chapter fifty-five ━ happy wedding season
( season nine, episodes nine & ten )

❝Well, backward wedding. Works
for me. Food?❞

ELLIE WAS HOLDING her head in her hand in boredom while sitting in the conference room with Jackson, Lizzie, Derek, and Meredith. Jackson set down his files and let out a breath. "Now, once I remove the sural nerve from your leg, Dr. Torres will graft it onto Dr. Shepherd's median nerve. You'll likely experience some discomfort in your leg for a few weeks—"

"Months," Derek corrected and Ellie rolled her eyes. "Months. And when he says 'discomfort', it's going to hurt like hell."

"We're all doctors here, Derek," Ellie said to him. "I think she gets the point. You get the point, don't you, Lizzie?"

She nodded and turned to her brother. "Well, aren't you a bag of sunshine today?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to hear six months from now that you can't move and that the ibuprofen hurts your stomach—"

Ellie and Jackson glanced at each other while Lizzie groaned. "He makes me sound like I'm a ninety-year-old man," she told the couple. "Have you noticed that?"

"Because I've heard for decades how I ruined your life..." Derek said.

She nodded. "Because you did."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Oh, here we go again..." she muttered, shaking her head. "Will you two just shut up for once and listen?"

"And that Mom doesn't love you," Derek continued, both siblings ignoring Ellie's comment.

"Because she doesn't."

"I don't want to hear about this."

Ellie let out an annoyed breath and rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache start to appear. Meredith had the same expression as her—annoyance.

"I think what you're trying to say is 'thank you, Lizzie, for cutting off a leg and giving it to me,'" Lizzie said.

"Ah." Derek nodded. "Here it is. This is how it's gonna go down in history. It is a nerve. It is not the entire leg."

"Okay," Ellie said, rolling her neck. "Let's all shut up, why don't we? Jackson, continue. Please."

He cleared his throat. "Uh—I think Dr. Shepherd's right," he replied and she sighed. "If you're unsure, we—"

"Oh, come on," Lizzie said, shaking her head. "I'm just winding him up because it's so easy. Just give me the form."

"Okay."

Ellie let out a breath as Jackson handed Lizzie the form which she signed before looking up at her brother. "Now can I go hang out with Zola in daycare?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Meredith replied and Ellie looked at her. "They don't let the adults come and go because it's harder on the kids."

She and Jackson glanced at each other in confusion and Derek saw the small look of disappointment on his sister's face. "I will bring her to you later," he promised her before kissing the top of her head and walking away with Meredith following him.

Ellie fluttered her lips. "So... how are the kids?"

☀️

"ELLIE, I NEED a really big favor." She looked up from her chart at April and furrowed her brows. "Uh—it's about Andy's mom."

"Jill?" she repeated and the redhead nodded. "What happened to Jill?"

"She got sick," she replied and Ellie paused. "Bone cancer—stage three osteosarcoma. She was diagnosed a few months ago. She has somewhere around fifty percent survival."

Ellie nodded. "Okay. So, what's the favor?"

"Can you try and give her more than fifty percent?" April asked her and she raised her eyebrows. "You work on bones and—and I thought you might have some ideas of how to help her. I just—she's one of his favorite people and I—I couldn't bear the thought of her dying without giving her her best chance. So, I—I just thought—"

"Yes," Ellie said, interrupting the redhead's venting and she stopped, looking up at the blonde. "Yes, bring her here and I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, I'll take a look at her scans. Bring her here."

A smile broke out on April's face. "Really?" she asked and Ellie nodded, immediately being tackled in a hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you! He'll be so happy to hear this. Thank you, Ellie!"

She chuckled. "You're welcome. Go. Give him the good news."

April smiled happily and pulled out her phone making Ellie laugh lightly. "What's got you so happy?" she heard Jackson ask and she glanced behind her.

"I'm saving my best friend's boyfriend's mother," she replied and he furrowed his brows. "I said what I said." He nodded. "Did you need something?"

"Oh—uh—yeah," he said with a nod. "It's about Lizzie's nerve."

Ellie sighed and hung her head, following him to one of the scan rooms, finding Callie, Derek, and Meredith already sitting inside.

