Thanks for the reviews! It seems a lot are upset over the lack of Japril lately, but I thought the last episode showed some progress between them. Remember to keep the faith ;)
Enjoy!
Strolling into the residents locker room, Jackson paused by the doorway when he recognized a familiar face already dressed in her baby blue scrubs. Standing beside the cubbies with Reed was April making him smile brightly. Although, he wondered why she hadn't contacted him about her rehiring. He was positive he would have been the first person to find out since it had been his doing in the first place. It didn't matter anymore to him because she was officially a Seattle Grace Mercy West resident again and she was staying put in Seattle.
He immediately approached the two women, receiving a small scowl from his pixie haired friend before she turned away. The pretty boy brushed it off. It was the morning and Reed was almost always in a pissy mood. The more important person he wanted to see was April anyway.
"Hey, welcome back," he happily greeted the redhead. "I didn't hear from you yesterday."
"Oh, yeah. About that, thank you," she murmured, keeping her head down while she filled her pockets with extra pens and her red notebook.
Jackson slightly furrowed his brow, trying to figure out why April refused to make eye contact with him. "I'm really glad you're staying. You have no idea how desperate I was becoming these past few days. I was a mess not being able to talk to you."
"Were you really?" she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she walked past him. "I have to report to Chief Shepherd."
He watched her leave the locker room, completely confused by her behavior. Where was the typical perkiness from her in the morning?
"I don't understand," he sighed, turning to face Reed. "Why didn't you tell me April got her job back when I came home from Joe's last night?"
"I would have if she hadn't told me about your little date," she sternly replied. "April went to Joe's last night to tell you about staying here, but she found you with another woman. Apparently, you looked really comfortable, not like a guy who's been bumming out about their ex leaving."
Jackson groaned, lightly slamming his forehead against a cubby. "It wasn't a date. Charles set me up with a nurse-"
"Why do you always listen to him? I swear, you two can be ridiculously stupid when you're together." Reed faced Jackson with her arms folded. "She thinks you moved on after your little 'no contact' rule. It didn't take very long for you to go from sad puppy to a giddy rabbit, huh?"
"I haven't moved on from April. Listen, this is what happened last night. I met up with Nurse Lacey for drinks just to be nice. I put on a fake smile, pretended to care about what she had to say and then I went home," he explained convincingly. "And while that all happened, I had April on my mind. If I had known she would show up, I would've ditched that nurse in a heartbeat."
"Fine. Fix this and move back home," Reed instructed. "You're leaving a permanent butt print on our couch."
Jackson pursed his lips as he walked across the locker room to his cubby. Charles was seated on the bench and he didn't hesitate to slap the backside of his best friend's head. "Oww! What the hell, Avery?"
He set his bag inside of his cubby before he responded. "You dipshit. April's not leaving, but because of your brilliant idea, she saw me at Joe's with Nurse Lacey and she assumes I decided to start dating other people. Now she's mad at me again."
Charles glared at Jackson while he rubbed the back of his head. "You know, you also didn't have to listen to me," he retorted. "Besides, all you gotta do is tell her the truth and she'll forgive you. No big deal."
"If she even freaking talks to me for the rest of the day," he muttered, removing his jacket and throwing it into his cubby. He didn't want to bother her on her first day back, yet he couldn't bear another day being away from her. "I'll try to talk to her when the time is right. She needs to get back into the flow of things in the hospital."
Getting back into a work routine wasn't as difficult as April had anticipated. After she had gotten fired, she always made sure to set aside time for reading medical journals and studying surgeries she hadn't been able to witness or participate in. It helped that Derek gladly took her under his wing on her first day back at the hospital. Her passion for neurosurgery continued, especially when she had the chance to study under one of the top neurosurgeons in the country.
There was one downside to being under Shepherd's service, though. Being Chief of Surgery consisted of an endless amount of paperwork, making it difficult for him to step a foot inside of an OR. The perky redhead would happily scrub in to a basic craniotomy if one came their way. She hoped she would be able to assist on at least one surgery before the day was over.
For now, she was in charge of post-ops for Dr. Nelson, who was dubbed "Shadow Shepherd". It was better than nothing, April thought.
"Kepner back in scrubs. Did you sleep with Shepherd to get back into the program?" Alex teasingly questioned after he arrived at the nurses' station and stood beside her. She simply scowled at him before glancing back down at an open chart. "So… you and Pretty Boy aren't a thing anymore, huh?"
"We are… we aren't seeing eye to eye at the moment," she reluctantly answered.
