chapter twenty-five ━ meeting the mcbrothers
( season seven, episode twelve )

❝How would you feel about meeting
my brothers tonight?❞

ELLIE WAS CHARTING at the nurse's station when she was suddenly pulled into an on-call room. "Hey!" Mark locked the door behind him and he and Derek stood in front of her. "Um, good morning?"

"You're dating," Derek said, matter-of-factly. "You're dating someone and we haven't met him yet. Why is that?"

Ellie licked her lips. "Um... you two are really scary... especially when you meet one of my boyfriends."

"What?" Mark frowned. "We are not. We're just overprotective."

"Oh, really?" Ellie challenged, crossing her arms. "Junior year. Two weeks before prom."

"What about it?"

"You asked to meet my boyfriend," she reminded them. "Without me, might I add? Ten minutes after the dinner ended, I got a call from a hysterical teenage boy telling me that he would no longer be taking me to prom. We were fine before that but one dinner with the two of you and he's suddenly scared out of his mind."

Mark shrugged. "Well, that was only one—"

"Sophomore year," she interrupted. "College. You went to coffee with the guy and he broke up with me two days later."

"Okay," Mark relented with a sigh. "We promise we won't scare him away this time. But if he's dating my baby sister, I want to meet this guy. Derek, him, and me."

Ellie narrowed her eyes. "No."

"W—No?"

"No," she repeated, crossing her arms. "You are not going to take him away by yourselves and use your scary 'big brother' powers on him. If you want to meet Andy, then I'm included."

"But—"

"That's the deal," Ellie said, tilting her head. "So, what's it gonna be, big brother?"

Mark and Derek looked at each other before turning around and conversing amongst themselves. Ellie rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed, holding her head in her hand in boredom while waiting for them to finish. Finally, they turned back to face her. "After much deliberation, we have agreed that that will be okay," Mark said and she stared at him. "Tonight at Joe's. Seven o'clock."

"He doesn't drink."

"Then the two of you can have a soda," Derek said with a sigh. "Will you just agree to it, please?"

Ellie stood up. "Well, it doesn't seem as though I have much of a choice in the matter. I'll see if he's available."

"Thank you." Mark nodded. "Alright, see you later."

Ellie shook her head as she watched them leave the on-call room. She pulled out her phone and brought it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"How would you feel about meeting my brothers tonight?"

☀️

ELLIE MADE HER way to the lobby with the rest of the residents and saw Lexie and Richard walking toward them with a group of med students behind them. Ellie smiled at the sight. "Ooh, fun."

"Fun?" Cristina echoed, looking at her. "They're first-year med students. Too dumb to find the toilet."

Ellie rolled her eyes and Richard smiled at his residents. "Good morning. Behind me stand the interns and residents of tomorrow. Today you will show them what it's like to be a surgeon. When you go into surgery, they go into surgery. When they have a question, you will answer them."

Ellie glanced at Cristina and Meredith next to her and nudged them to stop talking. Once they were quiet, Richard nodded and motioned for Lexie to pair off the residents with their med students.

"Fred Wilson, you're with Dr. Yang," Lexie began, looking at her clipboard of names. "Kira Donnelly, with Dr. Grey. Hudson Powell, with Dr. Kepner. Laurel Pinson—"

"Mine!" Alex and Jackson both exclaimed making Ellie shake her head at them.

"—Laurel, you're..." Lexie chuckled and tilted her head. "... with Dr. Karev. Edward Taylor, Dr. Avery. And Emily Norton, you're with Dr. Sloan."

Ellie smiled at the med student who looked nervous and walked forward. "Emily? I'm Ellie," she said, holding her hand and shaking it. "It's nice to meet you."

"You, too."

"Alright, so today, we're on..." She chuckled. "Dr. Sloan's service, ironically enough."

"Any relation?" Emily asked.

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, he's my brother. Come on, you can tell me about yourself on the way."

