❀❀❀ I WANT TO GROW OLD WITH YOU ❀❀❀

"Did you just have a contraction?" Meredith eyed Jo accusingly from across the surgical table.

It was a fair question, one everyone in the room was thinking as Jo rocked her hips side to side, fist clenched around the surgical tools in her hand as she cursed quietly under her breath. She was officially at the 37 week mark and was more determined than ever to work until her due date, turning down all suggestions of an early maternity leave from anyone who dared to mention it. Usually, Jo would just tell them to mind their own business and that would be enough to put an end to the conversation. But now that her son's constant squirms were getting increasingly harder to ignore, it was also getting harder to pretend she wasn't in pain from time to time. Hence, it was starting to feel like the entire hospital was monitoring her every move.

"Wilson?" Meredith repeated louder, causing Jo to tilt her head upwards. "Do I need to page someone else to take over?"

Jo scoffed at the comment, her eyes sending daggers Meredith's way. "No, I'm fine! I'm pregnant, not invalid...And I think you'll find I'm perfectly capable of assisting a bowel resection."

"Seriously, Jo" Meredith rolled her eyes at her friend's dramatics. "You know that's not what I was saying. It just looked as if you had a contraction before and I wouldn't want you pushing yourself too far, it's okay to take a break-"

"It wasn't a contraction" Jo interrupted. "It was just some back pain which is normal considering I'm on my feet all day."

"So I'm saying..." Meredith waved a resident over to take over for Jo, "get off your feet and go home early for once. This isn't even your patient; it's mine, and you're only here because you're bored. So why don't you go home and be bored there instead. I'd rather you didn't go into labour in my OR."

Jo was ready to protest when she felt the pain return, only this time stronger than before. Relenting quickly, desperate to escape before Meredith had a chance to nag her further, she surrendered the instruments in her hand to the resident hovering behind her. "Whatever, you can finish off my post-ops for me then," she whined frustratedly, walking to scrub out.

"My pleasure," Meredith smirked back satisfactorily, "text me when those contractions start coming steady."

"I said they weren't contractions," Jo grumbled angrily.

"You keep telling yourself that," Meredith shook her head at Jo.

She really didn't think she was having contractions. At least not real contractions at that. But when her water broke less than a day later, Jo could no longer deny the fact that she was, most definitely, in labour.

Her first instinct had been to go over the birth plan tucked away in the folder of pre-admission forms on the counter. The four page document had a plan for all the possible scenarios her and Meredith could come up with, from a calm hospital birth, to a road-side delivery in a storm, it was all there. The detailed plan had kept Jo calm throughout the entire pregnancy, keeping her at peace with doing it all without Alex because she had Meredith in her corner instead.

It had surprised Jo how supportive Meredith was being. She knew they were friends and that she'd happily be around a lot when the baby was born, but Jo hadn't expected her to want to be so involved in the pregnancy as well. From helping her put the crib together, to planning and accompanying Jo on all her appointments, Meredith had really stepped up in Alex's absence.

However, whilst Meredith's constant planning and organisation had successfully kept Jo's nerves at bay thus far, her water breaking mid-cleaning spree had thrown her for a bit more of a loop than she'd anticipated and the anxiety soon overwhelmed her. Especially when the aching in her lower back soon turned to an extreme tightness through to the abdomen, the sharp pain lasting up to a minute at a time.

Her water breaking at home alone was one of the first scenarios discussed in the birth plan. They'd decided weeks ago that Jo was going to call Meredith to drive over and pick her up from the loft and take her to the hospital where she'd act as her support person during labour. Everyone was on the same page, and it had been discussed at great lengths. And yet, in a state of panic, Jo instead found herself standing outside of Meredith's front door as her contractions neared closer and closer together.

"Jo?!" Meredith appeared shocked as she poked her head out the door, confusing Jo slightly considering she'd often pop round unannounced. "Is everything okay?"

Jo squeezed her eyes shut as another contraction hit her only a couple of minutes after the last, her hand pressed to her abdomen. "Well that depends on what you consider okay," she huffed out the breath she'd been holding. "I'm having contractions."

Meredith's face fell at Jo's words, however was momentarily distracted by a voice behind her. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Jo furrowed her brow in confusion at her friend's odd behaviour. "Would you prefer I went into labour at a different time? I'm sure if you asked him very nicely that he'll stay put until it's more convenient for you," she added jokingly.

Meredith's eyes widened with realisation, "wow, ah okay, so it's really baby time, hey?"

"It seems that way," Jo bit her lip nervously as water welled in her eyes.

"Oh Jo," Meredith tilted her head sympathetically. "It's going to be okay, I promise. Everything is going to be completely fine, but I'm not going to leave your side until you're holding your happy, healthy baby boy in your arms."

"But he's not here. He's gone," Jo bowed her head sadly, wiping a few stray tears from her cheeks. "Oh my god, that one hurt," she gasped out loud as the all too familiar pain of a contraction returned, her stomach stiffening against her hand. "I don't think I can do this alone, Meredith. It's all too much."

Meredith moved from the doorway to take Jo into her embrace, rubbing her back in an attempt to offer some relief. "That's it, Jo, just keep breathing in and out. It'll be over soon."

"Yeah, this one will be but then I'll get another one, and another one and loads more after that," Jo complained.

"Let's just take it one step at a time," Meredith helped Jo straighten back up as the contraction passed. "Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"I want you to call him."

Meredith paused, taking a second to process Jo's request. "You want me to tell him about the baby?"

