#12x24

“When I proposed to you, I did it because I want to be committed to you. You said you needed someone in your corner and I want to be that person and I want the same from you.”

“I am committed to you, Alex. I love you. I want to be tied to you too.” 

“So marry me. A baby isn't going to fix this.”

“I'm not trying to fix it with a baby, I'm trying to show you that I'm committed to you by telling you that I want what you want. I love you and I want to be with you for the rest of our lives.”

“But you won't marry me.”

“Alex, I can't,” Jo begs him in a whisper. 

Alex stares into her eyes. He can see the way that she pleads with him and the hint of fear in her eyes. He doesn't know what was holding her back. He knows that she's always been afraid of legal commitment. She loves him, he knows that. She wants to be with him, he knows that too. Yet, she never wants anything to prove it. It took a week to convince her to sign the declaration of their relationship for the hospital. He knows there's more to this, that it wasn't just the fact that Jo's afraid of marriage. 

To be honest, he was a little afraid to marry her too. He saw the way that his parents treated each other. He saw the way his foster parents treated each other. He knows how marriage can change a couple, but he also knows how it can make them stronger. He remembers how it changed him when he was with Izzie. He pledged himself to her and she was his responsibility to take care of. He wants to be that for Jo. To be someone who looks after her and takes care of her and for her to do the same for him in return. Being her husband is important to him. Still, he loves her enough to keep the ring in his drawer. To keep waiting for her. 

“I love you, Jo, and I want to be your husband someday. I want to commit myself to you and only you for the rest of our lives and do everything that comes with it.”

“I know,” Jo said, letting out a breath as she looks down before she looks back up at him through her eyelashes. “And what about having a baby?”

Alex just smiles, he can't help it. A large happy smirk spreads across his face as he walks up to her. He reaches out to put his hands on her waist, trailing up to brush the lace at the side of her breast before pulling the tank top down to reveal her breasts. His fingers ghost over her breasts and leave goosebumps across her skin. 

“Are you sure you're ready?” Alex says as he pulls his eyes away from her skin to look up at her.

She's been so hesitant before, he wants to have her permission for this. He wants to know that she wants this. Because she wants a baby, a family with him, and not just for him to stay.

“Yes,” Jo says and he knows she's sure.

His lips crash into hers and her arms wrap around his neck. It's desperate and needy and fast and a little rough, so he slows it down. He pulls her over to the bed and tries to be delicate with her. He loves her and he doesn't want the night they make their baby to be anything but filled with love. 

Loving Jo is so easy. She's his best friend and she knows him like the back of her hand. She's been through what he's been through and she knows what he wants because of it. She knows how his childhood shaped him because she's cut from the same cloth. 

He slips the black pants off her body to reveal the white lace underneath. He smiles as he leans down to gently kiss her body from the peaks of her breasts down to the valley of her thighs. He makes love to her, he makes it sweet and soft as he pulls her body into his. He kisses her with all the love he has for her as he pours himself into her in the hopes that it will create a new life between them. 

Afterwards Jo falls asleep in his arms. She clings to him in a way she only does on dark nights and he knows it’s because he didn't sleep next to her the night before. She tosses and turns on those nights more than any others. So he lets her sleep, but as he does, the reality of the situation sinks in.

He knows a baby isn't going to change anything. It isn't going to fix their relationship. He knows she has a secret. He doesn't know what it is or how big it is. Still, he can sense that it's the reason she's holding back. It has something to do with the reason why she won't marry him. That worries him. It worries him that her secret is something so big and so dark that it will tear them apart. So he gets that itch. The urge to run before things get too hard, before things get too crazy.

He loves Jo and he wants to stay with her. He does. He wants a baby, a family, to continue building a life with her. Yet, the heaviness of it all weighs upon him. He decides to go to the one person he's always been able to talk to. He slips out of her arms and calls Meredith. She is, of course, busy with Amelia and the wedding, but she still has time for him, so he grabs his keys and leaves. 

After talking with Meredith and hearing Owen react to his own runaway bride. Alex realizes he loves Jo enough to bear this secret and wait for her to be ready.

When he comes back, he hears Jo’s laughter and he smiles. He can't wait to hear that laughter from their child's lips and he can see it in his mind. Then he comes around the corner and finds her on the bed with DeLuca above her. He sees her drunk and only in the lingerie she wore for him. He also sees how DeLuca holds her wrist and how he lays on top of her.

He doesn't think, he just acts as his fist connects with DeLuca’s face.