The two girls got to know one another as they made their way to the patient's room where Mark, Arizona, April, Alex, and their respective med students already were. As they stepped onto the elevator, they were listening to Arizona rant about Callie. "I mean, I get it. She's got a hang-up about me being perfect." Ellie tilted her head and glanced at Alex who shrugged. "You know, everything comes easy for me, and I don't have any flaws, and now that I've clearly made a mistake, she's just gonna pound the crap out of it."

Mark laughed. "So you don't think you're perfect?"

"No," Arizona replied. "I have lots of flaws. I'm competitive, I'm a workaholic, I smoke when I'm stressed. It's disgusting."

Mark nodded. "Well, I'm sure she'd love to hear all those, along with any other real faults you come up with."

Alex's med student moved next to him and April moved over. "You were that guy on 'Seattle Med', right?" she asked. "The one who made a trachea from scratch."

"Well, stem cells, not scratch," Alex corrected with a smile. "But, yeah, that—that's me."

"Badass," Laurel said. "I'm really interested in regenerative medicine."

"Yeah?" Alex asked. "I'll show you a bladder we're growing in the lab after rounds."

Ellie smiled and rested her arm on his shoulder. "You've got a good guy to show you that," she told Laurel. "Come on, people, before Mark gets more annoyed that he's been alone with Arizona for too long." They all walked into the patient's room and Mark nodded at his sister to present. "Sarah Cassidy, fifteen, has a rare genetic condition called Treacher Collins Syndrome, which caused her to be born without cheekbones, leaving her orbital floor unprotected, and vulnerable to an eye injury."

"Which means the only extracurriculars I can sign up for are the ones that don't involve things flying at my face," Sarah said.

"She rocks the chess club," her mom told them.

Sarah sighed. "I just want to play sports."

"You bowl, honey."

She tilted her head."Not really a sport, Dad."

Mark stepped forward to the bed. "You, uh, you mind if I take a look?"

Ellie stepped to the side a little so that Emily could see and she smiled gratefully, standing next to her. Arizona cleared her throat. "Sarah, we're going to take pieces from your skull and transplant them into your face to rebuild new cheekbones. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

"Volleyball tryouts are in two months," she said. "Can I try out?"

Ellie looked between her brother and Arizona, neither answering. They followed the two attendings out of the room and Arizona handed over her chart. "Wow. A volleyball player."

"Digging into her skull will tack on an extra year of healing, you know," Mark said and Arizona shrugged.

"Well, maybe she'll play in a couple of years, then."

"Well, did you consider the stem cell surgery they did in Cincinnati using a cadaver bone graft?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Oh, it's too experimental."

"I think it's worth considering given her age," Mark said.

"I think considering her age, it's best to be conservative," Arizona contradicted. "I'll see you in surgery."

Ellie pressed her lips together and was about to walk in the other direction when Mark stopped her and handed her a piece of paper. "I need your genius brain," he said. "Find more information about that stem cell surgery to try and convince Robbins. Give it to me when you're done. And I'll page you to the conference room soon."

She watched Mark walk away. "Um... okay..." She motioned for Emily to follow her and the med student looked at the resident.

"Does that happen often?" she asked.

"What? Attendings not agreeing or those two not agreeing?"

"Both."

Ellie smiled. "Well, usually not to that degree," she replied. "But Mark and Arizona butt-heads over a lot. So, have you ever thought about what kind of specialty you'd like to go into? Not that you have to know right now..."

Emily shrugged. "Neuro's always been interesting to me."

"Yeah?" Ellie asked with a smile. "Well, I happen to know one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. And her brother. So... play your cards right and maybe I could get you in touch with one of them."

"Really?" Emily beamed. "Thank you so much, Dr. Sloan."

"Anytime. Now... we get to do research."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED INTO the conference room with Emily, having been paged by Mark. "Alright, I'm here. What's up?"

He patted the seat next to him. "Sit down," he said. "We're here to convince Robbins."

