A/N - You Jolex fans are freaking awesome! I'm loving this story and this pairing because of YOUR encouraging reviews! Thank you!
Chapter 4 - Searching for Amber
One week later Alex sat outside at a quaint cafe five miles from Grey-Sloan Memorial. He was supposed to meet Izzie for lunch, but she was late, at usual. Alex was taking the time to look for Amber, but he was coming up with no leads.
Amber never turned up in Iowa. In fact, his sister never even spoke with Aunt Charlotte. Never even talked to the woman. Alex had spent all week calling every single Karev relative, even the ones who had divorced out of the family, but no one, no one had spoken to Amber in at least six months. Whatever Amber was up to, whatever game she was playing, she hadn't involved any of their family members. Who knows where she could have ended up!
After realizing that the family tree was a dead end, Alex logged on to his hardly-used social networking account and searched for Amber online. Amber had even gone as far as to delete her Facebook page. Alex searched her friends and sent them messages, but no one responded. In fact, most of them blocked him in return. Alex wasn't sure if that meant that they knew something but wouldn't tell him, or if they thought he was a creepy stalker.
"You don't look sexy when you scowl, honey," Izzie reminded him as she sat across from him at the small table.
"Sorry," Alex mumbled and stuffed his phone into his lab coat pocket, leaning over and planting a dutiful kiss on her cheek. "I ordered the usual, I hope that's okay."
"Perfect," Izzie sighed, taking his hand in hers. "What has you so upset already? It's barely noon."
"Amber," Alex sighed his sister's name. "I've called everyone I know to call, and no one has talked to her. She didn't even talk to Aunt Charlotte, so that was a lie. Never turned up in Iowa either. Her phone is disconnected, her Facebook page is deactivated...I don't even know how to get in contact with her."
Izzie gave him a sympathetic look. "It sounds like she's been planning this for a while."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, his brows knitting together.
"She's covered all of her bases," Izzie shrugged casually and crossed her legs. "She gave you a story to make you think she was getting her life back on track, she's cut off all forms of communication, and she hasn't spoken to anyone in your family...whatever she's doing, she's making sure that you never find out about it."
Alex sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just hope she's not in any kind of trouble."
"Who knows," Izzie shrugged. "Hey, did you try her email?"
"She shut that down too."
"Oh yeah, she definitely set you up," Izzie stated.
Alex thanked the waitress as she brought their plates. "How is your day going?" he changed subjects. He really hoped Izzie would let the Amber thing go; he didn't want to talk about her anymore because he only felt himself getting more and more angry.
"It's fine, I guess," Izzie shrugged as she drizzled her salad with dressing. "I had this teenager come in this morning. She's like, seventeen, and it's clear that she's been cooking herself in a tanning bed for a few years. Anyway, she had this mole on her stomach, and it looked terrible, Alex. I swear, she's probably got stage three, if not stage four, skin cancer."
Alex cringed. "That's not good."
"Tell me about it," Izzie frowned. "Then her mother wants to get mad at me when I tell her that it's probably malignant. She basically called me a liar!"
"Nobody likes hearing bad news," Alex reminded her before taking a bite of his club sandwich.
Izzie pushed the lettuce around in her bowl before glancing to her boyfriend. "So...how's the nanny thing going?"
"Jo is a life saver," Alex sighed. "I swear, I don't know what I'd do without her."
Izzie frowned. "You could have put the baby in daycare!"
Alex made a face. "You know I wasn't comfortable putting my niece in daycare. Besides, every daycare was full."
"How convenient."
Alex gaped at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Izzie set down her fork and threw her hands up. "I'm just saying that it's mighty convenient that you won't move in with me, but yet you've got some other woman living with you!"
"Izzie," Alex spoke her name patiently, "we've been through this. We're not living together because I don't want you to get the wrong idea about us. I'm not ready to get married."
"Living together isn't being married!"
"I know that," Alex replied, "but if we live together, it will only be a matter of time before you push for marriage again because 'we're practically married already.'" He hesitated. "You know I'm right."
Izzie crossed her arms stubbornly and fumed for a moment. "I think you just wanted some hot chick on the side!"