"Yes…" Jo rested her head on Meredith's shoulder, tears flooding into her shirt. "I really really need him here. I appreciate your support and everything but you're not Alex, and he's who I need. Please, please can you call him for me?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Anything, anything that'll get him here. Tell him he's an idiot who knocked me up and then skipped town before he had to deal with the three months of morning sickness his son gave me. Tell him I hate him, but I also can't give birth to this child without him and I need his butt in Seattle right fucking now," Jo cried out. "Oh and tell him to be fast because my waters broke about an hour ago and my contractions are already quite close together."

"What did you just say?" another voice sounded from the house.

Jo's cries stopped immediately, her breath hitched in her chest at the sound of his voice. He was here. Alex was here.

"I told you to wait inside," she heard Meredith mutter as she pulled away from the hug.

"I was going to stay inside. I really was. But then Zola came downstairs asking for a hot water bottle so I was just taking her back upstairs when I heard you talking out here." Alex turned his gaze to Jo, eyes falling almost immediately to her swollen pregnant belly. Nausea built up inside him, guilt swimming in the pit of his stomach as he realised how much he'd put her through. "I heard your voice, Jo. You sounded upset, and I wanted to make sure you were okay-"

"She's okay," Meredith cut him off.

Alex bowed his head shamefully, suddenly feeling extremely unwelcome.

"I don't understand," Jo said with a heavy breath, stunned by his sudden entrance. "Why are you here, Alex?"

"I came to see you," Alex stepped closer, desperately holding back the tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he tried to process the news of her pregnancy. "I don't belong in Kansas. My kids, oh my kids Jo...you'd love them so much because they're absolutely amazing and so incredibly smart. They deserve the world, and that's what I was trying to give them by moving to Kansas but I was wrong. I made a mistake. They had been happy before I got there...Izzie was happy, and I don't belong in that little family. I want them to know who I am and for them to call me dad, but I also hope that someday they can know you as a mom too. Kansas is where Izzie's family lives, but Seattle is where mine is. My family is with you, Jo. I want to grow old with you."

"You're back?" she asked in disbelief, stepping towards Alex to close the gap between them and take his hand in hers.

"I am," Alex nodded softly as he squeezed her hand back affectionately before leaning in to rest his forehead against hers. "You're pregnant," he added matter of factly in a desperate effort to address the elephant in the room.

"Yeah, yeah, I am," she chuckled against him.

"I don't mean to interrupt this oh so beautiful moment but she's also in labour," Meredith interjected. "I would maybe continue this conversation on the way to the hospital…"

"Crap, I forgot you that you said your waters broke," Alex started to panic as he remembered what he'd overheard Jo say just a few minutes beforehand. "We need to go right now!"

Unimpressed, Jo swatted his arm away as he attempted to lead her towards the car. "Oh for goodness sake, calm down. There's no need to be so dramatic!" she whined. "I haven't even had another contraction yet-" her argument ended abruptly as she realised she was, in fact, having another contraction already.

"Ah-hum," Alex smirked. "Then why are you squeezing my hand so hard?"

"...bad balance?" Jo mumbled rather unconvincingly under her breath with her head buried into Alex's chest. "Okay no, it's a contraction, shit shit shit, somebody get me to drugs right now," she cried out only seconds later, causing both Alex and Meredith to shake their heads in amusement.

"Did you already have a name picked out?" Alex asked, semi distracted as he poked his tongue out at the little baby – his son – who was held in his arms, before looking back up in awe at Jo sitting in the hospital bed.

She shook her head, sighing. "I couldn't come up with one that fitted. Nothing ever felt right."

Alex nodded understandably. "Do you mind if I suggest one?"

"Go for it," she shrugged. "But I'm not naming my son after a cartoon character."

"I wasn't going to suggest naming him after a cartoon character," Alex laughed, standing up from the chair to sit beside Jo on the bed. "I want to name him after you."

"After me?" Jo looked back and forth between Alex and the small child in his arms, unsure if she'd heard him correctly.

"That's right," Alex confirmed. "Going forward, I have a lot of making up to do. I messed up badly and did a really shitty thing that hurt you a lot. I went back on so many promises that I made to you and lost your trust. And yet, even after all of that, you put it all aside to allow me to be here today and see my son come into this world. That goes to show just how incredible of a woman you are. You're so strong, Jo. I used to think I was better than a lot of people in this world, so arrogant and full of myself, but then I met you and I realised what true strength looked like. Our son is the luckiest kid on the planet because he has you as a mom, and I want his name to be symbolic of that."

Jo's eyes were once again glazed over as she found herself overwhelmed with emotion at Alex's words. "Thank you, really, that means a lot...But what exactly did you have in mind? I don't think I'm so keen on Joseph," she said leaning against Alex's shoulder, her finger tracing softly up and down their son's arm.

"Not Joseph," Alex paused, lifting the baby out of his own arms to place into Jo's instead. "I was actually thinking he'd make a really good Brooks."

"Brooks…" Jo pondered the name.

"You will always be Jo to me. Your name is Jo, and I'm not trying to drag up bad baggage by throwing Brooke into the equation. But what we have now, our beautiful son, all exists thanks to Brooke and the battles she fought. Jo is perfect because she is happy and safe. You are capable of doing whatever you put your mind to Jo and there will never be a single obstacle to stand in your way again. But Brooke is amazing in her own way because it's what will give our little boy the determination and strength to handle every single challenge that is thrown his way."

Lost for words, all Jo could do was nod in agreement as she hugged the baby in her arms closer to her chest.

"Brooks Wilson" Alex tested the name out loud. "What do you think buddy? Do you like it?"

"Brooks Karev," Jo corrected.

"But I want him to have the same as your name…" Alex started to protest.

"Exactly," Jo snuggled closer into Alex. "I was hoping to be a Karev again soon anyway."

Jo..."

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mdevonsunflower

AUTHORS NOTE: this fic is a bit of a mess tbh but i posted it over on AO3 and tumblr too so i thought i may as well cover all bases!