Hi to those still hanging in there with me! I apologize for the length between updates. I haven't forgotten this story! Thank you all so much for your sweet reviews. They motivate me even if this season of Grey's hasn't. Though, I'm hearing positive things just may be coming our way?! I hope so! Thanks again for everything and I hope you enjoy!

Also, someone asked if I had any form of social media. I got Twitter so I could communicate better (this site doesn't really seem to have many options), answer any questions, apologize for being so late with stuff, etc. If you're into that, you can find me under "pejapril04" :-)

There was a time in my life when business trips didn't bother me. The reasons for them were usually boring, but it was a chance to get away from the pace of the hospital and I could usually talk April into going with me.

Ayla exists because of a business trip. Just saying.

I was currently watching TV in complete silence in my hotel room. I was in Durham, North Carolina to interview a surgeon from Duke that we were interested in. I'm not sure why I was the lucky recipient other than no one else could do it and technically I am in charge.

This would be enjoyable if I had my girls with me. April had to work and she didn't think flying Ayla across the country for such a quick trip was smart. I agree with her, but it still sucks being here without them.

What didn't suck was being away from our living conditions. Yes, we'd found a house, but we wouldn't be ready to move in until the first week in February. My wife decided perfectly decent colored walls just wouldn't do, nor would perfectly good floors. She wants what she wants. We decided to get all the painting done and flooring put in before we moved. Made sense, but extended our stay with Mom and Richard by a couple weeks.

I'd discovered why one never moves back in with their parents once they are out of the house. I'd not lived with my Mom since I was 18 and left for college. The fact that almost 17 years later I found myself back under her roof had been an eye opening experience to say the very least.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mother and think Richard is a great guy. I respect and appreciate them both very much. However, I was so sick of them hogging all of my Ayla time that I was going to snap. I already lost time being at work, so I tried to be as involved in her nighttime routine as possible. I was tired of sharing those things with the two of them.

One night I had gotten in a little earlier than expected and walked in to see Mom helping April give Ayla a bath. Another night I got home and found Richard feeding her a bottle. The final straw was getting home late and finding Mom rocking her and reading her a book. I know it sounds ridiculous and it's petty, but those were my things to do when I was home and able to do them.

We had to move.

Soon.

Next thing I knew my phone was ringing and I opened my eyes to see 3 hours had passed on the clock next to me. I guess I'd fallen asleep bitching to myself about my living arrangements.

I picked up my phone and saw it was April calling. "Hey baby..."

"Oh, I woke you up. I'm sorry!" I could hear Ayla in the background crying.

"No, no..." I replied. "I meant to call you earlier, but fell asleep. What's the matter with Daddy's girl?"

I heard April sigh. "I really don't know. She's been like this ever since I got in from work." So she'd been forced to take bottles all day while April worked. Some days she was totally cool with it. Other days it was a horrible offense as far as she was concerned. "Your Mom said she was a little cranky today, so I don't know if she's coming down with something or what."

This would happen while I was almost 3,000 miles away from them. "Does she have a fever?"

"No," April replied. "No fever. No congestion. I even had Richard bring home an otoscope so I could look in her ears and they looked fine." Poor baby couldn't hide from much with every adult in her life a Physician. "She's just cranky. It happens!"

April seems to forget from time to time that we've been together in some form for over a decade now. I knew when she was lying. I knew when she was stressed. I knew when she needed me. "I shouldn't have come," I said. "We could have postponed this until someone else could have made the trip. It's an Orthopedic Surgeon for crying out loud! What do I know about that?"

"You know a lot," April said. "And we're going to be fine. You'll be home tomorrow night and I promise we'll make it until then!"

She was right, but that did nothing to calm my nerves. Ayla was still crying and it was all I could do to stop myself from running out of the hotel and to the airport. "I know you'll be fine, April, but I hate that I am literally across the country from her."

I will gladly admit that she owns my ass. My 6 month old daughter owned me. I thought I would resist becoming one of those Dads, but I'd failed. I was the one that missed her every single second I was away from her and counted down the minutes until I was with her again. I was the one that could spend an hour sitting on the floor with her while she chewed on a block. And now I was going to be the Dad that had a panic attack after being away from her for one night.

"Jackson, we're going to be fine," April said. She sounded further away than she had a second before.

