Thanks for the reviews! :) This story is almost coming to a close, maybe a few more chapters left.

Enjoy!

Summer 1993 – Day 40

Jackson was unsure how he had gotten himself into this mess, but somehow he had been throw into a steel death cage to fight George behind the gymnasium during the dance. It was actually in the middle of a circle of campers, but he felt like he was the prisoner forced to defend himself against the lion… or maybe it was the other way around. Their fellow campers were certainly having fun watching two nerds try to beat each other up.

The incident started after George approached Jackson and April on the dance floor. They were slow dancing to Vanessa Williams when he tapped his rival's shoulder and confronted him about "stealing" his best friend from him. He didn't want to make a scene at the risk of the counselors getting involved, so he told the Boston kid to meet him outside. The confrontation hadn't gone unnoticed because other teenagers followed them outside to watch and find out who would cry first.

With music loud enough to distract the adults from overhearing the "Fight!" chants, the two teenagers stood face to face. George had his fists raised ready to protect himself, while Jackson was more relaxed with his arms by his sides. His eyes scanned the small crowd and wondered why the heck he bothered listening to the bookworm.

"You don't have to do this – either of you!" April shouted nearby. She irritably looked at Lexie, who had been chanting with the rest of the campers. "Lexie, stop it! This isn't funny at all. That's George out there."

"I know. That's why it's funny," her best friend replied in amusement. The redhead only glared back at her. "Lighten up, April! George can't even harm a fly. Even I beat him up once, so what's the worst he could do?"

The crowd burst into laughter after George swung his arm and hit nothing. Jackson didn't even budge, glancing at April with wide eyes. For a while, he thought the shorter boy was bluffing about fighting him. He was actually pretty damn serious.

"C'mon, Fox! Fight me like a man!" George shoved Jackson, but the latter refused to retaliate. "You're supposed to fight for your woman. It looks like you're a bigger wuss than I am – not that I'm proud to be a wuss, but… but I can kick your ass. You don't intimidate me."

April rolled her eyes and groaned. "Can you two please give it up already? This is silly! Somebody's gonna come out here and catch us!" she warned them. Neither boy listened to her as her best friend tried to throw another punch and missed. "You're gonna get kicked out of camp!"

That was exactly why Jackson didn't want to fight George. However, his patience was running thin. The pushing and taunting from the nerd was beginning to annoy him more and more. The last straw was when he kicked dirt onto his formerly clean Air Jordan's. Nobody was allowed to mess with his sneakers. Typically calm and collected, he suddenly he swung his arm and his fist collided with George's nose, knocking him over.

Campers started cheering again as blood dripped out of the defeated nerd's nose. Jackson immediately felt guilty, especially after April and Lexie rushed by their friend's side. He awkwardly stood in his place holding his hands behind his back.

His girlfriend jumped up to her feet and angrily approached him. "You might have broken his nose!" she scolded him, slapping his lanky arm and making him wince. "You should've just backed off. If you get kicked out of camp, I can't say I'll feel bad about it."

"But I… I didn't mean to do it. He was provoking me!" Jackson retorted, pointing at George as Lexie helped him stand up. "Why are you taking his side? He started it."

"You didn't have to finish it," she argued. "Thanks for ruining my night."

Jackson frowned when April walked away with George and Lexie. The small crowd began to disperse, though some campers took the time to congratulate him for winning the fight. Of course, he felt like crap about it. His girlfriend was mad at him for something he hadn't started, yet he ended up being the jerk in the end.

"Dr. Avery!"

Jackson stopped in his tracks after hearing his name being called. He turned around to see George approaching him on the catwalk, appearing peeved as he clenched his fists. "What do you want, O'Malley?" he muttered. After touring four sets of medical school students, he wasn't in the mood for small talk, especially with the trauma surgeon. "I've had a long day of answering stupid questions from med school kids, so make it quick."

"I think you should stop seeing April," he declared, placing his hands on his hips.

