Chapter 11:

A/N hope you all aren't losing interest? I only got a few reviews for the chapter. I'm officially worried. Hope you enjoy this one.

Yay! Episode tonight!

…..

"Mum", April paused and sighed heavily. "I'm fine".

"I don't know sweetheart", Karen replied uncertainly, stroking her daughter's hair gently. "After everything that's happened, I don't want to leave you. At least not yet".

"Mum", April huffed in frustration. She was so tired, that even talking made her exhausted. She'd been having this argument with her family for the last two days since she woke up. April was pushing for them to go home. Back to Moline. The farm would suffer without her parents there running it. That was where they needed to be.

"I'm a doctor. A surgeon. I work in this hospital. These other doctors are my friends. Everything is fine. I'll be taken care of", she argued heatedly. She hated to get frustrated with her parents, especially after everything they'd done for her, but there was only so much of everybody she could take. They had been smothering her constantly. Asking how she was. If they could get her anything. Did it hurt? They wouldn't leave her alone! She hardly got to see Jackson. Alice was the one passing message in-between the pair. She loved her parents to the end of the universe, but it was time for them to go. She was getting better. Her incision site was healing progressively, her head was pounding less and less and her body was regenerating well.

"April…", her father interjected. "Your mother and I have been talking", he explained hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"We think…", he paused nervously. "We think maybe you should move away from Seattle".

"What!", April exclaimed in shock. "WHY!'

"Well", her mother spoke calmly. "We would want you to be closer to home, to Moline", she glanced at Joe for support. "So many bad things have happened here in Seattle and we feel it's best for you to be closer to us and your family".

"I don't believe this!", April scoffed angrily, crossing her arms and looking away from her parents gazes in frustration.

"We were concerned after the shooting", Joe spoke gruffly. "But this", he swept around the room with his arm. "This just cements our fears. We want you back home April".

"What exactly do you suggest I do?", she demanded furiously. "Just quit my job here and come work on the farm again. Be a farm girl for the rest of my days?"

"You can still be a surgeon", Karen reassured her tenderly. "There is a great little teaching hospital in Indiana. I think its Bloomington's?", she glanced at Joe who nodded. "It's attached to the University there, so you can still continue doing what you're doing. And you'd only be a few hours away from home".

"You got it all figured out", she retorted sarcastically. "I can't believe this!", she waved her arms.

"We're only doing what's best for you, sweetie", Karen spoke soothingly, placing her hand on April's forearm. April just shook it off and shifted her body away from her mother. She was too furious to look at her now.

"Can you guys just please go?", April spoke quietly, settling her head back into the pillows. She was afraid she was going to say something much more hurtful. "I need some time alone".

"Alright", Karen nodded, kissing her daughter on the forehead before walking out with her husband behind her.

April's thoughts immediately flew to Jackson. She didn't want to leave him behind. They were finally starting to become something, for her to up and leave. She just couldn't. They had only spent a couple of hours together since we awoke. She constantly missed him, he had really become just an integral part of her life now. She wouldn't leave him.

April didn't mention anything to him, but she'd heard some of what he'd said to her while she was in a coma. She had heard his voice through the fogginess. She knew he had been willing her to wake. She'd also heard him say 'I love you'. It was a major step for him to admit those feelings and she felt completely honoured, because she did feel the same way. She had loved him for a long time.

Part of her understood her parents feelings. After the shooting, she'd had fears about returning to the hospital, and now after this. She agreed with Alex, this place really was Seattle Grace Mercy Death. Reaching out for her phone on the bedside table, she dialled Jackson's pager number. She had to talk to him. To tell him everything and hear his opinion. She knew he would be against her moving away, so she needed to hear him reassure her.

…

Jackson was with his last patients on rounds when the pager went off. He glanced at it and felt his stomach do an anxious flip when he saw it was April's number. He turned to the patient with a polite apologetic smile.

"Excuse me Mrs Andrews", he spoke to the middle aged woman. "I have an emergency to get to. I'll leave in the capable hands of Dr Johansen here", he indicated to the resident beside him. "He'll do your post-operative tests. If you need anything else, please get one of the nurses to page me".

