2 weeks later

To many, the sight looks ordinary. Two people surrounded by boxes, ready to move out. After all, it happens every day. People move in search of a better place to live, or when constraints lead them to. Whatever the reason may be, moving is always a way to start new.

Yes, to many, the sight is ordinary, but to them it's the greatest decision they've ever made.

The last of their boxes are neatly piles up in front of his apartment's door, where's she's been living ever since the incident at the hospital. Boxes filled with their whole lives, while their whole lives await them elsewhere.

Jackson hadn't been joking when he'd asked her to move far away. He wanted to start their new life together somewhere where they could just enjoy the beauty of it all together. No distractions from co-workers, or ghosts haunting them at every corner they turned.

A fresh start.

Actually, he'd never been so sure of anything in his life. Coming home alone on nights where he didn't have his daughter, where his only company was the bottom of a whiskey bottle, taught him that life wasn't worth it if you didn't surround yourself with the people that you love.

He knew now what he'd once known when he'd stood up at the barn: that life looked cold and empty when he wasn't with his sunshine. That once in a lifetime, you find the right person, the exact best person. Every day, the moment you open your eyes and pull off your blankets, that's what you hope for. The sunshine on your face, warm enough to make you heart sing.

Their history was complicated, but they'd both agreed to leave the past where it belonged: in the past. They no longer felt pain or resentment when looking at past mistakes, because they now knew they could still keep loving each other despite all of the hardships life had presented them with.

Nowadays, his mind no longer forces him to remember the time when he'd turned his back on her after she had done so too – when he'd made her sign away their fairy tale before they could get to the ending. Ever since that day, he had known one thing. You can end relationships, but you cannot end true love.

He looks at her as she packs Harriet's things into her bag, unable to wipe the smile from his face. After all this time, after everything that'd happened between them, this was it. They would be together forever. He feels like the last time they ran away together, but this time they are older and understand what losing each other is like. This time, he knows that life without her is just a painful abyss that can only be soaked in alcohol and late nights sitting up thinking about the girl with the fiery locks and forest eyes.

Unable to concentrate on anything else, he drops the box he was carrying and walks over to her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey – come on, you're going to make us late!" he spins her around and starts kissing her cheeks, and her forehead, and before they know it she's erupted in a fit of giggles.

"See, the great thing is that when it's your plane, they wait for you," he looks at her grinning face and sees the happiness they're going to bring to each other's lives forever.

"Jackson!" she slaps his arm, "I thought you said we were flying commercial."

He laughs and plants a kiss right on her forehead, "let's enjoy it, just this once."

She mocks a sigh and rolls her eyes, but not before wrapping her arms around her neck, "If you insist."

Many considered Jackson Avery to be a man of few words, always looking sullen and in deep thought. That's why anyone that saw him around April Kepner always expressed shock. For when he was around her, he would smile and dance and let himself be in love. In love with life, in love with living, in love with her.

April knew Jackson was an Avery from the first day she met him. But his last name never made him stand apart during their intern and residence years, where they always shared small cramped apartments with their friends, and Chinese takeaway was considered a luxury. To her, he would always be the same person she grew into adulthood with, and none of the stuff his name had gifted him over the years phased her.

She loved him for him. His flaws, his stubbornness, his impulsivity. Him. All of him.

The look in her eyes when she looks up at him makes him want to kick himself over the head for letting her go for so long in the first place. What had happened in the closet helped him see that life was too short not to let himself just be. Just be with the woman he loves. Just be himself. Just be happy.

He softly strokes her cheek, and takes her hand into his, "You ready?"

"Let's do this." She smiles.

The cool ocean breeze touching down on the city is a picturesque scene. Each house is its unique colour, and the seagulls sing as they fly over them. On the corner, a pale blue house with a small garden overlooks the distant ocean… and it's theirs.

San Francisco is where they'd started their story, and it's where they had decided to continue it.

It's where they had realised that maybe they were more than friends, that being there for each other through anything and everything could also mean more. The city had held a sacred part of both of their hearts for over 6 years, and now that their story had come full circle it felt right to go back to the beginning.

After all, April had told him she wanted to end where they began.

They wanted to raise Harriet somewhere where they wouldn't have to explain all the tragedy that had happened. They'd both grown to be who they were at Grey Sloan Memorial, but ultimately it only served to bring them further apart. Every on call room reminded them of their sneaking around early on in their relationship, but also where they'd tried to mend their marriage by sleeping together for months. The halls were where he'd get a glimpse of her auburn hair and his day would be made, but it was also where their friends had died many years prior. The patient's rooms, the ICU, the labs… they reminded them of the greatest moments of their lives, but also the worst. And it was time for a change. They no longer wanted to be held back by the ghosts of their pasts.

In the blue house, April is mixing cookie batter while Jackson laughs along with her, holding Harriet on the counter.

They'd once been kids in love, risking everything and ruining every relationship for each other. They'd once ran out of a wedding together and gotten married in secret. And now, they were ready to be in love with no secrets and no running. They no longer needed to take extraordinary measures to be together, because all they needed was each other. This time, they weren't on the run, for this time they had arrived at their destination.

The universe kept pulling them together, just waiting for them to see that they were meant to be together. Though the stepping stones to this very moment proved at times to be challenging, in the end, Jackson Avery had found his way back to April Kepner. Call it fate, or a fairy tale, or any other trope that's used to describe true love, but the reality is that love cannot be described in one single way. Their love had been extraordinary, chaotic, tender and tumultuous. Their love had been anything but one single thing. And best of all, it had only been theirs.

Even out on the neatly paved street, you can hear a distant song playing. The guitar chords could tug at anyone's heart strings in an instant, bringing them to a place of love and happiness. The song sounds like coming home, like two people that fought for each other finally finding each other's arms again.

Through the window, anyone would be able to see the three of them in their kitchen, laughing along as the music envelops the joyous atmosphere. He takes a spoon full of dough and drops it on her nose while she dances, and when she looks at him, their faces look like they could break apart from how big they are grinning.

From the outside, you wouldn't guess all the hardships their relationship endured to find its happily ever after. You wouldn't be able to imagine that his arms weren't always locked around her waist, dancing blissfully with their daughter like the fate of the whole world depends on their happiness.

You wouldn't be able to see their first kiss in front of a dimly lit hotel room, or his late night confessions to her about his feelings. You wouldn't see their stolen gazes in corridors, or him standing up at her wedding, or the countless times they put their hearts on the line for a chance to be together.

No, you would just see love.

On the door, a small sign has been hung up in front of the fresh paint, and on it, a small glimpse on where their journey has lead them,

"Home, sweet home."

And that's a wrap on this happily ever after! I hope this brought you a little bit of joy :)

Please review, I'd love to hear what you thought about this two part story and my writing!

Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews you've already left, it makes me so happy to see so many people love J and A as much as I do.