I've been working on this for a long time. It's basically an AU where Jolex meet each other as teens in the foster care system. I swear, all my ideas go back to this pairing these days. Other Grey's characters will be in this, but some of them won't act like their adult selves - I based everyone off what I think their teenage self might've been like. (So for example, yes there will be some black-wearing, pink-haired Meredith in later chapters.) Also, please note this is rated M, for language, possible sexual themes, and mentions of past abuse.
Alright, let's get this first disclaimer out of the way - I'm not Shonda. Grey's isn't mine. Please don't sue me. Thanks.
part one;
She has been living with the Webber's for two years, five months, and twenty-six days.
Yes, she's been counting. It's not because she doesn't like the Webber's – sure they're always too busy to really notice her, but it's not like she cares, because she's been stuck with people a lot worse than Richard Webber and Miranda Bailey. Whenever she goes to a new foster home, which she's done multiple times, she keeps track of how long she's there. This is the longest she's been with one family for several years. There were the Stewart's, who lasted two years, one month, and fifteen days. There were the McGinty's, who followed at two years and four days, while the Young's were a year, eleven months, and eighteen days she'd rather forget. The Crawley's took the award from her shortest stay, because she was only there for a week. And those were just a few of the most recent ones. Most of the foster parents she had were just blurry faces in the back of her mind, a number the only thing she remembered them by.
There are twelve kids living in the house. She's stayed at foster homes who have had more, but this is still a fairly big number. They forget about Jo most of the time, because she didn't say much and usually stayed out of trouble. Life there is hectic, always loud, always noisy, something always going on.
She's never gotten close to any of them though, not really. She's learned from her time in the foster care system that it's easier to not get attached. In the end, everyone always leaves, nothing's ever permanent. Even her own mother didn't stick around. So, she told herself it was better this way. No fuss, no muss.
The closest person to Jo is probably her roommate, a girl named Lexie who is really pretty and a year or two older than her. Lexie seems nice enough, and she tries to be friendly, but they both know they're not going to be best friends or anything. Lexie's not the kind of person Jo would want to hang out with - she's always reading something, and she's a little too nice, you know. But what Jo really admires about Lexie is her photographic memory. That girl could recite the freaking periodic table. Jo had always secretly found it really cool. She was able to do almost any math mentally herself, but she'd never actually told anyone that. Two hundred and fifty-six times eight hundred and seventy-five? Two hundred and twenty-four thousand. One thousand two hundred and five plus one hundred eighty-seven? Thirteen ninety-two. Nine hundred eighty-two divided by six hundred fifty-one? One point five zero eight four four eight five four zero seven zero six six one. Approximately.
So she obviously she has no trouble calculating that she's been living in Richard Webber's house for two years, five months, and twenty-six days. Today, Lexie is lying on her bed, in a pair of jeans and a top with a hole under one armpit, talking to a perky redhead she doesn't remember the name of (Anna? Abby? Something with an A.) She walks into the room and sits down on the floor, while the other two girls converse.
She keeps all of her things on the floor in what all the kids call "the official luggage of the foster care system", also known as a trash bag. Inside there's her clothes, an assortment of cheap T-shirts, jeans and shoes, some which no longer fit her. Somehow along the lines she's accumulated at least fifteen toothbrushes, all cheap plastic things in different colors, green and purple and blue. She pulls it out from the bottom of her trash bag - a small calendar, like the kind you could get for free at any bank. She opens it to the current month and crosses off yesterday's date. Two years, five months, and twenty-seven days. Today's date is circled in a fading brown magic marker twice, two rings getting lighter and lighter as they continue.
The redhead smiles at her, just noticing her presence. "Hey Jo."
She forces a smile in response. "Hi..." She trails off, trying to remember her name again. Allie? Andi? God, what was it?
"April was just stopping by to say hi." Lexie explains. She doesn't know if it's because she thought she was curious, or if she could tell she couldn't remember her name. That's right. She tells herself now. April. Her name's April, April Kepner.
The two girls go back to their conversation. "Why are we getting a new foster kid? Don't we already have like, twenty kids living here?" Lexie asks. April replies she doesn't know.
