Blood
"Kepner, can you explain why we seem to be missing quantities of blood from the hospital supply?" Bailey inquired.
"Uh, no Chief. Why ask me?"
"Because the discrepancies between what we're supposed to have in supply and what we do, exactly match several orders with your signature on them."
"Really? Can I see the orders?" April was mystified. Most trauma surgery orders went through Owen Hunt, head of the department. April rarely required blood delivered directly to the ER.
Bailey picked up some papers from her desk and offered them to the trauma surgeon. "Here, take a look. That is your signature, isn't it?"
April looked closely at the signatures on the forms. They clearly were meant to look like hers but, while close, weren't quite perfect. What to do? Best to keep Bailey in the dark, for now at least.
"Yes, Chief, now that I see the orders, I remember. We had a hemophiliac come in three times recently. It was crazy."
"Well, why wasn't the blood accounted for in the ER then? The records say it was ordered but there are no corresponding records that indicate it was used."
"My mistake, Chief, I wanted the interns to practice record keeping but they must have screwed it up."
"Well, get it unscrewed. I have enough things to worry about without having to track down missing units of blood."
"On it, Chief," April answered. She quickly made her way out of Bailey's office. First stop would be the blood bank. She needed to know who was signing her name on blood orders. Once she knew that, she might gain some insight as to why they were doing it too.
"You wouldn't happen to remember who brought these orders up from the ER do you?"
"Doctor Kepner, we might fill orders for a hundred units of blood every day. How am I supposed to keep track of which peon you send up here from your department?" The tech manning the desk at the blood bank clearly thought April was off her rocker with that kind of question.
"I understand. It's just that it's likely that the same person brought down all four orders." April prompted. She really needed a lead to follow.
"They could have picked up forty orders, still wouldn't notice 'em. Unless they got an extra nose growing out of their forehead, you're all the same in those white coats."
April sighed in frustration. How in the world was she going to figure this out?
Just then, though, another figure appeared behind the counter.
"Hey Tim, how's it going?"
"Much better now that I see you here, Janet. Means my day is just about over and I can go catch the Hawks on Monday Night Football."
"Whatcha got here?"
"This Doctor Kepner is trying to find out which of her interns has been f'ing up her ER blood requests."
"Kepner? That name is familiar."
April's eyes came up immediately.
"Oh, yeah, now I remember. Four nights in a row we get orders from the ER. Usually, we might send blood to the ER once or twice in a week. So that was unusual. And the guy who picked it up! Oh my God, he is something else. Those eyes..." Janet had clearly been impressed by whoever it was that April was looking for.
"Do you remember his name?" April asked.
"Of course. When a guy looks like that, you notice. That's how I recognized your name. I noticed he was always picking up for you. Working nights, I don't see your name too often, so that was different too. But this guy is so beautiful, I'd be lying if I said I'd have remembered if not for him." Janet answered wistfully.
"His name?" April repeated, growing somewhat impatient.
"Oh yeah, Angel, or Amory, no…, Avery, that's it, Avery," Janet replied.
"Avery what?" Demanded April.
"No, that's his family name. Jackson is his first name. Jackson Avery." Corrected Janet.
Jackson Avery? April recognized the name even though she had never met the man. The Avery's were a famous medical family and she had heard that a Doctor Avery had just joined the Grey Sloan staff as an ENT surgeon. Now, it was apparently this Doctor Avery, Jackson Avery, that was forging her name on blood requisitions. But for what reason? And why use her name? They had never met and she was surprised that Jackson, she hated last names as first names, Avery would know who she was, much less what her signature looked like.
Plus, she always worked days while apparently this Doctor Avery only worked nights, which in itself struck her as weird. Why would an ENT work nights? This was all very bizarre.
Thanking the blood bank techs, April made her way back toward the ER, thinking about what she should do next.
He was carrying two units of O-NEG when he found his path blocked by a pretty redhead in blue scrubs.
"Excuse me." He said, trying to manoeuvre around the woman. But she moved along with him, continuing to impede his progress.
"Where are you headed with that blood?" She asked.
"Who are you, the plasma police?" He replied, flashing her a dazzling smile that no female could resist.
"Plasma police? Now that's funny." Now that she was seeing him in person, April had to agree with blood tech Janet; Jackson Avery was gorgeous. Those eyes of his. They are otherworldly beautiful, April thought. "Doctor Avery, I'm afraid I need an answer. What are you going to do with that blood?"
