[10x11]

Alex slowly approached Jo who had fallen asleep in the visitor's chair next to the still hallucinating but fortunately sleeping Jimmy. He bit his lip, hesitant about waking her. He didn't really know what to tell her. He didn't know if he was glad she was treating and helping his estranged father whereas Alex couldn't get himself to give his dad another chance. He wasn't sure if he was able to face her at all, now that she knew way too much about Alex's childhood. Much more than he had ever planned on telling anyone. But then again, this was Jo. And Jo had been surprising him so many times since they knew each other, and also since they'd been together officially. Jo seemed to genuinely want to deal with stuff like that. She wanted him to deal with stuff that was bothering him and she had continuously told him that she would be by his side. Or at least, that's how he interpreted it.

Alex sighed, watching her sleep peacefully. She was so beautiful. So beautiful, inside and out. He had never thought he'd get that ever again. Or ever at all. He wasn't sure which one. He had had successful relationships before, if you cut out the ends respectfully. But he had never felt like that. He had met so many people over the years that he had learned to love over time, that he had learned to open up to, however, he couldn't remember ever having anyone, except for Meredith but that relationship had always been platonic, that he actually opened up to as much as he found himself doing with Jo. The other relationships he'd had weren't centered around that. Like, they were good and he had been with girls that he enjoyed being with and wanted to be with and even considered to conquer life with, but his past, his demons, all his issues, they never were part of those relationships. This was so different with Jo, Jo wanted him to deal with everything and she wanted to be part of it. She didn't close her eyes to his issues, and most importantly, she didn't seem to be a runner even if he showed her very unpleasant streaks of his. She didn't tell him to change, she just told him to deal with it because she saw something in him apparently… something that she loved so dearly that she wasn't even thinking of it being too much for her. He actually owed her a whole lot. She definitely earned to be treated well, to be loved unconditionally. That wasn't a problem, though, that had happened already for him. He had fallen so badly for that girl, he didn't know where to even put it anymore. Yes, she annoyed him so much at times, and she was way too close and she was way too nosy. But he couldn't do it without her, either. He loved her. And she deserved to be treated special. They had known each other such a short time but she was the biggest part of his life, the most important one.

Alex knelt down besides her and grazed her thighs before resting his hand on her waist, leaning down and kissing her upper arm gently, waiting for her to wake up. Jimmy was still restlessly talking in his sleep but other than that, the patients' ward was completely quiet. Jo blinked her eyelids in confusion, waking up slowly. She gulped and wet her lips before realizing, she had woken due to Alex's advances. She gave him a tiny smile, before yawning widely.

"Hey," he smiled at her, approaching slowly, since she still seemed dazed.

"Hi," she gave him back, running her own hand up his arm that was holding her and placed it on his shoulder. She looked over at Jimmy, assessing his state, sighing.

"He's reliving some more scenes from my childhood," Alex told her quietly, "let's just let him sleep it off," he managed to suggest reasonably. Jo nodded with an apologetic frown.

"I'm sorry about today," she whispered, not knowing what to say explicitly.

"What would you be sorry about? He hurt you, stop apologizing," he told her off roughly, but tried to soften his attitude a bit. He knew she was unsure of how to deal with this whole mess as well, especially because he had been so abrasive about it before.

"I just… I told you I'd handle it and I didn't," she pointed out.

"Oh, come on, stop it. He was having a complete freak out. You couldn't have dealt with him. I had to start wrestling to learn how to defend myself and silence him over a stretch of time," he gave her back with wide eyes. There was a short pause in between them in which they both just stared at each other. Then, Jo shook her head slowly.

"I didn't mean to butt in again. He made the nurse page me upon coming in and said something about I said I'd help him if he got clean. I wanted to turn him down but then he crashed. Later I asked Hunt if we could transfer him but he wouldn't let me, and he made me be on his case. I'm sorry, Alex, I really tried. But it wasn't like I wanted him to come back and approach me," she tried to explain, making him nod.

