Set mid-season 9, between S9E14 and S9E15

Alex went to sit next to Meredith in the cafeteria. Cristina soon followed, noticing that Meredith was looking rather uneasy.

"Spill," said Cristina.

"What?" asked Meredith, begrudgingly picking at her food.

"You look like someone stuck a catheter up your ass," she replied. Alex scoffed before sloppily returning to his beloved cafeteria spaghetti which everybody else seemed to hate.

"Derek wants to celebrate the pregnancy and invite people over tomorrow night," she said while still looking down at her plate. "It just feels weird. All these people are coming over to be happy for us. I don't want them disappointed by my uterus. They don't know it's a violent place to grow babies."

"Yeah well Shepherd's a big show-off, just throw him a bone," said Alex.

"Hey guys. Sup." Jackson had just made his way to their table carrying his own lunch. "Who's a big show-off?" he asked Alex.

"Shepherd. Flaunting his new fetus."

"Huh. Uhm, context please?"

"The McDreamy's are having people over tomorrow night," said Cristina, finishing her meal and opening up a bottle of water.

"Oh right congratulations, Mer. So is everyone in this table invited?" asked Jackson. "And haven't you been expecting for a while now?"

Meredith let out a small puff of air to blow out a stray section of hair on her face. "He probably wanted to make sure it stuck before having people over to congratulate us about it. Anyway, yeah, you guys can come."

"Cool," nodded Jackson. This seemed like an inner circle type of gathering so he didn't bother asking if he could bring Stephanie. Besides, she's been busy lately doing scut and even insisted he go ahead with lunch without her.

"Also, I'm not saying I care or anything," said Alex as he went on to wipe tomato sauce off his mouth. "… But where the hell is Kepner?"

"Sounds like you care," said Cristina.

"Whatever. I was gonna to say that the air is finally quiet and far less annoying," he replied.

"Which is why it feels like something's out of place, you're right," continued Meredith with Alex nodding in agreement. "Jackson?"

"She's been taking her lunch in an ambulance recently," Jackson said flatly.

"Trauma chicks, man. And just when ya thought she couldn't get weirder," laughed Alex. Jackson shot him a sharp stare and had half a mind to call Alex out for calling her weird again. But instead, he just exhaled deeply and pulled his attention back to his half-eaten sandwich.

"I'm sure I'm going to regret asking, but why?" asked Cristina.

"She had three breakfast burritos in her arms the other week," said Meredith. "I thought she was going to eat them all, but who knows? Maybe she's hanging with the paramedics now."

"She is," said Jackson, retaining his unentertained expression.

"That would explain why she was wearing a paramedic's jacket when she brought in that hit and run case we snuck into the closed ER," said Meredith.

"Maybe she's considering a new career path," said Alex.

"Nope, I know what's up," said Cristina as she put down her water bottle on the table with a thud. "Lady paramedic mentioned boy paramedic bringing red along on a date," she said, with her lazy fingers bending into quotation marks. "I didn't really give a damn about it, but my brain was awesome enough to remember."

"Bet she's eating more than just lunch in that crank wagon," jabbed Alex.

Meredith smiled in amusement while Cristina laughed along with Alex. Meanwhile, Jackson offered a forced smirk to the group and faked a page to get the hell out of there. He didn't really care for sticking around while they made sexual innuendos about April. It was mostly because she was his best friend, but also partly because it was bringing back some very inappropriate memories that weren't supposed surface at this time. Maybe ever.

"Anyway, Jackson," said Meredith as he was about to leave. "If you see April, tell her to come tomorrow."

Just as he thought, only a handful of close friends were in attendance at the "party". It wasn't so much a party as it was "an intimate little gathering to commemorate how Meredith's life isn't so bad after all" as Cristina would put it. But he liked it. It reminded him of the time they were welcomed at her old house to live with them after the shooting. This was the first time he's been to the McDreamy dream home that Derek had built. Alex brought booze and a large assorted pack of small juice boxes for Meredith. Arizona and Callie thought it would be funny to bring that horrible tasting green juice that Arizona and Mark practically had to force down Callie's throat when she was pregnant with Sofia.

