33So, I really was not planning to do anything else with this story when I wrote the first part. However, after realizing the Grey's writers have completely forgotten who these characters really are, I was inspired to write some more of who I know them to be. Maybe we'll get the real Jackson and April on the show again, but until then, they will just have to live on in the world I create for them myself.
~Dee
With the warm sun against his face and sand tickling his toes, his heavy eyes easily closed in sweet contentment. Sleep was hovering close by, but just before he could drift off, he felt her presence drawing near. Peering through half opened eyes, he saw her slowly walking his way with her long wavy red hair shimmering like gold in the bright summer sun, the wind gently lifting it around her face. In the blink of an eye, he felt the sand beneath him shift as she knelt beside him. Gazing lovingly at the small bundle nestled against his side, she reached forward to run her fingers through baby soft curls. He was taken aback by the pure joy he saw painting her face. She was happy. The happiest he had ever seen her in fact. He returned her smile, his lips tingling in anticipation as she lowered her head toward him…
Bolting straight up, the screaming alarm clock had his heart thumping against his chest in sync with the infuriating beeps. Slamming his hand down on the offensive noisemaker, the room was bathed in silence once again as he finally found the off button. Rubbing the palms of his hands against his tired eyes, he groaned in frustration. Just seconds before he had been in paradise. Now he was faced with a long Monday of two surgeries, a committee meeting and mounds of endless mind-numbing paperwork that would be capped off by returning home alone to a dark, empty apartment. Those thoughts were enough to make him want to turn back over and pull the covers over his head. His dreams were so much better than this reality. Only the thought of getting to see April at the hospital had him throwing the covers back as he rolled his body off the bed. Reluctantly, he swung his legs down to the floor and shuffled toward the shower that would hopefully wake him up enough to function as a somewhat competent doctor.
It had not exactly been a restful night. After two full days under his watchful eye, she had deemed herself perfectly healthy yesterday morning. Given Arizona had called on Friday to tell them that the lab work showed nothing more than low blood sugar and along with her continued normal blood pressure readings throughout the weekend, he couldn't really argue with her. After sleeping on her less than comfortable couch, April had insisted he return home to sleep in a normal bed. Though he had agreed to go, he had found ways to stall his departure by insisting on making her breakfast, followed by cleaning the kitchen, the bathroom and straightening up the living room. Even though she told him that it wasn't necessary, he told her to enjoy another day of freedom and to prop her feet up and relax. Reluctantly, she had found her way to the couch, flipping through one of the baby magazines he had seen on the coffee table. Within minutes he saw her eyes fight to stay open before she finally dozed off. He tiptoed around the apartment as quietly as he could while continuing to clean, making sure there would be no housecleaning left for her to do. By the time he was finished and she had woken from her quick nap, it was approaching lunchtime so without even asking, he returned to the kitchen and starting preparing something to eat for the both of them. He knew April was a smart woman and he wasn't fooling her by his stall tactics, but it didn't deter him from doing it for as long as she would let him. Eventually he had run out of things to do, so he reluctantly grabbed his keys and headed out the door. Despite initially protesting, she had finally promised to call him if she needed anything. Even when she slowly closed the door after him, it still took him another minute before he could make himself walk away.
As the shower water finally started to warm, he let it beat against his tired face feeling the weariness starting to fade away. Having taken a long weekend off, he knew the paperwork was most likely piled up on his desk. Somehow between everything he had on his schedule, all of that paperwork would have to be cleared off before he could leave the hospital tonight. Of course, coming home wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to, so maybe for once his administrative responsibilities would be a blessing in disguise.
He moved quickly through the quiet apartment and within 30 minutes, he had dressed, made a quick breakfast and was heading out the door. Shoving a piece of toast in his mouth, he grabbed his keys out of his pocket and locked the door behind him. As he jumped in the car and started to pull out of the apartment complex parking lot, he couldn't help but think this was not the way he had envisioned Monday morning three days ago. With her leaving her car at the hospital when they left Thursday night, his original plan had been that he would be the one to take her to work on Monday morning, effectively giving him another night with her. April though, in her typical thoughtfulness, had not wanted to put him out any more than she already had and had insisted on calling Alex. Without his usual grumbling about wasting part of his weekend, Alex had agreed to bring her car to her apartment on Saturday, much to both of their surprise. Maybe Jackson had not been the only one concerned about April.
