So the more I think about it the more disappointed I am in S9 Alex. Instead of exploring his family background again, his only SL is moping over a female version of himself. And a blogger on SpoilerTV suggested putting AK2 together since April doesn't have much going for her either. The writers are totally wasting away Japril's potential this season (and Alex in general). Ugh, lol. Oh, well.
Enjoy!
Samantha Avery was a wise woman. Arrogant, but wiser than many of her colleagues believed. She silently observed people's actions without them noticing. Reading their actions based on their body language was her specialty. Sometimes she called them out for it, sometimes she kept her opinions to herself. But when family was involved she never held herself back.
She didn't want to confront April about her potential relationship with Alex out in the open. A private office meeting would be too nerve wracking for the trauma surgeon. Samantha was aware of how uncomfortable her sister-in-law could get when she was alone with her. She wanted to ease into the conversation slowly when she least expected it.
The perfect opportunity came when a patient was rushed into the ER following a near fatal car accident off of the 101 freeway that morning. A young man suffered from a pneumothorax, a kidney contusion and a ruptured spleen. Because the case was April's, she needed assistance with cardio and paged Samantha to help her. Of course she agreed to operate with her. An Avery rarely turned down an Avery.
They would be spending at least a few hours in the OR. Samantha wanted to wait until their patient was stable before mentioning what she saw at Jordan's birthday party. She also loved the fact that April couldn't set her instruments down and simply walk away from her, so she would be forced to answer her. Whether or not there was a romantic relationship between her and Alex, the cardio surgeon just wanted to hear the truth.
"How's it going down there, Dr. Avery?" Samantha inquired while her eyes focused on the damaged lung.
"Kidney's been removed, but I think I may be able to salvage the spleen," April reported. "The tears appear relatively minor, so I should be able to repair them instead of removing it completely. How's the lung?"
"I've worked on more complex pneumothorax injuries," she gloated. "My work is almost finished here."
April slowly nodded. "That's great." She looked up at one of her residents. "Dr. Bryant, were you able to get a hold of Terrence's parents before you scrubbed in?"
"Yes, Dr. Avery. They should either be on their way or already waiting in the lobby," the young woman standing across from her answered.
"Why don't you go downstairs to the lobby and check, please?" Samantha suggested. "If they're already here, tell them their son sustained a collapsed lung, which I was able to repair, a kidney contusion that forced us to remove the organ completely and a splenic rupture that Dr. Avery is currently fixing. And if the mother begins to freak out, remember to ensure her that he will be fine. He has Avery's taking care of him."
April couldn't help but roll her eyes at the last comment. She never believed the Avery's were the only great surgeons at their hospital. Stanford was Stanford, one of the top programs in the nation, maybe even in the world. She felt almost every attending she worked with was considered the best in their specialty. Her school carpool buddy, Neil, was an excellent neurosurgeon. Maybe not as great as Derek Shepherd, but he won awards to prove his credibility. But since he wasn't an Avery he didn't receive as much credit as Samantha's husband David, who was also the Head of Neurosurgery.
She constantly promised herself she would never grow into an arrogant surgeon. Bragging about her accomplishments in medical school and residency was one thing, but she was nowhere near the level of Samantha's arrogance. The one time she called her out for it was during their first meeting. She had been testing the younger surgeon to see if she was good enough for her baby brother. April passed, though she felt embarrassed for yelling at her future sister-in-law in public. There wasn't much she could do about it, though. Samantha's conceited behavior was a part of her personality. Considering the redhead never wanted people to change her, she certainly wasn't going to be a hypocrite and ask others to.
"You know who may possibly be interested in you? Drake Henson," Samantha casually implied.
"From Urology?" April asked, raising her eyebrow at the cardio surgeon.
"Mmhmm," she hummed. "My mother's close friends with him. She can guarantee you that he's a decent man to date. He's a man who loves children as well."
April grimaced behind her surgical mask. "I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to date anybody yet."
