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chapter twelve ━ push
season six, episode seventeen

❝ is everyone gonna jump out
and yell surprise? ❞

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Aliya Levine used to hate her birthday, especially between the ages of six and eighteen, when she could actually remember it.

Birthdays in Los Angeles usually involved the youngest daughter of the Levine family being forced to spend the day doing the total opposite of what she actually wanted to do.

It was hard to actually like the day she was born. 

Therefore, March third became a day that only bumped her age up by one digit.

However, when her family were taken out of her birthday mathematical equation and she moved away from her family home in Malibu and away from the Pacific Coast Highway, her birthday became something she learnt to actually enjoy.

She realised, with no parents breathing down her neck and lecturing her what she should be doing with this next year of existing in the world according to them, her birthdays felt a little bit more free.

With this new found freedom, she learnt to love (or tolerate) her birthday, even the ones that were far from enjoyable.

For example, on her first birthday in Seattle in her intern year, she was sat on the sofa eating Peanut Butter Cup ice cream whilst watching The Breakfast Club until Alex dragged her away to Joe's bar, where they had spent the night haggling Joe for free drinks and playing darts — where Aliya nearly took someone's eye out after an unfortunate shot (or shots, they were free) of tequila.

And, she may or may not have had sex with a certain plastic surgeon that very same night.

So, it could be said that her twenty six birthday was one for the books.

Or, in her second year of residency when she caught a cold on her birthday from the rotation on the peds ward, which led to her sneezing into a bowl of Mark's gross homemade soup.

In retrospect, her birthdays in Seattle shouldn't be ones she looked back on and smiled at (all things considered), seeing as Mark was involved in every single one of the memories. And, ugly crying with her face sticking into the ice cream tub and the extreme hangover she had the next morning, feeling as though she was in some sort of distorted after life where everyone echoed and had two heads, three noses, and fifteen eyes, wasn't exactly Aliya's most finest moments.

So, when she opened her eyes on March 3rd 2010, the day she turned twenty eight years old, she rid herself of those particular memories, just for the day.

"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!"

The brunette's voice reached an ungodly pitch, seeing as she was met with Alex staring at her from her arm chair (which only purpose was to throw clothes on at the end of the day), half of his face lit up in the light seeping through her curtains.

"Happy Birthday, sleepy head." He jumped up from the arm chair, pulling a lighter from his pocket, and lighting a pink number 3 candle, which was stabbed into a cupcake.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Alex," Aliya caught her breath, her hand braced on her chest in an attempt to steady herself. "But, I'm pretty sure I've just had a heart attack."

"You are getting old." Alex pointed out matter-of-factly, sitting on the edge of the bed with the plate stretched out towards her, the light of the candle illuminating in the lenses of her glasses she just shoved onto her face. "Blow out your candle, make a wish."

Aliya smirked, closing her eyes as she blew the it out, sending smoke clouds billowing through her bedroom. "Happy 3rd Birthday to me!"

"What'd you wish for?" Alex interrogated, as Aliya poked her finger into the vanilla frosting to taste a bit, Alex doing the exact same, creating two dents in the once perfect frosting.

Aliya made a face, going in for a second tasting of the frosting. "Isn't the whole point of a wish to keep it a secret?"

"C'mon, I know all your secrets." Alex said, casually, now tearing a piece of cake from her birthday cupcake, causing the candle to droop to one side.

At that, Aliya's cheeks darkened to a guilty shade of red.

Because, the truth was Aliya had been keeping a secret from him for the past seventeen days, ever since Valentine's day to be exact.

God knows how she managed it, because he usually found out her secrets within the first five seconds of a conversation.

But somehow, she had managed to keep a secret from him for seventeen days, four hundred and eight hours, twenty four thousand four hundred and eighty minutes, and over one million seconds.

About that—

"You're hiding something."

Nobody would've thought Aliya's cheeks could go any darker.

"No." She said, her pupils dilating and her voice coming out in a shocked croak. "No? Why would I be hiding anything, I'm not hiding anything."

His brow raised to an arch, and his eyes studied her like a med school textbook.

And thus, they entered into an unspoken staring competition.

The brunette narrowed her eyes, ignoring the quickened pace of her heart.

He pursed his lips tighter together, waiting for her to fold.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four—

A twitch of an eyebrow.

All of a sudden, his hands clapped together before pointing an accusatory finger at the woman sat guiltily across from him. "Ha! You are hiding something! What is it? Did you donate your money to a fake charity again?"

"No—" She assured, crossing her arms. "That only happened one time."

"Plus three." Alex added on for the accuracy. "Oh, you've done something bad."

"It wasn't necessarily bad—"

"But, it wasn't good." The Karev man said, firmly, setting the plate down that no longer had a cupcake on it, seeing as he ate the cupcake purely out of stress.

"Yeah—" She trailed off, looking down at her hands to avoid his gaze at all costs.

"Brazilian wax—"

"What?" Aliya's jaw dropped as Alex began to rapid fire guesses her way, guns ablazing. "No!"

"Hit and run—"

"Who do you think I am?"

"Not a very good driver." He deadpanned, scratching his temple. "Oh, god—"

Aliya sighed, suddenly feeling very conscious of his eyes on her, one wrong move and she was toast. "What now?"

