A/N: Tried to post this sooner but the site is being weird again. At any rate, here is Chapter 7. I hope you enjoy it. Chapter 8 is coming next week. As always let me know what you think. I appreciate it. Thank you very much for reading.


April leaned on her crutches in front of the mirror that hung on the back of her door, taking a good look at herself, and fidgeting with the edges of her sweater. She pursed her lips to one side and pulled at the scarf she had wrapped around her head like a headband. It covered the patch of short fuzzy hair that was beginning to grow in. Not really how she'd imagined she'd look for a first date. Especially not with Alex. Then again the last time April had worn this particular dress, she hadn't looked like the Bride of Frankenstein. It wasn't particularly low cut, but the healing incision on her chest made her feel self conscious.

And of course the angry scars and the brace on her healing leg was impossible to disguise with a scarf, a sweater, or anything. The skin of her lower leg now looked like a road map of crisscrossing scars and healing scratches. April couldn't quite wrap her mind around the idea that her knee and lower leg were significantly artificial. That at some point, the bones she'd been born with, that had grown as she had, ended and were supplemented by man-made materials. April kind of had a bionic keg. To be honest, it still freaked her out. She just wanted to look nice for the date, but it seemed her injuries were preventing that. She still didn't quite feel 'hot', no matter what Alex said.

April was still half afraid it was all a dream. That she'd wake up and Alex would be back to the way he was before. Or that the whole date thing would turn out to be some cruel prank of his, at her expense and he'd pop out at the end and yell "Surprise! Fooled you. Who'd ever want to go out with you?"

What on earth had possessed April to ask Alex to try a date in the first place? Or to...kiss him? Replaying the whole thing in her mind, she couldn't quite say what came over her. The moment had been so unexpected. One moment last week, she'd been down after talking Libby, the next Alex, Alex,had done his best to convince her that she was still beautiful. Which April had been so sure was just a joke. One of those white lies you tell people to spare their feelings. Then again when did Alex spare people's feelings?

And then Alex had started to explain. Why he'd yelled at her that night in an in-call room. For April, that whole experience had been a terrible blow to her confidence. And it had been almost enough to squash her crush on Alex altogether. Almost. But now she knew why. Why Alex had yelled at her. Or at least some of why. Another piece of the puzzle that formed April's understanding of Alex. The brief story he'd told about her his family was nothing short of tragic. She couldn't imagine. Her own family was so different. Sure, they had their fair share of disagreements and drama, but nothing like that.

April could tell that there was more to the whole thing, but she was glad that Alex had told her some of his past. It gave her more insight into his personality. As April had long suspected, there was a reasonbehind all of Alex's jerk behavior. He made more sense. Alex it seemed, had had to take a lot of responsibility for everyone in his family, even if he felt that he wasn't doing enough by not staying with them. His life had been hard, so he was a hard right back.

Then Alex said he'd regretted how he treated April and then she'd just felt a sudden surge of, well, you could call it bravery. April had just felt like everything had come to a tipping point, between her and Alex, and that she just had to act. Like if she hadn't, the opportunity would have passed, and never returned again. So, she'd kissed him. And luckily the boldness had worked out. At least it would if she could figure out something for them to do.

April had always been the studious one, staying at home with her books and homework, while Libby, and Kimmie, and eventually even Alice went out on dates and things. Boys in school had just never been interested in her in that way. Her mom had always said that her time would come. And April hadn't really minded, so much then. At least with Libby and Kimmie. She wanted to become a surgeon, and that demanded a lot of discipline, work and time. She'd reminded herself of this all through high school, college, and med school. By the time Alice had started dating guys, however...well that had been a slight wound to April's pride.

Sighing, April reached for the handles of her crutches and hobbled carefully over to her bed. As it was, at age 29, she could really probably count on one hand the number of actualdates she had been on. Well, that was a slight exaggeration, but April knew that she really didn't have that much experience.

Especially when you factored out the 'dates' that didn't count. Like Dr. Stark. Because, well Robert was a nice person, at least if you looked deep enough. Really. But April didn't like him that way. Or Travis Andrews, in college. Because he hadn't liked April for herself at all and had only taken her out to try to convince her to...well...with him right in the bio library. He hadn't understood her at all. She didn't count Kenny Dirkin during her undergrad years, either. Because he was a nice person, who kind of got her, and at the time April had thought she liked him that way, except it'd turned out that Kenny didn't like girls thatway. Which was fine. Good for him. Not so good for her.

No, mostly April had just lurched from unobtainable crush to unobtainable crush, with very little real dating over the years.

Easing herself down on the edge of the bed, April had to laugh a little. Her love life was certifiably ridiculous. Most of it could easily fit under the banner of "That Awkward Moment When..." like one of those things from the internet that Alice was always sending her on facebook. If April was imagining a good first date, and it was before the earthquake and all her injuries, she would have pictured a nice dinner out, maybe some dancing. Something nice. If she were picturing it.

Now though? Frowning, she stared back down at her chest and leg.

Right now, April felt embarrassed enough going to the normal places she had to, like to the grocery store, or to the hospital for her rehab. She just didn't think she'd be comfortable out in public somewhere nice, with Alex. With everyone staring at her? Looking at her scars and her crutches. Watching her down the army of pills she had to take with dinner. They'd think she was a drug addict. Probably wondering why on earth someone as handsome as Alex would even think of taking out scarred up person like April. She'd be nervous.

