Hey you guys!
I am so, so sorry that I wasn't able to upload the last weeks, but storm Christian killed my internet connection :(
But here's the 18th chapter and I had fun writing it, mostly because of the tribute part for a certain pirate...^^
Thanks for reading and enjoy!
Chapter XVIII: Show Strenght
"It took all the strength I had not to fall apart
Kept tryin' hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart
And I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high"
April woke up the next morning on the cot next to Jackson. She had talked to her older sister the night and today, Libby would visit her. April sat up straight and looked at her best friend and love. She exhaled and took his hand, saying:
"Why did you jump in front of a gun for me? I would have been the happiest women on earth if you just had said "I love you". There's no need to jump in front of a gun for someone just to show her that you love her..."
April felt her tears coming up again, but she shook her head and swallowed them. This time, she didn't want to be weak, she wanted to be strong. She inhaled one more time and placed a kiss on his cheek and left for the shower.
"April!" Libby called from across the lobby and ran to her sister to hug her tightly.
A bright smile that reached both of her ears, appeared on April's face and she answered happily:
"Libby! I'm so happy that you're here! It's been too long!"
"Yeah, I know and I truthfully wanna apologize for it, seriously. Did you sleep enough?"
April laughed and nodded at her older sister. She'd been sleeping good for her current circumstances, but that her sister was here didn't make her feel tired, quite the opposite.
"How are Killian and Emma doing? Is my little niece exited to go to elementary school?" The trauma surgeon inquired and walked with her to the elevators. Killian was Libby's husband and Emma was their adorable five years old daughter.
"Killian's currently at home, but has to leave for L.A. in three weeks when they start filming his new movie. Emma is so exited, it's really cute. I told her that you'll visit us next week and she can't wait to see her favorite aunt again. But anyway, that's not important right now, okay? I'll stay here until we both fly to New York, so you can retake your boards. Have you heard from Kimmie lately?"
They stepped into the elevator and found Alex leaning on the wall. April greeted him answered Libby's question:
"No, I don't call her often, maybe one time in two weeks, but we actually don't talk much about each other's lives."
Alex had to think the whole time about the women next to April. She looked...familiar to him. Kind of.
"Hmm, well, that's not a surprise. She...I don't know...she became a little more crazy in the monastery than she was before. But anyway, how you feel about your upcoming boards? Learned enough?"
April chuckled and replied:
"Yes, just like last year. Last year...I was just...jazzed.
"You were just jazzed? Really?" Libby laughed and softly poked her shoulder on her sister's.
April smacked the model's shoulder slightly embarrassed and confessed:
"Okay, you're right, I was traumatized. But anyway, I wanted to show you the attending's lounge, you come with me?"
Izzie sat on the couch, her head rested against the wall and snored so loud that she could have competed a bear.
"Ehm, Libby, that's Izzie..."
Alex had followed them to lunch and took his sandwich out of the fridge, sitting down at the table.
Libby chuckled and sat down on the other couch.
"So this is where you stay during your breaks?"
"Mostly, but there are a bunch of other places where we go. Since here's the fridge, I normally eat here, but if you look at Izzie...she sleeps here, but the on-call rooms are more comfortable."
Libby shot April a meaningful glance, which was an allusion for the other using of an on-call room. April had told her about everything that had been going on between her and Jackson, so she was completely aware of the on-call room stories. The trauma surgeon's eyes grew wide, cleared her throat slightly embarrassed, but smiled and replied:
"Okay...okay. So, tell me, how was Paris?"
"It was nice and everything, but like I said, it's not important, okay? You're more imp-"
Libby was interrupted by a dangerous loud snore from Izzie which made both Kepner's burst out into laughter. The OB/Gyn surgeon awoke by the noise and looked dazed around, just to find April and her underwear model sister laughing.
"Wha-What happened? Did I...did I snored again? Oh please, no!"
April nodded while she tried to catch her breath. Wow, she had laughed about a snore, what the hell happened to her?
"I'm sorry...but it sounded so funny!"
Izzie laughed shortly and held out her hand and said:
"Hi, I'm Izzie, it's a pleasure to meet you, Olivia."
"The same for me, Izzie. You can call me Libby if you want to. You know, far away from the catwalks I like to be called Libby 'cause it's keeping me on the ground."
"Far away from the catwalks?" Alex asked curiously and stood up to join the three women.
"Yes, she's Olivia Haynes?!"
