Chapter 4

Lydia grinned as she stepped into her new bedroom, which was Jackson's old bedroom.

"I like it!" she said looking around the now pink and purple bedroom.

After interrogating April on the things Lydia liked, Jo decorated the room, hoping that she would make the little girl feel more at home!

"I'm so happy that you like it" Jo cheesed, impressed in the work she got done in just 3 days, with little help from Alex.

Lydia looked around the room, she couldn't wait to unpack her toys and place them around her room, something she couldn't do at the hotel. She turned to her bed, then squealed when she realized it had the Disney Princesses on it. She dropped her things and ran onto the bed. Her eyes widened as she laid on her back and looked at the ceiling.

"Tinkerbell!" she pointing to the picture stuck on her ceiling "Irridessa!" she squeaked noticing the other fairy. She laid there and continued to squeal out the names of all the fairies she spotted.

April stood behind Jo, watching her daughter go crazy as she spotted other things she liked in the room.

"Jo, you didn't have to do all of this" April said

"I know, but I wanted to." Jo smiled "I just wanted her to be comfortable while she stayed here."

"Well, thank you" April smiled

"You're welcome" Jo grinned "Your room is next door, your old bedroom right?"

"Yeah," she said

Once April and Lydia were settled in, they went downstairs to get something to eat.

"We're settled in," April said as she entered the kitchen, with Lydia following right behind her.

"Good" Jo smiled "Dinner's ready Alex" she called out to him

Once Alex entered the dining room, they sat down and ate, not before April said grace of course.

_________

"Mommy, can I help?" Lydia asked as Jo and April loaded up the dishwasher.

Lydia was with them, helping clean up the table, she wanted to do more.

"Sorry sweetie, we're almost done, there isn't anything left for you to do." April playfully frowned at her

"You can go in the living room and keep Alex company" Jo suggested

"OK" she smiled running out of the kitchen

"No running" April called out causing her daughter to slow down

Lydia stepped into the living room and spotted Alex sitting on the couch watching TV. She sat on the far end of the couch. She then looked up at him and stared. Alex, feeling her eyes on him, looked away from the television for a moment and looked at the little girl. She smiled at him.

"Hi" she grinned

"Uh.....hi" Alex awkwardly said back.

Lydia was a talkative, outgoing little girl, quite different from her mother. She was always ready to make new friends, with anyone! She had never talked to Alex before and he seemed like an interesting grown up.

She looked over at the TV screen, to see what he was looking at.

"Dr. Alex?" she asked

"Yes?" he said looked away from the TV

"Do you like basketball?" she asked recognizing the game being played

"Yeah" he answered

"Who are those guys in the red?" she asked pointing to the uniformed players on the screen

"Those are the Bulls" Alex replied

"And the ones in the white?" she asked again

"The Spurs" he replied

"Cool!" she said

She continued asking him about the game, wanting to get on Alex's good side. Seeing that she might actually be into the game, Alex was starting to think that having a kid around wouldn't be such a bad idea. He had his doubts about being a father, being that his dad wasn't a good role model to show him how to be one. Though he was a little annoyed by the many questions Lydia asked, he hoped that he could have moments like this with his own child day.

But Lydia, being the 4-year old that she is, slowly got tired of talking about basketball. She moved on to a subject that was more interesting to her.

"Dr. Alex, do you like fairies?" she asked

"Uh.....I don't know" Alex said caught off gourd by her random question

"I love fairies, I think they're cute!" she grinned "And I like mermaids, and princesses and princes too. And I like Unicorns! They're really pretty. I have a unicorn, his name is Phoenix! Cause he's a fire-breathing unicorn......." Lydia rambled

"She really is Kepner's kid," Alex thought to himself.

Lydia's wild imagination took over as she began to tell Alex about her adventures with her Unicorn! She continued rambling, Alex silently prayed that he was having a boy and not a girl.

Over in the kitchen, April and Jo were cleaning up.

"So, where's Matthew? He didn't want to stay here with us?" Jo asked

"Uh, No, he's not in Seattle, he's still in Ohio," April answered

"Why?"

"Uh, he's...just making sure that her house gets sold and that he can get a job here," April said

"So when is he coming here? Is he gonna stay here when he comes or are you gonna get an apartment or something?"

"Uh, don't know yet" she simply said.

The kitchen was finally clean.

"Well, off to bed for Lydia and I," April said washing her hands in the sink then drying them off with the towel.