"Knock it off!" Alex exclaimed, lowering his voice after the other patrons looked over to them. "That's not even it. Jo is good with Sarah. My niece's happiness is the most important thing to me!"
Izzie narrowed her eyes. "Do you think I didn't see you check her out?"
Alex glanced away, guilt washing over him. "That was an accident."
"An accident?!" Izzie laughed. "Seriously?"
"It was like a reflex," Alex shrugged. "You do it all the time."
"You know that you can trust me though," Izzie snapped.
"Oh?" Alex asked, his eyebrows raising. "Are you saying that you don't trust me now?"
Izzie continued to fume for another second. "Tell me you're not interested in her."
"I'm not interested in Jo," Alex stated.
Izzie studied him for a second. "I don't believe you."
"Izz!" Alex exclaimed and jumped to his feet as Izzie stood up, retrieved her purse, and stomped away from the table. He threw his hands up in exasperation. Tired of her theatrics, Alex dropped back into his chair and took another bite of his club.
Yep, he was not going to chase her.
When Izzie didn't get her way, she usually made a scene that caused Alex to chase after her. Izzie always thought that if a man chased her, then she was in control. Call it immature, but Alex refused to hand over control to Izzie today. He had real shit to deal with while she was making absurd accusations.
Yes, Jo was hot. That was perfectly clear. Yes, Alex had checked her out; that was obviously clear too. Admitting that someone was attractive didn't mean he wanted to bang her or anything. Besides, he and Jo had a working relationship. No, Alex wasn't her boss, but both of them were working together to give Sarah as nice of a life as possible. That was a partnership, at the most a friendship, but it certainly wasn't a romance. Maybe Izzie would realize that after more time passed and he didn't jump Jo's bones.
Alex finished off his club before digging his cell from his lab coat pocket and dialing the oh-so-familiar number to the florist. "Hey, Olivia," Alex greeted as the owner picked up.
"Alex Karev?" Olivia asked. "Lord, what did you do this time?"
"Hell if I know," Alex chuckled. "Send her the usual, please."
"Same address?" Olivia asked as she pulled up Alex's file on the computer.
"Yes."
"Two dozen pink roses in a crystal vase?" Olivia questioned.
"Charge my card," Alex sighed and ended the call. That was all the attention he could give Izzie right now. He loved Izzie, but he didn't have time for the drama. After he located Amber, everything would be right in the world, and he could lavish Izzie with every ounce of attention she craved.
After finishing his lunch and paying the tab, Alex returned to the clinic. "Great," he muttered after entering the clinic and spotting three interns lingering near the supplies. "Bailey is rotating them to the clinic again?" he grumbled as he joined George O'Malley at the nurse's station.
"You know Dr. Bailey encourages them to consider the clinic," George replied as he glanced up from a chart.
"I hate the interns being here," Alex complained. "They don't like it, and they make it clear to everyone."
"We didn't like the Denny Duquette clinic," George reminded him.
"The clinic was pointless," Alex snapped. "Rather than dish out the money to the IRS, the hospital chose to sink it into a free clinic. That clinic was practically a tax shelter."
"Yeah, I'm so glad the hospital is spending its money more wisely now," George smirked.
Alex rolled his eyes. It was pointless to argue with O'Malley about kids; George was only working in the clinic because of the Monday through Friday, nine to five hours. George couldn't care less about kids. Alex couldn't really blame him though-that had been him just five years ago. Addison Montgomery and Arizona Robbins had completely changed his views on children. "Hey, man, can you take over for the rest of the afternoon?"
George looked over to Alex with a raised eyebrow. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm just not in the mood for interns today," Alex replied. "I've got a lot of crap going on at home."
"You mean you've got a hot nanny to get home to."
"How do you even know about her?" Alex snapped.
George slapped the chart closed and gave him a look. "Izzie talks, dude."
Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Do you want to hear the real story about that?"
"Nah," George grinned. "I like her distorted version."
"Asshole," Alex chuckled and pulled off his lab coat. "See you tomorrow. Page me if an emergency comes up."
