Always been you//Jolex

Chapter 18

"Rise and shine, my princesses. Time to get moving." Alex says, giving me a kiss on the forehead. Sadie is asleep in my arms; she fell asleep while we were watching a movie in bed last night. She opens her eyes and smiles, and Alex picks her up and gives her a kiss, too.
"Sadie, why don't you start getting dressed and I'll get you some cereal." Alex says. Sadie nods and skips off to her room. I still haven't moved a muscle, everything hurts and I have an awful migraine.
"Big day, huh?" Alex says, climbing into bed next to me and rubbing my belly, which is just barely starting to show. "End of the first trimester. You ready to start telling people?"
"Today is about Sadie. We have to go before a judge and prove that we're her parents."
"We are her parents. The only difference is that today we'll get a piece of paper that says it."
Sadie comes back into the room wearing a flowy white dress with colored butterflies, which she picked out from the mall just for the hearing today. After the hearing, we planned a big party to surprise Sadie. All our friends from the hospital and some of her friends from the daycare are coming over, and we figured we'd barbecue and open the pool since it's mid August.
"Okay, how are we doing this gorgeous hair today?" I say, grabbing a nearby hairbrush and waving her over.
"Pigtails, please."
I split her hair into 2 pieces, trying to keep it neat without tugging.
"Are you excited, baby? Today you're gonna be a Karev!" I say. "Auntie Mer and Zozo are coming with us to cheer you on, okay?"
She nods, and once I put the second hair tie in and clip in the bow, she runs off to her bedroom. Alex is already in his nice clothes, and I quickly put on some mom jeans and a flowy orange tank-top. I put my hair into a bun and to my makeup, and finally put on a beige short-sleeved sweater.
The hearing is at the town courthouse, where Meredith and Zola meet us. Chelsea greets us as well, but the large room is otherwise empty, since the court isn't open to the public. When they call our names, Alex and I take each of Sadie's hands and proceed to the front table. Zola and Mer sit on the benches in the back, and we take our seats.
"All rise." The judge says. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"I do, your honor." Alex and I say at nearly the same time. She motions for us to be seated.
The rest of the hearing is straight forward, just some questions about home, work and Sadie. The testimony only lasts about 15 minutes, but we still answer each question anxiously.
"Sadie, do you wish to be adopted by Josephine and Alex Karev?"
"Yeah!" She shouts, earning a chuckle from the judge.
"Thank you, Sadie. I have come to my decision. I hereby grant Josephine and Alex Karev permanent custody of Sadie Brooke Wilson."
Alex and I both jump to our feet, and he picks up Sadie and I pull them both in for a hug. Meredith and Zola run to us, cheering and jumping, and the entire thing feels like a blur. I take Sadie from Alex's arms and give her a big kiss.
"You're squeezing me too tight, mommy."
"Sorry, princess." I say, putting her down.
There's a bit more paperwork to sign before we get the adoption certificate, so Meredith takes the girls outside and gives them each a snack she packed, because she clearly has the whole mom thing down better than I do.
10 minutes or so later, we're finally ready to go home. I buckle Sadie in while Alex starts the car, and we get home to a ton of cars in the driveway. Turns out we're pretty popular. Maggie and Amelia were holding down the house while we're gone, since we needed someone to greet people before we got home. Everyone is outside in the back; Alex woke up really early to set up tables and balloons and stuff.
"Why are there so many cars here?" Sadie asks when we pull in the driveway, Mer right behind us.
"Come on!" Alex says, leading her to the backyard. When we walk around the house, at least 50 people are cheering, and her face lights up. We had the party catered so we didn't have to worry about it, so food is already out. Sadie looks to me and Alex, whose arm is around me, and then shouts, quite loudly,
"Is this because my mommy and daddy are having a baby?!"
Everyone goes quiet and looks to us. I stand quietly, trying to think fast as the gigantic crowd stares at us.
Thankfully, Alex speaks up when he realizes that I'm not going to. "Actually, we are expecting another baby!" Everyone goes back to cheering and shouting congratulations, and Maggie comes up to me and gives me a hug.
"Today is about my Sadiebug, who is officially a Karev!" I say, and Sadie smiles before running off to play with her friends.
"What'd I miss?" Mer says, walking around the corner a moment later.
"I'm so happy for you guys! Your baby is gonna be so cute and dirty mouthed!" Amelia says.
"Oh, that." Mer says.
"You knew?" Maggie asks.
"Of course she knew, the three of them are inseparable." Amelia says.
They continue talking, but suddenly I feel a pain in my stomach and I know something isn't right. It happens again, and I put my hand on my stomach and start to panic.
"Jo? You alright?" Alex asks.
"Alex, something is really wrong with the baby."
"What?" He furrows his eyebrows and puts down his drink. "Mer, keep an eye on the girls for a second?"
He grabs my hand and leads me inside of the house. I sit down on the couch, but the pain is still there. The chatter from the party floods into the house, but the noise and chaos outside is the least of my concerns.
"What's going on?" He says, sitting beside me.
"There's a...a pain. Like a stabbing pain. What if I'm having a miscarriage?" I say, and tears start to sting my eyes.
"Jo, take a deep breath. Show me where it hurts." I nod and take his hand, putting it on the part of my stomach where the pain is. Nothing happens for a second, but then I feel it again.
"That's it!" I say. He smiles, and I'm freaking out even more. "Alex, what? What's going on with the baby?"
"It's kicking."