A/N: Thanks for the reviews! :)
Disclaimer: Same as always.
Chapter 25 - Men
"Elizabeth," Jackson began angrily. "We need to talk. Now."
Elizabeth joined her brother in the hallway while April scurried into the apartment with Alex. She made sure that her apartment door was firmly closed behind her before she faced her brother. She was willing to admit that she was scared of his reaction, which is why she had waited this long to tell him about her and Alex.
"Karev?" He began incredulously. "Karev? Really?" Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak but he continued talking furiously. "Out of all the guys in Seattle, you date Karev!" He chuckled without humor to himself. "You would though, wouldn't you? You decide to date a friend of mine, who is terrible for you, by the way. You give me all this crap about April not being good enough to be an Avery and you start dating Karev? HA! That's ironic."
"Can you stop ranting for a second?" Elizabeth demanded. Jackson stood in front of her with his hands on his hips and took deep breaths. His nostrils were flared and she could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. "Thank you." She pinched the bridge of her nose as she organized her thoughts. "I know that it seems odd—"
"Odd? Odd?" He repeated disbelievingly.
She glared at him and he stopped talking. "I know that it seems odd," she continued, "we're a little mismatched, but it works. He's not afraid to put me in my place and tell me when I'm wrong, or acting self-centered, or being a pain in the ass. I thought that you would think that he's good for me. He's obviously got a great job. He's funny and he's honest. He's…refreshing." Alex Karev could be crude and mean but he had a good heart, he had just been put through a lot of crap in his life.
Meanwhile, in Elizabeth's apartment, Alex had opened the bottle of wine that April had brought and had already downed a glass. He poured himself another as he asked, "He's pissed, isn't he?"
"Certainly seems that way," April replied.
Alex turned to the red-head and pleaded, "Kepner, if you like me even a little bit then you will have lots of dirty sex with him when you get home."
April shot Alex an affronted expression before she responded, "You should have just told him the truth. He asked who you were seeing plenty of times."
"I know," he groaned. They had been keeping things under wraps primarily because he hadn't wanted Avery to think that he was just messing with his sister. However, once it was clear that they weren't just a fling, he had been intimidated to tell his friend that he was seriously dating his sister.
"How long have you two been seeing each other?" She asked curiously.
"A while." April arched an eyebrow so he elaborated, "Over a month. We had a case together and it just kinda happened." More specifically, they had argued about the surgical approach and then they had jumped each other. At first he had found her profoundly arrogant and annoying, and she still sort of was, but she was very intelligent, gorgeous, and witty. She had layers and for one of the first times in his life, he was interested in doing the work to uncover those layers.
"Are you living here?" Alex nodded and April did her best to hide her immense surprise. That was a huge step for Alex, even if he was just staying with Elizabeth out of convenience. "Are you happy?" She inquired with a smile.
He screwed up his face in displeasure and groaned, "Kepner, I don't wanna talk about this with you."
April's laughter was interrupted by the door opening and Jackson and Elizabeth entering the apartment. Both Averys looked very stern and it didn't seem like they had resolved much.
After a very tense dinner, April and Jackson returned to their home. Jackson was still visibly angry and he had barely said a word to her since they had left Elizabeth's. She wasn't exactly sure what he was mad about. Was it the basic fact that Alex was dating his sister? Was it because their relationship was obviously serious? Or was it because Alex had agreed to accompany Elizabeth to the Harper Avery Foundation Gala? She thought that they were cute together but she didn't dare voice her thoughts aloud at the present time. She would wait for him to cool down first.
She sighed as she watched him sit on the couch and turn the television to some sports highlights show. It was an obvious message that he did not want to talk about it.
April flitted around the house doing random chores to occupy herself. She was in the kitchen, rearranging the items in the refrigerator, when Jackson came up behind her and started to kiss her neck.
His hands sneaked beneath her top as he whispered, "Wanna go to bed?"
She chuckled and spun out of his grasp. "No."
"Why not?" He inquired as he followed her around to the other side of the island counter.
"Because we're not burying this with sex," she stated frankly.
Jackson rolled his eyes. "I'm not dwelling on it April, I just don't want to discuss it. I don't have anything else to say on the matter."
She stared at him in disbelief. "So you're not upset that Alex and Elizabeth are dating?"
"No," he disputed. "Of course I am. We don't always see eye to eye but she's still my sister." He paused and looked at her sadly before he asked, "What if he hurts her? He hurt you."
April smiled; he was cute when he was protective. "He's different now," she advocated. "He's changed a lot." She couldn't believe that she was standing up for Alex Karev again, she felt like she had been doing this a lot lately, but she believed what she was saying. Pediatrics, and Arizona Robbins, had done amazingly positive things for Alex.
"People don't really change," he scoffed.
"Of course they do," she argued passionately. "I've changed. You've changed." She grinned as she stepped up to him and placed her hands on his chest. "I wouldn't have kissed you outside my hotel room otherwise. We wouldn't be together now if we were the same people we were when we first met."
He looked down at her and smiled softly. He ran a hand through her hair as he thought about what she was saying. "I suppose that's true. You love being right, don't you?"
"I do," she smirked.
He leaned down to kiss her but they were interrupted by their door bell ringing. They looked at each other in confusion before they walked to the front door together. They were both surprised when they found a very worked up Alex on their doorstep and Elizabeth running towards them from her car.
"You know what Avery?" Alex began as his friend stepped out of his house and onto the deck. "I don't give a damn what you think!"
Jackson prickled defensively and pushed his shoulders back. "Excuse me?"
"Alex, don't," Elizabeth attempted to intervene.
