A/N: This is a continuation of the April chapter 5, since it is a couple weeks behind Jackson's time line I decided to do another April chapter. Please, please review this story. I enjoy hearing your guys' point of view! –R.


April had been buzzing around the hospital all day since lunch, trying to keep her mind occupied before her date. She was both excited and nervous for it. It was only a casual dinner at a casual restaurant, she had made a point to text Bright to ask what to wear and he told her the jeans she had on earlier were perfect. Her heart melted over the fact that he had remembered such a small detail about her.

The E.R. wasn't too busy, seeing as it was a Friday afternoon and April had assumed, like Seattle, the big cases didn't start until the evening when everyone started to get a bit of alcohol in their systems and tensions started to flare or common sense was thrown out the window. She went down to the E.R. to look for something to occupy her hands other than paperwork to start her research, and to her surprise there was one surgical case down there. She couldn't have been more elated, until she saw who the patient was. A young girl, with a gunshot wound to the abdomen was being wheeled into the emergency room.

"Dr. Kepner," a nurse stated, "Are you going to run point on this one?"

April looked at the resident who clearly was already on the case and gave her a sympathetic look before saying, "Yes I am. What do we have?"

"Samira Lewis, age 6, shot in a drive by while she was jump roping in her front yard," the nurse replied as the resident went to leave.

"Dr. Brown," April said, "You can stay, I'm going to need an extra hand with this," she encouraged. She liked Liam, he had a bit of spunk to his personality, plus he was on her research team so she didn't want him to think she was a total shark who just comes into the E.R. and steals patients because she now has the ability to pull the ultimate rank, Head of Trauma. Man, did that title feel good? And boy was it earned.

"Of course Dr. Kepner, I'll stay," the young gentleman replied. He had told April that he grew up in Chicago in a pretty rough neighborhood. She had thought it was important to get to know her team, and he was certainly the one with the most tragic backstory. His mother was a single mother, unfortunately his father had died during the Gulf War when he was only four years old; hence why he wanted to work on a Veteran's project. They didn't have a lot of money, so he worked his way through school on a basketball scholarship and then worked nights at a local Chili's all through medical school. He was a fighter, exactly like a Kepner.

"I can't believe someone would do this to this little girl," April exclaimed.

"It happens all the time," Liam sighed.

The little girl was quiet on the table, she was still conscious but wasn't screaming. She was definitely scared, but due to the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins she was unable to feel the full extent of her injuries, and for that April was grateful. She couldn't help but imagine if Harriet were in this situation. This little girl wasn't involved in gangs, she wasn't at a shooting range, and hell she wasn't even playing with a gun in her parents' house that accidentally fired. This little girl was simply playing in her front yard, something most kids do, and some asshole shot her, for no good reason at all.

"Samira," April bent down to the little girl's face, so she could talk to her more one on one, "We got this, we're going to make you all better." Before looking up from the little girl April asked the nurse, "Who brought her in?"

She simply shook her head no and the nurse responded for her, "The babysitter brought her in, the parents have been called, but they're not here yet."

"Okay," April replied, "Well let's just get started, Dr. Brown what do we do first?"

"ABCDEs," he replied, "First we need to check her airway, breathing, and circulation."

"Very good." The went to work, checking each of those boxes, everything was in working order except for the fact that there was a bullet lodged in Samira's abdomen. The doctors then worked together to evaluate 'D' disability, or her level of consciousness and lastly, 'E' exposure or the location of the wound. Everything was running smoothly and they definitely felt like they had a good handle on the situation and baring any complications would be able to save Samira.

"Now what, Dr. Brown?" April asked.

"Now we need to do a complete head-t-o-toe physical examination and inspect her anatomic landmarks. So, we'll start my palpitating the abdomen to check for tympany, dullness to percussion, bowel sounds, and or distention; and a digital rectal and genitourinary evaluation."

"Good, what are our immediate goals with these tests?" To check for hypotension, tachycardia, and low or high respiratory rate," he replied confidently. Liam was definitely a forced to be reckoned with, after completing his undergrad at Brown in three years and then going on to medical school at Harvard Med he certainly had a good head on his shoulders.


The doctors were continuing their evaluation and diagnosis of Samira when they heard a shrieking scream come from the E.R.

