Stephanie left to lead the paramedics into the building and listed off Jo's stats to Kevin and Nicole as they came into the Loft with the gurney.
"Is this the guy that attacked her?" Kevin said, looking at him with disdain as he leaned down to check him over.
"Yeah," Stephanie mumbled, looking back at Jo as Nicole knelt down beside her.
"Okay, let's take her first. The second ambulance should be here soon. Are you two okay riding with?" Nicole asked, looking over at them as she grabbed the board.
Alex and Stephanie both nodded as they helped Nicole get Jo up and onto the gurney. Another ambulance came for him, Stephanie wasn't sure what to call him. Jo never said his name, not that he deserved one. She spared him one last glance before she helped Nicole and Alex push Jo's gurney and out of the loft.
The ambulance ride was quiet. Nicole gave Jo some pain meds and other drugs that knocked her out, and she attached a bag to the end of Jo's tube. Alex tucked the blanket around her and held her hand. Stephanie saw a few tears escape his eyes as she fought back tears of her own.
They arrived at Grey-Sloan in a matter of minutes and Cross and another resident met them in the ambulance bay.
"Oh my God, what happened," Cross asked, pausing as he looked down at Jo on the stretcher, despite how Nicole was listing off Jo's stats and injuries.
They wheeled her into trauma room one, and Stephanie and Alex reached for a fresh pair of gloves as they began to work on Jo and ordered the interns around. "Let's get x-rays in a portable ultrasound to check the blood flow in the carotid arteries on the left and the right. Page Avery and Amelia, I don't want whoever's on call for Neuro. Jo deserves the best."
"Oh my God, what happened," Warren said as he and Bailey walked into the room, pausing at the end of the bed.
"Possible collapsed trachea as well as other crush injuries to the spine, and possible compromised blood flow to the left carotid artery," Stephanie said as she attached the monitors to Jo's chest.
"Okay, both you and Karev need to step away from her right now," Bailey said, walking up the side of the stretcher and putting her hand on Alex's arm.
"No, I'm not sitting on the sidelines, it's Jo!" Alex insisted, gripping the railing of Jo's bed not taking his eyes off of her.
"I can see that, Alex, and I can also see that you are in no state to be here," Bailey said back, putting his hand on his chest. "We are going to take good care of Jo."
"Listen to Dr. Bailey," Warren said, backing her up and looking over at Alex. "Jo's stable and her vital signs are good. She's in good hands and we will update you as often as we can."
"Dr. Bailey, we have another patient. Should I take them to trauma room two?" One of the nurses asked as Stephanie watched the gurney with Jo's abusive husband roll by.
"Yes, and page whoever's on call," Bailey said as the nurse left. "Cross get him out of here."
Alex reluctantly let Cross push him out of the room, his eyes never leaving Jo until the door slide close in front of him.
"Edwards, I need you next door to assess the patient that just came in," Bailey said as she looked over Jo.
"No."
Stephanie looked down at Jo's neck, seeing her unconscious in front of her with the black and blue bruising that he caused. She knew she'd kill him in anger if she went next door, despite her vow to do no harm.
"No," Bailey said, outraged that one of her doctors defined her orders.
"That's the asshole that did this to her."
"Okay," Bailey said, nodding at her before she gave Warren and Cross the order to go next door.
Alex stood outside in the hall, staring at the trauma room where Cross pushed him out. They had drawn the curtains around it so that he couldn't see anything. Alex couldn't move. He just stood there in the middle of the ER. He stumbled back into another nurse who gave him a strange look and politely told him to move out of the way. Alex walked over to the hall between the trauma rooms. It was a little quieter there than in the middle of the ER and he still stared at the room where Jo was.
He walked until his back was pressed against the wall and his knees gave out as he slid down to sit on the floor. The weight of the night and the realization of what had happened finally dawned upon him as he had nothing to keep his mind or his hands occupied. Sitting there in the hall, everything that just happened replayed in his mind. The image of Jo on the floor with his hands around her neck was frozen behind his eyelids. It was the most frightening thing Alex had ever seen. The thought that he could lose her finally hits him.
There was a tightness in his chest and he could barely breathe. All he could think about was Jo. He knew she was stable. He knew she was alive, but he was a doctor, and he knew how things could change in an instant. Before he even realized it, heavy tears fell down his cheeks as he started crying. Heavy sobs shook his shoulders as he put a hand over his face and cried.
He cried harder than he had in a long time, and his tears streaked down his cheeks in hot angry rivers. If he hadn't been there. If he hadn't come back. He doesn't want to think about what would have happened to Jo or to Stephanie if he hadn't been there. If that guy, that asshole had shown up. All because of what? Because he wanted Jo to marry him, because he wouldn't take her no for an answer, because he thought getting married was more important than just being with her. Looking back now, it all seemed so insignificant compared to the thought of losing her, truly losing her.
