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chapter thirty five ━ it's a long way back
season seven, episode nineteen

❝ i guess we have, that's a
new record for us. ❞

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ONE WEEK LATER
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As if by magic, Aliya's sleeping pattern seemed to miraculous fix itself overnight and for the past week, she had been sleeping better than ever, which she thought was something that could not have been possible.

Though it was no coincidence seeing as the reason why she had been sleeping well was very much due to the fact that Jackson Avery was now sleeping next to her in the bed, though he would point out it was due to his very uncomfortable, very lumpy mattress, but they both knew he was lying through his teeth as they fell asleep in each others arms in a tangle of limbs for seven consecutive nights.

In other words, the couple had spent the last week catching up with what they hadn't had a chance to do in the three excruciatingly long months they were apart, with no elaboration necessary.

Aliya slowly but surely woke up, though she was reluctant to finally open her eyes as she felt along her bed, searching for him, though it seemed he wasn't actually there.

She shot up in bed, peeling her eyes open as she stared at the space he should have been, wondering if this was some sort of sick and twisted hoax.

Frowning, she moved to the door, opening it with a yawn and moving across the hallway. She did consider brushing her teeth, but the two were too far gone at this point to be put off by morning breath.

It was early in the morning, eight o'clock give or take, and Aliya had never felt more well rested in her entire life. She passed down the stairs, wearing only one of Jackson's old shirts and a pair of pyjama bottoms as she entered the kitchen, where Jackson was presumably flipping pancakes on a frying pan.

"What are you doing?" Aliya smirked from the doorway, causing Jackson to physically leap out of his skin mid pancake toss, though he still caught it in the pan, it must have been from all that college football he mentioned playing at any chance he got.

"Jeez!" Jackson sighed in relief at the fact the pancake was not ruined, still sizzling on the pan, he turned to the woman, who was looking at him as if he were a piece of art in an exhibit. "What are you doing?"

"Coming to get coffee." Aliya answered his question simply, her tone warm and loving as she shuffled over to the already made coffee, still warm. Though she was met with a frown coming from Jackson, or what she could make out was a frown from her lack of glasses or contacts she forgot to put in. "What?"

The green eyed man gestured to the counter with his spatula, where Aliya squinted and saw the tray he had prepared for them — two mugs of boiling hot coffee, and a growing stack of pancakes with bacon and berries.

Aliya's mouth watered at the sight, or the lack of, if that could even happen. But, even the smell of the fluffy pancakes was enough. "Oh, you're an angel, truly. Sent down from heaven, have I told you that enough?"

"No, I don't think you have." Jackson smirked at the brunette, his eyes on her for a moment before he went back to concentrating on the matter at hand, the pancakes. It was a very pressing business, and he was dedicated to the cause.

"You're meant to be in bed." He pointed the spatula at her, accusingly.

The caffeine addict in question raised her hands in the air in protest. "A girl needs her coffee as much as she needs air to breathe."

She had to start her morning off with a decent cup of coffee otherwise, the day would be a failure from the get go.

"It's an addiction, Aliya." Jackson said, in his classic tone of faux disapproval, though it didn't stop the amusement on his face. He leant over to chuck an apple slice in Reese's direction, who Aliya hadn't realised was watching Jackson this whole time, moving around his feet as the man worked, ignoring Aliya's existence entirely.

Traitorous dog.

But, she didn't blame him. Those pancakes did smell delicious.

"You find it endearing, Jackson, don't lie." Aliya held her mug of coffee in the air like a trophy, before finally taking a long sip, peering at him from over the rim of the mug with wide brown eyes.

"It's unsettling." Though that didn't stop him from making her coffee every morning for the past week.

And, Aliya made him a coffee in the evenings, and that sort of became a routine. He never had the heart to say it was too strong for eleven o'clock at night, so he drank it anyway.

Aliya grinned, reaching over to run her hands along the tiny vase of daisies on the board in front of her, smiling as she moved her hand along the bright white petals. "Breakfast in bed, huh?"

"Well, you're not exactly in bed right now, so it's more just breakfast." The man joked, his cheeks red from the warmth of the oven and he leant over, adding the last pancake on the stack.

"I can run up there really fast and pretend to be asleep and delete this whole moment from my memory?" Though, she wouldn't be able to even if she tried because, seeing Jackson in tartan pyjama bottoms and baggy shirt in the mornings was something that would forever be etched in her brain chemistry. 

Jackson shook his head, watching as she happily slurped on her coffee, stealing a couple of the berries he had carefully placed, so he handed her a fork, which would be more efficient, and took a seat next to her on the breakfast bar, digging into the pancakes with his own fork.

"These are too good." Aliya munched happily on every bite, which really did taste like heaven.

"Well, they are my specialty." He said modestly through a mouthful of bacon and pancakes. "I would be damned if I screwed them up."

"Hmm—" The brunette murmured through a mouthful. "I always knew you could cook but these are phenomenal, earth shattering, you could be a private chef."

"At this rate, I already am."

"You know—" Aliya wiped her hands on the shirt, rubbing the powdered sugar Jackson had put over the top off of her upper lip. "I think these will taste even better in bed, don't you think?"

