AN: This was inspired by a trip to the tulip farms that I took with my mom back in April. We go every couple of years and if you head over to my Tumblr you'll see a cute picture of me and my younger sisters at the tulip fields when we were all little.
Luna is 23 months old or almost 2 and Helena is 17 months old, or almost 1 ½ months old.
The Easter Bunny had come to Grey-Slone and thus the littlest Karevs were off to visit him. Jo insisted that the girls have a picture with the Easter Bunny. It had become a tradition of hers to always get pictures of the kids with whatever holiday figure was available on the ped's floor. From the Easter Bunny to the ghost of Halloween that Alex had dressed up as to surprise the kids as he passed out Halloween candy. Although the girls immediately knew that it was just Daddy with a little bit of makeup.
Usually, the girls loved all the holiday figures. They adored Santa and weren't scared by the Halloween ghost. But the Easter Bunny was a whole other thing. Last year, when Helena was four months old and Luna was eleven months old, they screamed bloody murder the second the Easter Bunny walked into Luna's hospital room. They quickly sent the Easter Bunny out, but it took a while for the girls to calm down.
However this Easter was different, the girls were older. Helena was sixteen months old and Luna was twenty-two months old and they had been watching Easter Bunny movies and listening to Easter Bunny books. They told the girls that the Easter Bunny was the girl's friend and that Mommy and Daddy would be with them to protect them. However, the girls were weary of him.
"Look girls, there's the Easter Bunny," Jo pointed, signing, 'Easter Bunny' to Luna as they were finally second in line to see the Easter Bunny and entered the room that was all set up for the easter bunny photos.
She was holding Luna and her bump as their baby wiggled inside her. Jo could tell that it was a nervous wiggles and kicks as her anxiety affected her baby. She was worried this would all be a disaster, but hoped that it would go well. Alex was holding Helena and they had been waiting in line for about twenty minutes. The hospital had them preregistered for a timeslot which made waiting easier for all the hospital kids. For the kids who couldn't leave their room, the Easter Bunny had visited them earlier that morning.
"Yeah, and he's giving those kids Easter eggs," Alex said, signing, 'eggs' then 'Easter,' with the same level of enthusiasm as they tried to convince the girls that seeing the Easter Bunny was a good thing.
Luna looked weary at the Easter Bunny and sat back, trying to sink into Jo's arms and Helen frowned as she looked at the Easter Bunny. Jo and Alex exchanged a look, as they both hoped it would go well.
Finally, it was their turn as they cautiously walked up to the Easter Bunny. The girls let Jo and Alex sit down with them next to the Easter Bunny for a family photo. The girls didn't smile, but didn't frown, although Helena gave the Easter Bunny quite the side eye. Jo and Alex wanted a picture with just the girls and the Easter Bunny, and so Alex got up and placed Helen in his spot as her eyes widened.
"Stay there Helena," Alex said to Helena as he helped Jo up, the chair was just too shallow for her to get up at five months pregnant.
"It's okay Mommy and Daddy are right over here," Jo said as she placed Luna next to Helena, in the hope that they would be okay together.
However the second that the girls saw them leaving, they started to panic, but they stayed in place as they were told. Jo and Alex stood behind the photographer and tried to reassure them with a smile. Luna looked back at the Easter Bunny who waved and pointed at the camera asking them to smile. Then Luna screamed, despite being hard of hearing, she still had quite the set of lungs on her. Helena joined her sister as they both let out a scream of bloody murder and ran towards their parents. Even the baby in her belly seemed to fight as well, kicking and so much that Jo had to pause and hold her bump. The girls came running to them and Alex ran up to grab them as well, Luna raced into his arms, but Helena ran past him too Jo as she leaned down to catch her. Both girls continued to scream and cry as Jo and Alex hugged them.
"Hey it's okay, it's just the Easter Bunny," Jo said as she rubbed Helene's back but she continued to scream in Jo's ear.
"It's not even the Easter Bunny, it's Jules," Alex said, also signing 'J', to Luna as he pointed to the intern and prompted her to take off her head as Jules appeared.
"Hi, girls," Jules said, also signing 'hello' to Luna, as she waved and smiled at them.
