chapter ten ━ birthdays
( season six, episode seventeen )

❝Why? Do you not remember?
Was it so long ago you've
forgotten?❞

ELLIE WOKE UP to the smoke detector going off. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to find Reed and April frantically fanning the device, trying to turn it off. "What the hell are you two lunatics doing?" she asked.

The two friends turned sharply, hearing the blonde's voice. "Nothing," Reed said, throwing the rag at April who ran into the kitchen in a hurry. Reed walked over to Ellie and turned her back away from the kitchen. "How are you, Ellie? Having a good day so far?"

"Uh, it's 6 in the morning and I woke up to the sound of the smoke detector," Ellie replied with a frown. "I'm tired. What are you two hiding?"

"Hiding?" Reed repeated, scratching her head in a faux confusion. "We're not hiding anything, just having a conversation."

"Mm-hmm. You're a horrible liar, you know." Ellie pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "If you're not hiding anything then why did April just sprint into the kitchen?"

"Oh, that? Um, just getting the toast... out of the toaster."

Ellie narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "Oh, what did you two do?"

"Nothing!" Reed exclaimed in slight offense. "We didn't do anything. Now, go upstairs and shower, and then we'll go to work."

"Well, why can't I just—"

Reed stopped her and pushed her toward the stairs. "Go!"

"Fine." Ellie looked at her strangely before going back up to her room. Reed watched her before letting out a breath and going into the kitchen. "We suck at being suspicious. Is it okay?"

"It's fine," April replied. "It didn't burn, thankfully."

"Yeah, instead we burnt eggs," Reed groaned, waving a hand in front of her face from the smell. "But at least the cake is okay."

April smiled and looked down at the dark cake in happiness. "This is going to be the best day ever."

"Except we still have to go to work," Reed reminded the redhead. "Come on, Apes. We're celebrating later."

The girls all got ready and drove to the hospital. April and Reed quickly ran to the lounge, leaving Ellie alone. She watched after them before feeling two pairs of arms squish her.

"We heard it's our favorite person's birthday today!"

Ellie wiggled out of the hold and saw Derek and Mark both smiling at her. "Good morning to you, too."

"Happy Birthday, sunshine!" Mark hugged her tightly. "Wow, 28, I feel old."

"You are," Ellie retorted.

Derek chuckled softly and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.  "Happy Birthday, El."

"Thanks," she replied, shaking her head at their excitement. "You guys are ridiculous."

"I'm gonna be late for a patient," Mark said. "I gotta go." He ruffled Ellie's hair making her huff. "Happy Birthday, kid."

"I'm not a kid!" she called after him.

Derek chuckled at the siblings before walking alongside Ellie. "But, wow, you're twenty-eight. How does it feel?"

"Why? Do you not remember? Was it so long ago you've forgotten?" she teased him.

"I'm not that old," he said with a frown.

Ellie smiled at him just as Meredith joined them. "Morning."

"Morning."

Meredith looked at the blonde from around Derek. "Happy Birthday. Derek told me."

Ellie looked at her brother and crossed her arms. "Just how many people know it's my birthday today, Derek?"

"Not many?" She raised her eyebrows at him and he cleared his throat. "Okay, Adamson and Kepner may be planning a party and they may have asked if they could use the conference room after work. And I may have told them yes."

"So...?"

"The entire hospital."

Ellie nodded slowly. "Hmm. Fun..."

The three of them were soon met with the sight of Richard and Owen bickering and Cristina watching them. Derek furrowed his eyebrows. "Good morning. Why are we arguing?"

Cristina held up the scans to both Meredith and Ellie. "That."

"Wow." Meredith took it.

"Big," Ellie added, looking over her shoulder.

"Whose patient is this?" Derek asked, taking another copy.

"Mine," Owen and Richard replied at the same time.

"Work on it together," Derek suggested.

"Well..." Cristina started. "The Harper Avery is an individual award."

Derek nods. "Ah. I see where this is going."

"A case like this needs an aggressive approach that—"

Richard cut off Owen, shaking his head. "Sloppy. It requires a methodical analysis—"

"Some would say outmoded," Owen said.

"Outmoded?" Richard repeated, raising his eyebrows.

Derek cleared his throat, effectively ending the argument. "Alright. There's nothing wrong with a little friendly professional competition. Come up with plans, present 'em to me. I will choose. Dr. Sloan, Dr. Yang, and Dr. Grey will assist."

"I'm with Webber," Cristina said, immediately and Owen looked at her in offense. "What? He's got it in the bag."