"But you can date Alex Karev? That man is no good for you, dear," the elder Avery replied nonchalantly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I… saw something that appeared very suspicious at little Jordan's birthday party. Do all of your male friends smack your behind?" Samantha noticed another resident staring at them curiously. "Private conversation, Dr. Willard. Mind your own business."
April cleared her throat as she stared at the spleen she was repairing. "We're just friends. Alex has always been a pig. He doesn't have boundaries. Not to mention he's pretty much a pervert." She glanced up at her sister-in-law. "What you saw was a misunderstanding. He… he did that when I lived in Seattle too – and with our other coworkers."
"And nobody reported sexual harassment?"
"Oh, no! No, it's not like that," she assured her. "He only does that with our close friends. They're used to it. They don't care. Besides, Alex is a better person than you assume. He was a major help with the kids after Jackson died."
"From what I remember, he lacked manners. And he's always bitter about something," Samantha recalled.
April sighed, looking back down at her patient. "He had a rough life. He's been through a lot, so you should cut him some slack. I'm just saying, if you knew him on a personal level, you would understand why Alex acts the way he does," she explained defensively. "Actually, he can be a decent guy when he's not moody. I never expected he and Jackson to become best friends like they were. They hated each other when Seattle Grace and Mercy West merged."
"Ah, yes. Jackson once told me Alex was married. His wife had cancer, then she left him." She softly laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"
"He wasn't the reason why she left him," she retorted. Even though Izzie was one of her best friends now, she always thought it was crappy of her to leave Alex the way she did. "None of it was his fault. I barely just started working at Seattle Grace when it happened, but he was apparently a good husband."
"Is that why you're dating him now?"
The trauma surgeon groaned. "We're not dating. We have a close friendship for a variety of reasons, but that's it." She quickly shrugged her shoulders. "He wouldn't be an awful choice to act as a father for my sons, especially Jordan. They've always been close."
Samantha slowly shook her head. "You deserve better than him, April. You need someone at Jackson's level."
"Jackson's level?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I know Alex wasn't raised privileged like your family was, but comparing him to Jackson is like comparing apples and oranges. They're not the same."
"But one is much more respected than the other," Samantha argued. "Sure, Karev has that… Africa thing, but what he's done hardly compares to Jackson's breakthrough research on energy-based, noninvasive surgical tools for cosmetic surgery. Now that's Harper Avery Award material."
April frowned. "Well, he won't be winning it anytime soon," she mumbled to herself.
Samantha's eyes darted towards the widow, whose own eyes appeared glossy. She instantly felt guilty about bringing up Jackson, especially when April was trying her best to focus on saving their patient. "I'm sorry, Dr. Avery. I didn't mean to upset you."
"It's fine," she softly said. "Anything about Jackson typically strikes a nerve."
"I understand. His death continues to bother me as well," she sullenly replied. "He was still so young-"
"Can we not discuss him while I have an open patient on the table, please?" April blinked her eyes a few times to prevent her tears from falling out. There were two things she was pissed at Samantha for – bringing up Jackson in the OR and insulting Alex. She wasn't sure if she was able to convince her sister-in-law that she and the peds surgeon weren't together, but the only conversation she wanted to continue was medically centered. "More suction please, Dr. Willard."
Alex entered the attendings lounge whistling a random tune that popped up in his head. He walked towards the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee, ignoring the presence of his coworkers inside with him. Since returning from Palo Alto three days ago, he had been in a bright and shiny mood. Of course, nobody knew why, but they were all dying to find out what happened to him.
"Maybe he's a pod person," Cristina suggested, shaking her head as she ate her lunch. "This Karev scares me."
"Who is it, Alex?" Meredith inquired with a grin on her face. "Who's the lucky woman?"
"Unlucky, you mean," the cardio surgeon quipped.
The peds surgeon turned around sipping his coffee as he leaned back against the counter. "Even Yang's dumbass comments can't ruin my mojo," he countered, smirking at his coworkers. "And there's no freaking woman."
Cristina laughed out loud. "Oh, please. The only times you're ever this happy are when it's spaghetti day in the cafeteria or you're getting laid," she scoffed. "I'm leaning towards the latter, so whose vagina did you corrupt this time?"
