Okay, this story is a little melodramatic, and perhaps not written very well, but whatever. I've wanted a near death experience for Alex probably since watching how all the doctors came together to help save Callie in season 7. I mean, come on! Has there ever been a time when the hospital came together and supported Alex like that? That's my dream. sigh.
And, in my world, Derek Shepherd never died.
onwards...
"Aaaand, that's how you do it," Jo exclaimed excitedly, finishing off the new, complex suture technique Dr. Torres had taught her last month. Below her hands lay 42-year-old Megan Jayson, her leg crushed in a nearly deadly motorcycle accident. Jo momentarily shuddered at the memory of watching the mother-of-two wheeling into the Emergency Room on a gurney, covered in blood, unconscious, and her distraught husband sobbing at her side. Dr. Shepherd was able to deduce quickly that she had no lasting brain injury, but the several crushed bones made it likely she would never walk without a cane.
Stephanie had been with Jo when the patient arrived, and Dr. Kepner had chosen her to help in Trauma, much to Jo's dismay. With Alex's help, in the past three weeks Jo had narrowed down her specialty choices to Ortho and Trauma. So, while Jo was more than happy to scrub in with Dr. Torres on the complicated leg surgery, she couldn't help but feel a little bitter towards Stephanie who had jumped at the opportunity to work in Trauma before Jo could even open her mouth. And Stephanie had already decided on Neuro, Jo thought.
She couldn't help the disappointment. Breaking bones and putting them back together was always thrilling, but nothing beat the excitement of bloody emergencies wheeling through the ER doors urgently, only minutes before Jo's official shift was scheduled to end. She loved the excitement and the adrenaline, the mystery of what trauma may arrive next. Finally and somewhat suddenly, standing in the OR with her two interns after Dr. Torres let her close, Jo made up her mind. She chose trauma. She couldn't wait to tell Alex.
She finished the last knot, looking up eagerly at her two, still relatively new, interns. Jo flashed them a smile as their faces filled with a familiar awe. "Any questions?"
"Can you teach us that suture technique?" Dr. DeLuca asked, eyes not leaving the perfectly placed line of stiches along Mrs. Jayson's thigh.
"Sure," Jo smiled. "Tomorrow I can show you both in the practice lab. Let's meet there at 9:00 a.m." They nodded, smiling, and shuffled out of the operating room. She watched them chatter excitedly in the scrub room about the surgery they had just watched, remembering fondly the days of her own intern year.
Jo turned to one of the nurses. "She's ready to be taken into recovery now," she said, following her interns and beginning to wash her elbows and hands vigorously, taking her time and mulling over her accomplished day.
Jo's life was going great lately; perfectly, even, she thought. It had been a rough year, but things were settling down and the complex puzzles of each section of her life were finally starting to fit together. She and Alex were on the same page for the first time in over a year. Dr. Shepherd had returned from D.C. several months prior, so Meredith Grey's frequent visits to Alex and Jo's home had become minimal.
They had even started looking for their own place—somewhere they could start a fresh life together. It was Alex's idea, but Jo had found a perfect loft space the previous night that she couldn't wait to show him. It was a dump, but the thought of fixing and decorating it with Alex—together—gave her a kind of happiness she hadn't felt in a long time. She loved the frat house and in several ways, it was her first real home. But even though Meredith's visits had become less, it still served as some screwed up version of a halfway house for Grey Sloan's doctors whenever they had personal problems.
Arizona still lived in what Jo was told was George's old room, and Jackson stayed in the attic for two months while he and Dr. Kepner were going through marital issues. Maggie was currently in Alex's old bedroom while she and Dr. She-Shepherd searched for a new, two-bedroom apartment.
The frat house was never fully Jo's, and for that reason, moving into a dumpy loft space couldn't sound more perfect. It was on the ground floor, too, so she figured she and Alex could consider adopting that dog he'd mentioned a few months back. Or something.
Not only had Jo's relationship with Alex and the other doctors settled, but her work life was beginning to take off as well. The first few days having interns had been difficult, but eventually she figured out how to teach and discipline at the same time, and she was starting to become fond of her two assigned interns. They were clueless sometimes, she thought with a smile, but she could tell they had a lot of potential. And, now having officially decided she wanted to enter into a Trauma specialty, Jo was starting to look at her future years as a surgeon with excitement, rather than fear and uncertainty. She actually was going to make it.