And an anxious April, was an awkward April. An annoying April. One who'd probably bother Alex to no end. He'd never ever want to go on another date with her again. Or even keep talking to her. Which were both things she definitely wanted. Public dinner had to be out. Public in general, really. Or shelved at least. Until she could be sure that Alex wanted to keep going out with her. Until she felt more comfortable with the marks on her body and the limitations of her leg.

So, she needed an alternative. No big deal. Except, April had been racking her brain for ideas all day. She'd even bounced ideas off of Bobby during their rehab session that morning. He'd just tried to convince her that going somewhere public would be a good thing in terms of testing her stamina in preparation for coming back to work in next weeks. Leg practice wasn't exactly what April was looking for in terms of date options though, even if she appreciated Bobby's suggestion.

Looking at the clock, April realized that Alex would be getting off of work soon. Damn. She'd told him she'd have it figured out by the time he got home. Would he think she was lame if she suggested they stay home and watch a movie instead? Probably. He'd probably think it was more lame because rehab and planning their date was about all she'd hadto do that day. And every day. For the past week. And she still couldn't come up with something.

Now, April could feel a nervous energy building up in her body, and she used her crutches to stand up, and once again moved to stand in front of the mirror. Maybe she should curl her hair? She had time.

Heading to the bathroom to get her curling iron, April figured that at least it would give her hands something to do while she contemplated her options. Why couldn't she just pick something? Maybe it was an omen or something. A sign that this date thing wasn't going to work. That it was a bad idea.

Think. Think. Think.


Alex made his way down the hallway. He had one last patient he wanted to check on before finishing up and heading home. Cracking open the door he saw the kid, Marcello, leaning back on his pillows looking beat. Poor kid had a recurrent adolescent cancer. He'd been in remission last year, but now the tumor was back. It sucked. And Marcello was alone a lot of the time because his last battle with the disease had done a number on his parents sick, medical, and vacation leave. Now, in order to keep their insurance the mom and the dad had to work during the week, and because they lived in Yakima...

Basically Marcello only saw his family on the weekend.

But Alex had to hand it to the kid, he was tough. He took care of himself, and didn't whine about how unfair everything all was. For a 15 year old, he was dealing with a crappy situation really well. Better than most adults. All the same, Alex couldn't help but checking on the kid a little extra. More than the kids whose families were around all the time. Maybe he saw something of himself in the boy. Not that he was getting soft or whatever. Besides, it was more of a professional thing. Really. Robbins was taking the teen's tumor out soon, and Alex wanted in on the surgery.

Thinking that Marcello had dozed off with his television set still blaring WWE crap, Alex moved to turn it off.

"Hey," the boy said quietly. "I'm still watchin' that."

"You know this isn't real wrestling, right?"

"I don't think any of it is real Dr. Karev," Marcello shifted and pulled at his chest tube uncomfortably. "Doesn't mean I won't watch it."

Glancing back at the images on the screen and pulling an overly disgusted face, Alex adjusted the boy's blankets.

"Things going okay? Need med adjustments or whatever? Sandwich? Gameboy? Extra pillow?"

Marcello laughed weakly at Alex's words. They had almost the same conversation at the end of all of Alex's shifts.

"I'm cool, Dr. Karev. You heading out?"

"Yeah, you know...things to do."

The teen's jaundiced face lit up a little and his works took on a sing song quality, "I know. You have a hot date."

"Who told youthat?"

"I overheard Dr. Robbins talking to Nurse Hemmel."

How the hell did Robbins find out? People knew everything about everybody in this god-damn hospital.

"Robbins talks too much," Alex said as diplomatically as possible. "Besides, me having hot dates isn't exactly unusual."

"Right," Marcello smirked and then looked wistful. "Girls are weird. I sort of used to have a girlfriend back at school. Until I got sick."

Alex lingered by the side of the bed. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, she was in my math class. We used to hang out in the skate park. Get ice cream. She used to visit me here."

Shaking his head, Alex said, "Well, she probably isn't worth it if she ditched you just because you got cancer."

"She didn't dump me. I told her to stop coming. After I lost my hair. I'm sick. She wouldn't have liked to be with me," the teen continued.

"I felt different. You feel different, you know? When you get sick. And change. Look different. I wish I hadn't now though...I wish she still visited. I miss math class. And the park...and I don't think she cared about my hair at all."

"Hey, I know it sucks. Try to stay positive." Alex knew it wasn't a given that Marcello would actually get to do any of that stuff again. His cancer was aggressive, and the fact that the tumor came back wasn't exactly the greatest sign. Even so, the kid should try to keep some hope. It didn't do him any good to focus on regrets. He was a teenager. They shouldn't have to have regrets. That was the thing about working in pediatrics sometimes. Alex saw a lot of stuff that frustrated him. No kid should have to deal with health crap or family crap.

"I am. Don't worry. I was just thinking," Marcello replied and smirked again. "I don't have to miss ice cream. See? Bright-side and all that?"

"Ha. I see what you did there..."

"I'm a clever guy, Dr. Karev. Anyway, you should go. Don't be late. Girls pay attention to that."

"Thanks Mr. Clever, but this isn't my first rodeo," Alex teased, moving away from the bed towards the door. "You sure you're cool for the night?"

"I'll call the nurses if I need anything. Go on. Have a good time."

"Alright. See you tomorrow, Marcello."

"I'll be here. Peace man."