"Twelve," She cuts in, and Lexie and April turn to look at her. "There's um...twelve."
"Well, I guess thirteen now," Lexie says with a shrug.
Lucky number thirteen, She thinks, and then she wishes she hadn't.
"His name's Alex," April continues. "Alex Evans. Everyone is saying he just got out of juvie."
"What for?" Lexie remarks.
April shrugs. "Nobody knows for sure. I've heard everything from breaking and entering to murder. Some of the guys are taking bets."
Before they can say anything else, she finds herself climbing off the bed, brushing past April and out of the room. "Jo, is everything okay?" Lexie calls after her, but she doesn't reply.
She comes into his room in the middle of the night. He notices first the stuffed bear in her arms. She's had Fluffy practically all of her life, and can't be without it for more than a few minutes. When she goes to bed every night, she grips Fluffy like a vice, burying her face into his soft fur. Then, he sees the tears, crystal and pristine, pooling in the corner of her eyes.
He climbs out of his bed, approaching his baby sister. "Hey," He whispers to her. "What's wrong, Amb?"
Amber's lower lip is jutted out and trembling. "Mommy and Daddy fighting." She says. "Make them stop."
They've been doing that a lot recently - fighting. From his room, it's barely audible, but once you get out into the hallway, or if you go into his sister's room since it's right above the kitchen, it's like you're in the middle of a war zone. He scoops her up in his arms and cradles her, before gently laying her down in his bed. He pulls the blankets practically up to her ears, protecting her and Fluffy from the outside world. "I'll be right back." He promises, before leaving the room.
He checks on Aaron first, who is still fast asleep, his thumb stuck his mouth. It's a habit he should've given up long ago, but no one has the heart to make him stop. Then, he descends the stairs slowly, careful to avoid the creaky step. There's a light on in the kitchen, where he last saw his mother doing the dishes. He can hear a man yelling, which must mean his father's home. Lately he's been going out for most of the night, sometimes leaving even before dinner. He'd always hung out with Bobby and Bulldog - his friends, and yeah, they actually called the one guy Bulldog - but now it's like he's never around.
He walks up to the door to the kitchen, but doesn't open it. "I'm sorry!" He hears his mother cry, and he physically flinches when he there's the sound of breaking glass and then a hard smack. "I'm sorry!" His mother repeats, hysterical.
"Shut up!" A voice yells, and there's a loud crash, followed by his mother sobbing. Without another thought he bursts into the room. The sight before him is horrific.
His mother lies broken on the floor, tears streaming down her face and her whole body shaking from the extent of her crying. Her chestnut colored hair is stained red with her blood, and there's broken glass all over, from the glasses she dropped.
He almost doesn't recognize his father at first. Jimmy looms over his wife, a look that is nothing short of evil in his eyes. His hand is raised, as if he's ready to hit her again. There's a bit of blood smeared on his cheek, and it's obvious it's not his own.
His mother sees him standing there first. "Oh my God, Alex." She gasps between her sobs. "My baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry..." She breaks off into hysterical weeping. He doesn't know what she has to be sorry for.
Alex feels frozen in his spot as Jimmy approaches him. His clenches his fist as he looks down at him, a glare on his face. He can only stare, and wonder if he's going to kill him.
The voice that speaks is not his father. It is twisted, and evil. "This is an adult matter!" He yells, before slamming the door in his face.
He was never very easily tamed. He always felt the need to move, to do things he wasn't supposed to, even when he was a little boy with no problems bigger than if his mom would read him a bedtime story or how to hide his vegetables at the dinner table. He didn't like to be contained. "You're just like your father." His mother would say, and back then he'd thought that was a good thing. Then she'd shake her head and say a prayer for him. To Saint Jude - the patron saint of lost causes, she'd tease.
If only she knew.
