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Callie was seated behind a microscope checking the progress of her newest set of artificial cartilage. The lab was her safe haven when she needed to be alone, especially after one of her many run-ins with Arizona. Just what she needed, some peace and quiet. But the heavy breathing and loud sighing began to disrupt her concentration.

"Avery, if you're going to mope in here, you need to shut up. I'm trying to work," she scolded the plastic surgeon.

With his forehead laying flat on the table, Jackson slowly lifted his head to look at Callie. Another week had passed since he learned of April and Ryan's relationship, but he had been avoiding them as much as possible. Some of it was jealousy, but he also felt like an ass for reacting like a jerk to her when she told him the truth. He didn't think he deserved to be her friend if he refused to support her. And he had also been beating himself up over waiting too long.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "But you understand where I'm coming from, right?"

"I suppose. I mean, April never cheated on you and ruined your marriage," Callie bitterly replied. She set the microscope aside to get a clear view of Jackson's distraught face. "I'm going to be completely honest with you. This Mopey Dopey look you've been showing around work is pathetic. Patients aren't going to trust you if you show up in their rooms looking like you're preparing to give them a death sentence."

He placed his elbows on top of the table and pressed his hands against his cheeks. "I still know how to work the Avery Sparkle on my patients. No problem," he unenthusiastically said.

She slowly nodded her head. "Because that sounded so convincing," the orthopedic surgeon sarcastically said. "And I heard you've been sleeping in on-call rooms lately."

Jackson decided to move out of Ryan's apartment as quickly as possible, though his place wasn't ready to move back into yet. He had done it the same day he found out about the couple, bringing all of his belongings to the hospital before sneaking back into Webber's retirement party. As for the inflatable mattress he popped – nothing electrical tape couldn't fix. And he figured he could only get away with it because the mattress was also black.

"It's only temporary until my apartment is finally finished."

"This is last minute, but consider it a generous offer. What do you think about living in Mark's apartment?" Callie inquired. The pretty boy's eyes slightly grew wider in response. "Listen, the apartment's under my name, but I haven't been able to trust just anybody to move in next door. I do think Mark would want you to have it, though."

"I don't know…" he answered with a grimace. "Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice place, but-"

"No, don't give me any but excuses," she interrupted, waving her finger at him. "And don't even bother going into expenses with me. You own the hospital, you're the leader of the board and you're an Avery. You can at least afford the rent."

Jackson sighed, running his hand across the back of his head. The apartment complex was only five minutes away from the hospital and the best part of it all? No Ryan Abbott. No morning greeting that consisted of, "Hey, man!"

Then again, he suspected the blonde doctor finally realized he wasn't well liked by him.

"So, if I agree to move in, the place is mine?"

Callie nodded. "Yes, and you can keep the furniture as well. I didn't have the heart to give any of it away, so his apartment is just the way he left it," she answered and softly chuckled. "And it's not haunted. Ghost Mark doesn't roam around in the middle of the night. Trust me."

"That's a relief. Otherwise, he would be nagging me all night about why I let April date that douche," he quipped. Jackson ignored the scowl on Callie's face. "Whatever, I get it. Abbott's your guy, but Sloan was mine. He'd side with me and you know it."

"But he would also be giving you a ton of crap for wimping out with Kepner," she noted. "If you want my advice, you should talk to her again. You want her in your life? You gotta stop pretending she doesn't exist to you."

"Fine, but you have to do the same with Robbins." He smirked at her when she rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Torres. Arizona is not a horrible person. She did a horrible thing, yes, but she is still that woman you married – before the plane crash and before she lost the leg."

Callie dismissively waved her hand. "Alright, we are not turning this into an exes therapy session."

"Well, get used to seeing me around more, neighbor," Jackson smugly replied. "When can I have the keys?"

"Come over with your stuff after work. We can handle the paperwork then," she answered, then she slyly grinned at him. "There is a catch, though. One that comes with the apartment."

He softly groaned. "If it's about talking to April again-"

"No, this is entirely different. Because we'll be living next to each other, you are my first choice to babysit Sofia when I need somebody to watch her. Deal?" she offered.

Deep down, Jackson wanted to reject his coworker's offer. He was definitely not a babysitter. While he didn't hate children, babysitting was not a part of his expertise. That was April's. Now when he thought about it, maybe it wouldn't be an awful idea. He could easily coax her into helping him. How could she turn down little Sofia?

And dammit, the apartment was too nice to pass up.

"You have yourself a deal," the plastics man agreed, extending out his hand. He and Callie exchanged a handshake, then he got up from his seat and headed for the exit. "Thanks, Torres. I'll see you later."

