Chapter eighteen

The next day- September 22nd 2012

8 weeks and 3 days old

"Hey you," Jo says as she approaches Alex, who was standing in the coffee van line of the hospital. In her right hand was the baby capsule that contained her daughter. On her left shoulder was her baby bag and her left hand contained a travel mug of decaf coffee.

"Wow, you seem... Are you okay? Because honestly you look like a hot mess. You don't plan on working like that do you?" Alex asks concerned. Her hair was all over the place, she had dark circles under her eyes and she was wearing a single that had a spit up stain on it.

"I am freaking tired. I got less then three hours of sleep last night," Jo replies frankly.

Alex takes a step forward and orders his coffee from the barista.

"Then why are you somewhat happy?" He questions.

"Her name is Phoebe Madeleine Stadler," Jo says with a slight smile.

Alex drops his jaw wide open in astonishment, "Wow Jo, that's beautiful. I didn't realise you were close to a name for her. I thought you'd take it down to the wire."

Jo laughs and gives a smile, "I wasn't. She woke me up at 3am this morning and was screaming for the boob. As she was feeding and had settled down I was thinking about what you said... about being responsible for my own happiness and success and not to let him control my life anymore and her name just came to me. And when I said it out loud her eyes made contact with mine and through all the milk sucking she was doing she smiled and I just knew."

"Well, that's great Jo. It's huge progress," he replies.

"Don't expect to see this happy me all the time. Happy me is an endangered species until dark and depressing me can go away and I don't think it can go away until everything involving Paul has settled. But I'm working on it. And me working on it and combined with the anti depressants has got to make progress, right?" She questions.

"Absolutely," Alex smiles. He grabs his coffee from the barista. "I'll see you later," he continues before starting to head away.

"Hey Alex," Jo calls out.

Alex turns around, "Yes," he replies.

"Will you be a character whiteness in my custody case?" She questions.

Alex nods his head, "of course Jo. Just tell me when and where and I'll be there."

"Thank you," Jo replies gracefully.

Alex smiles at her before walking away. After dropping Phoebe off to daycare Jo head down to the locker room, where she was sure all of her friends would be.

"Wow, Jo, you look like a hot mess," Steph comments as she notices Jo walking into the lounge.

Jo looks over to Steph and places her bag down onto the seat in front of her locker, "Well Phoebe kept me up all night," she replies as she begins to rummage through her bag in search for some lipstick.

"Phoebe?" Steph questions with a smile. "Have you finally named your child?"

Jo briefly looks up at her, "I have. Phoebe Madeleine is her name." Jo looks back down at her bag and continues to search for her lipstick. "Where is it? It can't be that hard to find!" Jo says to herself.

"You just told me that you named your child. You could be a little happier," Steph states.

Jo rolls her eyes and looks up at Steph with a forced smile, "I'm smiling, I'm happy. Now where the hell is my lipstick."

"No," Steph laughs, "you look like a serial killer."

"Yes! Here it is!" Jo says victoriously as she pulls out her red lipstick from her bag. She applies it up to her lips and places it back into her bag.

"I've got my custody case in 2 months. My lawyer says I need character whitnessess, will you be one for me?" Jo questions.

"Of course," Steph replies. "Jo, you shouldn't be worried. You're a great mother."

"It's just hard to believe that sometimes, you know?" Jo replies.

"I know it is, but you have to believe it, because it's true."