April kept her cool right up until the moment she closed Jackson's door behind her and then she gave herself a moment to completely freak out, doing a manic sort-of 'happy dance' in the hallway – kind of like Laura Linney's character in Love Actually after she finally got her crush from the office to come home with her. Then she headed upstairs, grabbed her robe and went to take a shower.

Another half an hour or so later, she was back downstairs, puttering around the kitchen, getting the coffee started and deciding on an easy breakfast of cereal and fruit. She poured herself a bowl of Cheerios and sat down at the kitchen table, marveling at the complete 180 her life had done since the last time she sat at that table not even twenty-four hours earlier.

April was often the first one awake in Meredith's 'frat house' – it was a holdover from her childhood, from a) growing up on a farm, where it was just a fact that you got up early, and b) having three sisters and one bathroom and not wanting to get stuck without hot water.

Thankfully, Meredith's house had a gas water heater, so running out of hot water was rare, but getting up early was a habit she'd still held onto – at summer camp, at college, in the apartment she shared with Reed and now here too. She liked having these few minutes of quiet in the kitchen – gave her some time to reflect and have a moment of calm – rare in this crazy household. And did she ever need that reflection time today!

Her eyes went a little unfocused as she thought back to the previous night – how incredible it had been. She could admit now that she'd been a tiny bit terrified at the beginning, but Jackson had been so wonderful – so caring – and he'd made her feel more desirable than she'd ever felt in her life.

April sighed happily and then jumped as she registered a voice saying her name.

"April? April!" Meredith was walking across the kitchen, but looking at her with an expression that managed to be both concerned and annoyed at the same time.

"Oh! Sorry - good morning – the coffee should be ready," April said hurriedly, gesturing towards where the coffeepot sat.

Meredith nodded as she grabbed a mug. "You okay? I said your name like five times."

"I'm fine, really. Just thinking."

"Hmm," Meredith replied, but had no chance to say more before Mark breezed into the kitchen, fresh from his shower.

"Good morning, ladies," he said with his usual grin.

"Morning, Mark," Meredith replied. "Coffee?"

"Yes, please. You got any travel cups? I need to get to the hospital early today, catch up on some paperwork." He took the disposable coffee cup Meredith handed him, poured himself a cup and popped a lid on it. "You're an angel."

Meredith laughed and shook her head. "April made it, not me," she said, pointing in the other girl's direction and Mark turned to look at her.

"In that case, Kepner, you're an angel."

April laughed. "Thanks, Dr. Sloan."

He nodded and turned towards the door. "Tell Lexie I'll see her at work. I told her myself before I came downstairs, but I don't know if she was really awake or not to hear me."

Meredith and April both nodded and he was out the door. April went back to her Cheerios while Meredith poured herself a cup of coffee. A few minutes later, Jackson ambled into the kitchen, still in his pajamas, and went straight to the coffeemaker. At the table, April felt herself tense up just slightly – this was their first test. Could they be 'normal' in front of everyone else?

"Thank God you get up early," he said to April as he poured a mug and turned towards the table. She glanced at him but he just smiled innocently. "Did you want some?" Grinning at the look on her face, he elaborated, "Coffee? You don't have any."

"Oh! Um, yeah, thanks," April replied, feeling flustered. "I just hadn't gotten up to get any yet."

"You are really out of it this morning," Meredith commented.

"Just tired," April said lamely, feeling Jackson's eyes on her and knowing better than to look at him.

"You should be tired, you were up late enough," Lexie said as she entered the room and the conversation. "How long did you stay downstairs after I saw you?"

"I – what? It wasn't that late," April protested, hoping Lexie wouldn't press the issue – or mention anything about the question she'd asked her about Mark the previous evening.

Thankfully, Lexie shrugged. "Whatever. Where's Mark?"

"Left for the hospital already," April told her. "Few minutes ago."

"Nice of him to tell me," Lexie grumbled as she poured her cup of coffee.

Meredith laughed. "He did tell you, he just wasn't sure if you were awake enough to hear him."

"Oh," Lexie said, mollified, as she sat down at the table and Alex joined the group in the kitchen, mumbling a greeting as he got a coffee mug. Jackson leapt up from the table, Lexie a split second behind him as she realized where he was going.

"Dibs on the next shower," he yelled over his shoulder at her, already at the stairs, and Lexie stomped a foot and sulked back to her place at the table.