"My daughter, where's my daughter," a woman cried, clearly she was Samira's mother.

"Ma'am," a nurse tried to console her, "The doctors are working on her now. They'll be out as soon as they can to give you updates on her condition."

"Her condition? What are you talking about? My daughter was shot, what kind of condition could she be in?"

April's heart broke for the mother. On her table wasn't just a little girl, it was a little girl, her mother and father. Because if April failed to save her life, she knew all to well that her mother would die a bit too.

"Alright," she said getting her mind off of Samuel, "I need an abdominal radiography in the anterior-posterior and lateral view and then let's order an abdominal CT scan."

"On it," the nurse stated.

"She's gonna make it, right?" Liam asked, suddenly his tough doctor exterior had faded and he showed true concern for the little girl on the table.

"We're going to do everything we can," April, replied trying to maintain the faith.

While Liam performed the abdominal radiography, April left the room to go and speak with Samira's mother. It wasn't hard to spot her, she was the one impatiently tapping her finger on the armrest of the chair and bouncing her feet with anticipation. Her face looked wet with the tears she had so obviously been crying and her mascara was all over her cheeks. April didn't judge the mother at all, because she knew if Harriet had even received a cut she'd be a ball of emotions.

"Mrs. Lewis?" April approached the woman, who immediately bounced out of her seat.

"Are you the doctor on my daughter's case? What's going on, no one's telling me anything?"

"Yes I am. Mrs. Lewis, your daughter was shot in the abdomen, right now she's stable but we're doing some tests on her. She's awake, but very groggy since we've given her morphine for the pain. She's most likely going to need surgery."

"Oh my God," the woman gasped, "How did this happen?" The babysitter, who had brought Samira in was sitting next to Mrs. Lewis and could barely look at her. April could see that the young girl, who couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen felt completely responsible for the incident.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Lewis," the teenager cried, "I didn't mean, I mean she always plays in the front yard and I went inside to grab us some water. I," she croaked on the last sentence.

"Marissa," Mrs. Lewis cooed, "I don't blame you at all," the worried mother replied, "It wasn't your fault," she then took the sobbing teenager into her arms and held her for a few seconds while April stood there and watched. This mother had nothing but love in her heart, and April admired her for it.

"Can I see her?" Mrs. Lewis asked.

April thought for a second before replying, "Yes, we're bringing her up to CT in a few minutes so I'll let you come in." It was unconventional to let a patient's family into the trauma room, but Samira was stable and April had a terrible gut feeling that if she didn't let her mother sees her that she'd never be able to say goodbye to her daughter.

As April let her into the room, Mrs. Lewis immediately dropped her purse and her hands covered her mouth, "Baby girl," she cried before practically running to her daughter's side. She grabbed her hand and said, "It's alright baby, mama's right here and daddy's on his way. You're in good hands and Doctor Kepner is going to make sure that you make it through with flying colors."

"Dr. Kepner?" Dr. Brown asked, eyeing her awkwardly, "There isn't much time."

"There's always time for a mother to talk to her child, this could be the last time. Beside manner, 101," she replied.

"I love you," April heard Mrs. Lewis say before placing a kiss on her daughter's hand.

"We have to take her to CT now," April instructed, "I'm sorry, but it's time."

Reluctantly, Mrs. Lewis left her daughter's trauma room and walked like a ghost back to the waiting room where she waited to see the fate of her daughter.


Unfortunately Samira's abdominal CT results came back and she had some clear injuries to her liver. The team had then rushed her to surgery, prepping her as quickly as they could. They laid her body out in a supine position on the operating table, making sure to drape her entire chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Additionally the upper thighs are prepped and draped. The O.R. was like an assembly line; nurses were setting up fluids and blood products, which were being administered via warm lines. Warming devices were placed on Samira's upper and lower extremities. The anesthesiologist was getting his stuff in order, and within seconds Samira was under.

The prepping of a patient was like a symphonic song, and April loved every minute of it. From the rush of knowing that you needed to get to the O.R. in minutes. The feeling that when you're in the scrub room, scrubbing your hands all the way up to your elbow that in a few moments you're going to be inside of someone. For a few hours you're going to play God, and do everything in your power to save someone's life. It's a high that no drug can give you and trauma was the field of surgery that made you feels it more often than others. No surgery in trauma was routine, no one makes an appointment to have a traumatic event happen to them, so everything was think on your feet, be on your 'A-game' because one wrong decision could cost someone their life.