His hands formed into fists as his anger ran hot again. Anger at himself for what he had said to her that morning, for leaving her alone, and for thinking about never coming back. His hands hurt for the first time in hours as he looked down at them to see the bruising on his knuckles. He had reacted out of pure instinct as he ran over and punched the guy. His only thought was of getting him off of Jo as quickly as possible.
He let his anger fuel him, and at first, he thought he was doing it just so the guy would stay down, but he kept punching long after the man's eyes had swelled closed and he had grown limp in Alex's hands. Stephanie had to scream at him to get his attention, and as he looked back, he realized he left Jo gasping for air. He should have helped her, but instead, he kept punching, and he was lucky Jo didn't asphyxiate.
He let his rage feel him. He left Jo to die and chose to go after her attacker rather than help her. That scared him. The same anger that had filled him now was the same anger he had when he was standing over his father's at sixteen-year-old. Alex could have killed his father then, and he could have killed this man now. If that guy ever dared look at Jo again, he knew he wouldn't hesitate too, because even though Alex didn't know the full story, he knew he had to protect Jo. There was both Justice and Injustice in those actions, revenge for the hands they had laid upon others and to the extreme that others had to pull him away had not been for Stephanie tonight. Had it had not been for his mother screaming at him when he was sixteen, who knows how long he would have kept going.
Alex knew that somehow this man knew Jo and that there was a reason behind why he attacked her, but Alex didn't care. Jo didn't deserve that. Nobody did, but he couldn't get answers until Stephanie stepped out of the room. Alex wouldn't drag her away from Jo, not when she needed her. Jo needed someone looking after her, someone who loved her, and if it couldn't be him, he was glad that it was Stephanie.
Alex couldn't sit there in that hallway alone anymore, so he pulled out his phone. He had grabbed it before they left and put it in his back pocket. Meredith's number was the only one he thought of and she answered within a few rings.
"Hey, Alex. What's up?" Meredith asked in a happy tone, sound the upbeat wedding music in the background.
"It's Jo," That was all Alex was able to say before he started sobbing again, mumbling to Meredith through his tears. "There was a guy in the loft. I woke up because I heard the plant fall over. I thought that Jo or Stephanie had tripped over it, but there was this guy, and he was on top of her. I didn't even think about it, I, I just went at him…"
"Alex, slow down, slow down, slow down. Take a breath." Meredith said as Alex did as she instructed despite the lump in his throat. "What happened to Jo?"
"I woke up, and there was a man in our Loft on top of her. He was choking her. I just punched him. I had to get him off of her." Alex shook his head. He should have just punched him once and then helped Jo. "But she wasn't breathing, Meredith, she couldn't breathe. Stephanie had to intubate her. We're at the hospital now, and Jo's stable, but she wasn't breathing, Mer."
"Okay, I'm on my way," Meredith said and he could hear her moving around. "I'll bring Rigs with me and we will take care of Jo, okay."
Alex could only nod, but he knew Meredith understood.
"Okay, I'm going to hang up now, but I'll be there soon."
Alex nodded again, and she hung up, but he still held the phone against his ear. He watched the trauma room and watched Avery enter. Everything was just muffled voices, and he couldn't make out what anyone was saying, but still, he watched the room for any sign that Jo was okay or not.
"I'm here," Jackson said, walking into the room and approaching the bed. "Is that Jo? What the hell?"
"Looks like tracheal occlusion injuries with compression of both carotid arteries. She was conscious and alert at the scene and was breathing on her own despite how Dr. Edwards was forced to intubate her. Neuro has been by and has signed off. We're keeping an eye on the injuries to her carotid artery. The blood flow wasn't too compromised, but we're keeping an eye on the crush injuries to her chest. She's got two broken ribs, the 3rd and 4th on the left. Neuro said there were no spinal fractures on the x-rays, but we're still waiting for a head and neck CT and MRI," Bailey said, ever steady as she held the Carotid doppler and double checked the blood flow to Jo's left carotid artery.
Jackson seemed taken aback, but nonetheless, he continued with his examination as he looked over the x-rays. "I want those scans as soon as possible. X-rays look good, with no damage or perforations to the lungs, but there's a lot of swelling in her neck. Do we have labs?"
"Not yet," Bailey answered, setting the doppler down and carefully cleaning the jell off of Jo's neck.
