Enjoy :)

Chapter X: Like strangers

"...you and me, we used to be together,
everyday together, always
I really feel like I'm losing my best friend,
I can't believe this could be the end... "

Summer sat in her bed and read the newest edition of the Seventeen magazine, when Jackson entered the room and said smiling:

"Hey, did Dr. Brooks told ya' that you'll have the surgery tomorrow morning? We have at the moment a very full OR board, so I'm sorry. They gave you pain-reliever, didn't they?"

"Okay, I'm fine, thanks. I talked to my mom, and we had an argument. Yeah, she left the hospital and I don't know when she's coming back...," Summer told him and laid her magazine on the white nightstand.

"What did you said to her that she left the hospital?" Jackson asked curious and made his way around the bed.

"After you brought me back to my room and left, my mom stepped in and waited until I woke up. She cried and whispered, that she was so sorry but I was furious and told her that she's a bad mother, so she left. I really regret what I said..."

"Again, I'm really sorry that you had to find it out this way..."

Callie entered the room with Sofia in her arms and asked:

"So, here we are. Why do you need me for a broken nose? And why had I to take Sofia with me, Avery?"

Jackson stood between Callie and the bed of Summer before he finally said:

"Callie, this is Summer, the half-sister of your daughter."

Summer's mouth dropped open and looked shocked at Jackson and then to Sofia. Callie had the same expression on her face and looked at Summer than at Sofia and again at Summer.

"Funny, that you learn in five hours that your thought-to-be father isn't really your biological father and that your mother never told ya' about him. Additionally you find out that you have a half-sister. I'd say this is the craziest day I've ever had in my life!"

Callie's eyes stopped at the face of her daughter's half-sister and saw her eyes and the nose - Mark's eyes and nose. She smiled slightly and suggested:

"Do you wanna hold her?"

Summer was surprised by the unexpected offer from the ortho-doctor, but nodded happily and thanked:

"T-t-that'd be nice, thank you."

Callie replied the smile and handed Sofia slowly in the older girl's arms.

Jackson smirked and went slowly out but was hold back by Callie, which leaned near to his ear and whispered:

"I'm expecting an exact report later on what is going on here, okay Jackson?"

The plastics fellow nodded and left for his office.

Just after Jackson had left Summer's room he put out his pager and wrote Would you please come to my office? and send it to April in hope that she would be there. But when he arrived at his office, April wasn't there. It didn't surprised him that much so he decided to wait, maybe she had a patient. God, they were in a hospital, of course she had patients. He waited ten, twenty, thirty minutes and worked on some hospital stuff... but still no April. Jackson exhaled hard and scrubbed his face up and down. But even after an hour she didn't arrived and he wasn't in the mood even more to talk to her. Jackson put out his cell and dialed Alex' number to write him a message.

Do you know where April is?

Yeah, she's sitting here in the attendings lounge for 1/2 hour and stares the whole time at her hands. What happened?

Actually I sent her a page to talk with me but obviously she doesn't want. Fine with me.

Why don't you just come here? I can check on some patients while you're talking, dude.

Thanks man, but I really don't want to force her to talk with me - it wouldn't help.

I'm sorry, bro.

Not your fault, but thanks...

Should I talk to her? ;-)

Don't!

Don't worry, I'm not that kind of guy!

Of course not, Alex, of course not.

A few minutes later Jackson got another text from Alex:

Kepner asked me where you are, I said I don't know. I guess she comes upstairs to you. You have maybe three minutes to run away.

Jackson decided to stay here, but even after twenty minutes April didn't appeared in his doorframe. Instead he received a message from his pager - it was from her. We need you in OR2 Jackson stood up fast and headed to the OR wing. When he turned the corner, he suddenly crashed into a person - April.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Jackson asked with his eyes wide open.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You have to follow me, it's about Summer Jones -"

"What? What the fuck happened? Just about one hour ago she was fine?" Jackson inquired scared and began to walk faster.

"Her nasal bone went right through her nasal septum and it seems like she had a double fracture so one part of her bone got in her trachea," April answered while she tried to keep pace with him.

He looked in disbelief down to her and said:

"Is that even possible?"

"Obviously, yes." April smirked at him. But the whole time just one thought was important to her. Why did he cared so much about her? He just hardly knew her!

