Whatttttt?!
I know I thought this story was over too!
In all seriousness I had lost my Jolex muse. It really felt like the show was giving up on them but season 14 really just at least for me resold Jolex and then I felt compelled to finally return to this story that and the guest reviewer who reviewed a few days ago still showing interest in the story really made me think why not? Let's give it a shot. And then as I opened my half started draft I remembered why I abandoned the story in the first place. I literally could not write this chapter and I know I've said this before but dear god this chapter just did not want be written. Nothing I wrote really felt genuine to me and I'm not sure this is that either but I wanted to get it out to you guys! As always forgive the mistakes and enjoy the chapter!
Pain.
She'd heard Alex say what it had felt like when he'd been shot. He had said it had felt like a terrible burning sensation.
On this side of it now, she thinks Alex played it down for her .The pain was unlike anything Jo had ever experienced before-it felt like her abdomen was on fire. The pain was throbbing and only getting worse.
She blinked a few times, the lights in the room seemed suddenly brighter, her vision was hazy at best but she could hear the commotion around her. There was a lot of running, some yelling.
Suddenly she felt someone's arms on her before they called out, "She's got a pulse! Weak. But it's there." The person's hands moved to her open wound trying to contain the bleeding.
So she was alive. That was nice.
She could hear more shuffling and then someone calling for immediate medical attention.
Okay so maybe she could survive this-tons of people survive gunshot wounds every day. She could do this.
Suddenly the pain began to dull and her vision darkened, the voices she could hear suddenly seemed to miles away and then gone. She fought to keep her eyes open but they closed as well.
"She's losing consciousness-hurry up!"
Or maybe not.
"Welcome to San Francisco! We hope you enjoy your stay!"
Alex pulled his bags out the plane while simultaneously fumbling to switch on his phone. His eyebrows rising at the amount of missed calls on his phone.
22 from Warren, 2 from Mer, 5 from Arizona, 1 from Torres, 1 from Bailey and 3 from a number he didn't recognize. Before he could scroll through any of his messages his phone buzzed again,
"Karev."
The voice on the other end was rushed and a bit frantic, "Oh thank God I'm guessing you landed, man listen you need to San Francisco General, I can't explain over the phone, I don't really know how-just get there quickly. Steph and I are here, they took her up for surgery. They didn't say much, just try to hurry up…"
"Warren, slow down. What's going on? Where's Jo?" Alex's grip on his phone tightened, anxiety in his voice.
"She was in the building, I don't know a lot, Jo did some crazy things but they were able to get her out but she was hurt-"
"Ben. What happened to Jo?" Alex's voice was dangerously low.
"She was shot, Alex, it's-it's bad"
The tunnels were colder than Meredith remembered from her residency. She pulled her lab coat closer to her chest while trying to get comfortable on the abandoned mattresses.
She, Callie, Arizona, and Maggie had come down to tunnels after their shifts had ended, no one really feeling like going home. Amelia had picked up the kids and taken them to her and Owen's. The women were exhausted from the weight of the day.
"I feel like we should be doing something for Wilson. I don't know what, but it feels wrong to just be sitting here." Maggie asked finally breaking the silence.
Meredith retried Alex's phone "We're doing what we can. At the moment this is all we can do. It's not enough but nothing ever feels like it is… Dammit Alex pick up- he's got to be off his plane by now right?"
"Delay?" Arizona offered weakly, "Do you think he knows yet? About Wilson?" News of Jo's grand act of heroism had spread quickly amongst GSM after people started to get in contact with loved ones.
"If he didn't I'm sure he found out as soon as he landed." Callie paused, "I'm trying not to mad at Jo. I know she did what she thought was best, but it was so stupid. She had no idea any of her plan was gonna work- she blindly just walked into certain danger."
Arizona stared at her wife, "I don't think there's anything stupid about Wilson's choice. She made a choice that saved so many lives. All I see in that is bravery. Wilson's a hero."
"A hero but at what cost?"
No one really had an answer, Maggie's words lingered in the air.
"Do you think this place was built on a hellmouth? Or an old Egyptian burial ground, or like on the old ruins of a Native American tribe and the land is cursing the people who kicked them out?" Callie's voice broke through the thick silence.
Meredith groaned, "What are you talking about now?"
