Hi guys! I'm finally back with this story. I hope a bunch of you are still interested. I know I've put this story on hold for waaay too long, but I've always said I would finish it and that's still the plan.

Here's a little reminder that this story is sort of an AU for the late s11 episodes. Derek is alive (which is not insignificant for this chapter) and Alex and Jo still live in the frat house.

PS: The next chapter will probably be posted on Thursday. (Grey's Day haha)

Chapter 26

Slowly, a little more each day, things went back to normal for Jo and Alex.

First, they made their relationship public again.

A few weeks later, they went to LA to attend the beach wedding of Jo's friend Liv. It was a beautiful ceremony, but Alex and Jo couldn't stop making fun of how incredibly corny the whole thing was. They left the reception early in search for a private spot at the beach, where they could be alone to watch the sunset together. Sitting in the sand, their heads resting against each other, their fingers intertwined, they watched the sun slowly disappear as the waves did their never-ending routine of kissing the shore and pulling away again. It was the definition of corny, but they liked it and so they decided call it romantic instead.

Jo got her sleeping disorder in control and continued to go to therapy and eventually she started to open up to Dr. Wyatt. It was not easy. To Jo, it felt like climbing a mountain. Sometimes it felt like climbing the same mountain over and over. But eventually counseling became a part of Jo's weekly routine that she wasn't dreading anymore. She was never exactly looking forward to it, but she learned to appreciate it as something that was ultimately helpful.

Some things, however, went back to a normal Jo did not at all appreciate.

It was a Monday morning when an unwelcomed visitor barged into Alex and Jo's bedroom.

"So guess what? My husband is an ass."

Meredith's raspy voice startled Jo out of her sleep. "What the hell?" she exclaimed indignantly.

"Wilson, I need to talk to Alex. Get out."

"Not this again," she mumbled under her breath.

Beside Jo, Alex started to stir under the covers. "What the hell is going on?" he asked, blinking up at Meredith.

"I have a Derek thing, I need to talk to you."

Alex pulled a pillow over his head and groaned loudly into the fabric.

Since Alex was unresponsive, Meredith addressed Jo again. "Come on, Wilson, get out of bed."

Jo looked from Meredith to Alex. She waited a beat for him to finally say something, but his head remained buried under the pillow, so that he could hear no evil, see no evil, and, most of all, speak no evil. It was more than obvious that she could not expect any support from him.

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, then drew back the comforter and sat up. "Okay, I get it now," she said. "This is some weird Grey-Sloan thing I'm not in on, right?" She swung her legs out of bed, glad she was at least not naked this time. She was only wearing panties and one of Alex's black tank tops, but at least it was clothing. "Don't worry, I can adapt, I'm excellent at adapting, actually."

"What are you doing?" Meredith asked as Jo walked over to the closet, instead of out the door.

"Nothing, just adapting," she repeated casually as she opened the closet doors and grabbed a pair of skinny jeans.

The older woman frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Well, apparently it's a tradition for you people to jump into other people's beds to vent about stuff. So I figured, next time I'm pissed at my boyfriend..." Jo paused to shoot an angry glare in Alex's direction, giving him one last chance to put his friend in her place. Since there was still no reaction coming from him, she went on. "Anyways, the next time I'm pissed at my boyfriend - which FYI is right about now - I'm gonna go to your house and crawl into bed with your husband to vent about my idiot boyfriend. I'm sure Dr. Shepherd will understand," Jo added innocently. "After all, we're in the same boat."

"What?" Meredith seemed more confused than actually alarmed.

Alex, on the other hand, was very alarmed. Blazingly fast he jolted up in his bed and sent the pillow on his face flying into a corner. "Meredith out! You need to go! You need to go right now!" he sputtered.

"What? No! She's just bluffing, she won't do that."

Jo slipped into her pants and started looking for a suitable shirt, letting the two of them argue like it was none of her business.

"She's not bluffing. She's gonna do it. So for God's sake, just go, Meredith!"

Meredith held up her hands in surrender and backed off. "Okay, fine. I'm leaving."

As she reached for the doorknob, Jo stopped her. "Dr Grey? You don't have to leave. How about you both go downstairs and talk in the kitchen? Or the living room? But the bedroom, the bed... my bed," she clarified, "is off limits. So is the bathroom, by the way. I shouldn't have to tell you that, but I feel like I have to." She closed the closet doors and realized Meredith was still standing there, indecisive. "Or maybe you go home, talk with your husband and try to fix things? Talking things out actually helps."

Meredith lifted an eyebrow. "You two are talking now?" she asked sceptically. "About what?"

Jo shrugged. "About everything."

"Yup, it's true," Alex nodded.

Meredith sighed and opened the door. "Okay, whatever, I'm leaving."

"Wait, do you mean you're going home, or just downstairs?" Alex asked.

"I'm going home to my husband," Meredith yelled back as her shoes thumped down the stairs.

Relieved Alex fell back onto the pillow. He flinched as the alarm on Jo's phone went off to wake them, like somebody else hadn't done that already. Jo shuffled to the nightstand, grabbed her phone and turned the annoying sound off. Alex sat up and wrapped his arms around Jo's middle, before she could go back to getting dressed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking down on him.

