A/N: Thanks for reviewing! :)

Disclaimer: Same as always.

"So what's going on?" Meredith asked curiously as she leaned back into the comfortable cushions of the sofa and accepted a cup of coffee from April.

Her friend had invited her over for the evening and they had talked about the hospital and work, about new friends and old friends, and they had also touched on the topic of Derek Shepherd. It was just like old times, they were open, honest, and completely comfortable with each other, but Meredith could tell that April had something on her mind that she hadn't worked up the courage to discuss yet.

April laughed softly as she looked down into her mug. "I'm that obvious, huh?"

"Just to me," Meredith answered with a smile. "So what is it?"

"Alex asked me out on a date," she revealed. She had invited Meredith over for this exact purpose but it still wasn't an easy conversation to have.

"Oh," Meredith whispered in shock.

She was happy with Derek. He made her feel…different…better than anyone else ever had. And she definitely didn't want Alex Karev back, but he was still a sore spot for her.

Upon observing the blonde's reaction, April instantly felt like the world's worst person. Meredith seemed nothing but happy since she had come to terms with the end of her relationship but it was impossible for her not to still care about her ex-fiancé. They had dated for years, it was unavoidable. April was unbelievably inconsiderate to even consider accepting Alex's offer. Meredith was too important to her, she shouldn't even be thinking about it.

After talking to a pastor a few nights ago, April had been feeling much better about herself. He had reminded her that she had God's forgiveness and that she wasn't a bad person. He had also reminded her that April loved her family, friends, and patients dearly and love covers a multitude of sins. She felt renewed and she was trying to treat herself better. She was desperately trying to forgive herself.

Silence lingered between them until Meredith spoke quietly, "It sucks, but you can't help who you fall in love with, April."

The red-head furrowed her brow thoughtfully. She wasn't sure how to respond to that. She wasn't sure if she was in love with Alex, and she didn't think that he was in love with her either.

"I just want to see what happens…where it could go."

Meredith nodded in understanding. Maybe Alex and April could be good for each other. She knew deep down that if Alex had truly loved her, and had been committed to her, then he wouldn't have set his sights on April in the first place. She just hoped that he didn't hurt April the way that he had hurt her. "I won't hold this against you; just try not to rub it in my face."

"Of course not!" April retorted quickly. "I would never do that to you." She reached out and gently took Meredith's hand. "You're my person."

Meredith smiled before she chirped, "Even though lately Jackson's been your person?"

"He has been really good to me since…ya know," she murmured awkwardly. "He's a great friend."

Meredith continued to smile as April explained all of the nice things that Jackson had done for her. A part of her hoped that April could move on from Alex and get together with Jackson. There was only one other person that could read April as easily as she could and that person was Jackson Avery. She had always thought that they would make a cute couple.

On Monday morning, April changed into her light grey scrubs before heading to the Chief Resident's office. Since Chief Grey always had a meeting for the department heads and other senior attendings on Monday mornings, she had a little time to kill before she had to report to Robbins. She had decided to use that free time to talk to Alex.

She knocked softly on the office door and was immediately given permission to enter. She felt awkward at first, she had done terrible things in this office, but Alex looked so happy to see her that that feeling quickly disappeared.

"Hey April," he smiled. He hopped out of his chair and quickly walked around his desk. "Good morning."

She slipped her hands into the pockets of her lab coat as she replied, "Good morning." She locked eyes with him and took a deep breath before she exhaled, "Okay."

"Okay?" He repeated in confusion.

"Okay, we can give this a try," she explained. "But let's do it quietly, I don't want to—"

The rest of her sentence was cut off because Alex had covered her mouth with his. At first she was extremely caught off guard, but she slowly returned his kiss. She slipped her arms around his shoulders while his hands tightly grasped her waist.

She didn't want their relationship to be all about this…they needed to talk about things…but she was certainly enjoying it.

He pushed her against his filing cabinet and she moaned into his mouth. She had almost forgotten how good he was at this.

They were interrupted by the door opening and Alex cursed under his breath as he pulled away from her. He needed to start locking that damn door. He turned to whoever was standing in the doorway and found a disgruntled Jackson Avery.