Jackson was on his feet in a flash, grabbing the tray from the counter, and moving, as if he were on a mission, to the door. "I couldn't agree more." He teased, and Aliya jumped from the stool, practically skipping after him as the two climbed up the stairs, where they may have abandoned the pancakes on the bottom step.

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Another day at the hospital inevitably meant another patient for the Alzheimer's trial, and today it was Aliya's turn, rather than Meredith's. And Aliya was feeling pretty confident about this one, but that had nothing to do with any of her morning sexual escapades.

"Ed, how are you doing?" Aliya asked as she eyed the monitor, the patient's pulse suspiciously reading one hundred and two, which was suspiciously high.

"Yeah— um." Ed gulped, blinking as he stared up at the ceiling.

"His pulse is one hundred and two." Aliya informed Derek, who had joined her side.

"Are you nervous, Ed?" Derek asked, and by the look on his face, the two could probably decipher Ed's answer.

"Yeah," Ed confirmed. "It's kinda like going to the dentist, only worse."

The door swung open and a woman entered with the brown paper envelope, holding either the active agent or the placebo.

"This is gonna be over before you even know it starts." Derek reassured as Aliya picked up the drill, ready to begin. "Dr. Levine is gonna do the drill now, you're not gonna feel anything, though."

The sound of the drill going must have set something off in Ed, as he began to grunt and sigh, turning the monitors haywire.

"How are we doing?" Aliya asked, stopping the drill before she even had a chance to start.

"Ed." Derek appeared in the man's vision. "Just try and relax, ok?"

"I can't!" Ed grunted, struggling for breath.

"All right, stop, stop." Derek ordered, but Aliya already had set down the drill, moving to Ed's side.

"Hey, Ed, can you try take deep breaths for me okay?" Aliya placed a hand on the man's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

Moving to the metal halo, Derek began unscrewing it. "Let's get this halo off, he's having an MI."

"He's flatlining!" Aliya called out, and she ripped the sheet off of Ed's body to begin chest compressions as the nurses began bagging him, and more wheeling in a crash cart in an attempt to save his life.

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Aliya and Derek stood outside of the OR in defeat as Ed was wheeled past, a blue sheet over him, concealing his body as they failed to bring him back to life.

"His EKG was fine?" Richard approached the two, Meredith following, seeing as she heard the news of the clinical trial patient.

"Ed never mentioned anything to do with chest pain once." Aliya stated, remembering back to only yesterday when she assessed him. "I did his work up, and there was absolutely nothing in his history that could have indicated this."

"It wasn't your fault." Derek told Aliya, who was clutching her chest in worry at the thought of if she had missed something out. But she had been so careful, with all of the trial patients. "It was a massive MI. After I inform Mr. Beckert's family, I will call the FDA and file a formal report."

"Is there a chance they shut down the trial?" Meredith asked, and a pang of worry hit Aliya directly in her chest.

It doesn't matter." Derek crossed his arms, angry at himself. "I'm gonna shut it down, pending the autopsy. I want to know why we didn't see it coming."

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"Hey! Apple pie!" Aliya caught up with Jackson in the hall waving a paper plate, who had his nose dug deep into a chart in his hand and it was out of pure luck how he had not walked into someone.

He closed his chart shut, his expression unwavering even with the slice of pie on a paper plate being waved in front of his face.

Jackson Avery drew out a notepad, and noted down 'Apple Pie, March 21st, 11:00am' .

"Hey!" Aliya peered over his shoulder in suspicion of what he was writing, Jackson wasn't the kind of person who would keep a pocket diary, or even a burn book. "What is that?"

"That's the eighth time this week," Jackson explained, pointing with his pen at the notepad, where his handwriting was scribbled over the pages. "And it's only Thursday."

The woman who had her face scrunched against his arm in an effort to see what was going on, scoffed at the proclamation. "Let me see that!"

Aliya reached over and tugged the notepad out of his grasp, tracing her eyes along the black biro.

Almond Croissant, March 18th, 7:30am
Blueberry Muffin, March 18th, 3:00pm
Pain au Chocolate, March 19th, 8:20am
Cherry Danish, March 19th, 3:00pm
BLT Sandwich, March 19th 7:00pm
Croissant, March 20th, 10:00am
Jam Tart, March 20th, 4:30pm (also half of her blueberry muffin, against my will)
Apple Pie, March 21st, 11:00am

"You've been keeping track!" Aliya's jaw dropped at the insanity.

"You've been arriving multiple times a day with baked goods, how could I not?" Jackson argued, though he hadn't been complaining (he had ate everything she had given him, they were all incredibly delicious).

"Yeah— and—" Aliya pursed her lips, stopping at the counter with her arms crossed around her chest, trying to think of a way to defend her random food deliveries. "You liked the muffins!"

"They're apology muffins!" Jackson clarified.

"Well," Aliya shrugged, racking her brain around for a reason. "I need you to know how much of a complete fool I was in the form of food!"

"Aliya," Jackson spoke, softly, placing his arms on the frowning brunette's shoulders. "You can stop with the muffins, okay? And relax, this morning you were forgiven."