He leaned against the countertop and half-smiled at her. "Which means you're free to do whatever you want, right?"
She looked back at him, furrowing her eyebrows. "You do realize you hit on me before during our intern year and I rejected you, right?"
"That was intern year. I grew up," Alex insisted unconvincingly. He moved closer to April, his mouth near her ear. "Listen, I'm no Avery, but I have other assets that you'll be freakin' impressed with. Even though you're Shepherd's flunky, you're still nice to look at."
Behind them, Jackson cleared his throat after he noticed Karev trying to hit on his woman. With his hands inside of his lab coat pockets, he clenched his fists. Seeing another man making moves on April did make him jealous. It didn't matter to him that she was upset with him. He hated anybody who laid their eyes on her. Alex simply walked away with a smirk on his face, while she pretended not to notice him standing a few feet away.
He slowly approached her and casually leaned back against the countertop. "How's your day so far?"
"Slow. No surgeries for me unless Dr. Shepherd finds the time to operate," she pessimistically replied, her eyes staring down at her chart. "But I got hit on by Alex Karev on my first day back. That's different."
Jackson hesitantly placed his hand against April's lower back. She slightly flinched in response and he sighed. "Last night with that nurse meant nothing, okay? Charles set me up with her and-"
"You listened," she finished his sentence.
"Yes, I listened and it was incredibly stupid of me," he admitted with a grimace. "Don't worry. Reed gave me a ton of much deserved grief over this. Sometimes I wonder if she and Charles are still dating or they just tolerate each other enough to split the rent of their apartment."
"They have a very weird relationship, that's for sure," she murmured.
He inched closer to her, snaking his arm around her waist. She didn't appear to be resisting him, so he placed a kiss against her cheek. "Have dinner with me tonight," he softly spoke into her ear. "Now that you're staying, I want us to talk about everything. I want things to finally be good between us again."
"Okay," she answered, slowly nodding her head.
A smile formed on Jackson's face. He was making better progress with her than he had originally anticipated. "After work, okay? We'll go to that diner that's just a block away."
April looked up at him and softly smiled. "I love you."
"You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that," he stated gleefully. He pressed his hand against her cheek and kissed her lips. "I love you too."
Before he could lean in for another kiss, she stopped him by placing her finger against his lips. "Get back to work, Dr. Avery," she playfully ordered. "Like you said, after work. Keep it in your pants."
"Fine. I'll behave," he replied, placing his hands behind his back.
Her pager went off and she checked to see who it was from. "Oh, Shepherd's paging me downstairs to the pit," the redhead squeaked. "Incoming trauma, yes! I mean, not yes as in I'm celebrating someone whose life is potentially in danger, but uhh… you get it."
Jackson chuckled as he gestured his arm to shoo her away. "I do. Alright, go. I'll see you after work." He watched her rush down the hallway, laughing at the small skip in her strides. Things were finally beginning to feel like the old days when nothing could come in between them. Whether their engagement would be on again immediately or not, just being with April again was the most important thing.
"You're pretty," a deep, husky voice stated from behind.
The fourth year resident turned around to find Mark Sloan standing next to him at the nurses' station. He awkwardly stared at the Chief of Plastics, then he forced a laugh. "I'm into women, sir," he dismissively responded.
"I know that, you idiot," the older man retorted and rested his hands on his hips. "I meant you're pretty, like a doctor who belongs in plastics with me. You seem like a guy who aims for perfection. Plastics is all about precise cuts and perfect incisions."
"I'm aware, but I'm interested in cardio," Jackson politely declined. "Uhh, thanks for the offer, though."
"Cardio," Mark scoffed. "Everyone knows Cristina Yang owns cardio. You got some relations to Harper Avery or something?"
"No," he lied without hesitation. "Just a coincidence that we share the same last name."
"I see. So, that Dr. Kepner – she's yours?"
"Yes, why?" Jackson suspiciously questioned. He wondered if Sloan was showing a possible interest in April, which would piss him off greatly. He was aware that Mark had been in a relationship with Lexie Grey not too long ago, but they had broken up recently.
The plastic surgeon firmly patted his shoulder. "Don't let a good thing go, you got it? Trust me. I know." He started to walk away, but he stopped and turned around. "Oh, and remember to keep plastics in mind. It's not often I go out of my way to search for residents to teach. Consider yourself blessed."
"Plastics," the pretty boy sneered after Mark left him alone. The word sounded wrong coming out of his mouth. He was a cardio guy all the way. Plastics was for residents who wanted an easy route to a hefty paycheck. "Yeah, right."
