This was meant to be a one-shot, but instead I think it'll be easier as a three-shot. So, here is the Thanksgiving chapter. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for the Christmas chapter. Enjoy!

THANKSGIVING

"April!"

She rolls her eyes at the sound of her best friend's voice screeching. She lifts her head slightly and looks behind her to peek at the other girl. "Yes?"

Reed storms into their cramped living room, an agitated look on her face and her hands placed on her hips, "Move your crap." She tells her simply, picking up a stack of books from off of the floor and throwing them down on the table. "Seriously, it's like a yard sale in here!"

April stands up slowly and pushes her hair behind her ears. She sighs and bends down to pick up some magazines, "Look, I need a job, okay? Because, in case you've forgotten, I'm not a surgeon anymore because I got fired." She neatly piles the magazines on the table and takes a deep breath, "So, I am searching, and looking, and trying to find something, anything, to keep me busy. To keep me alive. To pay my rent."

She folds her arms across her chest when she's finished and watches as Reed glances through the pages of the top magazine.

"It's been a freaking month, April. Why don't you just go back to Ohio or something?" She suggests.

April pauses and bites her lip, "You- Do you not want me here?" She asks nervously. She knows that she can get annoying and irritating, and she's a neurotic mess, and Reed had called her out on it one-too-many times. But maybe now she'd had enough.

The pixie-like brunette smiles and pats her friend's shoulder, "I didn't say that, I just- Maybe it'd be easier to find a job in Ohio than it is here in Seattle..."

"I would, but- I never actually- I haven't told my parents?"

Reed gasps and folds her arms, "You haven't told them you got fired? April, you have to tell them. You never know, maybe they can help."

"Oh, yeah, right. My mom would have me volunteering at the school, or my dad would have me picking up pig poo for the rest of my life if they had their way. I am not telling them."

"Well, you can't just sit around here all day every day looking for work. You're smart, even smarter than me, so you should be able to find a job."

The doorbell interrupts her thoughts and April blinks a few times.

Reed grins, "That must be the guys." She heads over to open the door and April walks into the kitchen when she hears her two former co-workers enter her apartment.

She knows that it's Thanksgiving and that she has a lot to be grateful for. Her parents, her sisters, her friends, her life. But she's missing her job, and her career, so she's not feeling all that thankful.

"Apes!" She suddenly feels two big arms wrap around her waist and pull her into a hug.

She smiles and hugs her friend back, "Charles!" It's been a couple of days since she's last seen him, and she was starting to forget his cheesy grin and deep laugh.

"How've you been? Found any work yet?" He asks, pulling away from her with a smile.

She shakes her head and scratches the back of her neck, "Nope, not yet."

"You will, eventually." Reed pipes in as she walks in front of her.

"Worse comes to worse, you could always work at the Dairy Queen." Jackson peeks over Reed's shoulder as he enters with a smirk, holding his arms out.

April laughs as she steps closer to hug him. For the past two years, they haven't exactly been very good friends, but this last year had been different. Ever since they'd left Mercy West for Seattle Grace, they'd become much more friendly toward each other. Then, she'd been fired, and he'd started to drift off with the Seattle Grace people, and they hadn't seen each other in a while.

She pulls away from him and anxiously tucks her head. He's always kind of made her bashful and nervous, and she figures that his looks probably play a major part in that. He's like ridiculously attractive, she thinks, and she's never been close friends to anybody of the opposite sex. Much less, anybody of the opposite sex that looks like him.

Jackson drapes an arm around her shoulder and smiles, "We got some beers and pizza. That's good for Thanksgiving, right?"

Reed nods, "And we have a TV and music. I'd say that's a pretty decent dinner for four grown ups. Wouldn't you?"

Charles lightly touches her waist, "You really know what I want, don't you?"

