Seattle, December 24, 2020.

"Hey, look who's home!" April's voice came from the living room as soon as Alex opened the side door. She got up from the couch, her protuberant belly crossing the threshold before the rest of her body, to meet with the couple who had their hands full of presents for the two kids that were playing without give them much of their attention. Claire Jane Karev and Joshua Kepner-Avery, best friends since before they knew what a friend is. The boy - a miracle baby that wasn't supposed to live more than a few hours but was only months from turning six years old - was sitting at the wheelchair, since his disease prevented him to stand, and the girl was sitting on the coffee table in front of him with one of her mother's white shirts on, a fake stethoscope around her neck, a small pen on her right hand and a notepad on the left.

"You were coughing yesterday, so I think you have cough," the adults laughed and Jo quickly grabbed her celphone to take a picture.

"So, today you are a doctor, like mommy and daddy?" Alex asked, mesmerized by his little girl, as usual. Only that week, Claire had already been a teacher, a hairstylist and a supermarket manager.

"Yes. Then when you two are busy, I can operate on Josh," Claire replied, as if she really meant it. Alex had been on every single surgery Joshua had done since the day he was born, while Jo had taken Callie's place as his orthopedic surgeon one year ago, when her mentor decided she needed more time to invest on her research projects. The last one was six months before, and Claire cried her way to his room at the hospital.

After putting all the presents under the tree, Alex took Joshua from his chair and sit on the couch with the boy on his lap, asking questions to both kids and keeping them interested in the conversation, while their mothers just watched. After a while in silence, Jo noticed that April was crying. "Hey... Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes," the redhead replied. "It's just that... Six years ago I was pregnant for the first time and praying for a Christmas miracle and now I have this smart and beautiful little boy that is as excited as I am to meet his sisters. Sometimes I still can't believe."

Jo squeezed her friend's hand. As a mother, she could imagine how the other must've been feeling. She also had her moments of looking at her family and wonder how did she get there. Sometimes, she still couldn't believe how blessed she was. She could stay there, contemplating her husband playing with their daughter and his godson forever, if a high pitched voice hadn't interrupted her.

"Jo... I think my son is gonna meet his sisters sooner than we thought," both of them looked at the wet floor. "Call Jackson."

Seattle, December 24, 2014.

"Please, pick up. Please, pick up. Please, pick up." Jo prayed at the phone as she ran out of the house, entered her car and started the engine. Where was Stephanie when she needed her?

Jo wasn't proud of herself. She wanted to stay and talk to Alex about what she saw. She had told him she wasn't ready to get married, hadn't she? It was one year ago, but it was still the truth. They were fine the way they were, why change things? She didn't like changes. She liked to enjoy the stable relationship they had now, she wanted this to last as long as possible. If and when she wanted to get married, she would let him know. She didn't even need a proposal, these things are overrated. They could just talk and come to a conclusion together. When it happened. If it happened. If she didn't find a way of mess things up before. If he didn't give up on her before.

She definitely should talk to him. She wouldn't forgive herself if he proposed during the dinner and she embarrassed him in front of his friends. He didn't deserve this. But then again, maybe guys that make those spectacular proposals do deserve to be embarrassed. You're being ridiculous, Jo! Of course Alex won't do that. He wouldn't. She knew. Big gestures are not Alex thing, or your thing, and he knows that, so relax. And breathe. Just breathe.

Stopping on a red light, Jo opened her window and inhaled the cold air of December. She felt better. And stupid. Alex would be worried when he got home and saw that she had been there, but wasn't anymore, leaving only the bags on the couch and a post-it note on the fridge. She didn't even say where she was going, only that she had to go out. Jo hoped he would figure out that the hospital was the only place she could go.

Parking at her usual spot at the hospital, Jo called Stephanie one more time, and when her friend still wasn't answering, she went to the locker room and changed into her scrubs, since she wouldn't have a free pass if she had her street clothes on. Two residents were sleeping at the uncomfortable bench, but no one that she could talk to. Jo wished she had another friend she trusted, and for a while, she missed Leah and Shane, even if she knew they would be terrible advisors. Besides Alex and Stephanie, the only person she was remotely close was Torres, whom didn't seem a good option, Jo remembered how excited she seemed to be about weddings. Oh, my God, a wedding? Does Alex want a wedding too? Lost in her attempts to find someone to vent on, Jo didn't notice Amelia Shepherd and Maggie Pierce approaching her.

