General Hospital Rewrite Part One

December 25th 2016

7:32 a.m.
     Leo holds into the sides of his crib and bounces in excitement as Alexis opens the door. She picks him and kisses his cheek. He giggles and presses his face to her cheek.
     "Merry Christmas Leo. Can you say Christmas?" She asks. "No." He says, smiling. "You're a silly little boy, Leo. Silly like your daddy. Come on silly boy, your sissy made everyone breakfast, then we're gonna open presents. I got you something special. Mamma got you something super special."
     She makes her way downstairs and puts Leo at the table, stopping to kiss Julian and Avery before going into the kitchen and kissing Jo's head. "Breakfast smells wonderful, Jo. Baby is telling me I need to eat some." She says. Jo smiles and shows her a plate. "Good thing I'm done now. Just gotta get these last few off."
     "I'll bring these out for you." She says, taking the plate. "Thanks," Jo says, getting a smile on her face, "Mom."
     Alexis smiles down. She walks back out and puts the plate on the table. Julian wraps an arm around Alexis' waist and kisses her stomach. "Merry Christmas my little one." He whispers, kissing again and letting her sit in the seat next to him. Julian slides a bowl of Cheerios infront of Leo and pulls a pancake off the stack to cut it into little pieces for Avery.
     "What's taking Jo so long?" He asks Alexis. She shurgs. "Jodie, you coming?" He calls out. They wait a few seconds before Julian and Cassy jump up and run into the kitchen, Alexis only a second behind. "Jo, honey what's wrong?" Julian asks, holding her by the shoulders.
     She moves the paper towels away from her face, showing the blood. "I'm okay. It happens when it gets cold." She tells them, balling up more paper towels and pressing them to her nose. Cassy can feel herself getting pushed out of the kitchen.
     "Do you feel alright? How's your head? Are you lightheaded? Maybe you should lay down." Alexis says. Jo shakes her head. "I said I'm okay. Just take the pancakes. I gotta wash off my face." She says, throwing out the wad of paper towels and running the water. "I'll help you." Cassy offers.
     "I've got you." Alexis says. "Go make sure Avery and Leo are okay. I'll take care of you Jodie." She says. Julian nods and ushers Cassy out of the kitchen. "Is Jo gonna be okay?" She asks, trying to look back in. "I'm not sure, but crowding her isn't gonna help." He says. Leo and Avery look at them as they walk back out, both having been startled when everyone went running.
    
     Alexis wipes around Jo's mouth with a wet towel. "Are you sure you feel okay?" She asks. "Yes, yes I'm fine. You didn't all need to come." Jo says. "We all love you Jo. I was worried you fell or something with your head."
     "I said I'm okay. You're gonna stress the baby." Jo says. "The baby's fine. I am worried about their sister though. You didn't warn us about this. Any more surprises we should know about?"
     Jo's mind flashes to Cassy. "Nope." She says, leaving the kitchen. Alexis shakes her head and follows after her.

