A couple of weeks had passed since Kepner had given birth to baby Samuel. In the meanwhile Amelia had finally operated on dr. Herman, successfully, and besides that, Owen had kissed her. Which seemed unimportant in comparison to performing a career altering procedure, but it felt just as vital.

Nothing had happened since then though, since she'd been so preoccupied with Herman's case. He'd been trying to talk to her more often for sure, and he'd brought her coffee once, but that was the extent of it.

Today had been pretty quiet so far, very few traumas, and only a couple of people who'd bumped their heads. Which was good. Beside it being better for the patients, it was also Kepner's first day back and this way she could ease back in. Plus it gave Amelia a chance to keep an eye out for her.

So far the redhead had done her best to avoid her. Which Amelia understood pretty well and so she wasn't offended. She'd just keep her distance for now and make sure she was close enough if April did decide to come talk to her.

Unfortunately their easy day had turned into a hectic one pretty quickly. An earthquake had hit Seattle and Owen and her had spent an hour on the phone with a little girl somewhere in a cabin, helping her save her mother, who'd fallen down when the quake had hit.

April had spent the day running back and forth between the trauma room and the reception desk. She had spent half the time on the phone with EMS trying to help them locate the cabin, and the other half keeping her colleagues informed.

Fortunately they'd found the cabin on time, and Amelia was now sitting in her office finishing up her paperwork. She'd successfully operated on the mom, and had already informed Owen and Ruby. All they could do now was wait until the patient woke up.

So that's why she found herself behind her desk. There were some forms she needed to fill in before she went back to check on her patients. She couldn't really focus on them however. All day she'd been too preoccupied by the case to worry about anything else, but right now her brain was running in overdrive.

And it wasn't just concern about April that was keeping her from focussing. Owen and her had shared multiple looks. Not to mention the hand she'd comfortingly put on his shoulder as they'd been waiting for ruby to call.

He'd been so amazing all day long. It had been so obvious how much he cared, how much he wanted Ruby's mom to be okay. And he'd been so amazing with the little girl. All of it had made her heart flutter.

It made her want more. So much more. More than the stolen glances and the secret touches. She wanted kisses and conversations and, though it terrified her to no end, she wanted a proper relationship with him.

Before she had time to dwell on that any longer however, a knock sounded through her office, and someone pushed open the door.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you, I just…" Kepner fell silent as she lingered in the doorway. Amelia got up quickly. "It's not bother, please come in, I wasn't doing anything useful anyway".

April walked in and shut the door behind her. "I'm not even sure what I'm doing here to be honest". She started pacing, looking everywhere but at Amelia.

Sitting down again, Amelia watched her colleague unsure what to do. "Why don't you sit down". But April stopped in her tracks and finally looked her in the eye again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be here. I'm just gonna go". And she moved back over to the door.

Before she could leave however Amelia spoke up. "In the beginning everyone's there. But people forget. Life goes on. Except for you it doesn't. Everyone is moving past you at lightning speed but you're standing still trying to figure out how to move if you can't even breath".

The statement got April's attention and the redhead turned around again, taking her hand of the door handle. "Yes. And I just don't know how to get past it". She walked over to the couch in the corner and slumped down on it, looking down at the ground.

Amelia moved to join her and sat down on the other end. "You don't. At least not really. You just learn to live with it. One day you'll find that you can take shallow breaths again, and later on you'll catch yourself smiling". She paused for a second and thought back on her own journey. "You have to let yourself feel the pain, and then move forward. Lean on the people that love you. Take it a day at a time. Set your own pace, there's no rush".

It had taken Amelia months to come to term with everything that had happened. And even more time to feel okay again. Till this day there were still moments when the grieve got unbearable and she struggled to get by. But she did, because there was no alternative.

April looked up at her. "Jackson and I. We've hardly been talking. Let alone about this. He pretends that he's fine for my sake and he's so overprotective. I'm not as fragile as he seems to think, and I need to talk about it. I can't just pretend it didn't happen. I can't pretend that everything's okay". She seemed utterly defeated.