"Umm, no. That's not happening," the plastic surgeon nonchalantly answered, slightly smirking at George. "Look, I heard about what you told her and I'm sorry she doesn't feel that way about you. That's not my fault, so get over it."

George scowled at the pretty man. "It is your fault because you've made her delusional thinking you're this great guy who deserves her when in fact, you don't. I've known her my entire life and I'm not going to let her ruin her life by being with somebody who will eventually hurt her."

Jackson guffawed, shaking his head. "Who's the delusional one now?" He placed his hands behind his back to prevent himself from swinging at his coworker. "First of all, you don't know anything about my relationship with April. It may be fresh and new, but we're doing just fine. I don't go out of my way to date a woman with a kid, but in this case, I'm making an exception. I love her."

"No! You can't be in love with her. I'm the one in love with her!"

"Well, she isn't in love with you. Just move on with your life, O'Malley," he advised. "And seriously, we're not thirteen anymore. This whiny act of yours is getting old. It's actually embarrassing now, bro. We're grown men now."

George forcefully pushed Jackson, who took a step back. "I'm not your bro. Quit acting like you're better than me, Mr. Big Shot. At least I can step a foot inside of an OR." He motioned his hands towards himself. "Let's do this right now, Avery."

"We're at work, you idiot," he sneered. "I'm not fighting you."

"She'll never love you the way she loved Matthew."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "I know what you're trying to do and I'm not falling for your crap. You want me fired? Fine. Go find a case of mine that could show signs of malpractice, but I guarantee you that I've done nothing wrong since I started working in this hospital," he insisted and attempted to walk around George, who blocked his path. "Get out of my way, O'Malley. You're wasting your time."

He and other bystanders were caught off-guard when George threw a right hook, hitting his jaw. Slowly reaching up and rubbing it, he used all of his will power not to fight back. "Are you finished?"

"No, I'm not," the trauma surgeon agitatedly replied, shoving him once more. Jackson barely reacted to his advancements and only stared at him unimpressed, which infuriated him. "What? No balls?"

While it was unnatural for him not to retaliate and let someone else ruin his pretty face, Jackson was fully aware of the fact that his job remained on thin ice because of his injured hand. George punched him again, hitting his cheek, but he kept his composure. He took another punch and then another as doctors and nurses watched curiously. It baffled him that nobody was trying to stop the one-sided fight. Maybe they all wanted to see him get his ass kicked, he thought. As embarrassing as it was that he was letting George freaking O'Malley beat him up, he decided to just take it all in. He appreciated his job too much to jeopardize it even more.

The situation grew more intense when George tackled Jackson to the floor and furiously swung his fists at his face. Still, the latter wasn't retaliating. Fortunately, Arizona came storming out of her office after witnessing the fight from her window.

"Hey! O'Malley, Avery! Knock it off!" she yelled, grabbing George's ear and pulling him away from the bruised and bloodied plastic surgeon. Her other hand grasped Jackson's ear as he pushed himself up from the floor. "My office, right now!"

"I didn't even do anything!" Jackson angrily replied, spitting out blood from his mouth.

Arizona led both surgeons away from the scene, holding on to their ears as if they were naughty Kindergarteners. She ignored the people laughing at them and shut the door after they walked into her office. "Sit down and don't speak until I say you can," she sternly instructed.

The two men quietly sat down across from the Chief's desk. Jackson reached for a tissue to clean the blood on his lip. George clenched his jaw, fighting his hardest to ignore the throbbing pain in his hands.

Sitting down in her seat, Arizona folded her hands and scowled at her attendings. "Care to explain what the hell just happened in front of my office?" she inquired, her eyes shifting towards the plastic surgeon. "Avery?"

"I just finished touring my last group of med school students and I was minding my own business when O'Malley felt it was appropriate to confront me out in the open about my relationship with Dr. Kepner," he answered, dabbing his lower lip with the Kleenex. "He tried to provoke me into attacking him, but I wouldn't do it. So, he attacked me instead."

