"Kepner's pissed," sighed Alex, as he skillfully shot a 9 ball into the corner pocket of Joe's pool table.

"Pissed is a strong word," said Jackson, chalking up the tip of his pool stick.

"How is she?" the peds surgeon asked curiously, a beer bottle in hand.

"I called her. Said she'll be up late to work on her lesson plan," said Jackson.

"Wait." Alex paused thoughtfully. "So she's not dropping the class?"

"Nope. She's pretty serious about seeing it through," Jackson assured him, and took a sip from his drink. "It's just your job offer she declined."

"I had a feeling she'd turn it down," said Alex, eyebrows tilted up as he stared blankly at the textured surface of the green play table. "I just wanted her to have first dibs. You know? On the off chance that she'd wanna be chief. Apparently she doesn't."

"You had a feeling she'd turn it down?" Jackson asked, aiming for his shot.

"Yeah. 'Cause of her job," said Alex, scrunching his face at him like the answer was supposed to be obvious. "Didn't think she'd turn it down that fast. Or that much. Did you see the way she murdered me with her eyes?"

"Was worth a shot though, right?" Jackson managed to chuckle.

"I feel like a shithead."

"Don't. It's not like she hates you. She just said no. Even thanked you for considering her."

"Sure..." Alex tried hard to accept it for what it was, but had trouble coming to terms with the idea that everything was just fine and dandy. "No, screw that. Avery. She is the job. She's been manning it right from under Hunt's nose for years. And I saw it on her face. She wanted it."

"We don't know that. Maybe she just wants to focus on the class," Jackson pressed on. "Maybe she just… moved on."

"Look." Alex let out one more sigh to collect himself. "I'm glad she's pushing through with the class. The residents need a solid trauma course. It's a priority. They're too fussy. Too careful. Not enough bloodthirst for the game, not like back in the day."

"Right? We'd totally kill each other for a good trauma."

"Nah but Kepner… she…" smirked Alex, shaking his head before amending the thought. "I mean yeah, she'd probably still strangle me to get to a GSW first. But she cared a lot about the really boring ones, too. If that's not love for trauma, then I don't know what is."

Jackson felt equally resigned. "If we can't have her as chief… just… pick a good one, alright?"

"Easier said than done," Alex said in surrender, and returned his focus to their game. "At least it's just until Hunt or Teddy can take over." At that moment, they both turned their heads to see Meredith plop onto a chair by the table where they had set their food. "Ey, Mer."

"I need a drink," she said. "My residents are idiots."

"Did they drop a kidney during a domino transplant?" asked Jackson, recalling Meredith's colossal blunder back in her residency.

"Perform Api's on each other?" Alex asked.

"Cut a patient's LVAD wire?" Jackson asked again.

"Good point. No," Meredith said bleakly. "They screwed up my paperwork. They're very safe, very boring idiots."

"That's exactly what I've been saying!" Alex exclaimed, serving Meredith a gesture of praise.

"Hey, and we saw April at the hospital," said Meredith, motioning Amelia to come over with their drinks. "Looks like the Taylors finally made it for a visit."

All of the color emptied itself out of Jackson's face, and before he could make his shot, he stood himself straight again to face Meredith and Amelia.

As though on cue, Alex asked the question for him. "You saw Matthew?"

Jackson calmly took a swig of his drink, mostly to hide the fact that he was practically scowling. It was as if he'd just been told that a dead man was roaming the streets of Seattle. A second flew by as he foolishly entertained the possibility that the past few months had all just been a dream, and that he was being jogged awake into another world – one where April was still just living her newlywed life with Matthew.

Completely oblivious, Meredith shared a look with Amelia and wore a sleek, cat-like smile as she answered, "No… But she looked freshly laid, so…"

With absolutely no chance of being stopped, the beer that Jackson was sipping quickly exploded out of his mouth and into his nose against the top of his beer bottle. As it turned out, he knew exactly why she looked freshly laid – because he had everything to do with it.

Too busy choking on his beverage, Jackson barely noticed Maggie joining in with some food. "Who just got laid?" she asked, bestowing the group with a tray of fries. She offered a token look of concern toward Jackson, whose face was practically dripping with liquid froth.

