Author notes:

* I'M SORRY! I wanted to update a week ago, but I had a hard week and I couldn't find the right way to write this chapter. It's longer than usual, but I wanted to finish this part of the story. Next chapter: Thanksgiving. Even if I can't keep the pace with the show, I'll be following the episodes. And after seeing the sneak-peek for 10x11, I think we can use more happy Jolex.

* I'm working on some improvements for the last chapter, thanks to XoxMountainGirlxoX, who gave me some tips about my writing. As I said before, English is not my first language and I still have some issues to work on. So I apologize for anything wrong that I possibly write. If anyone have any suggestion, feel free to tell me.

* Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Alex would never be hurt again.

* Chapter named after a song by Amy Winehouse.

*****CHAPTER 09 - WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW*****

I like to know that your love
Is love I can be sure of
(Will you still love me tomorrow - Amy Winehouse)

"Wilson, you're scrubbing in with us, come on," called Kepner, as they ran to get the patient to the OR in time to save his life. It was Jo's third consecutive shift in the ER and she was starting to get used to it, but she knew it had to be the last one. She had considered trauma as her specialty, but it wasn't time to pick one yet, so she should be back to the regular rotation schedule soon.

It was the morning of the fourth day - the day when the juror would reveal their verdict in Torres's trial. She knew that some of the doctors, including Kepner and Yang, whom she was assisting in that moment, and including Alex, would be at the court that afternoon. Then, hopefully, all the mess that the trial brought to the hospital would be really over and all the doctors would be back to their routines.

Besides, she was really sick of hiding. She realizes that this person wasn't her. She always said what she had to say. But she never had someone as close as Alex. Some things in her past shouldn't be allowed to come back, risking to hurt her again and the ones she loved. So unfair!

They went to the OR and after half an hour, Kepner and Yang were able to stabilize the patient, a young man whose bike was crashed by a drunk driver.

"Thank, God! Wilson, help Dr Yang with the lungs, I'll look at his abdomen," Kepner commanded.

Jo switched places with her, and twenty minutes later, Yang noticed her for the first time.

"Ponytail! I haven't seen you in the last couple of days," said Yang. "Suction, please. You and Alex didn't have another fight, did you? He's all grumpy again."

"No, we're fine," she wouldn't tell details about her life to two of her bosses during a surgery. "It's just work, it's been a busy week."

"Good. When I heard you screaming two nights ago, I was afraid that you're turning into one of his crazy chicks," Yang's voice sounded bored.

"Cristina..." said Kepner, apparently, trying not to laugh.

"Well, it's true. Everybody knows. Damn it! There's another bleeding. Help me here."

It took them a few minutes to find the source of the bleeding and stop it.

Jo had heard Alex mention those crazy chicks more than once, but he didn't tell her anything specific about them. Now that was someone else talking about it, she was curious, though she felt a little bad for want to talk about him at the same time she didn't want talk to him. Anyway, knowing Yang, she would say what she wanted to say, doesn't matter whether or not Jo was fine with it.

"I hope you don't pee in the couch," Yang said, out of the blue.

"Cristina!" Kepner censured her again, more serious this time.

For a second, Jo thought Yang was talking about the patient. Then she figured that it was about her.

"Excuse me?" asked Jo, even more intrigued.

"Closing," said Yang, this time, referring to the patient. "It's a long history. That girl was really crazy, a patient in the hospital. And the superhero didn't let anyone help her, he thought he could do everything by himself. Typical. And she tried to kill herself. In the kitchen. Our kitchen, only it was Meredith's at the time."

"Oh, my God!" said Jo.

"Wow! I didn't know that. I thought you were talking about Stevens," Kepner was looking surprised.

"No! This one was months earlier. Right! I'm done. Wilson, find me when you finish here, I'll give you the post-op instructions, right?" That said, Yang walked out the OR, without give them any other details about what happened to that girl.

"Right," Jo mumbled, a little disappointed. "Dr Kepner, can I do something?"

"Yes, put your hand here," they started to work together as Cristina left the room. "You know, you don't have to listen everything Cristina says."

"Oh, it's fine. It's not like I didn't know my boyfriend had a thousand of women before me."

"Doesn't it bother you? Seriously?"

"Seriously," she stated sincerely. What bothered her was to know that Alex must've been thinking that she was crazy too. Definitely, she would find him as soon as he come back from the court.

"I wish Matthew was like you. I only had one and... Whatever. Let's save this man."


"I don't know if I can wait much longer. The last time I saw one of my girlfriends acting this way..." Entering the court, Alex confessed his concerns to Meredith.

