Chapter 9

April really didn't know how she got caught up in this, wait she kinda did, she got drunk last night and needed a place to crash luckily for her Emily was at Vanessa for a sleepover and she didn't need to get home that day but now she was at the infamous frat house. It was weird being in here, she was in someone room, who room she wasn't sure. Her head was killing her but the bed she was lying on was comfy so whatever. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and she wasn't sure who so she turned around.

Alex Karev. She was in the same bed as Alex Karev.

She remembered they picked her up and brought her to the frat house, then she just entered and played in a room, none of them were particularly sober. April didn't really know what to do, if she moved he might wake up, but if she stayed he will definitely wake up, but if she pretended to sleep and wait for him to wake up he might get up and just leave.

Ok ya she is getting up.

Slowly she peeled his arm off her waist, okay well she tried, he ended up tightening his arm around her. God why was she even here? Maybe if she just asked him to let go.

"Alex" she whispered and got no response so she tried again finally a little groan.

"Please let me go" okay now he was cuddling her closer. Fuck who knew he was a cuddler, maybe a drunk cuddler? She had no choice.

"Alex please let me go" April practically begged she really didn't want to be caught like this especially after last night. Oh god if Christina ever found them.

"Seriously wha-" a tired Alex finally looked at the face of the person who's boobs he was using as a pillow. April gave a uncomfortable and awkward smile

"Hi" Alex didn't seem to move, seemingly processing everything about the situation. April bit her lip and just said "could you let me go?" And Alex finally reacted and released his grip on her and she bolted out of the room.

April headed towards the kitchen, she really didn't need to think about what happened plus she was hungry, when she walked in she saw …who likely just witnessed her practically running out go Alex room… great.

—Line Break—

Derek really didn't know what to think about what he just witnessed. April Kepner running out of Alex Karev room.

"Did you just-"

"Yup" April replied before he finished his sentence.

"Wait I thought you were a virgin?" Derek said, he couldn't help himself but tease her, he definitely knew she wasn't. April groaned as a response.

"You heard about that?" Derek chuckled and nodded.

"The hospital goodie goes around so fast, anyways I didn't sleep with Alex Karev but I apparently crashed in his room. How I got there I have no clue" Derek nodded and an awkward silence enveloped them. He could ask her about her daughter now, Meredith was unlikely to wake up any time soon.

"April their is something I would like to talk to you about" April looked curious.

"Okay but could I make breakfast? I'm kinda hungry" Derek nodded, they have groceries but hardly any of them actually cook.

"I pots and pans are in the lower cabinet next to the sink" Derek pointed out and she seemed to be getting to work, she also seemed to be cooking for more than one.

"You don't have to cook for all of us" April waved him off.

" It's fine, think of it as a thank you for letting me stay, and I'm used to making a large amount of food, I grew up in a farm with a big family we always needed to cook a large amount of food" Derek saw some sadness pass by her face, he remembered the conversation and remembered she hasn't talked to her family in over a decade.

"It must have been tough" Derek unintentionally said, April looked up questioningly. Well now or never.

"I, uh, I remember the conversation you had when I was" he gestured to the general area where he was shot. April seemed to be processing what he was saying.

"oh…OH…" April looked at him in surprise. "So that means you know about Emily" Derek nodded. It seemed like a giant burden was lifted off her shoulder.

"So her name is Emily" April nodded smiling as she prepared food for the house.

"Emily Annabeth Kepner, she is turning 10 in September" Derek looked at her in surprise. 10 years old, that would have made-

"I was 17 when I got pregnant and 18 when I gave birth" April said.

"Your parents didn't like that" April shook her head.

"They were…they had rules and I broke those rules" Derek could see her guard was up, he remembers what she said 'disownment' April was practically abandoned.

"What about the father?" Derek asked out of curiosity but winced afterwards when he saw April scowl.

"He isn't actively in the picture, he relinquished his rights before she was even born, but he does pay child support" Damn, was all Derek thought. When he was chief he worked closely with April and he thought he knew her a bit more than the other members of the hospital, of course not as much as her friends, but to see how little he knew her was really daunting.

"You guys have enough to make some bacon and pancakes want anything special in them?" April asked breaking Derek out of his musing.

"No it's fine" April nodded and rummaged through the fridge.

"Nice blueberries, I can make Jackson some blueberry pancakes" Derek looked at her questioningly.

