One Month Later
Alex Karev couldn't quite describe the feeling of stepping back into Grey Sloan for the first time in six years. Growing up, no one place had meant much to him, but these four walls meant more then he could ever express yet he couldn't help feeling out of place as the hospital buzzed around him like he hadn't realised the hospital kept going in his absence.
"Alex?"
Alex turned to find Maggie behind him, she smiled up at him, she looked the same as she had back then and he was met with the immediate guilt of not keeping in touch with her or anyone for that matter, these people he'd considered family and he had no idea what was happening in their lives.
"It's so good to see we've missed you around here."
Before Alex has a chance to respond shes wrapping her arms around him, even though he's ever really one for hugs he accepts it, wrapping his arms around her, a small smile gracing his face as she welcomes him back. "I've missed you guys too."
"Hey, man long time no see." Jackson appears in the doorway next and Alex can see Hunt and Altman filtering through the door as Maggie step back letting the rest of the group greet him.
"Avery" Alex nods, as their hands clasp in a bro shake. Feeling relief as everyone seems to acknowledge him like no time has passed at all.
However, the feeling is short-lived as suddenly he's knocked off his feet, hitting the floor with a bang. He can feel a heavy weight on top of him, before seeing a fist come crashing towards his face.
"Link" Maggie squeals dropping her coffee, as Avery pushes her to the side. Alex looks up at the ceiling, the lights blinding him as he feels another hit, his lip bursting open at the contact.
"I didn't know about Paul and I never got the chance to level him but after what you did..." Link mutters as he fights off Hunt's grip on his shoulder,
"Link get off of him" It's Amelia's voice that makes everyone freeze as she waddles through the door. "Link" She snaps in warning tone narrowing her eyes at him.
"No, it's fine...It's fine I get it. I deserve it." Alex groans, accepting Avery's hand to pull him up as he wipes the blood dripping from his lip. He takes in Link who seems to be burning with anger and he doesn't blame him, but if he thinks the physical pain he caused is anything close to the emotional turmoil that Alex lives with every day he's wrong.
"Don't do it, man...don't be all gracious...don't walk back in here as nothing happened, she deserves better than that, you might have been here first but this is her home and you don't get to just walk on back like nothing happened." Link spits, turning on his heel to leave, the tension in the room growing at the mention of her...Jo. Amelia flashes Alex an apologetic look before following Link out and soon everyone else begins to follow suit muttering their excuses, leaving Alex on his own.
"Didn't think you we're one for big entrances."
Despite his obvious pain Alex can't help but smile at the sound of her voice as he turns to find Meredith standing behind him leaning against the wall, already in her scrubs, her signature smirk across her face as she eyes him up and down. "Welcome home."
"He's here." Link hisses, coming up behind Jo making her jump. She'd been on her way to the pit, seeing if she could find anything exciting, honestly, she'd been feeling sick all day and she was in desperate need to of distraction.
"Who's here?" Jo mumbles as she clutches at her chest looking around to see who Link was referring too, all she could see were a few noisy nurses that seemed to be following her around today.
"Timothee Chalamet" Link deadpans, shoving her lightly towards one of the empty lounges.
"Seriously...where?" Jo spins around scanning the floor again as Link grabs her arm and pulls her in.
"Ow…" Jo sighs, rubbing her arm. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You know full well who I mean." He hisses, shutting the door behind them as he paces around in front of her, clenching and unclenching his hands. Link's a pretty cool guy and I mean cool, calm and collected so whatever has got him worked up can only be bad.
Jo sighs as she puts all the pieces together...him could only mean one person. She'd banned his name years ago, declaring to anyone who mentioned him that they would die a most painful death which at the time was most likely drowning in her tears.
"Oh...Oh, him...he's here." Her eyes widen, as Link slaps his forehead dramatically. "What is he doing here?"
"Thought you didn't care." He shrugs, plopping down on the nearest chair.
"I never said that." Jo frowns, staring at him expectantly for more information.
"No of course not...not since you're one night of passion."