Aliya cheeks grew a dark shade of crimson at the mention of that particular morning.

The Avery man smiled, reaching a hand up to the woman's cheek. "You look cute when you blush."

Aliya's blush grew darker. "Shut up."

Succumbing to the smell of the apples, Jackson took a bite out of the pie. "God, this apple pie is good."

The brunette woman shrugged, her arm slumped against the counter. "I thought you'd like it."

He nodded his head, happily. "But, can we agree to stop with the desserts?" Jackson spoke, sincerely, his green eyes wide as he stared into Aliya's warm brown eyes he could only describe as pure honey.

"Okay."

Well, that meant she could still bring him the BLT's.

"And the sandwiches?"

Crap.

"Fine." Aliya huffed, resting her chin on the heel
of her palm, because there was nothing she could physically do that could convey how much of a complete idiot she realised she was. And she had every single fibre of her being hoping she would never let herself lose him again. "My trial patient died today."

"What? How?" He reached his hand out to hers.

"A massive MI," Aliya announced with a sigh, still in the midst of processing what happened. "I was about to drill in his brain, his pulse was massively high and then he flatlined. He never told us about any chest pain. His family knew, they just didn't want to tell us in case it meant Ed had to be pulled from the trial. They were desperate."

"Oh crap— Aliya, I'm so sorry." He squeezed her hand from across the counter. "Has there been an autopsy?"

"Doing one as we speak." The Levine woman replied, solemnly. "It just sucks."

"You want some apology pie?" He handed her the other half of the pie.

"Yes."

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—✩—
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"Lexie, do you have the chart for the patient in room 302?" Aliya asked, drumming her hands on the counter.

"Oh!" Lexie rifled through the stack of charts by her side, finally pulling out the one she needed. "Mrs Balmer?"

"That's the one, thanks!" Aliya accepted the chart gratefully, pulling it open and starting to write the notes she needed to write, after the long day of trying to figure out why their clinical trial patient died, Derek and Aliya were already exhausted.

"How's Callie doing?" Lexie asked, clicking her pen nervously.

"She's doing great!" Aliya spoke, enthusiastically, because even if Callie wasn't, she sure hoped she would be. "She can even give Yang the finger."

Lexie chuckled. "And, how about her scar?"

"Still healing," Aliya answered with a sigh. "She can't go and see Sofia yet until it heals entirely."

"That must be awful." Lexie frowned, drumming her pen against the stack of charts.

The door to a patient room swung open, and a very grumpy Alex made his was out the room with a chart, handing it off to a Nurse with a disgruntled noise.

"How did she take it, Karev?" Owen asked, nodding his head to the patient's room.

"Bitchy." Alex grumbled a response. "Because she's a bitch."

"She's also dying," Owen pointed out, looking at Alex displeased. "She's alone. She hasn't had a family or visitors since she got here."

Alex scoffed at the possibility of Owen justifying Alex's 'bitchy' patient. "Well, maybe that's 'cause—"

"Let's keep our assessments to ourselves." Owen quickly cut in before Alex could say anything too drastic.

As Owen began to walk away, only Aliya and Lexie heard Alex mutter something along the lines of 'everyone can see she's a bitch, so there's no point keeping it to ourselves'.

"Karev—" And for a second Alex paled as Owen turned around on his heel just before he reached the door. "What's your plan for Chief Resident?"

Alex raised a brow, and Aliya was genuinely interested for what he was going to say, because aside from the trailer in the parking lot to get to the hospital quicker, her best friend hadn't exactly revealed much about his plan for chief resident. "My plan?"

Owen nodded. "Besides badmouthing patients. All your colleagues are showing some kind of leadership potential. Levine—" He gestured to the brunette at the counter. "and Avery are on clinical trials, as well as Grey. Kepner's overhauling the surgical checklist. They have a plan. I was just wondering if you—"

"African Kids!" Alex practically yelled in the trauma surgeon's face.

Owen looked incredibly confused. "Sorry?"

Lexie and Aliya were equally as confused as Owen, sharing a look as they witnessed the whole encounter.

"Yeah," Alex straightened, clearing his throat to continue. "I'm gonna bring over about a dozen kids from Africa and get them surgeries. Badly needed surgeries."

Owen now seemed pleasantly surprised by this whole thing, despite how obviously it was made up on the spot. "Hm. Seems pretty ambitious."

"I'm an ambitious guy."

"It also sounds like you just pulled that outta your butt."

"Oh! No, sir. It's a— It's a plan. That I've been planning—" He turned back, looking for reinforcement in the form of a brown eyed, brunette, who couldn't lie for shit. "Aliya and I have been talking about it for a while."

At the sound of her name, Aliya's eyes widened, as she stood up straighter at the desk, nodding her head as she vouched for him. "Yep, it's true, a lot of time has been put into trying to— um, plan everything out."

"Okay, well good." Owen nodded in approval, picking up the chart he was working on and this time, finally leaving the ward.

"Right outta your butt." Lexie teased the pair.

The liar pulled a face as he could finally relax now that Owen wasn't breathing down his neck. "Shut up."