"Hey!" The scrub room door flew open, and Jo looked up to see Stephanie standing there with an infectious grin adorning her entire face. "You busy with Karev tonight?"
"No," Jo responded. "Alex went out with Avery, I think. I'm free. Drinks?" She asked, following Stephanie out of the room.
"Yes please," Stephanie responded, her smile not leaving her face. "That slobby boy has been hogging you. I need girl time."
"Why are you smiling so much?" Jo asked, ignoring Stephanie's insult towards her boyfriend. "I haven't seen you this happy since that thirteen-year-old school guide tried to ask you out."
"Seventeen, Jo. He was seventeen."
"Ooh, I know!" Jo exclaimed excitedly. "You finally found the courage to ask out my intern? Because you should. If you don't, I will. Forget Alex. He's hot. I mean, usually I go for older guys not younger ones but—" Jo rambled.
"I told She-Shepherd!" Stephanie interrupted, her grin growing even larger.
Jo stopped, facing her friend in the middle of the hallway, confused. "You told she-Shepherd what?"
"I told her I want to do Neuro! She was so excited. She said she can't wait to help me train," Stephanie beamed.
Jo smiled. "I told you…nothing to be scared about. You'll make a great brain surgeon, Steph."
Stephanie laughed. "Doesn't that sound weird? A brain surgeon? Who would've ever thought I would be a brain surgeon one day. What about you? Decided yet?" They continued walking through the hallways.
Jo's smile finally mirrored Stephanie's. She couldn't keep it off her face. The realization that she'd finally, finally, realized her surgical calling was making her feel giddy inside. "Actually…I did. Today. Just now. I'm going trauma."
Stephanie put a hand on Jo's arm, stopping her again. "Really? You've really decided? You're not going to come in tomorrow morning and change your mind to Ortho like you've done for the past two weeks?" Stephanie asked skeptically.
Jo rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not. And thanks to you for shoving your way in front of me for Dr. Kepner's service tonight, I realized I love Trauma more than Ortho. It's decided."
"You should go tell Dr. Kepner and Hunt. Tonight. Just get it over with so you can't change your mind tomorrow. They're both in the ER tonight, so you can tell them before we go ceeelebraaate!" Stephanie sang as she barged into the locker room.
Jo followed, quickly pulling her scrub top over her head and reaching for her long sleeve shirt out of her locker. She pulled on her jeans next.
"Yeah, maybe. But I wanted to tell Alex first…"
"Call him," Stephanie responded, shrugging her shoulders simply.
Jo sat down on the bench in front of her locker, and reached for her phone. She unlocked it quickly, toying with the idea of telling Alex such big news over the phone.
"Nah," Jo responded, putting her phone down and reaching for her boots. "He's out with Avery. I don't want to disrupt their 'guys' night.'"
Stephanie looked at her knowingly. "Orrr…you want to tell him in person tonight while you have hot, hot celebratory sex, hmm?"
"Stop Steph, no," Jo responded but couldn't keep the smirk off her face.
"Mm hmm that's what I thought. Jo, go tell Kepner. Alex won't care. Where'd you park?"
"Near the ambulance bay…"
"Okay. I'm going to go wait out front while you tell Kepner. Hurry up!" Stephanie left as loudly as she entered, leaving Jo alone with her thoughts. She quickly gathered her things, stuffed them into her purse, and left to find Dr. Kepner in the ER.
Miranda Bailey turned the corner, making her away from the Pediatrics floor towards the emergency room. Since the board had chosen her as new Surgical Chief three months ago, Miranda worked hard to put as much into the surgical unit at Grey Sloan Memorial as the hospital had given back to her the past several years. Each night, before completing the mountains of paperwork that had begun to pile on her office desk, she had vowed she would make rounds to each department, making sure her doctors were well taken care of and were completing their jobs efficiently.
Dr. Robbins had assured Bailey the Peds floor would be slow until the slew of scheduled surgeries began in the morning, so Dr. Karev had taken a much-needed night off and left her in charge. In fact, Bailey thought, it seemed most of the departments had been slow thus far.
She entered the emergency room, her last stop for the night, searching for Dr. Kepner or Dr. Hunt. She made her way to the nurses' station in the middle of the large room. "Have any of you seen Dr. Kepner or Hunt?" she asked.
