As soon as the elevator doors opened Jackson squeezed out between them, and started his race down the halls. He must have appeared to be a mad man – not unlikely with the psych ward so close by -, speeding through the halls on a quiet day like this. Plastic consults weren't exactly 'urgent', not usually anyway. To his co-workers there would be no obvious reason for him to race around the floor like that. To him there was, though, and this wighed heavier than the comments he might later receive for his current actions.

The curtain on bed number 14 was closed, which caused his heart to skip a beat. A closed curtain was usually not a good sign. Either something was wrong or the bed had been put on hold for the time being. Considering it was his son's bed he would prefer neither of those options.

After taking a deep breath Jackson pulled the curtain open, ready to be faced with the worst.

He wasn't. All he was faced with was his family.

April was sitting on the gurney with stretched out legs on which Samuel rested. It was a familiar sight that, oddly enough, helped Jackson to relax immediately.

"Hey", he greeted her taking a seat next to her legs.

As she looked up he looked down at their son. It was obvious Samuel had not just started crying a minute ago. His face was all red and tear stained, but his tiny lungs were not done yet. Whoever was in charge of their case had probably pulled the curtain on them to limit other patient's annoyance. April might have even done it herself. Sometimes she was too considerate for her own good. However, this wasn't the time or place to argue about that.

Ever so lightly Jackson brushed his fingers against Samuel's cheek. "Don't cry, little guy. Daddy's here, mommy's here... what more could you want?"

He didn't receive a reply from his son. April, it seemed, had more to say. "Working legs?", she suggested dryly.

Her husband looked up at her with some concern. She was still dressed in her navy scrubs, which made sense since she was working until five today. Although she must have been exposed to their son's miserable sounding cries for some time now she didn't seem especially upset. It was hard to tell with her hair partially hiding her face. He took his hand from Samuel's cheek to reach up and tuck some stray strands behind her ears.

"You alright?", he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit bummed I didn't get to see him walk. We don't know when that's gonna happen again", she explained, looking pointedly at Samuel's legs.

"Mh... I get that feeling.", he agreed, following her gaze to their wailing infant.

Times like these made him question whether working nine to five was really worth it. Despite the fact that he had not missed any milestones of Samuel's before today – if seeing them on clips April took on her phone counted – he still experienced his own share of working-parent-guilt. With a child constantly at risk of breaking a bone it was even harder. Not that he had anything to compare his feelings to. They only had one child. But Samuel breaking something crucial to his further development was a cloud hanging around even when he was safely in Jackson's own arms. Today he had not only missed their son's first steps, but also hadn't been there to comfort their boy when his legs crumbled beneath him- literally.

Jackson supposed April's feelings couldn't be too different from his own. He was sure her mind was racing 100 miles an hour as she watched their weeping child wiggle. Well, as much as one could wiggle with a broken... yeah. What had he broken anyway?

"So, what exactly are we looking at? Tibula fracture? Broken femurs?"

April shrugged. "I don't know. Someone was supposed to come with an x-ray some time ago, but I guess they needed it elsewhere... I would have gotten it myself, but Hannah seemed to be pretty upset about all of this, so I told her to just go home for today. Besides, I really didn't want to leave him with some random person he doesn't know. Not when he's in pain like that..."

She bit her lower lip and Jackson just knew she was experiencing the same conflicted feelings he was right now. Or something close to them at least.

"Sucks that we weren't there to see him walking", he probed.

"Yeah", April agreed with a sigh, "I wish we would have been..."

Jackson titled his head as he watched her brush her hand up and down Samuel's belly, probably to distract and calm him a little. Her third month back at work was drawing to an end. Full shifts, on call evenings – she was all in, and so was Jackson. Thanks to Hannah it was possible. Their nanny was very flexible in her schedule and seemed to love Samuel almost as much as they did.

Also, since she came Samuel had been completely injury free. To Jackson, this was a serious candidate for becoming the eight wonder of the world. He wanted to know Hannah's secret, but she kept insisting that there was no such thing as a secret and he'd see soon enough once Samuel broke his first bone under her watch...

She had been right after all.

"I'm kind of glad I wasn't, though." His wife's sudden confession made him look up at her. It took him a second to even understand she was talking about being there for Samuel's first steps.

