The next day, Jo woke early. It was something with a 5 in the front but she didn't mind. She was excited! Going home day! She wanted everything to be perfect. She got up and treated herself to her own little spa in the very sparsely equipped hospital bathroom, however, she had made a list a while ago with one hundred things she had needed Alex to bring her from home and she was happy with those. When she was done she looked in the mirror and decided that this was going to be the day, she was going to start living again. She had almost gotten used to her short hair and unfamiliar clothing and put on just enough make up to make everyone look but nobody say anything. Just the way she liked it. She packed all her stuff, which by that time had accumulated around her. When she was done, it was almost half past seven. She opened the window all the way to let the beautiful November sun in which felt pretty warm on her skin. She stood there for a while to bask in the beauty of the morning until she heard a knock. "Come in," she called cheerfully.
"Good morning," Elliot came in beaming. She turned around and gave him a sparkling look. "Wow, Jo, you look extraordinarily beautiful today," he exclaimed, taking in her radiating looks.
"Well, thank you, Elliot," she came back, stepping closer.
"Are you excited to go home today?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"I can't wait for Alex and the babies to come get me," she said, laughing.
"I brought you coffee," Elliot said, grinning sheepishly.
"Well, thanks, Elliot, this day is getting better and better," she smiled at him genuinely and took a sip. "Mhhmm… nothing like the first sip of coffee on a beautiful morning like this," she said.
"Well, staff is going to miss you around here, you know," Elliot tried to make nice conversation. Jo chuckled.
"Are you saying you don't want me to be discharged?" She looked at him with twinkling eyes.
"No, no, of course, this is a big day for you," he said, trying to put his statement in the right light. "Just saying. You have become a very pleasant regular!"
Jo beamed at him widely. "Well, I am going to look forward to come back here to actually work," she said. "The hospital does get annoying if you look at it from the wrong side," she said. Elliot laughed.
"Depends on who you see all day," he said.
"Well, I'd rather see my kids' and husband's faces all day than just be another patient to you guys," she winked at him. Speaking of the devil, that moment Alex stepped in with both babies fully awake and looking excited. Jo rushed over to him to relieve him of one half of the twins.
"Well, good morning, my loves," Jo exclaimed cheerfully, kissing Ethan all over the face. "I am so excited that you are here to come get me," she said, kissing Maddie on the cheek. The twins roared out in excitement. Alex chuckled.
"Alright, alright, calm down everybody, I'm only taking the sane ones home," he said, beaming at Jo, whose eyes were sparkling with delight. "You look beautiful today, Jo," he added, making her blush slightly with the look he gave her.
"Thank you," she breathed out before leaning over and kissing him. As always, Alex pulled back after a second. She rolled her eyes. "Well, are we gonna have fun today?" Jo turned back to her son squealing in anticipation. Alex laughed.
"Are you all packed?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yes, just waiting for the discharge papers," she said. He frowned.
"Have they been in already for rounds?"
"Nah, slow as always," she replied.
"Well, then, let's get settled, this could take a while," he said. He put his stuff down and looked at Elliot.
"Oh, I was just leaving," the nurse said and walked out. Alex frowned and looked at Jo who just shrugged her shoulders.
"Did I interrupt?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"We were just small talking," she answered, playing peek-a-boo with Ethan who laughed hysterically. "By the way, you never got around to telling me why you don't like him," she said, pretending to not be interested at all.
"I don't like anyone who wants to steal my wife from me," he said, shrugging his shoulders and laughing for Maddie was trying to give him a hickey. Jo seemed amused. A second later her face changed to an epiphany.
"Ahhh, this actually makes sense," she said, chuckling.
"What does?" Alex asked.
"He keeps asking me if we wanna have coffee together," she explained. Alex nodded, waiting for more. "And he gives me these weird long looks and always rushes out as soon as you come in here," she said.
"Really? And you couldn't have figured that out by yourself?" Alex asked with raised eyebrows.
"To be frank, I have other things on my mind than cheating on my husband right now," she said, matter-of-factly. "And, apart from the fact that he is so not my type, I wouldn't need to anyway," she added.
"Uh-uh. Why's that?" Alex questioned her further.
"Because even though I can't remember doing it, I made a pretty darn good choice in marrying you," she said, beaming at him. He laughed.
"Let's just wait until we are home, you'll change your opinion pretty soon after having us all around 24/7."
Jo laughed. "No, believe me, I can't wait," she said. There was a long pause in conversation when they both just talked to their respective twin and the babbling of the kids.
"I know I shouldn't say that, Ms. Maddie, but you do carry a smell with you," Alex noted after a while. Jo laughed. He put her down on the bed and got the changing equipment out.
