Season 16.                   Age 14.
the exit.

TW: none.

☆★☆★→ ←☆★☆★

Charlotte sits on a couch in the attendings lounge, typing away on her school laptop. she didn't have to try hard to convince jo to let her skip school. and if the doctor were being honest, she enjoyed the teens silent company. they had been staying at the hospital anyway—neither girl wanted the loft and it's memories of who had left them behind.

jo stands at the rooms sink, drying off a coffee mug. she turns around, spotting link entering the lounge. "hey." she greets, causing charlotte to look up.

link holds a duffle bag. "i went back to the loft, got you another bag of your stuff." he glances over at charlotte. "couldn't find those ugly fuzzy socks you wanted."

charlotte rolls her eyes, shutting her laptop and replacing it with her phone. jo begins tying her hair into a ponytail, examining links expression. "that face is over socks?"

link hands over a stack of mail. "some bills, some junk, and, uh....top letters."

jo looks down and pulls the top two envelopes out of the stack. both are from alex karev, addressed separately to jo karev and charlotte jacobs. sensing something's off by jo's sudden silence, charlie rises from her spot on the couch and pads over to the surgeon, looking over her shoulder at the letters. charlotte, too, freezes.

"i'll sit with you guys." link offers softly. "we can read them together—" charlotte snatches up the envelope donning her name. "we got it." jo looks up from her own letter and tells link the same, but more gently. "we got it, thanks."

link backs away to the door of the lounge. "you know where to find me if you need me."

"we won't." charlotte takes her envelope back to the couch while jo takes a seat at the table. both women stare silently at their respective letters.

after what feels like hours, jo begins to rip open her letter; in response charlotte does the same, not letting her face give off any emotion whatsoever as she reads.

"charlie,
i'm not sure if you'll even read this, because if i know you, you'd have already burned it in a fire by now. and i'd deserve it. i know you're pissed, and you have every right to be. the last thing i ever want to do is hurt you, charlie, and im so sorry if i have.

i reached out to izzie during meredith's trial. i told you about her; the one with the cancer. well, she doesn't have cancer anymore and she has kids. my kids, charlie. she used her frozen embryos from when we were together, when she had cancer and wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to have kids. and after she left she was single and couldn't have children because the chemo nuked her eggs, so she used the embryos. when i called her for meredith's trial i heard kids in the background and asked if they were hers and she got all quiet and told me about them. when i heard she had kids, had our kids, i had to meet them. they're twins, one girl and one boy. their names are alexis and eli, and they're five. alexis reminds me of you; she's sensitive and quiet and loves deeply, with a soft spot for every animal on the planet. both of them are stubborn as hell, also like you. alexis has izzies eyes and eli's got my crooked smile. they've grown up without me for five years, and i just couldn't let that happen for any longer. i'm their dad, and i get to actually be the dad i always wished mine was.

charlie, i want you to know that me leaving has absolutely nothing to do with you or jo. i promise. you deserve more than a letter, you know that. this letter is cowardly and the worst thing i've ever done, but honestly charlie, kidnapping you off that bench was the best thing i've ever done and i mean it. i know you hate sappy, but seriously. you were obnoxious at first, and i didn't totally like you, but never once did i regret making you come live with us. you taught me gentleness and empathy, how to appreciate every little thing, and to have love and respect for everyone and everything, even roadkill squirrels. you are brilliant and kind and no matter what you go through you never let it hold you back. it only makes you stronger and braver. i swear to you that this is not about you and it is not your fault.

you know, we're living on a farm now. can you believe it? me, in kansas, on a farm, with two kids?? you'd love it. i know you always say how your dream house would be on a farm. i never thought i would belong here, but i do. i can't lie to you and pretend the truth isn't what it is. if it were just nostalgia and missing izzie, i would have been able to walk away and come back to you and jo. but izzie has my kids and i know both of you understand what that really means, why i can't just leave and miss another second of their lives. i can give these kids the family we never had.

i don't know how i'd be able to look anyone in the eyes if i don't stay and do everything i can to make my family and this life work out. i'm sorry, charlie, but izzie had my kids and i missed five years of their life. not because i was a junkie or off my meds like my parents, but because i simply didn't exist to them until i walked through that front door. and once i did, i had a family on this insane farm. seriously—you'd love it. i hope you come to visit some day. not to get me to leave, but to see the farm and meet the kids. you'd love them and they'd love you. i've told them all about you and showed them and izzie pictures. she'd like to meet you sometime, too. not until you're ready, of course, and i hope you won't hate me too much to consider it.

i know you're wondering why i didn't take you with me, and you're pissed. i miss you terribly, kid, i do. but just because i had to leave shouldn't mean you have to, too. you have a whole village in seattle now, charlie, whether you realize it or not. you've got friends and a whole chosen family and you're in school and learning to drive. you've had to wait so long for that, for a real family, and you fought so hard to get yourself there. who was i to make you leave all that behind and start all over again? and i couldn't make you choose between jo and i. i couldn't do that to you. take care of her for me, alright? and yourself charlie. don't forget to take care of yourself, too. you're going to do kickass things; you already have. write back and update me once in a while, alright?
love you, kid.
- alex"

☆★☆★→ ←☆★☆★

Link enters the attendings lounge, noticing jo and charlotte both still remaining silently in their respective spots across the room. jo glances at the surgeon. "you can quit hovering."

"i'm not hovering." link denies. "i'm deciding whether to come in or give you space." he slowly enters the room. "or maybe take you for some day drinking. sorry charlie."

charlotte barely looks up as she shoves the letter into her backpack, zipping it up and slinging it over one shoulder as she rises from the couch. "don't be." she looks to jo. "i'm going to mere's."

"okay." the older woman replies. "i can drive—"

"no." charlotte is quick to cut her off. "i'm fine." jo reaches out a hand, grabbing hold of the teens sweatshirt sleeve. "then let me give you money for a cab." she fishes a few dollar bills from her wallet, pressing them into the girls hand.

"thanks." charlotte responds plainly before turning and walking briskly out of the attendings lounge.

☆★☆★→ ←☆★☆★

Charlotte was not going to meredith greys house. she wasn't going back to the loft, either. she was going to kansas to find alex and smack the shit out of him for leaving her, and then she was going to beg to stay. on her hands and knees crying hysterically if she must.

she wasn't at all nervous about the trip alone. if she could runaway from florida to washington state at eleven, she was sure she could make it from seattle to kansas at fourteen. plus she had izzie's address from alex's letter, so at least this time she wouldn't be running off blindly.

jo had given charlotte money to take a taxi to meredith's house, which the teen instead used to take a cab to the loft, where she packs all her belongings in record time. she grabs money from the emergency fund she had learned to stash at a young age, leaving some on the counter to pay jo back for the cab, and stuffs the rest into her backpack before heading to the bus station on foot. (she leaves her trusted wooden baseball bat under jo's bed. she wouldn't need it on the farm.)