Sorry it's taken so long for me to get this chapter up! Hopefully it's worth the wait, and if not well, I plan on updating more regularly from now on so at least there's that! Please review if you feel so inclined

"I can't take anymore studying," April said for the fifteenth time in the last twenty minutes, all the while still ploughing through her notes. Since early that evening Alex had been right by her side going over old cases, journal articles and notes she'd taken in preparation of taking her boards once more in three days. Although his version of helping consisted of browsing through her notebooks, drinking beer and shooting off snarky comments.

However, once again her words met an empty room. Alex had slipped out not too long ago, but April couldn't say she was surprised. He passed his boards the first time around. It was getting harder to find friends with the patience to endure her study habits. Last year Jackson had been the one she'd turned to, and Lexie was able to commit fully since she wasn't taking them herself. Meredith tried to be available but between Zola and her pregnancy she just didn't have any Kepner energy left.

That left Alex and Yang. The latter could only deal with her in small doses and there came a point in every study session where Alex eventually lost interest and began to act like a bored child in a waiting room. Riffling through piles that shouldn't be touched, asking inane irrelevant questions and counting the dots on the ceiling out loud.

"Here," Alex walked in from the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs in his hand. "It's brain food," he said.

"What? Why? I don't need to eat I only have 16 hours left to study before my plane leaves I'm not even close to being ready and you're being no help," she snapped. Her words were closely followed by a loud gurgle from her stomach.

"Shut up, you need a break and to eat something," Alex placed the plate on top of some notes in front of her. Another gurgle from her stomach persuaded her to eat, but not after glaring at her colleague.

"Fine," she said through a mouthful of eggs.

Alex grimaced at the half chewed food she was displaying. "Close your mouth, that's disgusting. Were you raised in a barn?" All she could do was shrug and shovel more food in. April was hungrier than she thought.

"You need to relax, Kepner. Didn't you fail last time because you were being your crazy uptight weirdo self? Just…chill," he advised. April rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that."

"Seriously, this stress is not doing you any good. This house is now a study free zone," Alex announced and began to gather up all her papers and notebooks together. April's mouth fell open upon hearing the noise of paper getting bent and wrinkled. "I'm not going to tell you again to shut your mouth," he said. April did not appreciate the obvious joy that was on his face while he completely undid hours of organizing.

"A-Alex put those down and we can forget this ever happened," she watched in horror and tried to save her notes on the Wilson case from her intern year.

He shrugged. "Naw."

April followed him through the hall and into the office where he tossed everything. Her hands clapped over her mouth and she found herself fallen to her knees as she stared at the complete and utter mess that covered the office floor.

"You didn't…" she whispered in complete disbelief.

"You've been ready for over a year. You've got this, Kepner," Alex assured her and held out both hands, One to help her up, the other offering her a beer.

"I hate you so much," she glared at him and took a long swig, emptying half the bottle.

"Good," he grinned.

"What do you mean there's no more?" April yelled loudly into the fridge, her blurry vision struggling to focus in search of more beer.

"I mean," Alex sauntered into the kitchen behind her, "that you drank it all."

She snorted. "As if. I know I haven't had more than you," April said and tried to recall exactly how many she'd had. Every time of the papers strewn across the expensive hardwood hidden behind the office door she took a nice, long swig of her drink. "Now what," she pouted and closed to the fridge door.

Alex pulled out of the cupboard a bottle filled with golden liquid.

"Oh no," April said but she was already reaching for the tequila. A small voice at the back of her mind urged her to rethink any and all decisions she was making tonight, but a louder, more persuasive voice reminded her that tequila was delicious and wanted to be consumed.

Back in the living room after the two had settled into their previous spots on the floor, the pair continued to pass the bottle between them. "I'm going to so regret this tomorrow," April slurred after a sip.

Alex chuckled. "I haven't seen you this drunk since the hospital Christmas party."

"Like you've never gotten super drunk at a work function," she scoffed.

"Yeah but I was fifteen and working at McDonald's," Alex laughed. He was fired the day after. Not because he was underage and got wasted at his boss' house, but because he ended up accidentally setting the living room curtains on fire. He wasn't about to tell her that though.

"Hooligan," April shook her head.

