All Roads Lead Me Here

Chapter 1:

Jackson Avery strode confidently down the halls of the newly named Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital. He had just finished his second surgery of the day, after having spent the last week focusing on legal forms that made his head spin. Even after finishing it all, he still had many surgeons and other doctors constantly needing documents signed, trials approved, and other projects funded. It had taken a toll on the other members of the newly appointed board, but specifically on him. As much as Jackson insisted that he didn't, or wouldn't, directly represent the Harper Avery Foundation, the staff knew that that wasn't entirely the case. He saw himself as an equal to Meredith, Derek, Cristina, Callie and Arizona, but everyone knew he technically had say over them. But today, those were not his worries; he was a surgeon first.

His phone buzzed just as he reached the third floor nurses' station. He looked down, confused at the familiar caller ID. "Dr. John Greenway," it read. He squinted, trying to recall where he knew the name from.

"Hello? Dr. Avery speaking."

"Dr. Avery!" Jackson jumped at the loud voice on the other end of the phone. "My name's Dr. John Greenway. I'm a plastic surgeon at New York Presbyterien. Surely you've heard of me, before?"

"Uh, I think so…" Jackson didn't what else to say. He was still trying to place the name. He knew it from somewhere. The guy, Greenway, sounded pretty arrogant.

"You'll remember soon enough. Do you have a minute?" Jackson scanned the room. He had been planning to meet Stephanie in the on call room next to the nurses' station, but she was in the middle of filling out a huge pile of charts, so he figured he had time.

"Yeah, sure. What can I do for you?" He could hear the shouts and loud beeping noises on a busy hospital in the background of Dr. Greenway's phone.

"Well, like I said, I'm the head of plastic surgery at New York Presbyterien, and I'm starting a huge clinical trial on contracture surgery for burn victims. It's an incredibly advanced and high tech type of contracture surgery, and it would improve the lives of millions." He went on to explain exactly what the procedure would be, what the trial was like, and the time commitment of about two years. "I'm looking for newly emerging plastic surgeons to head the trial, and I want you for the job." Jackson was about to interrupt, explain that he was now an owner of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and there would be no way he could help run it from New York, but before he could, Dr. Greenway added something else. "I heard Mark Sloan was your mentor. I was his mentor for years, even after his residency. He wouldn't have been Mark Sloan without me." Dammit. Jackson sighed. That's where I've heard the name, he thought.

"Yeah. He was my mentor." His tone was hesitant, he didn't know what Greenway would use the information for, and he sounded so much like Sloan.

"Well, I'm very sorry to hear about his death. He was a great surgeon and a good friend." Thoughts were whirling around Jackson's head. John Greenway. Mark had talked about him all the time. Greenway had been the reason that Mark had decided on plastics. He had been his mentor, even when Sloan was still a med student at Columbia. Sloan had worked under him for his entire residency and fellowship, even for a few years when he became an attending. He had always joked about how he should call Greenway up, get a chance to work with him again, give him a run for his money. "Let's face it, nobody is better than me anymore," Sloan had said, "but without him, Avery, neither you or I would be standing here." Jackson remembered now that his mentor's mentor had pioneered many successful surgeries and headed many important trials already.

"Dr. Avery?" Jackson snapped back to attention, glancing over at Stephanie, who was still concentrating on charting. She looked up at him and smiled. He tried to smile back, but it was more of a grimace, since he already knew what Sloan would want him to do.

"Yes, I'm very flattered, sir, that you've asked me to help with the trial, but I'm now running Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, so I wouldn't have time to-"

"No, but think of what Sloan would've wants you to do. He would've kicked your sorry ass if you didn't agree to work on this trial. You know as well as I do, Avery, how innovative this all is. How far it would advance the world of plastic surgery. If Sloan was still alive, he would be here with me now, working on it, and dragging you by the ear as well. He would want me as your colleague. I'm the only person he'd want to teach you, besides himself. We both know he talking about me." It was amazing how much John Greenway sounded like Mark. So this is who he got it from, thought Jackson.

"This sounds like an amazing opportunity, Dr. Greenway, but-"

"Dr. Avery, you wouldn't just be another doctor on the trial, you would be leading it alongside me." Jackson was shocked. He had to admit, he already liked the idea of the trial, but this changed things a bit. He already knew that working under Greenway would make him a more competent surgeon and advance his career, and it wasn't as if he had any other options without Sloan. Greenway was the next best thing; Sloan would've wanted him to work with him. Plus, the trial sounded like an incredible opportunity, and he would be heading it. There was also the fact that this had nothing to do with the Harper Avery Foundation or his family. As much as he'd stepped up when they had bought the hospital, he still couldn't stop thinking about how his ownership was all because of them. He was working under their legacy, which was something he'd spent his whole life trying to avoid. Working with John Greenway in New York would allow him to possibly create his own. Plus, it would only be for about two years. He could still help run Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital from New York, and the others would take over the majority of his responsibilities.

"I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer." Jackson knew he needed a bit of time before he said yes, there was another reason that he didn't want to be away from Seattle for two whole years.

