This is a fanfic based off of the 3x07 where Addison delivers the stillborn baby. I thought it would be really interesting to put Jackson and April in that situation. There aren't too many Japril fanfics where they go through something like this so I thought I'd give it a try. I wanted to still bring Addison in as her OBGYN, so they are residents in this fic. It's a one-shot. Let me know what you think! Reviews are gold. Also, I borroed some lines from the original scene and I don't own those. Or the characters. Or anything else Grey's related. That's all Shonda.
Oh, and I named it There Is So Much More because that's the Brett Dennen song that's playing the background during the birth. If you don't remember the song, listen to it sometime!
"April, sweetheart, we can't be late for our own baby shower," Jackson hollered up the stairs at his wife. She had never been one to put too much time into getting ready, although lately that wasn't the case. She was just short of eight months pregnant with their first child. The little girl they were about to have wasn't planned, but they had gotten extremely used to the idea of being parents. Jackson painted the room they were planning to transform into a nursery and they were planning to decorate and get all of the finishing touches done after the shower.
"Come zip me up?" She asked from upstairs. Jackson jogged up the stairs to help her. She took his breath away. She was wearing a light pink lace dress with short sleeves that stopped just above her knees. Her belly was protruding and she was the definition of pregnancy glow. Her red hair was curled and half pulled back and she had white flats on.
Jackson pulled either side of the fabric together in order to get the zipper up. When he was done he snuck his arms around her waist and slid them under her dress to hold on to her bare belly. She moaned as he leaned down and planted a trail of soft kisses across the side of her neck. The baby kicked his hand that was resting on her belly and he jumped slightly, April let out a giggle at his reaction. She whispered, "She's been kicking nonstop today."
"Do we have to go? I want to keep you all to myself," Jackson asked in a husky voice, inhaling the strawberry scent radiating off of his wife. She turned around to look at him with a grin on her face.
"We aren't going. I'm going. You're going golfing with the guys. Besides, it's only for a few hours and then we get to put the rest of the nursery together," she nearly sang, grabbing his hand to head towards the stairs. Before she could go down she realized she forgot her cell phone on their bed and went back for it. As she headed back for the stairs, she heard Jackson opening the front door and waiting for her. It was about to be a perfect day, until she missed the first step going down their stairs.
"April!" Jackson screamed, running up the stairs to help her. She had toppled down four steps before he made it up to her. She was immediately showing signs of being disoriented and panicked, as any normal eight month pregnant woman would in her situation.
"No! No no no!," She shrieked, her voice was shaky sounding and full of tears. "Can you stand up? We need to get you to the hospital," Jackson mumbled, trying to stay calm. One of them had to.
"What about the baby Jackson?" She sobbed, rushing to hold her swollen belly. When she settled her hands on it, he noticed her wrist which was clearly broken and it looked bad. She didn't seem to notice the wrist, all of her concern on their daughter.
"I'm sure she's fine April," He told her, distractedly. She slowly got to her feet and he wrapped his arm around her waist, guiding her down the remaining stairs and to his car. Once they got on the road he called the hospital.
"This is Dr. Avery. My wife just fell down the stairs and she's eight months pregnant, we're on the way to the hospital. Page Dr. Montgomery, she needs to check April out. Now!" He instructed most likely a nurse with his instructions rather sharply before hanging up. His driving was nearly disastrous itself.
"Slow down, Jackson, please." She begged through her tears, gripping on to her seat at the same time. They made it to the hospital at a record time and a nurse with a wheelchair was outside the entrance of the emergency room, waiting for them. He guided her into the chair and followed the nurse who took them into a makeshift room which was closed off by a curtain.
Dr. Bailey greeted them almost immediately. The emergency room was getting more hectic by the second. She triaged April quickly and instructed and asked a nearby nurse, "Page ortho. Where's Dr. Montgomery?"
The nurse nodded. "Dr. Montgomery will be here any minute, she just called to say her ETA was about 5 minutes."
Dr. Bailey accepted her response and gave instructions to get a CT and xray while they waited for Dr. Montgomery, then she left to carry on with her other patients.
"Jackson, I'm so sorry. I didn't see the steps yet, I couldn't see them. I mean, I guess I'm too big. It came out of nowhere. I didn't mean to fall," April rambled neurotically. It was breaking Jackson's heart. "Hey, hey…I know that. I just want to make sure you're okay. That was a bad fall you took. I know you didn't do it on purpose. It was just an accident baby," He soothed her. While he spoke he used one hand to stroke her head and the other to hold her hand. "Everything is going to be ok, you hear me?"
After another moment of worry and contemplation she nodded and pulled her hand free to wipe the tears off her face. They were interrupted when Callie came in.
"April, what happened?" she asked her worriedly, picking up her clearly broken wrist to examine. Jackson answered for her. "She fell down a couple of stairs while we were getting ready to go to the shower," he told her. He watched her examine the wrist carefully. "She hasn't complained about the wrist once."
April spoke up. "I don't care about my wrist, I just want to know if my baby is ok." Callie nodded, knowing full well how it felt to worry about your child before she was even born. Something about this scene was oddly reminiscent of hers and Arizona's car crash which led into Sofia's premature birth.
"We're going to do everything we can to take care of you two, okay?" Callie promised her, easing their worries just a bit while they waited.
Addison Montgomery pulled the curtain open just enough to sneak inside. She was pulling a portable ultrasound machine. "Let's check in on your baby girl," she smiled, hoping to alleviate some of the worry the impending parents had.