Meredith covered her mouth to prevent spitting out her food. "You're cruel," she mumbled with a mouthful of salad. Looking back at Alex, she grew even more curious because he hadn't stopped smiling, despite Cristina's joke. "Just tell us. We're going to find out eventually."
"What? A dude can't be happy for the hell of it?" he replied with a shrug.
"Not when it's you, Evil Spawn," Cristina answered, pointing her fork at him. "Did April's perkiness rub off on you? What the hell's in the water in the Bay Area? When I flew down there for my Stanford interview I swear, the people there were more cheerful there than here. Maybe it's all of the sunlight they get in California. We're like freakin' vampires in Seattle."
Meredith began to wonder – was his new attitude because of April? It would make sense since she was the only person who was aware of his feelings for her. She realized it wouldn't be a surprise if they were together now.
"Speaking of April, how is she?" she asked, trying not to sound suspicious.
"She's fine, I guess. Looks the same," Alex said, unbothered by her question. "Jordan lost a tooth. He was stoked about that. I surprised him with his first bike on his birthday. He was excited about that too. Oh, and Cam can read his Dr. Seuss books by himself now. He's not four years old yet and he's freaking reading. He's like a mini Einstein. And Logan finally got over his clingy phase. He runs around and gets all pissy when you pick him up. It's funny as hell."
Meredith softly chuckled at her friend. He sounded like a father who was proud of his children's accomplishments. That didn't necessarily mean he was dating April because he had always been close to the Avery boys. She needed to fish out more information from him.
"Sounds adorable. Is April seeing anybody?"
Alex sipped his coffee before he spoke again. "No. She's got her hands full with the kids and work. She'll be here for Thanksgiving, so you can interrogate her then."
Kevin entered the lounge appearing just as jolly as Alex. Cristina couldn't help herself. "You too? Oh my God, are you Karev's secret woman? Both of you are flaunting the same perky smiles. It's disturbing."
"What?" The trauma surgeon stood beside his colleague, playfully nudging him with his elbow. "You're seeing someone?"
"No, I'm not. These two hags are just trying to start crap over nothing," Alex insisted.
Meredith smiled at Kevin. "Alright, we'll leave him alone for a minute. What's going on with you, Banks?"
"Okay, but keep it a secret for now. Jo might kill me for spreading this too soon, but she's six weeks pregnant," the blonde attending announced with a wide grin.
"That's wonderful news! Congratulations," Meredith happily replied.
Cristina offered her own congrats, though with her typical sarcastic tone. Alex, on the other hand, the smile on his face slowly wore off. He wanted to be happy for his former roommate, but thoughts of Jo always reminded him of their crappy break up.
"That's uhh… cool, dude. Congrats," he unenthusiastically said, drinking his coffee again to partially hide his face with his mug. After finishing it, he set the mug in the sink like he always did instead of washing it and headed for the door. "I gotta check up on my transplant kid."
Strolling down the hallway and into an elevator, his infamous Karev scowl returned. He hoped he wouldn't bump into Jo for the rest of the day, but that would be difficult considering she chose Pediatric Surgery for her specialty. His cell phone vibrated in his lab coat pocket and pulled it out. He received a text message from April.
CALL ME ASAP!
All caps and exclamation points meant it was urgent. Alex stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened and found an empty on-call room for privacy. He plopped down on the bed as he called April on his cell phone. Whatever was bothering her seemed important because she answered him with a panicked tone in her voice.
"April, what's wrong?" he asked concerned. "Are you alone?"
"I locked myself in my office," she murmured. April was curled up in the farthest corner away from her locked door. "I was operating with Samantha and she confronted me about us! Apparently, she saw you slapping my butt at Jordan's party and she's been suspicious ever since. I think I convinced her that we're not dating, but… I'm freaking out!"
Alex chuckled. "First, you need to relax. Your screeching can probably be heard from outside of your office, so keep that voice of yours down." He let out a sigh. "Uhh, is that all? If I don't hear anything in the next day or two from Catherine, then we're okay."
