Jesse Williams andSarah Drew return to "Grey's Anatomy " on Thursday, May 26.- Their characters, April Kepner and Jackson Avery, last appeared on the show's season 17, which wrapped in 2021.
Jesse Williams and Sarah Drew are returning to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in their respective roles as Jackson Avery and April Kepner on "Grey's Anatomy."
To celebrate the fictional couple's return, here is a complete timeline of their love story so far.
Season 6, episode 5: Jackson and April began their first day at a new hospital together
Drew and Williams first appeared on "Grey's Anatomy" in 2009 in the season six episode called "Invasion."
When Seattle Grace Hospital, the fictional hospital where "Grey's" is based, merged with their rival teaching hospital Mercy West, Jackson and April began their first day of residency in their new program together.
Viewers didn't actually see the couple's first meeting until a flashback during the first Japril-centric episode in season 12, "Unbreak My Heart," which aired in 2016.
Season 6, episodes 23 and 24: They survived a Seattle Grace-Mercy West shooting together
Jackson assisted Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) when she operated on Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) after he was shot by Gary Clark (Michael O'Neill), a widower upset after his wife was taken off of life support. He helped trick the shooter into believing Derek was dead so he wouldn't shoot again.
April waited in the OR scrub room with Derek's partner, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), trying to distract her from the fact that her husband might die.
Moments before, April convinced Gary not to shoot her by telling him details of her life and confessing "no one's loved me yet. "
Season 7: April and Jackson moved in with Meredith after their former Mercy West colleagues died in the shooting
Around this time, Jackson joined in with Meredith, fellow resident Lexie (Chyler Leigh), and then-resident Alex (Justin Chambers) in making fun of April when she revealed she was a virgin.
Season 7, episode 8: Jackson punched Alex Karev for April
During season 7, "Grey's Anatomy" toyed with the idea of Alex and April becoming a couple.
In an episode called "Something's Gotta Give," which aired in 2010, April was impressed with how Alex, who now wanted to become a pediatric surgeon, handled the case of a baby while assisting a doctor at the hospital. She also stuck up for Alex when that doctor tried to take credit for an idea that saved a baby's life.
April and Alex almost hooked up in an on-call room but when April asked Alex to slow down and reminded him that she was a virgin, he yelled at her to either have sex with him or not and then left.
She later showed up at the house-warming party of Cristina, a rockstar doctor in the fictional hospital, in tears. After she told Jackson what happened off-camera, Jackson — who had a very bad day — punched Alex in the face in an effort to defend April. He later told Lexie that April is the only friend he has left at the hospital since Charles (Robert Baker) and Reed (Nora Zehetner) — fellow residents from Mercy West — died in the aforementioned shooting.
Season 8, episode 21: April lost her virginity to Jackson the night before the medical boards
The night before the medical boards, the test residents take to become attending physicians, the highest level a surgeon can reach, April not only got drunk but also punched a guy who was harassing her because she got his spot as an attending of trauma surgery and had sex with Jackson. She later revealed to him that she was a virgin for religious reasons.
Breaking her promise to God made it hard for her to concentrate on the test, which she ultimately failed. But not before she has sex with Jackson again in the hotel bathroom in the middle of the test.
Season 9, episode 2: Jackson got advice from his mentor Dr. Mark Sloan
In flashbacks on the second episode of season nine, "Remember the Time," which aired in November 2012, Jackson got potentially life-changing advice from his mentor.
"If you love someone, you tell them. Even if you're scared that it's not the right thing, even if you're scared that it will cause problems, even if you're scared that it will burn your life to the ground you say it and you say it loud. And then you go from there," Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) said moments before dying from complications after a plane crash.
Mark's words prompted Jackson to ask April to meet him at Joe's Bar, the doctors' hang out, before she caught a plane home to her family farm after being fired because she failed her boards and the hospital was experiencing budget cuts. She didn't go.
Season 9, episode 7: The pregnancy scare
April was hired back by Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) who felt guilty for not being a good mentor to her at the hospital. She and Jackson started hooking up again almost immediately.
Jackson eventually told April he had feelings for her since she expressed feeling guilt every time they had sex because of her religious upbringing. Soon afterward, April told him she might be pregnant and Jackson said he was in the relationship "all the way" if they were expecting a child together. He promised her the wedding of her dreams in a field full of butterflies if that's what she wanted.
The pregnancy test came back negative — and Jackson got upset when April expressed relief. He later said he didn't want to continue dating because of it.
