A/N: Hi! Sorry this took longer than expected, I wanted to get it just right. As always thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially those of you who have been following this story from the beginning and have stuck with me through it! Here's the Karev family!
"What has gotten into you two today?"
Janey Karev didn't look up at the sound of her mother's voice. She kept her eyes fixed to her almost empty dinner plate, using her fork to mash her peas into a sticky green paste. Across the table her twin brother Adam peered up from his own plate just long enough to study her reaction. Then he turned his eyes back down and mimicked her actions, keeping his mouth shut tightly.
Above their line of vision Jo shot Alex a look of desperation, which he met with a frown and a shrug. He couldn't deny that the twins were acting weird, but he didn't know what to do about it. They had barely spoken two words since he had picked them up from their after school program, sulking quietly in their room until dinner when Jo had almost had to physically drag them to the dinner table. Something was wrong, he knew that, but he also knew that Janey was as stubborn as he was, and Adam would follow her lead.
"Did something happen at school today?" Jo pressed, unwilling to be shut out by a pair of six year olds. Adam's head shot up, and Janey must have seen the movement because a second later he shouted in pain and surprise as she kicked him under the table.
"Hey, don't kick your brother," Alex said, causing the little girl to glare guiltily up at him, "What happened at school?"
"Nothing," she said, mashing her peas harder into the plate. Alex and Jo shared a knowing look as he turned his attention to Adam.
"What happened at school big guy?"
Adam fidgeted in his seat, looking nervously between his parents and his sister. He didn't like to lie, but with their parents attention away from her, Janey was glaring at him to keep his mouth shut.
"School was fine." Adam lied finally, shoveling a forkful of rice into his mouth to hide his guilty look. Janey returned her gaze to her plate as she felt Jo's eyes turn back to her.
"So if I look in your backpack I won't find a note from your teacher?"
That seemed to do the trick as Janey dropped her fork and tilted her head forward so her long curly hair covered her face.
"Janey Cristina Karev, answer your mother," Alex said sternly. Janey didn't move, didn't make a sound.
"Janey-"
"It wasn't her fault!"
Jo and Alex both turned in surprise at Adam's outburst. The little boy looked equally surprised as he fought back tears.
"Shut up!" Janey screamed, slamming her fists on the table.
"Molly was lying," Adam cried, "she said-"
"Shut up!" Janey screamed again, standing up on her chair. Adam burst into tears and Jo collected him into her arms as Alex grabbed Janey around the middle, pulling her against his chest as she kicked and screamed.
"Calm down," he said quietly, embracing her tightly as she pounded her small fists against him in protest, "What did Molly say?"
"She said no one loves us," Adam sniffled from Jo's lap. Alex and Jo exchanged baffled looks across the table, each one trying to make sense of why another child would say that to their children.
"Do you know why she said that?" Jo asked gently, brushing her son's shaggy hair away from his face. He nodded solemnly,
"We were supposed to be making cards for grandparents day, but Janey told Ms. Adams that me and her don't have grandparents 'cause you don't know your parents and Daddy doesn't talk to his. And Molly said it's because they don't love you and if your parents don't love you then you don't really love us. And then she said no one loves us 'cause we don't have any family."
Jo bit back tears, hugging Adam tightly,
"Oh Buddy, we love you so much,'' she mumbled against his hair, refusing to make eye contact with Alex because she knew she'd be in tears if she did.
Meanwhile Janey had stopped fighting Alex and was staring up at him with watery brown eyes.
"You know Mommy and I love you, right?"
Janey nodded, but sniffled back tears.
"I called Molly a freakin' liar and pushed her desk on top of her."
Alex couldn't help but chuckle, and he noticed that Jo was also fighting back a smile.
"I bet Ms. Adams wasn't too happy about that, was she?"
Janey shook her head, pressing her hands to her eyes as she finally lost her fight against tears.
"But she is a liar!" the little girl sobbed, "even if we don't have no other family you still love us!"
"Of course we do," Alex assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she now willingly leaned into his embrace, "Kids are just jerks."
"We're kids," Adam pointed out as Jo raised her eyebrows at Alex, who rolled his eyes in response.
"Yeah, well you two are the exception."
Janey and Adam both giggled, and even Jo let out a small chuckle as she shook her head at her husband. Then her face grew very serious,
"You two know that you do have other family, right?" She asked, catching both of the kids' attention. They looked at each other, confused.
"But we never see Daddy's brother and sister," Adam said after a moment, not noticing when Alex cringed and Jo shot him a quick apologetic look before turning her attention back to their son,
"No, that's true, but what about your family at the hospital?"
"Molly said that family has to be related to you," Janey replied sadly, "She said friends don't count."