Thankfully traffic was light this time of the morning so Jackson made it to the hospital within 15 minutes. As he pulled into the doctors' parking area, he groaned in frustration. Of course, April's car was already parked in its usual spot. Heaven forbid she sleep in and make it a late morning. He had been semi-successful over the weekend in getting her off her feet, but he was sure she was up and re-cleaning the apartment as soon as the door had shut behind him. As much as he wanted to grill her about how she spent the rest of her weekend or about how she was feeling now or what he could do for her, he knew he had to be careful not to press too hard. Despite a few moments of awkwardness over the weekend, things had been relatively good between them and the last thing he wanted to do was put any strain on their still fragile relationship.
Of course that didn't stop him from seeking her out on his way to the doctor's lounge to change. Stepping through the ER doors, he marched forward looked left and right before rounding the corner toward the nurse's desk. The soles of his shoes skidded against the slick floor as he came to a sudden stop when she appeared in front of him. She held a chart in her hands as she absently tapped a pen against her chin, a habit he had seen over the years whenever she was deep in concentration. As he began to move again toward her, his eyes were trained on her face, thankful to not see the weariness from several days ago. The extended weekend seemed to have done her some good. And just maybe it had done some good for them as well.
"Good morning," he called out when he was within arm's reach. Startled by his sudden appearance, her hands jumped, sending he chart she had been holding tumbling downward. With his quick reflexes he was able to reach out to catch it before it hit the floor. "Sorry," he apologized, easing the chart back into her hands. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."
"No, it's okay," her voice shaky as she waved him off. "I guess my mind was just elsewhere and I wasn't paying attention."
"Emily Anderson," he read aloud as his eyes skimmed the label on the chart she held. "Isn't that the young girl from the car accident? The one you operated on the other day?"
"Yes, that's her. Callie has been checking up on her and keeping me informed, but I just wanted to see for myself since I haven't had the chance to see her since the surgery."
"So how's she doing?" He watched as her face suddenly lit with happiness, causing his heart to stutter in his chest. Images from his earlier dream came back in a flash. That same smile. That smile that had been absent for far too long. How he loved seeing that smile on her face again.
"She's doing great actually," she beamed, her eyes sparkling in happiness. "Already in a regular room and will probably be discharged in a few days. Her family needed some good news so I'm glad they have something to celebrate."
"I'm sure. Losing a child is never easy." The words were out of his mouth before he could even think and when he saw the beautiful smile evaporate from her face he wished he could immediately take them back. But then he watched as her hands began to tenderly stroke her belly and he remembered that sadness wasn't all there had to be anymore. "Even though you never forget, happiness can come again."
April watched him watching her, his eyes following the movements of her hand. Their baby girl was wanting to make sure her presence was known and lately she had become more active when Jackson was around. Reaching for his hand, she placed it against her, moving it to the right spot just in time for their daughter to give him a swift kick. Holding her hand over his, she looked up through the tears beading along her lashes to see the love shining in his eyes. It was moments like this when the love she felt for his man was so overpowering and all-consuming that it literally stole the breath from her lungs. There was no denying that something broke in both of them when Samuel died and that brokenness had put a wedge between them that eventually split them apart. It had been too hard, too painful to face her husband in those days after she lost her son. She had let her grief consume her and push away the only man she had ever truly loved. And when he couldn't wait for her to find herself again, he in turn had done the same to her.
Taking a slow, deep breath to calm her racing heart, she tried to put those thoughts out of her mind. They had both made mistakes and there was no use dwelling on the past now. Maybe they could find their way back to each other or maybe it was too late. All that mattered right now was the little girl who was a part of the both of them and who would never feel less than completely and truly adored and loved.
When the kicking began to subside, he looked up and saw April breathing deeply with her eyes closed. Concerned there was something wrong, he reached forward to place his free hand under elbow, ready to steady her if she began to sway. "You okay?"
