XX

"Here are your keys, three copies as requested." Hugh said as he handed April the keys to her new apartment.

Smiling she looked down on this beautiful shiny silver keys, in a way they were going to unlock her future, it sounded weird but she truly believed it would. "When can we move in?" she asked eagerly.

"From now on I guess. You have the keys, place is all yours." He replied. They stood silent for a moment before Hugh's phone started to ring. He almost looked relieved. Pulling it from his pocket he checked it, smiled politely at April and said, "Call if you need" to her and then spoke into his phone, "Frank, is it done?" while walking off down the stairs, his big workmen boots clomping on each stair as he made his way down.

April grabbed her phone from her bag and texted Alex and Jackson, 'Got the keys. Come over. Time to move in.'

Short simple and straight to the point. Slipping the other two keys into her pocket with her phone, she left the other key in her hand and took a step forward. Placing it in the lock, she paused for a moment before turning the key. It was strange, she had seen it before, three times actually but before she was visiting. Now everything was different, now it was hers. The boys went to check it yesterday to make sure everything was in working order. Jackson didn't want to go but there was no way she would let Alex go alone, he wouldn't care about how tidy it was. He wouldn't bother cleaning it, she would, because he simply wouldn't care about the mess whereas she would. April hadn't seen the apartment empty, she hadn't been after the last occupants took all their stuff out. Right now, it was a blank canvas.

Turning the key, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Closing the door behind her, she leant back against it and scanned the room. The floor was beautiful, it was bare, and no longer did ugly mats and faux furs lie there as they once did. She loved the wooden floor it reminded her of home, well her childhood home, this was her home now. Light was streaming in from the windows, which was rare in Seattle but it made everything light up. Luckily, the windows were double-glazed so on the cold nights, which were frequent, they would stay much warmer, plus the thick olive green curtains that hung to the ground would add to that. Looking around her, she could see where the couch would go, and the tv and the bookshelves. She could see where they would put a coffee table, a dining table and chairs, and how they would fill the kitchen with needless accessories that she could convince herself she had to buy and keep.

Being pedantic as she was the first thing she wanted to do was to check the curtains, they looked amazing, but were they clean? Locking the door behind her, she carefully took off her shoes and placed them beside the door, putting her handbag next to them. She ran forward and then slid over to the curtains. Everyone thought she was so uptight sometimes but she always loved wearing socks on wooden floors. Going up onto her tiptoes, she pulled the curtain away from the window at the top and ran her finger along it. Bringing her finger to eye level, she detected dirt and dust residue. Sighing she pulled the curtains off, folded them in half and placed them on the counter top. A few minutes later, she had removed all of the curtains in the apartment and had them in a neat pile on the counter.

Pulling her phone out her pocket she checked for any new messages, none. Good that meant she had time. Running and sliding over to the front door she picked up her handbag and put her shoes back on, then walked over to the pile of curtains sitting on the counter. She walked slowly to the door, barely able to see over the massive pile of curtains she was holding. Waving her arm around her front of her she located the door handle, unlocked the door, yanked out the key and walked out. Making sure she locked the door behind her she headed towards the elevator. Upon reaching it, she saw a sign on it, "Not in service."

"Are you kidding me!" She yelled at the sign. Turning to walk away, she paused for a moment. Something was weird. Standing still for a moment she figured it out, the elevators had a hum; she could hear the hum, so they must be on. Proving her theory the doors opened behind her and inside stood an old man and his wife.

"Good Morning." She said cheerily and climbed in.

Seeing she had her hands full the old woman asked her, "What floor dear?"

"The bottom one please." April replied.

"Same as us." The old woman said in a reply, she hesitated and then added, "That's a lot of curtains you have dear."

Chuckling April replied, "Just moving in today. Checked the curtains and decided they needed a wash, so I'm going to drop them off at the dry cleaners, figure they will be done by the time I have finished painting the lounge. And I might as well do it cause no one else well. Oh I'm sorry, didn't mean to ramble."

The old man answered her with a smirk on his face, "Not to worry. I'm Oliver and this is my wife Ellen, we live on the floor above you."

Extending her hand out from underneath the pile of curtains April replied, "April, like I said just moved in. My roommates, Jackson and Alex are on their way soon hopefully. But not too soon as I have their keys."

The elevator pinged as the doors swung open; stepping out together they all made their way to the street.

"It was nice to meet you dear; we are in apartment 57 if you wish to come up some time." Ellen said with a smile on her face.

"I definitely will," April answered and then asked, "Do you know of any good dry cleaners close by?"

"There is great one only 2 minutes away. Go down there," Ellen said pointed down the street, "In a straight line and then when you reach Quick-As Cleaners, very large sign out the front, go in there and say Ellen sent you."

