Work Text:
Alex woke up that morning and before he even opened his eyes, he reached out for Jo. However, he only found the empty sheets pulled back in Jo's place. He couldn't help but frown as he reached out and trailed his hand over the empty space. The best part of his day was waking up next to his wife and he was a little sad that he couldn't pull her body into his for a good morning kiss. It was a Saturday and they usually slept in together, enjoying some intimate alone time before the girls crawled in bed with them. Even then they usually just hung out and cuddled with the girls before someone got hungry.
At least he could see Reeses, he thought as he sat up and looked over at the dog's crate, but it was also empty. Alex sighed, Reeses was his dog, but he knew the pup loved Jo more and whenever she was pregnant, Reeses refused to leave her side. Although he couldn't blame him, Jo was pretty great and she snuck him treats when no one else did.
Reaching over for the baby monitor, Alex hoped he could see the girls and wake up with them, but both of their beds were empty. With a sigh, he resigned himself to waking up alone. He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, pulling some pajama pants and a shirt before he went downstairs. Although he smiled when he heard the giggles of his little girls.
He peeked down the stairs to see them all around the kitchen island. The smell of pancakes reached his nose and he could see oranges and strawberries smeared across Luna and Helena's faces. The girls giggled as Jo sang to the radio and danced around as they wiggled with excitement.
“Hey sleepyhead,” Jo said, greeting him with a warm smile as she caught him at the bottom step.
“Dada!” Helena shouted turning around in her high chair to greet him and Luna picked up her head from Jo's shoulder.
“How are my girls,” Alex asked, taking a special kind of joy in saying that as he came over to greet them.
“Hi Dada,” Helena said again as he went over to her first, leaning down to kiss her head as she offered him a fistful of orange slices.
“Thank you, baby,” Alex said, taking a slice from her hand as she smiled and went back to smashing them into her face.
He then went over to Jo and Luna, giving Reeses a quick pat as the dog greeted him with a lick to his hand. Luna reached out to him and he took her from Jo's arms. She gave him a quick hug before she wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on to him.
“Hey Lu-Lu,” Alex said leaning in to give her a kiss on the forehead as she licked the spatula in her hand. “Are you helping Mommy make breakfast?”
“She is,” Jo said, flipping over a pancake she had in the skillet. “And I only burned a little bit of the eggs and pancake!”
“I'm sure Reeses appreciated that,” Alex said looking down to see that Reeses had gone back to licking the floor, eating up a bit of burnt pancake scraps that were left. There was no five-second rule in the Karev house, all food on the floor went to the dog.
“He has had more pancakes than any of us,” Jo said with a laugh, as she looked at Reese, giving him a wink.
Alex walked around the island to put Luna back in her seat, buckling her into the booster chair they had attached to the seat. She immediately stuck her fingers into the plate of pancakes covered in syrup that Jo had placed in front of her. He laughed and kissed her forehead before he walked over to Jo.
“You seem to be feeling well,” Alex said as he came around and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I’m, but I wasn't able to make bacon as just the thought of it makes me nauseous,” Jo stuck out her tongue in disgust, but then she smiled at him.
“I’ll have to survive without it then,” Alex said as he put one hand on her belly over their new baby with a smile. She had just told him she was pregnant last night and the news was still settling in for both of them.
“We're having a baby,” Alex whispered, unable to contain the grin that came with his words.
“We are,” Jo said, putting her hand over hand over his.
He was so happy and as Jo smiled and turned around to see him she smiled too. Jo turned her head and greeted him with a kiss as Alex melted into her lips. He enjoyed a little bit of intimacy with his wife before he pulled back. Then he rested his chin on her shoulder as he watched her pour two new pancakes into the pan. Alex took a second to close his eyes again, resting his head and enjoying holding her in his arms.
“Still tired?” Jo whispered as she leaned her cheek against his.
Alex only hummed as held her, hearing Jo giggling lightly. She let him stay there with his arms around her as he rested. He enjoyed the sounds of his girls laughing and babbling as they talked and savored the sweet smell of pancakes. She put a couple of pancakes on a plate and turned around to hand them to him as Alex picked up his head and reluctantly let go of her waist.
The pancakes were a regular round shape, but with a little chocolate chip smile and eyes. Alex loved that Jo made smiley face chocolate chip pancakes for him and the girls, it was the kind of thing that he always wanted growing up and he felt lucky that his kids got to have that.
“What's wrong, did I burn it?” Jo asked, catching his attention as she looked at the pancake picking it up at the edges, although it was a little brown, he didn't mind.
“No, it's perfect,” Alex said as he leaned in to kiss her again.
Jo blushed with a smile, then went back to cooking and Alex walked around and sat at the counter next to Helena and Luna. Jo continued to flip pancakes and talk about the day ahead as Alex just smiled at her. She was everything he'd ever wanted and she was a good mom and an amazing wife. Even on an ordinary day like this, he was so happy to have her as his heart filled with love for her.