Owen scoffed at her before looking at Ellie. "Sloan?"

"You take Grey," she said with a shrug. "I'll do both."

"No, no, you can't do that," Cristina said.

Ellie tilted her head. "And why not? There are three of us, so someone would have an unfair advantage. I'm not gonna be a spy for the other."

Richard and Owen looked at each other before shrugging and nodding. Ellie smiled to herself in victory. "I win."

☀️

ELLIE WAS WAITING for the elevator when Teddy began pushing the button aggressively. Arizona rolled up to them with her shoes. "Hey." Teddy turned around with a confused look on her face. Ellie hugged the chart to her chest, trying not to listen to the attendings. "What?"

"Mark Sloan just asked me out," Teddy said.

Arizona paused. "Huh. Cool." Ellie kept looking forward, though increasingly intrigued.

"No, no, not 'cool.' Mark Sloan." Arizona cleared her throat and motioned toward the resident. Teddy looked over and shook her head. "Oh, God. Sloan, I am so sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Dr. Altman," Ellie assured her with a shrug. "It comes with being Mark's little sister. This may seem incredibly out of line given that..." She cleared her throat. "You're technically one of my bosses, um, but is it that horrible of an idea? Don't get me wrong, Mark is... Mark, but you don't have to commit to anything serious. Just saying. Please don't be weirded out or anything."

"No, she has a point." Arizona nodded in agreement with the resident. "Why not have a little fun? I mean, Mark is like, uh... candy. Eat it and forget about it. Right? Come on. You know what? This might be the best idea I've ever had."

"Now I have an image in my head," Ellie whimpered, stepping onto the elevator. "And not a good image."

She joined Richard in a room with Cristina. "Will you, uh, have to resect a part of the diaphragm?"

"Well, most likely. Or I might let you do the resection." Ellie looked up at Cristina who looked surprised at the suggestion.

"Really?"

Richard nodded. "Yep. That or kick you off the case and Sloan does the resection. Depends on how much you've leaked to Dr. Hunt." Cristina stared at him while Ellie concealed a smile. "I've been doing this a long time, Dr. Yang. You're working for the other side. Now... there is another option... if you would like to realign your allegiances."

Ellie looked at her and she frowned. "Like be a double agent?" Cristina asked.

Richard shrugged. "And we could keep looking for more resections for you and Dr. Sloan to perform. So you think about it. Take your time." Ellie smiled. "It's a big tumor..."

☀️

ELLIE SAT IN the resident's lounge, reading and eating her lunch, when a chocolate cupcake was placed in front of her. She looked up and saw Jackson sitting in front of her. "Happy Birthday."

"You got me a cupcake?" Ellie asked, tilting her head. "Thank you."

"It's not much, and honestly, I should have gotten you a full cake, but, I, uh, forgot to make one. That and I can't bake."

"Jackson." Ellie stopped him with a smile. "It's perfect. Thank you."

He smiled at her response. "Why are you hiding out in here?" he asked as she played with the cupcake. "April and Reed have been looking everywhere for you."

Ellie nodded. "I know."

"So then why are you hiding?"

"They have a party planned for me," she said, playing with the cupcake wrapper. "After work. In a conference room. With people I work with."

"And?"

She sighed, closing her book and looking up at him. "And I appreciate that they want to do something for me, but... I don't like my birthday."

"Why not?"

Ellie shrugged. "I wasn't planned. Mark is fourteen years older than me and that wasn't the plan. And our parents..." She sighed. "Well, let's just say Mrs. Shepherd and Addison were more of a mother to me than mine ever was. They were never there for birthdays, graduations, school plays. I did every extracurricular I could in school, hoping that they would show up. But they never did. Not once. But Mark did." She smiled to herself with a small laugh. "He didn't miss a single debate or dance recital or tennis match. He tried to make every birthday special, but... there was only one wish I made every year. That my parents would show up in our life. And year after year, I wished it. Until one year I stopped. I stopped wishing, I stopped celebrating birthdays, I gave up." She let out a breath. "There are three hundred and sixty four other days in the year. I'd much rather enjoy those than this one day."

"Ellie, I... I had no idea. I had no idea you went through all that."

"It's not something either of us talk about a lot," she said, shaking it off. "We've tried our best to put all of that behind us, but sometimes it's... it's just unavoidable."

"I—"

Cristina suddenly burst into the lounge. "Avery, come with me. You too, Ellie." They both looked at each other in confusion before following her to a conference room where Richard and Owen already were. "Jackson Avery. Put him on our team."

