A/N: I hope you enjoy this!

Chapter Twenty One

April's eyes flew open when she heard familiar voices outside of her hospital room. She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking that she must be dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or in some sort of hell dimension, because only that could produce those voices that she was hearing. And she was hearing them clear as day. They were getting louder and before she could fully steel herself for what was coming, the door opened and her family descended on her. Daddy. Mom. Billy. All three of them were there, her mom crying into a hanky as she clutched Billy's arm.

"April, sweetie, we came as soon as that doctor friend of yours called," her dad said. "How are you feeling?"

"Look at all these tubes," her mom said, sobbing into her hanky again. "Oh, my poor baby!"

"What are you guys doing here?" April rasped, her voice finally beginning to come back.

"We heard you were sick."

"You really didn't have to come out all this way. I'm fine."

"You sure don't look fine," Mr. Kepner said. "And besides, that doctor friend of yours called."

"Which doctor friend?"

Her dad looked over at her mom, who was still making a mess with her hanky, and said, "Janet, what was that doc's name? Something with an A?"

Mrs. Kepner sniffed, wiping at her nose. "Yeah, something with an A. Allery? Something like that."

"Avery?" April tried, frowning.

"Yeah, that's it!" her dad said, pointing toward her. "Avery!"

"Yeah. Figures."

"So, he said you had some allergic reaction?" Mr. Kepner said. "You never had any allergies growing up."

"It's something different," April explained. "What happened to me is different. I had an allergic reaction to medication."

"Shouldn't they have known that?"

"It was an emergency antibiotic. I'd never had it before, so they wouldn't have known."

Her throat began to hurt and she coughed, her throat burning. Her mother slapped her dad's arm and said, "Look at what you did, Bob. Let her rest."

"No…I'm fine," April rasped. "I just can't talk a lot."

"Of course dear," Mrs. Kepner said, stepping forward and smoothing back her hair. "You just relax. We're here now and we won't leave until you're good and healthy."

April nodded, outwardly grateful while inwardly she was swearing like a sailor. She loved her family. They were good people and they cared about her. But they were people who were better taken in small doses. Or with many, many miles between them and her.

"We'll just wait outside for a bit," her dad said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. "Give you the rest you need."

She nodded, feeling her heart rate come back to normal as they shuffled out of the room. The door firmly closed, she groaned. This was going to be a stressful few days.

"Hey there," Jackson said, stepping in the room and closing the door behind him. "How are you feeling?"

"What made you think you should call my parents?" April asked immediately. She expected some sort of chagrin on his part, but instead he looked at her levelly and replied, "What happened to you was serious, April. I thought you would have wanted them to know."

She sighed, leaning her head back against the pillow. "No, I really didn't."

"I thought you were close with them?"

"I am," she refuted. "I love them, but they're my family. They are my loving, backwoods family, that blows absolutely everything out of proportion. They probably think I'm dying."

"Well, you did almost die," he pointed out.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're not helping yourself at all."

"Look, I thought you'd want them to know. I'm sorry if I was wrong."

She sighed and reached out for his hand. "I know you meant well. It's just, now they're never going to leave."

"They have to leave eventually," Jackson said.

April's eyes flitted to the door and she said in a low voice, "And I'm afraid they'll know."

"Know what?"

"You know," she said, raising her eyebrows. It took him a moment, but then he caught on.

"Oh. How would they know?"

"They just would."

"Okay, now you're being ridiculous," Jackson said.

"My dad's a pastor. He senses those things."

"Your dad's a pastor?" Jackson said, eyes widening. "I never knew that." He smiled slightly and said, "So, I bagged a pastor's daughter?"

"Stop talking."

"You know, I'd get major guy points for this."

"Seriously. Stop talking."

He laughed, kissing her hand. "Look, everything will be fine. They aren't going to find out. I promise."

"So, you'll keep your mouth shut?"

"Oh yeah, I don't want an angry pastor after me. He has the big man upstairs on his side, meaning I would be royally screwed."

"Good," April said, squeezing his hand. "And they shouldn't be here too long. I mean, I'll be discharged soon, right?"

"Sloan wants you in for one more day of observation."

"So, that's one more day that they'll be here. Two tops. I can handle that."

"Who are all those people outside April's room?" Izzie said, standing over to the side with Alex and Meredith.

"I think it's her family," Meredith said. "Jackson said he called them."

"Man, she gets her throat cut open and then gets smothered by her family. That chick can't catch a break."

"It's nice that her family's here," Izzie said, tilting her head to the side. "Do you think they look alike?"

"Iz, you're the last person to talk about family. When your mom visited when you were sick, you couldn't wait for her to leave."

"That's because my mother is insane," Izzie returned easily.

"I'm with Izzie," Meredith said. "If I was sick, the last thing I'd want is my father hovering."