"Oh God, it's my fault, I should have done some x-rays to see that her nose is so damaged. God, I'm an idiot."

"You're not, Jackson. I mean she didn't died like my patient in our first year here because I just forgot a simple step. And you gonna fix this, okay?"

Jackson looked at her and smirked weak.

"But I can't fuck this up...she's Mark's daughter." Jackson said slowly and looked at April, waiting for her response.

"Say what?" April asked stunned, now it made sense why Jackson cared so much about the girl.

"Yeah, my first reaction, too. But how do you even know about Summer?"

"I was at the nurse station in front of her room because I looked for you, and then I heard Callie yelling for help. I first took Sofia, handed her to Brooks and went right to you."

Jackson was a little confused why April looked for him at Summer's room when he actually asked her to come to his office, but he didn't cared about that right now.

When they entered the OR, he heard Summer sobbing, so he went to her and looked worried at her.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll fix it, okay?" Jackson said smiling and squeezed her hand. She responded with a slight smile. He walked to the scrub room and washed his hands, while April, Callie and the ENT surgeon Dr. Phillips stood next to him.

The Ortho- and ENT-surgeons left the room so only Jackson and April remained. An awkward silence filled the room until the trauma surgeon finally said:

"Jackson, I'm so sorry for tonight, that I rejected you like this, it wasn't fair from me, I know. And I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am...," April admitted quiet and looked down at her hands while biting her bottom lip.

Jackson turned his head, looked at her and thought about what he should say. Of course, he was still pissed at her, but if she'd know why he was, it maybe had made the things less complicated. But furthermore, he wasn't ready to tell her, why he ended things with Stephanie, it just wasn't the right time and place.

"You know, you don't have to forgive me yet, I know what I've done was really bad...,"April answered instead and left the scrub room quickly before Jackson was able to respond.

The surgery went good, Jackson could fix Summer's nose, and Dr. Phillips was able to heal the airways. The conversation during the surgery was a little weird, they didn't really talked about what was going on in their life. When they talked, then just about surgical decisions and that was it. It was terrible. They found each other in the scrub room again and washed quietly their hands.

"Does her mom knows that she had the surgery already?" April asked to break the awkward silence.

"I don't know, but she had already left the hospital when I brought Callie and Sofia to her. I think I wait with her until her mom shows up."

"Okay...," April nodded and dried her hands. She left the room without any "bye" or "Have a nice day!", she just walked away. He felt awful for not giving her an answer, because it was his fault, that they still didn't talked about each others. They treated each others like strangers and how for god's sake should they become a couple when they were so close as Washington and Florida?

April thought exactly the same when she walked out of the scrub room, but she wouldn't be courageous enough to admit her true feelings for Jackson.

30 minutes later...

Jackson sat in the chair next to the bed of Summer in the PACU and waited for her waking up. A few minutes later, he heard a sigh, she was almost awake.

"Hey you," Jackson smiled and moved with his chair a little closer.

"Hi...what happened?" Summer asked weak and tried to squint at her nose, finding a white bandage.

"A part of your nasal bone broke through your nasal septum which then made his way down your trachea. We were able to remove the bone part and put it back to its original place," Jackson explained to her.

"Ouch...so, what happens next?"

"You have to stay here for two days because we need to take a look at your airways, because there were little cracks, but you'll be fine

"Thank you. Do you know whether my mom returned?

"I guess no, I'm sorry.

Summer woke more and more up, then she finally asked the question which occupied her the whole time:

"Do you know what they did with Sebastian?"

Jackson shook his head and answered honestly:

"No, I don't know. I guess they brought him to the police department."

"I'm afraid that he comes back and hurt me again," She whispered honestly with watery eyes.

Jackson took her hand and said:

"Shh, I think the police officers take care of him...You know what, give me you cell phone, I give you my number. You call me when you're in trouble, okay?"

Now the tears ran down her cheeks and she blubbered out:

"T-t-thank you, Jackson. But why are you doin' this?"

"I kinda owe it your dad. "

This was the honest reason why he did what he did. Even when the other half of the plastic posse was dead, Jackson helped his former mentor. Sure, Summer was nice and everything, but Jackson thought it would be the minimum after all Mark had done for him.

Summer smiled about the seemingly close friendship between Jackson and her father, so she handed her cell to Jackson able to enter his number.

