This was not a prompt...but I hated the Jackson/Mama K fight. I think it was horribly written. A friend and I thought it would've been a better episode if April chose the beach. And their could've still been a cliffhanger. Anyway, hope you like this. Let me know!

"I…I just don't want to talk about type two, right now. I can…we can talk about type three," she said, eyes ahead, looking out the front windshield in the passenger seat as Jackson drove.

She had chosen the beach. Even though they had almost started fighting before her mom's perfect timing, even though she did feel like she needed God right now, she needed Jackson more. She was afraid and didn't feel like being away from her husband even if that meant no church, for now. So, she'd given her mother the address to her church, in case she wanted to go, but April chose the beach.

"There's nothing to talk about if he has type three, April. We will get him the best care, he will have the best life possible. I can…we can afford that."

April swallowed hard. "Oh…OK, well…it will be hard," she whispered down at her lap.

"I can do hard with you, April." Hard, Jackson could take. Type three would be hard. But type two, the choice that they faced with type two felt impossible right now. What decision did you make when you lost either way? Jackson had no idea, and even though they didn't know their child's exact fate right now, he wished his wife was open to talking about options.

"I…I can do hard with you too, Jackson," she answered. But everything about her demeanor was unsure. They were quiet for the rest of the ride.

"Thank you for coming to the beach, babe." Jackson said later, when they were walking on the sand hand-in-hand.

"You're welcome. I love you."

"I love you too, April."

She looked down at her feet. "Do you think…." She paused and he stopped walking, turning her shoulders so she was facing him.

"What sweetheart, talk to me."

"Do you think love is enough if…if he has type two and he…do you think we will…"

"April Kepner, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in my entire life. And I will never leave you. I'm not scared of your pain, it can try but I won't let it push me away. And I don't need you to be strong for me. I just want you to be honest and help me understand. Our love is enough…but I need you to talk to me."

She nodded and they started walking again, slowly. "I feel God here. I don't need to be in a church. God is here," she said, after they'd been walking for awhile. "He's with you, Jackson."

"With me, hmm?" There was no sarcasm in his tone, no disgust. He'd meant it when he said he wanted to understand. Finally.

"Yeah." April gave a small smile and slowly, cautiously cradled her belly with her hand. "And with our son."

"April, you know I…I just don't want him to suffer…I…

A couple approached them, walking in the other direction. They were about the same age as Jackson and April, maybe a little bit younger, holding hands and laughing at each other. The woman looked at them and lit up when she saw April's belly. "Oh! When are you due?" she asked, and April froze.

"Oh…I…um..I'm..." Jackson saw her eyes quickly fill with tears.

"She's almost six months," he said, pulling April close to him and walking a little bit faster. The couple just nodded., confused.

They weren't out of earshot when April burst into tears. "Ok, alright…shhh…April…shhhh….I'm here. I'm here. Try to relax, sweetheart…shhh…" But her sobs just got louder and her knees buckled. Jackson steadied her. He saw a group of people headed toward them again as her cries escalated, his words not enough.

He lifted her into his arms and felt her body shaking. "Ok, shhhh…hands around my neck, love…there you go…good girl. Hey, look at me, April. Look at me, take a deep breath, sweetheart." He demonstrated for her, and she tried. But every time she did a new wave of sobs would come on. Jackson started back toward the car, but they had walked pretty far, it would take a few minutes and people were staring. Jackson didn't care.

"Hey April, God's here. He's here right?" She nodded and he kissed her forehead. "Do you want to talk to him? Talk to Him, sweetheart, what's the one you say at night, lately.…out loud. Say that one, April." She just continued to sob, shaking her head. He'd probably confused her because he knew nothing about the Bible. "The one about the water, sweetheart. What its it… 'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…"

"'And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you," she continued for him, but she was stuttering, tears still streaming down her face.

So he finished for her. "'When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.'"

He kissed her lips, even though she was in no state to kiss back. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, anywhere. People stared and he carried his wife and son away, to safety as fast as his legs would carry him. "What can I do, April? Try to use words please, sweetheart." Her face was beat red, eyes bloodshot. And she just kept sobbing. "What do you want to eat, April? Are you hungry? Let's go eat. Where should we go? We can bring it home." It was a sad, pathetic attempt to calm her down. He almost felt ashamed. But he didn't know what else to do. Surprisingly, it seemed to work a little bit.