"What. Is. This?" asked Meredith as she took the odd beverage from Callie and showed it to Derek, who had just poured himself a scotch.

"This," said Callie holding up the transparent tumbler displaying the green goo in all its nutrient-providing glory. "Is your ammo for the drinking games."

"Yeah, we can't have you sipping apple juice from a juice box while we get all wasted," said Arizona.

Meredith looked at the concoction with disgust but agreed to their terms anyway. Finally, she turned to Jackson.

"Did you tell April to be here?"

"Yes. She said she's coming but she might be a little late."

"Kepner? Late?" bellowed Cristina. "No, you cannot put those two words together in one sentence."

You can if she's late for her period and worrying if it's an unplanned pregnancy, he thought but he didn't want to bring it up.

"Maybe she's busy screwing her paramedic," said Alex from over the kitchen counter as he unloaded the booze from several grocery bags.

That sentiment did not sit well with Jackson at all. Of course, she had the liberty of doing whatever she wanted with her new paramedic boyfriend. Granted, it was Jackson who ended things with her. He was hurt that she was so relieved that they didn't have to get married when they had that pregnancy scare. But down the line, he didn't want her to keep feeling guilty for having sex with him, which he knew he very much wanted to keep doing. However, he couldn't help but wonder what their breakup was for if she was just going to run off and hit the sack with someone else anyway. He tried to make himself feel better by feeling sorry for the guy and all the guilt bombs April must be dropping on him. And he felt horrible having to resort to such measures.

Just as he was trying to get her out of his head, the doorbell rang. "Speak of the devil. Or anti-devil. I don't know. That must be her," said Meredith as she got up from the couch and started walking toward the front door.

"Hi, Meredith. Sorry I'm late," said April in her usual perky tone.

"Uuugh. It's back," mouthed Alex over to Cristina. She shot him back with a look that said "well it was peaceful while it lasted".

"Oh! It's okay," said Meredith, sounding a bit more polite than usual. April was still by the entrance of the house when Meredith continued. "And who's this?"

The people in the house couldn't see who she was referring to. The door was still half-closed while Meredith was peeping her head and one shoulder outside to talk to April. But they could all hear the front door conversation clearly and everyone was now curiously tuned in.

"This…uh," said April glancing over to the tall man at her side. His eyes were kind and attentive like a dog just waiting to impress. She broke into a playfully distracted smile and turned to face Meredith again. "This is my pack mule. I brought some snacks and he's here to help me carry them to your home." Their friends listened in more closely so they could hear him speak.

"Hi," he said, shifting the groceries to one strong arm and reaching out for a polite handshake. "Matthew. I'm just here to drop April off and I'll be out of your hair," he smiled. His smile was gorgeous, and he had really nice teeth, she thought. Behind the door, Meredith used her free arm that was hidden from April to point to Cristina's general direction and wave her over. Yang picked up on the cue instantly and she ran to the door beside Meredith.

"Hi," said Cristina, trying her best to hide the fact that she was checking out Matthew and liking what she saw. He was hotter than she remembered. He didn't seem to notice, but April certainly did and she rolled her eyes at Yang.

Knowing it would simultaneously stir the pot with Avery in the house and drive April absolutely nuts, Cristina shook Matthew's outstretched hand and asked, "Would you like to join us?"

Meredith tried to keep a straight face to hide her amusement. She knew exactly what her twisted bestie was doing. Callie and Arizona gave each other an intrigued look with bouncing eyebrows, while Alex took a swig of his beer and shot a cocky smirk toward Jackson, who at this point was all tensed up but tried to play it cool.

"Oh, that's really nice of you guys, but I was going to drive back to the hospital to catch my night shift," he said.

"Yeah, I had my hands full so he gave me a ride," said April, gently stroking his back.

Alex forcefully spat out the beer in his mouth through his teeth because he couldn't hold in his laughter or keep his dirty thoughts to himself. He tried his best to laugh without making any sound, but what came out were just strangled noises as he gestured a jerking off motion to Jackson and the gang. Cristina heard Alex losing it and tried her best to keep her attention to Matthew and April. Her lips started to tighten as she struggled to hold in a laugh of her own.