"Is this true, O'Malley? Well, I mean, considering you're not sporting any cuts and bruises aside from your knuckles, I suppose I don't need the confirmation. Must I remind you that your personal problems with another coworker should be dealt with outside of the workplace?"

"I'm sorry, but Avery has been disrespecting me since the day he arrived," George accusingly replied.

"That doesn't excuse you for your behavior, even if he's the most arrogant surgeon in this hospital – no offense, Avery," Arizona said, sheepishly grinning at an unamused Jackson. She immediately retracted back to her serious face. "Attacking another staff member – or anybody for that matter – is a fireable offense. O'Malley, I've never received a bad report from you, but I have to follow protocol. Rules are rules."

The trauma surgeon's eyes widened and remained speechless. To his surprise, Jackson intervened. "Okay, that's not necessary. O'Malley's a great surgeon and I never planned on pressing charges or anything. He's a good man. Give the guy a break."

Both Arizona and George stared at Jackson, arching their eyebrows. Not once since he arrived at Seattle Grace did he ever defend any of his coworkers, especially O'Malley. He was the type of person who looked out for himself first and hardly cared about anyone else's feelings. Although lately, he had been more selfless with certain people. And he just got his ass kicked by the guy he was defending. Why would arrogant Jackson Avery campaign to let him keep his job? It was a little mindboggling to his colleagues.

The Chief pursed her lips, twitching them to the side as she curiously eyed her plastics attending. Something was up, she thought. She knew very well that he and George weren't friends. Aside from the fact that he would have been fired if he had retaliated, he was definitely kissing someone's ass, but it wasn't anybody sitting in her office.

April Kepner. Of course, she mentally reminded herself.

"I'm paging Sloan and Altman. They should know about this incident," Arizona said, picking up the phone receiver on her desk. "And I'll have someone bring you two ice. Stay put. This meeting is far from over."

The catwalk was occupied by various surgeons watching the meeting between Mark, Teddy, their attendings and Arizona through the large window of her office. Word had started to spread around the hospital about the fight, though the details changed from person to person. Regardless of which story was true, they were all being their nosy selves hoping to seek out any gossip they could get.

"Dude, look at Avery. O'Malley messed him up," Alex noted, chuckling to himself. "O'Malley beat up Avery. How does that happen? Did he have a metal baseball bat? No way that guy kicked his ass with his fists."

Lexie scowled at the peds surgeon from across where she stood. "You're a dick," she retorted, folding her arms as she glanced back at the window. Mark and Teddy appeared to be in deep discussion, while Jackson sat slumped in his seat holding an ice bag against his cheek and George iced his knuckles. "Somebody's getting fired."

Meredith shook her head in disagreement. "Nobody's getting fired. Mark will smooth talk his way like he always does to convince Robbins to keep Avery and Teddy will argue all night if she has to in order for George to stay," she speculated. "But if anybody's being punished, it's George. He started the fight from what I heard."

"Avery's such a freaking pansy now," Alex scoffed. "Ever since he started dating Kepner-"

"He treats April well," Lexie defensively replied. She felt slightly disgusted protecting Jackson, but he hadn't been the same douche she loathed a few months ago. "She may actually be the best thing to happen to him. Before she arrived, you two were the most revolting men in this hospital, sleeping around like total manwhores. At least he decided to change his behavior."

"Whatever. He's using her kid to get into her pants. You seriously think he can wait another month without sex? If she doesn't put out now, he'll go find some hot chick at Joe's to bang instead. And I doubt April will want to screw him while she's thinking about her dead husband."

The urologist angrily shoved him in response. "You have no right talking about my friend that way!"

Meredith intervened, stepping in between the two surgeons. "Calm down, Lex. Do you want to join them inside of Robbins' office?" she scolded her sister and grasped her arm to restrain her. Turning towards Alex, she glared at the smirk on his face. "For somebody who's supposed to be Jackson's friend, you're a huge ass."