After he exited the room, Alex moved to finish up some charts at a nurses station, near the main entrance to the pediatric ward. A glance at the clock told him he would be done with his shift in 15 minutes. Just 15 minutes. Then Alex would go home and he and April would have a date. Of some sort. He still didn't know what they'd be doing.

April had yet to make up her freakin' mind. Which was getting on his nerves. He figured he'd let her choose, since the whole thing had sorta been her idea. She'd been the one to make a move, and she'd convinced Alex to give things a try. Plus, she was a chick, and a sappy one at that. So, surely she had loads of fantasies and ideas and crap for what to do on a first date. Except, so far, she hadn't been able to come up with one.

Most of his recent relationships had not started with an ordinary first date. It had been a long time since Alex had even bothered with any of that crap. Like, getting involved with someone he didn't pick up in a bar. Like, going on a date before he'd slept with a chick, or going on one without the expectation of it ending with a hook up. He was sure that wasn't going to happen. Not tonight.

At any rate, Alex hadn't done anything like this in a long time. And even if he didn't know what they'd be doing, he was surprised to find that he was looking forward to the date.

Alex shifted his shoulders and glanced around. He had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him. As his eyes searched the room, but they were only met with the sight of the nearest peds nurse, Lynda, or Lydia or whatever. And she had her head buried in her own mountain of charts, so Alex figured it was safe to assume she wasn't the one who gave him the feeling.

She seemed to sense he was looking at her because she looked up and gave Alex a skeptical glare. It was obvious she thought he should get back to work. Fine then. He shrugged and looked back down at his paperwork and nearly jumped out of his skin when Avery seemed to magically appear right next to him.

"Dude!" Alex groaned, taking a step back.

Jackson only crossed his arms, and stared back with a stern expression on his face.

"You and April."

"Yeah..."

"You're going on a date?"

Alex nodded, and mumbled, "If she'd make up her freakin' mind."

Avery's eyebrows lowered even more at that comment and he moved even closer. "What's the deal, man?"

"The deal is," Alex said defensively, grabbing his charts off of the nurse's station and heading to replace them in filing. "It's none of your business!"

"April told me that you told her that you were sorry about what you did to her last year," Jackson explained breathlessly. "She didn't say why, but she's definitely sure she's believing you. I'm not so sure she can. Should she?"

Alex was mildly relieved that April apparently hadn't told Jackson about anything about Aaron or Iowa. Not really surprising though. April was trustworthy even if it seemed that she needed to confide her side of things to Avery. The plastics resident followed Alex and continued to stare at him fiercely.

"What are you? A chick?" Alex deflected.

Jackson crossed his arms. "I'm her best friend. She tells me stuff. She listens to me when I whine about how the hottie in radiology won't call me back. So, yeah. It just works. You're avoiding the question. What's in this for you? She's not just going to sleep with you."

"What? The only reason I might possibly go on a date with her is to get her in to bed?"

"The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."

Alex sighed. Jackson did have a point. His track record with women wasn't the greatest. He was a playboy. He'd slept around. Because it was easy. And the one time he'd tried, really tried, not to be? The time he'd been inspired to be a dedicated partner? He'd married Izzie, and she'd left. Well, twice, and the second time he'd asked her to stay away. To spare him from the crap. And then he'd sorta kinda been willing to go there with Lucy also. Only she'd left too. And taken his freakin' job. Hard. Who could blame him for picking easy after all of that crap?

"Look," Alex said, exasperated. "This is different. I know you won't believe me but, there's nothing else I can say. It's different. And, like I said, it's none of your freaking business anyway. Get off my case!"

Jackson stared at him for a long moment with his arms crossed. Finally he said, "April likes you. A lot. More than she understands, I think. She doesn't have much experience, and after what you did to her last year, I had to pick up the pieces."

Alex cleared his throat, recalling Avery's reaction to all of that. The other resident walked closer, making Alex take a few steps back.

"So, if you're messing with her or using her," Jackson's voice was deceptively calm. "If you hurt her? I will with kick your ass. I mean it, man."

They stood there for a moment locked in an intense glare. Alex wasn't sure exactly what Avery expected to happen next, so he skeptically answered, "Okay...whatever."

When the other man still didn't move he added, "Don't you have some place you're supposed to be? Plastics Posse or something?"

Avery started to back down the hall. He made a motion toward his eyes with two fingers, "I mean it Karev. I'm watching you."

"Fine," Alex said, rolling his eyes and turning to finish his charts. Geez. Maybe Jackson was right though. He wasn't exactly cut out for this sort of thing. His recent usual motivation with women was undoubtedly and very simply to get laid. Alex realized that that couldn't be how things went down with April. She just wasn't like that. And, if he thought about it, Alex didn't want her to be. She wasdifferent.

But Alex was cranky today. And hungry. He could feel that the stress of his whole shift was waring down his nerves, and it was hard not to snap at people. He especially didn't want to snap at April, even if she couldn't come up with a freakin' date idea. Because...well because he'd almost lost her without even realizing that she mattered. So Alex worked really hard at the whole 'don't be an ass thing', at least to April, because he knew how close things had been. Even so, it was damned hard to keep up some of the time. He caught himself on the verge of snapping too many times to count.