Her eyes popped open at the sound of his voice, noticing the concern that seemed to be permanently etched on his face these days. "I'm good," she smiled. "I just never get used to feeling her like this and I get a bit overwhelmed." Noticing he did not seem totally convinced, she continued to try to reassure him. "I'm fine, Jackson, I promise. I would not have come in today if I had not been feeling up to it."
"Okay," he nodded, trying to convince himself to believe her as he reluctantly pulled his hand back to his side. "I have a surgery at 9:30 that will probably only last a couple of hours, so what do you have planned for lunch? I could maybe come down to the ER around noon and we could go to the cafeteria to grab a bite. I know the food isn't the best, but they still have that ice cream you can't seem to get enough of these days."
"Hey now, that's your little girl who is craving that, so be nice," she laughed, punching him playfully in the arm. While she had been adamant that there was no medical evidence that cravings were a real thing, after one bite of the chocolate chip ice cream from the cafeteria a couple of months ago, she had been proven wrong. Ever since that day, that ice cream had become her new best friend. The craving had gotten so bad that one afternoon, while trying to consult on a case with Alex, it took him going to get some of said ice cream for her before she was able to form any rational thought. Alex had given her grief, but she had threatened him bodily harm if he told anyone. A lot of good that did.
"I swear Alex has such a big mouth. He promised he wouldn't tell anyone about that."
"Alex didn't say a word, I promise," he grinned. "Plus, your secret is safe with me."
"But…" her brows furrowed in confusion. "If Alex didn't tell you, then how did you know?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he tried to be nonchalant about it, but the truth was he had been keeping an eye on her for a while now and given the look of confusion on her face, he must had been successful in his discreet monitoring. While he felt guilty sometimes about spying on her, his overwhelming need to make sure she was okay always seemed to be enough of a justification. "I must have just seen you eating it a few times, so took a wild guess that it was something you had been craving. So lunch, you good with that?"
She was skeptical about this reasoning, especially with the sudden deer in the headlights look that flashed across his face, but decided to let his attempt to divert the conversation slide. "Lunch sounds great. Just come find me once you're done with surgery and we'll head over that way."
"Sounds good," he let out an audible sigh of relief. "I really need to get going though so I can get changed and scrubbed in." Turning to leave, he felt a sudden need to ask her one more thing. Knowing he was pushing his luck, but he couldn't stop the worries that were still there on the fringes. "You'll get off your feet when you can, right?"
Though a part of her wanted to remind him that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and their baby, the worry she heard in his voice reminded her of how unbelievable he had been this past weekend. It was the way he had been throughout her pregnancy with Samuel and up until the last few days, she had missed that overprotective streak. So instead of being annoyed, she was grateful that he still cared.
"Promise," she smiled back at him.
He nodded gratefully, thankful for her answer, and headed toward the doctor's locker room to change before his surgery. She continued to watch him walking away until he rounded the corner and was out of her sight. As if she sensed her father's absence, her daughter picked that moment to give her a swift kick to the ribs. April tapped her fingers gently against the spot receiving the kicks to try to sooth her daughter. "I know," she whispered to her little girl. "I love him too."
What was supposed to be a 2-hour surgery turned into 4 plus hours and Jackson was getting more anxious by the minute. When he made the last stitch to close up the incision on his patient, he was out the door before anyone could say anything that would keep him a second longer. As he pulled off his surgical gown and mask, stuffing them into the nearby disposal area, he caught sight of the clock above the door. Grimacing at how late he was, he was torn between hoping April was waiting for him and hoping she had not waited this late to eat.
Rounding the corner toward the ER, his eyes caught a flash of red hair standing at the end of the hall. However, she wasn't alone. Jackson stopped in his tracks as he looked at the six foot plus, dark haired male wearing the familiar colors of an EMT uniform standing in front of her. Though he would never want to admit it, a moment of panic and more than just a bit of jealousy suddenly enveloped him. Images from the past suddenly appeared before his eyes and he felt a lump in his throat. While they had not seen Matthew since the failed wedding years ago, somewhere in the back of his mind, he always wondered if one day he would reappear into April's life. And if that ever happened, he knew he would never get as lucky as last time when she chose him. He couldn't help but admit that it would be the perfect karma for Matthew to be back in her life now, just when they were hopefully finding their way back to each other.
