A/N: Oh my god, almost 300 reads now! 80 votes, and over 20 comments from you guys! I absolutely love it, along with a few kind readers who took the time to tell me what they thought :) I love reading that stuff! Thanks, ILYSM, and keep reading, voting, and commenting! You have no idea what's in store ;)

My mind continually draws blanks, I can't seem to make up a viable excuse to escape impending doom: A weekend with the Jacksons.

I keep looking back to Michael for help, but he offers none, staring off at some imaginary point far in the distance with his arms crossed over his chest.

I clear my throat politely, and give the group of Jacksons another plastered on fake smile. "I don't know, um, Michael and I do have our shifts at the hospital." "The hospital, what?" Michael shoots me a glare, rubbing his forehead exasperatedly.

"We're surgical interns." "Oh yes! Michael did say something about that, honey, but missing one shift won't hurt you. I'm sure your boss will understand?" His mother says, smoothing her dress. They all seem to have a foot stuck in the sixties, but it's kinda refreshing.

"Oh come on, do you want to stay here in New York so badly?" Says the youngest Jackson, a girl staring down at me. I take one last look at Michael, and then smile for the last time. "Well... Sure. I guess it couldn't hurt." That's a lie, I know this whole trip is gonna be the death of me. A slow, prolonged and emotionally painful death.

Michael doesn't attempt to hide his disdain, giving me a long disgusted glare. "Yes!" They all cheer, and I wonder why. They don't know me, I could be some psychotic murderer or something. "We'll come pick you guys up Friday afternoon!" His mother gushes, and Michael finally says something.

"Well, I'll show you guys out now." He says, evenly and calmly, ushering them down the hall. I stand in my spot, looking after them. "Aren't you coming back to class?" "I'll see you Friday." He snaps, disappearing with them out the doors of the hall.

A creeping sense of dread grows in my chest the more I think about what hell I'm going to have to face this weekend. He doesn't hide his intense hatred for me, but then he tries to do things like... kissing. I wonder if he's as confused as I am, because I have no idea what to do about him.

****

Unsure and extremely uncomfortable, I look around the small laboratory, at all the stations of equipment and microscopes set up. As Chief Rose's... or Will's intern, I've been exempt from Skills Labs, he knows I could do a four-corner stitch suture in my sleep and there's no use wasting time practicing it.

But here I am, in a room full of light blue scrubs, fresh lab coats, and a whole lot of inexperienced hands. Will had an early surgery, and couldn't save me in time. "Alright, pick a partner, pick a station, pick a banana, and let's go!" I casually walk to one of the microscopes, and I'm immediately bombarded with a brigade of eager partners. Worse? It's Wednesday, so I've never even seen these interns. Michael saw me leaving for my extra shift, and annoyingly tagged along.

"Pick me!" "Come on, she doesn't even know you. She likes me better!" "Are you kidding, you're the one who called her a nurse behind her back!" "Move aside." Michael barks finally, standing next to me at the Microscope. He doesn't even look at me, setting his banana down under the lens, and leans into the eyepiece.

I can't help but stare at him, the dread of the impending weekend returning to my chest. "What?" He snaps out of nowhere, and I tear my eyes away quickly. "Nothing, It's just... I..." "You know, you didn't have to accept their invite." He says shortly and irritatedly, pulling thread through the banana skin. It's hard to believe his parents asked us just this morning.

"Of course I did, I had to be polite." "I didn't want you to come anyways, all you'll do is continue to be a pain in my ass." Ouch. Yet again, he twists the knife he lodged in my chest the first time he scowled at me. "Thanks." I tell him quietly, carefully setting my banana under the lens. "That's it? That's your comeback?" He almost spits, looking over at me. I shrug. "I don't wanna fight Michael. I just don't."

I end it simply, ignoring his cold stare.

"Hey Junior, what're you doing in here?" Will strolls into the room, his signature smile for me on his face. My heart flutters, and I immediately forget the knife in my chest. "Oh, um... skills lab." He looks around, walking over to my side. "Come on, forget this. You know how to do a four-corner stitch." I shrug. "I can never get enough practice." "Hey, wanna play Jenga?" I grin up at him, and I swear I almost feel Michael glaring at Will.

"Oh, and... here." He slides a bag of gummy bears across the table to me. I touch them, grinning even wider. Wow. "Thanks, I uh.." He shrugs. "I thought you might like it." "I do, thanks," I tell him, stars in my eyes. He bought me... candy.

"So was that yes on Jenga?"

My eyebrows furrowed, my hands still, I expertly pull one brick out from under the rest, and then smirk, setting it down. The tower doesn't even tilt. Will nods, also focusing, and cracks his knuckles. "Good move. You've got steady hands." "Shouldn't all surgeons?" "That's the point of the game. This is better training then suturing a banana."

The circle of interns surrounding our table all nod and agree, murmuring quietly. "Can we play, Chief?" "No." Will barks, shooting them authoritative looks, and then smiling at me. I cock my head slightly, wondering. No wonder they call him Zeus, but he's different towards me.

Michael was the only one who didn't care to watch, and finishes suturing the whole tray of bananas.

After Will's move, the tower topples. I put my hands up in victory, laughing. "Sweet!" He rolls his eyes, groaning. "I'll get you next time, Junior." He may have lost, but he grins at me with light eyes. "Well... I guess I should finish the lab," I sigh, pushing away from the table and standing.