"Does Jackson know?" April shook her head to indicate he doesn't.

"Before the shooting we were friends, hell I'm Facebook friends with his mother, but in general when I entered my internship I didn't really tell anyone, Reed knew because I met her before the internship." April paused for a second to see if she is putting the correct measures of flour in. "Before the internship, I was known as single mom, it was nice to be somewhere where being a mother didn't define me entirely y'know" Derek could understand that, he remembered the first time he entered University and not being defined as the guy who lost his father in shooting. He loved his dad but to me known as the kid who saw his dad get shot in front of him did get annoying at some point.

"Anyways, my friendship with Jackson is going great, arguably he is my best friend at the moment but it is also new friend and it has always taken me awhile to befriend anybody and even longer when I had Emily." April was rambling. " I want to tell him, but I don't know how to do it" April finished mixing the ingredients for the pancakes, she didn't want to wake anyone up so she hand mixed the ingredients. "Like how do you tell everyone 'hey you know how yall thought I was a virgin surprise! Child'" She dramatically pointed toward the space beside her and Derek was chuckling.

"I think you overthinking it" Derek said. "No matter what you do, they will be surprised, you could as sexually active as Mark and they would still be surprised" April laughed at that, he wasn't wrong. "At this point you have to think of it like a band-aid, you just gotta rip it off" Derek saw her contemplating.

"By the way that smells amazing" Derek said. He wasn't wrong, although Derek lived with many roommates, very few cook, he was one of the very few that cook but he hardly ever made breakfast other then coffee but April made some pretty good smelling pancakes and the bacon looks to be cooked well, unburnt.

"Shoot, I forgot Lexie is allergic to eggs" April rummaged around the fridge. "Do you think she would like ham sandwich fro breakfast?" April questioned.

"I think she would be grateful for food" Derek said. April seemed to have taken that as a yes.

"Wait before you continue" April looked at him he smiled sheepishly "Let me see a picture of Emily" April smiled and brought out her phone.

—Line Break—

Meredith walked downstairs and smelled good food coming from the kitchen, she hasn't smelled good food coming from the kitchen since…well since Izzie lived in the house. He walked in and saw that April has taken over her kitchen and talking amicably to her husband.

"She really looks like you" Derek said.

"I know thankfully" April chuckled and so did Derek.

"What's going on here?" Meredith asked. Both individuals looked at her direction she walked up to Derek and kissed him on the cheek while April continued cooking.

"I'm making breakfast, a thank you for letting me stay the night" Meredith could see that, Pancakes and Bacon plus a sandwich.

"You didn't have too" Meredith said. It was a sweet gesture.

"I know but I wanted too, plus I'm kinda hungover and homemade food always seems to help with that. By the way do you have any spare toothbrushes?" Meredith nodded.

"There is a large pack underneath the sink cabinet grab it when you go in, do you need some spare clothes?" April nodded. Meredith had some clothes that could fit her for the time being.

"Okay well I'm going to get ready before the rest of this frat wakes up" Derek said, giving a quick kiss to Meredith cheek and going upstairs. So she was sitting at the kitchen island sipping some coffee while watching April cook.

"I told him" Meredith said. April looked at her questioningly. "About the miscarriage I told him" April nodded understanding.

"So what's happening now?" April asked.

"Well we booked an appointment for the OB in a couple of days and from their…I have no clue" Meredith responded.

"So you want a baby?" April said. Meredith shrugged, the idea of a baby with Derek was…it was a lot even now but, she loved him and she wants to have a child with him.

"Meredith Grey as a mother…I could see it" April said.

"Seriously? I can hardly believe it" Meredith said she grabbed a pancake and started eating it, they were really good pancakes.

"I mean sure you are all dark and twisty with a kinda shitty childhood but is like all bright and shiny and semi-optimistic and not as shitty of a childhood plus he knows healthy parenting style and you know how unhealthy parenting styles work you kinda compliment each other" Meredith questioned how she knew any of these things. "Sorry hospital gossip is rampant in our hospital, some of the nurses told me the general gossip of the area, you are usually in the middle of it" Meredith laughed at that, she usually was in the middle of all the hospital gossip.

"What I'm saying is, from the little time I knew you I highly doubt you wouldn't love your kid, sure parenting might be hard, it is for literally everybody, but I can see you being a good mom to your kids" Meredith was touched at that. It was a sweet sentiment.

