Chapter 9:

-+-+ Jo +-+-

Jo tried so hard not to eavesdrop on Alex's conversation but it's pretty hard not to. The lady on the phone, which he calls Iz, is talking pretty loud, and Jo can tell that she was nervous.

"Girlfriend?" Jo asked hoping for the best that he's single.

"Nah." Alex decided to leave the ex wife out for the mean time. "Friend."

Jo just nodded.

After after arriving at the hospital, Jo asked the nurse where to find Brett and she pointed and gave instruction to Jo.

Jo finds her twin in the waiting room sitting. Her eyes were red due to crying and when Camilla saw Jo and Alex, she made a beeline and hugged Alex really really hard.

"Thank you so much Alex." Camilla said, her tears fell down again which formed wet spots on Alex's shirt. Alex ignores the wetness he feels and rub Camilla's back while Jo talks to her.

Camilla explained that Brett was in surgery because a major vein popped when he tried to carry the heavy bags earlier causing him to have an heart attack but the doctor said he can fix it.

Few hours have passed and Brett was transfered into the recovery room.

"Jo, is it okay if I go? I still have stuff to do." Alex said sheepishly and that's when it hit her.

"Oh my gosh, Alex! I'm so sorry. Its my fault. It should've come to my mind that you have more important things to do before I asked you to come with me." Jo rumbled on and on.

"Hey you didn't, okay? I told you I wanna come here. It's okay." Alex said in a stern voice.

Jo looked at his brown eyes and nodded. She hugged Alex before saying good bye.

Brett's eyes were opening when Jo looked up from her phone. She texted Steph that Brett has been hospitalized and Steph offered to go to the hospital but Jo politely declined. They have to change Brett's last name to avoid suspicions.

A tall blonde doctor entered the recovery room. "Hi, I'm Dr. Erica Hahn. Mr..." she looked down at the chart to read the patient's name. "Jogger's new doctor. Dr. Aldren, the doctor who operated earlier had some personal errand and I am your new doctor.

"Mr. Jogger, I'm just gonna check you up so that we know if it's alright to remove the vent." Dr. Hahn said looking at Brett then at Jo.

'Where are you? Brett's awake.' Jo texted her sister since she ordered her to go to the cafeteria to eat something.

"Okay." Dr. Hahn said after checking Brett. "We can remove the vent now since you are breathing over it." She then turn off the vent then slowly remove the tube out of his mouth. Jo decided to look closer.

"Where's your evil twin sister?" Brett asked hoarsely after the vent has been removed.

"Sent her off to cafeteria to eat something." Jo answered patting his shoulders. "She should be here any minute."

Dr. Hahn smiled. "I'm gonna monitor you every hour so expect to see my face every once in a while." Erica joked.

"Doc, when can I get out of here?"

"Your vitals are good so I should say maybe tuesday, wednesday is good." Erica wrote something on his chart and then excused herself.

Camilla entered a few moments after Dr. Hahn checked on Brett.

"I called your dad, letting him know we've extended our vacation." Camilla informed.

Brett nodded slowly then drifted off to sleep.

-+-+ Alex -+-+

Alex went out of the hospital and hailed a cab.

"Where to sir?" The driver asked.

"University of Iowa." Alex replied and the driver nods. The driver then started a conversation with Alex about the country's economic status and Alex gladly shared his opinion with the driver.

The cab stops right at the gave an Alex gave him the money he's owe.

"Here. Keep the rest." Alex said.

"Thanks man!" The driver smiled at him and went off to a different direction.

He entered his alma mater and found some familiar faces. The school was pretty much the same since he graduated and he was glad that nothing changed much. On one side of the field, there are some kids playing soccer. The other side, baseball.

He reached the gym where he used to play a lot of wrestling. Seeing some people trying out and registering, he decided to watch for a while. The actual reason why he came to the school is to navigate the classrooms since it has been a long time and he wasn't sure if he still remembers it. He doesn't know why he turned down President Montgomery's offer to help him navigate the freaking William's building.

He saw a vacant spot next to a guy wearing red shirt.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" Alex asked the young man.

"Uh, no." He responded then scooted a little father away from Alex. Alex then see someone very familiar standing up from the 'registration' line and blow his whistle.

"Okay listen up everyone. We already have a full list here so uh..." He was talking, or shouting, Alex wasn't sure. "Everyone after Chase Jacobs, better luck next time." A tall blond guy fistbump and Alex was pretty sure he was Chase. The others silently murmured while going out the gym.

"Alright everyone." The registration guy said to the ones left. "I'm Coach Eli Preach, this is Coach Justin Campbell." He gestured to the guy beside him.

That's why he looks so familiar. It was one of Alex's closest friends since high school but Eli looked so much different. He used to be this chubby guy who always gets turned down by girls. Now he was fitter and taller than Alex remembered.

Alex then realized that the guy in a red shirt next to him was gone and he noticed that he was already there next to Eli, listening while he talked.

"Welcome to the wrestling club. I know many of you are here because they want to be Batista or John Cena. Well let me tell you this, this is real wrestling people, not staged." A few guys laughed. "Congratulations to all of you. Practice starts tomorrow."

Eli said with a smirk. "Dismissed."

Alex decided to approach his old friend.

"Hey lover boy." He yelled when the gym was mostly empty.

"Alexander Karev?" Eli said grinning.

"What the hell! After all this time, you still call me Alexander?" Alex laughed as he give his old friend a hug.

"Oh. Right." Eli smacked his own head lightly. "This is my brother, Sean." Eli gestured to the guy in a red shirt. Alex realized it was the same guy earlier.

"Hey. Alex Karev." Alex extended his hand and Sean grasp it.

"Sean Preach." He then removed his hand and put it in his side. "You two know each other?"

"Well we were friends since High School." Eli informed his little brother. "Actually, Alex I think you know Sean as the boy who puked on your shoes." Eli and Alex laughed making Sean red as a tomato.

"Stop torturing your little brother Eli!" Alex said almost out of breath because of laughing. "Anyway, where did your belly go? Why'd you replace it with rocks?" Alex joked as he poked his friend's stomach.

"Where'd your abs go?" Eli raised his eyebrows.

"Don't worry man, it's still here." They both laughed making Sean pretty uncomfortable.

They chatted for a long time. Long time means from the gym, to the Williams building, back to the gym, and to the parking lot. Eli offered to drive Alex off wherever he was staying.

"It was nice catching up with you Karev." He said as he stopped the black camaro right in front of the inn.

"You too, Preach." Alex patted Eli's back. "See you around Sean." He smiled.

"Wait." Sean said abruptly as Alex opened the door. "Do you own this inn?"

"No, my aunt does." Alex smiled and got out of the car waving to the brothers as they drove away.

"Now. About that lecture..." Alex said to himself as he made his way to the door.


A/N: Hey sorry for the short chapter last week. BTW I'm going to college this June so I won't be able to update the story much. I may take a few weeks to update especially on exams week but I won't abandon this story. Thanks so much for supporting.