"April seems like the family type, though," Izzie said. "She's warm and fuzzy."

"I can be warm and fuzzy," Meredith argued.

Izzie snorted. "Seriously, Mer? A python is more warm and fuzzy than you."

"Is she praying?" Alex interrupted, staring at April's mom. The woman was grasping the man's hand beside her, lips moving rapidly as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"April's religious," Meredith said.

"Think they know about her recent biblical knowing?" Alex asked, snorting.

"Hm, good question."

"Isn't that a big deal for Jesus freaks?"

"Nice Alex," Izzie said, rolling her eyes.

"What? It's what they are."

"I bet they don't know," Izzie said. "I mean, if I was April I wouldn't say anything."

Alex laughed and said, "Man, I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation."

"So, I heard you called April's family," Sloan said, falling into step beside Jackson. "Pretty ballsy move."

"She almost died," Jackson said slowly, wondering why he had to keep defending his actions. It was part of the protocol of ER visits, anyway. You called the next of kin.

"Yeah, but still, we could have kept it in-house. You chose to go and bring her parents here."

"They had a right to know."

Sloan smirked. "Trying to get in their good graces, huh? It's not a bad move. Pretty smart, actually."

"I did it because it was the right thing to do. Anyway, how's she doing?"

"Good. She should be able to leave tomorrow."

Jackson nodded, feeling the knots in his stomach that had been there since he first heard she was in that OR begin to unknot.

"She's going to be weak, though," Sloan added. "So you guys will have to keep it in your pants for a few more days."

Jackson laughed. "I think we can manage that."

The next day April was discharged. Jackson had to work, but promised that he would visit her when he left. This meant it was just her and her family for the rest of the afternoon. Her mother went immediately into her kitchen and rearranged all of her cabinets.

"I don't know how you find anything in here," Mrs. Kepner said, shaking her head as she pulled a variety of spices out of the cupboard.

"I don't know. I use my eyes."

"You need some organization, sweetie," her mother cooed. "You know, I read somewhere that your cabinets are representative of your life. If you have messy cabinets-"

"Mom, you do realize I was just discharged from the hospital right? And I need rest? You going on about my cabinets? Not helping."

"So, tell us about that Avery guy," her brother Billy said, plopping himself down beside her on the couch. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say my little sister found herself a boy."

"Don't be silly," Mrs. Kepner said. "If April was dating someone, we'd know. Right sugar?"

"Well, actually-"

"Besides I didn't like the look of that Avery boy," her mom continued.

"What do you mean, Janet? The boy called us to let us know April was in the hospital. That was pretty nice of him."

"He looks shifty," she continued. "Not the type of boy I would like fraternizing with our sweet April."

"Uh, your sweet April has something to say," April interrupted, raising her hand. They looked at her expectantly and she said, "Jackson and I are dating."

"Jackson?" her mother asked in confusion.

"Yeah, uh, Jackson Avery. The man who called you. We're dating."

"You're dating? What do you mean you're dating?"

April stared at them. "I mean…we're dating? What is there not to understand there?"

"Well, is it serious?"

April smiled slightly. "Yeah, it kind of is."

"Kind of?"

"It is," she said resolutely. "It is serious. We're together and it look like it'll be that way for a while."

"Well," her mother said delicately. "When were you planning on telling us this?"

"Janet, don't grill the poor girl."

"It's a reasonable question," her mother returned. "If you are as serious as you say you are with this boy, don't you think we should have known about him?"

"I was going to call you," April said, lying straight through her teeth. She had not, in fact, planned on telling them anything. The carnal nature of their relationship sealed that. "I promise you, a call was forthcoming."

"Well, we know now," her dad said. "So, when should we meet him?"

"You have met him," April said. "Earlier today. Remember?"

"But we didn't know you two were seeing each other. It's completely different now!" her dad boomed. "How about tomorrow night? We were going to take you out anyway before we left. He can tag along."

"Tag along? That's really not necessary-"

"Don't be silly. It would be our pleasure to have him join us."

"But Mom think he's shifty," April said quickly. "Don't you think this might not be the best idea? You know how Mom gets with people she thinks are shifty."

"Are you saying I won't behave myself?" Mrs. Kepner said, adding a soft tisk at the end. "Don't be ridiculous, April. I am more than capable of behaving myself."

"I just think there's been enough excitement in the past few days," April said. "I mean, I almost died. That was pretty bad, right? Let's not add anything else."

"You're so dramatic," her dad said. "She gets that from you, Janet. April, dear, you call up Dr. Avery and tell him that dinner is at seven tomorrow night."

"But-"

"You better rest now, sweetie," Mr. Kepner said, kissing her forehead. "We don't want you tiring yourself out."

Billy patted her shoulder and said, "Man, it sucks to be you right now, little sis."

She couldn't disagree.

A/N: I'd love to hear your thoughts!