WARNING: spoilers are untagged on this page. You have been warned. Proceed with caution.
Season One:
- April's reaction to finding out she has cancer? "I'm twenty-four." That's when it sinks in for everyone just how unforgiving this disease is.
- Doubles as heartwarming, but Jackson's pre-funeral in 'Death Becomes Her' definitely caused some tears.
- Seeing the normally carefree and talkative Leo go from appearing perfectly fine to suddenly stammering incoherently during an interview in 'What to Expect When You're Expecting Chemo' is rough. He's still struggling to speak more than a few words at a time when the paramedics arrive, and is pretty clearly upset about the whole incident.
- In 'Finding Chemo', April starts having hallucinations due to the chemotherapy, where she gets to speak to her father for the first time in the show. Also, she and Dominic break up.
- In that same episode, April tells Leo she's scared that he might not still be alive when she gets through with chemo. He shrugs it off as her being afraid of her own mortality, but she insists that he's more than that to her, especially since they slept together. He tries to make light of it again, but then finally gets serious.
"Look, I could never forget about what happened that night, but trust me, I am the wrong horse for you to bet on. I'm the one they take out back and shoot before the race even starts. But that other guy... that's the one who might actually win it for you. Go bet on him while you still can. [beat] I'm gonna walk away, and you're gonna go back to your room... and we're not gonna make a big deal out of this moment." - The montage of April getting dressed at the beginning of 'Next April' goes a long way to show just how much her battle with cancer has cost her - her hair is only just growing back in, her eyebrows are all but gone, and there's a few lingering shots of the port scars on her upper chest. Her walk to work a few minutes later is much slower than everyone else, and we also learn that she's having trouble retaining short-term memories due to 'chemo brain', which causes her to blow her first big interview back at work when she forgets to record the conversation and is unable to remember any of what was said.
- 'Guess Who's Coming to Donate': Leo is struggling with his new physical limitations after waking up from a four month coma and becomes withdrawn and distant, finally removing April from his visitor list when she keeps coming around. When she shows up to try and talk to him during his physical therapy session, he flat out tells her that he's not interested in being friends with anyone right now.
- 'Rest In Peace'; April finds out that the train Leo was taking to New York has crashed and he's not answering his cell phone. She rushes home, calling his phone repeatedly and trying not to freak out in the middle of the street. When she finally reaches her house, she runs inside calling for her mom, only to find her in the kitchen... with Leo, who is perfectly fine. April breaks down in tears on the spot.
- The following scene has Leo opening up to April for the first time since their fight in 'The Big Leagues', and finally admitting what's been bothering him.
April: "We all thought you were dead."Leo: "I should be. [beat] Again."April: [disturbed] "Wait, what are you saying?"Leo: [tries to brush it off] "Never mind."April: "No! Talk to me! Are you really saying you wish you were dead?"Leo: [desperately] "Why do I keep surviving when really good people have to die? People with hopes and dreams. Jackson was gonna be on Broadway. An-and Meg has always wanted to be a civil rights attorney, and now she might not make it. They knew how they wanted to leave their marks on the world and they don't get to do it, but I'm still here?"April: "You can't think like that."Leo: [sits down, defeated] "I just- I feel... I just feel so..."April: "...Guilty."Leo: *nods hopelessly* - 'One Day' is full of them. April's cancer is back and she only has one day to get her affairs in order before she has to start her second round of chemotherapy. Her mom is in Cleveland visiting Uncle George and probably won't get back before April has to go to the hospital, The Post is laying off employees and she ultimately quits her dream job so that Danny won't get laid off instead, she has to shave her head again (just after her hair was starting to reach a normal length), and she does all of this while perfectly stoic so she doesn't upset anyone else. It's only when Dr. Hamburg realizes what she's doing and pushes her to confront her feelings about her relapse that she finally breaks. The scene that follows is utterly heartbreaking."You should've caught this sooner! I came to you weeks ago saying that something was wrong, that I thought it was back. You screwed up! How could you have told me I was fine when I wasn't? I'm not! I'm sick again! You're a crappy doctor! You're all 'let's not worry about statistics', but how can I not when there's now a 70% chance that I'm gonna die?"
Season Two:
- 'The Last W': Leo and April finally tie the knot, and there was not a dry eye to be found on the show or in the fandom.
- April finds out about Leo and Dominic's fight in the previous episode, so Leo comes to talk to her and clear the air between them - and also ask why she was visiting her ex-boyfriend the night before their wedding. Since she's getting dressed and he's not allowed to see her before the ceremony, their conversation happens through the suite door.
