A/N: My apologies as always. School in the summer really sucks lol. Enjoy the new chapter! I decided to go with a very important Chief Resident parallel ;)

Disclaimer: Same as always!

Jackson pushed past a sea of residents from various specialities that he had never seen before as he made his way to his kitchen. Apparently, Charles had extended the invitation to attend their post-Boards party to the entire hospital. Jackson couldn't really blame his roommate though, the guy was just excited about passing the most important exam of his life, like many of them were.

They had received their results an hour and a half ago, after returning from San Francisco, and Charles had decided that they needed to celebrate because they had spent the last several months studying. He had promptly run out to the store to purchase chips and dips, and a copious amount of alcohol.

Jackson was just along for the ride.

He reached into his refrigerator for a beer and smiled when he felt two hands settle on his sides. He stood up straight again and slung his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "Hey babe," he grinned as he placed a kiss on her temple. "Do you want something to drink? A beer or a glass of wine? I think I have some scotch lying around here somewhere if you want that."

She tightly wrapped both of her arms around his waist as she tilted her head upwards for a kiss. "I'll just have a sip of your beer when you open it," she laughed.

"Okay," he chuckled. He twisted the cap off of his beer and handed it to her. She took a big gulp and he laughed. "Are you sure you don't want one of your own?"

"Trying to get me drunk?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't need to get you drunk," he whispered. He kissed her again before he took a drink from his beer. "You may need to get me drunk though," he teased.

She tossed her head back in laughter as she grabbed his hand and started to pull him back towards his bedroom. "We'll see about that."

"Where are they going?" Meredith asked as she watched April and Jackson disappear down the hallway.

"Where do you think?" Cristina and Charles answered in unison.

"We're supposed to be celebrating passing our Boards," Meredith pointed out.

"Yeah," Cristina nodded. "And Avery and Kepner are celebrating with sex. I wish I was celebrating with sex." Charles turned his head towards her and both of his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Don't get any ideas, Percy," she warned.

The large man's eyes widened even further. "I don't have any ideas," he told her shakily.

Cristina snickered. "Yeah, I didn't think so. You have any tequila?"

Charles nodded slowly. "Yeah, I just picked some up."

Cristina followed Charles into the kitchen while Meredith looked around the living room. Charles and Jackson's apartment was full of people drinking and laughing, and dancing to music, and then there was Alex Karev. He was standing in the corner with a beer in one hand and a glass of vodka in the other. Despite all of the problems that she had had with him, she couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had failed. The rest of his class were now Board certified surgeons and he wasn't. He was probably thinking that his surgical career was over and she wasn't sure what to say to him. She would probably feel the same way if she had failed.

Anyone would feel like drinking beer and vodka at the same time if they had failed.

She took a deep breath before she crossed the living room and stood at his side. "Hey Alex." He grunted an acknowledgement and she grimaced. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yup, I just need another drink," he answered as he looked down at his empty glass.

"Are you sure?" She persisted.

He nodded again. "Yeah, Mer, I'm fine. The Boards sucked and I failed," he stated bluntly. He had needed to pass two of his three thirty minute sessions and he hadn't; it was actually quite simple. "I'm over it. I'm going to move on."

She looked at him sceptically but decided not to pester him. "Okay then, that's good."

He nodded in agreement as he grabbed the bottle of vodka and poured himself another glass. "Of course I'm probably not going to be able to get a fellowship so there's that. That's gonna suck," he laughed humorlessly.

"Alex," she began but he interrupted her with a shrug and a personal question.

"So how are things between you and Shepherd? Still going?"

"Yes," she answered quickly. Things were definitely still going between she and Derek. Going and heading towards the alter if he had his way.

"Too bad," Alex muttered.

Meredith rolled her eyes before she responded. "Grow up, Alex." He was only acting like an ass because he was drunk and upset.

She quickly turned on her heel and headed back into the kitchen, where she ran into April, who had obvious sex hair. She laughed softly as she smoothed down her friend's auburn hair. "Nice hair," she joked.

April blushed, "We got a little carried away."

"Yeah, I'd say," Meredith laughed. "Was it good at least?"

Cristina snickered as she approached them. "Judging by the look on Avery's face, it was really good."

The red-head glanced at her boyfriend as he grabbed another beer out of the fridge. She could see that he was grinning widely and when he caught her gaze, he sent her a playful wink. She giggled before she admitted, "Yeah, it was really good. Quick but good."