A young, brunette nurse spoke up quietly. Dr. Bailey had never seen her before, and as Chief, she had made an effort to know the surgical nurses as well as the doctors…at least by face. She must be new, Bailey thought.
"Dr. Kepner is in Bay 4 with a young patient who needed sutures and Dr. Hunt went to an on-call room for the night about an hour ago," she responded. "Thank you," Dr. Bailey responded with a smile, turning around towards Bay 4. As she left the table, she heard the phone ring and the young nurse quickly picked it up before it could ring a second time.
Bailey began to walk more slowly, glancing behind her at the young nurse and trying to gauge the conversation taking place based on the woman's facial expressions. Was there a big accident on the highway? Or another shooting? A fire, perhaps? Was their eerily quiet night about to turn to chaos?
Bailey stopped in her tracks and swiveled around when she heard the woman answer frantically. "Dr. Avery? I…I can't understand you. Can you slow down please?" She asked politely, but with an underlying fear lacing her words.
Bailey's stomach dropped to her feet when she heard Avery's name. She marched back over to the nurse's station and grabbed the phone out of the terrified woman's shaking hands.
"Avery? It's Dr. Bailey. What's going on?"
"Bailey?" she heard a confused voice stutter out on the other end. In the background she heard sirens blaring. Shit.
"We're three minutes out," he spoke with a desperate speed the calm and collected young Plastics surgeon rarely used. "You need to get everything ready. Crash cart, oxygen, B positive blood…get Kepner. Is April still there? Get her. Make sure she's there." His words were stumbling out with a kind of panic that made Bailey's stomach violently flutter.
"Okay Avery. Calm down. Who are you with?"
"Karev. It's Karev. It's Alex. Page Jo…" and the line went dead.
Bailey thrust the phone back into the nurse's hands. "Page Hunt. Now. Tell him it's an emergency. Page Grey, Pierce, Webber, whichever Shepherd is on call…page Torres," Bailey rattled off the attending's names, sure she was forgetting someone.
She jogged over to Bay 4 and pulled the curtain open violently. Dr. Kepner sat next to a boy—no older than four-years-old—as his parents huddled next to him, watching April finish the few sutures on his bloody chin.
"See!" April exclaimed with her usually cheery voice. "All done!"
"Dr. Kepner," Bailey interrupted. April swiveled around at her boss' low, serious tone. "We need you." April looked around Bailey for any sign of hysteria in the calm ER. It was empty. She turned back to the young family sitting in front of her. "I'll have a nurse come by with the discharge papers."
April followed Bailey out of the Bay area, waiting further instruction.
"Avery just called," Bailey began. She felt a slight quiver attempt to reach her words before forcing it back down again. You're the Chief now. Their leader. Get it together. Bailey walked over to grab a Trauma gown, April right behind her.
"I don't know what happened but it could be serious. He said something about Karev," Bailey said, trying to stay calm. Really, Jackson hadn't given many details. It might not be too bad, she told herself.
At her husband's name, April's voice got high. "What?! Jackson? What did he say? He's hurt?"
Bailey turned around. "No. He's fine. It's Karev. They should be a minute out." Her strict tone got April's attention quickly, and she reached around Bailey for a gown herself. They made brief eye contact. "Let's go," April said.
Meredith roused from her sleep, the sound of a pager filling her ears. She sighed and glanced at her watch. She had only had 36 minutes of uninterrupted sleep. She reached for her pager and glanced down, quickly turning it off. She snuggled further into her husband's chest, calming immediately at the sound of his deep breathes.
"You gotta go?" he mumbled sleepily.
"It's Bailey…probably for one of her nightly General meetings. She can wait one more minute…"
She felt Derek kiss her forehead, his head resting on top of hers. Only seconds later, as Meredith began to feel the strong tug of sleep pull her into dreamland once again, she heard her pager beep a second time. She quickly sat up, rubbing her eyes. A second later, her husband's rang as well.
Derek grabbed for his quickly. "It's Bailey," he said. "Emergency…let's go." He kissed her tiredly on the cheek, before stumbling out of the on-call room in front of Meredith.
As they walked quickly down the corridor, Meredith began to feel the sleepiness leaving her body as the adrenaline took over. As they turned the corner and saw every other department head arriving while an ambulance pulled in front of the emergency room doors, Meredith began to jog over, feeling the familiar excitement that any surgeon experiences when a Trauma rolls in. She grabbed a gown right after her husband and stuffed her arms through the holes and she made her way over to where the other doctors were gathering. The ambulance doors were thrown open, and Dr. Grey's excitement turned to immediate dread.
