A/N: My Japril muse hit again on the plane so I whipped this up (probably inspired by all the lovely reviews I've been getting—thank you so much, I cherish each and every one of them)! Not sure whether to write a follow-up or not, we'll see if I can think of something. I don't know if Jackson ever said he has a sister (I'm not fully caught up), so apologies if he doesn't. Also, I can't figure out to indent paragraphs on FF (does anyone know how?!), so sorry for the awful formatting. Please do review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy, or there would be more Japril fluff…obviously.
April stretched with a yawn, wincing as she heard the crack of her bones. She closed her eyes to rest them. Just a minute, she promised herself. I'll be fine in a minute.
"Are you feeling okay, April?" Jackson's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she cracked open her eyes, managing to pull herself together enough to give him a wan smile.
"I'm fine, just a small headache," she replied, and Jackson jerked his head at the books spread out in front of her.
"Studying for boards again? April, you're going to run yourself down at this rate," Jackson said, his voice concerned.
She rubbed her temples and shrugged.
"It'll be worth it," she said decisively before picking up her highlighter again.
Jackson eyed her. She really did look tired, having just got back to the house from the hospital several hours ago. He had no idea how she was still up; he himself had crawled straight into bed for a nap, but then again, the study regime of April Kepner was legendary. Jackson remembered the first time she had been assigned to a case at Mercy West: she had managed to fall asleep on top of a color-coded binder of what-ifs that she had made, researched meticulously overnight to be prepared to scrub in the following day. It had been him who'd woken her up. He recalled the way she had blinked owlishly up at him before flying into a panic that she had fallen asleep. He had ended up quizzing her about the procedure to calm her down.
She had known every step, of course.
The thing with April, Jackson mused, was that her stubbornness knew no bounds. You had to blindside her to get her to drop something she'd set her mind to.
Looking at her now, her hair disheveled from running her hands repeatedly through it and her shoulders tense, he knew she needed a break. Even if she was determined not to.
Jackson clucked his tongue and reached over to pluck the highlighter from her hand. April let out an indignant squeal in reply.
"C'mon, up, up," he told her sternly, ignoring her protests.
"You know you're no good like this, you'll just panic more. Up," he said louder, and chivvied her out of the living room when she reluctantly stood up.
He herded her into the nearby bathroom, grabbing a chair along the way. He set it down with its back to the sink, and waved his hand towards it.
"Go on, sit down," he instructed, and she looked at him, puzzled.
"Jackson, what…"
"I'm going to wash your hair."
She blinked. Of all things, she hadn't expected that to come out of his mouth.
He huffed at her incredulous stare.
"My sister used to make me do this all the time to get rid of headaches. Trust me, it'll help you relax, and that can't hurt right now."
He gestured to the chair again.
"Your chair awaits," he said with a teasing glint in his eyes, flashing her his trademark grin.
April complied warily, and Jackson grabbed a towel off the shelf, folding it neatly and draping it over the edge of the sink.
"I know it won't be as comfortable as the hairdresser's, but it'll have to do," he said apologetically. "Lean back," he added, and the soft tone of his voice caught her off-guard as she slowly tipped her head back until her neck hit the towel. She grimaced as the edge of the sink dug into her neck, and she squirmed down in the chair until she found a more comfortable spot.
Meanwhile, Jackson had located her shampoo, holding it up to her questioningly until she nodded. He came up beside her, setting the bottle down on the glass shelf attached to the mirror. He turned on the taps, testing the water until it warmed.
"Okay, are you ready for this?" His joking face appeared in her vision, and April smiled, bemused, and gave him a thumbs-up in response, wondering how she had got herself into this situation.
"Okay. Close your eyes," he instructed gently, and she obeyed instinctively.
She felt his large hands gently lift her head and smooth her hair back, and she had to bite back a gasp at how intimate the gesture felt, his fingers grazing the back of her neck. She heard gentle splashing and felt warm water being poured over her hair. The feeling his fingers combing through her hair was mesmerizing.
"Is the water too hot?" Jackson asked, and she had to force herself to reply.
"No, it's just right," she said, priding herself for how strong and normal her voice sounded, compared to how she felt like she was melting into his touch.
"Good." April could tell he was smiling from his tone.
