"I want to see my babies," Jo said insisted as she reached out and grabbed his arm.
It was a late Tuesday morning and the interns had finished their rounds and they had finished breakfast. Cristina had given Jo her daily check up and was happy with her progress. Carina was there now to give her and the baby a check up and let them see their baby on the ultrasound. Alex was still looking at them on the screen with a smile as he stared at their ten tiny toes.
"Okay" Alex said as he turned the screen towards her.
"No, not that baby, Luna and Helena," Jo insisted as she crossed her arms. Alex opened his mouth of protest, but Jo already had a rebuttal. "It's been over a week, Alex. I'm healthy, with no sign of post op infection, bleeding, or anything. Even Cristina signed off on it. I want to see my babies!"
Alex looked up at Carina expecting her to back him up, but she just nodded her head and smiled. "I would never deny a mother, her babies if she's healthy enough to see them. You should bring them up and let them visit for the afternoon."
"See, both of my doctors have agreed to it," Jo smirked and nodded in agreement.
Alex frowned seeing that he was out numbered. It's not that he didn't want Jo to see the girls. He had helped her video chat with them several times a day. However, letting their rambunctious germ filled toddlers into the same room as his recovering wife, wasn't something anyone had looked forward to.
"Jo please, let's just wait a little bit longer, they're one years olds and they're so germy," Alex said as he put a hand over hers and gave it a squeeze.
"Alex, it's been long enough. I'm healthy. The baby's healthy. Luna's 2nd birthday is in a few weeks and I want to start planning it with her. Let me see my girls and if you don't bring them up here, I'll just go to see them myself!" Jo said, throwing off the blankets and getting up before either of them can protest.
Carina grabbed onto her arms and held her and Jo surprisedly stood firm. Alex quickly got up as well and they gently urged her to sit back down. But with Carina's help she stood firm and turned to glare at him.
"Okay, okay," Alex said, saying that he was outnumbered and let out a sigh. "I'll go get Luna and Helena and bring them up here to see you after lunch."
"No, now."
"Look, Links just said he dropped them off for breakfast and…"
"And I already got Helena's teacher's circle time picture," Jo said, showing him the phone.
Helena's daycare teacher took pictures and videos at cuticle time about the kind of conversations and songs the kids talked about during the day. It was mostly just The ramblings of toddlers and dinosaur roars, but it was a cute chance to see the kids in the mornings.
"Alright, I'll go see if I'll bring them up, I promise," Alex said as Jo smiled and laid back as she let Carina finish taking her blood pressure.
Jo settled with the blankets around her and he knew she would take a nap. As she already had her breakfast and her morning walk. Carina finished her check up, but by the time she left the room, Jo was asleep. Therefore he knew he could put off the visit a little bit longer, but not by much.
Alex went down to the daycare and walked into the girls room. It was a medium sized room with lots of colors and activity as the seven toddlers played on their own while their teacher, Ms. Daisy, played with a few kids on the rug as she played peekaboo with the colorful scarves. She was the epitome of a daycare teacher, in her late 20s, dressed in overalls and a floral blouse. She always had a soft smile and a calm demeanor that definitely helped with Luna's anxieties and Helena's demanding tantrums.
"Hello, Dr Karev," Daisy said to him as she greeted him with a smile.
"Hello, Ms. Daisy," Alex replied as he caught sight of Luna playing with the toy phone and talking into it. While Helena walked around with a scarf on her head and giggled.
"I wasn't expecting you this early, is everything all right with Jo and the baby?" Ms. Daisy asked, as she gave the scarf to another child before she came over to him.
"Yeah, everything's going fine, Jo just wanted to see the girls today so I thought I'd take them up for a visit. Is that all right?"
"Of course I never say no to a parent taking their child," Ms. Daisy echoed the words of Carina, although he wasn't surprised given that Carina and Daisy were good friends and Carina volunteered in the toddler room with her son Andrew who was cutlery playing with Helena.
"Okay, I'll have them back for lunch," Alex said as Daisy nodded, then he looked down at the girls. They were still obvious that he was there and he smiled as he called their names.
"Luna, Helena," Alex said, getting their attention if they looked up. Luna squealed with excitement as she ran over and Helena was hot on her heels, the scarf falling off her head. "Hey you two, I'm so happy to see you."
Alex crouched down and picked them both up, pulling one of arms around them as he stood up. Luna wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him to death in a hug. while Helena presented him with a sloppy kiss to his cheek before she pulled back.
"Dada I talk to Mama on da phone," Luna said, holding up the toy phone she was talking into.
"Oh yes, are you talking to Mommy?" Alex said as he smiled at her, she nodded and held out the phone to him. "Can we give that back to Ms. Daisy, little Moon?"
"Okay, here go," Luna said with a nod before she handed it back to her teacher.
"Thank you," Alex said to her before they left. "So do you girls want to come to work with me?"
Both of them instantly perked up as they loved doing rounds with him on the Peds floor. He did it with them often, especially when they were babies, although it got harder to do once they were too big to carry around all the time.
"Yeah, I work with Daddy," Helena said as she wiggled in his arms, causing him to readjust his grip on her.