"Am I on speaker?"

"Yes," she replied. "I'm walking her around, trying to get her to calm down and maybe go to sleep. Can you not hear me? I'll take you off."

"No," I said quickly. "Do what you need to do with her. I can hear you just fine. Are you sure she doesn't have a fever? You've looked her over from head to toe?" If she was having to walk her around it obviously wasn't getting any better. My mind was coming up with a thousand different scenarios, none of them good.

"Jackson, honey..." She was getting frustrated with me, but I was not used to hearing Ayla like this. She was a happy baby most all of the time. April could always calm her down, even when the rest of us were at a loss. For April to be struggling...

"It's just so unusual that even you can't calm her. I just feel like something is wrong. Have you called Dr. Scott? Hell, I'll call Arizona or Karev if I need to!" Yep, I was well past the point of reeling myself back in.

"Jackson. Listen to me." Well, she'd reel me back even if I couldn't reel myself back in. "She is going to be fine. She doesn't have a fever, I have checked her out, and I don't see anything obviously wrong. I'm going to keep an eye on her and if anything changes, of course I will call someone."

"I know," I said. "I'm just worried. I know you have it under control."

"Listen, let's hang up and I'll FaceTime you, ok? You can see her, will that help?" She was using her voice she uses with crazy people in the ER. My wife officially thought I was out of my mind.

We hung up with one another and I grabbed my laptop from next to me on the bed. I needed to see more of her than my phone screen offered. The second I saw her little face I was both relieved and worse off. I was thankful to see her, but not upset. "Ayla, baby girl, you're breaking Daddy's heart..."

"Do you see Daddy, Ayla?" April asked her as she pointed to my face on the screen. "There's Daddy!"

"Hey Bug," I said getting her attention. "What's the matter, huh?" Maybe this was a poor decision. I watched as she stuck her bottom lip out, getting ready to cry again. "Hey, Ayla," I quickly made a face at her to get her attention. That distracted her enough to stop the new round of tears and I actually got a little smile out of her. "Yeah," I said, laughing. "That's my girl!"

"See?" April said. "Just cranky. Tell Daddy he really needs to stop worrying. It's also like, what? After midnight there?"

I continued making faces at her. If it got a smile out of her, I'd do it all night if I needed to. "Gah, I miss you so much. I'm never doing this again."

April laughed. "I'm never letting you do this again. You're a little, and don't take this the wrong way, ridiculous. I love you though. It's actually one of the millions of reasons I love you, but yeah...you're ridiculous."

"Well, you ramble," I smiled.

Ayla frowned again and started crying. This time making faces, noise, and doing everything I could to distract her didn't work. I watched as April stood from where she'd been sitting and started walking around the room with her once again. "We're just going to be walking, so you need to go to bed. I promise I'll call you if anything changes."

"You can't stay up all night! You worked today!"

"It's called parenthood, babe," she replied. "You've done the same thing many times. I'm off tomorrow, I can sleep when she does, but you can't. We really don't need this guy thinking the guy in charge has been out partying all night."

"Here?" I laughed. "No worries. Where is Mom?"

"They're asleep, Jackson! Listen to me," crazy patient in the ER voice again. "Everything is going to be fine. I can pull an all nighter with her if I need to. I'll call you if anything changes and in the morning. I promise. Just please try to relax and get some sleep."

"Ok, I love you." I agreed to what she suggested even though I knew it was a damn lie. "If anything happens..."

"Jackson," April said. "I love you. She loves you. Please go to sleep."

As much as I hated to do it, I allowed her to say goodbye and disconnect the call. Against my better judgment, I turned the lights out and laid down to attempt to get some sleep. One would think I would sleep like the dead without April and Ayla in bed with me. I was used to tossing, turning, getting up to change a diaper, April getting up to feed, etc. Now I had silence and I was wide awake.

All I could think about was April being awake all night after working all day and having no help. I knew she'd never ask for help even if she was exhausted and needed it. I tried to push those thoughts out of my mind, but it was useless. I grabbed my phone off the table next to the bed.

I quickly dialed and waited for an answer. April would kill me, but oh well. "Mom?!" I said as I heard her pick up the phone. "Hey, Mom..."

