#17x07

“Hey.” Alex sees April Kepner behind them as they keep pushing the incubator, “I just spoke to Hunt, DeLuca is gonna be okay. They had to do a splenectomy, but the injuries weren’t that serious.”

Alex sighs in relief, “Thank god.”

“How’s Amber doing?” Jo feels bad for not being there for her sister-in-law during this difficult time.

“I left her with Jackson so I could get her a coffee. Hunt and Altman were on their way to tell her and Carina right now.”

“Tell her I’ll check on her later I just have to operate on Luna.” Alex tells April who nods before leaving them and Luna, “I needed at least one piece of good news today.”

“You and everyone else honey.” Jo tells her husband before leaning down to talk to Luna, “But good news for you Luna, your gonna see your mom before the mean doctors take you to treat you.”

Alex grins at that comment, “Your mommy is gonna freak out when she sees you, yes she is.”

The sweet talk is interrupted by the PA system announcing Code Blue before the couple look up to find nurses and Schmitt going into Val’s room with a crash cart. Alex and Jo frown at Val coding when they were ten feet away from the door with her daughter ready for her to see Luna in person.

“Val’s coding! Hurry!”

Jo snaps out of it from Schmitt’s command, but her worries are visible, “No. No, no, no.” Jo leaves Alex and Luna out in the hall to go to Val. Alex swallows at the sight but knows he needs to keep moving to give Luna the surgery she needs to live. He knows he has to keep his promise to Val and make sure Luna gets the care she needs to walk out of this building alive.

That Night

Jo stands in the NICU is grief waiting for someone to come in. The young surgeon tried everything she could to bring Val back but in the end it was futile. Jo was forced to call time of death on Luna’s mother when it became clear Val wasn’t gonna make it. Now Jo waits in the NICU hoping that while Val is dead her daughter is still very much alive after her surgery.

Alex enters the NICU wheeling in Luna’s incubator to Jo’s relief. Still her relief is only mild as she acknowledges that with Val dead, Luna is gonna have to go into foster care. The thought of this little girl who has already been through so much in her short life having to go into a broken system that she and Alex know too well won’t give Luna the care she needs breaks her heart. Her face remains impassive as Alex parks Luna causing Jo to look down at the tiny baby sleeping in her blanket.

“Surgery went well.” Alex informs his wife, “No respiratory distress, chest tube is clear. This little one is a fighter.”

“She’s gonna need to be.” Jo says in sadness.

Alex can recognize the look in Jo’s face and sighs sharing her grief as well, “Damn it, no.”

“I ran the code for an hour.” Jo looks down at Luna with regret feeling like she is the reason Luna is alone now, “She has no idea her mom didn’t make it.”

Alex wishes he could hug his wife right now but he settles for words while keeping a safe distance, “You did everything you could.”

“I know.” Jo says still sad, “But it makes it that much harder looking at Luna right now. We can all do everything we can to help people who need us and make sure they’re here to see another day and it still isn’t enough.”

Alex looks at Jo in worry, “Do you want to clock out and call your therapist?”

“I will, I just want to be here and make sure she’s okay.” Jo sniffles, “Her mom died, her father doesn’t want anything to do with her and there’s no telling if she’ll have long term effects from being born at 26 weeks. What kind of a childhood is she gonna have? I just…I just don’t know what’s gonna happen to this little girl when she goes into the system. I was in it, you were in it and we both know the chances of a premie like her getting a good family are very low. I want her to have what Val was supposed to give her. I want her to have a family, a real family with people who love her and will take care of her. She deserves better than what she’s been given.”

Alex sees his wife sniffling and it makes him sad. He looks down at Luna with her tiny face scrunched up as she sleeps while she’s wrapped in a blanket. The thought of Luna being discharged to a random foster family kills him.

He remembers the first day he met Val. He remembers how happy she was to find out she was pregnant after years of trying. He remembers her crying in joy at the sight of Luna on a screen. He also remembers promising Val that he would take care of Luna if anything happened to her. He made it as a surgeon but more than that he made it as another human being who wants a baby more than anything. It’s that memory that has him make a decision that will change his life and Jo’s. It’s that memory that has him looking at his wife imploringly before making his proposal.

“We can give it to her.” Alex states to Jo who looks up with confused eyes, “Let’s tell CPS we can foster to adopt her as soon as she’s discharged.”

“Really?” That one worded question is asked in elation rather than fear.

“Yeah.” Alex says with a grin, “She’s gonna need extra love and attention, we’re both doctors, we want to adopt so let’s adopt her.”

Jo begins to grin at this, “You really want to?”

“I promised Val the day she had Luna that I would take care of her baby if something happened.” Alex recaps to Jo before looking down at Luna, “And seeing this little girl right now in need of people who can love her and raise her like their own. It feels right, it feels like Val would have wanted us as her parents instead.”

“It does. Okay let’s do it, let’s be her parents.” Jo smiles with tears in her eyes and Alex also smiles at his wife on board.

Jo takes her gloves off, sanitizes her hands and opens the tiny door in the incubator. She puts her hand inside and touches Luna’s tiny hand with her index finger smiling down at the sleeping baby. The sight of it makes Alex see the family he has wanted for so long, causing him to stand by Jo as they smile down at Luna already being her parents.

“Hi Luna.” Jo greets her future daughter in a low voice, “It’s Jo remember me? And this is Alex you know him. We’re gonna be your mommy and daddy, yes we are.”