April's joy over working with Derek was short-lived. Their patient had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage following a car accident in downtown. CT scans showed a subdural hematoma, so they immediately prepped him for surgery. However, the amount of intracranial pressure in the brain became too severe and there was too much bleeding for the neurosurgeon to handle.
It was exactly what she didn't want to happen on her first day back at work – a patient dying on the table. Then again, the situation was much more different than when she accidentally killed Cathy Becker. The chances of this patient surviving was very slim, yet she still felt terrible about losing him. She tried not to show how upset she was while she scrubbed out, but she was also the type who couldn't hide her emotions.
Derek entered the scrub room and April turned away as tears rolled down her face. He sighed as he listened to her sniffles. "Dr. Kepner, there was nothing we could do. This patient was too far gone to be saved."
"I-I I understand. I… I was just hoping I could get through the day without a p-patient dying on me," she shakily replied, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry. I wanted at least one good outcome in my first time back in an OR."
He rested his hand on her shoulder. "April, you know this wasn't your fault. You did everything I asked you to do, but no matter what we did, there would've been a chance that Mr. Patterson wouldn't wake up at all. I rehired you because I know you've got great potential. Don't let this one bad outcome defeat you. Neurosurgery is complicated and sometimes even I hate it, but if you're not being challenged, then why bother?"
She nodded in agreement. "Y-yes, you're right."
Derek smiled, comfortably rubbing her shoulder. "You still did a nice job. We'll get a better outcome next time," he assured the redhead and started washing his hands. "Talk to Avery yet?"
"Umm… yes, we talked," April stated, slightly smiling back at the neurosurgeon. Talking about Jackson seemed to make her feel a little better. He was a more intriguing topic than a freaking dead patient by a landslide. "We're getting there."
"Good. That's good to hear."
"How… how did you and Dr. Grey get married?" she inquisitively asked. "Was it romantic?"
Derek chuckled. "Well, we wrote down our vows to each other on a blue post-it and signed it," he happily answered. "Nothing fancy. Not everything has to be. When you love somebody more than anything it shouldn't matter how you get married as long as you finally do it. You chose that person, they chose you. But you look like the kind of woman who would enjoy a classic wedding. There's nothing wrong with that either."
"I used to plan weddings for my dolls, so I'd have a better idea of how my dream wedding would be," she sheepishly replied, sharing a laugh with him. "So, wait. You two aren't technically married then?"
"We consider ourselves married. That's what matters," he nonchalantly said. "C'mon, it's a bit unique, don't you think? Do you know of anyone else who got married via post-it?"
"No, I can't say I do. I'm sure there was something romantic in it all."
"People interpret romance differently. For me, it was romantic enough." Derek finished washing his hands and dried them with a towel. "I have to go downstairs and break the bad news to Mr. Patterson's wife. Why don't you take a break? I'll page you if I need you."
April simply nodded, then she was left alone in the scrub room. She dried her eyes with her scrub top before she walked out into the hallway, removing her scrub cap simultaneously. Her conversation with Shepherd helped her feel less distraught over losing one patient. It was just one patient, she reminded herself. There would be plenty of more people she could save in the future.
She decided to search for Jackson. He was likely on Teddy Altman's service, trying to impress the cardiothoracic surgeon and steal Yang's thunder. Instead of wasting her break by guessing where he was, she sent him a text message and asked him to meet her at the nurses' station on the third floor. It didn't take long for him to find her. He appeared eager to see her again.
"Hey, were you in surgery?" He immediately noticed the puffiness in her eyes. "Were you crying? Everything okay?"
"Umm, the patient died on the table," she muttered, biting down on her lower lip.
"Bummer. You're alright, though?" he asked concerned, gently rubbing her shoulder.
"Mmhmm," April hummed and slipped her hand into Jackson's. She led him down the hallway, while he quietly wondered where she was taking him. The redhead found an empty on-call room and pulled him inside. "Shepherd gave me a break."
Her lips crashed against his before he could respond. She pushed his lab coat off of his shoulders as she hungrily kissed him. "April," he said in between kisses. "What happened to after work?"
She giggled as she took a step back. "Dinner can still happen. Like I said, I'm on a break."
He watched in amusement as she removed her scrub top. "So, you think I'm on break too?" April responded by dragging him towards the bed. She collapsed onto her back, pulling him on top of her and kissing him again. "You were never like this before at work. I had to practically beg you to sneak into an on-call room with me at Mercy West."