"Are you guys ready?" Cristina passed the three residents with meaning, seeing as she paged Aliya to a creepy storage room to tell her the plan about an hour ago. "Let's do this."

The three followed Cristina to Callie's room, where they found April, Jackson and Meredith on the way, reaching the room to find Callie asleep.

Cristina crept closer, putting her face a foot away from Callie's. "Wake up!"

Callie took a sharp inhale at the shock, her eyelids fluttering.

Turning back to the six people waiting at the door, Cristina waved her hand for them to come in, Jackson carrying the oxygen, and April carrying a portable monitor.

"Just lay still and relax." Cristina told Callie, who had her eyes wide open and was watching the residents file into the room. "Let us do everything, can you do that?"

After a few moments, Callie was being wheeled through the halls to the NICU, so she could at least see Sofia in real life, rather than on a tiny phone screen.

Jackson was leading the way at the foot of the bed, and the whole journey so far he kept looking back at Aliya, watching her as if he didn't want to stop looking at her at all.

"Tell him that choke moved to 8:30 tomorrow." They heard Bailey's voice address a Nurse from down the hall.

Jackson scrambled to push the gurney back where Bailey won't see. "Back, back, back!"

"You— Go— go out there!" Aliya clutched ahold of Jackson's white coat. "Distract her!"

"Why me!" Jackson spoke frantically, as his girlfriend tried to push him out into Bailey's view, though he really thought it should be the other way around. "You can talk for the state!"

"Just go!" Aliya exclaimed, and Jackson sighed, straightening his coat and moving out into the hall.

"Dr. Bailey!" He greeted, his voice charming. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Bailey replied back.

"Uhh— How's your day going?" Jackson chose to ask as a distraction, which was better than what Aliya would have waffled on about.

Aliya, Lexie and April all peeked out of the doorway at the same time, now that Bailey's back was turned, they silently moved Callie through the hall.

"How's my day going?" Bailey grunted, and Callie moved her head to the opposite side. "Uh, my day should have ended three hours ago. I'm tired, it's late, and I still have six more things to do before it's over, and now I have you in my face asking me how my day is going!"

They couldn't hear what Jackson's ingenious reply was to that as they advanced further out of earshot down the hall and into the NICU, where they wheeled Callie up against the window.

Aliya shrugged off her lab coat pushing through the door and hanging it on the hook, reaching for a pink NICU gown and pulling it on, quickly tying the knots as Alex followed her into, stopping by Sofia Robbins Sloan Torres' incubator.

Moving to the window, Aliya gave Callie a nod, but her eyes were on the incubator holding the tiny baby. Pulling up the blinds, she met Alex back at the incubator, carefully wheeling it over to the window for Callie to see.

Jackson was now back in the room on the other side of the window, and they all watched Callie as she laughed, softly, her face breaking out into a smile as she finally laid eyes on her daughter for the first time.

"So—" Aliya trailed off as they moved to the side of the room, to give Callie some privacy. "You're bringing kids over from Africa?"

"Trying to." Alex responded, checking on another kid in the incubator, before joining Aliya's side against the wall.

"How are you going to fund it?" She asked, inquisitively, watching her friend closely.

"No clue." Alex sighed, leaning his head back against the wall.

Aliya nodded, slowly, knowing exactly how she could help this whole situation. "I could, you know, call my Mom?"

"What?" Alex shot his head up, narrowing his eyes at Aliya as if she's gone mad. "Aliya, you never call your Mom. The thought of even speaking with your mom sends you into a blind rage."

That was true.

The only ways she had heard from her Mom in the past few months was either from her phone calls, emails or text messages. She hadn't seen her mother for a while, and she didn't miss her, not even a little bit. Though, there was one thing Molly liked to hold over her daughter, and that was money.

"I have a trust fund of some sorts."

Alex audibly gasped. "You're a trust fund kid. My best friend is a trust fund kid."

"I can make that call." Aliya assured him. "Just let me know."

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—✩—
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For the rest of the evening, Aliya and Derek had been camped out, where they usually were, in their clinical trial workspace, contacting the FDA about Ed Beckert, getting the autopsy. To shorten it, Aliya was looking forward to getting back into bed after this day.

"Hey." Meredith knocked on the door, entering the room and standing in front of the desks.

"Hey." Derek looked up from his work. "How was Mr Beckert's wife?"

"Her kids took her home." Meredith responded, her hand braced on the black leather chair tucked under the table. "I can't believe they lied to us."

"They didn't lie." Derek returned back to his work, squinting at the screen like he always did (Aliya always told him he needed to get glasses or he was going to end up with crows feet).

"They just conveniently left out his history of heart problems." The Levine woman spoke up, sadly from where she was writing a statement about Ed's death. "They were desperate."

"Now," Derek cleared his throat. "While we're waiting for the FDA to respond, I want to re-screen all the other applicants with a fine tooth comb."

Meredith nodded in agreement. "Is that what you two are doing now?"

"No." Derek sighed, clicking his pen on and off, what he had been doing for the past twenty or so minutes. "As morbid as it sounds, we're trying to find a replacement for Mr. Beckert."

