A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry for the wait, I had an unfortunate computer difficulty. Enjoy the update :)

Disclaimer: Same as always.

Chapter 6 – I Want You to Want Me

Lexie spotted April standing at the nurses' station and sidled up to her with a smile. She handed the nurse behind the desk a chart as she greeted the red-head. "Hey April."

"Hey Lexie, how are you?" The chief resident asked pleasantly.

"Good, just doing some research for Shepherd. How is Anderson?" Lexie inquired mischievously.

"Great!" She answered enthusiastically.

Since the basketball game against Seattle Presbyterian, the surgeons were buzzing with praise for April Kepner's boyfriend.

"You guys are really great together."

"Thanks Lexie." April looked behind her to make sure no one was around before she leaned towards Lexie and lowered her voice. She had a date with Anderson tonight and she wanted the brunette's opinion on something. "Most guys like lingerie, right?"

Lexie laughed boisterously. "Yeah, they do."

"Just be careful he doesn't go into cardiac arrest," Cristina quipped as she joined them at the nurses' station.

"That's not funny Cristina," April replied seriously.

Cristina grinned in response. "It's kind of funny."

Lexie chuckled in agreement but their little moment was interrupted by Mark Sloan.

"Dr. Kepner, can I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure."

Sloan pulled her to the side and she was more than a little curious about why he wanted to talk to her. Their last private conversation wasn't exactly something that she wanted to relive.

"What's bothering Avery?" The attending asked in distress.

April shook her head in confusion because she didn't know that anything was bothering Jackson. "I don't know."

"He's uptight, stressed, surly…very unlike himself," Sloan explained. "I'm worried about him. Interviews and Boards are coming up and he's off his game. You need to do something Kepner!"

"Um…uh…what do you want me to do, sir?"

"I don't know Kepner," Sloan sighed. "You're his best friend, hang out with him, do whatever it is you guys do. He's always in a better mood after spending time with you."

"Okay," she nodded. At least this request from Dr. Sloan was a lot more reasonable than the last time he had asked her to do something for Jackson.

"I'm counting on you Kepner," Sloan said with the utmost seriousness before he walked away.

April walked into their kitchen and found Jackson studying at the table. Alex was working in the ER tonight so it would be just the two of them in the house and the perfect opportunity to cheer her friend up. She had cancelled her date with Anderson to spend time with her friend and her boyfriend had not been happy about it. In fact, April found his reaction to be a little irrational. It seemed like something was bothering him as well but he had ended the conversation before she had a chance to inquire.

She snuck up behind Jackson and reached around him to close the textbook in front of him.

He knew that April was behind him by her scent and the shiver that went through his body due to her proximity. "What are you doing?" He asked with a hint of annoyance. "Aren't you supposed to be out on a date?"

"Plans change!" She told him in her perkiest tone of voice. "And you aren't studying tonight."

"Oh really?" He asked skeptically. He was trying not to concentrate on the fact that her thumbs were rubbing circles on the back of his neck. "So, what are we doing?"

"We can watch a movie and drink beer. Just whatever you want," she said with a smile as she sat down in the seat next to him. "You haven't been yourself lately." Maybe he was off his game, as Sloan had put it, due to stress.

"Whatever I want," he repeated with a grin.

She nodded. "Whatever you want."

He laughed quietly to himself. He knew what he really wanted to do right now but he doubted that she would appreciate such a crude suggestion. However, he did have a few other ideas that didn't involve the two of them naked.

"I know," he smirked impishly. "Sing for me."

She flushed instantly and shook her head. "Anything but that."

"Come on April," he laughed.

"No, not even for you," she stated adamantly.

He smiled at her statement despite himself before another idea popped into his head. "Make me breakfast?" He asked boyishly.

"That I can do," she smiled excitedly.

He smiled and packed up his books as April scurried around the kitchen. It was no secret that breakfast was his favourite meal of the day and he would gladly eat it at any time of the day, and April made an incredible breakfast. Her French toast was the best he ever had. He vividly remembered the night before their intern exam, he and Charles had eaten a midnight breakfast at her and Reed's apartment.

