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Jackson entered the peds ward, stopping by the nurses' station where Alex was standing nearby. They were both working with Robbins and neither of them appeared enthusiastic about working with the peds surgeon. It had nothing to do with her. They just both disliked working with sick children.

Alex barely acknowledged Jackson's presence. He was too distracted by his cell phone. Whoever was texting him every other minute made him angrier as he opened each message only to clear his notifications rather than reply to them. He would stuff his cell phone into his lab coat pocket, then roll his eyes when he felt the vibration alerting him of a new message.

"Freakin' A," he mumbled to himself, pulling his cell phone out one last time to switch it to silent mode.

"You know, instead of ignoring Jo completely, you can just tell her you don't want to date her anymore," Jackson suggested, eying his coworker after checking e-mails on his own phone. "I have no idea what's going on between you two, but April told me you haven't been talking since that date."

"Yeah, well, shit happens," Alex murmured. "And for the record, that wasn't Jo. Just someone who won't stop bugging me about crap you wouldn't care about. Whatever."

Jackson wondered if that someone Alex was referring to was Dalton Avery. It made sense to him that his coworker would withhold his identity from him. He knew talking about their father – just the idea that they could both call him Dad made him uncomfortable – was a subject he preferred to avoid. But certain questions he kept to himself continued to bother him.

Was Dalton asking about him? Did he know his son was working in Seattle with his other son? Was he considered the other son?

He wasn't about to pry, especially while Alex was in a visibly bad mood. That didn't lessen his curiosity, though.

"Hey, do you know what April would like for Christmas?" Jackson asked, changing the subject. "She told me it was her favorite holiday, so I'm feeling a bit of pressure to get her something. I know we haven't been dating long, but it's been good so far and I want to give her a present."

Alex quickly shrugged. Having to listen to Jackson rave about his relationship with April only made him bitter. "A stupid looking stuffed pig would make her happy."

"Did she get anything for me?" he inquired, drawing an unimpressed look from the other man. "Not that I'm expecting her to give me something for Christmas. She doesn't have to. I mean, it would be okay…"

"Dude, you're rambling just like she normally does," Alex noted with a smirk. "If you wanna get her something, then do it. She appreciates just about everything you do. It's not like you have to continue to impress her with fancy dates and your penis."

Jackson scoffed, shaking his head. "That's not my intention. Well, I'm glad she doesn't have a problem with this," he playfully stated and gestured towards his lower region with a grin on his face.

"Give me a break," Alex groaned. "I don't want or need to know about your sex life."

"I was having a dry spell. Let me gloat a bit." Jackson didn't want to admit it, but he hadn't slept with a woman since the end of his second year of residency. He had plenty of opportunities to do so, yet he purposely restrained himself because of Lexie. She had intimidated many of the women who caught his eye and scared them off. Until April arrived at Seattle Grace, she was his unofficial chastity belt. "Maybe your uptightness is due to your lack of action."

"I get action," Alex defensively replied.

"With what? Your hand?" he chuckled, receiving a scowl from his coworker. "Because it doesn't seem like you've been getting any from Wilson, so unless you have someone on the side, you're full of it."

Arizona glided towards the two men on her Heelys. She greeted them with a bright smile after interrupting their banter. "Ah, I've been waiting for this day. Having you both is like Christmas for me, especially now that I've finally gotten you on my service, Karev. We are going to have some fun today," she enthusiastically stated.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex cautiously asked.

"Well, considering I have two residents who love to talk smack about pediatric surgery and the tiny humans we heal, as your attending, I'm going to make the most out of having you on my service," she gleefully responded. "Now, follow me. We have a lot of patients to check up on this morning."

Both Alex and Jackson eyed each other with pouts on their faces after Arizona turned away. A whole day of peds together was going to be dreadful.

April finished treating a patient in the ER and walked to the nearest biohazard bin to throw away her trash. She barely had her gloves removed when somebody pulled her into a supply closet. Jo closed the door behind her and smiled at her. "Okay, this has happened to me before and I didn't like it the first time," she agitatedly said. "And why are you smiling at me?"

"Can you please talk to Alex?" the brunette requested with a hopeful tone.