"Okay, so what's the problem?" she asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

"Lizzie's calves are a little shorter than we anticipated," Jackson answered, sitting down in front of the computer and pulling up the scans.

"Tall girl, short calves," Callie quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

Meredith looked at the two surgeons. "So, is that gonna be a problem?"

Jackson shook his head. "No," he said before clearing his throat. "Not if we just get a little more nerve from the other leg."

Derek furrowed his brows. "Are you saying to—no."

"Derek."

"Absolutely not," he said, shaking his head and Ellie sighed. "No, I never liked this idea in the first place. We find another donor or we don't do it."

Ellie fluttered her lips. "There's a reason that Lizzie's here," she said to him. "Because we couldn't find another donor."

He shrugged. "Then we're out of luck."

"Can't we just—"

"No, we can't," Derek interrupted Meredith who sighed. "We're not gonna talk about this. We're not gonna float this past Lizzie. We're not cutting both her legs to remove pieces. Cancel the procedure."

Ellie watched him walk out of the room and glanced at the others before following him. "Derek!" she called out to him. "Derek, don't walk away. Let's just talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about," Derek replied, continuing down the hallway. "We're canceling the procedure and that's that."

She frowned. "No, that's not that," she said, hurrying to catch up with him. "Come on, just... just talk to me. Why are you so insistent that this won't work? Do you not trust Jackson or Callie?"

He shook his head. "It's not, it's..."

"It's what?" she asked. He fell silent and she sighed, pulling him into an empty on-call room and locking the door behind her. "I'm not letting you leave until you tell me. Please, just... just do this so we can put some of this trauma behind us. Please."

Derek looked back at her and let out a breath. He sat down on the bed and stared down at the cast on his wrist. "What if... What if we cut into Lizzie's legs and we get the nerve, and... it doesn't work? What if we went through all of this trouble for nothing?"

"Well, then we tried," she replied softly, sitting down beside him. "There's never any guarantee with medicine, but at least you'd have comfort knowing that you tried."

She glanced over at him before pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket and holding it out to him. "What's this?" he asked with furrowed brows as he took it from her.

"It's from Mark," she said quietly and he paused. "I finally got around to clearing out some of his stuff—including things he had at the hospital before slipping into the coma. He must have written it before then. It's addressed to you."

He looked back down at the paper before opening it slowly.

Derek —

You son of a bitch, why are you still not doing surgery? I don't want to hear any more complaining that you're gonna be a research librarian. Because my best friend isn't a research librarian.

You are Derek Shepherd, the best neurosurgeon in the damn country. And your hand may be broken right now, but it'll get better and you'll go back to being the surgeon that you and I both know you are. And since it won't be me doing the job, then Avery will do a hell of a job.

I trained him, after all. He's a mini me.

I'm dying, Derek. We both know that by now. And maybe I sound all wise because of the surge, but even if it isn't, you better fix your hand.

Oh... and take care of Ellie for me. She's in your hands now.

Mark

(aka your favorite brother)

Derek glanced up from the note and over at Ellie who was looking back at him. "If that doesn't convince you, then I don't know what will," she said with a small chuckle that he returned and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Thank you for this."

She nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder, and glancing down at her brother's handwriting. "Everyone deserves closure," she told him. "This is yours."

☀️

SURGERY WAS STRESSFUL for any family member, but for Ellie, she was double stressed; two siblings in two different ORs. She sat in the observation deck of Lizzie's procedure, her foot bouncing on the ground and her hands twisting together.

Jackson looked up from his place at the table and saw Ellie's bouncing leg. Her hands were clenched under her chin while her lips were rubbing against each other in nerves. He motioned a nurse over to him and whispered something to her before beginning to cut Lizzie's leg.

She held her breath as the procedure began, continuously glancing at the monitor in the corner.

"Hey." She looked over at the doorway and saw Alex standing inside. "You mind some company?"

"Don't you have a surgery today?" she asked him as he sat down beside her.

He shrugged. "Well, when you get an urgent page from one of your best friends' concerned boyfriend, you give it to Robbins." Ellie furrowed her brows and looked down at Jackson who nodded when he saw Alex before turning back to the procedure. "You have a keeper down there."

She smiled to herself. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"Which means..." He laid a hand on her leg and it slowly stopped bouncing. "You can take a breather. He's got this."

