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Japril, early Season 9. Just before Bailey's wedding.
Enjoy!
"Is that what I think it is?" Stephanie asked, clutching her patient's chart as she stared at the ceiling of the elevator.
Her colleague Shane, followed her gaze. "Yup," he confirmed.
"Mistletoe?"
"Otherwise known as Phoradendron leucarpum."
"Huh?"
"Nevermind." He said abruptly. "Wait..." Shane's brows narrowed. "Are we supposed to-"
"-Nope. No."
"Right. We're at work... we should keep it... professional."
"Professional." Stephanie repeated. "Besides, I'm going on a date. With Jackson Avery. Bailey's wedding."
"Of course," said Shane. "Dr. Kepner is my date... I believe." The elevator stopped and the door slid open. "My stop," Shane nodded. "I'll see you... later."
"Later," Stephanie waved awkwardly. As the doors slid closed, a hand came between and forced it open.
Stephanie gawked as Dr. Avery forced himself inside.
"Oh hi," he nodded politely, moving to stand beside her.
"H-hi," she swallowed. Heat suddenly flushed her cheeks. She nervously pushed her glasses up her nose. Just two more floors... two more floors and-
"Is that what I think it is?"
Crap.
"Mistletoe?" Jackson continued.
"Otherwise known as Phoradendron leucarpum," Stephanie rattled off.
"Huh?"
"Uh... nevermind." She tried not to look at him. She tried. But Dr. Avery... Jackson, was so hot. Stephanie averted her eyes.
"Do you want-"
"Y-no!" Stephanie said.
"No?" Jackson sounded so surprised, she had to look up at him. Which was a bad idea. Jackson's adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, and she followed that bob up to his strong lightly stubbled jaw, his full lower lip and the perfect upper... Her heart palpated. She'd never really seen him this way. She'd been so focused on medicine that she rarely took that time to appreciate-
"-No!" She blurted again. "I can't kiss you! It's... we're at work, and I'm in my scrubs and we're not even... dating really so-"
"Edwards-" Jackson started, but to her relief the elevator stopped at her floor and she was off like a shot. She tore down the hallway so fast she didn't hear the rest of Jackson's sentence. If she did, she might have actually turned around and said yes, because he wasn't offering her a kiss, but a chance to scrub in on a cleft palate repair.
Jackson watched her go with a sigh and scratch of his head. Interns. With another glance at the mistletoe dangling over him, he shook his head. Mistletoe. It sounded like something Sloan would do.
"Hold the elevator!" A familiar shrill voice called, and before he knew it his arm shot out to stop the doors from closing.
"April," he greeted.
"Jackson," she replied, nodding at him.
He looked down at his shoes. Checked the time on his watch... looked anywhere but at April. Strapless. She said she'd be wearing a strapless dress for Bailey's wedding, and every time he looked at her, he imagined her in it.
Dammit.
"Is that what I think it is?" April asked.
"Phoradendrum leucarpum," he muttered.
"What?"
"Uh- Mistletoe," he said to the floor.
"Of course," April said with a tone that made him imagine her rolling her eyes. "You know, there was one last year, and Sloan tried to kiss me."
Jackson's head snapped up in shock. "What?" he stared at April.
"I wonder who put that-"
"Mark Sloan tried to kiss you?"
April snorted. "He didn't really try..." she shrugged, "He just kinda asked. I think he was trying to trap Lexie on the elevator but she was avoiding him like the plague." She sighed. "It was kind of sad, actually. Maybe I should have let him... I mean he's Mark Sloan. He's probably an amazing kisser. You'd have to be, to sleep-" April stopped. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
He wasn't looking, he was- thinking of her in an elevator with Mark Sloan. April wearing her strapless dress. A red one. With her hair up, red lipstick and- "Like what?" Jackson asked.
"Like you want to kiss me," April said.
"I-" he tried to stop, to look away again...
But...
She was beautiful. And he never saw it before. April had always been... just April. His friend, colleague, roommate... But ever since their night together- something was different. Something changed. And so...
He kept looking at her lips, imagining them in bright strawberry red, imagining how they tasted on his...
"Jackson?"
"I..." They weren't supposed to be together. This wasn't what April wanted. Not really. And he wasn't... he hadn't put much thought in the future...
But he couldn't deny his feelings now.
Mark had. Lexie had. And now they were gone. He leaned back against the control panel and pressed the STOP button.
"Seriously?"
Jackson licked his lips. "April..."
"I thought we were trying to get over each other-" she said, her eyes blazing.
"I know. I am. We are. I just..." he swallowed, "You're beautiful."
"Beautiful?"
April was in her navy scrubs and white labcoat. There was a yellowish stain on the sleeve. Her hair was loose and mussed around her pale face. But he didn't see that. He didn't see any of it. She was beautiful.
"Jackson," April stepped up close to him, her eyes searching his... her fingers lightly touching his. "We're over," she whispered.
"Kiss me," he rasped. If only... this one last time, this one last touch, he could feel heaven on earth.
She stretched toward him. Closer. Her lips on his were a whole new universe to explore. One he'd been to before, but yet, every press, stroke and taste brought something new and wonderful. Just like April, whom he'd known for years, yet now... he knew her differently, intimately... He'd found a new layer of her.
Finally, they pulled away with hitched breaths and flushed cheeks. April sighed and gently pushed herself away from him and leaned against the back wall of the elevator. "Okay," she said, straightening her rumpled labcoat. "Okay," she breathed a long deep sigh. "Now we're over."
"Yeah," he croaked, forcing himself once more to look away. "We're over." He pulled the button up and the elevator resumed.
Still, Jackson imagined April... in all her beauty, and couldn't help but wonder... maybe they weren't.
Damn mistletoe.
A/N: Review! And Japril fans Check out my story Twas the night Before...