Jules was the intern that spent the most time on the maternity floor and the Pediatric floor and thus she had gotten to know the Karev girls quite well. She had also become their favorite babysitter after watching them one night, when Jo and Alex both had an emergency surgery and their babysitter had dropped out. However, even the sight of Jules' couldn't console the girls.
Alex put a hand on her back and mouthed 'go' to her as they left, taking the girls out of the room. They rushed out and down the hallway, facing the sympathetic and worried parents who hoped their child didn't have similar reactions. They went a little bit away from the crowd down the hall to find a quiet corner to hide away in. While they calmed the girls, Helena was slower to calm than Luna, who mostly pouted and sniffled as Alex rubbed her back. Jo tried to talk to her, but Helena still cried and kept her eyes closed.
Helena screamed with all her might as Jo pressed her cheek to her daughter's head and held her. She rubbed her back and swayed as she whispered in her ear that mommy had her and she was safe. But Helena continued to scream inconsolably.
Jo looked over to see Alex sitting with Luna and sharing a snack of Reeses cups with her and it gave her an idea. Food was a great way to soothe a toddler and breastfeeding was Helena's favorite calming thing. Jo moved Helena from her shoulders to her arms in a baby hold and struggled with her scrub top. Alex saw what she was trying to do and helped her pull up her top. Helena felt what she was doing and stopped crying as Jo pulled her bra down. She divided, in mouth first as she quickly latched on. Jo rolled her eyes, but she wasn't surprised, she had been feeding her for 18 months now.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked as he sat back down with Luna offering her a chocolate.
"Nothing, I just thought she'd have a little more manners by now," Jo said, looking down at how Helena gulped down every bit of milk she could get. "She's exactly like you thought."
"How so?" Alex said, sarcastically raising his eyebrow at her.
"In the way you eat and look at pizza," Jo said, as she reached for her phone and flipped through her photos.
Alex just shrugged as he pulled out another snack, this time a bag of chips out of his pocket. He always seemed to have a bag of chips on him and more so now that they had snack seeking toddlers. He shared his chips with Luna and even gave Jo one as she scrolled through her photos.
She finally found the picture she was looking for and showed it to him. It was a picture of him wide eyed and ready to devour a slice of pizza in the same way Helena was currently devouring her food. She showed it to him as he smiled.
"Okay, I suppose I can't argue with you on that one," Alex said with a shrug as Jo shook her head.
"At least one of my girls has manners, isn't that right Luna," Jo as Luna held her chip with two fingers and took small bites.
Alex waved her over as he patted the bed next to him. Jo sat next to him crossed legged so she could rest Helena on her folded leg as she nursed her. Then they settled into the silence as they all snacked. She looked down at Helena as she traced her finger along her cheek. Jo only nursed Helena before bed these days, as she was trying to wean her before the new baby got her here. It made her realize how much her baby had grown up.
Both of her little toddlers were starting to grow taller and bigger. They started to talk and sign, more than babble. Jo loved their little voices, Luna's gentle words and egger signs, and Helena's high pitched excited talk. Luna was talking more too as she had been fitted for hearing aids and they all took sign language classes and practiced at home. It seemed like each week Luna picked up a new sign and Helena a new word. She and Luna had started having babble conversations in sign language. They seemed to have that bond that Alex said he saw in twins. Jo came back to the moment as she looked down at her girls, now calmly eating, a far cry from their earlier panic.
"I'm sorry, this was a big disaster," Jo said as she looked out the window and watched the rain fall.
"It's not your fault, Jo," Alex said with a shake of his head. "They got scared. We didn't know they would react like this as they didn't seem to mind the Easter Bunny as much when we showed them pictures of it."
Jo nodded as she grabbed a handful of more chips and they all watched the rain. Jo finished nursing Helena who was up in an instant and asking for chips too.
When Luna finished her chip, she looked up at Alex and signed. "More please."
"Sorry baby, all done," Alex said, signing 'all done' and held up the empty chip bag for her to see as Luna pouted.
"Okay let's go to the cafeteria and get some real lunch," Jo said as she picked up Helena and held her bump as Luna slipped from Alex's lap and ran to follow her. Alex just smiled as he followed his girls.