Alex finished his paperwork and quickly changed and made his way home to April. He was surprised to find that as he drove home was irrationally excited. What was he? Some 15 year old kid? Maybe it was because of his conversation with Marcello. And maybe he really was looking forward to the date, even if he didn't know what it would be. It didn't really matter to him anyway. Alex just figured that whatever she picked, she'd have a good time. At that would be enough. He just wanted to spend time with her or whatever.

After parking his car, Alex quickly headed to the front door and let himself into the house. He first walked to April's room and knocked on the door.

"Hey, I'm back. Have you figured out what you want to do yet? I could definitely eat, so maybe...April?"

She didn't seem to be in her room, so Alex walked back out into the living room which was empty. He walked through the kitchen, offering a casual greeting to Derek as he sat at the kitchen table feeding Zola in her highchair.

"Have you seen April?"

The older man shrugged, "Nope. We just got in. She's not in her room?"

Alex shook his head and continued walking. It wasn't like April could be that many places. She still couldn't drive yet, or walk up the stairs, which basically meant that she had to be somewhere on the first floor. He finally found her, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, leaning on her crutches and holding a curling iron in one hand with the door wide open. She'd put on a flowery dress thing with a sweater, and she'd used a scarf thing to hide the shorter part of her hair. Alex thought she'd looked pretty good. But judging by the look on her face, April was less than pleased with the outcome.

"There you are," Alex said moving into the bathroom with her. "Are you almost ready to go? What's the plan? I'm starving."

April frowned and glanced away from him and replied nervously, "I actually...I c-can't think...um..m-maybe this isn't such a g-good idea..."

Alex felt his good excited mood pop. Seriously?What the hell? She was the one who'd suggested they try dating in the first place! Life is too short and whatever. And then she couldn't come up with an idea, and now she was just breaking it off? Well, he shouldn't have let his hopes get up anyway. He knew better. April didn't really want to date him after all. Right?

"No, shit Sherlock," he sneered lashing out to muffle his own disappointment. Doubt bubbled up within Alex's chest. The virgin and the asshole. So not a good idea. Even if he wanted it to be.

Alex glowered and let out a frustrated sigh, and moved to leave the room when he noticed April's expression. She was looking down, on the verge of tears, wide eyes darted every which way. She'd put down the curling iron and was now fidgeting with the edge of her sweater and biting her bottom lip. If she really didn't want to go with him, why did she look so devastated?

Wait. His day had been stressful. He shouldn't fly off the handle. He usually did and Alex knew this often got him into trouble. Hold on. Think about this. She'd obviously put some effort into things. She'd curled her hair for crying out loud. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, and Alex thought about his conversation with his patient. Marcello had pushed his girlfriend away after his cancer came back. Because he felt different. Looked different. Changed. April definitely didn't feel comfortable with herself before sustaining her injuries. And things had probably only gotten worse now.

She'd admitted as much one week ago. In fact that very conversation had led to this whole thing. Alex had tried to prove to her that she was still attractive. Apparently, she still had doubts. Of course she did. She was like Marcello, pushing him away, not because she didn't want to out with him but because she felt different. Probably she'd regret pushing him away. Only Alex wouldn't let it happen. He remembered her pale and pained face in the rubble of the collapsed building. Not being an ass seemed so much easier than it had earlier. When he remembered seeing April like that...And when he saw how far she'd come post-op.

That's tough. She was tough. Screw the scars. And the limp. Whatever. She still had everything going for her, as far as Alex was concerned. If April needed to hear the truth about herself again? Well, then he could tell her again. And again. If she needed it, he could try.

Taking a deep breath, Alex took a step closer to April. "Uh, wait...I'm...er, sorry. Look, I don't think you mean that. I happen to think the real reason you said that is because you are worried or something, about your scars and stuff. Am I right?"

April's eyes met his in the mirror guiltily and her lower lip jutted out as she gave a small nod. Aha! Alex kept his eyes on hers and tentatively lifted a hand to her hair and plucked one of the curls.

"You look really good. Honestly. And," he reached down for the edge of his own shirt and lifted it high enough to reveal his own set of scars. Some from his childhood, some from wrestling, and one from Gary Clark. "See, I've got scars and stuff too. No big deal."

"I don't know if this whole thing really is a good idea, but whatever, I don't care. We should try. I still wanna go for a date, don't you?"

April sniffed and nodded. Okay, so she really was just uncertain about her looks. He could handle that. He'd jumped the gun. She still wanted to go. She could be a little quirky, but Alex thought he was beginning to get the hang of how her mind worked. He could see where she was coming from. Sort of. Watching her intently in the mirror, Alex saw how solemn she still looked. He felt bad. His crappy day couldn't really be as bad as her crappy past few weeks.

"Don't worry so much. You...uh, you look good in anything. And I don't care what your dress looks like," he continued. He lowered his voice conspiratorially, "I'm probably picturing you without it on anyway."

Which was true, even if Alex doubted she believed him. Yet. At least the comment had made her cheeks flush red, and had managed to raise a nervous laugh.

Finally looking down again, April said softly, "I still didn't think of something for us to do though."

"April, it's not rocket science."

"I know...I know it's silly. I just...maybe... it matters or...I don't know."

"I don't even care what we do. Whatever. It doesn't matter. We'll figure something out...Do you wanna go see a movie?" Alex said, teasing.

Before April had a chance to answer he pressed on.

"Out to eat? To a ball game? Coffee? Taco truck?"

She was biting back a smile now, so Alex continued, "I know! We can blow up a building! Or wait! I have a couple of clean ski masks. How about we rob a bank?"

