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Chapter 8

The sun is barely peeking through the curtains when Jackson's phone vibrates against the night stand. April lifts her head from Jackson's chest and nudges him with her leg that is wrapped over his. She is still half asleep as she says, "Jackson. Your phone. It's probably the hospital."

Jackson doesn't move to reach for his phone. Instead, he hugs her tighter to his body and rests his head against hers.

The phone vibrates again, and Jackson sighs with annoyance.

"Jackson…you have to get that."

Jackson groans, "Maybe if I ignore it, they will call someone else." The vibrating continues until he whines, "Ugh. I'm so comfortable. I do not want to get up!" He reaches for the phone and reluctantly answers it.

"Hello?!"

"Good morning, baby. I know I probably woke you, but I need to talk to you. Is April with you?"

"Mom? What? Uh, yeah. She's right next to me. Why?" April sits up realizing the call is not from the hospital.

Catherine sighs deeply in to the phone. "She has to come back to Chicago. Johnathan thinks she will have a better chance of winning the case if she testifies in person against Dotson. "

Jackson sits up, too, now completely awake, "No. She's not doing that. She already gave her statement. Can't they just use that? She's been through enough, and she shouldn't be forced to be in the same room with him, much less have to relive what happened to her in front of a room full of people."

"I agree, but they are pretty insistent on her being here. Let me see what I can do, but just be prepared."

"Okay. Let me know as soon as you know something. Thanks, Mom." He hangs up the phone and look over to April. He can see by the look on her face that she already understands what the phone call was for.

After a moment, she speaks, her voice breaking, "I – I have to go back? I have to see him again?"

"No. No, you do not have to go back. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Our lawyer just thinks it would help your case if you testify in person, but we are going to try to find a way around that. My mom is supposed to call us and let us know more later." He takes April's hand in his, "Try not to worry about this. You know my mom. If anyone can make someone change their mind it is Catherine Avery."

April gives him a weak smile, "That's true."

Jackson leans over to kiss her forehead. "Come on. Since we're up we might as well head into work. I want to check on Diane anyway."

April sighs and follows him out of the room, "Well, this is not how I wanted to start my morning.

April leans against the nurse's station and places the iPad she was using back on the charger. It had been one of those days in the ER. Multiple MVCs, a fire at an apartment building, and a case of the flu that seems to be spreading to half of Seattle had kept her tied up all day. She glances at the clock, surprised to see it is already almost five in the afternoon. Usually during work days, she and Jackson meet at least a couple of times each shift to go check on Harriet together, but they hadn't done that once today. He must be just as busy as her. She decides to text him to meet her in the cafeteria so they can grab some food and go check on their little one. She pulls her phone from her pocket and finds his name at the top of her messages list.

April – I am STARVING. I haven't eaten since we left the house. And I miss you. And Harriet. Do you have time to grab something to eat and go check on her with me?

"Dr. Kepner?" Before she can hit send, Dr. Cross calls over to her from one of the patient's beds.

She hesitates, but then returns her phone to her pocket. "Yes, Cross. What do you need?"

Cross looks frantic and April can see that he is unsuccessfully trying to bandage a wound that is bleeding heavily. "Umm…I don't really know. There's just so much blood."

April walks to the patient's side, who at this point is looking at Cross with a terrified expression. "Sir, let me see if I can help Dr. Cross with your wound. Dr. Cross, where is the rest of the gauze?"

Cross's voice comes out squeaky and nervous, "Uhh, I used it all."

"You used it all? On what?"

"Well, see, he was bleeding, so I thought I could just absorb the blood instead of doing stitches, but that didn't really work, so then I thought – "

"Okay, you know what? Never mind. Sir, I am going to go get some more gauze, and I will bandage your arm. Dr. Cross? Try not to break anything before I get back."

How hard is it to wrap gauze around someone's arm? April thinks to herself as she heads to the supply closet closest to the ER. The gauze is always stored on the shelf closest to the door, but when April reaches up on to the shelf, she finds the box is empty. And of course, no one can restock the supplies because that is just the type of day I am having. She throws the empty box in to the trash and heads to the back of the closet to locate the rest of the gauze. She makes a mental note to tell Chief Bailey that someone needs to organize the supply closets better. How are they supposed to find things in an emergency? Maybe she should create a checklist. She spots the gauze on a shelf above her head and stands on her tip toes to each it. Her fingers just reach the box when she feels a hand roughly grab her around the waist and pull her backwards away from the shelves.

"No! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" April pushes the man's arm off of her, turns around pushing him away, and backs up against the back wall of the closet. Her breathing is heavy and she wipes the tears from her face as the man in front of her comes into focus in the darkness of the closet.

Jackson is looking down at her with concern in his eyes. "Hey." He whispers, holding his hands up as if to calm her. "Hey. I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have – are you okay?" He can see that she is shaking and he wants to take her in his arms, but he also doesn't want to frighten her again.

April tries to steady her breathing, but her response comes out in gasps. "I – I'm so – sorry. I didn't – I didn't know – I thought - you were him."

"Oh, God, April. What can I do? What do you need?"

April closes her eyes and leans her head back against the wall. She doesn't answer him and he doesn't push. He just gives her space and waits because he doesn't know what else to do. When her hands have stopped shaking, he reminds her he is there.

"April?" He whispers.

She opens her eyes to find his, watching her, waiting for her. "I'm sorry, Jackson. I don't know what happened. I thought I was fine. I thought I had put this all behind me. I just – I thought I was okay." Her tears are falling faster now and Jackson steps forward, extending his arms to her if she will accept them, and she falls into him, sobbing. "Why can't I get past this, Jackson? Why?"

Jackson doesn't know how to answer her. He doesn't know how to help her. So, he just holds her in the dark silence for as long as she needs.

The car ride home is mostly quiet, both of them emotionally and physically exhausted from the day. "I'll grab her." Jackson says to April as he shuts off the ignition and opens his door. "Her car seat is getting heavy." Jackson grabs Harriet's from the backseat and smiles down at her chewing on her fist. He can never get enough of her. April slings the diaper bag over her shoulder and follows behind her family up the sidewalk and on to the porch. Jackson sets the car seat down on the step to dig his keys out of his pocket. "Man that was a long day," he thinks out loud.

April is drained and doesn't offer much in response. "Yeah."

Jackson turns the key in the lock, but instead of opening the door, he pauses and turns to April.

"Did you come home today?"

"No, I barely had time to breathe today, why?"

"The door was unlocked." He exchanges a puzzled look with April, then turns the knob and pushes the door open. He flips on the light switch next to the front door and hangs his key on the hook. Looking around, he quickly assesses the living room. Everything looks exactly the same, just as they left it.

"Maybe we didn't lock it? We did have a weird morning. After your mom called we were both pretty preoccupied. Maybe we forgot?" April offers a suggestion that makes sense, although he isn't sure she believes if herself.

"Yeah…maybe."

"I'm sure it's fine," April tells him. "I'm going to start dinner. If you put Harriet in her high chair I can entertain her while I cook if you want to shower or something."

"That would be great actually. I'll go shower and then I'll switch you, okay?"

"Okay, sounds good."

Jackson unbuckles Harriet from her car seat and follows April into the kitchen. He hooks her into her high chair and places some puffs on her tray to keep her from demanding April feed her while she is trying to cook. "I'll hurry." He says, kissing April on the forehead and heading back into the living room. He stops at the front door, locking it, and double checking that it really is locked before heading toward their bedroom. April's probably right, he tells himself, I'm sure we just forgot to lock it.