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The Fall
Chapter 7
Jackson
Jackson finished sculpting a perfect ear cast to show the head of plastics his perfectly honed skill level. Jackson smirked confidently as he showed the woman his efforts and she smiled appreciatively, holding her clipboard.
"Great work. I expect no less from an Avery. Speak of, would there be any chance you could persuade your grandfather to lecture here?" she asked, a smarmy smile on her face. Jackson sighed, setting his wax mold and his instruments down on the counter.
He stood and said, "You know I don't think I can. Thank you for the opportunity to interview with you."
He grabbed his jacket and walked past the confused and aghast surgeon that had spent the morning wooing him. He looked at his watch as he walked out of the hospital and saw that he was going to be a little early for his flight back. Jackson breathed in the summer air of LA and walked towards his rental car.
He buckled up and called April.
"How did it go?" she asked as she answered.
"Not good," he grumbled as he pulled on the freeway.
"Oh no, why not?" she asked sympathetically.
"My name came up," he said. It was all he had to say by way of explanation.
"Oh...I am sorry. I know you hate that. It sucks," she said.
Jackson was silent and then said, "Well I am heading to the airport now. I will call you when you land."
"Okay, bye, love you Jackson," she said sweetly.
"You too," he said before clicking his phone off.
Jackson arrived at the airport and by the time it took to check the rental car back in and go through security he had just enough time for a drink at the airport bar before boarding his plane home. Jackson sat at the bar, rubbing his forehead as he nursed his scotch. What a waste of a trip.
"Dr. Avery?" someone said behind him.
Jackson turned, stunned someone knew him here in LA.
Oh shit...she worked at the hospital with him. And he had met her before.
"Dr. Stephanie Edwards. I'm an intern at Seattle Grace Mercy West," she reminded kindly as she perched on the stool next to him.
He nodded and said, "Right, I am sorry. I just got done with an interview and my mind is all over the place."
"I wondered why you were here," she said.
Jackson nodded and said, "Can I buy you a drink?"
She nodded and ordered herself something.
"So why are you here?" he asked, now realizing what an odd coincidence this actually was.
"I live here. Well, not anymore. I am from here I should say. I had the weekend off and it is my father's birthday so I decided to come home," she explained.
Jackson nodded as he sipped his scotch, "That was nice of you."
"It was nice to get out of Seattle, but it will be nice to get back," she said, sipping her drink.
Jackson realized that Stephanie was flirting with him, but he didn't think anything of it. He and April were public knowledge around the hospital.
They talked and laughed about random things going on in the hospital and Jackson could admit it was nice to have some starstruck intern admire him for his surgical skill. He loved talking about his work and oftentimes he didn't get to being and Avery.
The intercom called both of them to their plane and since it was a weekday, the traffic from LA to Seattle didn't seem so hectic. Stephanie asked the flight attendant to seat them together and luckily it seemed to work out.
April
April skipped up to Hunt excitedly and said, "I just got off the phone with Inova and they upped their offer!"
Hunt beamed proudly at her and said, "Congratulations Soldier!"
She laughed and clapped excitedly before looking at her watch and gasping, "Oh crap! I am supposed to leave and go pick up Jackson from the airport. Do you need me to stay?"
Hunt shook his head and as she walked away to leave he called out, "Kepner. Congratulations, really. You should be proud."
She smiled before turning and jogging towards the locker room. She couldn't wait to tell Jackson, though maybe she should wait since his interview hadn't gone so well.
April arrived just a few minutes late and parked in temporary parking when she spotted Jackson. She smiled, but it faded somewhat when she spotted him laughing with another woman. April looked closer and recognized Stephanie Edwards. What the hell was she doing here?
April got out of her car, not caring if they towed it at this point and walked over to them. They had been so absorbed in conversation that they didn't notice her pull up.
"Jackson, hey," April said awkwardly.
Jackson looked up and smiled as he stood and pecked her lips, "Hi sorry, Edwards and I ran into each other at LAX. Isn't that insane?"
"Yeah, weird coincidence," April said, smiling at Edwards.
"Ready to go?" Jackson asked, grabbing his bag.
April nodded and began to turn to the car when Jackson asked, "Steph, you need a ride?"
Stephanie looked up and her eyes darted between Jackson and April before she sheepishly admitted, "That would be great if you wouldn't mind. I was just going to grab a cab back to the hospital."
"That's where we are going, why waste the money," April said kindly, though she didn't like that Jackson just offered without talking to her.
Stephanie grabbed her suitcase and they drove back to the hospital.
As April parked and they all got out of the car, Stephanie thanked April for the ride and said, "I had fun Dr. Avery. Thanks for keeping me entertained."
April almost rolled her eyes at the overly flirty comment. She looked at Jackson who was smiling and nodded, "It was fun."
April bit her tongue as she watched Stephanie walk away. She shot Jackson a look, who looked at her quizzically before she walked away from him. He jogged to catch up with her and stopped her.