April laughed hard at that. One of those gleeful belly laughs of hers that kind of surprised Alex, because he didn't expect her to laugh like that. Breathlessly she finally said, "Maybe we should just get in the car and go somewhere? Go wherever."

"Sounds good to me."

And they did just that. Since April had graduated to almost exclusively using her crutches, Alex was able to take drive his car. They got in and just started to drive. And talk. He told her about some of the crap he, Cristina, Meredith, George, and Izzie got up to at Seattle Grace before the merger and before his marriage. April tried to teach Alex how to keep track of her sisters. Which he still couldn't do. She talked about her family and childhood. He didn't talk about his. She didn't push him to. They joked. They laughed. Alex actually thought the whole date thing was going well, for all the shaky start it'd had. He was having a good time, and as far as he could tell, April was too.

They ended up making a stop at the taco truck anyway, before Alex got the idea that they could eat in the park. Because of Marcello, he guessed. It was still light, and Magnuson Park had some stunning views of Lake Washington, and of the city of Bellevue on the other side. Plus the park wasn't too crowded, so Alex hoped April could relax.

Alex helped April to a bench where they sat, with her crutches leaning on one side, and ate their tacos and watched the breaking waves of the huge lake. Scooting closer, because why not, it was a date after all, Alex looked down at his taco and laughed.

"Alright, I got a taco story."

April snickered, and replied incredulously, "A taco story?"

She didn't seem to mind that he'd moved closer, and turned her body to face him more. Taking another bite if her taco, April watched him intently.

"Well, sort of," Alex figured he would try stretching his arm off the back of the bench, and gently resting it on her shoulders. She swallowed her mouthful, and glanced to where his limb now rested. Her gaze darted back and forth between his face and his arm and for a second Alex was afraid he'd made April uncomfortable. But after a moment she relaxed, leaned closer to him and poked his leg.

"Sort of?" April prodded him to continue.

"Taco related," Alex conceded, letting his eyes drift out across the water. "I was like 19. Sophomore at Iowa State. Our wrestling team had just won semi finals. And after the match, we had this huge party. Everyone got trashed. Hardcore. Shitfaced. And then, somehow we all decided we wanted to go to taco bell...at like 1 o'clock in the morning. So we walked to this taco bell."

"Uh oh."

He paused to take another bite of his taco, and glancing back to April, "And the inside part, where you walk in or whatever is closed for the night, but the drive thru is 'open late' or whatever. And we really wanted tacos. Right, I'm still an underclassman, the grunt, you know? So the guys, they send me to walk through this drive through. So, I'm yelling at the intercom thing 'I want, like, 56 tacos!' and I'm wavin' my arms around."

Alex used the arm that wasn't draped around April's shoulders to demonstrate, accidentally spilling some of the contents of the taco he had now onto the ground in front of their bench. She cracked up. Whatever.

"You're littering!" Oh, here we go.

"It's taco topping. Food. Organic. Some duck will eat it or something."

"These are sonot organic."

"Bio-degradable then."

"I'm not sure. They might qualify as toxic waste. I mean, it's the taco truck."

"Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?" Alex smirked.

"Oh, so...there's more to it than you got drunk underage and made a fool of yourself?"

He snorted. April must be really feeling comfortable, if she was teasing him. Which he figured boded well.

"Hey, this a good story!"

"Go on, go on."

"So," Alex continued. "Finally someone comes on the intercom and says they can't serve pedestrians in the drive thru because it's too dangerous. I thought that was bullshit. I'm yellin' and yellin' and finally I give that up and walk my ass up to the window and I tap on the glass, and I can see the lady working there, so I press my face up against the glass and cuss her out or whatever-"

"This?" April interrupted, giggling. "This not a good story. It's terrible! You were terrible."

"Yup. Drunk and freakin' disorderly," Alex rolled his eyes. "So she comes over and presses the button to open the window. It's one of those old school windows where the glass kind of goes out and to the side or whatever, and my face was all pressed up against it. So when it opens, I'm so drunk that it's more than enough to knock me flat on my back."

Alex lifted both arms up and spread them wide, making April chuckle. "I'm rolling around down there like a freakin' turtle or something, I'm so drunk, and all I see is the face of this taco bell lady looming above me, back lit from the inside lighting. She's leaning out the window at this point, see? And all she says is: 'Taco Bell is in no way responsible for any injury, emotional or physical, that you receive while in this drive thru. It's dangerous. We told you so. Now get your ass up and go back to campus!'"

Both Alex and April laughed hard as he finished the story, imitating the no nonsense fast food worker. She was doubled over slightly, using one hand to cover her mouth.

"Serves you right."

He shrugged, "I guess it kinda did."

"Needless to say, I can think of no adventure like that from my college days."

"Not surprised."

They fell silent, distracted by the beautiful sunset as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky. All in all, Alex thought that it wasn't so bad. Having dates like this. It was mostly talking or whatever, but he was having a good time. In a lot of ways he felt less pressured to show off than he did in one of his typical hook-ups. He'd have never told a girl in a bar about his taco bell experience. Great way not to get laid. But with April...things felt more low key, and genuine. It wasn't about getting sex.

April leaned back on the bench and looked out across the water. Alex turned to look at her face. In the fading sunlight her skin looked great and the shadows framed her cheekbones.

"Beautiful," April breathed, still transfixed by the setting sun.