"The Virgin Mary likes quickies," Cristina joked.

April didn't even bother to snap or protest, what Cristina said was true and she was comfortable with her sex life. She turned towards Meredith to see if she was still laughing but her gaze was fixed on Alex, who was moving towards the front door of the apartment. Mer's face was etched with concern and April could see that she was about to take a step forward to follow him. The red-head quickly placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder and whispered, "I'll go."

Meredith nodded in acceptance and so April left the apartment in search of Alex. She called his name and he turned around once he had reached the sidewalk.

"What?" He barked. "Are you going to give me some stupid, pitying speech that's meant to be uplifting?"

She hesitated before answering, "No, not if you don't want me to."

"Good," he huffed angrily. "Good." He muttered a few more words to himself before he sat down on the curb.

April sighed before she walked to the end of the driveway and sat down next to him. "I'm not going to say anything. I'm just gonna sit here in case you want to say something."

"I don't wanna talk," he muttered as he focused on his sneakers. "Talking is way overrated." She laughed in agreement and that caused him to laugh too. "We were pretty good at not talking."

She nodded slowly as she continued to laugh. "Yeah, we were." When they had been "together" they had done very little talking. They had done plenty of kissing and groping, but very little talking. She had loved it at the time and it had taken her a while to see just how unhealthy it was.

Alex turned to her with a salacious grin. "Wanna get outta here?"

She gaped at him as her cheeks turned bright red. "Alex, I'm with Jackson. We're really serious and you're just really upset."

He rolled his eyes and hopped to his feet. "Whatever."

"Alex!" She yelled angrily as he walked down the street. He ignored her and she called after him one more time before she gave up and headed back inside Jackson and Charles' apartment.

"Okay," Callie sighed as she stood at the front of the conference room beside a whiteboard. "I guess it's time to talk about our residents and who will and will not be staying." She looked at the room full of attendings with a sigh before she turned around and wrote the first name on the whiteboard. "Let's start with Percy."

Derek glanced up from his clipboard with a frown. "Percy already told me he's definitely going. The Cleveland Clinic is pursuing him pretty hard."

The new Chief of Surgery drew a line through Percy's name before she moved on to the next one. "Avery?"

"I think he's got his heart set on New York," Owen answered honestly.

"We may be able to get him to stay if we can lock in Kepner," Arziona proposed. The blonde Head of Pediatrics turned to her friend in curiosity. "What's Kepner thinking?"

"Well," Mark began slowly, "Tulane and Emery want her pretty bad. They're kind of in love, and Mount Sinai is interested too."

Callie scratched the top of her head in frustration as she drew question marks beside both of their names. She had hoped that more of their residents would be confident about their future at Seattle Grace, but apparently they were not. They discussed several more residents before they brought up the two that had been deemed "the ones to watch" since their intern year.

Yang and Grey.

"Teddy, where are we with Yang?" Callie asked softly.

"Definitely staying," she answered with a smile.

Owen glanced at his friend uncertainly and Callie noticed. He wasn't half as confident about Cristina's decision as she was, which Callie found incredibly odd. Last she had heard, her ex-husband and the cardio resident were hot and heavy. But perhaps things had changed.

"What about Webber?" She continued before an awkward silence settled over the room.

"Meredith will definitely be leaving," Ellis Grey answered firmly. "I believe she is between Johns Hopkins and Mass Gen."

Derek cleared his throat before he spoke. "Actually, Seattle Grace is Meredith's first choice."

The famous general surgeon widened her eyes and flared her nostrils. "What would you know about my daughter's decision?"

Derek was about to respond defensively when Callie smoothly intervened. She did not want to get into another argument with Ellis Grey. "Let's call it a day, people, and try to get some definite answers from your residents. If we need to do a lot of hiring then we need to know soon."

"Good idea, Dr. Torres," Mark seconded as he got up out of his seat.

Owen shot her a small smile as he got to his feet as well and left the room behind the parade of other doctors. Arizona was the only attending that lingered and she approached her slowly.

Callie stole a quick kiss and laughed as she asked, "Something I can do for you?"

"I need to talk about my peds fellow," she began tentatively.

"You're going to get a good one. I promise," Callie assured her.

Arizona nodded with a smile. "I know that, I know...I want Alex Karev."

"What?" Callie questioned in surprise. "B-but...but he failed his Boards...he's been moping around the hospital for the past week!"