They sat down just as Arizona walked in. "Hey, what's up? I've got a consult waiting."

"We'll be quick," Mark said. "Karev." He turned off the lights and Mark turned on the projector, all of Ellie's research filling the screen. "We—" Ellie cleared her throat. "— Ellie put together some stats comparing the surgical options for Sarah. As you can see, this slide shows the donor site morbidities associated with using Sarah's own skull."

He moved onto the next slide and April pointed at it. "And here, you can see the pros and cons of using skull bone versus cadaver bone. You can see that the benefits of using cadaver bone are really quite extensive—"

"Turn the lights on," Arizona interrupted.

Mark frowned. "We just got started."

"Lights. Now." Alex reluctantly turned the lights back on and she looked back at the plastics surgeon. "Mark, I know what the research says. So there's a chance of some donor graft complications."

"Complications?" Mark repeated, shaking his head. "No." He looked over at April's med student. "You, come here." He walked forward, slightly confused, while Mark took a marker off the table and turned the med student around. "We do your procedure, we'd incise here and here," he said, starting to draw on the med student's head and Ellie rolled her eyes.

"What's happening?"

"Stay still," Mark told him while Ellie leaned forward.

"I'm really sorry," she said, glaring at her brother.

"There's risk of hitting brain," Mark continued, still drawing on the student's head. "Causing a hematoma. Or we take the cadaver route. You avoid that completely which means all of this..." He drew all over the head and Ellie yanked the marker out of his hand. "... doesn't even get touched."

"She's a child," Arizona contradicted. "And that—that procedure is experimental. So, as the lead doctor on this case, let me be clear, we're doing the surgery as planned."

Mark frowned. "You're a crappy listener," he told her. "Add that to the list."

"What?"

"Just saying, there's more wrong with you than the fact that you smoke," Mark said making Arizona roll her eyes and walk out of the room. He looked at the med student. "I probably shouldn't have used permanent marker. My apologies."

Ellie groaned. "Oh, good grief. This isn't a real-life Charlie Brown," she said to her brother. "What's wrong with you?"

☀️

ARIZONA HAD CHANGED her mind, which meant that Ellie, April, and Alex — as well as their med students — were scrubbed in surgery. Ellie stood next to her brother while April and Alex both worked on the cadaver bone. "Dr. Karev," April said, raising her voice and gaining the attendings' attention. "Do you think it's appropriate for someone with so little experience to be handling these cadaver bones?"

"Relax."

"Karev," Mark said. "Kepner's right. Your student's allowed to observe. That's all."

"Stubborn," Arizona was saying, continuing to think of reasons Callie should hate her, and the Sloan siblings looked back at her. "Passive-aggressive, uh, I resent obligations. Just tell me when I'm getting warm here."

Mark glanced up at her from the surgery. "I choose her over you in the divorce, you know that, right?"

She nodded. "Of course, of course." She looked at the resident next to Mark. "Ellie?"

Ellie shook her head. "Leave me out of this, please. I like both of you, you're both of my mentors, but Callie's been living with us."

"Patronizing," Mark said. "Add that to the list. Periosteal elevator, please. Thank you." He looked over at his sister. "So, tell me more about this Andy. What should we be expecting tonight?"

She quirked her eyebrow upward at him. "You really wanna talk about this now?" she asked.

He shrugged. "We have time."

Ellie sighed. "Um, he's a teacher," she said. "He's from Ohio. He has three older brothers; two of them are firefighters and one is a high school principal. Uh, his mom is also a teacher and he doesn't talk much to his father. Anything else?"

"Is he nice?" he asked.

She smiled with a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, he's really nice."

"Good."

"I swear to God, Mark, if you scare him away, I will kill you."

Mark nodded, suddenly a little nervous. "Noted."

Arizona chuckled at his nerves and looked at Ellie. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."