Jo sighs pinching her nose, she'd broken down and told Link everything about her night with Alex when she'd arrived back in Seattle. It had brought back all these emotions and feelings that she really didn't wanna bring to her therapist, she already had enough to deal with there.
"Are you a teenage girl?" Jo grumbles plopping down beside him, rubbing her hands along her face as she willed back the overwhelming feeling to cry. She shouldn't have slept with him, she knew it then and she knew it now but the heart want's what it wants. "Anyway, I told you not to tell anyone about that." She hisses narrowing her eyes at him.
"I didn't" Link throws his hands up in protest which only earns him another wack.
"Well someone told Grey and my money is on that wife of yours." Jo mutters leaning back in her chair, "What the hell is he doing here?" She screams like a four-year-old having a tantrum, there used to be the time she'd dream about him coming home, walking through that door with his signature crooked smile and making everything right in her world but they were so far away from that time, now Alex Karev's presence felt more like a nightmare.
"He's here to help set up the programme for Syria apparently we're teaming up with his hospital back in Kansas, one in L.A and one in New York, sort of like a sister programme." Link explains, giving her a sympathetic smile as he meets her eye. "Though if you ask me it's suspicious timing considering he's not been back here since he left and a month after…"
Another smack to the arm makes him stop talking as Jo glares at him. "Shut up or so help me I'll kill you."
Shifting back they both sit in silence for a moment as Jo continues to try to digest the news that Alex is here and what that will mean for her if it means anything at all for her. "He's here...really here...I can't do this." She can feel her throat closing as her breaths begin to quicken.
"Well, you could last month…" Link points out, taking her hand in his, he slows his breathing encouraging her to match her own breaths with his.
"It was one night, a one-time thing I don't wanna see him, I don't wanna talk to him and I dont wanna go back to being the poor women he left." Jo manages to choke out between breaths. The sounds of her pager fills the room, she is needed in O.R 3. Her safe place...yeah that sounds good right about now.
"I have surgery." She mutters pushing up and past Link as she heads towards the door praying she'll get up to the O.R without bumping into him.
"Is this a real surgery or a fake surgery?" She hears Link call after her as she extends her middle finger before slipping out the door.
"She's widowed Mer" Alex grumbles, hissing as Meredith places a cold gel pack against his lip.
"I know, we've made a club...the sad widows club." She shrugs a small smirk playing on her lips like the notion of them both being widows was a joke to her these days.
Scowling Alex bats her hand away. "You never told me."
"I never told you anything other than the fact she was okay." Meredith's resorts rolling her eyes at his attitude. When Alex had called to inform her he as returning to Seattle she had known the topic of Jo would come up but there was so much to say and so much of it wasn't her place. Alex's person or not she owed it to Jo to let her have her privacy.
"Exactly you said she was okay and she's not, she's a freaking widow." Alex fumes, pushing up off the examination bed.
"Alex you walked out on her, you did a really really shitty thing that made me hate you but you're my family so I got passed it but you don't get to yell at me about Jo if you wanted to know how she was you, you could've picked up the phone and called her." Meredith snaps, her eyes turning cold as she shoved Alex's chest. Something tells him that speech had been whirling around in her head for a lot longer then he'd been back in Seattle.
"Wouldn't even be a widow if you'd bothered to stay." She mutters underneath her breath but Alex hears her, opting to ignore her snarky comment, he's not up for this fight...not today anyway.
"Are you coming to dinner tonight? The kids would love to see you."
"What do you mean coming to dinner? I'm staying at yours." He grins, making Mer rolls her eyes but crack a matching grin at the same time. It really was good to be back with Mer, no matter what was said or did, they always carried on, no matter how ugly it got.
"Of course you are." She laughs, throwing the used gel pack in the bin as she follows him out the examination room.
The whispers start almost immediately and seem to follow them down the hall, beady eyes watching their every move.
"Well, are you gonna talk to her?" Mer aks as they come to stop near the elevators.