……………………………………………………………………

It's always in the aftermath that he seems to realize what he's done. As he looks at the blood on his hands. Jo’s screaming and crying rings in his ear. DeLuca’s bloody and broken face lingers behind his eyes. He realizes he's made the worst mistake of his life and there's no going back. 

……………………………………………………………………

A few weeks later, after the dust settles, he's working in the clinic, and Arizona approaches him. 

“Jo came to see me today,” Arizona says as she looks at him. She doesn't have that angry look on her face that she's had all week. Instead, she looks at him with an expression he can't read. “Alex, she's pregnant.”

He drops the supplies that are in his hand and they crash to the floor. He's not sure why he's so surprised. He didn't forget how they tried for a baby. How could he? It’s etched into his mind as the last good thing he did. If he could go back, he would go back to that moment. He never would have left their bed, he never would have left her, and they would have this conversation together. 

Yet, instead of Jo, Arizona is telling him this. He should be sharing this moment with her. It should have been a happy one. Instead, the mother of his child looks at him with fear in her eyes as she remembers the night that he broke everything with his fists. He knows that she'll never look at him the same way. He knows that she worries that what he did to DeLuca, he could do to her and their baby. Despite how Alex knows he could never lay a finger on them. Jo doesn't know that. She doesn't trust that. Why should she? 

His entire world has gone to shit and this time, he doesn't know how to fix it. 

……………………………………………………………………

A few days later, Alex gets a chance to talk to Jo for the first time since he found out she was pregnant. In the storage room of the ER, she's tucked away. He finds her hiding out between the storage shelves. She sits on the floor with her little note cards, studying for her boards. He used to quiz her and he knows Callie gave her, her note cards to study. If his math is right, her due date is in June, just after the boards. He hopes this doesn't throw off her chances of taking them. 

He watches her for a moment. She holds her stomach with one hand and munches on a few crackers as she reads the note cards in front of her. He also notes the changes in her body. Her cheeks are fuller, as are her breasts. Her hair shines and her skin glows. Yet, her eyes look weary. She takes a moment to lean her head back against the wall, closing her eyes.

As he leans forward to get a better look at her, he brushes against the box of gauze pads and topples a few of them over. Jo looks up to see him and quickly gets up. She avoids eye contact with him as she goes to walk past him, but he reaches out for her arm.

“Jo.”

She pauses and slowly turns around as her eyes glance up to catch him. His lips part, he doesn't know what to say next. He knows what he wants to say, what he wants to do. He wants to take it all back, to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He wants to celebrate their baby, but he knows she won't let him do that now.

His eyes go down to her waist. He doesn't see a bump under her blue scrub shirt. She's not that far along, but she has her hand protectively over their baby.

“Arizona told me, about, about the baby and, and everything,” Alex says, tripping over his words like he tripped over his feet. “Are you doing okay?”

“No, Alex, I'm,” Jo just shakes her head as she looks up to the ceiling, her eyes sparkling with tears before she lets out a sigh. “Look, I'm fine, okay. The baby is healthy. You don't have to worry about us.”

She rushes to go past him and he reaches out to grab her arm. It's something they've done before and usually, Jo will let him pull her in. He'll kiss her cheek and a smile will spread across her lips, but not now, not today. Instead, Jo reacts with shock. She pulls back in surprise and takes a step away from him.

“I'm sorry,” Alex says, immediately letting her go as he doesn't want to push her boundaries. “Just, if you need anything, crackers, or that boxed mac and cheese you like, or if you need anything in the middle of the night….”

“What, you're going to drive all the way down from Meredith's to hold my hair back while I puke at 4 am?” Jo said with a roll of her eyes, hiding the longing in them.

“Yeah, why wouldn't I?” Alex says because he would. “I know you have an ultrasound next week and I'd like to be there.”

“No, I don't want you there!” Jo says defensively, and her words hurt worse than anything else he's done in the past week. “You left Alex. Then you hurt DeLuca, and you called me trash. I don't want you there. I don't need you right now. That's why I asked Arizona to tell you instead of telling you myself. I know this baby is half yours and I won't keep you from them. But for now, this pregnancy is mine alone and I can handle my pregnancy on my own.”

“But you don't have to, Jo. I can be there for you and I want to be.” 

“I don't want you there, Alex. I don't want you.”

With that, she left him alone and Alex knew now there was no coming back from this. 

