Fair warning that there's a bit of cheese here, but I know ya'll should expect nothing less from me. :) The title of this story is a lyric from the Rob Thomas song "Ever the Same" - some of you may have seen the video of that I posted on my Tumblr a week or two ago. The whole song is just lovely and beautiful and is basically how I see Jackson's mindset. So it might enhance the story if you give the song a listen. Enjoy and as always, please, please let me know what you think and thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and favorites already given - made my day! :)

In the end, three days had passed before April finally shared the news with Jackson.

Just like she hadn't meant to tell Meredith and Cristina, she hadn't meant to not Jackson. But she just couldn't bring herself to do it, to get him alone and form the words. She'd never imagined having to do this, break the news of a surprise pregnancy. She'd never really though much at all about having kids but she'd always kinda figured that if she did have them, it would be with a husband and he would be there with her when she took the test, waiting anxiously for the results. This situation had never been anywhere near the realm of possibility for her.

Yeah, April could admit it – she was a big, giant chicken.

"You've been avoiding me."

It's a statement, not a question and it startled April completely. She was sitting in the cafeteria, eating a pudding cup and she nearly dropped her spoon as her head jerked up to see Jackson sitting down across the table from her, frowning slightly. "Is that all you're eating for lunch?" he added, nodding at the pudding, and April shrugged.

"Not hungry," she replied. She was lucky – she hadn't really had morning sickness or nausea at all – the only time she'd thrown up in the past few weeks was when she'd made the horrible connection as to why Owen once again had the funds to give her a job – but she also hadn't had much of an appetite at all. She knew she'd need to work on eating healthier, but she figured a few more days wouldn't hurt too much.

"And I'm not avoiding you," she added. "We ate lunch together yesterday." A lunch that had been somewhat awkward for her, given that Meredith was also at the table, giving her questioning looks when it became obvious that Jackson wasn't acting any different towards April and had not had the news shared with him yet.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Yeah, with Alex and Mer. You seem to find any excuse lately to avoid me – at least me alone. What gives?"

April shrugged again, not really sure what to say. Because the truth was, he was right, of course. She had been avoiding him – even before the pregnancy realization. She simply wasn't ready for any further discussion of what had happened between them – and what it might mean for the future. He'd made it pretty clear that she was a large part of why he'd changed his mind about New Orleans and decided to stay in Seattle. A big part of it was for Mark, too, to be a support system for him, but she was a definite factor.

He leaned in across the table. "Look, I'm sorry if I freaked you out by saying I think I'd like us to be more, but I –"

April felt tears pricking the back of her eyelids as she held up a hand, cutting him off. "Jackson – I can't – I'm sorry – just, please – " she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders as she forced herself to look him in the eye. "Look – we need to talk."

Jackson looked mildly exasperated. "Yeah, I know. That's what I've been saying for like, weeks."

"No – I – God" April pressed her hands to her eyes for a moment before standing up. "Not here, okay? Come on."

"Okay," Jackson said as he followed her out of the cafeteria, confusion and curiosity mingling on his face as she led him to an on-call room and locked the door behind her.

He grinned at her. "Should I take this as a positive sign?"

April grimaced in response, wondering, for a fleeting moment if she should take advantage of the moment – kiss him or, hell, sleep with him again before telling the truth. She really didn't know how he was going to react and she was fully prepared (or at least she had convinced herself she was prepared) for the reaction to be bad. She had no idea how he felt about having kids and while he may have thought he wanted a relationship with her, she was reasonably sure that the word 'forever' had not exactly crossed his mind. Then she shook her head at herself. No, that definitely would not be the right thing to do.

While she had been thinking this, he had been moving closer to her and she reached out and placed her palm flat against his chest, pushing him away. Keeping him at arm's length.

Jackson laughed. "Don't trust yourself?" he teased gently.

"Jackson – stop."

Something about her tone finally got his attention and the grin slid off his face as he looked at her, really looked at her and saw the look on her face, the uncertainty in her eyes.

"April, what's the matter?" he asked quietly. "Something is not right and I want to help –"

April closed her eyes briefly as he spoke and then opened them again as she blurted it out without waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"I'm pregnant."