They began seeing other people weeks afterward, even choosing each other's dates for Dr. Bailey's (Chandra Wilson) wedding.
Jackson began seriously dating Stephanie Edwards (Jerrika Hinton), then a surgical intern, after taking her to the nuptials.
Season 9, episode 19: A tragedy almost brought them clarity on their feelings
After months of dating other people, Jackson and April worked together on the case of a pregnant mother, named Elise, who was a victim of a tanker explosion accident.
Elise and her husband were high school sweethearts who reunited years later after joining the same bowling league.
When Elise died in the season nine episode called "Can't Fight This Feeling," which aired in March 2013, April broke down crying because a new mother had lost her second chance at love with her soul mate.
Jackson comforted her and they almost kissed before Alex interrupted the moment.
Season 9, episode 21: Jackson had no regrets
April blamed Jackson when her boyfriend Matthew (Justin Bruening) broke up with her for lying about the fact that she had sex before in the April 2013 episode called "Sleeping Monster."
Jackson refused to take the blame saying, "I'm never going to be sorry about that."
Matthew asked for April's forgiveness for how he treated her and they later reconciled.
Season 9, episode 24 and season 10, episodes 1 - 2: The storm
Jackson risked his life to save a little girl when a bus exploded during a storm in the season 9 finale, which aired in May 2013.
April was newly engaged to Matthew, but ran toward the bus and broke down when she thought Jackson was dead. She physically pushed him when she confronted him saying, "You could have died."
Later she told Jackson, "I want you, Jackson. I want you." And when he reminded her she was getting married she said, "Unless you can give me a reason not to."
He didn't give her a reason. Instead, in the season 10 premiere, which aired in September 2013, they worked together to help a patient with organ failure get married.
Jackson told April in that episode, "You didn't want me when I wanted you," and said she should either marry Matthew or not, but leave him out of it.
Season 10, episode 12: Jackson interrupted April's wedding
Jackson was invited to Matthew and April's wedding as his girlfriend Stephanie's plus one because Matthew couldn't handle seeing Jackson's name first on the guest list.
Before the wedding, Jackson treated a man who reminded him of his mentor Mark's last words before he died: tell the person you love how you feel while you can.
Jackson stood up in the middle of the ceremony and recited his own vows of sorts to April, saying:
"I love you, April — I always have. I love everything about you. Even the things I don't like, I love. And I want you with me. I love you and I think that you love me, too. Do you?"
In the 2014 season 10 episode titled "Take It Back," we learned that
But it wasn't until the season 12 episode called "Unbreak My Heart," which aired two years later, that we saw what happened after the proposal.
Jackson spilled ketchup on April's original wedding dress so she found one in a consignment shop while he scheduled a non-denominational minister to marry them.
"I can't believe we're doing this," he said at the altar.
"I can," she replied.
Season 10, episodes 16 to 22: Newlywed discontent
After eloping, Jackson and April had brief moments of newlywed bliss before the differences in their beliefs became apparent and they began arguing.
A late-night disagreement about faith drove April to her colleagues Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona's (Jessica Capshaw) house for a few nights.
The couple later reconciled because they said they love each other and took vows. But April told Jackson they had to continue to talk about their differences because the children that they were talking about raising were not hypothetical — she was pregnant.
The reveal came at the end of the episode called "Change Of Heart," which aired in April 2014.
Season 11, episode 11: Their baby got a fatal diagnosis
Jackson and April's son was diagnosed with a fatal type of osteogenesis imperfecta (type 2) or brittle bone disease in the episode called "All I Could Do Was Cry," which aired in February 2015.
When they learned that he is in pain in utero and wouldn't survive long if born full-term, they opted for induction termination.
April's labor was induced so she could give birth and they could meet their son and say goodbye. Their son, Samuel Norbert Avery, died soon after.
Viewers later saw a scene of the two grieving in the flashbacks during their dedicated episode, "Unbreak My Heart."
April was mostly unresponsive in Samuel's nursery as Jackson made misguided suggestions of going to church together or trying to have another baby.
Season 11, episodes 22 to 24: Torn apart by war
April came back to work, searching for a bigger purpose. When Derek died, after complications from a car accident, her trauma mentor Dr. Owen Hunt told her about opportunities for doctors in the Army. She then decided to serve overseas, leaving Jackson to grieve alone.
