AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry it took so long—I've been working and blocked and not watching this season of Grey's because I want Lexie back, and yeah…I am now back because I wanted to work on this. I still love Jackson and I wanted to write some nurse things because it would be fun. That, and I think my drama writing might be a little rusty and this can help with that…

I'm kind of going to be doing my own thing here and not so much following the show because I have yet to see Season 9 and because I refuse to kill Lexie and Mark off. So…bear with me okay?

WARNINGS: Language, Gore, Blood, Death, Slash, Sex, Drugs

ENJOY!

xxxx

Friendship. No matter the work that you do or the life that you lead, friendship counts. Someone to pick you up when you're down—someone to know you better than you know yourself—Katherine needed that. Katherine needed that and there were really only two females in her life that she could really count on outside of her family and she had to embrace that.

When Katherine's mother got a new inhaler prescription and eventually released from the hospital's care, April and Lexie started to hang out with her more. They could sense that she needed someone around and even though April was from Mercy West, the three found that they had some things in common. Not to mention April thought it was kind of adorable that Katherine was into Jackson, and Jackson couldn't stop talking about her.

"Tomorrow we all have the day off? How often does that happen?" Lexie asked as the three girls ate some lunch together.

Katherine shrugged a little bit. "We should go see a movie, maybe."

"Do you guys mind if I bring Reed, Percy and Jackson along?" April asked them.

"I don't mind," Katherine said quickly, sighing loudly when she saw Alex coming towards her. "Why did God think it would be funny to pair me up with him?"

"Your hate for him knows no bounds, huh?" Lexie asked her with a laugh. "Meredith says there's more to him than he shows."

Katherine looked at her skeptically. "Really? Behind the first five layers of ass there's 'maybe-not-such-an-ass'?"

April laughed a little as Katherine smiled, Lexie laughing too even though she was trying to make a point. Then Katherine looked up as Alex stopped at the table, him and Katherine both assigned to Arizona that day for PEDS, and Katherine gave him her full attention even though he knew she hated him. Besides hitting on her, he'd been saying things to her about choosing to hang out with the doctors from Mercy West and all in all just hadn't been nice in general. Katherine, being the judge of character that she was, was pretty certain that no matter the good he'd done in the past, there was no way that he was actually a 'good person'.

Alex looked Katherine in the eye. "The kid—"

"—Tyler." Katherine corrected him, wanting him to use the little boy's name.

"Whatever—he's asking for you and Robbins told me to get you." Alex responded, not happy that he had been sent on this particular errand. "So wrap up your pow-wow and get a move on."

Katherine nodded slowly. "Tyler's sick of looking at your face?"

"Way to be professional." Alex told her.

"You're right, you're right," Katherine admitted even though the idea of Alex being right made her sick to her stomach, "I'm sorry. I'll be there in a minute."

"Good." Alex told her, starting to walk away. "And remember that I'm always right."

Katherine laughed loudly. "You wish you were always right, Karev."

Lexie and April laughed as Katherine rolled her eyes, heading after Alex as she ate an apple slice, bumping into Jackson. Sometimes when Katherine bumped into Jackson it was an accident…more often than not it was on purpose. This time? It was actually an accident—but it was nice to feel his body against hers since she hadn't bumped into him for a good three days.

"Where are you running off to, Hale?" Jackson asked with a chuckle, his chest rumbling against hers as he laughed.

Katherine smirked a little. "Off to do my job. Oooh! Carrots!"

It made Jackson's whole face light up to see her so happy with him, and he actually felt his heart skip a beat when she stole the carrot from his tray. They were definitely friends and it was nice that she felt so comfortable with him because he definitely wanted to get to know her better. If he said he didn't have a crush on her, then he would be lying and yet he wasn't ready to ask her out yet—she didn't seem in the dating space. That didn't mean, however, that he couldn't tease her.

"That was my carrot!" Jackson called after her as she bounded off merrily in her pink scrubs.

He smiled and laughed a little, sitting with Lexie and April since Reed and Percy were off working at that moment. Jackson also had the day off the next day and he wondered how he, Katherine, Lexie and April were going to handle this—Reed and Percy had to work—because with his incessant talking about Katherine, and April's hints that Katherine was into him, Jackson was a little nervous. What if this was all just some kind of plan to get Katherine and Jackson alone together?

"Kathy wants to go to a movie tomorrow," Lexie announced when Jackson settled into his seat.

