**** Author's Note: So, hopefully I'm remembering right, that the only people who know about April's virginity firsthand are Mer, Alex, Lexie, and Jackson, because they were all at the bar. And Christina knows, because of Mer. Derek may or may not, also because of Mer. We also know Bailey knows somehow, but I'm going to assume that nobody else does. ****

Tonight just got worse by the hour, Robert thought as he flipped the chart closed. Walking in the front doors was clearly going to be the high point of this shift.

The first patient he'd seen was a three and a half month old, admitted for observation as she recovered from severe vitamin B12 deficiency. He wasn't sure how much neural damage may have been done by the time her gums started bleeding and they took her to the emergency room. Her parents were still hostile after he'd called a vegan diet unhealthy. He'd recommended switching to formula, but the mother insisted on continuing to breastfeed, so he'd had to use the threat of calling child protective services unless she submitted meal plans to a nutritionist for the next three months. That had gone over well.

His fifth patient had been a six year old that had just been diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, and his single mother was wracked with guilt because they'd lived in L.A. for the first four years of his life before she'd saved up enough to move back closer to her parents. Robert had assured her that that even if that had been a contributing factor, she couldn't blame herself, the odds were so slim - but he knew it hadn't made a difference. Watching her lie and say she would be okay made him wish he was back talking to the vegans.

"Dr. Stark!" someone chirped behind him. He turned to find Dr. Robbins coming to a halt in front of him, smiling. He suppressed a sigh. When had his closest colleague become someone who had permanent dimples from beaming incessantly with perfect tiny teeth? The scrub caps, even the roller skate shoes, he could get past - they were probably popular with the kids and anything that made the kids more comfortable was worth putting up with, in his book. But he wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the perky. Or the lack of personal boundaries.

"So," she said, proving his point by grinning even more maniacally and leaning in conspiratorially, prompting him to take a step backwards. "You and Dr. Kepner."

His heart skipped. There was no way Arizona could know he wasn't fighting his feelings for April much anymore. He wasn't going to do anything about them, and he'd been very careful the last several days to be sure that his heart never crept out onto his sleeve. He raised his eyebrows icily. He rarely felt quite as surly as he knew he typically came off, but sometimes it was useful. "Excuse me?"

"I had no idea you had, you know," Arizona lowered her voice and made odd hand movements. Robert's eyes dropped to them for a moment, confused, then looked back up at Arizona, shaking his head and squinting at her. "Slept together!" Arizona finished in a thrilled and teasing whisper.

Robert's head jerked back. "We - what?" he said sharply. "Where did you hear that?"

"Olivia was complaining earlier that it's all Jamie's been talking about today," Arizona said, as if that explained anything. "Apparently Becca and Katy overheard Dr. Kepner telling Dr. Karev that she'd slept with you, and Becca told Jamie that Karev seemed mad when he walked away from Kepner. Jamie hooked up with Karev a couple nights ago," she rolled her eyes, "and is obsessing about whether or not this means they won't go out again. Either way, the important part is, I can't believe you slept with her!" She pushed his shoulder playfully.

Barely keeping up, Robert frowned and nodded as he pieced together the relevant parts of this story, before realizing how that would look. "Wait, that's not - "

"Don't worry," Arizona said, reassuring. "I know that's not why you approved her application, and if it gets called into question, I'll back you up. She'll be a great peds surgeon."

"I - right," Stark said, feeling more bewildered by the moment. "But what I mean to say is," and then he hesitated as his brain finally caught up with their conversation. April had said they had slept together? Should he tell Arizona they hadn't? "That's not an area of my life I'd like the whole hospital to be involved in," he said finally, and a little stiffly. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't spread such gossip."

"Of course I wouldn't," Arizona exclaimed, trying to look offended, and succeeding only in looking impatient. "It was the nurses saying it, I just thought you should know it was being talked about." Her expression gave way to salaciousness, "I can't believe I never figured it out. No wonder you two have all that awkwardness still!"

"I - we don't - " Robert muttered, wondering what the best way to get her to stop talking about this would be.

