The Home and The Heart

Daylight

22 WEEKS

Jo twiddled her thumbs as she sat in the obstetric ward of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. She shifted her weight, the black chair she was sitting on was atrociously uncomfortable. Sighing loudly, Alex reached over and put his hand on Jo's knee, effectively stopping her shuffling.

"Babe, come on. You know you have nothing to worry about. The first scan showed zero signs of anything we should be worried about. And besides, I am a fantastic paediatric surgeon so anything that is wrong can swiftly be fixed."

"What if there is a heart defect the OB didn't see on the first scan?"

"Then, I will call Cristina and she will fix the defect instead of me." Alex attempted to reason with his noticeably panicked fiancé.

Jo sighed loudly, her hands starting to wring on her lap once again.

"Alex there are so many things that could still go wrong. I mean, what about Anencephaly or Fetal Anemia, or what if the baby was too small to see amniotic bands at the first scan?"

"Then it's a great job we know two of the best fetal surgeons on the planet. Addison would be more than happy to help, and you and I both know that Arizona would be on the first plane here. Jo, the chances are slim, they are slimmer than slim, please don't stress yourself before you know you have something to stress about."

Jo took a deep breath, nodding her head as she grabbed the hand that Alex still rested on her thigh.

The first scan had worried Jo just as much. Although she knew that when she went in the baby would be barely big enough to see, the moment that she heard the heart rate sound in the room was a moment she could cherish for the rest of her life. Carina had done the first scan and would do the second one also, Jo and Alex wanted somebody that they knew they could absolutely trust with the safety of her child, Carina was that person. Since then, the greyscale image of the child had taken pride of place on their refrigerator. They had sent a copy to Alex's mother, and Alex and Jo both had their own copies, as well as multiple on their phones. One bad even found its way into the visor of Alex's car, which Jo found one morning when she pulled it down to fix her hair. Alex kept his in his wallet, showing one of their friends every opportunity he had, Jo stuck hers to the back of her cubby with a piece of sellotape. Before, the room had been plagued with the memory of her finding the letter, but now all she could do was smile at the sight of the image. It didn't matter how early she had to be at work, or how hard of a day she'd had, the image never failed to bring a smile to her face.

"Ok Jo, you can come in now, Bambina,"  Carina called, ushering the pair into the examination room. They had come in an hour early before work, and Carina had graciously agreed to do the scan before she started seeing patients for the day.

...

29 WEEKS

Jo watched from the couch as Alex took tiny articles of clothing from bags that he had walked into their loft carrying. Jo had been assigned to work the day shift today, but it was Alex's day off. Unbeknownst to her, Alex had organised an impromptu trip to the mall, apparently dragging Avery along with him.

Jo knew that Alex was already so overjoyed about the pregnancy, but the fact that Jackson and April were also expecting another baby at the same time was amazing for Alex. Every now and again Jo would walk into a room and find Alex and Jackson talking. Grabbing a cup of coffee in the attending lounge one morning she'd heard him ask about the kind of pregnancy pillows April had used, as Alex knew that Jo was starting to have trouble sleeping. Scrubbing as he prepared to go into surgery she heard him ask about cravings and if it gets to the point where Jo is mixing ketchup and ranch and dipping pickles into it, I am ninety percent sure I will leave my house. Obviously, Alex was a paediatric surgeon and he knew a lot, but he was always so eager to learn everything he possibly needed to learn. Jo knew that he had a deep-rooted fear that he would follow in his dads' footsteps, but he could never. Alex would walk into the fire, jump in front of an axe murderer or lay on a bed of nails before he let anything happen to Jo or their child.

Jo had thought she genuinely couldn't love Alex anymore, but when she heard the loft door slide open that evening, she knew she was wrong. He had that wide silly smile on his face that she adored.

"Oh my god, Alex, I thought you were just popping to the mall." Jo stood, which was becoming increasingly difficult as the days passed, she noted.

"Well, yeah I was. Jackson had to go into this new store to pick up a car seat that April had ordered, and I was just looking around. I know that you wanted to go shopping and stuff but I just... are you mad?" Alex looked up sheepishly. In the beginning, he genuinely was only looking, but before he knew it Jackson was pushing him towards a checkout.

"Alex, of course, I'm not mad. This is genuinely the most amazing, most thoughtful thing you have ever done. I seriously..." Jo trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes. Pregnancy hormones were a bitch. Jo was a tough girl, but recently everything seemed to be setting her off. The abandoned puppy commercial, the absence of coffee in the attending's lounge, the first time that Zola had called her 'Aunt Jo' that past weekend.

"Good, I'm so glad you said that because I kind of bought a lot of stuff. Purely accidental of course but I bought it nonetheless. Do you want to see it?"

Four different packets of three different colour newborn bodysuits, as well as another six of varying patterned styles. A large selection of newborn onesies, each varying shades of pink from a dark mauve to light pink. Different types of socks; long, ankle, plain and frilly. Burp cloths, pacifiers, two pairs of newborn leggings and three pairs of pyjamas. Alex had saved Jo's favourite until last though.

Her whole life, Jo had only ever had one image of herself as a baby. In the picture, she didn't know where she was or who she was with, but she was wearing a pretty blue dress, a white ribbon tied at her waist neatly. Alex had outdone himself, somehow finding a dress in the store that was virtually identical.

"I know it's not exactly the same, but I..." Alex was abruptly cut off when Jo's lips smashed against his.

"I love you, so freaking much."

So that was how Jo spent her evening. Watching Alex put tiny clothes into a dresser, a wide smile on her face the whole time.