A/N: Sorry for the wait!
Disclaimer: Same as always.
Chapter 29 – The Rehearsal
April laughed to herself as her mother enveloped her in a tight hug in the middle of the airport. She should have known that her mother would be practically radiating happiness, she had been the same way on the eve of each of her other daughters' weddings. Karen Kepner loved weddings and she was even more overjoyed about this particular wedding because it meant that her last single daughter would be married to a man who adored her.
Her father smiled at her over her mother's shoulder and April smiled back. "Hi Daddy. How was the flight?"
"Too long," he said in exasperation.
April continued to smile as her mother finally let her go only to hold her at arms' length. "Hey Mom," she chuckled.
"Sweetheart," she gushed as she held April's face between her hands. "You are going to make such a beautiful bride."
"Mom, please don't start crying already," April pleaded as she saw her mother's eyes start to glisten. She was a lot more like her mother than she realized, they were both easily susceptible to tears.
"I think you better get us to your house," Joe Kepner supplied helpfully.
April nodded at his suggestion and her mother's eyes widened excitedly. "Yes! The house! I need to see it!"
The young surgeon refrained from rolling her eyes as she led her parents out of the airport and towards her car.
She got her parents situated in her house and managed to extract herself from her mother's overzealous clutches. Luckily, Libby had called to let them know what time her and the rest of the Kepner family would be arriving in Seattle, and while her mother was on the phone, April saw the perfect opportunity to slip away to work.
She arrived at the hospital and changed into her scrubs before heading to the attendings' lounge to get a cup of coffee.
"Is the whole clan here yet?" Alex chimed through a mouth full of cereal when she entered the room.
"Not yet," she replied, "but they will be by three o'clock."
Alex scratched his chin thoughtfully before he asked, "Are any of your sisters single?"
"Nope," she answered quickly.
"What about cousins? You have any hot, single cousins?"
April joined Alex at the table and fixed him with an unimpressed facial expression. "You are not going to be on the prowl at my wedding."
He rolled his eyes and frowned. "You ruin everything, Kepner."
She paused for a moment to take a sip from her cup of coffee before she spoke tentatively. "Sleeping with people you don't care about isn't going to help you get over Elizabeth." She had heard rumors around the hospital that he had lapsed back into his old ways; apparently he was sleeping with some of the interns.
"Don't knock it til ya try it," he retorted crassly.
"Alex," she stated his name softly.
Their potentially momentous conversation was interrupted when Cristina breezed into the room with a purpose. The brunette set a chart down in front of April and told her, "I need an assist on a really cool case. I could have asked Owen but since you're getting married tomorrow and all," she trailed off.
The red-head's eyes widened eagerly as she glanced over the chart. This was a really cool case. "Aww, thank you Cristina."
"Consider it a wedding present."
April smiled at her normally closed off friend. It was always nice to see the unselfish side of the talented cardio surgeon. "Thanks!"
Cristina shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't mention it. Now, let's go."
April enthusiastically hopped out of her chair, taking the chart with her, and followed Cristina out of the room. However, before she left, she gave Alex one last meaningful glance. She didn't want him to wallow but she didn't want him sleeping around the whole hospital either.
Over lunch, Mark accompanied Jackson to the jewellery store to pick up the wedding bands.
"When is Mrs. Dr. Avery getting in?" Mark asked conversationally.
"She's already here," Jackson replied. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his scrub pants and patiently waited for the woman behind the counter to retrieve his order. "She's at the house with April's parents right now."
"Probably telling them embarrassing stories about you," Mark chuckled.
Jackson agreed with a curt nod. "Yeah, most likely." He had explicitly told his mother not to talk about his and April's sex life around the Kepners but he wasn't sure if he could even trust her to do that. Catherine Avery was a force of nature; she might be a little too much for April's sweet mother and down-to-earth father. He probably should have had the forethought to be present for when his mother met his future in-laws. He immediately turned to Sloan with a slightly panicked expression. "Do you think that you can cover my surgery this afternoon?"
"Is this a best man duty?" The older man inquired with a keen grin.
