10 days later…
"Hey, does Dr. Pierce, seem… happier to you? Like extra cheery lately?" Jackson asked Jo.
They were hanging around the nurses' station when he caught sight of Maggie walking alongside Meredith and Amelia. It looked like she was trying to cheer Amelia up over some problem that the neurosurgeon seemed to be struggling with. He guessed that it had something to do with Owen and his situation with Teddy.
Jo was busying herself right next to him with her iPad, reviewing her patient charts for the day. She looked up for a second to observe the group and entertain his query before refocusing her attention to her task.
"Yes," the general surgery fellow said simply, as she spotted the smiling cardio head with her band of sisters.
"Damn."
"What, you don't like her happy?" she laughed, scrolling through the interface.
"Nah, of course I do. It's just… did she really seem that sad when she was with me?"
Jo took a few seconds to think about it carefully before replying with blunt certainty.
"... Yes," she said, almost too honestly. When she felt him squinting at her, she lowered the gadget momentarily in an attempt to elaborate. "Maybe... she just rode with your vibe. It's pretty infectious. Did anyone tell you that you have an angry looking face a lot of the time?"
"More than you know, Wilson… Oh, right. It's Karev now, isn't it?" he corrected himself. "Man, I keep forgetting."
"You know what, it might as well not be," she said calmly as she swiped her finger to the next screen with a lot more force than necessary, causing the tablet in her hand to wobble. Jackson looked at her with raised eyebrows, wordlessly confused with her behavior.
"Ugh," she groaned, rolling her eyes up at the ceiling. "Alex is taking forever to mail our marriage license to the Records Office. He insisted that he would do it, but I think he's waiting for the last possible minute just to… mess with me," she ranted as she continued assaulting the helpless device with violent swipes timed to the fervid words that left her pretty mouth.
"Well, gotta admit," he said, signing a random document and slipping his pen inside the chest pocket of his lab coat. "I'm gonna miss saying 'You suck, Karev' without having to check if you're around," he jeered. "It gets a little confusing."
"That's very considerate of a you," she replied, amused, before straightening out like she remembered something important. "Hey, speaking of which, you should remind April…" she began, but was cut off when her pager started rioting in her back pocket. "Shit, 911."
Without a moment's notice, Jo was now dashing toward the ICU, leaving Jackson baffled as he called out to her while he still had her within range.
"Remind April? About what?"
"Another time!"
Jackson spent most of his morning doing routine procedures and administrative paperwork. Compiling some papers for the chief, he went on to find Alex, who he caught easily walking the halls.
"Here you go, chief," said Jackson, handing a folder over.
"Never thought I'd hear that from you," Alex said in a proud scruffy voice.
"Never thought I'd be saying it. Hey have you seen Wils… I mean, Karev? The other Karev," he clarified. "Can't seem to find her anywhere."
"Well, she's got a busy day today," said Alex, glancing at his watch before poking at the plastic surgeon. "Hey, get your own wife, Prettyboy."
"Never thought I'd hear that from you."
"Is it urgent?" Alex asked responsibly.
"You know what, it can wait," said Jackson, not wanting to divulge the topic of his unfinished conversation with Jo.
"Fine then."
"Oh, and one more thing."
"What?" asked Alex, a little irritated.
"Mail your damn papers, Karev."
Alex chuckled. "Jo sent you?"
"It's important."
"Yeah, yeah. Small work." Alex nodded him off as he went off to resume his chiefly duties.
With his day being so light, Jackson decided it would be a good opportunity to snatch Harriet out of daycare for a father-daughter date outside the hospital. He only had few days left with her until April was going to pick her up again for her turn.
"Hi, baby," he said in a cute voice as he bounced the little toddler in his arms. "Just me and you today." He took a deep breath and smiled. "Me and you. Come on, let's go get some lunch."
After securing Harriet in the back, the two hit the road on route to one of his favorite restaurants in town.
Driving usually switched his brain into autopilot, but it was only when something familiar caught his eye up ahead that he started paying close attention to what was in front of him.
Jackson found himself trailing a vehicle that he hasn't seen in a long time. In fact, the last time he remembered seeing it was not long after the time when he and his batchmates were vying for the position of chief resident.
