Hello Everyone. Here is the next addition to AVTTBH. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope that you all find it a good read. Please let me know your thoughts. Your reviews are greatly appreciated. -sdwash27

April awoke just before sunrise, her body refreshed having spent the night lying in Jackson's arms. She sat up in bed leaning her body against the wall and stretched her arms above her head. She felt absolutely marvelous and she owed it all to her sleepovers with the good doctor. She peered down at the specimen who held the other half of the bed and consciously stroked her palm across his shaven skull. He looked so peaceful lying restlessly on his side, his arms still fixed around April's torso. She smiled at the image of his somber body so gentle and serene before carefully freeing herself from his grasp. Her shift would be starting soon and she needed to shower and brush her teeth before it got too late. She eyed her belongings; a neatly folded scrub top and pants sat on the chair nearest the door. She tiptoed towards the bathroom sweeping up her scrubs on the way. She was grateful that Jackson had the luxury of a private bathroom in his room; it saved her a trip to the attending's lounge. She entered the bathroom closing the door behind her and approached the shower. She turned on the warm water as she desired and walked over to the sink so that she could get a good look at herself. She stared at her reflection taking note of the guilt in her eyes. She had spent every night with Jackson within the past week and she had loved every second of it. She and Matthew were on speaking terms but he had no clue that instead of spending her nights running the night shift in the ER, she had really been with Jackson. She had grown accustomed to telling little half-truths when it came to preserving her relationship with Jackson. She could see the steam from the shower lingering above the shower rail. She quickly discarded her clothes letting them fall to the center of the floor and stepped into the shower. The water felt hot against her skin, trickling down her back down to the surface of the shower. She let her head relax against the steady stream of the shower head allowing the water to cover her face with warmth. As she welcomed the soothing trinkets of fresh water to envelop her body she thought of him. It didn't help that he was just in the other room sleeping soundly as if she had never left his bed. She thought of him every second that she was in his company and when she was not. He was the greatest love she had ever known before she met Matthew. She couldn't stop herself from thinking of him even if it was her heart's greatest desire. After showering she stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel missing it altogether after hearing the slow creak of the door opening. Jackson entered the quaint restroom with his hands over his eyes. Although he had seen April in the nude many times before, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," he said softly his eyes still covered.

April swiftly fetched her towel and maneuvered it around her petite frame. She was relieved that he had not seen her unclothed and vulnerable; otherwise avoiding an awkward encounter between the two.

"It's ok Jackson," she replied walking over to the sink so that she could brush her teeth.

She eyed the empty brush holder on the sink letting out a heavy sigh after she realized she had not grabbed her tooth-brush from the other room. She opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and rummaged through the various supplies before giving up the search. She glanced at Jackson who was silently standing near the door with his eyes still covered.

She laughed lightly.

"You can uncover your eyes now."

Jackson obliged removing his hands from his face and taking in an image of his fiancé wrapped irresistibly in only a towel. April noticed the way he held his gaze and shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good Morning," he beamed as he approached her from behind.

He wrapped his arms around her midsection and held on to her firmly. He couldn't help himself from smelling the sweet aroma of cucumber melon as it radiated from her hair. It made him want to be even closer to her, taking the initiative to rest his chin just over her shoulder. He gazed at their reflection in the half fogged mirror pleased at the sight of the trauma surgeon.

"You are so beautiful," he expressed turning her around so that she was facing him.

April loathed the proximity among them finding the closeness between them unbearable. She looked away from him at the very second that she could feel his eyes on her, watching her, watching her lips. She could feel the heat from his body warming against her own body heat causing her to catch her breath. She had done a good job at keeping him at bay over the last couple of days by avoiding all physical contact with the plastic surgeon. She placed her hands on the counter and let her weight shift backwards and away from Jackson's compulsion. She let her eyes meet his for a short moment noticing the desire in his eyes.

"I want to kiss you," he breathed his lips grazing the tip of her earlobe as he pulled away from her.

April hastily turned her back towards him and pretended to search for her toothbrush once more. She grabbed the half full tube of "Colgate Total Care" and waved it in front of Jackson.

"Can you grab my toothbrush from my bag," she asked. "I think I left the bag beside the bed," she called out to Jackson after he left to retrieve her toothbrush.

Moments later Jackson returned toothbrush in hand and a look of disdain on his face. He revealed the pink toothbrush with purple bristles in the palm of his hand and April quickly swiped it from his hand.

"Thank you," she muttered while squeezing a thin line of paste along the surface of the brush.