"You have the look—"

She touched her face, as if somehow that would help her to understand what exactly he was referring to. "What look? I don't have a look, you're going mad!"

"You have the I just did something dirty look."

"For starters," She held up a hand as if to stop him from whatever point he was starting to explore. "I don't have that look."

"You do, when you had sex with Mark in that—"

Her eye twitched.

"—No freaking way—"

Her freaking eye twitched.

Oh, shit—

"—You totally had sex with McSteamy!" Alex gasped, his eyes bulging so wide that they ran the risk of popping straight out of his eyes sockets.

Aliya believed in that moment, her soul left her body completely. "What! No! It was only a kiss—"

"You freaking kissed freaking McSteamy!"

It was safe to say, Alex Karev looked horrified.

"Will you keep your voice down!" She hissed, leaning in and watching the door as if her other roommates were about to burst through it.

"Oh! God!" He curled his nose up, his whole body shaking with a mixture of disgust, and anger directed towards him. "Aliya! Why? Why that clown?"

"I don't know!" Aliya buried her face into her hands, now ashamed for actually letting him kiss her. "I was sad! It was Valentine's Day! I was in Joe's! He was there!"

"After what he did—"

"I know!"

Alex was now beginning to pace the length of Aliya's room, back and forth which was enough to make her head spin. "I could beat that little son of a bitch to a pulp!"

At that, Aliya flopped back into her bed, sprawled out across her mattress with her arms covering her eyes.

What a great start to her twenty eighth birthday!

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After an hour of listening to Alex's verbal rampage the entire morning and the entire car journey the hospital, Aliya was ready to finally get to work.

At least the Karev man did what he had set out to do, because there was no way Aliya's lips were ever going anywhere near Mark's again, purely because she never wanted to live through a repeat of the past hour again.

"Aliya!" A smile danced across Andy Burman's lips as she spotted Aliya walking through the entrance, passing by the front desk. "Happy Birthday, honey!"

The Burman woman quickly enclosed Aliya into a hug, gripping hold of so tightly as she swayed the brunette from side to side.

"Andy, there's a person under here!" Aliya squealed, her speech distorted by Andy's shoulder shoved into her face, and the feeling of her internal organs crushing one by one.

"You only get a birthday every three hundred and sixty five days." Andy told her, pushing the woman back by her shoulders, placing a hand on her cheek and rubbing her thumb back and forth in a motherly gesture that made Aliya's heart ache. "I wish I was twenty eight again."

"You don't look a day over thirty five." Aliya teased, lovingly.

"I have a good night cream." Andy joked, rubbing her cheeks theatrically. "I better go, I just got called up to neuro, everyone's getting sick and I need to cover. I'll see you at—"

At where?

Aliya's brows almost met her hairline as Andy stopped mid-sentence abruptly, her eyes diverted to behind Aliya's shoulder where Callie had just appeared out of nowhere, performing frantic and rapid hand gestures which quickly haunted as Aliya looked over her shoulder with suspicious brown eyes.

"I'll see you around, Aliya!" Andy desperately tried to save her slip up. "Have a lovely day."

The nurse regained her composure, before scattering out of the foyer, leaving her heavy scent of her rose scented perfume and the candy she always had on her in the place where she was once stood.

"Hm." Aliya pressed her lips together, whipping her head over towards Callie. "Where will I be seeing Andy later, Dr. Torres?"

"You're very popular with the Nurses." Callie observed, catching her breath after the full body work out she just did in an attempt to draw attention away from whatever Andy could have revealed.

Aliya scoffed, crossing her arms tightly as she proceeded to trail the ortho surgeon down the hall. "Is it a surprise party? Is it going to be one of those things where you fake kidnap me, throw me into the back of a creepy rental van? And then it's revealed it's actually a party bus because if it is, call it off now."

Being twenty eight years old, the brunette had years of birthday party experiences under her belt. And, one thing she had learnt was that for her, a part bus was one big giant no.

Firstly, drinking on a moving vehicle was a recipe for totally disaster. For starters, the motion sickness. And, the fact that there was no means of escape.

What if someone pissed her off?

Then what?

She couldn't just jump out into oncoming traffic.

"When I drink alcohol, I need to pee." Aliya continued on, her panic suddenly rising at the thought of stepping foot back on a party bus. "Party buses have no room to pee. They have a bucket in a corner which is way too exposing, and I've already exposed myself too much already."

The brunette finally stopped herself, cramming her lips shut as she finally looked at Callie's fairly amused expression — this particular resident did seem to go off on many different non-surgical tangents.

"Jeez, take a breath." Callie gave the woman a side-eye, letting her squirm — seeing as she was sworn to secrecy by no other than Alex Karev.
"I don't have any surgery's scheduled today because I'm working on my cartilage, so I'm setting you free. You're a bird. Happy birthday, go fly away and troll for cases."

Aliya narrowed her eyes at Callie's metaphor of choice.

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"Torres made me troll for cases, and it's my birthday so you have to give me yours. It's the rules." Aliya stopped next to Alex, who was currently punching the keys of the computer keyboard, whilst simultaneously flicking through a chart in his hands.