"You're welcome, neighbor."

"Didn't I tell you or didn't I tell you?" Catherine gloated to April while they chatted by the nurses' station in the ER. She couldn't be prouder of herself for indirectly pairing the trauma surgeon with Ryan and she let it be known… for an entire week.

April, on the other hand, wasn't the arrogant type. She smiled and nodded to everything Mama Avery had to say, but it didn't mean she necessarily enjoyed listening to her brag about a relationship that resulted in another falling out with Jackson. If she knew her baby boy was unhappy about it, the tables would turn in an instant. Now, there was no way she could tell Catherine what had happened between them last year.

She already felt torn between the two men. While she wanted to date Ryan, she also wanted Jackson's friendship. However, the latter refused to talk to her and she practically had to lie to Catherine whenever she tried to interrogate her about how he was doing. And since she had promised Jackson not to butt her way into his personal life, using April to find out about her son was the next best option.

"Okay, so tell me," Catherine started, leaning closer to the redhead and whispering, "How is he?"

"He's good. Umm… I think he's in the middle of a surgery at the moment," April politely replied.

The older woman waved her hand and laughed boisterously. "No, sweetie. Don't act like you have no idea what I'm referring to," she teasingly said. It took a few seconds for April to comprehend what Catherine meant and her eyes widened when she finally understood. "Yes, baby. Don't tell me you two aren't doing the horizontal tango. A fine piece of man like him? Mmm, girl. You need to get on that, dear."

"Dr. Avery," she timidly gasped, biting down on her lower lip as her eyes gazed down at the floor. Her cheeks felt warmer by the second. "N-no. We are not at that level at all."

"Honey, how much longer are you going to wait to have sex? Are you looking to become the female version of the 40-year old virgin? You really don't want to become that person," Catherine advised and placed her hand on her hip. "If you want, I can provide you with instructional videos on how to have amazing sex. There are some helpful books as well."

April forced herself to laugh. "That's not necessary."

"What about sex therapy?" she suggested. "I hope you know you're not the only woman at your age to remain a virgin, but since I don't know those other women their reasons for waiting don't matter to me."

The more Mama Avery nagged her about her nonexistent virginity, the closer she was to blabbing out her secret. Maybe it was best if she finally confessed, April thought. Catherine's behavior was sometimes borderline nuts, so it was possible she would be jubilant to hear that Jackson cashed in her V-card last year in San Francisco. But she also feared the worst case scenario. His mother could start barraging her with questions about that night or even worse, she would want to know why they weren't dating.

Keeping her mouth shut was the best option in her mind. There was no need to bring up their drama-filled history at the moment. Despite the awkwardness that had resurfaced between them, she was relieved to see Jackson approaching them. His presence would put an end to the uncomfortable conversation with his mother.

"Oh, isn't my baby boy so sweet? Coming down here to pick me up for lunch like a gentleman should," Catherine gushed and planted a firm kiss against Jackson's cheek.

"You told me to come get you," he mumbled, briefly making eye contact with April. He wanted to talk to her, just not with his nosy mother standing beside them. "Are you ready, Mom?"

"Yes. I was simply trying to pass the time with Dr. Kepner here," she answered, then she smirked at the trauma surgeon. "Poor girl is still wound up after all this time. You need to convince her that sex is a wonderful experience."

Jackson closed his eyes and groaned. "Here we go," he muttered, placing his hand over his face. "I thought you stopped meddling with other people's lives."

"You told me to stop meddling with your life and I've kept that promise." Catherine gestured her hand towards a very embarrassed April. "Your dear friend needs some help, so I'm offering her advice on how to loosen herself up."

"I'm not sure you're doing much helping at the moment. In fact, I actually need to talk to April – alone," he firmly insisted. "Please, Mom. Just give us a few minutes and we'll have lunch afterwards."

April let out a sigh of relief after Catherine quietly left them alone. She rested her forearms against the countertop and placed her forehead on top of them. "Thank you," she softly moaned. "For a moment, I was beginning to think she was offering to become my pimp."

Jackson slightly smiled and gently patted her lower back. "Was it that bad?" Her head bobbed up and down, then he chuckled. "It could've been worse. I bet she would be spewing out tips to Ryan if he was here."

"Thank goodness, he wasn't." She stood upright and quickly adjusted her hair. "Did you really want to talk or were you saving me from your mother?"

"A mix of both, but I do want to talk. I uhh… I'm sorry for how I reacted last weekend and… the crap I pulled on Abbott," the plastic surgeon apologized, forcing himself to laugh. "I'm not sure why I was so upset. We were becoming good friends again, but I blew it. Well, what I'm trying to tell you is that I do want to be your friend. My life would feel a little empty if we stopped talking to each other altogether."