She nodded. "Yeah..."

He tilted his head. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, still watching the surgery intently. "I—I trust Jackson, I do. He's a damn good surgeon—I knew it before he did. But... I—I miss Mark. It's days like these that... that my brain doesn't understand why Jackson is standing where Mark would be."

Alex pressed his lips together and rubbed her shoulder in comfort. She smiled gently as they continued to watch the surgery in silence. Once Lizzie's portion of the procedure was finished, Ellie moved on to Callie's OR gallery, arriving at the same time as Jackson.

"Fifty centimeters of prime nerve."

"Great!" Callie said with a smile. Her co-surgeon took the nerve from Jackson and she let out a breath. "Alright. Forceps, please. Thank you. Okay." She looked around. "Is no one making small talk because this is Derek Shepherd on the table? Or is it because the woman he thinks of as a sister is watching from the gallery? This is intricate work; small talk is what keeps us awake."

"Well, uh—" Ross piped up and Ellie glanced at him. "A couple of days ago, I helped Dr. Kepner extract a malignant mass from the gluteal area of a female patient." Both Callie and Ellie had identical expressions on their faces and he shrugged. "It—It was an impressively sized mass."

Ellie cleared her throat and walked over to the intercom, turning it on. "So, who wants to be the lucky person to tell Derek Shepherd that he'll never operate because Ross' idea of gossip is that he saw April Kepner take a lump off an ass? No need for small talk."

☀️

ELLIE PUT THE loop of her earring through her earlobe as she and the rest of the surgeons got ready for Bailey and Ben's wedding. She felt Jackson hug her from behind and she laughed lightly. "You look cute," he whispered in her ear and she smiled.

"Hmm." She twisted to look at him. "You look very handsome. I could get used to seeing you in a suit more often."

"Hey, lovebirds!" They looked over at Alex who was frowning while tying his tie. "Get a room."

She sighed. "Oh, Alex, it's a day of love," she replied before pecking Jackson's lips. "I'm gonna see how Lizzie's doing. Meet you and April at the entrance?"

"Sure."

She nodded and walked past Alex. "Your tie is crooked," she told him and he looked down, groaning in frustration.

She made her way to Lizzie's room and knocked on the door. Lizzie looked over and smiled. "You look prettier than you did on your prom night," she said. "Before Mark scared off your date."

Ellie chuckled. "He did that to everyone," she replied, walking over to her. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

She shook her head. "I'm good. Did it work?"

"We won't know for a little bit, but I think it went very well," Ellie told her. "Which means that Derek now owes you a lifetime of favors."

Lizzie laughed softly and they both looked over when they heard a knock on the door, seeing Meredith walking in with a chart in her hand. "Everything went smoothly. Your vitals look great, and Derek is awake and in good shape."

"Meredith, I'm pushy," Lizzie said suddenly making Ellie and Meredith look at her. "Ellie knows that as well as anyone." The blonde tilted her head; she never called her Ellie. "Some people find it endearing; some people really don't. Ellie is one of those that don't."

She shrugged. "She's not wrong."

Lizzie shook her head at her before letting out a breath. "But, um... You don't have to want Derek's truckload of sisters in your life."

Meredith nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "You are a pain in the ass. And I barely know you."

Ellie chuckled softly before kissing Lizzie on the cheek. "Well, I promised my very hot date—and our third wheel—that I would meet him soon and I still have a brother to check on, so—"

"Actually, Ellie, could you wait for a minute?" Meredith asked her and she turned around from the doorway. "Please?" She nodded. "Okay, so... I'm not very good at this, but I'm gonna try. I'm gonna show you two something, but you have to promise not to blab it to the whole family."

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

Meredith opened her clutch and pulled out a chain of ultrasound pictures. Ellie tilted her head and looked at her. "You're pregnant?" she asked and Meredith nodded. She squealed in excitement. "Oh! Congratulations, Mer!" She hugged her tightly. "Zola's gonna be the best big sister."

Lizzie smiled at her sister-in-law. "We're having a baby!" she cheered and Ellie chuckled. "Yay!"

Shortly after, Ellie made her way to Derek's room, knocking on the door. "I hear congratulations are in order, Papa Bear."

