A/N: Thanks everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I wanted to test out the time jump thing a little, but I think it was more confusing than anything else so I'm going to go back to keeping it pretty linear with some flashes forward/backward here and there. Oh, and make sure to check out the Author's Note at the bottom of this chapter.
Also, while I have you here- I'm working on a three chapter series kind of centered again around the theme of non-traditional families the same way my older fic "Ode to the Family" was. This time it's going to be Jolex centric with another special character, so I'd love for you all to check that out too. I have the first two chapters written, but I want to finish the third (completing the series) before I start publishing any of it.
May 15th, 2016 9:00am
"Alex, she's probably staying in a hotel or something."
It didn't matter how many times Meredith said it, the words seemed to go in one ear and out the other.
"All of her stuff is still at home. She just has her phone and probably her bag with her, those were the only things I couldn't find."
"Well you don't need much more than a credit card to rent a hotel room, so…"
It made sense, he knew that, but between his aching hands and nose, and the fact that he was on his way to Bailey's office for an "official meeting" about what had happened the night before there was no space in his mind for logic.
Jo was gone, that was all he knew.
They had searched the hospital high and low the night before, tried calling her and having Steph call her, they'd pretty much done everything short of actually calling the police to look for her. DeLuca had almost taken it there- almost demanded the police were called so he could file an official complaint of assault and battery- but Bailey had managed to talk him down from it. At least until they found Jo and got her side of the story, which hadn't happened yet, so...
The sun streaming through the tall windows of the hospital seemed inappropriate in a way, as Meredith walked alongside Alex and tried to reassure him of the many possible places Jo could be.
It felt like it should be raining.
It felt like there should be some kind of catastrophic storm happening outside, because this was all too messed up to be happening on such a plain day. Birds were chirping, people were starting to shed their spring jackets as the weather got warmer, flowers were blooming, and Jo was gone. Hurt, possibly. Gone and hurt and maybe never coming back to face him after everything that had happened between them even before he attacked DeLuca.
As they reached Bailey's office, Alex felt a chill of anxiety fall over his body, making his skin prickle as if he'd just stepped out into the freezing rain that wasn't falling no matter how hard he willed it with his mind. He turned to look at Meredith now- he'd been avoiding looking at her before because he knew she would have that look on her face like she was scolding a child.
Except that she didn't. Meredith just looked tired, her eyes pleading with him to please listen to her. And beneath that she looked a little worried too. She was trying to hide it, but after how long they had been friends there was really no way she could hide it from him. But who was she worried about?
Him, or Jo?
"I'm not doing this," Alex said, turning to walk away from Bailey's office even though he wasn't sure where else to go.
"Alex," Meredith's voice gave him pause, "Go talk to Bailey. You need to get this sorted out before DeLuca convinces everyone it was some kind of random attack. Did you see his face? If he decides to press charges for assault and battery he'll have a pretty damn good case. You could go to jail, Alex, your medical career could be over, and good luck getting Jo to visit you there."
"She's not going to be visiting me anywhere if we don't find her."
Meredith sighed, and now the tired look was more pronounced as she grabbed Alex by the arm and dragged him back toward Bailey's office.
"Talk. to. Bailey. I'll keep looking for Jo. I'll go to your loft and see if she's there now, okay?"
Alex didn't want to say yes. He didn't want to suck it up and face Bailey before he even knew Jo was safe, but what choice did he have?
He couldn't find words to answer Meredith, so he just gave a slow nod and opened the door to the office before his mind could catch up to him.
Meredith would find Jo. He would talk to Bailey, and Meredith would find Jo.
She had to.
May 15th, 2016 8:30am
The sound of a mug crashing to the floor startled Jo out of her deep slumber.
Where was she?
Her body ached from sleeping on this...couch?
She stretched her legs out and kicked into the arm of the furniture.
Yep, definitely a couch.
But not her couch. Definitely not her couch, because she had fallen asleep on her couch plenty of times before and it was way more comfortable than this couch. And the blanket was softer, and the pillow was a little more firm. This was not her couch, and when she opened her eyes she wasn't the least bit surprised to find that she wasn't in her living room either. She was in some other living room- one that seemed distantly familiar. She had definitely been there before, but probably not recently, and probably not very many times. Whose apartment was this?
"Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. Or actually I did I guess, I was going to ask if you wanted coffee or something, but I didn't mean to wake you up like that."
Jo felt a wave of relief wash over her body as she sat up with a slight moan at the pain in her side. Leah cringed in sympathy, sitting in a chair across from Jo and offering her a mug that she happily accepted.
