A/N – This belongs somewhere around episode 11 of season 12.
"I'm so fed up of Meredith Grey!", Jo Wilson slammed the door to the rest room hard,
"I need to change scrubs and to be honest I'm bored of this now. The woman's had a terrible couple of months and from what I can tell she sent your boyfriend home to you you can't possibly be jealous?" Stephanie's tone was disgusted, "I was in that trauma room – you didn't see what I saw. What the hell is your issue?" She stopped and pulled her hand through messy curls, "In fact don't tell me I don't want to know."
Jo huffed and spun to Penny Blake who was starting to quietly withdraw,
"No you don't. Look I'm just fed up of her undermining me all the time. She interrupted me three times on rounds this morning and then I just heard her being mean about me to Alex while eh just stood their and listened."
Stephanie was drawn in despite herself,
"For God's sake she's a teacher. She's supposed to interrupt and let your interns learn. And as for Alex he should have told her where to get off if she was being mean about you to him. Blame him for not sticking up for you as much as her for whatever she said."
Penny watched Jo's jaw tense with anger and spoke quietly,
"What exactly did she say?"
"Oh what did she say?" Jo raised her voice, "she was standing at the nurses station chatting away about me and Alex in front of everyone. Hell, Webber was there. She told him, and I paraphrase, he needed to 'sort his crap out," she effectively mimicked Meredith's occasionally lilting slightly lispy delivery, "that we couldn't carry on in limbo and I was nothing more than a post-it! A post-it!" Jo was bellowing, "like after all the years and everything we're some sort of scrap paper that just floats away! How dare she!"
Stephanie and Penny eyed each other unsure what to say to calm their peer down. Their thinking was disturbed by a deep laugh from one of the cubicles. The toilet flushed and the door swung open to show an obviously amused Callie Torres,
"Children, children," she started, sparing a small smile at her girlfriend, "did you learn nothing at high school. Always check the cubicles before bitching about someone. Now," she turned to Edwards and Blake, "you two scram. It's time Dr Wilson here heard some things."
Stephanie and Penny looked sympathetically towards Jo who was crimson in an embarrassed rage.
"Wilson. You need to calm down and stop flying off the handle. Meredith wasn't being mean. In fact quite the opposite."
Jo stuttered slightly, "I know she's your friend but she described me as a sticky note, Dr Torres. That's pretty crappy."
Calllie sighed and decided to try a different approach,
"Have you ever been in Mer's bedroom. Either the dream house or now?"
"No," Jo was sarcastic, "When Dr Grey and I visit in the middle of the night she's prefers to come to me and then kick me out of my bed. I don't go to her."
"Hush," Callie wasn't willing to be interrupted, "Meredith and Derek they were something special. Even in the really early days when everything was confused and messy you could tell they had something about them. After lord knows how many upsets and dramas he proposed. She said yes and hadn't panicked too much," Callie raised an eyebrow at Jo in a way that suggested that she knew about the ring currently in her bedside dresser, "but Izzie was sick and no one was really very sure she could make it. So Meredith let her organise and then when it came down to it they gave wedding away to Alex and Izzie. The flowers, the cake, the food, the dresses, the guests. Everything"
"I don't really need to hear about this."
"No, I think you do. You think you don't like Izzie because she married your man and then nearly broke him. But that was way before you. Me? She slept with my husband and broke up my marriage. You don't get to do all the hating," Callie smiled as she Jo's eyes widened with shock, "You are not going to distract me with the Callie O'Malley period."
"The what?" Jo sputtered,
"I said hush," Callie reprimanded, "Anyway after Meredith had done her best man gig for Alex she and Derek tried to run off and marry quietly lie they'd always wanted but that didn't quite go their way either so in the end they sat together in the locker rooms and made a commitment to each other. A set of vows really and they wrote them on a post it note. Promises of how their lives were going be. How they'd look after each other. After that they insisted to anyone that they were married and didn't actually bother to get the good state of Washington involved until much later. The post-it is carefully framed in Mer's room, where it's been since they wrote it together."
Jo leaned against the sinks trying to process what Callie was saying,
"I don't understand." Jo was quiet
"When Mer says that you are Alex's post -it she means the real deal. She means you are his forever. She means she supports you together. It's a huge deal for her to say that." Callie took on a sterner tone, "and you certainly shouldn't be going around cursing her for it in bathrooms."
She touched the resident on her shoulder,
"Look Wilson, Mer takes time to warm to people and she can be off putting sometimes but if she's saying that about you know she means it. Now can I suggest you stop sulking in the toilets and go and see what damage your intern might have done while you've been gone?"
Jo curled into Alex' chest later that night as they lay in bed,
"About the ring?" she started nervously,
"Go on." He was equally unsure
"I heard you and Dr Grey today. I heard what she said about us,"
"Let me explain." Alex interrupted the wounds of their last argument about Meredith too raw to imagine starting again,
"No you don't need to. I just, why can't we have a post-it? Why does it have to be rings and flowers and guests lists?" Jo closed her eyes, urging the words out,
"Is that what you want?" he was uncertain, "you don't want to get married?"
"No…I…look I want to be with you. I want to be yours. I just don't feel like marriage is right for us." She winced slightly, feeling like a fraud, "I feel committed. You say you are. Why not have our own promise that we're enough for each other. I don't have a mother of the bride to go dress shopping with or a dad to give me away. Your best friend a woman whose already been your best man once," Alex jolted shocked. She continued, "we're not white wedding people why not just enjoy what we have here." Embarrassed with her half truths she kissed his chest and curled in tighter signalling an end to the conversation.
Alex pulled her close and stared up at the ceiling wondering if that would be enough.