He smirked, turning the page. "Okay. Rectal exam in Room 1047."

Aliya curled her nose up in disgust, unable to imagine anything worse to do on her birthday, or any day as a matter of fact. "I think I'll pass."

"Thought so." He grinned, continuing to stare directly at the screen.

Though, he finally managed to tear his eyes away as he caught someone lurking past Aliya's head.

"What?" Alex grunted, and Aliya spun around to find Jackson standing behind her, meeting her eyes, his face drawn in tense lines, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Don't say anything obvious, but this— um— this patient, I can't find the heartbeat." Jackson spoke, his voice lowered as if to stop himself appearing highly incompetent to any other doctors around them.

Which, in this moment in time, he did.

Aliya blinked at the green eyed resident in front of her, her lips pressed into a line. "Sorry to break it to you, Avery, but they are probably dead."

The amount of semi-pointless intern questions and statements Aliya had in her day, even as a young doctor, was astronomical, but nothing compared to the stupidity of the statement a grown third year resident just announced to her.

Jackson released a sharp take of breath, crossing his arms tightly across his chest, nervously looking over his shoulder, just in case anyone could possibly overhear them. "I said don't say anything obvious. I can't find a heartbeat."

"Then call the morgue, forty-watt." Alex spat, resigning himself back to his computer screen, feeling as though he's talking to an intern.

"He's not dead." Jackson continued to lower his voice even more, leaning closer to the very confused residents in front of him.

Aliya scrunched up her nose. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm very sure." Jackson bobbed his head over to the room he had emerged out of, before returning his eyes back to the brown eyed girl, looking at him as if he were a certified moron. "He's sitting up. He's talking."

Alex let out a huff, pushing past Jackson as he unravelled his stethoscope, prematurely. "You're lucky you have a famous last name." The Karev man muttered, barging into the room Jackson had angled his head towards just a moment before.

Aliya watched Alex disappear, before returning a glance back to Jackson. "Are you sure you're not hallucinating? You know, hysteria is a sign of—"

"No!" He assured her. "See for yourself, smart ass."

The Avery man ushered her quickly into the room, where Alex was already beside the young man at the gurney.

"Take a deep breath for me, sir." He instructed with the stethoscope in his ears as Aliya gravitated towards the chart on the metal table, picking it up and instantly beginning to read over his notes.

"Having trouble doing that." The patient, Todd Holmes according to the chart, panted as he brought the oxygen mask back up to his face.

"Oh grow up, Todd." The girl in the room, presumably his girlfriend, hissed, rolling her eyes at a very distressed Todd.

"When he was nine they removed his right lung." Jackson told them, just as Aliya was reading over that part in his chart.

"Now the other one is crapping out on me." Todd groaned as he brought the mask away from his face so he could speak.

"Maybe you're having an anxiety attack because I asked you to move in with me." The girlfriend snapped at him, gripping her purse over her shoulder as if she was trying to restrain herself from throwing it at him.

"I can't find his heart." Alex muttered in awe, both at the fact this man didn't actually seem to have a heartbeat, and the fact that Jackson was in fact correct.

It seemed that they both doubted him.

"Yeah? Me neither." The girlfriend deadpanned, shooting Todd a thunderous glare.

Alex shook his head, bewildered at the fact Dr. Avery was in fact not a moron. "No, I really can't."

"Who's the 40-watt now?" Jackson muttered, eyeing Alex in a strange sort of victory.

"Oh, shove over." Aliya placed the chart back down and moved past Alex, pulling her own stethoscope out of her white coat pocket, and placing it against Todd's mid back.

"You're gonna hear the exact same as me." Alex told her as she listened closely.

Aliya listened carefully, and they were right, she couldn't hear his heart in his chest, but that didn't mean he didn't have one, otherwise he would in fact be dead. "It could be post-pneumonectomy syndrome, caused by the surgery his doctors did when they removed his lung."

Todd regarded her with widened eyes. "That sounds complicated."

She shifted the stethoscope further down Todd's back, and as she did, his heartbeat grew louder than it was before. "Gotcha! Your heart is by your kidney."

"His kidney?" Alex and Jackson both questioned at the exact same time, looking at Aliya as if she just broke out of a mental asylum.

"My kidn— OW!" Todd clutched his chest in pain, falling back against the bed, and Aliya quickly fastened the oxygen mask around his head.

"Todd, breathe."

"Get a stat chest x-ray, and page cardio!" Alex shouted, dashing to Aliya's side to help her.

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Todd shuffled on the gurney, his fists balling at his sides. "That doctor told me my heart was by my kidney." He pointed his index finger directly towards Aliya.

"Your kidney, huh?" Teddy peered over at the three residents lined across the wall as she pulled out her stethoscope, stopping her gaze at the only woman there, narrowing her eyes sceptically at her, as if unbelieving of the claim.

The cardio surgeon pressed the stethoscope to his back and listened carefully, moving it down further to take a listen.

"Your heart is most definitely by your kidney." Teddy confirmed, nodding her head in Aliya's direction. "Good save."

Aliya smiled, victorious. "Thank you."

"That's why it was hard to hear your heartbeat." Jackson almost sounded relieved, as if he was telling himself that fact to make himself feel slightly better.