"Very much so."
If he took the afternoon off then he could supervise his mother, pick the rest of April's family up from the airport, and be at the house when the caterers arrived to set up for the rehearsal dinner. He knew that April was in surgery and he wanted to keep her relaxed, so he was willing to perform the small duties.
"Even better," he began after a moment, "get April to scrub in with you."
"Good move, Avery," Mark approved as he patted the younger man on the back. "Very slick."
The jewellery store employee returned and placed a simple black box containing the wedding bands on the glass countertop. "Here you go, and that inscription is really cute by the way."
Jackson smiled to himself as he opened the box and picked up one of the rings. He brought it up to his eyelevel to inspect it and it looked even better than he had imagined. He had thought long and hard about the inscription and what he had come up with was perfect for him and April.
Mark grabbed the other wedding band and read the inscription aloud, "Just me and you. You're like the sweetest guy ever, Avery," he teased.
Jackson ignored his statement and seriously replied, "Guard those with your life, Sloan, and I'll see you at the rehearsal tonight."
After the ceremony rehearsal, family and close friends gathered at April and Jackson's house for dinner. They had a buffet set up and their house was spacious enough that everyone could mingle comfortably. Their families were blending about as well as they had expected, they were from two very different worlds after all. Catherine and Karen were gelling quite well and Ben was asking Harper tonnes of questions about cardio that he was happy to answer. April's other brothers-in-law were pleasantly chatting with Sloan, Derek and Meredith, hoping to get some dirt on her, while her sisters talked to Brooks and Melanie.
Everyone seemed to be in very high spirits except for Alex and Elizabeth. Alex was hanging out in the kitchen, next to the alcohol, and Elizabeth was uncomfortable around her father so she kept Cristina close and they talked about work.
Eventually though, Cristina stepped away to talk to Owen and Elizabeth wandered into the kitchen to get another glass of wine.
She smiled weakly at the kitchen's lone occupant, Alex. "Hey," she said quietly.
He responded with a nod before returning his attention to the beer in his hand. When she turned her back to him, he silently eyed her. She didn't seem like herself. "You okay?"
"Yup," she answered abruptly in a voice that left no room for any more questions.
"You sure?" He bravely inquired.
She emphatically nodded her head while the hand that was holding her wine glass shook uncontrollably.
Alex moved towards her and gently pried the glass from her hand. "You sure?" He asked again.
"It's my Dad," she finally said.
He looked at her understandingly, he knew all that there was to know about deadbeat fathers. He was an expert. He knew that she wasn't taking Carson Avery's return half as well as Jackson but he hadn't expected her to be this upset. He had never seen her like this before. He waited a moment before he raised a hand to rub her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
She glanced at him with a smile. "Thanks Alex."
"No problem," he shrugged. "I just get it…ya know…"
"Yeah, I know that you do," she whispered. "Wanna get outta here?"
He finished the last of his beer and laid the empty bottle on the kitchen counter. "Yeah, let's go."
Jackson sidled up to his fiancé with a grin and placed a hand on the small of her back. She looked so beautiful in a simple, blue, cocktail dress that he couldn't even picture how gorgeous she was going to look tomorrow. "Hey," he whispered in her ear.
She spun around and faced him with a smile. "Hi! Thank you so much for organizing this and supervising our parents," she said in a low voice.
"No problem, it was actually kinda nice to take the afternoon off."
"Did you orchestrate surgeries for me today?" She looked at him mischievously as she took a sip from her wine glass.
"Just the one," he answered honestly. "Why? How many did you get?"
"Three!" She grinned. She had worked on cases with Cristina, Sloan, and Torres today. She knew that they were all trying to keep her mind off of the wedding but she had not minded their motivation because it had been a wonderful stress reliever.
He smiled at her exuberance as he leaned down to whisper in her ear again. "Can I steal you away for a second?"
She nodded before she followed him out of the living room and away from all of their guests.
Jackson closed and locked the bedroom door behind him before he turned to April with a bright smile. "How are you feeling? Overwhelmed?" He inquired as he stepped up to her and started to run his hands up and down her arms.