"He's still not talking to you? I know it's only been a couple of days, but I can't do the talking for you," April regretfully replied. "And trust me, I've tried. He's too stubborn to listen, so I'm not sure I can help you with this."

Jo sighed disappointedly. She thought if anybody could break through Alex's thick skull, it would be his roommate. She wasn't sure how April was so good at convincing him to do something, but she was very good at it. "I'm getting desperate. It sounds pathetic, but I am. And you know what he did? Last night, he replied to one of my texts with 'New phone, who dis?' after ignoring all of my other messages. Seriously, he said that! And I know he hasn't changed phones," she complained. "I shouldn't be punished for telling him the truth."

"He's not punishing you. Alex is... processing," the redhead reluctantly answered.

"Still? No. He's not processing, he's avoiding," Jo corrected her friend. "I didn't murder anybody or rob hundreds of banks. I have a daughter. That's not something you shut a person out for."

"He's mostly hurt that you lied."

Jo softly groaned. "I lied to everybody, so why does it matter? Those people still don't know about Cat. And you know, he told me about Amber. I know Avery has a sister, but I haven't told him because I'm being a loyal friend by waiting until Alex tells him himself." She paused, then she grimaced. "Wait. You know about his sister, right?"

April smiled and nodded. "You're not breaking any rules. What did he tell you about her?"

"Not much. She plays collegiate volleyball and that's about it."

"What? That's more than what he told me!" April whined. "All I knew was her name. I should definitely interrogate him next time we have a conversation. I'm his best friend. I should know more about his family aside from their names-"

Jo snapped her fingers to cut off April's rambling, then she pointed at herself. "Worry about that later. We're talking about me right now," she reminded her with a forced smile. "Is there anything else I can do? I'm out of ideas."

April glanced down at her pager after it alerted her. She opened the door as she checked the page. "Umm, pray and hope that he comes around?" she lazily replied on her way out.

"Thanks for the tip!" she sarcastically responded before leaving the supply closet.

"Boring… boring… boring…"

Jackson rolled his eyes as he used a remote control to flip through the various channels on the TV. "Tommy, we've looped the stations twice now. Pick something that isn't considered boring already," he impatiently said. Somehow, he got stuck with channel surfing duty, while Alex was being a real doctor and drawing their patient's blood. "There aren't any cartoons on, bud."

"But there are channels that only show cartoons! How can this hospital not have any of those?" the 7-year old complained. "My mama said that this was the best hospital, but you guys don't even get the Cartoon Network?"

"Dude, your failing kidneys are more important than freaking cartoons," Alex nonchalantly replied. "Luckily, you'll be getting new ones soon, so you can watch all of the cartoons you want during your recovery."

Jackson stopped on ESPN and set the remote on a table. "There. You can watch these guys analyze last night's game between the Mariners and the Yankees." He smiled to himself when Tommy groaned loudly. "What? Not into sports?"

"You're a d-bag. I don't know what that is, but I know it means a bad thing, but that's what you are," Tommy retorted. He smugly grinned when Jackson turned around and scowled at him. "D-bag!"

Alex snickered as he finished drawing blood from the young boy. "I like this kid."

"Makes sense. He could almost pass as your own because your personalities are alike," Jackson scoffed.

"Somebody's jealous that he didn't get to do real doctor work," Alex playfully stated, flashing a cheesy smile at Tommy and making him laugh. "Anyway, nice job at not moving when I drew your blood."

Tommy quickly shrugged. "I'm used to it now." His comment drew a sad smile from Jackson. "But my older brother screams when he gets poked by a needle. It's so funny. Do you have brothers or sisters?"

"Nope," the pretty boy answered without hesitation, exchanging a look with Alex.

Alex looked back at Tommy and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Arizona entered the room with a bright smile on her face. "How are we doing in here, Tommy? Are these two giving you a hard time?"

"Dr. Karev didn't hurt me with the needle like the other one from yesterday. I barely felt a thing!" Tommy excitedly answered, then he pointed at Jackson and scowled. "But Dr. Avery wouldn't let me watch cartoons. He's not good at finding them."

Jackson pursed his lips as Arizona smirked at him. "Well, I'm sure Dr. Avery would love to take your blood samples to the lab since you're having so much fun with Dr. Karev," she responded with a playful tone. She nodded her head towards the sample in Alex's hand. Jackson sighed, taking the sample from him before leaving the room.