"Stop it! Jo is not Izzie. Or Rebecca. She's not getting cancer, she's not gonna be crazy, she's not gonna die just because she's with you. She said she's too busy this week, maybe she's just too busy, taking advantage of this situation to get more OR time. Don't you remember how it works for second years?" Meredith tried to reassure him, but he didn't know if it would work.

"Hi," said Owen, approaching them. "Where is Torres?"

"She isn't here yet," Meredith replied. Alex didn't say anything, and Owen seemed to notice that he wasn't in a very good moment.

"Still worried about Wilson?"

"What do you think?"

"I think she is afraid of being fired. If Torres loses the trial, I mean."

"What? You guys wanna fire her?" Alex didn't mean to sound rude. Owen was doing a lot, like a real friend - and they never had a personal relationship before. But he couldn't understand why Jo could think she would be fired.

"No," Owen said, looking at Meredith for approval. "No one is being fired. It's just a thought, based in the fact that she's working harder than usual."

"Owen has a point," said Meredith.

"And why the hell she doesn't talk to me?"

"Because she knows you, Alex. She knows you would be pissed," Meredith explained. "If you want, I can talk to her and assure her that her job is not in jeopardy."

"Would you do that?"

"Sure. Now, calm yourself, because Callie must be here any minute and she is the one who needs the most support."

"Fine. And thanks. You both." That sounded a good plan. He hoped it would work.

As Meredith said, Callie arrived soon and they were allowed to enter the courtroom. After a few minutes that all of them felt like a few hours, they read the verdict: Callie was innocent. It was over. They could breathe again.


"Come on, Jo! You avoided him for three days, and now you can't wait two more hours?" Stephanie asked.

"If Yang thinks I'm crazy, I'm sure he is thinking that it's much worse than it really is," Jo replied.

"Obviously. He asked me about you like a hundred times. I told you."

"I know. I'm pathetic."

"Well, I didn't want to said that, but..." Right them, they were interrupted by Jo's phone.

"It's a text. From Alex." She opened it immediately, reading to her friend the only word that was there. "Innocent."


"Meet me for lunch?" Alex read in his phone, only a few minutes after he texted Jo about the results of the trial. He sighed in relief as he typed back, "I'll be there in forty minutes".

When he arrived, she was waiting for him at the cafeteria.

"Hey," he said, kissing her briefly in the lips.

"Alex, I'm sorry." Now, that was the Jo Wilson he knew. The outspoken girl he loved, who never waited to say what she had to say.

"It's okay. I get it. But now you know you don't have to fear for your job, right?"

"What? Fear for my job?" She looked confused.

"Wasn't this the reason why you were picking all those freaking shifts with Hunt and refusing to talk to me?" Now, he was confused.

"No. Why? I... I mean... That's what you're thinking?"

"Hunt said that. He thought you were afraid that if Callie lost the case, you'd be fired for not being able to help her."

"Oh, my God. No, it's not this. I mean, it had something to do with me thinking that she could lose the case by my fault, but..." she stopped, suddenly, bringing all his concerns back.

"But what?"

It took her a minute to answer.

"It was that place. It brought me some memories that I'm hiding from for fifteen years."

"Okay, and..." Alex encouraged her to continue, noticing that it was difficult for her.

"I witnessed my foster sister and best friend being... abused... by our math teacher. When I was twelve."

"Crap!"

"Wait, I didn't finish. I testified but I couldn't help as much as I wanted to. I... I couldn't tell exactly what I saw. And I still can't, I still don't know. I believe her and I know I was there, I just can't remember. Our foster parents didn't care about us and we were sent to different places. I was alone and hurt and pissed and..."

Alex was feeling sick. He already knew that she went through hell during her childhood and teenager years, but she never gave him any details. He didn't want to know the details, unless she wanted to tell.

"Jo..."

He didn't know what to say, so he just took her hand into his, wishing that this gesture could protect her from those memories.

"When the judge interrupted me, I freaked out, because this time I knew what I should say, but I still couldn't help."

"Why you didn't tell me this before?" He wanted to be supportive, he wanted to be there to handle anything with her.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me!"

"Yes, I did. Look at you now! Anyway, this morning, Yang said something about a girl who went crazy and peed in the couch, and..."

"What? I'm gonna kill Cristina!"

"No! Don't say anything to her. It was good. She made me realize that by avoiding to tell you about my bad memories, I was triggering yours. So, I'm sorry." She didn't need to apologize. He could be angry at himself for not being able to make her talk before, but he would never be mad at her knowing that she was going through all this alone just to protect his feelings. He sighed.

"You know you're not alone anymore, right?"

"I do."

"And you know that you can tell me anything. I've been through a lot of things and I've seen a lot. Whatever it is, I can handle."

"I know."

"So, you better never freaking do that again."

She smiled at his half-smile, before reply:

"I won't."