"Why am I on plastics?" Jackson questioned in frustration. He had been both surprised and annoyed when he had consulted the surgical schedule and realized that he wasn't on Hunt's service.

"The new attending requested you," Alex answered quickly. "I had nothing to do with it."

Jackson's gaze shifted to April but she was avoiding his eye line and nervously fiddling with the hem of her scrub top. "Right, whatever," he muttered before he left the room.

He guessed that April had taken the time to think and had decided that Alex was worth it. He disagreed completely, but he wasn't about to tell her that. That would be overstepping his bounds.

He headed to the nurses' station to grab Mark Sloan's charts and he could hear footsteps behind him, April was running to catch up with him and he was confused as to why she would do such a thing. Shouldn't she be making out with Karev?

"Jackson, wait!" She called.

When he reached the nurses' station, he spun around and plastered a smile on his face. "You don't have to explain anything to me, April. It isn't my business."

She frowned at the cold tone of his voice. He never spoke to her that way and she felt like she did have to explain herself to him. He knew more about her relationship with Alex than anybody else and she wanted to explain her reasoning and thought process to him.

Jackson stared at her as her lips slowly parted, but whatever she had been about to say was interrupted by a voice that was vaguely familiar to him. "Avery! I'm excited to have you on my service, I wanna see if you live up to your name."

The two residents turned their heads and watched a tall, lean, rather handsome, middle-age man in dark grey scrubs descend the staircase. April quickly realized that this was Dr. Montgomery Shepherd's mystery man, the father of her baby, while Jackson remembered him as the man who had carried Lexie back into the hospital after she had bolted.

"I actually don't have any interest in plastics," Jackson told him honestly. He didn't want to waste his time, or anybody else's, when he had already decided on his specialty. He was a trauma guy.

Mark Sloan arched an eyebrow as he came to a halt in front of him. "I should have known. Averys have always been surgical snobs." He turned his attention to April and grinned. "And who is this? Nobody told me it was 'bring a hot red-head to work' day."

Jackson scowled while April was unable to stop herself from blushing. "I'm Dr. April Kepner."

Mark extended his hand, reaching across Avery's body, and gently shook hers. "Mark Sloan. Are you interested in plastics?" He asked as he closely examined her small hand. "Nice hands."

"Umm, not sure," she replied as she forcefully pulled her hand out of his grasp.

"Well, why don't you get me a cup of coffee and we can talk about it," he proposed with a charming smile.

April pursed her lips in displeasure before she responded. "I'm a fifth year resident, I don't do intern's work, Dr. Sloan."

She spun on her heel and walked away and Jackson couldn't help but grin in satisfaction. He turned back to the plastic surgeon and was startled to see that he looked impressed as well. "Oh, I like her," Mark told the younger man.

At the end of a rather, mundane plastics filled day, Jackson stopped by Lexie's room.

"I heard that you're getting out," he spoke from the doorway.

Lexie glanced up from the bag that she was packing and nodded. "Yeah, I'm being released, but Dr. Heartless gave me a strict schedule of when I have to come back for checkups."

Jackson laughed at her nickname for Cristina as he stepped further into the room. "So what's your plan?" He asked in concern. He was worried that she was going to fall back into her old lifestyle. He knew that she didn't have much of a support system. She had told him about her dead father and the sister that didn't even know that she existed. She had no one…no one but him.

Lexie reached towards the bedside table and picked up the books about living with addiction and the stack of college brochures and rehab program pamphlets. She knew that he had left them for her, no one else cared enough. "Real subtle," she jested. "The pharmacy tech program at Seattle Central sounds promising." Jackson just stared at her in disbelief and disgust and she laughed loudly. "That was a joke. Lighten up."

He awkwardly scratched his head as he chuckled, "Sorry. It's been a long, shitty day." He could see the curiosity written across her face but he didn't want to talk about April and Alex, he wasn't ready yet. "Seriously though, do you have a plan?"

She exhaled heavily before she answered him honestly. "Not really. I can't afford to do much right now. I might look into a twelve step program."