More like completely empty, he mentally corrected himself.

April appreciated his apology. She believed he was being sincere because his eyes never left hers. "I forgive you, Jackson. Honestly, it'd be weird not having you in my life either," she softly replied. "So, umm… where are you living now?"

"I'm moving into Sloan's apartment today," Jackson announced with a grin. "Torres offered it to me earlier, so I accepted."

"That's awesome for you." She tapped her fingers against the countertop, then she curiously raised her eyebrow at him. "Can I come over tonight? I mean, you shouldn't have to celebrate your new apartment alone, you know? It's like a best friend outing… except we're indoors."

"You don't have plans with your boyfriend?"

"He's working a little later than I am, so I thought I could hang out with you and kill time until Ryan's shift is over. You don't think we can hang out anymore because of what happened between you two?"

Jackson shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that," he insisted. "I just don't want to be in the way of whatever plans you have with him. I'm not even sure how entertaining Sloan's apartment will be. There probably isn't even any cable or food."

"Then, I'll bring food to you. What do you want for dinner?" April chirped.

"You're serious?" He wasn't sure why he doubted her intentions because he didn't mind her coming over to his new home at all and she seemed very eager to spend time with him. "Well, I mean of course you are. I'm just being a bumbling idiot at the moment."

She smirked at her normally more confident friend. "That's supposed to be my job," she teased. "Pizza and beer?"

"One can never go wrong with that. I'll see you tonight then." Jackson nodded his head towards Catherine, who was watching them from afar. "And I'll make sure she stops bugging you about sex. If only she knew the truth, right?"

April shyly laughed and playfully pushed him away. "Okay, get out of here. Don't keep your mother waiting too long."

After watching the two Averys step into an elevator, she glanced down at her tablet except she wasn't doing much work. Those gorgeous eyes and pearly whites remained an image in her head. She immediately shook them out of her mental image because he wasn't Ryan. Her new boyfriend had his own set of delectable features that could make most women swoon. And the orthopedic surgeon's sense of humor made her laugh nonstop. Oh, and the whole childhood best friends connection. Only he knew her younger years well.

But Jackson knew her as the person she was today. She realized comparing them would only stress her out. It was better to be grateful to have two good male friends than feel torn between them.

Unsurprising to Jackson, his mother opened their lunch date with the news that she had decided to relocate from Boston to Seattle. Catherine's relationship with Webber had been steady and living on opposite coasts was out of the question. Also, she wouldn't have to travel back and forth to attend important board meetings. It was an ideal situation for the urologist – support her boyfriend while spying on her son.

First, she claimed she was the mastermind in pairing April and Ryan together, to Jackson's dismay. She gushed over how beautiful their future children would be if they were to procreate. Somewhere during the conversation, the plastic surgeon stopped listening to his mother's rambling and quietly poked at his salad. The last thing he wanted to hear was Catherine praising the woman he loved for allegedly taking her advice and dating Mr. Sexy Abs.

"Whatever," he muttered. "He went to Yale."

Raising her eyebrow curiously, she suspected he had been hiding secrets from her. If she couldn't pick his brain now, she may have to share baby pictures of him to his coworkers to get him to confess. "What happened to that intern you were seeing, baby?"

"Personal life is off-limits, remember?" he reminded her, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but I've been out of the loop for far too long. There is something going on with you, Jackson, and I would like to know why a man like you is unattached and staring at your best friend like you want to slip a diamond ring on her finger," Catherine bluntly said. Jackson gazed back at her speechless. She laughed as she rested the back of her hand beneath her chin. "Mother always knows best, dear."

Setting his plastic fork down, he immediately chose to deny her accusation. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, that's a load of horse pucky and you know it," she scoffed. "I was watching you two earlier. You stare at April the way your father used to stare at me in medical school."

"And how did the other half who's responsible for my existence stare at you?" Jackson sneered. He hardly knew his father and rarely talked about him unless someone else brought him up. For the most part, he never wanted to talk about him at all.

Catherine smirked back at him. "He stared at me like a man who was in love with the woman he envisioned marrying one day." She reached for Jackson's hand and gently squeezed it. "Do you love April, honey?"

He half-smiled at his mother, slowly shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. I blew it with her."

"What do you mean you blew it? Were you two dating in the past?"

"I can't talk about this with you," he murmured.

"I'm your mother, Jackson."

