She woke the next morning feeling much steadier, if not quite her usual sunny self. She was with Dr. Shepherd again, and he seemed to be feeling the same way, because he'd been acting grumpy and tired all morning. They both must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, she decided; things she normally didn't notice were a little bothersome today.

Ding. Like that, she thought irritably, stepping out of the elevator. Had the bell always been that high-pitched?

"Sup, Kepner," Alex sneered at her from the nurses station. She merely frowned in his general direction before reaching for her charts. He'd been full of passive-aggressive nastiness ever since she'd gotten chief resident, but even today she didn't want to pick a fight.

"I saw you've got me scheduled in trauma all next week," Alex drawled. "Must be nice, being chief resident and just dumping any shifts you don't want on me."

April flipped a page, and said evenly, "I scheduled you in trauma because you need more hours in the ER."

"Oh yeah, that's the only reason." Alex snorted. "Arizona told me about your fellowship," he said, surprising her. "Don't think you can squeeze me out of peds like you did chief resident."

"I hadn't thought of you at all," April replied through gritted teeth, her patience with his aggression running thin. "But I'm sure Dr. Robbins will request you if she needs anything," she said dismissively. Alex narrowed his eyes.

"Is that how it works with you and Stark?" he asked with an oily smirk. "Did he give you the peds fellowship so you'd be around for more of his...requests?" He grinned lecherously at her.

April had had enough. She dropped the chart she'd been holding down on the counter, and turned to face Alex fully. "No," she said, steel in her voice. "That is not how it works. You want to know how it works? I got the peds fellowship because I applied for it, and I was qualified." She snarled the last words, not wanting to hear any more about sleeping her way to the top. "And if you imply again that I got it for any other reason, I will report you for sexual harassment."

She tried to go back to her charts, but Alex laughed cruelly. "You can't report me without telling the whole hospital that you're so pathetic that you were willing to screw Stark," he said, clearly trying to hit her where it would hurt most.

April's anger flared, the hot burn making her feel reckless. "And you think I won't? I am not ashamed of anything I've done with him," she said, furious that everyone had an opinion on who she should date. And from Alex!

"Which is more than I can say for what happened with you," she continued, her voice getting louder as he rolled his eyes, "and I would happily tell the entire city of Seattle that I slept with Stark if it meant getting you fired or suspended." He looked taken aback, and she lowered her voice again to finish the threat. "And I'm sure I could find someone who's overheard this conversation or any of the others to back me up."

She looked around, realizing that in fact a couple of nurses had stopped to stare at them. Before she could get disconcerted, she looked back at Alex, who was glancing away from the nurses down to the floor, and she finished strong, "so either knock it off and start treating me like chief resident, or I'll make your life a lot harder than it has to be."

She glared at him, and he growled out an apology in a low voice, "alright, sorry, forget it." He walked away, shaking his head and mumbling something about being able to take a joke. April closed her eyes and clinched her jaw, willing herself not to throw her pen at him. That would be childish. She was chief resident.

Shaking her head a little, she finally turned back to her charts.

Alex didn't even smirk at her for the rest of the day. He was perfectly professional, and April changed into her street clothes feeling vindicated, if not any happier. Despite that small vicory, the day hadn't gone well. Dr. Shepherd had lost a patient in the OR that afternoon, a 14 year old boy. The sound of the flatline had sapped some of the delight she'd had for the last few days about her decision to become a peds fellow. She was still confident she'd made the right decision, but it was hard to be happy about a future full of sick kids, when a sick kid had just died in front of you.

All she wanted to do was go home and zone out. Last night's resolution to look for an apartment could wait another day. Walking into the hospital lobby, she woke up a little when she saw Dr. Stark walked in the front doors. She rarely saw him in anything but scrubs and a lab coat anymore, and for a moment she was distracted by the way his dark grey dress shirt made the gray highlights in his hair stand out.

He nodded at her with a half smile, and then they passed each other, and she walked out the door he'd just come in, slowing down as the sunlight hit her. In this bright light, it seemed ridiculous that she could have gotten as maudlin as she had last night. Sure, if she could go back in time, she might do just a few things differently. But she wasn't desperate, she just needed more sleep. She would go to bed earlier tonight.

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