That evening after dinner, Jo was scrolling through Instagram when an ad for the Tulip fields popped up on her feed. Jo watched the video and smiled, they had never been to the Tulip fields. Although she had heard about it from all the locals. Meredith had gone a couple of times as a kid with her dad, but she said she didn't really remember it.
"Hey, what if we went to the Tulip fields before Easter?" Jo asked as she turned her phone to Alex, who was sitting on the floor, playing with the wind-up cars with the girls.
Alex watched the ad with a bit of enthusiasm before he smiled back at her, "Yeah, that might be a fun little day trip. The girls would love running around in the flowers although they might try to pick all of them. How would you two do?"
Alex looked down at her bump and reached out to hold it as he rubbed his thumb over their baby.
"We'll be fine, you worry too much," Jo said, putting her hand over his. "It'd be fun and we could get some cute family photos."
"Okay," Alex agreed as Helena handed him one of the cars as he pulled it back, then let it go as it took off and Helena ran after it. He was essentially playing fetch with their daughters.
Jo sat back and pulled up the family calendar. "Alright let's see, if I move my 24-hour shift from Thursday to Tuesday next week, then all you have to do is get out of your business meeting with Catherine and Bailey then we can go next Thursday."
She knew Alex would always prefer a day with his girls and would do anything to get out of a business meeting. As much as he loved being chief of Grey-Sloan again, meetings were the part of his job he hated the most.
"Alright, let me double-check my schedule and see if I can move the meeting, and then I'll let you know for sure," Alex said with a nod as he smiled back at her.
"Sounds good," Jo said as she leaned in and kissed him before she looked at the girls. "What do you girls think? Do you want to go see the tulips?"
"Yeah, flowers," Alex said as he and Jo signed flowers.
'Flower flower,' Luna signed as well as Helena raised her hands up and not really attempting to sign at all, but still wanted to be a part of the conversation.
"Alright let's take our girls to see the tulips!" Jo said, excitedly as she looked down at the girls who fed off of her excitement and yelled.
It all worked out with their schedules and next Thursday the four of them were preparing to spend the day in Mount Vernon. Jo had packed the car with activities, music, and movies for all of them as well as some good nap music, and of course, snacks. They decide to leave a little before noon so that the girls could hopefully nap in the car. They were both like their mama in that they often fell asleep in the car. However, Alex's main concern was his pregnant wife and her recent fainting spell.
"We stocked up on water right?" Alex asked as he bucked Helena in. They were running forty-five minutes behind schedule as it took longer than expected to get ready and pack up the car.
"Yep," Jo said, as she held up her giant water bottle but had a sticker right next to the time showing she was on track.
"And you got your compression socks?" Alex said as he tucked Helena's knitted blanket from his mom around her and kissed her forehead.
"Yes dear," Jo said as she pulled up her dress to show the socks she had on.
She had opted for a dark green sundress with white flowers as the warm April day had allowed for it, but she put a jean jacket over it. She had the girls in similar green dresses with white flowers. Even Alex had dressed up a little bit in a nice shirt, but he still wore his jeans. They thought they could take a couple of pictures of themselves and the girls for some family photos.
Jo leaned in to kiss Helena's forehead, before she got into the front seat. They had already gotten Luna buckled in and settled with a blanket tucked around her. Luna was already falling asleep as she often would if they kept her up past her nap time. She would just find a random place and pass out, where Helena needed a little more help most afternoons.
"Okay, and we're going to stop in Everett and Arlington for you to stretch your legs," Alex said as he got in the car.
"You worry too much," Jo said as she climbed into the front seat.
"When it comes to you and the girls, always," Alex said with a smile as Jo rolled her eyes.
"Alright let's head out," Jo said as she sat back and Alex started up the car.
Jo immediately set herself up as a passenger princess as she was, by kicking off her sneakers and putting a blanket over her lap she put on the piano and instrumental music for the girls. Alex quickly got onto I-5 as they started their journey. He wasn't surprised when a few minutes later all of his girls were asleep. Jo napped with their girls these days and she almost always napped in the car. This left him to put in his earbuds and play some music of his own, although he kept one out so he could hear the girls and double checked on them in the mirrors every now and then.
