Jackson Avery

"Mommas didn't raise no fool," Andrea grinned. "When you're trying to get Carina Deluca's permission to do something you don't start with the big score, you go with the little things and work up." She laughed softly at his reaction, and his solution. "That actually sounds like a good idea, but I bet it'd be a super uncomfortable drive. You'd have to sit on a pillow or something."

Jackson let out a laugh at this. "Looks like you know exactly how to get what you want from people. Good skill to have. You should thank your moms for it sometime." Jackson laughed loudly at that last part. "Yeah, definitely have to sit on a pillow. Or else have someone I trust drive me so I could lay on my stomach in the backseat."

April nuzzled her face into his side, happy to see her husband after a day at work. She truly missed the days when they would work together more often. At his words, she leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. "I'll go with you anywhere, J," she murmured, squeezing his side gently. And that was the honest to god truth. She loved him to death, and would always do anything she could for him. "I always go home with you... have for years," she grinned, walking with him toward the attending's lounge.

"And that's just the way I like it," Jackson replied, pressing a kiss to the top of April's head. As they approached the locker room, Jackson quickly went inside to his locker and grabbed his keys out before heading back to April's side. "Alright, let's get out of here. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat on the way home. I don't know about you, but after the day I've had today, I am starving."

"Okay, okay," Sofia's head nodded, a smirk still present on her features. She did double take at Jackson's movements, making sure that he actually was okay before continuing to give him shit. "Maybe the elevator next time?"

"You're lucky you're Sloan's kid," Jackson replied, shaking his head. Any other resident and he'd be putting them on scut for the foreseeable future. He wouldn't do that to Sofia, though, even if he thought she deserved it. "Elevator next time for sure."

"Well," Elaine started, a slight grimace on her face as she continued scrolling through the case pictures. "It's not.. they're really not looking great, in my generalized, not going to be the one treating them opinion." Turning the laptop in Jackson's direction, she continued flipping through the images. The case wasn't necessarily looking grim, more challenging than anything. Regardless, Elaine was very much done with looking at the pictures. "It's yours, if you want it." Of course, it would take a bit more work on Elaine's end, using her beautifully corrupt connections with the hospitals all around.

Jackson looked at the pictures on the screen before them, taking in as much of the scene as he could in them. Looking at them, he could tell the case was going to be a challenge, but it was one he was up for. "Wow," he finally stated, as the last picture passed by on the screen. "Yeah, I'll definitely take that case. It's gonna be hell trying to find any good skin to graft to cover the burns, but I'll be damned if I don't at least try. Thanks, Chief."

"Lexie, c'mon, what do I gotta do to buy your silence?" The last thing Jackson needed was Mark finding out that Avery had almost caused severe damage to himself. He could see both a verbal lashing as well as a tease session coming from that. "You still like reese's, right? What if I buy you one of those ten pound ones they sell."

She nodded her head in response to the question. She figured that it was more of a rhetorical question than anything given that he knew what it was like for a captain when one of their team members got injured. She nudged her arm against his own when he sat down next to her, grateful for the update as small as it was. "I'm sure someone will come out and let me know when they have anything substantial to give me. They all know me pretty well around here at this point." She said with a laugh. "Is your day going better than mine?"

Jackson offered up a small smile to her, nodding along to her statement. "Yeah, as soon as there's anything worthwhile they'll be out here. We take all our surgeries seriously, but especially when it's a first responder on the table." There was almost an unspoken agreement there, given how closely they worked together at times. "Just a bunch of surgeries almost back-to-back, and it's almost time for me to go home. Just gotta do one last set of rounds before I go, but I need a break so I figure I can keep you company while you wait, if you'd like."

"Yes. And I will not take any slander from you, Avery. Of all people I expect you to believe that." He said, pointing at the other man and turning his grin into a serious expression as though he would be extremely hurt if the man said anything contrary. He was glad when Jackson eventually gave in and agreed that interns were hopeless until they weren't any longer. "I believe it. We almost need an orientation before the orientation so they can ask the stupid questions." His grin returned and he winked playfully. "Of course I am."