Watching April's body sway with laughter, the knot in his stomach began to grow. As people began to move around him, he realized he had stopped right in the middle of the hallway. Forcing his feet to move, he slowly resumed the path he had originally planned. His brain was fighting a battle against his heart and he was just about to let the brain win that fight, but there was something in her body language that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Suddenly his feet began to move again and he could not help but notice the way she casually took a step back and folded her arms against her chest. He knew that move well. She had done it to him numerous times in the last few years whenever they argued. Redirecting his attention back to the uniformed clad male in front of her, he realized with some level of relief that while the similarities were there, this was not Matthew. But it was someone who obviously could not take a hint as he continued to inch his way closer to her, ignoring any semblance of personal space. He quickly picked up his pace toward them and without saying a word, slid between them. Snaking an arm around his back, he reached blindly for her to ensure she was safely behind him.
Startled by his sudden appearance, April grabbed on to his arm, trying to turn him around to face her. "Jackson, what are you doing?"
"And you are?" the unknown stranger smirked.
As Jackson glared back at the man standing in front of him, he felt anger burn through his veins. No, it wasn't Matthew, but it was still someone that had been closer to her than he should have been. And he wanted him away from her. "You need to go."
Leaning around Jackson to try to talk to April, Jackson moved along with him to continue to block his path. "What's your problem, man? April and I were just having a nice conversation until you decided to butt into the middle of it."
"Stop it, Jackson," April demanded from behind him, laying her hand against his back. "Jacob and I were just talking." Feeling his body tense under hand, she assumed he was acting out of concern for her so she tried to reassure him. "I'm okay. Everything's fine."
When he didn't budge, she knew she needed to get in front of him to look him in the eye to get through to him. Taking a step back, he quickly turned to reach for her, but she took a step to the side just out of his reach. Unfortunately, she had put herself in arms reach of Jacob. Immediately, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.
"April, I don't know who this guy is, but do you want me to call someone?"
Before she could explain that this was actually the father of her baby and by no means a threat to her, Jackson's face turned five shades of red as his anger took control. "Get your hands off of her," he threatened through gritted teeth.
And without waiting for response, Jackson reached back, letting his fist fly, hitting him squarely in the jaw. The force of the unexpected blow caused Jacob to stagger on this feet in April's direction, sending her stumbling back against a portable x-ray machine behind her. Jackson froze as memories of her falling in the OR just days before came rushing back. On reflex, he was reaching both hands toward her to help steady her on her feet. Before he could utter the words to ask if she was okay, he was thrown backwards by a right hook to the face just beside his left eye. In an instant, Jackson snapped back to attention, ready to respond with his fist cocked again. Before he could deliver another blow, April put her hands out toward both of them as she stepped between them.
"Stop!" The volume of her voice garnered the attention of everyone within ear shot, including a confused Dr. Webber who made his way over to the trio.
"Is there a problem here?" he questioned, looking pointedly at an irate redhead who looked as if she was ready to explode on the two men on either side of her.
"Nothing here, but two stupid Neanderthals who can't seem to keep their testosterone in check!" Glaring between the both of them, she gritted her teeth in anger. "Jacob, you can go back to the ambulance bay and have someone out there look at that busted lip. And you," she turned abruptly toward Jackson, her eyes blazing. "You're coming with me." When Jackson hesitated, waiting to make sure Jacob turned toward the door to leave, she grabbed the sleeve of his scrubs to pull him in her direction. "Now!"
Jackson followed her in silence, the left side of his face suddenly feeling like it was on fire. He could see her body tense with anger and he was mad at himself for being the cause of that. As his brain began to be able to form rational thought again, he realized how much of an idiot he had been. Something had just happened to him when he saw her with that Matthew look-a-like. He could admit to himself now that it had scared him. It was as if the entire future he had envisioned with her and their daughter was slipping away.