Jackson pushed the doors open and jumped out, instantly turning around to help the paramedics carefully pull the gurney onto the floor.
"What's going on?" Meredith asked frantically, not yet seeing the patient on the bed. No one heard her as everyone hustled around, quickly moving to the sides of the bed to help guide it into the hospital doors. They wheeled towards Meredith and she finally got a glimpse of the man lying on the bed, bloodied, already intubated, and eyes closed.
Oh.
Stephanie was waiting by Jo's car, parked in front of the emergency room, when she began to hear the sirens wailing in the distance. Whatever was inside the ambulance, Stephanie knew that once Jo saw a trauma arriving, she'd want to put her scrubs back on and help. She started to make her way back towards the hospital doors so she could drag Jo's adrenaline junky ass out of the hospital and towards the bars.
She arrived at the ER doors the same time the ambulance did, and after seeing every department head impatiently waiting for the doors to open, Stephanie realized maybe this would be a trauma she wouldn't want to miss out on either.
That changed, though, when she saw her ex-boyfriend hop out, hands shaking and blood smearing his face. Stephanie watched the older, experienced doctors in a trance as they moved around the gurney, asking questions and shouting orders.
"We need a blood transfusion. He's lost a lot of blood," Jackson said with a shaky voice.
"Avery, what the hell happened?" Hunt asked, leading the gurney through the doors of the emergency room towards Bay 5. Stephanie followed.
"I…I…I don't know," Jackson stuttered, clearly in shock. "We were at Joe's, and…and I lost at darts, so I off-offered to pay the tab," he began to explain, his voice cracking every few words. "And he was crossing the street to get, get the car. And this guy just rammed into him out of nowhere. I…I think the cops said it was a drunk driver?"
Stephanie watched, standing in the doorway as the Attendings brought the gurney to a stop inside a Trauma cubicle. Shepherd opened Alex's eyelids individually, shining a light into his eyes. "Shit," Shepherd muttered. He spun around. "Avery, did he hit his head?"
"Yes!" Avery barked back. "He flew 15 fucking feet in the air. Of course he hit his head!"
"Avery, out," Hunt ordered, shoving Avery out the doorway of the cubicle. "We have more pressing issues, Derek." Hunt guided an instrument over Alex's chest and stomach, a clear picture of the damage inside quickly appearing on the nearby screen.
"Grey, start an IV," Hunt ordered again. Stephanie watched as Meredith moved to grab an IV, her eyes glossed over and her fingers too shaky to insert it into Alex's vein.
"Grey, out!" Bailey ordered fiercely, practically shoving Meredith aside. She grabbed the IV, and quickly inserted it herself. Stephanie felt her chicken salad sandwich from lunch threaten to make an entrance on the hospital floor as she watched Dr. Bailey move her hand from the inside of Alex's arm down to his hand, grabbing it tightly, and rubbing her thumb over his palm in a repeated, comforting movement. Stephanie's eyes fixated on Dr. Bailey's and Alex's hands as Avery paced beside her, his hands permanently fixated on the sides of his head, and as Meredith slowly sunk down to the floor at Stephanie's feet.
"Hunt, heart rate dropping, resp. too…" Maggie spoke up with urgency.
"Paddles!" Kepner yelled, and Dr. Shepherd grabbed them while Hunt quickly threw two pads onto Alex's bloody chest. She watched as Alex's back lifted off of the bed before falling back down, violently.
"Heart rhythm stable," Maggie announced, and they all continued their work again, bustling around each other, shouting orders that Stephanie couldn't quite make out, and preparing a move down to the operating room.
"Steph!"
Stephanie blinked. Once. Twice.
"Steph!"
Suddenly realizing the voice she was hearing, Stephanie immediately snapped out of her reverie and swiveled around. Jo was making her way over towards her from the other side of the emergency room. Stephanie quickly jogged towards her friend, grabbing Jo's arm and trying to pull her away from the cubicle window.
"Oh another trauma? Can we, Steph? Please? Can we?" Jo asked jokingly, not registering the fear shining in her best friend's eyes.