"She said it was post-pneuo-whatever syndrome. Did I get that right?" He looked back up at Aliya for confirmation.

"Close." She offered.

"Without a second lung in your chest cavity, your heart sort of drifted. The shifting caused bronchial compression, and that's why you weren't able to breathe." Teddy explained to Todd whose face dropped instantly at the explanation.

"I'm the biggest bitch in the world." His girlfriend sighed, her head falling into her palm in guilt from her reaction before.

"Can you put it back where it goes?" Todd questioned, nervously.

Teddy nodded. "We're going to use saline implants in your chest to keep it in place."

Todd pulled a confused look. "Implants? Like what they use for—"

"Fake boobs." Alex's elaborated helpfully, though it seemed as if he just wanted an excuse to say boobs, like the fourteen year old boy he was on the inside.

"You wanna put— I can't have— No! I'm a guy. I'm a guy's guy." Todd defended, his voice straining as his eyes scattered around the room in increasing worry, looking for someone to at least suggest something else.

"You wouldn't be able to see them." Teddy assured.

"Yeah, but still. Come on, you know what I'm saying. I mean, how am I supposed to — you know—" Todd stuttered, looking at his girlfriend nervously as he tried to put it in a way that wouldn't cause an argument right there and then.

He just gulped.

"What? Pick up women? You mean how are you going to explain your boobs to the next chick dumb enough to date you?" The girlfriend snapped, grabbing her bag in a harsh gesture, before storming out of the room in a hurry.

"Mollie!" Todd called after her, watching the door slam, but Mollie was already long gone. He sighed, turning back to the cardio doctor. "Do I have a choice?"

Teddy quirked a brow. "Do you like to breathe?"

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"Guess whose scrubbing in on a surgery on a guy with post pneumonectomy syndrome. His heart's by his kidney!" Aliya marvelled, biting down on her apple with a shit-eating grin on her face as she entered into the cafeteria.

"Post-pn— Post-pneumonectomy syndrome?" Cristina sighed with jealousy, "You better not gravitate to cardio now, Levine. Your whole Little Miss Sunshine act isn't going to survive in cardio. You'll be eaten alive."

"Eaten alive? Are you serious? A bear is more likely to be eaten alive in cardio than me." She stabbed her salad out of spite, shoving the lettuce into her mouth in distaste, before quickly adding: "And, I'm not Little Miss Sunshine."

"A cat doesn't meow." Cristina replied, matter-of-factly, chewing on the straw of her cup of soda.

Aliya just simply stuck out her tongue in a childish response, just as Lexie slammed her tray onto their lunch table.

"Mark is trying to kill Alex."

Somehow, Aliya was half expecting Lexie to say that sentence the other way round, because it seemed both men were trying to kill each other.

And, to quote Alex Karev from earlier this morning — "Next time I see that jerk, he better wish he were dead."

What was it with men and threats of violence?

Aliya glanced over at Lexie mid mouthful. "Huh?"

"What?" Cristina, who was equally as confused and concerned as Aliya, questioned.

Meredith clicked her tongue in an I-told-you-so kind of manner. "I mentioned sleeping with Alex was a bad idea."

"No, it's not a bad idea. It's happy and easy and fun." Lexie defended with rapid arm gestures that Aliya thought would take her eyes out if she was any closer to her.

Aliya stuck her hand out to try to stop the blonde after an unfortunate incident with Lexie's hand and her fork, now there was lettuce all over the cafeteria floor. "You're getting way too emotionally involved."

"No, I'm not!" Lexie groaned, running a hand through her hair. "You know how much mental energy Mark took up?"

Aliya snorted into her coffee as Lexie continued on ranting, because hell only she really, truly knew how much 'mental energy' Mark took up.

"Don't act like you don't know, Aliya. How much mental energy did Mark take up for you?" Lexie stared at the brunette intensely, demanding a seriousness from Aliya that Aliya couldn't quite possibly give her.

"Er— If you want an honest answer, I guess a significant amount?—" Aliya answered, looking over at the twisted sisters for any possible assistance in dealing with the new blonde. "And, besides, Lexie, I'm not talking about Mark with you, okay?"

"I'm telling you, ending it was the best thing that could've happened to me." Lexie continued, waving her hand around yet again as she spoke to convey her point. "And for him! You know how much happier he would be if he just moved on?"

"Looked to me like he was trying to pick up Teddy." Meredith offered out that particular piece of information, trying to make Lexie feel better about the whole 'Mark is too attached' thing.

"Sure! He sleeps with Addison, he'll sleep with her too." Lexie shrugged, attempting to convince the other three how well and truly over Mark Sloan she was. "He'll screw anything that moves."

She was the worst liar.

Why do you think Aliya found out Mark slept with her so soon after it happened?

"Pains me to say I was a notch on his Man Whore bed post." Aliya muttered, grimly.

"Exactly." Lexie clapped her hands together in victory as she beamed across at her fellow comrade. "Aliya gets it. We are the same."

Aliya shook her head in total disagreement with the blonde's statement. "We're not the same, Lex, because you are still in love with McSteamy."

Lexie's face dropped at her response she totally did not want to hear.