"I mean I'd heard that you guys were dating awhile back, but I didn't really think it had gotten serious," Arizona mulled, oblivious to his discomfort. "I just thought, you know, it would have been hard to get past the -" she broke off, looking embarrassed.

"The age difference, yeah," Robert said drolly. Best to act as if it didn't matter but it stung. "Well, we didn't," he said simply.

"Oh," Arizona said, studying him. "Sorry."

"And it wasn't serious," he added, hating the look of pity in her eyes. "You know, ill-advised flings, not so uncommon around here really." His voice had just the right amount of flippancy, but his eyes flicked downward an instant too soon, betraying his cavalier words.

"Right," she said slowly, clearly not convinced. "Well, anyway, good for you." He regarded her suspiciously. Was she congratulating him on a...a conquest? "I thought for awhile there that you weren't connecting", she emphasized, "with the staff." She grinned at him as he shook his head and groaned.

"No," he said, "no. No inappropriate double entendres. Please, go away now," and he made shooing motions with his hands.

"Okay, fine," she laughed at him, turning away. "But I'm not forgetting this," she called over her shoulder.

Me neither, Robert thought.

Robert tumbled into bed at almost 8 the next morning, after dragging the curtains closed to block the light and the sound of the gulls fighting over breakfast. He stared at the ceiling in his dim room, trying one last time to make sense of what Arizona had told him.

Why would she lie? To make Karev jealous? That didn't sound like April - she didn't play games. He didn't think she liked Karev that much anymore, either. When he'd first started at Seattle Grace, she'd seemed to have a mild crush on him, risking standing up for him in the OR like that. But since then, they seemed to irritate each other.

He couldn't bring himself to care much about Karev, honestly. His mind circled back to the initial shock.

April had said they'd had sex. Alone, he felt warm blood spread gently into his genitals at the thought, even as he was a little ashamed of such a reaction.

He couldn't ask her about it. Could he? No. How would he explain he'd heard she'd said they'd had sex? He couldn't even remember the nurses' names in Arizona's tale. Olivia had been involved, and Becca, he knew her from a case a few weeks ago, and...Jessica? Janie? This was ridiculous. No, he couldn't ask her.

He'd known women who lied to say they'd had sex with attractive men, and women who lied to say they hadn't had sex with someone unattractive, but never any woman who'd lied to say they'd had sex with someone they thought was unattractive. Did she think he was attractive? He'd thought - saying she thought of him as a friend, after not meeting his eyes, he'd assumed out of pity - he thought she had been ashamed to be seen with him, to be dating him. Because he wasn't attractive. Which had stung. And made him hate her, a little.

But if she was telling people that they'd slept together - his mind swerved a bit as half-formed images flickered in his mind's eye - then... she couldn't have been ashamed. Or she wouldn't tell people that. Because it wasn't even the truth. He closed his eyes in confusion, trying to call up her face as she'd said it. "Friends, you know? We're - we're friends." Her eyes had been so large, but... he wasn't sure about pitying, anymore. Imploring? He felt uneasy.

Had he played this all wrong, thinking he knew what she'd been thinking, when he didn't? What would have happened if he hadn't pushed her about cancelling in the first place, if he'd said "okay, maybe some other night" instead of accusing her of using work as an excuse to avoid him? Would there have been another night? Would she have avoided him and blown him off, the way he had her? He felt even more uneasy at that. Would she still have ended up lying, saying they'd slept together when they hadn't?

April had said they'd had sex. His mind ran into that brick wall again, disrupting any reasoning he was getting done, and making inside his boxers an achy place as his mental associations with the words "April" and "sex" brought up ideas that he'd studiously avoided entertaining. He opened his eyes again, but the darkened ceiling did nothing to distract him from the thought of April here in bed with him, leaning over him as the muscles in her slim legs on either side of his contracted and lengthened as she slid her body against his.

He shook his head, feeling almost feverish. He couldn't be thinking about things like that. Rolling over onto his stomach so that his hands couldn't drift downward to touch anywhere desire had been stirred up, he forced himself to focus on the birds outside outside until the ache in his groin subsided and he dropped off to sleep.

**** Eeek! I went there! And...I will be going further. I think this chapter still fits the T rating, but eventually it will probably be changed to M.

Please review. ****