This one shot is dedicated to AppleSa for prompting me to write something where people think that Jackson isn't their child's father instead of April. (I'm so sorry this took so long! I really don't have anything to blame except work and procrastination) The end is sort of sucky but I hope you like the rest :P

*BEEP!*

Please pick Nia up from daycare. MB trauma.

Jackson slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked down at the watch April gifted him on his birthday to check the time. It was almost half past five, daycare closed at 6 and this board meeting looked like it still had an hour to go. They were supposed to be discussing the merits of selling t-shirts and hoodies with the hospital's logo in the gift shop. He glanced at Hunt and motioned to his wrist. Hunt nodded in understanding.

"I think that this can be discussed later. The plan is to sell these during the winter and we have time. I have a surgery and I'm sure all of you have work too."

There were mumbles of agreement and Jackson quickly picked up the papers in front of him and slipped out of the room. He quickly walked across the hospital towards the daycare, occasionally glancing towards his watch. He has heard no shortage of stories about the ladies at the daycare and their anger at parents who didn't pick up their children on time.

When he finally reached, he looked around for a girl of around five years with brown curly hair. When he couldn't locate his daughter, he noticed giggling coming from a small group of girls.

They probably work here, he thought and went to ask them where Nia was.

"Have you seen the color of his skin?"

"It's so yummy!"

"I know right, but those eyes."

"Those eyes!"

And then came a sighing. Jackson shook his head. This sort of attention he may have tolerated, even liked, when he was younger. But now he was a grown man with a wife and a daughter and wouldn't accept other woman objectifying him. He cleared his throat.

"Excuse me?"

The chattering stopped and they all turned to look at him.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for Nia," he said crossing his arms to show that he was serious.

"Sure, I'll bring her right over." One of them went to an adjacent room and called for his daughter.

"It's really nice to help a friend like this."

"What?" asked Jackson looking back at the remaining two girls confused.

"You're Dr. Kepner's friend Jackson right? Your name is on the list of people who can pick Nia up."

"What are you talking ab-"

"Daddy!"

"Daddy?"

"Ms Keller this is my father Doctor Jackson Avery."

"What?"

"Nia can't be your daughter! You look nothing alike!"

Then came the silence. Jackson gave the girl who said that a cold look. The coldest look he had probably ever given anyone. What people don't know is that his beautiful eyes could turn to stone when he was mad and if that happened it was never a good sign.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked controlling his anger for the sake of the five year old clutching his pants.

The girl began to answer, but her friend not so subtly stepped on her foot and said quickly, "Nothing, nothing at all. Just sign here and you can take Nia."

Jackson scrawled his signature on the notebook, the same one that was at the bottom of every notice posted in the hospital.

"Thank you, we hope to see you again!"

"Not likely," he said under his breath as he picked up Nia in his arms. He just wanted to hold her close to prove that he was in fact her father.

"Bye Miss Keller! Bye Miss Smith! Bye Miss Gold!" said the toddler in his arms.

The two of them walked to the parking lot and Jackson could see his daughter biting her lip (just like her mother) and he knew that she was trying to form the words to ask him something. He took a few deep breaths and tried to get those girls out of his head. They were only behaving the way a lot of people would have. It was okay.

While he was buckling her up in the back seat of his car she asked the question Jackson was dreading to answer.

"Daddy, why did those people say that you were Mommy's friend and can't be my father?" Tears were forming at the corner of her eyes and if there was something that Jackson couldn't bear it was his daughters tears. He kneeled down next to her and tried to explain the best he could.

"Sweetheart, you are my daughter."

"But then why did Miss Smith say that I can't be?" The tears were running down her face now and Jackson took out a handkerchief from his pocket (his mother instilled in him that every gentleman was supposed to carry a handkerchief in his pocket.)

"Nia, Miss Smith said that because you look more like you Mother."

"But why can't I look like both of you?" she cried.

Jackson chuckled and said, "You do look like both of us. Look at this." He hand out his hand and in the middle of his palm there was a small black mole. Nia had one too, it was the first thing he noticed when he pried open her small fists as a child.

"See, you have the same mark I do. And you have my pointy ears!" He flicked the top of her ears and she let out a watery laugh.

"And you like eating the same burgers I do, and we like the same basketball team."

"The Celtics are the best," said the five year old wisely.

"Yes, they are," replied her father seriously. "All these things just prove you're my daughter. But people only see your hair and you skin color, because those are the first things that people notice."

"Daddy, I don't want hair like yours!" Nia laughed. "Then I wouldn't have any!"

Jackson opened his mouth before realizing that his daughter had just insulted his shaved head.

"Oh, come here you little!" He moved to tickle her and she squirmed in her seat laughing.

"Do you understand now?" asked Jackson, leaning around her to make sure everything was buckled properly.

Nia nodded and said, "I'm a little bit of both of you and some people will only see Mommy's bits but that doesn't matter because I know that I'm your daughter too."

Jackson smiled and ruffled her hair, to which she screamed, "Daddy!"

"You're such a girl," he said shutting the door.

"That's all because of you too!" she said when he started the car. "Grandma Cathy told me…" She continued rambling about how his mother told her about Xs and Ys of making girls and boys. Jackson was glad of how he handled the situation and only laughed out loud when April asked him the next day why the girls at the daycare were apologizing about "yesterday's misunderstanding."

Please leave a review!