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“Mmmm, that was nice.” she said as she rolled off of him and snuggled against his side. She reached for his cheek and brushed her soft hand across it. “You really know how to please me, Jackson.”
The man in the bed next to her smiled a brilliant smile. 'Yeah, well I like to keep my fans satisfied.” he playfully replied.
The woman's hand stopped in mid stroke. “Is that what I am to you, a fan?”
Jackson was suddenly aware that her hand lay across his windpipe. And she did have very long nails. Wolverine he had called her behind her back. Karev had had a chuckle at that one.
“Of course not. I was just playin.” he answered quickly.
The young lady pressed the issue. “Then what am I? What are we?”
Jackson raised himself up on his elbow to face her. This allowed him to direct the full force of his charm and good looks towards her at close range. It also removed her hand from his neck.
“We..” he said as his eyes trailed from her face down to linger on her shapely and ample breasts, “are having a lot of fun together and it would be a shame to ruin it by trying to label it.” Not bad on short notice, he congratulated himself. A bit prematurely as it turned out.
“Huh.” she replied. “Sounds like a fancy way of saying we're just fuck buddies.”
Jackson restrained his inclination to nod his agreement. He knew she would not be pleased with his agreeing to that interpretation. And he did appreciate her talents as a fuck buddy and wanted to continue with it, preferably in the next sixty seconds or so. Those boobs are frickin amazing.
But right at that moment those amazing boobs were moving away from him as she too rose up on her elbow, but opening instead of closing the distance between them. Tearing his eyes away from her chest he saw her eyes flashing and knew he'd better think of something quick or there'd be no seconds tonight.
“Delia, of course we're more than that. We've been together now for what, a month?”
“Two weeks. Exactly.” Delia corrected in an icy tone.
Two weeks? Seems like longer, Jackson thought. “And its been awesome. In fact, I think we've really got something special going on here. That's why I'm being so careful. It would break my heart to have it ruined.”
This seemed to mollify her a little. “Really?” she asked. “It would break your heart?”
“Cross that fragile thing and hope to die.” He answered, making his best puppy dog eyes at her.
Totally disarmed, her eyelashes fluttered, her arm reached out to grab his and pull him towards her, and with the crisis averted, they got back to doing what Jackson intended.
The next morning, Jackson woke up to the wonderful smell of bacon cooking. He looked at the figure sleeping soundly beside him. Her mouth was slightly open and he could see a tiny trickle of saliva trailing out of the corner onto her pillow. He didn’t mind that too much. But the black streaks where her makeup had rubbed off made him shake his head. Could frickin paint my car with all that crap, he thought.
He slipped quietly out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom, finding it unoccupied, a rarity in Meredith’s full house. After brushing his teeth, relieving himself, and splashing water on his face, Jackson made his way to the kitchen where he found Meredith drinking coffee and trying to keep baby Zola occupied while April stood at the stove apparently making breakfast.
He nodded at Meredith, knowing better than to try and engage her in conversation early in the morning, and made his way to the pot of coffee on the counter.
“Hey” he said to April when she looked up from the frying pan that was producing the bacony aromas.
“Hey” she replied with a bright smile. “You’re up early.”
“I smelled the bacon. There gonna be enough for me?”
“Yes. I’ll just open another package. I’m making pancakes and eggs too, if you want?”
“I want. I most definitely want.”
“Well first ones are for Zola but then I’ll cook you some.”
“Thanks. You’re not doing waffles too, by any chance?” Jackson didn’t mind pancakes but waffles were his first breakfast food love, a fact April was very familiar with.
“You and waffles.” She shook her head, but Jackson detected her little smile. "Let me do the pancakes then I’ll see about waffles.”
“No you won’t, April.” Meredith appeared next to Jackson for a coffee refill, which he provided from the pot still in his hand.
“Let him make his own damn waffles, and the next pot of coffee too.”
Obediently, Jackson began setting up the coffee pot. Only when Meredith had returned to Zola did Jackson and April dare look at each other and smile.
Zola was eating her pancakes and April pouring more batter on the griddle when Jackson heard his name being called.
“Oh shit.” he said.
April stared at him open mouthed. “You brought someone home and then forgot her?”
“No! Well, maybe. Just for a minute.” he admitted sheepishly.
April shook her head again. Jackson was usually good for several such head shakes a day.
“Well, go get her and we’ll feed her too.”
“Okay.” Jackson answered gratefully. “Thanks.” He quickly made his way back to his bedroom to fetch the girl.
“Hey beaut..” he broke off. The woman in his bed looked neither happy nor particularly ready to start the day.
“You left me!” Delia accused him.