"Why do terrible things keep happening here? Seriously, unless there's a like well of oil here for all of us to profit off of in the morgue or something the law of averages is way out of balance here."
Arizona cracked a small smile, "We should start seeing if the UAPD considers gunmen and plane crashes an occupational hazard yet."
Meredith laughed, "I think we should update our welcome packages 'A job at GSM includes a great retirement package, lots of days off, and an increased risk of death.'"
Maggie's eyes widened with bewilderment at the the other three women laughing, "Why are you guys laughing!? That's awful!" The other three only laughed harder at that.
The sudden sound of their pagers going off interrupted all the laughter all the women trying to find their pager-Meredith reached for her's first before looking up in confusion, "Bailey's office?"
When Alex stumbled into the waiting room, his hair was disheveled from the travelling, his eyes were hollow, his clothes slightly wrinkled, In the last few hours it seemed Alex had aged years. His bag rolled behind him as he glanced around trying to find anyone with information.
"Karev!"
Alex turned around towards the voice, "Edwards? How's Jo? They tell you anything? Where is she? What happened?" Desperation and exhaustion dripping from his voice.
Stephanie tried to keep her voice level,breathing in deeply, "She was shot, bullet to the abdomen, she lost a lot of blood, they had to be revived here after they lost a pulse in route. They took her down for surgery a bit ago but they won't tell us anything more. I think they wanted to wait for you."
Alex ran his hand through his hair trying to make sense of Stephanie's words. His heart beating seemingly out of rhythm. Jo was shot? She had to be revived? Surgery? He turned away from Stephanie trying to keep his composure- fatigue and concern clawing at his resolve.
But something didn't make sense, he turned back towards Stephanie, "Last I'd heard they got everyone out a while ago? How did she just get into surgery? Why wasn't she out before? What the hell happened?"
Steph bit her lip her voice shakier than before, "S-she was still inside when the rest of them got out. I don't know all the details but they were saying that Jo got everybody out of the hotel. She bargained with the shooters, she offered to save one of their guys in exchange for everyone else's release. Apparently she did it too. I-I don't know what she was thinking but-"
Steph continued to ramble on but Alex had stopped listening. His head was spinning, he leaned over to chair needing to sit down.
Jo had offered her life for everyone else's.
She could die today and it would because of her own stupid heroism. Alex knew Jo will have saved hundreds of people today, but right now not knowing if she'd coded on the table or if she'd bled out already, Alex selfishly wished that Jo had just walked away and kept her mouth shut. Because if she had maybe she'd be fine. Right next to him healthy and breathing.
Alex punched the chair handle next to him, frustration bubbling out from inside him. "Dammit!"
Stephanie walked over to where Alex was sitting, awkwardly placing her hand on his shoulder before pulling it back quickly, "I'm um sorry. Uhh I'm gonna go see if they'll give you any more information"
Alex didn't acknowledge Stephanie, his mind still making sense of everything that had happened.
He knew when she was younger Jo would navigate her life pretty carelessly. Not that Jo wasn't careful but she didn't value her life as much.
She was the strongest person he knew and had survived more than he could imagine but in all her stories there was always a darker underlying feeling of not caring for her own existence, she never seemed to value her own life. But he'd assumed or rather hoped that maybe now Jo felt like her life was worth living, like she had something to keep fighting for, with her career and success and even potentially their life together, he'd hoped that it had been enough for Jo to think more of her own life. But clearly not...
Alex's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice behind him, "Are you here for Josephine Wilson?"
Quickly turning around to meet the voice, Alex saw someone he assumed was a resident, judging by her age and the sleeplessness in her eyes, her hair was still in a green scrub cap indicating she'd just gotten out of surgery. Unable to vocalize anything he just nodded.
"You're the fiancé right? We have an update."
So like I said not my favorite of my writing but I really wanted to get this out there for you guys. At least the 2 of you still potentially reading. I'm really going to try to finish this story before next season but we shall see. I'm also thinking about finishing and relaxing a lot of my incomplete work in progresses for Jolex fanfiction. Let me know if that's something you all would be interested in!
See you guys later! We're nearly at my favorite chapter of this story from when I was planning out the story. It was actually the reason why I wrote the entire story-I planned an entire story around one scene in my head...I know I know...any way we're almost there. And hopefully I won't make you guys wait another whole year for this.