chapter seven ━ ellie flies solo
( season six, episode thirteen )

❝Why? Because you're a man?
Because you're a man you have
all these exceptions?❞

ELLIE WAS IN surgery with Bailey and Meredith and the attending briefly looked at the Mercy West resident. "Sloan, how have you been settling in?"

She shrugged. "Pretty well. There's been a bit of an adjustment period, of course, but it's been going well."

"And people have been helpful? Kind?" she asked.

Ellie smiled reassuringly. "Most of the time, yeah."

"Most of the time?" Bailey frowned. "What do you mean most of the time?"

"I don't blame them," Ellie replied with a shrug. "I mean, you all had certain ways of doing things, and so did we. It's just hard to mesh them together. But, yeah, people have been nice."

"I like you," Bailey told her and Ellie looked at her. "You're different than the other residents."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked.

"Good." Bailey nodded. "Plus, that photographic memory of yours, it's a gift. Use it."

Ellie smiled softly before turning to Meredith. "So, Derek's first day as chief is today. Is he ready?"

"He's mostly worried about his tie, but yeah, I think he's ready."

"And you?" she asked. "Are you ready to be known as the wife of the chief?"

Meredith stayed silent and shrugged. Ellie nodded before she turned back to the surgery in front of them. Bailey looked at their work. "I think we've almost got the tumor out. At this rate, we'll be finished early, Grey, Sloan. You two might be able to catch the end of Shepherd's big speech."

Suddenly a monitor started going off and Meredith looked up. "She's tachycardic."

They all looked at the anesthesiologist, Ben Warren, who looked around in confusion. "I don't understand what happened. Everything appears to be in order here."

"There's-There's no bleeders," Bailey said, looking over their work. "I don't see any bleeders. Okay, I-I don't see a-a reason why down here, so why is her heart rate going through the roof?"

Ellie looked at the patient while Meredith turned to their attending. "Did you check her anastomosis?"

"Her anastomosis is intact," Bailey replied. "Everything is intact."

"Dr. Bailey?" Ellie said, still looking at the patient. "She's awake."

Bailey followed the blonde's gaze as she began to freak out and she turned to Ben. "Well, what the hell did you do?" she snapped, beginning to panic. "What the hell did you do? Get her back to sleep right now."

"It's okay," Ellie said to the patient, trying to take her attention away from the bickering. "I know it's scary, just stay calm, okay? We're gonna fix this and you're gonna be just fine. Alright, just listen to my voice..."

Bailey finished the surgery and Meredith and Ellie looked at each other with the same thought: What the hell just happened?

After the surgery was over, Meredith and Ellie followed Bailey and Ben to Derek, both talking at the same time. "She had the appropriate amount of anesthetic. There is no—"

"The patient was open on the table..."

Meredith joined in. "There is no way I'm implicated in this, right?" Ellie glanced at her.

"And he allowed her to wake up."

"Stop. Stop. Just every-stop. Just take a deep breath." Derek looked at his wife and Ellie. "You two check on the patient." They nodded and hurried to the room, talking amongst themselves.

"Do you think she'll sue?" Meredith asked her sister-in-law.

Ellie shrugged. "I mean, if she remembers it, I think so."

"Do you think she'll remember it?"

Ellie let out a breath. "I think it's hard not to. It has to be traumatic, waking up like that. Open on the table while your surgeon is panicking."

Meredith sighed. "And on Derek's first day. Not a good way to start his time as chief."

Ellie nodded in agreement as they entered the room. They waited for Derek and Bailey. "Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, we're here to update you on the surgery," Derek said, walking in.

"We completed your tumor resection," Bailey informed her. "I was able to resect the entire thing off of your abdominal wall."

Derek nodded. "Mm-hmm, which is a good thing. Things went very well."

"Really?" she asked. "How about the part when I woke up on the table?" Ellie and Meredith shared a look. "How well did that part go? Where I could smell my own burning flesh — how was that? When I was lying there... unable to speak while I could actually feel you butchering my insides? I couldn't move. I was awake and couldn't move, and you had no idea. How well did that part go?"

Ellie and Meredith looked at each other. Yep, she's gonna sue...

☀️

MEREDITH AND ELLIE followed Bailey into the patient's room. "Um, Leslie, hi. Uh, this will only take a moment," the general surgeon said. "We just need to examine your incis—"

She flinched when Bailey tried to touch her and Meredith looked at her. "Hey, careful."

"I don't want you to touch me," Leslie said to Bailey.

"Leslie..."

"I mean it." She looked at Ellie. "Don't let her touch me."

