April couldn't stop giggling.

She was pretty sure that at some point it might cause Bailey to finally flip out and kill her, but she couldn't help it. She'd had just enough to drink to cause her to find the whole world amusing.

From her spot in the driver's seat, Bailey rolled her eyes and suppressed a sigh.

April seemed to pick up on the frustration and concentrated on stopping the giggles. She leaned her head against the window and smiled dreamily at the night sky. "Look, Dr. Bailey – isn't it a beautiful night? Look at all the stars. You know, back home in Ohio, I took the stars for granted. All that open land on the farm – you could see stars for miles. Here we never see them." She frowned. "All the rain. All the stupid clouds."

"Kepner." Bailey's voice was sharp and April sat straight up in her seat at the sound of it. "If you don't knock it off, I'm gonna knock you out, you got that?"

April nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Bailey shook her head. "You know, it just occurred to me – why am I driving your drunk butt home? The five other fools you live with were all at that ball field – why couldn't one of them have driven you home?"

April shook her head. "Well, Jackson and Lexie were obviously having a bad day and I so don't want to get in the middle of that. And," she continued, another giggle slipping out, "Meredith and Derek looked to be having a really good day, so I really didn't want to get in the middle of that."

Bailey nodded. "Fair enough. And Karev – what's your excuse there?"

April laughed for real at that question. "Come on, Dr. Bailey. You know what almost happened with him when I was sober. I don't want to know how stupid I might be around him drunk."

Bailey shook her head again. "Lord…" she muttered under her breath as, finally, she pulled into Meredith's driveway. "Don't hurt yourself getting in the house, okay?"

April giggled again. "'Kay. See you tomorrow!" she called behind her after slamming the car door shut.

Bailey winced. "Thankfully, not till the late afternoon," she muttered as she backed out of the driveway and headed for home.

April managed to make it inside with all limbs intact, where she found Jackson sprawled on the living room couch, none of the other inhabitants of the house anywhere in sight.

"Hey!" she said brightly, shoving his legs to the floor so she could sit down beside him. "What's the matter with you?"

Jackson looked mildly annoyed. "Nothing. Why do you say that?"

"Because I know you," April replied a touch smugly.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Whatever, you're drunk. Everything's fine."

April made a face at him. "Oh, so you're not bothered by the fact that Lexie couldn't keep her eyes off Mark and his new lady friend all day?"

Jackson pointedly ignored her and April looked thoughtful.

"Kind of like," she continued, "how Mark couldn't keep his eyes off her last fall?" She shook her head. "Wow. The two of them have like, epically bad timing, don't they?"

"April." Jackson said tiredly. "Stop talking. Please."

"Sorry," she said quietly. They sat in silence for a moment before April spoke again. "Okay, really, I'm sorry, but I just think it sucks. You're awesome and you're tying yourself up in knots over this girl who's still in love with someone else. Lexie's my friend and all, but she's clearly not over him."

Jackson sighed. "You think all this hasn't crossed my mind?"

April shook her head. "No, cause you're a smart guy. But even smart people delude themselves sometimes. I did it with Stark, convincing myself he was just a friendly colleague, right?"

Jackson laughed. "I see your point. So why haven't you said something before?"

"I wasn't drunk before. Seriously, it's the alcohol talking," April said. "It's why I don't drink so much very often. Too much of a control freak to let myself be uninhibited too often."

"It's not such a bad thing," Jackson said.

April shrugged. "Maybe." She turned so she was sitting sideways on the couch looking at him and smiled. "You're my best friend. I just want you to be happy."

Jackson grinned back at her. "Right back atcha, kiddo," he said, reaching over and pulling her into a one-armed hug.

April yawned as she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Funny, she'd never really thought about Jackson this way, but somehow – just for a minute – she could almost let herself imagine – what if he wasn't just her best friend?

Opening her eyes, she looked up to see him looking right back down at her, their eyes meeting. Was she seeing things? Was that same 'what if' glinting in his eyes too? Wait – was his face coming closer to hers?

It seemed like forever before their lips finally met in an incredible kiss. April was pretty sure she never wanted it to end, but eventually they broke apart, his voice softly saying her name…

"April. April."

Blinking, she sat up, looking confused. "Wha –"

"You totally passed out on my shoulder a few minutes ago," Jackson explained. "I'm just talking away and then I realize you're not listening at all, cause you were asleep. You better head up to bed."

April nodded, her mind whirling. 'Passed out – asleep? It was just a dream?' she thought to herself. 'But it felt so real…'

Blinking again, she realized he was looking at her with concern. "You okay? You need help getting upstairs?"

April shook her head, studying his face. If it wasn't a dream, he was giving nothing away. "No, no I'm fine," she assured him, standing up and heading for the stairs, glancing back at him as she went. "Good night," she said quietly.

"Night," he echoed as he watched her go and then headed to bed himself. It had been a long, long day.