"Well how thoughtful. I can take one of those," said Meredith, trying to save the situation but she knew that April was already dying inside. She took one of the bags from Matthew, and April took the other.

"She made her homemade dip," said Matthew cheerfully as he reached into his back pocket to fish out his keys. "I love her dip," he said innocently.

Alex was already red from suppression but let out one loud laugh when he heard that comment. Burying his face into a throw pillow to silence himself, he came back up for air to elbow Jackson saying, "Bet he just looooves dipping his chip in her dip."

Jackson, clearly peeved, rolled his eyes and made his way to the kitchen to grab himself a drink.

"Okay, well look at the time!" squealed April. "Matt, don't you have to be at the hospital soon?"

"Yeah, I better get going. You good here?"

"Yes. Totally, thank you," she said, and he leaned down to give her a sweet kiss that lingered for just a little bit. Meredith and Cristina gave each other an approving look and opened the door to let April in. With Matthew well on his way and out of earshot, they went over to the kitchen to unpack the snacks.

"Damn Kepner, that was hot," said Cristina. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"She did… have 'it'… in her," said Meredith smiling mischievously. Cristina knew Meredith was referring to something far more perverted because she was pointing suggestively at Jackson with her eyes. The two twisted sisters laughed while setting up the chips in large bowls. April and Jackson soon figured out what they were talking about, looked at each other awkwardly, then quickly looked away. Alex ran over to the kitchen to grab himself a handful of chips and pry around.

"What was hot?" he asked.

"Kepner here received steamy mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from her hot paramedic," jeered Cristina. Jackson felt his stomach fall and swallowed his beer hard.

"Don't. It was just a peck," April said while angrily unpacking her assortment of dips. She was clearly flustered but decided to own up to it anyway. "And it was lovely," she said and she shoved the snack bowls into Alex's arms for him to carry to the living room.

The night turned out to be pretty fun and a nice breather from their busy lives in the hospital. Callie and Arizona chatted a lot with Derek about pregnancy tips and things to expect but they had to clock in early and call it a night, so they said goodbye to the group soon after.

Zola was getting cranky now that Sofia left, so Derek took her to her room to put her to sleep. Only Meredith, Cristina, Alex, Jackson, and April were left in the living room and the chips were almost gone. With everyone else pumped full of alcohol and Meredith pumped full of fruit juice, Alex proposed they play a card game.

"Hey, let's play strip poker! Everyone in?"

Jackson and Cristina were tipsy enough to agree and Meredith seemed to have a neutral and rather easy attitude about it as she continued to finish her last juice box. The only one they needed to worry about was April who was busy texting and smiling at her phone.

"Kepner!" yelled Alex.

"Sorry, what?" she said, snapping out of her distracted state and Jackson tried to sneak a peak at her phone. What kind of dude uses heart emoticons? he asked himself. He didn't like that she might have been drunk texting him and saying things he wouldn't care to think about.

"Strip poker. Now. C'mon." said Alex.

"And no backing out. We're all doctors here so we play until someone is naked," Cristina said daringly and lightly clapped her hands together.

"What? No. No way. Absolutely not," said April shaking her head but she was too tipsy to be as insistent as she'd want to be.

"Too late," slurred Alex. "You're outvoted."

"Plus, how bad can it be? At least one of us here have seen you without your clothes," said Cristina and April's cheeks started to turn red. Jackson, on the other hand, had to worry about something growing hard in his pants and he shifted a little in his sitting position to try and keep it in check. Re-imagining her naked was the last thing he needed right now.

"Ok so it's a standard five-card draw, the usual rules," said Alex while taking out a pack of cards and dealing everyone their hand. After the first round, Jackson came up with the weakest hand.

"Oh here come the abs," said Cristina.

"Nice try," said Jackson, kicking off one of his shoes.

"You're no fun," she said.

"I don't have to be," he replied.

A couple of rounds in, the game reached the point where no one had any more footwear or jackets for safety nets. Alex was already shirtless. Meredith decided to join him soon after she lost the next hand.

