April sat in the OBGYN exam room at Seattle Grace Mercy West hospital for about ten minutes, staring at pictures of babies on the wall. These were the success stories and April knew that they would soon be hers. She looked down at her belly and smiled, her little nugget was kicking her side, but she couldn't have been bothered by it. Although she felt angry and betrayed by Jackson, she felt pure joy when she thought about her baby. Her baby. Not his, not yet, she couldn't do it yet.

"April?" Jackson knocked on the door softly.

"You can come in, I'm not going to bite you," she responded jokingly.

"How are you?" He asked awkwardly, trying to relieve the tension that was filling the room.

"It's been an hour since I've seen you, I'm fine. Thank you, though."

"You know that's not what I mean. How are you?" He accentuated the are.

"Afternoon April, ready to look at your little nugget?" Arizona asked her. She had been doing a fellowship in fetal surgery and as April's friend, offered to do her ultra sound. "Oh, Jackson, I didn't realize you'd be here. I'm sorry, should I come back?"

"No, you're fine. I have a surgery scheduled soon, so no need to wait." April responded. She lifted up her scrub top and Jackson saw her clearly extended abdomen, it was much bigger than he had anticipated. He was a surgeon, so he knew what a pregnant woman looked like, but seeing it up close and on April Kepner of all people, he was taken aback.

Arizona put the ultra sound on April's abdomen and searched around, "Do we want to know the sex?" April and Jackson made eye contact, but before they could tell each other what they wanted a knock came at the door. A tall, at least 6'4" man in blue scrubs came into the room, he had short blonde hair and his facial hair was short and scruffy.

"Did I miss it babe? My hip replacement ran a little long." He asked, as he came into the room and kissed April on the lips. Jackson didn't faze him at all, but he fazed Jackson. Who was he? Why was he kissing April? Did he know it wasn't his baby?

"No, Ollie, you didn't. We were just going to find out, right Jackson?" She gave him a look, sort of like the one she used to give him when they were residents at Mercy West. He used to know exactly what she was thinking without having to hear her speak; he used to know her, now they were strangers having a baby.

"Yeah, we can find out," he chocked out.

"Great," Arizona perkily said, trying to keep the tension in the room down. "And here are the legs and if your nugget would just uncross their legs, I'd be able to tell. And it looks like you're having a baby girl."

"A girl? Really? I'm having a girl?" April couldn't help but smile.

"We're having a girl, babe?" Ollie leaned in a kissed her again. All Jackson could hear was that they were having a baby, no one even looked at him. No one congratulated him. No one noticed when he walked out of the room, because even though this was his daughter, he was the father, April was making sure he would never be her dad.

He walked around the hospital and tried to clear his head, but he couldn't take it, he finally snapped and went into a supply closet and cried. He didn't cry about much in his life, he cried after the plane crash, he cried when his dad left him and his mom, and now. He wanted to go back, tell April how he felt, he wanted so badly to turn back the clock and not be a coward. He was crouched down on the floor, now, with his bald head leaned against the wall, eyes closed, submerged in thought.

"Avery?" Alex Karev asked.

"Go away Karev, I'm not in the mood."

"Alex, what's going on, you're supposed to go and watch Zola tonight," Meredith from down the hall, "Derek and I have a thing, what's so interesting in the supply closet?"

"It's Avery," Alex responded.

"Please make her go away, please can you two not be here right now. I need to be alone."

Meredith Grey had made her way down the hall and was now at the doorframe standing next to Alex, she had a nice black dress on; clearly she was ready for date night with Derek, who had just been cleared for surgery by Callie last week.

"Alex, move, I got this," she said, "Go get Zola, and you and Jo can have a movie night with her. We'll only be a few hours and I'll pick her up around 10."

"No problem, Mer. But you owe me."

"Don't I always? Now go! She's been looking forward to this all day!"

