Thank you my first reviewers and followers – you literally just made my day! 3

This next chapter kind of just wrote itself because of you.

Again; it's all Shonda Rhimes' doing...

You took my hand and added a plan

You gave me your heart

I asked you to dance with me

- Sia (My Love)

. O N E

Her feet seemed to carry her on their own. She didn't even know where to go, her mind was somewhere else. In front of her eyes she still saw his pale face. There was blood splattered to his forehead. Where did it come from? April hadn't even noticed. She was a doctor for god's sake and she didn't even notice if her best friend bled somewhere on his head. Best friend? Is that what she still was to him? They hadn't seen each other in over six years. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess.

Somehow she ended up where she always seemed to find solace. The colourful little windows in the door alone were enough to calm her down a bit. She laid a hand on one of the heavy doors and slowly pushed it open to enter the little quiet chapel. Her eyes settled on the cross over the altar and never left their focus as she slowly made her way to the front pews to sit down in the second row. As a kid she had loved the smell of the incense and the flickering of the lit candles as a soft breeze danced through the church on a hot summer's Sunday. But she wasn't in Moline now and it wasn't hot in here. If there was any breeze, it was a cold one as someone opened the doors again to enter the chapel. Not wanting to disturb another mourning or maybe hopeful soul, she didn't look up.

Closing her eyes, April folded her hands and leaned her back against the backrest. She deeply breathed in and let her thoughts wander…

"Wait! Hey, wait up!", she yelled after him and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. He turned around a bit and sent her his trademark smirk. He always did this thing with his eyebrow when he grinned at her like that and it was quite fascinating for April to see how all the female students seemed to be immune to his charm. She on the other hand had no problem to resist him. He was her best friend.

As his best friend she had certain privileges she benefited from every now and then. And today she chose to use him as her chauffeur; with a heavy thud she landed on his back as she tried to wrap her legs around his body after she had hopped up to take a piggyback-ride. A squealing laugh escaped her as he gripped her thighs and began to run to the entrance of the school.

"You should know by now what it entails to use me like this.", he said laughing himself as he let his best friend down to the ground again directly in front of the entrance.

There were people giving them certain looks and whispering things as they looked at the odd pair. April was used to it by now. There were always people envying her for her close relationship with her best friend. Many of their fellow students imputed a relationship closer than the one between best friends to the both of them but April could only laugh about these assumptions. They had no idea what there was between them and she couldn't care less what they had to say. April knew she wasn't the most popular girl in school. She was kind of a nerd. After all she aspired to be a surgeon one day and she knew she had to keep her grades up to reach that goal.

Her best friend on the other hand had the reputation of a player. He was one of the best basketball players on the team and there were rumours that he took a different girl home every other night. But again, April couldn't care less. She knew who he really was and what he really did in his free time because they spent enough time together after all.

"Jeez, you're heavy.", he joked as he bumped his shoulder into hers, earning himself a disbelieving look.

"You really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?", she responded good-naturedly because she knew he was only joking. That was the kind of relationship they had. They joked, laughed and cried together – they were best friends. Or that was what she always thought they were…

Someone had just put their arm around her shoulder which startled her shortly and made her look up to her left. It merely took what seemed like a second and the tears started. Only now did she realise what had happened not even an hour ago and she was happy to have a shoulder to cry on, happy to have someone there with her.

"Shhh… It's okay.", he said soothingly as he gently stroked her arm.

April's head dropped to his shoulder and she let it all out. There was no talking for a long time, no sound but her crying and sobbing. He knew that was all she needed right now.

Even if he couldn't understand the reason for her behaviour, he knew he just had to be there for her. He wanted to be there for her. Always.

Lexie had found him after he finished his first surgery of the day. Just as he was pulling off his surgical cap Lexie burst into the room with this sad look on her face. When they were still together, he had always thought she had telltale eyes. Immediately, he knew something was wrong.

"What is it?", he asked expectantly looking at her while disposing of the towel he used to dry his hands with.

"Is it April?", was his second question because it was his first and foremost fear. When something had happened to her…

"Yeah, kind of…", Lexie murmured and watched him storm through the door towards the emergency room. "I saw her walking to the chapel!", she called after him and saw him change direction before she made her way back to take care of her own patients.