Jackson looked at her carefully, wondering who she was, why she apparently knew who he was, and why she appeared immune to his charms, for the moment at least.
"I'm sorry, you appear to have the advantage, Miss...?"
"How about you answer my question and then I'll answer yours?" April replied.
"Okay, if you must know, I'm taking these down to the ER. We have word of a major MVC and want to be ready."
"So, you're a trauma surgeon? Funny, thought you were an ENT."
"Just helping out down there tonight," Jackson answered coolly. He needed to be careful. Whoever this was, she knew a lot more about him than he did about her.
"Who's in charge down there tonight?" April asked.
Uh-oh, thought Jackson. "I think her name is Kepner. Sorry, I just started here a couple of weeks ago. Still learning the players."
"Yeah, that's kinda obvious. Otherwise you'd know that Kepner works days, mostly, and in fact wrapped up her day shift a few hours ago."
"Well, that is embarrassing. Here I've been calling someone the wrong name all night." Jackson replied, again focusing his charm on the petite woman in front of him.
But April wasn't having any of that. "All week, actually, according to the blood requisitions you've been bringing down. But you're not the only one with a problem identifying Doctor Kepner. Someone seems to be having trouble remembering their own name when signing for blood so they've been signing Kepner instead."
"Yes, that is strange." Jackson agreed warily. This woman was obviously aware of what was going on. Now he was curious to see what she knew and, more importantly, what she was going to do about it. "So, I held up my part and told you why I have the blood. Now, why don't you hold up yours and tell me who I have the pleasure of speaking with?"
"Did you, though, tell me why you have the blood? Or did you give me some made up cover story because you don't want to tell me the real reason you forged Kepner's signature to steal blood from the blood bank?"
Jackson dropped all pretense of charming friendliness. "Look, lady, this is really none of your business. So, unless you want to tell me who you are and why you think you can accuse me of this nonsense, I'd suggest you step aside and let me be on my way. You really don't want any part of this. Trust me."
April looked up at him, a hint of a cold smile playing on her lips. Jackson didn't like that. Most women, alone with a man in a deserted corridor of the hospital at night, would have been nervous, if not outright afraid. This tiny woman though betrayed no fear whatsoever. Quite the opposite in fact. She almost seemed eager for something to happen. Who the hell is this? Whoever she is, he was sure her attitude would be entirely different if she knew what she was really up against here. Good thing for her he was willing to go to great lengths to keep her from knowing.
April, meanwhile, was thinking somewhat along the same lines, that Jackson Avery was clueless as to how determined she was to get to the bottom of this blood thing. But while he may have no inkling of who he was dealing with, she had her suspicions about him. She could put two and two together and see him, with his perfect features and the power that radiated from him, only served to confirm her theories. But this little escapade was still odd enough for her to be intrigued. Her curiosity was piqued. Why go to this much trouble to steal a few units of blood from a hospital?
"Trust you?" April laughed. "Crazy thing for a thief to say to the person who caught him. And I'm afraid you made it my business when you decided to forge my name to the blood requisitions."
Jackson started. "Your name? Aww, crap. You're April Kepner. Fuck."
"Now you've got it, genius. Whatever gave you the idea that using my name for your little scheme was a good idea?"
"I figured no one would question night-time requisitions from the head of Trauma," explained Jackson, accepting that maintaining any further pretense was now out of the question.
"Except I'm not the head of Trauma, dumbass. Couldn't trouble yourself to look that up in the staff directory?"
"But during my orientation, they said you run the ER. That's always the head of Trauma."
"Not here, not always," replied April.
"Fuck!" Jackson repeated. He had made a lazy assumption that had tripped him up. He was getting careless in his old age.
"So, it's clear we can agree on the fact that you've been stealing blood from the hospital. What's not clear is why you would want to?" persisted April.
Jackson looked down at her. How was he going to get out of this? He really had just a small handful of choices; win her assistance, silence her, or disappear. Winning her assistance seemed unlikely. She'd never believe the truth and seemed able to see through deceptions. Silencing her would introduce even more complications and besides, it was an undesirable habit he was trying to break. And something about this particular woman... He couldn't quite put his finger on it but he recognized an attraction. He was drawn to her in a way he'd never felt before. He recognized the seeds of a hunger for her that was as strong as, and totally different than, any hunger he had for any woman before her.