As soon as he got out of Everett, the drive up to Mount Vernon was more of a scenic drive through the farmland in the valleys of Washington. With the coast obscured by hills and the Cascade Mountains to his right, he still saw the snow on the mountain tops. It was a beautiful spring day, although there were still some rain clouds in the distance. Still he knew it probably wouldn't rain. If it did, they were used to going out in the rain and girls had the most adorable little yellow ducky rain jackets.
Alex always found himself enjoying these little day trips with his family. Mostly because he enjoyed spending quality time with his girl. Luna and Helena were growing up far too quickly and he didn't nearly get enough time with them or Jo, especially with her residency. She was always the one planning these little trips, and they tried to do something at least once a month. Last month, they had gone to the Science Museum and the month before they had gone to the aquarium. They also had annual passes to the zoo which was always a family favorite.
Soon enough he spotted the tulip painted smoke stack as he drove into Mount Vernon. By then Helena was starting to wake up and he had put on some Miss Rachel music for her, but she was only content so long as Daddy sang along. Alex didn't mind as Helena was also a fan of his music as well and they soon switched to rocking out to Led Zeppelin together.
Jo and Luna woke up as they passed through town and they all got excited. Jo looked over at him as she saw the daffodils at the end of the tulip field. It was just this perfect moment as he looked over at her, setting the front seat so excited about the flowers. Jo just looked so happy and her excitement was contagious to him as he smiled back at her.
They pulled into the parking lot and got everything ready. Jo jumped out of the car and the girls were just as excited. Jo got them out of their car seats while Alex got out the stroller and the diaper bag. As soon as Jo set Luna down and turned back to get Helena, Luna bolted for the flowers that were also across a busy street.
"Luna!" Jo panicked as she grabbed Helena to go after her, but Alex had already dropped everything to take off after her.
It only took him a second to catch up to her and scoop her up before he took a second to catch his breath. His heart was in his chest as he finally held Luna, now safe in his Arms. She had never been one to run off which was why Jo had gotten her out first and didn't hold her hand. She was usually so shy and new places and always stuck to his or Jo's side like glue.
"Dada I wanna flowers!" Luna protested as she twisted around in his arms, but he had a good grip on her.
"You can't run off like that Luna, you have to stay with Mama and me," Alex said as walked back to them. "We'll go see the flowers in a second, let's go back to Mama and Helena."
'Okay,' Luna sighed as he walked back with her.
Jo looked up with a sigh of relief as Alex walked back to her with Luna. She had Helena on her hip as she stood next to the double stroller. Alex came over and set Luna in the stroller next as he buckled her in.
"Please don't run off like that Luna, it's not safe!" Jo said as she leaned down and hugged Luna.
"Okay, Mama," Luna said and signed Mama as Jo smiled at her.
When she pulled back Jo, put a hand over her heart as she looked over at him. "I swear these kids are going to give me a heart attack."
"Not if I have one first," Alex said as he shook his head and they shared a nervous laugh.
Jo set up the changing mat in the back of the car and they changed both girls' diapers. Jo also ran to the porta potty before they locked up the car and put their bags in the stroller.
"Is that everything?"
"Oh I forgot the camera, let me grab it," Jo said as she went into the trunk and pulled out the professional camera she had for family photos.
Alex pulled out his phone and took a few candid photos of Jo as she fiddled with the camera settings. These days he took a lot of photos of the kids and Jo with them, something he knew he needed to do as a supportive partner. Jo, in turn, took a million of him and the girls. However, he didn't take very many candid photos of just Jo and he was trying to take more of them.
He wanted photos of just Jo, just his wife. Therefore whatever he found himself staring at her, or taking in her beauty as he told her when she caught him, he took a photo of her. Now he had a good album of just her. It was part of the Mother's Day present working on for her.
The second part of it was candid photos of both of the girls, as well as their hands and footprints which Jo loved. She had the ones from when they were newborns, set up on the shelf in their room. Helena's chubby little fingers were next to Luna's 26-week-old tiny hands. Jo had made a cast for Val at her request. She had made two of them, a matching set. Jo had Luna's left hand and Val was buried with Luna's right hand, forever holding a little piece of the daughter she didn't get to hold in life.