"Jo," Stephanie began softly, not quite sure where to begin. "You need to listen to me…"
Jo looked at her with confusion, her eyebrows furrowing. She looked over Stephanie's shoulder and fixated on the crowd standing outside the Trauma room.
"What…What's Avery doing here?"
Before she could try to even form the words, Hunt, Bailey, Shepherd, Kepner and Pierce exited the trauma room, running the gurney towards the elevator, Torres and Avery trailing behind. And for the first time since his arrival, Stephanie saw a first glimpse of Alex.
His right forehead was slightly dented and covered in blood, which Shepherd was trying to control with gauze as they ran past. His right eye was bruised close, and blood was smeared around his nose and left cheek. His torso was covered with large mottled, purple splotches that extended towards his shoulders. His left knee looked severely twisted and his right wrist was swollen. Stephanie's eyes again found Dr. Bailey's hand, still firmly clasped around Alex's bloody one as she ran past. Before Stephanie could even comprehend the situation that had just unfolded right in front of her, she heard a soft voice breathe "Oh my God," beside her, and Jo collapsed at her feet.
Jo awoke on the floor of the emergency room, Stephanie and a nurse huddled over her face, patting a wet cloth across her forehead. Stephanie tried to conduct a quick neuro exam to check for a concussion, but Jo swatted her hands away and sat up quickly, looking left and right for any sign of was a dream, right?
But when Jo looked over towards the Trauma cubicle where her nightmare had taken place, and saw Meredith sitting on the floor with her back against the wall staring into her lap, Jo immediately flew into action. She sprung to her feet, dizzily, and charged after Hunt and the other attendings, needing to get to Alex. To make sure he was okay. To take care of him. Stephanie grabbed her arm before she could get far, pulling her into a hug, and sobbing on her shoulder. "He's going to be okay, Jo, I promise," she choked out, tears spilling onto Jo's shoulder. "He's strong and I'm sorry for calling him a slob…" Jo, still too shocked to properly react, rubbed Stephanie's back comfortingly.
That was six hours ago, and after sitting on the cold, hard floor in the hallway around the corner from the operating room for five and a half, Jo could no longer feel any sensation in the backs of her legs or bottom. Six hours had passed, and slowly, the realization that Alex could die began to sink in. The details came in slowly. He was at Joe's with Avery. They were going to leave early to head to their house to watch the rest of the hockey game. Alex was crossing the road to get his car. A drunk driver hit him. He flew 15 feet in the air. He flew 15 feet in the air. He flew 15 feet in the air.
Jo's eyes fixated on the tiles beneath her. How many times had she walked these floors and not noticed the black and white squares under her feet? Or the fact that the black squares weren't really black? They were more like a dark, charcoal grey…
The doors to the operating room wing flung open and Jo's eyes darted up from the floor to meet Dr. Bailey's. Each time Bailey had exited that room, a blue surgery gown hanging down to her feet, Jo could feel bile swirl around her stomach and throat. Each time, she was sure, Bailey was going to tell her it was over. That they did the best they could, but he just didn't make it. The same talk Jo had rehearsed several times before speaking it to family members of her own lost patients.
But each time Dr. Bailey crouched in front of her and told Jo—and Stephanie, Arizona, Avery, and Meredith—that he was still hanging in there, that it would still be a few hours, and that they were doing everything they could. And then Bailey would pat Jo's knee, and walk back inside.
This time Bailey crouched down in front of Jo again. Stephanie had fallen asleep an hour before, her head resting on Dr. Avery's shoulder. Arizona sat on Jo's left side, still wide awake, and Meredith was in the adjacent hallway, frantically trying to reach Alex's health care proxy, Cristina.
"He's doing okay," Bailey began. "We had to remove his right spleen, and his kidney was too crushed to repair to we had to remove that too. We were able to repair the bleeding to his liver, though, and fix the punctured left lung."
Jo nodded along. The tears she had pushed away for the last six hours finally threatened to fall as she listened to her boyfriend's long list of injuries.
Bailey continued, slowly. "Shepherd did find a bleed in his brain. He's working on it now and I'll keep you updated, okay?" Jo nodded again, the tears falling down her cheeks now at a steady pace.
Bailey squeezed her knee one more time, got up, and entered through the double doors. Jo bit her wrist, hard, trying to control her emotions. But Arizona gently removed it from Jo's mouth, wrapped her arms around her shoulders, and Jo finally let out a loud sob.