"Yup."

After the sun went down, the night air became much colder, and Alex figured it was time for them to head back to the house. He had work the next day, and April had rehab in the morning, so it wouldn't do for either of them to be out in the cold very late at night. He helped her stand up and get back on her crutches and lead the way back to the car.

On the drive home, Alex asked, "So, what did you do in college then? No sex. We know that. Not much drinking apparently, either. No sports?"

"Hah, no," April shook her head. "Kimmie was the athlete. I was very boring."

"What did you do then?" Alex asked as he guided the car down Meredith's street.

She squared her shoulders and began a list, "3 term co-president of the pre-health professions club. Historian for the bio-bunch, for biology majors. Pottery club. And Italian conversation hour. That pretty much covers my extracurricular activity as an undergrad."

He parked, and moved to help April get out of the car and onto her crutches. Alex was surprised at how much better she had gotten at pulling herself in and out of cars. He stood back and watched as she opened the car door and stood up with no assistance at all, using only the frame of the car and her crutches to get out of the car. Looked like one positive by product of all April's leg crap was that she was actually increasing her upper body and are strength just by getting around. He thought that extra strong hands and arms could be an awesome asset for doing surgeries. He also made a mental note to beef up his own weight lifting. Just in case. For boards.

Alex gave her an impressed smile and continued their conversation as they walked to the front door.

"What the hell is a 'co-president? And Bio-bunch? Pottery club? Lame."

"I had fun! Besides, you're on a date with me. I can't be so lame."

"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess you've improved a bit since then," Alex joked as he unlocked the front door. April jabbed him with her elbow and they walked to the living room. "You speak Italian?"

Glancing back at Alex as she settled on the couch, April rolled her eyes, "I went to the conversation hours. I didn't say I could speak it. I was practicing to go abroad."

"You studied in Italy?" Alex inquired as he sat down next to her. As an undergrad, he'd always thought it would have been really cool to study in Europe or somewhere for a while. Not for the studying really. For the drinking. And the girls. And to get out of freakin' Iowa.

But he'd taken Spanish and his Spanish was crap and no way he could've kept his wrestling scholarship if he'd gone off to Spain or somewhere. And without his wrestling scholarship, Alex wouldn't have been in school at all.

"Just for a semester of junior year," April continued.

"You lived there. So, you can speak Italian."

"Badly. Very badly."

"Say something now," Alex was certain that a younger April wouldn't have gone to Europe for the booze and she certainly hadn't gone for the sex. And most of all she'd never have gone and lived somewhere without being fully prepared in every way. Probably with color coded post-it notes.

"I-It was a long time ago. I-I don't really remember."

"Come on. Say something!"

"Fine," April lifted her eyes to the ceiling, as though she was searching for something to say. Her eyes twinkled when she find the right something, and Alex was sure that its probably going to be something like, "You're a jackass, Alex."

"Io no capisco l'italiano."

Whoa. Alex was transfixed. The way April's dimples faintly appeared in her cheeks and the way lips moved and formed the foreign words...it just didsomething for him. He remembered the feel of her lips the two times they had kissed before, and he knew he had to do it again. He leaned down until his face hovered just inches above hers and he could feel the soft puffs of her breath. She didn't pull away.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't speak Italian."

"But you just did. It's very hot. I dig it."

April opened her mouth to speak again, but Alex cut her off by covering her lips with his own, using his arms to pull her close. She seemed a bit surprised at first but Alex felt her relax and respond to the kiss rather quickly. Talking and crap was fine and all for a 'date' or whatever, but he did want somethingelse. If he wasn't going to get laid at this particular time, Alex at least wanted to make out. If they were going to do this 'normal people' thing and all.

He lost track of time and things a bit, so he wasn't sure exactly how long they made out, until he heard the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs and into the living room.

"April do you have any extra laundry soap? I'll pay you back. I'm out and I was hoping to run a load of-oh...oh! Oh, God. I'm-I'm sorry..."

Alex and April jerked apart as Lexie came into the living room. He groaned. Way to go Lexie. Go and kill the moment. Or moments. However long it was. Despite the convenience of living so close to the hospital, and of usually being able to con certain people into doing your laundry, being in Meredith's house definitely had some draw backs. Lexie was going to be on his shit list. Next time she had something going on with Sloan or some other guy he'd...he'd mess with them somehow.

"Uh, my-my detergent is on the top shelf," April replied. Her cheeks had turned beet red.

"Okay. Thanks," Lexie started to leave the room, but she paused, looking stunned. "When did you and-Really? I'm sorry, but...Really? Seriously?"

"Mind your own freakin' business," Alex grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

Lexie gave them one last puzzled glance before heading to the laundry room. Alex continued to scowl and stared straight ahead. April sighed and turned to face forward. She still seemed really flustered.

"Don't be mean, Alex."

"Whatever."

"It's not her fault...we sh-should have more caref-"

"Whatever. Spoiled the fun."

"Right. Yes. This was...fun. I mean I had fun. For the whole thing...and the...k-kissing."

"Good," Alex said, uncrossing his arms and smirking at April. "But next time, we might have to make out in the car."

April's eyes widened and the shocked, mildly horrified look she gave Alex made him think she'd probably never made out in a car before. Oh was practically a right of passage or some bull like that. One that April hadn't gone through yet, and one that Aex had gone through a long time ago. Maybe things could be even more fun.