Jackson patiently watched April brush her teeth three times in one setting, rinse her face and hand dry it with the corners of her towel. He smiled catching a glimpse of her thigh as she gently rubbed her face. Seconds later Jackson was asked to leave so that April could continue to prepare herself for the day. He limped himself over to the bed regretting his decision to get out of bed in the first place and made himself comfortable. He had hoped to have gotten more than a smile from the woman in his life. He wanted her. He wanted to touch her, to kiss her; he just wanted to be near her. Ever since his accident she had not shown him any affection other than a friendly hug and a warm smile. He didn't understand why she was avoiding their attraction to one another.

A few minutes had passed when April walked out of the bathroom dressed in navy blue scrubs and her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. He was impressed at how quickly she had gotten dressed given every woman he had ever met had needed a day to get ready when allowed to. She carried her belongings over to the chair that held her night bag. She placed her remaining items inside and sealed the bag. She reached for the bag but was startled by Jackson's firm hand as he grabbed hold of her wrist.

"What's going on with you?" he asked searching her eyes with his own.

"Nothing," she answered meekly.

Jackson could hear the uncertainties in her weakened voice. It infuriated him that she could lie to him even in the simplest way. He couldn't help but wonder if there was something else she was hiding from him.

"April, come on. You don't have to lie to me. Whatever it is I can make it better," he said sweetly. "You know that I can."

She peered down at him battling with the decision to tell him. She could admit that she would benefit from him knowing the truth then not. She naturally bit the corners of her mouth with sharp teeth wondering why she had even considered telling him the truth.

"Jackson you can't fix everything," she concluded after much debate. "

The surgeon pondered her confession, resting his finger on the center of his chin.

"So there is a problem?"

'It's nothing you should worry about," she said reassuringly.

"Worry me," he said bluntly studying her facial expression.

"The one moment that will define my entire career as a surgeon is right around the corner and I'm not ready for it."

"You're taking the boards?" he asked confirming his own question.

"In four days."

April's self-esteem had taken a blow when she had failed her boards and had lost her fellowship at the hospital. The possibility of her failing a second time terrified her. Jackson observed the worry on her face.

"I'll help you study. We can even use flash cards," Jackson offered knowing April would not be able to say no. Flash cards was her preferred method of study.

"Maybe."

Jackson held on to April's wrist reaching for the other so that he could hold them both.

"I'll set up a study group for you tonight," he announced with sincere intentions. He wanted to help her in every way that he could and he hoped she understood how much she meant to him.

"Jackson that's really nice of you but I can't tonight. I've been at the hospital day and night for the past 7 days and I want to sleep in my bed with my pillow and the comfort of my country styled bed spread."

Jackson released her hands allowing them to fall back in place on the sides of April's form.

"Wow you must think I'm a selfish bastard," Jackson concluded feeling the guilt of keeping her to himself. He didn't intend to smother her or pressure her into spending all of her time here at the hospital with him, but he couldn't deny that he had grown accustomed to it.

"No I don't think that," she said meaningfully. "I just really miss my bed."

"I don't think I could stand in between a woman and her bed," he replied with a soft chuckle.

April smiled back at him sweeping her night bag up to carry it across her shoulder.

"I need to go," she said placing her arms around his neck and hugging him warmly. "I'll stop by later before I go home tonight."

He nodded watching over her as she traveled to the door.

"I love you," he said to her before losing sight of her.

April heard his confession but did not have an opportunity to respond to his declaration after briefly running into Dr. Sheppard and Callie as they were about to enter his room. Callie gave the trauma surgeon an inquiring glance as they crossed paths. Dr. Sheppard simply greeted her with a pleasant smile before disappearing into Jackson's room. She knew she would have to heed to Callie's curiosity as soon as she got her to herself. She wondered what they were discussing as she continued down the hall; hoping that they only had good news for the plastic surgeon.

"How are you Jackson?" Derrick asked the darker man.

"I'm great," he began. "I'm more than great. I feel amazing.

"Callie smiled at the handsome surgeon thrilled that he had been so receptive to treatment.

"That's really good that you feel that way because we're releasing you," she said enthused by his optimism.

April entered the ER joining the other doctors who were being assigned an intern for the day. She found her place next to Meredith Grey greeting her with a sincere smile. It had been a while since she interacted with the general surgeon; Meredith was still mad that April had stolen her stomach guy last week. Their patient had suffered from a tropical virus that had gone undetected during their first round of testing. April had been the one to diagnose him deciding to revisit his test results after undergoing one unsuccessful exploratory surgery.

"Hi Meredith," she said with a lack of confidence.

Meredith eyed her momentarily before properly addressing the petite red-headed surgeon. She was definitely angry with her and being pregnant only fueled her frustration.

"Hi April," she responded simply. She'd hoped the surgeon would have found a spot as far away from her as possible.