The brunette brushes him off with a huff and a grin in April's direction. She walks off into the living area and sits herself down on the floor. April follows her lead and sits down on the couch. The boys grab the beers and pizza from the table and follow them, seating down comfortably on the ground. Reed flicks on the TV to the NFL and opens up the first box of freshly baked pizza. "You only got Hawaiian. Charles, you know I don't like ham!" She scolds him and smacks his chest, ignoring his chuckle that follows.

"How about I have your ham and you can take my pineapple?"

April grimaces, "That's disgusting."

They all sit and eat, chatter and argue for the next couple of hours until Reed stands up and turns on her stereo. She blasts some loud song and starts to dance along to the music until April dampens her mood.

"Reed, we have neighbours." She reminds her.

"Please, April, our only neighbours are that really old guy and that really hot guy. Mr. Arnolds is, like, 90 or whatever, so he's gonna die soon anyway. And, please, if Mr. Fine Ass comes banging on the door, I'll just flash him. Or, you know, you can." She smirks and cranks the music up louder, throwing her head back.

April shakes her head with a groan as she tucks her legs beneath herself on the couch and pulls her long hair into a loose ponytail. She closes her eyes and leans her head back against the cushions, not even noticing when Jackson plops down beside her.

"What's up, Teacher's Pet?" He teases and she slumps her shoulders with a sigh.

She's never really appreciated his nickname for her. Teacher's Pet, because as interns, she'd always been asking their resident questions and taking notes.

"Teacher's Pet, really? I thought you stopped calling me that a year ago?" She asks and he grins in reply.

"I guess I just couldn't let it go." He winds her up, shuffling closer to her on the couch. She stiffens and refuses to look up at his face, instead focusing on the empty beer bottles on the floor.

She goes to stand up and speaks, "I guess I should clean-" He stops her from budging by tugging on her hand and pulling her back down beside him. April doesn't move and daringly looks up at his face. Oh crap, those. She doesn't understand why she gets so fidgety and tense around him, and she reminds herself that she's not a fourteen-year old girl anymore.

But maybe, she thinks, if somebody would have looked at her like that when she were fourteen, she wouldn't feel like this now.

"You're really... You're a good doctor, April." He tells her sincerely, his green eyes pooling into hers. "You made one mistake. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes."

"Yeah, but not every mistake leads to someone dying."

He rests a hand on her leg and brushes her knee, "It was a bad day, okay? Anybody could have made the same mistake. It could have been me. It could have been Reed, or Charles. Hell, it could've been Shepherd. It was a bad day, and it was you, and it wasn't me, and it wasn't Reed. It was you. You got fired for one little slip. And, I'm not making any sense, but just- You're a good person. And you're a good doctor, so don't let one little fault make you think you're not."

She smiles and bites her lip, choosing to wrap her arms around his neck to hug him. "Why are you so perfect?"

Jackson laughs and rests a hand on the back of her head, caressing her hair, "I'm not, believe me."

April leans away and raises an eyebrow, "You don't seem all that terrible to me."

He licks his lips and scratches his forearm irritably, "I'm not terrible, I'm just a coward. I can tell you what you want to hear, I can give you a thousand reasons if you ask me something, but I'm a coward. I give up too easily. I start something, and then I won't finish it. If I want something, I won't go and get it, I'll just wait for it to come to me. And if it doesn't, well then, that's that. I'll love someone and then rebound onto someone else just because my feelings got hurt, it doesn't even matter if I still want the other person. If people are better off without me, if there's a chance that they'll be happier without me, then I'll walk away. I'm a coward, April. You just don't know it yet."

She finds it hard to believe that he gives up, that he lets things that he wants slide. He's an Avery for crying out loud, shouldn't he be a fighter...

"I don't know it yet?"

He sighs, "Just in case, you know? I don't wanna hurt you, April. But, if I have to walk away, then I will."

She just stares up at him for a while, watching the way he laughs as Charles dances with Reed, and as Reed pushes him off with a giggle.

April's not entirely certain what he means, but she's sure that one day she'll understand. And, if that inevitable day comes and he walks away from her, she promises herself to call him out for being a coward, for not fighting for whatever it was between them.

She's just not quite sure what that will be yet.