Alex eyes grew wide and his jaw nearly hit the ground. The Victoria's Secret model was Kepner's sister? No freakin' way!
"You're Kepner's sister? What the hell?"
Izzie's phone rang and she excused herself to answer the call.
"Yeah, it's nice to finally meet you too Karev," Libby replied sarcastic and looked back to April. The oldest Kepner female knew exactly who Alex Karev was, April had told her about him.
"Oh my god! Meredith's in labor! I need to go, I'll text you as soon as the baby's out! Bye!"
April nodded happily and said to Libby:
"Come with me, we can visit the cafeteria, I hope you're hungry, 'cause I'm kinda starving. See you later, Alex!"
So Olivia Haynes was April Kepner's sister? No freakin' way!
The two Kepner sisters just walked past the ER, when Dr. Hunt showed up and asked April to wait a second.
"What's up?" April asked concerned. Did something happened to Jackson? Please no...
"Would you be able to work again today? Two boats of the Seattle Seafair Pirates crashed into each other with about thirty persons on board. It would be great if you could help us, Kepner."
"Of course I can, when will they be here?"
"In twenty minutes, so you should have enough time to change," Hunt replied and gestured to her jeans, top and new leatherjacket.
"All right, see you in ten!"
"Thanks, Kepner!"
April smiled and said to Libby:
"I'm sorry, but I need beef so desperately. Seriously, I need to see blood."
"Ah, the surgeon thing, right. You sounded kinda gross, but kick asses, little sis, okay?"
April briefly hugged her sister and started running to the locker room but shouted over her shoulder giggling:
"Today's Jambalaya Day. I know how much you love that dish!"
"It's not funny that I get urticaria from this damn dish!"
Ten minutes later, April stood in the ER bay and waited with Hunt and the interns.
"You heard what happened to the people on the boat? Did something really bloody happened?"
"The captain of the one ship got stabbed by a wooden stake and his hand got detached by a real sword even though there were just fake swords allowed."
"Stabbed Hook's mine!" April replied possessive and smiled exited.
"You really want to?" Hunt asked concerned. It just had been four days since Avery had been shot, he was a little worried about his soldier.
"Of course, I just can't sit next to his bed all day and do nothing, you know? And you taught me to be a soldier so this is what I'm doing right now!"
The chief of surgery laughed and replied:
"All right then. Ah, see, there they are!"
April looked anxious to the first ambulance and already stood in front of the doors before Matthew and Nicole came out.
"Colin Swan, 32, stabbed into the abdomen with internal injuries and a detached left hand. Possible intestine, stomach and liver injuries and the stake's end is in his abdomen. Blood pressure 159/99 mm Hg and we gave him 30 mg morphine."
Matthew and Nicole put the stretcher out and they saw Colin laying on the gurney. His short, black hair was wet because of the water and the blood, but his blue eyes looked sparkling. He wasn't clearly shaven, but it didn't look unkempt, more likely daring.
"Shotgun, he's mine! Brooks follow me, we take him to trauma room 1!"
"Hey beautiful...," Colin greeted her and his voice got high-pitched at the end of the sentence because of his pain. Matthew's face expression hardened by the obvious flirting of his patient and tried his best to hide it, but failed. April noticed it, but ignored it and replied unimpressed:
"How are you feeling, Colin?"
"Better, cause I know I'm in good hands, love."
The paramedic's jaw clinched and his knuckle became white because he clasped the stretcher a little bit too much.
After they had laid him down on the table, April looked at her ex-boyfriend and said:
"I got this here, okay?"
He hesitated but finally left the trauma room. April took away the triangular bandage to take a look at the stake. She looked up to her intern and demanded:
"Don't you want to check on his neurological conditions and everything?"
Heather nodded frantically and grabbed her penlight to check on him.
"Did you...did they never taught you how to treat a patient?"
"It's not the case that I wouldn't appreciate you being my doctor all alone, darling." Colin whispered and fixed his eyes on the trauma surgeon. She didn't blush, she felt nothing for him, even though he was a little charming. If Jackson would have been the one laying on the table, she would have completely fallen for him.
"Okay, Hook, I'm flattered but also taken. I don't think you want to end up with a hole in your abdomen, okay?"
"As you wish."
April smiled softly and replied:
"Okay, Dr. Brooks. I tell you later how to do it. For now we need to get an OR and page ortho and general. Check on his hand whether it's infected or anything. Afterwards we take him to the Lodox, so we can look for fractures, because I guess at least one of his ribs are broken."
