My apologies for the long gap between postings! I was out of town for work and then had family visiting when I got back. Plus I needed to process that last new episode…suffice to say this is definitely now an AU story and my companion piece Ever, Ever After is officially a sequel. Anyway, as always, hope you enjoy!
April jerked in her sleep, instinctively rolling toward the side of the bed where Jackson should be lying, jolting awake as her hand met empty space. Her eyes flew open and she sat up, struggling to catch her breath, shaking her head as she muttered to herself, "Just a dream. Just a bad dream."
She glanced at the clock, saw she still had another hour before she needed to get up and sighed as she lay back down, curling up on her side. It was amazing; she couldn't help but marvel, how quickly she had gotten used to sharing a bed with someone. After all the years she'd spent sleeping alone, she'd always figured she'd find it incredibly irritating to have to share that space. Instead, she'd been pleasantly surprised at how comforting, how –nice – for lack of a better term - it was to have Jackson there beside her all night.
And now she had been unpleasantly surprised by how much she missed him when he wasn't there.
"Stupid hospital," she grumbled under her breath, rolling to her other side, debating whether it was even worth it to try to keep sleeping. "Stupid scheduling," she added as she threw the covers back and got out of bed, deciding to give up on getting any more sleep. Besides, if she didn't go back to sleep, at least she wouldn't have any more stupid dreams that involved her boyfriend making out – or worse - with someone else.
It really sucked, she mused as she went through her morning routine. She and Jackson had been on opposite schedules for a couple of weeks now and rationally, she knew she was being ridiculous, letting her imagination get away from her. She kinda hated herself, feeling like she was being the kind of girlfriend she'd always sworn never to be – jealous, clingy and insecure, at least in her head. She'd only been a girlfriend for a few months – it was way too soon to be a crazy girlfriend!
But it was hard – she'd barely even seen him in the last few weeks. He was working when she was sleeping – he was getting up to leave as she was crawling into bed. It was no way to sustain a relationship. And, yes, she knew it wasn't forever and that it was to be expected in their line of work, but it still sucked.
And, if she was being honest with herself, the thing that made it the hardest was that he and Lexie kept getting assigned to the same service. Intellectually, she knew there was nothing to worry about – Jackson was as trustworthy as they come and Lexie was her friend now, plus she and Mark were trying to work things out. But even the most rational woman could be a little irrational now and then. Right?
Sighing, April made a face at herself in the mirror and headed downstairs. Through the window, she caught sight of the mail truck and went outside to grab the mail, bringing it back to the kitchen table to sort. Some bills for Meredith and Derek, a magazine for Lexie, a catalog for Alex's ex-wife Izzie (it was amazing how long junk mail would keep coming!) – and then, a small envelope addressed to her, from her baby sister in North Carolina.
"Hunh," she said, talking out loud without realizing it. "What does Alice want?" She slit the envelope open and pulled out the note card inside.
"Dear April – (it read in Alice's flowy, artistic script)
I have wonderful news! Rob and I have decided to get married – next month, on the beach at the Outer Banks, Hatteras to be exact. I know it's short notice, but neither of us is interested in the big, fancy wedding thing – quick and simple is so much more our style. Anyway, I hope you can come – it won't be the same without my middle big sister! It's going to be small – just our immediate families, but Jackson's totally invited too – we're dying to meet him! Call me and let me know if you're coming!
Love, Alice"
"Oh, God," April muttered, setting the note down on the table. A wedding. Her sisters. And they wanted her to bring Jackson? Like she needed that kind of pressure. Sighing, she shoved the note in her purse and moved to finish getting ready to go to work.
"Thanks again for switching days off with me," Jackson said to Lexie as they headed into the locker room at the end of their work day.
Lexie laughed. "It's not a big deal. You don't have to keep thanking me."
Jackson shrugged as she looked at him pointedly and continued speaking, "I still say you should tell her that you switched with me."
Jackson rolled his eyes. This was not the first time they'd had this conversation. "Like I keep telling you, the surprise is the whole point."
"Yeah, I know," Lexie said patiently, "But she thinks I'm going to the mall with her and I can't keep speaking vaguely about it. She's gonna start thinking that a) I don't like her anymore or b) that I don't want to go because I've got something going on with her boyfriend."
