Chapter four- July 5th 2018
Happy Friday everybody! And happy Grey's day! So in honour of Grey's day I thought I'd treat you to an update. Thank you for again for following, favouriting and reviewing. It means so much to me. Enjoy this chapter! Sending you much love and happiness!
Chapter four plot- Jo and Alex come face to face with each other for the first time in over ten years.
"Thank you so much for looking after my kids," Jo says as she heads over to Steph, who was with Jo's children in the reception area.
"It's not a problem. Now, did you get the job?" Steph asks as Jo grabs Lily off her and cradles her on her chest. Jo gives Lily a thousand kisses.
"Oh, I could just eat you up, oh yes I could, yes I could," Jo says in a babyish tone to Lily as she's continues to eat her daughter up with kisses.
"Jo, did you get the job?" Steph asks again.
"I got the job!" Jo says happily.
"Oh that's wonderful," Steph smiles.
"Now I need to talk to Alex. But I don't want to scour the whole hospital in an attempt to find him," Jo replies.
I don't want everybody to know that I'm here just yet. In time they'd find out, but right now wasn't the time. I just wanted to talk to Alex and then I needed to head to a real estate agent to buy a house.
"That's okay. I can page him to a consult room for you," Steph replies.
Scene break-scene break
"Look Steph, I really don't know why you are paging me, but I literally have no time today. I have a bunch of back to back surgeries. I told you that earlier," Alex says annoyed as he bursts Into the room that Steph had paged him to.
I'm guessing that he hasn't seen me yet. I am standing in the middle of the room holding a four month old baby and he hasn't seen me yet. Say something, just say something small. Something that'll grab his attention.
"Do you have time for me?" Jo asks anxiously. She watches Alex as he turns to face her and his jaw drops open. He face makes a thousand different expressions before he begins to say anything.
I've never seen a man change his facial expressions so often. I didn't even realise that some of those facial expressions existed. His face goes from shocked to angry to confused and then to a bunch of un- describable expressions.
"Jo?" He questions raising his right eyebrow.
"Hi Alex," she smiles while gently bouncing Lily up and down on her chest.
"Where the hell have you been?!" He asks raising his voice.
"Shh! Could you please not yell? My kids are in the room!" Jo says sternly as she points over to her children, who were busy playing with some toys.
Alex looks behind Jo and sees all the children "Are they all yours?" He asks pointing to the children.
"No, I stole them from the playground," Jo says sarcastically. "Of course they're mine," Jo adds.
"How old is the eldest?" Alex asks.
Why would he want to know how old my eldest child was. He doesn't think that she's his does he? No, he wouldn't think that. She doesn't look old enough to possibly be his, does she? Crap, now I'm not sure how old my eldest child looks. Well it doesn't really matter how old Zara looks because she isn't his child anyway.
"Zara is almost nine," Jo replies calmly.
"Why did you run?" Alex asks sternly. "That night you just left. I had no idea you even left. You didn't tell me anything Jo," Alex adds sternly.
"Alex. We... we were broken up and you almost pummelled a man to death. I didn't have to tell you anything. I was under no obligation to tell you anything. I wasn't yours, I didn't belong to you so I didn't have to tell you anything," Jo replies.
"You just left though Jo. I didn't know anything," Alex repeats, slightly raising his voice.
"When you nearly beat a man to death you don't get to know anything Alex. And that reminded me of so much BS in my past and everything that I worked so hard to leave behind," Jo repeats sternly.
"You ran away from everything Jo," Alex says sternly.
"Yes, you know what, I ran. I'm sorry, I didn't exactly have Anybody to raise me to know how to handle these situations. So yes, I did the only thing I knew how to and I walked away from the situation and I moved to Middleton, New Hampshire. It was safer for everybody and you know what, it was safer for me," Jo replies.
"Safer for you? What the hell are you talking about Jo?" Alex asks shocked.
Crap, you said to much. Now you have to tell him about the husband that nearly killed you. You just can't leave it there. I was getting around to telling him, I just probably I wasn't going to get there today.
"Okay. Let's go back. When you asked me to marry you I said no. The reason why I couldn't marry you was because I was married to a guy who almost beat me to death and Jo Wilson isn't my real name. If I stayed I would of had to of taken the stand. And when you take the stand you have to tell the truth and then everything I say is public record. He could of found me and he could of killed me. And I didn't want that to happen. And the fact that you nearly beat a man to death when I've nearly been beaten to death didn't exactly make me want to stick around," Jo says sternly.
"You were married?" He asks shocked.
"That's what I said," Jo replies.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" He demands.
"I didn't tell you because I was afraid you'd want to kill him. That you'd try something horrible and end up hurt or in jail," Jo replies. "And I know that you ended up in jail and I'm sorry that you did. But to be honest, I didn't think you'd care what happened to me," Jo says honestly.
"Of course I'd care Jo. We had some of the best years of my life together. I don't regret the years we had to get her, but I do regret how it ended," Alex replies
"I'm sorry," she says.
"I'm sorry too," Alex replies.
Wow, okay. So that went much better then I thought. He didn't blow up as much as I thought he would. Jail's changed him. That's got to be a good sign, right?
"So, what's your life like now? You said you moved to New Hampshire, are you just visiting here?" Alex asks confused. "You've got four children, your life is a lot different to what it was like when you left," he adds.
"No, I'm um, I'm moving back. When I moved away I completed my residency and the following year I met a new guy, David, a lieutenant in the United States Navy. The following year when I was in my 2nd year of a Paeds fellowship I accidentally got pregnant. Quick side note, all of our children were unplanned. November that year Zara Kate Maidenway was born. Once I finished my Paeds fellowship I then begun a one year Neonatal fellowship. It was tough with David away so much but we managed. And then when Zara was about two and a half we had Eloise Paige. She was supposed to be a twin but we'd lost the other baby early on in the pregnancy. She is now 6 years old. Eloise was born with turners syndrome and that included problems that required heart surgery so I decided to take some time off work and be a stay at home mum. With two children it was so much easier with David being away so much," Jo begins.
"Then in August is when things got very interesting. I was served with divorce papers. I don't know how he found me, but I signed them and I was free. I felt like a new woman, like a weight was lifted off my shoulder," Jo says. "The following year in October we got married. A few years later in May Ruby Jade was born. Life was even more heroic and chaotic then I ever thought it could be but I loved staying at home with the kids. And then last August I found out I was pregnant... Yet again," Jo says.
"Can I ask you a question?" Alex asks.
"Sure," Jo replies.
"Did you know when I got out of Jail?" He asks.
"Yes, I knew when you got out," Jo replies.
"What the hell?! Why did it take you so long to come and see me? Why did it take you seven and a half months?" Alex asks sternly.
"I was going to come and visit you. I was going to come and explain everything, I was," Jo pleads.
"Then why did it take you so freaking long to see me?" He interjects.
"Because I was seven months pregnant Alex. I couldn't exactly fly to you. And then I had Lily four months ago and things have been... Things have been different," Jo says trying to to cry at the thought of her husband dying.
That's it Jo, struggle not to cry in front of him. I'm sure that's exactly what he wanted to see. Pull it together girl, pull yourself together.
"I... I have to go now," Jo replies drying her eyes.