"Wilson!" Pierce said. "I thought you had the day off. Karev stole you from my service, so I assumed you'd be helping him with the dinner."

Jo didn't know what to say. Admitting she was there to talk didn't seem a good option. "I... I..."

"She's running," Shepherd cut her. "As any sane person would do in her shoes."

Pierce laughed and Jo frowned. Did they know something? "Excuse me?" She asked.

Shepherd laughed. "Come on! Having to pull off a party for your boyfriend's friends with such a short notice? I'd be at the east coast already," she paused. "Wait. No, I wouldn't, because my family lives there and I'm running from them too. I'd be on my way to Japan." Jo tried a smile. The party, of course. Shepherd continued. "How do you like to spend 4 hours in the OR with the most badass neuro surgeon and the most badass cardio surgeon of this hospital?"

"Mr Rogers' surgery," Pierce explained. "Since you were already prepared to assist us and I still haven't found another third year to replace you-"

"Yes!" Jo replied quickly, before they could regret their decision. Mr Rogers had a rare condition that would require four surgeries involving cardio, neuro, and possibly ortho and plastics. Jo assisted them on the first surgery, three weeks before, and learned a lot. She surely wanted to remain on the case.

"Good," Pierce said. "He is already being prepared, I just have to eat something first, so meet me at the OR in fifteen."

She took her way to the cafeteria while Shepherd turned to Jo again. "You can come with me. I have to check on a patient first, but I want to ask you a few questions about the neuro part of the procedure, just to know how much I can trust you." That said, she started walking and talking, with the resident behind her. Then, Jo watched as the attending talked to a patient and when they got out of the room, they bumped on Grey and Hunt.

"Hi," Hunt said. "Uh, Amelia, can I talk to you for a second? About the patient that you and Torres saw this morning."

"Sure," the brunette replied and the two of them walked a few steps to the nurses station, leaving Jo alone with Meredith Grey in the corridor.

"So... Weren't you supposed to have a day off to help Alex get things ready for tonight?" The attending questioned.

"Yes," the resident replied. It was the second time someone asked her that, and Grey didn't sound half as friendly as her half sister. "I helped with the things he asked, then I decided to come here."

Grey looked skeptical. "Did you buy my gifts?"

Jo fought to not be too defensively. "Yes," she stated, simply.

"The puzzle for Zola, the DVD for Bailey and the yellow umbrella for Maggie?" Grey asked again.

Jo sighed. Her patience was almost gone. "I told you, ye..." she paused, there was something wrong. "Yellow umbrella? Nobody told me it had a specific color."

Meredith rolled her eyes, impatient too. "It has. Because of some stupid bright and shiny TV show that she likes, it has to be yellow."

"What TV show?" Jo asked, trying to keep her cool.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "And that's not important. Did you buy or did you not buy the yellow umbrella?" The blonde asked slowly, like she was talking to a dumb kid. Jo wouldn't take her shit for too long anymore.

"No. I bought a black umbrella, because I never knew it had to be yellow." Jo replied and started walking towards the elevators, it would be better to wait for Shepherd and Pierce in the OR.

Grey, on the other hand, wasn't done. "Well, you gotta go back and exchange it."

Jo turned back, unable to believe what she was just told. "No, I don't! I have a surgery in like five minutes."

"You are on a day off," the blonde stated, as if it was the most obvious thing. That is it.

"Not anymore," Jo paused and took a deep breath. It's now or never. "Listen, Dr Grey... I respect you as my boss at work and as Alex's friend outside. But you don't get to boss me about things that have nothing to do with the hospital. I did you a favor buying your presents, as well as I do you a favor every night you show up in my bedroom..."

"Alex's bedroom..." Grey cut her, but she didn't stop.

"...my bedroom and ask me to leave my own bed so you can have my boyfriend's attention. So, no. I'm not going back to exchange your gift, because I have a surgery now."

A few seconds passed until Meredith replied, her voice and her eyes sharpened before the audacity of the resident.

"Dr Wilson, we are at the hospital and I am your superior. I'm saying you have the day off."

No. Jo wouldn't give up now. That situation had gone too far. She was paid to save lives, not to do shopping.