Jo stopped fiddling with the camera and looked over at him. She smiled as she held up the camera and took a picture of him and the girls in the stroller as he plastered on a smile for her.
"Ugh don't smile like that," Jo says she looked at the photo with a frown.
"Well, how else am I supposed to smile?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"You're supposed to smile like you want to be here," Jo said as she rolled her eyes.
"Let's just go see the flowers, princess" Alex said as he grabbed the stroller handles and pushed the stroller towards the flower fields and Jo walked beside him.
They paid the entrance fee and immediately walked out to the field was a slightly muddy landscape of dirt pathways that went in between rows and rows of tulips. They dominated the valley as far as he could see. There were rows and rows of hundreds and hundreds of tulips in all different colors. From red, yellow, and orange to purple, white, and pink. The Cascade Mountains in the background completed the beautiful landscape.
"What do you think?" Jo asked as she knelt down next to a row of yellow tulips.
"Those ones are beautiful," Alex said, it reminded him of their wedding flowers as memories of Jo in her wedding dress with her bouquet of yellow flowers filled his mind.
"Pink, pink, pink," Helena repeated over and over again as she pointed to the flowers and Alex turned the stroller towards the field of pink tulips.
"Do you like the pink ones, princess," Alex asked as he went over to the pink tulips with her. Helena reaches out and touches it with delicate fingers.
"Don't pick it now," Jo said as she blocked her fingers as Helena reached out to grasp it.
"Pink," Helena says as Jo nodded.
"It is a pink tulip," Jo repeated back to her with a smile. "Come on, let's take a couple photos."
She took Helena out of the stroller first as Alex got Luna out and she crouched down next to Luna who just stared out of the field. She doesn't touch the flowers and instead just looks at them. She had always been a kid that just liked to watch and take everything in. She was quieter than Helena too, part of that was her hearing loss, and the other was just her personality. Luna always paused before she signed too. Taking everything in before she reacted.
The two girls sat next to each other and Alex pulled back as Jo captured a few photos of them. Alex tried to make the girls smile and Helena easily did, but it was always harder to get a smile out of Luna. Until Alex nearly fell as he leaned forward. This made both of the girls giggle and Jo captured their laughs. Then Helena got up and grabbed a tulip and pulled it before they could stop her.
"No Helena, you're not supposed to touch the flowers," Alex said, rushing to stop her from pulling more.
Helena just smiled and got up, waddling over to Jo and giving her the flower. "Pink Mama."
Jo instantly melted as she knelt down and accepted the flower from her daughter and pulled her in for a hug kissing her cheek. "Oh thank you, sweet girl."
"That's very sweet of you Helena, but no more picking flowers," Alex said, with a smile as he put a hand on her back. "I'll buy you and Mommy some tulips when we're done okay?"
"Okay," Helena said, with a nod as she pointed to the pink tulips. "Pink."
"Yes, I'll buy you some pink tulips when we're done."
"Dada, purr purr," Luna said, getting up and walking over to the purple flowers as they all started to follow her.
They all followed Luna over to the purple tulips and Jo took more pictures of them all. They wandered around the fields seeing the different colors of tulips and even went over to the daffodils growing in the corner of the field. Alex took the camera for a bit and took some pictures of Jo and the girls as well. His favorites were the one where Jo was absent-mindedly staring over at the field of flowers and cradling her bump and one of girls walking and smiling as they held hands.
Jo walked over to a beach and sat down, taking a break as Luna came over and sat next to her. Jo hadn't worn her sandals and instead opted for her Addis as they were a much better choice given all the mud and her swollen feet. She wrapped her arms around Luna as Jo pulled her into her lap and the two of them sat together for a moment. Alex was holding Helena's hand and she tugged on his hand and he let her drag him around a few minutes longer to see more tulips before they walked over to Luna and Jo. Alex sat down and pulled Helena into his lap and she stilled for a moment and he looked out onto the fields of tulips and the mountains of the Cascade behind them. It was a beautiful clear day and he took a moment to appreciate it.