"Ya, they can instead get mad at me giving them the Alzheimers gene" Meredith grumbled.

"Meh, genes are genes you can't really control them, at least your kids will know they won't be kicked out of their home" Okay…that kinda came out of nowhere, Meredith really didn't know how to respond. April shrugged "Personal experience"

"Wait your parents…?" April nodded.

"When I was 17, haven't spoken to them since" Meredith was surprised, she didn't know much about April Kepner life but sure as hell wasn't expecting that.

"I guess shitty parents is one thing we have in common" Meredith said. April laughed, this was probably the most relaxed Meredith had seen April since, well since they started to get to know each other. Their conversation continued as April finished cooking breakfast. Then Alex walks in and Meredith saw both April and Alex look at each other awkwardly.

"Um, Breakfast is ready, leave the sandwich for Lexie and ya, I'm just going to go…" April awkwardly shuffled away and Meredith just looked between the two, she smacked Alex in the chest.

"What was that about?" Alex shrugged. Ouuuu now Meredith knew for sure something happened-

"No" Alex looked at her questioningly "You didn't, did you?" Meredith questioned.

"What?" Alex looked confused.

"Did you have sex with April?" Meredith whispered.

"What? No!" Alex admonished.

"Alex!" Meredith exclaimed not fully believing him.

"Look we didn't have sex okay" Meredith didn't look convinced but let it go. She and the rest of them had to gt ready for the day.

—Line Break—

It has been over a week since that morning at Meredith frat house they all have kept themselves busy, every once in awhile Derek would ask her about Emily which was nice, she loved actually talking to someone about her kid, to the point where she wanted to tell the others about her kid but many of them still believed she was a virgin and this part of her really wanted to wait as long as possible to see how shocked they would be when they found out.

"So, now you're not telling anyone for your own amusement?" Derek asked, April nodded.

"I mean they all think I'm this virgin, I think I even heard Cristina call me Virgin Mary, who knows she might even think Emily was an immaculate conception" April chuckled as did Derek."Its bring me amusement to see them be very wrong, especially for people who seem to think they are very right" April always found it amusing when she broke the image people and of her in their head.

"So, I can't tell Meredith" April shrugged.

"I mean you can do whatever you want , tell her or don't tell her, Emily is an open secret" Derek contemplated that when April got a page, Mrs. Davis, the person who drove into a laundromat by accident (April wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt but she wasn't quite sure about the whole 'accident part), her results came in.

—Line Break—

Lexie knew she shouldn't be mad at April, hell the girl made her a sandwich when she didn't need too but she also brought up hope for her and Mark and it kinda pissed Lexie off. April also seemed to be closer to Meredith which was the icing on the cake really. Lexie didn't mean to contradict or be mean to all of April suggestion, she was just being nice and including her in the decision making of their patients, it was far nicer then the other higher ranked residence but, ughhh let her be annoyed.

"Hey, um…how'd it go this morning?" April asked Meredith. Morning? What in the hell happened this morning"

"Eh" Meredith responded.

"What happened this morning?" Lexie asked but she seems to be ignored and April seemed to be ignoring her as well in favour of talking to Meredith.

" But you're okay, right?" April asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Meredith quickly responded.

"Why wouldn't you be fine?" Lexie asked, she hasn't felt this left out of the loop in a long time.

"Nothing. I have to go" Meredith responded.

"What was this morning?" Lexie asked April.

"You should really ask Meredith" April said uncomfortably then walked away. Lexie was even more annoyed.

— Line Break —

"How do you know if your patient may be an attempted murderer?" April asked as she entered the tunnels and saw both Meredith and Cristina.

"You think your patient drove into the Laundromat on purpose?" Asked Meredith astonished.

"I mean all her tests came out clean, and she got this crazy eye look plus my many, many hours of watching criminal documentaries have concluded it is always the spouse" Cristina looked at her.

"You actively watch criminal documentaries?" April nodded.

"They are a great past time" Cristina looked her like she was crazy.

"You're a resident when do you have free time?"

" I don't know when I'm cleaning my apartment" April responded "Does that even matter?" Cristina shrugged.

"So what did they say?" Cristina asked Merdith.

"Well apparently my uterus is 'hostile'" Meredith put air quotes around the word 'hostile'

"Apparently my uterus is more likely to crush my baby" oh was all April thought, that kinda sucked.