April came rushing through a set of doors and approached the threesome. "I just got out of surgery. What's this I hear about a fight between Jackson and George?" Taking a peek at the window, she saw her badly bruised boyfriend and gasped. "What the hell happened?"

"Can't you tell? Your nerd friend kicked his ass pretty good," Alex obnoxiously answered, laughing at the situation once again. "They've been in Robbins' office for almost an hour now. Probably trying to negotiate a fair punishment, though O'Malley really should be fired – and Avery should walk around the hospital with a brown paper bag over his head after suffering this type of humiliation."

She rolled her eyes at his snarky remark. "Did Jackson hit him?"

"Doesn't look like he did," Lexie replied, pointing out George. "Not a single mark on him. It was all George. Maybe he finally lost it. I mean, Jackson had been treating him like dirt for a long time."

"That doesn't mean he deserved it. He's changed, I swear," April insisted.

"How can you know?" Alex argued. "You've only known Avery for a few months. You have no idea what he was like before you moved home."

"I knew him when we were thirteen. We met at a summer camp," April blurted out. "And he was the nicest, sweetest boy I had ever met. So, I do have an idea what he was like, even before you met him. Jackson probably won't appreciate me telling you this, but he was a nerd just like George – gigantic glasses and a puny physique. His personality was nothing like it is now. And he was my first boyfriend and I'm proud to say that!"

Quietly staring at his coworker, Alex suddenly burst into laughter. "Avery? A nerd? Gimme a break," he skeptically said, placing his hands on his hips. Both April and Lexie stared at him with annoyed expressions on their faces. "Oh, shit. You're serious?"

"Yes, Jackson was one of us," Lexie confidently replied. "It's just a shame he grew up to become full of himself."

Her best friend groaned in frustration. "But like I said, he's changing. He can be the Jackson I used to know and have fun with." She returned her gaze back to the trauma surgeon. "I bet this has to do with me. George is still upset because he's in love with me and I don't feel the same way."

Lexie softly gasped. "He told you?" She gently slapped April's shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me about this? Hell, why didn't either of you say anything?"

"You knew George was in love with me this whole time?"

"Well, no. How can you not tell, though? The way he always stares at you and talks about you…" The brunette quickly shrugged and grinned at April. "It was so obvious, but I guess when Matthew was alive he knew he never stood a chance, so he kept his mouth shut. And he thought maybe this thing with Jackson wasn't a big deal, so why not give it a shot? You didn't make him cry, did you?"

Alex snorted. "Ha! That would've made my day."

Lexie glared at him. "This conversation doesn't pertain to you, so shut up," she snapped back before facing April again. "Is that why he's been moody today? He told you when he helped you move into your apartment last weekend, huh?"

April nodded guiltily, frowning as she recalled her awkward moment with George. She hadn't been able to speak to him since that day. He was avoiding her around the hospital and ignoring her text messages. "He caught me off-guard when he tried to kiss me," she murmured, slowly looking at an amused Alex. "Don't bother opening your mouth."

Finally, Arizona's office door opened and the attendings filed out into the hallway one by one. Some doctors scattered away, while others remained where they were. They couldn't care less if they were caught being nosy. Jackson avoided eye contact with everybody, including April, as he walked past them on the catwalk. His left eye was swollen, his cheeks bruised and he sported a fat lip. And knowing his fellow surgeons were aware of what happened now, he just wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out.

"Jackson," his girlfriend called out, but he ignored her. April chased after him through the double doors. "Did you get fired?"

"No. I have no reason to be, but I forced myself to save O'Malley from receiving that fate," the plastic surgeon muttered and continued to walk. "But Robbins sent me home for the day, so I'm gonna go change out of my scrubs and get out of here as soon as possible."

Tugging on his hand, April stopped Jackson in the hallway. She examined his injuries, grimacing in response. "Why did you let this get out of hand?" she asked, gently touching his cheek with her fingertips. "Why did you let George do this to you in the first place?"

