This chapter has been the most difficult to write so far because there were so many directions I could take the story. In the end I tried to stay true to how I thought the characters would react. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 3
Her heart was still racing as she closed her hotel door behind her and slumped against it. Her brain couldn't settle on an emotion. She was angry. What the hell was that?! What made him think he had the right to say those things to her, touch her, assume she wanted him to? And she was worried, embarrassed. Had she given him some sort of sign that she had wanted him to touch her? Because of course she didn't want that. No, she had kept everything completely professional. She was sure of it. Why did he think she wanted any of that to happen? She didn't. She didn't want him touching her like he had a right to her body. She shivered as she remembered his forceful hands grabbing at her and pushing at her clothes. She needed to shower. Maybe she could wash the feeling of him off of her even if she couldn't erase it from her mind. She dropped her clothes on the bathroom floor, twisted the lever to release the water, stepped into the shower, and finally let her tears fall.
She stayed in the shower until the water ran cold. Standing in front of the mirror while she dressed, she was struck by how red and puffy the eyes looking back at her were. At least she didn't have to see anyone for the rest of the night. She planned to put on her favorite pajamas and order room service. But first she needed to call Jackson. More than anything she wished he were in Chicago with her. He always made her feel safe and she desperately needed that now.
April dug her phone out of her bag and saw that the screen was already lit up with a message.
Catherine – April, honey, Dr. Dotson told me you left early because you weren't feeling well. Are you sick? Is there anything I can do?
Dotson told her she wasn't feeling well? Yeah. That's an understatement. She hesitated before typing her response but ultimately decided this wasn't something to tell Catherine over text message.
April – I'm feeling much better now. Probably just exhaustion from all this traveling. Thanks for checking on me.
Catherine – Oh good! I wouldn't want you to miss Hamilton tonight. Remember our dinner reservation is at five. Be in the lobby by four-thirty, and our car will be there to pick you up. I'll meet you at the restaurant.
Oh no. Hamilton. She had completely forgotten about Catherine getting tickets for the play. There was no way she could back out of this. Those tickets must have cost a fortune. And honestly, April was dying to see it. But now this experience, her whole trip to the Avery Trauma Center really, was tainted by everything that had happened in Dotson's office. Damn him. She decided she was going to try her best not to let him ruin anything else for her. He didn't deserve that kind of power.
April – Four-thirty. Got it. Can't wait!
Catherine – Yes! Bring all your excitement and energy cause we are gonna have a fun girl's night!
The time on her phone read 3:00. That gave her just enough time to call Jackson, get ready for the night, and make it to the lobby in time to meet the Avery's driver. She quickly found his name at the top of her recent calls list, but paused before pressing the button. For some reason, she was nervous thinking about telling him what happened with Dotson. Stop it, she told herself. It's Jackson. You can tell him anything. She pressed his name to make the call and lifted the phone to her ear. After five rings she was debating whether she should leave a voicemail or send him a text message, but just as she was about to hang up, the call was answered.
"Dr. Avery's phone."
April recognized the female voice as one of the scrub nurses from Grey-Sloan. He must still be in surgery.
"HI, this is Dr. Kepner. Is Dr. Avery available?"
"He's in surgery. He wanted me to ask if he could call you back."
April sighed into the phone. She had really been looking forward to hearing his voice. The timing could not be worse, but she understood. "Of course. Just tell him to call me when he has time."
"Did you want me to give him a message for you?"
"Just ask him to call me please. That's all. Thanks." April hung up the phone and tossed it on to the bed. There was little chance she would hear from him before she left to meet Catherine.
Spending the evening with Catherine turned out to be a welcome distraction. She was able to avoid telling Catherine much about her day by giving short, vague answers and steering the conversation to cute stories about Harriet or Catherine's plans for an expansion on the Trauma Center. For once, April was thankful that Catherine liked to control conversations. It's not that she didn't plan to tell Catherine eventually, she did. But she and Catherine had just started rebuilding their relationship. She didn't want Catherine to be disappointed in her or even worse, think that she might have welcomed Dotson's behavior. Catherine was nice enough to bring April all the way to Chicago to the Avery Trauma Center, and now April had to figure out how to tell her that her Chief of Trauma had assaulted her.
"Jackson's still in surgery?" Catherine's question pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Um, I'm sorry, what?"
"You have checked your phone at least fifty times since we sat down. I assume you are waiting on his call?" Catherine had that knowing look on her face that she so often used when she was sure she was right about something.
April blushed and smiled, "Oh, yeah. I am waiting to hear from him. I just really need – I mean, um, I want to know how his surgery went. He was operating on Diane Pierce today, and I know he was a little worried about it. I called earlier, but the operation was taking longer than he expected."
"That is not a good sign."
"I know."
April jumped a bit when her phone rang in her hand. Jackson's name showed up on the screen, and she felt all the tension she had been feeling from the day leave her body.
