Forever and a Day//Jolex

Chapter 12

A month or so later, Jo opened her eyes to see Alex feeding a bottle to the baby while watching cartoons. It made her smile to see the way he held her, cradling her head and stroking her hair. Brooklyn truly was one of the happiest babies Jo had ever seen.
Neither of the new parents had left the house much since the baby was born, and although they loved the baby, they missed being surgeons and talking to people who knew how to talk back.
"Good morning" Jo said from the bed, exhaustion evident in her voice.
"Morning Sunshine." Alex said, getting up to give her a kiss and handing her the baby.
"Hi sweet girl! Good morning!" Said Jo.
  "Jo, I'm sorry but I have to check in on one of my patients. I hate to leave you, but it's this little 4 year old girl, and-"
"Alex!" She giggled. "It's fine. Me and the baby will come, it will be good to get her out of the house. Plus, I'm afraid if I go another day without more adult contact, I might lose it."
"The hospital is full of sick people. I don't know if it's a good idea." Alex replied.
Jo gave Alex a look that told him her mind was made up and she wasn't interested in arguing, and he reluctantly agreed.
Jo got ready and changed the baby into a little onesie meant to look like scrubs and a matching "scrub cap" hat.
"Alex! Look how cute she is in her scrubs!"
"Come on, lets get in the car." He said with a smirk, tucking Brooklyn into the car seat.
They drove quietly with Brooklyn's soft cooing noises and the scent of coffee filling the car, and soon enough, they pulled up to the hospital and parked.
They were relived to see that nothing much at the hospital seemed to have changed; everything was the way they left it. Jo snapped the baby seat into the stroller base and pushed her inside, Alex following close behind.
"I got to go. Meet me here in an hour?"
"Sure. Go, save a life." Jo said, and Alex kissed both his girls.
Immediately, several nurses walked up to Jo.
"Congratulations, Doctor Karev. Your daughter is beautiful." One nurse said.
Jo lifted her from the carrier to show her off.
"Thank you. Would you like to hold her?"
The nurses on the floor took turns holding her, while Jo got a break. She checked her email, organized the crap in her purse, and ate a granola bar from the vending machine, and then she was ready to take her baby back.
Jo wandered through the hallways of the hospital in hopes of getting Brook to sleep, and she eventually found herself in one of the attendings lounges, where Maggie and Amelia were chatting on the couch. They look up to see her standing in the door.
"Hey! Look who's s here! Aren't you on leave for like, 2 more months?" Amelia said.
"Don't remind me. Alex has to consult on a patient so we tagged along."
"That is one cute baby. Can I get turn." Maggie said, reaching out her arms to hold the baby.
Amelia gave her a funny look, and and in response, Maggie said, "What? It's a really cute baby."
Maggie played around with the baby, and Jo and Amelia talked. Eventually Maggie was paged to the pit and was forced to give up the baby.
"I'm sure your exhausted, why don't you rest. I got her." Amelia said, taking the baby from Maggie. Jo was, in fact, sleep deprived having been kept up by Brooklyn most of the night, and happily obliged.
"Thank you. I'm just gonna close my eyes for a minute..." she said, getting comfy on the couch.
A while later, Jo opened her eyes feeling incredibly well rested. Instead of a power nap, she had been asleep for two hours. On top of that, Amelia was no longer beside her with the baby.
She ran out of the room and called out, "Someone page Doctor Shephard!"
"She's down the hall in OR 3, should I call down?"
Before she finished, Jo was halfway down the hall to the operating room. She walked into the gallery and turned on the intercom.
"Amelia, where is my baby?"
"Oh, hey." She said from under her mask. "I didn't want to wake you, so I gave her to Link."
"Thanks." Jo said rushing to find him.
After only 5 minutes of searching, she found the ortho doc in an on call room on the same floor, soothing Brooklyn to sleep on his shoulder.
"Hey." He said. "She's fed and changed, I was just getting her to sleep." Jo noted the stroller and diaper bag in the corner of the room, all packed up and ready to go.
"Thank you so much." Jo replied, picking up the baby and gently placing her back in the stroller, trying and failing to keep her asleep.
Jo walked back out of the room with her now awake and cranky baby, and checked the OR board, which said Alex was in OR 6, operating on a bowel obstruction.
Jo walked with baby Brooklyn into the gallery, putting her into her lap. When Alex looked up, he smiled to see his little girl and wife.
"Say "Hi, daddy."" Jo said, making the baby wave.
When Alex was finished, the family met just outside the scrub room.
"Hey, I'm sorry- we had to do emergency surgery on my patient."
"I see that. It's alright, though. Brooklyn liked watching daddy work."
"Great. Ready to go?"
"Yup." She said, handing the baby her rattle which fell on the floor. "So tell me. How did it feel to be back in surgery?"
"If I tell you it was amazing, will you be mad?"
"Not if you give me details."