"No, I don't wanna make her uncomfortable." He shrugs, honestly, he wasn't sure what he was gonna do about Jo, he wished he had a plan, he'd spent days agonizing overseeing her again.
"Well, she can't be that uncomfortable considering the conference…" Meredith whispers leaning in so only Alex can hear as they enter the elevator.
Alex shoots her dirty look out of habit before reeling back registering what she had just said. "Wait, she told you."
"No, but Amelia did and you should have." Mer punches his arm lightly, as she gives him a pointed look that Alex knew too well. "What the hell were you thinking Alex?"
"I wasn't... I just...I wanted her and I-"
Alex didn't really wanna talk about it, he didn't wanna talk about the complete mess he had been since seeing Jo again, he didn't wanna talk about how good it had felt to hold her in his arms and he didn't wanna talk about the painful crack in his heart that had felt whole for those few hours they had spent together.
"Did you talk to Izzie about it?" Mer asks as Alex trails off.
"Why would I tell Izzie about it? Not that she'd care, you should see the neanderthal she's got raising my kids Monday, Thursday and Friday. He's turning them into mini Kepners." Alex grumbles, folding his arms over his chest as he stares forward at the metal doors ignoring Meredith's eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"He's a pastor."
He glances sideways when she doesn't respond to find her chuckling quietly to herself, phone in hand as she typed away quickly. "Evils spawn's spawn is being raised by Christ. That's brilliant I've got to text Christina that."
Alex groans, he certainly hasn't missed how long these elevators take. "I dont tell Izzie about my sex life, though half the hospital is talking about it, apparently the residents have started I hate Karev club back in Kansas."
"Oh they have one of those here too, Jo's the president." Meredith grins, finally looking up from her phone as the doors slide open.
Alex rolls his eyes, shrugging. Yeah, that sounds about right.
"Look Alex you better not be here to win her back because things have changed a lot since then," Mer warns, stoping him from exiting the elevator, she pushes his chest, forcing him to look at her. "I'm serious whatever you're thinking, stop it…things are more complicated then you know."
"I'm not...this isn't me standing outside her bedroom window with a boombox in the rain...I'm here to set the programme up and that's all." Alex scoffs as he shoves past her.
"That's all? Well, it's funny how you didn't need to be in New York or L.A."
There had been unexpected complications in surgery which meant Jo had worked well over her hours for the day and was know running late, not that she minded being stuck in an O.R all day. It meant she didn't have to fear bumping into Alex, she just had to suffer through the nurses' whispers as they pretended not to look at her.
She'd just finished giving orders for the interns on the night shift when she spotted him, he was pacing near the elevators and she wondered if he'd seen her. Her question was answered quickly when his eyes flashed up to find hers like he'd sensed her presence. He seems to take her in for a second, rocking on his feet lightly before he pushed forward heading towards her.
Shit...no. She doesn't wanna do this, not now and not ever really but certainly not with the eager-eyed interns and gossip-hungry nurses watching. Jo seems to jump forward meeting him halfway, her hands outstretching to stop him in his tracks.
"Can we talk?" Alex asks gruffly, his eye flicking the length of her body as he studied her closely.
"Erm...not really." Jo whispers, brushing past him and heading towards the elevators, narrowing her eyes on one of the nurses who tuts loudly as they pass her.
"Jo" Alex sighs, coming around her to block her path. It's not like he wants to have this conversation either but they should right? To make it easier for the both them, he'd heard what Link said earlier, this was Jo's home and he didn't wanna hurt her any more than he already had by being here.
"No...sorry...look I don't think there's really anything to say." She's talking quickly, her gaze trained down on the floor as she waits for him to move out her way.
"I just wanna clear the air."
"There's no need-" She cuts him off, checking her watch, she really was late and if there was ever more of an inconvenient time for Alex to be here it was right now.
"Jo come on, I wanna be able to be here without feeling awkward or making you feel awkward." His words sound jumbled as Jo tries to focus on her breathing, deep breaths trying to quelch her urge to vomit.