"I know, but we're different now. We're sort of starting over, so how about we kick things off with some… hot, dirty sex?" she seductively suggested, yanking his scrub top over his head.
Hot, dirty sex? Yeah, he would be ridiculous to pass that up. Jackson smugly grinned as April's hands hastily untied the strings of his scrub pants. "You are very impatient right now," he teasingly said.
"Yeah, yeah. Take your pants off already," she playfully retorted. "This isn't breakup sex anymore."
"Yes, ma'am," he chuckled, drawing a slap on the shoulder. "For the record, I've always loved the bossy side of you."
April forcefully flipped him over onto his back and she straddled his lap. "Jackson," she said and placed her palms against the pretty boy's bare chest. "Call me ma'am again and you're in trouble. I am not your mother."
"Thank God for that," he breathlessly stated, cupping the back of her head and pulling her down for a kiss.
After work, Jackson waited for April in the residents locker room. They left the hospital together, walking to a nearby diner a block away hand in hand. Almost everything was back to normal for them. Almost. Just because they had made love earlier that day, it didn't mean they were drama free yet. There were many issues both of them needed to clear up first.
Sitting beside each other in a booth, they ordered their dinners before jumping into a much needed conversation. "So, where should we start?" Jackson inquired, stretching his arm along the top of their seat and behind April's head. "How did UVA take the news of you staying in Seattle?"
"They were disappointed, but they'll get over it," she answered with a shrug. "I haven't even unpacked any of my boxes. I was too preoccupied with preparing to return to Seattle Grace that I left them sealed and sitting in the living room. It's a good thing I hadn't shipped them off to Virginia before Dr. Shepherd called me."
"I thought he might have blown off my plea to bring you back."
April smiled back at him. "Thank you for doing that. I know I didn't sound very grateful this morning, but I mean it. I would rather be here with you than alone in Virginia. I can't thank you enough."
"You sounded pretty thankful to me in the on-call room," he quipped. Jackson laughed as she rolled her eyes at him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "I guess this means I can get my stuff from Charles and Reed's apartment and come home to you?"
"Yes. Our place is eerily uncomfortable without you around."
He softly chuckled, gently pressing his forehead against her temple. "My mother should be thrilled that we're together again. At least she and the rest of my family will stop thinking I'm a loser – except for my grandfather. That won't change unless I move back home to Boston."
"You're not a loser, Jackson," she assured him with a kiss. "You're the best boyfriend- fiancé… umm… lover anybody could ask for?"
"About that… are we engaged again or should we take things slower?" he curiously asked. "Because I want to marry you and I don't want to wait another year for our wedding. I took you for granted and it bit me in the ass. There's no way I'm letting that happen again."
The redhead glanced down at her bare left ring finger. "I do miss wearing that diamond ring," she truthfully stated. "If we decide to get married this year, then we need to start planning it. Plus, the competitive side of me wants to get married before Kimmie does."
Jackson grinned. "I think we can figure something out. Our mothers will be on top of it after we tell them we reconciled our differences," he insisted. "What do you want in our wedding?"
"Well, I always dreamed of getting married in a field full of wildflowers and releasing butterflies after saying the I do's. Of course I was ten when I thought that was incredibly romantic, so I'm sure I can devise a better plan," April shyly admitted. "But there is one thing I've always wanted. I want these little mints that say 'Mint to Be' on them. I've always thought that was cleverly adorable."
"Mint to be," he recited slowly and smirked at her. "Sounds very… you. I mean, it's us. We can do the mints. I'm okay with that. What else you got?"
She clapped her hands together and smiled brightly at him. "Oh, gosh. I'm not sure where to start. I had a list of possible wedding locations written down in this journal at home. It's a journal specifically for all of our wedding ideas, so I can show you that later, but we can talk about honeymoon locations first."
He nodded in agreement. "I'd love to hear where we'll possibly be having a ton of sex as a married couple."
"Is that all you think about?"
"I can't help it. I'm a guy," Jackson innocently replied. "I'm a guy who's in love with an extremely beautiful woman. It's difficult not to think about sex."
"Uh huh, smooth talker." April laughed, shaking her head. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. Honeymoon locations. I considered tropical locations, despite the fact I burn easily under the sun, but I've always wanted to visit the Bahamas or Jamaica. I also want to see Hawaii- can you tell I haven't traveled much?"
Jackson smiled as his fiancée cheerfully rambled about all of her wedding ideas. At one time, he never showed any interest in wedding planning. He avoided it as much as possible, but listening to April discuss everything in detail now made him quite excited about marrying her – whenever their wedding date was.