She finished making pancakes for herself as she put them on a plate and came around to sit next to him. He instantly put his arm around her and pulled her chair closer to his. He then leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“You're being very affectionate this morning,” Jo commented, taking a bite of her pancake.
“I can't kiss my wife and sit next to her?” Alex asked, not bothering to hide the stupid happy smile that crossed his lips.
“You can, I guess I'm just not used to it,” Jo said, looking away with a pink tint to her cheeks.
“It's been almost a decade, Jo, you should get used to my affection because I'm not stopping any time soon,” Alex said, leaning in to place a gentle kiss on her lips.
“I know, I just never want to take it for granted,” Jo said, turning to kiss him again as he felt her appreciation on his lips.
“Nooo!” Helena shouted pulling on Alex’s shirt as she broke them apart.
“What’s wrong baby?” Jo asked, looking over at her as Helena pulled him over to her.
“My Dada,” Helena insisted, pursing her lips and planning a sloppy kiss on his cheek.
“You have to share your Daddy with Mommy,” Jo said with a laugh, kissing Alex’s cheek again.”
“Sorry, baby girl, Mommy is my wife and that means she owns Daddy’s lips,” Alex said to Helena before glancing at Jo. “And since Daddy is Mommy’s husband I own her ass.”
“Alex,” Jo screeched as he squeezed her ass, although it was more at his language.
“Ass!” Helena shouted as she and Luna giggled.
“Ass,” Luna repeated with another giggle.
“Ass, ass, ass!” The girls repeated with giggles, Alex couldn't help but chuckle as Jo sighed.
“You're explaining that one to the daycare teacher,” Jo said as she shook her head and sipped her coffee.
Alex sighed as the girls continued to chat the word, Ms. Sonya already didn’t like him as she knew the girl's bad word habit came from him. He knew he would be in for another lecture about toddler appropriate language.
“Maybe they’ll stop by the time we get to work?”
Jo laughed looking over at the girls who had gone quiet, but they caught Alex’s eye with an evil laugh.
“ASS!”
Alex pushed Helena on the swing as Meredith stood next to him and pushed Ellis. Bailey helped Luna build a castle in the sandbox and Alex watched them play as he absent mindedly, not realizing that he had gotten out of sync with her.
“Dada, ‘ush!” Helena yelled at him as she tilted her head back to look at him.
“Sorry sweetie,” Alex said, waiting until she came back to push her again.
“Thank oo,” Helena yelled, tilting her head back to smile at him.
Alex smiled back at her of all the little toddler phrases, Helena's mispronunciation of thank you with his favorite.
Meredith laughed as he watched them and nudged Alex with his elbow. “Everything okay, you seem kind of distant.”
“Yeah just thinking about some stuff,” Alex said, trying to focus on pushing Helena every time.
He’d been thinking about Jo and the new baby and what adjustments they would be making to their life. So far he had been taking on more house chores and had started doing dinner, as Jo’s morning sickness came back with a vengeance and most of the smells in the kitchen made Jo sick. Jo mostly came home from work and collapsed in his arms quickly falling asleep on the couch.
“A lot on your plate today?” Meredith asked, looking over at him as he continued to push Ellis, keeping a better pace than Alex was. “Jo mentioned that she hadn't been feeling very good, and she skipped out on that girl's night, yesterday.”
Alex couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face every time he thought about the new baby. He and Jo were both so excited, it was hard to contain, and sometimes they just giggled and smiled to themselves.
“Okay something's definitely going on,” Meredith said, catching his smile and looking over at him, raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, you can’t tell anyone, but Jo's pregnant.” Alex smiled and looked over at Helena and gave her a push again as she giggled and kicked her legs into the sky.
“Really, that's so great!” Meredith said, leaning over and pulling him in for a hug. “Congratulations.”
Alex wrapped his arms around Meredith as she giggled in excitement. “Thanks, we’re really excited.”
Meredith pulled back with a laugh, patting Alex's shoulders. “That's so exciting you guys must be thrilled. How has Jo been so far? I know how rough the first trimester was last time around.”
“Yeah, she's been pretty sick, so she’s on medication similar to the one she was on when she was pregnant with Helena, so it’s been a lot for her. We had the first ultrasound a few days ago and just can't stop thinking about it.”
Meredith just smiled and nodded, completely understanding everything that Alex was going through. “If you want I could take the kids this weekend so you and Jo can have a day to yourselves? I should be able to get Zola to help if I pay her.”
“That'd be great, thanks.”
“No problem, I'll talk to Zola and let you know.”
Alex looked back to give Helena another push and saw Luna step into the way of the swing. Alex just reacted as he rushed over to grab Luna and pulled her back. Meredith quickly grabbed Helena, stopping her and the swing. Alex and Meredith exchanged looks of horror as Alex set Luna down away from the swings as she ran off.
“Are you sure you’re ready for another one?” Meredith said, letting go of Helena and giving her another push.
“I sure hope so,” Alex said looking over at Luna and Helena, knowing he would soon be outnumbered.