Complications
Disclaimer: Sadly I own neither Saving Hope nor Daniel Gillies
Pairing: Joel & Alex
Rating: T
Summary: Alex & Joel plan a romantic weekend but complications arise.
Joel Goran strolled out of the OR wearing his trademark grin behind his surgical mask. He'd just finished a hip replacement surgery. It had been a success and his patient was stable. He'd been waiting for this moment all day. It was Friday, and Alex had the day off. She was going to meet him at the hospital after she picked up Luke from soccer practice.
Zack was getting off shift as well. He had volunteered to take Luke for the weekend since he also had Jacob, and the two boys were friends. And Maggie and Sydney had offered to take Charlotte, which meant only one thing to Joel.
Dirty weekend.
He spotted Zach as he turned the corner toward the lobby.
"Hey Joel, I just saw Alex and the kids in the ER."
"Yeah, they're meeting me in the lobby. Thanks again for keeping an eye on Luke this weekend."
"No problem. Jacob loves that kid. But you might have to postpone your filthy weekend."
Dirty weekend.
Joel was about to correct his friend, but instead looked at him, confused, "Why?"
Zack glanced at Joel as he were dense. "Because Alex is in the ER. Something about a car accident."
Suddenly, the full weight of what Zach had said hit Joel, and he took off running down the hall toward, shouting, "Thanks mate."
He tried not to think of the worst case scenario as he ran through the hospital toward his wife and children.
He exhaled with relief as he ran into the ER and caught sight of Alex sitting on one of the beds in the trauma bay. Luke was sitting next to her, wearing his soccer uniform and cleats, and kicking his feet impatiently, "Mommy, I want to go to with Zack to see Jacob!"
Charlotte's baby seat was on the floor near Alex's feet.
"I know, honey, "Alex said, putting a comforting hand on his knee. "But we have to wait for Daddy."
At the sound of the word, his beautiful eight-month old baby daughter, cooed happily, "Daddy…"
As if she sensed her father's presence, Charlotte glanced in Joel's direction, and her eyes sparkled in recognition and despite the fact that he's forgotten to remove his surgical mask and only his eyes were visible.
"Yes, we're waiting for Daddy. Aren't we, baby girl?" Alex said, her expression softening into a smile as she looked at her daughter.
"Daddy… here," Charlotte exclaimed, stretching out her tiny hands, as if the sheer force of her demanding infant will could bridge the space between her and her father.
Joel smiled, and bent down to lift Charlotte out of her baby seat, and into his arms, "Hello, angel," He said, automatically assessing her tiny body for both visible and hidden injuries. "Come to Daddy. Are you okay?"
Charlotte reached out her small hands toward Joel and pulled the surgical mask from his face, revealing his wide smile, "Okay, Daddy!" The baby shouted, kissing his cheek.
Alex instinctively turned her head toward the sound of Joel's voice, and exhaled deeply when she saw him.
He could feel the relief radiating from her, even from across the room.
He didn't say anything at first.
He didn't have to.
Instead, he turned his attention to his son first. "Are you okay, buddy?" He asked coming to sit on the other side of exam table, next to Luke, still holding the baby.
Luke nodded, "I scored a goal today. I scraped my knee though."
Without hesitation, Joel walked over to the drawer at the side of the exam table, and put a band-aid on the boy's knee.
"There you go. I wish I could've seen that goal. Good for you, mate." Joel said, grinning with pride at his son.
He's such a good kid.
Luke shrugged his small shoulders, "Next week it's your turn to take me to soccer. I'll score another one."
"Sounds good," Joel said, smiling again, "I'm going to talk to Mommy for a second. Then we'll go home okay?"
"But I'm supposed to spend the weekend at Zack's house. Jacob is going to be there."
Joel nodded, "I know buddy."
Joel shifted his daughter to his other side and focused his attention on Alex as if he were trying to memorize every detail of her.
"Let me look at you," He whispered, "Are you all right? What happened?" He asked turning so he was facing her, his free hand, pulling her closer to him, and holding her there.
Alex shrugged, "A guy rear-ended me as I was turning into the parking lot at the soccer field. It was minor. We exchanged insurance information.
Joel nodded, "Are you okay?"
There was a small, deep bloody cut above her right eyebrow.
She looked at him and kept talking, "I was just worried about the kids. We had to come here to wait for you anyway so I figured it couldn't hurt to have Zack take a look at them before we went home."
"Are you okay? Joel repeated.
She was about to reply when Zack walked into the trauma bay "Treat 'em and street 'em. What's up, Joel?"
"My wife is bleeding. Why didn't you stitch her up?"
Zack raised his hands in mock surrender, "Hey, I tried, man. But she wanted to wait for you."
Joel looked at Alex and her smile was all confirmation he needed.
I'm here now.
"Well, I'm here now." Joel said, "So can I get five mikes of lidocaine and a suture kit over here please?"
"Sure." Zack said, handing the lidocaine and suture kit to Joel. "Want me to take the baby?"
He shook his head, "No, I'll put her down in a second."
He glanced at Alex for another long moment.
She's beautiful.
The top button of her blouse had come undone.
Several unruly strands of her dark hair had come loose from its ponytail and fell around her face.
She wiped the palms of her shaking hands on the legs of her jeans.