Suddenly she took a hard right into an exam room. She stood to the side, waiting for him to enter while refusing to look at him. With a heavy sigh he entered in front of her and was startled by the slamming of the door behind him. "April, I know I was…"
"No," she squeezed her eyes shut as she shook her head in anger. "No, Jackson, I don't want to hear it. I'm too angry with you right now to listen to whatever excuse you have for acting like a complete jackass out there."
"But…"
"Just shut up, okay."
Deciding he would just follow her lead for now, he pushed himself up on the bed, letting his legs dangle toward the floor as he watched her fly around the room. Jerking open the cabinet doors against the wall, she found a bottle of saline solution and gauze she was seeking to try to repair some of the damage he had done. Throwing the items on the bed beside him, she saw him visibly wince when she not so gently snatched his hand looking for any scrapes to clean. Easing her hold, she pressed her thumb gradually against each finger. As he hissed in pain when she hit a particular spot, worry began to meld with the anger she still felt toward him.
"You know it's probably broken," she snapped. "Jackson, you're a surgeon who should know better than to do something so stupid. If it's broken, who knows how long before you can operate again."
"It's fine." His voice was barely a whisper as he kept his head down, not wanting to see disappointment on her face.
"No, it's not!" she screamed in frustration. "I don't understand why you would do something so stupid. It makes no sense for you to just walk up out of the blue to a complete stranger and just punch him in the face. He did nothing to…"
"I thought it was Matthew," he interrupted with a loud exhale as he finally made eye contact with her again. He saw the surprise and confusion sweep across her face as she began to process his confession. "When I got out of surgery late, I wanted to come find you and as I rounded the corner by the elevators, I saw you talking to this guy in an EMT uniform. From a distance he looked like Matthew and I just…I don't know…"
"But Matthew hasn't been around for years, Jackson. You know that."
"I do know that," he nodded. "Doesn't stop me from worrying he's going to come back."
Tears filled her eyes as the rest of her anger suddenly melted away. In the immediate aftermath of the fiasco of her wedding with Matthew, Jackson had confessed his remorse, not for what he had done, but how he had done it. However, after they came home from their own wedding, it was something they never really talked about again. The two of them were not exactly known as being expert communicators, especially with each other. Even though neither regretted finally being together, they certainly did not feel good that an innocent bystander had gotten hurt in the process. She just always assumed that she was the only one who held on to the guilt and the worry that one day Matthew would reappear and she would be forced to face the hurt she had caused. However, looking at Jackson now, she knew the fear of seeing him again was a bit different for him. While she knew that even though a part of her would always care about Matthew in some way, it would never come close to what she shared with Jackson. But maybe Jackson was not so sure about how she felt. That whole lack of communication strikes again.
"Matthew is a part of my past and I can't change that," she began quietly, gently smoothing her fingers against his injured hand. "But even if he did come back to Seattle, that part of my life is over."
Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he held on to this fear that she was going to eventually regret giving up the life she could have had with Matthew. That life would have been much simpler and certainly would have saved her the years of heartache that she had had with him. It had just been a few days ago that they had agreed to concentrate on their daughter and just let whatever happens happen between them, but the image of her with Matthew or even some other man struck fear in him. He couldn't lose her again. Before he could stop himself, he heard his voice utter the question he had been wanting to ask since the moment he walked out of her apartment just over 24 hours ago. "Where does that leave us?"
The breath left her lungs for a moment, unsure of how to respond. She had wanted this. She had wanted him. But things were still so unsettled between them and her hormones had her emotions bouncing all over the place. She couldn't let herself get swept away again by those beautiful eyes of his, no matter how much she wanted to. Her daughter deserved a mother and father who put her first. Biting her lower lip, she felt the words on the tip of her tongue, but before she could utter a word, the door came flying open with a smirking Alex barreling into the room.
"So heard you got into a brawl on the playground," he laughed at Jackson. Nodding at the cut and the ever growing swelling under his left eye, he continued to mock. "Awww, does the poor plastics guy need a plastics guy?"
"Enough, Alex," April snapped in frustration, turning around to put herself between him and Jackson. "Would you just go, please?"