He knew something was wrong. He didn't know what it was but after he had heard Lexie tell him that she was in the chapel, he knew she wasn't hurt physically. A breath of relief escaped him after he looked through the little multicoloured window in the door and spotted her in one of the pews. Silently he entered the to him eerily quiet room and made his way over to where she sat. April didn't seem to notice him as she had her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. But she wasn't happy. He could see the trail of tears on her normally so beautifully rosy-coloured cheeks. Carefully he put his arm around her shoulders and felt her head drop to his shoulder.

After what seemed like forever she looked up at him. He had given her the time she needed – one of the things she loved most about him.

"Jackson…", she mumbled shakily and looked into his beautiful sea-coloured eyes.

"I'm here.", he replied quietly and pressed his lips to her forehead. "If you want to talk. Or just sit…", he went on and laid his head upon hers for another moment of silence. When she was ready she would talk, he knew that.

"It… it's Brad.", she began after a while. Her voice was still shaky and her eyes were once again fixed upon the cross above the altar. "Yo-You don't know him but… He – He is… was my best friend.", she talked quietly while Jackson soothingly caressed her right arm. It was his time to listen now. She was talking about her past, a past with a different man. A man he knew nothing of but the fact that he seemed to be his precursor regarding his status as her best friend. Jackson knew that she was friends with men before but he couldn't help but be a little jealous that she had had a male best friend before. After all they had started their relationship as best friends as well.

"What happened?", he asked as he turned to look at her again. Did this Brad-guy do something to her?

"He was admitted to the ER.", she said, her voice sounding unbelievably sad. "He coded in the ambulance and when I saw his face… I… I can't go back there only to see he didn't make it.", the red-haired woman said while looking into his eyes. He could see her broken heart through her eyes. He had always thought Lexie had these depths in her eyes but when he had started taking a closer look at April in the past, he knew that there was no one out there with more honesty and profoundness in their eyes than April Kepner.

Jackson took a deep breath, relieved that it wasn't her physically harmed but at the same time he could feel her hurting to his bones. He loved this woman and he would do anything to make her feel better. She couldn't stress herself out like this. It was neither good for her nor for the baby.

"Shh…", he repeated when a fresh set of tears fell down her cheeks. "You have to calm down, hon'", he said and put his arms around her to pull her to his chest.

Just this morning he had again thought that nothing could bring him down after his girlfriend had told him they were expecting only a week ago. They weren't far along but the baby was there nonetheless. And he couldn't have been happier when she had told him.

But now? Now he could see how hurt she was and that life always seemed to have something negative in store for them just when they had found a reason to be happy.

April swallowed and nodded her head. "You are right… I know.", she said and leaned back a bit to wipe at her face. A deep sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back into her neck. Jackson put his hand up to stroke her face as he looked at her empathetically. "I just… He and I were best friends and now he is here and…", she couldn't stop the tears from flowing, "I left… I left him and he-he's here now. I hav-haven't spoken to him in six years, Jackson.", she hiccupped and suddenly looked at him frantically. "He-He's HERE!", she said louder. "He's in my hos-hospital. I have to…", she began to stand up but Jackson pulled her back down.

They had been best friends once. Before she went and left him because she couldn't manage to accept what he had said to her. In her eyes he had lied to her and she couldn't get over that. So she went and didn't look back. She left him and never tried to contact him. All his calls went unanswered because she was simply insecure what to do with his confession.

"April, calm down.", he was fiercer now. There was this guy, his girlfriend's former best friend, and she seemed pretty broken about this guy. But there was a chance that this man wasn't even alive anymore. Jackson tried to reason with himself, now was not the time to be jealous. He took a deep breath and cupped her cheeks with both of his big hands. "I am going to look for him, okay?", he said calmly and stroked her cheeks with his thumps, trying to wipe away the rest of her tears. "You can sit here… Or come with me… But I won't let you go there by yourself right now.", he went on without breaking eye contact. "I love you, April. You…", he out one of his hands on her still flat belly, "You are the love of my life and I won't let you go through this alone." He kissed her forehead once more before he stood up and held his hand out for her to take.

Again I would love to hear from you guys. If you have any great ideas what I could include in this story, I would really like to hear them and consider them for my story if they fit in.

Love

Julia