This wasn't territory Amelia was familiar with, having had a pretty terrible track record when it came to talking to men until very recently. But she had learned from her bad experiences. "You have to talk to him about that. He's obviously struggling too. Let him know what you need".

She sighed deeply. "Look, I'm not an expert at this. But I do know that you're lucky to have a guy like Jackson. Not to have to do it all alone. You have to lean on each other, help each other through it. Just talk to him".

Tears were now rolling over April's cheeks so Amelia handed her a tissue. April took it gratefully and dabbed her eyes. "How do you know all of this." She hesitated momentarily, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to pry, I just… I wanna understand".

It wasn't a strange question. Amelia had seen it coming. Answering could make things worse, just as easily as it could make things better, but she knew she had to be honest. "I gave birth to an anencephalic baby a few years back".

Being a doctor as well April knew what this meant. "I'm so sorry". Amelia shrugged her shoulders. "So am I. It was hard, the most difficult thing I've ever had to overcome. But I did. And I had to do it by myself".

It wasn't necessarily true, because she'd had her friends, but she hadn't had a husband to rely on. "Look, not to make it more of a sob story, but my fiance died before I even found out I was pregnant, so I didn't have him there with me. You have Jackson. So please trust me when I say you two should depend on each other".

April smiled sadly, but at least it was a smile, and so Amelia took it as a win. For now.

Just then the familiar buzzing sound of a pager going off sounded through the room. Amelia took her phone out of her pocket to see if she was needed anywhere. "Crap" She said as she realised she really did have to go.

"I"m sorry April, but one of my patients woke up and I have to go check on her. You can stay here till you feel ready to leave. And if you ever wanna talk again, please come find me. I'd love to be your friend". She smiled.

April smiled back, a bit more convincingly this time. "That'd be nice. And thank you, for everything". As she moved toward the door she looked back one more time. "No problem", And then she left her office, hurrying to get to her patient.

xXx

They were standing outside the patient's room, looking in through the glass as Ruby told her mom all about the day she'd had. Both had big grins on their faces. Today had been a successful and rewarding day.

Amelia had paged Owen down here after she'd finished with her exam. He'd been close by, not to her surprise, keeping tabs on Ruby. She'd wanted to see the look on his face when she told him the good news. Plus she'd had this strange desire to be near him right now.

As if on cue they looked at each other and started walking down the hallway. Rounding the corner he said "Thank you, for today". Amelia smiled up at him, "You're welcome". Then she opened her arms, inviting him in for a hug.

She wasn't even sure why she was doing it. Well she realised it was the inexplicable pull he had on her. The fact that she'd wanted to be near him all day, that she'd wanted his touch. But the gesture seemed childish and ridiculous and she couldn't stand her own awkwardness.

Owen however leaned into the hug eagerly, as if he'd been just as desperate to touch her. He pulled her close, with both his arms around her back.

It felt so good to be held by him, and she hated when she had to move away again. Before they could full and truly break apart though something in the atmosphere changed and they both paused.

Without thinking about it he deepened the hug. His arms tightened around her back, one of his hands finding it's way onto her hair. She wrapped herself around him in response.

He still had the presence of mind not to kiss her then and there. They were still standing in the middle of a hallway after all. But he did want to kiss her. And so he tore himself away from her, taking her hand as he did so and guiding her into the nearest on call room.

Once they were inside he locked the door and formalities were forgotten. Amelia attacked his lips, kissing him forcefully. Owen retorted with just as much passion, putting all his feelings into it.

It had been weeks since their last kiss, and both had been wanting this for a while now. They were thoroughly enjoying being able to finally touch, feel, kiss. It felt completely natural and right. Their relationship was changing. This was definitely something different. And it was definitely good.

AN; So this was way harder to write than the first chapter, and I'm not sure I'm sattisfied, but I'm posting it any way cause I'd like to know what you think. FIrst time writing April so keep that in mind. Hope you enjoyed reading! Xx