"Calm down, Kepner," he threw his hands up in defense. "Avery knows I'm just giving him crap. Clean up that face of his and then why don't you try to go sleep off some of those raging pregnancy hormones you've got going on there. Looks like you could use it."
Just as quickly as he had arrived, Alex was back out the door. Closing her eyes against the exhaustion that she had been trying to ignore, she took a deep breath before turning around to resume her examination of Jackson's hand. Not ready to resume their prior conversation, she was determined to finish this up because the sooner she could get away from him the better. She couldn't think clearly with him so close. However, despite her best efforts to avoid his eyes, he used his free hand to gently tap against the bottom of her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
"Alex was being a jerk, but I do agree with him on one thing. You do look tired."
"I'm fine, Jackson," she sighed heavily, dropping her eyes back to his injured hand. "You're the one with a possible broken hand. We need to get you down to CT so they can take a look at it and see how bad you're injured."
"April, look at me." Reluctantly, she looked up and he saw the weariness. "I've been trying not to hover, but I can't help but worry about you. It wasn't even five days ago that I watched you collapse in an OR. Did you even eat lunch? I was hoping you were not waiting on me when my surgery went long. In fact, that's what I was coming to find out when Mr. EMT got in the way."
"I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine," she smiled gratefully. However, she could tell by the expression on his face that he was not totally convinced. "I promise, I'm fine. And yes, I did eat lunch. I called down to the OR to check on you and one of the scrub nurses told me that you were delayed so I went ahead to the cafeteria. In fact, I was on my way back from there when I ran into 'Mr. EMT' and he asked me about a patient he had brought in earlier this morning."
"Likely story," he mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Glad to know he could take time out of his flirting to express concern about an actual patient."
"He was not flirting," she began to argue unconvincingly. She knew she was lying, but there had been no interest on her part and she was not the type to use the situation to try to make Jackson jealous. But one look at Jackson and it was obvious that he was not buying it. "Ok, fine, yes he was flirting, but it wasn't a big deal. I mean look at me. No guy in their right mind would be interested in a date with me when I look like a parade float."
"You're kidding, right?" He grunted in disbelief at the way she was so blinded when it came to how she saw herself. "April, any guy in his right mind would jump at the chance to be with you. Some are just too much of an idiot to realize how lucky they are before it's too late."
"Jackson," she exhaled heavily, diverting her eyes back down to his injured hand. Taking a step back to get some distance, she felt the familiar ache in her chest. Hadn't they just agreed to not do this right now? She wasn't ready for this just yet. It wasn't a question of them loving each other. They had admitted as much to each other. She just needed time to learn to trust this, whatever it was, before jumping back in again. Her daughter deserved at least that much.
"April, I just want…"
"Let me take a look at that eye," she interrupted in a vain attempt to turn her attention away from the dangerous thoughts going through her head. Medicine was easier. She could remain objective when she actively focused on medical facts instead of the emotions that were swirling.
Jackson sat silently, watching her methodically at work, her touch gentle against his forehead as she wiped away the dried blood on the cut by his eye. He could not stop the slight wince when the pressure from her finger made the cut sting.
"Sorry about that," she grimaced, immediately easing the pressure she was applying. "Actually, it doesn't look too bad. I think you're going to dodge the need for stitches. Of course, you are the expert so you can decide what you want."
"I trust you," he smiled up at her. "I'm sure some steri-strips will do just fine."
As much as she tried to fight it, that smile still made her weak in the knees. Taking an unsteady breath, she methodically applied the last of the strips to his head before allowing her fingertips to trail down his face and across his cheekbones. She felt the familiar scruff on his face that made her body tingle and dangerous memories began to resurface. Shaking her head, she quickly dropped her hand and began to clean up the supplies that were lying on the gurney beside him.
"There's some swelling," she whispered uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. "I'll grab an ice pack for you to use once you're done with CT."
Sliding his feet to the floor, cautiously holding his injured hand to his side, he used his good hand to reach for her, his fingers wrapped loosely around her wrist. "You've done enough for me today, April. I appreciate it, I really do, but I can take it from here. Why don't you call it a day and head home?"
