Stephanie might not be very likeable in this chapter - but it's understandable..
"Jackson did you move my straightener?" April was tearing through the bathroom cabinets like a mad woman. "Jackson?!" She yelled again.
Hearing his wife yelling something at him from the other room, but not being able to hear it, Avery decided to go check on her. He knew April had been nervous about the lunch with his mother today and the least he felt he could do was help her. ''What is it?'' He asked her as he walked into the bathroom.
"What did you do with my hair straightener dear?" April was trying to keep calm.
''Didn't you just leave it in one of the cabinets?'' Jackson asked her - having no idea where it might be.
"Yes, but yesterday when you took me out for a late dinner you insisted that I straighten my hair remember? "April stormed out of the bathroom and began rummaging through their walk in closet.
As he watched April storm away from him Avery went over the events from the night before in his head. He had watched her get ready and he had seen her put the hair straightener... ''Weren't you using that thing while I was eating crackers in the kitchen?'' He asked her - he was really trying to help but knew that if he said something wrong it might make her mad.
"I don't know Jackson! I really have no clue! I guess I'll just go to lunch with your mom looking like a frizzy haired freak!" She now sat on the closet floor with her head down in frustration.
Avery squatted down next to her, putting a hand on her back, ''even with frizzy hair you'll still be more beautiful than any other woman in the cafeteria,'' he told her, trying to comfort her.
"Babe, I appreciate the compliment. I just want everything to go perfect. I think I'm just going to head to work early. Maybe someone has a straightener." She stood up to leave be before Avery stopped her.
Hearing the tone of her voice, Avery pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the forehead, ''I'm sure it's around here somewhere, if we both start looking I'm sure we'll find it,'' he told her.
"Jackson stop. I know what you are trying to do and it's not going to work." She gave him a peck on the lips. "Besides, I have to go, I'm covering for Arizona today. I owe Callie a big favor." She winked at Jackson before standing back up.
Avery frowned as he watched her walk away to the front door. ''What favor?'' He asked himself confused.
Catherine looked at her daughter-in-law, unsure of what to say. They had been sitting in the cafeteria for about 10 minutes now and most of that had been filled with silences, neither one of them knowing the other that well. She cleared her throat, ''so how do you like working here?'' She asked.
"It was a little rough at first. Still is sometimes. A lot of people aren't very accepting of my faith. "April squirmed in her seat nervously.
Catherine gave her a smile, ''I guess it's not as common for doctors - or scientists in general - to be religious,'' she responded. She herself wasn't particularly religious either.
"I understand that. But my faith is really important to me and I wish some people could at least be tolerant if that." April took a bite of her fruit salad.
''If they don't know how to tolerate it, maybe they just don't understand it,'' Catherine told her. ''Just don't let that question your faith.''
"That's very sweet Ms. Avery thank you."
Catherine gave her a smile in response. ''So... I didn't get a chance to ask last night, but how did you and Jackson get to the decision to get married?'' She asked.
April now was beginning to turn red. "Haha. Um that's a bit of a funny story." April bit her lip. "He actually proposed to me after my wedding... "
Catherine looked up from her food with one eyebrow raised, ''excuse me?'' She asked, thinking she misheard the other woman.
April was now terrified. "Well, my fiancée Matthew and I were standing at the altar and right before I could object Jackson interrupted the wedding. He told me that he loved me and asked me if I loved him too. I know that it was the wrong way to go about it, but all my life I've been doing what others have wanted me to. The truth was I was madly in love with Jackson. This time I had to do what was right for me. So we ran off and eloped a few hours later." April took a deep breath and said a silent prayer.
Catherine's jaw was now dropped as she took in what April told her. ''That's quite the story,'' she said after a moment of hesitation. "I can't say that I'm too surprised though; Jackson always goes after what he wants.''
"And from now in I intend to go after what I want." April smiled confidently.
''That's good,'' Catherine smiled.
As Stephanie walked into the on-call room she saw April sitting at the table with her back to the door. She could hear the redhead talking to someone on the phone and rolled her eyes at what she heard her say. From what she could tell April was flirting with a boyfriend or something and Stephanie couldn't help but be pissed off; the girl had stolen her boyfriend and now she was hitting on some guy on the phone?
"Babe I'm telling you it was so awkward I had no idea what to say. You should have seen her face when I told her about the proposal.''
Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks, ''proposal?'' She quietly muttered to herself. Just weeks after leaving her ex at the altar she's already engaged to somebody else? Her jaw was dropped in disbelief.
''So far at least she seems accepting of our relationship, so that's good,'' Jackson responded on the other end of the line.
"And I'm grateful for that. I just wished she liked me and didn't think of me as the gold digger who married her son on a whim.''
'Ugh, not just another guy but a rich guy,' Stephanie thought as she leaned against the door post, the door was closed behind her. 'How does she get to be so lucky?' It took another few seconds for the rest of the words to sink in, 'wait... MARRIED?!' She thought in disbelief. Who was this guy?
''I'm sure she trusts my instincts better than that,'' Jackson joked.
"I know she does. I miss you Avery, I just want to come home. Today sucks."
''AVERY?!'' Stephanie yelled at April. ''You married Jackson?!''
Finally noticing the other person in the room, April turned around surprised. "Jackson I got to go!" April stood up and tried to look confident. "Stephanie! What are you doing in here?" She yelled back. She looked Stephanie directly in the eye. She wasn't going to back down; she loved Jackson and she would do anything to protect their private relationship. "Are you eavesdropping?!"
Stephanie completely disregarded everything April had responded. ''You married Jackson? It wasn't enough to humiliate me by having him leave me for you, but you decided to marry him as well?'' Stephanie asked - her voice was high because of how angry she was.
