The cracks appear in Matthew & April's marriage.

"Dr Kepner, Dr Avery is at the reception.", the receptionist at April's clinic buzzed in her office.

"Sure, send him in here. Thanks."

Jackson walked into her office a few moments later. He was used to it. This was one of 2 places they would switch off. Either his place or her work, for some reason.

"Hey, sorry I'm late.", he apologised sincerely. He had called to give her heads up but still felt the need to.

"Don't worry about it! I picked her up from daycare so it'd be quicker.", April replied warmly, pointing to Harriet's sleeping form on her carseat.

"I appreciate it.", Jackson made his way towards Harriet & quickly transferred her to his own carseat, without waking her up & gave her a quick kiss on her forehead.

"How's work?", he asked April once he was done.

April was surprised by his question, they didn't really do small talk anymore. "Umm work's good. Hard. But rewarding. How about you?"

"Same old. I've made some progress on the spray on skin though."

"That's great. I can't wait to read your paper on it.", she replied but there was an underlying awkwardness there. Something that had been lining all their interactions since his freak out about God & faith.

She kind of hated him for it. They had reached an understanding before that. It didn't mean that their issues were worked through and April had made peace with the fact that they probably never would be. But they had put all of it in the past & moved forward with new people. Doing what was the best for Harriet. But then all his talks & messages & calls about what he seemed to be struggling with had put a strain on their delicate arrangement. Catherine's diagnosis & subsequent treatment had pulled his focus though, but it would still take some time for them to return to their prior level of ease.

Jackson stood around, scratching his neck, struggling with what he needed to bring up. He wasn't sure how she'd take it.

"There's umm something I wanted to talk about.", he started, nervously.

"Uh ok. Sure.", April gestured towards the chair opposite hers & he sat himself down.

"So firstly, I want to apologise. Before mom's surgery.. I feel like I may have not respected the boundaries we'd set up.", he was looking away from her, clearly nervous about saying it, "Some calls & messages might've been a little.. yknow…"

"It's fine, Jackson. I would've told you if it made me uncomfortable."

"That's the thing. You wouldn't have.", he smiled, looking back up at her, "I was obviously stressing out & you're too nice to turn anyone away at that kind of time."

She just smiled at that.

"But you're married & we're co-parents. I should've been more thoughtful of that. No matter what. So I'm sorry if I made you or our setup uncomfortable."

April smiled again at just how in sync they still were considering her thoughts just minutes prior. "It's okay, Jackson. Really. I just hope I was able to help."

"You were. You really were. Thank you.", he looked at her, intensely.

She really did help him. At least with the struggles about faith. The other issues.. Well.. it wasn't like he could talk to her about them. Kate didn't know the depth of the feelings there & Maggie pretty much shut down when he told her. So he did what he knew best. He bottled up that grief & put it aside. Put all this focus on his mother, his work & his current relationship. There was no way but forward. April had happily moved on & he wasn't going to let those feelings torpedo what he had with Maggie. Not when nothing could come off it anyway.

Which brought him to his next point, "And another thing I wanted to discuss."

April nodded & gestured him to continue.

"So there's something I've been thinking & I wanted to run it by you. Just make sure you're okay with it."

She inhaled deeply, preparing herself. He was struggling with his, clearly. So she wasn't sure if it was something she wanted to hear.

"I'm going to ask Maggie to move in with me."

April didn't really know how to react to that but she kept her expression even, smiling slightly, "Oh. Well, that's great!"

"Yeah?", he finally looked at her, trying to gauge her expression.

"Of course."

He nodded, slightly, "I haven't asked her yet but I wanted to give you heads up because this would mean she'd be around Harriet more & I just hope that's fine & you don't have any concerns about that."

"No, obviously not. She's around Harriet plenty anyway & if I had concerns, you'd have heard them by now."

"Okay, great. Thought you should know!", he smiled.

"I appreciate that! I'm really happy for you.", April said, genuinely. She was. She was happy for him. Because she was happy herself & he deserved that too.

"Thank you."

"I'm home.", April called out as she entered her & Matthew's house. She'd seen his car in the driveway so knew that he & Ruby were home.

"Hi honey. How was your day?", Matthew came to greet her by the door, giving her a quick peck.

"Long. How was yours?", April asked, entering the kitchen & grabbing a bottle of water.

"Uninteresting. So I bailed early.", he chuckled.

"Ruby asleep?"

"Yeah, just put her to bed. So Har-har with Avery for the next couple of days?", he asked.

April bristled at the nickname that he just wouldn't stop using, "Matt, I thought we discussed you calling her that."

"What? It's cute!"

"It's weird."

"Well, she likes it. It's our little thing!"

"She's a toddler! I doubt she knows what she likes.", April retorted but Matthew just brushed it off, laughing. Like he always did.

"So I'm guessing Avery picked her up from your work?"

"Yeah, as usual."

"Don't you think it's kind of weird that he doesn't pick her up from here? Like.. ever?", Matthew questioned, biting into an apple.