"Excellent! That's what I like to hear. I'll fax over the info to Seattle. Looking forward to working with you, Dr. Avery." Well. Greenway had already planned for him to join it.

"Well, it's not a done deal, there are a lot of contributing factors-" Jackson attempted to protest.

"Talk to you soon, Avery." The noises of the hospital went dead and Jackson's phone started to buzz. Jackson sighed. Another major decision he needed to make. Albeit a good one, but he did have a good fellowship here in Seattle and he owned a hospital. There was also another reason.

"Sorry! Hey, Jackson." April accidentally bumped into his shoulder as she rushed past, her pager beeping loudly. She looked back at him, her red curls swinging around as she smiled back at him timidly. Jackson stared at her. She frowned slightly, looking weirded out, then continued down the hallway and into a patient's room. He blinked out of his trance, looking down the hallway, and stared at the door of the room she had gone into.

"Hey," he breathed, after she had entered the room. April was the other reason he wanted to stay.

"Yeah, hi. What's up?" He glanced down, surprised. Stephanie was standing in front of him, looking over to where he had been staring suspiciously.

"Um, nothing much. I have, uh, surgery in half an hour." He gave her a small smile, tearing his eyes fully away from the door frame down the hall.

"Great, then you have time for a quick consult in the on-call room overthere." Stephanie tipped her head and slid her hands down Jackson's arms. She was practically purring.

"Yeah, I, uh, actually already have a consult with Yang." Stephanie looked disappointed. Her hands dropped to her sides.

"Like, a real consult. Not like a – anyways, I'm sorry. See you later?" He tried to smile down at her.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess so. " She smiled back hopefully. Jackson felt like an asshole. "I've got tons of charting to still get through anyways, and an oophorectomy to prep for."

He knew that she knew who he had been staring at. He shook his head slightly as he went to find Yang for a consult that didn't even exist. At least, he hoped, Stephanie hadn't picked up on that.

Jackson walked out of the scrub room, all his worries returning to him. His surgery earlier had gone well, and all thoughts had escaped him except the ones of a successful surgeon. He'd gotten paged to the OR to treat some burn victims of an office fire, which resulted in three successful skin grafts and, hopefully, happy patients. The rush of adrenaline that had been coursing through him since the start of his first surgery of the afternoon was starting to wear off. All he could think of was the new trial and Dr. Greenway, and most of all, April.

He tried so hard to push her to the back of his mind, all thoughts of him and her as more than friends away, but it didn't work. He was constantly thinking about her, though, which wasn't fair to her or to Stephanie. April had finally moved on, and as much as he hated that, he wanted her to be happy. They'd been through a lot together, watching their two best friends die, how he'd tried to protect her from the words of their other friends; she had been his best friend. Then, all of a sudden, they were hopping in bed together. It wasn't until after he had broken up with her that he fully realized he loved her. He just woke up one morning a week later and – there she was, he couldn't get her out of his head. But she was now the happiest he had ever seen her, so as her best friend, he needed to let her have that. He also felt bad about how he'd treated Stephanie. She was nice and a great doctor, not to mention good in bed. She would one day make a kick ass surgeon. But he could tell she was looking for more of a relationship and he just couldn't give her that. It wasn't fair, especially when he was in love with somebody else, and that was all he could think of when they were having sex. He knew he had to act on how bad he felt.

Jackson sent Stephanie a text message, asking, meet me in front of the hospital at 8 tonight?

She texted back quickly. Sure.

Jackson spent the next 20 minutes in the board room, signing papers that were approving Bailey's genome mapping project, thinking about what he was going to say.

He took a deep breath as he walked out of the hospital's main entrance in his street clothes. He had no idea how Stephanie was going to react.

She was sitting on a bench directly outside the doors. The sky was dark and overcast; it would be raining any minute. Jackson walked up to her.

"Hey." She smiled and started to stand up.

"Actually, it's probably better if we just sit." Her face fell. She looked apprehensive.

"Okay…" Her voice was a little shaky. He had a feeling she knew what was coming. Jackson swallowed and took a seat beside her. He could hear the rush and loud honks of week day evening Seattle traffic.

"I think its, uh, best if we stop seeing each other," he said softly, looking at his knees. "I just have a lot going on and I have this new trial thing coming up and I'm running a hospital and it's, well, it's not fair to you." He glanced over at Stephanie. She looked upset, her eyes were shining with tears, but she didn't look very surprised.

"Okay." Her voice shook, and he could now tell her tears were angry ones.

"I'm sorry." Jackson swallowed again. "Are you going to be okay?" He was concerned, more because he felt guilty for seemingly using her to try to get over April, he may as well admit that to himself.

"Probably. Yeah, I'll be fine. Just – whatever. Just go." She looked away from him and down at her lap. He stood up awkwardly, lingering beside her for a minute.

"Well, goodnight. You're – you're a really promising doctor. You'll make a great surgeon." With that, he started to walk towards his car. It had been all he could think of to say, to hopefully take some of the sting out of his words.