"That's more your problem than mine." Jo snaps, nausea beginning to overwhelm her and she had to fight the urge to scream at him to say whatever the hell it is he wants to say and get of her way.
She watches as Alex squeezes his eyes shut clearly not in the mood for a fight in the middle of the hospital. He just sighs lowering his voice. "I think it would be better if we sat,"
"No, I'm not explaining myself right...it's not that I don't wanna talk, I mean I don't but I actually don't have time right now," Jo mutters, finally brushing past him as she pushes the elevators button repeatedly, praying it gets here before she throws up everywhere.
"Oh ok, I thought you just came from surgery," Alex answers confused as he shoves his hands into his pockets, looking a bit deflated.
"I did and now my shifts over and I have somewhere to be," Jo mutters, still pressing desperately at the button.
"Of course you do. Well, I'm here for two weeks so maybe we can find the time."
"Yeah maybe….I'll see you around," Jo mumbles, relief flooding through her as the elevators doors ding open. Turning she sees him properly for the first time close up and she's shocked to find a dark purple bruise across his cheek and his lip busted open.
"Hey, Alex ?" Her hands twitch at the urge to reach out and touch him.
He only hums in responses, tilting his head to the side. "What happened to your face?"
"Link did." He mutters as the doors shut, separating them.
Jo had only been home for half an hour when she'd remembered what Alex had said, finding her phone she searched for Link's contact, clearly more had gone on today then she'd cared to notice while hiding up in the O.R
You hit him? You hit him?! Link really?
My hand slipped
Sure sure
It did, it was a freak accident
You wanna be careful you're a surgeon you know can't afford to hurt that hand
Promised myself I'd do it if I ever saw him again. I'm not apologising
Thank you
She sighs dropping the phone onto the bed, he was here for two weeks. She could last two weeks, right? Maybe Bailey would let her use some of her holiday days or she could go off sick, no one would blame her for hiding, right? A part of her doesn't wanna hide, she knows she is stronger than this, that this is her work and her home and he should be the one feeling like he has to hide. Before she has a chance to decide what she wants to do the nausea that's been overwhelming her all day gets the better of her, leaping up Jo heads towards the bathroom just making it in time to empty her insides into the toilet bowl.
Jo groans, crouching down over the toilet, her hands pressed against the floor trying to steady herself, as she throws up a further two times. She can feel hot tears spring from her eyes, as she takes deep breaths.
"Momma come on we're missing Doc McStuffins."
She hasn't even heard her little footsteps approaching but looking up she finds her little love bug hovering in the hallway hugging her floppy bunny tightly under one arm as she eyes Jo curiously. Jo manages a weak smile as she takes in her appearance, those little ladybug wings she won't go anywhere without, thrown over her pyjamas.
"Momma?" The little one's big blue eyes widen with concern as she comes up behind Jo, leaning against her back.
"One-second bug," Jo mumbles mustering all her strength to stand, she looks a little bleary-eyed as she takes in her reflection in the bathroom mirror, grabbing the mouthwash, acutely aware of the little one tugging on her leggings.
"Momma are you okay?" She whispers as Jo looks down at her, brushing the little ones unruly curls back.
"Yeah, baby mommas fine." Jo sighs, lifting the toddler up into her arms, rubbing her back gently as they exit the bathroom, the sick feeling in Jo's stomach seemingly subsiding.
"Have you got a sick bug?"
Jo swallows, as she considers the possible diagnosis, she's hoping that this was her body's way of saying slow down combined with the shock and fear she'd felt about Alex's return, pushing all concerns aside, Jo plasters on a fake smile as the toddler clutched tightly at her neck.
"Maybe...come on let's go watch Doc McStuffins."
Sorry I've been slow with the updates, lots of prep for Taylor Swift x Jolex week is going on behind the scenes. This chapter is pretty messy but it's needed to set up the story.
As always THANKYOU so much for all the lovely reviews.
Check out my Tumblr odd-bird-and-booksellers because there's a lot of Jolex fanfiction heading there next week.
Story of My Life - One Direction
Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explain.
