Chapter 7
Moving was debacle a for April, going back to the apartment was a lot but she needed to do it, she needed to move out, Emily was being a champ about the whole situation.
"Mom where do I put this box" the little ginger carrying a relatively small box, it was filled with miscellaneous items around the place. Honestly April got really lucky, her credit was actually really good, she saved up a lot of money even with medical school bills and they were able to move into this apartment building near Meredith and Derek place, it was a 2 bedroom apartment with a bigger living space and actually bigger rooms for her and Emily.
"Put them on the kitchen counter for now" Emily did just that.
Emily for her part was doing her best to be their for her mom, her Aunt Reed died and sometimes she can hear her mom crying in her room when she was suppose to sleep but her mom was getting through it. At least she hoped so, her smile was back which was nice, these last couple months have been volatile for her and for her mom. Living with Aunt Vanessa and Jean was cool for awhile but even she was getting uncomfortable the way they tip-toed around the entire incident especially around mom, speaking of Aunt Vanessa…
"April where do I put this?" In came Aunt Vanessa with boxes of her own.
"Put it with the other boxes in Emily room" she moved to the kitchen, Jean was hanging out with her while their parents were laughing and drinking in the kitchen unboxing items. Today was the most normal day they all had since the incident and Emily was really grateful for it.
—Line Break—
"So your co-worker thinks your therapist was…hitting on you?" April nodded
"Isn't that ethically wrong?" Vanessa questioned.
"That's what I said" April exclaimed and added "Plus he was with another Doctor" Vanessa for her part looked amused
"I don't know April, you could be seducing your shrink" April laughed at that
"Seducing? I ranted at him, wore scrubs and an ugly dress in front of him and went on my merry way" Vanessa Tsk-ed at her but didn't comment on it. Vanessa knew April was young when she had a child, therefore she had to grow up pretty fast but in regards of love or lust, April was still young and jaded to it, she genuinely couldn't comprehend when people actively hit on her, it was as sad as it was hilarious. But she could see how this Meredith women could be wrong, and she couldn't help but agree with the possibly unethical therapist. As much as she was great friends with April, she needed people who were her own age and understood her love of surgery and she weren't that person. Reed was good at being that person but with her gone, April was alone in that regard, although their was Jackson so hopefully that will change something.
—Line Break—
God she really hated that after a month people in the residents lounge still stared it became so annoying.
"When are they going to stop staring?" April asked while getting ready, she got text to meet Shepherd at the ambulance bay why? She wasn't for sure but she had a feeling it had to do with him not being at the wedding but she wasn't going to ask Meredith. As she was about to leave she saw how frustrated Lexie was but, Lexie 'crazy' allegation weren't going away.
"Okay quick Q&A for you weirdos" April announced to the staring crowd on the other side of the lounge " No, I am not Reed Adamson so therefore no, I am not the dead one, She-" April pointed at Lexie "-had mental breakdown, she isn't crazy this one-" April pointed at Cristina "-did do surgery while at gunpoint, and yes she got married why? None of your goddamn business and I don't feel I need to answer the obvious with Meredith Grey now get your shit and move the fuck on" The other residents seem to get the gist and hurried up to grab their stuff while Lexie, Meredith and Cristina stared at her
"What?" They all looked away away immediately but Lexie did provide a silent thank you to her and she just nodded as an acknowledgment and walked away to the ambulance bay.
—Line Break—
Derek Shepherd was really annoyed, he spent a nigh in jail, got peed on by a heroin addict and missed the wedding which he was the best man for but that wasn't the only thing bothering him. The last couple of days the shooting came back into his head, but mostly the conversation between Clark and his resident Dr. April Kepner. The conversation happened immediately after got shot so he wasn't necessarily surprised he couldn't remember it immediately but the night at the Jail really let him ruminate and the conversation came back to him and by god did he have questions. He didn't know whether to bring it up or not, while the cop car was driving him in he looked at April Kepner and just decided to ask when they were alone.
"You smell like pee" was the first thing that came out of women's mouth and that just reminded him of everything else that happened.
"I know" and he walked off annoyed. He needed to talk to his wife.
—Line Break—
Alex was just watching as Kepner and Bailey work on a patient, this was annoying, he didn't want to stay here and watch surgery, he was a surgeon for god sakes he wants to cut…great…now he sounds like a junkie.
"Staph infection, which causes cellulitis, an abscess, possibly MRSA, which could lead to sepsis and death" Alex had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes
"Uh, I'm sorry. Where are you seeing all of this?" April said confused
"In 's chest if he doesn't have that bullet removed."
"I'll cross-"
"Get it out" April interrupted him.
"I don't see how this is any of your business" Alex replied, she really had no business telling him what to do.
" " something about that way she said his name made everyone look at April "Your right I don't have any say" okay… this is not how this usually goes
" I just want it out and gone" Alex was getting annoyed.
"Can I leave now?" And Bailey responded with a no and April continued
"Do you know how many bullet he shot?" That was a weird question
"He killed-"
"Not how many were killed or injured how many bullet were shot, do you know?" He shrugged noncommittally, he didn't.