"Do you want him to come over?", she replied, laughing. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that the last thing Matthew wanted was more face time with Jackson.

"Of course I dot want him to 'come over' but I'd understand if he did to pick her up.", he rolled his eyes, "I kind of expected it but it's been months and he hasn't once. It's just.. odd."

Pulling attention to it, April agreed it was a little odd, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe he just thinks it'd be awkward. I dunno."

"Why? You do drop offs at his place all the time."

"Well maybe I won't anymore."

"Huh?", Matthew looked confused.

"So get this, Jackson told me today that he's asking Maggie to move in with him. Or that he's 'about to' ask her to move in with him.", April chuckled, telling him of the conversation they'd had.

"Oh.", he continued chewing, "Why would he tell you that?"

"Just wanted to give me heads up, I guess. & ask if I'm okay with it.", she shrugged, moving to sit at the stool by the kitchen.

He still had a confused expression one his face, "Why wouldn't you be."

"Of course I would be. Of course I am. He just wanted to ask for Harriet's sake, now that she'd be around her more or something."

"Huh", he seemed deep in though, which bothered April.

"What?"

"I guess I'm just confused at to why he needs your permission to move in with his girlfriend. And why that would make you not go to his place anymore.", she noticed the change in his demeanour & tone & realised he was getting upset.

"I was just joking about that."

"Yeah? Cause that at least gives me a reason as to why he wont come here. Because I'm here. Guess he just wants to be around you alone."

"What are you saying?", and now she was pissed.

"Is Maggie ever there when you do drop-offs at his place?"

"I'm not answering that. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you're not implying what I think you are.", she stood up, looking straight at him.

"You're right. I'm sorry, I didn't.. I trust you, it's not that. I just… ", he sighed deeply, "I hate that he's still such a big part of our life."

April sighed too. She knew Matthew felt this way, had known all along but he'd been trying really hard to bury that anger & resentment to build a life with her.

"I know it's not easy for you. But it is what it is & there's no way around it. I'm sorry.", she replied, hoping this was the end of it.

"But Harriet-related things, I get. I just don't see why you need to be involved in his private life.", he continued to press on.

"I'm not, this is Harriet related. He was being considerate."

"Pfft yeah. Jackson Avery. Considerate-est man alive."

"It's what you do! As a co-parent. I did it too!", she replied frustratedly, annoyed that he wasn't giving up on this.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… That I had the same talk with him when you & I started getting serious. Just to give him a heads up & talk about what it meant for Harriet."

His expression changed from mild annoyance to amusement.

"Wow. Just fucking A.", he let out a humorless laugh, "So you're telling me that our future together was contingent on Jackson fucking Avery giving us his blessing?"

He got up & stormed off into the living room, "What if he'd said no? What, you'd have dumped me because he said so? AGAIN?"

"Matthew calm the hell down. I didn't ask his permission to be with you, I didn't need it but you know the history with the 3 of us, I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't affect Harriet."

"Stop using Harriet as an excuse."

"Excuse me?", she nearly laughed at him, "An 'excuse'. Harriet is the single most important thing in my life. And Jackson is her father. Everything either of us do or decide affects her & it's our job to put her well being first."

"You think I don't know that? I'm a parent too!"

"But you're not a co-parent. That's where it's differs. I have to consider Jackson, I just do. You never had to deal with that because…", she trailed off, not wanting to make this worse.

"Say it.", Matthew challenged.

"Matthew…"

"I never had to do that because lucky for me.. Ruby's mother is dead!"

"That's not what I meant to say & you know that.", April replied softly, resigning to the mess that this had become.

"I have no clue what you meant to say. But you're right, I don't have to co-parent so I don't have to deal with the oh-so-terrible reality of dealing with an ex. I just had to watch my wife get buried."

"It's not a competition…"

"You're damn right it isn't. It's not even fucking close. You had a marriage that failed. My wife is dead.", he declared, falling on the couch.

"Your wife.. is right here.", April tried to control her voice & hold back tears, "I don't know what you want me to say here. I didn't mean to imply that you had it easier since Karin is gone, I didn't.", She hastily wiped away tears that escaped her eyes, "But losing a marriage after losing a child wasn't a cakewalk for me either."

Matthew got up and walked towards her, trying to pull back his anger & focus on April.

He pulled her into his arms & ran his hands softly across her back till she calmed down.

"I know. That's what brought us back together, right? We understand. I never meant to say that things have been easy for you.", he whispered.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. Can we not? Let's not let our past define our relationship's future.", she pulled back from the hug & looked at him, "We love each other. We're married. God brought us back together. That's all that matters. Right?"

He pulled her back in for another hug, "Right."

April held on to him & willed the pit in her stomach to disappear because she knew it had to. Only it didn't, not for another year.

So in my timeline Mapril starts falling apart right along side Jaggie (soulmatism) but it just took them longer to accept it because faith etc.

Also, I'm japrilmusings on tumblr now, if you wanna send any inspo my way :)