A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! :)

Disclaimer: Same as usual.

Chapter 10 – The Roster

Just before noon the next day, April groaned and squirmed as she felt Jackson's lips on her back. "Jackson, I can't orgasm anymore," she murmured, "I'm tired and numb." He chuckled huskily and she raised her head as she realized what she had just said. Countless women complained about unsatisfying lovers and she shared a bed with the most amazing man.

Last night had been…ridiculous. He had been seductive, passionate, fiercely determined, and eager to unhinge her. If any inch of her body had been previously undiscovered by him, it certainly wasn't anymore. They had only made love once but she had climaxed six times. His tongue was just maddening…she may have actually passed out. And he hadn't let her return the favour.

She leaned forward to wrap an arm around his shoulders and pepper his face with kisses. "You are amazing. Thank you for last night."

"My pleasure," he grinned. He kissed her on the top of the head and soothingly ran a hand down her back. "Go back to sleep. I'm going to get up and get some coffee." He was a tad hungover and needed a little bit of a pick-me-up.

"Do you want me to make you some breakfast?"

He furiously shook his head. She had worked a twelve hour shift and then he had had his way with her for a couple more. "No, sleep. Regain feeling in your extremities," he teased.

She let out a small giggle and he kissed her temple before getting out of bed. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants and padded out to the kitchen where he found Brooks poking around. "Looking for something?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Just getting used to my new surroundings," Brooks replied. "Everything is very organized."

"Yeah, that's April," he laughed as he turned on the coffee pot.

"Where is your girl?"

Jackson grinned, "She's tired."

"Yeah, I heard. Oh! Oh God, Jackson! Right there!" He laughed as he finished his imitation. "You always were a horny drunk."

Jackson chuckled but quickly said, "Listen, don't do that around her, it'll make her really embarrassed." Brooks grabbed a box of cereal out of the cupboard and he shook his head. "Not that one, that's Karev's cereal."

Brooks grabbed an alternative box of cereal and the carton of milk out of the refrigerator. "It'll embarrass her?" He asked as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "What is she? A virgin?" He joked. He caught Jackson hang his head and shift his feet awkwardly and his mouth dropped open in shock. "She's a virgin!"

Jackson grabbed two bowls and two spoons and joined Brooks at the table. "Lower your frickin' voice," he said in a harsh whisper. "She was a virgin, yeah."

"At thirty?" He questioned in disbelief.

"Twenty-nine," Jackson corrected. "It's not like she didn't have the opportunity. She had her reasons. They were good reasons," he explained cryptically. He didn't feel the need to divulge April's religious convictions to Brooks.

"So you popped her cherry?"

Jackson cringed at his words. "I was her first time," he rephrased. The coffee finished percolating so he got up to get himself a cup. "Want some coffee?"

"Yeah, man."

He returned to the table with two cups of coffee and observed Brooks' thoughtful expression. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just that your relationship makes more sense to me now."

Jackson bristled defensively. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Brooks didn't get a chance to respond because the front door opened. Karev breezed into the kitchen and Jackson introduced the two men.

"Karev, this is my friend, Liam Brooks. He's going to be the neuro fellow at Seattle Grace Mercy West. Brooks, this is my other roommate, Alex Karev." They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries before Karev moved towards the coffee pot. "Karev, Brooks is crashing in my room until his apartment is ready."

"That's cool with me," Karev replied nonchalantly. He grabbed a bowl and a spoon and joined them at the kitchen table for some breakfast.

Karev and Brooks started to get to know each other while Jackson quietly ate his cereal. Brooks' last comment was not sitting well with him. He had expected disapproval from his sister. She thought that Averys needed to associate with people from money and power, and with surgeons who made headlines. For Elizabeth, his future wife didn't need to be sweet, and kind, and loving. She needed to be rich, and overbearing, and focused to almost an obsessive degree. He could handle Elizabeth's views and opinions. But Brooks knew him way better than his sister and he had assumed that the man he considered to be a brother would be able to see that April was perfect for him. He wasn't sure that he'd be as indifferent after hearing what Brooks had to say.

April walked into the kitchen a little while later after taking a shower. She had changed into a pair of pyjama pants and an old Mercy West t-shirt. "Good afternoon," she smiled as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "How's the clinic, Alex?"

She walked towards the kitchen table and Jackson swiftly pulled her down into his lap before she had the chance to sit in a chair. She was surprised by his action but she smiled at him affectionately none the less.

"The clinic is good," Karev answered gruffly. "I checked on everything before I left. Thanks for your help."

"No problem." She sipped her coffee as she felt Jackson's arm tighten around her waist while his other hand settled on her thigh. Jackson never had a problem showing his feelings for her in front of people but something about the way that he was holding her made her feel like something was off. "Liam, was Jackson's room okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "it was great. He's just as messy as I remember. Great new sneakers though."

"April got them for me, and I'm not that bad," Jackson argued.

"Actually," April began slowly. "You are pretty messy. You're going to have to clean up if you're going to be staying in my room."

He playfully squeezed her waist and buried his nose in her hair. "I thought I'd be paying my room and board in sexual favours," he whispered.