"Jackson?" I could tell I just pulled her from a deep sleep. "Honey, what?"

"Ayla's been crying since, well...I don't even know how long and I know April isn't going to get you up if she needs some help, so can you check on her?" I rambled all of that off at lightening speed.

"Ayla's crying?" Mom asked, still confused. "What time is it?"

"Mom," I repeated. "I just talked to April. Ayla has been crying and won't calm down. She did for a second, but then she started back up. Nothing is visibly wrong, but..."

"What's going on? Who is it?" And there was Richard. To think these two used to be really sharp and on top of everything.

"It's Jackson," she told him. "Hush and go back to sleep. Now what is going on? Ayla's been crying, nothing is obviously wrong..."

"She's crying, Catherine," I heard Richard inform her in the background. "I can hear her. Can't you? She's just down the hallway."

"Now I can," she snapped back at him. "I was sound asleep, Richard. I can hear, you know!"

"Could've fooled me!"

"Here," she said. "You talk to him and I'm going to check on them."

"Mom, no..." She was gone before I could get the sentence out of my mouth. I didn't intend for Mom to rush to April's side. I just needed her to do what she does best and lurk around to see if she might be needed.

Richard and I made some small talk while I waited for Mom to report back. Minutes passed, maybe even hours. Ok, so it wasn't hours, but it was long enough. It was then I heard a snore. "RICHARD!" I said loudly. If the rest of us were up, then he needed to be up with us. Plus, he was my eyes and ears for now.

"I'm going to check the situation out….." April would probably have the divorce papers drawn up and ready to go as soon as I touched down in Seattle. "I can still hear her crying. This sounds like a situation for Chief." I wasn't going to argue, but really?

I listened as he shuffled around, dropped the phone once, cursed, finally found it and picked it back up and then made his way down the hallway. About the time I heard Ayla's cries grow louder, the chaos started. To have been a fly on the wall when this went down. All at once I heard April say something, Mom yell at Richard, and him start apologizing. "I've got Jackson on the phone!"

"Give me that!" Next thing I knew I was back on the phone with Mom. April was truly going to murder me upon my arrival home. Forget divorce.

"What happened?!" I was a little afraid to ask, honestly.

Mom sighed. "April was trying to get Ayla to eat when Richard came in here. I think we may have a tooth coming in." Leave it to Mom to figure it out. I guess she did have a little experience with children after all.

"Thank you, Jackson," April said in the background. "Because of you freaking out, everyone in this entire house has seen my breasts now!"

"Tell her they are lovely," I said to Mom, trying not to laugh.

"Jackson," Mom warned. "I wouldn't go there if I were you." Probably not the best idea to crack jokes at April's expense at this hour.

"So you think it's a tooth?" That made me feel better. Teeth I could deal with. The list of deadly diseases I'd cooked up in my head since this all started was a different story.

"I'm almost certain," Mom replied. "Her gums are a little swollen on the bottom and she's been chewing on everything and drooling more than usual. I'll bet we're going to see one pop through soon! We've given her some Tylenol."

I still didn't like hearing her upset and it still broke my heart. She eventually quietened down and decided she would eat. The silence was like music to my ears. "You'll stay up until she gets her to sleep?"

"You know I will," Mom replied. "She's going to be just fine, Jackson. She has a whole mouthful of these to come, so you probably need to figure out how you're going to handle it."

"Yeah, yeah…." I said. "Let me talk to April really quick. Thank you for your help." Every once in a while, Mom was helpful.

"You need to go to sleep," I heard before I said a word. I smiled, she was trying to act annoyed, but I knew she was just as thankful to have some idea of what was wrong as I was. "I'm not going to be there to drag you out of bed in the morning."

I laughed. "See? That is why you should have come with me…." It really sucked being here without them, did I say that already? "I love you both. Tonight can't come soon enough."

"We love you too," she replied. "Now, for the tenth time, please go to bed."

Just a few hours sleep, a really boring meeting concerning a surgical field I knew very little about, and a long ass plane ride stood between me and my girls.

I would survive. Maybe.

I never thought I'd live to see the day.

After what seemed like years in captivity at Mom and Richard's, moving day was finally here.

It was a lovely Saturday in Seattle and I was pretty certain that I was the happiest of our entire bunch. Sure, it might have started at 6:30 in the morning, but we were moving! I was finally getting out of Mom and Richard's house.

