A/N: Hey, I'm back! I'll try my best to be consistent with updates, however this next month I will be moving to a new province and getting ready to start school in the fall! Bear with me!

Anyway,

Enjoy!

Alex unlocked the door to Meredith's house, crept up the stairs and down the all familiar hallway. He needed to talk to her. She wouldn't mind. He couldn't get rid of these thoughts about him and Jo. The door was already open a crack, so he pushed it open. Meredith's snores filled the room. He smirked, happy for her. It was good, she looked so peaceful.

But now he was going to disturb her peace.

Oh well.

Alex fell heavily on the empty side of the bed, jostling it. Still, Mere slept. He poked her,"Mere." He poked a little harder, "Mere! Wake up."

"Mm."

"Wake up!"

She bolted up. The covers flew, "coming!"

"Relax, it's me!"

"Alex! You scared the crap outta me," She gasped, a hand on her chest. "What are you doing here? It's-" she looked at the clock, "two in the morning!"

"Jo told me, Mere."

"Told you what?"

"About her husband."

"Jo has a husband? She's married?"

Alex shifted on the bed as Meredith sat up. "Let me tell you what happened."

"Hey," Alex said. He slipped an arm around the small of Jo's back to get her situated on the couch. He stuffed a pillow behind her. "You good?"

"Yeah," she said. "Did you hear from Amber?"

Alex nodded, "She went back to Iowa to get her stuff. She's gonna move here. Pruitt said that guy Brent- came up in other investigations. And his dad, Martin? Grade A asshole. Feds were investigating him for sex trafficking."

"What?"

"Yeah," he paused and licked his lips. "Jo, they never found the gun."

"Oh. What does that mean?"

"It looks like Brent shot himself. And you. But they've got nothing on Amber."

"But I told Pruitt-"

"Pruitt kept his mouth shut. Amber's clear," Alex said. "Dani's in foster care till we can work something out, and the gun's been forgotten." That was that to him. All loose ends tied up. Except- "Jo-"

"Alex-"

"You're married."

"I-"

"You almost died," he said. "All I could think was that I didn't want to live without you." He could see the tears forming on the rims of her eyes, but he kept pressing. "I love you. Why didn't you tell me?"

"-I was scared."

"Of what? That I'd be mad at you?"

"No, not that, Alex. Of Paul. He's a psychopath."

He felt her shudder in his arms.

"He lured me in," Jo continued. "Gave me everything, made me feel like a queen. Until we got married, then he changed. If I went shopping and bought something wrong, he'd punch me in the stomach or slap me in the face. He'd apologize, and swear not do it again. But he did. He beat me, cut me off from my friends. Made me feel like I had nothing except him. One day-" She stopped, cleared her throat, "-one day he didn't stop." Jo turned her face and wiped the track of tears off her cheek, "I blacked out. When I came to, he was gone. I got up and never came back."

Alex blew out a breath. Her confession hit him like a truck. He'd never imagined… Though looking back, he did see the signs. Things clicked. Like how she'd been afraid to sign that stupid paper, and that one night when she'd beaten up that guy- Peckwell?

Alex rubbed his face with his hands, tamping the lava rising in his chest. Who would want to hurt her? Why? It was so wrong.

"So, I'm married, and I… can't get a divorce, because if he finds me- he'll kill me." Jo continued.

"Jo-"

"I'm serious."

"I know," Alex grit, trying not to show his anger. That bastard Paul. He'll kill him.

"Look, if I'm gone one day. It's not because of you, okay? It's because of him."

No. Jo shouldn't have to run, give up everything. It's not fair. "No, don't go anywhere. We've been to hell and back, and I'm not letting you go after everything we've been through."

Alex sighed, catching his breath. He looked at Meredith for support.

She gazed back at him, expression soft and understanding in the moon-lit room. "What are you gonna do?" she asked.

"I love her. I want to marry her. But-"

"-Well, Derek and I had the Post-it. He loved me, I loved him. We said forever. That's what mattered."

Alex sighed, "I know." He got the implication of the post-it. Having a wedding, signing a marriage certificate, didn't always mean forever. But he was a grown-up now. He wanted the grown-up life. So he was willing to take the risk.

"You want the paper."

His fingernails bit the insides of his palms. The easy route wasn't always the best route. Sign a post-it, say I 'love you' and 'forever' but then wake up one morning to an empty bed, because of that bastard. "I hate him, Mere. I hate that he did this to her. I hate that she's trapped like this."

"She's not ready Alex. You're asking her to put her life on the line."

True. Jo's fear was so palpable, it even scared him, though he'd never admit it. "I know, I know. I just don't know what to do."

"Just do what you're doing. Love her. Protect her. Make her feel safe. It's all you can do," Meredith offered.