"Looks like you're not fully trained yet Avery," Karev joked.

April glared at Alex as she got to her feet. Living with three men might be a little too much for her. She kissed Jackson on the cheek before she left the kitchen and returned to her bedroom to do wedding things.

"Are you whipped Avery?" Brooks inquired after the red-head disappeared.

"Completely," Karev answered for him.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "I'm not whipped. I'm in a serious relationship and when you're in a serious relationship, you do things out of respect and courtesy for the other person."

"Yeah, whatever," Karev replied. "Kepner had you whipped long before you even started dating. You could never say no to her."

Jackson was willing to acknowledge that Karev had a point. April had always had a certain power over him. "So what? I'm whipped and I love it."

There were a few more comments made at Jackson's expense before Karev departed to take a shower. Jackson brought his empty dishes to the sink and turned around to face his friend. "What did you mean earlier? Before Karev came home?" The curiosity was eating away at him.

Brooks laughed dismissively. "I just can't believe you're getting married, Avery."

Jackson smiled a little in relief. He had jumped to conclusions that had caused him panic. "Do you wanna hang out this afternoon? Play ball or something?"

"Do you have any tennis courts around here?"

"We do!"

"Sick! Do you have a spare racket?" Brooks asked excitedly.

Jackson nodded just as April poked her head around the corner. "Jackson, don't forget that we have a meeting with the caterer at three!"

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot!"

She saw that his face had fallen quite a bit so she asked, "Did you two just make plans?"

"We were gonna go play tennis," Brooks answered.

April walked up to Jackson with a smile. "Well, that's fine, go, have fun!"

He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest. "Are you sure? I don't want you going alone."

"I'm sure I can convince Alex to come with me. He'll get to try tonnes of food for free," she laughed.

"Are you sure?" Jackson asked again.

"Yeah," she replied confidently. She stood on the tips of her toes and gave him a soft kiss. "Have fun and I'll take care of the caterer."

Jackson and Brooks finished their third set of tennis and sat on the sidelines for an extended water break. On the next court over, two young women were playing and every now and then, they would take the time to glance over.

"See," Brooks began as he gestured towards the two attractive women. "This is why I can't believe you're getting married. You're Jackson Avery; you can have any woman you want. You could bring both of them home if you wanted to. You've been with more women than I have and now you're just…getting married."

Jackson chuckled as he poured water over his head. "I think that stat has changed over the past five years."

"How many women have you been with since you started residency?"

Jackson thought about it for a moment. His love life had been much quieter since moving to Seattle. He had been in two serious relationships and he had only casually dated a few women. He had only had two one night stands. "Seven," he finally answered.

"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Brooks asked incredulously.

Jackson laughed, "I was focused on the medicine. Besides, I love being monogamous, if you're about to give me the 'I can't believe you're only gonna sleep with one woman for the rest of your life' speech, you should know that."

"Well, yeah," Brooks shrugged. "I was about to give you that speech. Come on Avery, we aren't meant to be monogamous."

Jackson rolled his eyes. He had heard Brooks' views on fidelity and commitment many times. "I don't even think about other women anymore," he said honestly. He had sewn his wild oats. He was incredibly ready to settle down and be with just one person for the rest of his life. "I am more than happy with my sex life."

Brooks took a long sip from his water bottle. "So tell me all the dirty details." He was more than a little curious about Jackson's little red-headed fiancé.

Jackson shifted uncomfortably and twirled his tennis racket in his hand. He and Brooks had always traded stories about their conquests but he just couldn't bring himself to talk about April like that, like some sort of object. "Man, its private."

"What?" Brooks guffawed. "You have really gone soft for this chick."

"She's special," he said quickly. "Sex is very private and very personal to her so I'm not going to talk about her like I did girls in college. But it's amazing," he added quietly.

"Do you know what I think? I think that you're mesmerized by virgin pussy."

Jackson grimaced at his friend's choice of words and hopped to his feet. "Jesus Brooks, let's just play tennis."

April and Alex sat at the kitchen table and marvelled at all of the small cakes spread out before them. They had returned from the appointment with the caterer to find a truck from the bakery waiting to drop off wedding cake samples.

Alex moaned in approval and pointed his fork towards the cake in front of him. "This one is good. Try it."

April reached across the table and grabbed a bit with her fork. She tasted the cake and nodded. "That one is good." She made a note on the pad of paper in front of her. She was trying to keep an organized system of which cakes that she liked.

"So, not that I'm complaining or anything, but why isn't Avery doing this with you?" Alex asked as he scoped out which cake he was going to try next.

"He's playing tennis with Liam," she replied. "They haven't seen each other in a long time so I want them to spend some time together. They were really close growing up."

"So it doesn't bother him that your caterer thinks that I'm the groom?" He asked with a smirk.

She laughed as she took a bite of the red velvet cake. "Because it's so easy to mistake us as a happy couple," she said sarcastically. She got up out of her chair and moved towards the refrigerator for a glass of milk. "Do you want some milk?"

"Please, honey," he played along.

April screwed up her face in disgust at the endearment falling from Alex's mouth. "Don't do that ever again," she said as she placed a glass of milk in front of him. "It's scary. I'm actually much more comfortable with the repulsive side of you."