"Why don't you take that outside?" Catherine smiled at her. "I'll take care of the check and meet you at the car in five minutes. Hurry though. We have to get to the theater. The play starts in twenty minutes, and I did not wait all this time for Hamilton tickets only to miss the opening song."
April nodded to Catherine as she answered the phone and stood up from the table to walk outside.
"Hello?"
Jackson sighed into the phone. "Hey. You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice." She could hear exhaustion in his.
"Actually I have some idea. All I have wanted all day is to hear your voice. You sound tired. Did Diane's surgery end up taking longer than expected? Were there complications?"
"Yeah. The tumor metastasized. Once we got in there it had spread so much we couldn't even get it all. There are mets in her liver, and – it doesn't look good. And Maggie, she's just pushing everyone to figure out some way to help her mom. Which I get but, I don't know. I don't know if there is a way at this point. It's a mess, April. She even fired Meredith from the case. I want to help her, but I just don't know what to do at this point." He wasn't looking for a response really, and April knew that. He just needed someone to listen, but so did she. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Catherine waving her over from the car, and she knew she didn't have time to tell Jackson everything she needed to. "I want to hear all about your day, though. Did you like the Trauma Center? Did you see any good cases? How was your meeting with Dotson?" Jackson laughed to himself. "Did he spend the whole thing telling you how great he is?"
"Actually, um, I wanted to talk to you about that."
"About your meeting? Why? What's up?"
April didn't realize that Catherine had made her way over to where she was standing until she heard her voice. "April Kepner, if you make me late for Hamilton…" She got closer to yell into the phone. "Jackson Avery, we have a play to get to! She can call you back! Look at the two of you acting like it hasn't only been a day since you saw each other. Montana must have been some kind of place…" She headed back to the car laughing to herself.
"You better go before my mother leaves you there. Just call me when you get back to your hotel, okay?"
"It will probably be late, Jackson. I don't want to wake you."
Jackson heard the sadness in her response, and he realized that she really needed to talk to him. His response was just above a whisper. "April. Wake me. I want to hear whatever you need to tell me, okay? It doesn't matter how late it is, just call."
April smiled to herself at his response. He always knew just what she needed. "Thank you, Jackson. And I know this sounds silly, because I just saw you yesterday, but I really missed you today."
Jackson was a little surprised to hear her say that she missed him. It had been so long since they had said that to each other, but it was true. He missed her and not just today. He had missed her for much longer than that. "It doesn't sound silly at all. I missed you, too. Have fun at the play. I'll have my phone right next to the bed, okay? Call me."
"I will. I promise. Bye Jackson."
"Bye April."
It was close to midnight when April made it back to her hotel room. She kicked off her heels, climbed on to the bed, and leaned back against the pillows. She felt the weight of the day leave her shoulders and realized that this is the first time she had really relaxed all day. Jackson's name was at the top of her call list, and she pushed the button to video call him. After the day she had, she wanted to see his face.
The call connected and Jackson popped on to the screen. She could barely see him because all the lights were out in his room but she could tell that his eyes were still closed. She had woken him.
"Oh, Jackson, I'm so sorry I woke you up. I feel awful."
"No, no, it's fine. I'm up. I'm awake." Jackson opened one eye and tried to focus on April's face on his screen. After a second, he opened both eyes and lifted his head from the pillow. He leaned over and switched on his lamp. "Wow, you look amazing. Is that the black dress? The one you wore the night of that hospital Christmas party? You know, when we snuck off to –" Jackson stopped himself when he saw the blush on April's cheeks. Maybe this isn't something he should be bringing up. He cleared his throat. "Um, how was the play?"
"The play was amazing. You really have to see it, Jackson. You would love it."
"Well, not all of us got invited." He teased her. "Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about? You said it was about your meeting?"
The color left April's cheeks and she dropped her eyes. "Yeah." She whispered.
"Hey." Jackson said softly. "What happened?"
Jackson waited a few moments for her response and started to ask her again when he saw a tear fall down her cheek. "April? Talk to me. You're making me worried here. Did my mom do something? Did she say something to you?"
April quickly looked up and met his gaze. "No! No. Not at all. Your mom has been great."
"Then what is it? Talk to me."
April took a deep breath, paused, and began. "I went to my meeting. You know, um, with Dotson. I almost didn't go. I could already tell you were totally right about him. I mean, he took credit for my checklist idea during the staff meeting and just, he just, I don't know, he was so condescending. He made some stupid remark about me getting lost in the OR and needing a nurse to show me around."
Jackson's narrowed his eyes as he wondered where this was going.
"But I didn't want to make a bad impression, you know. This is your family's hospital, and I am a guest, and I didn't want to make your mother look bad, so of course I went." April's voice began to shake.