"What? The point of this party was to show it off anyway right?" she said, as she took off her shirt and gently rubbed her cute little baby bump. "Plus, I think Derek fell asleep with our child upstairs. Who's turn is it to deal?"

"Yang," said Jackson as he took the last sip of this fifth beer.

After Cristina dealt this hand, it was clear who was at the losing end this time.

"Alright, Kepner. Off," Cristina ordered and the redhead exhaled deeply before turning to Jackson.

"Pour me a shot, would you?" she asked kindly, and he filled a shot glass with her liquor of choice before handing it over to her. He liked the fact that she was finally letting loose. She took it in one swig, put the shot glass down on the table, and crossed her arms over her torso to pull the bottom of her sweater over her head, revealing her impossibly smooth pale skin. Her beautiful red hair flowed and bounced as it fell over her bare shoulders. Alex gave her a wolf whistle and Jackson shook his head slowly as he poured himself a heaping shot of tequila and drank it in one gulp.

"Damn, I knew I should have hit that," said Alex, eyeing April's figure and the upper half of her body that was now only covered by a slim dark gray bra. "Been working out, Apes?"

"Shut up, Karev. You did have a chance, you ass," she said while she dealt everyone their cards, "and boy am I glad we screwed that one up."

Jackson smiled at her comment. He remembered how good it felt to punch Alex over Cristina's broken coffee table all those years ago for treating April badly. Then his eyes drifted slowly toward April and how she was too tipsy to even care about people seeing her like this. Before he knew it, he suddenly hated the fact that freakin' heart emoji-wielding Matthew was getting his hands all up in that.

Jackson's mood was starting to affect his game. All the alcohol he's been drinking hasn't been helping either. Two hands in, he was already shirtless and due for removing his pants, but he was having a bit of a problem. After a while of stealing glances at April's shirtless body, a tent has been forming underneath his trousers. At this point, it was blatantly obvious and although he hated throw pillows, they've been his best friend in hiding it from his friends so far. But now that he had to strip down to his boxers, there was no hiding it any longer.

"Hey, Avery, what's the hold up?" barked Alex.

"Yeah just give me a second," he stalled.

"Oh, c'mon. Of all the people you'd expect to be shy about showing off, you are at the bottom of that list," said Cristina. "Nah, Avery, I'm not buying it."

"Fuck it," he muttered, and he stood up to unzip his pants. Without a moment's notice, his hard on sprung free under his boxer shorts, which was now the only item of clothing he had left on.

"Haha! I see the problem!" yelled Alex, slapping his knee in laughter. "What the fuck, Avery?"

"Shut up," said Jackson, tightening his lips angrily and covering his tent with his hands. "It happens."

"Hey Kepner, does that look familiar to you?" laughed Cristina while slowly clapping her hands at the redhead. "But seriously, lucky lady, kudos to you. Really. Bravo."

April's face quickly started to blush, and her neck and chest shortly followed suit. She and Jackson both looked at each other, both embarrassed but also somewhat aroused. They knew what sort of ideas must be flooding into each other's minds. But she knew he was sleeping with Stephanie now and that thought drove a wrench through her short fantasy reel.

"How come you're still decent, Yang?" asked Jackson, addressing Cristina who still had her shirt on.

"Because I'm that good, ok?" she replied simply. "And unless you're attracted to baby bumps or shirtless Alexes, I'm guessing Kepner's to blame for aaaall that," she said while motioning vague gestures around his frontal region.

He opened his mouth only to close it again for loss of words. He sat back down on the floor and grabbed another throw pillow to shield his persistent erection.

"For God's sake, Jackson. My child plays and sleeps on those throw pillows," said Meredith as she threw an empty juice box at Jackson, which he was quick enough to dodge. "Bad Avery."

"Jeez, fine, okay? Just… quit egging me with trash," he said as he reluctantly set the pillow back on the couch.

April leaned over the couch to grab her coat and offered it to him. "Here," she said, with a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

He hesitated until she rolled her eyes playfully, signaling to him that it was okay. He finally took her coat to cover up.