"What am I supposed to do, huh?" Lexie asked, slamming her hands down onto the table. "Sign up for a convent? Why is he hanging on like this?"

"You're just that good, Little Grey." Cristina replied in the only way she knew how to. "There's no getting over you."

Lexie scoffed at the low voice the Yang woman had put on, shaking her head as she rose abruptly, snatching her tray. She turned back and opened her mouth, as if to retort something but instead, she stormed out of the dining hall.

"You clear the room. Every time." Meredith chuckled, high-fiving the woman seated across from her.

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"Did you really think he was going to hit you with that syringe?" Aliya questioned in regards to Mark's vendetta against Alex after the pair scrubbed in on Todd's surgery. "Because, the worse he could have done was a bruise."

The brunette woman smirked lightly, nudging her friend's shoulder lightheartedly as they approached the front desk, where April and Jackson were stood.

Jackson swivelled around in his chair as he noticed the two both approaching, a carrot stick waving in his hand. "Want a carrot stick—"

"No!" With the back of his hand, Alex whacked the carrots away from Jackson, causing them to unceremoniously fall out from their little plastic bag, and onto his lap.

"Dude!" Jackson groaned, picking them up with a grim expression and returning them back into the bag. "What was that for?"

"I'm allergic to carrots." Aliya explained, keeping her eyes on Alex for any sudden, unexpected movements alarmingly close to take anyone's eye out.

She had gotten herself into that situation too many times that day already.

She looked over at Jackson, catching him stuffing the bag into one of the draws quickly, out of her reach.

Seeing as carrots could actually be her cause of death, though it would be very Shakespearian to die on her birthday.

"But, unless you want me to go bright red and blotchy feel free to keep them out." Aliya commented.

"That would be quite amusing— Ow!" Jackson reacted as he deflected Aliya's pen that just collided with his shoulder, ricocheting to the other side of the desk. "That wasn't very nice of you." He pursed his lips at the unimpressed girl, April snorting with laughter from the other side desk.

"I believe this is yours." A voice appeared from behind Aliya, causing her to gawk in the realisation that she had left her brother waiting for an hour, and didn't even call. "Trent! Shit! I'm so sorry, I was in surgery—"

She was a terrible sister.

"I gathered you got caught up with something or other. I knew you wouldn't abandon me." He mocked a sob as Aliya frowned at her brother, whose face shortly broke into a smirk after his dramatics, and she running up to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

Trent chuckled, hugging his sister tightly back and patting her gently on the shoulder. "To abandon your own—"

"Yeah, yeah!" Aliya smacked his arm, backing away from the hug that caused Jackson cleared his throat abruptly, catching Trent and Aliya's attention. "Oh, Trent, this is Jackson Avery. Jackson, my brother, Trent Levine."

Trent's smirk only seemed to widen as Jackson's face contorted in realisation, that this guy wasn't actually her boyfriend, but her brother. Trent (brother) reached out to shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Who could really blame Jackson?

Whilst Aliya had dark, brown hair and brown eyes, her brother was a total opposite, all the way from the dirty blonde hair to the bright ocean blue eyes.

"You too." Jackson shook his hand, politely, as Trent peered over unsubtly towards Aliya, noticing as her eyes stayed on Jackson a little too long whilst their hands broke away. "I bet it was very hard to have lived with Ali—"

Quickly, Aliya nudged Jackson's shoulder, smiling through gritted teeth as she made a desperate attempt to stop him.

"And, that is April Kepner." Aliya pointed at the girl staring, practically drooling, at Trent with bright hazel eyes. "April!" She hissed in an attempt to break the Kepner girl out of her trance.

"Yes! Hi. A—April Kepner! Nice to meet you." She snapped out of her daze, clearing her throat quickly as she walked forward to shake his hand, tripping over slightly on the discarded chair in the process. "Very nice to— uh— meet you!"

"The pleasure is all mine." Trent stared at her in a way that only caused a fluorescent pink blush to scatter across April's face and neck.

Aliya's eyes flickered over to Jackson's as she gave him an all-knowing look, her eyes flickering back to the pair, stood with their hands still shaking awkwardly between them.

Jackson, in awe, mouthed will the shaking ever stop?

Aliya cleared her throat. "And ,you've met Alex."

"I definitely have." He replied without taking his eyes off of April in a greeting that was returned without his knowledge.

It was safe to say, Aliya had no idea what the hell was going on here. "Thinkin' of getting a neck tattoo."

"Yeah, that would be great." Trent trailed off, not paying any attention.

"Well." Aliya aggressively cleared her throat. "I will see you guys later." With both hands, she physically dragged Trent towards the exit with her, his hand finally tearing away from April's.

"See you." Jackson called after her as April stuttered a goodbye through her flushed disposition, earning another pointed look and endless teasing from both Jackson and Alex.

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—✩—
⠀

"I think April likes you." Aliya slurped the straw of her vanilla milkshake, looking at her brother through her lashes.

"Well, I don't blame her, I got the better genes, what can I say." Trent placed down his burger and wiped his hands with the napkin, showing his sister that he would never change. Aliya scoffed in response, rolling her eyes. "Kidding. Besides, that Jason—"

"Jackson." Aliya corrected, popping a fry into her mouth.