……………………………………………………………………

Alex is closing down the clinic again. He hates the 12-hour days when he opens and closes as they are filled with mindless work. He had already made sure that all the laundry was sent out and the new beds were ready. He had put away all the old files and put out new ones for tomorrow’s charts. He also did other little things that he shouldn't be doing as a surgeon, like tidying up after everyone else. Yet, he messed up, so here he is. As he's making sure that the supplies are stocked up, Alex hears the bells on the door jingle as it opens. 

Although he doesn't look up from where he is putting away the packets of gauze and curses himself for forgetting to lock up. “We're closed.”

“I know,” Jo says in a little voice that startles him. 

Alex quickly put all the gauze down on the floor and stood up. He turns around to see her standing in front of him. Her hands are in her pocket and she looks hesitant to be there. 

“Oh hi,” Alex says, not really sure what to say. He figures that since Jo is the one who sought him out, she should do the talking. 

Arizona had told him to wait and let Jo come to him. Although Meredith said that he should talk to her. Alex was inclined to listen to Arizona more. Although Meredith only wants the best for him. He knows that if he pushes Jo, she would retreat further. Meredith mostly worries Jo will keep the baby from him. Alex worries about that too, but Jo said she wouldn't and he trusts her. So he waits for her to come to him and now she has.

Jo looks at him, studying him as if she is looking for something in him. Then she looks down at her bump, rubbing her hand up and down. Alex studies her bump as well. He can't see it as well with her dark t-shirt and green jacket. She hasn't let him see it fully see it as he hasn’t been to one of her appointments. 

“I just wanted you to know that the baby and I are okay, Alex,” Jo says looking down at her bump. “They're growing well and they're in the 80th percentile or something. And we're healthy, both of us are healthy.”

“I know, Arizona gives me an update on them after every appointment,” Alex says with a nod.

“Right, Jo says with a nod as well, looking down at her bump. “I forgot that I asked her to do that. I just thought that after today, you'd want to know.”

“Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it,” Alex nods again, especially after everything from that day. 

They talked a little bit more throughout this case, but this is the first time they're talking about their baby. After hearing Amelia's revelation about her baby and Veronica’s cancer and pregnancy, Alex couldn't help but worry about Jo and their baby. Although he knows they are both fine, hearing it from Jo herself was comforting.

He looks down to where she's cradling her bump and she follows his eyes. She doesn't say anything, just steps up to him and holds out her hand. Alex reaches out and grabs her hand. She takes his hand and guides it to her bump, as she leads his hands over the curve of her belly. 

“It's not much more than a little curve of my stomach. I just noticed it a few days ago. I'm not sure if you can feel it?”

“Yeah, I can,” Alex says with a little smile. “It's nice.”

His eyes glance up at Jo and for a moment, they just stare at each other. There's that familiar tension in the air. He used to feel that tension between them before the first time he kissed her. Tonight reminds him of that night. He wants so badly to lean in and kiss her lips, but they aren't there yet.

“Do you have a recent ultrasound photo?” Alex asks as he looks down at her bump and holds their baby. 

“No, but, why don't we go get one for ourselves?” Jo says as she reaches out to grasp the hand on her bump. Giving it a squeeze, she holds his hand and leads him away. 

Alex immediately smiles, Jo hadn't let him into any of her ultrasounds just yet. He locks up the clinic, although he isn't done closing. This is more important. Jo grasps his hand like a lifeline as she leads the way. He easily follows her through the hospital as they make their way to Arizona on the maternity ward. 

They paused in the doorway to Arizona's office as Jo timidly glanced back at him with a smile. “I want to show Alex our baby.”

This is the first time she's smiled at him since all of this began. 

Arizona excitedly obliged them. Soon enough he's holding Jo's hand and her shoulder as he helps her lay back on the bed. Jo pulls up her shirt and undoes the buttons on her jeans. He realizes she's already in maternity jeans. Arizona gives her a cloth to tuck into her jeans and as she does, he realizes that he's staring at the fullness of her bump. Alex reaches out and puts a hand on her belly. He notes that her little belly button has turned out and his fingers ghost over it. He can't help the smile that seems stuck on his face. He’s been smiling so much that his cheeks hurt. 

However, he soon has to move his hand so they can start up the ultrasound. Arizona starts it in the middle moving around until eventually, she pulls up a side profile of their baby. The sight of his child looking so real on the screen takes his breath away. There's their little nose and head, their little heart fluttering in their chest, their little arms waving around. He barely hears Arizona's words as Alex just stares at the little slope of their little nose. 

