⇢ CHAPTER 76 - A.U.

Holly mused, looping her arm around Lexie's neck as she smiled brightly towards the girl on their walk towards the shuttle, "I saw you sneak off into a room with Mark-- ."

Lexie's head snapped to the girl before her eyes drifted to Mark and Derek talking in the distance before they settled back onto the redhead, "What'd he say?"

"Nothing." Holly shrugged before a smile graced her face as she nudged Lexie's gently, "So tell me--!"

"Shush!" Lexie warned, covering Holly's mouth as she muttered, "Not so loud." Grabbing Holly's hand, she moved the two a few feet away from the parking lot, "Fine."

"Yay." Holly cheered in a whisper, smiling brightly. 

Lexie rolled her eyes at her antics before starting as she sat down on a bench, "We talked, and he told me that he broke up with Julia and... we fixed all our issues."

"." Holly quirked a brow, "And?"

Lexie's eyes flickered from Holly to Mark, and ultimately landed back on Holly as she shrugged before sputtering out a lie, "Nothing."

Holly chuckled, looking at Lexie with a squint, "Oh, I  something happened." 

✧

Looking up at the clock as he lightly spun on the chair planted at the Nurses's Station, Jackson mentally counted down the hours it would take for Holly's plane to land as his pocket grew heavy-- the note he had written for Holly practically weighted him down as he felt anxious, knowing the feelings he had written on the paper would change the course of their friendship to something or nothing.

"Excuse me," A familiar voice sounded from the distance, not enough to make Jackson turn, "do you know where Holly Kepner is?"

At that, he turned and quirked a brow, "Logan?"

"Jackson." Logan smiled, walking over to the doctor in relief at finding someone he knew, "Hey, um, do you know where Holly is?"

Jackson folded his arms in front of him as he stood, sizing up the man as he informed, "She's on a flight back from Boise." 

"Oh." Logan nodded, almost dejectedly before he stammered, "Um, well, d-do you know when she'll be back?"

Jackson nodded, gesturing towards the clock, "About five hours from now, give or take..." His eyes went to slants, "don't you have to cook something for someone now or--?"

"Yeah," Logan smiled as he joked, "don't you have some life to save?" Upon hearing no laughter, Logan cleared his throat before remarking, "It's my day off today, and, um, I just wanted to apologize to Holly."

Jackson's face relaxed as he nodded, realizing what that meant, "Oh."

✧

"Logan?" Alex questioned as he dumped the remainder of his soup in April's trash that she kept at the corner of her Chief Resident office, "Holly's ex?"

"Yeah." Jackson nodded, his eyes staring off into the distance as he held one hand in his pocket, gripping the note inside, "He said he wanted to apologize."

Alex quirked a brow, turning around to face the soon-to-be plastics attending, "'Apologize' like we need to beat the guy up or--?"

"No," Jackson shook his head as he met Alex's eyes with a squint, "he's a sincere, genuine guy." His eyes flashed down to the pocket, "He'd be good for Holly."

"Yeah, he's great." Alex shrugged, looking at his pager as it beeped before he gave Jackson a look as he left, "Not as great as you would be."

Jackson scoffed lightly, muttering to himself as he rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure." His eyes flickered from the trash and his note before he walked over-- and with great hesitation and a lasting look onto the note, he threw it in and sighed, reminding himself as he left, "He'd be great for her."

✧

"Tell me! I lied! I don't know what happened between you two." Holly begged, looking at Mark as the elevator doors closed, "Please?"

"Come on, Mark." Derek gave Mark a look, trying to hide the fact that he too wanted to know what happened, "Just tell her."

Mark squinted at his two friends, "I'm not a gossip."

Derek and Holly scoffed as the former voiced, "You are."

"A terrible one, too." Holly added before she smiled up at him, "Please?"

Mark, who continued to squint at the two, sighed before placing his hands up in surrender, "We kissed--"

"Yes!" Holly cheered before high-fiving Derek, "And here," Holly removed a five dollar bill from her pocket before handing it to Derek, "is your cash, good sir."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Derek complimented, grabbing the cash with a smile before speaking, "So, that surgery--"

"Did you guys seriously  on my relationship with Lexie?" Mark scoffed, looking at the two before his eyes landed on Holly, "And  lost?"

"I didn't think you'd have a brain." Holly shrugged as the elevator doors opened before she walked out, "And now, I leave you two alone." 

✧

"Honey, I'm home!" Holly joked, walking into the Chief Resident office room her sister still occupied before she frowned her eyebrows upon finding an empty room, "Oh," Holly whispered to herself as she walked over to the desk to drop off her coat, "well, that's embarrassing." 

She grabbed the empty soda can left on April's desk-- she assumed it was Alex-- and she would be correct. As her hand hovered over the trashcan, her eyes caught onto a piece of paper soaked in soup.

"Oh, gross." Holly commented before her eyes caught her name written in beautiful calligraphy. She took one look around the room before grabbing a glove from April's drawer, putting it on, and grabbing the note, "Look at me," She whispered to herself before beginning to read, "Lexie's klepto and I'm snoopy."

"," It read, and already Holly squinted at the handwriting, it seemed recognizable but her mind struggled to depict who it could be, either way, she continued, ""