A/N: As of right now, it's looking like prompt one is winning with 9 votes. prompt two has 7 and prompt three has 8.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually happy to be back home." Since he actually let me carry the baby out of the car, he walks ahead of me and opens up the front door so I won't have to worry about it. He's still carrying the car seat, but I took the baby out of his seat and I'm carrying him. He's laying asleep on my chest. He fussed for two of the three hours of the plane ride home and I'm guessing all his crying tired him out because he's been asleep ever since I fed him on the plane. At first, he wouldn't take his milk from my breast so I tried to give it to him from a bottle and he still wouldn't. But I know Alex's cries and I knew that he was doing his "I'm hungry" cry so I took a break from trying to feed him, rocked him to calm him down and tried again with the bottle and he took it. He fell asleep and has been asleep since. "I actually missed Vade...didn't you?" He holds the door open for me and steps aside.

"Of course I missed Vady baby." I rest my arm underneath Alex's butt and step into the house. As soon as I step in, Vader comes barreling toward me and instead of barking like he usually does when me and Alex come back from places like the grocery store, he's crying. I think that means that he missed us. "Hi Vady!" I free up one of my hands by bracing Alex against my chest and rub between his ears. "Vady! We missed you!" I scratch between his ears like he loves it and he closes his eyes and still cries. We had both Steph and Alex's friend Greg come over to check on him periodically for the three days we were gone. We didn't want to put him in a kennel because we thought that he would be more comfortable if he was home. So Steph and Greg used the spare key we keep under the rock on the porch to come over every so often to refill his food bowl, give him water and let him outside. "Were you a good boy when we were gone, Vade?" I move to brace Alex tighter against my body since he's slipping, but Vader thinks that I'm telling him to jump up on me. So he jumps up, and since he's a pretty big dog, his paws can reach my chest and one of his obscenely long nails ends up scratching my baby's little arm. I gasp. "No, Vade...get down!" I point to the floor and as soon as his big paws touch down on the ground, Alex's face cracks up and he starts to wail.

"Vader!" Big Alex grabs the shoe he just took off his foot and whacks Vader in the back with it, and Vader yelps.

"Alex, don't! He didn't know!" I put my hand up to stop him from hitting Vader again, because he raised his hand with the shoe in it and started forward to lay another hit on him. "He thought I was motioning for him to jump up...and he missed us. He didn't do it on purpose." I talk over the loud screaming from my son. "He didn't mean to it."

"Well he shouldn't have been jumping up on you anyway. He knows better than to jump up on people. We tell him not to all the time." He drops the shoe he hit the dog with and reaches forward. "Come here, buddy..." He takes Alex off of me and turns his arm to look at it. Vader didn't break skin, he just left a pretty nasty welt. "You're okay, bud." He leans down and puts his lips against the welt. He starts patting the baby's butt to get him to calm down because the baby really is screaming pretty hard. "I'm serious, Jo. If Vader doesn't get it together, he has to go. We can't have him scratching on the baby. He already growled at him."

"Alex, stop acting like he intentionally scratched the baby." I kneel down and rub the part of Vader's back that Alex hit. "You know I'll be the first one to swat Vader when he does something wrong when it comes to the baby, and you know I'll be the first one to tell him to go lie down. I don't want him to hurt my baby. But it really wasn't his fault. Stop being mean to him." I kiss the top of Vader's head. "It's okay, Vade. I know you're sorry."

"He shouldn't be jumping up anyway. How many times have we told him about it though, babe?" He finally got Alex to calm down by shoving a pacifier in his mouth. "What about when Alex starts crawling and walking? What if he starts jumping up on him? He has to chill out with that. Look at his arm." He holds the baby's arm up for me to see it.

"Baby, stop. Okay? Stop. Vader didn't know, he's sorry and the baby is fine." I stand up straight and grab my baby's hand. His eyes are open and he's staring up at his dad while he's sucking his pacifier. His pretty hazel eyes have tears in them and his cheeks are wet. "That was a mean doggy, huh chunky?" I kiss his hand and tickle his cheek. "Mean doggy?" I'm just trying to get him to smile. I still know that it's not Vader's fault. "Say screw that doggy, right?" I tickle his cheek a little faster. "Screw that doggy, handsome." He smiles through his pacifier and coos at me. "There's mommy's smile...there is." I kiss his salty little cheek. "Mommy's baby's so handsome." I kiss his pacifier. "He did pretty good with everybody, didn't he?" I look up at Alex. "He wasn't fussy or cranky."