"Alright, I'm dealing next. Prepare to get nude, Prettyboy," threatened Alex as he hosted the next round. To his dismay, he dealt himself a crap hand and everyone laughed at the irony of his situation. Alex prepared to unzip until he was interrupted.

"Wait," said April and she sadly put down her cards which were even worse than his.

"I shoulda played this game with you sooner, Keps. Saved my ass there," he smiled cheekily.

"Yeah, well…" she said and she sighed in self-pity as she looked down at the jeans regretfully. "Damn, I should have just let you take the fall."

"Yeah, you're way too nice," said Cristina, reaching for the wine bottle in the middle of the table.

"Hey, Yang," said April while contemplating something in her head. "I'll take one of those."

Cristina handed her a wine glass. "Say when."

The bottle was more than half full and April still didn't tell her to stop.

"Seriously?" asked Alex and Meredith at the same time.

"Ohhh yes. Yes, sir. I do not want to remember this in the morning," said April while she waited for the glass to be filled. She then took her beverage and danced her fingers around the glass before taking one long chug and drinking it down to the last drop while the others watched in amazement.

"Did I ever mention that I love drunk Kepner?" said Cristina, thoroughly impressed. Jackson looked at her with a bit of concern but managed a snazzy smirk because he had to agree with Yang. Drunk Kepner was pretty much down for anything.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she stood up with conviction, unbuttoned her pants, and started clumsily stripping down to her underwear, which matched her bra. Jackson was familiar with this particular set of underwear. She got it when they started dating after he told her he had feelings for her. Before the whirlwind pregnancy scare.

Now, he was really glad she offered him her jacket to cover up because he couldn't get any harder down there. Her bare legs brought back too many memories from hotels, his apartment, and their favorite on-call rooms at the hospital. Her underwear was close to a bikini cut and he wondered if she had plans on using them later this evening.

"Matthew, you lucky son of a bitch," he muttered quietly.

"What was that?" April asked, while simultaneously trying to pull her jeans off of one foot and reaching out to receive a fist bump from Alex.

"Nothing."

"Ok well, Mer, I think it's your turn to deal," she said, then looking down at her exposed body and the two pieces of fabric keeping her decent, continued, "And uhhh… would be nice if you gave me a good one."

"I'll try," smiled Meredith.

"No promises, right, Mer?" joked Alex as he was clearly enjoying himself. April raised one eyebrow to him and slowly turned to find her seat. With the wine kicking in, she stumbled slightly then resigned herself to sinking down to the floor beside Jackson, who instinctively held her shoulders to keep her balanced.

She gasped at the feel of his touch. She was starting to feel cold and his hands were very warm. She let out the tiniest hum of relief that only he could hear.

"Welcome to the undie club," he said, and she giggled with a laugh that he absolutely loved. She reached out to the coffee table to grab a corn chip and laced it with some guacamole. But before she could eat her little treat, her phone vibrated. She turned to retrieve it from the couch above and opened it to reveal a text message from Matthew.

Matthew: Hey, you! I'll be out in half an hour. Are you still at the thing? I can pick you up if you like.

April fumbled as she struggled to type a reply.

April: That sounds really nice :) Shoot me a text when you're on your way?

Matthew: You got it ;)

Meanwhile, Jackson wasn't even trying to be subtle about leaning in closer to have a better look at their conversation. April caught Jackson in her periphery but before she could call him out for snooping, he used his mouth to steal the chip she was still holding up with her other hand.

"What are you – Hey!" squealed April. "That was my chip!"

"Yeah and it's really good," he said while munching on it and being rather pleased with himself. "Really good chip-to-dip ratio. That-a-girl."

"Nuh-uh, you gotta make me a new one. Stat," she said, elbowing him.

"Ow!"

"Stat, Avery!" she chuckled, then returned her attention to her phone.

"Yes, doctor," he said while giving her a military salute.

Meanwhile, the other three were just staring at their two nearly naked co-workers engaging in drunk playful banter.

"You seein' this?" said Alex while keeping his eyes on April and Jackson.

"Yeah, it looks like they're stalling the game," said Cristina, finalizing her hand and putting it face-down on the table. "Afraid to lose."

