General Hospital Rewrite Part One

October 28th 2016

6:43 a.m.
     "Jodie, you're not walking to school. I'll drive you." Julian tells her. She nods and keeps eating. "Or, if you wanna skip, that's an option too." he says. He can see her consider it. "Really?" she asks. "Yeah, just this once. You've got a lot going on and you need a day to yourself. I'll call the school, tell them your sick or something." he tells her. She smiles up at him. "Thanks Dad." she says. She goes to pull away from the hug he has her in but he pulls her back. "I love you so much." he says. She squeezes him tighter. "I love you too."
     "Can I go back to sleep?" she asks. "Course." he moves aside. She heads upstairs, greeting Alexis on the way up. "She forget something?" she asks her husband. "I'm letting her play hookie today." he tells her. "She deserves a long weekend, and I get company today." Alexis says. "I figured you wouldn't be against a lazy day with Jojo." he laughs. "I love our Jojo." she says.
     Jo lays herself flat to the floor of her room and reaches under her bed. She feels around and takes hold of the folded up switch knife. She pops the blade out and feels how sharp it is. She shrugs and gets up to sharpen it on a stone holding down some papers. She tests the blade again and smiles in satisfaction. She turns and throws it at a newspaper clipping on her bulletin board. It hits and sticks in the middle of the picture of a man's face. "This time, this time I'm ready."

10:03 a.m.
     Jo opens the door and walks in, shivering off the cold. "How was the run?" Alexis asks. "Good, cold, long." she tells her. "Just how you wanted it?" Alexis asks. "Yep, perfect." she walks over and flops onto the couch. Alexis sits next to her. "Do you wanna talk?" she asks. Jo shakes her head. Alexis puts her arms over Jo's shoulders and pulls her close. "I love you honey. You can always talk to me." she kisses her forehead.
     "What if he comes after me again?" she asks. "We won't let that happen." Alexis tells her. "You promise?" she asks. "I promise." Alexis says. Jodie smiles and rests her head on Alexis' shoulder.

2:36 p.m.
     Jodie opens the door. "Alex?" she asks. "I couldn't wait till Monday to see you. I was worried. You haven't been answering my texts." he hugs her. She melts into his arm and hug him back. "I'm fine." she tells him. He keeps his hands on her arms. "Why didn't you text me back?" he asks. "Oh, I haven't been checking my phone. I'm okay though." she says. "I was worried sick. Something wrong?" he asks. "Yeah actually, something is wrong." they go and sit on the couch.
     "The man who raped me, Benson Jameson, he was released from prison." she tells him. "How could they? That man's a monster!" he stands up. "Men like him deserve to rot behind bars forever. They don't deserve anything!" he yells. Alexis comes down the stairs. "I didn't realise you were having someone over." she says. "It's my fault. I came over uninvited." Alex says, quickly defending Jodie. "I just wanted to check on Jodie. If you want I'll leave now." he offers. She looks over at Jodie. "You can stay." she says. "As long as you two stay downstairs." she adds. He smiles and sits back next to Jo.
     Alexis heads back upstairs. Alex looks over at Jo and holds her hands. "If it makes a difference, I wouldn't let anyone hurt you." he says. "I don't really wanna talk about it anymore." she tells him. "Okay, what do you wanna do?" he asks. "I don't know. We could watch a movie." she suggests. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asks. "That if ducks could talk they'd probably insult us?" she asks. "No, not at all." he laughs. "I was thinking we could watch Les Mis together."
     She smiles and nods. "That sounds super romantic." she bites her lip. "That's the point." he tells her. "I'll go get it." she says. He rests his cheek on his hand and watches her go.

     She curls up against him and they watch together without a word. Alexis pokes down to check on them every once and a while but leaves them alone. Almost an hour and a half passes before either one of them makes any move. Its Alex, and he moves to face her. "A heart full of love, a heart full of song, I'm doing everything all wrong. Oh God, for shame
I do not even know your name. Dear Mademoiselle, won't you say? Will you tell?" he sings, mimicking the movie. "A heart full of love. No fear, no regret." she replies. He doesn't sing the next line, instead he leans in and kisses her.
     "I am lost." he sings. "I am found." she sings back. "A heart full of love." he starts. "A heart full of you." she continues. "A single look and then I knew." he takes over again. "I knew it too." she doesn't sing, just speaks. She hovers her lips above his. "Retrieve the flag." he whispers. She bursts out laughing. He joins in laughing. "As much as I truly believe we make a wonderful Marius and Cosette, you make an excellent Javert."
     He pulls her back against him. "I love you Jo." he says. Alexis checks in just as he says that. Seeing Jodie pressing closer after that makes her smile.

10:32 p.m.
     Julian takes shirt off and gets into bed next to Alexis. She sits up and looks down at him. "Uh oh. Something's not right." he says. "I don't like Jo's boyfriend." she says. "I don't hate him as much as I should. I mean, he's so sweet to her, she adores him, and he adores her. I can tell just by the way he looks at her when she's not looking. He's good for her." he says. "What if he's not?" she asks. "He's smart enough, he's athletic, Jo seems to think he's adorable, he's respectful to us and to Jodie. He helps her with her missed work, he got her to try out of the musical, he's introduced her to his friend group, he makes her feel safe, he loves her. What don't you like about him?"
     "He's the boy who knocked Jo over on the first day of school. He's the reason she was in the hospital." she tells him. She can see the brief hate flash in his eyes. "He didn't mean to. Jo's always gushing about him being on the soccer team, he's probably just used to guys who can take a hit. Its not like he knew Jo was in danger and it's not like he meant to hit her. He's not gonna hurt her." he says. "Not physically." Alexis mutters.
     "What do you mean?" he asks. "What if he leaves her, or cheats on her?" she asks him. "Jodie will rip him four new ones before we can even react. He's crazy about her, he's not gonna hurt her." he assures her. She lays down and cuddles next to him. "Goodnight." she says.
     "Goodnight."

I know I said I was gonna update less frequently but I already had some of this done and it's not that long. The next part will be Halloween and it will be two parts. Part one is gonna be somewhere between pretty and super long. Part two will be shorter but still a decent length. Again, thanks for the continued support.