I'm sure I sound like an unappreciative asshole. I'm really not. I'm just a guy that desperately needed my family under our own roof. It isn't that our stay had been bad. In many ways, it was nice having extra help with Ayla, but sometimes it was just too much. Listen, things in a marriage change drastically enough when a child arrives. I didn't need those changes amplified by us living with Mom and Richard. Thanks.

I was making what had to be my 50th trip from one of the moving trucks into the house, my joy lessening little by little with each trip. It'd been a wonderful, but long as hell day. As luck would have it, just about every box I picked up went to a room upstairs. I didn't know if I could make one more hike up the staircase.

"Hey," I heard Alex say. "Where you want this?"

"I dunno, ask April." I could tell him a place to put whatever he was carrying, but it probably wouldn't be right and I'd just have to move it again later. We were deferring all questions to the boss lady.

Speaking of my lovely wife, her job the entire day had consisted of walking around with Ayla in her arms while giving orders and directing traffic. The rest of us sweating like we'd ran all way here from downtown and she's looking like she just started her day. I still love her though.

"Jackson, you want me to start putting Ayla's bed together?" Richard asked.

"What for? She's never slept in it!" Yeah, she was still crashing in our bed. I was pretty certain the story would be the same by the time she started Kindergarten, but that was a battle for another day. "Actually, if you could help Joe with our bed?"

Yep, April's parents had flown in for this grand event.

I walked into the kitchen where the women were unpacking boxes and organizing cabinets. Trucks still left to be unloaded, and this bunch decided unpacking plates and whatnot was the thing to do. Ayla was busy chewing on a toy while April hauled her around on her hip as she continued unpacking boxes.

"How's my Ayla?" I asked, watching as she started kicking her legs excitedly soon as she heard my voice. "Yeah! How's my girl?" I took her from April and kissed her cheeks as she tried to chew on my face. Did I mention she was teething? She'd been like a baby piranha as of late. "Here, try this…" I said, putting a teething toy in her mouth.

"Most of downstairs is unloaded, right? I want to get everything we absolutely have to have unpacked before it gets much later." It's a good thing I loved her. A real good thing.

I smiled the most sarcastic smile I could muster. "April…."

She stood on her tiptoes, giving me a kiss, "I know you've been working really hard today. I appreciate it. I just need to know that we're going to have a bed to sleep in before tonight."

"It may be a mattress on the floor, but we'll have somewhere to sleep." I could tell by the look I received that I'd better secure us a sleeping place before nightfall.

"You're welcome to stay at our house again if we don't get everything unloaded today," Mom suggested. Of course she'd be listening for an opportunity to extend another invitation. She and Richard could care less about April and me. They didn't care that we were moving on. Ayla was a different story. Honey and Chief were having withdrawals already.

"We'll have a place to sleep," I replied. We were staying here tonight. End of story. I slowly made my way out of the kitchen with Ayla to check in on everyone else's progress.

Richard and Ben were working with some moving men to get a large piece of furniture in and up the stairs. Alex, a couple of the interns I'd snagged from work, and April's Dad was still hauling boxes. "Hey Jackson, can you help with this?"

I pointed to Ayla in my arms. "Wish I could, but I'm on Ayla duty for a few." The glare I received from Alex let me know he was onto me. I'd already moved most of this once when we got out of our apartment, I deserved a break. "Oh, guys! That goes to the laundry room. It's right that way." I could get used to this ordering people around thing. No wonder my wife was so good at it.

"Da..da...da...da..." Ayla jabbered as she patted the side of my face. Oh yes, she had started saying what I knew was "Dada" and no one would convince me otherwise. I rubbed my nose against hers and got the biggest smile out of her. I was a lost cause when it came to her. Complete lost cause. "What?" I smiled. "What are you telling me?"

I watched as she yawned and saw it was past the time she normally napped when I glanced down at my watch. I decided to forego my traffic directing and walk her around to see if I could get her to sleep. "What you think about our new digs? You're gonna have so much fun here." I walked upstairs and down the hallway to her bedroom.

