A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for your feedback on the last chapter. It means a lot to me! Hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter Twenty Three

Jackson pulled her into the on-call room, tugging the door closed before pushing her back against it. He kissed her neck as he murmured, "Have I mentioned how happy I am you're back at work."

April grinned, tilting her head back to give him better access.

"You might have mentioned something along those lines," she said, laughing when he bit down lightly on her throat. "Easy there. I don't want a mark."

He sucked lightly on the bite mark before skimming his nose along her jawline on his way back up to her mouth. She reached behind her back and turned the lock on the door. Pressing her hands on his chest she breathed out, "Bed. Now."

He grinned against her mouth, stumbling backwards as he tugged at her scrub bottoms, her hands busy with the same task. His knees hit the bottom bunk and he sat down, scooting back and turning as she climbed on top of him.

"We have to make this quick," she said, pulling off her top. "I have to report to rounds in ten minutes."

He grabbed her hips and ground her down against him.

"I think I can do that."

April rushed from the on-call room, fixing her hair as she went to join Cristina and Burke. She checked her watch furtively, swearing when she saw she was five minutes late. Jackson and her had finished in more than enough time, but then one of them started moving and it started all over again. It was a wonder she got out of the room, at all.

She was relieved to see only Cristina at the patient's room. As nice as Burke had been to her over the past few weeks, she still found herself intimidated by him. Cristina left the patient's room and slipped the chart into its slot outside the room. She looked at April and said, "You're late."

"I know. I'm sorry. I was running late and…" Cristina was studying April intently and she flushed as she asked, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You and Jackson were doing it, weren't you?"

"What? No! I…"

"Look, I get that you have impulses," Cristina said. "But do them on your own time, alright?"

"Sorry," April said sheepishly.

They walked toward the next patient's room and Cristina asked, "Was it any good?"

"Was what?"

"The sex."

"The-Cristina!" April said loudly, looking around them quickly to see if anyone had overheard. Leaning in closer, she said, "Shouldn't we not be talking about this in public?"

"Oh please, if you're going at it in on-call rooms, it's already public. So tell me, is Avery any good?"

"I cannot believe we are having this conversation," April said, shaking her head.

"He's not good, is he?" Cristina said, reading into April's silence. "Sometimes pretty boys like him just can't deliver."

"No, he's fine," April cut in. "He's perfectly fine."

"Perfectly fine?" Cristina asked, snorting.

"More than perfectly fine," April said. "Wonderful. Amazing. Earth shattering."

"Earth shattering?" Cristina repeated, laughing. "Really? Earth shattering?"

"Yes," April said decisively. "Earth shattering. Now, can we please stop talking about this?"

It took Alex three times to ask her. Three times he walked with her, talking about some case or what Cristina had said at lunch, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her. He felt stupid, asking Izzie Stevens for help buying his sister a birthday present. It was his sister, after all. He should know what to buy his own sibling.

He didn't, though. Leaving empty-handed from Target proved that. If you can't find a gift at Target, you know you're in trouble.

When he finally did ask her, she laughed.

"You need help getting your own sister a birthday gift?" she asked, lips curling into the smile that she always used when she thought he was being ridiculous. She used it often.

"I'm not the best at this stuff," Alex said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.

"How did you get her gifts before?" Izzie asked, pulling a bar of chocolate from her lab coat. She offered him a piece and he nodded.

"I sort of just winged it," he said, popping the chocolate in his mouth. "But this year is different."

"Why's that?"

He hesitated. The only person who knew what his sister went through last year with his brother was Meredith. He figured, though, that if anyone else should know, it was Izzie. He gave a quick explanation of the incident and said, "So, uh, she's had a rough year."

"Alex, I'm so sorry," she said, laying a hand on his arm. "I had no idea."

"It's fine," he said gruffly. "I just want to get her a gift she'd actually like today."

She kept her hand on his arm and gave it a little squeeze. "We can go shopping after work."

"So, Alex asked me to help him pick out a birthday gift for his sister," Izzie said, standing with Meredith at the coffee cart.

Meredith smiled. "You guys really are becoming friends, aren't you?"

Izzie nodded. "I think we are."

"And?" Meredith asked knowingly.

Izzie rolled her eyes, laughing as she said, "And, nothing. Friends is fine. Completely fine."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Izzie said. "I'm just happy to be a part of his life again. I didn't really think that could happen after everything that happened between us, but here we are. Friends who help each other shop for their siblings."