"All right let's go to work, but first let's go get a checkup," Alex said as he brought the girls over to the pediatric wing.
He brought the girls up to the Pediatric wing and brought them into the room with the fire truck bed as he set them on top of it and started to give them a checkup, like he would any other kid. As if to reaffirm his fears Luna sneezed and a giant green snot bubble came out of her nose. He quickly pulled a tissue out of his pocket and wiped it away.
He didn't know if it was just toddlerhood or daycare boogers, but the girls always seemed to have a runny nose. He knew part of it was just the toddler nose being so small and that they'd grow out of it, like they grew out of drooling all over the place when they were teething. Although Helena was still prone to it as she was currently getting her two back molars and happily chewed on the cold teether he gave her. Both of the girls were healthy and both of them didn't have a fever or any other signs of sickness, apart from a runny nose.
Alex sighed as he checked Helena's ears, seeing they were a little red inside, as he talked to himself. "I don't know, maybe seeing Mama is such a good idea."
"Mama?" Luna asked, turning towards him and her eyes going wide as she smiled. He was surprised she had heard that and he paused as he realized what he had just done. "I wanna see Mama."
"I see Mama too," Helena said eagerly as she started to wiggle her little body in excitement.
However he knew something that would take their mind off seeing Jo. "Okay, who wants to go get ice cream?"
"Ice cream," Luna shouted and hopped down from the table and ran over to the door and ran out the hallway.
Alex panicked and quickly ran after her and grabbed Luna who still had only her diaper on. "Hey you, what have we told you about opening doors?"
Luna just smiled, "But I get Ice cream, Dada."
"Alright let's go get ice cream, but first let's get some clothes on missy," Alex said as he turned around to see Helena also just in a diaper as she toddled down the hall after them. Alex picked up his girls and took them back to the room where he dressed them back up.
He took them to the Cafeteria and got them both an ice cream. Although might as well just left them in her diaper with the amount of ice cream they got all over them. He had to go back to the daycare to change their clothes. However, the distraction worked and the girls didn't ask about Jo. After changing their clothes and sitting with them for lunch he gave the girls back to Ms. Daisy. He kissed both of their heads and promised to check in on them after nap, like he usually did before he went back upstairs to the maternity ward.
He checked his watch. It had been an hour and Jo would probably still be sleeping. Something he absolutely took full advantage of is he went over to the Peds ward again to work on a few cases. It had been three weeks since he had worked and he needed something for his mind to do. Thus for the past few days while Jo napped, he was helping Hayes with a few easy cases and research.
"Hey Karev, how's it going?" Hayes said as he greeted him at the table nurses station, having gone through a pile of charts.
"It's going good." Alex said as he looked over the case Hayes handed to him. "Jo's actually feeling a lot better these days and the girls are doing better as well. I just took him out for ice cream."
"That's Good. I heard Jo was asking about the girls."
"Yeah I think it's just a little too early for her to see them, She still doesn't have her strength and her immune system isn't as strong especially since she's pregnant."
"Oh," Hayes said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Because Jo just came by here and said she was on her way to see you and the girls."
Alex froze and he realized what Hayes said, "What do you mean you just saw her?"
"She came by in a wheelchair with Levi and they said they were looking for you and the girls, I said I saw you with you over in room 212," Hayes said not fully realizing what he had just done.
Alex didn't say anything more, he just dropped the file he was reading and ran back to room 212, of course the room was empty and had even been cleaned up by the crew and his wife and her accomplice were nowhere to be found. He should have known Jo would have taken matters into her own hands when he didn't bring the girls up to see her. However he now knew where they were headed as he ran back down to the daycare.
Sure enough when he went up to their room, he spotted Levi and Daisy talking as Jo sat on the floor in a pair of fresh scrubs with a blanket over her lap as she talked with Luna and Helena as they sat in the library area. Luna hung on to her neck and Helena was sitting in her lap as Jo gave them dozens of kisses. Jo even goes as far as wiping their snotty nose with her scrub shirt. This was something he usually wouldn't mind if she had a strong immune system and was not recovering from surgery.
"Jo," Alex said in a panic as they all looked up and were surprised to see him.
"Hi Dada," the girls waved to him although they didn't let go of Jo.
"Alexander," Jo greeted him with a tight smile and Alex knew he was in trouble.
"Okay, why don't we all go outside," Alex said with a sigh, trying to get her out of the germ filled daycare as quickly as possible.
"Fine," Jo said glaring at him before she looked back at Daisy. "Sorry Daisy, I know you're in the middle of diapers and trying to get them down for nap, so we'll change them."
As she got up without help, Alex rushed over to her. He held his wife and Jo surprisingly didn't lean into him and instead walked without help. Although, she put the girls down and held their hands as they walked out. Even Levi just stood there with her wheelchair. She finally sat back down in the chair and Alex put the blanket over her lap, but the girls quickly climbed up their mother.
"No girls you have to walk out, Mama needs the chair alone," Alex said, although they didn't listen.
"I ride in the Mama car," Luna said as she sat on Jo's lap.
