chapter fifty-six ━ the decision and its aftermath
( season nine, episodes eleven & twelve )

❝She wants me to assess his
mood. See if he looks... okay.❞

"THE JUDGE MIGHT have a decision today," Jackson said as he and Ellie were getting ready for the day. She glanced at him briefly through the mirror and silently nodded. "How do you feel about it?" She shrugged wordlessly and he frowned. "Are you okay?"

"I didn't want any of this," she replied, pulling her blonde locks out of her face. "I just wanted to be able to sue the manufacturer—try and get this nightmare behind us, but instead, it's... it's just being dragged out." She turned around. "Do you have the cookies that your mom sent for Richard?"

Jackson let out a breath; he knew she was trying to change the subject and he didn't pursue it any further.

"Yes," he said, leaning in the doorway. "They're sitting on the kitchen counter next to the flowers and the condolence note that she insisted on giving him."

"I think it's sweet that she's doing something for him," Ellie told him with a shrug. "Oh, that reminds me—your mom called yesterday." He raised his eyebrows. "She would like to know if Richard is eating, or sleeping, and she says hi."

He frowned. "You know, I think she cares more about him than me right now."

"And you're complaining?" she asked with a small chuckle. "You're the one who changes the direction of her gaze every time she sees you. Usually on me, might I add."

"She's had me my entire life," he countered. "It's someone else's turn."

Ellie hummed. "Come on, we have to be the delivery people," she said, walking out of the bedroom. "You have the note?"

"Why am I doing this?" he asked with a small whine as he followed her out into the kitchen. "This is not my job. I'm not a messenger, flower boy, or cookie boy. I'm a surgeon. Who has patients."

"You're being a good son and colleague," she told him, holding the tin of cookies and flowers in her arms. "He just lost his wife. So, suck it up, read the note to him, and then go be a surgeon."

"Which reminds me, I have one of Mark's old patients today," he said as he took his car keys. She paused and looked back at him.

"You do?"

He nodded. "I didn't tell you?"

"No, you... you didn't," she replied, shaking her head. "Well, that—that's great. I mean, it was bound to happen eventually. He had a lot of patients, after all..."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Come on. Let's go to work."

☀️

ELLIE STOOD BESIDE Derek on the elevator when Owen joined them. She smiled gently at the man while Derek remained stone-faced and she glanced at him briefly.

"Morning," Owen said to them.

"Good morning," she replied.

She looked over at Derek once more before clearing her throat and he let out a breath. "Morning," he muttered.

She glanced between the two surgeons, standing in the middle of the group, feeling incredibly awkward. It was very obvious that Derek still held some resentment of the plane crash toward Owen while Ellie had chosen to no longer hold any responsibility for the accident against anybody except the airplane manufacturer.

And she was tired of thinking about the crash every time she looked at him.

"I heard there might be a judgment today," Owen said shaking Ellie out of her daze and she nodded. "I hope it works out for you."

Derek shook his head. "No, you don't," he replied and Ellie pressed her lips together. "A judgment comes down that quickly, it means that the hospital is negligent. It means you did something wrong. Which you did."

She sighed and glanced at Owen who shrugged. "Well, you've obviously been thinking that for a while," he said. "I'm glad you... finally got it out in the open." The elevator doors opened and he stepped off, clearing her throat before turning back to the pair. "And for the record... I really do hope it works out for you."

Ellie let out a breath as the doors closed. "He didn't fly the plane," she said quietly and Derek looked at her. "He's not the only person responsible for what happened."

"His choice of airline cost Mark and Lexie their lives," he replied and she pressed her lips together. "Your brother is dead because of him."

"And two of my friends are dead because of a choice you made," she countered and he paused, staring back at her. "When you were chief... you chose to unplug Gary Clark's wife—which I know was the right choice—but it cost two of my friends their lives. We all made a choice when we stepped on that plane. He isn't the only one at fault."

Derek frowned. "Why am I more angry than you?" he asked her.

