Hi guys! Thank you so much to all the people who read, favorited and followed the story! And a special thanks to people who took time to review! I really appreciate it!

Love and hugs to my precious /so-much-more-than-beta/ Carina...and, here it is: chapter 2 :)

Jackson snuck out of April's room trying not to make any noise. He fell asleep halfway through the movie and April was kind enough to keep her promise and let him sleep in her bed. He was sure April would be the first to wake up, but when he tried to tell her it was time for breakfast, she just mumbled in her sleep instead. He thought he could let her sleep a little bit more and, since it was so early, he could be lucky enough not to meet anyone in the hallway. Just as he was about to close the door to April's room, he heard someone clearing their voice.

"Well, well..what do we have here?" Meredith smirked, amused, "Avery sneaking out of April's room. Same clothes as yesterday night. Ok, what did I miss?"

"Shhh, please!" Jackson said, annoyed, "You didn't miss anything. April and I…we just fell asleep while watching a movie. And for the record, you guys need to stop this! April needs a break. You are constantly teasing her and she is still vulnerable, you know, because of Reed and all." Jackson said, his voice calm but his own eyes saddening remembering their friends.

Meredith smiled, nodding. "It's cute how you're always trying to protect her."

"Yeah, well..she's-"

"Your person. I know. And I totally get it. Don't worry, I'll tell Alex and Cristina to ease up on the teasing a little bit."

Jackson smiled gratefully, "that would be great".

"So.."Meredith asked, changing the topic" need a ride to the hospital?"

"No, it's my day off. I'm just going out for a run and will probably watch sports for the rest of the day." Jackson answered, quickly entering his room to change and avoid getting caught and interrogated by Lexie or Alex too "but thanks anyway! See you later".

Once in his room, he quickly changed into his gym wear, took his I-POD and put on the playlist Charles had prepared for their morning runs. He still missed his friend deeply and he missed him even more when he had days off. They always tried to synchronize their shifts at the hospital so that they could enjoy their free time together, usually drinking beer and watching some random game on tv. Charles would often end up talking about Reed, about how much he loved her and how much of a coward he was for not being able to tell her. Jackson smiled sadly. He wasn't religious and he definitely wasn't sure about post-death life. But he liked it when April talked about them as if they could be happy together now, somehow, somewhere.

After a long run in the park he came back home to take a long, hot shower. The house was silent, he was sure the others were at work so he took his time to enjoy the quiet and didn't even bother to put on clothes, he just quickly covered himself with a towel and went downstairs to have breakfast. He almost jumped when he heard April's scream:

"Jacksooooon!".

He looked at her. She was covering her eyes with both hands and she had spilled her fruit juice all over the table.

"What are you doing? You're naked!"

Jackson laughed, gently forcing her to remove her hands from her eyes "I'm wearing a towel in case you haven't noticed" he said, leaning on the kitchen counter while giving her an amused look.

"How can you have sex with a guy you hardly know in a few days if you're this embarrassed just from seeing your friend shirtless?!"

April stood up to clean the table, "well, it's not like you're only shirtless…you are-" she stopped, forcing herself to look at him "Never mind! You're right. I shouldn't be embarrassed, you are only Jackson after all!"

"Ok. I'll take it as a compliment I guess."

She laughed nervously "You didn't wake me up this morning". She said, changing the topic, red color still all over her face.

"I tried but you sent me away. Don't tell me you overslept and now you're late for work! A chief resident can't be late for work" he teased.

"No, Hunt called me to give me the morning off. We'll have a long surgery at 4 pm so he said I could go in later today."

"Cool! It's my day off too so maybe we could ha-"

"About that.. what you said last night, I mean.. is it.. are you still game?" she interrupted him, nervously.

"Sure!" he said, smiling, totally expecting her to take it back.

"Ok then.. I could actually use your help today."

Jackson smirked surprised, "I'm here. Just tell me what you have in mind"

"Well I.. I was looking in my underwear drawer this morning.." she said, whispering.

He teased her by returning the whisper "ok but we're alone April.. we can speak normally!"

