brunette smirked, double checking her mother wasn't actually lurking in the gallery. "She takes crazy to a whole new level."

Catherine thought on the subject for a moment, carefully choosing her words. "I can see she's very hard on you—"

"So, Mom." Jackson interrupted on cue, steering the conversation far away from Molly. "How's grandpa?"

"Harper's Harper." She sighed, reaching over for a clamp the scrub nurse handed across to her. "A miserable old bastard."

Aliya found that quite funny to say the least, because at least the woman had a sense of humour, and Mark nearly choked on his very own breath.

"What? It's true." Catherine surrendered, completely unbothered about the dozen pairs of eyes and ears taking in every single thing they were doing. "It's not like I'm wrong."

"At least you're honest." Jackson agreed, sharing a look with the brunette from over the top of their eye pieces. "There's worse things to be."

"Exactly." Catherine replied. "Aliya, my dear, where did you study?"

"I went to Columbia." She answered, still concentrating on suctioning away.

"Top of your class? Valedictorian in High School? Prom queen?" It was only a matter of time where the truth came out that Catherine Avery did in fact run a background check on Aliya, and also a very intense internet deep dive.

The devil worked fast, but surgeons worked faster.

"Uh—yes. As a matter of fact, I was all those things." Aliya, however, looked very alarmed, glancing at Jackson as if he knew anything about his mother's spies.

"Did you hire a private investigator?" Jackson asked, sarcastically, but if she did it wasn't as if he would actually be surprised.

"No," Catherine denied, scoffing at the insinuation. "I have much better things to spend my money on, all this was in one google search."

In other words, she was mad she hadn't thought about a private investigator sooner.

"Your girlfriend's smart." Catherine spoke with pride, finally glad her son had found some like him.

Jackson laughed, light-heartedly. "I could've told you that."

⠀
⠀
MEANWHILE ON THE
OTHER-SIDE OF THE HOSPITAL
⠀
⠀

For some people, this day could be considered the worst day of their lives.

Those people were named Derek Shepherd, and Meredith Grey, seeing as their child (legal or not, Zola was theirs) ended up in the emergency room this morning with a bowel obstruction, and her bowels were compressing her ventriculoperitoneal shunt that both Aliya and Derek had placed a few months ago.

"What is your plan on fixing this?" Derek managed to speak calmly, seeing as he just went on a verbal rampage for the past five minutes.

"It's just kinked." Arizona told him, trying to calm the neuro surgeon down. "Once I get in there, and I removed the adhesions, and I fix the obstruction, the shunt will be fine."

"What if it's not?" Derek questioned, not entirely convinced that this was fixable without him in the operating room. "What if it's disconnected, or broken?"

"Then I convert to a VA shunt." The Robbins woman replied back. "Derek, I can do this. Let me do this."

After a moments hesitation, Derek cleared his throat, straightening his back. "Fine. But, I want Levine in there. She operated with me last time, she's the next best thing."

"Deal, Levine's in there with me." Arizona nodded, and the Shepherd man was already gone, storming off to the surgical floor.

When he finally got there, he held a mask to his face, bursting through the door, catching the prying eyes of about half a dozen residents.

"Levine." He managed to get out, speaking through the lump lodged in his throat.

"Dr. Shepherd," Catherine spoke up, looking away from the surgery for just a moment. "Is there a problem?"

"No—" Derek answered, even though there most definitely was a problem. "I just need Levine."

Aliya then looked up, the neurosurgeon getting her attention, one hand still on the suction. "Is everything okay?"

"It's urgent, I wouldn't be in here if it wasn't." He said, his blue eyes wide as he spoke, his voice raspy, as if he was fighting for breath.

Something about Derek was that he was very rarely like this, even when the clinical trial was scrapped, he was the one to calm Aliya down.

She never usually was in his shoes. To be the one that calmed the other person down before they self imploded.

"Sorry, Dr. Avery. I've got to go." Aliya quickly got out, before handing over her suction, and slipping out from her position besides Ryan.

"What, Aliya—" Catherine protested, confused at her sudden disappearance, but she was already long gone, Derek whisking her away.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"Zola was a dream." Aliya smiled as she left the surgery to go tell Meredith and Derek how she did, and the relief that washed over their faces was something that made the whole thing worth while. "She sailed through it, she's gonna be fine."

"Oh, thank god." The Grey woman clutched her chest, hunching over as she burst into sobs, the weight on her shoulders finally lifting, shaking as hot, burning tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Aliya," Derek's words caught in his throat as he went over to comfort Meredith, wrapping his arms round her. "You have no idea—"

"Anytime. For Zola, anytime."  Aliya stopped him before he could say anything else, looking behind her shoulder superstitiously, before stepping closer towards the couple, her voice lowering before talking again. "I've told her social worker she's still getting stitched up, and that she can see her in a few minutes."

"Aliya?" Meredith whispered in shock, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you have five minutes before Janet comes back, plus another five when I distract her." Aliya smiled, mischievously, angling her head towards where the pair knew Zola would be, because even though she would be unconscious, at least they could see her.

And, Aliya didn't really mind being the decoy.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"So, tell me about plastics." Catherine swirled the straw in her drink as she sat with her son in Joe's bar, fresh out of the hospital, now waiting for Aliya to join them.

"Mom. Come on, I'm tired." Jackson complained, bringing his beer up to his lips. "And, I don't want to spend all night trying to convince you it's a legitimate speciality."

"I'm asking you to share your interests." His mother defended, sipping on her straw. "We don't have to talk about Sloan. Better yet, we can talk about a certain someone who's gonna be fashionable late."

"Mom—"

Catherine grinned, taking great enjoyment out of watching him squirm. "Goes by the name Aliya."

