Family Man

Alex hurried through the paperwork he was finishing up. He had one more discharge to do and then he was headed home. It was Friday and he didn't work again until the night shift Monday night, Briar's birthday. The boy was having three of his new friends spend the night tonight to kick off the start of his "birthday weekend celebration", and Alex knew Jo would be ready for reinforcements by the time he got off work.

He snatched up a stack of papers and went to Hattie's room. Hattie was a three year old girl he had treated over the past few days. She had had kidney stones, but she was finally getting to go home. "Do you know what this is?" Alex asked the girl crouching down to her level and waving the papers.

The little girl grinned at her favorite doctor and shook her head, "Uh uh. What dat?"

"These are the papers that tell your mommy and daddy that you can go home," he answered with wide eyes.

Hattie's face lit up, "Weally, I wanna go home," she got up walked to the middle of the room looking around with a finger pressed to her lips, "Where my suitcase?" The adults in the room all chuckled, and Alex proceeded to give her parents the discharge instructions and had them sign all the necessary papers to release the little girl.

Hattie had been one of Alex's favorite patients and he was going to miss her. He couldn't help but think about maybe someday having a daughter of his own. After all Briar needed a sibling or two, didn't he? There was still a small smile on his face as he entered the locker room. Izzie took the opportunity to ask him out once again, "Ah, he does smile," she teased with a bat of her eyelashes, "So, since you are obviously in such a good mood, I know you want to come out to Joe's with us and have drinks," she smiled sweetly.

He grunted and rolled his eyes. He had been ignoring Izzie all this time; he really thought she would have given up and moved on by now. "No. The answer is always no," he said before casually spitting out, "I'm going home to my family," on his way out of the room. The door swung shut behind him leaving the other interns staring after him in surprise.

Dr. Bailey, who had heard the whole exchange, smiled knowingly to herself. She could tell there was something more to him than he gave away, and judging by his interactions with pediatric patients she could have guessed he had a kid or two of his own. Izzie on the other hand, wasn't buying it, "Did he just say family?" she shook her head, "There is no way."

"Well," Cristina snickered, "If he is lying about it, he's going to great lengths to shake you; just give up already. He's not interested."

Jo picked Briar and his three friends Kyle, Zack, and Ben, up from school and after a snack the boys were playing out in the Karev's backyard. Alex would be home in about an hour and Jo was just finishing cleaning up after the boys' snack when there was a knock at the front door. She threw the door open and was met by a petite blonde trying to hide the scowl on her face. "We haven't met; I'm Amy," the woman said in a clipped tone.

"Oh you're Kyle's mom," Jo smiled holding out her hand, "I'm Jo. The boys really seem to..."

"Yes, Kyle's mom and Eric's wife," she stressed the last word interrupting Jo.

Jo's eyebrows wrinkled and she nodded, "Yeah, and Eric's wife," she acknowledged in confusion. She didn't know what the other woman was getting at.

"It seems you and my husband have been talking a lot lately, getting very friendly," the neighbor accused suspiciously.

Jo almost laughed at the absurdity; was this woman jealous? She kept her composure and explained, "I wouldn't say we've been 'getting friendly' really. Our boys are friends and we're neighbors, of course we talk sometimes. Eric has even been nice enough to pick Briar up and keep him for me when I have a late class. I'd do the same for you guys anytime."

Amy studied Jo, "Well, unlike my husband, I don't think you can ever be too cautious with your kids. I want to know the person who my son is staying with. I never approved this sleepover. I don't know if I'm comfortable with Kyle spending the night at the home of a young single mother," she challenged.

"Wait a minute," Jo interjected holding up her hand to stop the woman's words, "I don't know where you got your information, but I am not single. We've been married for eight years."

"That's what you say. You told Eric you are married to a surgeon, but where is he? We never see him, and why are you living in this neighborhood if he's a doctor?" she asked skeptically.

"Wow, you don't even know me and you're calling me a liar," Jo was getting angry, "Let me just set you straight; I am married, my husband just got out of med school and is a surgical intern, and now I am in med school. We could afford to live in this neighborhood and it seemed clean and family friendly. I thought we would have nice neighbors and maybe there would be some other kids for Briar to play with." The sound of the boys' laughter floated over the fence from the backyard and even though Jo was seething she decided to try for Briar's sake. She took a deep calming breath, "Now, if you would like to come in and really get to know me, I would really like it if Kyle was allowed to stay and I know Briar would like it too." The other woman nodded, her face tinged with embarrassment. "And hey, if you stay long enough you can meet my imaginary husband too," Jo couldn't help herself.

She led Amy into the living room and offered her a seat on the couch. Amy sat and looked around the room taking in the family pictures on the wall, "He's cute, your husband I mean," she said sheepishly in way of apology, pointing at the picture the family had taken after Alex and Jo's graduations.

Jo smile proudly, "Yeah he is," she agreed.

"Look, I'm sorry, Jo," Amy started, "I'm just.. It's just.. It's hard, you know. We don't see each other enough, and I guess I'm just insecure. Then I see the 'new neighbor lady' and she's beautiful and talking to my husband and I just flipped. He said you were married but I haven't ever seen your husband so I just... I'm sorry."

Jo laughed softly, "It's okay. I understand. But believe me, I am not interested in Eric." She reached over and squeezed the distraught woman's hand. "If you ever need us to watch your kids so you guys can go out and have time together I was serious when I said I would keep them," Jo offered with a shrug.

"Thanks," Amy smiled, "Marriage is hard, as I'm sure you know, and I'm always afraid Eric is going to find some woman who gives him attention and has time for him and he's going to fall for her," she admitted sadly. "It's happened before," she whispered. Jo's heart broke for the stranger on her couch. They didn't even know each other and there she was pouring her heart out. "I'm so sorry," she gasped and quickly wiped a tear away. "I did not mean to air all my dirty laundry out in front of you," she couldn't believe she had just let that slip out.

"Don't worry about it," Jo said going to the kitchen to get Amy something to drink and giving the woman a chance to pull herself together. "And if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm a good listener," she offered.

The two women spent the next half hour getting to know one another. Finally, Amy looked at her watch and stood up, "I better get back home; I left Kyra there alone."

Jo stood up also, ready to walk Amy to the door. "Yeah, I need to order some pizza for these boys, and Alex should be home..." her eyes lit up as Alex let himself in. "Hi, hon!" She made introductions and then Amy said goodbye.

When the neighbor was gone, Jo took advantage of the boys still being outside and greeted Alex with a long passionate kiss. "Hi," he mumbled against her lips. He held her close and they shared a few more brief kisses. "I could get used to being greeted like that," he smirked.

"Mmhm," Jo nuzzled him, "But we usually have prying eyes watching and a little boy competing for your attention."

Alex laughed, "That's true, and we wouldn't change it for the world."