"I know," the blonde admitted. "He's got an attitude problem and he did fail his Boards but he can still be great. I know it," she stated passionately. "He's good with the patients. He's got great instincts. He gets invested. He's not afraid to stand up to parents and I mean that in a good way. He's got a great future in peds."

Callie looked at her whiteboard with a sigh. "And you want me to approve a non-Board certified peds fellow?"

Arizona smiled that smile that made her weak in the knees. "Yes, please. For me."

The cardio surgeon couldn't stop herself from laughing. "I will consider it," she answered slowly.

And they both knew that that was a yes.

Arizona squealed excitedly and quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Calliope. You will not regret this."

Jackson looked at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye as they walked along the pier hand in hand. "Are you okay?" He asked worriedly as he rubbed his thumb into her skin. "You seem distracted." Truthfully she had seem distracted all week, ever since they had returned from San Francisco, but he had hoped that tonight would be different. He had hoped that tonight she would be able to focus on him, and them. He had recreated their first date and everything. He was wearing a suit, they had eaten a wonderful meal, and now they were taking a walk. But he was on edge and nervous, and she was distracted.

This was a very important night.

He had thought about this moment long and hard. He had debated various scenarios. He had thought about a public proposal. He had considered having the waiter hide it in her dessert, and other cheesy options. Ultimately, he had decided on intimate and romantic...Or at least he hoped that she thought it was intimate and romantic.

"I'm sorry," she sighed as she halted and turned towards him. "I am a little distracted, and you're not going to want to hear why."

He furrowed his brow in confusion as he took her free hand and entwined their fingers. "What is it? Tell me," he encouraged.

She sighed heavily before she admitted, "I'm worried about Alex."

He furrowed his brow in annoyance; she was right, he did not want to hear that. All week she had been disengaged from their conversations and, at times, even sex. She had been disinterested in their date and here he was trying to start their life together all while she was worrying about Alex Karev. It made him feel like he shouldn't have put so much thought into his proposal. "He's not yours to worry about," he murmured petulantly. He quickly dropped her hands and headed back towards the car. "Come on," he called, "I'll bring you home."

"Jackson!" She yelled as she chased after him in heels. "I can't help it and it certainly doesn't mean anything! Jackson!"

He didn't speak to her once they were both in the car and remained silent during the drive back to her place. He turned into her driveway and shifted the vehicle into park.

"Do you wanna come in?" She murmured tentatively as she focused on his side profile and his set jaw.

"No, not tonight," he exhaled. "I'm really tired."

"You're not tired," she argued. "You're being ridiculous. You're upset because I brought up Alex. I'm sorry."

He pushed his head against the headrest and tightened both of his hands around the steering wheel of Charles' car. "I really don't want to talk about Alex Karev," he spoke through gritted teeth.

She rolled her eyes and huffed. "I picked you, you dummy. I'm in love with you! I'm worried about Alex because I think he might be getting a little depressed. He's a Chief Resident who didn't pass his Boards, how often does that happen?" She exclaimed.

"Just say his name one more time," he replied in agitation.

"Jackson, I'm just worried about a friend!" She practically shouted.

He replied loudly and without thought. "And I'm trying to propose!"

April's mouth instantly dropped open and she stared at him in shock. "W-what?"

Jackson sighed and smacked the back of his head against the headrest again. "I didn't mean to yell that," he groaned.

"Yeah," she whispered. "I'd imagine not." She paused and chewed on her bottom lip before she spoke again. "You were going to propose?"

He nodded slowly. "I planned a night like our first date, so after we walked along the pier, I was going to take you home and propose to you in your bedroom. I was going to tell you that I love you...that I love everything about you...that I want to spend the rest of my life with you because you make me want to be the best version of myself. And then," he sighed, "I was going to give you my Grandmother Avery's ring."

While April remained shocked into silence, Jackson closed his eyes and digested what was sure to go down in history as the worst proposal ever. He had yelled at her in a car that wasn't even his anymore. He had brought up the idea of proposing in a conversation about Alex Karev. Jackson was still contemplating his complete and utter idiocy, when his girlfriend grabbed him by the neck and kissed him passionately.

"Yes," she spoke breathlessly once she pulled away. "Yes, of course I'll marry you."

"After that shitty proposal?" He joked.

She laughed before she kissed him again. "You can make it up to me when you come inside," she told him suggestively.

A/N: Please leave a review! Only 2 chapters left to this bad boy!