Though it looked just a tad older, in front of him zoomed the old raggedy trailer that Alex used to sleep in at the Grey Sloan parking lot back when the place was still called Seattle Grace Mercy West. It was the same trailer that Owen lived in for the longest time until he sold it off to who knows who so he could get himself real house. Heck, it was Derek Shepherd's old trailer. He could have recognized it anywhere.
"That... is one pretty lousy driver," Jackson said to himself, as he studied the way the trailer sloppily maneuvered across town. "Gosh, Hunt, who'd you sell it to?"
Out of curiosity, Jackson thought it would be interesting to follow it to where it would land in the hopes of striking up a conversation with whoever it ended up with. Double checking to see if Harriet wasn't already getting the lunchtime munchies, he followed through to pursue Derek's trailer to its destination.
Lucky for him, the drive wasn't some cross country roadtrip. With the exception of some annoying swerves and unnecessary stops, he was able to keep up with the errant driver. The trailer soon settled in to park at a quiet little clearing that was surrounded by wooded sections of forest. It was a public area, but it looked quite unpopular since no one else seemed to be around.
He guessed that the driver had already noticed him trailing behind, and expected whoever it was to come out and confront him. But no one came to meet him. All he heard was the front door of the lead vehicle open before the trailer door behind it opened and closed out of view.
Against his better judgement, he drove his car closer to the entrance of the trailer. He unbuckled his seatbelt and left the engine on to keep the airconditioning up for Harriet, while popping open a snack for her to enjoy in the meantime.
As he walked up to the trailer's entrance, he noticed that the glass windows were already broken and replaced with some dark sturdy lining as a temporary fix. He finally reached the door and moved his hand up to knock on it, but before his knuckles could hit the surface, the door swung open and he jumped when he heard a startled little yelp that he knew all too well, followed by the sound of a frying pan hitting the floor.
"Jackson?! What in the… You scared me to death!" she said, shoving him back by the chest.
"April? What are you… I scared you?" he bellowed, then looked at the heavy item by her feet and pointed at it. "You were about to hit me with that thing!"
"I know, I know, sorry. God," said April, placing a hand to her forehead. "I lost track of what car you drove. You keep changing them! I thought you were some weirdo following me!"
"Was that why you kept stopping and swerving? I thought you were just some reckless driver," he said, until a smirk quickly replaced the frown on his face. "Come to think of it, I guess I should've realized it was you sooner."
"Ha! Funny." she replied sarcastically.
"What are you doing with Hunt's old trailer?"
She looked at him for a while and let a breath of air budge through closed lips. "Long story. Have you eaten?"
"Was about to, before… this."
"Come inside then. I've got plenty of food."
"Wait," he said, scrunching his eyes shut like he made the biggest mistake and was about to get lectured for it.
"What?" she said suspiciously, knowing that face well.
"I gotta get Hattie. She's in the car," he said, bracing himself.
"You left her in the car?!"
"I left her with a snack…" he offered optimistically.
"Jackson, you can't just leave her alone like that!"
"I parked near the trailer! I swear, I had my eyes on her the whole time."
"Well what if it wasn't me and some lunatic did something to you?"
"You mean like hit me with a frying pan?" he rebutted, completely satisfied that all she could do was roll her eyes and exhale audibly, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. Pretending to be guarded and wary that she might pull a fast one with the pan, he turned around to fetch their kid from the car.
"So I got… turkey casserole, lasagna, mmm yum," she said as she scrounged through the fridge for some packed food that she cooked. "ooo, and some freakin' fan-tabulous roast beef…"
Jackson thought he wouldn't live to see the day, but he never missed leftovers more in his life. Or her cooking for that matter.
"So how've you been?" she asked casually. "I heard from Catherine. Says she's a lot better now."
"Yeah, the time off has really been doing her good... Uhmm, so Maggie dumped me," he said trivially.
"Huh," she responded quietly, trying to pretend that she wasn't made aware of Maggie's plan to end it with him. "Well that's a first."
"Hm?"
"You know, usually, you do all the dumping," she said easily, not knowing it would plunge him into a pool of guilt as she reorganized tubs of leftovers in the fridge.
A tightness in his chest formed upon the realization that not only was he the one to break things off with both Lexie and Stephanie back in the day, but with her, too. Twice.
"… Right," he said as he tried to shake it off even though he knew he couldn't. He had to change the subject to get out of his head. "So, spill."