"I thought my mom was gonna be the worst but Amber took the cake." He mumbles. "Thought I was gonna have to pry him outta her arms." He strokes the red welt on the baby's arm and gazes down into his eyes. "...He is pretty cute, isn't he?" He holds Alex's hand. "A little fat, but still cute. You know Amber asked me if I loved him?"

"Huh?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Yep." He nods and traces the baby's tiny fingers with his index finger. "She asked me if I loved him. I didn't really know how to respond." I tilt my head and watch him interact with his son. It's easy to see just how much Alex does love him. He looks at him with such awe in his eyes and he treats him like he's too precious for a lot of things. I know for sure Alex loves him. "You do know that you and him are everything to me, right? You know that?" I nod my head. "Good. 'Cause I don't know what I'd be..without you guys."

"Well, let's see...without me, you'd be...living in California, retired from writing and lonely. Shoulda just let me walk away that night in Nebraska. Or you should've just let me burn to death...whichever works." I shrug my shoulders and smile at him.

"Shut up, Jo. You're such a loser." He rolls his eyes at me and laughs. "You'd be dead by now if it wasn't for me. You would've either burned to death or died of starvation. Face it, I saved your life. Twice."

"You would be in JAIL if it wasn't for me! Mr. Destroy Hotel Property! If I didn't wake up and save your ass, you'd be so far in jail!" I nudge him with my elbow and laugh some more. "You're so lucky to have me."

"...I am lucky to have you." He admits and kisses my cheek. "Now take him...I'm gonna go take a shower and reply to some of these emails." He's talking about his fan mail. He never gives out his address for his fans to contact him but he does give out his email and he has A LOT of emails from his fans, concerning his latest book...the one he dedicated to me. I laid into his ass on the plane about replying to his fan mail. I was bored and I had his phone so I was going through his emails and I saw that his fans have been writing to him like CRAZY. He didn't reply to any of them and I yelled at him for it. He should really reply for his fans. They're the reason our bills get paid.

I take Alex out of his arms and put him over my shoulder. "It's getting late. I'm gonna feed him and put him to bed, since he got his bath this morning." He had a pretty bad poop explosion this morning, before we left Kansas. Alex's stepfather was holding him while he slept and all of a sudden, he felt something warm against his arm. He picked Alex up to see what it was and it was poop. He pooped all over the place. It seeped out the side of his diaper, got on his grandpa, got it everywhere. His shorts were pooped out, his back was pooped out and his onesie was pooped out. Alex and I put him in the sink and gave him the best bath of his little life. That was by far the grossest moment I've had with him thus far. Alex had to walk away for a moment because he was gagging. It truly was disgusting. But he hasn't pooped since. "And thank you...for listening to me and replying to your mail."

"No problem, babe." He climbs up the stairs and disappears from my sight.

"...Let's go to daddy's office for a minute, buddy." I whisper to him and kiss his head. He's still awake and he's cooing softly in my ear. I rest my hand in the middle of his back and cradle him. He really is the most precious thing I've ever had my hands on. I love him so much. When I look at him sometimes, I just forget all about what we had to go through to get him. I forget all about the tears and the fertility treatments and about the endless nights I cried myself to sleep. He's just so precious that none of that matters. And when he wakes me up in the middle of the night, I do get annoyed. When my nipples hurt from nursing him all the time, I sometimes curse about it. But those are the moments that I DO think about everything I went through to get him. I think about all the shit—yes, the SHIT—I had to put myself through in order to be able to nurse him and wake up with him and I don't mind it. When I think about how badly I wanted him and how hard it was to get him, I don't care so much about being annoyed with waking up and irritable because my nipples hurt. I'm glad to have him. Motherhood isn't exactly what I expected it to be when I was stabbing myself in the ass with fertility drugs. It's a hell of a lot better than I expected it to be. I can't wait until he starts calling me "mommy" though.