"Hey, are you stacking the deck again?" Owen asked. "You're a spy. Don't think that I don't know it."

"And who started that boulder rolling down the hill?" Richard retorted.

"Okay, okay, okay." Cristina stopped them. "I'm Switzerland in this moment. All I'm saying is that whoever gets the surgery should use him."

"Use me for what?" Jackson asked with a frown.

"He's a liability. Avery is not gonna give the award to his own grandson."

"Unh-unh. I don't think—"

"He won't be named a contributor," Christina said. "It'll just get mentioned over Thanksgiving..."

"No." Jackson shook his head. "No, I won't."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Ellie exclaimed, sick of the competition. "Why does it matter if there's an award? You all should be trying to save that woman's life, not focus on winning some dumb award. No offense, Jackson."

"Keep going, Ellie."

"Awards are stupid," she finished. "Just focus on saving that woman's life."

Meredith came out just as Ellie took a breath. "Derek's waiting for us."

Ellie stood behind Derek while Owen and Richard both pitched their ideas. Ellie zoned in and out of the meeting, occasionally looking out the window, and finally tuned back in when Derek made his decision. "Impressive proposal. It's very... hmm. I think I feel more comfortable with Dr. Hunt's plan."

"He doesn't have a plan," Richard argued. "He has an attitude."

"It's more improvisational," Derek told him. "But given our situation, I think it's our best bet. Thanks, all of you."

Ellie watched them all go before sitting beside Derek with a sigh. He looked at her. "You ready for your party tonight?" She looked back at him and his face softened when she saw her eyes glistening with tears. "What's wrong?"

"This is ridiculous." Ellie sniffled with a shrug. "It's been years. I shouldn't be this upset about this."

"Ellie, what's wrong?"

"Why did they never show up?" she asked, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. "Did they just not want us? Did they never care for us?"

He sighed. "I don't know."

"Because if they didn't want us, they should have just never had us. Spare the both of us from that pain."

Derek shook his head and hugged her tightly. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that. Because then that would mean none of us would get to experience Elizabeth Sloan. And she's pretty great. You didn't have a great childhood, but you've come out of it with the greatest confidence of someone I've ever met. I don't know why your parents never showed up, but Mark did. He always did. You're very lucky to have him as a brother."

She sniffled. "I am, aren't I?"

"He would fight anyone who would dare hurt you. I think your future husband is quivering in his boots. It's okay to be upset, but just remember how many people you have that care about you."

Ellie smiled and nestled her head under his chin. "Thanks, Derek. I don't think we ever thanked you for all you Shepherds did for us. So, thank you."

"You're family, Ellie," he said, kissing the top of her head. "You never have to thank us."

☀️

ELLIE CHANGED OUT of her scrubs and was immediately bombarded by April and Reed. "Come with us."

"Guys, I'm really not in the—"

They pushed her into the conference room to find nearly the entire staff there. "Happy Birthday!"

She forced out a small smile. "Thanks."

Richard walks up to her, "Happy Birthday, Sloan. You're one of the more promising surgeons I've seen come through this program."

"Thank you."

"Cake!" April called out, passing out several pieces of cake. Ellie stabbed it with her fork, sitting at the conference table and smiling at the different people who wished her a happy birthday. She slipped out of the room and sat on the chair, bringing her legs up to her chest.

"You know, it's rude not to be at your own party."

Ellie looked up at the sound of the voice. "You know I'm not a big fan of parties," she said. "Or birthdays for that matter."

Mark sat beside her. "I know," he replied with a sigh. "Derek told me about what happened earlier. Why didn't you tell me you're still upset?"

She shrugged, staring at the wall in front of her. "I don't know. I didn't think I was. But then I started talking to Jackson and all these memories came back. But Derek reminded me that I have the best person who could have raised me. You. You were 14 when I was born and you were the only stable parental figure I had. I never thanked you for that."

"You know..." He wrapped an arm around her and she looked up at him. "When I first found out Mom was pregnant, I was confused, because they weren't on the best of terms. But then when you were born and I held you, I made a promise at that moment. I promised that I wouldn't let anything hurt you. That I would protect you until I died."

Ellie smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You've kept that promise," she told him. "I can never thank you enough, Mark. I love you."

"I love you, too. Happy Birthday, sunshine."

☀️

━ author's note:

I never know what to put as a note since I'm just reuploading everything... but anyway, we're four chapters away from the first of many sad ones to come...

(You know what I'm talking about... season six finale 👀)