Jackson nodded slowly. "Oh she does, does she? What kind of movie? Some kind of ridiculous chick flick?"

"She wants to see a horror movie," April told him with a frown on her face.

"And she wants me along to hide her face in., Jackson said with a nod, thinking quite highly of himself.

Lexie laughed though. "Yeah, um…no—she actually thrives on horror movies…but you can hide your face in her if you get scared."

"I'm not going to get scared," Jackson replied rolling his eyes.

April and Lexie smiled and nodded, Katherine making it into the room with Tyler and Arizona, the blonde beaming at her favorite pupil. She wasn't supposed to pick favorites, but she would pick Katherine over Alex any day of the week and that made Katherine happy because she knew that. It was pretty obvious judging solely by the tasks that she and Alex got to do. Still, Katherine knew that Arizona wasn't supposed to pick favorites and she made sure not to gloat to Alex about any of it.

"I missed you," Tyler told Katherine as she entered the room.

Katherine smiled at him. "I missed you too."

She glanced at Arizona and then the door when Tyler's focus shifting away from her, seeing that Alex was there too. He knew that Katherine was the favorite in the room and yet it didn't stop him from being there. Alex wanted to be on top no matter what and while that wasn't on the top of Katherine's list of things to do, it was definitely something she wanted: she wanted to be better than Alex Karev. So, here she was, trying to make it in good with Arizona and she was managing. In fact she was doing more than just managing—she was absolutely dominating.

If she knew anything, Katherine knew that Arizona had bigger plans set in motion for her that had nothing to do with Alex, and Katherine wanted to make sure that she took advantage of the opportunity. She wanted to be the best in the field and she enjoyed what she did and if that also meant sticking it to Alex Karev, then Katherine Hale was going to stick it to him. Arizona spoke up too, bringing Katherine out of her thoughts and back into the room with Tyler.

"Tyler wants you to assist me on his surgery," Arizona told Katherine, smiling at her. "I told him you'd be thrilled, but he wants to hear it from you."

Katherine was caught off guard, but she smiled at Tyler. "Of course I'll assist. You don't think I'd let him do it, do you?"

"Of course not," Tyler replied, Katherine having pointed at Alex.

She was just joking around and Alex knew that, even if part of that statement was full of truth. Katherine would never intentionally let Alex get the better of her and she wanted this surgery—she wanted to prove herself. So, she talked to Tyler a little bit more and then talked to Arizona in her office as Alex went to go make some more rounds, knowing that she was going to have to put some of her surgery skills to work. She was a little bit rusty, but it was nothing that practice couldn't cure.

As she got out of her scrubs, Lexie and April came over to her, sitting on the bench as Katherine buttoned up her shirt and then went for her brush. She wanted to look presentable and tell them the good news, but they'd already heard it and April was gushing while Lexie just beamed at her. They might have been a threesome, but it was really Katherine and Lexie that would consider themselves best friends at this point…that's probably how it would always be.

"You are just winning at everything," April told Katherine as she laughed a little bit. "I mean first Jackson decides to come and hang out with us, and then Arizona picks you over Alex for a surgery."

Katherine smiled and shrugged. "I do seem to be having a pretty awesome day."

"You should tell us how you did it," Lexie joked with her as Katherine grabbed her bag. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, at my place," Katherine agreed as they all stood up to leave.

Lexie and April nodded and then they parted, Katherine running into Jackson as she went to her car. He smiled at her, having somehow parked right next to her without knowing, and they both stood behind their cars and smiled before walking up to each other. They felt so comfortable around each other, but regardless of the attraction, neither of them was doing a thing about it.

"I hear you got picked for a surgery over Karev," Jackson told her nodding. "Congratulations."

Katherine blushed a little bit. "Thank you, though if I hadn't gotten the surgery, something would have been wrong with the world."

"You really don't like him at all, do you?" Jackson asked her as he laughed, laughing more when she shook her head. "Is it just because he's an ass, or…?"

"It's a combination of a lot of things but mostly he's an ass and I don't enjoy his company," Katherine admitted with a shrug. "I enjoy yours though, Avery. See you tomorrow?"

Jackson beamed at that and nodded. "Yeah…I'll see you tomorrow."

Note: Next chapter will be fluffy with lots of Katherine/Jackson flirting because I want it. I miss Jackson and his face. Feedback is always appreciated!