"And she was insulting you, telling me I deserved better," she added. "You know, if I wasn't related to her, I might have stabbed her with my scalpel. I'm just- I'm so tired of people not giving you enough credit. No matter how many times I've defended you they don't listen."
"I can take the blame for some of that. I wasn't exactly the most popular guy when I ratted out Mer for tampering Shepherd's clinical trial years ago," he replied, rubbing his eyes. "But uhh, thanks for sticking up for me. Don't listen to Samantha. She's a snooty bitch whose panty hose is so far up her ass."
April softly laughed. "Aww, don't be so harsh. She did apologize – although, that was for bringing up Jackson."
"Banks just announced that he and Jo are having a baby. That was my highlight of the day so far," he sarcastically said. "And Mer's trying to weasel information from me like she has us figured out."
"Does she?"
"No- I don't know. So what if she does? It's just Meredith. I'd be more concerned with your freaking mother-in-law finding out before we even tell anybody," he answered worriedly. "You just have to deal with Jackson's sister. I have his mom up here."
"Maybe we shouldn't worry about them finding out right now. It'll add to the stress we already have at work. Umm, Kevin and Jo are expecting?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Do we really gotta talk about that?" Alex whined. "I don't want to talk about those jerks."
"Fine. What do you want to talk about?"
The horny dude inside wanted to try out phone sex, but Alex knew April would hang up on him if he tried, especially during work hours. He chuckled at the thought before answering, "So uhh… are you staying at Webber's for Thanksgiving?"
"Catherine invited me, so yeah. I am. And she has the portable crib for Logan, so Webber's would be more convenient," she said and smiled. "That doesn't mean we can't sneak off to your house while I'm in town. I know Catherine will find time to take the kids and spoil them."
"I've gotten better at cleaning my house. And uhh, it doesn't stink – not as bad as it did before," he noted.
She softly laughed. "You're cleaning? I'm rubbing off on you."
"And walking into rooms whistling bubbly tunes," he added, rolling his eyes when she giggled. "I'm happy, whatever. It's nice being freaking happy for a change."
When November turned the corner April was counting down the days until she and the children returned to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Cameron's fourth birthday was also two days after the holiday, so she was glad Alex would be able to celebrate it with them. She looked forward to seeing her former coworkers, especially Lexie and Izzie. While they maintained their weekly Skype chats on Sunday's, she needed to see them in person. At Stanford, she made plenty of friends. Nico was her closest friend because they worked together in the ER, but she had only known him for a few months and didn't feel comfortable being completely open with him. With Lexie and Izzie, she could tell them anything, though Alex hated the idea of his exes being the first people to learn of their relationship.
A small voice in his head constantly bothered him, though. Now that he was officially dating April, the paranoid side of him could hear Jackson telling him, "Hurt her and you're a dead man."
Possible backlash from their peers, specifically anybody with the last name Avery, and failing at their relationship made for a lose-lose situation for the peds surgeon. He would rather face the first obstacle over losing another woman because he had commitment issues.
He also avoided visiting the cemetery. He got as far as the parking lot, then changed his mind. What was he supposed to say to Jackson?
"Hey, man. I'm seeing your wife now. Don't hate me," sounded ridiculous. There were days when the guilt was unbearable. Just passing by Catherine in the hallway made him uncomfortable. He would remind himself that Jackson would want somebody to look after April. Better him than a random man he didn't know, he thought. At least he had built trust with his best friend when he was alive. He would have felt worse if they were on bitter terms when the plastic surgeon passed away.
Time seemed to move slowly in the OR. Alex was operating on a young baby girl with small bowel atresia. While his mind should have been fully devoted to the tiny human on his table, he was partly distracted by April's impending arrival from California. He felt guilty because if he botched the procedure and the child died, it was all on him. It wasn't the most complicated surgery he had done, but a simple distraction could screw it all up.
Richard had volunteered to pick up the Avery clan from the airport that morning, which made sense since they were staying at his house for the next four days. But Alex wanted to be the one to see them first. A month away from them was brutal.