Alex thought he could change that. He grinned. He wanted toas a matter of fact. The whole 'normal people dating' deal might not be that bad at all.


Taking deep slow breaths, April adjusted the lapel of her lab coat as she waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor. Today was her first day back at work since receiving her injuries in the earthquake, over a month and a half ago. First half day back anyway. Her standing stamina, even with the crutches, was still a little weak. Bobby had April working on it, and she hoped to be doing full days soon.

Because standing stamina was essential for getting back to performing surgeries more than anything else. You could do certain procedures using a walker, supports, or a crutch, but if you couldn't stand long enough to run a surgery from open to close, you couldn't be in the OR. Which she needed to do if she wanted to pass boards. Especially if April was going to push extra hard and still try to sit for her boards this year, with the rest of her peers. She would really need to beef up her OR time and ER time as soon as she could.

Best not to get ahead of things though. Blinking and clearing her throat as the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open, April couldn't help but grin.

Even if she would only be doing administrative chief resident duties, working with interns and running the clinic, it felt nice to be back in scrubs again. Despite all that had transpired April was actually feeling mildly confident about herself in coming back. The past month and a half had been so life altering she could hardly believe everything that had happened. What they said about silver linings was true as far as April was concerned. Because while it did suck that she'd almost died, and that her leg had received major damage, April couldn't say that it had ruined her life.

Sure it was probably derailing her career, but she had a plan to fix that. The injury had made her understand that, maybe, she was more capable than she'd thought before. She was getting through it. Surviving. And then of course, there was the whole Alex thing. The earthquake and all that followed had been a major catalyst for that.

They'd chosen to try going on dates, and so far, April thrilled with the way things were turning out. She thought Alex was okay with things too. At least she was pretty sure. She was getting better at reading his moods. It was fun and April felt closer to Alex. And he could make her feel like she wasn't a completely awkward lame-o-freak, even if he teased that she was. Which was a huge part of why April thought she was getting through everythin with her leg.

They ate, hung out, talked, watched movies...and did other things. Not certain other things, but April now kind of felt that...well that certain other thing wasn't very far out of the realm of possibility. At some point. In the future. When she was ready. Maybe. Probably. And Alex, so far, was acting surprisingly understanding. Not that they'd talked about sex exactly. He didn't seem to mind not doing that certain thing, so long as he could do other things. So, it was kind of okay. At least she hoped so.

At any rate, even though she didn't exactly have much experience with this kind of stuff, April thought it was all going pretty well.

She reached down to the handles of her crutches and toward the internal entrance of the Denny Duquette Memorial clinic. April had become very adept and using her crutches to move and could bear more and more weight on her right leg as the days passed. She was getting used to her knew limping gait, and could actually get around very quickly on the crutches if she concentrated. Nothing like before she'd been hurt, of course, and she'd never be back there again, but April had hopes that she would continue to improve.

Dr. Bailey was the first person April saw as she walked through the doors. The older woman pursed her lips and looked up from the stack of charts she had been reading.

Beckoning, Bailey's face softened for a moment, "Kepner. It's uh, so nice to see you back."

"Thank you. It's nice to be back."

Bailey cleared her throat, held out the charts and continued sternly, "Uh huh. Okay. Kepner, we have 6 patients waiting in the clinic, some immunizations, a pregnancy exam and some sort of foot fungus...After that I've got you down for running ROC Patient Sensitivity training for the interns."

"Okay," April said slowly as she took the offered paperwork, tucking them under her arm so she could still get around. Not the most graceful looking but hey. April figured she wasn't ever going to be graceful again so why worry about it.

"Do you remember the ROC?"

"Uh, I do."

Bailey gave her a look, and made a gesture with her hands, "Yes? Say it with me, Kepner."

Tilting her head from side to side recited, "Reflect Observe and Communicate. Remember ROC and you'll 'rock' your patient's world."

"Exactly," Bailey nodded curtly and turned to leave.

Alright. April started toward the first patient, fungus guy and glumly realized that ROC would definitely come in to play while working in the clinic. So, very different from surgeries. Well, maybe it could be fun. Interesting, at least. Kind of.

After seeing several patients in the clinic, April was startled when her 5 interns all descended on her in a rush. She was puzzled because she knew that they have been parsed out onto other people's services, at least until she could work full days again.

One of them, Ian Olant, rushed up and threw his arms around her shoulders. "Dr. Kepner! Thank God you're back!"

"Well, I-" April didn't quite know how to respond. "Thank you, Dr. Olant."

Gina Chi gently grabbed her friends shoulders and pulled him back saying, "He's been on Yang's service all week. It's a little traumatic. You know going from being a person to being '3'. And Dr. Yang's been worse than normal lately so..."

"Anyway," Olant interrupted. "We saw you were down for the skills lab today! That's great. We really missed you. You never make us feel stupid in skills labs."

"But yeah. We're excited to work with you again," Miles Rooney, ever practical, cut in. "But we should probably go before our residents kill us. Looking forward to skills lab."

April was too flabbergasted by the whole situation to say more than, "Thanks..."

What intern ever wanted to do skills labs? And she'd never thought that her particular groups of interns (or any of them really) even noticed who was teaching which skills lab. They probably only thought of her because getting hurt in the earthquake and all was quite a dramatic thing and everyone at the hospital knew about it.