☀️

"WELL, I HOPE you had a good day following me around all day," Ellie said, walking with Emily toward the lobby where the other med students were meeting. "And I hope everything goes well with your medical career. Oh, and remember, if you ever want to talk to someone about neuro, I have both of them on speed dial."

"Thank you." Emily smiled, shaking her hand. "I appreciate everything you showed me today, Dr. Sloan."

Ellie smiled at her before walking to the resident's lounge, arriving at the same time as Richard. Jackson frowned at the paper the chief was holding. "Oh, you're kidding. They were evaluating us?"

"Don't worry," Cristina told him. "No one will read them."

Ellie shrugged. "You shouldn't be so worried if you actually taught them," she said and they all stayed silent. "You didn't teach them?"

"'Dr. Yang...'" Richard began, clearing his throat. "'Lacked patience and basic compassion.'; 'Dr. Kepner — unwilling to delegate.'; 'Dr. Avery placed his own learning opportunities before my own.'"

"Damn."

"I—"

"And Dr. Grey..." Richard finished with a frown. 'Seemed to have a lot going on personally today.' The only two of you who seemed to actually teach today were Dr. Karev and Dr. Sloan." Ellie smiled at him and gave him a high-five. "The rest of you failed... big time."

Ellie patted Jackson's shoulder before following Alex out of the lounge. "Good job today, Alex. You make a good teacher."

"You, too," he said. "I heard Sloan and Shepherd are meeting your boyfriend tonight."

"Oh..." Ellie whined, banging her head on his shoulder. "Don't remind me. I just really hope he has thick skin and doesn't run away. Have a good night, Alex."

"Yeah, you, too. And good luck."

Ellie walked out of the hospital and into Joe's Bar, arriving just as Andy finished parking his car. "Hey. I'm not late, am I?" he asked, kissing her cheek.

She shook her head, fidgeting with her fingers as they sat down at a table. "No, no, you're right on time. It's fine, it's all gonna be fine. Just... Just don't show any signs of being scared or—or nervous. Just... you know, be confident. And—And—And you'll be fine."

"Ellie." Andy stopped her and she looked at him. "You're rambling," he told her. "I'll be okay. It's just your brothers."

She sighed and looked at the door as Derek and Mark walked inside. "Oh, God, they're here..." She cleared her throat as they both approached the table. "Okay, um... Mark, Derek, this is Andy. Andy, this is my older brother, Mark. And this is Derek, who is essentially my brother but not by blood."

Andy smiled politely at them. "It's nice to finally meet you both," he said, shaking their hands. "Ellie's told me a lot about you."

"Funny," Mark said. "Because we haven't heard much about you."

Ellie narrowed her eyes at him. "Mark."

"Ellie," he mocked with a smile. "So Ellie tells me that you're a teacher?"

Andy nodded. "Yeah. Uh, third grade."

"That sounds hard," Derek said. "Is it hard?"

He shrugged. "I mean, it's challenging, but isn't every job?" he replied. "Ellie said that you're a neurosurgeon. Is that hard?"

Derek nodded with a smile. "Touché. So, can I get anyone anything to drink?" he asked the group.

"Diet Coke, please," Ellie replied.

"Me, too," Andy said with a smile. "Thanks."

"Scotch," Mark answered and Derek nodded, walking over to the bar. "Ellie, why don't you go help Derek with the drinks?"

"I—" She looked between her brother and Andy. "Okay. We'll be right back, I guess."

Once she met up with Derek at the bar, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I like him, El. You seem happy."

"I am."

Meanwhile, Mark was looking back at Andy. "I know my sister is head over heels for you right now, and because I love Ellie more than life, I will get to know you. But just so you know, if you hurt her... you so much as make her cry... then you'll have more than just me to answer to. Are we clear?"

Andy nodded. "Understood."

"Good." Ellie and Derek returned to the table with drinks. "So, Ohio, huh?"

☀️

━ author's note:

of course ellie thinks that amelia is the better surgeon than derek :)