Hi everyone! Finally some good Japril scenes this week on Grey's! Anyway, it got the creative juices flowing and I sat down and finished this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it! Let me know what you think.
We Dodged a Bullet
Chapter 4
Jackson
It had been a couple of months with little to no interaction with April. They interacted professionally and that was it.
Jackson missed April, but he wanted to respect her wishes. He didn't know he had hurt her so bad that she felt like they could be friends, but at the same time, he was ready to move on from what happened and try to get back to the way things had been.
Jackson walked into the hospital, heading straight for the coffee cart. He ordered his usual and April's too. Today his plan was to approach her and offer the coffee. He wasn't going to pressure her to talk or anything else, but it was a small gesture he hoped she was receptive to.
Jackson walked towards the attending's lounge, quickly nothing April's absence. Cristina and Callie were there changing for their shifts.
"Either of you know if April is in yet?" he asked, walking to his locker which was right next to April's.
"No, why?" Callie asked, eyeing the coffee.
"Just wondering," Jackson said, pulling his scrub top over his head.
"You do know she is dating Banks right?" Cristina asked.
"Yeah," Jackson said as if that was no big deal. He did notice them hanging out around the hospital constantly and heard snippets of gossip that they were casually dating.
"Morning,"
Jackson turned to Kevin Banks walking into the lounge with a to-go mug in his hand. Jackson immediately recognized the mug as April's. He had gotten it for her two Christmases ago. She had gotten surprised him with basketball tickets, and he hadn't gotten her anything so he ran to the hospital gift shop and gotten her the to go mug along with a bag of expensive coffee and a box of tea he knew she liked.
Jackson quickly averted his gaze and focused on grabbing his stethoscope and lab coat from his locker.
"Banks, you with Kepner this morning?" Cristina asked, eyeing Jackson with a shit-eating grin on her face. Jackson glared at her in warning and she only smiled bigger.
"Yeah, she has the morning off," Kevin said nonchalantly, not picking up on the tension. Maybe he didn't know about Jackson and April's past. "Why?" Kevin asked, taking his shirt off.
Cristina eyed Kevin's body, unashamed, then glanced briefly at Jackson before saying, "No big reason, I was just going to ask her for a consult."
"I can help," Kevin offered kindly, but Cristina shook her head and said, "Thanks, that's okay. It can wait until Kepner gets in."
Kevin nodded and left the locker room and Jackson glared at Cristina, "You can be a real asshole, you know that?"
"Who me?" Cristina asked in mock innocence.
Jackson grabbed the coffee cups and tossed April's into the trash before heading up to the plastic's unit.
Alex walked up and said, "Here is that cleft-palate case."
Jackson nodded, taking the chart and adding it to his pile.
"Hey, can I ask you a question without you giving me shit?" Jackson asked.
"Probably not," Alex admitted with a smirk on his face.
"Do you know if April and Banks are serious?" Jackson asked.
Alex leveled him with a look and Jackson sighed and said, "I never should have asked."
"What do you care? You have Stephanie," Alex said.
"I do not 'have' Stephanie," Jackson scoffed, "We are just fooling around. She knows that."
Alex shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well make sure she knows that."
Jackson sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "So…?"
"So what?" Alex asked, confused.
"April and Banks?" Jackson said through grit teeth.
"Oh, I have no idea," Alex said, "Ask her. Or the twisted sisters. They are too nosy not to know what's going on." They would also give Jackson shit for the rest of his life. He didn't want to know that badly.
Alex walked off and Jackson's mind wandered back to the travel mug he had bought for April that Kevin had. Did that mean April had made him coffee this morning? Was she sleeping with him?
It didn't piss him off that April was sleeping with another guy, but that she didn't tell him. Jackson had told April about Stephanie out of courtesy so she wouldn't find out from someone else. April hadn't extended that same courtesy to Jackson.
Stephanie bounced to his side and said, "I am in trauma, but I was wondering if you wanted to get together later and…," trailing off suggestively.
"Yep," Jackson said, giving her a small forced smile, "After lunch?"
Stephanie nodded and walked towards Trauma, leaving Jackson without an intern for the day.
April
April and Derek were both dirty, hungry and so tired their eyes were bloodshot.
"So if derm cuts a fellow, and cardio cuts the TED conference, plastics and ortho share lab facilities we will have enough to keep the ER" Derek clarified, checking the math for the hundredth time, "This will work? Right Kepner?"
April nodded, finishing the math in her head and nodded while yawning, ""They're going to be mad about the TED conference."
Derek nodded and said, "Oh they're going to be mad about everything."