Only the entire intern group gave her a round of applause later in the day when she started the skills lab. And they did it again when she'd finished. That had to be some sort of record? No one applauded skills labs. It wasn't even like April had given a real lecture or anything. ROC was hardly revolutionary or applaud worthy. It was probably because she almost died.

Her half day flew by, and soon April found herself changing back into her normal everyday clothes. Half days working in the hospital were not nearly enough. Even if it was just for the clinic. A small buzz from her phone, distracted her attention, and when she read the message, her gloomy spirits vanished. It was Alex.

The text message was simple: come. eat. rm 204 peds. hanging w/kid 4 break. kid lonely.

When April arrived in the room, she smiled as she saw Alex sitting in a chair next to a teenage patient. His bald head and jaundiced skin made her guess that he had cancer. He and Alex were gleefully eating cafeteria sandwiches and staring at a small video game that the boy had on his bed tray. They both looked up when they saw April, and Alex waved her over.

"I got you one of those fruit bowls you eat, but I also saved you my fries if you don't want heath crap. And this is Marcello. Marcello this is April," Alex smirked and stuck out one foot to tap her crutch in greeting as she passed.

Pulling up the only other chair in the room and gingerly settling into it, April gave Marcello a bright smile and a nod. He smiled back and said, "Hey."

Alex was staring intently at the handheld game when he suddenly pressed a button with particular vigor and whooped. "Take that Marcello. I own this."

He passed the game back to the boy, "Beat that score, man."

Marcello squinted at the screen and then rolled his eyes, "Piece of cake. You're not as much of a hot shot as you think, Dr. Karev."

April smirked at the exchange. Alex in pediatrics might not seem like the obvious choice, indeed in her early days at SGMW she'd thought it was a scheduling fluke, but he really did have a way with his patients. A way of finding out and doing exactly what they needed. He'd even done it for her when she was in the hospital.

And somehow when he was with children, Alex seemed so changed. But still very Alex-like. It was a strange balance that April still didn't quite understand. And seeing him with children made her heart flutter in a way she couldn't quite describe. Not that she was analyzing or anything.

Turning his attention to April and offering her the plastic container of fruit, Alex asked, "How was the first day back? Regretting not taking more leave? Because rumor has it that today there was some sort of fungal foot infection in the clinic."

Biting into an apple slice, she rolled her eyes. It hadn't been that bad. Really. And April was glad to have helped the guy so that his foot would get better. As gross as it was, she was a doctor and doctors helped people.

"It was fine. N-not exactly fine but...it'll get better now," she said shrugging. "The weirdest thing that happened was that my interns all rushed up and hugged me."

"Chicks? Interns are crazy."

"Two of them are. Women, I mean, not crazy. But the main hugging came from Dr. Olant."

"Small dude? Crazy." Alex sat up a little straighter and his brows furrowed.

"Well, he has been on Cristina's service."

"Anyone'd need a hug after that. Cristina's had a crap week, which means she's even more crap to her interns."

"Really? Still stuff with...eh her husband or?" April slid over the fact that Owen Hunt the Chief of Surgery was her husband, not wanting to be talk about it in front of a patient. Professionalism was more relaxed at Seattle Grace than April had expected. She'd gotten used to it over the years, but she still tried to maintain a certain level of decorum. If only for her own code of ethics.

Shrugging as his cell phone buzzed, Alex replied, "Yeah, I guess they started therapy or whatever."

April had had no idea. She felt bad for them, especially given her own recent turn of fortune when it came to…romance? Yeah. Sort of. For almost a month.

He held the phone to his hear, "Hello...Amber? Is everything okay?"

April could see in his face, the moment his mood changed. Like the fall of a curtain and the relaxed and snarky man she'd been chatting with earlier disappeared. His eyes turned hard and his jaw set. It was startling to see how quickly the change happened. Alex seemed to fly out of the chair and head for the door.

"What do you mean you're here?" he fumed. "In Seattle? In this hospital? How the hell did you manage that? Are you hurt...then why? And you just left Mom ? Oh, real nice."

April exchanged a glance with Marcello and the teen raised his hand and gestured toward the door. Moving as quickly as she could, April followed Alex into the hall way picking up more of his end of the conversation.

"Kicked out of St. Xavier's? Good job. Whatever. No! It's stupid. I'm so pissed right now. I can't even- Where are you? Don't. Freakin'. Move."

Alex let out a growl of frustration and hung up.

"Alex?" April ventured tentatively. "What's going on?"

He looked at her and groaned again, "Crap! Just...crap. A bunch of God-damn crap."

"Is something wrong with your sister. What-?"

"Just...I gotta go. Move!"

Before April had time to do so however, Alex brushed past her at a jog, upsetting her crutches and nearly causing her to lose her balance. He didn't seem to notice and continued moving quickly through the peds ward. Hissing in pain as the unexpected movement jarred her leg slightly, April watched as Alex hopped on to the elevator. She knew she'd never catch up with him, but she gripped her crutches and followed him anyway. She could catch the next elevator.

Alex never talked much about his past or his family, but April knew enough about how the whole situation made him feel, to know that Alex's anger also came from a deep sense of guilt, whether or not that guilt was warranted. Whatever was going on, if it involved his family, it probably wasn't going to leave Alex in a very good place. And they were sort of...together now, so April wanted to help.

And Alex had been there for April when she'd needed him. She planned on returning the favor as best she could. Even if she could only catch the next elevator instead of the same one he was on.

She'd catch up to him eventually.