"It's okay," Jo said, once the first sip of coffee seemed to open her throat, "Thanks again for letting me stay here. I didn't want to ask, I know I haven't been the best at keeping in touch…"
Leah waved the sort of apology away with a chuckle,
"You've been busy, it's fine, so have I. And you needed somewhere to be. I would rather you crash on my couch than go sleep on the street somewhere."
"Thanks."
Jo knew she had already said it a million times, but she didn't know what else to say. Not to mention the fact that she really was extremely grateful for this. She hadn't spoken to Leah in months, not since Steph's birthday party, and she was starting to think that maybe their friendship was the kind that would just fade away.
But then last night had happened.
The whole thing still felt fuzzy in her mind, like it must have been a dream, but Jo knew that it had really happened from the pain in her side.
It had happened, and just when her phone was about to die and she had resigned herself to sleeping on a bench outside of Seattle Pres. for the night Jo thought of Leah. She had always been a little annoying, and clingy, and paranoid maybe, but she was a good friend. She was the kind of friend who was always on your side even when she had no idea what had happened.
Which she didn't.
All that Leah knew was that Jo had been hurt and needed to lay low for awhile. And the night before, she had accepted that.
But now she was staring at Jo with that impatient look that asked the question without her needing to ever say it, and Jo sighed.
"It's not a big deal."
"You called me at three in the morning, from a hospital, with a broken rib, saying that you can't go home and you don't want anyone to know where you are, and it's not a big deal?"
"I don't want anyone to know where I am because they're all going to make it a bigger deal than it is."
"I don't blame them, it seems like a pretty big deal to me"
Jo groaned, leaning back against the couch and shutting her eyes so she didn't have to see the look Leah was giving her anymore. Maybe she was more annoying than Jo remembered. She was still grateful to her for everything, but why did she have to pry?
It took a long moment before Jo could even bring the explanation to her mind, and another before she could even take a breath to say it.
"Alex and I were… he ended things. So I went to Joe's last night, and I was drinking, and this intern guy brought me home."
She nearly said friend, but was DeLuca really her friend? She had gotten along with the guy, sure, but until last night she didn't feel like she knew him very well.
It didn't matter anyway, because he definitely wouldn't want to be her friend now.
"So this intern guy…"
She didn't open her eyes, but Jo knew what Leah meant, and she shook her head at the notion,
"He was just trying to get me to go to bed, and I just…"
Jo felt like the ground had suddenly plummeted out from underneath her.
Like she had been sucked into a vacuum and now she couldn't breathe or feel anything other than the sensation of being completely crushed.
Her eyes finally opened, and Leah's look of curiosity quickly flipped to one of concern.
"Jo," she reached out to put a hand on Jo's knee, trying to bring her back to Earth, "What happened?"
"I need to go to the hospital."
May 15th, 2016 9:00am
"Look, what I told you last night, you can't tell anybody. Please, it would ruin me, I would have to-"
"Stop, okay? I'm not telling anyone what you told me. We don't need to make this any more complicated than it already is."
"Thank you, oh God, thank you. I-"
"Can you just go? Everyone is out there looking for you, you know. But it doesn't matter what you tell them, because Alex attacked me. So you can say what you want to defend him, but just know that I'm not letting it go that easily. He's in a meeting with Bailey now to give his side of the story, but he'll have a hell of a time trying to get out of this one."
Jo sucked in a breath, then nodded.
"Don't tell anyone I was here, and I won't say anything."
"Fine."
May 15th, 2016 9:05am
Jo could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she kept her head down and hurried toward the stairwell. The elevator was too dangerous, she couldn't risk getting caught on there with someone who would recognize her. Leah's huge hoodie was good for hiding her face with the hood, but it could only do so much. Especially if Andrew was right and people were actually looking for her. Steph had called half a million times, as had Meredith, and even Bailey and Webber had given it a couple of tries. So it wasn't too hard to believe that they'd be on lookout for her.
The sound of her shoes echoing in the quiet stairwell was oddly comforting to Jo. She was so close to getting out of there. Leah was waiting outside, and they didn't exactly have a plan yet but they were definitely going to haul ass away from this place as fast as they could. If DeLuca was good on his word no one would even know she had been there.
Part of her felt sick for agreeing not to stand up for Alex. There was an ache in the pit of her stomach reminding her that Alex had been trying to protect her. He hadn't attacked DeLuca just for fun, or because he was jealous. He truly thought that he was seeing Jo about to be raped. She didn't even have to hear him say it to know it was true, because that look of fury in his eyes when he'd seen DeLuca on top of her...she had never seen anything like it before. Her ex had been furious many times, and she had really thought that she would never face a fury like that again, but compared to the way Alex reacted to DeLuca on top of her she felt like her ex's fury was comparable to the frustration people felt being stuck in traffic.
