April shifted uncomfortably in her chair and looked up at the clock. Time was not moving. Up until this point, her visit to the Avery Trauma Center had been as impressive as she had imagined. The entire facility was equipped to treat multi-level trauma patients which meant there was a constant, heightened level of intensity and energy that April craved so much. Catherine had given her doctor's privileges so she was able to scrub in on a couple of surgeries and give the Chief of Trauma in the Emergency Room several pointers on how to make his ER run smoother and more efficiently. He seemed genuinely interested in her ideas and invited her to come by his office to discuss them more. But first, he suggested April sit in on a department meeting so she could get a better idea of how things were already operating. Department meetings at Grey-Sloan were generally quick and direct. Dr. Bailey valued her surgeons time and didn't want to waste any of it on things that could just as well be sent through an email. This Chief, Dr. Dotson, apparently had different views on the value of meetings. At around the forty-five-minute mark April found herself having a hard time keeping her eyes open, and she was grateful when she felt the familiar buzz of her phone in her pocket.

Her stomach fluttered briefly as she saw Jackson's name on the screen.

Jackson – Are you busy?

April – I am being slowly tortured in the world's worst dept. meeting. So no. Not busy. If I'm being honest I stopped listening on slide ten of his power point.

Jackson – Ugh…power point. That sounds rough. Who is running the meeting?

April – Dr. Jeff Dotson

Jackson- Oh, that guy. Yeah, he likes to hear himself talk. Sorry you got roped into that. Did my mom abandon you?

April – She's having lunch with some board members. So, you know him? I don't remember you coming out here.

Jackson – I haven't been there in years, but he and I went to medical school together. He always felt the need to compete with me and was so happy when he got a job at an Avery hospital and I went to Mercy West. Like, man, c'mon. I own that hospital. If I wanted to work there I would.

April – Oh, he's one of those? Great. He wants to meet with me to discuss my ideas. Sounds like he just wants to tell me why his are better. Fun.

Jackson – You're meeting with him? Is my mom going to be there too?

April – I don't know. Probably not. Why?

Jackson – No reason

"…and Dr. Kepner agrees with me. Right Dr. Kepner?" April looked up from her phone to find all eyes in the room fixed on her.

"I'm sorry. I had a message from someone at the hospital back in Seattle. Umm…what were we discussing?" She tried to hide the embarrassment in her voice.

"I was just telling my team that I think using a checklist for ER patients would make things more streamlined and efficient. Don't you agree?" Dr. Dotson smiled at April, but she returned his gaze with a confused one of her own. She had told him about the checklist she implemented at Grey-Sloan and how much improvement they had seen in their ER since she created it. Was he taking credit for her idea? She couldn't very well call him out in from of his own staff, but she planned to bring it up at the meeting.

"A checklist. Right. I think using a checklist in the ER is a great idea." April half smiled at him, grateful that her answer seemed to satisfy the others in the room and they turned their attention back to Dr. Dotson.

When the meeting finally ended, April quickly headed for the door to make her way to the cafeteria. She was in desperate need of caffeine and carbs.

"Dr. Kepner, hold on a moment!" She heard Dotson call out to her as she was just a few steps from the door. Crap, the meeting. She had forgotten about that. She turned around and saw that he had already made his way over to her. "Where are you running off to in such a hurry? I thought we had plans?"

"Right, of course. We're going to discuss the ER procedures. I haven't forgotten. I was just hoping to grab some coffee before I made my way to your office." She explained. "Meet you there in five minutes?"

Dr. Dotson ran his hand down the back of her arm from her shoulder to her elbow letting it linger for a moment before dropping it back to his side. "Looking forward to it," he replied, smiling.

Well, that makes one of us, April thought, and as she turned to walk out of the room she decided to take the long way to the cafeteria.

April's coffee was half empty by the time she stepped off the elevator on to the floor where Jeff Dotson's office was located. When he had first suggested meeting with her, she was excited about it, but now, something felt a little off. After he took credit for her checklist idea in the staff meeting, she knew that Jackson was definitely right about him. He placed a lot of value on getting recognition and coming out on top. That wasn't the type of person she wanted to spend her afternoon with, and she certainly didn't plan on offering him anymore helpful tips to improve his ER.