"Of course, Sloan. How could you be anything but perfect, all the time?" Jackson asked, doing his best to hide the smirk that was threatening to split across his face. He had to admit, though, that Mark was a damn good surgeon, and Jackson considered himself incredibly lucky to have been taken under the man's wing when he was a resident. "Yeah, but then we'd still have to answer all the stupid questions and there'd probably be even more of them. That would be horrible for all of us." Jackson gave a mock curtsey at this. "I'll wear the title with pride."

Charlotte couldn't help the smile that touched her lips. She knew all too well how bad a page felt sometimes. There had been nights where she had just gotten home to her family, or just gotten in bed with Cooper and her pager had gone off. "I understand it. When my kids were little, it was always as we got 'em tucked in that I got paged back to the hospital." Thankfully, Cooper didn't get as many late night calls. Being chief of staff had been stressful during the Cooplet's childhood. "Anything you can't shove off on someone else?"

He could relate to that, as well. So many nights when Harriet had finally settled down, only for him or April to have to show back up to the hospital for one thing or another. It was part of the job, but it was one of the parts that was less appealing than others. "I probably could make a resident do it, but I'm afraid they'd mess it up and I'd have to come back anyway. Better that I do it myself and not have to worry about fixing mistakes later."

"I don't like to set my prices too high, if you do that then people stop bribing you." Andrea fell into step beside him with a smile. "That would suck, but I'd bet dollars to donuts you wouldn't be the first. If nothing else you could comfort yourself knowing that you're not one of those guys who shows up to the emergency room telling the doctor you "accidentally" sat on something that ended up in your butt." Being a doctor's child had meant hearing all sorts of stories.

"And a smart briber at that," Jackson added with a chuckle. "Probably not the first, you're right, but it'd still be embarrassing." His eyes grew wide at her next statement. "I would never be that stupid, and if I ever was, I would probably drive myself to a town two states over just so there was never any chance anybody here would find out about it." Nobody else would ever need to know about those sort of details, not that it would ever happen.

"Anytime Jackson, glad you're okay. Other than your pride of course, but I'm sure that will be fine in no time." She laughed, trying to lighten up the mood and then nodded her head. "Yeah, thank god. Today was a busy day and I'm ready for it to be over."

"Considering how much worse things could have been, I'm sure it'll be all healed up by the time I get back to work tomorrow." A good night's sleep and he'd hopefully forget all about this embarrassing incident. "I feel you on that one. It seems like days are never ending sometimes."

"Oh I sure do remember my time as an intern, Avery. Just as I'm sure you remember yours. And I'm not saying I was perfect, though I was as close as you can get I'm sure you can imagine. And I'm not saying that they have to be perfect...yet. I'm saying that they're hopeless just as all interns are at one point or another. Doesn't mean they all have to stay that way. I'm sure some of them will blossom into beautiful butterflies with enough time." He smirked over at his protégé, one of the best people to have learned from him.

"As close as perfect as you can get, huh?" Jackson asked, eyebrow cocked in Mark's direction. "If you say so, Sloan. You do have a point, though. All interns are hopeless at some point in time. My intern year, I can't even count how many times I got lost at Mercy West. It was embarrassing." And he was glad he was a little more well-versed before he came to Seattle Grace, even if he did have to relearn where everything was. "Are you paying me a compliment, Mark?" he asked, letting out a little laugh to show he was only teasing. "Calling me a beautiful butterfly?"

It was hard for her not to cackle like the witch she was out of pure amusement, if there was one person who never failed to make Elaine laugh, it was Elaine. Thinking the conversation had come to a rather silly finish, she picked up the cup of tea she had on her desk, just taking a drink before Jackson posed his question. It caught her off guard, causing her to damn near snort the tea in mid sip. Coughing slightly, she composed herself, a slightly more genuine smile on her face. "Um, no, Dr. Avery," she giggled, "there's nothing that you can do for me right now." A pop up on her laptop caught Elaine's eye, and her gaze was fixed to the screen for a moment as she read a message. "Actually," drawing out the word, she finished reading, then quickly typed up a message and dramatically slapped that enter button. "Are you interested in a pretty... not very great looking burn case?"