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" He inquired softly.

She shook her head. Prior to her hospital visit, she had been crashing with a friend who was even more strung-out than she had been. She couldn't go back there, and she didn't have enough money for a hotel room. "But don't worry about me."

"Well I'm not going to leave you on the street," he argued. He and Charles didn't really have the space, they were slobs, and they went through food obscenely quickly. But he had another idea. He knew a place that was stable, clean, and hospitable. "I have somewhere where you can stay. Someone owes me a favour."

"I don't know about this, Jackson," April whispered as she uneasily toed her carpet and crossed her arms over her chest.

OD girl, or Lexie, as Jackson called her, was currently cleaning up in her bathroom and April couldn't stop staring at the small duffel bag on her couch. Everything that this girl owned could fit in one bag. Lexie was roughly the same age as her and yet their lives were so different. She felt bad for her, and she loved to help people in need, but April wasn't sure if this was the best idea. Her past roommates hadn't exactly enjoyed living with her and if she was honest, she found the girl with dreadlocks, piercings, and tattoos a tad intimidating. And she was worried about Jackson. Sometimes he had a tendency to get too emotionally involved.

"She doesn't have anywhere to go and she wants to turn her life around. She needs to make a clean break. She needs some support. Please do this for me, April," he begged.

She glanced up at him and was instantly mesmerized by his beautiful, pleading eyes. "Fine," she sighed after a moment.

She knew that a big reason that she was agreeing to do this was because Jackson was talking to her. He had seemed so distant earlier. She was glad that their friendship hadn't changed because he had walked in on her and Alex kissing.

"Thank you," he smiled before he pulled her into a hug. "If anything happens let me know and I'll find her somewhere else to crash." He kissed her on the top of the head before he stepped backwards. "Now I am forever in your debt."

She laughed softly as she gently smacked his chest. "I'm just glad that you're not mad at me."

"Of course not," he responded quickly. And mad wouldn't be the correct word anyway. He was disappointed. He was frustrated. He was jealous. "Of course I'm not mad at you," he reiterated. "If he's really what you want then that's great."

"But?" She grinned. "I can tell there's a but coming."

He wasn't sure what to say to her, and thankfully, he didn't have to say anything. Lexie stepped into April's living room and interrupted their conversation.

"Thanks for the clean clothes," she told April politely.

"No problem," April smiled.

Lexie pulled on the t-shirt she was wearing as she said, "It's a little big but that's fine. Your boobs are way bigger than mine."

April flushed and ran a hand through her hair. "Are you hungry?" She asked to redirect the conversation. She didn't even wait for an answer. "You probably are, hospital food sucks. I'm going to make you a sandwich." She finished ranting and left the living room for the kitchen.

Lexie waited until the red-head was out of earshot before she turned to Jackson with a teasing grin. "A little crazy, but I can see the appeal."

Jackson rolled his eye and ignored her. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out one of his professional business cards. He had previously scribbled his home address and cell phone number on it for her. "Here, take this, and contact me if you need anything, and please be a good houseguest, you were a terrible patient."

She glowered at him as she snatched the card from his hand. "I'll be on my best behaviour for your girlfriend."

Jackson placed his hand over her mouth and nervously looked into the kitchen. April was busy gathering things from the refrigerator and she clearly hadn't heard anything. "Don't say stuff like that. She's with another guy."

Lexie stepped away from him and groaned. Right, she knew all about the web of drama that he was caught up in. Jackson and his roommate were best friends who both liked April, who had feelings for a perky guy with glasses, who had cheated on his fiancé with her, and Jackson also had his weird thing with Dr. Heartless. And now, apparently, she was dating the perky guy with glasses. "Okay, I won't, but you seriously have to man up."

"It's not about whether or not I can man up," he defended himself. "I'm not the kinda guy that goes after a girl that's in love with someone else, especially if it's a girl I really care about."

"How do you know she's in love with him?" Lexie pushed.

"Because I know her," he answered with a sad smile.

A/N: Please leave a review!

For you AK2 fans, I hope you enjoyed that. Japril people, hang in there.