"I'm making the mid-line incision," April informed the room. The first step of the trauma laparotomy is to control bleeding with 4-quadrant packing, using laparotomy pads.

"Lap pads," April asked the nurse, kindly, who then handed her a few. She stuffed them into Samira's abdomen, carefully.

"Dr. Brown, can you retract the abdominal wall for me?" He did as he was told, and then the falciform ligament is taken down and packs are placed above the liver and the spleen and in both sides of the pelvis after the bowel is swept and cephalad."

The team worked meticulously before they started to remove the packs one quadrant at a time, assessing for any further damage as they went along, unfortunately her liver was in shreds.

"Dr. Kepner," Dr. Brown looked up at her, "This liver isn't salvageable."

"I know," she replied frustrated, "Damn it." They had been in the O.R. for a few hours now and all April wanted to do was scream, without a liver Samira would likely die within a matter of days.

"What if we removed the damaged part, and then allow the liver to regenerate?" Dr. Brown suggested.

"It could work, but I don't know how much there is to save?"

"It's worth a try isn't it?"

"Yes it is." So the two doctors got to work on Samira. Luckily after hours of painstaking surgery, she had enough of her liver left that was usable. So, they stitched her up and sent her on to recovery in the I.C.U. They updated her parents, who were just so relieved that Samira was alive. April informed Dr. Brown that he was going to watch her tonight and to page her 0-1-1 if anything happened. She didn't care if it was as small as an infection of a single stich; she wanted to know about it. As soon as April left the waiting room she crouched over herself and sighed, completely releasing the stress from the six-hour surgery.

"Dr. Kepner, you okay?" Dr. Brown wondered.

"I'm great, Dr. Brown," she replied, "That was just stressful."

"You thought that was stressful? I couldn't tell, you were like a machine in there."

"You weren't so bad yourself, you're going to make an excellent trauma surgeon."

"I hope so," he replied.

"Good night, Dr. Brown," April smiled, "You did really good work today."

"Thank you. I'll see you in a few days Dr. Kepner," he replied.

Samira's surgery went a bit longer than April had anticipated, so she only had twenty minutes to get ready for her date with Bright. She took a quick shower and then changed into her jeans and white tank top and black sweater that she was wearing earlier. She decided to take her hair out of its ponytail and wear it down, it took a bit of finessing to make it look presentable, but after a few minutes April was satisfied. She kept her makeup simple and just swept a bit of mascara over her lashes and some blush on her cheeks. She then headed up to the daycare to go sign out Harriet and give her to Amelia, who had paged her that she and Eric would be there in ten.


"You look smoking," Amelia complimented her when April finally made it to the daycare. Darn elevators insisted on stopping on every floor, she knew she could have and probably should have taken the stairs.

"Thank you," April replied.

"So are you excited?" Eric asked.

"Oh ignore him, he's just a big gossip," Amelia said.

"Yeah I'm a bit excited, it's my first date in a few months so it's both exiting and nerve racking."

"Well trust me, Bright is the guy you want to jump back into the dating field with. He will not disappoint," Amelia smiled.

April checked Harriet out of daycare, kissed her daughter on the cheek, and then handed her to Amelia.

"Oh, my what a cutie," Eric cooed, "Hi Harriet."

"I'll be over around 10:30 to pick her up," April said.

"We'll be home, and don't worry if it's a bit later than that. We're having Jack stay with us too, so I'm sure Bright won't mind."

April looked down at the blond little boy with the most adorable glasses who was clutching his Uncle Eric's leg, she hadn't even noticed him, "Hi Jack," she said.

"Hi," he playfully replied, "You and my daddy are going to dinner tonight."

"That's right," she played back, "How'd you know that?"

"Because daddy wouldn't stop talking about it all morning, he spent twenty minutes picking out his outfit."

Amelia and Eric just shook their heads with glee, "He always tries so hard," she smiled. April was definitely feeling more excited than nervous for this date now.

