To his credit, he did carry her over the threshold.

Or, was that just when you moved into a new place? He could have sworn there was something like that when you got married too, but...

Alex shook his head, not wasting any more time on the thought. In his arms Jo snored quietly, and he could already feel a wet spot of drool where her head lay against his chest. She wasn't necessarily the most delicate sleeper, but it was sort of endearing. At least that's what Alex told himself when she would toss and turn in the middle of the night, or stretch across the entire bed, or snore, or talk in her sleep, or- like right now- drool on his chest.

Anyway, he was a doctor, drool was one of the least offensive bodily fluids he'd come into contact with.

So it didn't bother him as he slipped his shoes off by the door, tiptoeing carefully through the loft. There was a creaky floorboard just by the end of the bed, and Alex was determined not to step on it as he carried Jo to the bed bridal style.

Bridal style, that was it!

He was right, it was definitely a thing- the carrying her over the threshold or whatever. She wouldn't remember in the morning, but it made him feel better knowing that they at least got one part of their wedding night done correctly.

They should have been at a hotel, but he'd been too exhausted to drive all the way there after the reception. Jo couldn't even stay awake long enough to protest. From the moment she sat down in the car Alex could tell she was a lost cause. She'd immediately slipped off her shoes and tucked her knees up to her chest the way she loved to do even though he always pointed out that if they got into an accident she would be screwed and even his best trauma moves wouldn't be enough to get her out of that mess. Her voice had slipped from it's usual tone to a low sleepy murmur as she babbled on about how happy she was, how beautiful it had all been, how much she loved him and couldn't wait to keep loving him and couldn't wait until they had babies- as many babies as they could manage- to love together.

Less than five minutes after they left the parking lot she was asleep, and Alex had to make the call. Hotel or home? Jo wouldn't know the difference until she woke up anyway, and home was so much closer…

Now Alex lay his wife, his wife (that would never fail to make his heart flutter), carefully on top of the bed. Even in her deep slumber Jo seemed to miss him the moment he set her down. Her arm stretched out and Alex caught it, holding her hand between both of his and placing a soft kiss to the ring now snug on her finger.

"Shh," he whispered softly, "go back to sleep, I'm just going to change."

As he headed to the bathroom, undoing his tie as he went, the thought crossed Alex's mind that Jo should probably change too. Her wedding dress was beautiful, but probably not something she would want to sleep in. Still, his heart ached at the thought of her taking it off. Today had been such a beautiful day. The best day of his life by far.

He wasn't ready for it to end.

He wanted to freeze in this day, replay the ceremony where they had stood in front of all of their friends and surrogate family and both fought back tears because they had a bet on who would cry first and neither of them wanted to lose. He wanted to dance their first dance again, to feel her hot tears against his neck as he held her and pretend not to notice because it was a stupid bet anyway (and he had already lost it that morning before the ceremony even began). He wanted to hear her laugh as she twirled around the dance floor with her friends, see her smile as their guests all hugged and congratulated her, watch her grin as she took the first bite of the wedding cake they'd chosen from what seemed like a million different samples.

If he could live in this day forever he would.

The sound of footsteps padding down the hallway pulled Alex out of his thoughts as he splashed water on his face in a half hearted attempt to clean himself up.

"Alex?"

Jo's head peeked through the open door, her eyelids clearly still heavy with sleep.

"Hey, go back to bed, I'll be there in a minute."

Instead, Jo pushed the door the rest of the way open, coming to stand next to him and rest her chin against his shoulder. She looked up at him with the puppy dog eyes she knew he couldn't resist. This time though Alex found himself easily distracted. His eyes traveled down Jo's body- she had taken the dress off. The only clothing she wore now were a pair of lacy black panties. Had she even worn a bra with that dress? If she had it was gone now.

"Aren't we supposed to be in a hotel right now?" Jo mumbled, a small smile gracing her lips as Alex drank her in. Then he slung an arm around her waist and pulled her in against his chest.

"Yeah, well, we can go tomorrow. I was tired and you were pretty useless as a navigator."

"Hey!"

Jo smacked Alex lightly and he could only laugh at her indignation, swaying gently back and forth with her in his arms.

"We'll go tomorrow," he repeated, "I promise. I just wanted to spend my first night with my wife at home."