"Sure Meredith." He sarcastically quipped as he headed up towards the daycare center. Meredith then sat down next to Jackson, and put her hand on his knee. She wasn't always one for physical contact, but sometimes it was exactly what the other person needed. She could tell Jackson needed to not be left in the dark, she didn't hate him like April did right now. She was he, she had daddy issues and mommy issues, and she knew what his childhood was like. She knew how it felt to have to live up to your parent's success, to never have your own identity. And she knew how it felt to be in love with Derek, and what it felt like to lose him. And that was a pain, she didn't wish on anyone.

"Jackson, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not Meredith. Please just go."

"I can't do that. Jackson, you're my friend, April's my friend. I just want you two to be happy. You're having a baby, you should be excited, not sitting in a supply closet sitting on the floor and crying. So please, tell me what happened?"

"Did you know," he looked up at her and looked deep into her eyes, his were screaming with pain, "Did you know she was with someone else?"

"I knew she was dating, but no, I didn't know about anything serious. But so, what Jackson, you left did you expect her to wait around for you?"

"No, of course not. But do you know how it felt to be in that room, I was so excited to be there and see the baby, that I've known about for four hours, I was on cloud nine the entire morning and then Dr. Johnson walked in and kissed her. And when Arizona told us the baby was a girl, April didn't even look at me. She looked at him. She kissed him. She went to him. It's their baby, I'm just the father, and I don't even know if I'll be allowed to be that."

"Jackson," Meredith said in a whisper, she pulled him into a hug and he cried. She held him for an hour, in silence.

"It's okay Meredith, you can go, Derek's waiting. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." The two of them left the supply closet and as they did, Jackson saw Dr. Johnson at the nurse's station. He desperately wanted to go up to him and punch him, but he couldn't do that. He did nothing wrong, April was single, he probably had no idea about Jackson's feelings for her, but before he could walk away Oliver called out for him.

"Dr. Avery! Dr. Avery, I don't think we've formally met," he came up to Jackson and extended his hand, "I'm Oliver Johnson, ortho fellow, and I'm sorry for earlier. I should have introduced myself then, but I was so caught up with my surgery and being late, and well of course the news." He was so peppy and cheery, just like the April Jackson used to know; he was her in male form.

"It's no problem really, but I'd rather not discuss my personal business at work." Jackson was angry, but he was trying to keep his cool.

"What do you mean? Did you not know, did you not know about April and me?"

"Does it look like I knew?"

"Jackson, I'm really sorry. I wouldn't have barged in like that if I had known. It was never my intention to make you feel uncomfortable. April and I have just been talking about the sex for weeks and we were really excited about finding out," he was rambling.

"Please stop."

"Stop?"

"Stop, talking about her like she's your daughter, she's my daughter. That's my baby. Or did April not tell you that?"

"No, I knew that you were the father, April told me as soon as she found out."

"Great, so you were there for that too. How long have you been there?"

"We met, when she was crying at the coffee cart, she was talking about how a friend had left, and we got to talking and have been pretty inseparable since then. I know that this is weird for you; it's weird for me too. I didn't think my girlfriend would be pregnant by another man and that I'd be working at the same hospital as him. I didn't know you were the guy until today, she never mentioned your name, I'm sorry. I can't take it back, I can't make her forgive you, and all I can do is be there for her and her little girl. That's all I want to do, and I think that's all you want to do. I'm not a bad guy, and I don't think you are either."

"I'm not."

"Why don't you come over for dinner tonight, and the three of us can discuss this. We really should all talk."

"No."

"No?"

"I mean no. I need to talk to April, alone." And with that, Jackson walked away from a slightly stunned Oliver. He got into his car and drove to April's place, knocked on the door, and waited; he would wait there all night if that were what it took. He needed to see her, he needed to talk to her, and he needed to know why.

"Jackson, what are you doing here?"

"Why? Are you trying to hurt me? You're with someone else and you completely failed to mention that in the weeks that I've been back," he was yelling now, "You've been seeing him since I left, since the day I left. You're living with him, my daughter is his daughter, and he's been there for everything. Would you have just convinced him it was his and never told me? Because say the word, if you don't want me in your life or our baby's life, and you want Oliver to be her father, I'm done. I'm gone. I will leave Seattle tonight. Your choice."

"Go." And she shut the door in his face.