"April," answered Meredith and Amelia in unison. The gang of sisters had successfully raided their table and were now sure to make a night of it.

"Man. Always wondered what devout Christian sex is like," said Amelia and everyone turned to look at her like she was blurting out thoughts that were meant to stay tucked away. Sensing this, she simply smiled and shrugged it off. "She's the new lecture master, right? I threw Link's file in the trash for that to happen."

"You, me, and a whole boatload of other people," said Maggie, munching on a fry. Alex reached for one and she pushed the tray closer to him.

"Jackson, your nose is full of beer," Meredith pointed out although it didn't seem to need it.

"Yeahp," he coughed, as he continued to clean himself with his handkerchief. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be," Amelia said breezily. "It's good to see sexy men in their ungodly form once and a while."

"April, she… she just came by to review some literature," said Jackson, sniffing quietly and tucking his hanky away in his back pocket.

"And bang her hot paramedic husband in public, apparently," Amelia smiled suggestively.

Staring aimlessly at nothing a short while, Jackson decided that he didn't want to be there. Anymore. At all. "I think I'm gonna clock out," he said, his eyebrows high as he gently slapped a hand on the play table before setting aside his pool stick. "Night you guys."

Meredith and Amelia looked confused but not by much. Maggie seemed to react only with what she knew – that he'd rather not stick around for stories about April's sex life with her husband.

Only Alex knew the cause of his inner turmoil, and offered a sturdy pat on Jackson's back. "You guys will figure it out," he said under his breath for only Jackson to hear.

Jackson returned the same gesture in silent thanks. He took his beer to finish it off, but frowned and decided against it. With a curt nod to Alex and the ladies, he grabbed his satchel and started walking toward the exit. He was sure they were going to talk about how weird he was being, but he didn't care. Soon enough, he was driving out of Joe's parking lot with a clear destination in mind.

A handful of minutes got him to where he wanted to be, his car finally slowing down by a guard post. Fastened to it was the gate to the compound where April's trailer was stationed.

"For Dr. Kepner," he told the guard.

"One moment," said the man dressed in a cap and uniform as he dialed a code on his control panel. Soon, they heard April's voice through the gridded speaker.

"Hello?" she asked in a prim voice.

"Good evening, Dr. Kepner. Jackson Avery is here."

"Jackson who?" she quipped, which made both men smile and roll their eyes. Jackson was a regular visitor of hers and April easily got bored with having to go through the same motions of granting him entry. "Bring him in, Danny. Thanks."

"Will do, doc," laughed the guard, as he buzzed the gate open with the push of a button.

April's trailer was in its usual spot, parked next to her car on a wooded lawn illuminated by a warm streetlight. Jackson pulled over and saw that only a faint desk light was left to glimmer across its windows. That told him that Harriet was presumably tucked in for the night while April was still working. He walked up to the silver living tube and found April already by the door.

After having to sit through his friends talk about her nonexistent sex life with another man, Jackson found it imperative to plant a good long kiss on his girlfriend's lips.

"Mm," she hummed, a little dazed from such a passionate greeting. "What's up?"

In hindsight, he finally made note that she wasn't wearing her contacts but a pair of dark-rimmed reading glasses. "What's up with the specs?"

"I ran out of contact solution. Been so busy lately, I forgot to restock," she replied, leading him inside.

"I like 'em. Very sexy," he said, following her to her study.

"Stop," she laughed. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to see you," he said easily, and shifted his view to the sleeping lump on her bed.

"She's out cold," she whispered and he turned to face her again. "There are still some things I need to wrap up. My first class is tomorrow so…" she said, stroking her hands across both his arms. "I'm not really sure if we have time…"

"It's cool," said Jackson. "That's not what I'm here for."

"No?" she smirked and he shot her one back before retrieving his composure.

"People at the hospital. They noticed," he said and saw the expression on her face start to fall and grow worried.

"What?" she said, dropping her arms to her sides. "They… They heard us?"

"Nah. Mer. She saw you… Looking 'freshly laid'…I believe is the term she used," he said, swiping his line of sight across the ceiling at the phrase.

She took a step back to start pacing in thought but stopped herself to look at him. "They don't know it's you."

"Got that right. They think you were banging your 'hot paramedic husband' in a closet," he said sourly, making air quotes with his fingers and blinking his eyes to the ground.