With a sigh, he set down his beer bottle, leaning across the table they had snagged. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you love her?" Catherine instantly questioned, not even waiting a single second, or asking a more simple question.

But, in Jackson's eyes, it was the easiest and simplest question anyone could ask him. "Of course I love her. I've never felt this way about anyone before in my life."

"Are you gonna marry her?" Catherine pried further, because now this one was far less easy.

Jackson hissed, looking around to see if Aliya had snuck up on them when he wasn't looking, and heard what his mother had just said. "Mom!"

"What?" Catherine shrugged, nailing the false innocent act. "It's a valid question."

"I guess—" The corner of his lips turned up at the question, his heart beating in his chest obnoxiously erratically. "I can see myself—"

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Aliya breezed through the bar towards them, her coat slouched across her arm, her bag in the other hand. "I got caught up in surgery, it's a long story."

It seemed, even unconsciously they were always saving each other from uncomfortable situations orchestrated by their parents.

"Aliya, honey," Catherine grinned, hugging the brunette and planting a kiss on her cheek, her own cheeks flushed from the very few sips of her whiskey. "We were just talking about you."

Aliya laughed, setting down her stuff to slip into the stool next to Jackson, kissing him as he took her coat, setting it on the back of her chair. "All good things I hope."

"Great things." Catherine mused, smirking all knowingly as Jackson, though he tried to ignore it, his mother was relentless.

"Is everything okay?" Jackson asked, still avoiding his mother's intense stares.

"All good now, it was Zola. We had to go in and repair her shunt, and Derek wanted me to be in there with her." Aliya explained, accepting the drink Jackson passed her and taking a much needed swig. "I completely lost track of time."

"Aliya, it's fine, honey, you're a surgeon, time flies by." Catherine reached over to the brunette, placing a hand on her own. "Has Jackson ever told you the story of when he was five—"

"Oh no—" Jackson sighed, dropping his head flat down onto the table, his mother already whipping out the embarrassing anecdotes from his childhood.

"—And he stepped on a worm, completely split it into two separate worm pieces—"

Jackson groaned, trying to stop her. "—I'd really appreciate it if you stop—"

"He spent the entire afternoon taping this worm together because he wanted to prove to everyone that he could be a surgeon too, just like the rest of the family!" Catherine threw her head back, laughing at the distant memory.

"I know about Frodo the imaginary friend," The brunette smiled fondly, placing a hand lovingly to his cheek. "But I didn't know a thing about the worm murder, that's priceless."

"Next time, I'm bringing the baby photos." Catherine promised — both that she'll bring the photos and that there will be a next time.

"Oh, yes!" Aliya enthused, clapping her hands together excitedly.

(She would sell a kidney to see Jackson's baby photos.)

"Anything but the baby photos, Mom, you get them out at every family gathering." The Avery man sighed with pursed lips, casting a glare towards his mother, even though he was trying to fight the urge to crack a smile.

"What's the problem with that?" Catherine defended. "You were a cute baby."

Jackson scoffed, pointing his beer bottle at his mother. "The problem is that there about twenty pictures of me taking a bath."

Aliya burst into laughter, how she longed for a mother like that. The kind you could actually joke with, instead of just being the punchline of a joke.

"Oh—" Aliya hadn't realised her phone had been ringing insanely from her jacket pocket as she pulled it out, Summer's caller ID lighting up the screen. "I'm so sorry I'm going to have to take this, I'll be right back!"

She slipped off of the bar stool, answering the phone to hear her friend's very muffled voice.

"Hey, Summer, what's going on?" Aliya stepped outside, the cold bitter Seattle breeze catching her completely off guard. "You're sent me like, fifteen messages—"

"Why doesn't no one answer their goddamn phone!" The Vasquez woman snapped loudly into the mic, clearly very agitated.

"Hello to you too." Aliya chuckled, wrapping her arms together to protect herself from the cold.

"Have you see the article?" Summer interrogated, a sense of urgency in the tone of her voice.

On the other line, Aliya was incredibly confused. "What article?"

"She hasn't seen the article." Mae spoke, catching Aliya off guard seeing as she didn't even know this way a three way call.

"Oh, hi Mae." Aliya greeted, now she finally knew the Park woman was there too.

"Hi, honey," Mae spoke, warmly, and Aliya could hear the TV on in the background. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just had a tequila—"

"Aliya, look at the fucking article!" Summer cut in before Aliya could get sidetracked, her voice much harsher than she ever intended.

"Fine, fine, give me a minute God!" Aliya chuckled, putting her phone on speaker. "What's it even about?"

"Work place romances," Summer answered, and Aliya could just about hear the nervous tapping of fingernails on a countertop. "It's from a newspaper in California, I'm back home for the weekend, and Mom showed it to me."

Aliya snorted as she tapped on her emails, finding the email Summer had sent her with the so called article attached to it. "That's lame."

"Aliya—"

"Hang on, I'm just—" Aliya gnawed on her lip as she tapped on the link staring at her from her lit up screen.

Mae's breathing turned shaky in the mic, and Summer had gone mute, so it's seemed. "I need you to take a breath before you read it, alright?"

"You're scaring me." Aliya chucked, nervously, her eyes tracing the screen. "It's just an article, it's no big deal—"

Though, Aliya's breath caught in her chest, her words disappearing into the cold breeze.

Mae's advice was right.

This whole thing must be a bad dream.

Because, in what universe would a newspaper call Aliya a slut to the whole nation?
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀

( notes! )

and if they call me a "slut!" you know it might be worth it for once !!!!!!!!!!!! +++ taylor is singing this rn at the eras tour????? how perf is that????

i had to make catherine LOVE aliya cause our girl needs at least one good thing this season 💓💓

( word count! — 10,700 )