Alex rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at the dark window and then at his alarm clock: 2:57. He tried to decide what could have possibly caused him to wake up at this time of morning. He rose up to readjust his pillow when he heard a whimper from Jo. He sat up to look over and realized she was jerking in her sleep from a nightmare.

Alex knew from experience not to attempt holding her until she was more alert. He laid on the bed away from her and gently tried to rub her back with one hand. She at first startled and pulled away as if she had been burned. He waited a bit and placed his hand on her back once more. This time she didn't jerk away from him, though she continued to thrash and whimper. He eventually brought his hand to her shoulder and murmured low, "Jo? Jo, wake up."

She shook her head and curled into a tight ball, "No!"

Alex tentatively scooted closer and began rubbing her back and placed a light kiss on her shoulder blade, "Jo, it's just a dream. Open your eyes."

She began to rock on her side with her hands pressed firmly to her abdomen, "Alex?"

Alex felt his lip curl up somewhat, glad she was coming around, "Yeah it's me. Open your eyes, Jo."

He saw her eyes open with a start, anxiously looking around. He ran his hand along her arm until she became aware of her surroundings and turned to him to bury her face in his chest. He hugged her tightly to him and rubbed soothing circles on her back. He felt the tension fall away from her slowly as his shirt became wet with her silent tears. She finally mumbled softly, "Sorry I woke you."

Alex kissed her hair as he continued to rub her back, "You didn't."

She pulled away slightly to look at him, the tears covering her face almost causing him to come undone. She smirked slightly, "Liar."

Alex smiled softly at her before becoming serious again, "Wanna talk about it?"

Jo shook her head and looked down at his chest, "Not really." They laid in the silence for a bit with Alex running his fingers through her hair and Jo lightly rubbing her fingers on his chest before Jo looked up to meet his eyes sincerely, "Thank you."

Alex gave a questioning look, "For what?"

Jo looked down at her fingers running along his chest, "For loving me."

Alex gave a lopsided grin and kissed her hair, "You make it easy."

He saw Jo smile slightly before offering a soft, "So do you." He held her tighter, hoping she knew how good it was to hear another affirmation of how she felt for him. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he almost missed her whispering quietly but assuredly, "I love you, Alex."

He felt his breath hitch as his fingers paused in her hair. In all the times he had imagined how this moment might happen, those three words had never sounded as good as they did actually coming from the person he loved more than anything in the world. Alex slowly began to panic as he realized in all the times he had played out this moment in his mind, he had never once thought about how he might respond. He began slowly stroking her hair again and felt a smile on his lips as he replayed her words in his mind once more. He leaned forward and softly kissed her forehead, "I know you do."

She smiled and hugged him tighter as they drifted back off to sleep, wrapped safely in each others arms.