"Already? It's just eight thirty" Jo said

"Well, we like to get a head start," April said "Good Night"

"Good Night" Jo replied

April left the kitchen and entered the living room. She spotted her daughter telling Alex about her imaginary pet Unicorn. Alex seemed a bit annoyed.

"Come on Lydia, time for bed," April said

"Awww" she whined

"Don't worry, you'll tell Alex the rest of your story tomorrow. Now say good night"

"Good Night Dr. Alex" Lydia said jumping off the couch and running to her mother

April picked her up in her arms. After saying goodnight to Alex, she carried her daughter up to her room and got her ready for bed.

__________

"I swear if I hear the words unicorn, fairies and pixies one more time........" Alex said in an annoyed tone "I'll puke freakin' pixie dust!"

Alex, Meredith, and Cristina were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, having their lunch.

"Somebody got their panties in a twist" Cristina commented

"It's April's annoying kid, she keeps talking about unicorns and stuff," Alex said

Lydia had decided to continue telling her story to Alex the next morning at breakfast. Even though the ladies found it really cute, he just found it annoying to be talking about unicorns so early in the morning.

"Alex, she's just being cute," Meredith told him

"Kepner has a kid?" Cristina asked confused "You guys never tell me stuff"

"Does Jackson know?" Meredith asked

"I don't know. They don't really talk much so I don't think he does" Alex said

"We should get them to talk," Meredith said

"Why? Arizona tried in the OR." Cristina said

After the burn victim's surgery, not much has changed. They did talk to each other, but only about work-related things. Their personal lives were never brought into the conversation.

"They used to be best friends for crying out loud. We should get them to talk" Meredith said

"And then get them to hook up, my two weeks are almost up," Alex said referring to the bet

"Are you guys trying to be Cupid?" Cristina chuckled

"Dark and Twisty Cupid" Meredith grinned

"Dark and twisty what?" Jackson asked walking up behind

"Nothing," Meredith said

Jackson brushed it off and took a seat next to Alex. They began talking about the game while ladies conversed about something else. While talking Meredith spotted April walking into the cafeteria. She thought it would be the perfect time to get her and Jackson to talk.

"Yoohoo Kepner" Meredith called out

"Did you just say yoohoo?" Cristina questioned her friend

"Shut up" she whispered as April spotted them and she motioned for her to come over.

April smiled when she spotted Meredith and Cristina, but her smile changed into a forced one when she saw Jackson sitting with them. She hesitated for a bit, wondering if she should go over or not. "It's just lunch," she thought to herself. She took a deep breath and walked over.

"Hey guys," she said in her usual perky voice, trying to hide the fact that she was nervous

"Hey" they all replied

"Come sit," Meredith said pointing to the seat next to her, which was directly in front of Jackson's.

"Oh great" she mumbled to herself as she sat down.

The conversation was light and full of laughs. Both Jackson and April took part, but they never exchanged words with each other. Meredith, still wanting to be Dark and Twisty cupid, thought there was only one thing she could do, leave them alone.

"Well, I gotta go," she said getting up from the table "I got some post-op notes to complete"

She gave Alex and Cristina weird glances as she got up.

"See you guys later" she smiled walking away, before casually bumping Alex and Cristina as she walked behind their chairs.

"Uh yeah, I have to go too," Cristina said getting up "bye"

Cristina quickly left, leaving Alex alone with the two. April was now quiet, looking down at her food, praying that Alex wouldn't leave next. To her dismay, he got up from the chair.

"Got some lab results to pick up," he said "see y'all around"

With that Alex left, leaving the two sitting there quietly. They awkwardly ate they lunch, hoping the other would have to leave or make the first move to talk. Thinking the awkward tension was too much, Jackson decided to leave. He gathered his things, and then looked up at her. She sat there quietly, head looking down at her food. He started to feel a little bad, he couldn't just leave her here. He settled himself back into the seat. Now all he had to do was talk to her, which he was nervous about. He felt he was 13 again and he was trying to talk to his crush. He settled for something simple.

"So, enjoy being back here?" he asked, sounding shakier than he intended

"Yeah" she nervously answered

"Cool," Jackson said not knowing what to ask next

"I feel like I missed out on a lot though," April said, attempting to continue the conversation

As nervous as she was, she thought that maybe having a simple conversation wasn't that much of a bad idea.

"Zola and Sophia got so big, Bailey can talk..." she chuckled "Callie and Arizona are doing Ok, so is Dr. Hunt and Cristina....."

