AN: I began writing a drabble... I began. It suddenly escalated to this. I know it's not that looong, but it is for my drabbles standards... Also, I have never done a "x times they did and x they didn't" but I wanted it to stand alone. I hope you like because I gave myself feels more times that I can admit. That's why I took so long. Yesterday's episode was too much for me. I'm having too many feels. I hope I'm not the only one.

As always, leave a sign you were here!

Title: Church & Waffles

Word Count: 854

Pairing: Japril (+ little Not hypotheticals)

One

The first time they decide to go together, he feels conflicted; he had been standing in front of their closet deciding what to wear for the last 20 minutes.

Was there a dress code? Would he have to wear a tie? Or just an open collar with a coat on would be enough? Could he wear jeans and a shirt without offending anyone?

"Jackson! We're going to be late!" his wife screamed from the kitchen.

"Just a minute!" he answered, trying to think quickly enough what to wear.

He heard April's steps fast approaching and felt like a deer caught in the highlights. (More like a husband trapped in a fashion emergency). Sensing her in the room, he turned his head, just to see her sulking from the door, "Jackman, you're not even dressed yet!"

"I know, I know! Is just…" he hesitated while he pulled a black dress shirt from the closet.

"Just… what? Your shoes don't match your socks?" she lightly mocked. "If we want to make it on time we have to go soon, Jackson…" she, knowing the effect it had on him, pouted.

He sneered at her. "Minx... you know I can't resist that." April grinned. "I know! So… chop, chop!" She clapped her hands as she started to walk out of the room.

"Babe!" he whined.

"What?" she long-stretched her word smiling. "We're really going to be late."

"I don't know what to wear… I've been to weddings, funerals… but I have never been to Church for a normal mass… so I don't know what to wear." Jackson rambled. "And I want to make this perfect for you."

Watching the desperate look on her husband, she briefly forgot why they were going out.

She walked up to him, delicately grabbing his sides, kissing softly "you are just the sweetest husband ever."

.

.

.

So when they couldn't found a sit, but at the back of the church, because of a full congregation, Jackson refrained himself to tell his wife that it was her fault they were late.

Two

The first time they go to Church not as a couple anymore, but as a family, they arrive a bit late, too. (Even when April was awake since 6AM making sure everything was perfect.)

"Babe, we're going to be late!" Jackson repeated for what it felt like the fourth time that morning.

April kept frantically going from one way to the other, "I can't leave a dirty kitchen, can't I? 'Cause then we come back late, and we're both tired and…" she continuously rambled.

"You've checked everything at least three times. You cleaned the kitchen two times already, it's time to go!" he answered highly amused.

He saw her panic coming before she physically demonstrated it. "The backup pacifier!" she shrieked before making a run to the nursery.

Jackson tried to stop her but didn't want to wake the sleeping baby in his arms. "If mommy seems a bit crazy sometimes, is because she is… but that's why we love her..." he quietly said to his daughter before placing a kiss on her head.

"I didn't find it," his wife worried when she came back. "It's because is in here," he signalled the diaper bag he had hanging from his shoulder.

"Oh", she sighed. "Jackson… I'm sorry; I just want this to be perfect for her. It's the first time we're taking her to church and Father Thomas said…"

"Take and smell the baby", he told her.

"What?"

"Just take our daughter, won't you?" Jackson kindly asked her. She took the still sleeping baby, smelling her sweet scent and immediately calmed. She smiled in return as a thank you. Finally she started walking out.

"Got the keys?" She asked from the door. "Got the keys," he replied while taking them from the hook. "Let's do this."

Three

They don't make it to church every Sunday.

She doesn't feel guilty. He doesn't feel responsible for it. And it's not because they are lazy or don't want to; kids get sick, patients turn for the worse, family members come to visit.

She learns how to deal with it. He helps her through it. If there's a thing they've learned from their relationship is to find a middle ground where to stand. That's the key to make a relationship work, to raise a family. It's not easy, but they love each other enough to do it.

They don't go out to eat waffles every Sunday, either.

Although traditions are… traditions and that's something they have built their family on. So she mixes the waffle batter as he arranges the table and later they sit together with their little (and rambunctious) Not-Hypotheticals to have their normal Sunday breakfast.

She closes her eyes and puts her hands together sending a silent prayer of thanks (thing that their kids imitate) while he just looks at them, his family, smiling. For this sight, he would stay in on a Sunday; he'd followed her everywhere she'd go.

They didn't always have everything the other wanted, but that was a thing they were learning how to do: compromise.