"Yeah," he sighed. It didn't feel enough. "I guess."

xxx

Amelia turned burrowed against a hard warm chest. Owen. He hadn't spoken much since he arrived.

"Owen."

He stood in the doorway of the lab, unkempt and worse for wear. But his tired gaze fell on her.

"You're back."

"Yeah."

She stepped closer, hesitant. "Did you find her?" In the flurry of Herman's tumor removal, and everything that happened between her and Meredith, Amelia's feelings for Owen had landed on the backburner admittedly.

"We um, yeah." He shifted. She looked down at his boots, dirty and red-stained.

"She's alive?" Amelia swallowed. Please be alive, please be alive.

He nodded curtly. Took another step forward. "She's… stable."

"Stable? She was hurt?"

"I can't-" he rubbed his forehead. "I-"

Immediately she wanted to calm him. He made it this far. He made it back. His sister was alive, that had to be good, right? "Okay," she stepped closer. "It's okay." She wrapped her arms around him.

He sunk like a falling oak into her arms. She let him rest there, listening to his heavy breaths.

He shouldn't be alone. "Let's go home," she said. She'll take him to Meredith's. Besides, everyone would be already asleep. He could crash on the couch. No one would mind.

Owen followed her silently, almost dazed.

When they got home, Amelia moved to the kitchen. "Can I get you something? Water?" She poured him a glass.

He took a sip.

"You can stay here tonight. Meredith won't mind. As you can see, we made up." That reminded her! He probably didn't know about Anna or Zola! "Oh, did you hear-"

He pulled her tightly into him, engulfed her mouth with his. He kissed and kissed. She couldn't get a breath or a word out. All rational thought was replaced by desire.

Now he lay against her, asleep. She should wake him. They did some wonderful reconnecting on Mere's couch, in the living room. Not the most private place. "Owen? Owen?" she poked him. He didn't move.

Something happened out there. Something big. They should do the talking thing. Yet apprehension bombarded her. What if she opened some Pandora's box of messy feelings? What if he rejected her? She couldn't handle it.

She really should wake him, though. If only to get to her own bed. . He looked so peaceful this way though. She sighed. A few more minutes…

…

Warm sunlight filled the room. Morning. Voices filled the space around her. Amelia blinked. What? Where?

"We can't just leave her-"

"-yes we can. She's made me late too many times, she knows better than to be late for carpool-"

Meredith? She shook her head, and blinked awake in time to see Maggie and Meredith in the foyer.

Huh?

"Kids, don't look!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Who dat?" Little Anna asked as Maggie shoved her and Zola out the door.

"What?" Meredith gasped. "Hey!"

Oh crap, Amelia thought as she realized her circumstances. Crap, crap crap!

"Owen!" Amelia pushed him. He jumped off, and Meredith and Maggie stared in shock. At him, at his-

Oh no.

"Ah!" he gasped. He snatched a pillow to cover himself.

"Oops," Amelia cringed. "Sorry!" she called out. Maggie and Meredith frowned and shook their heads.

"You got five minutes to get in the car!" Meredith yelled, slamming the door.

Owen slipped on his boxers and jeans. "That, was-"

"-They're doctors, it's nothing to be embarrassed about." Amelia said, searching for her clothes. Bra, check. Blouse, check. Panties? Hmm, nevermind.

"-Well it's not anything I wanted them to see," he continued, still obviously embarrassed.

"Owen, we should talk," Amelia blurted. Pants. Where were her pants?

Owen sunk back onto the couch, head in his hands.

Amelia's phone beeped. 'Two minutes!' Meredith texted her.

"Owen, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Sure."

Clearly, he wasn't. She shouldn't leave him. She should call and find someone to cover her today. "Are you sure? You seem-"

"Amelia, I'm fine alright!"

"Alright, okay." Her heart crumbled as she hopped on one foot to slip on her pants. Whatever it was, he wasn't ready.

HONK! HONK! HONKKK!

"Just- Take it easy today, okay?" she told Owen.

."Sorry," Amelia said while climbing into the backseat between Anna and Zola. She buckling herself in. "We fell asleep."

"Someone was awake," Meredith muttered.

"Auntie Amy, who dat man?" asked Anna.

"Major Hunt, reporting for duty," said Maggie.

Amelia's cheeks flushed. "Can we not talk about it? In front of the kids?"

"I don't know why you're embarrassed," Meredith said as she pulled out of the driveway. "We should be congratulating you."

"Auntie, you're bare-assed?" asked Anna.

Amelia covered her face. "Uh- I'm gonna grab a different ride home."