"We weren't prepared to tell anyone just yet. But yes, we did. Look Stephanie I'm sorry. I had no idea he was going to do that. We never meant to intentionally hurt you."
''Really? Cause you seem to be doing a pretty good job at it!'' Stephanie said. She had felt ashamed, humiliated and unbelievably angry at Jackson when he had confessed his love for April at her wedding, and that feeling had just come back - only a lot worse. To think that he would just go out and marry another woman... ''How can you just go out and steal another woman's man? Who do you think you are?''
"I didn't steal him. He asked me to marry him. And I happily accepted. I get that you're mad, but we love each other."
Stephanie scoffed, ''he and I loved each other, we talked about marriage and a future together as well - and look what happened to that. It'll just be a matter of time before he'll leave you for another woman,'' she said. ''It's just a matter of time; you and he don't even have anything in common.''
"That would never happen." April said less confidently.
''I wouldn't be so sure,'' Stephanie told her. ''And considering what you two did to me it, it's just what you deserve.'' She said before turning around and walking out the door.
April was about to say something but never got that chance, which she guessed was a good thing. She wasn't going to stoop to Stephanie's level.
As Catherine walked away from Richard's office she smiled - it was so nice to visit him at work even if those moments were brief. As she walked around the corner her smile faded when she saw April hurry out of the on-call room with red eyes as if she had been crying. Catherine hurried over to her and put an arm around the red head to slow her down, ''April, are you okay?'' She asked concerned.
"Um... " April started with a stuffy nose, "Not really but I'll be okay... I just have to finish my shift and-"she said before Catherine interrupted her.
''You'll do no such thing until you tell me what's wrong,'' Catherine told the younger woman, directing her back to the on-call room so they could talk privately.
April sat down on one of the beds. "Stephanie was eavesdropping on a conversation between Jackson and I and she said some pretty hurtful things." April tried to speak respectfully of her.
Catherine had met Stephanie a couple of times while Jackson was still with her and had always found her very respectful. ''She probably just feels hurt and rejected, often when people feel that way they say things they don't mean. She'll just need some time to get over what happened,'' she told April.
"I just hate that I'm the girl I said I would never be... How could I steal another woman's boyfriend?''
Catherine took a deep breath, ''April, you deserve to be happy. And every once in a while you have to be a little selfish to get there.'' She said. ''Aside from that, Avery loved you so much that he proclaimed his love for you at your wedding - considering that, I don't think his relationship with Stephanie would have lasted even if he didn't go after you. You didn't steal him; he came to you willingly.''
"Thank you Catherine. I know that you and I haven't gotten along but I really want to get to know you and I hope to be half the mother and mother in law you are one day.'' April leaned in for a hug not knowing how it would be received.
Catherine smiled at her as she put her arms around her, ''well thank you dear, that's very sweet of you,'' she said, appreciating the compliment. ''I would like to get to know you better as well.''
"How about I make you and Jackson dinner tonight?" April suggested.
''I'd love that.'' Catherine said.
''Great.''
Jackson let out a sigh as he made his way back to the entrance to the hospital; he had looked for April everywhere but couldn't find her - frustrating him beyond belief. When his mother had called him a couple of hours earlier - telling him how upset his wife had been - he had finally realized how frustrating it was for her to not have their relationship be known to other people. And apparently that had led her to question their relationship completely.
As he walked down the stairs to the main entry to the hospital he saw her standing at the reception desk, talking to Dr. Webber - just as well. Avery could feel the ring he had just purchased in his pocket and took a deep breath as he gathered all his courage. ''Excuse me?'' He said, rather loudly so everybody could hear him. As people looked at him he smiled, ''may I have everybody's attention for a second?'' He asked.
Not really getting a response he focused on April who was looking at him confused. ''These last couple of weeks I have kept a secret - a big secret - from a lot of people, because I wasn't ready to tell anyone. But now, I want everybody to know,'' he said, looking at April. ''A few weeks ago April Kepner stood in front of the altar to marry another guy, and that was what it took for me to finally tell her how much I love her... We got married that night,'' he added, seeing the shocked looks on the faces of the people in front of him.
''Afterwards we agreed to keep that a secret, at the very least for a little while, but I don't want to keep us a secret anymore. I want everybody to know how much I love you and how much I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. April, you're everything to me and I want the whole world to know that. I'd marry you everyday if you'd let me...'' he said, looking into her eyes. To him it felt like they were alone in the room - not like his friends, colleagues, mom and mom's boyfriend were there.
''When I asked you to marry me I didn't give you a ring because I didn't have one, but I have one now,'' he said as he walked down the last steps and over to her. He got down on one knee in front of her and took the ring out of his pocket - it was a gold band with a few small diamonds in it. He could afford more but he knew she wouldn't want anything extravagant - and unlike the tattooed ring, this one wouldn't fade in a couple of years. ''You're my world April, and I don't want you to ever forget that... So, will you accept this ring?''
April couldn't believe her eyes. For a minute she wondered what everyone would think, but the moment she looked into his eyes... She vowed that the only person whose opinion that mattered was her husband's. Now and forever. April nodded at him and as he stood up she once again jumped into his arms. "Of course I will. You big fat liar. You told me you felt sick today."
Jackson smiled at her as he held her close, ''you can't tell me that little lie wasn't worth it,'' he told her as he wished he'd never have to let her go.
"It was! God I love you so much." April couldn't stop crying. She tried to contain herself once again. "So does that mean we get a second honeymoon?" She asked jokingly, not thinking he was serious.
''I'll give you anything you want,'' Jackson told her as he pulled away and captured her lips in a kiss, ''if you want a second honeymoon than that's what you're going to get,'' he said as he leaned his forehead against hers.
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