"What?" Jackson said, looking thoroughly confused. "Why would she think that?"
Lexie shrugged. "Because. You're her first boyfriend. The two of you of been practically inseparable since you got together until a couple weeks ago. And you've been stuck with me at work a lot in those two weeks. It's a natural leap."
Jackson shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea how you consider that a natural leap, but I'm not worried."
"If you say so," Lexie replied, in a tone of voice that indicated that she was entirely unconvinced.
Jackson made a face. "Look, just don't say anything, okay?"
"Don't say anything about what?" April asked, pasting on a bright smile as she entered the locker room.
"Meredith's bangs," Jackson said quickly as he stood up to greet her. "She doesn't like them."
"Really?" April said, looking quizzically at Lexie. "I thought you said they were cute."
"I – uh – reconsidered," Lexie said lamely, glaring at Jackson as April glanced at him and then looked back at Lexie.
"So, I'll see you in the morning?" April asked.
"Um, yeah, sure. Tomorrow," Lexie replied, hurrying out of the room, leaving April looking quizzically after her.
"Did she seem – um, weird to you?" she asked Jackson and he shook his head.
"No more than usual," he shrugged. "How are you – did you sleep well?" he asked as he leaned down to give her a kiss.
She shrugged. "More or less, I guess. I – um – need to talk to you about something later."
"Not now?" he prompted and she shook her head.
"Not now," she replied, wanting to put off the topic of her sister's wedding and the discussion of their potential attendance for later.
Many hours later, April trudged up the front steps of the 'frat house' and let herself in the front door. It had been a long day and she could only blame her exhaustion for the fact that when she walked in the living room and saw Jackson and Lexie laughing on the couch (her brain completely blocking out the presence of Meredith and Derek in the room as well), she immediately burst into tears.
Meredith and Lexie shared an alarmed glance as Jackson leapt to his feet, rushing to her side.
"April, what's wrong?" he asked. "What happened?"
She shook her head, waving him away. "Nothing. It's silly. Just forget it," she said, pushing him aside to head up the stairs to her room.
Jackson looked back at the other three, looking completely lost.
"Follow her, dumbass," Lexie hissed, fixing him with her best 'told you so' stare. He rolled his eyes in response and ran up the steps.
"April?" he said, knocking tentatively at the door as he opened it. She was sitting on the bed, swiping at her eyes with a tissue. "You okay?" he asked, taking a step into the room.
She shook her head. "I'm fine – don't worry about it. I'm being stupid."
"April – whatever you're feeling, it's not stupid. It's how you feel," Jackson said patiently, sitting down beside her on the bed.
She laughed at that. "Okay, so how I feel is stupid."
Jackson smiled. "Maybe. What's wrong?"
"I –" April faltered, really not wanting to confess her irrational jealousy and Jackson decided to take a guess.
"Are you – pregnant?" he forced himself to ask and her head snapped up in surprise.
"I – what? No! Why would you think –"
He shrugged. "You said earlier you had something we needed to talk about and you seem really hesitant to tell me what's bothering you, so I just wondered –"
"Oh. That. No, that's something else." April took a deep breath and then met Jackson's eyes. "Okay, look. I know I'm being irrational and I don't want to be 'that' girl, but I've been letting myself get eaten up with jealousy about all the time you and Lexie have been spending together lately and I just kinda – lost it. I'm sorry."
Jackson stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously? You've been jealous?"
April nodded miserably. "Out of my mind. I've been having nightmares. I keep dreaming about walking in on the two of you together - in the on-call room, in the shower, everywhere. I haven't had a full night's sleep in days." She laughed self-deprecatingly as she looked down. "I guess that helped contribute to tonight's meltdown."
Jackson reached over, cupping her face in his hand, forcing it back up so she was looking at him again. "April – I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"It's okay," she said softly. "I didn't want you to know how crazy I was feeling."
Jackson grinned. "How many times have I told you? The crazy is part of why I fell in love with you. Feel free to share it with me."
April laughed. "Okay," she agreed as he leaned over and pulled her into a kiss.
"I promise," Jackson whispered as they broke apart for a moment, "I'm going to make this up to you. You'll see."
April laughed as she kissed him again. "I'll be watching."