"Damnit," she muttered. "Why I am always the last to get to shower? No matter where I live? This sucks."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Go use the master bathroom, Lexie."

"Derek's in there," Lexie pointed out.

"No, I'm not," Derek said as he came into the kitchen. "Good morning, everyone," he added, looking bemused, as usual, by the collection of people living in the home for wayward doctors his wife seemed to be running.

"See?" Meredith said. "Go."

Just as dramatically as before, Lexie's mood shifted and she jumped back up from the table.

"Finally, a perk to being your sister!" she declared cheerfully as she headed for the stairs.

"Like having a place to live isn't a perk?" Meredith called after her and Derek shook his head.

"I'm going to warm up the car," he said to his wife.

"Right behind you," she replied, putting her mug in the sink and following him out the door.

"Bye!" she called behind her and April waved, taking a sip of her coffee and then realizing – it was just her and Alex left in the kitchen.

She glanced over at where he was standing near the island in the middle of the room and took a deep breath. Being with Jackson the night before had been a huge confidence boost and had convinced her more than ever that Alex had not been the right man for her, but she felt the need to get some closure.

"Alex?" she said, sounding tentative.

He glanced briefly in her direction and then looked away. "What?"

"I – " she faltered briefly, trying to gather her thoughts and he rolled his eyes.

"Look, if you're about to lecture me about bringing Laurel home last night, you can save your breath; I don't need to hear it."

April looked taken aback and shook her head. "What? No, it's not about that that, it's about – well, look – we never really talked about what happened between us that day in the on-call –"

"Do we really need to?" he interrupted sarcastically and she glared at him.

"No," she said impatiently. "Will you just let me finish talking?"

He shrugged and April forged on, "I just – I owe you an apology, I guess. The blame for what happened shouldn't have been put all on you - I was warned, I knew you weren't the right guy for me and I should've known better than to mess around with you. That's all and I'm sorry."

"Oh," Alex said in reply, looking a little caught off-guard. Then he sighed. "Thanks for that, but it wasn't just you. I had a crappy few days and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. So, whatever – I'm sorry too."

April nodded and Alex stared into his coffee cup for a minute before setting it in the sink.

"I'm out – you want a ride?" he asked and April shook her head.

"No, thanks, I'll wait for Jackson," she replied. "And Lexie," she added, hoping he wouldn't catch the fact that Lexie was a total afterthought for her.

Alex shrugged again and headed for the door. "See ya," he said as he walked out and April found herself alone again for a few minutes.

She was jolted back out of her daydreams when Jackson reappeared in the room. He grinned at her as she stood up to put her coffee mug and cereal bowl in the sink.

"We the only ones left?" he asked and April shook her head.

"No, Lexie's still –" she interrupted herself with a slight gasp as he came up behind her at the sink, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a kiss on her cheek – "upstairs."

"Damnit," he complained. "Can we ditch her?"

April laughed as she twisted her head around to look at him. "Only if you want to listen to her whine all day about how she got left at the house all by herself."

"Ooh, yeah, you have a point," Jackson agreed. "But we have a few minutes to kill until she gets down here, right?" he added as he lowered his head and kissed her.

"Jackson –" April protested half-heartedly even as she was turning around in his embrace and kissing him back. "This – is – not – a good – idea…" she mumbled against his lips.

"That's what makes it fun," he replied and she giggled before she heard Lexie's footsteps on the stairs and pushed him away from her.

Jackson made a face at her and grumbled, "You sure we have to keep this a secret?"

April just shot him a look in response. "Just for a little bit," she whispered as Lexie came into the kitchen. Maybe she was being irrational, but she just – needed a little time to absorb the whole thing. All she could do was pray that he would understand.

"You guys ready?" Lexie asked.

"Yep," Jackson replied. "I'll get the car started," he added, walking out the door.

April nodded as she walked away from the sink.

"Um, April?" Lexie said slowly.

"Yeah?"

Lexie gestured at the sink, where the faucet was still running. "You gonna turn the water off?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry," April replied as she rushed to take care of it and Lexie shook her head.

"Mere was right – you are out of it today. You feeling okay? You look flushed."

"I'm fine, really," April insisted and Lexie shrugged.

"If you say so. Whatever's going on with you, you better get it together before we get to the hospital or Bailey will take your head off."

April groaned. "Don't I know it. C'mon, let's go."

April took a deep breath as they headed out to the car. It was going to be a long day.