April's eyes widened at the thought, but instead of saying something she turned away to stare at whatever was outside her window. Nothing remarkable seemed to be out there, but she and Jackson allowed the silence linger before she spoke again.

"So we start telling people," she said finally, facing him with an open expression – her eyes soft yet confident.

"That's not what you wanted before," said Jackson, his lips barely moving as his eyes found a home in hers.

"Yeah… But I can see it's making you uncomfortable," she reasoned.

"I'm not sure I'm ready for all the questions, either," he admitted with a wilted smile. "And we don't owe anyone the truth–"

"You're right. But we owe it to ourselves to do what we want..."

"Then we do what we want," he said, moving close to her.

"Okay," she said, tilting her head up, somehow satisfied with the vagueness of it all.

"Okay," he echoed. "... And you should, too."

She drew her eyebrows together. "You lost me there for a sec."

"Do you really not want the chief job?"

"Ugh. I knew you were gonna bring that up," she sighed before answering genuinely. "The answer is no. I really don't want it. Not like this."

"Not like what?"

"I've only ever been offered chief to sub in for someone better," she said, seamlessly landing herself onto the rolling chair in front of her desk. "It happened with Mer, and it's happening again. Owen and Teddy will be off duty until their baby leave is up. Only this time, they wanna pull me out of my job to sub in."

"Alex doesn't want to pull you out of anything," said Jackson, pulling a stool out in front of him to sit down and meet her level.

"Then how am I supposed to work two jobs on top of a lecture series?" she posited, re-opening her laptop and adjusting her glasses onto the crook of her nose. The irony of her saying that she couldn't work multiple jobs while demonstrably multitasking in front of him was something he definitely noticed. "I know Alex meant well. So I treated his offer for what it was. A courtesy."

"He thinks you're pissed at him," Jackson mentioned.

"Well I'm not," she said, switching her view from her screen to him. She was sure to meet his gaze from over her glasses to ram her point straight through. "Sincerely."

"That's what I told him."

"Thank you."

A silent pause lodged itself between them but not for long. "So the timing was shit," he said.

"The timing was dirt shit," she concurred, eyes now focused on finishing her work. She pushed the glasses that were clearly too big for her further up the bridge of her nose and he saw a tiny glimpse of what she might have been like in high school. "And I'm not just some form of relief that they can call on a whim, just to be set aside after they're done with me. I wanna earn it."

"Ouch."

"Sorry, I didn't mean... I wasn't talking about us."

"I know," he said, although his gut still burned with guilt. "And April… you have earned it. You were always next in line."

"Next to Teddy, you mean," she corrected, as she clicked her mouse around to close up all her open software.

"Owen gave the job to Teddy for personal reasons," Jackson explained, trying to ignore how quickly she was able to get things done.

"Tell me that doesn't make it worse," said April before she closed her laptop and churned out an audible breath. "There was a time I could really see myself running a department. And if I remember correctly, the last time I did, everyone hated me for it. I'd like to think that I'm past that now. I'm sure Alex has time to find someone."

"Okay," Jackson said simply.

"Then why do I feel like there's more?" she asked, staring him down with slightly bigger eyes due to the curvature of her lens. Having her be so argumentative while looking cluelessly adorable wasn't helping with his chances of strong-arming his point.

"I don't know," he said, benignly placing a hand on her thigh. "Just seems like you've been turning down a lot of big things recently. Chief Medic, Head of Trauma, you almost turned down the lecture series…"

"You disappointed in me?" she asked with sheepish sarcasm.

"Never," he said right away before pulling himself closer. "I just want to make sure that it's what you really want… regardless of what people might think. You do what makes you happy, baby."

"I appreciate that," she said. "This is what I want. Thank you."

"C'mere," he whispered, and pulled her over his lap. He frowned a little when the frame of her glasses nudged itself against his cheekbone. "I can't kiss you right with this thing on," he said, removing her glasses and setting them on her desk.

"I can't see a thing," she giggled softly before cradling his face in her hands.

"Bright and early tomorrow," he muttered before kissing her softly. "You should get some rest."

"Still can't think of a good intro," she said, touching her forehead to his in defeat. "'Good morning everyone' is so… bleh."