Jackson was ready to walk out of the room after she stated there was nothing she needed from him, but then she was speaking again, and his curiosity piqued. It piqued even more so when he heard mention of a burn case. So maybe he would get the jump on it before Sloan; he was willing to take her up on that offer. "I'm always interested in new cases, Doctor Sawyer. How bad are we talking about here?" Better to know the odds of being able to actually help the person out versus prolong their suffering before he jumped into action, though he'd still do everything he could to help.

April had just finished an emergency appendectomy, solely because they weren't able to find a general surgeon to complete it. All in all, it had been an easy day for the redhead, but at this point, she was ready to head home and be with her husband. Hearing commotion a few stairs above her, she rushed up them only to be greeted by her husband having nearly fell. "Now why would we do that, babe?" she snickered, taking a few steps toward him before wrapping two arms around his waist. "Are you okay?" April questioned, a bit more serious, concern lacing her voice.

After steadying himself back on his feet, Jackson wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders. "I'm fine. A little embarrassed, but no worse for wear." Thankfully he hadn't actually fallen completely down; that might have given him a much worse injury than the one afflicted upon his pride. "I was just going back to get my keys because apparently I was in such a hurry to leave, I forgot them in my locker. Come with me to get them and we can head home together."

Charlotte was in the middle of trying to text Sheldon about Seattle, giving him the rundown on what all of the girls and Mason were up to. She thought that leaving LA would hurt a lot more but as she had found out, her friends could annoy her all the way from LA. She looked up when she heard footsteps and watched as the man almost fell flat on his face. She smirked at his words after. "Happens to all of us once. Your secrets safe with me. Why in such a hurry?''

Jackson nodded his appreciation, running a hand through what remained of his hair as he stood back up. "I'm exhausted and want to get home. Left my keys in my locker. Apparently the hospital isn't so keen for me to get out of here..." As if on cue, his pager started going off in his pocket and he couldn't suppress the groan that left his mouth at the noise. "See what I mean?" he said, taking the pager out to see what was going on. "Can't even get out of this place after a long shift without somebody needing something."

Elaine couldn't even hide her amused grin, but she did manage to stifle her laughter just a tad. "That would be really difficult, Dr. Avery," nodded, speaking relatively sincerely. "I just wanted to hear you advocate for yourself beyond that cockiness that all of the Attendings around here ooze. Speaking legitimately of your accomplishments, rather than thinking and acting like you're the best." Clearing her throat, Elaine turned her attention toward her laptop. "The answer's yes. It was yes before you came in here, for the record, I just hadn't gotten around to submitting the request," she shrugged, "any other wishes, Dr. Avery?"

Jackson should have known Elaine was doing most of this for her own enjoyment. He couldn't suppress the eye roll that followed her affirming she had already planned on giving him the raise, even without all the extra steps she'd put him through just now. Standing up from the chair he'd been occupying, he shook his head. "No, I don't think so, Doctor Sawyer. That's the only thing I came up here for. Is there anything I can do for you?" What the hell possessed him to ask that?

Andrea wasn't exactly qualified to know if he'd actually hurt himself or not, but at a quick glance he did seem to look fine. "Fortunately for your pride, it was only me and I'm easily bribed with something sweet from the caf not to say anything," she joked. "You're welcome, though, seriously. Just wanted to make sure you hadn't broken anything."

"That's gotta be the cheapest bribe ever, so consider it a deal," he said with a laugh. "As far as I can tell, everything is still in working order. Which is good. It'd be extremely embarrassing if I had to go to the emergency room of the hospital I worked in for something as inane as falling while walking up the stairs."

"Yikes," Sofia sharply inhaled, only having just barely caught a glimpse of Jackson's stumble. Pretending to zip her lips, Sofia couldn't help but let a few little giggles escape. "You need help up the stairs, grandpa? 'Cause I've got a few minutes."

As he pulled himself back upright, Jackson turned and let out a soft, though irritated, sigh at Sofia's words. "Grandpa? Really? I'm not that old. I just missed a step." Though considering he'd been there the day Sofia was born and that had been so many years ago, he probably was more like a grandpa these days. "I think I'll make it okay now. Thanks for your concern."