"Don't worry," said Meredith. "I'm sure after this, Owen will be inviting you over to his place-"

"I don't know- we can't be in a relationship. I mean, I have too much stuff, Owen has too much stuff-"

"Yeah, we all saw his stuff." Maggie interjected.

"Yeah. Wait, shut up!"

"I didn't see his stuff," piped in Anna. "Where was it?"

xxx

Jo moved gingerly from the kitchen to the couch, carrying a bowl of cereal with her. Her incision was still painful, but she found it easier and easier to move every day. Idly, she checked her phone. Nothing from Alex. He'd been distant, busy at work and taking all the on-call cases. At least that's what he claimed. She missed him. She'd said this big thing, and now…

She picked up the card Webber had given her.

"Wilson? What are you doing here at work? You should be home, resting."

"I need to um, - do you have a minute?"

"Of course." He opened the door wider, to let her in. "What can I help you with?"

"You had a divorce, right?"

Webber blinked. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, this is awkward. The thing is… I was married. I am married. Still. With someone else who-" she halted, not wanting to reveal her life story yet. "I need to get a divorce, is what I'm trying to say."

It took some doing, but Richard was helpful. She suspected he had a good idea what was going on anyway. At the end, he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a rolodex. He ruffled through the worn bundle and handed her a card. "My lawyer. He's one of the best. He'll help you out."

She'd thanked him profusely. The Chief, being the kind soul he was, even told her to tell the lawyer to 'put it on his tab.'

"Alex is a good man," he said. "He loves you. He'll help you. If you let him."

She stared at the coffee table in front of her. On it rested the two most significant items in her life at the moment. Divorce papers, and the ring she found in Alex's sock drawer.

Her heart thudded with fear and promise.

Don't go anywhere. We've been to hell and back, and I'm not letting you go after everything we've been through.

Crap.

xxx

Alex rubbed his eyes, exhausted, but trying not to let it affect him. It'd been a busy morning, he'd left Meredith's at the crack of dawn. "Blake, I'll need a CBC and chem 7 on Batman in room four. Then call down for an abdominal CT. I wanna make sure we don't have to open him up." Batman, eight-year old Bruce Carson, had kidney problems he hoped wasn't cancer.

"Yes sir," Blake replied. She was turning out to be a capable doctor and surgeon, despite her history with the ill begotten Dillard.

He approached the desk. "Can I get Riley's papers?" The nurse handed them over for him to update. Hopefully he could discharge this one later today.

Meredith joined him at the desk, "You talk to Jo yet?" she asked.

"No," he kept his attention on the form he was filling.

"Did you even go home?"

"No."

"Alex-"

"Mere-"

"-Look, you love her, and she loves you. That should be enough. How does a marriage certificate and a wedding make it any different?"

Scowling, he looked up at her from his patient's form. He loved Meredith, but she didn't get it. He didn't want a post-it. He wanted a Marriage. And not because he deemed Mere's Post-it any less significant. But because he wanted to get down on one knee. He wanted pictures on the mantle, he wanted stupid wedding stories. Most of all, he wanted to feel like the grown-up he was becoming.

"Look, no disrespect to your post-it, but I want something... binding that says I'm hers and she's mine. Something that says if I choose to leave her, she can fight me on it. Something that says, you're so important, that if we split, you get half of my crap. I want that. Jo deserves that."

"I know she does. But does she want it?"

Alex handed Riley's form back to the admitting nurse. They just needed the kid's labs to come back within normal limits. "She's afraid," he said. "Signing a post-it is not gonna change that."

"And saying 'I do' will?"

His pager beeped. One of his kids finally pooped. "Maybe," he said. "I'm working on it."

Meredith squinted at him. He shrugged and walked away.

"Alex," Meredith called after him, "be careful!"

Xxx

Owen shrugged on his lab coat while walking out of the attendings lounge. What was he doing here? He shouldn't be here. A part of him knew that, but that part seemed to have faded to the background of his being. Everything was blurred, upside down and inside out.

And everything was rushing back.

Burning heat, black smoke. "Nathan! Megan!" he called. Only crackling flames responded. He lifted an arm to cover his nose and mouth as he stepped toward the upturned vehicle his sister and friend were trapped in. Somehow, he still clutched the backboard.

Movement. Gunfire. Shouting. "Major!" A soldier clapped his shoulder.

"Huh?"

He pointed. Together, they jogged toward the wreckage. Owen found the windshield. Not the windshield. The space where the windshield was supposed to be. He coughed and hacked, lungs irritated from the smoke. His eyes burned. When his vision cleared, a blackened body lay in front of him. He bent and tilted the head.

It was Nathan.

Owen blinked. Where was he now? Oh. The elevator. Why was it so hard to breathe? Vaguely he felt the tug of the elevator. He blinked. Breathed. The doors opened. He stepped out. Owen stood outside his body, watching himself.