"Why do you think?" he irritably replied. "I couldn't fight back. I would've lost my job and I didn't want to fight him to begin with. He wouldn't get out of my way, so I just took it all in. For once, I wasn't the bad guy here. Don't talk to me like this is my fault."

"I'm not blaming you at all." She placed her hands against his chest and sighed. "Why don't we go find a place to talk alone? I just finished my last surgery and my residents are handling my post-ops. I'm completely free to spend time with you. Actually, I want to spend time with you. We could even do dinner tonight because Maddy's being watched by my parents today, so you and I-"

"Shouldn't you go check on George? I mean, that's what happened the last time we got into a fight," Jackson resentfully answered. He stepped away from April, who furrowed her eyebrows at him. "He's your best friend. I'm just the boyfriend. Go protect him instead."

"Why are you acting this way?" she questioned in frustration. "Yes, he's my best friend, but I care about you too. You're closing yourself off from me and I don't understand why. Just tell me what's bothering you!"

He threw his arm up and immediately dropped it against his side. "I can't! I'm sorry, alright? I… I have to leave. I'm technically not supposed to be here anymore. I'll uhh… I'll call you later."

April watched her boyfriend walk away feeling more confused than ever. His body language screamed, "I'm hiding something from you, but I'm not telling you crap," and she desperately wanted to find out what he was keeping bottled up inside.

Tiredly walking into the attendings locker room, April removed her lab coat as she approached her cubby. Her shift was finally over and she was ready to go home. George had been suspended for a month for causing the fight with Jackson, but she was furious with him for handling his problems immaturely and she refused to speak to him. Somehow, his stupidity led to her own boyfriend becoming upset with her, which she thought was unfair.

She was about to hang her lab coat on the hook in her cubby when she spotted a folded piece of paper sitting on top of her clothes. Her name was written on the front and she picked it up thinking it was a sappy letter from the trauma surgeon, but it came from Jackson instead. Did he write her a break up letter? She feared the secret he was hiding was exactly that – he decided to dump her, but he couldn't tell her straightforwardly in person.

Sitting down on the bench, she opened the letter and quietly read it to herself. What surprised her was the fact that he dated it as if he wanted it to be the most formal break up letter ever. Even more surprising to her was his letter seemed to be an overdue response to hers from twenty years ago.

Dear April,

I'm sorry it's taken so long to write back to you, but it's better late than never, right? I should've written back to you the same day I received your letter. The problem is I'm terrible at expressing my feelings. I didn't want to embarrass myself and send you a half-assed letter when you took the time to write a full page of your thoughts and what you were doing post-camp. You were so interesting back then and I was a complete loser. I didn't want to waste your time with my boring rambles.

But here are some things you need to know. I suppose it's cowardly of me to tell you everything in a letter, but like I said, I suck at being open to people. There have been a few occasions when I was honest with you. However, I just couldn't find the courage to face you and tell you how I truthfully feel about you. I hope you're sitting down while you're reading this because it's possible I'll overwhelm you with this admission.

I love you. It took some time to fully realize this, but I think I fell in love with you from the second I saw your face at Wazi. You're still the same beautiful girl I met when we were thirteen. Kind, selfless and loyal. And you're an amazing mother. All this time, I think you're the woman I've needed in my life to set me straight. Every woman I've been with will never compare to you. If fate hadn't brought us back together, I would still be the same egotistical asshole who didn't think I needed to change anything about myself. You changed me, April. Maybe you don't feel the same way about me. That's okay. I can't force you to love me, but I thought you deserved to know how important you are to me.

See you next summer?

Jackson

Holding the letter against her lap, April wiped away the tears in her eyes and softly laughed at Jackson's closing statement. He mimicked what she had written in her own letter. She had been really disappointed when he didn't attend camp the following summer, along with the fact that he hadn't written her back.