She hit him on the shoulder and kept whispering "I.. I don't have anything nice to wear! It's all so..so.. virginal."

Jackson couldn't help but laugh: "Virginal?!" he said loudly.

"Shhh! Yes!" She continued in her normal high pitched voice: "I don't have sexy lingerie..It's not like I can stay the night with him and wear…this." She said, pointing at her Snoopy pajamas.

Jackson smiled "well, I agree. Don't get me wrong, Snoopy is cute..but maybe you don't want to go for cute in that situation."

"Exactly! So?"

"So, what's the problem? You can just go buy something sexier."

"That is the problem! I don't know what it is exactly that you guys consider as sexy!"

Jackson smiled, rolling his eyes "So you want me to tell you what we find sexy?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"I want you to come with me. And help me choose something nice, and, well, sexy."

Jackson laughed "No way! Come on..I want to watch the game and by the way, I don't enter lingerie shops, you can jus-"

"Pleeeease! Jackson come on! You said you wanted to help me!" she looked at him, her eyes so genuinely hopeful he couldn't bring himself to say no.

"Fiiine!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. But only if you make me your amazing waffles first!" he said smiling.

April rushed to him, hugging him "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You know it means a lot to me!" She said, pulling away almost immediately, as soon as she realized he was still wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

Jackson smiled, looking at her blushing and avoiding his stare.

"I'm happy to help you. And..April?"

He said, his hand returning to her chin, just like the previous night, making her look at him. "Ok for sexier underwear, but don't lose this, ok? Ever."

"What?" She asked.

"The blush. It's-"

"Cute?" she asked, laughing nervously, trying to play it cool.

"Sexy, actually. I was going to say sexy". He said, smirking at her.

April felt her cheeks burn even more "Oh..ok. "She smiled, "thank you. Now, ehm..you better go get dressed..I'll make your waffles so we can go soon.." .

Jackson smiled "Ok boss." He said, going back to his room.

One hour later they were picking out lingerie at Victoria Secrets. He was trying his best to help April but she always had some complaint regardless of what he suggested.

"How about this one? Well, It's..nice, I guess. But Jackson! Come on! It must be soo uncomfortable to wear!"

He smirked "April. For the umpteenth time, it's not like you'll have to wear it for long!"

"Your boyfriend is right." The shop assistant interrupted them. "Sorry, I overheard. I think this one will look amazing on you!"

April immediately blushed "Oh, he's no-"

Jackson stopped her by putting his arm on her shoulders and winking at her "Come on sweetheart! See? It's not just me!"

April rolled her eyes, laughing at what she knew was just an attempt to tease and embarrass her even more. "Fine! I'll try on these two" she said, indicating the black lace baby doll she had chosen before and the emerald green g-string and matching bra Jackson chose for her. She thought it was way too sexy for her but she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it if she didn't at least try it on and see how it looked on her.

Jackson smiled proudly, seeing her go to the changing room.

"You are a really nice couple!" the shop assistant said. A hint of malice in her voice that Jackson noticed immediately.

"Huh..thank you." He smiled politely. He wasn't going to tell her the truth, she didn't need to know that April was his virgin best friend and that he was simply platonically sexing her up. His gut was telling him the woman was only waiting for April to leave the room to try and flirt with him.

"How long have you two been dating? You seem so young and.."

He was so very thankful when he heard April's voice calling him.

"Excuse me." He said "my girlfriend needs me apparently".

"Sure. Go." The shop assistant smiled, clearly disappointed, "I'll go see if that girl over there needs help" she said, walking towards the client that had just entered the shop.

Jackson reached April, knocking on the dressing room door.

"April? What's up?"

"Oh my God Jackson! I have a problem in here! My bracelet totally got tangled in the lace! I can't move my arm or I'm gonna ruin this 100 dollar baby doll you made me wear!"

Jackson giggled at her clumsiness. "Technically, I suggested the green lace set, not the baby doll".

"Don't laugh!" she said. He heard her taking a deep breath "just come in here and help me instead!"

"What?" he said, surprised.