"Jackson." Trent muttered under his breath, eyeing his sister carefully for even any possible sudden change in her facial expression. "Is there something going—"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Aliya interrupted whatever segue her brother was taking, pulling a look of *false* disgust.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Trent angled his head to the side. "But, wouldn't it be nice, Aliya? After Mark, Elijah and Kai." He raised his brows at her and Aliya's jaw dropped for about the third time that day.

"One of those doesn't even count." She argued, tapping her foot against the leg of the table. "Kai was my high school boyfriend. Those things never last. And, Mark was some sort of fling turned accidental commitment, turned complete train wreck."

"And Elijah?" Trent pushed, eyeing his sister carefully.

"He's—" Aliya paused, chewing her lip, and in all honesty, she didn't even know how to describe him, he felt like an anomaly. "He's just Elijah."

"Even more of an excuse to get back in the saddle!" Trent enforced, with a bright and somewhat convincing smile on his face that made Aliya resent her brother for a tiny split second.

"Hey! I never left the saddle. I never got off any metaphorical horse." She pushed her hair back away from her face, letting it tumble down her back in waves.

"Well then," Trent reached over for more ketchup and mustard, making a mountain of sauce on his plate. "Kick that horse into full action, and go get laid."

Aliya choked on her shake. "I'm your little sister, Trent. You should be signing me up for a convent and telling me no guy will ever be good enough for me." She slowly reached for the napkin, wiping the shake away from her chin.

"I'm not the one to do that." Trent shrugged. "If you want that, go describe your sexual escapades to Mom, she would gladly—"

"Okay, I get your point." Aliya stopped him with a shiver, thinking of her Mom knowing her 'sexual escapades' quite frankly repulsed her. "What about you, huh? Dating anyone?"

Trent huffed, narrowing his eyes. "No. Mom keeps telling me to date but— I'm just—"

"Grief doesn't have a timeline. She shouldn't be pushing you. I told her not too."

Over a year ago, Trent's partner died in a car crash, leaving him to raise a child all alone. So, he moved in with their parents, which wasn't a very smart idea on his part, seeing as one of them was a heartless cardio thoracic surgeon. Ironically.

"When does she ever listen to you?" Trent smirked, a grin spreading across his face as he returned to his burger, taking another bite.

"Usually when I'm talking about either you or Eliana." Aliya replied, matter-of-factly.

"Fair enough." Trent looked away, not noticing how Aliya's smile flickered slightly. "I could always try that girl May—"

"April." Aliya shook her head and chuckled slightly. "And, you are your mother's son."

Trent gasped, clutching his chest sincerely. "How insulting!"

"She called Alex Alan for a whole night knowing full well his name was Alex. You're doing the same thing now. First with Jackson, now with April." Aliya pointed another fry at Trent, using it as a prop. "Take James, and leave that damn house."

Trent stayed silent for a second, munching on the last remaining fries on his plate, dipping them into the pile of ketchup and mustard. "It's a little funny."

"You are a child."

"So. Mom wanted me to give this to you." Travis fished out a black box with an envelope attached to it from his jacket pocket, sliding it across the table to Aliya, who just stared at it as it moved closer and closer to her, further across the table.

"Oh." Aliya managed, her throat drying up, not reaching out for the box as Trent withdrew his hand away.

"Aliya, I'm—" Trent started, but was instantly shushed by Aliya.

"It's okay." She breathed, struggling out words through a lump resting in her throat. She removed her eyes away from the box, leaving it on the table as she went back to eating and attempting to ignore its existence.

It was two thirty, on her birthday, and her mother hadn't even called, or sent a text.

Just a black box and an envelope she had no interest in.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

After her free birthday post-surgery dinner at the diner across the street, Aliya eventually made her way back to the hospital.

It was almost as if the front doors were rigged, because as soon as she stepped into the building, her pager buzzed from where it was shoved into her pocket.

The brunette retrieved it, her hand knocking against the black box that she had crammed in there also, pulling the pager out.

Oh— the plot thickens.

She furrowed her brows because who would page her to the on call room on four?

Sure, Aliya knew what happened in on-call rooms.

When you dated Mark Sloan for a year, she knew the on call room lore.

The weekly gossips at the nurses station on who was doing who, the lurking outside the doors, waiting to see who would come out—

Dare Aliya mention her intern year?

And, the infamous syphilis outbreak?

So, when Aliya reached the on call room door, bringing her fist to knock on it, she would never have expected an arm, opening the door slightly, then pulling her directly into the room.

"Ow—"Aliya yelped, slapping away the hand in a reflex.

After the initial shock of the start of this encounter, Aliya blinked in the darkness.

"Dr. Bailey?" The Levine woman raised a brow, looking over her shoulder as if she half-expected someone else to pop out of nowhere.

"I need your help." Bailey said with desperation, alarming the brunette.

"What happened with the good old fashioned how are you?" Aliya stated with a frown, pressing her hands onto her hips. "You don't have to kidnap a girl—"

"This is serious!" Bailey urged, reaching out to shake Aliya by her elbows.

"Life or death? Oh, god!" She pressed a hand to her mouth, eyes wide. "Is someone dead?"