"For now" Jackson chuckled correcting her

"Right, for now," she said remembering hearing about their many breakups after she left. "Alex got married," she said with an expression disbelief

"Yep," he said matching her expression

"And he's having a kid" she exaggerated

"I know right. We're still trying to figure that one out" he smiled

April giggled, the thought of Alex being married and having kids was quite amusing to her.

"And your mom and Webber!" she said, remembering another thing she missed

"Ugh" Jackson groaned "Let's not talk about that"

"You're still not over that?" April asked, surprised that her friend still found it weird that the former Chief and his mother were now married.

"No, I'm not. What happened the morning of the boards was traumatizing" he said causing April laugh "All I wanted was my lucky pencil"

The two sat there and laughed. They hadn't noticed that they weren't nervous anymore. As they continued talking, Meredith, Cristina, and Alex watched them, not visible to them.

"Look, they're laughing" Meredith grinned "Mission complete for the Dark and Twisty Cupid"

"Now time for Evil Spawn to start his mission" Cristina grinned

"They just started talking again, they're not gonna hook up just like that" Meredith said

"Exactly, that's why I placed my bet for 2 months," Cristina said

"This is Avery we're talking about, he can do it," Alex said

The three stood there watching them. It was like everything was the way it was.

"Do you know how weird it would be if the Stephanie chick was still here?" Alex said

"I know right. Thank God she's at Seattle Pres now" Meredith said

FLASHBACK

Jackson stepped into Joe's, purposely late. He was supposed to meet Stephanie there, he was hoping she had gotten upset and left. He was not in the best of moods that day. Along with tiring hours in the OR and dealing with board duties, he had to hear about April and Matthew planning to move away, he didn't need Stephanie's new clingy attitude to make it worse. April planning to move away was getting to him. He overheard the Paramedic telling the nurses that he and his wife of 5 months were planning to move to Ohio next month. He didn't know what hurt him more. Her leaving, or her not telling him that she was. Maybe her moving away was a good idea, he wouldn't have to be drowning in a feeling of regret every day after seeing her.

"Crap" Jackson whispered when he spotted Stephanie at the bar.

She glared at him from her seat. Avoiding her was out of the question now.

He walked up to her. She lifted her eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"Sorry for being late, I was in the OR," he said

"No you weren't" she stated

"Yes I...." he began before she cut him off

"Drop it Jackson. I checked the board, you weren't scheduled for any surgeries. And don't even say you had a board meeting, Dr. Hunt already told me there wasn't" she said, obviously annoyed

There wasn't really nothing he could say now. He was caught. It wasn't the first time though. Lately, he's been avoiding her, a lot. Everyone seemed to know the reason why, but her. She knew him and April had a past, but she didn't know how strong the feelings involved here.

"What the hell's going on Jackson?" she asked, "How are we supposed to attempt to have a relationship if you keep avoiding me?"

It was now or never. He was tired of the "Pretending Game". He was tired of pretending he was Ok with April being married to another man and that his feelings for her had somehow faded away. He was tired of pretending he and Stephanie had something deep, he was tired of leading her on.

He took a seat next to her at the bar, facing her. He took a deep breath.

"I'm in love with someone else," he said

END of FLASHBACK

"Who leaves an awesome program because their boyfriend broke up with them?" Cristina asked annoyed

"She does apparently," Meredith said

"Crap, they're coming" Alex whispered as he noticed April and Jackson walking in their direction.

The three attending quickly scattered, going their separate ways.

"Saw them?" April asked Jackson as they stood at the spot their friends were previously standing on

"Yep" Jackson smiled

"Told you they were spying on us" she laughed

The two walked down the hall, towards the elevator.

"Hey want to meet up at Joe's later, so we could catch up some more?" Jackson asked

Their little lunch talk went well, it was a good start to getting their friendship right on track, he didn't want to mess that up.

"Uh.....sure" April answered, surprised by his question

"Good, see you at 8?"

"At 8" she confirmed as they both stepped into the elevator

__________

Jackson stood in front of Alex's front door. He knocked and silently waited, with a slight smile on his face. He wasn't happy about watching the game with his friend, he was happy that he and April got some time to talk and hang out like old times at Joe's. He didn't expect himself to be all happy about it but he was.

This gave him hope, hope that maybe one day, they might actually have a chance again, even if it was just them being best friends again. After April moved, he was sure that them having a chance together wasn't going to happen. All this gave him hope that what she told him the night before she left, was all a lie.

Jackson knocked on the door again and waited. A few seconds later the door opened. He looked at the door confused, there was no one there.

"Hi" he heard a tiny voice say

He looked down. His eyes widened as he spotted the little curly haired girl standing in front of the door, smiling, looking up at him.