Meredith peered in the doorway, questioning whether or not she should enter the dimly lit room. Jo sat diligently on the right side of Alex's bed, her eyes bloodshot and her face swollen and red from shed tears. She watched as Jo carefully moved a stray tussle of hair off Alex's forehead, and replaced the now empty space with a gentle kiss. Her left hand clutched his.
Arizona and Callie sat on a couch against the far wall, hands entwined and fast sleep. Dr. Bailey sat doing paperwork in a chair on Alex's left side, using the light from the lamp on a side table. The large window behind his bed showed the illuminated Seattle skyline. Realizing his room was full for the night, Meredith turned away, disappointed, before colliding with her husband's chest.
"Hey," he beamed at her. "Where are you going?"
"He's taken care of right now…I might head home for a while, check on your sister and the kids," Meredith explained.
Derek grabbed her hand and steered his wife towards Alex's room. "Come on, I have good news."
Derek approached the room and lightly knocked on the already open door before entering, pulling his wife in behind him. Meredith made eye contact with Jo before quickly looking away.
Derek gently sat on Alex's bed, facing Jo. She looked up at him expectantly. "Any news?"
"Actually," Derek began with a hint of excitement in his voice, "I just got the latest round of scans back and his brain activity looks great. There's eye and muscle movement, and the bleed is healing nicely."
"So why isn't he waking up? It's been 36 hours," Jo insisted, not as excited with the news as Dr. Shepherd seemed to be.
"Jo, you're a doctor. You know these things take time. His body put himself into a coma to give his brain and his body enough time to heal. I'm confident he'll pull out of it, though," Derek explained.
Jo turned away from him and fixed her eyes on Alex's closed ones. She squeezed his hand tighter, moving his fingers towards her face and gently grazing them with her lips. Derek looked over a Bailey, confused with Jo's unenthused reaction to his news. Bailey motioned with her eyes towards the door, and the two left together.
Meredith awkwardly slunk towards Bailey's now vacant chair, dropping into it tiredly. Her eyes moved across the bed to Jo, watching as her eyes refused to move from Alex.
"He'll be fine, Jo," she finally spoke up. "He's stubborn."
"Yeah, I know," Jo responded tightly.
"Look—I know you don't like me much, but Alex is going to need both of us—" Meredith began before Jo tore her eyes away from Alex and bore them into Meredith's.
"Don't like you much? No offense Dr. Grey, but I've pretty much worshipped you the past three years. You've been the one who has refused to so much as look at me while you kick me out of my own bed."
Her words effectively shut Meredith up, and the two lapsed into another silence.
"I'm sorry," Meredith began again after more minutes had passed. "I know I haven't been the greatest friend to Alex since Cristina left. I should have tried to get to know you," Meredith admitted sheepishly. Jo simply nodded, her eyes once again fixated on her boyfriend.
"I get what Alex sees in you now."
Jo scoffed. "And what's that?" she asked sarcastically. "A crime history?"
"You stay."
Jo looked at her superior, confused. "What?"
"Alex didn't wake up for four days after he was shot. Izzie called several times, every single day. But she never came back. She didn't sit by his bedside for hours. She never stayed, and then she never came back. But you stay."
Jo's eyes softened. She looked back down at Alex, her eyes grazing gently over the bumps and bruises that adorned his face. "Yeah, well," she spoke softly, "he's worth it."
"Not everyone sees that," Meredith stated before getting up again and leaving the room.
As the next few days passed slowly, Jo remained in Alex's room loyally, as other guests seemed to come and go. Meredith would stop by for hours and she and Jo eventually learned to settle into a comfortable silence. Arizona insisted on keeping an unconscious Alex updated on his favorite patients, and Stephanie brought Jo lunch every day, insisting she ate. Each night Dr. Bailey brought stacks of paperwork to Alex's room, glancing up at his monitors after every few signatures she scribbled.
And though she appreciated her boyfriend's friends' support, Jo savored the times she sat with him alone, watching his chest rise and fall steadily and constantly listening for the reassuring beat of his heart monitor and the whirling sound of his respirator.
On the fourth day, she awoke with her head resting on his bed, and his eyes staring straight into hers. She immediately sprang into action, quickly pushing the emergency button that would summon Bailey, Shepherd, and Piece to his room. As they entered one by one, Jo stood to the side, watching intently as Shepherd asked him questions, telling him to blink once for "no" and blink twice for "yes." Before he was done and the room had cleared, Alex was already fast asleep, his eyes closed once again.