"22" was how she responded. "Gary Clark shot 22 times, 18 who were hit which you obviously know and of those who were hit 11 of them died" their was a palpable pause " Majority of the loss came from the security, they were all mourning for the loss of their friends, family so to help them out I helped the police gather footage, I don't know why they needed it, the man was dead but they did and I gathered it for them, because I knew how too" She took a deep breath " I saw when every bullet was shot, approximately where it was shot, I know where every stray bullet went, every single one of them, Alex take that damn bullet out of your body" both Alex and Bailey were silent, they didn't know that, well Alex knew April was helping out with some efforts to bring the place back to normalcy he just didn't expect that. The rest of the surgery was relatively silent, they only spoke when needed. Throughout the surgery all Alex could do was stare at April, everyday since the divorce paper he noticed more things about her, how she never really talked to anyone, she was both very secretive but very open and honest when needed to be. Sure she was a bit perky but she wasn't as awful as he initially thought she was. Bailey for her part seem to be concentrating on the surgery but occasionally will look at April and at him, as if she was trying to understand something that they themselves didn't even know.
—Line Break—
Bailey wasn't expecting all that to come out of Kepner mouth, if she was honest she didn't know Kepner that well, she was new and in some ways she reminded her of O' Malley and she really didn't need a reminder of him that soon. Bailey broke down after the shooting, she needed to be away from the hospital just for a little bit and she forgot that she wasn't the only one she just didn't think Kepner would be the one to take over, in many ways she had to thank Kepner.
—Line Break—
April didn't know what happened, all she heard was a crash and everyone freaking out then Cristina was down. The thing April has been dreading was happening, the shoe dropped and here she was, Cristina Yang was finally having her breakdown and she was called in to sub-in for her, as she was scrubbing in, Meredith walked in and she said
"You're not suppose-" April stopped herself, it wasn't like Meredith was in their to do surgery, she was going in for Cristina
" She is under the table closest to the wall connecting to the gallery" Meredith nodded and proceeded and as April was about to walk in, she looked up at the gallery and her blood was boiling. They were exchanging money, they betted on her breakdown, vultures all of them. As Meredith took Cristina out of the OR she asked Hunt and Altman for permission to speak to the observers through the intercom, both doctors were confused but allowed it.
"I hope those few bucks were worth it" people were shooting her stares
"May I point out while you were all betting on any of our possible breakdowns, you all were cleared for surgery, every single one of you and yet and chose someone who wasn't, she was chosen over you guys because they felt she was much more fit to do this surgery then any of you so, I really hope those 5, 10 however much dollars you got was worth ever penny because at this rate that is all you will be doing, I mean look at me, I was fired and yet I am in the OR more then most of you" She saw some of them look embarrassed. Good. " So, let's agree for the rest of this surgery you all will concentrate on the SURGERY, not on who break downs next, not on who might fail next, nothing but this surgery do you understand?" April although wasn't looking at the observers, she could tell some were nodding but she wanted verbal confirmation "I said do YOU understand?" Their was a resounding 'yes'. That was when April looked around people were shooting her stares but she got a huge from Jackson who looked amused
"It's been awhile since I saw that April" the girl in question rolled her eyes
"People have been annoying me today" Jackson gave her a look asking if she as okay.
"I'm fine just tired of all the staring, it's beyond frustrating, that includes all of you" she pointed out to the staff in the OR with which caused them to turn away from her and concentrate on the surgery at hand.
Great just like she wanted.
—Line Break—
Alex was paged by Bailey just as the Altman ex-vivo was done as he got out, he ran into Kepner…literally
"Woah" she exclaimed as she fell back, he caught her before she actually fell down. And noticed her pager, they both got paged by Bailey.
"She called you in too?" "Huh? Ya" was her response
"Damn I'm going to watching another surgery" April chuckled
"Hey she might change it up and make you the patient"
—Line Break—
She made him the patient.
They both walked in, their was nobody in the OR, he was the patient and he was removing the bullet and for some reason she brought April Kepner…Okay maybe not for 'some reason' whatever it doesn't matter. He was now here, laying on his side, as his mentor and fellow resident are taking the bullet out so he just talked.
"Charles was a good guy, he was funny and Reed…well she was kind of messed up, but she wasn't a bad person" April seemed to be smiling through her mask from that comment, it was nice to see her smile "I just don't… I don't know why… I shouldn't get to just walk away, you know?"
Bailey responded with "I don't know why we made it either"
April was surprising "I should have died that day" it made both of them look at her " got shot cuz I left the room I was suppose to stay in, I was suppose to get shot but I just happened to remember a episode on Oprah where you try and appeal to the killer and I did that, and then I was in the scrub room of the OR while everyone else was doing surgery and Meredith Grey was practically begging to be shot to save her husband " she had tears welling up " I should have died that day, but I'm so glad I'm not and the last thing that can remind me of the entire event is…was in your body" April looked at Alex and Doctor Bailey, he saw the bullet, it was miraculously fully intact and covered in blood
"Son of a bitch"
"Agreed" Bailey responded
April grabbed the bullet and threw it in the waste basket and for some reason it felt like a weight was lifted off all their shoulders.
Ya today was a shitty day.