Jackson walked like the wind had been knocked out of him, he had a daughter, and because of his own stupidity he had missed the past three years of her life while her mother had moved on and was having another child with someone else. He felt like a dead man walking, especially when he saw his mother Catherine Avery waiting in the conference room for him. He didn't need to say anything, she already knew.

"You saw April didn't you?" She wondered.

"Yes, I saw April," he growled.

"What's going on in your head, baby?"

"It doesn't matter, she's married, having someone else's baby; all because I was too stupid to answer her calls."

"But you're here now, now you can make it better. God, when she told me she was pregnant, you should have seen how scared that girl was," Catherine reminisced.

"You knew?" Jackson roared, "You knew and you didn't tell me."

"Oh Jackson, I tried to tell you. I tried to get you to answer the phone, come to Seattle with me. The emergency board meetings, what did you think those were?"

"Uh, board meetings," he answered bluntly.

"No, they were her birth, her first birthday, Christmas, and every other important event a father was supposed to witness."

"You could have told me she was married," he sighed, "I feel like such a fool."

"You aren't a fool, baby. And she is married, but she doesn't look at him like she looked at you. Whenever you would walk by her breath would catch in her throat, she would smile at the thought of you, her world spun for you. Chris is a great guy, perfect guy, on paper," Catherine paused, "But he doesn't hold a candle to you."

"I'm not going to break up her marriage, if that's what you're suggesting."

"No, I know that, that's not the son I raised. But if you get more involved in her life and your daughter's life, maybe she'll come to that conclusion on her own."

"You're despicable. I love April too much to ruin her family, it's probably best if I go, for me, April, and her daughter."

"You know she asks about you?" Catherine added.

"What do you mean?"

"Maddie, she knows you're her dad. She knows I'm her grandmother. You're not a stranger to her and you never have been," Catherine tried to comfort her son who just stared at her with pure shock.

"I don't know what to say."

"Just go and see her, talk to April, it'll be okay."

Jackson left the conference room with his mother, clearly she had set this meeting up purposefully so he'd see April and finally learn the truth about, well everything. The end of the day had come and he was going to go back to Boston in the morning, now was his only chance to make things right.

"Could you please page Dr. Kepner for me," he asked a nurse.

"Dr. Kepner? Sir, a Doctor Kepner doesn't work here," she replied back.

"Red hair, super perky," he started to describe.

"Oh, you mean Dr. Hudson? Wow, no one's called her Doctor Kepner in years, sure I'll page her."

Jackson waited fifteen minutes for April to come and when he saw her walking through those doors with a three year old on her hip and her husband holding her hand he felt as if he had been personally escorted to hell. He had never seen her, his daughter, but there was absolutely no denying her parentage. He was hers, through and through.

"Babe, I need to talk to him, I'll just be a minute. Can you take Maddie to the car?"

"Sure, I'll be right outside, call if you need anything," he kissed her goodbye.

"Will do." She began walking over to Jackson, with a distinct waddle in her step; she was seven months pregnant and even surprised herself that she was still working.

"Hi," she greeted him warmly.

"I, uh, I don't really know what to say," he began, "I should have called you back. I shouldn't have left, I should have done so many things. I don't know what else to say besides I'm sorry," he blurted out.

"Jackson, I know you're sorry."

"I can understand if you hate me, if you don't want me in her life, I can, you know it's better if I just go. It was a mistake to come here in the first place." As he turned around to get his things she shouted back at him.

"You know I waited for you. I waited a year and a half for you before I moved on, I wanted you Jackson. I was in love with you. I didn't mean to find Chris, I didn't mean to fall for someone else because if I could have what I've always wanted I would be married to you right now and we'd be taking our daughter home," the words flowed from her mouth effortlessly.

"You said you were relieved to not marry me," he turned around and looked at her.

"I was relieved that the wedding wouldn't be a shot gun wedding that neither of us really wanted, but were doing out of obligation."

"When did you find out the test was a false negative?"

"Two weeks after you left. That's when I started calling you non-stop, but you refused to answer me."

"You could have come to visit, sent a letter, sent a court order?"

"I figured if you wouldn't answer a phone call or an e-mail that me showing up pregnant wouldn't have been the best option."

"Can you tell me one thing," he asked.

"What?"

"Are you happy?"

"Yes, Jackson. Yes I'm happy."

"Good, that's all I could ever want."

"Are you?" she looked at him with her hazel eyes as she twirled her wedding band around her finger, "Are you happy?"

"Boston has its moments, but no I'm not happy. I'm not going to lie to you April, leaving you was the worst mistake of my life."

"I know," she whispered, "It was the worst mistake of mine too," and then she gazed up at him and the only thing she wanted to do was kiss him but something in the back of her mind told her not to, "I have to go Jackson, they're waiting in the car for me."

"Will I ever get to meet her?"

"How long are you in town for?" Truthfully he had a flight set for that night, but with nothing to return to he could stay as long as he wanted.

"A few days."

"Okay, I'll bring her by tomorrow, I have a surgery at 8:00 a.m. that should be done by noon, lunch sound okay?"

"Lunch sounds perfect," he smiled as he watched her leave and head out to her husband. It broke his heart more than anything to see him with another man, but it made him so happy to see that she was happy. April Kepner, no April Hudson had finally found her happy ending.