Disappearing again was really the only choice left to him, though he was incredibly wary of it. And it would mean abandoning the efforts he had invested in establishing himself here. Ah well, such was his life.
"Look, Doctor Kepner, I'm afraid my reasons will have to remain a mystery. You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway. You'll just have to be satisfied with my word that this is the last time you'll see or hear about me. I'll just walk away and disappear and you can be happy that you've solved the case of the missing blood and made the Grey Sloan blood supply safe for democracy again."
He made as if to walk around her but she again moved to block his path.
"I'm afraid that isn't good enough, Doctor Avery. You see, I sort of have a passion for resolving these kinds of incidents and leaving this with all these loose ends untied just won't, what's the word you used, satisfy me. You know how important it is to satisfy your passions, don't you?"
"What kinds of incidents might you be referring to, Doctor Kepner?" Jackson asked, his expression narrowing in suspicion. This woman talking about satisfying her passions was oddly arousing to him.
"The kind involving taking blood that doesn't belong to you, Doctor Avery," April answered.
Jackson chuckled mirthlessly. This was a strange and unwelcome turn. Did she really believe...?
"Doctor Kepner, it almost sounds like you believe in vampires?" he said in a mocking tone.
April smiled. "Really? I didn't say anything about vampires. Interesting that you brought them up though. I'll bet you could even suggest a few ways I could test to see if someone was a vampire. Stuff like Holy Water, a Crucifix, making him wait till morning and exposing him to sunlight, or even just opening up one of those blood bags and seeing if he turns vamp."
"Uh huh," he answered, his striking blue eyes staring hard at the young woman. What had he stumbled into here? Suddenly other options were back on the table, by necessity. "Let's just, for the sake of argument, say that vampires are real. Would it be wise for a young woman such as yourself to confront someone she might suspect of being one, alone, at night, in a deserted corner of a hospital?"
"Interesting question, Doctor Avery, particularly in light of the fact that it was I who actually chose this deserted corner of the hospital for the confrontation."
Again, Jackson registered the fact that instead of the fear his question had been expected to inspire, April gave every indication that she felt none. And her point about choosing the time and place was both true and unnerving. But she couldn't possibly imagine how badly she had misjudged her danger, could she? Who was this April Kepner?
While Jackson believed himself incapable of fear, he recognized he was still susceptible to doubt. And right now, he acknowledged, he was consumed with it. He had played his hand or tried to, and she had blocked his escape. That left him to either reconsider his other options or try to force his way past her. Yet, now, he too was curious. How did April Kepner intend for this to proceed? Although he doubted he would approve of her plan, it didn't blunt his curiosity about it, and her.
"Okay, Doctor Kepner, may I call you April? Your move. For the record, I tried to resolve this the painless way. Hope you have something similar in mind."
"Well, Jackson, since we're now on a first name basis, with your cooperation, I'm happy to provide a relatively painless end to this adventure."
Jackson didn't need to be a mind reader to understand what that meant. This tiny little trauma surgeon was brimming with confidence that she could take down a vampire. She must be delusional. He wouldn't have given her a chance to kill even a novice idiot vamp, much less one like himself. Too bad, it's always the hot ones who are the craziest.
April continued, "But before we proceed to the inevitable conclusion of our little tête-à-tête, I would appreciate you telling me why. It really makes no sense. Why steal blood from a hard target like a hospital blood bank, where you work and know there are tracking records for everything when there are so many soft targets walking around?"
Jackson sighed. "As I mentioned earlier, if I told you, you wouldn't believe it, so what's the point?"
"I think we've already established the vampire thing so doesn't that take care of the disbelief problem?" responded April.
"Only partly." Jackson considered. What did he have to lose really? "So if I were willing to concede the vampire thing, as you put it, you would still need an open mind about certain...uh... aspects of vampire life to believe my story."
"Are you saying I'm close-minded about vampires?"
"I don't know you well enough to say that for certain but your remarks about certain inevitable conclusions certainly don't point to any open-mindedness on your part."
"Whaaattt? You're accusing me of being a bigot?" April replied with ripe indignation.
"If the prejudice fits..."