A month passed and Valentine's Day arrived. Jackson had made it his personal mission to impress April with a romantic gesture he rarely performed for her. He got off of work early, so he could beat her home and prepare his surprise. The holiday gave him an excuse to do something cheesy and it was easy with his fiancée because she appreciated almost everything that was tacky to other people. It was also a way to make up for all of the stupid things he had done in the recent months.
She entered their apartment and was welcomed by a romantic setting in the dining area. The table was set up with a white tablecloth covered with scattered rose petals and there were two lit candles. He purposely left the living room lights off, so the area was dimly lit.
Jackson stood in the kitchen, proudly grinning at her awed expression. "Surprised?"
"You cooked dinner?" she gushed, setting her purse on the couch before she approached him. "Something smells really yummy and I'm not talking about your cologne."
"Yours truly made a shrimp linguini pasta in a white wine sauce and for dessert, I baked a double-layered, heart shaped chocolate cake," he announced, then he picked up a red box with a bow tied around it. "But uhh… if both taste like shit, we can pig out on this box of chocolates instead, okay?"
April let out a laugh, wrapping her arms around Jackson's neck. "I'm sure you did a fine job. It looks like you really went all out tonight," she complimented and kissed his lips. "I love you. You're amazing."
"Happy Valentine's Day." He brought her to the dining table and pulled out the chair for her. "Sit down and relax."
"I can't believe you skipped out on Altman's heart valve replacement just to make me dinner." She smiled as he poured red wine into her glass. "I mean, you let Cristina have another cardio surgery."
Jackson shrugged, carrying two plates of food to the table. "You're way more important to me than any surgery." He set one plate in front of her and the other in front of his seat. "Hopefully, you'll still be alive after dinner."
"Stop doubting your cooking. I remember when you made me pancakes for my birthday and those were delicious," she recalled, picking up her fork and tasting the pasta. He anxiously waited for her opinion without having touched his own plate yet. "Are you lying to me?"
"Lying to you?"
"You didn't cheat and buy this from some fancy restaurant?"
Her fiancé shook his head. "Nope. I promise I made this mostly from scratch. I even carefully followed this recipe I found online. You really like it?"
"I love it, Jackson. Honest," the redhead chirped. "You need to cook for me more often."
"I'll keep that in mind," he happily noted.
After dinner, they moved to the couch. April sat on Jackson's lap, her hands grabbing at his face while they made out. It might have been the most romantic Valentine's Day for them as a couple. He went out of his way to make her feel special and the night was far from over. In his mind, they were just getting started.
But something suddenly came over him, a thought that wasn't originally in his plans.
"April," he mumbled against her lips as his hands roamed underneath her shirt. "Marry me."
"You already know the answer to that question, silly," she scoffed, giggling while she peppered kisses against his neck.
"No. Marry me now." Jackson half-smiled at April when she stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Let's get married tonight."
Her mouth dropped open. "Y-you want to elope?" She forced herself to laugh as she stroked his cheek. "How much wine did you drink during dinner, babe?"
"I'm serious. I know it sounds crazy, but I don't want to wait anymore. I love you so much and nothing would make me happier if you married me tonight," he explained, picking up her hand and kissing the back of it. "We have the weekend off. We can fly to Las Vegas and get married tonight. And we don't have to tell anybody if you don't want to. It'll be a secret between the two of us. You deserve the wedding ceremony of your dreams and we can still do that even after we become husband and wife. I'm not kidding around and I won't regret this in the morning. Why would I regret marrying you?"
April nervously chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to process everything Jackson had said. She never envisioned herself as the eloping type. Her parents would be furious. His parents would tell him it was unbecoming of an Avery. However, she remembered her conversation with Derek. The post-it wedding was enough for him and Meredith. They were happy together and being in love was all that mattered.
"When you love somebody more than anything it shouldn't matter how you get married as long as you finally do it."
Jackson did promise her a more traditional ceremony. She knew he wasn't bullshitting her about that. And Valentine's Day felt perfect in her mind. Marrying him wasn't going to ruin that. They had been together for over two years. They knew each other inside and out. Perhaps they were ready to take that next big step without even realizing it until now.
"Okay," she answered, a wide grin forming on her face. "Let's get married."
"Okay," he concurred. The pretty boy helped his fiancée up from the couch, taking her hand and walking towards their bedroom, so they could quickly pack. "We're getting married."
Will they or won't they? And let me know what you think please :)