April: "...Leo, I love you. You're the one I want to be with. I hate that we're keeping secrets from each other on our wedding day. What does that mean?"Leo: "It means we're human. You want honesty? Ask me something. Anything."April: [bracing herself to hear the answer] "Are you marrying me as a gift? Because I'm dying? Am I one of your Robin Hood projects?"Leo: [can't believe he's hearing this] "Is that really what you think of me? [April starts crying on the other side of the door] Of this wedding?"April: "I don't know anymore."Leo: [takes a moment to compose himself] "Look... couples fight all the time, and they work through it. This is just a bump in the road, right?"April: "Right. A bump in the road."Leo: [completely serious; he really means this] "I want to marry you, April."April: [finally smiling] "I want to marry you too."- At the wedding, April collapses halfway down the aisle and the growing look of shock and terror on Leo's face as he runs toward her (in slow motion) is gut-wrenching.
- Later, at the hospital, April apologizes to Leo for ruining the wedding and breaks down into tears as she also apologizes for being sick. He sits down on her bed, facing her, and looks directly into her eyes.
Leo: [fighting back tears] "I do not accept your apology. You asked me today if I proposed to you because I thought you might be dying. I want you to know the answer to that question... is 'yes I did' . [April doesn't know how to respond to that] We might have to do things faster than other people, but I'm so madly in love with you, and I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to marry you some day. Someday just came sooner than I thought."April: [in tears again] "You're not just granting a dying girl her last wish?"- Leo throwing together a wedding in the hospital chapel from back in season one was already a combination of heartwarming and tearjerker, but looking back at it again with the knowledge of what's going to happen in the following episode and it will definitely leave you in tears. Especially their vows and first dance.
Leo: "When I first met April, I had a death sentence that I accepted because it was easier than trying to fight. But then I spent some time with April Carver, and every day she finds new ways to show me how special, and important, and absolutely mind-blowing life can be. Why would I not want to spend the rest of my life with the person who taught me why it was worth fighting for? I love adventures, and I can't think of a better one than life with you."April: "I'm so happy the wedding's in this room; it's in this very place that I tried to hide from my fears. When things got too hard I ran away, and I ran here. And right here is where you found me, and you taught me that courage isn't about being unafraid; it's about giving yourself no other option than to face your fears. A brilliant woman once told me that the foundation of marriage is love, but the reality of it is commitment. I'm so lucky and so thankful that I get to commit myself to someone who makes me happier, more courageous, and more excited about every minute of my life." - Basically every single moment with Leo in 'As Long as We Both Shall Live' becomes this in hindsight, but special mention goes to every mention of his and April's future together and the reveal that he was hoping to have a family with April someday (after making it clear in season one that having kids was something he didn't have an interest in).
- April has a minor freak out after Leo brings up the possibility of having kids while having dinner with her family. He later sees her sitting outside by herself and goes to check if she's okay, and she drops the bombshell that she doesn't want to have a family anymore.
Leo: [hesitantly] "Um... even when you're past this health stuff?"April: "Sorry, I'm just confused here now; I'm trying to live in the now, like you taught me to, meanwhile you're planning things for five and ten years down the road and asking me to do them with you? Which is it? Do I live in the now or the future?"Leo: "It's not that black and white! And I don't understand why you're getting so upset about all this."April: "Because I can't plan for a future just because you have one now. Now that you're on the other side of this, you have completely forgotten what this one feels like."- April plans a surprise romantic dinner with Leo as an apology for their fight the night before, and he tells her how impressed he is at all the work she went did to turn their apartment into the Italian honeymoon getaway they weren't able to have. She then breaks down and admits that it took everything she had and that she hates feeling like this.
April: "The reason I keep getting so upset when you bring up the future is because I'm not sure I'll be there to see it."Leo: [gently] "April..."April: "I want to dream about these things with you, all of them, believe me, but... but there's this voice in the back of my head that just keeps reminding me I might not be around to do any of it."Leo: [takes her hand] "Hey... you don't know that."April: "We both know it's possible."Leo: "Anything is possible. I don't want to spend the rest of our lives preparing for some worst case scenario."April: "And I don't want to promise you things that I don't know if I can give you. That's why I said I don't want a family anymore. If I were healthy, I would want it. But I can't help but think 'if we bring a child into this world, and then something happens to me...'"Leo: "C'mere. [pulls her into his lap] April... I know there are some promises that you can't make with full certainty. People make promises every day not knowing what the future holds, all I'm saying is we're no different. [April nods and he pulls her closer] I hope one day when we're in rocking chairs [April laughs] I'll remind you of this conversation and we'll laugh about what a waste of energy it was because in the end... we had it all."- That scene is made all the worse by the fact that it is the last time he speaks on the show. The next time we see him is when April finds him dead in their bed the following morning. The shock on her face, and the tears streaming down her face as she clutches his hand and makes a frantic call to 911 ("My husband's not breathing!") - intercut with shots of Leo looking alive and happy earlier in the episode - had fans everywhere screaming in pain and outrage.
