Jackson Avery had just landed in Seattle, it was good to be back in a place where the most common phrase in everyone's vernacular wasn't ya'll. He had enjoyed working under Dr. Matthews, she was a brilliant plastic surgeon after all, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on Mark's clinical trial with him. It had been five months since he left Seattle and so, four months since he had seen his best friend April Kepner. He didn't tell her he was moving back, well because she and him weren't talking. They hadn't left things on the best of terms; actually he left without really explaining his true feelings for her, but now he didn't even know if she would look at him. His mind was racing as he stepped into the halls of Seattle Grace Mercy West ready to start his first day as an attending surgeon there.
"Did you hear Avery's coming back?" Meredith asked the other surgeons as they were all changing into their scrubs in the attending's lounge.
"Hmm, that's nice," April, said sheepishly. She had worn an oversized sweater into work that morning and her red hair was put up in a high ponytail with its ends curled.
"What's with the tone Kepner, you mad at Avery for leaving?" Cristina quipped.
"No. I'm not mad. He and I just don't talk anymore, okay? I don't want to get into it." She frustratingly went to the bathroom to change into her scrubs.
"Jesus, what's gotten into her? Perky April Kepner has been replaced with doom and thunder." Cristina said as she took a sip of her coffee. The cardio-goddess, as she liked to have her interns refer to her as, was completely puzzled by April's behavior.
"I think she's just nervous. It has been a while since she's seen him, and I know things did not end well." Meredith tried to be quiet so April couldn't hear them.
"Dish Mer."
"What now?" Dr. Alex Karev, pediatric surgeon, walked in on his best friends from intern year gossiping about who knows what, per usual. He wished he didn't care, but sometimes learning about hospital gossip was his only form of entertainment so he was intrigued.
"Nothing, it's just that Avery's back," Cristina responded, "Okay now tell me the good stuff." But before Meredith could, April came out of the bathroom, grabbed her lab coat, and left to go to the pit.
Jackson Avery found the attending's lounge fairly easily and he also found his old friends, Cristina, Alex, and Meredith sitting in there and talking.
"Morning guys," he opened the door and around turned Cristina who gave him the most puzzling look.
"You slept with Kepner!" All three of him were looking at him with death glares, he felt as if they had seen him naked.
"Great first day to be back," he mumbled to himself.
"Good luck with them," Alex tried to encourage him as he left the lounge to go find his patient who had gone rogue on a nurse up on the peds floor.
"Don't you dare think about leaving, Jackson Avery," Meredith threatened, "Your ass, at this table, now." Jackson didn't have a choice in this matter, so he reluctantly sat down. Thankfully he didn't have anything scheduled until the afternoon, he had only gotten here early to find April so she and him could talk.
"It's not what you two think."
"You defiled a virgin." Meredith smacked him upside the head.
"This explains everything, this explains why Kepner has been so moody and mopey. It's because of you," Cristina added.
"I didn't mean to hurt her. I just didn't know where my head was, so I had to take some time to figure myself out."
"God, Jackson you are such an ass. She was a virgin, you defile her, and then you leave her. Do not go anywhere near her, you need to leave her alone." Meredith was getting angry, she was the one who had to help April pull herself together after Jackson left. At the time, she thought April was sad about losing her best friend, not someone she had fallen in love with and had her maiden voyage with.
"She's a grown woman, I'll talk to her if I damn well please. And I'm done with this conversation."
"We're watching you Avery. You do anything to hurt her and I will have you on a plane back to New Orleans before you can say appendectomy," Meredith warned, but Jackson was already out the door.
"So, you think he's the one," Cristina curiously asked.
"Yes. Yes he is."
Jackson Avery went to the pit where he spotted April Kepner, wearing navy blue scrubs. God she looked so sexy in them, they really made her hair look even redder. He stared at her for a moment, did her boobs get bigger, he thought to himself? He had a blueberry muffin in hand, her favorite, and went to approach her with a small peace offering.
"April," he began.
"What is it Jackson?" she was angrily looking down at her i-pad.
"I brought you a muffin, blueberry, your favorite," he flashed her his winning Avery smile, she wasn't particularly amused, "I thought we could talk."
"Blueberry makes me vomit. And no Jackson, we can't talk right now. I'm running the pit."
"Maybe we could meet at Joe's after work? Please I need to explain myself."
"One, I can't drink. And two, there's nothing to explain. You left. I'm not an idiot Jackson, you don't have to coddle me and spell it out in big letters; you didn't want me. Maybe you thought you could come back here and sweep me off my feet, act like nothing happened, but I am not your sloppy seconds. I am no one's second choice. So take your muffin and go."
"April, please. You're not my second choice, you're my only choice, can't you give me one hour at Joe's?"
"If I give you one hour, will you leave me alone and never talk about us again?"
"I promise."
"Fine, I'll be there at 8."
Lunchtime came around and April had been sitting with Meredith in the cafeteria; who sat down with blueberries on her plate. April ran up to go puke, right as Jackson was walking into the cafeteria. Why on earth had she suddenly developed this sensitivity to blueberries? Before he could go see if she was all right his pager beeped with a 911 from Mark Sloan.