She heard the squeeze of the shampoo bottle, and he began to wash her hair in earnest, his fingers dancing nimbly over her head, lathering up the shampoo. His movements slowed when he came to her ears, curling so carefully around them that it sent chills up her spine.
She couldn't remember a time when she'd been more relaxed and yet on edge, every nerve in her body tingling. The silence and darkness behind her eyelids made her focus on her other senses all the more: the crisp scent of cedar soap and linen that she associated with him, the gentle press of his thigh against her arm when he shifted beside her. She could even imagine the look of concentration on his face, his head tilted and his eyes blazing, that she had seen so many times during a surgical procedure.
April's lips quirked up in a smile at the recollection, and Jackson didn't miss it, his eyes flicking down from his soapy fingers to her peaceful face. He smiled to himself again, congratulating himself silently on a job well done.
He filled the sink with water, making sure to rinse her hair thoroughly. He couldn't stop himself from noticing how smooth and soft her skin was as he raised her head again with one hand, cupping water in his other hand to wash away soap suds at the base of her neck. She shivered ever so slightly under his fingertips.
Jackson drained the sink and squeezed the water out of her hair, marveling at how fine the strands were, before fetching another towel and starting to rub her hair dry. Once he thought it was dry enough, he hesitated. She still looked a bit tense, he decided, and he wondered whether her headache was still bothering her. Remembering how she had been rubbing her temples earlier, he laid his hands on either side of her temples and rubbed his thumbs in a small circular motion into the pulse-points.
At this, April let out a soft, involuntary noise, drawing Jackson's attention to her full mouth, her lips parted and her cheeks turning the faintest shade of pink.
For the first time, it dawned on him how intimate this was, the two of them alone, and their bodies touching, April's head in his hands. With her head tilted back and her eyes fluttering behind closed eyelids, it would be so easy to bend down and kiss her.
It scared Jackson how tempting, how right, that image seemed to him. His fingers pressed involuntarily into the grooves of her temples at the thought, and April let out the same soft noise she had made before. Jackson drew in a suddenly shaky breath.
Don't do it, he chanted to himself. She trusts you. She didn't sign up for a kiss to be sprung on her. She's just expecting you to wash her hair, which she finds creepy as it is. She's stressed out about boards. You don't even know for sure if you like her that way. Don't confuse her. Or worse, make her feel uncomfortable around you. You can't take advantage of her like this.
It began to sound more like a litany of excuses.
And none of it stopped him from wanting her.
Wait, what?
His hands stilled.
He was just reeling from the realization when Alex walked by the open doorway and did a double-take, poking his head inside the bathroom.
"What the hell…?" Alex started to say, and April's eyes shot open. Jackson drew his hands away as if he'd been burned.
"Oh, noth – nothing, just Jackson being nice and washing my, um, hair," April stammered, bolting up and hastily wrapping the discarded towel around her head.
She turned to Jackson with wild eyes. "Thank you, Jackson, really, I – I feel much better now. I think I'll go and wash, no, dry, my hair," she squeaked, flustered, and fled speedily from the bathroom, her cheeks stained bright red.
Alex guffawed. "Washing her hair? I didn't know you were so hot for Kepner, dude! Kepner!"
Jackson glared at him.
"I was helping her relax. She's taking studying for boards too seriously," he defended himself sharply, restraining the urge to punch Alex.
"Whatever, just cash in her V-card already and get it out of your system," Alex sniggered, and carried on down the hallway, leaving Jackson standing alone in the bathroom, clenching his fists.
He felt disoriented and somehow cheated that the quiet peace had been shattered so harshly. What would he have said if they hadn't been interrupted? Hell, what would he have done?
Jackson recalled how April's breath had stuttered out from between her parted lips and groaned, sinking into the now-empty chair. The smell of her shampoo lingered still in the air. Just how her hair would smell if he buried his face in the silky strands, his hand caressing the back of her beck that he had discovered was so sensitive to touch and pulling her closer together to him…
A vivid image of how she would look lying under him with her red hair spilling over alabaster sheets, her cheeks the same shade of pale pink he had just seen, popped into his head, unbidden.
Jackson stared at the wall opposite him blankly without really seeing it.
He had a serious problem.