"Should we take a family photo?" Alex asked, looking over at Jo. "Maybe we could put it on the Christmas cards?"
"The girls will look a little older by then and we'll have the baby," Jo said if she put a hand on her bump and he knew the baby was probably kicking her as he reached to feel it as well. "But it would be nice to get a family picture."
"Okay," Alex said, as he looked around for someone to take the picture for them. "Besides we could take a Christmas photo at the Christmas tree farm?"
"We'll see," Jo said with a slight shake of her head although he knew she would indulge him in getting a fresh tree again this year. As he knew she loved them just as much as he did.
They found someone to take a few photos of them. They took some on the bench and then a few of them in front of the fields. They mostly turned out well as the girls managed to smile or at least look happy in a few photos. Alex's favorite was one of them on the bench with the girls in-between them as Jo cradled her bump. Jo had looked down at the girls instead of at the camera and he loved the look of love across her face.
Eventually they walked out of the fields and over to the little greasy area that was fenced off as a garden of tulips set in different designs. They let the girls run around for a while as they got their wiggles out. Alex made sure of that as he chased them around. While Jo sat on the grass and watched them with a slight smile that faded when she thought he wasn't looking. He knew the baby was kicking her and after a day of walking, she was tired. Although she hid it from him. So he took over and played with the girls for a while letting Jo rest as she relaxed.
Soon enough they decided to end their time at the tulips and go to the gift shop. Jo bought a poster of this year's fields and walked around looking at all the little nicknacks. As promised, Alex bought tulips for them, and let Helena and Luna pick out what colors they wanted. Alex and the girls wandered around on their own before he realized the gift shop wasn't the best place for two toddlers and waited for Jo with the girls now in the stroller outside.
Jo eventually finished shopping and came out holding up the poster roll she bought seeing the tulips in his hands. "What did you guys get?"
"Flowers for my girls," Alex said, as he held out the bouquet of the yellow tulips for her.
Alex had bought three bouquets, the second was pink tulips for Helena and the last one was purple tulips for Luna. He held the bouquets but had given the girls one of their flowers. Helena played with her tulip and waved it around as she sat in the stroller, but Luna held on to her tulip and he wasn't sure if she would ever let go.
Jo blushed as she held the tulips up to her nose and closed her eyes as she inhaled the sweet scent. "They're beautiful, it's too bad we can't keep them forever."
"We can, I got tulip bulbs for us to plant when we get home," Alex said, holding up the bag of them, this was just an assorted mix of colors but he knew his girls would love them regardless.
Jo didn't say anything, she just smiled and reached out to pull him in and kissed him. Her thanks was on her lips as he accepted it and kissed her back.
"Mama 'ack," Luna said to her as she tugged on Jo's dress.
"Sorry girls, you ate all the snacks. We'll have to go find some dinner in town," Jo said, looking down at Helena and Luna.
"Big hungry," Luna sighed dramatically as she pouted.
"Yeah," Helena said in agreement with her sister as she also pouted up at them.
"Alright, let's look for a place to eat," Alex said, pulling out his phone and searching for some nearby restaurants.
Of course they chose a pizza restaurant and got all loaded up in the car to go. They reluctantly left the tulip fields as the sun was getting lower on the horizon. The tulip fields were set in a warm yellow glow that Jo watched as they drove away. It seemed like it was over far too soon and she wished she could go back and enjoy it more, but she couldn't. Instead she flipped through the photos of them all and smiled.
Luckily the pizzeria was just a few minutes away as the girls were super excited for pizza. As soon as they got there the girls were eager to get out and jumped in the parking lot as Jo and Alex held their hands. They took turns pulling each of the girls up into the air as they walked in while Luna and Helena laughed. They quickly got settled at a table and put the girls into high chairs. Luna looked around the crowded pizzeria with a frown.
"Loud Mama," Luna said as she put her hands over her ears. The pizzeria had many other customers having loud conversations as well as music playing around them.
"I know, baby," Jo said that she signed to Luna as well.
"No loud," Luna said pointing at her hearing aid and Jo adjusted it quickly as she turned the volume down.