"She called it hostile?" April asked once again, Meredith confirmed.

"That's…well, at least it nothing too serious I'll do some research on treatment options" April noted it down on her red notebook.

"Her uterus is friendly" Cristina said teasingly.

"Its sunshiny." Meredith added jokingly.

"Untouched by the scourge of man" Cristina continued, April found it funny and joined in.

"Peppy ovaries, too" all three were laughing now when Lexie walked in. April really didn't know what was going on with Lexie and her, she seemed to be angry at her for whatever reason, April wanted to share her suspicions about their patient to her but she just didn't seem to be in a good mood so she is keeping it to herself for now. Lexie did seem concerned about the fat she didn't know what was going on with Meredith and she did.

"I went to the O.B today. I have massive, baby-squishing fibroids in my uterus" well wasn't that dark…kinda funny though.

"But you knew?" Lexie pointed at April, she nodded and Lexie seems offended. Yup something was definitely bothering her, whatever it was she needed to either tell her what it is or fix it.

"Knew what?" Jackson walked in she quickly churned out an excuse when Alex walked in. After the whole sleeping in the same bed situation, they both didn't talk about it, ti was like a silent rule to just not say a word which she was okay with, now for her heart to agree with her as well.

"Dude, Altman fire you yet?" What? April turned to Jackson, she knew since the shooting and sometime before that, Jackson was having some trouble, he seemed to be knocking into trays and messing up a lot in OR but nothing that would get him fired, yes he was Harper Avery grandson and Catherine Avery son, but from her experience he wasn't a bad surgeon, he was just in a bad patch at the moment.

"She is not gonna fire me" That was a relief.

"She thinks he's a hot piece of brainless ass." That was not. April wanted to help Jackson but knowing him, he probably didn't want her help in the matter.

"You got a line on any weird bone cancer treatments so I don't have to cut off my ballerina kid's leg?" April immediately thought about an article she heard on the news, she was going to look it up herself but she hasn't got the time. Ya when did she get time to watch all those crime documentaries?

"There was a story in the news recently where they used cadaver bone to replace cancerous one" Alex seemed to have brightened up.

"You get my fires" nice, free food… at the cost of Lexie looking annoyed at her, which caused her to leave.

" Did I do something to annoy Lexie?" Meredith shrugged

"Breathe" Cristina responded.

"Funny, but seriously outside of me just existing she seems more annoyed." Christina shrugged. Great help that was.

—Line Break—

HAH SHE KNEW IT, SHE DID DO IT ON PURPOSE.

It was crazy that she admitted it but she was glad to get the closure, but seriously April has gotten here weird death bed confession but this was the first for her.

"Hey so you turned out to be right?" Meredith said walking towards them.

"Yup, you watch enough documentaries you get an extinct for these things" Man April knew about HIPPA but she couldn't wait to tell Emily, they both loved these sort of things.

"You knew?" Lexie asked astonished, April nodded "and you didn't tell me?" Lexie seems a little hurt which confused April.

"Lexie, all day you have been annoyed with me or course I didn't tell you about a hunch that I couldn't corroborate" Lexie at least looked a little sheepish at that. Then Lexie went into a whole rant, which gladly April didn't need to be a part so she ran off.

—Line Break—

Alex was in a good mood, his patient, Jake Fisher, got to keep his leg and hopefully it will be permanent. He didn't know a lot about dancing but even he knew the kid was passionate so it was a good day. Something was going on with Meredith but it didn't seem to be a big deal that he needed to be involved in so he wasn't going to push and he avoided talking about what happened with Kepner for another day. Speaking of that day, Alex could remember some parts of the night, they were all having a good time, it was probably the best time they had as a group for awhile and Kepner for once was relaxed and not as jumpy and neurotic as he was used too. It was nice talking with her, it kinda reminded him of the chat they had before he signed those divorce papers.

"Oh come on? You mean to tell me Kepner was the least bothered by cutting open a body?" Alex asked astonished.

"I feel like I should be offended by that" Kepner responded.

"You should" Meredith said.

"Meh, I'll let it go" Seems April was having a good time. Jackson, who was telling the story, continued speaking.