He didn't look at the ultrasound like he normally would as a doctor. Sometimes he took care of the babies before they were born on a consult for Arizona. Instead, he looks at them like a father. Alex looks at their heart beating, not counting the beats or looking for defects. He looks at their arms and legs moving and kicking, not measuring their size. He looks at his child. This is his child, his baby, and watching them on the ultrasound was so much more magical than he thought it would be. He couldn't help but tear up. Although he fights to hold them back with everything inside of him, the tears refuse to stop from falling. 

“Oh Alex, don't cry,” Jo says looking up at him with a painful expression. She's holding back tears of her own as his streams down his cheeks and he reaches up to brush them away.

“I'm okay, it's just…” Alex trails off, unable to find the words to describe what he’s feeling. 

“It's okay if this is overwhelming,” Arizona reassures him with a comforting smile.

“Yeah, but if you cry, I'm going to cry,” Jo says, already brushing away the tears that had spilled over onto her cheeks. 

“I'm sorry,” Alex says as he smiles a little. 

“No, don't be, you don't have to apologize for this,” Jo says with a smile of her own as she squeezes his hand and he squeezes it back.

“You're going to be a good father,” Jo whispers, looking up at him as he whips his head up. 

As he looks at her, she just smiles. She meant what she said. Alex wasn't yet sure of that. He didn’t know if he would be a good father. He had the worst role model with his own father and he thought about how angry he got. He still reacted fists first. But he was trying not to. If this whole thing taught him anything, it was that he can't do that anymore. Jo and their baby don't deserve his anger. 

Still, he knew he could let go of his anger and frustration for them. Alex thought about the preemie that pulled out their ET tube for the 20th time that day. How he just shook his head and put another one in. He did give them a little bit of a talking to. He told them how they needed it and it would come out soon enough.

Alex thought about the toddler that bit him last week. He reacted in surprise as he jumped back. The kid just looked up at him with a glare. They didn't like the shots he had to give them. He just cleaned his arm and assured the parents that it was developmentally appropriate. Then he smiled at the kid and gave them a pacifier before he continued with the exam.

Alex thought about how he talked to the teenagers like they were adults. They liked to understand what was happening to them. He told them how it was, but he still gave them stickers. Because they were still kids and they still deserve stickers. 

Alex so desperately wants to be a good father. As he stares at their baby on the screen, he knows they hold his entire heart. He would do anything, become anything for them. He looks over at Jo too, her eyes fixed on the screen and her hand tightly grasping his. He would do anything for her too. Even if she wouldn't marry him and wouldn't tell him why. 

……………………………………………………………………

“I'm married to a man who almost beat me to death.”

That is the second phrase Jo says that changes his life. Although he can't see her face, he knows she's fighting back tears. He can hear it in her voice. They stand together in the elevator as Jo cradles her now prominent baby bump. She's still trying to hide it from everyone, except him. 

“And I can't divorce him, because I ran away from him. And I'm not,” Jo pauses, looking down at her bump. She holds their baby before she shakes her head and continues. “Jo Wilson isn't my real name, it's Brooke Stadler. That's why I couldn't marry you.”

Alex takes a second to take in this revelation. His whole mind swirls around the fact that Jo is married. But she's married to someone who abused her, and she ran away from him. Her real name, Brooke Stadler echoes in his mind. He can't even fathom the thought that she was anyone other than the woman he's known for four years now. 

“You're married,” Alex finally manages to say. 

Jo slowly turned around, facing him. “Yes.”

“And you didn't tell me?”

“I was scared. I…” 

“Scared of what? Did you think I'd get mad? You thought I'd get mad at you for trying to get yourself out…”

“No, not at me, at him. I thought you'd want to kill him and that you'd try something stupid and you'd get hurt or killed or you'd get in trouble and you... you would…”

Jo trails off and he finishes the sentence for her. “Wind up in jail.”

“It might all come out in court tomorrow. I wanted you to hear it from me.”

Alex nods a silent thanks. Then he lets out a deep sigh, letting the weight of what she said settle on his shoulders. They don’t say anything else to each other. Jo turns around to start the elevator again. When the elevator doors open, she gets off. But before the doors close, her hand appears and forces them back open. 

“If I just take off after the trial, if I leave, it's not because of you. It's because my testimony will be a matter of record or whatever. But I don't want you to think that it's you... ever. And I promise it's not because I want to keep you from the baby. We’ll figure out a way for you to see her. I'll call and text you just please keep your number the same.”

