Part Three

"Alex."

Her voice edges on surprise, but doesn't quite match it, teetering on the verge of a warning almost as well. She's genuinely confused seeing him leaning up against her car in the rain.

She unlocks it, ushering him to get in and out of the drizzling rain she knows is going to soon pick up.

He looks over at her with solemn brown eyes, and she can read him like a book, just as she'd always been able to once he'd let her past his walls.

She could see the immense amount of guilt swirling behind the friendly front he's put up. She can see the regret in his eyes, and knows the hurt is evident in his chest as he looks down, breaking their eye contact.

"I'm sorry." The first words he speaks to her as he reaches for her hand across the console, but she pulls away, not ready for that. Had it not been raining, she wouldn't have even invited him in the car and would've made sure there was much more distance between them still, but alas.

"I don't need your apologies, Alex." She says softly. And it pains her to even speak to him.

"I know." He replies back before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

The silence in the car hangs heavy over both of them, but neither are willing to break it yet. Jo has tears welling in her eyes, threatening to spill over but she refuses to show even a slight sign of weakness by letting a tear fall in front of him.

Alex finally caves, facing forward, not sure if he could even do this while looking at Jo.

He'd given up everything for a notion of a happy life, and it had all fallen apart instantly. He'd given up his entire life and happiness at a notion of a life, that fell through cracks and ruined his joy.

He clears his throat before speaking.

"Izzie and I aren't together." He finally breaks the heavy silence. It's enough to pull Jo out of her intense daze and look at him for the first time.

She can see from his profile view, the bags laying heavy around his eyes, the redness rimming them, and how hollow he looks compared to what she remembered.

It makes her feel sick and dread fills her chest, but she pushes it down before quickly looking away, staying silent, hoping he'd take it as a cue to continue.

He doesn't. Whether it's lack of not knowing what else to say or how to continue, or that was all he had to say, he remains silent.

"What do you want me to say, Alex? Come back home? Marry me, again? Let's just be a happy family again and forget that you left me for your ex-wife and supposed children and moved halfway across the country without consulting me, your wife, first?"

She didn't mean for it to come out so harsh, but things were still fresh and raw and she had a lot of hormones flowing through her at the moment. She was exhausted after her twelve hour shift and had just wanted to crawl into bed tonight and forget things for a while, but the universe obviously had other plans.

"No. I don't expect you to take me back, but I just wanted to clear the air between us. I wanted you to know, and know how truly sorry I am for leaving like that. No one deserves to be broken up with, like that, especially you. It was a really crappy thing I did and I know that. Also, I want you to know that I'm fighting Izzie for custody of the kids. I currently have a two bedroom apartment in Kansas and split custody of the twins, but I'm fighting for full."

Jo grips the steering wheel in her hands until her knuckles are turning white. "So you're going to sue me for full custody of this baby too?"

"No." Alex barely lets her finish her sentence before shutting her down. "No, Jo, I'd never do that to you. The fact that you're telling me already, that we're having a kid, makes me so happy. That even with how much you hate me, you're still willing to tell me about this baby. Izzie––" He pauses. "Izzie deprived me of over five years of that with Eli and Lex. You're––you're still letting me in from the beginning. So thank you."

Jo still sits, gripping the wheel, though this time the pressure is lighter as the color returns to her fingers. She stares at the tan line that had started fading from where her wedding rings used to lie.

She hates a lot of things at the moment, like how empty her ring finger feels without the weight of the rings. She hates how angry she is at the universe. She hates not having any control over her emotions at the moment, and hates that she can feel the tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

She hates a lot of things right now, but not Alex. Never Alex.

"I don't hate you." She says after a beat, managing to find her voice. It's raw, wavering and barely audible but by the way Alex's head lifts and his eyes meet her in slight surprise, she knows he heard it. "I hate a lot of things right now, but not you. I'm mad, angry, furious at you. I want to smack you upside the head and maybe punch you, but I don't hate you. Especially after giving me something to be happy about among all my anger."

Alex looks back down. "I don't know what else to say." He taps his foot lightly against the floorboards of the car.

Jo just nods subtly. She pauses before digging through her purse sitting on her lap, pulling out the folded sonogram picture and handing it to him.

"Here, I have another copy." She says, offering the olive branch.

Alex takes it, tentatively, staring down at the grainy photo.

"That's a baby in there." He says in slight shock still, a smile gracing his face.

Jo quietly stifles a laugh before shutting herself up. She looks up at him with teary eyes. "Our baby." She says, ever so softly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Yeah, our baby." Alex echoes softly.

She can't take the tense feeling in the car any longer and she pulls it into reverse. "What hotel are you at?" She says, clearing her throat and pushing back her tear-filled voice, trying to sound as normal as she can manage as she turns around checking her surrounding areas for other vehicles in the parking lot.

The drive to the hotel is silent as Jo keeps her eyes on the road and focuses on the blades of the wipers going back and forth as she pulls up to the building. She puts the car into park and waits for Alex to unbuckle and exit.

He ducks out of the car, and just as he's shutting the door, he looks back at her, back at Jo, the woman he loves with everything in him, and smiles. "It was never going to work with Izzie because my heart still belongs to someone else, Jo. I still love you."

Jo looks up from the steering wheel just as Alex shuts the door and turns, heading into the lobby of the hotel.

She watches as the man who once owned her heart walked off, leaving her swirling with emotions. She rests her head on the back of her hands on the wheel, letting the tears finally freely fall, once again, not sure what to feel at this moment.

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so...Alex still loves her…wbk… wonder what's happening next? what are y'alls thoughts? what about the twins? Izzie? is jo going to take him back? cant wait to hear what y'all think! and if there's anything you'd really like to see in this story/series lmk, I can work it in here, or maybe in a oneshot for the verse. :D