"All better?" Jo asked as she signed 'okay'.
"No loud!" Luna shouted, putting her hand over her ears again.
"I'm sorry, Luna, that's as low as it goes. Do you want to take your hearing aids off?" Jo asked as she held her hands out for them.
Luna couldn't seem to get them off quickly enough as she took them off and threw them to her. They nearly landed in Jo's water but Alex quickly caught them and Jo tucked them safely into the case in her purse.
'Better little moon?' Alex signed to Luna.
'Yes,' Luna signed back with a smile.
It had been six months since Luna had been diagnosed with progressive hearing loss and so far she had started talking a lot more, with a hundred words and over fifty signs. Pizza was by far Luna and Helena's favorite as they signed Pizza over and over again until their cheese pizza was finally delivered to their table. Helena devoured the pizza and practically inhaled the first slice that Alex gave her before she grabbed another one.
Luna however decided to pick at the toppings like she always did and then eat the pizza in small bites. She was very delicate and not a single bit of sauce lingered on her cheeks as she quickly licked it up with her tongue. Jo smiled as she looked over at Luna. but shook her head when she looked over at Helena to see that she had pizza sauce smeared across her cheeks.
"See like father like daughter," Jo said as she looked at Helena and Alex to see that he had pizza sauce on his beard versus her and Luna's clean faces. "Like mother, like daughter."
Alex sighed as he rolled his eyes. "I'm not that bad."
"Uh-huh," Jo said as she reached across the table to wipe his cheek and he turned away from her and squirmed like their toddlers when she wiped their face.
"Jesus Jo, you didn't have to do that in public," Alex said as he wiped his own face with a napkin.
"Oh relax, no one gives a shit," Jo said as she smiled and crippled up her napkin.
Alex shook his head as he looked over at the girls and made a funny face at them causing them to giggle only further however. Until he wrinkled his nose as he smelled something stinky.
"Uh oh, one of them pooped."
"It smells like Helena," Jo said as she reached to get Helena out of her high chair seat.
"How can you tell who pooped just by the smell," Alex said as he sniffed the air, not smelling anything distinctive in the poop, but Jo lifted up Helena and checked her diaper to confirm her suspicions.
"The nose knows," Jo said, giving him a knowing smile as she picked up Helena and put her on her hip before grabbing the diaper bag. "Besides, Helena's poop smells different than Luna's."
"I'll take your word for it," Alex said as he watched Jo awkwardly put the diaper bag on her shoulder while carrying the toddler and putting a hand over her belly. "Do you want me to take her and change her?"
"No, I got it,?" Jo said as she waved him off, determined to handle it as always. "Besides, there's probably not a changing table in the men's bathroom anyway."
Alex nodded in agreement and looked back at Luna as the two of them left. "It's been a few hours, I should probably get you changed too."
Alex smiled at her although Luna just giggled. He bopped her nose and gave her another slice of pizza. They both enjoyed another slice for a minute until Alex heard a crash and Helena screaming and crying. He was up in an instant and hauled Luna from her high chair as she protested him taking her from her pizza. Alex ran for the bathroom as several other servers ran in as well and he opened the door to see Jo sitting on the floor with Helena screaming and crying in her lap. Jo held a handful of paper towels to her head and the charging table was half off the wall as it had broken off and tilted down to the floor.
"I put her on the changing table but before I could even take off her pants, the top half fell and she slid down and busted her head on the floor!" Jo exclaimed as he bent down next to her.
"I'll get you some ice and the first aid kit. Jamie, go get the managers and the owner. I'm so sorry this happened, Ms," one of the waitresses, Cassie, her name tag read, said as she leaned down next to them.
"How the hell did this happen? When was the last time this was used and checked?" Alex demanded as he got down on his knees, still holding Luna on his hip as she just watched them all.
"We don't usually check it, other than to clean it daily," Cassie said with a shrug.
"I cleaned it last night and it was fine, maybe you kid was just too heavy for it." Jamie said as he came back with the manager.