The image of Alex's pure rage burned in Jo's mind, distracting her so that she didn't notice the door on the second floor landing opening until it nearly hit her in the face.
"Shit, I'm sorry, I-"
No.
No.
She had been so close to getting out of the hospital without getting caught- literally just one set of stairs away from freedom.
And now Meredith was grabbing her arms because she knew before Jo could even flinch that she would try to run.
"Please," Jo began to beg, "Don't tell anyone-"
"Are you okay?"
The question startled Jo into silence. She had expected Meredith to be furious with her- to blame her for Alex losing his cool or for running away instead of coming to explain the situation. It had become very clear over the past couple of years that Meredith only cared about Jo personally when it was affecting Alex a certain way. But if she thought that Jo was upsetting him, or distracting him, or even if she wasn't doing anything and was just trying to live her life and do her job- Meredith would have no problem kicking her while she was down.
Except for now.
Now she looked completely serious as she asked again, speaking very slowly.
"Jo, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Jo's thoughts flickered to her injured rib, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything about it. Alex hadn't meant to hurt her. It had been an accident and yes, technically, it hurt. But if Alex knew about it, it would kill him. And there was no way Meredith would keep any of this from Alex.
She shook her head.
Before she could find her voice to ask Meredith to please just let her go, Jo felt herself being wrapped in a hug, and even though her mind was telling her to run her body just froze in place while Meredith held her in her arms and let out a shaky sigh.
For a moment they just stood like that in silence.
Maybe it was supposed to be comforting, but the whole hugging thing was just making Jo uncomfortable. It was abundantly clear now that Meredith only cared about her wellbeing because it was better for Alex that she wasn't hurt. This was a hug of relief, not of caring.
"Let's just go talk to Bailey, okay?"
Meredith finally stepped back from Jo, her hands moving now to hold her at her wrists, thumbs rubbing against the backs of her hands.
February 20th, 2017 11:00pm
"Here, squeeze my hands."
Meredith grabbed Jo's hands in her own, her thumbs pressing into the backs of her hands while Jo gripped her as hard as she could. Meredith winced, but didn't move to pull away,
"Good, keep squeezing. Just focus on that, focus on squeezing my hands. I know it's hard, but you can't fight the tube."
Jo whimpered, it was so hard to suppress her body's natural reaction to gag on the tube down her throat. She couldn't speak, but she begged Amelia with her eyes to just sedate her again.
"Wilson, I need you to stay calm for me. The calmer you are the faster we can get this over with. Just keep squeezing her hands, okay? Squeeze as hard as you can."
Jo needed this to end, all of it. Every inch of her body hurt, and her throat was trying so hard to gag on the tube, and now Amelia was shining a light in her eyes and she wasn't sure she could take it anymore.
Her hands clenched down on Meredith's, harder than before, and then Meredith squeezed back. She squeezed back just as hard as Jo was squeezing, and Jo focused on that. On having someone there to squeeze back.
May 15th, 2016 9:08am
This was wrong. This wasn't Meredith. Meredith wasn't the type to stand there and hold her hand and tell her everything would be okay.
All she wanted was to get Jo to go to Bailey and plead Alex's case for him. Once they heard from her that Alex was just trying to protect her, maybe he would have a stronger case.
"Come on Jo," Meredith urged gently, "We can get this all sorted out. Whatever happened last night was clearly just a huge misunderstanding that got out of control. So let's go talk to Bailey and you can help clear things up."
DeLuca's voice played back in Jo's mind. He wouldn't say anything if she didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry."
Jo tugged her arms away from Meredith, turning and running down the last flight of stairs as fast as her feet would take her. She could hear Meredith screaming her name after her, and she sounded angry now because of course she did, but that just made her go faster.
She couldn't do this. She couldn't have DeLuca telling anyone what she had told him.
Jo didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew she wasn't going to stick around the hospital until she figured it out.
A/N: So I love Tessa and I love Leah Murphy but I was PISSED when I heard the news about her coming back this week, because that had been my surprise twist the whole time! I was halfway through this chapter when the news broke and just so annoyed that they beat me to the punch. But really though I am excited that she'll be back, and I hope her appearance in this chapter was still surprising ;)
Reviews are always super appreciated! I'd love to hear any feedback on what you like/don't like so I can make this story the best it can be.