"What? No! I need—" Bailey threw her hands down, racking her brain around how to explain her predicament to her intern. "I need your discretion."

"My discretion?" Aliya mouthed, slowly nodding as thing became a little clearer, though it still remained very unclear. "Do I need to sit down?"

"No, I need you—" Bailey took a deep breath, steadying herself. "I need you to get me condoms from the clinic."

Oh.

Something to note, Aliya rarely reached a loss of words. She usually always had something to say, without fail.

However, in this moment, the woman was too stunned to speak.

She swallowed, nodding slowly at the last question she would've expected to ever come out of her mouth.

"You—"

"Yes." Bailey confirm with a bob of her head, not even letting Aliya finish.

"Condoms?" The words came out slow, the cogs still turning rapidly in her brain.

Bailey ringed out the sweat from her fingers, growing restless, her cheeks pink from the humiliation. "That's right, yes."

Then, Aliya's lips curved, all-knowingly, promising herself she would forever hold this shading her. "With the cute anaesthesi—"

"Levine! Go—"

"I'm the one doing you a favour—"

"If you're not back in five minutes—" Bailey began lecturing, her index finger pointing directly at her.

"Fine! I'm gone!"

And, with that, Aliya was quickly swept out of the on call room with a mission.

Which was to fast walk towards the clinic.

She passed the halls, thanking the people who wished her a happy birthday, but she was also in kind of a time crunch.

And, as she reached the clinic, she quickly slammed the supply room door shut, pressing her back towards it with a sigh of relief.

Now she was finally where she needed to be, she approached the shelf with said condoms.

And, that's when she hit her first predicament.

Size.

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (7:24pm)

okay, totally random question that we
shall both swear to delete from our
chat history, but do you have any idea
of the size of ben warrens penis?

⠀
MIRANDA BAILEY (7:24pm)

How would I know the size of
that man's penis!

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (7:25pm)

you're the one sleeping with him!
i'm just providing the condoms!

⠀
MIRANDA BAILEY (7:25pm)

I am NOT SLEEPING WITH THAT MAN

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (7:25pm)

you sure abt that?

⠀
MIRANDA BAILEY (7:25pm)

Levine.

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (7:25pm)

fine, i'll get an assortment of sizes.
like a condom pick and mix
⠀

Aliya was true to her word, quickly grabbing two condoms of each size, just for good measure.

She was about to call this particular mission a success, with condoms stuffed into her pockets and up her sleeves, but because she was practically sprinting towards the on call room, nothing could've prepared her for what happened next.

One second, the hall was empty.

And, the next, she hurtled into Jackson's chest, and every single condom on her person fell to the floor like sexual confetti.

"Levine, jeez, you really gotta slow—" Jackson trailed off, his green eyes bulging at the sight as he looked from the condoms, all the way back to the condom carrier—

"They're not mine." Aliya blurted out it, practically throwing herself to the floor in an attempt to pick up every last condom.

His jaw practically dropped to the floor, and he would have to hire a fork lift to pick it back up again. "Oh my God—"

"Jackson!" Aliya snapped, scrambling for a condom that flew across the hall. "I swear to the surgical gods, if you utter a single word—"

"—What has gotten into you?" Jackson whispered, completely horrified, but now he was actually helping her pick up every last one. "Why do you need this many condoms?"

"I don't need any condoms!" Aliya tried to tell him, but Jackson was far from convinced. "None— Zilch— Zero!"

"Oh, you sure about that?" The Avery man waved one of the packets in the air.  "Because, judging by the sheer amount of condoms you have in your possession—"

"Yes," Aliya sighed, now out of breath. "I'm as sure as a heart attack, now, will you just be silent and help me clear this mess up!"

"What about Elliot?" He pried into Aliya's love life, ignoring the fact that he had been ignoring him for the past week. "You two seemed pretty—"

"Ew!" The brunette scrunched up her nose at the thought of him. Sure, Jackson's friend was a good-looking man, but no one should ever call their mother after sex. "Ugh! Never— Ew— No—"

Aliya shuddered at the thought. 

"Then can you at least explain—"

"I can't do that." She stopped him, stuffing more and more packets into her pockets, giving the floor a quick scan around. "I've been sworn to secrecy, and if I tell, you'd been visiting my gravestone with bouquets of pretty roses."

"So, they're not for you?" He asked, shuffling through the ten condoms he had in his hands.

"No," She deadpanned, pulling her white coat tighter around her, so something like this didn't happen again. "They're not for me."

"Very size inclusive." He acknowledged with a sly smirk, passing them pack to her.

"Goodbye now." She pressed her lips down to stop herself from screaming, scurrying down the hall to Dr. Bailey.

She really was going to need compensation from the embarrassment she had just been put through.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

Aliya slipped out of the car after Alex finished his attempt at parallel parking (she has been down to secrecy never to tell anyone it took him fourteen times to get into the space). "Is everyone gonna jump out and yell surprise or is it going to be a sort of hide and seek sort of thing where they all just pop out one by one?"

Stopping abruptly on the sidewalk, he stared back at Aliya, shooting her daggers. "How did you—"

"Andy slipped up." She smirked, skipping up the path that seriously needed to be weeded.

