"I'm home", April called as she entered her home much later than she'd planned on entering it.

Today had been crazy. She was supposed to come in for a quick check up only, as it was her day off. Just when she was about to go home again a bus drove into Rimrock Mall on full speed. It was out of the question that, after checking up on her family to see if they were okay, April was going to stay at work. She wouldn't have been able to enjoy her time off with all that trauma on her mind, anyway. And it had payed off. Her four month streak of no dead patients was still intact, which, given the fact she worked in trauma where people who arrived with a headache sometimes left the hospital through another door than they'd come in on, was quite amazing.

She felt exhausted, but happy as she put her keys on the little table next to the door, hung her coat up on the hall stand and exchanged her flats for fluffy socks. Besides that she felt a little surprised to be greeted with as much silence as she was. It was only a half past six, which she didn't consider to be all that late.

"Hello-ho?", she called out. The hallway had been dark when she arrived, but turning the light on had robbed her of every opportunity to see light escape under the crack of the bottom of any doors.

When there was still no reaction April shrugged and went over to the kitchen to check for leftovers. Between administrating and operating on patients she'd had barely any time for a real break. Pee breaks and one to drink and snack – that was it. She was famished. Hopefully there was something fresh. She really wasn't in the mood for the spinach salad from yesterday. Granted, she'd loved it when they had it, but right now she just didn't want to see, smell or – God forbid – eat spinach.

As she approached the so called heart of the home April could make out voices and sounds. The rattling of cutlery, high pitched laughter. Could it be?

Sure enough, when she opened the door she spotted the two men, or the man and the boy, most dear to her sitting at the table eating dinner. All exhaustion seemed to leave her upon realizing she would get to eat with them. Not only that, she would get to indulge in some more family quality time before they put their son to bed. Play a game, read a story, take a bath. Suddenly she was very grateful that her baby was growing up, because it meant he could stay up later, which meant she could see more of him.

Apparently, her son shared her excitement about seeing each other. After shrieking "Mommy!" the two-year-old dropped his fork and wiggled out of his chair, causing his booster seat to fall down in the process. Neither of his parents could be mad at him, though. It was such an endearing gesture. April also didn't mind that her trousers were getting some spaghetti sauce on them as her son hugged her leg. She crouched down to hug him back.

"I missed you, baby", she murmured into his soft hair.

"Missed you, too, mommy", he told her earnestly. "You didn't work today."

"Mommy didn't have to work today", she corrected gently. Supposed to was not a word she would teach him tonight. It was one of the words she'd put off as long as possible, actually. "But that was before a lot of people got ouchies and then I did have to work."

He nodded and then with the biggest eyes she knew assured her: "I understand."

Both parents giggled at his choice of words. He must have had picked that up from one of their 'sorry, I won't make it on time tonight' phone calls (due to their jobs they did have a lot of those). It was adorable. Then, April adored almost everything about her son. She still couldn't grasp how she had gotten so lucky. Perfect child, perfect husband, perfect home, perfect job – sometimes it felt like she didn't deserve it.

April kissed the top of her son's head before she rose from her crouched position. "How about we finish dinner now, hm? What do you think, Sam?"

Of course, he agreed and with a little help from his father she was back in his booster seat before April was done praying. When he noticed her doing it, although a little confused because he had already prayed before they'd started eating, he clasped his little hands and closed his eyes only to open them when he heart his mom utter "Amen".

His father chuckled. "So he gets a kiss and to pray with you, and what do I get?"

"You could have prayed with us", she reminded him before stretching on her seat to reach his lips. They only allowed themselves a chaste kiss on the lips in front of their child, but April's blush spoke volumes. Sam wasn't the only reason she was happy to be home.

"How did your day go? Did you have fun?", April asked over her own serving of spaghetti.

"Oh, yes", her husband replied with a smile, "sam, do you wanna tell mommy where we went?"

The toddler bobbed his head up and down in excitement. "We done the Reefer!"

It was a miracle that April didn't spit out the sip of water she had just taken. Instead she swallowed it and watched bemused as her tips of her husband's ears turned red. "I didn't know daddy liked doing that."

sam nodded his head so vividly she was afraid he'd get himself concussed. "Daddy was really good at it!"

"I can imagine." April smiled sweetly at the man of the house, who apparently had yet to regain his voice after his son basically told her they'd gone for a joint together today.

"Reef. It's called the Reef", he finally said.

"That's what I sayed, daddy", sam claimed, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"That's what you said, baby", April confirmed. She couldn't get the grin off her face, even though she could sense her husband would love to end his embarrassment.

Children say the darnest things, she thought.

"It's a waterpark", he put in, "A co-worker recommended it to me and... it was really nice, actually. You should come next time. We had a lot of fun, right Sam?"

"Right, daddy", the toddler echoed excitedly, "Lots of fun!"

"Well. It definitely sounds tempting", April mused in what she tried to set up as a casual tone. "I'll definitely do that with you..." She bit her lower lip, then added: "A reefer."

April flopped down on the bed with a sigh. Although she'd thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her son – she always did – the exhaustion that seemed to be gone earlier was creeping back on her. She had been awake for almost 15 hours straight now. Normally that wouldn't bother her, but even now that she was getting close to her second trimester being tired was still an issue. After her unexpected ER day she felt ready to just close her eyes and fall asleep there and then. Especially since she'd already taken a bath and brushed her teeth with Samson. There was really no reason for her not to drift off and...

Except there was. And it was moving the bed by laying down as well right now. She couldn't be mad at that, though. She really couldn't.

So she wasn't scowling when she turned around to face him, she was smiling. "Hey", she greeted. They always did that, multiple times a day. Spending time with their child was very different from spending time with each other, for a lot of good reasons. So saying 'hey' when he met her in bed felt appropriate.

"Was your shower okay?"

Her husband had opted not to bathe with them. It was getting harder and harder to squeeze the three of them in the bathtub as Sam grew. Maybe they'd do that more with the new baby once she was born. Or they'd just have to see about getting a bigger bathtub.

"Mh... would have been nicer with you there", he said.

His hand brushed over her bag. It made the hairs on her arms stand up. In the best way possible. She smiled. "Reefers, taking showers together... if only my dad knew what dark paths you're leading me to walk upon."

"That's not fair. I missed you. You didn't work today", he explained, imitating their son. He even sported a pout much like Sam's. It made her laugh. He could always do that to her. This, among many other things.

She leaned forward a little to kiss him. "I missed you, too, babe."

For a while they just lay side by side, stroking at each others side, foreheads pressed together, staring into each other's eyes, breathing evenly.

Then he said: "I love you, April."

And she said: "I love you, too, Matthew."

A/N: Did I get you, huh? :D
Tbh although I'm a die-hard Japril shipper I've always had a soft spot for Matthew. He really adored her and he was so damn good to her. (I also thought it was OOC for April to run off with Jackson for a while, but that's another story). Anyway with how things are going for Japril in S13 (...Jackson treating her... not good) I thought I'd allow me to play this small mind game. Let me know your thoughts :)