"Ohhh, it's so hot seeing you change a diaper," she said. He looked at her bemused.
"You are unbelievable, woman," he just said. She chuckled.
"So, how long has he been taken with me?" she asked, casually.
"Umm…," Alex said, focusing on getting his daughter cleaned up. "Forever, I'd say," he said, trying to make the little one stay still, screwing up his nose to show his distaste of what he was doing. Jo smiled, watching him.
"Are you seriously bothered by it?" she asked. Alex laughed and shook his head.
"No, not really. He's a fool. I don't believe that a guy like him has a shot with you," he said arrogantly. Jo smacked him. "Ouch," Alex yelped.
"You are almost too self-confident, Mister," she reminded him. He gave her a lopsided grin.
"Nah. I'm just saying. There's a whole lot of more serious competition out there for me. They line up for you wherever you go," he said.
"Well," Jo reasoned. "Good for you." Alex raised his eyebrows, closing up the new diaper on Maddie. "The way I see it, this only tells you one more time how much I must love you," she said. He let out a long breath, finishing up Maddie's good looks.
"Yeah, it must," he whispered. Jo, who had noticed how fast their conversations went from happy and light to intimate and serious, tried to save the mood.
"I don't wanna imagine how many girls are lined up for you," she pondered. Alex turned around, pushing Maddie into Jo's free arm.
"Hold her for a second, will you," he just said, walking over to the bathroom, getting rid of the smelly diaper and washing up.
Jo looked at him piercingly, when he came back, still not having replied to her thought. He took Ethan out of her hands, kissing him.
"It's different with us boys, isn't it," he told his son.
"Why the hell is it any different with boys?" Jo stared him down questioningly.
"Because when we are married to girls like you," he stressed the last part, "we can't even think of anyone else. We are just too taken with the girl at hand," he said.
"And that's something that doesn't apply for me?" she asked, looking amused. He shrugged.
"I wouldn't know," he said.
"You are an idiot," she just commented, shaking her head. That moment, Shepherd and Kepner came in.
"Well, someone looks like they are ready to leave any minute," Shepherd smiled at Jo. April squealed when seeing the twins and took Ethan out of Alex's hands and sat him on her pretty big baby belly.
"Hi there, handsome," she greeted him, smiling and waving to Maddie. Alex looked at Shepherd with his business face and put his hands on his hips.
"What did the MRI show?"
Shepherd shook his head. "Unfortunately, just as we thought, nothing. But that's okay. Even better, that's good. It may mean that nothing, nothing at all was damaged and the fact that nothing changed in your brain – visibly that is – even though you remember something just proves that," he said, mulling that thought over in his mind again. "Everything else came back normal, you look radiant today, by the way," he turned to Jo, "and you are good to go. I already brought your discharge papers, I thought you would be sitting on needles today," he smiled at her.
"Thank you, Dr. Shepherd," she said.
"And do me a favor," he asked her. "Stop calling me Dr. Shepherd. I know this must be weird for you. But it just sounds wrong," he chuckled. She smiled at him sheepishly, mouthing 'Sorry'.
April handed the baby back to Alex and smiled at Jo. "Freedom!" she exclaimed, laughing, and hugged her. "Take care of yourself though, we put all the stuff you'll need and the things you should be watching out for and take care of in the envelope. And please don't forget about the baby shower tomorrow," she winked at the other woman who looked surprised, but nodded quickly. They both waved at them and walked out. Jo looked over at Alex and sighed heavily.
"Yay!" she rejoiced quietly. He laughed.
"Let's get going, then," he said, looking over at all the stuff she had, raising an eyebrow. "God, I don't even know if all that will fit in the car," he said, looking at her pointedly. She gave him an innocent look and smiled. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Why? Why, oh, why?" Jo laughed and took Ethan from him to let him shoulder all her bags. They walked over to the nurses' station to make their good-byes and left.
When they were walking towards the car, Alex unlocked it and opened the trunk while Jo was staring at the sports car big-eyed. "We drive our kids in that thing?" she asked, unbelievingly. Alex laughed.
"Actually, we're not," he said. Jo pretended to be relieved. "The 'family car' is totaled and I'm still waiting for the replacement," he said, putting Ethan into his car seat, Jo doing the same thing on the other side.
"Oh, yeah, ok, I kinda forgot about that," she said. "I'm sorry, I hope it wasn't an expensive car," she said, strapping the baby in and handing her a little squishy book she found in the middle seat.
"We have good insurance," he said, winking, "and also, I really don't care about the car. I'm just glad you all made it out okay," he said, finishing up Ethan's seating arrangement and sitting himself down in the driver's seat, looking at Jo. She smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah. Me too. Hey, speaking of which… do we have an agenda right now?" Alex shook his head, backing the car out of his parking spot. "So, would it be okay for you to drive by Ruth's?" He looked at her quickly.