"Do you have time to tell me more about my dad? I mean, just if you have the time," She asked not crying anymore.

"Yeah, I could visit you after my shift, that would be in three hours, is that okay?" Jackson answered and gave Summer her phone back.

"That would be great, thank you!" Summer smiled and laid back on the mattress.

Jackson stood up and said goodbye before he left for dinner.

April sat in the cafeteria with Christina and Meredith talking about her last surgery.

"Does Summer knows that she's kind of an aunt? I mean if you think of Sloan Riley's little baby? And anyway, does she knows that she has two half-sisters?" Meredith asked while she ate her veggie burger.

"Nah, come on." Christina chuckled and looked down at her salad.

Just when April wanted to say something Alex and Jackson showed up and took a seat next to them.

"You already heard about Sloan's second daughter? I have this feeling that our hospital is going to be the shelter for all of his children. But you have to admit that every daughter of him we met was hot."

April raised on eyebrow and said:

"You fall every time for blonde, brunettes or blue or brown eyes, Alex."

"You have brown eyes and I didn't fall for you, Apes," Alex laughed but he was kicked under the table by Jackson. Alex pressed his lips together because of the pain he had now in his lower leg. He gave Jackson an angry gaze but didn't respond. April who was sitting next to Alex noticed the kick from Jackson and had to smile inside brightly.

"You heard that Obama comes to Seattle tomorrow?" Meredith said to break the silence.

"Yeah, he's here to meet the governor in the Space Needle." Christina ended and finally ate her salad.

Jackson ate his meal fast so he could do the stuff he should have done a few hours ago.

"I gotta go, see you." Jackson said and left the table.

A few minutes later, April also left and Christina, Meredith and Alex remained. The twisted sister had noticed the kick from Jackson so Meredith asked curiously:

"Is there something going on between Jackson and April again?"

"No, I don't think so," Alex answered a little lying and scrubbed his lower leg.

"Oh please, who knows what they're doing now. I guess April just needed her Jackson-action back," Christina said and left the table.

After his shift ended Jackson walked down to the room of Summer and found her reading a book.

"Hey, how ya doing ?" Jackson asked smiling and sat in the familiar chair next to her bed.

"I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" Summer inquired politely and closed her book.

"Yeah, I'm great, thanks. So, you're ready?"

"I'm indeed!" She answered and put the book on her nightstand.

And then Jackson repeat what he said to her a few hours ago and then he told her all about Mark that he knew about him. And finally after an hour of talking he finished.

"So my dad was a good guy and not a man whore?"

"No, in the end he wasn't a man whore but he was even though a good guy, so yeah, he was good."

"My mom and dad showed up and we talked, finally we made up. I now know, that she named me Sloan Jones when I was born, but replaced it after Marks had left. Do you think it would be crazy if I retake his name?" She asked and looked interested to Jackson.

"Not at all, Summer. It would be great if you'd accept his last name, really." Jackson answered smiling.

"Thank you. Ehm...may I ask you somethin personal?" Summer asked unconfident looking down at her hands. She wasn't sure whether they were close enough to ask this question.

"Yeah, I think so?" He answered frowned.

"Do...do you have a girlfriend? I mean I'm sure you have one...Gosh, that was a terrible question, I'm sorry! It was seriously too personal, sorry..."

Jackson laughed and admitted:

"No I haven't."

"You're kidding! Isn't there even a women you think of her being your girlfriend? I-I-I'm sorry. Again." Summer started to stutter and blushed again.

"It's okay, but yeah there is."

"Then say it out loud. You promise me this okay?"

Jackson's mouth opened. She just said what her father had just said to him.

"Okay, that...that was strange. Your father said the same...," Jackson murmured and frowned again.

"Really? Cool, now you have to say it even more," Summer groaned laughing

"I should go, you're tired, but I really appreciate your advice. Now that you have my number, call me when you're in trouble, right?" Jackson said and stood up.

"Okay, I do. Good Night, Jackson!" Summer answered and smiled at him.

"Good, sleep well," Jackson smirked and left the room.

So, what do you think?

I just can repeat: Please let me know whether you have any suggestions for the story and (very important since sb. draw my attention to it) my writing skills. That would be totally awesome :)

So the next chapter will be posted at the earliest on wednesday, because I'm still not happy with it :/
I just can say, please don't think it will turn out the way it did previously on Grey's ;-)