December 28, 2012

"Where Love Went Wrong" - Augustana

You try to breathe, you try to save it
But it marks your skin, until they break it

•••

As Jackson leaves the lounge to start his day, someone pulls his arm aside to an empty hallway and then wraps both arms around his neck.

"Stephanie—" He cuts off when Stephanie kisses him. He pulls away first.

She smiles sheepishly at him. "Hi."

Jackson gives her a small smile. "Hi."

She unwrap her arms from around his neck. "So, how was Boston?"

He shrugs. "Eh."

She laughs a little. "That's what I thought. Christmas for me feels kinda off without you, too."

"Y-yeah." He mumbles.

She furrows her eyebrows. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He tells her.

She seems skeptical but moves on. "So, maybe you and I could meet tonight—"

"Edwards."

The two then jump apart. They turn and see Meredith standing a few feet away from them, arms crossed.

"Rounds, now." She snaps at the intern. "Before you jump your boss's bones right then and there,"

"Right," Stephanie mumbles then walks away too quickly.

Meredith raises an eyebrow at Jackson.

He sighs. "Don't," he says and walks, Meredith beside him.

"How was Christmas?" She asks.

"Excruciating," he answers truthfully.

She cringes. "Ooh, that bad at the Avery household?"

"You have no idea. I'm sick and tired of them pestering about my job or where I live. And, not to mention, how I eat. God." He complains.

"Coming from a line of notorious surgeons finally gets to you, huh?"

"You mean, getting again."

She laughs. He glares at her.

She rolls her eyes at him. "Hey, you didn't get the worse end of the deal, so don't feel too bad."

He furrows his eyebrows. "You didn't get a good Christmas?"

"Oh, I did." She says as the two of them enter the elevator. "I meant April."

He grows nervous. Maybe Meredith knows about what happened. Maybe –

But that idea shoots down when she continues, "I heard from one of the nurses that she worked on Christmas day."

"Really?" He asks nonchalantly, despite the wave of relief rushing through him. He can't with Meredith – or anyone else, for that matter – when she finds out.

"I swear, I don't even know if she's still actually April." Meredith shakes her head and leaves the elevator when the doors open, leaving Jackson pursing his lips and getting lost in thought again.

•••

April walks into the nurse station and grabs the chart the nurse hands to her.

"Thank you," she says she opens the chart and reads it. She looks up and notices Jackson walking by and meets her eyes. She freezes. She waits for him to say something, anything. But instead, he looks away and turns the corner and out of sight. April sighs.

"Give him time." Alex says gently.

April looks up at him, standing on the other side of the counter. He closes his chart and walks away.

April nods on his advice and then she gets a page.

•••

April walks out of the ER doors and walks by the patient that was being discarded from the ambulance. The paramedic starts talking as they walked into the ER.

The paramedic states, "23-year-old male. GSWs on the chest and right leg," He eyes April, before adding, "Some jackass thought it'd be fun to try out the recently bought, unregistered gun."

April shakes her head as they bring in the patient in a trauma room. Stephanie is waiting right there.

"Page Dr. Yang," April tells the intern, who immediately runs out to do just that.

April takes the stethoscope from her neck and checks the patient's heartbeat. "Heartbeat increasing rapidly," she says and then notices that the paramedic is still there, staring at her. "You can leave now. I got it from here." She tells him as she works on the patient, not even looking up at him anymore.

The paramedic just nods. "R-right. Yeah." He walks away. April doesn't even notice him go as she continues to work on the patient, barking off orders to the nurses there to assist.

•••

April is walking out of the patient's room and checking his chart when she notices a familiar guy by the wall. She stops walking and turns to him. It's the paramedic from this morning. He looks a little nervous as she meets his stare.

"Are you here for Mr. Miller? He's gonna be fine, you have nothing to worry about." She says as she closes the chart she's holding.

The paramedic looks confused. "I'm sorry, who?"

April furrows her eyebrows. "Mr. Miller. The guy you brought in with GSWs."

"Oh. Him." He laughs a little. "You know, not a lot of doctors even know their patient's names."

"So do the paramedics, apparently."

He laughs again, more awkwardly.

"So, can I help you with anything?" April asks.

He disregards the question. "But there are doctors who don't even know the nurses' names – or the paramedics' names."

"What's your point?"

He holds out his hand. "I'm Matthew."

April stared at the hand and decides to shake it to be polite. "April."

Matthew grins. There's something contagious in that smile that April finds herself doing the same.

"Very nice to finally meet you, April." He says, confidently this time.

She cocks an eyebrow. "Finally?"

His eyes widened. He draws his hand back. "It's just—um," he scratches the back of his neck nervously, "I've been delivering patients to you for weeks now and you never seem to notice me."

That's not exactly true. April had noticed him. Just didn't give him a second look, is all.

"I'm sure that's not true." She replies.

"Oh, it is. But it's okay. I don't mind the late timing." He grins.

Now April feels awkward. He's clearly flirting and she's not comfortable with it.

"O-kay. Not to be rude or anything, Matthew, but don't you have some work to do? 'Cause I know I do."

If she may have come off as rude, he disregards it as he continued to grin. "And I will get to that in a minute. I just have to ask if you wanted to have some coffee or something."

April looks confused. "It's like ten in the evening."

Matthew laughs. "I didn't mean now. Whenever you're free."

"Oh." She raises her eyebrows. "As in on a…date?"

"Well, if you put it that way, yeah."

April purses her lips. "I'm sorry, it's just…"

"I get it. Boyfriend?"

"No. No boyfriend." She shakes her head. "I just got out of a relationship and it's still…I'm not ready. I'm sorry."

Matthew nods his head. "It's okay. But hey, you gotta give credit to the guy who tried, right?"

April laughs.

"I'll see you around, Dr. Kepner." He starts to walk away but stops when she asks something.

She furrows her eyebrows. "I don't recall telling you my last name."

"Oh, I've known who you are for a while, I just didn't want to sound like a stalker for knowing so much from a distance."

"Are you saying you know me?"

He nods. "I know that you're a trauma surgeon and you're very good at what you do. You're organized and efficient, even in the midst of chaos, which is exactly what the ER needs." He rambles on, almost as if to himself. "You care for your patients—it shows compassion for saving lives and not just making money or a name for yourself. You're also a very beautiful person, inside and out."

Eventually, he snaps out of it.

"I'm sorry about the…rambling." He smiles sheepishly. "I'll see you around."

Matthew gives her one last smile then walked away. April finds herself smiling also. Not much people notice her and it's very refreshing, for a change. Even if she's not exactly interested in that person.

Meredith walks by and notices her. "What are you smiling about?"

April joins her walking. "Who knew paramedics are nice people to hang out with?"

"No one because no one had even bothered to try," Meredith answers as they walk to the attending lounge.