"How 'bout… I'd like to thank… my amazing boyfriend for–" April squeezed his nose between her fingers and wiggled it from side to side, causing his voice to sound silly. "...his support'"

"Will you be there?" she asked after releasing him.

"Wouldn't miss it," he said, but a disclaimer was in order. "...Unless I get a page."

"I know how it goes," she said kindly, and they gave themselves leeway for a short make-out session before Jackson prompted himself to leave.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said reluctantly, glancing over at Harriet's slumbering form. "I wish I could stay."

"Then why don't you?"

"I don't wanna make you late," he said with a wink, and two pretty dimples formed alongside the smile it had given her.

The lecture hall was chock-full of people. The venue built for conferences and other events of the sort had been reserved for this specific purpose. Dozens of delegates from other hospitals were in attendance along with a handful of Grey Sloan's attending surgeons. The interns that April met and partied with a year prior were now the residents she was teaching in this class.

All the usual suspects had rearranged their schedules accordingly in support of their visiting alum. The people from the bar last night were all seated together, apart from Alex, who was seated next to Bailey and Webber. Near the back were Owen and Teddy, stationed by the exit in case a trauma would have them paged to the ER. And much to Owen's dismay, Tom Koracick was seated right next to them.

Meanwhile, Jackson had just left his spot beside Jo and the ortho guys to walk up to April discretely before the presentation was scheduled to start.

"Hey," he said, fiddling with something small but sizeable in his hand.

"Dr. Avery," April addressed him, despite knowing that no one was within clear range of their quiet conversation.

The inside joke from yesterday caused a sly little smile to animate his face. "These are for you," he whispered, sliding over a fresh pair contacts with a small bottle of solution.

"Howww did you…" she muttered, shaking her head in awe. "You know I'd kiss you right now if it weren't for–"

"I know," he nodded, while she put them on. "Got your intro down? What'd you decide on?"

"You'll see," she said and soon, the emcee's voice gradually pushed itself into their brains in time for her to catch her cue.

"...please welcome – Dr. April Kepner."

With time to spare, April applied one last dose of her eye drops and blinked it in a couple of times as the crowd started to clap and watch the emcee step away from the stage. She kissed two of her fingertips and secretly landed them on Jackson's chest before fluidly making her way up to the podium.

"Good morning, all. First off, I'd like to thank… Dr. Bailey and Chief Karev," she said, stealing a split-second glance at Jackson – who let off a silent belly laugh as she resisted the urge to do the same. "...For inviting me to be this year's guest lecturer for your resident-level masterclass. So," she progressed, clapping her hands together excitedly and sounding pumped. "Are you guys ready to learn some Trauma Surgery?!"

If it wasn't just awkward silence that met her, it was definitely the sound of some cricket who managed to snag a seat in the audience. Jackson knew that he loved this woman to death but could not possibly phathom this being a top choice for an intro in any workable universe. Everyone was silent for only the shortest while – that was until a loud booming voice echoed around the room in response.

"Wooooooooo!" sang Catherine, and all the heads in the room turned to her. "Yeah, baby!"

It certainly seemed to get the energy going as smiles turned into laughter and soon, generous applause – but only the doctors from Jackson and April's batch would have truly remembered how April did something similar during Catherine's first visit to the hospital.

"Okay then," April smiled modestly. "Also, I don't mind you guys asking questions during the lesson. I prefer teaching conversationally. Just time them right." With a click of her remote, the large screen bearing the Grey Sloan logo faded to black. "Let's begin."

April adjusted the mic and poised herself to take ownership of the podium. Everyone's attention was centered on her, and she tried to shimmy the dreadful thought off her shoulder. More than anything, shifting her focus to the residents and their education was the only way to keep her sane and out of her head.

"Regardless of your chosen specialty, you'll find that a sound background in trauma is essential when dealing with high-pressure situations. Trauma Surgery is an exciting field that exercises speed of mind, resourcefulness, and a deep understanding of the telltale, split-second event patterns that lead to complications. This course is designed to integrate those skills into your chosen specialty if you already have one, and provide rudimentary foundations in trauma even if you don't."

Some head nodding and a good handful of interested faces. So far so good.