"Yeah, I ride in Mama car too, vroom vroom," Helena said with a laugh that Jo and Luna shared.
"Come on Alex, just drive us to the playground," Jo said with that same tight smile.
They quickly left the daycare and walked over to the indoor playground. The daycare had two smaller indoor playgrounds that were used year round. The toddler playground climbers and soft giant gym blocks, with a little slide and bikes on a circular track. At this time they were empty as all of the kids had lunch and we're getting ready for nap time. Jo pointed them over to the bathrooms first and handed him the two diapers as he went in and took the girl to the bathroom letting them both sit on the toilet changing them before coming back out and letting them play.
"Why don't we all go get some cars and walk around the bike track," Levi said, with a nervous smile.
"Stay out of this Levi," Alex growled at him as Jo returned his look with a glare.
"Don't be rude to him."
"He helped you escape."
"I just took her on a walk," Levi defended himself as he held up his hands.
"I said to stay out of this Levi," Alex yelled at him again.
"Alex! Stop this is between you and me." Jo said to him with a glare as he bottled it up for now. "Thank you, Levi, so much for helping me out. Alright girls, say goodbye to your uncle Levi."
"Leve, no go, I wanna play with you," Luna protested as she reached out for Levi and he picked her up, giving her a quick hug.
"It's alright Luna-Lu, I'll see you tonight I promise," Levi said, kissing her cheek before he set her back down and she crawled back into Jo's lap.
"Bye baby," Helena said she said their little catch phrases to him as she waved him off.
"Bye-bye baby, love you," Levi said as he waved to them before leaving as Jo and the girls waved back.
Then she sent Luna off to play with Helena as they each hopped on a tricycle and started to go around the track. When they were out of earshot Alex opened his mouth again but Jo shut him up quickly.
"Alexander Karev, I asked you to bring my daughters to see me. I asked you to let me see my children, but you didn't. You don't ever tell me I can't see my babies when I am perfectly able to do so!" Jo said with a glare of a thousand sun as she turned her mama bear stare on him. She had never done that before and he shrunk back as she did.
"I was just worried about you and the baby," Alex said with a sigh as he tried to reach out and touch her, knowing it would ease both of them but Jo slapped his hand away as he reeled back in surprise.
"You made the decision that I couldn't see my children," Jo said as she crossed her arms and looked at Luna and Helena.
As they played, they waved at her and she weighed back sending them a couple of kisses. They both ran back to her and pulled on her arms as they tried to tug Jo up. "Mama come play."
"Why don't we have Daddy take us on a walk instead," Jo offered as she lifted them both up into her lap.
"Okay," they agreed as they both settled in and Jo wrapped the blankets around them.
Alex took a hold of the wheelchair before pushing them in silence. As they walked around, both of the girls got sleepy and they soon fell asleep in Jo's arms. Even she looked tired as she yawned.
Then she reached back and touched his hands looking back at him. "Why don't you take us back to the daycare and we'll drop the girls?"
Alex nodded in agreement as they went back to the daycare, handing the girls over to Ms. Daisy had their beds ready for them and all the other kids were asleep. They put them down and tucked them in and kissed them goodnight before they left.
Jo fiddled with the wheelchair as he tucked the blanket around her. They waved goodbye to Daisy before they walked out of the daycare. They walked through the hall and down to the elevator. It was a silent agreement to go back to the maternity ward as Jo pushed the button for the fourth floor. In the elevator, Jo reached around and grabbed his hand looking up at him with a tired smile. He gave her a little smile before coming round and crouching down in front of her.
"I know, I worry too much, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept the girls from you," Alex said as Jo nodded in agreement.
"They're my kids too, Alex and my heart aches for them, you know this," Jo pleaded with him as tears collected in her eyes and he knew she missed the girls already.
"I know and it was selfish of me. How about we do this again every day, but the girls can come up and have lunch with you. You can play with them for a while before we put them down for a nap and hopefully things will settle a bit," Alex offered with a raised eyebrow and Jo eagerly smiled in agreement.
"How have they been doing, staying with Link and Meredith?" Jo said, as she tilted her head.
Alex looked away from her and just sighed. "It's been rough, Meredith says the girls don't go down unless I call them and if they wake up, it's hard to get them back down."
"You should take them home and put them to bed in their own beds," Jo said insistently as she reached up and held his face with her hand. "It'd be good for you to sleep in our bed too."
"You know I won't," Alex whispered looking back up at her as Jo nodded.
"I want you to try, but I love you too much to make you." Jo said with a little smile as she rubbed her some across his cheek.
Alex reached up and kissed her, lingering on her lips for a while. It was a sweet kiss that had both of them melting into each other. He chased her lips for a little while, hoping to stay in this sweet moment, and they did. The elevator seemed to be moving slower today and it gave them a few minutes before the doors opened behind him and he was forced to stand up.
Jo kept a firm grip on his hand as they went back to the maternity ward together. He tucked her into bed again and she fought sleep and she turned on the TV. However, the second he crawled in next to her and put her head on his chest, Jo was asleep. Even Alex took advantage of the quiet with a little nap of his own as the Karev's rested in peace that afternoon.