Here is the final chapter of 'For you now'. I hope you all enjoyed and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the reviews, follows and favourites.
ButterflySparkle97
Chapter Twenty two
December 25th
5 months old
The sun was rising and beaming into Jo's room, the light bouncing off her hair and radiating through it. You'd be forgiven if you thought today was just like any other day, but it wasn't just like any other day. Today was special, it was December 25th, Christmas, and Jo was determined to make it the best day she possibly could for her baby girl's first Christmas.
Jo begins to stir in her bed, and over the course of five minutes, she manages to sit up. She looks over to her right and see's Phoebe still fast asleep. The sight of her precious daughter sleeping made Jo's heart full of happiness. She couldn't help but stare at her daughter for the next ten minutes before deciding to get up and start the day.
Jo makes her way to the bathroom and gets undressed and hops into the shower. She turns the water onto a warm temperature and lets the warm water run over the shower.
It was while doing this that Jo couldn't help but reflect on the past year. Why was it that some of her best thinking always happened in the shower? She thought about how hard the past year had been and how thankful she was that it was now mostly in the past. She thought about the beautiful daughter she had, and the long bumpy road it took her to get into the swing of motherhood. She thought about all the love and support she received from everybody at the hospital and she couldn't be more grateful for it, because if it weren't for them she'd be stuck raising her child in a unhappy and unsafe marriage.
Jo's thoughts were interrupted when she heard Phoebe begin to cry. "I'm coming baby girl!" Jo calls out as she turns off the shower water. She quickly throws a towel around herself and walks out to the bedroom. "Aw, there there," Jo says in a babyish tone as she picks up Phoebe.
One hour had gone by and Jo and Phoebe were finally ready for their first Christmas. Jo had never been one to celebrate Christmas, but as a mother she knew that it was her duty to give her daughter the most magical day, even if she wasn't even 1 yet. Jo smiles as she looks at the Christmas outfit that made Phoebe look like Mrs Claus.
"Alright baby girl, let's let the magic begin," Jo grins. She whisks her daughter off the change mat and heads downstairs to the Christmas tree. The green tree was elegantly decorated with fairy lights, gold and silver tinsel and Baubles. Underneath the tree there were five presents, each of which were for Phoebe. They were wrapped in Christmas paper and each present had a pink bow on top of it. "Now darling angle. They're all for you," Jo says as she points to the presents under the tree, "and you will will get to open them soon, just right after mummy has her coffee."
Jo heads to the kitchen and places Phoebe into the rock 'n' play that was next to the small four seater dining set. She buckles her up and walks over to the counter and makes her coffee.
When Her coffee was done, Jo heads back over to Phoebe. Jo sighs as she see's that Phoebe was now sleeping in her bouncer. "Christmas pooped already, hey?"
5pm
"Oh, you like your bouncer don't you?" Jo laughs as she watches Phoebe play in her new bouncer activity set. Phoebe's face held the the worlds largest smile as she reached out and grasped the toys that were attached to the bouncer as she sat in the centre.
In the background Children's Christmas carol's were playing and filling the room.
All of a sudden Jo hears her doorbell ring, "I wonder who that could be?" Jo says to Phoebe. She stands up and makes her way to the front door. She looks out of the doors eyehole and see's Alex. She unlocks the deadbolt on the door and opens it.
"Alex, what are you doing here?" She asks shocked.
"Well firstly I wanted to come and check in on you," he states.
"Aw," Jo says touched, "that's very sweet of you. We're doing great," she adds with a smile.
He looks at her curiously, "Christmas carols? I know that you're making real progress, but you really don't strike me as a Christmas carol kind of person."
"It's Phoebe's first Christmas. It's just her and I and I know it's stupid, given the fact that she won't remember any of it, but I just wanted to make it magical for her. I feel like she deserves it, you know?" Jo asks.
"It's not stupid Jo. And Phoebe might not remember it, but You'll always remember your first Christmas as her mother," Alex smiles. Jo smiles back at him. "And you're not alone. Everybody that has kids is at Meredith's celebrating. It's kind of a last minute thing so it's nothing fancy, just families hanging out. Would you like to come?"
"You don't have kids, so why are you going?"
"Dude, it's mandatory for me to be at every party or gathering Meredith has. And having kids is not a mandatory requirement to attend. I just said that to make it appeal to you as a mother," he laughs.
Jo looks over at her daughter and then looks back at Alex. "That sounds great. We'd love too. Although, Phoebe has has a big day. It wouldn't surprise me if she's passed out from being milk drunk by 8," she laughs.
