Stay Till Midnight || Jolex

Summer haze

"Brooklyn and Robin," Jo says. "Their names are Brooklyn and Robin Karev." 

Karev. She gave them my last name. I'm speechless, my kids have my last name. 

"When I was pregnant with Brooks I promised her and myself that she wouldn't have the childhood I had. I really tried to to everything right." her voice breaks on the last two words. She tries to continue but no words come out of her mouth. I lay my hand on her shoulder to encourage her on.

 "I was 32 weeks when I got hit by an ambulance in the bay," she wipes away the tears that are sliding down her cheek. "Robbins had to to a crash c-section and once she was out Meredith located and stopped the bleeders." 

Jo lifts up her shirt to reveal the scars from the incisions on her stomach. "The accident caused complications for Brooklyn, she had to stay in the NICU for four months. Oh Alex, it was so hard. I had never felt so useless in my life." She burries her head in her hands and lets out a small cry. Reliving these memories is clearly hard for her. 

"Oh Jo, I'm so sorry," I pull her in for a hug. She rests her head on my chest and continues to cry. 

"Shsh, it's okay. Everything is okay now." I try to soothe her. 

My heart breaks at seeing her like this. After a few minutes Jo's breath steadies and she continues with her story. "She had three surgeries and a long recovery. I wanted to call you, I swear I did but I was to much of a coward to do so."

"Obviously I got pregnant with Robin at the conferance. Gosh, I was so mad when I found out! We used protection and I still ended up having a baby," she laughs. "I decided to keep her and it's one of the best decisions I've made."  

I can't help but feel more respect, if that is even possible, for her. 

"You named her after Arizona, right?" I say, stating the obvious. 

"Yes," she replies with a tiny smile. "And I named Brooklyn after us. Brooklyn Alexa."

 I feel like I'm about to fall over in shock. Her middle name is Alexa, after me. 

"Robin's middle name is Stella. I thought it was cute. Robin Stella."

 I take a deep breath. There's a question that's been nagging at me since I we started talking. "Can I be in their lives?" 

Jo looks up at me a bit startled. She opens and closes her mouth at loss of words. "Do you want to?"

 I don't know how she could think I wouldn't. "Yes, of course. Their my kids, I want them to have a dad."   

 "Then I think we should make some rules. Firstly, I want Brooks to get to know you before we tell her. Secondly, my kids are not going to Kansas every few weeks." 

I think I can live with her rules. They seem fair enough, at least I'm allowed to know them. "That's fine by me." I reply. She smiles, her eyes fill with tears.

 She wipes them away and says. "My kids finally have a father." 

After our conversation, Jo and I carpool to work. It's nice to be on good terms with her again. We chit chat about the crazy stuff our kids have done and laugh about old memories from when she was an intern. I can't believe how much I've missed this. She wasn't just my wife, she was my best friend. 

"I have an appendectomy, see you later!"

I watch as she greets Amelia and heads to OR 1. 

We don't see each other for the rest of the day. I just finished one of many surgeries on my five year old patient with Doctor Robbins and am walking to my car when I get a text from Jo. Meredith bailed on us and now me and the kids don't have a ride home. Mind driving us?  

I smile and text her back. We agree on meeting in front of the hospital. Jo waves at me as I park in front of her. She has Robin rested on her right hip and Brooklyn holding her left hand. 

"There's our ride! Get in Brooks."

 I watch as she helps the tiny brunette in and goes to the other side of the car to strap Robin in her car seat.

 "Thank you for drving us home, Doctor Alex."

 For I second I only stare at my daughter in a loss of words. I snap out of it and reply. "No problem kiddo." She looks exactly like I would picture Jo as a kid only with blue eyes  instead of brown. 

"Seriously Alex, thank you! You're a life saver." Jo says as she gets in the front seat beside me. 

"Oh, it's fine. I have to head that way to the hotel anyway," I reply. "It's only a small detour."

We sit in silence as I drive them home. Not an awkward silence, a peaceful comfortable silence. The only noise in the car is the soft music playing from the radio. 

Not tryna be indie
Not tryna be cool
Just tryna be in this
Tell me how you choose
Can you feel why you're in this
Can you feel it through
All of the windows
Inside this room

The beginning of Dusk Till Dawn starts playing and Jo turns up the volume a little bit. Her body sways to the rythm of the music.

'Cause I wanna touch you, baby
And I wanna feel you, too
I wanna see the sunrise and your sins
Just me and you

I turn my head to look at her. Her brown hair is hanging messily down her shoulders and her makeup is slightly smudged but she still looks as stunning as always. She senses me looking at her and turns her gaze to mine. Our eyes meet and within moments I'm caught in her beautiful chestnut brown eyes. 

Light it up, on the run
Let's make love, tonight
Make it up, fall in love, try

I'm breathless, I don't know what to say or do. I just stare. Stare in to those depthless eyes that have held so much pain and anger but also happiness. I can't look away until she says, "Eyes on the road, Doctor. We don't want to crash into another vehicle."

Soon we pull up to the house but she doesn't make a move to get out. She looks to the house than at me and back. I wonder what she's thinking. 

"Come on, mommy. We're here." Brooklyn's tiny voice pipes from the back of the car. 

"Yes, honey." her mother replies. Jo looks at me and takes a deep breath. 

"Do you want to hang out here for a bit?"

Disclaimer, I am not a doctor. So I'm sorry if I got some things wrong!

So here's chapter 4, what do you think about the story so far? Are the chapters too short or to long? Do you want more Izzex or more scenes with other characters? Please leave your opinion in the comments, and maybe give this story a vote?