"Your mother should be back from the cafeteria any minute now, but Dr. Karev and I are going to leave and we'll be back later," the pediatric surgeon said, leading Alex out of the room. They stood by the nurses' station and she couldn't stop smiling at her resident. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" Alex asked, visibly confused.

"That you would be one of the good ones," Arizona enthusiastically answered. "I mean, the first day we worked together you were having none of it, but since Tommy's arrival, nobody's ever put him in a good mood like that. With his kidney failure and UNOS taking a little longer than we had hoped to find him new ones, it's nice to see him smiling for a moment. Thank you for that."

Alex immediately brushed off the compliment. "Nah, I didn't do anything. Kid didn't cry when I stuck him with a needle. Whatever," he dismissed. "He was too distracted by Avery screwing with the TV."

Arizona raised her eyebrow at him. "Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"You act like receiving a compliment is as bad as a root canal," she quipped, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Listen, just because I have a positive attitude and smile a lot it doesn't mean I'm easy to impress. Pediatric surgery is hard. We put on smiles, so the kids we're treating aren't afraid of being in a hospital. Because sometimes, they don't even make it out alive. It's our job to assure them that everything will be fine, even when they won't be."

"Okay," Alex muttered. "I never pictured myself being a peds surgeon, though."

Arizona laughed. "Neither did I, but here I am." She patted Alex's shoulder. "Think about it, Karev. Pediatric surgery isn't for everybody, but I think you have the potential to be a very good one. Just tweak your attitude a bit, would ya?"

Alex scrunched his face as Arizona walked past him. One happy child wasn't going to persuade him into specializing in pediatric surgery. He considered himself lucky that his patient actually liked him. He never thought he and children were a good combination, and he wasn't sure if that idea would change anytime soon.

After Jackson dropped off Tommy's blood sample at the lab, he took a detour downstairs to the coffee cart. He used the stairwell to return to the peds floor rather than the elevator and crossed paths with Jo halfway up to his destination. She stopped abruptly on the stairs and he had to catch her with his free arm when she almost stumbled forward. "Whoa, you wanna rupture your spleen?"

"Huh?" Jo replied with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Nothing. Nevermind," he laughed.

She stepped in front of her colleague before he could leave. "You're working with Karev today, right?"

"More like he's getting the good stuff and I take the scraps," Jackson muttered. "Why?"

Jo pressed her palms together in front of her chin. "Could you talk to him for me, please?" she politely asked, smiling back at him. "It would mean a lot to me if you did."

Jackson shook his head. "I'm not cleaning up the mess between you two… whatever it is," he declined, sipping his coffee. "What happened anyway? You and Karev were getting along well, which is almost surprising."

"It's complicated. And what do you mean by surprising?"

"There have been men with better manners who have turned you off. He seems like the type you'd want to avoid at all times because he's an ass."

"Actually, he can be really sweet when you look past his grouchy demeanor. And he's different when he's not around you. You two barely get along because you're pissed at your dad." Jo rested her hand on Jackson's shoulder and pleaded, "Can you just try to talk to him? Tell him that if he won't talk to me, you'll… you'll beat him up."

"This isn't third grade, and I'm not going to force Karev to talk to you either." Jackson mischievously smiled at Jo. "Unless, you tell me why you two are suddenly not speaking to each other."

Jo felt tempted to push Jackson down the stairs, but it would have been out of selfishness. She was still trying to recover from Alex and April accidentally finding out about her daughter. Despite the amount of banter they exchanged, she considered Jackson to be trustworthy. She hoped she wouldn't be making a mistake by letting another person in on her secret.

She turned around, nodding her head towards the door leading into the hallway. "Follow me."

He was very curious as to what his coworker wanted to tell him. Since she couldn't tell him out in the open, it had to be something she would probably ask him to take to his grave, or until she announced the news to everyone else. They entered an empty on-call room. Jo had even locked the door to avoid any unwanted visitors.

Jo began pacing back and forth in front him while also trying to control her breathing. She feared she might have a panic attack because she was so nervous. "This is going to be shocking. Yeah, probably shocking. I'm sure anybody who knows me would be shocked," she spoke at a rapid pace. "Promise me you won't freak out, or judge me or anything."