"What is there to spill?" she laughed, preparing meals for the three of them.
"April," he started, while looking around the interior of her new space, which, although organized to the letter, was full of cargo. "You're camped out in an old trailer, loaded with workstuff, training dummies, and a coffee machine. Youuu…," he said, looking her square in the eye. "... are on a work rampage. Means you're upset about something," he finished, observing her closely, a little concerned.
"They're for our projects with the homeless communities. And with the trailer, it's so much more convenient," she said, avoiding eye contact.
"April," he repeated quietly. He knew she was telling the truth but it wasn't the whole truth. There was definitely more to it.
"Well, if you really wanna know… My husband left me," she said, poking at her food. She said it almost as casually as him mentioning his breakup with Maggie.
A quick moment of silence was followed by the swift motion of him standing from his seat and turning toward the door. "I'm gonna kill him."
He felt her hand on his arm stop him and he paused. "Nooo, you're not gonna kill him," she said calmly, offering up a reasonable explanation. "He's… going through a thing. It's temporary, and I'm giving him space. He's out of town. Guess Catherine's not the only one who's needing time off."
He turned to face her. His expression softened but he was still concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I think so," she said frankly. "I'm making great progress with these training modules. Disaster management and medical care for impoverished communities."
He looked around again, this time zooming in to see mounds of written protocols, letters to local government units on her laptop, and piles of healthcare pamphlets on the ready for distribution.
"You did all this while Hattie was with me? It's only been a few days."
"Yeah."
"This is… amazing," he said, thoroughly impressed at how much she's gotten done within such a short amount of time. "So this trailer… is it yours now?"
"Oh no, I just rented it out for now, along with the hauling vehicle. I saw it around town one day and recognized it instantly. Talked to the owner and he says he doesn't use it much. I don't know if I want to buy it… yet, you know? Pretty sure a bunch of our friends have had sex in this thing," she said, grimacing at the thought and it made him laugh.
"I mean, I'm still gonna stay at the house for my turn with Hattie in a couple days. It's just… it feels a bit big when I'm alone. And it's nice to be parked so close to my work."
"Ruby?"
"At her grandparents'."
"I hate that he left you all alone. That was an idiot move."
"You left Maggie."
"That's different."
"I know. Because this was a mutual decision," she said. "And if it doesn't turn out well, then I guess it's a mutual idiot move."
"Wow."
"I'm sorry... Too soon?" she asked, hoping she didn't step on his feelings by the mention of his recent breakup. "'Cause, y-ya walked right into that one."
"No. Not that. You've…"
"I've…?"
Changed?
...Grown?
Deep down, he felt the aggregate of his regrets loom over him - the divorce, Montana, the fact that they've somehow grown more compatible than they have ever been before. Fate had its own twisted way and from where he stood, it was far from enough that they now seemed to have what it took to be the spouse that the other needed. Because really, they couldn't. Not anymore. She was committed to someone else and he had no right or power to change that.
"Got a lucky husband," he said, almost in a whisper as he started painfully accepting that he may not have been the only one who she'd give herself to fully.
He exhaled deeply and returned to his seat next to her and the three of them ate lunch together. After a while of chatting, mostly about Harriet and work, Jackson thanked her for their meal, which in his mind was leagues upon leagues better than the food they would have had at the restaurant.
Soon after, the two decided it would be a good idea for him to drive back to Grey Sloan, seeing as he was still on-call. Meanwhile, April opted to get back to work herself.
She waved Jackson and their daughter goodbye as his car left the confines of her quiet little hideaway.
"I've been looking for you everywhere!" said Jo, as she spotted him entering the attendings lounge.
"Yeah. I just… did a thing," he said. "Oh, and I told Alex to mail your papers by the way."
"Did he listen to you?" Jo asked excitedly.
"Yeah," he laughed. "At least I think he did."
"You should be the one to remind April then. 'Cause I already tried."
"Yeah, remind April about what exactly?" asked Jackson with knotted brows. "We never got to that."
"That she should mail in her marriage license with Matthew! The due date is coming up and she hasn't done it yet."
Jackson froze completely like he forgot how to move. Apart from that, he was pretty sure that he was gawking blankly at Jo like she was some unearthly being from another planet.