"Nothing." Alex's eyes twinkled lasciviously. "It's just..." His hands slipped under her tank top - or his tank top, actually - and started to rub her warm skin of her back. "You're hot when you're assertive."

"Really? Am I?" Jo smiled innocently and let him pull her closer, lowered her head as if she was leaning in for a kiss. But just as their lips were about to touch, she gave him a hard push that made him fall backwards.

"Sadly you're not so sexy when you're acting like the three wise monkeys all rolled into one." She started for the door. She wasn't exactly mad at him, but frustrated and annoyed enough, she wanted to teach him a little lesson. No morning sex for Dr. Karev today.

Alex rolled to his side, his glance following her. "Oh come on, really? I'm sorry, okay? I really am. It won't happen again. Don't be mad."

Jo pretended to ignore him. She stepped into the hallway, but right before the door clicked shut behind her, she turned around again. "Come on, you moron," she said, her smile indulgent as she peeked into the room. "I'm making us breakfast."

Alex jumped up. "So you are mad at me? Because you making breakfast - that is clearly a threat."

She laughed a wicked laugh, slammed the door behind her extra loud and headed for the stairs.

Alex was right behind her, chasing after her. "Stay away from the stove."

"I'm perfectly capable of making breakfast," Jo yelled over her shoulder as her feet clattered down the stairs.

In the living room, it was all over with. Alex caught up with her and circled his strong arms around her midriff. As he spun her around, Jo laughed and screamed and randomly kicked the air with her feet, and she laughed even more when Alex started to attack her neck with kisses that felt stubbly because he hadn't shaved.

He let her down, then she turned in his arms and they held each other, both panting, but still quietly snickering. They stayed like that, enfolded in each others arms as the rush of adrenaline subsided.

Jo rested her head against Alex's chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat slowly normalize again. "God, I hate you, you know that?" she groaned, the words coming out muffled because her mouth was pressed against the fabric of Alex's shirt.

"Nah, you don't. You love me," Alex corrected blithely. He held her at arm's length and looked at her. His glance was loving, not unsure, but then he still asked, "You do, don't you?"

Jo smiled softly. "I do." She pecked his lips, just two brief kisses. "But you're still a moron. And I'm still making breakfast."

"That's fair, I guess."

Jo peeled away, ready to get to work. But then she paused and reconsidered. "No, wait a minute." She prodded his chest with her pointy index finger. "You're making breakfast. After all, you have something to make up to me."

"Okay, that's fair too."

Later at the hospital, Alex bumped into Meredith in front of the attendings' lounge. She had already changed into scrubs and lab coat, ready for her morning rounds, no doubt. Alex was late, but that didn't stop him from pulling his friend back into the room as he passed her. Luckily the lounge was empty. He needed to talk to her in private and it was not something he wanted to put off.

"Hey, what is going on?" Meredith asked perplexed when Alex grabbed her arm.

Alex got straight to the point. "I need you to stop coming over to the house in the middle of the night."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Yeah, your girlfriend made that clear this morning. I get it."

"Do you? Because, honestly, I'm not so sure."

"Jeez, what's the big deal, anyways? Cristina always came over when she had stuff going on. And she slipped into my bed and nobody cared."

Alex raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Really? I have a hard time believing Shepherd was fine with that."

"Well, maybe he wasn't exactly fine with it, but he accepted it."

"Well, Jo doesn't. So I need you to stop. I can't lose her again."

"Lose her again? Did you forget that she was the one who broke your heart? You were a wreck, Alex! A pathetic wreck to be honest. She dumped you in the most ruthless way and now you two act like nothing ever happened? I don't get it. You never told me what happened."

"It was all just a misunderstanding. That stuff doesn't matter anymore." Alex kept it vague. He knew Jo didn't want any more people to know about her history with Lionel Baker. She was working so hard to put that behind her; he'd be damned if he made that more difficult by telling Meredith.

Meredith obviously wasn't satisfied with this non-answer, but when he didn't elaborate she brought the conversation back to the original subject. "You seriously putting a restraining order on me? Denying me access to my house?"

"First of all it's my house," Alex reminded her firmly, then, with a softer voice, he said, "Look, you can still come over and vent about your husband with the perfect hair when he's being an ass. Or when another secret sister turns up. Just not in the middle of the night. And not in my bed. Or my bathroom. Okay?"

Meredith's arms were folded in front of her chest. Her head was turned sideways, her brows furrowed, her mouth a pout. But Alex knew his words were starting to sink in and that she was just too stubborn to admit her behaviour was wrong.

Eventually she sighed and her face relaxed. "Okay," she said, dropping her arms. "I mean I get it, I guess. I'm sorry. I really am." Finally she looked at him. "Beds and bathrooms are off limits from now on, I promise."

Content Alex gave her a nod, then turned to leave.

Meredith stopped him. "Alex?"

"Huh?"

"Are you happy?"

Alex shook his head at the bluntness of his friend's question. But then a smile broke through his features. Not a grin or smirk, nor his signature half-smile. It was a real and genuine smile.

"Yeah. I am. I'm very happy."

Meredith smiled back at him. "Then I'll be happy for you."