"It would help if you stop pacing and relax," Jackson advised, grabbing her shoulders and turning her body to face his. He allowed her to take a few deep breaths to help calm herself down. "You good now?"

She slowly nodded before she finally admitted, "I have a daughter. She's 12 years old."

Jackson's eyes widened upon hearing the news. "I actually can't tell if you're screwing with me right now," he murmured.

"I'm not," she insisted, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. Jo opened the most recent photo of Cat and showed it to him. "Here she is. Her name is Caterina, but she mostly goes by Cat. If the resemblance still doesn't convince you that she's my daughter, then I don't know what else to tell you."

"Oh, I definitely believe you now," he softly chuckled. "So you had her really young."

"Two weeks before my 16th birthday," Jo timidly answered. "I was stupid. My parents weren't PTA type of people, so they hadn't been the greatest influences growing up. Since I got pregnant, I've been living with my grandmother. She helped me raise Cat while I was in school and she continues to help me today."

Jackson slightly furrowed his brow. "And this is why Karev stopped talking to you?"

"He and April found out by accident. Yes, April knows too. We ran into each other at the mall over the weekend. I didn't have much of a choice but to confess the truth when Cat showed up by my side. I didn't want her to assume I'm ashamed of her by lying about who she is to my friends. I mean, she's pretty aware that I hide her from everybody, which probably makes me a crappy mother."

"No, you're not," Jackson disagreed. "She looked happy in that picture. I don't know what it's like at home for you, but it seems to me you've been doing a good job. You try to be there for her, right? My mother hardly tried. She thought buying me a new car for my birthday or leaving me money to buy my own dinner after school was enough. I can't say my life was crappier than yours. It probably wasn't, but I'm sure you tried your best and it's been paying off."

Jo softly smiled. "I do try my best. I don't know what to do with Alex, though. It's like he thinks I'm trying to trap him because Cat's father has never been in the picture. Honestly, I'm not."

"Well, you having a daughter doesn't bother me. If he can't accept that part of you, then maybe he's not the guy you thought he was."

"Thanks, but I think he's just scared. I have no idea what to do, though," she dejectedly replied.

"Try to talk to him one more time. And if he continues to be stubborn, then maybe I'll talk to him myself," Jackson offered. "But I don't want to intrude. He'll likely ignore me too, or maybe even serve some payback and punch me in the face."

Jo waved her hand and smiled. "Oh, please. Your face will still be pretty if he does," she teased, then she gave her friend a hug. "Thank you for understanding. Please don't tell anybody about Cat, okay? I want to ease people into the news slowly."

"Sure, no problem. Thanks for telling me." Jackson pulled away from Jo and smirked. "Does this mean you'll stop giving me crap for no reason?"

"No, I'll continue to do that," she smugly answered. They both stepped out of the on-call room and were greeted by Lexie's suspicious stare as she passed through the hallway. Their coworker stopped in front of them with her arms folded. "Hey, Lex!"

"Hey," Lexie slowly responded, her eyes switching back and forth between Jackson and Jo. "What are you up to?"

Jo knew exactly what Lexie was thinking. She needed to debunk her suspicions quickly. Before Jackson could answer, she blurted out, "A wart. Avery was showing me a wart on his ass." Her male friend was unimpressed as he shot a glare at her. "He's- he's very embarrassed about it. I recommended him to go see the folks at Dermatology."

Jackson cleared his throat, forcing a smile. "In fact, I'm heading over there right now." He looked back at Jo and nodded once. "Thanks for checking that. I knew it was a damn wart."

The twosome parted ways, heading separate directions as fast as possible while leaving a very confused Lexie behind.

Following a late lunch, April was on her way downstairs to the pit when she was pulled into a supply closet. Thinking it was Jo again, she threw her arms up in frustration. "Jo, I already told you that I'm not going to fix your problems with Alex. You'll just have to face his wrath and suck it up!" When she turned around she found Jackson standing in front of her instead. She sheepishly grinned and approached him. "Oh. Hi, Jackson!"

Jackson didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around April's waist and greet her with a kiss. "How's it going in the pit today?"