Aliya watched her friend's expression falter slightly, shifting her on her feet as Derek informed her of the information. "A new Patient 122?"

"We'll need to have one ready."

"Ok," Meredith thought quickly, and Aliya knew exactly what was going to come out of her mouth. "So, what about Adele Webber?"

"Meredith." Derek stopped his wife before she could delve deeper into that specific train of thought. "You know I want to, but she's just not far enough along. Her disease has not progressed enough for her to be eligible for the trial. You know that."

Meredith sighed, fishing something out of the pocket of her lap coat. "Well, this fell off of Richard's sweater this morning."

She handed Derek a yellow post it note, and Aliya could see as clear as day what was written on it.

This is Richard. Richard is your husband.

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—✩—
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FOUR WEEKS LATER
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"Adele scored a twenty three this time around, which is a marked decline from the last time we tested her where she scored a twenty seven."

The brunette informed Derek, holding Adele's chart in her hands with Meredith stood beside her on the catwalk.

Derek's expression was grave as he watched the two women before him.

"So, she's definitely a lot worse than we thought." The blonde added, and Aliya handed the chart to the neurosurgeon.

"Well," Derek spoke after quickly looking at the chart for a moment. "The upside is she gets into the trial."

"But, she's declining so fast." Meredith told them with a frown, because no one wanted to see another person lose all their memories, especially if that person was The Chief's wife.

"I know." Derek replied, lowering his head.

"Why can't we just give her medicine on the side, outside of the trial? Who would know?" Meredith spoke with desperation, not caring how bad of an idea that was, and how it could hinder the trail and all of the people it may help.

"Mer, it doesn't work like that." The Levine woman answered, softly, not wanting to upset Meredith more than she already was. "The FDA are already looking at us for what happened to Ed."

"Anything we do that taints the results would ruin the trial," Derek said in addition. "And, not to mention all three of our careers with it."

Meredith stayed silent in defeat, and Aliya gave her a glance, not even wanting to know what was going through the blonde's head.

Because, in that moment of time, Aliya wasn't entirely sure whether or not Meredith could be trusted.

"Don't think I haven't thought about it." Derek offered, giving his wife a small smile before continuing down the catwalk, leaving the residents in silence.

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—✩—
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"You ready to go back?" Cristina raised a brow at Callie Torres, who was still recovering from her traumatic car accident, who insisted on pushing the two residnets — Aliya and Cristina — around the general ward on a gurney whilst they did their charting.

"One more lap." Callie told them, breathlessly.

Aliya's brows raised at the woman. "Callie, maybe we should stop so you can rest for a—"

"I'm fine." The Torres woman insisted in determination to reach the other end of the ward.

"Did you lose a bet?" Meredith asked as the three women passed her in the hall.

"They're my new physical therapists." Callie explained. "Because, they do what I tell them to do. And, they're great conversationalists. And, they're funny when they argue."

"Whose charts are those?" Meredith pointed at the stack of three charts in Cristina's lap, now walking alongside Callie, just in case she passed out from the exertion.

"Altman's. She's being ridiculous." Cristina groaned, looking up at Meredith with a grim expression. "I haven't seen a cardio surgery in a month."

Aliya snorted from where she was writing in her own charts — Callie insisted she took all four of them with her just to add extra weight to the gurney. "You pissed her off, Yang, what do you expect?"

"How's it going with you and pretty boy?" Cristina quickly, interrogated. "Are you going to break up and run for the hills again?"

"No." Aliya frowned. "And, I did not run for the hills. It was more of a leisurely jog."

Cristina shrugged in a way that suggested the fact that there was no distinction between the two.

"So, you stole Altman's charts?" Meredith judged, changing the subject back to the matter at hand.

"Yes," Cristina nodded in confirmation. "I stole her charts so I will be prepared when she comes crawling back."

The devil worked fast, but Cristina Yang worked faster.

"Grey, sit. I need the resistance." Callie ordered, angling her head towards the gurney.

"I think you have enough—"

"Sit, Grey!" Callie commanded, as if the woman were a dog.

"Okay, alright." Meredith gave in, hopping onto the gurney next to Cristina, hooking her arm around her shoulder for support. "We re-tested Adele Webber and she's worse than we thought, but at least she's gonna get in the trail."

"Ok! See? See, I should be on this!" Cristina whined, showing Meredith and Aliya the chart she was panicking over. "How do I even have a shot at Chief Resident if I can't do what I'm good at!"

"You're good at whining and you're doing great at it now." Aliya smiled, warmly, complete opposite to her tone of sarcasm.

The Yang woman scowled as they rounded the corner of the hall, met with a bickering Lexie and Alex.

"You didn't!" Lexie lectured. "You're going to be fired."

Aliya didn't even bother asking, because Alex did things that he could potentially get fired for on a day to day basis. It wasn't out of the norm for him.

"I'm going to be Chief Resident." He said, proud and smug.

"Not if you don't work here anymore!" The Grey woman threw her hands down in frustration.

"Hey! Scoot!" Aliya called over her shoulder as Cristina waved her hands as if to shoo them away like chickens.

"He solicited a patient for money!" Lexie gestured to the Karev man.