"Anyways, it was the first time any of us really saw a body being opened up right in front of us, the smell and everything, like it was one thing when we were doing high school midsection or even practicing on dead bodies but this was the first time we were seeing a living body being cut up. I was still slightly freaked out at the time and grew up with doctors for family members. So while everyone was trying to concentrate and not be freaked April was recording everything the attending was saying on her notebook, unbothered by the fact a man was literally opened up right in front of us" They all looked at April for an answer, yes they were all surgeons but even Alex remembers being slightly quest when he saw the first living body being opened up in front of him.

"I grew up on a farm, I saw animals being slaughtered since I was a child, hell I slaughtered my first pig at 12, it wasn't that horrifying for me" huh Kepner was a farm girl…he could see it.

"Anyways everyone slowly got over it now look, Meredith here was literally scalpel hungry before she got cleared by Perkins" Meredith nodded at that…Junkie.

"April you have to understand you weren't even scalpel hungry, you just didn't react their was a literal bet going around that you were a psychopath or a sociopath" Jackson said, April laughed.

"I know I joined that bet, got like a $100 ha ha chumps paid for my groceries that month" Alex high-fived her for that one.

"I lost like 50 bucks on that bet!" Jackson exclaimed.

"I know thank you for your wonderful contribution to the Kepner household" Alex laughed at the tone switch up, April theatrics were funny.

That was a night but how they ended up on the same bed was still astonishing, well Alex knew how he ended up in that bed that was his bedroom but he didn't know how he AND April ended up in the same bed. He usually wouldn't care that another women was in his bed, he was Alex Karev he was used to women in his bed, but this was April 'Practically a virgin' Kepner it felt…different. It wasn't even that bed laying in bed with her, we wouldn't admit it to anyone else but it was nice, she was warm and weirdly…comfy…was that the word he would use? It all just felt different and he didn't say anything about it, neither did she so they moved on.

As Alex was walking hopefully finding an empty bed in an on-call room he ran into the girl he was just thinking about, looking tired as hell.

"Damn" Alex said.

"Hm..?" April replied drowsily. "Oh, ya, sorry I was running on like 3 cups of coffee and it finally ran out" She said giving him a tired smile, he chuckled at that, looks like they were both trying to find a bed to sleep in. When they found one on-call room, it was the weirder on-call rooms and usually the most sought after. It had only one bed and one desk, usually attending use it but it is open for all…and it was the only one available. Alex would usually just take it but he wasn't a complete asshole and Kepner looked extremely tired.

"Take it, i'll find another bed" April said.

"Nah, you're about to collapse you take it" Alex said.

"It's fine, take the bed, I can find another one" April replied.

"Seriously Kepner take the bed" April was about to respond but paused.

"Okay I am way too tired to argue, we'll both take the bed" Alex looked at April in astonishment.

"What? We have already done this once we can do it again" April said. Alex shrugged, she was right. April went to the bed, kicked her shoes off and collapsed, and Alex could have walked away then but he was tired, and it wasn't like people would walk in on them, the room had a lock. Alex locked the door and climbed into bed next to her, there was this small space between them, a comfortable distance. This was weird.

"How did your ballerina patient go?" He heard mumble from his side. April had her eyes closed and face squished against the pillow.

"Found the article, thanks by the way" April gave a noncommittal sound. "We couldn't find the perfect match immediately but we found a good enough one here so we are watching him, but we at least tried" As he was talking he moved to his side, facing April.

"Thats good" April said giving a tired smile, she brought her hadn't up to Alex cheek and gave it an affectionate pat "You did good" she said. Usually Alex would have been weirded out by the affectionate gesture but he let it go…plus it was a nice.

"What about you?" Alex asked.

"Hm? Oh, um, my patient was a jilted spouse who ran her car into a laundromat when she saw her ex-husband fold clothes for his new girlfriend? Wife? I don't remember" well…that must have been an adventure. "Oh and I think Lexie hate me? Or at least I think she hated me? I don't know she came and apologized to me so its all good" okay…Alex felt their was more to the story then what she said but he was drowsy and April definitely fell asleep so, he just went to sleep.

—Line Break—

When they both woke up, they didn't say a word about the sleeping arrangement. Every once in awhile when they both couldn't find a bed to sleep on but found each other, it would be a silent agreement, and they would sleep in the same bed. They never said anything about it, sometimes they would talk and other times they would stay silent but they never touched each other when they slept.

Weirdly enough they never got caught.