The door that read Dr. Jeff Dotson, M.D., was closed when April found it. Standing outside, April debated whether to knock or skip the meeting altogether. After several seconds, she decided she didn't want to be rude at Jackson's family's hospital, so with a deep sigh, she knocked on the door.

Jeff opened the door and gestured for April to come in. "That was a long five minutes. Did you get lost?"

"Oh, um, yeah. I guess I did." April took a seat in the chair in front of his desk while Jeff sat on the edge of his desk directly in front of her. He looked down at her and scoffed, "April, this hospital is not that big. If you can't find your way around here, how do you ever find your way around an O.R.? Well, I guess you have nurses to help you then, huh?" He laughed to himself and April opened her mouth to reply, but before she could decide just what to say, Jeff continued talking. "So, you said someone from Seattle messaged you? Is Grey Sloan falling apart without you there?"

April couldn't decide if he was being intentionally condescending or if he thought he was charming. She tried her best to keep her thoughts out of her expression. "Uh, no. Jackson was just updating me on a patient's surgery."

"Jackson? Jackson Avery? I take it you two are close? I mean, of course you are. Catherine Avery doesn't give just anyone a personal tour of the Avery Trauma Center." Jeff was prying and she wasn't sure why. This meeting was supposed to be about making improvements in the ER, but so far it seemed to be more about her personal life.

She decided to try to steer the conversation back to work. "Yes, Jackson and I are very close, and I respect Catherine Avery very much. But I really wanted to talk to you about the emergency room. Do you have any data on how many patients you take in daily?"

Irritation flashed across Jeff's face, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get the data later. So, you met Avery at Grey-Sloan? His mom, like, bought him the hospital or something, right? If you're so close to him why aren't you Chief of Trauma? Or on the board?"

The conversation was making April uncomfortable, so she stood from her chair and took a step towards the door. "I'm sorry, Dr. Dotson, but I really need to go find Catherine. If you have a chance to get the data together, I would love to look at it for you. Maybe I can email you some ideas when I get back to Seattle. Thank you for meeting with me, but I really have to go."

Jeff rose from his spot on the edge of the desk and stepped closer to April. "Catherine is at lunch with the board members which basically means they will be out for the rest of the afternoon." As he spoke, he crossed the floor and closed the space between himself and April. She jumped a bit when he placed his hands on her waist and lowered his voice to say, "April, relax. We're just getting to know each other. We both know you came to my office for a reason."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Dotson, but I think you have the wrong idea. I'm not - "

"I think I have the exact right idea. I have met plenty of women like you. You have this sweet and innocent act but you attach yourself to the most powerful man in the room to get what you want. And it sounds like Jackson isn't giving it to you, so let me give it to you instead." His face was inches from hers and although April was trying to pull away from his grasp, his hands only tightened on her waist.

"Dr. Dotson, you need to let go of me, now. I don't know why you think I came here, but you're wrong. I – I – want to leave." April's voice faltered a bit.

"Is this what you do to Avery, too? You show up in his office and act like you aren't there for one reason only? Well, like I said, if he can't give it to you, I will." In one quick movement, he pushed her against the wall behind her and forced his mouth on to hers. She turned her face away from his while his hands roughly grabbed at her body in places only one other person had touched. "Stop! I said stop!" she pleaded with tears in her eyes. She pushed against his chest, attempting to break free from him, but it only seemed to encourage him more. His rough hands scratched at her stomach under her shirt now, and she began to pray that he would stop. He was bigger and stronger than her, and there was no way she could fight him off. She looked over to the office door and wanted nothing more than to find a way to get there, to the other side of the door, and as far away from this man as she could get.

In that instant, the door to Dr. Dotson's office swung open and a doctor ran in looking frantic. "Jeff, what the hell? I've been paging you. We have a bus crash on the freeway and the ER is filling up –"

April didn't wait to hear the rest. She quickly stepped around Dotson, grabbed her bag, and ran from the room without looking back.