"He told me he wanted to talk about the ER, but he didn't. He just kept talking about you. He seemed almost angry that I am close to you and your family. I kept trying to change the subject, to talk about the ER, but he only wanted to talk about you. So, I decided to leave…but…he wouldn't let me."
Jackson felt his heart beat faster as he began to understand what she was telling him. "What do you mean he wouldn't let you?"
Tears were streaming down April's face now and Jackson repeated his question more urgently, "April? What did he do?"
"He grabbed me. He pushed me against the wall, and I couldn't get away. I tried, Jackson, I did. I didn't want him to touch me. You have to believe me. I tried to push him off, but I wasn't strong enough. And his hands…were everywhere. He was touching me, and kissing me, and tearing at my clothes. And the whole time he was saying things about you. How I liked men who were powerful and that he could give me what you couldn't. Jackson, I promise I didn't want him to touch me. I didn't want any of it." April was sobbing now and couldn't get out any more words.
Jackson stared at her through the phone with intense, angry eyes, but he didn't speak. The only sound between the two of them were April's sobs.
Finally, Jackson spoke. "April, did he…?"
It took a moment for April to understand what he was asking. "No! No, he didn't. Um…another doctor came in before anything like that could happen. Thank God. But Jackson, if that doctor hadn't come in…I don't know…I don't want to think about that." She wiped the tears from her eyes and then rubbed at the black smudges of mascara that were left on the sides of her hands. She noticed that Jackson wasn't saying anything. His face was still full of anger, and she realized maybe this was too much. "Jackson, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw all of this at you. I know you already have a lot going on with Diane's surgery. I should've just dealt with this myself."
"Do not apologize, April. Of course this isn't your fault. Do not think for one second that you did anything to provoke this. I believe you. I believe every word of it. Damnit. I knew that guy was an ass, but I didn't know it was this bad" Jackson ran his hand over his head and took a death breath. "And I'm glad you told me. This isn't something you should have to deal with on your own. I'm just thinking of how I want to deal with this. It's probably a good thing I'm not there because my first instinct is that I want to kill him. What did my mother say when you told her?"
"I haven't told her yet."
"What? Why? April, she could have dealt with it right away. Today. Why didn't you tell her?"
"When I ran out of his office all I could think about was getting as far away from that hospital as possible. I came back here and stood in the shower until I felt like I had washed the feeling of his hands off of me. And then she reminded me we were supposed to go to dinner and see the play, and I just didn't want to ruin her evening. And I know, it sounds stupid, but your mom just started being nice to me again. I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't want her to think she brought me all the way to Chicago and I turned it into a mess. I just needed you. I wish you were here, Jackson."
"Me, too. Look, how about this. I will talk to my mom, tell her what happened, and her and I will come up with a plan to deal with Dotson. You don't have to worry about him anymore, okay? I promise. I will make sure of that." Jackson's expression was still serious, but his eyes had softened.
"How do you do that?" she asked him.
"Do what?"
"How do you manage to know exactly how to make me feel better?"
Jackson's smile lit up his face. "It's a talent, I guess. Just kidding. You know you do the same thing for me."
April yawned and let her held fall to the side and rest on her pillow.
"You must be exhausted. Why don't you try and get some sleep? We can talk more tomorrow." Jackson suggested.
"I am tired." April smiled at him sleepily. "I would sleep better if you were here, though."
"I know. Me, too. Soon enough, though, you'll be home and we can sleep next to each other every night."
"Every night?" April asked.
"Every night." He replied. "Sweet dreams."
"Good-night, Jackson."
"Good-night, April."
The sun streaming through the curtains woke April the next morning. Because they had such a late night, Catherine hadn't scheduled them to be at the Avery Trauma Center until early afternoon. That was just fine with April. She was dreading going back there anyway. She stretched her arms above her head and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She thought about her conversation with Jackson the night before and decided it would be better if she told Catherine herself before they got to the hospital. Jackson had said he would tell her, but Catherine would notice something was off if April had to be anywhere near Dotson. It was still early and April didn't want to wake Catherine, so she ordered breakfast from room service and scrolled through photos of Harriet on her phone while she waited for it to arrive.
Barely five minutes had passed before there was a knock at her door.
"Wow. That may be the fastest room service ever." April said to herself. She set her phone on the night stand and quickly walked to the door. She hadn't realized just how hungry she was until now. She undid the chain lock and swung open the door. April gasped in surprise.
"Jackson?! What are you doing here?" He didn't have a chance to answer as April ran to him and practically leapt into his arms. They stood in the hallway, holding on to each other for as long as they both needed. Eventually, April pulled back and smiled up at him. "No really. What are you doing here?! I mean, I'm so happy to see you, but just, shocked, I guess - " April's rambling was cut short when Jackson tilted her face up to meet his and gently kissed her.
"You said you needed me, right? So, here I am."