"Alex!" Aliya threw a milk dud she had been snacking on at his head, which he caught with one hand before it fell to the floor, popping it happily on his mouth. "What did I tell you? No more soliciting!"

"Oh, you're hooking now?" Cristina asked causally.

Alex shrugged, digging his hands into his pockets. "For my African kid thing."

Lexie scoffed loudly at Alex's inanity. "It's against so many rules!"

"Who cares?!" Alex spoke through a mouthful of (now stolen) milk duds, leaving Aliya with only two sad pieces of candy. "The old had could die leaving her money to save dying children, but instead she'll probably leave it to her cats, who probably hate her too. Are you going to Radiology?" Alex added on the end of the short rant, plonking what he needed to be dropped off onto the gurney.

"Hey!" Arizona charged down the hall as she caught sight of her fiancée and the mother of her child pushing three residents and their charts on a gurney.

Busted.

"Everybody off! Now!"

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"Remember when Lex said I was soliciting a patient." Alex ran rather ungracefully to catch up Aliya in the hall.

The woman had been doing re-screening for the clinical trial patients for the rest of the day since she had left Callie and Arizona in the hall.

However, one of the Nurses on the neuro floor told Aliya that Callie had collapsed just moments after she had fled the scene, needing to go back into surgery as she blew her stitches.

Aliya brought said coffee up to her lips, taking a sip before speaking. "I don't think a girl could forget."

"Well." Alex said, sadly. "Scrap that. She died fifteen minutes ago."

"She died?" Aliya choked on her latte in surprise, seeing as Alex had messaged Aliya exactly five minutes ago with a message reading:

⠀
ALEX KAREV (9:40pm)

Old hag $100,000!!!!!

⠀
"Crap!" The brunette exclaimed.

"That's one hundred grand out the window, Aliya." Alex sighed in defeat. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"If we each sell one kidney then, maybe." Aliya shrugged, though joking completely in an attempt to lift Alex's spirits up.

The man next to her gave a slight chuckle, though it was entirely out of pity.

Because, the one thing Aliya hated most in this world (besides her mother) was seeing Alex like this.

And the resolution to this certain problem involved the person she hated most in this world.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

Aliya had never seen her friend so defeated, and she deliberated hanging up the phone as it rang in her ear. But, seeing Alex like that was something she didn't ever want to witness again. She still had time to hang up and pretend it was a butt dial, her mother may just about believe her.

But, oddly enough, it went straight to voicemail.

⠀
MOLLY LEVINE (10:08pm)

Aliya, I can't pick up right now.
Why are you even calling at this time?
You never call at this time.

Let alone call me at all.

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (10:08pm)

i know

i just need to ask you something

⠀
MOLLY LEVINE (10:08pm)

Ask me something? What do you
need to ask me that can't wait
until tomorrow?

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (10:09pm)

i'll wait until tomorrow, it's fine

⠀
In truth, Aliya could not in fact wait until tomorrow.

⠀
MOLLY LEVINE (10:09pm)

Spit it out, Aliya.
You've already woken me up.

You better be dead or led
in a ditch that's for sure.

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (10:10pm)

so you can joke! after all these years
i didn't think you had it in you

⠀
MOLLY LEVINE (10:10pm)

Aliya, you've woken me up for a reason I still
haven't been made aware of. Stop messing around and Spit. It. Out.

⠀
ALIYA LEVINE (10:11pm)

okay, fine

i need access to my trust fund
⠀

And with that, a call from Molly Levine graced her cellphone screen.

"Hello." Aliya spoke causally into the mic, her voice light and airy as if she hadn't dropped that bomb onto her mother.

"You need what?" Molly hissed quietly into the mic as if she was doing some horrific form of ASMR.

"I need access to my trust fund." Aliya mimicked her mother's voice, because sometimes she had no other choice.

"Aliya, don't joke." Molly told her daughter, sternly, and Aliya could hear the flicking of a lamp turning on in the background. "Are you joking?"

Aliya shook her head even though her mother couldn't see her. Which was probably a good thing telling by the grin across her face. "No, I'm really not joking this time."

"Stop copying my voice!" Molly lectured, her voice raising from the loud whisper she had going on.

"I'm not. What are you talking about?"

Aliya had chosen to gaslight her mother, returning the favour after all these years of manipulation.

Her mother scoffed loudly into the speaker. "Why on earth do you need access to your trust fund?"

Aliya looked around where she was positioned in the front reception of the hospital, where multiple members of staff and patient's family were gathered, so the brunette quickly turned on her heel, heading back down the hall away from any prying eyes.

"For a hundred thousand dollars." Aliya elaborated.

There was a slight pause on the LA side of the call, that only caused Aliya's anxiety to sky rocket.

"Why in gods name do you need one hundred thousand dollars at ten o'clock in the evening?"

"For African kids, Mom." Aliya explained, as if her mother should already know of that fact.

"It all makes perfect sense now." Molly spoke sarcastically into the mic. "You need a hundred thousand dollars for African kids."