"Thanks. Goodbye." April smiled and walked off leaving the elderly couple to wander off down the street in the opposite direction.

Just as Ellen had said, there was a huge sign out front and after mentioning her name, she got a 15% off. She paid and headed back to the apartment.

As she made her way towards the door she saw Jackson and Alex walking towards her each carrying a massive box, hopefully filled with paint.

"Here are you keys." April said as they were in hearing distance, as they reached her she handed each of them a key, which they both stuffed into their back pockets. "Don't lose them." She warned.

Looking inside the boxes she sighed, "I told you to bring covers for the floors."

Jackson and Alex exchanged a guilty look. "Why don't you go get some then?" Jackson replied and walked into the building. He wasn't usually this brash, but today wasn't going very well for him.

"Sorry, I can go get them if you want." Alex spoke softly, there was something about his tone, his whole demeanour, something different, something odd.

"No its fine, I can do it." April replied, slightly surprised by the sincerity in Alex's tone.

"You sure?" Alex asked he had a strange expression on his face. April felt drawn to him, all those old thoughts coming back to her. No, why don't you join me? She thought to herself. Shut up. You tried that once already, don't you remember how badly that turned out? Jackson punched him the face. But maybe it's different this time? Realising she had left Alex's question unanswered she pushed those thoughts away and looked up at him.

"It's fine, see you later?" April smiled as he repositioned the box again, obviously it was rather heavy, which made her feel even more more surprised at him stopping to volunteer to help.

"Sure." He said flashing her a smile before he turned towards the building. She kept her eyes on him, watching him open the doors and begin heading up the stairs. After about a minute, she shook her head, trying to shake out whatever it was she was feeling. Sighing, she hesitantly walked away in the opposite direction, in search of something to protect their beautiful floors. An idea popped into her head, the hospital. She hated the idea of stealing from work, but it was so close, it was only a 10-minute walk and everybody else did it. So it should be fine.

Rummaging around in the closet, a voice behind her startled her, "What are you doing?"

"I uhmm…" April began as she turned around to find Cristina leaning against the doorframe with a wide smile spread across her face.

"Isn't you your day off?" Cristina remarked, still hovering.

"Don't you have something to do?" April replied, then turned around and picked up a pile of surgical sheets. "I'm off anyway."

"Oh I thought you heard about the pulmonary hypoplasia case that just came in."

Pausing for a moment, April thought of staying, if it was in a kid then they would use Alex but he was at the apartment. Contemplating for a second, she decided against staying, they would be needed her help at the apartment. Without a word to Cristina, she headed out the door and off home.

I love this city, she thought as she made her way back to her home, the apartment. She grew up on a farm so she was partial to pastures and animals and that sort of green, homey atmosphere. But she loved the city, it was busy, full of people, lives interwoven but never actually touching. You could walk past the same person every single day but never acknowledge their existence. It was a city so big that was so full of people but sometimes you felt so alone. That feeling was one thing about the city that she hated. She hated that all of these people never interacted, she hated feeling alone. Sometimes that was all she felt. That was the point of getting this apartment.

April had loved living in Mere's house but it was time to go and she didn't want to be living on her own again. Some people loved to be by themselves, she hated it. She wasn't scared of the dark and desperate for company when the sun went down. She just wanted to have people, friends to come home to. At first she had thought that flatting with colleagues would end badly but at Mere's it didn't.

As she opened the door to the building with her key, she trudged slowly up the staircase sheets in hand. She knew that the lift worked but she wasn't in the mood to use it. Would living with Alex be a bad decision? It wasn't that she didn't like him, she used to really like him. But he was such a, sometimes he could be, not always, but it was a recurring pattern with him. He probably wouldn't do any work, he wouldn't clean, or help out with anything. But then she was just making assumptions, maybe she was wrong. He could surprise her. But maybe living with him would unearth those old feelings, which probably wouldn't be the best thing right now.

Jackson could just pressure him into doing chores if he refused to. He was pretty good at doing them and even if he hated them, he would do them to make April happy, also she suspected, to get her off his back, but she was never sure of that.

Pausing at the landing, she looked over to the door. It was labelled, so she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was her floor, but she was hesitant to open the door. This was her apartment now, her home. It was surreal. This was the first real place she had since leaving, she had dingy flat after dingy flat, Mere's place was great but she never felt that it was actually hers. The apartment was. If Alex and his laziness and whores didn't ruin it. She felt a pang of jealously thinking of the girls that Alex would bring into the apartment. Not jealously, disgust. She reasoned to herself.

Opening the door she wandered down the hallway and stopped in front of her door. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she put her hand out and turned the handle. She was home.

XX

AN: I personally don't ship April and Alex but I see potential in this pairing, let me know what you think.