At Meredith and Derek's house
"Jo, I'm so glad that you could make it," Meredith smiles as she greats Jo, Alex and baby Phoebe at the door.
"Thank you for having Phoebe and I," Jo replies with a smile.
"No problem," Meredith says as they walk through the door. She shuts the door behind them and heads back to the living area of her and Derek's house.
Jo looks around and notices that everybody was gathered in the living area. The children were playing in the middle while the adults were sitting around the outside. One the way over Jo made a mental list in her mind about who she thought would be here, and everybody she thought that would be, were here.
Jo takes a deep breath in and heads down to the living area and sits down next to Arizona and Callie. "Hey, you came," Arizona says happily.
"I thought I'd make a good Christmas even better," Jo smiles.
Arizona lets out a huge smile, "I'm so proud of you Jo. You've come so far in the past months. And I know that you still have a long way to go, and a lot of emotional scars and trauma to work through, but you're enjoying your daughter, and I love seeing that."
"Thank you," Jo smiles. She grins and gives Arizona a hug.
"How about we play a game?" Meredith suggests with a grin.
"Knowing you it's going to involve drinking," Alex points out.
"Oh totally," Arizona agrees.
"I can't drink. I don't make enough to pump and dump," Jo announces while pointing at her boobs.
Alex smirks, "don't worry, you won't have to."
"Let's move to the table, Derek will get the booze," Meredith grins.
"Right, I will get the booze," Derek confirms. Everybody stands up and heads to the table.
Izzie grabs Alex's arm on the way over and stops him. "You okay?" He asks as he looks back over at her.
"I saw the way you just looked at her. I just want to say that I know it's hard... waiting for the right person. And the way you look at her is with such respect and love. She's worth the wait for you Alex," Izzie says.
"Thank you. That ah... that helps," he says. He gives a small nod of the head before heading over to the table with everybody else.
30 minutes later
"No way! You did not!" April gasps. The group were busy telling secrets about each other that nobody would know
"I did! I did!" Meredith laughs.
"It's true, I saw it!" Cristina confirms with a grin.
"You are so disgusting!" Callie laughs.
"I was an intern, I didn't know what else to do so I...I just threw up in a bed pan and left it there. I didn't know that Webber would accidentally put his hand in it," Meredith laughs.
Jo hears her phone ring and looks down at the caller ID, "It's the ADA. Excuse me," Jo says. She heads over to a quieter part of the house and answers the call.
"Jo Stadler speaking," she says.
"Hi Jo, it's Cassie Rouvard," Cassie says.
"Hi Cassie. Why are you calling on Christmas?" She asks curiously.
"Paul's Lawyer came to me today. He has decided to plead guilty," Cassie announces
"Wh... what?" Jo asks shocked. "Is this for real? Because he's admitted guilt and then recanted before. What's to say that won't happen again?" Jo questions.
"A Statutory declaration has been written and signed. We just have to wait for a judge to sentence him," Cassie explains.
"I can't believe it. Today of all days. It's... its..." Jo begins.
"It's a bit of Christmas magic. Now go enjoy the rest of your evening, it sounds like quite the event," Cassie replies. She could hear the laughter of Jo's drunk friends over the phone.
"It certainty is. Thank you. And merry Christmas," Jo replies. A moment later she hangs up the phone and walks back over to the table while looking gobsmacked.
"Jo, what happened? Are you okay?" Arizona asks as the laughter in the room subsides.
Jo rapidly nods her head, "Ah yeah."
"Okay, good," Arizona smiles.
"Today Paul decided that he was pleading guilty. He's signed a statutory declaration. It's a Christmas miracle. Like a real life freaking Christmas miracle," Jo says unbelievably.
"That's um... wow. That's amazing," they all agree. Jo bends down and picks up Phoebe from her rock 'n' play and begins to rock Phoebe in her arms.
"When I was a kid I never believed in Christmas miracles. I did use to wish for them when I was younger. I'd wish for a family to love me and that never happened so I stoped believing and wishing for them. I think I was seven... maybe even 6. But now I have a family with all of you and I know that all those years spent wishing and hoping weren't for nothing. My miracle was just waiting for the perfect time and the perfect people and it didn't want to settle. And I'm so happy that it didn't, because now I have a family with you all. A beautiful, beautiful family," Jo says while looking up at everybody, "and now it's just all falling into place," Jo smiles while looking down at Phoebe.