The Home and The Heart

Better Than Revenge

Quiet.

For the next six weeks, Jo and Alex's life had been... quiet. Unusually so.

Thanks to the tape and the witness statements from both Amelia and Maggie, Jo had been granted a temporary restraining order, meaning Paul had to stay one hundred and fifty feet away from Jo at all times. Paul had also been barred from entering Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital unless life-saving measures were necessary. For the first few days after Paul's arrest, Jo had gone about her life normally. She had gone to work, ate lunch with Alex if their schedules allowed it, worked until late and then gone home for dinner. All was fine until Jo's phone rang one Friday afternoon.

Paul had been released from jail. Despite the severity of the charges, he had been granted bail by the judge until the trial. The dreaded trial.

...

Jo woke up early on the morning of the trial. They had to be at the courthouse by nine that morning, and Jo was dreading it. Nothing was safe, any piece of information could be exposed at any second. She took a long shower, it was necessary to wake her up as she had barely slept the night before. Stepping out of the shower and onto the mat, she used her hand to wipe the steam from the large mirror. And yet, another reason to be terrified presented itself. She was now almost twenty-two weeks pregnant and showed it. She had tried her hardest to find an outfit that could conceal her bump somewhat, but her efforts proved futile.

Alex made breakfast for them, if you considered cereal making breakfast, and she chewed quietly, only speaking now and again about the food or the weather. She was incredibly nervous, Alex could tell. He could tell that she had been on edge for the past few days. Alex was just grateful that they didn't have to travel across the country for the trial. Stadler's lawyers had been pushing for the trial to be moved to his home state of Massachusetts, but due to the charges being pressed under Washington jurisdiction, the trial must be held there.

The courtroom was fuller than expected when they arrived. Paul's side was much emptier, only his parents were there to support him. Jo attempted to cast a sad smile at Paul's mother, whom she had truly loved during the time that she had been with Paul, but Jo was ignored. Jo was full of immense gratitude that people from the hospital had taken the day off to come and support her in such a hard time. Albeit, she was worried that their opinions of her might change once the trial was over, nonetheless, she was happy to have them there to support her.

Meredith sat in the front row with Amelia and Maggie, who had agreed to be called as witnesses along with Bailey, as she was chief of the hospital the incident had occurred at.

Jo was nervous, wringing her hands as she sat down in the front row next to Alex as she waited for the trial to commence.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Amelia asked, putting her hand on Jo's arm.

"Okay, I think. We just have to see what happens. Domestic violence cases hardly ever go the way the victim wants but I hope the videotape from the hospital shows what kind of um... person... he is." Jo smiled softly.

"You will be okay, Wilson. We are all here to support you." Webber reached over from his row, his hand resting atop her shoulder. More people were there for her than she ever expected. Deluca sat in the row behind Webber talking with Callie and Arizona, and Avery sat with April in the row behind them.

"Jo. Hi." Jo turned to see her lawyer, Meghan, standing behind her clutching a huge pile of binders to her chest.

"Meghan, hi. Are we ready to go?"