"The first chapter will consist of a case study, followed by step one – 'How to Listen to Your Paramedic (Like Really Listen)'," she declared, and seemingly out of nowhere, a suggestive whistle from some unknown source echoed through the hall. Some people chuckled, mistakenly aware of her supposed involvement with one particular paramedic. April laughed it off dryly, while steering a quick glance at Jackson, who was now seated next to Jo and nodding her on to continue.

"Leon Kelton, age 35," she carried on, using his encouragement to regain her rhythm. "Multiple penetrating injuries sustained from a 4-storey fall into a grid of rebar." At the sound of it and with a diagram to match, the faces in the crowd scrunched up with a collective grimace accompanied by a chorus of 'oooogh' – all in verbal pity over the patient's condition.

"This was back in 2013. Leon was kind enough to share his file with us today," she said, internally amused by their reaction until a hand stood up amongst the sea of attendees. She traced the standing arm back to a face she knew well. "Schmitt, you have a question."

"I… I think heard about this case," said the resident, still mild and polite as ever, yet no longer four-eyed like how she last saw him.

"Yeah?" asked April, her interest piqued.

"A nurse once told me that 'Craaazy things happen in this hospital. People falling into metal rods and throwing flashmob proposals all in one day'," he said, his imitation of an elderly nurse somehow on point, much to the amusement of his peers. "I wondered if this is the same one."

April raised her eyebrows and felt the eyebrows of all her friends rise with them. "Y-yeah. yeah it is… I would know," she tried to say calmly, fighting her eyes from growing distant. People were now smiling with endearment, expecting her to be the smiliest one of the bunch. "But before we stray off too far, who here would know what the first course of action would be?"

A few answers were flung around relating to possible treatment plans, consults to be paged, and even paperwork needed – but April disqualified them all.

"All very worthwhile answers. But all of you are wrong," she said lightly. "Remember. While inspecting the patient, the first thing you must do when receiving a trauma is to simultaneously take in the paramedic's report. From there, you'll be surprised by how much information you can extrapolate from context."

"So, it was a trick question," said one of the residents after being given permission to speak. "None of our answers were completely valid because we didn't ask for the full report."

"Exactly," April supported, finally thankful that all the smiling and the whispers have started to die down.

Within the next fourty minutes, April was able to button up the lesson, relieved by the fact that she made it through the first one rather successfully with a very eager batch of residents.

"That'll be it for today. I've emailed you all some recommended readings if you're interested. It's not like I'm grading you guys or anything, so it's really just something for you to pick up in your free time. Which residents never really have anyway," she concluded and got a good laugh from everyone.

After the session had been dismissed, the crowd loosened up to take part in the spread of food and hot beverages laid out in the periphery of the hall. It was a short mixer that was prepared for the opening lecture, where the doctors in attendance could mingle and connect about the lesson.

Jackson was dying to approach April at the snack table, but saw that a few people from Seattle Pres had gotten to her first. He turned to see his mother's eyes on him, sparkling with stern interest as he shot her back a guarded look.

He spent a good five minutes just floating around the crowd, waiting to get her alone and tell her how great a job she did. His wait was worth it, it seemed, because it wasn't long until he received a text from her.

Technical room. Now.

He smirked and pocketed his phone, scouring the place to find that April was indeed nowhere to be found. At least not to everyone else. With a dash to his stride, he snuck over to where she'd instructed him to go. As he reached the door, he made one quick check to see if anyone was looking. It seemed they were all caught up with the mixer. Soon, a hand pulled him inside the dark room full of wires and audiovisual equipment.

"What do you think you're up to? Hm?" he whispered to April, who took on the task of ridding him of his lab coat.

"I haven't thanked you for these," she said, pointing to the corner of her eye before holding the sides of his face.

Jackson drew himself closer, rubbing his nose against hers. "All these people are here for you..."

"They can wait," she said hurriedly.

"God, you're amazing," he breathed, grazing his lips to hers and caressing the sides of her torso. "And you did great out there. Really, April, it was–"

"Shhhh," she hushed and lightly pushed his neck down to kiss him, but their lips were just barely touching when her phone rang in her pocket. April had half a mind to ignore it to hell, but was never good at ignoring calls to begin with. She sighed and bowed her head in defeat, and Jackson kissed her forehead instead to let her know he'd happily wait. "Hello?" she answered.