"And part-time sex therapist," the younger Avery quipped. He chuckled after Catherine lightly slapped his bicep in response. "Like I said, I can't talk about this with you when you just spent the past five minutes gloating about April and her lame ass boyfriend. You said they would have beautiful babies."

"What I meant was, they would have beautiful babies, but not as beautiful as the ones you and April would make together," Catherine corrected herself. Jackson could only roll his eyes again, then she dismissively waved her hand. "You know I'm right, so stop rolling your eyes before I gauge them out with my knife."

"I'm still not talking about this."

"Okay. Well, I guess that means I will have to question April instead and I know exactly how to break her," she insinuated as she stood up from her seat.

Jackson grabbed Catherine's wrist and sternly glanced up at her. "Don't talk to April. You embarrass her enough with all of your unsolicited sex advice." He waited for her to sit down, then he cleared his throat and sighed. "We uhh… last year at the boards, we…"

He struggled to finish the sentence. Who the hell openly told their parents about their sexual experiences without feeling uncomfortable?

His awkward facial expressions were enough for Catherine figure it out on her own. "Jackson Avery," she gasped, placing her hand against her chest. "You deflowered April Kepner?"

"She gave me her virginity, alright? There was no forcing on my part," he retorted.

"You were a gentleman, yes?"

Jackson buried his face into his hands and groaned. "I can't believe we're actually discussing this." He moved his hands away from his face and folded his arms. "Everything got screwed up since then. She saw things one way, I saw things the other. And I want her to be happy, so don't try to sabotage her new relationship. She deserves to be happy with whoever she ends up with."

"I understand you want her to be happy, but I don't understand why she can't be happy with you." Catherine gently pinched her baby boy's cheek, which annoyed him to no end, and she smiled. "You're too good to be living alone. You're my son and I always want what's best for you. Anybody who is in love with another person doesn't sit back and watch their other half grow happy with somebody else. You know what those people are? They're cowards. I know I didn't raise you to become a coward, young man."

It wasn't the first time Jackson was called a coward, but when it came from his mama he knew she wasn't joking around. Averys were confident and fearless. However, he had been acting the complete opposite around April.

Opening up about his feelings wasn't one of his strongest assets. He had the tendency to keep them buried inside and closed off from the world. Part of it was own fault, though he could also blame his family for not being the type who sat together and spilled out their feelings to each other. He hadn't been able to tell Catherine the full story of what had happened with April. The pregnancy scare? Forget it. Even an out of wedlock pregnancy scare was unbecoming of an Avery.

"There was a silver lining to all of this," Jackson stated and mischievously smiled at Catherine. "I went through a whole year without you meddling. You think you'd be able to hold yourself back if you knew about April?"

The urologist pretended to claw at him as she cackled. "Baby, I would've had your wedding planned out by now," she jokingly replied before she returned to a serious tone. "You fight for her. Understood? I'm not telling you to play dirty. Don't turn that sweet woman into a cheater. Convince her that you're the perfect man for her."

"Fine, but you cannot get involved for whatever reason," he countered. "No meddling whatsoever. Let me do this on my own."

"As of right now, I know nothing," she claimed, grasping his face and giving him a smooch on his cheek that left a lipstick mark behind. "Don't wipe that off yet. Make sure April sees that first, so she assumes some desperate intern left it there."

Jackson guffawed as he furrowed his eyebrows. "You just told me not to play dirty."

"Oh, this one's relatively harmless," Catherine casually replied.

"I've had my share of playing dirty already. It didn't work out in my favor." He picked up a napkin and wiped the red lipstick off of his cheek. "I'm done playing dirty."

Callie wasn't lying when she mentioned that Mark Sloan's old apartment was exactly the way he had left it, at least from what Jackson could remember based on his previous visits. His soft, beige couches in the middle of the living room. The flat screen TV hanging on his wall. That ugly piece of art on another wall he loathed and was eager to take down. All of Sofia's belongings were likely in the apartment next door now. It had been over a year since he stepped a foot inside of his former mentor's home, but nothing had changed.

As weird as it sounded, his fondest memory of the Plastics Posse was the time he came over to cook dinner for Mark and study for his boards – on Valentine's Day. The man was arrogant, but he was one hell of a teacher. Jackson felt like he owed him everything for where his career was now.

He and Callie dealt with the paperwork an hour before and he spent the rest of his time unpacking his clothes while he waited for April to arrive. Tonight wasn't going to be the night he stopped hiding. As long as this casual hang out didn't go awry, he hoped she would see that it wasn't completely over between them without him having to drop any obvious hints.

The doorbell rang and Jackson nearly ran towards the front door. He came to a halt, smoothing out the wrinkles of his shirt before opening the door for April. She stood outside holding an extra large box of pizza in one hand and a six-pack case of Budweiser in the other.