I twist the knob and open the door to Alex's office with my free hand. It's been a while since I've been in here. The last time I can recall being in here was back when we were still struggling to have a baby. I came home to tell him about my day of work. That's the last time I remember being in here. I don't come in here much. It's Alex's private space and it's the only place in the house where he's ever completely alone, so I try to respect that. I stand next to the door and look around to see where I should start searching. I know it's in here somewhere. It has to be. I secure Alex's body against my shoulder and go deeper into the office. I look around his laptop and see nothing. On his desk is just his laptop, a bunch of loose papers, pictures of me and a picture of Alex when he was still in the hospital. I go over to his bookshelf and look through the many books he has. I search for the light blue cover. "Where is it?" I mumble to myself. I know he has to have at least one copy in here. He has to.

He didn't tell me that it was published. He didn't let me know that it was published, he didn't let me know that it went #1 on the Bestselling List. He didn't even let me know that he dedicated it to me. I know that book dedications aren't always a big deal but to me, it is. Alex has never in his writing career ever dedicated a book to anyone. All his books are just written. He doesn't do acknowledgments or dedications. But the first book he ever dedicated to anyone, he dedicates it to me? That's a big deal to me. And to see what it's about...that's an even bigger deal. "I knew it." I whisper once I find the light blue cover because I think Alex might be asleep on my shoulder. I take the book out of the bookcase and look at it to make sure it's what I wanted. It is. I tuck it underneath my arm and close the door when I leave out of his office. I'll put the baby to sleep and I'll start reading it when he's sleeping.

I climb up the stairs and round the corner to go straight into his nursery. I put the book down on the seat of the rocking chair and take Alex over to the changing table. I lay him down on it and take off his pants. He's actually not asleep, he was just being quiet. "Were you being quiet, pumpkin? Were you being quiet for mama?" I unbutton his onesie and gently pull it over his head. He coos at me again and kicks his legs. "Are you hungry, pumpkin?" I take off his diaper and throw it down into the Diaper Genie machine we keep next to the changing table. I'm relatively unsurprised to see that he has an erection when I take his diaper off. He always has one. It means he's getting ready to pee on me. I grab one single wipe out of the wipe warmer and drape it over his penis so he won't pee on me, because when he has an erection, it ALWAYS means he's going to pee on me. "No peein' on me today, got it dude?" One time, he peed on me. But it was weird because I saw it come out so I just sat there and accepted the fact that he was doing to pee on me. But when we was done, I didn't have any pee on me at all. My shirt was dry. So I felt my hair and it turns out that his pee went up and all the way down my back. It takes talent to pee past my face and all the way down to my back. Alex caught some pee in his mouth once. He brushed his teeth for an hour straight.

I take the wipe off his penis to see if he's done peeing. His little thing is soft again so yeah, he's done. I throw the soaking wet wipe away too and grab another one to wipe him with. I wipe his stuff off and strap another diaper around his waist. "All done, baby!" I bend down and kiss his lips. "Let's get some jammies." I leave him on the changing table and go over to his dresser. I grab a thin green onesie and a pair of socks. "We're gonna eat eat and go night night...okay?" I button the onesie between his legs and stick the socks on his feet. I pick him right back up and carry him over to the rocking chair. I pick the book up so I don't sit on it and turn on the little lamp next to the chair. I put the book on the stand that the lamp is on and sit down in the chair with him. "Let's get your belly full so we can go night night." I kiss his forehead and cradle him like a football. With my free hand, I lift my shirt up and pull my right breast out for him. I don't even have to make him open his mouth like I usually do, this time he finds my nipple with ease and opens his mouth up. I help him latch on and he starts eating. He rests his hand on my chest as usual and closes his eyes. "There we go..."

Careful not to disturb him, I reach over and pick the book up. I hold it in front of my face and stare at the cover.

Alex's Point of View.

I flop down onto me and Jo's bed and reach over on her side to grab her laptop off the nightstand. I don't feel like going downstairs to my office to grab my own laptop so I'll just use hers. I open it up and turn it on. Strange as it is to say it, I really did miss being home. I rarely ever get homesick and quiet as kept, I had a nice time in Kansas. But for some reason, I really missed being home. I missed Vader, I missed being in my own bed, I missed being home with my wife and I missed not having to share my son with a bunch of people. I log onto my email and start scrolling through the many messages I have. Sometimes I hate how persuasive Jo is. I was perfectly fine with never answering fan mail and remaining mysterious but on the plane, Jo went on and on and on about how my fans are the reason we can ride around in nice cars and live comfortably in a nice house with our son. And she convinced me to reply to some—not all—but some of the emails I've gotten. I open a random email up and read through it.

