AN: Based on a prompt given to me by Challenge King on , also a big thanks to Maria who read and edited this monstrosity. Please review; even if you hate it I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Waking Up in Vegas

It's nearing the end of her shift on Thursday night when Meredith approaches her, she's had a never-ending parade of people coming in and out of the pit and she was downright exhausted. "April," she said, "I was thinking, some of us are going down to Vegas on our long weekend… I know it's really last minute, but I was wondering if you'd like to come along." April thought over the offer, she'd never been to Vegas before, and she didn't really have any plans for her weekend.

"I'd love to." She agreed just as her pager went off and she looked down, she was needed in the pit again. "We can talk details later." She said over her shoulder as she rushed in the direction of the pit.

That's how she'd ended up on a plane squished in the middle seat between Alex and Jackson. It seemed that quite a few of the surgeons had agreed to go on this little vacation. Cristina, Derek, Meredith, and Owen sat in the row ahead of her while Lexie and Mark were somewhere behind them. She'd fallen asleep almost immediately upon boarding. She would need it if she had any hope of enjoying her weekend and before she knew it Jackson was shaking her shoulder to wake her.

The rest of the day went as you would expect, they all checked into the hotel and unloaded their bags, agreeing to meet up for dinner around 7. When April walked up to the table she realized that most of her co-workers had already begun drinking. Christina and Meredith were sitting next to each other in a fit of giggles as April took the open seat next to Alex. She didn't usually do that much drinking, just an occasional drink at Joes, but she figured what the hell, she was in Vegas, this weekend was all about letting loose.

XX

When she wakes up her head is pounding, the light creeping through the blinds is just enough to make her burry her face in the pillow. When she thinks back she really blames the peach schnapps. She's pretty sure she nearly finished an entire bottle on her own. Her head shot up when she felt movement on the bed next to her. As she eyed her surroundings sunk in, she became all too aware of where she was. This wasn't her room, and next to her, Alex was still sound asleep. What the hell had she done last night? She took in the sight of the room, clothes strewn all over the place as she buried her head in her hands, the reality of the situation making her head spin. She'd lost her virginity to Alex Karev.

A blush rose over her entire body as she felt him begin to stir next to her. This was it, there was no time for her to try and sneak out now. "Fuck." He breathed out slowly as he stretched, she could hear the popping in his joints as he sat up, finally opened his eyes, and looked over to the side of the bed where she was laying. "April?" He said her name in a questioning tone, his eyebrows rising slightly as he looked down at her. It seemed to happen all at once. He took in her messed up hair, bare shoulders, the only part of her visible from underneath the blankets, and the rather large hickey located just above the swell of her left breast.

"Shit, did we…" he let the sentence hang in the air, he didn't really need to finish, the look on her face he gave him all of the answers he needed. What was he supposed to say? He's sorry? He couldn't even remember what he was sorry for. "April…"

"I'm gonna go," she said awkwardly as she sat up, taking the blanket with her to keep herself covered, her voice coming out small, almost embarrassed as she avoided his eyes. "We can just forget this ever happened, it's not like I remember much anyway." He grumbled something she wasn't quite able to make out before running his hand down his face with a groan. If he didn't have a headache before he certainly did now. That's when she noticed it, the silver band wrapped around the ring finger of his left hand that was currently sliding down his face.

"Alex!" she gasped, the quietness that had echoed in her voice just moments before was replaced by complete and utter panic as she lifted her hand to discover a ring of her own. He seemed to miss this whole process and just stared at her, confused by her sudden change in mood. "Alex, your hand! You… we…what?" she held up her own hand in his line of vision and watched as he processed this new information. "I have to go, I really have to go," she said in a panic as she stood up, dragging the blanket with her as she searched frantically for her clothes and her room key.

"Shouldn't we freakin' talk about this?" he asked as he snapped out of shock. She was now completely dressed and reaching for her own room key.

"Later," came her immediate reply as she slipped out the door, leaving him alone to wonder what the fuck had happened last night.