He looked up at her. "Meredith told you?"

She nodded. "Me and Lizzie. Congratulations."

"Thank you," he replied before looking down at her blue dress. "You look beautiful, Ellie."

She glanced at the dress with a smile. "Thanks. Well—uh—I better go. Don't want to be late for the first happy occasion in months. You're doing good?"

"Yeah. I'm good," he said, nodding. "Go. Have fun."

☀️

"SHOULDN'T THIS HAVE started by now?" Jackson asked while Ellie was scrolling through the many texts she had gotten in the past half hour. "We're waiting on Bailey—the bride. Where is she?"

"At the hospital," she replied, showing him her phone and he looked at her. "Working on Adele Webber."

He furrowed his brows. "Why do you know that?"

"I asked Murphy to give me updates just in case they needed any surgeons since we're all, you know, here."

He nodded just as Ben walked to the front of the wedding guests and cleared his throat. "Could I have everyone's attention, please?" he said loudly, smiling at them. "Uh—my beautiful wife-to-be has been pulled into an emergency surgery, so things are gonna be delayed for a little while. Those of you who are doctors will understand.

"And those who aren't, uh... well, they're setting up the buffet, the bar's open in the back. Drink, eat, and just as soon as we're able, we'll have a little wedding."

Ellie chuckled to herself. "Well, backward wedding. Works for me. Food?"

Jackson nodded in agreement and they walked over to the buffet. They sat down next to April at a table. "This sucks," the redhead grumbled and they looked at her. "My date is in Ohio..."

"But he's taking care of his sick mother," Ellie told her and she nodded with a pout. "There'll be other weddings, Apes."

"I know," she said with a sigh. "But it's a day of love and the person I love isn't here!" She paused and Ellie looked at her.

"You love him?" she repeated and April looked at her sheepishly. "April... You're in love. My little Apes is in love!"

Jackson chuckled at her. "And you just made her night."

All three of their pagers went off and they looked at them. "Well, party's over, people," Ellie said, standing up. "Let's go." She walked over to the bar and saw Alex sitting with Jo. "Alex... don't take advantage of the intern, okay?"

He rolled his eyes and she smiled teasingly at him. Once they got to the hospital, they changed out of their nice clothes and back into their scrubs, finding Owen in the ER.

"Alright, where do need us?" Jackson asked him and Ellie and April followed behind him.

"Just a second, Avery."

"Guess Dr. Bailey beat you to the fun," Ross said, looking around at the ER and Owen furrowed his brows, looking back at them.

"Dr. Bailey's here?"

Ellie nodded. "Yeah. You didn't know? She's working on Adele Webber."

"She and Dr. Grey are in OR 1," a nurse added.

"Dr. Webber's wife?" April asked softly. "Should we...?"

Owen looked at Jackson and Ellie. "You two have a degloving injury in trauma one," he told them. "Take Ross and Edwards. You guys take care of your patients. Let Bailey and Grey take care of theirs."

☀️

JACKSON REMOVED THE gauze from their patient's injured arm while Ellie checked over his vitals. "How's Gasoline?" he asked them. "A—And the hammer?"

"These are people?" Ross asked from his spot beside Ellie.

"Yeah," he replied with a groan. "Those are their road names."

Jackson furrowed his brows and looked down at the name on the chart that Ellie was holding. "You get to pick your road names, and you went with Stuart?" he asked.

"I'm not officially in the club," he explained. "They let me hang around, ride along with them. It has been the greatest time of my entire life... And I ruined it. That crash was my fault. My sister was right. I had no business being on that bike."

Ellie tilted her head. "Well, your arm might agree with you there."

"I don't know," Stephanie contradicted with a shrug. "I think guys on motorcycles are hot."

Ellie hummed. "I'm quite partial to green-eyed surgeons myself."

Jackson shook his head in amusement. "Alright, Stuart, your injuries are extensive, but I do think it's possible we can salvage your hand," he told the man. "We're just gonna get you up to the OR and debride your arm."

Ellie nodded. "Great. Ross, with me." She felt her phone buzz and she looked down at the text she had received.

[ MEREDITH GREY ]

3:38 pm

Richard is in the gallery of

our surgery on Adele. Any

chance you can sit with him?