8:03 a.m.
     Julian picks Avery up, putting her over his shoulders and back down to the ground in front of the Christmas tree. Leo squeals with joy when Julian comes back for him and does the same for him.
     Alexis tries to sit on the ground but stops halfway down and decided on a chair instead. Cassy sits and the second she touches the ground she jumps back up. "I forgot some stuff upstairs." She says, running upstairs. Julian looks over at Jodie, who shurgs. 
     Cassy comes back down with a few boxes, clearly not wrapped by anyone who knew what they were doing. "What'd all this?" Jo asks, sparing her parents from having to ask.
     "Little things. Just a thank you for all you've done for me. I know I can never repay you for this. This doesn't even show the half of how thankful I am for you. You saved my life by letting me stay here. I figured it's the least I can do." She says, hiding her face behind her hair.
     Julian looks over at Alexis. Jo's too busy looking at Cas to catch this. Leo climbs onto Julian's lap and holds his cheeks. "Dadda."
     "You are so impatient. It's like someone babies him or something." He says, looking back at Alexis. "You can't blame me, I'm pregnant." She says. "Why does that change anything?"
     "It doesn't. It just means you have to be nice to me." She says. He let's out a laugh. "Unkie Jules, we gon open?" Avery asks. "Yes we are. See if you can find one that's for you." He says. She looks through the boxes, finding a purple and pink stripped one. "This mine?"
     "Yep. Do you know who it's from?" He asks. She looks at the tag. "You?" She asks. "Not me. You know what that says Avery, I know you can read names." He says, tilting his head. "Mommy?"
     "Yeah, it's from your mommy, Avery." He says. "Is Mommy coming back?" She asks, starting to tear the paper. "We talked about this. Your mom can't come back. She's, she's with the angels now."
     Avery frowns and finishes opening the box. "What is it, Avery?" Jo asks. "Doll." She says, holding it up. "What's wrong, Avery? You don't like the doll?" Julian asks. "I don't want the doll, I want Mommy!" She cries, throwing the doll to the ground and covering her face. Leo gets off his dad's lap and hugs Avery, putting his hand on her shoulder.
     Julian pulls them both into his arms, kissing their heads. "How about something Santa got you?" He asks her. She shrugs. "Jo, pass me that skinny box right there. Yeah that one." He reaches and brings the box over. "Do you wanna open it or should I?" He asks. She doesn't move her hands from around his neck.
     He rips off some of the paper and offers it to her. She turns it down. Leo gets annoyed with being nudged and walks over to Cassy, sitting between her crossed legs. Cassy looks at Jo and smiles.
     By now Alexis has seen what picture is in the frame. "Avery. Avery, look." He says, showing her the picture frame. "Mommy?" She asks, touching the glass. "Yeah, I guess Santa knew that you wanted your mom. Now it's like she's here with us."
     It's a simple black frame around a picture of Ava holding Avery taken a while ago. "Do you like it?" He asks. She nods, taking the frame and hugging it. "You feel better now that it's like Mommy is here?" He asks. She nods, resting her cheek against the frame.
     "I got you something. It's pretty cool. We're gonna let Leo open something then you can open another." He tells her. "Okay, Unkie Jules." She says, resting her back against him so she can keep the frame close.
     "Have him open Cassy's present first. I wanna know what she got him." Alexis says. "Oh it's fine. He can open whoever's." She says. "No no, Jo, get him Cassy's." Julian says. Jo looks through the boxes Cas brought down and finds the one for Leo, putting it in her little brother's arms.
     Leo tears open the paper, throwing some at Jodie. She lets it hit her face, making Avery laugh. Leo finishes tearing the paper off and holds the box, not sure what to do next. Cassy opens the top for him. He squeals and pulls the stuffed animal out, immediately cuddling it.
     "Oh, I remember that thing from Universal. Crazy horse bird thing with a dumb name." Julian says. "Buckbeak." Jo corrects. "Right. Now Leo has a friend for Foffy. Cassy this is a great gift. Look at this little stinker, he loves it. Leo, you got Bucky?"
     "Buckbeak." Jo says. "Bucky!" Leo says. "Okay fine, you're adorable." She says, putting her hand behind Leo's head. "Leo, say thank you to Cassy." Julian tells him. "Thank." He says, pulling Foffy over and crashing the toys together.
     "Jo, get the little box right there." Julian tells his daughter. She passes it to him. He gives the box to Avery, who opens it with no hesitation. "They're just like mine."
     "What is it?" Jo asks. Avery pulls out the plastic dog tags and puts them around her neck, looking up at Julian. He pulls his out and let's her look at them again. "Well, kinda like mine." He says. "Yours say your name."
     "Thank you Unkie Jules. Do I look pretty?" She asks. "You always look beautiful." He tells her.
     "Jo, you should open something." Alexis says. "I'm sure Cassy would love you to see what she got you." Julian adds. "Oh it's okay. You guys don't have to open mine first to make me feel included. I'm fine if you just grab them whenever."
     Jo rolls her eyes and takes the box from Cas to her. "Oh Cassy, this is perfect. Thank you so much, you really know me. I love it." She says, going to hug her. Leo stands up and hugs Jo first, assuming it's for him. There's a collective laugh.
     Jo passes the necklace so her parents can see. Alexis smiles and hands it back to Julian. He holds it up for Avery. "Do you know what any of this says?" He asks. She tilts her head. "The, night, will, end." She lists. "Very good, you got a lot of the words right. It says, 'Even the darkest nights will end and the sun will rise.'"
     Julian hands it back to Jo, who wastes no time putting it on, the pendant falling just above the necklace from Jensen, keeping both her best friends close to her heart.
     "You may as well see what I got you now. I mean, I didn't really get it for you. I made it. You'll see what I mean." Cassy says, looking down in embarrassment, not use to this kind of attention. "I'm sure whatever it is, we'll love it. You really didn't have to get any of us anything. We didn't expect you to." Alexis says. "I owed you."
     "Let's see what all the fuss is about." Julian says, passing the last of Cassy's presents to Alexis, it's shaped similarly to the picture Julian got Avery. She peels away the paper and stares at it, a bit speechless. Julian sees it and has a similar reaction, his mouth actually opening.
     "This is so beautiful. Did you paint this?" Alexis asks. Cassy nods shyly, still hiding her face. "I don't know what to say. This is not what I expected. This is so much more. This day, our wedding day, it was one of the happiest of my life."
     "We were held hostage." Julian reminds her. "Beside that." She says, smacking his arm. "It's true. So is this being amazing."
     "Now time for what we got you." Alexis says. Jodie pulls over a big, but not the biggest, box from behind the tree. Cassy opens it and smiles at what's inside, pulling the pillow chair out. "I've always wanted one of these." She says. "That's not all there is. There's another at the bottom." Jo tells her. She pulls out another pillow, one of those that has two colored sequins so it changes when you touch it.
     "Jo said you wanted to add a splash of color to your room and knowing what it feels like to have cracked ribs I know how much that pillow chair is gonna help. I can see just how how hard sitting up is." Julian says. Jo helps to get the pillow chair behind Cassy's back, Cassy breaking into to tears when she can finally relax.
     "I've never had anyone look out for me like this. I've never had this, a family." She admits. Leo looks her in the face and puts his hands on her cheeks. "No cry." He says. "Happy crying, Leo. I'm happy." She says. He smiles, giving a little giggle.
     Everyone recovers and continues opening presents. Jo opens a new X-men phone case from "Santa". Alexis gets a set of onsies and a u-shaped body pillow, perfect for her big belly and eventually nursing and holding the baby. Her special present to Leo, a kitchen set so he can be like his big sister. Other little things for Julian, him having made it clear he didn't want much.
     Jo pulls out and envelope like she'd done last night and passes it to her father. He holds it and looks over at her. "Before I open this, you need to open what Tom got you." He says, passing her the bag. She pulls out the black photo album. In the middle there's a picture of her and Jensen, above it the words "it's time I showed you" and below the picture in big words, "everything."
     She puts it down next to her. "It isn't the time or place for me to open this can of worms. This is something I need to do alone." She says. "So you want us to open this?" Julian asks. She nods. This time Julian opens it himself, reading the paper before handing it to Alexis. "You're changing your name to Jerome?"
     "I wanna be a part of this family. A real part. Miller was never who I was. He was some poor guy my picked out of the news paper. I've always been a Jerome and now that Alexis is adopting me and I've been here this long I figured it was time. Plus, I've always loved the idea of my initials being JJJ."