"I need your help! But don't look!"

"How can I help you if I can't look?! Wait, I'll call the girl so she ca-"

"Jackson! Damn it! Come in here!"

He knew she was going to freak out if he refused to do what she wanted so he slowly entered the room.

She was standing there, her skin flushed, one hand behind her back and the other one trying to cover her exposed cleavage. Jackson gulped. She was stunning. He had always thought she was pretty but he never thought she could look so sexy. The thought of April Kepner in sexy lingerie never even crossed his mind and he was now wondering how that was even possible. The baby doll left very little of her to imagination. He could clearly see her curves, her flat stomach and the mirror in the background gave him a pretty nice view of her ass.

"Jackson! I told you to close your eyes!" she woke him up from his thoughts, her face flushed with embarrassment.

He cleared his throat and smiled, averting his gaze "If you want my opinion. You were right, this one looks very nice on you". He said, sincerely.

He made her blush even more, "thank you, that's kind of you Jackson. Now, though, can you just, please, help me remove the bracelet?"

He smiled, nodding. He reached for her wrist, his hand lightly brushing against her lower back.

"Ok.. ehm.." he said, untangling the bracelet from the lace hem, "done. I will…ehm.." he couldn't help but look at her ass, covered only by see through fabric. He felt his pants tighten and immediately reached for the door handle, "I'll wait for you outside, ok?".

April, finally free to move, was using her jacket to try to cover herself up. Still clearly embarrassed: "Yes, please. Thank you Jackson!".

"No problem... Sure." He left the dressing room, taking a deep breath. He couldn't believe seeing April like that had affected him so much. He quickly convinced himself that it was only because he was a man, his last story dated back to more than a year before and April was a pretty girl, she was his best friend and he never thought about her sexually, but every straight man on earth would have a reaction seeing her in nothing but a baby doll.

"Ok!" April said, approaching him and distracting him from his not so innocent thoughts for the second time that morning.

"I'll buy the black baby doll since you said I looked nice!" she said.

"I'll buy the other one, I'm still convinced it's a great choice!"

"Are you crazy?" She whispered. "I'm not going to let you spend 150 dollars for panties and a bra. No way". She left him behind, going to the register.

"Oh, so you decided on the baby doll? Well, it's amazing. Very classy" the shop assistant said, while taking April's credit card.

"And she'll have this one too!" Jackson said, putting the other lingerie set on the counter.

"What? No, Jackson..I told you I was g-"

"This one's on me." He said, smiling, reaching for his wallet.

"What? No no no, you really don't need to-"

"Awww. You are a lucky girl darling, you should accept the gift. Trust an older lady! If your handsome boyfriend buys you lingerie you should be happy". The shop assistant smiled at Jackson. He was sure now that she was flirting with him, right in front of his supposed-to-be-girlfriend. He smiled uncomfortably and April immediately noticed.

"Well..I..you're right." She said, smiling at the shop assistant. "I'm a lucky girl. Thank you babe!" She said, smiling at Jackson, winking and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Jackson smirked, taking her hand and leading her outside the shop.

They both laughed. "I can't believe that woman was flirting with you right in front of me! She thought I was your girlfriend and still..".

Jackson smiled, taking the bag from her hand: "Women just can't resist me, I'm used to it but it still annoys me!" he said, boldly.

April laughed, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Thank you, by the way, "she said, searching for his eyes, "you really didn't have to buy that for me!"

Jackson shrugged his shoulders "I just thought it was perfect for you!" he simply said, not thinking about the possible implications of his words for once. He was happy to see that April wasn't over-analyzing them either. She only smiled, gratefully, "I guess you will let me pay for our lunch then! Burrito for you!" she added, knowing he died for burritos.

"Yes!" he said, laughing.

April started walking, keeping on talking about the shop assistants stupid attempt to flirt and laughing happily. Jackson could tell something changed in her. The innocent, shy, April looked much more confident somehow. Sexier. He found his eyes following her figure and noticing how nice her butt looked in those tight jeans. I just need a cold shower. He mentally repeated: I just need a cold shower.