"Ten bucks says they'll end up boinking," said Alex, scratching his ear.

"Twenty says they'll end up married," countered Meredith.

"They're wasted," said Cristina. "Which means this game's ending soon."

True enough, Alex was starting to sober up, Meredith was never drunk to begin with, and Cristina had a high enough alcohol tolerance to make her more than confident in her hand. That meant that because the other two were still pretty slammed, their chances of screwing up and losing the game were pretty damn high.

When it came time to adjust their hands, Jackson noticed a worried look growing on April's face. He could read her so well and could spot her tensing up from a mile away. It probably meant that she was dealt a bad hand because she started squinting at Meredith with a vengeance.

He really didn't want her to lose this one because that would mean that she would have to give up either her bra or her underwear. And as much a little voice in his head – or more likely, his boxers – would like for him to see the parts of her hidden by either of those garments, he realized that he could do something about the situation.

He had a decent straight from 2 to 6. That would beat a lot of hands from the get-go. But he still had the option to change things around. Trading the 6 to break the straight, he drew an 8, and that was enough to sabotage his winning hand.

He and April exhaled a deep breath in unison, and when they matched everything up, it was clear as day that the game was over.

"Avery you suck!" bellowed Alex, "And ya know what that means!"

Cristina was right though. He wasn't too shy about showing off his body. But he knew April was. As a consolation, his erection died down substantially because of all the booze. All the cheesy text messages from Matthew may have helped with that, too.

Slowly realizing what losing this hand meant, April's expression grew wide as she turned to Jackson, who was already standing up to end the game once and for all. He handed her the jacket she lent him saying thanks and patting her gently on her head, before finally sealing the deal.

She knew she'd seen it all before, but she couldn't help herself getting completely flustered now that she saw it again now, in good lighting, and in front of her friends no less.

"Damn, Avery, I always hoped you were small," said Alex, grudgingly throwing his cards on the table.

"Again," said Cristina casually. "Bravo."

April pinched the bridge of her nose. All the booze started to hammer down on her head and she needed to get things together before Matthew came. She was pretty relieved that she didn't have to strip any of her underwear, but sincerely hoped that Jackson was okay with losing. His luck must have run out, she thought. To make things worse, the sight of him was doing some very, very, serious things to her body. She was pretty sure she was already wet down there as his naked body was admittedly making her very horny. She and Matthew were new, but this was still very wrong.

"Hi, I just put Zola down. It took a while but – " Derek walked into the living room and was completely stunned by the sight before him. Jackson jumped and immediately flew his hands over his dick to cover himself up.

Derek was still speechless. His wife was sporting her baby bump with only a sports bra on and some loose pants, Cristina was still decently clothed, Alex was shirtless, April was down to a dark grey underwear combo, and Jackson was completely butt naked. In their living room.

"Strip poker, Derek" said Meredith coolly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

He simply nodded innocently and pressed his lips together, trying to seem okay, but clearly still caught off guard as he retreated to their bedroom.

The group burst into laughter soon after he left and that lightened the mood substantially.

"Crap, I gotta change. Matthew will be here any minute," said April, with her laughing dimples slowly dissipating as she placed down her phone to locate her clothes.

"Sure you don't wanna just leave yourself like that? Would save him a lot of trouble later tonight," said Alex with a wink.

"What? No… We don't… No," she said putting her sweater back on.

"Really?" asked Jackson, still holding his hands in front of him while April gathered her things along with his.

"Yeah. Really," she replied truthfully as she handed him his clothes.

Just when everyone was dressed, the doorbell rang.

April said her goodbyes, and the other guests started getting ready to leave, too. "Congratulations again, Mer. And… I don't know… apologize to Derek for us?"

"Pshhh, he'll be fine. And thanks for the dip," said Meredith.

"Alrighty then," she laughed, then headed for the front door with her coat slung over one arm. That coat was not for wearing now that she was about to see Matthew.

"See ya, white abs," said Alex and April shot him a look before heading out.

"Hey there," she said, hooking her arm around Matthew's.

"You look like you had fun," he said as they walked to his car. "Anything interesting happen?"

"I guess you can say that."