“I didn’t want to wake you up.” Jackson replied in his defense.
“And you couldn’t stay with me until I woke up on my own?”
“Well, I didn’t go far. I was just in the kitchen getting some coffee. Hey, April is making breakfast. Why don’t you throw on some clothes and we’ll eat.”
“I can’t just throw on clothes. These people don’t know me. I don’t even have my things to get ready.”
“You’ll be fine, you look fine.” Jackson reassured her. “Now, lets go eat. You’ll feel a lot better after you get a few pancakes in you. April puts blueberries in them and they are pretty awesome.”
“Pancakes? I can’t eat pancakes! I can’t eat gluten! Remember?”
Jackson hadn’t remembered. “Well, there’s eggs and bacon too.”
“Bacon? Eggs? I’m vegan!”
Aw shit. What the fuck does a gluten sensitive vegan eat anyway? “Maybe we have some carrots or something.”
“Never mind. Can’t you just take me home?”
“Sure. Just let me grab my breakfast and then we can go.” Jackson was very hungry and April’s pancakes were pretty amazing.
Delia didn’t particularly like that idea and wasn’t shy about sharing her feelings. “So what am I supposed to do while you eat?”
“Well, you could come out and meet Meredith and April. And Karev will probably emerge at some point too.”
“Oooh, Karev, now I’m excited. And April, the woman you can’t stop talking about. Oh I can’t wait to meet her.” She said sarcastically.
“I don’t… look, if you want to wait here by yourself, be my guest, but I’m going to go eat.”
The woman popped up off the bed. “No, Jackson, please. I don’t want to wait alone. Let me use the bathroom then I’ll come out with you and keep you company. I’ll have some Chai Tea or something.”
“Okay, fine.” agreed Jackson, though he doubted they had any Chai Tea in the house.
Delia looked around the room. “Where's your bathroom?”
“In the hallway.”
“What? You have to share your bathroom?”
“Yes, with three others. So what?”
“Gross. I can only imagine what a bathroom that four guys share looks like.”
“I wouldn’t know. Two of the others are women.”
“Women? Is one of those women your April, by any chance?”
Jackson rolled his eyes. “She’s not my April, but yes, she is one of the people who share it.”
“Of course.” She grumbled.
After several minutes of waiting, Jackson knocked on the bathroom door. Thirty seconds later it opened and Delia came out. She had done a respectable job of fixing her makeup though Jackson didn't care much about that. His main concern was that Karev would eat all the pancakes and bacon before he got there.
Jackson's fears were well founded as, stepping out of the hallway, the first thing he saw was Alex digging in to a thick stack of pancakes. April, reading his expression, reassured him. “Don't panic, Jackson, I saved some for you and your friend.”
He thanked his lucky stars that April always had his back and quickly went to get the plate of food that she had set aside for him.
April cleared her throat loudly. Jackson mistook the reason. “Thanks April.”
April rolled her eyes and threw a hard nod back toward the hallway entrance. Jackson finally got it.
“Oh, everyone, this is Delilah.”
“Delia!” Delia corrected, glaring angrily at him.
Alex chuckled aloud but stopped when April swatted him with her spatula. Meredith just shot Jackson a disgusted look, muttered something about manwhore under her breath, and picked Zola up out of her highchair.
“Isn't that what I said, 'Delia'?” Jackson stammered.
“That's what I heard.” April did her best to cover for her friend. Karev just chuckled again.
Jackson preoccupied himself with his breakfast again so April took the initiative to motion Delia toward the kitchen and introduce herself. “I'm April, it's such a pleasure to meet you.” she said, extending her hand.
The woman gave her a brief perfunctory handshake and went to stand behind one of the unoccupied chairs at the table. Jackson brought his food to the table and immediately slid into the adjacent chair, leaving her standing while he reached for the syrup.
April kicked the leg of his chair.
“What?” he asked her. He was really starving at this point.
“How about helping Delia into her seat?” April suggested. Jackson was being particularly clueless this morning, she thought.
With obvious reluctance, Jackson arose and helped Delia into her seat.
“Would you like some breakfast?” April asked her brightly. “We have bacon, eggs, and pancakes.”
“No more bacon.” Alex grunted.
April shot Karev a look that clearly conveyed her annoyance. “Eggs and pancakes,” she corrected.
“Do you have any carrot juice? Or coconut water perhaps?”
April’s smile froze on her face.
“Delia’s vegan.” Jackson informed her. Alex shook his head and chuckled again.
“Oh, I’m afraid we don’t have either of those things. We might have some baby carrots though.” April offered.
This time it was Jackson who laughed, briefly, between bites of pancake.