Jo was assisting her ex-boyfriend in the OR. She caught him glancing up at the clock on the wall, making her extremely curious. "Why do you keep checking the time?"
"I've got other shit to do," he muttered.
"I hope you're not calling your little patients shit. That's not very nice. Then again, look who I'm talking to," she sneered.
Alex scowled at Jo. In the past, their frequent teasing wasn't bothersome – when they were just friends and eventually lovers. Now, he despised every joke that came out of her mouth. "Please tell me you won't be this annoying until you're on maternity leave," he retorted. "By the way, what a perfect freaking time to get knocked up. Fifth year, studying for the boards and actually trying to pass them. Your baby will be born around the time you're supposed to take them."
She rolled her eyes at him. "And by then, you'll still be single and lonely. What a shame."
"That's what you think," he mumbled under his breath.
"What was that? I didn't quite hear you."
"Whatever." Alex let out a sigh of relief when his work on the baby was finished. "Alright. Duodenum and ileum are firmly connected now. Wilson, you can close for me, while I go talk to the parents. I'll give you a rundown on her post-op treatment when you're finished here. Any questions before I scrub out?"
Jo shook her head. "No, Dr. Karev."
"Don't kill her," he ordered before he walked out of the OR and into the scrub room.
After scrubbing out, the peds surgeon checked on his patients to kill the time. April's plane should have landed any minute now. If her hands weren't full dealing with the boys, she most likely would have sent him a text message to inform him. He had finished his set of rounds, leaving his patients with his residents. He stood by the nurses' station wondering how to greet her.
If she was with the children, he needed to act casual. Although, even without them, he couldn't show any real affection towards her. Their friends would notice, but at same time, would it be that bad for them to know?
Not that their relationship was any of the other doctors' business. It all depended on April's comfort level. Whenever she was ready, then he would be ready. Her freaking kids had no idea she was dating Uncle Alex in the first place. They had a right to know before anybody else did. But they hadn't discussed when the right time would be to sit down and talk to the young Avery's. First, they wanted to be sure their long distance relationship could last long enough for the "big" talk to be necessary.
He hated waiting for her, so he decided to walk around and find out if any of his coworkers bumped into her first. Now he needed to figure out a believable excuse to pry her away from them if that was the case. Casually walking through the hallways, he finally spotted her – with Lexie and Izzie hugging her and squealing like high school teenagers.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
"Look at you. You look amazing!" Izzie gushed as she pulled away from the trauma surgeon. "That California sun is doing wonders for your skin."
"Really?" April softly chuckled. "But I don't tan. I burn. I'm pretty sure my skin tone is exactly the same."
"Well, how are the kids? Where are they?" Lexie eagerly asked. "Mark wants to introduce Lily to Logan. You know, for future matchmaking purposes."
April playfully rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. They're with Catherine. She's letting me off the hook for a few hours, so I can do some catching up with you two," she answered, noticing Alex nearby out of the corner of her eye. He appeared fidgety and awkward while he pretended to read the useless crap on a bulletin board. "Karev! Quit being shy and get over here."
Well, he didn't have much of a choice now. Alex quickly approached the threesome, slightly ducking his head and scratching the back of his neck. "Hey," he greeted her, giving her a lazy, one-armed hug. "You're back."
"Yeah, I'm… back," she replied, smiling and nodding back at him. "How are you, Alex?"
"Uhh, just fixed a kid about an hour ago." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I just remembered. I gotta show you my rough draft of… the proposal to expand my Africa project to Stanford. I'm supposed to fax it to that Dr. Reynolds dude by next week and my grammar kind of sucks."
Lexie raised her eyebrow at Alex. "You're planning on expanding the project to Stanford? I haven't heard anything about that from Arizona."
"It's in the early stages or whatever. I'm not really supposed to be talking about it with anybody," he insisted. "And since April works at Stanford she probably should have a look at it. Anyway, let's go. I don't have all day to stand around."
April looked back at her friends as she walked away with Alex. "If I don't see you two later, we'll have plenty of time to catch up this weekend!" she called out to them.
The peds surgeon grinned after they turned into another hallway. "Think they bought that?"