"I know, Jo, don't worry," he told her quietly. "You're a good doctor," he smiled at her cautiously, kissing her arm again.

"I never thought he'd be like that… I mean… now I feel even worse for how I behaved when he first came in," Jo continued, seemingly nervous. "I know you told me about it before… and I should have known that you didn't… I mean… ugh, I don't know what to say… I guess you can never know how bad something was unless you were there… and I just thought… that making up with your dad would actually help you but now…after today… I actually can't believe I thought like that… I'm so sorry… it sounded terrible," she rambled.

"Hey," Alex hushed her. "It's okay. You couldn't have known. It's over now, alright. I made it through and so did my family. We were better off without him. I just… how do you explain to someone what it's like to have felt the urge to kill your dad when you were a teenager? People don't usually understand… or they wave it off as being overdramatic and pubertal. I just… it wasn't my proudest moment but there wasn't anything else left to do… I needed to protect my family… my sister was only 3 years old…," Alex tried to paint the picture for her.

"It doesn't matter, Alex," she wanted to tell him.

"What doesn't matter?"

"It doesn't matter if people understand or not… it doesn't matter if I have been through what you have or not… I wanna hear it anyways. Or rather… I don't want you to have to deal with it on your own. Just because people haven't been dumped by their parent when they were two weeks old, doesn't mean I can't talk to anyone…," Jo murmured.

"Well, you really haven't…. talked to anyone about it… right?" Alex hiked his eyebrows at her, questioning her statement.

"Well, I told you," she tried to defend herself.

"Not really, Jo," he drew her attention to that fact. Jo sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know… I just… I feel like I would tell you… there's just not as much to tell… I could tell you about foster care… but you know…that's not as interesting, either… I just… All I wanna say is please don't be scared to tell me stuff just because you think I can't handle it. I can handle it, seriously. I won't run just because you tell me you have beat up your dad before-."

"I almost killed him," Alex interrupted.

"I almost killed Jason and you didn't run. You rather gave me another chance and we became even closer," she frowned at him. They sat in silence for a bit, pondering.

"I don't mean to cut you out. I just really don't know how to deal with it myself," Alex started up the conversation again.

"I know. And I'm not pushing you to, either. I'm just saying, I'm here if you need me. And please don't be embarrassed because your dad relives your past in front of me. And please, don't be mad at me for treating him," Jo started listing, making Alex chuckle and reach his arm up to softly pet her cheek.

"It's fine, Jo, seriously. Stop fussing. I'll get over it," he winked at her. He watched her bite her lip in uncertainty. "I promise I won't make this another thing to push you away, alright? I want to be with you… at some point I'll learn how that works too…," he gave her sheepishly. Jo gave him a smile.

"I love you," she whispered, cupping his head and running her finger through his hair. Alex got up and pulled her with him, making her widen her eyes. "Whoa, dizzy," she spat out, holding onto him. Alex pulled her closer and sighed, running his hand across the back of her head.

"You have a bad bump," he told her, making her wince with his actions. "Sorry," he whispered, pulling her into a side hug, starting to walk outside.

"You think he'll be fine without supervision?"

"He doesn't deserve special treatment, don't push my boundaries," he told her gruffly.

"Okay," she just responded in a very low voice. Alex stopped and turned over towards Jo and looked at her burningly.

"I can't have him hurt you. He hurts all the people he comes in touch with. But you, I can't let him hurt you, more than he already has," he tried to tell her frantically.

"I'm fine, Alex, it doesn't even hurt that bad," she touched the bump and narrowed her eyes again in pain.

"I'm serious, don't make me fight you on this," he told her sharply. Jo let her head fall to the side, looking at him lovingly.

"I won't," she smiled at him slightly, caressing his chest before closing her eyes when Alex leaned in and pecked her lips softly.

"Let's get out of here, come on," he hugged her again, leading her towards the locker rooms in silence, both wondering how many bumps and bruises they'd still have to endure on this journey to closure.