Title : the trouble with nosy moms

Disclaimer : All characters you recognize from Grey's Anatomy I do not own.

AN: 8th in the trouble with drabble series; set between episodes 8x23 and 8x24 (though this would probably qualify more as a crack fic than anything else)

He's lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about how badly he'd screwed up his friendship with April when his phone rings. He answers without checking the ID and gets a surprise when he hears Catherine Avery's voice on the other end.

"How is she?" She asks in lieu of a 'Hello.'

"Huh?" He asks in confusion. How is she? Who's she?

"April."

Her answer almost makes him drop his phone in surprise. "What?" He hopes his voice comes out normally as he thanks the stars above that she couldn't see how he's blushing right now.

"I know she failed the Boards."

"Oh." Of course! He heaves a sigh of relief as he hears her explanation. "She's…" He's not quite sure how to answer.

"I tried calling her but she's not answering. Is she okay?"

The fact that his mom actually has a close enough relationship with his best friend that she can actually just call her without him knowing about it should probably freak him out more if not for the fact that he too is worried about April so he focuses instead on answering. "Uhm…She's been getting calls from hospitals withdrawing their offers so she's stopped answering her phone…"

He hears her sigh loudly on the other end before she asks impatiently, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well, what are you doing to help her out?"

"She doesn't want to talk to me." The frustration over the whole situation spills into his voice.

"What do you mean she doesn't want to talk to you? You're her best fri…" Catherine Avery's voice trails off and then there is a long silence on the other end and he wonders if maybe they got cut off.

"Mom?"

"You're her best friend…"

He's not quite sure what to make of the change in his mother's tone of voice so he asks. "What?"

"Oh my…"

"What?" He asks again, more impatiently this time.

"Please tell me you're not April's only guy friend…"

"Huh?" What has that got to do with anything?

"Are you?" The sharpness of his mother's voice puts him on the defensive.

"And if I am?"

"Jackson Avery what the hell have you done?"

"What do you mean what have I done?" He's confused and is beginning to get pissed off. "I haven't done anything." He tells her. Liar! His conscience shouts at him.

"That's not what I heard."

He tells himself not to engage because he's never gonna hear the end of it so he lowers his voice and calmly answers. "Mom, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." Actually he does...maybe...but surely his mom couldn't possibly be referring to what he thinks she's referring to, right?

Right?

"Really? So you didn't have sex with April in the men's bathroom during your Boards?"

WTF!

"What! How the hell did you kno…"

Uh oh!

He's f*cked.

AN2: I know this is a little far out but ever since 8x05, it's been canon in my head that Catherine and April have some sort of an almost maternal relationship (since she knows April's her son's best friend) and so this is just taking it a step further. Also, I think that it's entirely possible that Catherine could just as easily have heard about April's 'confession' of sorts during her third session at the Boards (since she did have prior knowledge that one of Seattle Grace's residents failed even before the results were out).