A sweet blush colored Jo's cheeks as she leaned her head against him, her small hum of approval sending vibrations through Alex's chest. Her arms crossed around his back, holding him close.

For a moment they just stayed like that- him swaying her in his arms and her hanging on to him like she never wanted to let go for the rest of her life. Then her hold on him started to loosen as she let out a small squeaky yawn, and Alex laughed, pressing a kiss to her hair.

"Come on, let's go to bed."

But Jo just shook her head like a petulant child, pulling away from Alex with a look of sleepy defeat in her eyes.

"It's our wedding night Alex," she whined, "We should be like making babies or something."

"You're going to fall asleep if we try to make a baby right now," Alex chucked, causing Jo's blush to spread further, now on her chest and building towards her bare breasts. Normally seeing her like this would make him not even question her statement about baby making. He'd already have her bent over the sink, panties on the ground…

Jo stifled another yawn as she tried to protest that no she definitely would not fall asleep, and the sheer exhaustion in her features brought Alex back down to Earth. He didn't want to make babies, not tonight. Tonight he just wanted to hold her in his arms and smell the sweet vanilla scent of her conditioner and trace little circles on her back with his fingers while she kicked him and drooled on his chest and all of the other stupid endearing things she did in her sleep.

"I feel like I'm ruining our wedding night," Jo sighed finally, looking up to Alex for confirmation of her fear. Instead Alex leaned down, placing a soft kiss to her pouting lips. His hands rest on her hips and he stroked his thumbs along the sides of her stomach, making her quiver at the touch.

"You're not ruining anything," he replied, pulling out of the kiss and resting his forehead against Jo's. He could feel her hot breath against his face as she whispered back,

"Promise?"

"I promise. Anyway, we've got all day tomorrow to get on making babies."

Alex's heart jumped with relief as Jo giggled, falling back into his embrace again.

"That definitely sounds like a plan. I'm just mad I got these just for tonight and they were so perfect…"

It took a moment for Alex to realize what she meant. He slid his hands down to cup her ass, and underneath them he felt writing on her panties that he hadn't noticed before. Glancing in the mirror he couldn't really make out the word written in some girly script, so he turned her around and bent her over the sink the way he'd considered doing just a moment earlier. Jo let out a small squeak as he did so, bending forward and pushing her ass toward him out of habit. Now he could read the word as clear as day, and a smile spread across his lips.

Yours

Jo met his gaze in the mirror, that damn blush of hers now spread over those beautiful breasts as a reminder of how this usually ended.

But not tonight.

Tonight he wrapped his arms around her stomach, pulling her upright against him and leaning down to murmur in her ear,

"You know the best part about being married?"

"What?"

"Now you get to be mine for the rest of our lives."

Alex felt Jo's breath catch in her throat just before she turned in his arms and kissed him harder than before, like she never wanted the moment to end. It was only when they both came up for air that she pulled away, giving him a small smile.

"Let's go to bed."

"You got it."

In an instant he had her thrown over his shoulder, a reminder of the first night they'd spent together, and Jo couldn't help her laughter as he carried her back to their bedroom.

Alex navigated deftly around the wedding dress she had discarded on the floor, now laying Jo on his side of the bed because he had no intention of letting her out of his arms for the rest of the night. He just had to shut off the lights first.

Crossing the room to get to the light switch, Alex glanced back at Jo getting comfortable under the blankets, her dark hair already intruding on his pillow. Then he shut off the lights and crept back to join her, pulling her into his arms as soon as he had the chance and kissing every inch of her skin he could get at.

Maybe their wedding night hadn't gone exactly as planned.

Maybe they hadn't made it to the hotel, hadn't gotten around to baby making, hadn't done any of those other things he couldn't remember but were probably traditional or whatever.

But as Alex held Jo, squealing and giggling, in his arms he decided fuck it. He didn't need any of that. He didn't even need to pause in this day and live in it forever.

He had her, and they had the rest of their lives together.

Tonight he would just hold her while she slept, and that was all that he needed in the world.

A/N: Thanks for reading! It's been about two years since I wrote my last Grey's fic, but a recent rewatch has launched me right back into my Jolex feels. I have another longer project on my mind for them, so please review! I want to see what the interest would be in a longer Jolex story.