"What do you mean?"

Never before had April expressed anything other than affection for their son. She'd openly admitted to resenting his illness months ago, which they were still dealing with. But she'd never even hinted at needing a break from Sam himself.

She bit her lip, which, under different circumstances, might have had quite the effect on him. "I mean... I'm glad I wasn't there when he hurt himself, because I... I'm kinda glad he broke a bone under Hannah's watch." Her eyes darted across the hallway. "Oh my god, I can't believe I just said that. Don't tell her."

Jackson chuckled. Only April could make him laugh in a situation like this. And reassure him. He reached over to squeeze her knee. Only April.

"Don't worry, I won't... I get where you're coming from... in a way."

Their eyes met, but not in understanding. She was clearly confused.

"I was wondering where she got that magic touch", he said, "Three months and no broken bone? We've been breaking his bones since before he was born."

April snorted. "We should put that on a onesie. Breaking bones since before I was born."

Jackson was glad she took it with humor, not as an insult. "Great idea. Let's do that."

"But we need to hide it when my mother comes", she giggled.

"Only if we can hide the 'Jesus loves me' jacket when my mother comes", Jackson argued.

"But Jesus does love him. Yes, he does, Sammy, yes he does..." Her hands had remained on Samuel's belly rubbing it. Since the cries were getting less in frequency and volume it seemed to be working.

Jackson rolled his eyes in an attempt to appear unfazed. "Whatever."

The thing was that going to church for over half a year had changed his views on going to church. It wasn't like he was scheduling his own baptism in the nearest future, but he didn't mind getting up at eight on a Sunday – not that he was one for sleeping in, being a doctor and all – to put on nice clothes and go to church with his family anymore.

He liked listening to the sermon and the church songs. He knew where to sit on cold days (second bench from the back on the right side, closest to the heating), he knew where to sit for some natural light (fourth bench from the front in the middle, right across from the biggest window), and he knew where to sit to catch up on sleep (behind the pillars, any of them would do, really). He grew accustomed to the ritual, the Lord's Prayer. And he'd grown to appreciate the view the people at church had on Samuel. They didn't saw him as ill. They saw him as chosen. Jackson understood why April preferred this label to an incurable disease.

After all, their son was a genius. Walking at ten months. He might as well be chosen.

Well. Walking for the first time at ten months. Who knew when his bones would be healed enough to start trying again. Baby bones healed faster, but to be honest Jackson had not payed too much attention in peds and neither had April. They'd both known that was one of the specialties they didn't want. April had done a lot of reading up since Samuel's diagnosis, obviously, but without an x-ray they were none the wiser.

As if on cue Jo Wilson hit their bed with a mobile x-ray.

"Oops, sorry", she apologized, "Still don't know how to maneuver that thing."

"Don't worry, you're doing just fine", April assured the young resident. She looked at Jackson expectantly.

"Mh..."

"We don't need my legs on the x-ray, Jackson", she hinted with an amused smile on her face.

"Oh, of course, sorry. C'mon over, little man..."

Transferring Samuel from one grown up to the other always proved to be difficult, even without taking extra caution for already broken limbs. Somehow they always managed, and today they managed, too. Jackson placed him down on the gurney. The change of position confused Samuel so much he stopped crying altogether. Instead he moved his head frantically.

April leaned over to come back into his view. "Don't worry, Sammy, I didn't go anywhere."

"Yes, Sam-man", Jackson confirmed with a smile, "We're all here."

"You guys are such a cute family", Jo praised. Her grudge about Jackson's betrayal of Stephanie was long gone. Now all she could see was the picture perfect family. Of course, they couldn't care less about how they looked to others at the moment. "Uh... probably not the time to gush about the baby, right?"

"No, it's fine. It's always fine to gush about the baby", April assured.

Catching her cocky mood, Jackson proudly added: "Did you know we've got an early walker on our hands?"

A/N: I imagine both April and Jackson would/will be total bragger parents when it comes to their child. April would be annoying people out of the locker room by sharing stories and Jackson would be showing everyone pictures and videos on his phone. Anyway... WDYT? And do you think I should put a few consecutive chapters instead of the one shots? I'm thinking about it, but I'm not so sure whether that would be nice to read. So. Let me know and as always, thank you for reading :)