"Thank you doctor", the woman replied as Jackson walked out of the room.

…..

Jackson entered April's room to the sight of her grinning at him.

"Hey", he frowned slightly, walking up to her. "You alright", he caressed her cheek with an anxious look. She chuckled slightly and nodded.

"Why did you page?", he asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down.

"I just had a massive fight with my parents", she explained with a sigh. "They were being so annoying and ridiculous". Jackson noticed that she sounded really upset and took her hand in his. He probably wouldn't have cared too much if he fought with his parents, but to April, family was everything. She'd grown up in a stable and loving family, unlike him, who had an alcoholic father, a slightly exuberant mother and a grandfather who was the envy of all other surgeons.

"What happened?", he asked tenderly. He knew she would want to rant about it.

"They want me to leave Seattle", April explained in frustration. "They want me to move to friggin Indiana".

"Why?", Jackson frowned in shock.

"They think after the shooting and now these stabbings, that it's not safe here" she told him "They think I'd be better off closer to Moline".

Jackson was lost for words. Part of him could see the Kepner's logic. This hospital had had its fair share of dramas and dangerous situations….but the whole thing was just…he shifted uncomfortably in the seat.

"I told them it was stupid", April interjected earnestly. "I told them straight out, it's not happening. I'm staying here".

"But", Jackson replied. "I know how much your family, especially your parents, mean to you April. Are you sure you want to go against them?".

April sighed and glanced at him with a loving smile. Even at the brink of losing her, he was still so understanding. "No", she told him firmly. "Alice moved to the other side of the country and they're not forcing her to come home".

"But Alice never had a gun pointed at her and never had a knife sticking out of her back", Jackson pointed out.

April rolled her eyes and sighed. "Do you want me to leave", she smiled playfully.

"No of course not!", Jackson responded. "How could you think that?".

"Well then why are you on their side?", April demanded. "I thought you'd be begging me not to leave".

"Trust me", he took her hand and kissed it. "I want nothing more than for you to stay. But this is your family asking you to do this. I'm just trying to suss out whether you'd consider saying yes".

"Thank you for understanding", April grinned. "But there is no way I'm leaving Seattle. I'm happy being 28 hours away from Moline. I've spent over two decades with my sisters. If I'm less than 5 hours away, it'll mean more time with their slobby husbands and grotty children. I don't need any of that. Just these last couple of days have driven insane".

Jackson couldn't help but laugh. "So you're staying?".

"I'm staying", April confirmed with a nod. Jackson stood and gently pressed his lips onto hers.

"I'm glad to hear it", Jackson whispered and they broke apart, their faces only inches apart.

"Jackson", April started nervously, glancing down at her hands. "We need to talk about something".

"What is it?", Jackson's face contorted into a frown as he sat down on the bed next to her legs. "What's happened?".

"Nothing bad", she reassured him quickly. "It's about something that happened…..when…" she stammered, unsure of how to say the words. "When I was asleep".

Jackson just frowned at her in confusion.

"I….I could…", she stared down at her hands, wringing her hands nervously. "I could hear you", she blurted.

Jackson eyes went wide in surprise. "What?", he breathed.

"I could hear you talking to me", she explained, still unable to look at him. "I heard some of what you were saying".

"Right", Jackson cleared his throat after a brief pause of silence.

"I heard you say it", she whispered.

"What?", he replied.

"I think it was like right before they were bringing me out, because everything was becoming clearer. I could hear Mum and Dad talking to me. I could hear Hunt and Shepherd and I could hear you", she explained with a tearful smile.

"Really?", he whispered. "I didn't think it was possible".

"But it happened", April told him, "and I have to tell you….", she paused. "I love you too".

Jackson looked up at her with a smile, his bright blue eyes sparkling with happiness. "I love you so much", he spoke, standing and taking her face in his hands, kissing her passionately.

…

Hope you enjoyed! I won't be updating for at least a week. I'm going to New Zealand, then I've got my birthday and then Australia Day public holiday! Packed! But review me and I'll keep writing as soon as it's all over!

Let me know what you thought of the newest episode!