"Okay, well, she appears stable for now, but I'd like to do a bronchoscopy and maybe an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, but let's see what the labs and scans say," Jackson said as he looked up to check Jo's oxygenation levels. "Who did this?"
Stephanie could feel his eyes on her and she just looked down at Jo. She looked so peaceful. Stephanie had cleaned up the little scratches on her neck, but they were insignificant compared to the bruising that colored the skin of her neck and chest. The rest of her face and body was unmarked, but she was unconscious and intubated, unable to breathe without the tube that might be permanent.
"The guy next door," Stephanie said, not taking her eyes off of Jo. Even though she was stable for now, Stephanie couldn't take her eyes off of her unconscious friend.
"The guy in the next trauma room. The guy whose face I just fixed, the guy who I'm about to operate on as well. He did this to Jo?"
"Yes."
"You were there. What happened?" Jackson asked as both he and Bailey looked at Stephanie.
"He attacked her. I don't know how he got into the Loft, I just woke up, and he was on top of her. Alex, he got him off, but Jo couldn't breathe. She kept scratching at her neck and gasping for air."
Stephanie had seen a lot of things in life, but nothing like this, nothing like the act of violence she had witnessed against her best friend. The image of Jo on the floor of the Loft and the way she sounded as she gasped for air, like the wind through a haunted house, replayed in her mind.
They had a girl's night and watched the horror movie just a few days ago. The two of them had curled up on the couch in the Loft with pizza and beer. Jo had curled into her side and hid her face in Stephanie's shoulder at every jump scare. Meanwhile, Stephanie had made fun of the way the characters has screamed as the wind shifted through the house like a howling wolf. Little did she know that that sound would haunt her now. She sat down and trailed her fingers down Jo's cheek, brushing her hair out of her face.
"Make sure that you keep him as far away from her as possible. I'll call the police and have security cuff him to the bed. As soon as we get her labs back, see if you need to have her transferred up to the OR for the bronchoscopy, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and have cardo on standby for anything else. I'm going to go page security Stephanie, can you stay with her until another general surgeon gets here?" Bailey asked, stripping off her gloves.
Stephanie didn't know how she could be so steady in a situation like this, but she was glad someone was in charge and knew what to do.
"I'm not going anywhere," Stephanie said, staring down at Jo as she grabbed her hand and sat down at her bedside.
Jackson nodded, and Bailey gave Jo one last glance. A look of concern crossed her face, but only for a moment before she schooled her features and walked out. Stephanie reached out and put her hand on Jo's cheek, her skin was warm and soft, and she was alive.
"Stephanie," Jackson said in his affectionate tone that he still had for her. Over the years, they had become friends again, but Stephanie didn't want his affection now.
"I should change her into a gown. Can you step out and go get Alex? He's out in the hall. He'll want to see her and get an update," Stephanie said quickly as she stripped off her gloves and wiped her face. She turned away from Jo, for the first time reaching around to the drawer where they kept the hospital gowns.
"Yeah," Jackson said, before he left, the sound of the doors opening and closing was the only thing Stephanie heard signaling his departure.
There wasn't much to take off, just the blanket they had put around Jo's legs, and the shirt she was wearing that was still open so they could keep an eye on her heart and lungs. Stephanie still remembered how his knee pushed into Jo's chest, and she was careful not to cause Jo any more pain as she undressed her. Stephanie cut the shirt off and put the gown on Jo before she cut off her bralette before bragging the blanket. Jackson and Alex appeared in the doorway as Jackson gave Alex a rundown of Jo's status and her plan of care.
"I didn't want to roll her over to tie the gown," Stephanie said as she brought the blanket back up and tucked it around Jo's stomach and legs.
Alex nodded as he perched on the stool on the other side of the bed. He grabbed Jo's hand, holding it close to his lips. Stephanie looked up and she could tell that he had been crying as the tears were still there on his cheeks.
"I need to go check her labs and have an OR on stand by. I should probably check on April too. Are you two okay here?"
They both only nodded as they stared down at Jo, and Jackson left again, leaving them alone. Stephanie looked up at Alex, and she knew he had a million questions for her, but he just looked down at Jo. He put his hand on her cheek and brushed away the streaks of her mascara with his thumb as he also held her hand close to his chest. He was completely focused on Jo. The questions would have to wait.
Things grew quiet as the only sound in the room was the beeping of the heart monitors above them and the other machine that was breathing for her. The monitors were strangely comforting. Stephanie had gotten used to them as a doctor. Watching over patience and staring at the monitors until it was all she could hear when she closed her eyes. The sounds of the monitors meant that Jo's heart was beating and she was breathing. With each passing moment, she healed. So, for now, the two of them held her hands and watched over her.