Her first thought was one of confusion followed closely by annoyance. If he really thought she was going to leave him high and dry when they still had no idea if his hand was really broken, then he really was crazy. She knew what this was really about though. The overprotectiveness that had been on full display the past week was rearing its ugly head again. While she knew she should be thankful that he cared, her independent nature was struggling to remember that. Yes, she had had one lapse in judgement that had admittedly scared her straight. She was not about to allow anything like that to happen again.
"Listen, Jackson," she tried to keep the edge out of her voice as she turned toward him. "Right now, you are my patient and not my…" She paused as the right word alluded her. What was he exactly? He wasn't her husband anymore or her boyfriend. Friend seemed to be pushing things a bit too since this truce between them was still relatively new. He was certainly a colleague, but that term seemed ridiculous given what she felt for him. Turning her back to him, she swung the door open in hopes of redirecting this conversation. "Let's just go to CT, okay?"
Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, he followed her down the hall, cradling his injured hand against him. When they made their way to CT, she promptly badgered the technician who was about to leave for the day to stay and get his scan finished. Still refusing his protest that she did not have to stay, she waited until the scans were done so she could see for herself what damage he had done. She sat in the observation room, sitting right in front of the computer screen, her leg bouncing nervously as she waited for the images to appear. Once he was done, he came in ready to see for himself and as he looked over her shoulder at the screen containing the image of his hand, he knew immediately that while not as bad as it could have been, he was going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks.
With a frustrated sigh, she turned the chair around to look up at him. "You know you'll probably need to be in a splint for a couple of weeks, but you should really get Callie to take a look at these to make sure."
"It's barely a hairline fracture. I'll be fine, April. I'm weeks behind on paperwork anyway, so it will give me a chance to catch up." He suddenly realized there was definitely a bigger positive to this situation that brought an immediate grin to his face. "And maybe now I can take you to lunch at a decent time."
She smiled back as she took his outstretched hand, letting him help her up from the chair. A familiar ache settled in her lower back as he pulled her to her feet. She thought she had kept the grimace from showing on her face, but when he immediately pushed her back down to the chair, she realized she had failed.
"You okay?" he questioned in slight panic mode.
Looking up at him, she felt the air leave her lungs. The intensity of his gaze burned straight through to her soul. "It's okay," she murmured, trying to find her voice. "It's just a normal backache, Jackson. I promise, there is nothing wrong."
"But earlier, you got pushed into an x-ray machine. I saw you stumbling and it was like the OR all over again. I swear, if you got hurt because of me…"
"Stop, okay. I promise you that I am fine. If there was anything wrong, I would tell you, alright? Aches and pains just come with the territory when you're 7 months pregnant."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his gaze never leaving hers.
Sorry for causing her to stumble earlier or for jumping to conclusions just now, she wasn't sure. Or maybe it was for something much bigger that she knew she was not prepared to discuss in this moment. So she did what she seemed to do most often of late where he was concerned, she found a diversion.
"You can make it up to me by taking me to get some ice cream," she grinned, batting her eyes innocently at him.
"Fine," he grinned. "We'll stop by to see Callie on the way, if that will make you feel better and let her splint my hand."
"Yes, that would make me feel better," she nodded as she stood carefully to her feet. "Then I need to find Owen, but only after I get my ice cream."
"Why do you need to see Owen?" he questioned as he followed her down the hall.
"He asked me to be his best man earlier today," she smiled happily. "Or best woman, whatever you want to call it. I just want to touch base with him on a few things I've been thinking about for the wedding."
"Seriously?" he groaned, careful to use his good hand to punch the elevator button. "April, do you really think that's such a good idea? You'll be close to your due date by the time the wedding gets here and you don't need the added stress right now."
"What stress?" she laughed as she walked into the elevator. "All I really have to do is keep up the rings and make sure the groom doesn't skip town. Plus, it's a wedding, Jackson. What could possibly go wrong?"
He gave her a knowing look. Weddings around this hospital rarely went off without a hitch, present company included. But watching her practically skip toward the cafeteria toward her long awaited ice cream, he hoped she was right.