"Not much. Kind of slow. I've only treated patients with minor injuries," she answered. Her boyfriend's lips were attacking her neck and she figured he wasn't in the mood for a conversation. "Umm… shouldn't you be checking on some kids in Peds?"

"I will. Karev's got them covered for the most part." He returned to her mouth and gently pushed her towards the farthest shelf in the closet. "And I'm sure Robbins doesn't miss me. Spending time with you for five minutes is more productive to my day."

April giggled as Jackson moved back down to her neck. "You're being extra affectionate today. Is it because we finally had sex?"

"Maybe, but that's not entirely why," he murmured in between kisses. "I enjoy being around you, that's all."

"Well, I can't object to your reasoning," she happily replied, grasping his head and pulling him towards her to kiss him again. "I wish Jo and Alex could work out. Poor guy seems a bit miserable and she's going into panic mode."

"Yeah, well, a kid does create some obstacles." Jackson softly laughed when April instantly pulled away from him and stared at him with wide eyes. "Don't worry. She told me about it earlier. I know about her daughter. I won't say word to anybody else."

April let out a sigh of relief, resting her forehead against Jackson's shoulder. "Oh, good. It was difficult for me to keep that a secret from you. Alex hardly ever wants to talk about it, so I have nobody to discuss this with." She raised her head to look at him. "What do you think about it?"

"I'm cool with it. I'm flattered that she confided in me because I sometimes think she secretly loathes me," he amusingly answered. "Seems that's not the case now. And before I forget, if you happen to see Lexie and she claims there's something going on between Jo and I, don't believe her. She caught us leaving an on-call room, so she might try to get inside your head with lies."

"Okay, I trust you. What excuse did you give her?"

Jackson ducked his head, scratching the back of his neck. "Jo said I have a wart on my ass that she was taking a look at," he muttered. He could hear his girlfriend snickering and he added, "Hey, if it was legit, I would be worried about you giving it to me."

She playfully slapped his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Thankfully, it's not. Anyway, I should return to the pit before Hunt realizes I've been gone for more than half an hour."

"Do you want to get a bite to eat after work? Maybe just head over to Joe's?" he proposed.

"Sure! See you later, Jackson!" April chirped, then she stood on the tips of her toes to give Jackson a quick peck on the lips before leaving the supply closet.

Alex stepped out of an elevator after reaching the fifth floor. He spent the majority of the day sitting in Tommy's room, keeping an eye on him when his mother left to pick up his siblings from school and letting him watch cartoons on the channel Jackson purposely skipped past earlier that morning. Regardless of what Arizona had told him, one kid who didn't vomit all over his scrubs and talk back to him wasn't a sign he was meant for pediatric surgery. Sure, he liked the 7-year old, but he knew not all of the sick children in the hospital were well-behaved like him. The day just happened to be good to him.

And he had way too many things on his mind to be relieved that his shift was over. Everybody just seemed to be driving him crazy with their compliments, requests and never ending text messages.

He entered the locker room where April was changing out of her scrubs. "Hey, what are you up to tonight?"

"I'm going to Joe's with Jackson. He can take me home if you don't want to join us," the redhead answered, turning around to face her roommate. "Have you talked to Jo yet?"

"No, and I don't intend to." Alex approached April and stood in front of her. "And don't nag me about avoiding her either. I have Robbins praising me for how I was in Peds today, Jo won't leave me and my phone alone, my sister keeps bugging me about meeting Avery and you haven't exactly been honest with him. You chicks are all driving me crazy!"

April raised her hand in front of her chest. "What do you mean I haven't been honest with Jackson?" she retorted.

He pointed towards her abdomen. "That! Your scar. You lied to him."

"I did not lie," she argued, looking away from him. "I… told him some of the truth. But why does it matter? He's not bothered by it, and he was extremely charming towards me after I showed it to him. He doesn't have to know everything."

"Yes, he does. That's what you freaking do in relationships. You tell the truth," Alex chided.

"Speak for yourself! You haven't told Jackson about Amber," April reminded him. "And I think you're acting childish towards Jo. She deserves better treatment than what you're doing to her. You ignoring her at all times, get over it! She told you the truth and you're punishing her for it. You're being a coward."

