Day 9 - Christmas Tree
"Alex?" Jo questioned one evening after stepping in from a twenty hour surgery. Her eye wandered the artificial tree standing in the corner.
"We have to have a Christmas tree," he replied, an edge to his tone. "It's just not Christmas without a tree." Buying the tree was the hardest thing he'd done in a long time. Alex could cut into children and stand in an OR for hours on end, but buying a tree was nearly his undoing. Too many memories flooded his mind-most Christmas seasons in the Karev house never had a tree. Then when his mother insisted on buying a tree with the money she made at the diner, she couldn't afford ornaments. The next year when ornaments were bought, Jimmy came home in a drunken rage and ripped the shapes from the tree. After that, the Karev house went back to a treeless Christmas.
The brunette hesitated, seeing that familiar look of pain in his depths. "It's huge!" she exclaimed, forcing a lightness to her tone. "I love it!"
Alex ran his hand through his hair and nodded towards the sofa. "I got ornaments too...I wasn't sure what to get, so I just got red and green ones..."
"That's great," Jo smiled, moving to the sofa and opening the sacks. "Not too bad since you didn't have supervision."
"Haha," her boyfriend smirked, the tension slowly leaving his body. "I even got hangers."
The resident breathed a sigh of relief as she sat next to the ornaments and began putting hangers on them. "Is the tree prelit?"
"Yeah, clear."
"Good." Jo would have preferred colored lights, but she didn't dare tell him. They were already both out of their comfort zones in regards to Christmas, and Alex did what he thought was best. Plus, it was nice coming home and seeing the tree in the corner-it made her feel like this was truly their Christmas.
An hour or so passed as the couple hung ornaments on the tree and discussed the day's surgeries. "That's all of them," Alex announced as he plucked the last ornament from the box. "Want to do the honors?"
Jo grinned and took the red ball from him, hanging it towards the back of the tree. "Perfect." She took a few steps back as her eyes swept up and down the tree. "It's perfect." Her eyes brimmed with tears-it was the best Christmas tree she'd ever had.
"You okay?" Alex asked softly, moving beside her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah, just..." The brunette paused, composing herself and wiping at her eyes. "This is the best Christmas I've ever had."
The man nodded and looked away, blinking his eyes. "Me too," he choked out. "Me too."