"No need. I have a special surgical case I want you on." He says, adjusting his baseball cap carefully. "Really?" He nods happily, slipping back into his lab coat. I follow him out of the room, hurrying to keep up. I hear the groans of the other interns, but I guess jealousy is a given. Again.

He leads me to a CT room, and clicks on the light behind the posted scans, closing the door behind us. It's a small room.. confined.. and dark. Nobody can see us in here... I shake the indecent thoughts from my head, and take a look at the scans. My jaw drops. "Woah! Holy butterfly tumor." He nods, smiling wide. "Yes. Most surgeons would turn away from a case like this, but not us. We're gonna resect this."

"No way!" I blurt, and he looks down at me skeptically. "I mean, sir-" "Will." "Will, sorry. With all due respect, that's a death sentence, a patient with a tumor this size must be extremely unstable. They couldn't survive a surgery so extensive." Will shakes his head, laughing softly. "Risk taking. It's what separates the good surgeons from the excellent ones. I want you to be excellent, Junior. I know you can be, and I won't accept any less from you. So you and I are going to resect this tumor. Come, let's meet the patient."

I follow him out of the room, down the hall. "Will?" I ask tentatively. "Yes?" He says, whistling some rock tune as we pass by others in the hallway. "I um... I can't make my two shifts this weekend." He turns abruptly. "Why not?" He asks almost accusingly. "I'm, uh... going out of town."

He tightens his lips, staring at me. I feel ashamed all of a sudden, refusing to meet his eyes as if I've let him down or something. "Alright," He finally says, walking faster. "Looks like our surgery's bumped up to today then." The shame leaks from my body immediately, and I gain a skip in my step. "That's awesome." He gives me a small smile, pushing open the door of the next hospital room. There's a twinkle in his eye, one I don't ever see around anyone else. I guess it's the reason why I get the surgeries, specialty cases, and why he's so kind to me.

****

I find myself wishing that park benches were bigger. Longer I guess, because there's not nearly enough room on this bench for both Michael and me, and enough space to allow for his disgust toward me.

So instead, I place my luggage on the bench between us, thinking the space will help ease the awkwardness between us. I was wrong.

For long periods of time I willed the world to stop spinning, I wished for time to suddenly freeze... In other words, I did everything in my power to prevent the weekend from happening, but unfortunately, it's Friday afternoon and I'm pretty sure it's gonna be my last. I tried to ride out the high from me and Will's last surgery, which was surprisingly successful, but that didn't work. So now, as we sit here in the nipping October wind, I picture Will's seducing smile in my head over and over. I can almost hear his musical laugh...

"You don't have to be here." Michael's sharp voice throws me out of my pleasant thoughts. I shrug. "Whatever." "I mean it, I would rather you didn't come." I sigh, looking off into the distance just like he likes to do. If it works for him, than it wouldn't hurt for me to try it out as well.

"You've made that perfectly clear," I sigh, looking down at my plaid uniform skirt. I've just become accustomed to the short length of it, as well as the daily task of wearing eye makeup and lip-gloss.

"I don't understand you." He says simply, not meeting my eyes. "I don't understand you either. But I deal with you anyways." He looks over at me, finally, a weird look glinting in his big brown eyes. It's not necessarily a disdainful look, or a kind one. It's hard to pick out his emotions when he's so guarded all the time. He does everything to turn me off to him, but I always find myself wishing desperately that he'd let me in.

Before he can air his thoughts, a limo pulls up to the curb in front of us, the Jacksons spilling out of it like ants from an anthill. "Oh, there you two are, the lovely couple!" Michael's mother rushes over, hugging the both of us tightly. I chuckle uncomfortably, and give everyone a tight-lipped smile.

"Ready to go?" "Um, yeah-- oh, thanks," I tell one of Michael's brothers, a tall one, as he tucks my luggage into the trunk. He gives me a sweet smile, nodding to me. I wonder how he could be so nice when Michael's bitterer than black coffee.

"Ready to go to hell?" Michael mutters to me, climbing into the back seat of the limo. "Hell?" I whisper, choking up a little. "Don't listen to Michael, he's just a sourpuss," Says the youngest sister. I should know all of their names, I should, and I will in time.

"Come on, our flight is waiting." Isn't it the other way around? I turn and take one last look at St. Mary's, doubting that I'll make it back here alive.

The limo ride is loud, filled with elaborate tales of childhood fame and happenings. Michael pays no attention, staring out the window again with a fixed frown. His frown seems to appear just as often as his scowl does, and if he doesn't let up he's gonna give himself premature wrinkles.

And then I wonder, what could happen to a person to make them so unpleasant, so unhappy? It would have to be something big, because nobody wants to feel that way, I hope. Just looking at him, I can sense there's something there, some experience he's bottling up inside, something that shook the core of his being.

Michael hates me, I know... but I think now that I've sensed it, it's my personal mission to get to the core of his pain, to fix his hurt.

I guess this trip happened for a reason, because now I have time to give it a pretty good shot.

I cannot stop thanking you guys!!! This chapter is sort of filler, but expect something big in the next chapter or two (hint hint). Let me know what you think, vote and comment! Thanks loves ;)