"Ch-ch-cheeseburger," she managed, and Jackson gave a small smile, happy for a response.

"OK, we're gonna go get a cheeseburger, love. At The Roundhouse, yeah? And you can have a whole bucket of French fries to yourself."

His words triggered a whole new round of tears. April never liked French fries, until she got pregnant. Jackson shut his eyes for a second and took a quick deep breath, summoning strength. He did the only thing that he could think to try. "'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."

He repeated it over and over, kissing her in between. It was the only passage he knew. She had read it out loud a few days before; in bed the night she told him they were having a boy. He'd simply said, "That's nice," because he didn't know what to say. She'd never read the Bible out loud to him before and he wanted to be kind. It was not the time for snark. She'd read it out loud several times a night since then.

They were almost to the car and it wasn't working. But Jackson needed something to work. He hated feeling helpless. That's why he'd asked her to come to the beach. He wanted to be the one to comfort her, to help her through her sorrow. But in that moment he felt helpless and guilty. Because she obviously needed something more than God's presence at the beach. She needed more than one Bible verse, more than his kisses. And Jackson felt lost.

He stopped walking. "April please. For me, try to talk. I need you to try and use words, please. What can I do? Say anything."

"Please don't make me kill my baby, Jackson. Please don't make me kill our son," she begged. The words were crisp, clear. Jackson said nothing. He just kissed her, softly. It was an apology for not being able to give her the one thing he knew she needed from him. Because if that was it, if that's the only thing in the world that would calm her down, for him to agree to keep the baby, well…no matter how much he wished he could, he couldn't give he the answer she wanted yet. And so he kissed an apology, and let her continue to sob.

"I'm not going to make you do anything, April. Tomorrow, after we get the results…if he's…if we need to I…I just want you to try to understand a little more. Do you think you can try?"

She nodded, tears streaming down her face. "I…I…I will tr…tr…tr…tr…tr…"

"You'll try. Thank you. I know you are doing your best."

"Will yo…yo…yo…"

"I will try too, love." The car was in sight, finally. "But right now, in this moment, I just want to make you happy. We don't have to think about it tonight, I'm sorry I made you do that too fast. I'm sorry April."

She took a deep breath and the tears finally stopped. "It's OK," she whispered, and looked away. Jackson was surprised by how fragile she was, how child-like, even though she was carrying a child herself. It wasn't that April didn't like to be taken care of; she was better at accepting care than he was. She had never been afraid to show emotion, but she usually had some semblance of control over it. Today, she was lost, afraid. Regressing, it seemed, was her last line of defense.

"What will make you happy sweetheart, hmm? Right now, what will make you happy for just a little while." Jackson stopped before he put her in the car and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Pretend," she whispered, more delicate than ever.

"OK, April, let's pretend. All night. Me and you. We'll pretend…where are we going to start?"

"Well your son is very hungry. He's kicking and…he really wants that cheeseburger." She was sniffling, but coherent.

Jackson took a deep breath, knowing his son wasn't kicking. She wasn't messing around when she said pretend. "Well then we'd better get him one," Jackson said. He wondered how good he was at this game. Catherine wasn't a big fan of make believe when he was little.

"Yeah. And I want a peanut butter fudge sundae with hot fudge. Real hot fudge."

"I think that can be arranged." Jackson kissed April's forehead again before putting her in the car.

"And Jackson?" she said, when he'd slid into the passenger side of the car.

"Yes April?" he asked, looking her straight on and tucking a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear.

"We want lots of kisses all night, both of us."

"OK." He put his hand over her belly, and leaned in to kiss her.

"And we don't wanna talk to grandma later. We just want to go home after dinner and cuddle with daddy."

"OK, April." He understood. For one more night, she wanted to pretend love was enough to keep their baby alive.

AN: The Bible passage is Isaiah something. Also, I like cheeseburgers and peanut butter a lot...you'll notice. But Sarah likes peanut butter too, it works!