He groaned as he sat up and looked over at the nightstand next to the bad. There it was, in plain black and white. A marriage certificate, by the state of Nevada they were officially pronounced man and wife. What the fuck had they done last night?

XX

Whatever hangover she had had before was certainly gone now as she couldn't do anything but try to remember how she had gotten herself into this situation. Minutes slowly ticked into hours as she lay in her bed. The last thing she remembered was sitting at a bar a few blocks from their hotel, talking to Alex about some case she'd worked on before they'd left and then… nothing. She was completely blank. April was pulled from her thoughts as there was a knock on the door and she prayed that it wasn't Alex. Thankfully it was Jackson and the man breathed out a sigh of relief as she opened the door. "Thank God, everyone was worried when you and Karev didn't show up for lunch. They all said you'd be with him, but I knew you had better sense than that."

She nearly laughed out loud at his words, had the situation not been such a complete disaster. "About that…" she said slowly, running her hand through her hair. She quickly lowered it when she realized she hadn't taken the ring off and hoped that he hadn't noticed her new accessory. "I don't remember much of what happened last night, mind filling me in a little?"

Jackson laughed quietly, shaking his head as he answered, "I wish I could, but you'd have better luck with Karev, you two were practically glued at the hip the entire night."

"That's what I was afraid of." April groaned, "I'm about to show you something and when I do, you have to swear that you won't freak out, or tell anyone… Literally no one." He nodded and she held up her hand so that he could see the ring "I'm a walking cliché. And I don't even know what happened!"

It shouldn't surprise her when Jackson bursts out laughing, but it does. "You and Karev?" he asked as he took a deep breath, "Have you talked to him about it?"

She bit her lip and shook her head no, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all to be honest."

"Oh come on, April. People do stuff like this all the time, just figure it out. Stop hiding out."

"You're right." She replied, nodding her head, "I'll talk to you later."

Jackson headed for the door, waiting till he was far enough away from the redhead to shout, "Keep me updated, Mrs. Karev!" his laugh booming through the hallway as he walked away.

XX

Alex let out a deep breath as he knocked lightly on April's door. He'd spent the last few hours nursing his hangover and trying to figure out what the hell had happened between he and April. When he'd finally found his phone it had been a little help, April had used it to take some rather blurry photos of the event, even some selfies and if you looked past the obvious drunkenness, the couple had actually looked downright happy. Happier than Alex could remember feeling in a long time, not that he could even remember this time.

"Apes," he said lightly, placing his ear against the door to check for movement, "Come on, it's me."

It took a few more minutes of knocking but eventually the door opened and the redhead stepped aside. They stood in silence for a minute, both obviously uncomfortable about the subject at hand, neither wanting to start the conversation on the wrong foot. Finally April spoke up,

"I did a little research on the annulment process." She spoke, clearing her throat, "It seems to be relatively simple, we just file some paperwork, and give it a couple weeks, and it should be done nobody has to know, it'll be like it never happened."

"Fuck, April, what if we didn't?" He's opening his mouth before he's even had a chance to think it through, and he doesn't even realize he's said it out loud until he's starring at her with a face of utter shock. "I mean," he quickly pushed on, rubbing the back of his neck. What if we just try, and if it doesn't work, we can end it… We're already here, what's the worst thing that can happen?"

"Try being married!?" she asked, "What does that even mean? Are you feeling okay?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, I just figured… maybe there was a reason that this happened. I mean, something made us do this, you know? Maybe we could figure it out. Maybe it could work."

Her face softened a little at his words. He had clearly given this a bit of thought. She never even thought this was a possibility; she was at a loss for words, starring at him for a moment as she formulated a response. "Technically, we can file any time within a 60 day period." She said slowly, she couldn't believe the words were coming out of her mouth. "If this is what you really want, then I'm willing to give it a shot as well."

He studied her for a moment, wanting to make sure that she was certain. "So," he said a minute later, "Do I kiss you or something?"

The blush that rose to her cheeks was instantaneous, and she avoided his eyes as she shrugged and said, "I guess that would be a good place to start."

