"Doctor Kepner, why did you become a doctor?"
April looked down at the intern standing next to her from the board she was checking to see patients' statuses.
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, because," said the intern whose name was Julie, "Every doctor I knew discouraged me from becoming one. They said that I would have to put my life on hold because you have to put your entire heart and soul into the job. And if you don't do that you aren't a good doctor."
"That's true, Julie," replied April simply.
"And you were okay with that?" The intern pressed.
"Becoming a doctor is like becoming a glorified social worker," April told her, moving to check if any of the patients were ready to be discharged.
"We give our lives and souls to our patients and in the process we can sometimes forgot about ourselves." She pulled out a stethoscope and checked on a patient, telling them that they were ready to be discharged.
Walking to the next patient she said, "And it's true that most doctors get married and have children, if at all, later in life. But it's not that bad. Look at me and Doctor Avery."
"But you two are in love!" The intern argued, "what are the chances that I'll find someone with this crazy schedule."
"It is true that doctors usually end up marrying doctors because they're the only people they meet," she said calmly as she moved on to tell a patient that they'll have to have surgery to remove their gall stones, "that doesn't mean that we have to be involved with our co-workers. The reason you don't have time is because you're an intern. Things will slow down as you become a resident and then an attending."
"And Doctor Avery and I weren't always in love." She added, "we were acquaintances for a long time, then awkward friends, then best friends, roommates, and after all that we got married."
"If you don't mind me asking Doctor, how long have you been married?" asked the intern hesitantly, afraid that her superior would get angry at the personal nature of the question.
"Nearly seven years now," replied April with a smile as she put the electronic chart back in its stand.
"We got married when we here about thirty, and honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. We needed the time to get to know each other."
The intern looked at her shoes thoughtfully.
"Do you think that I have hope to actually have a life within all this chaos?" she asked waving around the busy ER.
"Yes, I actually do." April had seen Julie with a third year resident named Adam and knew that they would get together at some point.
"I do too." April looked at the source of the voice behind her and saw Jackson leaning over the nurses desk at them.
"Oh, Doctor Avery," Julie blushed, as all female interns did around her husband, "I was just talking to Doctor Kepner about life as a surgeon." Looking up at her seniors and back down very quickly, she stammered, "I'll go book an OR for that patient with gall stones. Excuse me."
April nodded, and looked at Jackson. "How much of that did you hear?"
"The part where you said that we weren't always in love," he leaned toward so her with a small smirk on his face, "Though I'd say that we were. Remember when we met at the intern party and we were them only sober people?"
April smiled at the memory. "Yeah, you said 'Looks like it's only me and you'."
"Me and you April," he kissed her cheek before saying, "I have a consult for a rhinoplasty and then I have to pick Nia from ballet, see you at home?"
April nodded and couldn't help but smile at the retreating back of her husband.
"Doctor we have an incoming trauma, car crash, five victims- all in bad shape."
April nodded at the nurse and went to get her gown and shouted at her interns to get their game together. Thus, began the game of playing doctor.
A/N: Not a lot of Japril I know, but I've always wanted to write a piece explaining why April would choose to be a surgeon or continue being a surgeon even with the crazy schedules. Leave a review to tell me what you think!