"Yes," Aliya confirmed, nearly stubbing her toe on a gurney parked inconveniently in the middle of her pacing. "Alex is bringing over a dozen kids from Africa to give them much needed surgeries, but he's struggling with money—"

The woman who insisted on making Aliya's life a living hell cut her off completely. "Who the hell is Alex?"

It was Aliya's turn to sigh. "Mom, he came for Thanksgiving a couple years ago."

"Oh!" Molly gasped in the realisation, her mind transporting herself back to a year ago when she decided she would be thankful for the ability to torment her daughter. "You mean Alan?"

"No, not Alan." Aliya said, getting bored of this joke, or whatever it was. "His name is Alex, Mom."

"So, let me get this straight." The shifting of bed sheets was present behind Molly's matter-of-fact tone. "You haven't made any effort to contact me whatsoever these past few months, and all of a sudden you want a hundred thousand dollars to bring over sick children from Africa to give them the treatment they need?"

"Yes." Aliya replied, simply.

Because, it really was that simple.

"I'll think about it." Molly muttered into the mic, before abruptly hanging up the phone without so much as a goodbye.

At least it wasn't a no.

And at least Aliya had survived that phone call without feeling the overwhelming desire to tear her hair out of her scalp.

"Hey, Aliya."

Okay, maybe now she did.

Aliya looked up at Meredith, who instead of helping her re-screen Clinical Trial patients, Meredith had been trying to find a way to get Adele Webber onto the clinical trial.

"So, I was thinking about Adele—"

"Mer." Aliya smiled, warmly at the blonde before saying what she had to say. "I know what you are going to say, and there's just no way. Derek and I have looked it over and we can't do it without invalidating the trail. I'm so sorry."

"Aliya," The tone of Meredith's voice was thick with sadness, and she couldn't even look the brunette in the eye. "She thought I was my mother."

"What?"

Meredith chewed on her bottom lip, running a hand through her hair. "She thought I was Ellis and I was having an affair with her husband."

"Oh."

The shock on Aliya's face was undeniable, which only led to Meredith pushing her even more than she already did this past month. "So, you think you could pull a couple strings with Derek?"

"Meredith, you're married to the guy, you have more strings than me, Pinocchio."

Meredith half-smiled at her attempt to lighten the mood, even if it was by just a little. "Could you at least discuss it with him?"

"Mer, I already have a million times." Aliya watched her face fall, and maybe it was the fear of disappointing people that made Aliya finally say: "But, I'll try again, okay?"

⠀
—✩—
⠀

SEVEN WEEKS LATER
⠀

The knock on her car window was enough to cause Aliya to physically leap out of her skin.

"OH MY GOD!" The brunette screamed at the top of her lungs, so much her throat protested in agony. "MURDERER! HELP! OH MY GOD!"

"Aliya, it's me, chill out." The calm voice of Jackson Avery sounded from the other side of her car window, though Aliya couldn't see him considering it was pitch black outside. "I can confirm I'm not going to murder you unless you open the door, an old lady is looking at me as if I'm a convicted felon."

Aliya rolled down her window, and for dramatic effect, Jackson turned on his cellphone screen, causing his chin to light up. "STRANGER DANGER!"

"Miss? Is there a problem?" The new security guard for the hospital that was employed just yesterday walked over to Aliya's car, stopping next to her boyfriend and leaning down to her opened window, staring directly at her in a highly unnerving way.

"Oh, sorry." Aliya spluttered, nervously, her eyes darting from Jackson, to the man dressed all in black, back to Jackson, and then to her steering wheel to consider whether just driving off would be a good idea. "There's no problem, it's all good here in this— uh— vehicle."

The security guard wasn't convinced. "Is this man bothering you?"

"Yes—" Aliya immediately regretted what she said because it was obvious security guards didn't really joke when it came to human safety. "I mean no— I know of him, yes."

"You know of me?" Jackson raised a brow, his arms crossed as he witnessed the madness unfold. "It seemed you knew a lot of me last night when you—"

Aliya chose that time to aggressively clear her throat. "It's all good, thank you—" The brunette squinted at the name badge. "Frank. Thank you, Frank."

Frank looked as if he never wanted to see the two doctors again. He nodded his head, muttered a good night, and was in his way.

Aliya lowered her head to her steering wheel, unlocking the passenger side door, so that Jackson could finally get into the comfort of the car, rather than standing in the pitch black Seattle night.

"Dork." The Avery man scoffed, as Aliya groaned into the steering wheel.

"Frank's going to think I'm crazy!"

"You were acting pretty crazy." Jackson admitted, causing Aliya to scowl at the insinuation, never mind how valid it was. "I heard a rumour."

Jackson switched the subject, taking the focus away from Aliya's craziness.

"Oh, yeah?" Aliya removed her head from the steering wheel in interest.

"You and Derek let Adele onto the clinical trail?"

Aliya returned her head back to the steering wheel with a grunt.

Jackson watched his girlfriend in concern, her hands drumming a tune onto the wheel. "You're not happy about it?"

"I'm not not happy." Aliya told him. "It's just— Mer's been acting so weird lately and I don't— I don't know what's going on with her."

"Weird how?" Jackson asked, shoving his duffel bag onto the back seat of Aliya's car.