April ignored Meredith's short greeting instead turning her attention to the interns who were seemingly already assigned to an attending. She did a mental head count of the interns and their pairings. Ross was with Christina, Jo with Torrez, and Murphy with Sheppard. That left Ben and Stephanie. It didn't take her long to realize that Ben had already gone with Meredith as the doctors all left to their prospective wings. Great she was stuck with psycho ex-girlfriend for the rest of her shift. April took a deep breath ridding herself of any wrong feelings towards the young intern.

"OK Dr. Edwards it looks like you're stuck with me," April said handing over a pile of patient files to the younger woman. "You can start with scut and when you're done I'll find something else for you to do."

Stephanie furrowed her brows and peered at April over the brim of her glasses. As much as she wanted to avoid the trauma fellow; she knew she could learn a lot from her.

"No problem," she answered back avoiding eye contact with the more experienced surgeon.

April gave her a pat on the back as she walked past the pregnant woman.

"Perfect," she said with a forced smile. "I'm going to need an update on Mr. Pecharic's post ops within the next couple of hours."

"Got it," Stephanie replied waiting around for any unsaid directions.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Stephanie ventured off in search of the nearest elevator leaving April all to herself.

"Humph. That didn't go so bad," she figured aloud walking behind the service desk to get access to the computer.

The ER was dead to the world and she had nothing better to do than to search for a venue for her upcoming wedding. She knew that Matthew had wanted to take things slow which meant there would be no wedding planning for a while, but she was never one to listen. There was no date, time, or place set should the wedding actually take place mostly because April had been too busy being a doctor instead of an excitable fiancé. Looking at venues was completely harmless if you asked her. Ideally she had dreamed of being married by her father in her father's church back in Moline. However, Matthew's family lived right here in the city and it wouldn't be fair to have them travel just because it had been her dream to marry at home where she felt the safest. She googled "wedding venues" weeding out those that were not the right fit; if she was not going to marry back home then wherever she married had to be perfect. She clicked on a link to the Cambridge Estates Compound and was immediately drawn to its beautiful pastures and landscaping. This place would be perfect if they wanted to have an outdoors wedding.

"What are you looking at," Calliope said peeking over the trauma surgeon's shoulder.

April quickly shut down the browser and pulled up the hospital's admissions list hoping that Callie had not seen what she had really been up to.

"Nothing," she answered back. "I was just about to pull yesterday's admissions report to prepare for compliance."

"Oh," she said with a raised brow. "Is that why you were looking at photos of the Cambridge Estates? You sure you weren't looking for locations for your wedding ceremony."

"You caught me," she admitted. There was no covering up to the orthopedic surgeon, she had an intuition about lies that even the deepest criminal minds could not get past.

"I thought you and Matthew were taking things slow."

"We are," April conceded giving up the notion to avoid her best friend's prying mind. "I was only looking," she finished.

"Of course you were, it's no big deal. The Cambridge Estates is a lovely venue; Arizona and I had considered renewing our vows there before the plane crash," said Callie.

April couldn't believe Callie had not asked her about catching her leaving Jackson's room this morning. She was sure the surgeon had an opinion as she had an opinion about everything. She walked around the service station to the printer so that she could retrieve the admissions report. She sealed it in an interoffice envelope and placed it on the counter so that she could address the envelope.

"Yes it's very nice," she said softly building up the courage to broach the subject of Jackson. She knew this conversation was inevitable and she didn't want to postpone the subject. "About this morning," she initiated analyzing the surgeon's expression.

Callie gave the red-head an inquisitive look before smiling deviously at the trauma surgeon. "What about this morning?" she asked.

"Callie," April chastised holding one hand on her hip.

"You mean Jackson?" she responded nonchalantly grabbing a handful of condoms from the freebie bowl and handing them to April.

"What are these for?" April asked.

"They're for you silly. I figured you and the pretty boy wouldn't want another pregnancy scare since you too have been sleeping together again," Callie playfully stated.

"We're not sleeping together ok, it's totally innocent."

"Right," Callie said eying the young surgeon suspiciously. She had been a witness to the misguided attraction between the two and she knew if they were spending time together then sex was soon to come.

"Callie I'm serious," she said with frustration in her voice.

Just then Stephanie came running down the corridor towards where the two surgeons were standing.

"Dr. Kepner," she called out to the surgeon sounding a bit out of breath after sprinting all the way down to the ER.

"Dr. Edwards what's wrong?" she asked concerned after being alerted to the fear in the young intern's voice.

"Mr. Pecharic is crashing," she said once she reached the service station.

"What?" she asked. "And you left him alone?"

"No of course not. I was able to sustain him but his heart beat is very weak. I had one of the nurses page Dr. Grey since she had some knowledge of his case."

April let out a sigh of relief. For a second there she had thought that the intern had knowingly left the patient alone.