April slightly pressed on his chest just to hear a muffled, painful scream. Yes, at least two ribs were broken.
April stood after the seven hour surgery with Bailey, Brooks and Callie in the scrub room and washed quietly her hands.
"I'll check on Hook as soon as I can, okay?"
Bailey looked outraged to her, but Callie answered before she could say something.
"No, I can do. Your sister is waiting for you. I don't have someone waiting for me, so I can easily do this."
Yup, Callie was referring to Arizona. The ortho surgeon had been ignoring her wife for the past days and was making negative comments about her as frequent as possible. The fierce Latina thing.
Bailey rolled her eyes and left the scrub room with Heather. Callie leaned against the sink and exhaled before she asked:
"How are you doing this? How can you stand here and pretend everything's fine? I wish I could, you know?"
April looked surprised up to her and hesitated a moment before she answered:
"Honestly, I can't. I think about him every second and all I want to do is to lie next to him and cry my eyes out. But I try to be strong, tell myself he's going to wake up soon, that he'll be fine again. That is what's keeping me from falling into pieces, you know? I try to be strong for him, for his family for everybody, because I don't want to break down and they have to clean up all that mess..."
April ended with a soft voice and supported herself with laying her hand on the sink. What she had said was the truth, she didn't want to be a trouble to anybody. Slowly the tears came back and she tried her best to swallow them but failed again.
"You're not a trouble to anybody, okay? We all take care of each other, or at least pretend to. You remember the night, when you should have played the babysitter for Sofia but asked Jackson to do so? He took care of me, when I stood in his door, bawling my eyes out. He even offered me to crash at his apartment with Sofia until I could go back to mine. I wouldn't mind taking care of you, nor does Izzie or your sister. You can't always be strong, there're always moments where you have to break down, it's human, April."
April sighed sobbing and put her hands in front of her face. The wound in her chest, which she had tried to keep close by trying to be strong, ripped open. Callie looked sad at the heartbroken women and finally hugged her. She didn't want to be in her position, her current mess with Arizona was enough for her. Even after all it was still Arizona, her wife. How would she act if the peds surgeon would be the one in coma?
"I know you heard it about a billion times, but Jackson will wake up, okay?"
All that April could think was that she needed him. She needed his arms around her, needed him to hold her and whisper that they'd find a way to be together.
"I'm clearly disappointed in you, Avery," Mark said while they walked around the vanilla farm.
"Ohm...what did I do?" Jackson asked confused. If he was right, he did his job quite good...right?
"Really? Don't you remember my epic speech before I passed away?"
Shit, of course. How could Jackson not forget his speech, it was so important after all. For both men.
"Yeah, talking about that...I did told her that I love her...in a very twisted way," The younger surgeon replied and scratched his head.
Mark looked skeptically at him and Jackson knew what he was waiting for, so he moved his hands apologetic in front of his chest and said:
"All right then, I'll give her that speech, don't worry."
And then Jackson realized what he had just said. He could only give that speech if he was down on earth...Jesus Christ, if he listened to his own thoughts again, he would have burst into laughter, but wasn't the situation like this? The time he had been here, he always titled it as heaven, but was it? But anyway, didn't it sound like he wanted to go back to April? Hell yeah, but here his family and friends were and he really didn't want to leave them again. But if he had the choice to live or to stay here, what would a normal person do? What a dumb question. Live.
After April had calmed down, she had went to Colin's room and stood in front of his bed, filling the chart.
"Knew you would be coming back to me, darling," He whispered with his eyes still closed.
April smiled slightly and looked up from her chart and went to his side to examine her work.
"You know, most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge."
April let out a small laugh and replied:
"I'm concentrating. I don't think you want to spend more time here than needed, am I right Hook?"
"You know, my crew always called me Captain Swan, but now I think Captain Hook is more catching" Colin grinned and looked at the stump of his arm.
"Well, I'm sorry, but it should take you a looong time before you're even able to walk around in this hospital. You had a wooden stake in your abdomen, remember? So take it easy, pirate."
"The guy's a lucky man, isn't he?" Colin asked and April turned around and looked at him confused.
"Your boyfriend, he would be crazy if he'd leave someone like you, lass."
The trauma surgeon smiled chuckling, left the room and wished him a good night.
Killian...Emma...Captain Swan...Hook... ^_^
I just couldn't resist, not after the last three episodes of OUAT 3
Thanks again for reading and reviewing!
PS: There are two chapters left so guess what happens next ;-)