Author's Notes: Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement! On rough days I go back and read some of your messages and they bring a smile to my face. Thank you all, you guys are the best!

Special thanks to xsweetgirlx91 for helping me work through some issues in this chapter when I physically couldn't look at it anymore myself :)

Alex was punching away at his tablet as quickly as he could. He was on edge after the meetings with the partners ran long. Almost two hours about a new logo and debating if pastels would be better or primary colors; then they had moved on to weighing to pros and cons of adding a drinking fountain to the waiting room. He wanted to scream. Then after he got to the hospital, one of his patients had spiked a fever which delayed him further. He sighed and concentrated on his task. A few more orders in the system and he could be on his way back to Jo.

"Thank God you're alive."

Alex looked up to see Cristina leaning on the counter next to him munching on an apple. He gave a short laugh, "Good morning to you too."

She narrowed her eyes, "Do you just not answer your phone now? I was starting to think you had jumped off a bridge somewhere."

"Har, har," he gave with a hint of a smile, still focused on the tablet in his hands.

"Wait, you're smiling." She turned as Meredith walked up, "Why is he smiling?"

He looked up to meet her eyes, "Because I decided to take your crappy advice last night." He shrugged, "It kinda worked."

Cristina gave a slow nod as her eyes widened knowingly, "Oh so you got laid."

He narrowed his eyes in agitation and looked back at his tablet, "No." When nothing was said he looked back up to the two women who had matching looks of expectation, "You know there's more to relationships than sex."

Cristina's face dropped, "I feel like I don't know you anymore."

Alex turned to watch her go as Meredith creeped closer to him, "So things are looking up with Wilson?"

Alex gave a genuine smile that he quickly tried to contain as he finished his tasks on the tablet and placed it on the charger, "Yeah. I think we're going to be okay."

Meredith gave a skeptical look, "After one night?"

He shrugged, "Yeah. Why not?"

Meredith looked down at her fingers, "Do you think maybe you're letting her off the hook too easily?" She looked up to meet his eyes, "I mean you were broken up. Just...take it slow. What's the harm in that?"

Alex flexed his jaw, "What hook? She's not a kid that I grounded for staying out too late. And we're not going fast. Didn't you just hear what I said? We talked last night, went to sleep, and then talked some more this morning. That's all. If she needs time, I'll give her however long she needs. But I'm not gonna go out and bang some meaningless chick while I wait. I'm committed to Jo and she wants to be with me. What else matters?"

"I didn't say anything about seeing other people. It just seems so sudden. Yesterday you were sitting in the rain like a shell of yourself and today you won't stop smiling. I just don't want you to get hurt again. That's all."

He looked at her sincerely, "Thanks." He turned to leave with her right on his heels, "We'll be okay. We're not stupid. And it's more than just us you know. It's Jess too and we're always thinking of her. And Jo's in therapy and it seems to have helped a lot." He stopped and turned back with his hands on his hips, "I don't know why I'm talking to you about this. We're gonna be fine."

Meredith gave a look of confusion, "But how do you know?"

Alex gritted his teeth as he glanced down the hallway, "I just do." He looked back at her, "Look, Jo...I told you she's been going through stuff and it's messed with her head. But she's working through it and I wanna help her."

Meredith gave a sympathetic look, "You can do that as her friend, Alex."

He gave a heartbroken look, "I don't want to just be her friend."

"I know," she answered softly. She pulled him into a hug, "I just worry about you."

"I know…it's kind of annoying," he said as he reached around her. "But I'll be fine. All three of us will be." He pulled away slightly to look at her, "You'll see."

At her small nod, he quickly walked out of the hospital to his car and started the drive towards Jo's apartment. The closer he got to her, the more his anxiety grew. What if Meredith was right and they couldn't work through their issues? What if the therapist had said something to make Jo reconsider? What if they had changed too much in their time apart? What if he still wasn't enough for her?

He parked the car outside her building and readjusted in the seat, his mind spinning in a dozen different directions. He took a deep breath and tilted his head back on the headrest, trying to calm himself. He got agitated at himself for allowing himself to get so wrapped up in Jo that she had this much power over him. But then he thought of how good it felt to be with her this morning. How much he loved watching their daughter play in the floor. How good it was to have them both hug themselves to him. He smiled slightly and hesitantly exited the car. He felt his steps slow as he entered her building, his fear growing with each step. He wasn't sure if he could survive another break with her; another conversation where she walked out the door. His mouth felt dry and his heart felt as if it would beat out of his chest. When he reached her door he straightened his shoulders and exhaled violently. He then reached up, hesitating slightly before knocking reservedly. He heard Jo call out "come in" and furrowed his brows as he turned the knob and pushed the door open. She was standing next to a pile of laundry scattered on the couch with Jessalyn's Seattle Zoo shirt in her hands. She grinned at him as she folded the garment, "There you are. I was starting to wonder what happened to you."