April turned to Callie who was deeply engrossed in their conversation. "Callie I have to go, but we will finish this later," she promised as she followed Stephanie to the elevator.

April entered Mr. Pecharic's room a few minutes later, Stephanie right behind her. Meredith was administering chest compressions to the patient who appeared to have flat-lined. April swiftly jumped in beside Meredith grabbing the defibrillator from the shock cart.

"Push two millimeters of epi," April directed Stephanie placing the device on the man's chest.

"Dr. Kepner I have this under control," Meredith said signaling for Stephanie to step away from Mr. Pecharic's IV. Stephanie looked at Dr. Kepner deciding to push the epi as directed.

"One, two, Charge," said April as she proceeded to charge the patient's heart.

"What are you doing? Step away from the patient Dr. Kepner."

April ignored Meredith's plea more concerned with the life of the man lying motionless on the hospital bed.

"Push 3 epi's," she said once more charging the patient for the second time.

"Dr. Kepner," Meredith said this time more aggressively.

April stared at the monitor watching for the rhythm of his heart to pick back up again. Seconds later Mr. Pecharic's heart resumed normal rhythmic speed.

"Dr. Kepner you are way out of line," Meredith expressed.

"Maybe so but I just saved this patient's life," said April addressing the irate general surgeon.

Meredith gave the trauma surgeon a sharp stern before exiting the hospital room.

"You did the right thing Dr. Kepner," Stephanie admitted after everyone had left the room.

"Thank you Dr. Edwards," April said appreciatively.

The two stood a moment before speaking both avoiding direct eye contact with each other. Given the circumstances working with Dr. Edwards had not been problematic as she had expected.

"We should probably run a lab on him while he's still stable," April suggested peering at the patient's steady heartbeat.

"Sure," Stephanie replied before leaving to gather blood testing supplies.

April entered her apartment exhausted from the hectic day she had to find Matthew sitting patiently on her living room sofa. It startled her at first remembering that she had given him a key a few weeks back. She walked over to him finding a seat next to him.

"Hey," she said gently looking at her fiancé with open eyes. She wasn't sure why he had found it necessary to visit her apartment without asking. "What are you doing here," she asked.

"I needed to see you," he said tenderly gazing into her chocolate eyes.

She kissed him sweetly tasting the saltiness of his lips as he deepened the kiss. It had been a while since she had felt this type of urgency from the paramedic taking her by surprise as he gently laid her back against the sofa. He found her neck with his lips nuzzling her collarbone as he brought his hands up to her chest. She moaned effortlessly forgetting where she was and the commitment she had made to herself and God to abstain from sex. Her breath quickened as he continued to caress her body rubbing his hands up and down her petite frame. She subconsciously reached for his pants unbuckling his belt anxious to feel the love that he had for her. Matthew suddenly lifted his body from hers and sat back against the sofa allowing his head to drift back against the head of the sofa.

"I'm sorry," he said aware that he had taken things a little too fast.

He had not planned on their sexual attraction for one another to escalate as it had. He was committed to the vows he made to remain abstinent until his wedding night. April shamefully shifted her body up from the sofa staring at the coffee table in front of her. He had awaken something in her that she had tried so desperately to bury after she and Jackson had ended things between them.

"It's ok, she said after a few moments of silence. "We both got wrapped up in the moment."

"Yea we did," he confirmed shifting his body so that he was facing her directly. "I don't want you to think that's why I came here tonight April."

"Matthew you don't have to explain anything to me. I know you didn't plan to seduce me. That's not who you are."

Matthew gently grabbed both of her hands giving them a squeeze as he emptied his soul into her eyes. He had something on his mind that he desperately needed to get out; that is why he made such an effort to get over to her apartment after his shift had ended.

"April I have been patient with you and I have done my best to love you as much as you deserve," he began never losing sight of the woman who held his heart.

"I know you have Matthew and I really appreciate your patience throughout all of this. I know being with me hasn't been easy for you," said the red-head.

"It hasn't been easy, but I love you and I think we should move forward with the wedding.

Before April could respond she heard the high-pitched chime of her doorbell ringing.

Matthew looked to April and then back to the door with a look of concern on his face.

"Were you expecting someone this time of night," he asked.

"No I wasn't," she said as she got up to answer the door.

She opened the door surprised to see Jackson standing in her doorway with a small duffel bag in tote.

"Jackson what are you doing here," she asked looking back to Matthew who had gotten up to see who had darkened her doorstep.

"I was released," he said taking note of the gentlemen standing directly behind her.

Jackson entered the apartment placing his duffel bag on the bar. He noticed the couch pillows in disarray as he stepped further into the apartment before speaking.

"April who is this guy?"

Surprise! Jackson and Matthew's first encounter since the accident. Again let me know what you think and I hope to update the next chapter soon.