"April, baby, where have you gone?" asked Catherine.

"Oh. Uhm… well I–" she pieced together, trying not to sound all breathy with Jackson's mouth on her neck.

"There are some people here looking for you. You need to get back here right this second."

April took a breath and looked to Jackson, who had no idea who was calling but could tell that she was being called back in regardless. "You're mine later," he said, cupping her jaw.

"Deal," she mouthed to him over the phone.

"I'll be right out – back! I'll be right back," she told Catherine and soon, the two carefully snuck back out of the room, unnoticed by all.

"There you are!" said Catherine, holding onto April's arm. "Right this way, dear."

"Wait. YOU called her?!" said Jackson, his face forming into pure retaliation. Catherine's face grew powerfully open and he realized that he might have just sold himself out by letting his mother know exactly who April was with when she received the call.

"You guys! I found it!" a resident said, his voice cutting through the buzz of everyone else, including their own.

"Found what?" someone asked.

"The flashmob proposal! It's on YouTube!"

"Hook it up to the projector!"

April's eyes grew as large as they could, and as if reaching her hand out could stop them, protested, "No no, I don't think you wanna–"

In no time the hall was filled with the bouncy sound of I'm Gonna Be by The Proclaimers. The screen lit up with the video taken more than five years ago, of April in her trauma gown being surrounded by a dancing mob of Matthew's friends and family members.

"Awww, Dr. Kepner! You didn't tell us it was you!"

"Yeah. Uhm. I may have forgotten… to mention that–" she said, with a palm on her forehead.

"That's her husband now," said Andrew DeLuca, his eyes smiling kindly.

"Aren't they adorable?" said someone else, as the video continued to play.

April couldn't tell who it was because her eyes were already closed for a long and stressful blink. "Yeah, no I… I'm not… he and I…" she stuttered, minutely shaking her head.

Suddenly, her stuttering stopped when a closer look at the video led her to spot Jackson in the background of all the dancing commotion. For the first time, she saw the look on his face as he stared at Matthew proposing to her in the ambulance bay. His chest was heaving with emotion, eyes wide and full of loss. Only when Matthew had lifted her from the ground and she searched for Jackson's face in the crowd did his expression change into a willful smile as he cheered her on.

It was likely that everyone else in the lecture hall were focused on the happy confetti-laden couple in the foreground of the film, but April's eyes not once left the image of that one plastic surgeon who had always owned her love.

Finally, the video was cut short with a freeze frame of Matthew smiling wildly at her and her doing much the same. April heard claps and awwws here and there, but all of it registered as a collective blur.

"You should invite him over to model for a paramedic," smiled Bailey, pulling her mind back to her immediate surroundings.

"Not too bad-looking either," said Tom Koracick, popping in and sipping his cup of coffee. With another look at the present-day Jackson, April found him only a few feet away – seething at Tom's general direction.

Jackson didn't think a more obtrusive form of bombardment was possible. Not only was he displeased by how everyone was unknowingly pushing a sour topic into April's face, but seeing two of the other men she had slept with other than him – Tom in one corner and Matthew, albeit virtually, in the other – was agitating his possessive tendencies. There couldn't be anything that could have made this worse.

"Hi, Dr. Kepner," said Vikram Roy, slyly walking up to April's side. If Jackson had a table in front of him, he was sure to flip it. "I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your class," he gushed, keeping steady eye contact that April chose not to return.

She thanked the resident politely and quickly excused herself from the situation. On the other hand, more people were already approaching her, and she started to feel the social pressure slowly closing in. Subconsciously, her feet brought her closer to Jackson – her only solace in this claustrophobic atmosphere.

He seemed to have other plans though. As she neared him with no clear goal in mind, he took her hand in his and pulled her close to plant a deep long kiss – in front of everyone in the hall who were now just staring with wide eyes. Several gasps came together. The sound of a teacup hitting the floor came next. If they weren't too caught up in it, they would have noticed that everyone's mouths had fallen open, their eyes still huge and their eyebrows creased.

"What are we doing?" April whispered, outwardly ignoring the crowdstate of complete and utter shock.

"Whatever the hell we want."