He turned to secure the door, "You don't lock the door anymore?"

She smiled softly, "I saw you pull in when I went down to check my mailbox. I knew you'd be right behind me, or so I thought." She eyed him carefully as she added the shirt to the stack of folded clothes on the coffee table, "You okay?"

He nodded self-consciously, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

She walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist, "Stop being awkward around me." She slowly leaned up to kiss him softly, "Just relax."

He pulled back and looked at her before stating in a low voice, "I'm trying."

She kept her arms around him but pulled back further to meet his eyes, "What can I do to make it better?"

His breath caught at her choice of words as he felt his anxiety slowly melting away, "You're doing it."

She bit her lip softly and reached up to place a hand on his cheek. She met his eyes and shook her head slightly, "I'm scared too you know."

He searched her eyes and allowed his guard to slip further, "Yeah?" She nodded and mouthed 'yeah' although no sound came out. He pulled her closely again and met her lips in a hesitant kiss. When he felt her respond, his hand roamed further up her back and he deepened the kiss, putting everything he could into it and wishing he never had to stop. He began to slow down, not wanting to overwhelm her, and placed soft, feathery kisses on her lips. He slowly pulled away from her, but kept his hands on her hips and watched as she tried to catch her breath. He smirked slightly, "So how was your day?"

She gave a silent laugh and mumbled 'tease' as she walked back over to fold more of the clothing, "It was fine."

Alex narrowed his eyes in confusion, "So were you able to see the therapist?"

She nodded as she put a stack of towels on the coffee table, "Yeah."

He looked at her expectantly as he took a step small towards her, "And?"

Jo looked back at him and smiled widely, "We have a full on green light. I believe her exact words were 'what took you so long?' She was almost as excited as I was and wanted to know why I was in her office and not spending my day with you if you can believe that." Jo laughed slightly to herself and raised an eyebrow as she looked back to Alex, "She actually winked as she told me to enjoy the rest of my day. So yeah, I think she's totally on board with this."

Alex gave her a longing stare and when their eyes met he noticed a slight shiver that ran through her as her breath caught. He nodded once with his hands on his hips, "Well alright then." He then quickly walked to her, his eyes never losing contact with hers. He scooped her up in his arms and kissed her like his life depended on it. She moaned and then squealed as his hands moved onto her bottom to pull her up further and her legs instinctively wrapped around him. He walked quickly across the apartment to her room with her laughing merrily as she hugged him tightly and nuzzled his neck.

Alex slowly awoke to Jo's light kisses on his back as he lay exhausted on his abdomen. The left side of his lips curled slightly as his eyes remained closed, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Jo giggled and moved up to nuzzle his ear, "I can't help myself."

Alex turned his head to look at her with a grin, "I thought you were tired."

She smiled brightly, "What can I say, you reinvigorate me. I can never get enough of you."

He watched as she kissed his shoulder softly and smiled teasingly at her, "You're the one who dumped me remember?"

Her eyes flew open and quickly met his, relaxing as she realized he was teasing, "Ugh don't remind me. I'm sorry I woke you, I have just missed you so much that I can't keep my hands off of you."

She quickly met his lips in a sweet kiss. He opened his eyes marginally as she leaned back slowly, "Can we talk about that?"

She curled her right arm underneath her head, "Me missing you?" She took his hand into hers and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb, "I missed everything. Being able to stare at you without worrying about getting caught staring at you, being able to touch you without a reason, being able to be so close to you I can hear you breathe..." She looked up to meet his eyes and gave a slight grin, "I even missed your morning breath."

Alex gave a lopsided smile as he readjusted to lay on his side facing her, "Ha, ha."

Jo giggled softly and intertwined their fingers, "And your hands. You have the sexiest hands ever. I get hypnotized whenever you're punching away on a tablet at work. And knowing what all you can do with these?" She gave him a flirty look before looking down at her hand in his, "I really missed being able to hold your hand."

Alex felt his heart in his throat, "That's uh...not really what I was wanting to talk about. Why..." He glanced up and met her questioning eyes, "I need to understand what I did that made you think... I need to know why you broke up with me. What made you decide to do it?"

