Chapter 1

Jackson woke up to his alarm clock going off just like every morning. He groaned into his pillow before reaching over and shutting it off. He rolled over onto his back and rubbed his hands over his face silently cursing himself for not turning his alarm clock off the night before seeing as today was his day off. He loved his job at the hospital of course but being a surgeon and constantly being on call made him really appreciate his days off. The days where he should be able to sleep in, but then again he was an Avery and they were not a family to waste the day sleeping.

He sat up and leaned against the headboard and let his eyes adjust to the sun light coming through the blinds. It was still early so the sun just rising but his room was in just that right position of the house where the sun light when rising or setting could blind him. As he got up to find a clean pair of clothes to change into he smelled coffee brewing downstairs in the kitchen. He knew that all of his roommates also had the day off so he wasn't sure who would be up this early. He chose a grey t-shirt to wear and pulled on a pair of jeans and realized that Alex probably spent the night with the nurse from the 3rd floor that he's been hitting on so it most likely wasn't him downstairs making coffee. That just left the two girls. As far as he knew Lexie and Mark were separated again so she would most likely be home and he knew for a fact April was home if only for the simple fact that he drove her home last night because she finished her shift just as he did.

He decided he didn't want to waste this perfectly good day off alone so he made his way downstairs to see who was up to talk to. He didn't think either one of the girls were big morning people so he was surprised to find April standing in the kitchen scanning the fridge. She still had on her pajamas, an old college t-shirt and plaid shorts, and he noticed her hair was in the same braid it was in the night before.

"Good morning," Jackson said and wasn't surprised in the least to see April jump a little. She obviously hadn't heard him coming and she was easily scared which made it really easy for her roommates to sneak up on her at any time.

"Gosh Jackson, you scared me! I didn't know you were up. I hope I didn't wake you," April said as she stepped away from the fridge to check if the coffee was ready.

"No, don't worry you didn't. We Avery's are naturally early risers. I am surprised to see you awake though. I thought we all had the day off. Why aren't you sleeping in?" He questioned as he watched her grab some mugs from the cabinet.

"Yeah, I do have the day off you're not wrong. I just didn't get the best night's sleep and decided to stop fighting it and just get up. Coffee?" She held out the cup to him.

"Thank you. Why couldn't sleep? I thought the nightmares were gone."

At the mention of that she cast her gaze to the floor. Ever since the shooting April had nightmares. At first it was every night, she'd wake in a cold sweat panicking, but as the months passed it got to be less and less. She told Jackson they had stopped even though it still happened every now and then especially after a hard shift. Working at a hospital no shift was ever easy but occasionally she would get put on a case that was just a bit a rougher than she'd like. Whether it be the trauma she actually had to tend to or the patient being particularly difficult. Jackson was the only one that knew about the nightmares just like she was the only one to know about his.

This was because they were roommates at the time. Not roommates like they were now with Lexie and Alex in Meredith's old house. They were roommates along with Reed and Charles before they died in the shooting. The four of them had lived together since they all got internships at Mercy West before the merger. Jackson and Charles were best friends just like April and Reed. They had a really rough time getting through the aftermath of the shooting. Their rooms were right next to each other's and any time one of them would wake up in the middle of the night the other one would be right there to comfort them. They became really close during this time and they were now each other's best friends. They felt like they had known each other their entire lives when it was actually just a few years.

"I still get them sometimes," April answered quietly. She didn't want Jackson to know. After they moved in with Lexie and Alex she wanted to move past it all and didn't want him to have to worry about her all the time. So she lied and told him they were gone. But she didn't want to lie to him now.

"What? Why didn't I know this? You know I would've been there for you." Jackson said with a little hurt but more with sympathy and comfort.

"Exactly why I didn't tell you." He looked confused. She sighed and looked up at him "I don't want you to worry about me anymore. I'm okay…most of the time. I just want to get past it all and with you worrying about it me I'm afraid I won't ever be able to really move forward. But I'm okay really." She wanted to make sure he knew this.

"Okay, if you're sure," he sighed. He was a little hurt that she didn't tell him but he could understand where she was coming from so instead of pressing the issue he decided to take her mind off it and change the subject. "You got big plans for this day off?"

"Oh yeah. Huge! I was thinking just of just hanging around the house, watching movies and ordering in food." She answered sipping some coffee from her cup.

"Being lazy is really how you want to spend your day off?" He mocked disappointment.

She expected a response like this from him. "Well yeah it's my day off. Why would I want to do anything that requires work or moving? Also it's supposed to rain all day so it's actually the perfect plan.

"I see your point. Okay, I'm in!"

"Oh great I was hoping you'd be! So let's start with breakfast. I mean it is the most important meal of the day right?"

"Right."

"Great! You whip something up and I'll go take a shower. Thanks." She ran out of the kitchen and to the stairs before he could argue.

"Wait. April!" He called after her but it was too late, he could hear her giggling on her way up the stairs. She was always able to trick him into this stuff. He honestly couldn't complain much because he enjoyed cooking sometimes. Only sometimes because he hates cooking for large crowds or holidays. But on their days off it was often that he could be found in the kitchen making food for him and his roommates.

He heard the shower water running upstairs and decided to start on breakfast. He went to the fridge and noticed they were running low on some essentials and made a mental note to go grocery shopping. He decided to make scrambled eggs and pancakes. Nothing fancy but perfect for a rainy day off and it was easy to make enough for everyone.