Michael,

I am currently on chapter 7 of your new novel and I am totally hooked! What an excellent way to come back from a five year hiatus. You have no idea how much I missed reading your novels, they are my guilty pleasure. I was just wondering if you will no longer write science fiction since your new novel seems to be strictly romance? Anyway, thank you for sharing your brilliant imagination with us!

-Emma C, from Wilmington, North Carolina

One of the reasons I never wanted to reply to fan mail is because I never know what to say. Seriously, what do you say to that? Thank you is too generic. Thank you doesn't cover enough. I always read these things. I've always read my fan mail and even though I'm not much of an emotional kind of guy, it does mean a lot to me that people read my stuff and they like it. And I am quite thankful for all the fans. But I never know what to say, because thank you is never enough. I sigh and put the laptop down on the bed next to me. I pick up the remote and file through the channels. Jo has really changed me. She's changed me for the better though. I wholeheartedly believe that I'm a better man because of her. I turn on a basketball game and put the remote down too. I stare blankly, deep in thought.

I used to be scared that I would forget everything that me and Jo stand for. I was scared that as I got older, the memories would fade and I would eventually forget how far we came. I didn't want to forget the shop she used to work in and the way that burned down. I didn't want to forget how I stepped on her thong and offered to buy her lunch when I saw that her fridge was empty. I didn't want to forget how she threatened to walk away from me in the middle of Nebraska at 4:30 in the morning. Or how she drank my milkshake and I put whipped cream on her face when she did it. I didn't want to forget how she threw up when I kissed her, got jealous when I took her to my mom's house for the first time and came in the bathroom while I was peeing. How she made sex noises while jumping on the bed before we had sex for the first time. I didn't even want to forget the arguments. Like the time after we had sex and I left her in the hotel room alone and came back and she was gone. All the trips to amusement parks, fancy restaurants, Big Surf Waterpark and the malls. How she cried on our first Fourth of July together because the fireworks frightened her.

I open up the nightstand on my side of the bed and rummage through it for one of the copies of my book that I stashed in there to keep away from Jo. The other copy is down in my office but it's safe there because Jo doesn't go in there much. I didn't really want her to read this because I hate seeming vulnerable and that's exactly what this book is. This book is me being vulnerable and putting my entire heart out there for the world to see. But it's okay if the world sees my vulnerability because they don't know that Alex Karev is Michael Evans. It's anonymous. I just didn't want my wife to see it. But I don't think I care anymore. I hold the book in my hands and just look at it. The cover turned out really nice. So nice that I gave my cover artist an extra $5,000 bonus. I told him that I wanted it to be a road, since basically, a road sums up exactly what the book is about. But he made it so much better than that. I turn it over to read the synopsis, as I've read it a million times before. You see, I didn't want to forget anything that molded me and Jo's relationship into what it is today...and that's why I wrote this book.

I stick the book back in the nightstand and get up off the bed. I'm going to go ask Jo if she knows what to say back to Emma C from Wilmington, North Carolina. She's in the nursery putting our son—our beautiful son—to bed. I go straight to the nursery and stop in my tracks at the door when I see the two of them. I don't want them to stop doing what they're doing. I want them to keep going. So quietly, I rest my head against the door frame and just watch them.

Jo's rocking back in forth in the rocking chair and Alex is eating from her breast. She's holding a copy of my book in her hand and she's quietly reading the book to our son. This scene is so precious that I can't be mad. Seeing my wife—the most amazing woman to have ever come into my life, the woman that showed me everything I know about love and family—holding our most precious little boy in her arms and reading my book to him makes my throat close up. I have to purse my lips and deal with the fact that I'm going to shed a tear or two.

Jo's Point of View.

