Set during s13. Jackson gets anxious when April doesn't come back from her date on time.
11:30pm.
He can't help but feel like his stomach is tied in knots as he watches the digital clock on the wall, wondering whats taking her so long. April had said that she'd be back from her date by exactly 11:00pm, and she's always been someone who takes time-keeping seriously - something he knows first hand from the amount of times he'd accidentally make her late for work when they were married. He's not sure why he's so worried, or that it's even his place to worry about her anymore, but he is, and he hates it. All he seems to find himself thinking about is the worst case scenarios that could cause this, and he doesn't like that he's worrying. He's usually calm, cool, collected - the one comforting her whilst she spins out and sees eight different sides to everything. He'd never expected that pushing for a divorce could still have him feeling like this.
At some point, he finds himself drifting off to sleep - but not until after he's texted Arizona to ask if she's heard from her recently. The blonde tells him to stop worrying so much and that he needs to let her just get on with it, which doesn't do anything to help calm his nerves. He understood why she was protective over her and was being blunt with him, and he would never do anything to stop her from trying to be happy, but that didn't mean he could just turn off how he felt. He'd been the person looking out for her even before they were together, so it only seemed natural to try to still be that person now - even though he knew deep down that he shouldn't.
The door creeks open a few hours later, and he jolts awake almost instantly. Its as if his body has a built in April Kepner alarm clock, and despite the fact that he feels groggy from how uncomfortable he was, he finds himself feeling a lot calmer at the sight of her looking completely normal.
"Oh thank god. You're okay?" He asks, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
His ex-wives eyes narrow at him, noticing that the television isn't on, so its unlikely he fell asleep watching the game. "Yes? Why wouldn't I be? and why are you still up?"
"I, uh...fell asleep on the couch. Really though, you're okay?"
"Yes, Jackson, I'm fine. I got paged and ended up in the ER for a few hours, so my date was kind of a bust. I guess lying about being paged before must mean I kind of jinxed myself, or something." She finds herself rambling a bit, and he can't help but still find it endearing, until she pauses and looks at him with a confused expression on her face. "Wait, were you...worried?"
Feeling rather sheepish about being caught out, Jackson looks down and scratches behind his ear. "A little, yeah. I just...thought something might've happened to you. He could've been a creep for all I know."
"I can take care of myself, you know, and he wasn't a creep. He was...fine."
Fine? Just fine? That didn't exactly sound as though she was giving the guy a glowing report, and he couldn't help but feel relieved by that, too, even though he knows he shouldn't.
"Right...anyway, I should, uh, get to bed. This couch isn't great for my back." He stands up and stretches uncomfortably, before making his way towards the master bedroom, "Glad you're okay."
Her eyes narrows at him as he walks away, and she can't help but smile to herself slightly in amusement.