"I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have invited that surrogate mother nurse of yours!" He sighed heavily, trudging up the path and stuffing his hands into his pockets to fish out the keys he had just discarded in there.

"And I saw like, five of the hospital staff's cars on the way here. Not very incognito." Aliya pointed out as the two stopped by the front door.

Alex sighed, loudly, pointing his keys in her direction. "Just act surprised."

Aliya gave him a thumbs up. "I wasn't in musical theatre for nothing."

"You were in—"

"I quit after one play." Aliya explained, waiting impatiently to drink an obscene amount of alcohol. "My talent just exceeded everyone else's. They were holding me back."

Full disclosure, she was crap at musical theatre, and she knew it.

"You keep telling yourself that." The Karev man unlocked the door, which Aliya found slightly strange because, why wouldn't the people inside leave it open? However, she wasn't about to question Alex or anyone else's party planning abilities.

On a side note. Aliya wasn't an ungrateful person.

She showed her gratitude whenever it was necessary but, after the box and the lack of a call from her mother, and the fact that her brain was pounding inside her skull, she just wanted to go to bed. Her entire body called out to be engulfed by her duvet and comforter. That's all she wanted. She was already tired of smiling and acting completely fine.

But instead, as the door clicked open and the lights instantly flashed on with the words 'Surprise' and 'Happy Birthday Aliya!" sounding throughout the hall, Aliya's lips curved into her widest, most shiny smile, forcing back the tears threatening to escape her eyes.

In that split second, she resolved that she would drink her body weight in Meredith's tequila and Lexie's vodka. She would forget the fact that her mother didn't even bother to call their youngest child on her birthday. And, she would push away the thought that, even though she was surrounded by her friends, her family, in this very moment, she couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit alone.

The least her mother could've done was punch a few letters into her keyboard.

It was harder to feel angry than upset, but Aliya would inevitably decide to channel her hurt into beer pong in the back yard (nearly taking out Jackson Avery's very pretty eyes) where at least the night would end with her passed out somewhere that may resemble a bed.

So, she grinned, as wide as she possibly can.

And, proceeded to do exactly what she told herself she would do.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

About four shots of tequila, two beers and three vodka sodas later, it was safe to say Aliya's twenty eighth birthday party was going very well. As well as birthdays went.

It was also safe to say that the birthday girl was well and truly hammered.

"Your lips are blue." Alex hiccuped as a whole group of people Aliya couldn't possibly remember the names at this current moment in time (she didn't even remember her own name) were gathered outside playing beer pong.

"It's my turn!" The hypothermic woman said enthusiastically, with one arm slumped around Callie Torres' neck as the ortho surgeon held her steady, so she could at least try and aim a ping pong ball into a cup without nearly falling to the side.

"Right—" Callie said with authority, pointing towards the closest cup. "Levine, you gotta just aim, and go for it— three, two, one—"

Aliya sent the ping pong ball hurtling across the table, where it landed directly into a cup with a clunk.

"—Yes!" Callie cheered, her voice reaching an incredibly high pitch as she high fived the brunette who had strayed from her side to jump up and down.

The Torres woman, who had resigned herself to drinking her body weight in alcohol with a whole bunch of residents, seemed to actually be having a good time.

"Drink up, Avery!" Aliya cackled — Hocus Pocus evil witch style.

The man in questioned reached for the cup, bringing it to his lips. "Nice shot, Levine."

The whole yard erupted into claps as Jackson proceeded to down the entirety of the beer in approximately five seconds.

"Dude!" Alex chuckled, leaning against the table to steady himself, now that Jackson had slammed his cup down. "That was freaking awesome!"

Aliya didn't know when Alex and Jackson had reached a level of friendship where the Karev man actually invited him to her birthday party, it just sort of happened.

And, in her current state, Aliya couldn't even begin to understand it.

Or, care.

She didn't even notice Jackson send a ball into Aliya's cup.

"Drink up, Levine." He said over the noise of people chatting and cheering, and music blasting loud out of the speakers.

If they were playing a game of never have I ever, and someone had said "never have I ever wanted to tear Jackson Avery's shirt off", Aliya most definitely should drink at least half of her drink.

Not even a sip.

Because, the way his eyes were challenging her, they way he—

God, she couldn't breathe.

So, she grabbed the cup, downing it in an attempt to escape his gaze, though she really didn't want to.

She didn't want that at all.

In that moment, she wanted to see his eyes on her, the ache in the pit of her stomach growing.

And, she would never admit it out loud, she wanted him.

She didn't know whether or not she was too drunk to think coherent thoughts, just judging by the amount of alcohol in her system.

Callie's screech directly into her ear snapped her out of her haze, and once she finished her beer, Aliya threw her hands up in the air, her birthday party hate slouching at an angel on her head.

"Nice shot, Avery."

⠀
⠀
⠀

( notes! )

trent and aliya >>>>> molly and eliana = facts

also, jackson and aliya were so nick and jess coded this chapter and if you know you know. tv show couples who literally give off jackson and aliya energy are jim & pam, nick & jess and luke & lorelai!!! i literally love them to pieces they're my babies 🫶

( word count! — 8,100 )