Callie interrupted, "April, I'm going to give you some pain meds for the wrist." April shook her off. "I don't need them, they're not good for the baby. I'll suffer."
"A small dosage will not affect her at all," Addison cut in and promised, but April rejected them again. Addison's attention was focused on the ultrasound machine again.
Callie pulled April's xray's down off the light. "Do I need a cast?" She asked, finally glancing down at her swollen wrist. "Oh, definitely, but first we need to straighten the bones." She told her, she was getting ready to walk out of the room and gather her supplies.
April's focus went back to the ultrasound. "How come she's not kicking anymore? She'd been kicking like crazy," She asked Addison anxiously.
"It's likely that she's just sleeping," she told the couple, focusing harder on the heartbeat. Or lack thereof. She searched and searched, but soon found that a heartbeat was nonexistent. "Hear that April, our daughter sleeps. Maybe she'll be more like me than you after all." Jackson played, trying to distract his unsettled wife.
"I'll uh, I'll be right back." Addison smiled at Jackson and April and bolted out of the room, Callie followed, hot on her heels.
In the meantime, Jackson was able to keep his wife distracted. He started asking her who all he should call about the baby shower, at least she was optimistic. "We might just be late, just call your mother and Reed so they know why I'm not there." Jackson knew no matter what happened that the shower would have to be postponed, if not cancelled.
Callie found Addison in the bathroom after following the sound of her sniffles down the hallway. "Addison, are you ok? What's wrong?" She asked from the other side of the metal stall door. She could see her squatting against the wall in shambles.
She sniffled some more. "I don't know how…I…I…" She rested her head in her hands, trying to pick her heart up off the floor. "I don't know why this should affect me so hard, I'm used to this… I really am." Addison told herself, trying to clear her face of tears in the bathroom mirror. Callie stopped her, "used to what?"
"April… an hour ago she was on her way to her baby shower. And now…her baby is dead." She cried, nearly hysterically. Callie let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She was hoping her new friend was upset about anything but that.
Callie leaned down next to the other doctor and comforted her as best as she could. This was the biggest downside to being a doctor. Giving patients news like this. Giving friends and co-workers news like this.
A few moments later, after she had collected herself, Addison made her way back down to April's room. She stopped outside the door when she noticed how happy they were with each other and how in love they were. April was laughing at something Jackson had said, she had the biggest grin on her face and her nose was crinkled in a way that made her look adorably blissful. "They're so…happy. Happy people should have…happy things happen to them."
She sighed and walked towards the door. "I have to go tell them."
Callie interjected. "Wait." She paused, "The moment you tell them, they won't be happy anymore. Give them a few more minutes. Let them be happy. A few more minutes."
When the time was right, Callie went in first to fix her wrist before they gave them the news. "Please tell me it's going to stop hurting soon, or I might just have to take those pain meds," April teased. Callie gave her a sympathetic look. "You're almost done."
Jackson teased his wife playfully. "When our daughter is sixteen and says you never did anything for her, you can guilt her with the wrist." She giggled and shrugged, like he might have had a point. Even she had to admit it took balls not to take the pain meds. But it was the least she could do for their daughter.
Once Callie was done bandaging April's wrist she nodded at Addison to give her the go ahead. She took a step forward and decided she had an obligation to tell them, no matter how happy they were or how badly she knew it would hurt them when she broke the news to them.
"Jackson and April, I need to talk to you." Addison solemnly announced. She had an extremely noticeable look of regret. All playful conversations between the couple seized. April felt her stomach tie up in knots and Jackson shot up from his chair next to her bed. He knew what this was about. They knew what it was about. "It's about the baby." Addison informed.
"Addison…" Jackson begged, shaking his head as if her not saying it would mean it wasn't true. She peered back at him regretfully.
April spoke up. "You have to say it. I won't believe it unless you say it. You have to say it." She knew what her doctor was about to tell her.
She didn't say anything though, she didn't have to. Her expression said it all. Their baby didn't make it.
Jackson grabbed a hold of his wife and rocked her. She was gasping for air while trying to grasp what just happened. They lost the baby. Once she gave them some time to comprehend what happened, she had to drop the next bomb. April was still going to have to deliver their baby.
Forty five minutes later she was back in the room and an induced April was about to deliver her little girl.
"Ok April, I'm going to need you to push. Push as hard as you can, just like you've been practicing," Addison instructed. She was in her position, trying to guide the baby out of the womb. April was covered in sweat, emotionally wrecked, just trying to end the calamity she was now living. Each push became more and more painful, not just physically, but emotionally. She didn't know how much more she could take.
"Baby, you're doing great. I'm so proud of you," Jackson ensured, grasping her hand even tighter and leaning down to kiss her head. She nodded and gave one final push when Addison told her to. The baby came out, but the room was silent. There were no loud shrills that a brand new baby typically makes. As soon as Addison said she was done April collapsed back onto the bed and broke down. So did Jackson. He was still standing at the head of her bed with her, but leaning down to her level with his arms wrapped around his wife. He was sobbing. Not only for the loss of his daughter, but because of how traumatic it was to see his wife deliver their stillborn baby. It was something he would never wish on his worst enemy.
Addison handed April their daughter, wrapped up in a soft pink baby blanket. She held her and sobbed while Jackson stood over her shoulder and wept himself.
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