Jackson entered the locker room to find Alex and April bickering back and forth. He immediately intervened, stepping in between them. "What's the problem here?" he asked, furrowing his brow at the other man.

"There's no problem," April calmly insisted.

"If this is about Jo and her kid, I know about it. She told me," Jackson informed him. "But I'm not sure why you two are yelling at each other. Well, I suppose I have an idea since Jo came to me to address her problem with you, Karev."

Alex groaned. "Geez, what is she doing? Rallying all of you to corner me until I talk to her? Both of you can butt out of it." He gestured towards April. "By the way, she has something she needs to tell you."

"Alex!" she angrily responded. She couldn't believe he would throw her under the bus so quickly. Jackson turned around to face her and waited for her to speak. "Okay. We were fighting because you have a sister that Alex has had trouble telling you about. You have a younger sister, Jackson."

Alex covered his face with his hand as he shouted expletives in his head. Now, Jackson was facing him again, a stern look on his face. "Dude, it's true," he confessed and sighed. "Her name's Amber. She was born after my mom and Dalton married, so she's more related to you than I'll ever be."

"And you knew this?" Jackson asked April. "How long have you known?"

"I only found out on your birthday after that huge blow up with your mother," April replied, nervously biting down on her bottom lip. "After all of these years of knowing Alex, I didn't know he had a sister either up until that point. And I only knew her name. Oh, and she plays volleyball at North Carolina, but I found that out from Jo-"

"She wants to meet you," Alex interrupted. "The person texting me all morning was Amber. She's trying to crash here for Christmas because she's interested in meeting you. I wasn't sure what to tell her since I hadn't told you yet."

Jackson wasn't sure what to think at that moment. For Catherine, having one child was enough. She wasn't willing to sacrifice her work hours to be a full-time mother. That could be another reason why Dalton bailed on her, not that it excused him for the lack of communication between them. His father had raised two kids, which only made him even more pissed at him.

He couldn't really blame Alex for hiding it from him, though. The news of their connection had only just died down and nobody seemed to care that much anymore. This was bigger news for him.

"April, I'm just going to change, then we can head over to Joe's," he nonchalantly said, walking to his cubby.

Alex and April exchanged confused looks with each other. Jackson was acting as if he hadn't just heard life changing news. "Are you okay? If you're not in the mood to go to Joe's, then we don't have to," she said, appearing concerned. "I mean, this is a big deal."

"It's fine. I'm fine. We can still go," Jackson insisted, smiling back at her. He looked at Alex, who was staring down at his shoes. "And you can come too, Karev. I'd love to hear about any other secret family members of mine."

"Forget it," Alex mumbled, walking to his own cubby. "I'm calling it a night."

It had been a long day and he wasn't interested in being mocked. He mainly just wanted to be left alone for a change. He quickly changed out of his scrubs and left the locker room in a hurry. Impatiently pressing the down button of the elevator, he didn't want to have to share it with April and Jackson. He could live without the awkward silence during the short trip to the first floor.

When the elevator arrived, the doors opened and Alex hesitated to walk inside when he saw Jo. He cleared his throat, stepping into the elevator as she exited. However, she took a step back and blocked the exit as the doors closed behind her. The elevator started to descend to the first floor, but she pulled the emergency stop causing it to come to a sudden halt.

"What the hell?" he irritably said.

"I'm done with your crap, Alex. If this is how I have to get you to listen to me, then so be it," Jo sternly stated with her arms folded. "My daughter means the world to me, and I'm not going to let you make me feel bad about sharing that part of my life with you. I know you understand what you're getting yourself into by dating me, so if you are done, then tell me right now. I'm not going to chase you anymore. Got it?"

They stood in silence face to face. Alex suddenly grasped Jo's waist, planting a hard kiss on the lips. He carefully pressed her body against the wall and her backside pushed the emergency stop back into its place, causing the elevator to operate again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, returning the kiss until the elevator arrived on the first floor.

He stepped back when the doors opened and he smirked at her wide-eyed facial expression. "Goodnight."

Jo felt the rush of warmth in her cheeks as Alex walked out of the elevator. She pressed the button to return her to the fifth floor, smiling contently as the doors closed.

Let me know what you think, please! Up next: another encounter with the cat ;)