"So April, how was it seeing Jackson?" Meredith asked.
"Fine. We're getting drinks tonight at Joe's. I don't even know why I agreed, I am just so angry with him right now."
"Are you going to tell him?"
"Tell him what, Meredith?"
"He's going to figure it out on his own, April."
"I honestly do not care if he does. He left me. He gets no choice in this matter."
"April, get over yourself. You didn't even know then. He was just taking a fellowship in New Orleans, he wasn't trying to run away from you."
"Meredith, I haven't told you this. But he and I had sex, so yeah he was kinda running away from me."
"April, I figured that out. I mean who else's baby would you be carrying?"
"I'm not pregnant."
"Says the woman who hasn't had a drink in four months, whose boobs have doubled in size, who's gone up a size in scrubs, and who gets nauseous at the sight of a blueberry. Kepner, everyone knows. I'm honestly surprised Jackson hasn't figured it out for himself. You need to tell him."
"I will when I'm ready. He just got here, today. I wasn't expecting this, I hadn't planed for this."
"Where you ever going to tell him?"
"I honestly don't know."
April walked into Joe's, much to Jackson's delight. He noticed the baggy sweater she was wearing, but didn't think much of it. He was just glad that she had decided to come.
"Hey, I already ordered two beers, I hope that's okay."
"Thanks Jackson, but I already told you I couldn't drink."
"You can't have one beer? Need to be sober for this conversation?"
"Yes, yes I do. Okay fifty-nine minutes left, try to convince me why I shouldn't hate you." Jackson was not used to April being this angry, he finally realized how much he hurt her.
"April, I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I can say it to you. But I truly am sorry. I'm going to do everything I can to make it up to you, I want our friendship back. Honestly, I want more than that, but if you're not willing to even look at me when I'm talking I'm assuming you're not interested in that."
"Jackson, of course I was. I wanted to date you, I wanted the whole damn thing, picture perfect story we could tell our kids about how we fell in love with our best friend. But you left me, when I told you I love you. You left without saying a word, no phone call, I had to find out from Mark that you went to Tulane. And when you were there you didn't contact me once. How is that supposed to make me feel?"
"I tried to call you, I really did. But I needed some time alone to think."
"Think about what?"
"About you, April. About you. Do you not understand how much I wanted to say I love you back, because I did love you, I do love you. But every relationship I have has gone wrong, I didn't want to lose my best friend if things didn't work out between us and I panicked. Okay? I got scared, I ran away."
"Jackson, only chase me if you're willing to catch me." She placed a few dollars on the table for the beer he had bought her and left.
A month had passed and April Kepner was now five months pregnant and showing to anyone with half a brain in her scrub top. She was now wearing maternity jeans and tried desperately to hide her growing stomach from Jackson. She had been firm in not wanting to get back together with him, but she needed to be professional at work. He had tried to get in her good graces, and she applauded him for his effort, but she wasn't ready to open her heart up. Not yet.
"Good morning Dr. Kepner, brought you a coffee." Jackson said.
"I thought you weren't supposed to have caffeine," Cristina mentioned as she took a bite out of her blueberry muffin.
"Crap, I'm going to be sick!" April ran away from the nurses' station to find a bedpan to puke in.
"No caffeine, no drinking, getting sick at the smell of blueberries, strange." Jackson thought to himself, "Oh my God she's pregnant." His voice trembled on the last word.
"Ding, ding, ding, daddy." Cristina teased.
"Oh my God. No wonder she's so pissed at me."
"You know, I'd love to hear you realize why you're such an ass, but I have a surgical career to get to. Good luck with Kepner."
April had found a bedpan in a supply closet and proceeded to puke her brains out, aside from blueberries making her puke the rest of her pregnancy had gone smoothly. She tucked her hair behind her ears, popped a piece of gum in her mouth, and left the supply closet to head to the pit when she heard Jackson call her name.
"April! April, get back here I need to talk to you." But April literally ran, but Jackson ran faster and caught the red head by the shoulders.
"You said I needed to be willing to catch you." If she hadn't been so angry at him, this would have been a picture perfect moment for them to kiss and make up, just add some rain and Gavin DeGraw and you got yourself a good old fashion teen drama moment.
"What is it Jackson, I have a patient?"
"Why'd you throw up this morning?"
"Cristina was eating blueberries."
"Yeah, but this is the third time I've seen you get sick over blueberries. And you refused to get a drink at Joe's. Plus you're not drinking coffee anymore. And," his eyes panned down to her stomach, "It's a little hard not to notice that."
"So, you know."
"I know. How far along are you?"
"It doesn't matter Jackson. You didn't want me, what makes me think you'll want our baby."
"Stop, April. I want you. I want our baby. Can you just listen to me? I'm telling you I want you. April, I can't breathe, I can't sleep, I can't eat. I am so head over heels in love with you that's it's driving me mad."
"22 weeks."
"You could have told me."
"And you could have chosen to stay. But we can't make different choices now. I have an OB appointment later today if you want to come," the layers of Kepner's angry onion were finally being peeled back.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world."