"I think so," she said and playfully slapped his chest with the back of her hand. "Slick move, Dr. Karev."
"Anything to get you away from those two freaks," he quipped.
Before they could make it inside of on-call room, another distraction arrived, which only irritated Alex even more. Shane came rushing towards April and immediately hugged her.
"Dr. Avery, you're back!" the fifth year resident excitedly greeted her. "Has Alice seen you yet?"
"No, not yet. Heard she's scrubbed in with Meredith, so I'll try to find her when they're finished." April heard her impatient boyfriend clearing his throat and forced herself to smile at Shane. "You know what? I actually can't talk right now. I have to help Karev with a research paper for a journal."
"Oh, it's cool. I'll see you tomorrow anyway for Thanksgiving. And- and I'm sorry we didn't talk about asking Alice to move in with me. I mean, I know she's closest to you, so maybe I should've asked you-"
"Dude, Shepherd's looking for you. Go find him before he becomes freakin' moody," Alex intervened, rolling his eyes when Shane walked past him. He snickered after he disappeared from their sight and opened the door of an empty on-call room. "Dweeb."
April smirked at him as she shook her head. "Don't be so mean," she managed to say before his lips crashed into hers. She swiftly pushed off his lab coat, while he worked on the buttons of her coat. He nearly ripped open her blouse when she decided to tease him by gently biting on his lower lip.
"Freakin' A," he mumbled, which only made her laugh. He pulled his scrub top over his head and laid her on the bed, kicking off his shoes in the process. "I've been working out more."
She pressed her hand against his slightly flatter abdomen. He didn't quite have a beer belly, but the physique he had when they were residents had changed over the years. "That's good," she giggled.
He dug his fingers into her hair as he kissed her neck. "I'm seriously trying to clean myself up and stuff," he admitted. "I'm like trying really freakin' hard to impress you."
"Wait, what?" April lifted Alex's head from her neck, so she could look directly at him. "You don't need to try to impress me. You've already been doing that since… whenever we agreed to give us a shot."
"September 7th," he blurted out. She raised both of her eyebrows at him, surprised he carved that detail into his memory. He was never one to pay attention to that kind of detail. "What? I sent you pink roses. It was a good day."
"It was," she agreed, kissing his lips again. "And to be honest, you've been impressing me before any of this happened. You've been really, really great – with everything."
Alex smiled down at the woman underneath him. Ever since residency, she had always covered his ass when he never asked for the support or wanted it. She tolerated his rude behavior and teasing for years. The only other person to stand by him – for the most part – was Izzie and he loathed her now. Why anybody would want to deal with his crap, he probably would never understand that. But April was always there even when he didn't want her to be. Now he hated it when they weren't together. The long distance was unbearable, but he was going to try to make it work for her. This was one relationship he refused to let fail.
Because he was beginning to fall in love with her.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked, snapping him out of his deep thoughts.
He quickly shook his head and kissed her deeply to put them back in the mood. "It's nothing."
Thanksgiving in the Webber household was going to be full and hectic. If it weren't for his large living room, he wouldn't have hosted such a giant dinner in his home. Derek and Meredith plus two children. One Grey meant the other one would be attending as well, making that Grey and Sloan plus three children. Of course, Sofia wasn't going to be separated from her father for the holiday, so Arizona and Callie, along with tiny Timothy, were invited as well. Miranda Bailey and her husband, Ben, would also be attending. Her son Tuck was spending Thanksgiving with his father's family. Addison and Henry added to the group count, while Alice and Shane were able to get off of work for a few hours to have dinner with them as well.
It was impossible for Alex and April to sneak away, even for a couple of minutes just to cuddle. He didn't mind as much as he thought he would. Jordan was showing off the now wide gap in the top row of his teeth. He lost his other front tooth the previous week and received two dollars from the Tooth Fairy. Alex couldn't get enough of his lisp now.
And Jordan was sporting his newly shaved haircut because he wanted to be like Jackson. Since Cameron idolized his older brother, he had the same haircut as well. April refused to give Logan the same do, even though it would have been cute for all of them to match. She adored the baby curls on her youngest son's head too much to trim them off.