"It's Dr. Kepner, isn't it?" Her voice rang out from 10 feet away. Jackson turned around. Stephanie was still sitting on the bench, looking over at him. "I just, well, I need to know. Are you really just busy and don't want to date me anymore, or is because of her?" Jackson looked at her and sighed. She met his gaze with miserable eyes. "I'm observant, Dr. Avery." He flinched at the emphasis of his professional name. "You've been staring at her for weeks, and I know you two had a thing before. I just need to know."

Jackson hesistated before responding, but there was no point in lying. He owed Stephanie the truth.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but yeah." His voice was soft. She simply nodded, with pursed lips. He turned around. "I'm gonna go now."

"Yeah. That would be best." Jackson felt bad for feeling this, but he was more relieved than anything. He didn't have to spend time with Stephanie anymore, while thinking of April. The guilt had been eating him up.

His phone rang just as he was getting into his car. The caller ID read Dr. John Greenway. He sighed in exasperation. Jesus. This guy was insistent.

"Hello?"

"Dr. Avery! It's Greenway again, I just wanted to ask if you've made a decision yet."

"You do realize it hasn't even been 12 hours since you called me? Thank you for your offer, but I do need some time to think about it before I make a decision."

"Shouldn't be a hard one. Groundbreaking clinical trial with your brilliant mentor's even more brilliant mentor." He had the same casual arrogance in his voice as Mark had.

"I know, and believe me, I'm very interested. In fact, there's really just one person I need to talk to. I'll get back to you within a few days. Have a good night." Jackson had a new idea; it was something he wanted to do right then.

"Yeah. You too. You sound stressed. Go find yourself a girl to spend the night with. I'm sure you've got somebody already." With that, Greenway hung up.

He really is like Mark, Jackson thought. Maybe it'll sort of be like working with him again. He was hopeful. He would be doing serious work again.

He threw his phone in the backseat and started up his car. Going out of the parking lot, he turned in a different direction then he would normally to get to his apartment. While talking to Greenway, he had gotten what seemed like a good idea. It was a little delusional, and he didn't know what he would say, what would happen, but he couldn't stop himself. He was going to visit April.

Jackson's car inched up to the gravel parking lot, where he parked and hopped out fast. Once he reached April's door, with the silver numbers 105 staring back at him, and knocked lightly, he realized that he had absolutely no idea what she would be doing. He did need her advice on the trial, and she had been his best friend, she really did know what was best for him. He knew that deep down he had come just to see her, just to be near her, even just as a friend. He really missed her. He couldn't mess up her plans again, though, so if being friends was as close as they would get, he would deal with it. Or so he told himself.

The door opened and there stood April. "Jackson?" She looked confused, but so beautiful.

"Hey, sorry, I know I didn't call first, but I was wondering if we could, uh, talk-" he cut himself off as he realized how agitated she looked. He noticed what was wearing, too; low cut, strapless pink dress, black high heels. Her hair was all curled and swept to one side. It spelled out date.

"April? Who is it?" A male voice called out from somewhere in her apartment. Matt's voice. A dish clanked, and Jackson could hear faint romantic music, or "smooth jazz crap" as he called it.

"Oh, sorry. You're - you're busy. I should probably go," he said, stumbling over his words.

"No, it's okay. I'll be there in a sec, Matt!" she called over her shoulder. Her hair that Jackson had loved to tangle his hands in brushed over her shoulders, and her pale bare shoulder and neck made him at a loss for words. "I'd love to talk, Jackson, I'm just, well- Matt's here and we're sort of on a date. So another time?" She looked up at him, biting her lip. She'd spoken quieter, so Matt wouldn't overhear. She really didn't know why it would matter if he did overhear, though.

"Yeah, sorry, like I said, I should've called first." Her eyes were shining and he couldn't look away. The two of them stood motionless, an awkward silence that lingered too long. "I should go."

"Yeah. Goodnight. Talk to you soon?" April smiled tightly.

"Sure." Jackson said a quick goodbye and turned around, walking away quickly. His brain felt fuzzy as he got into his car. What was I thinking? He'd told himself time after time that he and April could be friends again, but as soon as he saw her, all he wanted to do was kiss her. He reached over and picked up his phone. At least one good thing had come from his visit, besides getting to see April. He had made a decision. He sat in his car, his head rested on the steering wheel as the phone rang. It went straight to message, and Jackson took a deep breath.

"Dr. Greenway. It's Dr. Avery. I'm saying yes to the trial." He hung up, and tossed the phone in the backseat out of frustration. The trial was exactly what he needed, something to do in his own name, not Harper Avery's. Something to get away from all the forms and papers of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. But most of all, to get over April. She was happy. Matt was perfect for her, and she was just so happy with him. And that's what he wanted for her. He needed to let her go. But as hard as he tried to get her out of his head, the image of her in that pink dress, standing on her doorstep, biting her lip in that adorable and sexy way, was permanently burned in his head. He started up his car and headed home.

Chapter 2