April came back home after about a year of constantly extending her tour of duty, but decided she needed to go back again and serve in Jordan. Jackson told her to go but said he didn't know if he would be waiting for her when she came home. Marriage to him meant grieving their son together, he said, and she hadn't been able to do that for him.
In "Unbreak My Heart," we later learned that Jackson tried to get on a plane to Jordan after April invited him, but he missed the plane.
We also saw April really try to contact Jackson on the anniversary of Samuel's death while she was overseas, but she couldn't reach him because of connection issues.
Season 12, episode 11: Divorce
By 2016's "Unbreak My Heart," April returned to Seattle and wanted to fix their marriage but Jackson was resistant. He moved out of their apartment when April refused.
Eventually, they spoke, threw fortune cookies, and had angry sex. Jackson later decided to try therapy to save the marriage.
For reasons that were unclear, it didn't help and Jackson served April divorce papers in the middle of a workday at Grey Sloan soon after.
Season 12: Another pregnancy gets complicated
On the day they signed divorce papers, April found out she was pregnant again.
She told Arizona and Alex guessed, but she didn't want to tell Jackson because she had faith that their baby would be fine — but she knew Jackson wouldn't. She wanted to spare him pain.
Minutes before April decided to tell Jackson about the baby, she found Arizona in a room with Jackson telling him herself. After having relatively civil divorce proceedings, the pregnancy nearly caused a nasty battle.
Jackson got mad that April admitted to knowing she was pregnant before legally ending their marriage. A restraining order was involved, but they made up before their fight escalated to court and decided to be the best co-parents they could be for their child.
April's peace offering was letting Jackson feel their baby kick, confirming that it didn't have osteogenesis imperfecta, which their first child was diagnosed with.
Season 12, episode 24: Harriet Kepner Avery
During the 2016 season finale, called "Family Affair," Japril's daughter, Harriet Kepner Avery, was born via a makeshift C-section.
It was performed by Ben Warren (Jason George), a resident at the hospital, on Meredith's kitchen table when they get stuck at home during a rainstorm.
April then moved in with Jackson so he could help her take care of the baby while she recovered.
Season 13, episode 16: Medical history and memories in Montana
Hospital politics suddenly caused tension between them again, but when Jackson took a difficult throat transplant case as an excuse to visit his father who abandoned him, his mother Catherine (Debbie Allen) sent April to assist on the case (and look after her son).
Jackson was distracted and drunk for parts of the trip, but when the case got harder than they anticipated, April forced him to confront his dad.
Japril slowly made up during the trip, and together they found a way to give their young patient her voice back.
While back at their hotel waiting for news on their patient after what they believed was a successful surgery, they had sex.
The trip was chronicled in the episode called "Who Is He? (And What Is He To You?") which aired on March 16, 2017.
Season 14: April moved out and moved on
They never spoke about what the sex in Montana meant for their relationship and being confused about who she was to Jackson, she moved out.
After she lost a lot of patients in one day, including her ex-fiancé Matthew's wife (due to complications in childbirth), April slipped into a depression that "Grey's Anatomy" called a crisis of faith.
Jackson stepped up and took care of their daughter Harriet during that time when April couldn't.
Season 14, episode 23: April nearly died
By the May 2018 episode, titled "Cold As Ice," April had randomly started dating Matthew again in secret to avoid questions from her colleagues.
During a rendezvous, the two got into a car crash and April nearly died after falling into a ravine. Jackson prayed for her and promised to believe in God if she lived. His prayers were answered.
After her near-death experience, April made a hasty decision to marry Matthew and leave Grey Sloan.
Season 15: Jackson had a change of heart
Jackson started to believe in God because he promised he would if April lived.
He also grieved the fact that his marriage ended in large part because of their different beliefs about faith.
Now he believed in something, and April was living a new life (off-screen) with someone else. This caused a fight in Jackson's new relationship with his then-girlfriend and step-sister Dr. Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary).
Season 17, episode 14: Boston brought the promise of new horizons
In last year's episode, "Look Up Child," Jackson was forced to reconsider how he was using his money and privilege after a string of failed relationships, the pandemic, and the shooting deaths of Black men.
He decided to go to Boston to run his family's foundation to dedicate his life to providing better medical care to marginalized communities.
It took him one long, rainy night to convince April to go with him so he could maintain his relationship with their daughter, Harriet. She told him she could do so because she was divorcing Matthew.
The last time we saw them on-screen together the two had "fingers crossed for new horizons" in Boston although there were no clear plans to get back together — just to co-parent.