However, the stubborn peds surgeon did not heed her warning. "My relationship is none of your freakin' business so stay out of it!"
"My sister is my business," Jackson retorted fiercely. "Family may not mean much to you but it does to me."
April cringed at Jackson's harsh words and before she knew it, Alex had grabbed Jackson and both men tumbled off of the patio and onto the grass. They were wrestling like teenagers and unlike the last time that they had fought, Alex had the upper hand. There were a lot of muffled swear words and insults as they rolled around the front lawn.
"Alex, my wedding is in less than three weeks! I kinda need a groom to get married!" April yelled. Neither of them seemed to hear her, or otherwise they didn't care, so she yelled again. "Alex! Jackson!"
Elizabeth placed a hand on April's shoulder to calm her down. "It's alright. I just think that they need to get it out of their systems."
Jackson groaned as Alex got him into a headlock but he elbowed him in the stomach and quickly flipped him onto his back. Alex aimlessly threw a punch and he got Jackson in the shoulder. The dark-skinned man winced and responded by throttling his opponent. Alex punched him again and it narrowly missed his face.
"Hey! Be careful! I'm getting married and I don't want a black eye," Jackson told him sternly.
"Yeah! Well I have to operate on a four month old tomorrow morning!" Alex retorted.
They both stilled and after a moment, broke into a fit of laughter. Jackson fell back onto the grass and felt his face for injuries while the man beside him caught his breath and flexed his hands.
"Man, I'm sorry," Jackson finally offered.
"Yeah, dude, me too," Alex replied. "And just so ya know, I'm not messing with her, I really like her."
"Yeah, I can tell," Jackson admitted begrudgingly. "And she really likes you too."
Jackson and Alex started to laugh again and from the patio, April looked down at the two of them in utter disbelief. "Men," she grumbled.
"See?" Elizabeth grinned. "They just needed to work it out in some stupid, Neanderthal way."
April sighed before she turned to her future sister-in-law. "Do you want to come in for a drink?"
"Yes, please," she answered thankfully. A drink was exactly what she needed after this night.
April led Elizabeth inside the house while the two men continued to lie in the grass.
"Are you sure you're ready for the Harper Avery Foundation Gala?" Jackson asked after a long silence.
"No," Alex confessed with a chuckle. "But I'm gonna try."
Jackson smiled to himself, surprisingly that answer was good enough for him. He slowly got to his feet and extended his hand to the man still lying on the ground. "Come in for a beer."
Alex grinned as he accepted Jackson's hand and hopped to his feet.
Jackson chuckled as he sat on the closed toilet seat in the master bathroom and April pressed an icepack over his left eye. She had insisted on doing this even though Alex hadn't landed a punch good enough to leave a mark.
"April," he laughed. "This really isn't necessary." She responded by giving him a unyielding look so he decided against saying anything else. He already knew that she was a little mad at him because of the way that he had handled things with Karev. But it was clear that sometimes he and Karev just needed to have it out in order to deal with each other. And they were fine now, more than fine even.
"How's your hand?" She asked with a sigh.
"Fine," he replied quickly.
She took his right hand anyway and placed the icepack on his knuckles. She knew that he had a full day tomorrow.
With his free hand, he tugged on the tie of her robe but she shot him a glare that said: 'Not in a million years'. He tossed his head back and groaned. "How long are you going to stay mad at me?"
"Haven't decided yet," she murmured. She was glad that he, Alex, and Elizabeth were able to have a civil conversation once again but Jackson could have handled the whole thing much better. "Maybe when you start acting your age."
Jackson rolled his eyes as April left the bathroom to put the icepack back in the refrigerator. He brushed his teeth before he headed into their bedroom and slipped into bed. April returned and didn't even look at him as she took her robe off and climbed into bed beside him.
She rolled onto her side so that her back was facing him but it wasn't long before he turned onto his side as well and started to run his fingers down her back.
"What are you doing?"
"Well right now I'm acting like I'm probably about fifteen or sixteen," he joked.
"Not funny," she retorted.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her shoulder. "Sorry. I'm sorry." He slipped his hand underneath her tank top so that he could touch her bare skin. "I probably shouldn't have hit him." He could imagine her raised eyebrow so he added, "Okay, no probably about it, but he's not exactly a big talker."
"That's true," she agreed weakly.
"Fighting probably saved us a week of avoiding each other. But I'm not going to react like that in every situation if that's what you're worried about," he whispered comfortingly.
"I know," she hummed. Truthfully, she was terrified that physical violence might be his reaction when he saw his father again and that was the last thing that she wanted. She turned over to face him and placed a hand on his face while she kissed him softly. "Stop punching people," she said in between kisses.
He laughed softly, "I will try my best, for you." His hand slipped behind her knee and he pulled her leg up around his hips. "And really, I only make a habit out of punching Karev."
She couldn't help herself from giggling against his mouth. "I just don't want anything happening to your hands…or your pretty face."
"Of course," he laughed. He thrust his growing erection against her center as he pushed his hand beneath her shorts. "I thought that it was hot when you got into that fight in San Francisco. You don't think that it's at least a little bit sexy?" He inquired as he dipped his head to kiss her neck.
Both of her hands clutched his back as he lavished attention on that sensitive spot on her neck. "Well I suppose it is, a little bit," she pondered. It certainly was masculine. "But I'm still mad at you," she said through a low moan.
He grinned triumphantly into the crook of her neck before he dropped his mouth to the swell of her breasts. "I know, baby. I know."
A/N: The next chapter is the gala and it's a big one. Please leave a review! :)