As Jo speaks she looks down at her belly and cradles it again. Alex reaches out to put his hand on her belly to cradle their baby girl as well. Jo had let him attend her appointments now and he loved to see their baby grow. She was so big now. At first, neither of them wanted to know the gender, but then at the last minute, they decided to find out. When they found out it was a girl, Jo instantly smiled. While Alex wonders if it's karma coming back around to give him a daughter. 

Jo is so happy to have a daughter and she talks about buying princess dresses, a doll house, a tea set, and getting their baby everything that she didn’t have, but wanted as a little girl. Jo is excited, but Alex is terrified. He knows what it means to be a girl, what she would face in the world from the type of guy he used to be. But then he thinks of having a little girl with pig tales and little pink blankets. He thinks of carrying her on his shoulders and her being a daddy’s girl. He falls even more in love with his daughter and she becomes his whole world. He loves her as much as he loves Jo. It makes him want his family back, his girls. He didn't want to lose them forever.

“I'll find a way that you can see her and she can stay with you sometimes. It'd probably be safer anyway,” Jo said, refusing to meet his eyes as they glistened with tears. “I'll let you know when I go into labor so you can be there, but you’ll have to be careful.”

“Jo please don't go,” Alex begs her, staring into her eyes.

“If he finds me….” Jo whispers, unable to finish her sentence.

“He won't, Jo. I can protect you,” Alex pleads with her.

“You can't,” Jo said, heartbreak in her eyes as she shook her head. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It’s what got us all into this mess.”

Jo's look was so painful, but Alex didn’t blame her for any of this. Sure she kept this secret from him, but it was his actions that created this. He was the reason she slept alone at the loft while he slept at Meredith's. 

“I can't risk him hurting her,” Jo says, as the tears escape the corners of her eyes. “I can't.”

“You won't have to, I'll help you, Jo, I'll protect you both,” Alex pleads with her again, but Jo just shakes her head and steps back. She lets the doors close but he steps forward and opens them. “This is your life. You're Jo Wilson. You belong here.”

Brook Stadler, the name is so foreign to him. As he looks at the woman standing before him, that's not her name. It can't be her name, he knows it. Memories and images of her filter through his mind. He can't attach that name to her. She is Jo Wilson. Who else would she be?

But Jo just shakes her head and leaves.

Despite how he hopes his words and support can convince her to stay, it’s not enough. Alex knows that he can do something else to protect her. This is his last chance to do something to save his family, to save Jo and their daughter. For the sake of Jo and their baby. His life has always been Jo’s but now he’ll do whatever he has to for their daughter too. 

That night he walks into the judge’s office. He has to own up to this mess. He has to face up to the worst mistake he's ever made. He has to make things right and he'll do it now without trying to avoid his guilt. 

To his surprise, however, DeLuca lies to protect Jo from the same thing that he is. Alex isn’t sure how he knows, but he does. DeLuca renounces his statement and vows to do so in court as all of the charges are dropped. 

Afterwards, Alex talks to Andrew and he realizes he should have just talked to him first. If he wants to be a better man for Jo and their daughter, he can't be quick to anger. Especially for his daughter, he doesn't want her to grow up around that, he doesn't want to be that kind of man anymore, so he starts the work to be a better man. 

……………………………………………………………………

Alex walks into the resident’s lounge and looks around to be sure that it was just Jo. She was half dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top. He let his eyes linger on her, from behind he can’t see her round belly. At six months pregnant she was carrying high and big. She was no longer able to hide it and hadn't for a while now. He loves to see her belly grow each day. 

He knows that what he’s about to say might ruin all of that, but she deserves to know. He's also desperate to tell her that she doesn't have to be afraid of him, she shouldn't be.

Alex closes the door, to give them a bit of privacy. “You have a minute?”

Jo whips around in surprise, but relaxes when she sees him. “Did you come to laugh at me again? And just because I'm pregnant with your baby, doesn't mean I can't sleep with someone else!” 

“I know,” Alex nods, cutting her off. “You don't have to make excuses to me.”

Jo nods, as she relaxes her stance and sits back down on the bench, waiting for him to continue.

“You know, I-I found your husband. I hired a guy. I found his name. I looked him up and, and then I went and found him.”

“Oh, my God, Alex,” Jo said, her hands instantly cradling their baby as she takes in his revelation before he continues.