Jackson blinked as April sank down to sit on the edge of the bed and looked up at him with wide eyes; sad, scared eyes.

"What?" He honestly wasn't sure he'd heard her right.

"Pregnant," April repeated, finally giving in to the tears, letting them slide down her face.

"But – how? We used –" Jackson's voice trailed off as he thought back to the days in San Francisco.

April nodded as she saw the recognition dawn on his face. "Not the sec-second time. In the bathroom."

Jackson looked shell-shocked and she began to cry in earnest as he slowly sat down beside her, moving almost automatically as he put an arm around her and she buried her face in his shoulder.

"I – I'm so sorry," she cried and those words cut through the haze in his brain as he pulled away from her so he could see her face.

"Sorry? For what? It's not your fault," he said and April shook her head.

"Yes it is."

Jackson shook his head, firmly. "Fine, okay, it's your fault but it's my fault too, okay? I mean – we're adults, we're doctors – we should have known better –"

"I feel so stupid," April admitted, managing a sheepish smile, and Jackson nodded.

"Yeah, me too."

"I'm sorry," April said again and Jackson scowled.

"Stop apologizing, okay?"

April nodded. "Okay. Sor-" She caught herself before she said the rest of the word and Jackson just shook his head, smiling a little to himself.

"Okay, we'll work on that."

April nodded as Jackson glanced at his watch. "You got anything scheduled this afternoon?"

April shook her head.

"Think Hunt would miss you?"

"I don't know – probably. At least eventually – why?"

"'Cause I don't have a surgery for another couple hours so that should give us enough time to get this taken care of." He stood up and grabbed her hand, tugging her to her feet. "C'mon, let's go."

April was thoroughly confused. "Get what taken care of? What the hell are you talking about?" she asked as she took a step back from him.

His response was completely matter-of-fact. "Going down to the courthouse and getting married." The 'duh' was unspoken, but oh, she heard it.

"Excuse me?" April's tone was equal parts incredulous and indignant. "Have you lost your mind? Did you just say getting married?"

"Yes."

April just stared at him. Was he high? Did he have a secret mental illness she'd never known about? "We are not getting married."

"Do you want to call my mother and tell her you're having her illegitimate grandchild?" Jackson replied calmly and April's mouth fell open.

"What?" Although, the mention of his mother did give her pause. She hadn't even really thought about how she would tell her own parents and her sisters, let alone with dealing with Catherine Avery. "Is that something else that's unbecoming of an Avery?" she snapped sarcastically.

Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but she just kept right on talking. "And anyway, how do you even know I'll be having her grandchild? Considering you haven't even bothered to ask how I feel about this, if I'm even planning to keep the baby!"

Jackson, she was surprised to note, looked stricken by those words. "Are you?" he asked softly. "Keeping it, I mean?"

Chastened by the look on his face, April nodded. "Yes. I couldn't – I mean, I'm not anti-abortion at all – but – it's not the right choice for me. But I don't expect anything from you, I swear," she hastened to add. "You don't have to do any—"

"April," he interrupted her. "Have you not listened to me? You are not going to be on your own with this. Or, well, you don't have to be. Let me do this with you." He reached out for her and this time, she let herself be pulled into his arms. "You and me, against the world, right?"

April nodded, suddenly crying so hard again she couldn't speak, and Jackson just held her for a long time before the tears subsided and he leaned back slightly so he could see her face.

"You okay?"

She nodded again. "Yeah. Hormones, I guess. And you. You're – you're freaking amazing. Thank you. For being –" she gestured helplessly, unable to find the right words. "For this. All of it – being so understanding and –"

Jackson shrugged. "I love you. That makes it easy."

April stared at him. "What?"

He shrugged again. "I love you. That's what I've been trying to get you to realize for weeks. I've been in love with you since San Francisco. Maybe even before, I don't know –"

April cut him off with a kiss. He loved her! And maybe, just maybe, the reason she'd been so scared about everything was because she loved him too and just wasn't quite ready to acknowledge it.

"I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you too," she admitted as they broke apart and Jackson grinned.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she grinned back before sternly declaring, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to run off and marry you!"

"Yeah? Well, we'll see about that," he countered as he pulled her into another kiss.