Bailey took a breath and Ellie looked at Meredith. "Okay, uh, I—I know that you've been through a lot today, but if we don't check your in—"

"I remember," Leslie said, interrupting Bailey. "I remember you screaming in surgery. You were panicking..."

Meredith looked at the monitor. "She's getting tachycardic."

"Panicking with your hand inside my body."

Ellie stepped in, moving to the other side of Meredith. "Leslie, hi. Would it be alright if Dr. Grey or I check your incision? Dr. Bailey won't touch you. Is that alright with you?"

Leslie looked at her and nodded. "You stayed calm. You didn't freak out like her. You can do whatever as long as you promise me she won't touch me."

Ellie nodded calmly. "Okay. Meredith, let's redress the wound."

☀️

ELLIE SAT BESIDE Jackson at lunch and he looked at her. "Do you think Shepherd is going to fire us all?"

She quirked an eyebrow upward while mixing the dressing in her salad. "Huh?"

"Karev mentioned something about how Shepherd hates the merger and he's going to fire us all."

"First of all, Derek doesn't hate the merger, he hates what it caused," she said, opening her bottle of water. "The chaos, from both sides of the hospitals. Second, if any of us were in trouble, don't you think I would tell you? I mean, the man is practically my brother. I wouldn't let any of you sink."

Jackson smiled at her response. "And that's why you're everyone's favorite."

"So," Ellie said, taking a bite of her lunch. "How's life with Teddy Altman?"

He sighed and shook his head. "She prefers Yang over me. 'Yang does this, Yang does that.' I just can't catch a break."

Ellie shrugged. "I mean, she spent almost every moment with her. It's gonna be like that. Just stand up to her and prove to her that you're not Christina Yang. You're Jackson Avery. Meanwhile, Meredith and I have a patient who woke up on the table and now she refuses to let Bailey touch her."

"What?" Jackson asked, knitting his brows together. "What is she gonna do?"

"I don't know," Ellie replied with a sigh. "Right now, she's only letting Meredith and I touch her. But she's gonna need surgery again, I just know it. And if she doesn't let Bailey touch her, then—" Her pager went off and pursed her lips. "Speaking of. I gotta. Want the rest of my fries?"

"You're the best."

"I know." She smiled sweetly and went to Leslie's room, arriving at the same time as Meredith. Bailey informed the two residents that she was going to need surgery again. Ellie took a breath as she followed them into the room.

"I understand your hesitation," Bailey said to Leslie after explaining the situation. "But we don't have a choice. You need a second surgery."

"Haven't you put her through enough for one day?" her husband asked.

"I can make some calls," their lawyer told them. "See if we can get you transferred to another hospital."

"A transfer takes time, and the longer we wait, she's at greater risk for infection or blood loss."

"Leslie, I know this is scary," Ellie said. "You're traumatized. You went through a scary time, but the dressing Dr. Grey and I did is only temporary. We need to fix it properly and that needs to be in the OR. Dr. Bailey is right, the longer we wait, the riskier it gets."

"It was like being in a coffin — alive... in a coffin," Leslie said. "I couldn't talk, couldn't move. The thought of your hand back inside me..."

"Leslie, sweetie, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Leslie looked at Ellie. "You two can do it." She turned to Meredith. "And she can help."

"What?" they asked in unison.

"You were there," Leslie told Ellie. "You were calm, you were kind. You spoke to me and kept me calm, the only calmness of that. And you..." She looked at Meredith. "You didn't freak out either."

Ellie shook her head. "But, Dr. Bailey is far more experienced than—"

"She's not touching me," Leslie interrupted. "You have to promise me she won't touch me. You two can do it. She can't."

Ellie glanced at Meredith who shrugged before she nodded. She excused herself before going to Derek's office where she Owen and Mark. "Oh, sorry," she said, stopping in the doorway. "Is this a bad time?"

Derek shook his head. "No, what's up?"

"Um, our patient, Leslie Wilson, needs a second surgery," she replied, walking into the room.

He nodded. "Okay, and...?"

Ellie sighed. "And she won't let Bailey touch her. She only agrees to the surgery if Meredith and I do it."

"What?" Mark asked her with a frown.

"That's okay, right?" Ellie asked, looking at the new chief of surgery. "That we can do it? Bailey's supervising."

Derek nodded. "You two are probably the best equipped for this. Especially you. You have every surgery to exist logged into your brain. You'll do fine."

"Okay." She looked at Mark. "I interrupted your complaining. Something about Lexie?"

"Lexie slept with Alex Karev while I was in LA dealing with my sick daughter," he informed her, and she raised her eyebrows with an unimpressed expression.