"You got it Kepner," he responded as he smacked her hard on the behind.

"Ow!" She yelped while Alex simply snickered.

"Hey Karev, paws off my fiancée," Jackson said as he walked into the kitchen with Brooks behind him. He wrapped an arm around April's waist and leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips.

"According to the caterer and wedding cake people, she's my fiancée," Alex stated just to piss Jackson off.

April ignored him and commented, "I didn't even hear you guys come in. How was your afternoon?" Her eyes subtly roamed over Jackson's body and all of the glistening, bulging muscles. She loved whenever he returned from working out; it did something very primal to her.

"It was good. How was the caterer?" He asked in return.

"Great! I brought back the options for our menu. They're in my bedroom and now we have wedding cake samples to choose from!" She told him excitedly.

Jackson peered at all of the little cakes on the kitchen table as one of his hands slipped down to cup April's ass. "Looks good." All of the cakes did look delicious but he was currently much more interested in something else. They had seen each other hours ago but he had still missed her. "Let's go look at those menu options," he said suggestively as he caressed her flesh. "Right now."

April felt her face and neck flush. His intentions were abundantly clear. "Um, yeah, okay. Alex, write down what cakes you like."

She barely managed to finish her sentence before Jackson was pulling her out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom.

"Are they always like that?" Brooks asked curiously once they heard a door slam shut.

"Yeah, pretty much," Alex answered honestly. "Avery gets a little possessive."

Brooks nodded as he took a seat at the kitchen table. He had never known Avery to be jealous, possessive, or territorial, especially not over a woman. "Interesting," he murmured.

"They screw a lot. I just pretend that they don't."

"Did you and April date or something?" Brooks probed nosily.

Alex laughed, "No, we didn't date. We made out once. It was a mistake and Avery kicked my ass for it."

Brooks had never known Avery to get into a fight over a girl either. Maybe there was a little more to their relationship than he thought. However, he still had a feeling that April didn't know Avery as well as she thought and that Avery might just be more in love with the idea of having the perfect marriage and family than he was with his fiancé.

Brooks walked into the kitchen for a late night glass of water and found April putting away the wedding cake samples. "They're all good," he smiled. He and Avery had spent the evening trying each cake.

"Yeah, they are," she chuckled.

"So, um," he began a little awkwardly as he scratched his chest. "How long have you and Jackson been together?"

"Well, we've only been dating since April." His eyebrows rose in surprise like she had expected. "Yeah, I know, it seems fast but we've known each other for so long that it doesn't feel fast. We've been friends since we were interns."

He nodded in understanding. Avery had told him that April was his best friend. "I get it; it's just that I've never known him to be such close friends with a woman."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "he was never really interested in friendship."

"Oh," she replied lamely as she placed some of the leftover cake in their refrigerator. Jackson had plenty of female friends…well, just Meredith and Cristina really. "So, in college, he dated a lot?" She asked inquisitively.

Brooks nodded with a smirk. "You could say that, yeah." He and Avery had turned dating women into a giant contest. They had always competed to see who could sleep with more women, who could bring home the more attractive woman, or in some cases, women. Everything had been a game to them, a game that they had gotten really good at. They had been young, smart, charming, rich, and attractive. They had partied like celebrities and women had been drawn to them. They had never gotten attached or serious. It seemed as if Avery hadn't shared any of his slightly checkered romantic past with his wholesome fiancé. "He hasn't given you the roster, yet?"

"The roster?" She repeated in confusion.

"Ya know, all of the women that he's slept with," he explained bluntly.

April's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open a little. They definitely had not had that conversation. She wasn't sure if she wanted to. She knew about Lexie and she knew about Mara Keaton. That knowledge was enough for her, especially since Jackson was the only name on her "roster".

"You're getting married," Brooks continued, "you have to exchange rosters."

"I-I don't think I really wanna know," she stammered.

"To each their own," he responded before sipping his water.

April finished putting away all of the little wedding cakes and then she bid Liam goodnight before returning to her bedroom. She hung her robe on the back of her door like she always did and Jackson smiled at her from the bed.

"What took you so long?" He asked playfully.

"I was just talking to Liam," she answered.

"Oh no," he laughed. "What did he say?"

"Nothing much," she answered dismissively. She slipped into bed and he immediately started kissing her neck. "Jackson," she giggled. "What has gotten into you lately?"

"What do you mean?" He questioned as his hands tried to pull her tank top off.

"Its like you can't keep your hands off me."

"I know," he grinned, "and this isn't exactly a new development."

She pulled him away from her collarbone and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm just a little tired, okay? And full from all the cake," she added with a laugh.

He laughed along with her. "That's okay." She lay down on her side and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I love you," he whispered into her ear.

April smiled to herself. "I love you too, Jackson."

But she now felt uneasy about their physical intimacy in a way that she never had before. She felt like she was being compared to every other name on Jackson Avery's "roster".

A/N: So 9x04 was just great! Japril was hot, cute, and funny.

Thanks so much for all the feedback about the idea of an AU story. I just started writing it! :)

Brooks is gonna stir a few things up! Please leave a review! :)