He was across the room in two long strides, his hand going to her chin and bringing her eyes up to meet his. He could see the nervousness in them and he found himself smirking as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, soft and slow. As quickly as it happened it was over and he was pulling back slightly, "Okay?"

"Okay," She breathed, and this time it was April who brought his mouth back to hers. It was awkward at first, Alex didn't want to do anything to make April uncomfortable, and she just didn't want to do something to make a fool of herself. His tongue swept across her bottom lip and she immediately opened her mouth to him, the kiss becoming more intense by the second. Before it could go any further, though, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Ignore it." The man spoke against her lips, pulling her closer against him. "They'll go away." Surprisingly, she took him for his word, walking backward until the back of her knees hit the bed. "We don't have to do anything," he said quietly as he pulled away from her for a moment, "I know maybe it's a little late, but we can still take it slow."

She nodded in agreement, giving him a little smirk as she pulled him down into the bed with her. "We can still get a little more comfy while we make out." she replied.

Alex laughed lightly and April gasped in surprise as he placed a kiss just behind her ear and whispered. "We can definitely do that." They were both so engrossed in what they were doing that neither noticed when a key slid into the door and it swung open.

"Evil Spawn and maybe not so Virgin Mary," Cristina spoke up, the humor evident in her voice, her presence making April shoot up into a sitting position on the bed to discover What she found made her blush deeper. The appointed Twisted Sisters stood at the doorframe, knowing smirks on their faces.

"What the fuck, Yang?" Alex spoke, clearly mad about having been interrupted, "Get out."

The girls simply rolled their eyes, Cristina speaking up again. "I told you Avery was full of shit. He knew something."

"How did you even get in here?" April asked as she stood and straightened her clothing.

Meredith waved her hand in the air, "Went to the front desk and told them we lost the room key. "Easy." She replied, smiling slightly, "You two are hooking up now?"

"Something like that," Alex huffed; he really didn't want to have this conversation right now. "We pulled a fucking O'Malley, alright? Now get out."

April wasn't really sure what that meant but it caused both women in the room to burst into laughter. "Seriously?" Meredith asked while Christina took a more direct approach, grabbing Alex's left hand and holding it out.

"Shit, he really did it." She laughed.

"Yes, we really did it, now get the fuck out." Alex said, this time taking the intuitive to get out of bed and open the door for the pair. He could hear them laughing all the way down the hall.

After a minute, April spoke up, "You realize now that they know, the whole hospital is going to know by the time we get home?" she asked as she fell back into the bed.

"So what?" he asked, "Just saves us time from having to do it ourselves."

"I guess," she agreed, "So what's the plan for the day? I don't know about you, but I could use a nap."

"Mind if I join?" he questioned, already sliding into the other side of the bed, and here's one thing she never saw coming. Alex Karev was a cuddler.

XX

As she predicted, by the time they're back at Seattle every person at the hospital had heard about their nuptials. They were the hot topic of conversation for a few days but eventually things started to calm down and they settled into a routine. Surprisingly, dating Alex was going really well. That's what she chose to call what they were doing. Dating, taking things slow, it seemed to be working for them.

Two weeks go by and they're laying in his bed at the frat house when he says, "We should move in together." And she finds herself nodding. It should scare her. It's a big commitment, but really, they've already made a bigger one.

The apartment hunting goes relatively quickly, they find a great place a few blocks from the hospital and April is just raving about the hardwood floors and the fact that it has a washer/dryer. It doesn't really hit him until they're unloading the last of the boxes to the new place that this is really real. That it's really happening, and he smiles at her from where she's unloading things in the kitchen.

XX

He's watching the Lakers game on TV when she walks in from her shift at the hospital and she smiles as she looks around and notices that he'd actually done some cleaning. "Dinner's in the oven," he says, his eyes still on the game, though he turned down the volume when she walked in. "I'm not a cook like you, but I figured I could give it a shot."

"I love you," She says, like it's the most natural thing in the world, and not the first time she'd ever admitted it out loud. He's quiet for a minute, turning to look at her from his spot on the couch. She looks almost as nervous as the day they woke up next to each other in Vegas. He smiles at the thought.

"I love you, too."