"Touch it, Uncle Alex. It's fuzzy," the 6-year old demanded, taking Alex's much larger hand and placing it against the top of his head.
"Wow, you're like a peach," he jokingly replied. "So, how many goals did you score in your first soccer season, dude?"
"I scored nine!" Jordan chirped, holding up nine fingers with his hands. "I scored two goals in one game! I wish you saw me play. Mommy said I'm gonna be a super good next year, so you have to come watch this time."
Alex instantly felt guilty for not having attended any of Jordan's soccer games. He blamed their schedules. The week he was in Palo Alto for his birthday was the same week his soccer team had a freaking bye. And he wasn't able to make it back out to California to watch him play before the season ended. April had e-mailed him a few videos she recorded with her cell phone for him to watch, but it wasn't the same feeling. In a way, he felt like he let the little guy down no matter how many times he apologized.
"I really promise this time that I'll watch you, okay?" He slyly grinned as he pointed at Arizona. "You should tell your Aunt Arizona to give me a nicer schedule next year, so I can watch you play. She may be your cool godmother, but she's also my boss."
Jordan nodded before running off to the perky peds attending. "Auntie 'Zona! You gots some 'splaining to do!"
Alex chuckled as he watched the young boy talk to Arizona with a lot of arm motions. He shrugged and grinned at his superior when she looked past Jordan's small head to slightly glare back at him. Walking away to avoid a pointless confrontation, he entered the kitchen where April and Alice were helping Catherine finish the last preparations for dinner.
"Dude, how much longer? I'm starving," he whined, examining the various dishes sitting on the countertops.
"Maybe another 20 minutes," April answered while she pulled out a fresh batch of biscuits from the oven. "Can you check if Logan's awake from his nap upstairs, please?"
"Uhh, sure." Alex walked out of the kitchen and went upstairs to April's temporary bedroom. It was like she had ESP because when he opened the door Logan was awake and standing in his crib. He appeared agitated about being left alone based on the cries coming out of his mouth until he saw another life form arrive. "Hey, little dude."
He picked up the 16-month old from his crib. The smile on the baby's face let him know he was happy to have company. "Well, you look like you had a nice nap. Are you hungry? Cause I am."
On the bed was Logan's outfit for dinner. Khaki pants, a short sleeved white polo and a red clip-on bow tie made Alex softly laugh. He never understood why parents dressed their infants and toddlers up. They were going to ruin their clothes with food stains anyway, so what was the point?
"You gotta be kidding me," he said to himself and placed Logan on the bed. Sitting beside him on the edge, he picked up the bow tie with his finger and thumb. "Your mom's really trying to make you look like a dork, huh? Do you really want to wear this?"
Logan's little fingers grasped the bow tie. He waved it around before throwing it at a random direction. Just because Jackson loved wearing bow ties it didn't mean his offspring felt the same way.
"That's what I thought," he replied with a smirk. "Oh, well. Mama's gonna change you if I don't do it for her, so I guess you'll just have to suck it up for an hour or two."
Alex carefully removed the onesie and tickled Logan's chubby belly. His infectious giggles made the peds surgeon smile. The whole pseudo dad thing was kind of neat, though it was weird referring to himself as that. He struggled to slip on the khaki pants as the bluish-green eyed baby continuously kicked his legs.
"C'mon, dude. I know I'm not your dada or whatever, but you need to put your freakin' pants on."
"Da-da-da-da-da," Logan giddily blurted out.
"Whoa, kid. I'm not your-"
He paused. Perhaps he misunderstood the tiny human's rambles. Logan had the tendency to repeat words he heard. It was the first time Alex heard him say dada, but that didn't necessarily mean anything… at least he hoped not. Or maybe April had been teaching him the word just for the hell of it. Maybe it wasn't a big deal at all.
Either way, it was awkward.
During dinner, everybody gathered in the living room. Three tables were combined for the adults, while the children ate together at a small table nearby. The babies sat with their parents and Mark had the honor of eating and feeding Lily simultaneously.