"Well, I'm very happy for you," Meredith said.

Izzie grinned wide. "I'm pretty happy for me, too."

"So, do you have any idea what his sister would like?" Meredith asked, adding a bit of cream to her coffee. Izzie took the carton from her and poured some into her own cup.

"Not a clue," she said. "But, I mean, she's a girl and I'm a girl. It shouldn't be that hard, right?"

Meredith smirked. "Right."

Izzie met Alex at the front of the hospital when his cases were over, and they drove over to a nearby Macy's together. While they drove, she tried to get a feel for what his sister liked. Unfortunately, Alex proved to be less than helpful.

"She likes normal girl stuff," Alex said, shrugging. "You know, make-up and clothes. All that girl crap."

"Well, maybe we can get her a sweater of something," Izzie said uncertainly. It didn't seem like the most personal gift, but it was better than a tube of lipstick. They got to the department store and Izzie led them to the women's clothing section. She stopped at a display for v-neck sweaters and she asked Alex what he thought.

"Seems fine to me," he said.

"Okay, well, what size is she?"

"Uh, small. Medium, maybe?"

Izzie pressed her lips together, leaning forward to examine the sweaters as she wondered how Alex could be so ignorant to simple things like his sister's size.

"Do you have a picture of her on your phone?" she asked hopefully, thinking she could glean some sort of sizing from a picture. Alex paused before nodding and saying, "Yeah, actually, she made me take one with her when I was home last year. I think it's still in here."

He scrolled through his phone and then turned the screen toward her. She took the phone, peering at the picture. His sister looked remarkably like him, and she smiled softly at the sibling picture.

"You said this was last year?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Alright, I can work with this," she said. "I think we should go with a medium. She looks on the border between the two sizes, and I'd rather go too big than small. Do you have any idea what sort of colors she'd like?"

Alex nodded, shoving his hands in his pocket. "Yeah, uh, she likes red a lot. I remember she used to wear it all the time when we were home."

"Red," Izzie said slowly, looking through their options. She spotted a candy apple red sweater white stripes. She moved around Alex and plucked it from the display. "What about that?"

He screwed his mouth to the side. "I don't know about the stripes."

"Okay, well…" she pulled a solid from behind the polka dot. "How about this one?"

"Yeah, that's good," he said. "That's really good."

"Fantastic," Izzie said happily. "Now, on to the next part of the gift."

"There's parts?" Alex said, following Izzie as she walked over to the cashier.

"Of course! You can't just get her a sweater, Alex."

She said this as if it were common knowledge, and he nodded along, although he had no idea before. He stepped beside her at the cashier and handed over his credit card.

"We need a box, too," Izzie chimed in. She noticed the look on Alex's face and said, "Don't worry, Alex. I'll help you wrap it."

He laughed. "Alright. So, where next?"

They ended up with the red sweater, a set of gold bangles and a statement ring that Alex thought was ridiculous, but Izzie insisted his sister would like.

"Who doesn't like a good statement ring?" she had said.

They drove back to the hospital, a comfortable silence between them. Alex turned onto the hospital's road and then said, "Thanks for doing this with me, Iz. My sister's going to really like her gift."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling at him. "I had fun."

"You did?"

"Your startling lack of knowledge regarding your sister's likes and dislikes were amusing if nothing else," she teased.

He laughed, turning into the hospital parking lot. "Well, thanks again. I would have never thought to get her that stuff."

"Let me know how she likes it," Izzie said.

"Sure, I will."

He stopped in front of her car and she unbuckled her seat belt, turning toward him briefly as she said, "Have a nice night, Alex."

"You too."

She climbed out of the car, hoisting her bag further on her shoulder as she walked to her car. She was fishing for her keys in her purse when he called out to her.

"Yeah?" she said, turning toward him. She noticed he hadn't moved his car an inch.

"Would you, uh, maybe want to grab dinner nearby?" She hesitated and he said, "I just thought it's already late and-"

"I'd love to," she interrupted, grinning softly. "You driving?"

"Yeah, sure."

She got back into the car and he pulled out of the parking lot. The entire way, as they discussed dinner options, she tried to calm the fluttering in her stomach.

A/N: I had a lot of Alex/Izzie feels when I wrote this one, hence the focus on them. Next chapter will put the focus on another medical case and open up the next arc for this story. Please leave feedback and let me know you're all still reading!