Now she understood why Jackson acted strangely earlier that day. He wanted to tell her he loved her, but he couldn't find the best way to tell her. Hearing about George professing his love to her must have dampened her boyfriend's confidence, she thought. And of course, Matthew was another factor. Trying to match up to the man she had loved for thirteen years had to have intimidated him.

It was crazy to think she could fall in love with somebody else so quickly, but the plastic surgeon wasn't just any random man she met by chance. She enjoyed spending time with him, especially with Madison in tow. Their interactions were adorable and her daughter wasn't always eager to meet new people. And after reading his letter, she found herself missing him like she used to miss her late husband when they parted ways after class in college.

Jackson was that guy, the person she wanted to sleep next to at night and wake up with in the morning. April needed him to know she was falling in love with him too. She hurriedly changed out of her scrubs and drove to his condominium hoping he was home. Prior to ringing his doorbell, she removed her hair tie and let her auburn hair flow down from its ponytail form. She ran her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breath before pushing his doorbell.

The front door opened and the pretty man stood across from her in nothing but his gray sweatpants. Trying not to stare at his naked torso like a hungry lion eying its prey, she couldn't help but notice the sweat slowly dripping down his chest and onto his chiseled abs. She suspected he had been working out, maybe crunches. He needed to keep that gorgeous abdomen of his toned after all.

"April, what are you doing here?" he breathlessly greeted her.

The peds surgeon snapped out of her zone, shaking her head and clearing her throat. "I… umm…" She paused, taking another deep breath to calm herself down. "Tell me you love me."

"What?" Jackson instantly felt stupid when his girlfriend held up the letter he placed in her cubby. "Oh. You read it."

"Well, you put it smack dab in the middle where I could find it easily. And yes, I read it," she replied in amusement, smiling back at him. "Do you mean it?"

He slowly nodded his head, pressing his hand against the doorway. "Yes. Listen, I'll understand if you don't feel-"

"Say it, Jackson," she politely demanded. "Tell me you love me."

"I… I love you?" he reluctantly said. The first attempt sounded awful and unbelievable, but he was relieved to have finally said it. However, she needed a more confident answer than the one he had given her. Standing upright, Jackson softly smiled at her. "I love you, April."

April brightly grinned, then shyly bit down on her lower lip. "I love you too."

Pulling her into his condominium with his good arm, Jackson pressed his lips against hers. Albeit, it hurt like hell because of the healing cut on his lower lip, but knowing April's feelings were mutual was enough to quickly numb the pain. She kicked the door closed with her foot while simultaneously removing her jacket. He pulled away from her as it dropped to the floor.

"Hold on a second," he interrupted them. "You know, we don't have to do this tonight."

"Jackson, it's okay," she insisted, her hands roaming over his shoulders. "I want to."

His first dumb mistake was letting George overpower him in front of their coworkers and make him look like a fool. He was positive rejecting sex with her would be the dumbest mistake of the day. Jackson pulled April back against his body, passionately kissing her as he blindly led her towards his bedroom. He groaned after his back bumped into the corner of his kitchen counter, while she giggled against his lips.

She kicked off her shoes as they entered his bedroom and he worked on the button of her jeans. He truly missed sex, but at the same time, he didn't want to rush it with her and end up being sloppy. Gently laying her onto her back on his bed, he used his left hand to support himself on top of her. While he was a strong, athletic man, putting all of his weight on his uninjured hand – and his non-dominant hand – wasn't very comfortable.

"If your hand's bothering you, we can switch," April suggested.

"No, no. I can do this."

"Are you sure?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him as she noticed he was already beginning to tremble. Hooking her legs around his calves, she swiftly flipped them over and straddled his lap. "Because you once told me that I could be on top and you wouldn't mind at all."

A smug smile formed on Jackson's face when April lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it aside. She leaned forward and kissed him hard on the lips to shut him up before he could answer her.

No complaints from him whatsoever.

Let me know what you think please! :)