April Kepner had failed her boards. She had been at the top of her intern class and failed the American Medical Boards, which officially meant that she was not a board certified surgeon. And that was the biggest let down in her life. It was going to be hard to leave the hospital and go back to Moline to figure out what her next move was. Dr. Torres had also told her to suck it up and that worse things could happen, like losing your husband to a bus or having your child born seventeen weeks premature. April knew that she could take the boards again next year, but that was a humiliating thought because she knew that it had been her own fault that she failed in the first place.

But there was more ruminating on her mind than just failing her boards. In San Francisco, she and Jackson had slept together. She had given him her virginity and broken her promise to remain pure until she was married, but her emotions and thoughts about it were conflicting. Jackson was her best friend and admittedly, she'd had a crush on him for years, not that he would have known since she never said anything. But something just…changed that night and she found herself being bolder than ever, leading her to give him the one thing that she had kept to herself and to Jesus. Yet, despite the guilt she felt for no longer being a virgin, she wasn't angry that she had given her virginity to Jackson. Their liaisons, both in her hotel room and the men's bathroom, were meaningful to her and had changed her in profound ways.

Tonight was the annual dinner with Richard Webber to send off the residents after their residency, in celebration of their five years being complete. But it was difficult for her to compose herself while getting ready, though she wore a smile for everyone else to see. Inwardly, she was hurting in a way she'd never hurt before. Jackson told her he was going to Tulane, which was a fantastic program for plastic surgery. The downside was that it was all the way in New Orleans, meaning she would be even farther from her best friend than she'd been in the last five years.

After their little blow up, they had gone to the dinner together and had a relatively good time, but Meredith, Cristina, and the rest of the team that went to Boise were running very late. April figured the surgery had run long, but when Owen Hunt came in with a concerned and rushed look on his face, she knew something was wrong.

"Dr. Hunt?" she said, looking at him.

"The team…they never made it to Boise," he murmured to them quietly. "The plane…it's missing."

April covered her mouth. "Oh God," she gasped. "What…what about a transmitter? Don't planes have those in case something like this happens?"

Hunt nodded. "But they haven't received a signal yet, so they're sending a search party by helicopter to fly the area over where the last known transmission was. Kepner, we need to prepare for the worst. I'll need…"

"I know…I'll get everything organized and ready for standby," she interrupted, already going into her usual organized and focused trauma surgeon mode.

Cristina, Meredith, Lexie, Derek, Mark, and Arizona were all on that flight. Everyone at the table had someone they cared about on that plane and she knew that the sooner they were found, the better it would be for their outcomes if something horrible had happened. She and Jackson got up with Richard and other residents to immediately go back to the hospital for standby. As they did, she silently sent up a prayer that everyone would be alright and that they would find them in time.

Two days went by before they found the plane…two days too long for one person. April was charged with notifying the family of the pilot that their loved one was lost in the accident. But, amazingly, everyone else somehow survived and were no worse for the wear.

Derek's hand was pretty badly mangled, but Torres was working on a plan to salvage it and make sure he could someday operate again. Mark Sloan had some severe burns on his arms and chest, but Jackson was able to treat them so they would minimally scar. Cristina had a dislocated shoulder and some minor cuts and bruising, which they treated. But her psyche wasn't all that intact due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so they had to bring in a consult from Psych to help out not only with her, but all the members on that plane. Meredith had bumps and bruises, but was otherwise intact and mostly dehydrated, exhausted, and worried sick. Arizona had a severe broken leg, which they were trying to save, but things were looking grim. And Lexie, who had the most severe of the internal injuries, had to have her spleen and part of her liver taken out and her leg reset as she had been pinned beneath a minor part of the plane, which Cristina, Mark, and Meredith lifted off of her. She was lucky though, since she had missed a bigger part falling on her by a few feet.

April had stayed on to help stabilize everyone, as had Jackson and Alex, who were set to leave for Tulane and Hopkins soon, though they had delayed for personal reasons.

"Good morning Lexie," she greeted as she came into her friend's room to check on her post-surgery.

Lexie stirred a little and opened her eyes, still a little groggy from the anesthetic she was put under with the day before for surgery. "Where…where's Mark?" she asked.

"He's getting patched up with a new dressing on his burns," she explained, coming over and checking Lexie's incision site. "But he was here all night by your bed. No one could make him leave, not even Callie."

Watching her friend smile a little, she changed the dressing of her wound. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like I got hit by a bus…" Lexie said, pausing for effect before laughing a little. "Bad joke…really bad joke. I'm sorry, April. I'm alright, just a little sore and really tired still. How is everyone else?"

"They're doing better. Cristina still isn't speaking, but Owen is with her. Derek is recovering from surgery while Meredith has Zola with her all the time. Callie bounces between checking on Mark and staying with Arizona, but her fever spiked last night…infection," she babbled on as she cleaned up Lexie's other dressings. "Mark's doing well. Jackson says that his burns will heal up just fine and leave little to no scarring. You guys…it's a miracle."

Her dark-haired friend nodded and moved up a little. "Mark…he told me he loved me. Out in the woods, when we thought we weren't going to make it."

April beamed. "Lexie, that's…that's wonderful right?" She had known a while that her friend was still in love with Mark and that he was just as much in love with her, though he was dating someone else.

"Yeah…I think we're finally…on the same page for once," Lexie laughed, looking down at her hands. "But when you love someone, like really love them, then you can't wait…because bad things happen all the time. It took me a long time to admit I still loved Mark, then a freaking plane crashes…I think this hospital is cursed."