He grabbed both of her hands in his and held them until they stopped shaking. "Are you okay?" He asked, and after a long moment she nodded.
Charlotte had noticed her mother's injury a few seconds after Joel did.
"Mommy hurt." She whispered in Joel's ear.
Joel nodded, "Don't worry about it, angel. Daddy will fix Mommy right up."
"Daddy fix?" Charlotte asked, looking at her father for reassurance.
Joel nodded once more and Charlotte shouted excitedly, "Daddy fix."
He watched as Alex winced ever so slightly at the noise.
She must have hit her head.
She could have a concussion.
"Charlotte you're going to have to go back in your seat so I can fix Mommy's head."
The little girl nodded, and didn't so much as whimper, when Joel placed her gently in the baby seat and strapped her in.
"Daddy fix Daddy fix Daddy fix." Charlotte repeated over and over in a singsong voice.
"That's right, angel." He replied, kissing her forehead, before standing up and turning his attention back to Alex.
"Did you hit your head?" He asked, opening the suture kit and brushing the palm of his hand over her collarbone before pressing the lidocaine against her wound.
She pressed her eyes shut and shivered. "Against the steering wheel I think. But I didn't feel it. I just wanted to make sure the kids were okay."
"That was just the adrenaline. You'll definitely feel this later. The kids are fine." He said, softly, brushing the fallen strands of hair from her face. "I just want to make sure you're okay."
He quickly finished the stitches and kissed her lips.
"You could have a concussion." He said, pulling off his latex gloves, and throwing them in the trash.
"Joel, I'm fine…I'm sorry I ruined our dirty weekend."
"You didn't ruin anything. I'll take a rain check."
He held up his hand in front of her, "Follow my finger with your eyes."
"Joel, this is ridiculous. I said, I'm fine…"
"Humor me, Reid. Besides, it's in the vows remember?"
She looked at him, confused, "What is?"
"In sickness and in health." He replied, with a smile.
"Joel, I'm…
He pressed his fingers against her lips, stopping the flow of her anxious words.
"If you say you're fine one more time, I'll have Zack admit you overnight."
Alex rolled her eyes and raised her hands, "Okay, just finish the exam so we can go home."
Joel nodded, "What's your name?"
"Mrs. Joel Goran Reid." She replied, smiling at him.
God I love the sound of that.
"That's the right answer, Reid."
"And what day is it?"
"Monday." She said, letting out a long breath.
He nodded, "Okay, let's go home. But I want you to tell me if you feel dizzy or get a headache."
It was her turn to nod, "Hey, Joel?"
He picked up the baby seat heavy with the weight of the now sleeping Charlotte, and the car keys, then turned back to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
After three quick strides he was standing right in front of her, where she was still seated on the exam table, his lips pressed against hers.
"I love you, too Alex."
"Get a room!" Zack shouted as he passed by them.
"That was the plan before my wife ended up in your ER!" Joel shouted, back.
Zack peeked his head back into the trauma bay, "Do you still want me to take Luke home with me?"
"Yes!" Luke shouted, "Please can I go, Mommy?"
Alex winced again and pressed her fingers against her temple and nodded, "But only if Daddy says it's okay."
Luke glanced, from his mother to his father and back again, "Please Daddy?" Joel nodded and turned to Zack. We'll pick him up Sunday morning?"
"Sound good." Zack said slipping into his jacket and preparing to leave. Just before he followed Zach out the door, he hugged Joel and kissed Alex. "Bye."
Alex watched her son leave before she slipped off the exam table with every intention of landing on her feet.
But when she stood up the room around her seemed to swim. If it weren't for Joel's quick reflexes she probably would've ended up on the floor.
But suddenly he was right beside her, his hand on the small of her back guiding her toward the exit.
She let her head rest against his shoulder as she walked slowly toward the car.
The adrenaline is wearing off.
She's crashing.
He thought, as he tightened his grip, and held her steady.
"I've got you, Alex. You're okay." He whispered, opening the passenger side door for her, and practically lifting her inside.
She fumbled with the seatbelt, too disoriented, and exhausted to protest when Joel fastened it for her.
He closed Alex's door and strapped the baby seat with his sleeping daughter into the backseat.
At that moment he made a decision.
I'm trading in this blasted Lexus next week.
This was the second time something terrible had happened to Alex in this vehicle.
The first time was the day of the convenience store shooting, when it had been stolen.
Now, tonight's accident had endangered not only Alex but his son and daughter as well.
The car seemed to be bad luck.
I refuse to lose them.
When he got home, he didn't even bother to wake either of his girls. He slung the baby seat over one arm, unlocked the front door, set Charlotte down in the living room, and then went back out to the car, and carried Alex inside.
He laid Alex on the couch, until after he'd tucked Charlotte in.
Then he came back downstairs, took off Alex's shoes, and brought her upstairs to the master bedroom.
He laid her down, and stripped out of his clothes, pulling on a pair of sweats, before collapsing into bed next to Alex.
Sensing his presence beside her, she reached out for him in the darkness. "Joel, are we home?" She mumbled, sleepily.
"Yeah. We're home." He whispered, pressing a kiss against the soft column of skin between her neck and shoulder. "Get some rest."
"Charlotte?"
"Asleep."
"Dirty weekend." She mumbled, as she pillowed her head on his chest.
Joel drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.
Not such a bad weekend after all.