A/N: Still not mine, please let me know how I am doing :) xoxo

Chapter 2

None of the doctors slept after their emotional surgery. Dr. Bailey had divided them into shifts, they all readily agreed; none of them had wanted April to wake up alone. Teddy fought her tears as she held the hand of the redhead, not knowing how to let go.

XXX

April Kepner was in pain. The kind that seeped into your bones and never left, the kind that made even the strongest weep. For a moment she had left her eyes shut, refusing to give into the desire to look at the streaming lights. She was mentally planning, going over the details in her head, deciding what steps she would take once she was discharged.

She felt prepared as she opened her eyes, she would be prepared. Prepared to give a short and accurate account of what had happened. Prepared to go back to normal. What she was not prepared for was the sight of Sloan sitting next to her hospital bed.

"Morning Dr. Kepner," the head of plastics said to her as she did her best to smile. He reached for her hand, and then berated himself when she swiftly pulled it away.

"Hello Dr. Sloan. Are the police here for my statement yet?" Sloan was confused. There was no room for argument with her tone. She was not frazzled or emotional. He was thankful that he didn't have to explain what happened, that he didn't have to prod at her to figure out what she had remembered. He grimaced, ashamed that he was glad that she remembered, that she knew exactly what was taken from her.

"Hunt is on his way. Would you feel more comfortable with Bailey or Altman with you?" Now it was her turn to grimace.

"Who knows?" It was then that he saw the fear in her eyes, the shame, and the vulnerability. It was gone as soon as he had seen in.

"The ambulance crew that brought you in, Nurse Garcia and Spencer, Hunt, Bailey, Altman, and myself. No one else knows unless you want them to. You have our is going to be her in a minute, would you like me to page anyone to sit with you?" He repeated the question for a second time.

"I am fine, actually if you don't have the time to be here, I would be totally fine on my own." She needed him to believe her. For him to be willing to forget about it, so that she could forget about it. She suppressed a sob that almost made it out of her throat. She put her best possible smile out. " I don't need a babysitter." She laughed weakly.

Damn it. She thought that this was his assigned role. That the only reason he or any of the others would stand beside her would be out of obligation. "We are here because we care, because-" He was cut off with the opening of the door. Because you are family.

"It's good to see you awake April. Do you have any questions for me about your surgery?" The normalcy felt good to him. It felt like it wasn't one of his own in the hospital bed. It made him feel that today could be a normal day.

"Nope, I just want to know when I can make my statement and get out of here, I now get what they mean when they say that doctors make the worst patients." It almost sounded like Kepner's normal chirp.

"They have someone on the way to talk to you. You should know that you are an official Jane Doe in our registry and that there is a guard outside of your door to prevent anyone other than myself and the other personnel that were on your surgery to come into your room. They are currently taken bets on whether or not you are a famous model or a world leader. You should be ready to go home within a couple of days."

He wasn't about to try to understand her deflection, between her and Christina, woman who have faced tragedy were a mystery to him. His pager went off, the police were waiting. "I'll be back in about five minutes, would you like to have us page someone? Miranda or Teddy maybe?"

"I am fine with . Thank you for the closed room thing," she swallowed the lump in her throat. Knowing that she had a reason to be grateful for the extraordinary measures they took to protect her privacy. He nodded to her with a grim smile as he left the room.

Mark was tense as a deafening silence fell over them. He looked April, and he wished he knew her well enough to know what to say, what to do.

Surprisingly she broke the awkward silence, "What did you tell my roommates when they noticed I was gone? I would like to have my story straight." Sloans silence spoke volumes. They hadn't asked.

"They didn't notice." It was said as a fact, as though she felt silly for thinking that they might have been worried.

Sloan felt angry then. Angry with Mer, with Lexi, with all of them. None of them had the decency to care for the one who had went to moon and back for them. Before he could respond , they were once again interrupted by someone entering the room. The woman and man in blue greeted them both, and as soon as they asked April their first question she grabbed Sloan's hand. He squeezed it lightly, to let her know that she was not alone.

"It was thursday. I was covering a shift so I couldn't get to the cemetery early like I usually do. I go on thursdays. Reid hated thursdays, she always thought that they were like false fridays. We would always do something fun on thursdays. I didn't want her to be alone, I promised that we would always have thursdays. I couldn't just not go".

Mark shut his eyes. He wanted to leave the room. To send someone else in. Somebody who actually knew her and that would know how to handle this. Someone who would have the words to comfort hurt. He took a breath. He let it out. He continued this mantra during the entire questioning. Unable to do nothing but breathe and hold her hand.

A/N Let me know if you have any questions :)