Alex yawned as he slid the door to the loft shut behind him. He dropped his duffle bag to the floor and sloppily toed off his sneakers.
"Jo?" he called out, wondering if she had gotten home before him. When no one answered, he grunted a little and began to strip off his dirty jeans and t-shirt.
He had just gotten off of a 36-hour shift and was ready to crash, hard. He dropped his dirty clothes to the floor and kicked them a little as he shuffled to the closet to find clean boxers and a shirt. He cursed a little, stumbling as he pulled a ratty University of Iowa tee over his head.
Dressed comfortably now, Alex grinned and made a beeline for the kitchen. "Come to daddy," he muttered, rubbing his hands together and grabbing at the box of donuts he had left on the counter two days earlier. His hand and his face fell as Alex realized that the pink box was missing.
"Dammit," he growled, smacking a hand onto the counter. All he'd been looking forward to was the powdered sugar donuts waiting for him. He slumped down and rested his head against the counter.
"Alex?" Jo's sleepy voice broke through the silence of the loft. Her head popped up over the back of the couch and Alex turned at the sound of her voice.
"Hey," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and feeling a little bad that he'd woken her up. "I called your name when I got in. Didn't think you were home."
Jo yawned and stretched her arms over her head, "I wasn't supposed to be. Bailey took pity on the residents and sent us home to study and sleep since boards are in a few days."
"Right, right," Alex grinned teasingly. "The big test. Make or break."
"Shut up," Jo groaned, lobbing a throw pillow at Alex's head. He dodged it easily and it dropped to the floor with a soft thump. "As if I wasn't nervous enough!"
"Sorry, sorry," Alex offered a sincere apology. He, more than anyone, knew what it was like to fail one of the most important tests of your life. "You're going to be fine. I promise. You know your shit, Jo."
Jo chewed nervously at her lip. "I hope so. I feel like with Callie gone, I didn't get that much practical experience. And with..." she gestured vaguely, "everything else."
Alex winced. Yeah, everything else. It had been a rough year.
He opened his mouth to say something comforting, but what came out instead was, "Is that powdered sugar on you?"
Jo's eyes went wide. "No!" she exclaimed loudly, brushing her hands over her face and shirt.
"No?" Alex narrowed his eyes, "Then what it is?"
"Cocaine!" Jo said quickly and entirely unconvincingly. She smiled innocently at Alex.
"Cocaine, huh?" Alex shook his head, laughing at her awful lie. "Did you at least save me one?"
He walked over to hang over the back of the couch, intent on snagging a donut. Jo winced.
"...No?" she sighed, and then rambled an explanation off of Alex's annoyed look. "I couldn't help it! I've been studying like a maniac and coffee was only doing so much. They looked so yummy, Alex!"
"I know!" he grumbled, "That's why I wanted to eat them!"
Jo leaned up on her knees and pecked Alex on the lips. "I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
Rolling his eyes, Alex sighed, "Yeah. I forgive you. But next time? You're getting punished."
"Punished?" Jo laughed, a teasing twinkle in her eyes. "What are you going to do to me?"
"This," Alex said, reaching out to tickle her sides. Jo shrieked in laughter as Alex rolled over the back of the couch and pinned her down. He continued to tickle her until she cried for mercy.
Breathing heavily, Alex sat back and grinned at Jo. She narrowed her eyes, "That was so mean, Alex!"
Alex snorted, "You love it."
"Besides," he continued, "you deserved it. You are all of my donuts!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Jo laughed. "They were taunting me."
Alex shook his head, "Meanwhile, did you have any real food or are you surviving on coffee and doughnuts?"
Jo hesitated, "...Coffee and doughnuts?"
"Come on," Alex grabbed Jo's hand and dragged her off of the couch, "Let's go get some food."
"What would I do without you?" Jo teased lovingly as she slipped her sneakers on.
"Starve," Alex said, deadpan, tossing Jo her jacket. "Let's go."
He nudged her out the door, grinning as she started to run through different surgical procedures she had to know for her test.
A/N: This has been half written for a while now. Life is busy and I don't get nearly as much time to write as I'd like to. However, what with all the good Jolex we got in the mid-season finale, I finally wanted to finish this! It's light and fluffy and dumb, just what we need!
This is set in the vague future, post trial, post Jolex reconciliation. I fudged the timeline since I have no idea what Jo's resident status is anymore (THANKS SHONDA!) so, yeah.
Enjoy and drop me a review :)