The doctors were all curious to hear about April's experience at Stanford. She shared stories about unusual cases that came into the ER and how she had been handling life as a single mother in California. In return, the others helped her catch up on life at Seattle Grace Mercy West. Arizona briefly discussed the possibility of expanding Alex's Africa project to India. They had built up enough funding throughout the years to extend their help to another country and she wanted her favorite student to write a proposal to the board for it. But Alex had a different idea.
"Expanding to India's cool, but how about we build a connection with Stanford? Expand the project to their hospital too," he suggested. "Uhh… I had this chat with Dr. Reynolds of the children's hospital over there last month. He thinks we could network with them. Seattle Grace gets Africa and uhh, we can send India to Stanford."
And Meredith's suspicions of Alex and April arose again, especially when the trauma surgeon agreed it was a brilliant idea. However, Arizona also thought it was a smart idea to form a bond with a potential sister hospital for the project. She hadn't seen any interactions between them that screamed a romantic relationship. Either they were just friends or they hid their feelings too well for anybody to notice anything out of the ordinary.
She was beginning to grow desperate. Her friend had a girlfriend who he refused to tell anybody about. His brighter mood couldn't have emerged out of nowhere because he was Alex Karev. She probably knew him better than anyone else did.
So she casually dropped her fork on the floor. Bending over to pick it up, she took a peek underneath the table and she finally received her confirmation.
His hand on her knee, gently rubbing it with his thumb. And her hand was on top of his, which made it even more obvious.
Meredith could only smile, though she quickly resorted to her poker face as she sat up on her bed. Her two friends were a couple. While she used to believe it would be a bad idea because of the distance, she couldn't help but feel happy for them. They both seemed to be doing alright. Alex hadn't been an asshole to any of the residents or interns whose name wasn't Jo. April's perkiness was back in full effect.
Maybe they could work after all.
Following dinner, most of the doctors were on their way out to return to their homes, especially the ones with children. Alex offered to help clean up, while April and Catherine were in the kitchen dealing with the dishes. Meredith wanted to talk to him before she left with her family.
"So…" the general surgeon started as she stood beside Alex. "You and April."
"What?" he replied, shaking his head while he continued stacking dishes on top of each other.
Meredith smiled and playfully nudged her friend with her elbow. "Oh, stop. I saw your hand on her knee," she answered. His face formed into a scowl, making her laugh. "No need to get angry. I'm happy for you. She can be a little anal retentive and overly perky, but maybe that's exactly what you need in a woman."
Alex quickly shrugged. "Whatever. Just don't tell anyone not even Yang."
"How long have you two been together?"
"A couple of months. Although, we weren't even in the same state during the first month." He sighed, turning to face her. "Look, her kids don't know yet. She's waiting for the right time to talk to them. Well, Jordan and Cameron. Dude, Logan was saying freakin' dada to me earlier. What if he thinks I'm his dad?"
"Don't you want to be? You're great with them, Alex," Meredith insinuated.
"But I feel guilty," he whispered. "I'm not their dad and Logan's never been able to call Jackson that. It's just all too damn weird for me. It puts me in an uncomfortable position, especially if Catherine doesn't think I'm good enough for April. His snobby sister hates me, but I'm not surprised."
She gently patted his lower back. "You're happy, though. I can tell you both are. April probably feels awkward too sometimes," she insisted. "And I know a thing or two about dysfunctional families. I didn't even know Lexie and Molly existed until our intern year. At least the boys are already comfortable being around you."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed, nodding his head.
"So, are you in love yet?" she teased.
"Shut up," he chuckled. Alex carried a stack of dishes and walked towards the kitchen. "I'm not talking anymore about this with you, Mer. You caught us, good for you. Just don't harass me with questions from now on."
Meredith giggled at Alex's bashfulness. He clearly had more than butterfly feelings for April. She wondered if the redhead's feelings were mutual. She didn't seem to be the type of person to hurt him either. They contradicted each other, but that was why they probably worked. Odd couple for sure, but they also perfectly fit together.