She left the happy couple with her daughter and headed to the lobby where she saw a handsome, thirty-something man in a black sport coat and jeans waiting.


She tapped him on the shoulder, "Hi."

"Well hello there Dr. Kepner," he teased, "Are you ready to be swept off your feet?"

April couldn't help but laugh, "Only if you're able to catch me," she replied. He then took his hand and wove it in hers, it was warm April could tell he was a bit nervous, and the two of them walked out of the hospital to his car. He was the perfect gentleman, opening the car door for her, and asking her the entire drive if the music was to her liking. He had some of band she'd never heard of playing.

"What is this? It sounds really good."

"It's an indie artist, he goes by 'The White Buffalo'," he replied.

"Really? 'The White Buffalo?"

"Hey, I didn't come up with his pseudonym, but you can't deny the man's got talent."

"I'm much prefer the styling's of J.C. Chasez," April joked.

"*NSYNC? Over this?" He exclaimed.

"I'm just teasing you," she laughed, "But if I was sixteen I would have been dead serious."

"Well I still wouldn't have agreed with you, I was completely into Nirvana growing up. Even tried to grow my hair out in middle school so I could look more like Kurt Cobain. Let's just say, I burned all the pictures from 1994."

"I would pay to see those," she laughed, "But trust me I don't like my middle school pictures either. I had frizzy hair, acne, and headgear. The one thing I'm more grateful for than anything else is the advancements they have made in orthodontics."

"You wouldn't be able to tell looking at you now," he said causing her to blush, "You're definitely one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen." April could tell in the tone of his voice that he was being genuine; he wasn't just flirting with her to get in her pants or saying a cliché line. That was what was so endearing about Bright.


"Okay, we're here," he replied as he pulled into a parking space before he jumped out of the car like a bat out of Hell so he could open April's car door. Jackson had never done anything like that, not that she expected him to. He had been raised with a very progressive mother who put more emphasis on presenting himself professionally than on chivalry. But April admired those good old-fashioned mid-western values of a man opening a door for his woman, pulling her chair out, and well being her knight in shining armor. It was the 21st century and women can vote, should get equal pay, and choose what they want to do with their bodies, but sometimes when a man puts forth the extra effort it makes them all the more attractive.

Bright had taken April to one of his favorite restaurants in Chicago, which was right on Michigan Avenue, Bandera. It was a mid-scale restaurant, with a light and airy ambience. April was especially impressed by the live Jazz that was playing.

"Good evening sir," the Maître'd' said, "Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, it's under Bright Abbott," he replied.

"Fantastic, if you'd just follow me." Bright let April go in front of him, both to be a gentleman and to check her out from behind. Her long, red curls that were falling down her back captivated him. He had never seen hair so bright and shiny, and well, mesmerizing. When they reached the table, he pulled April's chair out for her, and then went to sit in his own before the Maître'd' handed them their menus.

"The first one is our drinks menu, and the second is the dinner selections for this evening. Carl will be your server. I hope you two have a pleasant evening."

"Thank you," Bright replied kindly.

They perused their menus for a few moments before their eager server approached their table. Carl was clearly a kid who either just finished his senior year of high school, or bless his soul had not hit full puberty yet. He was lanky and a bit awkward looking, and he talked super loud.

"Good evening, how're you two doing tonight?"

"We're good, and yourself, been busy?" Bright asked.

"It's been pretty steady, can I start you two off with something to drink?"

Bright looked at April who responded, "I'll take a glass of the house chardonnay."

"I'll do the same," Bright replied.

"Would you two like a bottle instead?"

Once again Bright looked at April, wondering if ordering a bottle would be too much, he didn't intend on staying out late since he had his son to take care of and he knew April felt the same way since she also had Harriet.

"Why not?" April replied.

"Great, I'll be right back with it."

Within minutes Carl came back with their wine and took their orders. For starters April ordered the house smoked salmon and Bright ordered the chilled jumbo shrimp. For her entrée she stuck with the seafood theme and ordered the Lake Superior white fish. The menu said it was cedar plank roasted, with season green vegetable and pomme purée, which sounded heavenly to her. Not to her surprise at all, Bright ordered the prime rib.

"You seriously just ordered a ton of food," she playfully remarked.