The social worker wants to escort him to the front door, making him feel like he's that little kid again who everyone keeps a close eye on. He shakes his head. "I don't need your help." He snaps at her when she tries to interject, and she sighs and gives in. He doesn't have many things, just a few clothes and some basic necessities. There's a picture of his family too, at the bottom of the bag. It's the only photo he has of them, taken during the simpler times. They were at a birthday party for his grandmother, who has since died. His mom had been having what she'd call a good day - no voices in her head, no delirium, everything in perfect clarity. Amber is just a squirmy baby in their mother's grasp, Aaron a happy toddler with dimples and a big smile. Then there's him, moving around in the shot, restless as ever, his arm wrapped around nothing but a shoulder, because he ripped his father out of the photograph a long time ago. Then, he did not realize that it wasn't normal for your mom to hear voices in her head, or that someday his father would just be a shoulder, only a small portion of a whole person.
The guy who runs the place doesn't come to see him, but a woman does. She introduces herself as Miranda Bailey, Richard Webber's second-in-command. He ignores what she says mostly until she tells him to pay attention. He nods and pretends he is. He doubts she really cares. To her, he's probably just another punk ass kid with a bad attitude and no family, mooching off her boss or boyfriend or whatever the Hell Richard Webber was to her. Though technically, you could say he did have a family, but he didn't see them that way, not anymore. His mother was a nut who had fallen to pieces and left him to fend for himself and his siblings. His father was the sick bastard who had started it all because he cared more about booze, music and drugs than them. That wasn't family, not to him.
He didn't speak to her the whole time she talked, except for once, to correct her. "It's Karev." He says.
The woman looks down at the papers from Social Services and shrugs, crossing Alex Evans out and putting Alex Karev in his place.
There is a spot in the back of the yard that always goes unnoticed. A quiet spot between the wall and the fence, where they keep the garden hose. Whenever Jo wants to be alone, it's where she goes. She'll sit by herself in the grass, or on top of the hose when the earth is wet from rain or snow. It is a perfect spot, and sometimes, she can make out the rest of the world just above the neighbor's trees. There, no one will think to look for her - not that anyone would come looking anyway. No one ever did.
She opens the calendar again and sighs when she looks at the date. "Happy fifteenth birthday to me." She says to herself. Well, at least she thinks it's to herself.
"Happy birthday," She screams when she realizes she's not alone, jumping in her seat on top of the hose. When she turns to look there's a guy standing there. He looks older than her, he's probably almost eighteen by now. His face is slightly shrouded by a black hooded sweatshirt, but he pulls it down, exposing not only handsome features but a proud smirk that makes her want to punch him in the face. "Sorry." He says. "Did I scare you, princess?"
She glares at him. "No." She says. "And my name is not princess, it's Jo."
"I like princess better." He replies. "I'm Alex, pleasure to meet you, princess."
"Oh," She says, looking at him. "So you're the new guy around here. What did you get into juvie for?"
"I killed a bunch of people," He answers sarcastically.
She raises an eyebrow. "Hmm. Alex Evans, serial killer."
"It's Karev," He corrects her.
She shrugs. "I think jackass suits you better." She replies.
"Whatever you say, princess." He says.
Jo laughs, and stares at him for a second. When April had said the other kids were taking bets on how he'd gotten into juvie, it had made her upset. At first she hadn't known why, but now she thought she got it. Because she didn't know what Alex Evans' - no, Karev, she corrects herself - life has been like. She wonders how he ended up here. Did his mom leave him at a fire station, like hers did? Did he go through life just like her - alone, abused, afraid to get close to people? "Are you seriously this much of a jerk, or this all an act because you're really sensitive and damaged on the inside?"
He sighs and shoves his hands into his pockets. "Do you seriously think I want to spill my secrets to a fourteen year old?"
"Fifteen," She corrects. At least, she's pretty sure. She doesn't know when her exact birthdate was. This was just an estimate. Not that she's going to tell him that.
"Whatever," He says. "Point is, I don't have time to babysit."
She looks at him, giving him a what-did-you-just-say-to-me look. He snorts and walks away.
Okay, she takes it back. He's just an asshole.
I hope this was a good first chapter. My plans are for there to be some parallels to the Jolex storylines on Grey's, but only some because this is AU. There will also be several more flashbacks so you can get a better insight into Alex and Jo's pasts. And like I said, there will be many more familiar faces, not just Lexie and April. Thanks for reading!