I opened the door to find the room littered with unopened boxes. The only thing in working order was the rocking chair. I quietly shut the door behind me as I made my way to the chair and sat down with her in my arms. "You know something?" I held my hand open as she kept a firm grasp on a couple of my fingers. "I have no idea what I did right to get you and your Mom. Especially you."

I had this whole idea of what it would be like when I knew I was going to be a Father. Not a single thing from the past 6 months fit that idea. I thought I'd have a boy that loved sports, dirt, and anything that would make this girl of mine run the other way. I never thought I'd be surrounded by pink, dolls, and a world of stuff I knew nothing about.

I turned her around, holding her as she laid her little head on my shoulder. I was right in knowing it was past nap time. I rested my head against hers and quietly rocked as I could tell she was fighting sleep. I wouldn't trade her for anything. Not even the most sports obsessed boy out there.

"When your Mom told me you were on the way," I said. "I was pretty sure you were gonna be a boy. Not sure why I thought that, but I did. Guess that is what I always saw for myself." I gently rubbed her back and could tell by her breathing pattern that she was losing the fight and falling asleep. "You knew better, huh? You knew exactly what I needed."

We rocked a few more minutes, Ayla now asleep, and me thinking about everything she would do and be in her life. The memories that would no doubt be made in this house. I knew no matter what she decided, I'd love and support her unconditionally. There would come a time when she didn't think Dad was so cool and these afternoon chats would send her looking for anything else to do.

Right now, though, she was a 6 month old baby girl that I never saw for myself. Without a doubt, the greatest surprise of my life.

"Are you kidding me?!" The voice of my wife pulled me from the sleep I didn't realize I'd fallen into. I had no idea how long I'd been out, but Ayla was still fast asleep in my arms.

"Shhh," I said quietly.

April closed the door and walked over to sit down in my lap. She gently rubbed Ayla's back, watching her sleep. "If this wasn't so sweet, you'd totally be in trouble for using our baby to go hide out."

"I did no such thing!"

April laughed. "Uh huh. Well, the moving is all done, but the unpacking is all us, buddy."

I made a face at her. We'd hired movers, we should have done the same when it came to unpacking. She better love this place, because I'd decided we were never moving again. Ever. For any reason. April rested her head on my free shoulder. Now I couldn't get up even if I wanted to. I didn't, by the way.

"Who knew those two clueless people from Mercy West would end up here….." It still blew my mind when I thought about it. The strange red haired girl from Ohio. Who knew she'd turn out to be my best friend, soul mate, wife, and mother of my child. I had no idea why the move triggered whatever place in my brain liked to wax poetic, but it had.

April laughed, "Crazy, huh?"

"I'm glad I went with your choice of houses," First and only time I'd admit it.

"Oh, really?" She asked, raising her head to look at me. "You mean you admit this is a better choice for us than your favorite closer to town?" I admitted it, she didn't need to rub it in.

"Yeah," I replied. "She's gonna have so much fun here. Lots of room to run around, lots of space to destroy, huge backyard to play in, good hiding spots when she's in trouble….." It was bittersweet to imagine Ayla growing up, getting older, but it was a privilege that so many didn't get. I was thankful we had a reason to sit around feeling this way.

We sat in silence for a while longer before Ayla woke and lifted her head from my shoulder. "Hey beautiful," April smiled. "Did you help Daddy avoid moving?" Ayla's response was a big grin that showed off her one tiny tooth on the bottom. Cutest damn thing ever. Sharp when she gnawed on you, but cute.

Soon as she was fully awake and realized April was near, she was lunging toward her. She was a Daddy's Girl when Mommy wasn't around. I take what I can get. "Oh, my sweet girl," April said as she held her close. "You're glad Daddy decided to get this house too, aren't you?"

I smiled. It didn't matter where we lived. In the city, outside of the city, in another state, or another country entirely. Hell, we could go to the moon for all I cared. These two I had my arms around, they were all that mattered.

This life better than anything that slightly arrogant, foolishly hopeful, maybe even a bit of an asshole guy that started out at Mercy West all those years ago could have ever imagined.

We'd been in the new house a couple weeks and it was great for the most part.

The part that wasn't great?

The commute.

Oh, it wasn't terrible, but after being on my feet for hours in an OR, a drive longer than about 10 minutes was enough to send me over the edge. Today had been particularly bad.