He watched her closely as she pulled everything that she needed out of the refrigerator. She was wearing blue jeans and a green tank top, and she was barefoot. Her wavy hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. He, or anyone else, rarely saw her looking so casual, and it was unbelievably sexy.

"Do you want me to help?"

"Nope," she responded cheerfully. "Just relax!"

He could do that. He was always the most relaxed around her and it didn't hurt that he was overwhelmingly pleased by the fact that she was supposed to be out on a date right now, but instead was cooking breakfast for him.

An hour later, he was sitting on the sofa watching the Celtics game on television with April asleep and curled into his side. Since he was in charge of the evening, he had decided on eating their breakfast while watching the basketball game and as a result, April fell asleep almost as soon as she finished eating. She wasn't exactly the biggest sports fan.

Her head was resting on his chest and his arm was wrapped around her with his hand on her flat stomach. After his confession to Anderson, he had decided that he was going to try to be happy for his best friend. She seemed really happy. However, his plan backfired significantly and over the past couple of days he had been in a terrible mood. Now, he was beginning to feel guilty about how much he was enjoying her closeness. He loved the smell of her hair and the expanse of creamy, pale skin that was available to his eyes.

"April," he spoke gently. "Wake up."

She mumbled something unintelligible and shifted even closer to him. He watched her hand scoot across his lower abdomen and he groaned quietly to himself. She was driving him crazy and she wasn't even aware.

"April," he repeated as he brushed a few tendrils of hair out of her eyes.

"Yes Jackson?" She answered but her eyes were still closed.

"Do you want to go to bed?" He leaned his head back on the couch and grimaced. He would kill to ask her that question in a different context.

"No, I'm fine here," she murmured.

He let out a long breath before he moved so that April had to sit up straight. "April, I need to talk to you. I can't do this anymore."

"Can't do what anymore?" She asked in confusion as she rapidly blinked to wake herself up.

"I need to talk to you about Anderson."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "You don't like him do you?" She had been getting that feeling recently but she didn't want to ask him about it because she couldn't stand the thought of her best friend and boyfriend not getting along.

"I don't," he said affirmatively. "I don't like how often he's around, both here and at the hospital. I don't like watching him touch you. I don't like watching him kiss you. And I don't like him spending the night!"

She was both surprised by his words and a little confused, and the fact that she was only mildly alert wasn't helping. "Jackson, I know it must be weird for you that I have a boyfriend now but…"

"No," he interrupted her. "I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not lonely. I'm not being protective. I'm jealous, and I'm not jealous because you have someone and I don't. I'm jealous because he has you. I want you," he told her earnestly.

Her eyes widened and she slowly got to her feet and began to pace the living room floor.

Jackson felt as if she was pacing in front of him for hours and when she finally turned to face him, she looked furious. He had been expecting a wide array of reactions to his revelation but he had never expected her to be mad.

"This is so unfair Jackson!" She practically screamed at him.

He jumped to his feet and retaliated quickly. "What? How is this unfair? I'm telling you how I feel about you!"

"At the worst time! When I'm finally happy with someone else! You only want me because you can't have me!"

"That's not true," he argued. "I want you because I think that I'm in love with you. You don't feel the same way?" He asked fearfully and he was able to hear his own voice shake.

She sighed and looked at him sadly. "I stopped myself from thinking about you in that way. It was too hard. You're Jackson Avery." He furrowed his brow in confusion so she continued. "You're Harper Avery's grandson, you went to Harvard, and you got everything you ever wanted growing up. You're a great guy. Not to mention the fact that you're the most beautiful man I've ever seen. What chance did I ever have with a guy like you?" Jackson opened his mouth to answer but she couldn't let him talk. She was already on the verge of tears so she carried on. "So I became your best friend. It was easier to be your best friend," she finished quietly.

Jackson was still going over her words when she began to walk away. "April wait! Please talk to me," he pleaded.

She turned around slowly and he saw that she was crying. "I just want to go to bed Jackson."

He nodded in defeat and let her walk into her bedroom. He felt emotionally downtrodden and exhausted but it didn't fully hit him how torn his relationship with April was until he went to her room in the middle of the night and found her door locked.

A/N: So, if I learned anything from this week's Grey's it's that Jackson thinks there's a spark! Yay! Leave me your thoughts on this chapter :)