She nodded and bit her lip as she looked back down at their joined hands, "I...It felt like you were pulling away. Like you didn't want me anymore, like I was keeping you from being happy. I don't know, it just felt like you were done. And I knew you wouldn't end us so I decided to do it for you." She slowly looked up to meet his eyes and held his gaze, "I never stopped loving you, Alex. I hope you know that. I did what I did because I wanted you to be happy and I didn't think I was making you happy anymore. I didn't want it to get to a point that you despised my existence or hated the thought of me and that's where it felt like we were headed. I just...you told me before that you never really broke up with anyone on your own, that you either didn't take them back after they hurt you or you pushed them away until they left on their own and I just thought...I thought that's what you were doing with me and I didn't...I don't ever want you to settle...for anything. You deserve to be happy more than anyone I've ever known and if me letting you go would make you happy then that's what I wanted to do for you."

Alex blinked a few times in surprise, "You thought I was done?"

Jo nodded and looked down, "That's what it felt like. You pushing me so hard, yelling that I was crazy, not kissing me anymore, not noticing that you hadn't kissed me...even when I would say things like 'what would I do without you' you would pull away. I didn't know how else to take that other than you didn't want me anymore. And then you acting dismissive after we slept together, it just reaffirmed those feelings to me."

Alex pushed her hair gently behind her ear with the tips of his fingers, "I'm sorry, that's not...it was never about not wanting you, I just didn't know how to deal with you and what was going on. I felt like I was in...I don't know...it was impossible. Or it felt that way. No matter what I did it seemed wrong. And the other morning was just me not wanting to hear you say you regretted sleeping with me."

Jo met his eyes intently, "I could never regret being with you."

He gave a sad smile, "Me neither."

"I don't know. I think looking back at it you really didn't do anything out of the ordinary." She glanced up to give him a teasing look, "I mean you are kind of an ass sometimes."

Alex grinned and rolled his eyes, "Thanks."

Jo smiled brightly, "It makes you who you are and I love who you are. I just...I should have told you I was hurting. That those things I usually love were tearing me apart inside and maybe you seem miserable all the time and I just don't notice."

He placed a hand on her waist and met her eyes to make sure she was listening, "I have never been miserable when I'm with you. Not one second, ever." He watched as her eyes dropped to the mattress. He dipped his head to kiss her softly, "I mean that."

She nodded her head jerkily and looked up with tears in her eyes, "I should have listened when you brought up the counseling."

"And I shouldn't have acted so frustrated when you asked if we should go together. We can play this game all day, Jo. Let's just chalk it up to we're both idiots."

She laughed as she rolled onto her back to stretch before turning her head back to face him, "Just promise it's not going to happen again." She looked at him deeply with fear in her eyes, "Please, promise me that."

Alex rolled over to prop himself up on his arms over her. He looked down at her face full of uncertainty, "We can promise to try everything we can. I don't know about you, but I'm going to be working damn hard on this cause I don't ever want to go through that pain again."

Jo bit her bottom lip and nodded, "Me too. I need you."

"You have me." He leaned down and kissed her lips softly, "Always."

She smiled up at him and ran her hands up his arms, "Can we just stay this way forever? You and me?"

He smiled and raised his eyebrows at her, "I think Jessalyn might have an objection to that."

She smiled and smacked his arm lightly, "You know what I mean. This glow we have going on now will fade. I just...I don't want it to."

Alex gave a serious look, "I kinda like the boring, normal days. You know, just being comfortable with each other and doing normal stuff. But I don't think I'll be taking that for granted for a long while." His lips curled slightly as she nodded her head and ran her hand along his arm. He looked into her eyes deeply, "I still can't believe you did all this for me. Getting a new place, figuring out furniture and other stuff and all the rest of it...I've never had anyone sacrifice like that for me before."

She looked at him sadly, "I can't believe you didn't give up on me. I've never had anyone fight for me like this before." She reached up and cupped his cheek while running her fingertips along his hair, "I love you, Alex."

He got lost in her eyes briefly before he closed the gap between them, "I'm pretty crazy for you myself." He met her lips sweetly, slowly intensifying the kiss while his hand explored her side and slowly moved to her chest.

She moaned into his kisses and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. When he moved to start kissing her neck she placed her hands on the back of his head to urge him on. "One more round of make-up sex before getting Jess?" she asked breathlessly.

Alex nodded and moved to her collarbone, "At least one."

She whimpered slightly, "Then go eat somewhere before going back home?"

Alex felt his heart skip a beat. He raised up from her chest to gaze at her, "You wanna come back home?"

Jo looked away quickly, "If it's too soon I don't have to." She caressed his upper arm and turned to look at him, "I mean I can stay here longer. We can date or whatever. Take it as slow as you need to. Whatever you want to do."

Alex shook his head while maintaining eye contact, "No, no I want you to come home. I just wasn't sure..."

"Oh thank God, cause I already took a load of things over there today." She giggled softly, "That could have been awkward."

Alex broke out into a huge grin and said with awe, "You're coming back."

She smiled brightly and quickly brought him back down to her lips for a deep kiss, both quickly getting lost in each other again.