"Am I late?" she sheepishly asked.

"No, I haven't been here long myself. Come in." He closed the door after she entered the apartment. Grabbing two plates from a cupboard, Jackson quickly washed them at the sink assuming they hadn't been used in about a year. After he dried them, he set them on the counter and sat on the bar stool beside April. "What'd you get?"

April opened the box to reveal a Hawaiian style pizza. "Surprise," she chuckled.

He smirked at her, raising his eyebrow skeptically. "You don't eat Hawaiian," the plastic surgeon blurted out. "You said during our intern year at Mercy West that pineapples and ham should never be combined because it just doesn't make any sense."

"I know, but I can change my mind," she said, grabbing a slice. "While you try to overcome the shock of me eating a Hawaiian pizza, I'm going to start eating because I'm freaking starving."

Jackson simply smiled as he got his own slice. "So… my mother agreed to stop bothering you about your sex life," he noted with a mouthful of pizza. "And she's moving here, which can be a good and bad thing."

"There has to be a catch. I feel like it's impossible for her to avoid bringing up sex when we're having a conversation."

"I guarantee you, she'll stop. I mean it," he answered confidently. "Umm… how's the new relationship going?"

"We're great. Still getting used to the romantic aspect with Ryan. He's been really thoughtful and caring and sweet…" April pursed her lips as Jackson blankly stared back at her. She nervously laughed and sipped her beer. "You probably wanted a short answer. I know you don't want to listen to me ramble about him."

He pointed at himself. "Hey, I asked. Don't blame yourself for rambling. You're not you when you don't ramble."

"Please, I bet you wanted to shoot your ear drums every time I rambled," she scoffed, bashfully smiling at him.

"No. You're cute when you ramble," Jackson admitted, making the trauma surgeon blush.

April stuffed her mouth with more pizza in order to avoid replying to him. What exactly did he mean by cute? Cute as in adorable like a little kid meeting their celebrity crush? Or cute as in Jackson found her babbles attractive? She hated not knowing the answer, but she was afraid to ask.

"Th-there are things I can't do with Ryan, but I can do with you," she said after swallowing her latest bite.

"Like… what?" he slowly questioned. Unfortunately, sex was definitely not going to be one of those can's.

"Well, I can't visit Charles and Reed with him because he doesn't have that special connection with them like we do. We can't reminisce about the shenanigans from our Mercy West years. I mean, I can, but he wouldn't find the humor in the things we did back then because he wasn't there," she listed, though it was much harder to find reasons that didn't sound half-assed. "Oh! And I can't complain to him when I need to complain about him."

Jackson appreciated her effort to give him legit reasons, but the only one that made sense to him was visiting their deceased best friends on their death anniversary. However, this year, they hadn't gone together marking the first time they went separately. Their friendship had gradually dissipated since they ended their confusing relationship. Charles and Reed were likely rolling over in their graves, he thought.

He was lost in his own internal reflections that he hadn't noticed that April was rambling yet again, but one subject seemed to catch his attention.

"…I honestly thought Sloan was talking to the person behind me, but nobody was there. He said you had been stressed out and uptight, so he thought it would be a brilliant idea for us to become more than study buddies. I know he's dead, but c'mon – that's sexual harassment, right?"

"Sloan tried to persuade you into sleeping with me?" Jackson hadn't heard that story from the redhead, which he found odd because she confided in him for everything prior to their night in San Francisco. "How come you never told me about this?"

April softly laughed as she brushed back strands of her hair. "I don't know. I suppose I was embarrassed or I was afraid you'd think it was hilarious for somebody like me to end up in bed with you," she murmured, her cheeks turning bright red again. "He just wanted you to get laid. I don't think it really meant anything- well, back then when we were just friends… without the benefits."

Jackson chugged his beer while he recalled Mark's annoying persistence to get him laid that day. He had suggested many women, but April wasn't one of them. Maybe he figured his resident would have been livid if he mentioned his then-virginal best friend. Would he have even considered it?

The bar fight alone was a major turn on, but when she kissed him later that night his whole perspective of her changed instantly. It frustrated him that he couldn't ask Sloan why he never talked about April to his face. He would know exactly what to do now.

She grew a little uncomfortable as he stared intently at her without saying a word. He briefly licked his lips, making her more nervous. "Umm… what?"

He took a deep breath before he glumly replied, "I miss Mark."

April had fully expected him to say something that would increase the awkward tension between them, but maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't. She sadly smiled back at Jackson instead. "I know. I do too."