"No," she smiled. "I feel good. What about you? Do you need to talk to me about something?" She thought that it was a little curious that he had pulled her away while everybody was still in their house.
"No," he grinned as he dropped his hands down to hers and threaded their fingers together. "I just wanted to be alone for a little while."
To him it felt like forever since they had gotten a little privacy. He had been trying to lure her to on-call rooms all week but he had a lot on his plate and the ER had been busier than usual recently. They talked every night on the phone before they went to bed but the separation was killing him. He couldn't wait until tomorrow. He wasn't sure if he was more excited for the wedding or the wedding night.
"Oh, I see," she smiled knowingly. "You wanna make out, don't you?"
He shot her a playful grin as he pushed her back towards their bed. "Like a junior on prom night."
She giggled as she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled him down next to her. "This is your last night as a single guy," she stated before she kissed him. "Any regrets?"
He shook his head before he brought a hand up to hold her face. "Not at all," he murmured against her lips. "What about you?"
"I really wish that I had slept with Dr. Shepherd." Jackson pulled away from her with a look of horror on his face and she burst out into laughter. "I'm kidding, Jackson!"
"That's not funny," he replied petulantly.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. "Sorry," she apologized through giggles.
Jackson looked at her crossly for as long as he could before he caved and was physically incapable of repressing his smile any longer. He kissed her lovingly and while doing so, the hand that he had on her knee began to slowly sneak under her dress.
"What are you doing?" April asked as he dropped his mouth to her neck.
"I'm gonna kiss that spot on your neck that drives you nuts," he declared excitedly.
She chuckled breathlessly as she elaborated, "No, I mean, your hand, what is it doing?"
He trailed his mouth down her neck and back up again. He pulled away only so that he could look her in the eye. "We can fool around a little, right?" He asked fearfully.
She shook her head as she ran her hands down the front of his shirt. "It's bad luck."
"Huh," Jackson sighed. "Does that mean that you're not going to let me see you tomorrow either?" She shook her head once again and he frowned. "Well then." He let himself fall back onto the bed and he looked up at her with a naughty smirk. "How about I just watch? Is that bad luck?"
"Jackson!" She chastised as she gently smacked his chest. She hopped off of the bed and attempted to pull him to his feet. "Come on, I think it's time we head back to the party."
After Jackson and April thanked their family and friends for all of their support, most of the guests left so that the bride and groom could get to bed early.
Jackson, however, was reluctant to let go of April's hand as they stood together on the patio.
"Come on Avery!" The best man called as he leaned on the hood of his car.
"One second," Jackson yelled over his shoulder. He turned back to April and kissed her soundly on the mouth.
She giggled against his lips as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "We're making out in front of Mark Sloan and my parents." She knew that at least her mother was spying on them through the window. Her father probably didn't want the mental image.
He threaded a hand through her hair in order to keep her close. "It's okay, we're practically married," he quipped.
She laughed again before their lips joined. "I can't wait."
"I'll take good care of him, Kepner. Just let him go!" Mark attempted to interrupt them once again but they ignored him.
"Me either," he agreed. "I can't wait to make you Mrs. Avery."
She kissed him one more time before she pulled away and took a step backwards. "I will see you tomorrow," she whispered.
"Can't wait," he grinned. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to sleep tonight, he felt so full of energy.
"I will be the one in white," she joked lamely.
He chuckled. "I will see you tomorrow, beautiful. I love you."
"I love you too, Jackson," she smiled.
He grabbed her hand and gave it a quick kiss before he headed towards Mark's car.
She timidly waved goodbye to him before she spun around and walked back into the house.
"You should get your beauty rest, honey," her mother told her softly.
April nodded as she placed a hand on her abdomen. All of a sudden, she felt that uncomfortable sensation in her stomach again.
A/N: Since this was the second last chapter, I decided to give Alex and Elizabeth their own scene. Let me know what you thought of it! And leave a review if you're excited about the wedding! :)
P.S. If the paramedic they're bringing in isn't for April, I may lose it. Lol.
