[10x08]

"Hey," Alex bustled into the nurses' station, running his fingers over Jo's back in passing, bending down to the computer to look something up.

"Hey," Jo smiled down towards him, not having seen him until then. "Haven't seen you all day," she said, taking in her boyfriend's demeanor. "What's up?"

"Ugh, not much. Crazy day," he just replied, hitting the print button. "You?"

"Same here," Jo gave him back, looking down at her tablet. Alex retrieved the print outs from underneath the table before sitting on the edge and looking at her.

"Wanna tell?" he asked her, trying to make out her mood as well.

"There's nothing much to tell, really," Jo looked up at him, putting the tablet down and leaning towards him on her folded elbows. "Day started out weird with the presentation of the 3D printer," she recounted. Alex chuckled.

"Yeah, I heard about the fork," he said, making her smile.

"M-hm. And then I was on Bailey's service today and she was all weird, seriously. She made me re-scrub and I hadn't even touched the patient yet. And after that she just yanked the instruments right out of my hands and wanted to do it herself, cause she for some reason changed her mind about teaching me, and seconds later we had spillage and she didn't even realize," Jo narrated, making him frown.

"That sounds… odd," he gave her.

"Yeah, and it doesn't stop there. She'd zone out completely every now and then and wouldn't react to us talking. When we were done with the gut, we checked for leakage but she wouldn't trust the test so she made Warren do another bubble test," she said. "And trust me, I know Bailey, she can be pretty rough. She doesn't mince the words, she gets right out there, but seriously, the way she was talking to me today… I felt so stupid," Jo ranted.

"Well, sounds like she just had a bad day," Alex tried to comfort her.

"I don't know, Alex… something's up with that. But I can't put my finger on it. Dr. Warren was all weird, too. I totally understand if he wants to stay in her good graces… you know with being married to her and all… but I'd think he'd have different priorities in the OR," she pointed out, more talking to herself now than to Alex. She looked up finally when she didn't get a reply. "Sorry," she closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. "I guess I needed a vent," she mirrored Alex's facials when he smiled and put her hand on his arm that had just wrapped around her waist. "How did your surgery go? You were in there for hours," Jo inquired interestedly. Alex groaned.

"Don't get me started. Meredith was all shaken up about the fork thing too it seems so she went all let's do freaking world rocking medicine whereas she had no business meddling with my patient's liver. We did good on the other eleven tumors but that one was nasty. Deep down in the liver, there was no way she was gonna be able to resect it. I guess the whole 3D printing got to her… and something's up with her and Cristina… they had a pretty nasty showdown after we talked to our patient. I guess everything's getting to her right now… but seriously, don't take it out on my patient," he let off some steam he had been cooking up inside him. Jo looked at him sympathetically.

"Steph said something about having to make her stop… we never spoke further, she was paged to the ER but that sounded pretty bad," she nodded, Alex joining in.

"Yeah, I haven't seen something like that in a while, I gotta say..," he agreed.

"Well," Jo looked up at him, a smile tugging on her lips. "But you weren't very nice either," she pointed out.

"What? Why?" Alex frowned at her.

"Putting Steph on the spot like that? She's a resident! She's Grey's resident! That was kind of mean, you know…," she chided him lightly, making him roll his eyes.

"If she wants to stay in the surgery business, she'll need to buck up. If you're hands on, you're hands on. You'll need to learn to make medical decisions for yourself and act on them. It is what it is. She and Mer will be fine. Mer will calm down and Edwards will be back on her service in no time. I, on the other hand, have to think about a treatment plan for my patient now," he said, sighing dramatically and waving the printed sheets at her, making her nod. Alex got up and rounded the counter. "You coming?"

"Mmm… I think I'll stay actually," she informed him, looking at him for approval. Alex hiked his eyebrows questioningly. "I don't know…. It's Bailey's patient… I'm so sure that there was absolutely no leakage… and I did think she behaved really weird today… I just… I'd rather monitor him for a while than question my superior's judgment," she argued. Alex nodded.

"Well, sounds halfway reasonable to me," he smiled at her. "Are you gonna come home later or are you staying overnight?"

"Um, haven't thought about it yet?" Jo retorted questioningly herself.

"I can go see if I can catch a ride home with Yang, you can take the car if you want," he suggested, making her smile and pull him closer towards her by a single finger she could catch from afar.

"You are such a sweetie sometimes, you know that?" she asked him before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a short kiss.

"Stop calling me that," he snapped back before pecking her lips once more. Jo just laughed.

"Well, I gotta stick to the truth, you know," she shook her head at him mockingly.

"M-hm," he purred against her lips. "You know, I'd rather have you home with me than knowing you're spending all night in a dark, empty, boring on-call room, tossing and turning, thinking of me…," he muttered. Jo chuckled.

"Well, it really depends on what will await me once I do get home," she told him matter-of-factly. "If you're gonna research for your patient all night, I'd rather stay here… however," she stressed that last part. "I could think of an infinite array of options we could engage in instead of poring over pages and pages of blah," she nuzzled his nose with hers and smiled when his lips touched hers again.

"Are you actually asking me if I want to engage?" Alex looked at her wide-eyed.

"Ugh, guys, disgusting, get a room," Stephanie walked up towards them, sporting an extra awful face. Jo chuckled awkwardly before entangling herself from her boyfriend, looking back at her friend.

"Alright, I guess that's my cue," Alex said, deducing from Stephanie's face that he wasn't her most favorite person at the moment. He squeezed Jo's waist before letting go and walking away. "See you later," he murmured towards her, making her wink and smile.

"I hate that you're dating an attending," Stephanie ranted. "That attending to be clearer."

"Well, um, right back atcha?" Jo told her, having raised one eyebrow, watching as Steph put her head down on the counter and groaned loudly.

"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" she whined, probably talking about being put on the spot in the OR that day and having to pay for that now regarding working on Dr. Grey's service. Jo's thoughts trailed off and she turned her head over to watch Alex walk off the station, smiling at the thought of their relationship. Some things on some days really weren't.