"Oh, it is so on. And that painless thing from earlier? That's done." April fumed.
"Ah, the voice of tolerance." Jackson sarcastically uttered.
"Just get on with the story while I still care," April growled.
Jackson smiled in spite of the situation. This girl was pretty cute when she was mad.
"Okay, so the common misconception is that all vampires are bad and just want to feed on people and turn them into more vampires and yadda yadda yadda."
April couldn't help herself. "Misconception?" she asked, doubtfully.
Jackson shot her a look that made her roll her eyes but she withheld further comment.
"Some vampires, however, just want to live in peace, and do everything they can to avoid causing trouble or harming anyone."
April scoffed.
Now Jackson was truly irritated. "Just what makes you such an authority on vampires anyway? Don't think watching The Vampire Diaries gives you any real insight into vampires."
This hit a nerve with April. She was so sick of all those shows and their unrealistic portrayal of vampires and those who hunt them. It was almost as bad as the doctor shows.
"For your information, I don't watch The Vampire Diaries. My information comes directly from personal experience and what my Watcher has taught me," she said, before realizing that she had just given away her edge.
Jackson fixed his stare on her. "Your Watcher?" Unholy Crap! "You're a Slayer."
"THE Slayer." April corrected, embarrassed that she had revealed that. But no matter, she'd never met a vampire she couldn't dust.
"Well, I know there's only supposed to be one but I heard ..."
"There's only one. That's the rule. Now, is there a point to your story because my staking finger is getting a little itchy."
"Yeah, I don't know what that means but let me finish. So besides the vampires that just want to live in peace, there is one vampire who has what no other vampire has, a soul. And that vampire is me."
"So I heard there is actually another vampire with a soul..."
"Unsubstantiated rumor. I'm the only vampire confirmed to have a soul." Jackson protested vehemently.
"Just sayin..."
Jackson dismissed her interruption and continued, "Anyway, because I am the one vampire with a soul, I have made it my mission to help those other vampires who just want to quit feeding on people and live in peace. That's why I came here. I bought a big house, with heavy drapes, high-speed Internet, and a deluxe cable package. I take in vampires who want to come in out of the darkness and renounce evil."
"Come in out of the darkness?" April repeated, dubiously.
"Figuratively, of course. We still don't do sunlight very well. Anyway, my point is I've been using the blood from the blood bank to wean some of my clients off of human blood and onto the blood of other animals, like cows for instance. It takes a little time but eventually I can get them off humans altogether."
"Really? You expect me to believe that?"
"Why would I lie about that? Especially with all the hormones, they give cows these days. You have to be careful."
"No, not the part about the cows, the part about how you are just helping vampires go straight."
"Again, why would I lie about that?"
"Uh, to avoid me putting a stake through your heart and turning you into smog."
"You're so cute. Listen, Slayer or no Slayer, you don't want any part of this bad boy. I didn't just fall out of a coffin like these other bozos you've been going around dusting. I've been around for a long long time and it takes more than a cool title to scare me. Besides, what a waste it would be for us to kill each other."
"How so?"
"Well, it seems like we both want the same thing, right? Instead of fighting, maybe we should think about working together?"
"You want me, the Vampire Slayer, to partner with you, the incompetent vampire thief?"
"I'm not usually that incompetent," Jackson replied. "But maybe it was the Powers that intervened so that we would meet."
"You mean God wanted us together?"
"Potāto potăto" Jackson replied. "My point is that maybe we were meant to meet. Maybe we are meant to be. Gotta admit it's an intriguing idea."
"Yeah, I guess," April admitted, somewhat begrudgingly, the idea had merit. "So, we are going to be a team?"
"I think we should try it," he answered.
She looked up at his face. "You want this? You really want this?"
Jackson nodded. "Me and you," he replied.
"Me and you," April answered. Has a nice ring to it, she acknowledged.
"And who knows, the two of us might even become a thing." Jackson tendered with a smile.
"Whoa! We're working together for like two seconds and already you're starting with the sexual harassment? Do you live under a rock? That shit is over."
'Okay, okay, calm down." Jackson raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean anything by it. We can keep it strictly professional if that's what you want. Geez, you're touchy."
"Professional. At all times." April affirmed.
"As you wish," Jackson answered. Too bad, he thought, it's not like being with her would be the end of the world.
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