Alex pushed the heavy metal door so hard it pounded against the wall, echoing down the seemingly deserted hallway. He called out desperately, "Jo?"
Jo emerged from the shadows with a hint of a smile, his presence already calming her, "You came."
Alex stood still and eyed her apprehensively, "Of course I did. You paged 911. What's the matter? Are you okay?"
Jo tilted her head marginally, "What makes you think something's wrong? Maybe I wanted to spend a little time in an on-call room."
Alex shook his head and smirked, "Well for starters, you used the wrong code. Besides you think the tunnels are freaky so I know you wouldn't call me down here for that. What's up?"
Jo sighed and sat down on the gurney once more. She met his waiting eyes with a look of scared embarrassment, "I botched my first solo surgery." She placed her head in her hands and rocked slightly, "I forgot a whole freaking step. A simple hernia and I can't remember a step. A whole step. Bailey's taking the patient to CT now and…" She looked back up and met Alex's patient eyes, "I failed, Alex. What am I going to do?"
Alex shifted on his feet slightly before sitting beside her, "You're gonna be fine and your patient will be fine. Bailey wouldn't let you screw up that bad on her watch."
Jo cut her eyes and retorted in a mocking tone, "This is where you're supposed say, 'oh jeez my beautiful girlfriend and the love of my life, you're so smart and talented you would never botch a simple procedure.'"
Alex rolled his eyes, "Yeah that too. But that's a given. Look, I know you didn't botch that surgery because you mumbled those damn steps in your sleep all night long. If it's that ingrained in you, you couldn't have forgotten." He lightly bumped his shoulder with hers and softened his voice, "I'm sure you did great, Dr. Badass."
Jo covered her face with her hands again, "Oh my God, you heard about that?"
He laughed quietly, "Oh yeah." She smiled at him gratefully as he soothingly rubbed her thigh briefly before his pager went off. He looked down at it and sighed regretfully while looking back at Jo, "I gotta go. You gonna be okay?"
Jo nodded, "I am now."
Alex leaned over and kissed her cheek, "You're going to be fine. I'll catch you later."
He was almost to the door when Jo called out, "Alex, wait!" He turned questioningly as she rushed to catch up with him. She grabbed his face and met his lips in a sweet kiss. She pulled back slightly and smiled, "Thank you."