"You are not my attending today. Even if you were, you couldn't force me to go back to that mall. But you know what? I'm on Pierce's service, you can talk to her. If she says that she'd rather have her freaking umbrella than a prepared third year resident to assist her and to whom she can teach an incredibly rare procedure, I'll go."

Pissed, Grey walked away. A smile of satisfaction threatened to appear on Jo's face, until she saw that everybody was watching their confrontation, including the chief. Looking at him, she almost regreted her words, but it was too late. "I'm screwed, ain't I? Fired?" She asked, her eyes going from Hunt to Shepherd, who seemed to be having fun with the scene.

The neurosurgeon was the one to reply, since no sound was coming from Hunt's half open mouth. "Well, technically, you can't be fired for something that, as you said yourself, has nothing to do with the hospital."

"Yes," Hunt agreed, for Jo's big surprise. "But, next time, you better discuss your personal matters outside, or I may have to do something about it."

That said, he nodded to the two women and they resumed their way to the OR.

"Thank you," Jo said, as soon as they were alone in the elevator.

Shepherd looked at her, serious. "If you ever tell anyone that I'm on your side against Meredith, you're dead, understood?"

"Yes, absolutely." Jo nodded. She sighed and closed her eyes for the few seconds left on the ride to the OR floor. What a day she was having!

The surgery helped her to feel better, though. Shepherd and Pierce were both excellent doctors, that she had had the chance to learn from before, and she liked working with them. They were also funny and respectful, not treating the residents like their slaves - exactly what she needed after the incident with Grey and after Alex using his privileges of head of department to give her a day off that she didn't ask for.

Alex. Oddly, she hadn't thought about him and the red velvet box during the four hours she had her hands inside of a man's chest. Thinking about that now made her chest feel smaller. She needed time and space to think, but she also had to be at the house in less than one hour. To make things worse, she had found that Stephanie was on a complicated surgery with Bailey, Warren and Webber, so she probably wouldn't make it to the dinner. Jo was alone to make a decision that could change her life. And Alex's life. Her heart ached everytime she thought about the possibility of breaking his heart. But... What if he wanted to get married at all costs? What if they had different goals in life and none of them were willing to change their mind? She had seem that happening with Yang and Hunt, Torres and Robbins, even Grey and Shepherd were fighting because they wanted to follow opposite paths. What if, like Shepherd couldn't choose his wife over DC and Hunt couldn't be happy without having a kid, Alex wouldn't be satisfied unless they had a big ceremony and an official paper to say that they belonged together? And what if they didn't belong together?

Boston, December 24, 1990.

"Nice to meet you, Josephine. I'm Hannah." The black girl with a nice voice said, with a smile that made the little Josephine feel at home. "That is my brother, Elijah. This is Julianne and this is Danielle. They're cousins." The other two girls smiled too and Jo reciprocated.

"I'm five," she said. She wanted to know how old they were. She liked numbers. "You are five too?"

Hannah laughed, as if she had said something stupid. "No, I'm ten." Jo looked at her hands. Two hands, ten fingers, she had learned in school.

"And we are seven," Danielle said, looking at her cousin. They were both blondes with blue eyes. Julianne's straight hair was on a messed up ponytail, while Danielle's curls were all over her shoulder.

Jo's big eyes focused on the only boy in the room. "He is twelve," his sister informed. "He doesn't care about anything." She took the hand of the new kid, making her stand. "Come on! It's Christmas! We have to get ready for the dinner."

"No, you don't," the woman's voice came from the door. "You're all going to bed."

"What about our presents?" Julianne spoke for the first time.

"No presents today, honey," the woman replied. "Josephine, give me your bag." She took Jo's bag and put it under the green empty bed. "You're sleeping here, okay?"

She wanted a red bed, but she didn't dare to say. As the other kids complained about the change of plans, she wondered if she had done something wrong and that, somehow, was her fault.

A/N: I'm sorry for the late update (it's past midnight here) and for this chapter being shorter than the first. This wasn't my plan, but I still don't know how I could think I would be able to write a long chapter every two days. I'm probably not updating on 23th and 25th as I had said before, but I'll try my best to finish the story before the year ends lol

Thank you for the follows, favorites and reviews. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying this story and I love to read your thoughts. It's always a great experience to write about Jo's feelings.