"What can I say, I'm hungry? I've been waiting all day for this, I even skipped lunch."

"You poor thing," April laughed.

"But I could say the same thing about you, did you just order the ocean?"

"No, I ordered Lake Superior, the most superior of the great lakes."

"I'd argue Michigan's the best one."

"Is that so? I'd say Ontario."

"Ontario are you kidding me?"

"No, I grew up in Ohio and it's the only one touching Ohio so I'm going with that one as my favorite."

"Well I grew up in Wisconsin, so Michigan is where it's at," he replied.

"Never been," she said.

"Well I've never been to Ohio either, so I guess we're even."

"I guess we are."

"So, where in Ohio did you grow up?"

"A little town called Moline, it's about two hours from Columbus. There's only one grocery store within fifty miles of my house and my high school had a total of two hundred students for four grades. That's how small it was."

"Well I grew up in Green Bay, so it was never quiet."

"Oh, so you're a Packers fan then?"

"Keep your voice down," he immediately crouched down, "We're in enemy country. Do you want me getting shot?" He laughed. April knew all too well from Jackson how intense men got about their sports. Jackson watched football when it was on, but he was never into it as much as he was into basketball. God, if anyone tried to even suggest changing the channel during a game, he'd give you the silent treatment for a week because you disrespected the pureness and sacredness that was basketball.

"Don't worry," she winked, "Your secret's safe with me."

The conversation flowed easily as they moved on from their starters to their entrées.

"So, what made you move to Chicago?" He asked.

April took a big gulp of her wine, which didn't go unnoticed by Bright. Amelia had told him, after franticly texting her all afternoon over how nervous he was for his first date since Hannah's death. He asked her a million questions about April, like what was her favorite movie, was she religious, what was she into, and all Amelia said was she had known her for a day so those details were out of the question. Her only advice was to be gentle with April because it was obvious that she had come to Chicago because she was running away from something.

"I just needed a change of scenery," she replied.

"Earlier, you mentioned," he trailed off, not knowing if it was appropriate to mention their conversation from this morning. It was completely possibly that April had just been caught up in the moment and hadn't meant to tell him so much.

"It's so complicated, I wouldn't even know where to begin," she laughed awkwardly.

"Try me," he replied.

April had recited the story of her tortured romance to so many people, from family members, to co-workers, to army buddies. Everyone she had met in the past two years knew about Jackson. They knew about how hard and how fast she fell in love with the man that took her virginity at the ripe old age of 28. They knew about how happy they were, how they'd finally gotten on the same page once he stood up at her wedding to Matthew and eloped. He was her best friend turned lover turned awkward friend turned husband turned nothing. And that's what hurt most of all. They used to be able to tell each other everything; they were a team being the only two interns from Mercy West they clung to each other. But eventually they fell in love and then out of love and in the process of doing that, they lost their trust for one another. They lost the ability to communicate with one another without arguing, without April feeling drained from the complete lack of intimacy or communication from his side and Jackson feeling frustrated because she couldn't see his point. April dreaded that one day she'd have to teach her daughter the hardest lesson of them all, love isn't enough. Because if she was completely honest with herself, regardless of the front she's put up for the past two years, she still loves Jackson Avery. And deep down there's that little sliver of hope, the fire that's still brewing, that maybe he loves her too.

"Well, I'm divorced," she started off, "I know that's a deal breaker for some people."

"It's not for me," he replied.

"Well me and my ex, it's pretty complicated. We got divorced before I found out I was pregnant with Harriet."

"Wow," Bright said, as he took another bite of his ribs, "That sounds intense."

"That's not even the half of it," April replied. "He and I didn't really get along, ever since I came back from Jordan things were different between us."

"Oh yeah, Amelia mentioned you did a couple of tours. I spent a few years in the army too, after college."

"Really? Why'd you join?"

"I joked that I did it for the student loans, but I really joined because my brother died while serving. I was completely lost at home, I felt like I was suffocating. No one knew how it felt, you know one day my brother is leaving to go serve our country, healthy as a horse and then a month later we get a phone call that he's dead. I can only describe the feeling as surreal."

"I joined for exactly the same reason," April confessed, which caught Bright's attention, "I was pregnant before Harriet," she explained, "But my son had osteogenesis imperfecta, so his bones were breaking in utero. We had to induce him at six months and he died shortly after he was born. Going to Jordan allowed me to breathe again."