About twenty minutes later Jackson heard the girls chatting on their way down the stairs. It was perfect timing because he had just finished setting out the plates of food and refilling coffee cups.

"It smells delicious! What did you make this time?" It was Lexie asking this. She walked into the kitchen and took her normal seat at the island.

"Good morning to you too sleeping beauty." Jackson responded noticing that she was still in her pajamas and her brunette hair was pulled into a messy bun.

"Haha very funny. Not everyone wakes up at the crack of dawn on their day off and besides 8:30 is not that late." She teasingly stuck her tongue out at him. "But yes, good morning." She smiled and sipped her coffee.

"I made scrambled eggs and pancakes. Enjoy!" Jackson said as he sat down to begin eating. "Oh yeah we need to go shopping we are getting low on some things."

"Eh we'll deal with that another day. Let's just enjoy the day. I filled Lexie in on our plans for today and she's in." April smiled happily and picked up another bite onto her fork. "Great breakfast by the way."

The morning passed as they finished up breakfast and Lexie and April did the dishes which only seemed fair considering Jackson did all the cooking. They soon retreated to the living room and Jackson put on an old basketball game to listen to as the girls continued on gossiping about the lives of their fellow surgeons. They landed on Alex seeing as he wasn't home yet.

"So he must've been successful this time," Lexie said referring to Alex's futile attempts at asking out the cute nurse from the 3rd floor.

"What makes you say that?" April asked kicking her feet up on the coffee table in front of her.

"I mean he's not home yet so I figured he must've stayed over with her..what's her name?" Lexie wondered.

"Pretty sure it's Olivia," Jackson chimed in.

"And how do you know this?" April gave him a smirk. "Fraternizing with the nurses, are we?"

"Oh come on you know me better than that. You know I only go for the attendings," Jackson joked back. "No, seriously I know most of the nurses names. You have to. If you aren't nice to the nurses they can make it hell for you."

"Right. But I don't know about Karev. He's struck out too many times with her I think. He probably just went to Joe's and picked someone up there," April continued.

"Well what do you think, Jackson?" Lexie asked dragging him into it. He always claims to hate gossiping but they all know he secretly loves it.

"Sorry, Apes. I'm gonna have to go with Lexie on this one. Alex is one of my friends so guy code says I need to have his back on this." Jackson gives.

"Fine," April sighs but quickly moves on. "What do you think about Christina and Owen?" And this is where Jackson tunes out again and goes back to the game on the screen.

The girls go from Christina and Owen to Meredith and Derek and even onto Callie and Arizona before April mentions Sloan's name. Lexie carries on with the conversation but a little less enthused than before which does not go unnoticed by April.

"So I guess you two are off again?" April asks Lexie looking over at her past Jackson who was between them on the couch.

Jackson remains quiet but listens intently while pretending to be focusing on the game still. Jackson has been low key crushing on Lexie since the first time her and Sloan were apart. Mark and him worked Plastics together and had him be the sort of messenger between him and Lexie during their first break. This is when the crush began. He hadn't told anyone and he didn't think he made it obvious. He's sure that April would have caught on to it and asked him about it by now if he had. He never acted on this crush though because one they were roommates and he didn't want to make anything awkward and two he and Mark were becoming friends and he did not want to jeopardize that.

"Yeah I guess so. I mean I'm not that sure this time. We had a fight about Callie being pregnant with his kid. I thought I had a pretty good reason to be a little upset about that and need some time to figure out where I stood but he seemed to be in a more of a rush to get me on board with basically being a step mom figure. So we had an argument which turned into a fight which turned into me walking out before we settled things and I just don't know where we stand." Lexie explained setting her coffee down to hold her head in her hands.

"Aw Lex I'm sorry. I mean I've never been in that situation so I can't imagine how this must be for you. Have you tried talking to him about it?" April looked at her sympathetically.

"It's been over a week and he won't talk to me. At least not about this. If I'm on his service it's only about the case and nothing more. I think he's pretty upset I walked out." Lexie leaned into the arm of the couch.

"Well maybe Jackson can get some information out of him." Jackson's head snapped up at the mention of his name. "You two are kind of friends, right?"

"Uh yeah, sure right." He stuttered out not sure how he felt about helping the girl he liked get back with the man she loved.

Before anyone else could say anything on the subject Alex walked through the front door. They all turned to see him stumbling a little towards the staircase. Whoever he was with he was definitely wearing the same clothes he left the hospital in last night. He didn't seem to notice them staring at him trying to figure out if his latest lay was Olivia or not so Jackson finally spoke.

"So? What happened with the nurse?" He asked pretending to have forgotten her name.

Alex looked over at them seemingly a little hungover and beamed at them. "She said yes! I knew she couldn't resist me for long!" He was so excited about it that the three of them on the couch couldn't hold in their friendly laughter and congratulated their roommate on his recent success. Once he was up the stairs and they heard the shower turn on Lexie turned to April.

"I knew it!" And April, although she was wrong, laughed when Jackson and Lexie high fived each other.

She could tell that today was going to be a fun day off.

A/N: I hope you liked the first chapter! I am sticking with the main personalities of the characters and some of the show's storylines but not all. Lexie and Sloan are still alive (and I have no plan to kill them off) yay! Alex is not quite as much of an ass as most people write him and I don't think I'm going to have April be quite so shy and religious. I mean I know that's her personality so I don't want to take it away completely but just enough so it's not quite so annoying and she can have more fun and let loose! Let me know what you think by reviewing! The more reviews the more likely I am to update faster!