"Excuse you, my toddler is barely 30lbs. I know for a fact that all commercial changing tables have to be rated for 200lbs," Jo said as she went off on them. "And what about disabled children who need to be changed? Are we just supposed to use the dirty floor? Have you seen how filthy this is?"
"Says the woman who's sitting on it," One of the onlookers said as Alex turned around to glare at them, sending them sinking back into the crowd.
"Alex" Jo said in a pleading tone as he looked back at Helena.
He leaned down next to her as Jo pulled back the ice bag and paper towels. Helena's head had a cut about half an inch long and it was still bleeding steadily. All the while Helena continued to cry and buried herself in her mama's chest. Helena was a rough kid and often fell resulting in a lot of bumps and bruises plus the occasional open wound, but this was her worst one by far. He couldn't help but pail a little bit as he looked at it. He never liked seeing his daughter get hurt. It made his heart leap in his chest and he couldn't even stand it when they got shots at the doctors. He would rather do a gruesome surgery on a newborn than see even a single scrap on his daughters. When it came to his daughters he was just an overly concerned dad. It was only Jo's arm hand on his arm giving him a squeeze that brought him back as he looked away and Jo put the paper towels back over it compressing it to stop the bleeding.
"It's a good cut, but she wouldn't need stitches, still we'll have to use medical glue," Alex said as Jo nodded and rocked Helena as she started to calm down.
"We should have some in the kit we keep in the car and I'll do it," Jo said as Alex agreed with a nod.
"Hey princesses," Alex said, catching Helena's attention as she turned her face out to see him. "I know your head hurts but I need you to be brave while Mama fixes you up. And we can get ice cream."
"Izz keem?" Helena asked hesitantly as she sniffled.
"Yeah, should we go get ice cream?" Alex said using an excited voice.
"Yeah, izz keem," Helena nodded but still remained curled up in Jo's arms.
They made it out of the restaurant with little fuss. The owners and the managers fell over themselves to comp their meal and offered to pay for Helena's medical expenses and ice cream in a bid to convince them not to sue. They wouldn't, but he did call the correct health safety departments to report them and make sure that the changing table was never an issue again.
Twenty minutes and four bowls of ice cream later, he was sitting in the back of their car with the trunk open as he sat on the bumper with Helena and Luna in his lap. Jo stood above them putting the glue on Helena's cut that had stopped bleeding. Alex made sure not to look as she worked. Helena and Luna were silent and happy as they licked their ice cream and it dripped down their chins. Helena barely complained as Jo worked, thanks to the generous amount of numbing cream they put on her head. Jo quickly finished and put everything away after stripping off her gloves. She put all of the bloody gauze in a plastic diaper bag and threw it away. Then Jo came and sat down next to him as she picked up her own ice cream.
"Well, I'd say it's been one hell of a day," Alex said as he passed Helena to her and Jo shared her ice cream with him.
"Yeah but with the Karevs what else do you expect?" Jo said with a shake of her head as she leaned in and kissed Helena's cheek.
"You say that like you're not a Karev, carrying another Karev, with your own brand of trouble," Alex said with a smile as he reached down and put a hand on her belly and felt their little baby kick his hand as Jo just smiled.
"Still this would be a good family tradition to start and I love that we did this," Jo said with a soft smile.
"Yeah, but I could do without the head wound next year," Alex said before he leaned in and kissed her.
"It was still a good day," Jo said, pulling back and looking over at him and their girls.
"Yeah it was," Alex agreed as he put his free arm around her shoulders. He would love a hundred more weekends like this with her and their girls. "But let's spend the rest of the weekend at home on our couch watching too much Bluey."
"Sounds like a good plan," Jo laughed as the girls looked up, both of them having heard what he said as Luna had put her hearing aids back in.
"Bluey?" Helena asked looked up and expecting them to pull out the tablet for them
Luna immediately started signing 'dog, dog' over and over again.
Alex smiled and signed, 'yes.' "We'll watch Bluey on the way home."
The girls eagerly got into their car seats as they all got packed up to go home. Jo put on Bluey for the girls as promised and Alex tapped on the steering wheel to the theme song. Alex glanced over at Jo, who was watching the sun as it faded from the sky. The smell of the tulips filled the car and Jo buckled herself in as they headed home.