I was finally pulling into the garage and I wanted nothing more than to go in, see my girls, and end this day. I was certain Ayla would have other plans for me when it came to eventually shutting my eyes and ending the day, but her ideas are always the best ones.

I walked in to find April cooking dinner and Ayla in her walker rolling around the kitchen. Oh yeah, she was "driving" now and was about as good at it as her Mother is. My toes and ankles had taken a beating since she'd gotten her wheels.

I walked over and gave April a kiss before turning to find Ayla. "Hey speedy," I said to her as she came around the island in the kitchen looking for me. I reached down to pick her up out of the walker, kissing her cheeks once I had her in my arms. "How's my girl today? You have a good day for Mommy?"

"Perfect as always," April smiled. "Tell Daddy he gets to feed you cereal tonight!" We'd not ventured into the world of solids yet, so this was going to be a new experience. Dr. Scott had given the go ahead at her 6 month checkup to start cereal and I was going to do the honors. "She just nursed a bit ago, so I'm going to mix it up and we'll go ahead and feed her if that's ok?"

I nodded, "Yeah, sure, however we need to do it."

I walked over to where April was with Ayla and watched as she prepared this delicacy. "I'm not even gonna ask…."

April laughed, "It's oatmeal mixed with breast milk, Jackson."

"That is not oatmeal." It was basically liquid, which is unlike any oatmeal I've ever consumed, but whatever.

"It's the baby cereal version of oatmeal," she said. "It's supposed to be this consistency."

Soon as April finished mixing the concoction she called oatmeal up, I carried Ayla over to the high chair and buckled her in. She immediately started slapping the tray with her little hands. "You can tell she's an Avery," I joked. "Dinner time!"

April laughed, "I don't think anyone could deny that she's an Avery."

I sat down in front of the high chair and took the small bowl from April who was armed and ready with her phone to document this. "Ok Bug, you ready?" I got a small bit of the mixture on the spoon and put it up to her mouth. She opened up, taking it in, and instantly making a face the second she realized something was there.

"What is that stuff?" I asked as she made a face. From the looks of it, she wasn't impressed. "Normally Mommy is a much better cook." I felt April smack my shoulder as I used the spoon to scoop the cereal she'd let run out of her mouth and onto her chin back up and into her mouth again.

With each bite I fed her, it became more and more obvious she did not care for it. "Just a couple more bites," I told her. "Mommy could've flavored it for you, huh? Syrup, fruit, something!"

"Jackson…"

Just as I went to feed her one of the final bites, she started in with one of her recently discovered tricks of blowing bubbles with her mouth. Only with a mouthful of oatmeal, that is what came out rather than bubbles. Before I could dodge or duck or do some other type of maneuver, I felt specks of oatmeal hit my face.

April was laughing before I even said anything. "Thank you, Ayla." I said. May as well, nothing I could do about it now. Plus, I'm sure it's not the one and only time I'll be wearing my infant daughter's food.

April continued laughing as she wiped my face off, "She wanted to share with Daddy!"

We watched as she patted the tray with her hands, getting what oatmeal spilled on there and smearing it around. "She's having fun, at least. Think she likes painting the tray with it better than eating it."

"She'll get used to it." April removed the tray and handed it to me to clean while she wiped Ayla down with a baby wipe. "I'll have to send this video to all the Grandparents!" I swear, April spent the majority of her day sending our Moms crap she'd taken of Ayla.

I kissed her cheek as I put her back in her walker and she immediately started working those little legs and moving across the kitchen. "She loves that thing."

"Dinner should be done now, if you wanna grab a plate."

I'd love nothing more than to grab a plate. Every surgery I did today lasted longer than it was supposed to and then I got called down to the ER between cases. Needless to say, I'd eaten out of vending machines, break rooms, etc. all day. I'd just gotten a plate down out of the cabinet when the walker collided with my ankles. "Ayla…."

"She says move it or lose it, Daddy!" April joked. It wasn't her being run down here.

I looked down and saw the biggest, one toothed grin smiling up at me. "Yeah, you can run me over if you want to. Geez, why do you have to be so cute? Huh?" No way could I correct that face. She could do whatever the hell she wanted to. When you're that adorable you get a pass, right?

Today a walker, tomorrow an actual car.

Either way, I was doomed.