"Well, according to the phone call I had with Addison, she wasn't the only one," she said, crossing her arms. "You two broke up. Because you chose Sloan. You have no say in who she sleeps with."

Derek nodded. "It does seem forgivable."

"Not to me."

"Why? Because you're a man?" Ellie questioned, crossing her arms. "Because you're a man you have all these exceptions?"

"I—"

"You don't have special privileges, Mark, just because you're a man," Ellie interrupted. "Have you even spoken to her since you broke up?" He stayed silent. "Has she tried to talk to you?" He nodded and she groaned. "She's making an effort. You're not. You don't get to be upset that she slept with Alex Karev. Deal with it like an adult." She looked at Derek. "I'm starting to sound like Kathleen. I don't want to sound like Kathleen... anyways, I'm off to surgery."

☀️

ELLIE JOINED MEREDITH and Bailey in the scrub room. Meredith looked at their attending. "You know... there isn't anything that says you can't operate once she's under. She would never know."

"I'm not operating on a patient who doesn't want me to operate on her," Bailey replied, shaking her head. "If she wants two residents doing her surgery, she gets two residents doing her surgery." She sighs when she saw Meredith's face. "I wouldn't let you two operate unless I thought you could handle it. Besides, Sloan is leading. You're just assisting."

"That's good..." Meredith muttered with a nod and she looks at Ellie. "You're gonna do great," she said, trying to reassure her.

Ellie nodded, still staring at Leslie through the glass. Bailey looks at her. "You have a photographic memory," she said, trying to give the resident confidence. "I know you have this surgery memorized. I know you can do this."

"You barely know me," Ellie contradicted, looking at her. "How do you even know I can do this?"

"Because your brother and Shepherd speak very highly of you," Bailey replied. "They don't do that for everyone. You can do this, Sloan."

Ellie nodded and finished scrubbing in before starting the surgery. She kept looking through her work, making sure everything was fine. "Bowel looks fine."

Bailey nodded. "Okay, just check the anastomosis and keep going." She looks at Ben. "Everything still good?"

"B.P.s stable, BIS level's 45," Ben confirmed. "She's sound asleep, just like the last time you asked two minutes ago."

Ellie cleared her throat. "Anastomosis looks clean. Bowel's intact."

"Good. Get a new mesh."

"Oh," Ben added, making the two residents look up. "And, uh, so you know, I don't read 'architectural digest' in the OR." Ellie and Meredith glanced at one another in confusion as Bailey looks at Ben. "No, that, uh, magazine I read earlier? That was the 'journal of clinical anesthesia,' in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't."

"Ready for the mesh." Ellie looked at Meredith. "Suture, please."

Bailey nodded. "Okay, get a good bite of fascia."

"I actually don't like the sitting down part of my job," Ben continued. "It's not great for the back, you know, and, uh, I like to keep in shape so I can lift my big buckets of money."

"I yell when I'm scared," Bailey said with a sigh. "Some people whimper or duck. I yell. When she woke up, it was one of the scariest moments of my life, so I yelled, and then I yelled some more. It's what I do. Sloan, here, managed to keep her calm. That's a tough skill to have."

"Was that an apology?" Ben asked.

She looked at him. "Well, it was a compliment to Dr. Sloan. And that is the closest thing you're getting to an apology."

Ellie and Meredith looked at each other. That is some weird flirting...

☀️

DEREK CAME INTO the resident's lounge as they were all getting ready to leave. "Hi. I know it's been a long day, and you're all anxious to get home. But I feel like we got off on the wrong foot this morning. I don't expect to win your trust overnight. But I want each of you to know... you have mine. Which is why I felt it was important to personally come in here and, uh, apologize. I am neither pro nor anti-merger. From this point on, everyone has a clean slate. I am not focused on the past."

Ellie smiled softly as Derek nodded and left the resident's lounge. Ellie turned to Reed. "Pizza tonight?"

"Yes."

She looked at Charles and Jackson. "What do you say, Charlie, Jackson? Wanna come over for some pizza?"

They looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "We'll buy."

The four of them started toward the exit when they heard a voice. "Guys, wait up!"

Ellie turned around and her eyes widened. "April?"

"Dr. Shepherd gave me my job back," she said. "Reed, Ellie, is it possible to get my room back?"

The two girls looked at each other and smiled. "Of course! Let's go! It's pizza night... again."

The five Mercy West residents went to the girls' apartments in high spirits. Jackson had proven himself to Teddy, Reed and Charles didn't get yelled at by anyone, Ellie successfully did a solo surgery and April got her job back. It seemed as though everything was falling back into place...