Careful not to disturb Alex, who is peacefully feeding from my breast, I reach over on the stand that the lamp is on and pick up the book. I stare at the cover for a few seconds before I glance up at the doorway, just to make sure Alex isn't standing there. He's not, so I go back to looking at the cover of the book. It's entire book is light blue but on the front cover, there's a road. A black paved road with white dashed traffic lines down the middle. The road disappears into the horizon of the bright blue sky, with a few clouds in it. Across the top, it says, "New York Times Bestselling Author: Michael Evans". There are evergreen trees that line each side of the road but on the right side, there's a small clearing with a green road sign occupying the empty space. On the road sign, it boasts the title of the book, "In The End." I turn the book over to reread the synopsis. I read it silently to myself. "Joseph is a successful, wealthy, yet unhappy businessman, with a hardened exterior, who has readily given up on ever finding love. Alexandra is a beautiful young woman, working tirelessly to put herself through Harvard Medical School. When tragedy strikes, the two are forced to spend time together, with no one else to lean on for support. While traveling to make better lives for themselves, the pair will find that true love will find you...when you are least expecting it." I fight off a tear after reading that last sentence because it sums us up, so, so well.

"You wanna hear a story, baby? It's a good one." I look down and stroke my son's hair forward. "We can read a chapter a night...what do you say?" I turn the book back over and open it up. I skip past the beautiful dedication and stare at the title page for a second. In The End by Michael Evans. I gingerly turn the page and swallow, to lubricate my throat as I begin to read to my baby. "Chapter one." I start. "Alexandra sighed, leaning against the run-down cash register and patiently waiting for a customer that would probably never come. She wondered why her boss continued to run this place, because she knew that business had to be slow. She worked here every day for the past six months and she could count on one hand how many different customers had come in during that time. She tossed her long, beautiful brunette hair out of her way and inhaled the musty scent of the old hardware shop." Alex has stopped eating and is now fast asleep, but I don't stop reading to him. "The shop smelled heavily of sawdust and turpentine, though she couldn't figure out why, since nobody ever did construction work within the parameters of the store since she had been there. She contemplated every day about quitting but when faced with the decision, she always decided against it. She realized that although she hated her boss, she needed the money if she was ever going to come up with the money to pay her deposit to Harvard."

I turn the page...

Alex's Point of View.

"She had already been accepted into Harvard Medical School and through she grew up here in Iowa, she knew all along that her true home was in Massachusetts..." I listen to Jo's soft, soothing voice as she continues to read to our son. I start to walk into the nursery to sit down on the floor next to her, to listen to her while she reads but on a second thought, I decide not to. I standby in the doorway of the nursery and listen from there, where I can watch the two most important people of my life.

Jo changed me. I'm not the same man that I was six years ago. I'm not the man that thinks women are dogs. The man that would take a random girl from the bar in the backseat of my car and have my way with her. I'm not that coldhearted bastard that thought it was funny to see a 23 year old brunette break down in tears in front of me. No, that's not the same Alex. This Alex puts his wife on a pedestal. I would rather die than see anything bad happen to her and I treat her as if she's a queen because to me, that's exactly what she is. I cringe at the thought of cheating on Jo because that's not even an option anymore. I'm not afraid to love her with all my heart. Lucy who? I don't think it's funny to see her cry. Instead, if I see her crying, I wonder who's ass I'm going to have to kick for making her cry. And my son...my son, who means more to me than anything else in this world. The most beautiful boy on this Earth, I'm sure of it.

Who knew that the little brunette that worked in my dad's store would be the one that I will spend the rest of my life with? Who knew that she would be the one to give me my beautiful son, be the one that I would marry, be the one that would change me? Who knew she'd be my best teacher? The one that taught me that you don't have to be looking for true love, true love will find you. She taught me how to love again. She taught me how to love strongly, too. She was the best teacher...and she continues to teach me many things.

I listen to the creaking of the rocking chair and the silent whisper of her lips moving as she's reading my story to our son. I was never one for a journey. I was never much for surprises and journeys and things that are uncertain. But when Jo came along, our entire relationship was a surprise to me. And it was journey...and I wasn't sure if she'd be the one that changed everything for me. But she was. And I became a man that's up for the challenge of a journey. I don't mind surprises and the things that are uncertain in life are the best things, because the only thing that is certain in life is death. I don't mind the scary things anymore, like forgetting. Because I'm living in the moment with my wife and my son and a better relationship with my family. I'm living in the moment.

And life... is so much better that way.