"I thought we weren't listening to Molly anymore," Alex grumbled, tickling Janey on the stomach and sending her into a fit of laughter. When she calmed down he continued, "What do you think family means?"
Janey and Adam grew quiet then, Janey's face scrunching up in concentration as she focused on the question while Adam's went slack and he got a far out look in his eyes. After a long moment they both piped up at the same time,
"I think-" they both started, then looked at each other in surprise. Alex and Jo laughed while they did a quick rock paper scissors to decide who would speak first. Janey smashed Adam's scissors with her fist, then started over.
"I think family is people who love you."
"Even when you're a jerk," Adam added, earning a nod of approval from his sister.
"So who loves you even when you're a jerk?" Jo asked, side eyeing Alex for putting the word in their heads, but not willing to split hairs about it. Adam hummed, thinking, but Janey popped right up with excitement,
"Oh, oh, I know! Auntie April! 'Cause she still fixes me up when I get hurt even though I bit Cece."
Alex frowned, "You bit Cece?"
"Yes," Janey said seriously, "But it's okay because she still loves me too. So Auntie April and Cece are family!"
"And Uncle Jackson!" Adam piped up, "He forgave us when we put frogs in his shoes."
This was news to Alex and Jo, but not to Janey who nodded,
"That's true. So if they're all family probably Jack-Jack will be too when he's older. Right Daddy?"
"Uh, yeah, right," Alex agreed, still trying to figure out when his kids would have had the opportunity to hide frogs in Avery's shoes.
"What about Uncle Derek?" Adam suggested, "He and Bailey taught me how to fish, and when I was sad 'cause I didn't catch anything he said it was okay and we can go again sometime."
"Yeah, and Auntie Meredith and Zola. They helped me ride my bike without training wheels!"
Alex felt a slight twinge in his eyes at that memory. Janey had been so determined to ride her bike like a "big girl", but neither he or Jo knew how to ride a bike at all. Meredith had spent three hours picking her up and putting her back on her bike over and over until she finally rode straight across the yard, stopped without falling, and jumped into her older cousin's waiting arms. He glanced across at Jo, noticing that her eyes were wet too. She met his gaze, a small smile forming as the twins continued talking.
"Auntie 'Zona fixed my belly when my appendix burst."
"Yeah, and her and Auntie Callie took us to see the fireworks when Mommy and Daddy were working, remember?"
"Oh yeah!"
Even without saying it, Alex knew that Jo was thinking the same thing he was- that even if something awful happened to the two of them the next day, Janey and Adam would be okay, because they had people who loved them. They would never know what it was like to have to steal food to survive, or live out of a car because there was nowhere else to go. They would grow up knowing that they were loved and valued. They would grow up knowing that they had a family.
"Auntie Cristina sends the best presents."
"Yeah but we're not jerks to her so does it count?"
"I think even if we are jerks to her she'd still send good presents."
"Okay, so she's family too."
Janey sighed loudly, breaking her parents out of their distracted trance. Alex blinked a few times then looked down into his daughter's big brown eyes.
"What's up munchkin?"
"We have so many family I can't keep track!"
He chuckled, catching Jo wiping her eyes on her sleeve in his peripheral vision.
"Maybe we can draw a picture of them all!" Adam piped up excitedly. He moved to jump off of Jo's lap to go get his crayons, but she wrapped her arms around him with a laugh.
"I think that picture is going to have to wait until tomorrow. Right now I see two kiddos who are already late for bathtime."
"Do we have to?" Janey whined, looking pleadingly at her father. Alex nodded,
"Yeah, you stink," he said, smirking when she stuck out her tongue, "But I bet you we can beat Mommy and Adam up there."
"Excuse me?" Jo laughed.
"You heard me."
"It's on."
In what seemed like an instant Janey had climbed onto Alex's back and Adam on to Jo's, laughing wildly as their parents raced towards the stairs, reaching the bottom step at the same time and crashing into each other. As her body smashed into Alex's, Jo leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips.
"Eww!" Adam and Janey chorused in unison. Alex grinned against Jo's lips, just seconds before she shoved him away from the stairs and took off running up them with Adam cheering in victory.
"Daddy go!" Janey shrieked, squealing with joy as he bolted up the stairs after them. Her and Adam's happy screams echoed off the walls of the house, mixing with their parents laughter and the pounding of their footsteps down the hallway.
As they raced towards the bathroom Jo glanced back and caught Alex's eye, and in that moment they both realized that they finally had the one thing they had always wanted.
A family.
A/N: So there you have it! Again, thank you to everyone who has followed this story through, you all keep me inspired to write :) I will be working on a sequel of sorts to this story which will examine more of the relationships between the different families and characters, so keep an eye out for that! I also have some more Japril and Jolex oneshots planned, so keep an eye out for those as well! :)