As she finished up, she pulled up one of the rolling stools and sat by her friend's side. "I think you may be right about that. Or at the very least we all have rotten luck."

The two women had a laugh about that before April took a deep breath. "I have something to confess," she finally said, almost in a whisper. "Jackson and I…we…"

It didn't take but three seconds for Lexie to put the pieces together. "You are in love with him…aren't you?"

"Oh…I…I…maybe…we uh…we slept together at the boards," she blurted out finally.

The younger woman laughed out loud. "April Kepner, I never knew you had it in you!"

Her cheeks reddened with blush as she looked down at the chart in her hands. "There was this bar fight…" she began.

"Whoa…bar fight? What the hell happened in San Francisco?"

"This uh…jerk said some things and I uh…I punched him," she casually replied, shrugging her shoulder like it was no big deal. "Jackson pulled me off the guy and when we went back to my room…the adrenaline was going and I just…I kissed him. One thing lead to another and we had sex. I had sex, Lexie! Me…April Kepner, the freakin' Virgin Mary of Seattle Grace-Mercy West! I slept with Jackson Avery!"

"Slow down April," Lexie reminded her. "People make fun of me for rambling, but I think you'd be tied for that trophy with me."

She coughed awkwardly and smiled a little. They had come a long way since Lexie had hated her when she first arrived at Seattle Grace after the merger. Where they had once been enemies, they were now friends and April felt blessed to have that friendship.

"So…what happened after?" Lexie asked, prodding for more information.

"Well, I made him go back to his room and then I panicked. God I panicked so much because I felt this block from Jesus at my board examination the next morning," she sighed, shaking her head. "I freaked out and during the break, went into the men's restroom. Jackson found me in there and we talked about the night before and it…we had sex again."

"In the bathroom?!" Lexie seemed shocked. "Are you sure you weren't some…sexual minx in a past life?"

The blush on her cheeks deepened to an almost crimson color. "It…it was a relief that both of us needed."

"Oh I bet it was," Lexie grinned knowingly. "So…are you two…?"

April shook her head. "I have no idea….what we are. He's going to Tulane and I…I failed my boards so I'm…I have no job here once everything settles down. So I'm going home to Moline since it's the only place I know to go right now."

"Oh April," her friend said, reaching over to touch her hand sympathetically. "Can't Hunt do something to extend your contract? There are some of us that are going to be down for months."

Tears were forming in her eyes. "I don't know, Lexie. Alex is staying to cover Peds until Arizona is back, but…I don't know. Maybe it's better for me to go home anyway…start over at a new hospital somewhere where they don't know me as the crazy resident and retake my boards next year."

Lexie squeezed her hand. "Give it time…and if you really care about Jackson, don't let there be unsaid words between you. I know I used to date him, but he is a great guy. He cares and he will show it when you let him."

Her words were comforting to April in a way, but she knew that the likelihood of her and Jackson ever working out was very slim. They came from two very different worlds and she had freaked out on him about breaking her promise to Jesus, so she knew it probably pushed him away a little more. But it would take all of her strength to leave him and Seattle, knowing he was going somewhere far away where she would likely never see him again.

"I'll think about it, but for now…you rest up and get back on your feet," she told Lexie as she stood up. "Can't let the other fifth years run the show around here, now can you?"

With that, April left Lexie's room and went down to file her chart at the nurses' station, surprised to see Jackson standing there with Mark in what looked like a serious conversation.

"Kepner," Mark said, acknowledging that she was close by apparently. "Did you just check on Lexie?"

She nodded. "And changed out her dressings so everything is clean. Everything looks really good and there are no signs of infection or anything out of the ordinary, Dr. Sloan. You can go in and see her. She's awake now."

It didn't take long for Mark to move on down the hall toward Lexie's room, leaving Jackson alone with her.

"So uh…you're leaving soon, aren't you?" she asked, putting the chart on the counter.

"Yeah…I fly out on June fifteenth," he replied. "Gives me a couple weeks to settle in before July first. Sloan will be healed up by then and I'm free to…uh start my fellowship."

"That's great, Jackson," she said, looking at him, trying to hide her emotions. "I'm heading home to Moline next week…my flight leaves Sunday."

"Do you…want me to take you to the airport?" he asked, looking at her with his beautiful blue-green eyes that were capable of making her melt.

"Oh no…I…I don't want to be an imposition," she quickly replied, shaking her head as she looked at him. "I was going to just call a cab or something."

"Okay," Jackson nodded, putting away his chart. "But you'll still call?"

"Of course…you're my best friend, so why wouldn't I?" Inwardly, she was screaming at herself for feeling like this. Like her heart was being ripped out of her chest. Why would she feel like this about him so soon?

"And we still have Skype and texting," he added, making it seem like their separation wasn't going to be so bad. But he didn't know how badly she would miss him being there, to hug her when she needed it most.

"We'll still be close, promise," she told him as she gathered her next chart. "I've got to do rounds since Hunt is with Cristina. Since he fired Dr. Altman, trauma is swamped. I'll…see you around. Maybe we could get drinks or something before I go."

"Sounds good to me," he said before they parted ways, leaving April a little more brokenhearted than before.

A/N: So...this is my first attempt at Japril fanfic! Please be patient with me as my updates will be as frequent as possible between graduate school and work. But here we go! Review and let me know what you think thus far!