"He's going to be in an out for a while," Shepherd exclaimed, before giving Jo a giant hug and telling her he'd inform Meredith.
On the sixth day, Alex's eyes opened once again, frantically, searching side to side and tears leaking down his cheeks. Again, Jo diligently pushed the emergency button, before putting herself in his line of sight and attempting to calm him down.
"Alex, listen to me, you're okay," she began slowly, her voice wavering. His eyes tore into hers, begging for help. She placed her palm on his forehead and used her thumb to soothe the area near his brow. "Baby, listen to me," she soothed. "You're okay. You still have a ventilator in, okay? We'll get it out…we'll get it out…"
On the seventh day, he spoke.
"Jo?" he asked groggily, quietly. "Jo?" he tried again, attempting to wake his girlfriend from her sleep. Jo awoke to Arizona lightly shaking her shoulder, smiling, and nodding towards Alex.
She noticed his open eyes and immediately scooted towards him.
"Hey," she smiled, tears threatening to fall once again. "You in any pain right now?"
He nodded, slowly. She moved her right hand towards his, squeezing it for what felt like the millionth time. With her left, she gently pressed his morphine button, releasing pain medicine into his blood stream.
"You scared me, you know. You scared all of us, but God, Alex, you can't do that to me again, okay?" Jo moved her face towards his, gently kissing an area of his cheek that had not been scrapped. "I can't lose you."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, before falling asleep again.
On the ninth day, Jo was finally, slowly, feeling like herself again. Alex was able to stay awake for a few hours at a time, and string together actual conversations. Dr. Shepherd and Bailey were piecing together his recovery plan, and Dr. Torres had already scheduled the hospital's best physical therapist to begin working with Alex next month. They all agreed that—without complications—Alex could go home in two weeks.
Jo sat next to her boyfriend, eating some crackers and happily joking around with him. This sucked. It was a setback. But they would make it through. He's getting better already. Everything will go back to normal soon, Jo thought.
"Come on, what else did I miss while out?" Alex joked tiredly. "Obama still the president? Still no robotic cars?"
Jo giggled. "No actually, he's not. We've got the first woman in the White House, now."
"Don't tell me it's you," Alex joked. "You can't even do laundry without overflowing the machine."
Jo smiled at him, her eyes glancing over his injuries again, as they did every few minutes.
"Come on, Jo," Alex exclaimed exasperatedly. His head sunk into his pillows and he looked over at his exhausted girlfriend. "I'm fine…" His eyes threatened to close for another round of sleep, but he fought it off.. "How are you, though?" He asked, attempting to sit up further in his bed.
Jo adjusted his pillows, moving them to sit comfortably behind his back and head. "I'm good, now that you are," she said. Alex smirked sleepily at her.
"So, um, Stephanie mentioned you had something you wanted to tell me?"
Jo's eyes quickly darted back towards his. "What?" she demanded. "What news?"
Alex sunk back, not expecting the sudden seriousness in his girlfriend's tone. "I don't know…she said right before the accident there was something you want to tell me."
The accident.
The surgery. The scrub room. Stephanie. Finding Dr. Kepner. The ER. Stephanie. Alex. Alex. Drunk driver. He flew 15 feet in the fucking air. Crushed kidney. Brain damage. Blood. No spleen. Twisted knee. He flew 15 feet in the air.
"Jo? Jo talk to me…"
Jo was shaken from her flashback trance by her boyfriend's urgent tone. She felt wet drops sneak down her cheeks, persistently, and her breathe lodged in her throat. She watched as Alex tried to move towards her, wincing in the process.
"Come on, what's going on….talk to me, please?"
Jo startled at the sound of a sob. Her sobs. And then another. And another. Her head fell towards Alex's chest, and she felt him attempt to move his broken hand and wrist through her hair, soothingly.
"I don't…I don't think…" she choked out.
"I don't think I want to do Trauma," she cried.
p.s.
to the guest reviewer who left about 4 reviews on my previous two one-shots (each) describing how evil jolex fans are and how much you want Jo to die so everyone can be put out of their misery, I pray that you may find a better way to spend your time and spend your life. I mean that sincerely.