April nodded, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously. This needed to work. This budget proposal needed to go through, otherwise April would once again not have a job. No trauma, no trauma fellowship. And no other hospital would take her without her boards certification which wasn't for another couple months.
April scanned through the email, going over their work before hitting send.
"Any replies yet?" Derek asked, standing behind her and reading the email over her shoulder, "Wait...THAT was the subject line?"
"Wh-what is that bad?" April asked.
"Would you open an email that starts with 'Proposed Budget Cuts'?" Derek asked.
No...she wouldn't. April groaned and Derek said, "It's fine, we will just go department by department."
April nodded, knowing this took precedence over even managing the ER today. Today she would save her ER.
As Derek gathered up all their paperwork and financial projections, April's pager shrilled. She looked at it and dialed the ER.
"Morning," Kevin answered on the first ring, "How was your number crunch session. Are you and Shepard now having an affair?" he joked.
April chuckled and answered, "Oh yeah, you know how math gets me going, but do us a favor and don't tell Meredith...she might take it the wrong way and I have a consult with her later I would really rather not be awkward."
Kevin chuckled and said, "You want to grab lunch later?"
April sighed and said, "Can't. Shepard and I are going to department by department to get the heads to sign off on this plan."
What Kevin didn't know, was that with this new proposal Derek was pushing for only one trauma fellow again. That meant either April or Kevin would be out with this new plan. April told herself that she would deal with that issue if this proposal came to pass...like Scarlett from Gone with the Wind...tomorrow was when she would think about all this crap.
Derek gestured for her to get off the phone and she nodded and said, "I'll catch up."
Derek nodded and headed off towards Ortho.
"Hey, listen, I gotta run," April said to Kevin, "Want to me after our shifts and get some dinner?"
"How about I make you dinner?" Kevin asked suggestively.
April paused a second, knowing what that usually meant, before cutting the tension and saying, "See I like having a house...I don't want all my stuff to burn up in a fiery inferno."
Kevin laughed and said, "Ha. Ha. I will meet you at my apartment?"
April nodded, and then realized he couldn't see her response, "Yeah. I will be there as soon as I get off."
They hung up and April sat there slightly dazed and her stomach full of butterflies. It had been a couple of months and she was nervous about sleeping with Kevin. She was nervous that she was ready for that. Really ready. She wanted sex.
After the wedding, Kevin had completely backed off when it came to sex. He slowed it way down and they had been going slow since. But now she was ready to speed it up.
April grabbed her stuff up and jogged to catch up with Derek.
Jackson
Jackson sighed and walked out of the hospital, checking his phone for any missed calls or text messages. Three from Stephanie. Jackson sighed, knowing she probably didn't see them as casual anymore. Damn.
Jackson looked up and spotted April, perched on a bench with slumped shoulders. She looked exhausted and like she had been kicked around all day.
Jackson knew she didn't want to talk to him as a friend, but he couldn't turn away.
He walked up to the bench she sat on and sat next to her. She looked up and met his eyes for the first time in what seemed like so long.
"Hey," he murmured,
"Hi," April said, looking down at her lap.
"What's wrong?" Jackson asked.
"They're closing the ER," April said, "It's the shag carpet."
"What?" Jackson asked confused.
"Derek and I worked all night, slashing department budgets and trying to find enough money to save the ER and we did, we found the money," April explained, "But Cahill told us she is selling the hospital to another buyer, but she needs to make it more attractive. The ER is going."
Jackson sighed and shook his head, not believing a level one trauma center was losing its ER. That was unheard of.
"No trauma," April said, looking up at the sky dejectedly, "No trauma fellows. Kevin and I are out of a job."
Jackson shook his head, his world spinning. Even though April had been fired...twice...Jackson didn't think he could work at Seattle Grace without her. Not after everything they had been through.
"We'll figure it out," Jackson said...maybe he could talk to Cahill. Or Owen. He needed to try and fix this.
April was silent and Jackson looked at her, wondering what she was thinking.
After a few more minutes, she said, "I miss talking to you."
Jackson nodded and said, "Me too."
She stood then and said, "I have to go."
Jackson nodded and knew that they had taken the first step getting back to normal.
"Okay," Jackson said.
"April gave him a little wave before walking towards her car. Jackson had wanted to ask her about so many things, including her relationship status, but he didn't want to push her.
He sat on the bench, thinking about their conversation. About what April leaving would mean for him. He didn't know how long he sat there, but his phone buzzing broke him out of his train of thought.
He looked down at his phone and sighed. Text. From Stephanie. When did shit get so complicated?
Remember to leave me a review or message me. I love hearing all the feedback and different perspectives on this story since it's different from the others I have written. Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!