He shouldered past two trauma nurses on the way to the pit.

No pulse. He pulled his fingers from his friend's carotid. No breath. No movement. Nathan was gone.

But then he moved!

Owen's ears rang. It was hard to see, everything was blurry again. He rested his elbow on top of something solid. What has that? Oh. He was leaning against the admitting desk. How did he get here? He blinked. An eager, animated face swam in front of him. Who?

"-He's got a head lac, and they both have abdominal injuries-"

The high pitched voice echoed around his headspace. Kepner?

"-Bailey's here, and I paged Dr. Webber. You can jump in if you want, but I think I got it covered-"

"-Okay." He nodded at Kepner's overly pleased expression. Autopilot again.

He blinked and saw a body.

Riggs moved again! How? "Nathan?" Owen turned him over. Oh. Riggs hadn't moved. It was Megan. Pushing off the body of her dead lover.

Blood erupted, "help-" she choked with blood covered teeth.

"Somebody help, please! Please, someone help us!"

Kepner whirled around. Owen tried to track her, but his body moved slowly, and his brain chugged along slower still.

A woman carrying a toddler scrambled over to a gurney, "she's choking on something!" she screamed, helpless.

The world turned off for a moment.

Megan coughed, "Owe- can't… breathe."

She stared up at him as he fumbled to touch her, to get her out. She was his sister. He had to- "Megan!"

She coughed. Blood spattered on her shirt. On his shirt. Megan painfully clutched at him. He closed his eyes.

Owen blinked. "O2 and Crike kit please!" Kepner called, moving to examine the child.

"Is she dying?"

Dying? No. No more dying. Owen propelled himself across the room "Move. Move!" He was at the bed, pushing Kepner aside. He reached. Turned the baby over. With his left hand on the sternum, he raised his right hand. WHACK! WHACK! Two solid thumps to the baby's back, between the shoulder blades. A penny flew out of the Baby's mouth.

"Oh my God! What did you do?"

Cries filled the ER. He barely took notice. "How long has she been choking?" he asked the shocked father.

"I-I don't know, five minutes?"

"Page neuro," he told Kepner. "The baby may have been deprived of oxygen for too long." He turned to the parents. "Next time, call an ambulance," he said. He spun around and left.

Megan's blood spattered face met him from the backs of his eyelids.

"Owen, it hurts."

"I know. Breathe."

"N-nate-"

"He's gone, Meg. He's gone."

xxx

"I tell my children, when you're finished with your toys, put them away. My kids don't need to see Owen's toy-"

"-Mere-" Alex grumbled as he scrubbed out next to her. Unfortunately Batman had required a partial nephrectomy to remove a small mass on his kidney. Fortunately, it had gone relatively smoothly. Except for the part about Meredith yakking about Owen's junk. If she would just shut the hell up..

"Sorry, I can't help it," she smirked. "I have no drama in my life anymore, Alex. I gotta latch onto somebody else's. Speaking of which-"

His phone beeped. He checked it, eyes widening in surprise. A message from Pruitt. Maybe he could put the past behind them, afterall.

"What is it?"

"Can you do me a favor? Can you check in on Jo for me? I gotta do this thing," he said, marching out of the room.

"What thing?"

He didn't answer. He had to go. Now.

"Alex!"

xxx

Owen stared at nothing. He didn't know where he was. Breathe, he tried to tell himself. But he couldn't.

His hands were covered in blood. Megan's blood."Where's that chopper?"

"On its way sir!"

Her blood ran out in rivelets between his fingers. She was bleeding, dying.

"Owen…" Megan gasped, squirming under red-slicked hands as he tried to hold pressure. "F-farouk-"

"No. No one else dies! Just hang on, the chopper's coming!"

"Did I e-ever tell you-" she grabbed his hand.

"Of course you love me, I'm your brother," he muttered quickly. He needed gauze. Lap pads. Something, anything to stop all this damn blood!

"S-so protective," Megan whispered. "L-like a rottweiler," Her body fell limp. Her breath left and her eyes slammed shut, taking her away from him.

"No, no! Megan!" Owen shouted, beginning compressions.

"Hey Owen, you okay?"

His head jerked up. What happened? Where was he? He flexed his fingers and saw the blood was gone. The desert was replaced by bright fluorescents. Where did it go?

"Owen?"

Oh. He was home.

Why?

xxx

Jo swallowed and picked up the pen. It was time to put this behind her once and for all. With a few quick strokes, she signed Brooke Stadler on the bottom line. She flipped the page back over and smoothed it out, slipping a paperclip over the top left corner.

Signed. Done.

Then she called the number on the card her lawyer had given her.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed! Please Review!