"Hey, what was that look for?" he asked.
"Dr. Avery, I had a really fun time. Thanks for keeping me entertained!" April said in an overly sexualized tone. Jackson chuckled and looked at April as if she was being cute, which only caused her to become more indignant.
"She did not sound like that!" he said as he saw her cheeks flush in anger.
"Uh huh," April said in annoyance.
"Are you jealous Kepner?" he asked in a teasing voice as he tried to wrap his arms around her.
"No, of an intern? Please," she scoffed.
Jackson smirked and despite her fighting him, pulled her to his chest and said, "It was a two hour flight where we talked about nothing besides surgery."
April finally gave in and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned back slightly so he could look at her face. She tried to hold in her smile, but after he gently grabbed her chin and kissed her softly she couldn't hold it back any longer. She had been jealous and he knew it.
He kissed her a few more times before he said, "You are actually pretty cute when you are jealous."
April rolled her eyes as she smiled and walked through the door with his arm wrapped around her. They walked through the trauma room doors and it shocked April the amount of chaos that could occur in just an hour.
"Kepner we need you now," Hunt called out.
She nodded and kissed Jackson's cheek before she threw a gown over her clothes and began working on a patient that had been in some kind of accident.
Jackson
Jackson sighed and walked towards the locker room, knowing he would be needed down in the ER sooner or later.
Jackson walked out of the locker room and ran into Stephanie who was busy tying her scrub cap.
"Came back at the perfect time, huh?" she asked, smiling up at him.
He nodded and smiled before he left walked past her towards the ER. He glanced back and caught her watching him as he walked away. He quickly glanced forward. Had he been flirty, because that was the vibe he had been getting from her just now and April had gotten jealous.
Jackson shook his head and told himself it had been two hours. It didn't mean anything. His pager hadn't gone off so he decided to check in on Sloan, who had been a less than perfect patient lately. Refusing treatments, harsh with his doctors and nursing staff.
He smiled as he walked in the room.
"Hey Avery, how was that interview," Sloan asked when he spotted him, clicking the TV off.
"Okay," he answered evasively.
"Really? Because she just called me and said you walked out on her. Do you know how hard it is to get you an interview there? It like never happens, but I made it happen! What the hell is wrong with you?" he barked at Jackson.
"She didn't care about me or my skill, she cared about my name," he explained in annoyance.
"You are calling to apologize," he said sternly and just for a moment Jackson saw a bit of his old fire.
"No, I won't," Jackson said, "I don't even want to move to LA."
"You will out of professional courtesy. I am putting my ass and my name on the line when I call and advocate for them to grant you an interview. You are making not only yourself look bad, but me as well. Fix it," he said.
Jackson was silent and said, "Fine, I'll call her."
Sloan nodded and Jackson said, "But you need to do me a favor and listen to Bailey and Yang. They need you to stop fighting them every step of the way. The other day I heard you made a nurse cry."
"Wasn't' the first time and won't be the last," Sloan said.
Jackson rolled his eyes and said, "You can't just give up. I am not the only one that needs you around here."
Sloan closed his eyes and rested his head against pillow which led Jackson to believe he didn't want to talk about it.
"I am not going to let you do this man," Jackson continued, before his pager went off.
Jackson sighed before silencing his pager and saying, "Think about what I said."
April
April groaned in exhaustion as she sat in front of her locker to change out of her scrubs. She rubbed her neck, which was sore from her five hours surgery she had just finished. She just wanted to go home to bed.
April felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders as they began to rub out the knots there. She sighed in pleasure as Jackson dropped a kiss on top of her head.
"Tired," he stated, already knowing the answer.
She nodded and looked up at him and said, "Why are you still here?"
"I just got out of surgery," Jackson explained as he released her shoulders and walked to his cubby to get dressed.
Jackson took off his scrub top and suddenly April was no longer tired. She bit her bottom lip as she tried to get her mind out of the gutter, but Jackson was suddenly in front of her.
"Whatcha thinkin' about Kepner?" he asked in an amused but sexy voice.
April smiled up at him and said, "Wouldn't you like to know."
Jackson chuckled and pulled her to her feet and kissed her passionately. She moaned against his lips as he threaded his hands in her hair and pulled her closer. April wrapped her arms around him, trembling against him as heat spread through her body at a rapid rate.
The door swung open and they released each other as a pregnant Meredith walked in.
"Oh you two!" she mock scolded. April blushed and turned back to her locker to change as Jackson finished changing too.
Jackson grabbed her jacket and helped her into it as he kissed her temple, whispering, "Let's go home."
She smiled and squeezed his hand as they walked out of the locker room.
So I am starting back up, getting some new ideas that I hope you like. Please be sure to drop me a review to let me know if you all are still liking it. I am currently writing a couple other stories so I invest my attention to stories that people really like. Thanks everybody and have a good weekend!