Alex left the clinic behind and climbed into his charger, speeding towards his town house. As he drove along the crowded streets, his mind wandered to Amber. Where was she? What was she doing? Was she shacked up with another knight in shining armor like that Billy creep? Was she on the streets somewhere? Had she left the country? Was she even alive?! How could she do this?! How could she drop her baby off and take off like that? Did Amber not realize how beautiful that little girl was?! Was Amber not grateful to be able to wake up to that precious girl each and every day? Did she not realize how lucky she was?!
By the time Alex reached his town house, he had worked himself up into another rage. He was right back to wanting to murder his sister with his bare hands.
"Whoah!" Jo exclaimed, jumping from the couch and wrapping her hand around her weapon of choice as the door banged open. "It's just you," she sighed, catching her breath, as Alex entered.
"A potato masher?" Alex questioned, his eye on her hand. "Seriously?"
"I can do some serious damage with this thing," Jo quipped as she followed Alex into the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"
"In case you forgot, I live here," Alex snapped as he threw open the refrigerator door and grabbed a bottle of beer. "Where did you even get that thing?"
"I bought it yesterday so that I could have potatoes for lunch," Jo replied as she eyed him. "Aren't these working hours? Why are you drinking?"
"What are you, my mother?" Alex frowned and moved to the living room.
Jo made a face and returned the potato masher to the drawer. "Bad day or something?" she asked, shrugging as if she didn't care whether Alex had a bad day or not.
"Something like that," Alex sighed and dropped onto the couch. "Where's Sarah?"
"She's taking a nap in her crib," Jo answered and sat at the opposite end of the couch. "You better be glad you didn't wake her up."
"Yeah, yeah," Alex snarked and took a long drink of his beer.
"So what's got you so pissy?"
"I didn't answer you before, so I obviously don't want to talk about it," Alex snapped.
"You're going to talk about it," Jo countered. "I'm not putting up with this little mood of yours for the rest of the day. I will be so out of here."
Alex glanced over at her and kept quiet. "Okay, fine," he conceded when Jo made a neck motion and stood up. "Sit down." He pulled her back onto the couch and took another drink from the beer bottle. "I spent most of my lunch break looking for Amber."
"Oh, any luck?" Jo asked, then scrunched her face. "Sorry," she cringed. If Alex had had any luck, he wouldn't have come home so pissy. "Did you call her friends and stuff?"
"I called everybody," Alex sighed. "I called all our relatives. She hasn't talked to anyone in like six months. I even got on the internet and contacted some of her friends; no one answered me. I've tried her cell, her email...everything is shut down." He took another drink of his beer. "She completely set me up! She's never coming back!" He finished the beer and plunked the empty bottle onto the end table.
Jo bit her lip before speaking. "You don't know that," she offered softly.
"Oh, come on!" Alex spat, glaring over to her. "Don't be that naive!"
"I'm not naive!" Jo exclaimed. "It's just...look, it had to be tough for her. A single woman, raising a baby... She probably just needed a little help..." Jo bit her lip. "You're a scary guy, Alex. I don't see how you work with kids."
Alex looked over to her and frowned. "I'm not scary."
"Really?" Jo asked with raised eyebrows. "You just blew in her like the big bad wolf! No wonder your sister was afraid to tell you she had a baby! I wouldn't have told you."
Alex pursed his lips. "She should have talked to me though. I'd have helped her if she hadn't run away..."
"That's easy to say now," Jo pointed out gently.
Alex sighed again and brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, you're probably right."
Jo smoothed her fingers along the hem of her shirt. "Maybe you could contact your family members again...let them know that you're not angry with Amber. You're worried about her. She might come around if she knows that you're not mad at her."
"I am worried about her," Alex admitted after a few moments of silence settled in. "I just wish she'd call me and let me know that she's okay."
Jo patted his shoulder. "That's the message you need to get out there. That's a lot less scary."
"Ha ha," Alex replied dryly and looked over to her. "Thanks for talking me down, Jo."
"No problem," she smiled softly as their gaze lingered on one another.
"Are we getting along?" Alex joked to break the tension.
"It's only temporary," Jo smirked. "I'm sure you'll go back to being an asshat any second now."