"Yeah, sure, no problem, she'll be thrilled to see you. She's been asking about you constantly." He smiled.
"Does she know?" Jo asked, concern lacing her voice.
"She knows about the accident. She doesn't know about the amnesia though," he said, hesitating. "You can tell her if you want, I just didn't know how she would react. She's fragile, you know," he said.
"Of course," Jo immediately replied. "No, that's okay. I just want her to know that I'm fine," she said. Alex nodded. They made their way over to Ruth's house, Jo silently trying to remember anything from the route they took – since it supposedly was the exact same on which she got into the accident. Nothing. When they stopped at Ruth's house, they got out and Jo looked around.
"I have never been to Ruth's house before," she noted. "It's a beautiful spot," she said, looking out over the water.
"It's Curt and Angela's. She's living with them now. She needs care and couldn't live by herself anymore. She has gotten so old," he mused, taking out Ethan. Jo was frowning, and cursing slightly for she couldn't get the strap off of Maddie.
"Who's Curt and Angela?" she asked.
"Oh," Alex said, surprised. "I'm sorry. It's funny how I forget your amnesia while I tell you something because you have the amnesia. Does this make any sense?" he laughed. Jo smiled.
"It's okay. I try to forget all the time," she winked at him and walked over to stand with him waiting for the people who lived at the house to open the front door.
"I'm sorry, Jo, I didn't mean to rub it in your face," he said, looking at her sweetly.
"It's fine, Alex, now tell me before they…," she couldn't finish the sentence since a middle-aged woman had opened the door.
She saw them and cheered. "Oh, Jo, it is soo good to see you up and running," the lady called out giving her and Maddie a big hug. Jo reciprocated the sentiment and smiled. The lady, supposedly Angela, gave Alex a quick hug and ushered them in. "Oh, Ruth will be so delighted to see you," she said. "Go make yourselves comfortable in the living room, I'll go get her," she said cheerily. Alex ushered them into a room at the end of the hall and they steered towards the couch.
"Hey bud," Alex greeted a probably 14 year old who was looking like he was leaving for school.
"Hey," he said, bumping knuckles with Alex and grinning at Jo. "Good to see you up, Jo," he said, "gotta go, though, see you later," he jogged out of the room and shut the front door behind him loudly.
When they sat down on the couch, Alex caught a big frown on Jo's face. "Have I met those people before? Cause I can't remember that I have but I totally know their faces I just don't know where to put them," she tried to put the pieces together. Alex smiled.
"Yeah, you know them. Remember that 'cool tumor in a bag surgery' I let you scrub in on your intern year?" Jo listened to Alex closely, scrunching up her face. Two seconds later Alex watched her have the second epiphany of the day.
"Oh my God! Was that little Bobby Bran?!" Alex laughed out loud, nodding.
"Not so little anymore," he commented.
"What is he doing here? Why is Ruth with the Brans?"
"Actually, we found out a little while after we started dating, that Curt, Bob's dad is Ruth's nephew. We've been keeping in touch ever since. Ruth didn't have any kids so they were the closest relatives she had. That's why they took her in when we all started to worry about her health," he said. Jo couldn't believe it.
"Oh my goodness, this is just so weird," she said, laughing. Alex smiled.
"Yeah, it kinda is. We don't usually keep in touch with patients," he winked at her. She nodded. "But since you and Ruth had kinda hit it off from the start and you - cruel as you are - took me to meet her like two days after we started dating, we've become part of the big family," he winked at her.
Jo looked touched. "I can't believe it," she mused. "So they are pretty much my family now, is that what you are saying?" Alex nodded.
"Yes, pretty much," he said. "They didn't wanna upset you more that's why they didn't come to see you at the hospital," he explained.
"Oh, of course, no, that's totally fine," she said. They turned around when Angela came back in.
"Would you like some coffee? Ruth is just getting up, it'll be another ten minutes or so." They both nodded in agreement, and Angela bustled off to the kitchen. "How are you, Jo, honey?" she called over to the living room.
"I'm doing great," Jo replied happily. "I am so excited to be out of that hospital bed – to be honest," she laughed. Angela came back in with a basket of croissants.
"Oh I bet you are," she said, smiling happily, sitting down with them. "We were so worried when we heard," she said, looking at her in concern and touching her arm. "But Alex told us about the amnesia, so we thought we'd better let you recover before crowding over you," she said. Jo smiled.
"You are sweet," she said.
"So, how have you been? Are you still having troubles remembering?" the woman asked, and both the doctors noticed how fidgety she got on the topic not really knowing anything about it.