“Never mind.” Delia answered, covering Jackson’s hand with hers, “Jackson will buy me breakfast later, won’t you baby?”
Jackson looked up from his plate, made eye contact with Karev, and then looked at her hand on his. “Yeah, sure,” he agreed without much enthusiasm.
“I can’t believe you all share this tiny house.” Delia said.
“It’s not so bad. We all get along pretty well.” April replied. “Besides, we have our surgical boards coming up and there will probably be a lot of changes after that.”
“Oh good. I don’t like the idea of my boyfriend living in Animal House.”
Delia didn’t see the venomous look Meredith was giving her from where she was putting a coat on Zola. Nor did she see the smile on Alex’ face or the slightly alarmed expression on Jackson’s.
“Animal House? Yes, I wouldn’t want my boyfriend living in Animal House either.” April answered.
Jackson looked up at her with her sweet smile and eyebrows slightly arched and knew exactly what she was thinking. Only Delia was oblivious to the reactions her words had elicited. Which she proved with her next utterance.
“Maybe then I’ll be able to talk him into moving into my place.”
The door slammed behind Meredith and Zola. April turned back toward the stove so Delia wouldn’t see her reaction. Alex dropped his fork into his now empty plate.
“You’re a lucky man, Jackson. It seems your future is assured,” he said across the table.
Jackson shook his head, his expression betraying his unhappiness at what was transpiring his morning. “Okay, let’s get out of here,” he said, pushing back from the table.
“Did you get enough, baby,” asked Delia?
“Oh yeah, more than enough,” he answered. He dropped his plate into the sink and April gave him a sympathetic smile.
“You coming in?” she asked when he made no move toward opening his car door.
“No, I don’t think so.” he answered.
“Wait, what? Why not?”
“Delia, I don’t think this is working for me.” Jackson admitted.
“Not working for you? Last night you said we were something special.”
“I know. But this morning I realized that I was fooling myself. I’m just not as into it as you are. It wouldn’t be fair to you to stay together. I’m sorry.”
Delia’s eyes flashed. “You’re breaking up with me?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“It’s because of that April, isn’t it?” she spit.
“What? No. Why do you say that?” Jackson was truly surprised.
“You don’t think I saw the way you looked at each other? You don’t think I noticed that she saved food for you? Fuck, every conversation we’ve ever had you’ve managed to mention her somehow.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Is it? I don’t think so. In fact, I think you love her.”
“That’s ridiculous. We are just good friends. Besides, we are totally different.”
“Uh Huh.”
“We are. Even if I did want her, I could never give her what she wants, what she needs, what she deserves. You and I, we live in the shallow end of the emotion pool. April is over in the deep end.”
That last did it for Delia. “Fuck you, Jackson.” She got out and slammed the door as hard as she could. That was the last he saw of her.
Jackson was flipping channels from the couch when April emerged from her room, pulling on her coat. She looked around.
“Where’s your girlfriend?”
“Funny,” he answered.
“Well, she seems nice.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s a pain in the ass with a nice face and a great body. Just my type.”
“Well, as long as that’s what you want I guess it’s good that you’re together.”
“It isn’t and we’re not.”
“Oh,” April came and sat down on the couch next to him. “Sorry?”
“Don’t be.” he answered.
Finally he tossed the remote and turned toward her. He noticed that even without any visible makeup, she had an appealing fresh beauty. “April, what the hell is wrong with me? The women that want me, I could care less, the women that I want, like Lexie, don’t want me.”
“Well, honestly, I don’t think you can compare Delia to Lexie.”
“That’s exactly my point. Am I so shallow that the only women that will ever want me are shallow too?”
“Jackson, don’t be ridiculous. You’re not shallow. You just think you are. The only reason things didn’t work out with Lexie is that she is already in love with someone else. Someday a woman will come along who believes in you like I do and you’ll love her back and and it will feel so good that you'll know it's right and that will be it.” she told him. “Trust me.”
“How do you do that?” he asked.
“What?”
“Always know how to pick me up and make me feel good about myself again.”
“Just one of my many talents.” she answered. “Besides, that what friends are for. Now, I’m going to get some coffee. I was in my room trying to study for the Boards and couldn’t keep my eyes open. Do you want to come along? My treat?”
“I’ll come, but only if you let me pay.”
“Deal.”
Jackson got up and grabbed his coat while April waited by the door.
“You know, with the Boards coming up it would be silly to jump into a serious relationship anyway.” she said when he returned.
“You’re right. It would be an insane distraction.” he acknowledged.
“Still, you never know when or where love will find you. So stay ready.” April advised.
Jackson looked at her and nodded. “Oh, I’m ready. I’m so ready.”