Alex laughed. "Amber calls me that all the time."
Jo's gaze settled on Alex. He seemed genuinely upset that his sister had pulled a disappearing routine. Jo could almost begin to feel a little bit of sympathy for Alex. He wasn't that bad of a guy when he wasn't being a jerk... "Duty calls," she jumped from the couch as Sarah's cries fluttered through the baby monitor.
Alex looked to the monitor, listening as Jo cooed and baby talked with Sarah as she changed her diaper. "You're so good with her," he observed as Jo returned to the living room with Sarah cradled in her arms.
"Nah, she's just an awesome baby," Jo smiled as she sat closer to Alex, sitting Sarah up between them. Sarah cooed and babbled as she looked up at Alex. Jo smiled when Alex leaned over and placed a kiss to Sarah's head. "You lived in foster homes too?" she asked quietly after a silence filled the living room. Jo couldn't explain it, but it was almost unsettling to sit there with Alex without talking. Something was in the air, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Yeah, I did," Alex nodded, glancing over to her.
Jo nodded, looking down to her hands as she picked the chipped nail polish off her nails. "Thank you for telling me...I heard what your girlfriend said."
Alex groaned inwardly. "Izzie didn't mean it," he sighed heavily. "She just didn't want me to hire you. It wasn't personal."
"It sounded kind of personal," Jo replied quietly.
"She's just threatened by you," Alex said and tickled Sarah's feet.
"She has no reason to be threatened by me," Jo scoffed. "I can't hold a candle to her. She's perfect, and I've...well, I was in and out of twelve foster homes until I struck out on my own at sixteen."
Alex looked over to her as she spoke. "Seventeen."
Jo's eyes widened. "Seventeen foster homes?!"
"They separated me from my siblings," Alex explained. "I just wanted to make sure they were okay."
Jo bit her lip, realizing the seriousness of what Alex was sharing with her. "Couldn't stand not being able to boss them around, huh?" she tried to lighten the mood.
Alex looked to her, a slow smirk curving his lips. "Something like that." He cleared his throat and looked back to Sarah, holding his finger out so that she could grasp it. "What about you? What kept you bouncing in and out of foster homes?"
"I'm a complete badass," Jo scoffed, pulling her legs up and tucking them underneath her. "My own mother couldn't handle me...she abandoned me when I was a couple of weeks old."
Alex glanced at Jo, seeing the brief glimpse of pain pass through her eyes. "Sometimes it's better that way," he said quietly, avoiding her gaze. "You're less damaged when you're abandoned."
"I needed a mother," Jo frowned.
"Mothers aren't all they're cracked up to be," Alex replied, keeping his gaze fixed on Sarah. "Mine was schizophrenic. She went after my brother with a steak knife when he was six."
Jo cringed as Alex's voice fell. It was clear that it was hard for him to share the details of his life with her. "I won't have to sleep with one eye open, will I?" she teased and pushed his shoulder.
"You might want to, just in case," Alex smirked. Jo was perfect; any other woman would have broken down in tears at his pitiful life story, but not Jo. Jo had been through just as much shit as he had, so she understood that life sucked. What mattered most was how you handled the hand you were dealt. You could pull the woe-is-me card, or you could better yourself. They had both managed to better themselves.
"I'll get you with my potato masher," Jo smirked.
Alex crinkled his nose. "Who even mashes potatoes anymore?" he asked. "You know, they make instant potatoes that taste just like the real thing."
"Ewwww!" Jo exclaimed. "Instant potatoes suck! You wouldn't know real food if it hit you in the head!"
"Why waste all that time when you can just add water and go?" Alex reasoned.
"You're hopeless!" Jo shook her head. "Do you hear that, Sarah? Uncle Alex is hopeless! Yes he is, he's hopeless!" She reached out and tickled Sarah's stomach, causing her to smile and laugh.
Alex shook his head and smiled as he watched Jo lift Sarah and raise her over her head, lowering her to kiss her cheeks, then lifting her into the air air again. He might be hopeless, but Jo certainly wasn't hopeless. She was amazing, and he was glad to have her in his life.