"Having trouble is the understatement of the year," Jo chuckled. "I remember nothing of the last six years," she said.
"We think it's only temporary, though, Angela," Alex tried to reassure the older woman who looked completely taken aback.
"So, do you even know who I am?" she asked, curiously.
Jo looked at her apologetically. "Alex just told me, to be honest. I did remember you but couldn't quite place you but Alex reminded me of the coolest surgery I've probably ever had the chance to assist in all my life," she chuckled, Angela smiling. "But no, I can't remember the fact that we know each other outside the hospital," she answered truthfully. "Heck, I don't even remember this guy being my husband," she chuckled, making Angela cry out.
"Oh, honey, I am so sorry, this is awful," she said compassionately.
"It's fine, Angela, really, it's okay. We'll make it back to who I was in plenty of time," she said, Alex reassuring her with a smile. Angela looked a little insecure.
"So, we didn't exactly tell Ruth about your memory loss… do you think you could…," she said, blushing a little.
"Yeah, of course, of course, no, no problem, I'll keep it light," she said, understandingly. Angela smiled and rushed back to the kitchen to retrieve the coffee. Jo looked at Alex a little shaken.
"You okay?" he asked immediately. She smiled.
"No, no, I'm fine, really." She sighed. "I just… I completely suppressed the fact that once I'm out of the hospital there are other people to face," she said, biting her lip.
"It's going to be fine, I promise," he said, squeezing her knee lovingly. Angela brought their coffee and rushed out of the room to go get Ruth. They came back together, Angela pushing a very old and fragile looking Ruth sitting in a wheel chair. Jo took in a sharp breath. Her heart tore, seeing the old lady, beaming at her. Alex took Maddie out of her arms, immediately handing her over to Angela who had been eying both kids the whole time.
Jo got up and walked over to Ruth and hugged her tightly. They stayed like that for a few minutes until Jo broke the hug and wiped away the old lady's tears. She looked at her broken hearted. "Oh, Ruth," she said apologetically. "I'm so sorry I haven't been to see you," she said. The old lady laughed and reprimanded her immediately.
"Don't you go apologizing, Mrs.," she said. "What did you think when you crashed that car? Explain yourself!" The old Ruth croaked shakily.
"Oh Ruth, I'm so sorry, I never meant for you to worry," she said, with a desperate voice.
"Oh, my child, I am so glad we have you back now," she said, hugging her again. After that Jo got up and sat next to her. "Let me give your handsome husband a hug and oh, those beautiful kids of yours," she said, raising her arms in anticipation. Alex chuckled and walked over to give the old bat a hug. After that he put Ethan in her lap and let her kiss him senseless. Everybody laughed happily. "So, when did they discharge you?" Ruth questioned Jo.
"We just drove over from there, actually. They kept me prisoner for weeks!" Ruth raised her eyebrows.
"Well, you look well, my darling. They put you back in good shape. Alex here told us how badly you were injured. I didn't think I would see you like this again," she shook her head in worry. Jo looked at her sympathetically, taking her hand. "Oh, what am I saying, with a husband like that, if they didn't care for you well enough he would have brought you home and nursed you himself, right?" Alex chuckled and Jo gave him a loving look. They small talked for a while until they noticed that Ruth visibly got weaker and almost fell asleep in the end.
"We should get going soon," Alex took the initiative and got up. "Angela, thanks for having us without notice," he said, hugging her quickly.
"Yeah, of course, anytime," she said with a big smile. "Make sure to come over soon again to meet with Curt and Bobby," she said in a friendly voice. They all said their good-byes and Jo took Maddie back from Angela who was still cuddling her. The couple walked out, still hearing Ruth mumbling after them.
"….can't believe she made it out… how big the kids are already…. Ugh, such a pleasure to see the Karevs again…," they could make out of a long speech. Alex closed the front door behind them and met a very amused Jo looking at him expectantly. He raised his eyebrows questioningly, walking towards the car.
"The Karevs?" Jo asked, grinning widely, both of them strapping the twins in their respective car seats. He chuckled.
"Yeah, that old bat keeps calling you Mrs. Karev," he told her, shaking his head with another chuckle. "She can't get over the fact that people sometimes keep their names nowadays," he said. Jo laughed and sat in the passenger seat. "In the beginning you kept telling her, especially because she also keeps doing it in writing," he said, getting on the road again. "Like on invitations and stuff. Mr. and Mrs. Karev," he told her. "At some point you just gave up and accepted that she would never change her mind about that one," he winked at her. They drove in silence for a while, just enjoying the sun nearing its highest spot.
When they drove towards the neighborhood of their house, Jo looked surprised. "We still live at your house?" she asked.