"Well what were you doing when you were fifteen," he said indignantly, "reading Charlotte's Web to your pigs?"

"Just the one time!"

Alex clutched his sides laughing. "I was only kidding! You really read to the pigs?"

"This is the part of the conversation where I change the topic," she groaned.

"Fine have it your way. We would not have been friends in high school. Or med school for that matter. Or our residency," he listed on his fingers with a smile on his face.

"And I still use the term loosely," she shot back and took another swig of tequila. He grabbed the bottle back from her. "Is it just me or has the earth started moving?"

"That's usually the cue to stop drinking," Alex set the almost empty bottle down on the table.

"My head won't start swimming ," April said and put her head between her knees.

"Lightweight," Alex taunted. "Don't you dare throw up on my floor," he said and helped her up to the couch. Alex draped the blanket over her and after grabbing her a glass of water from the kitchen, stumbled up the stairs to lay down himself.

April woke up in an uncomfortable daze as her alarm on her phone blared on the ground next to her. Her head was pounding. Her stomach was queasy. She had extreme hate in her heart for a man named Alex Karev.

I am going to kill him, she thought and pulled herself up off the couch. April grabbed her phone to turn off the alarm and headed into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Alex was already there at the table eating breakfast.

"I made pancakes," he said through a full mouth of food.

"I see that," April poured herself some OJ instead and helped herself to the heaps of pancakes laid out on the table. "How are you not dying right now?" she asked. He seemed significantly less affected by their night.

"I told you, you drank all the beer," he shrugged. April took a bite but her breakfast felt dry and tasteless in her mouth. She decided she'd just stick with juice.

"I hate you and everything that you are," she said as a new bout of nausea fluttered in her stomach uncomfortably.

"Shouldn't you be leaving soon?" Alex glanced over at the clock on the microwave.

April shook her head. "My flight doesn't leave until 12:30."

"Yeah and it's just after 10 now, I thought you wanted to get there early," he picked up his empty plate and brought it over to the sink while she processed this information.

"No no no, I still have to finish going over my notes and then I have a few more things to pack and then get to the airport," April stood up abruptly and bolted towards the front door.

"I'll drive you," he called behind her and grabbed his keys.

April spun around and pointed at him menacingly. "You have done enough."

8 hours later she left the room shaking. Her boards went significantly better than last year, and she didn't have a(n obvious) mental breakdown but she was nervous nonetheless. April dug her phone out of her purse to check her messages. Her heart sank a little when she saw a voicemail from Jackson's number.

April quickly stashed her phone back away. She didn't need to deal with this right now. Now all she needed was a nice warm bubble bath, maybe a glass of wine, and then a cheesy movie to unwind. Turning down the hallway to get to her room she almost dropped her key card in surprise.

"What are you doing here?"

Karev stood up awkwardly with a bottle of champagne and some flowers that clearly did not travel well. "I bought them before I got on the plane," he shrugged and handed them to her. "Congrats."

The small bouquet had half a lily and a few torn orange roses left. "Wow," April said, touched by the thought. "Who knew you'd become my biggest cheerleader?" she laughed.

"I, uh, I didn't really think this through," Alex admitted.

"I think the couch pulls out," April said and opened up her hotel room. It was smaller than last year, but it was nice enough for one night.

Alex already jumped onto the only bed. "Have you eaten?" he asked, and flicked on the tv.

She shook her head and left her purse on the chair. "We can call room service," she suggested but he had already started digging through the drawers looking for a menu. "Make yourself at home," April rolled her eyes and sat down beside him.

"Can I ask you something?" April asked after he called down to the front desk. She became very aware of the contact their shoulders were making. "Why did you come?"

Alex shrugged. "I wanted to congratulate you."

"And it couldn't wait until I got home?"

"I saw the flowers and thought of you, it just sort of happened. Oh look, Jackass is on," he said, suddenly very interested in the television.

April studied him for a moment. He completely baffled her.

The pair watched the movie and ate in a comfortable silence, either giggling at the tv or looking away in horror. Halfway through her meal a wave of exhaustion hit her and April lay her head gently on Karev's shoulder. Out of habit he wrapped an arm around her as she dozed off.