"I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Do you want to hear something else?" The man in her passenger seat offered, a grin plastered across his pink lips.

"If it steers clear of the clinical trail, Frank, or the cafeteria's mashed potatoes then yes, of course."

It was a simple request from Aliya's part, really.

"We've made it three months." Jackson informed, and Aliya slowly smiled as the man across from her remembered. "That's one and half months longer than last time."

The brunette's lips curved even more. "I guess we have, that's a new record for us."

And, the way Jackson looked at her as if she was the most important person in that moment, was enough to cause her heart to descend into madness.

And, don't even get Aliya started on the way he leaned into her, kissing that smile delicately on her face.

Aliya hadn't told him yet, she didn't know why she hadn't. And she didn't necessarily need to because he knew. He knew just by the comfortable silence, the gentle stares, and the long kisses that Aliya Levine loved him in a way that she couldn't even put into words.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"What's this?" Jackson yawned into his palm the following morning, his arm slumped around Aliya's shoulder as Alex forcefully gave him a chart.

"What's this?" Alex narrowed his eyes at the idiocy of the question. "It's your kid."

Aliya peered over at the chart Jackson held.

"Your African kid!" Alex clarified, the tone in his voice stressed as he scrambled to organise everything last minute.

"Oh, that's happening?" Cristina was equally as confused as Jackson, and it seemed like Aliya was the only one who actually knew about Alex's African Kid Programme.

"Today?" Jackson further questioned, taking his arm from Aliya's shoulder so he could look at the chart further.

"Tonight!" Alex corrected, eyeing his fellow residents. "The first group gets here tonight. I've been telling you this all week!"

He had, in fact, been telling them this all week, the information just simply exited their brains.

Jackson looked at Aliya in panic, pointing at his chart and shrugging, which only made Aliya have to battle the laughter.

"Look! Each of you gets your own kid," Alex began to rant in a blind panic. "Some of them will be traveling with family, a few of them are orphans, so you are in charge of your kid, right?"

"Alex, honey, take a breath." Aliya coaxed the Karev man, who was now frantically scrambling through the charts.

"You're like their ambassador!" He continued, ignoring Aliya's previous piece of advice for him to slow the hell down. He went to hand the Yang woman, who had been slurping on her early morning smoothie, a chart, before taking it away before she had the chance to even look. "Wait, you can't have her. You'd be awful to her."

Lexie, Jackson and Aliya laughed together, and Cristina looked at them in alarm.

"Hm." Alex grunted, taking a chart from the piled in his hands. "No, yes, him!"

He finally gave Cristina a chart, after what felt like years of deciding.

"He's melting down." Lexie spoke through gritted teeth.

"He's been like this all week," Aliya turned the other residents. "You haven't noticed?"

And it didn't help that Molly Levine was insisting on seeing the dying children before offering up Aliya's trust fund.

"Train wreck." Jackson mused, bending down to kiss Aliya's lips, before going about his day.

"Evil Spawn is now Mother Teresa— Ew, get a room!" Cristina groaned in reaction to the couple, following Jackson down the hall and using her chart to whack him on the head.

"Don't forget, they get here tonight!" Alex called after them, before finally handing Aliya her own chart, the name reading Zola Limbani.

⠀
—✩—
⠀

"Okay, Adele. I need you to take a couple of deep breaths for me, ok?" Derek instructed from where he was stood over Adele Webber's head, seeing as she was picked to be the new clinical trial patient. The drill sounded, and the Chief's wife winced at the sound of it. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Adele assured, her voice calm.

"Good." Derek replied, just as the door swung open on cue.

The lady opened the packet that would tell if Adele was getting the placebo or the active agent.

Aliya received the paper, Meredith hovering over her shoulder as she opened it.

ACTIVE AGENT.

"All right." Even though he didn't say in that moment, Derek's tone of voice was relieved, and Aliya found it strange that Meredith didn't even utter a whisper, nor release a breath in relief.

Aliya handed the paper back, turning to the matter at hand.

"Ok, I'm gonna make the injection." Derek took the needle.

"You shouldn't feel it, Adele." Aliya told the woman, warmly.

"There it is."

⠀
—✩—
⠀

Paged to the ambulance bay at nearly midnight, Jackson, Aliya and Lexie walked through the automatic doors, where Alex was already there by the mini bus, helping the children out.

"Avery, Levine, Grey! Over here." Alex waved a hand over to where he was holding a small child in his arms, simultaneously helping the others out of the bus. "This is Zola." Alex informed, handing the crying baby over to Aliya, seeing as the young girl was her case.

"Hey, Zola, it's okay. You must've had a long trip, huh?" Aliya soothed, smiling happily at Zola, who was gripping ahold of a fistful of Aliya's hair, her cries quietening down. "You did good, Karev."

Aliya smiled at her friend, and she could see him in that moment being an excellent pediatric surgeon.
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀

( notes! )

i didn't realise until now that this episode spans twelve weeks omg???

but,, anyway i hope you enjoyed this chapter!! there's only three more chapters left in act two/season seven and i need to mentally prepare myself because a lot happens in them omg

( word count! — 8,000 )