“Look. You didn't ask me to do that, and you, you didn't give me permission to do that, and it was wrong, and I-I'm sorry,” Alex said, fumbling over his words a little too much as his nerves got the better of him.

He had to make things right between them if they were going to raise their baby together. He wants her to trust him again and revealing the truth to her was his first step. 

“And, Jo, I-I swear to God, I could never, ever hurt you or our daughter. My dad, he, he was like your ex. I'm not like that. I'm not like my dad. I mean, I do things that are wrong. I do things that are stupid. But I swear to you I would never hurt you or our baby girl.”

Alex hopes that his words and his actions in the past few months have proven that to her. Jo still cradles her belly, holding their baby safely inside her. Then her hand starts to move up and down in a soothing gesture and he knew she was calming herself as well as their daughter inside her. 

As he stares down at her, he wants to reach his hand out and put a hand on her belly to see if he could feel the baby's kick. He hadn't been able to feel it yet. although Jo had felt it for a few weeks now and even said she kept her up at night. 

“You saw Paul?” Jo asks, standing but not looking at him as she instead stares off to the side. 

“Yes.”

“And you didn't kill him?”

“No, I mean, I thought about it,” Alex said, thinking of all the ways he had imagined killing Paul so that Jo and their daughter would be safe. “but I-I came home instead.”

Because that’s what Jo and their daughter need. They need him to be there for them, to protect them, and care for them. He couldn't do that if he was locked up. And if Paul ever came for Jo, he wants to be right there next to her.

“Okay,” Jo said, taking his word with a simple nod as she got up.

He looks down and resigns to the fact that she’s leaving. He told Jo the truth and she would do with it what she wished, but then to his surprise, she came back to him. She locks the door to the lounge and comes back to stand in front of him. She puts her hands on his neck before she leans in and kisses him. 

It was like their first kiss all over again, full of passion and love. Alex relishes the warmth and the love that came with her lips on his. He melts into her, giving himself to her again and forever. 

Then Jo pulls back and stares at him just for a second. Before she dives back in lips first. It’s then that he knows she has truly forgiven him, that she truly trusts him, and that she loves him. He always knew that she loved him, but he resigned himself to the fact that she was moving on. She had slept with someone else. Yet, now he knows she is as deeply in love with him as he is with her. 

Although he still wants to marry her, he wants to be her husband and to call her his wife, for now, this was enough. This is the life he always wants with her and he was willing to give up a pair of rings and some legal papers if it meant he would always have this.

His hands trail over her waist to her belly as he holds the product of their love in his hand. Then, he feels something, a light flutter, and then something presses against his hand. 

Alex brakes away from Jo's lips just for a second as he looks down at her belly in his hands. “I think I felt her kick.”

“I'm not surprised,” Jo said with a wide smile as she put her hands over his. “She's been kicking up a storm since I kissed you.”

Alex's eyes soften as he pulls down the straps of Jo's tank top until the fabric is around her waist. Once her belly is exposed to him, he leans down and places a light feather kiss on her bump, their baby girl. Jo hums and they both feel their daughter kick his hand again. 

Then Jo runs her fingers through his hair before cupping the back of his neck and pulling him up to her lip. She claims him again and pulls him into her. As they resume their passion, Alex's hands move to her waist holding her hips against him. 

Her lips tell him exactly what she wants as he reads her body like he used to. It feels like the first time in a long time, but he doesn't need to relearn her body, despite the changes. She pushes him down onto the couch, climbing on top of him. His hand moves up her back, going back up to her bra as Jo's hands continue to cradle his face and deeply kiss him. It didn't take long for them to tear off each other's clothes as their bodies met again. 

……………………………………………………………………

In the Afterglow, they lay together on the couch. Jo curls into his side with her head on his shoulder. While Alex traces his fingers across her belly, feeling their baby move under his hand as he smiles. 

“Is Daddy tickling you?” Jo says with a giggle as she puts a hand on her belly and their baby girl kicks and wiggles around inside of her. 

“No, we're playing. You're the one who's ticklish,” Alex says as his fingers trace across her skin, causing her to giggle again. 

Finally, he moves his hand over her belly, caressing it up and down before he settles on the spot where their daughter was kicking. Jo lets out a sigh of contentment as she snuggles closer to him, closing her eyes for a second. Alex squeezes the arm that was around her shoulders, giving her a quick hug. She happily smiles but keeps her eyes closed. Alex could never get tired of how wonderful it felt to hold her as she rests peacefully in his arms.