"Uh—actually..." She turned back to Jackson. "Stick with Dr. Avery. I have somewhere I need to be."

"Is everything okay?" he asked her and she nodded.

"Yeah, just..." She pressed her lips together. "Friends duty calls. Page me if you need any hands, okay?"

He nodded. "Go. We got it."

She hurried up to the gallery of Bailey and Meredith's surgery and she walked inside, seeing Richard sitting in the room alone.

"Hi."

He looked over at the sound of her voice. "Sloan. Uh—what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I thought you could use some company," she replied, moving to sit down beside him. "You don't mind a little bit of company, do you?"

"No, no," he said, shaking his head. "I just thought they'd need you down in the pit."

"They'll be fine."

They both looked down to the OR when they heard Meredith's voice. "Her aorta is like a rock," she said to Bailey.

"I don't know how we're gonna sew in this graft."

Meredith looked down at Adele. "Where is this bleeding coming from?" she asked.

Bailey shook her head. "I'm not sure. Hold pressure."

"Someone should've been there..." Ellie heard Richard say and she looked at him. "I should have been there."

She sighed softly and took his hand, squeezing it gently. He pressed his lips together and put his other hand over hers, turning back to the surgery.

"The proximal clamp fractured the atherosclerotic plaque," Bailey said.

"We have to get above the bleeding," Meredith added and the senior general surgeon nodded in agreement.

Richard let out a breath as they both looked up at him. "They just about ran out of options..."

"I don't know what else to do," Meredith said.

"Just wait," Bailey told her. "Just—Just a minute. Just a minute. Um..."

Richard stood up and walked over to the intercom and Ellie looked at him. "Bailey." She and Meredith looked up at the gallery. "Try dividing the renal vein," Richard told them. "That might get you above the fractured plaque."

"But she's exsanguinating," Bailey argued, shaking her head. "I don't think—"

"Just try it!"

Bailey looked back at him and let out a breath before nodding. "Okay. Scalpel, please."

As the surgery continued, the more helpless Ellie felt. She kept looking over at the former chief of surgery who was anxiously watching the procedure on his wife. Despite everything that happened with them—his cheating on her with Ellis Grey, his job taking a toll on their marriage, her Alzheimer's diagnosis—he still loved her.

He would always love her.

"What's her B.P.?" Bailey asked and Ellie looked down into the OR.

"One hundred over sixty," Meredith replied.

"Heart rate?"

"Ninety-eight."

Bailey nodded to herself and looked into the gallery, locking eyes with Richard. Ellie glanced at him as he sat back down beside her and let out a breath of relief.

"It's working," he said quietly. "It's working."

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "Yeah... It's working."

☀️

EVER SINCE THE plane crash, it seemed as though there was a dark cloud hanging over Seattle Grace Mercy West and that all of the happiness was being sucked into that dark cloud. But the occasion of Bailey and Ben's wedding was a welcome event.

One of happiness.

The first happy occasion in months.

Bailey looked stunning in her white dress and Ellie became misty-eyed when she saw Ben blink away tears at the sight of his bride—Jackson handed her the tissues he brought. He knew her too well.

At the reception—or, second reception of the day—Meredith and Ellie were standing together, watching Bailey and Ben's first dance as a married couple when the general surgeon noticed Richard walking in quietly.

"I thought he would've been with Adele," Meredith said and Ellie looked at her before following her gaze. "She's still recovering."

Ellie shrugged and walked over to the man. "Richard." He looked over at them. "We didn't think you'd be here." She paused when he didn't reply and she tilted her head. "No..."

"When?" Meredith asked.

"A little while ago," he replied, his tone quiet as he watched Ben and Bailey dance.

Ellie cleared her throat. "What—What happened?"

"It was a heart attack," he said and she let out a breath, glancing at Meredith. "The surgery fixed the aneurysm, but... it was too much for her heart."

Meredith shook her head. "I—I shouldn't have—"

"No," he told her firmly. "No. You did everything right. Everything."

Ellie looked back at him before hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry, Richard. I'm so, so sorry."

☀️

━ author's note:

rest in peace, adele webber

i may add in a chapter not from the original next... an andy-april chapter anyone...?