Bright immediately reached his hand across the table and grabbed hers, "Did you catch your breath?" He asked.

"Yeah," she gasped, "I finally did."


The rest of their date went super well. They had split dessert, which was an apple cobbler. April didn't have the heart to tell Bright that it didn't compare to her mom's homemade apple cobbler in the slightest because she could tell that he would have been heartbroken.

They arrived at Amelia and Eric's house to pick the kids up, at 10:30 exactly.

"Wow, you're really prompt aren't you?" Amelia exclaimed as she opened the door.

"I honestly didn't mean to be," April replied.

"Hi there, Bright."

"Hey, Amelia, how was Jack?"

"An angel as always."

"And Harriet?"

"Oh my gosh April, Eric's been playing with that little munchkin all evening, I think he's convinced we need another one, so thank you for that."

"Harriet tends to have that affect on people," April joked.

After a few minutes of chitchat with Eric and Amelia, Bright and April decided it would be best to hit the road. April borrowed a car seat from Amelia and Bright helped her strap Harriet into the back seat before driving them home.

"She really is something," he said, "I don't think I've ever seen a baby so mellow."

"I'm surprised, she definitely takes after her father in that regard."

"So you never really mentioned much about your ex-husband, he must be heartbroken being away from Harriet."

"Unfortunately he is, but he understands that the opportunity was one I can't pass up and he can't move here with me."

"Why's that?"

"He's from a pretty renowned surgical family, I'm not sure if you've heard of the Harper Avery Foundation?"

"Heard of it?" He laughed, "Hannah was obsessed with it, she claimed that she was going to be the first pediatric surgeon to win a Harper Avery Reward." Then it clicked in his head, "Wait your ex-husband is Jackson Avery?"

April sighed, "Yeah. How do you know about him?"

"Obsessive wife who practically stalked that family, I've seen his picture a time or two. Good looking fellow, he's in plastics right?"

"Wow, you do know a lot, and yeah he is. Mainly facial reconstruction and working with burn victims."

"Yeah, I read a few of his articles a few years back on his skin grafts, they were really fascinating."

"You're into medicine?"

"I'm into whatever my wife was into, so I wouldn't sound stupid or be lost whenever we had conversations about work. Besides all our friends are doctors, so I needed to be up on the latest medical trends."

"You're honestly too adorable for words, Bright Abbott," April beamed.

"I could say the same for you, Dr. Kepner."


After a fifteen-minute drive, Bright pulled into the parking garage of April's apartment. Once again, he got out of the car first, opening her door for her, and then getting Harriet out of the back seat. He tried to be as quiet as possible so as to not wake Jack.

"I had a really good time, tonight," he said as he awkwardly stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Me too," April replied.

"Can we do this again?"

"I'd really like that."

"Good." He leaned in to kiss her, and as soon as his lips touched hers April felt an instant connection. They were soft and subtle, moving in perfect unison with her own. She was standing on her tiptoes so she could reach him better and his arm was placed on the small of her back. It was the most electrifying kiss she had had since Jackson, maybe even a bit more.

They pulled away from one another after a few seconds, "Good night," she said as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and playfully bit her lip.

"Good night, Dr. Kepner."

It was almost eleven when April got back to her apartment, put Harriet to sleep, and locked up for the night. As soon as Bright had pulled away, she couldn't help but touch her lips, still shaken by the electrifying feeling that was surging through her body. She definitely wanted more. Everything inside of her wanted to do more than just kiss Bright, but she was a Christian woman and wouldn't do anything else until she was certain they were serious.

She washed her face and got ready for bed, and jus as she was crawling into it, her phone went off. She assumed it was a goodnight text from Bright, but when she looked at the notification her face was in shock.

Catherine- I have a meeting with the Harper Avery Foundation in Chicago in two weeks, and don't forget Jackson's coming with.

Immediately bringing April back down to earth and the reality that was her ex-husband coming to Chicago.


A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing this story! I was just on a writer's high today, so you guys get two chapters! I'm sorry this one's a bit shorter than the others, but I just wanted to get something out. Next chapter is Jackson centric! –R.