"Because I just want to put this all behind me," she said with a sigh. "I want all the looks of pity and random dishes of food to stop. And by continuing to blame Owen... it just reminds me of the crash every time I look at him. I don't want to keep thinking about it. Please, Derek. I can't."

Ellie stepped off the elevator before Derek could say anything. She dropped off her belongings in the attending's lounge and began making her way to her patient's room for a consult.

"Hey." She glanced behind her when she heard Jackson's voice. "Webber rejected my mother's cookies."

She shrugged, accepting the chart from the nurse. "Well, not everybody wants to snack when they're grieving," she said. "I mean, do you remember what I ate after Mark died?"

"No?"

"Exactly."

He let out a breath. "Okay, but my mother won't stop bothering me," he told her. "She wants me to assess his mood. See if he looks... okay."

"His wife died," she said with a frown. "Of course, he's not okay. I have a consult with Andy's mom, so I gotta go. Lunch?"

He nodded. "It's a date."

She kissed his cheek before continuing down the hall to her patient's room. She knocked on the door as she walked in and smiled. "Hi, Mrs. Crawford, Andy..." She looked to her right. "April."

"Dr. Sloan," Andy said and she chuckled.

"Oh, you know you don't have to call me that," she told him before hugging him. "I'm glad you guys made it in safely. I take it April has been a good host?"

Jill Crawford nodded. "Oh, very." She smiled gently at the redhead who stood against the wall. "She's a sweetheart."

"That she is," Ellie confirmed with a nod before clearing her throat. "So. I'm gonna get you set up for some new scans to see what we're working with here. And, until then, just hang tight. I'll have an intern get you up to CT and I'll be back with the results."

"Thank you," Jill said and she smiled, feeling her phone buzz. "Andy, dear, you don't have to stay here all day. Same for you, sweetheart."

Ellie glanced at April who shook her head. "I have the day off."

Jill patted her on the cheek before looking back at the blonde. "And, Ellie, we were so sorry to hear about your brother. It was horrible what happened."

Ellie nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly and cleared her throat. "Alright, I will be back. Get comfortable, everyone. Well... as comfortable as you can in a hospital room."

She pressed her lips together and left the room, pulling out her phone to see a text.

[ MEREDITH GREY ]
9:42 am
Judge has a decision. We
have to get to the courthouse.

Ellie let out a breath and quickly changed out of her scrubs. She joined the rest of the group at the courthouse and sat down beside Arizona. She played with her fingers as they waited for the judge and her heart dropped to her stomach at the decision.

"Did I miss it?" Callie asked, running into the courtroom and Ellie glanced at her. "Damn it. I'm sorry. I got out of the OR as fast as I could, but I didn't think it was gonna happen today." She paused when she finally saw the look on their faces. "Oh, God. Was it bad?" Meredith shook her head. "It wasn't?"

"We won," Arizona said quietly.

A small smile crossed Callie's face. "He said the airline company had a history of mechanical problems with the plane," Derek continued while Ellie stayed silent. "It was in public record, and the hospital should've known."

"He found the hospital negligent," Meredith added.

Ellie glanced at Callie whose smile grew. "So we won. When's he gonna tell us about the award?" She rolled her eyes. "I mean... I hate to be all about the money—"

"He already did," Cristina interrupted.

"He's giving us fifteen million," Arizona told her.

Callie's eyes went wide. "Woah..."

"Each," Ellie said, dropping the final bombshell. Derek glanced at her as their lawyer sat in front of them but she didn't meet his gaze.

"So what happens now?" Meredith asked. "The hospital hands us a check for fifteen million dollars?"

Their lawyer nodded. "Oh, well, their insurance company does," she replied. "And it'll probably take some time to get through all the bureaucratic rigmarole, but, yeah. Pending approval, the insurance company will issue each of you a big check."

Ellie clicked her tongue and stood up. "Well, alright, then."

Derek nodded in agreement. "In the meantime, I have a ping-pong ball to hit," he added, following her to the door.

"Yeah, I gotta get back, too," Arizona said. "I have James Leggett's surgery."

"Oh, it's James?" Ellie asked her, looking back at her. "I didn't know it was James."

"Yeah, how is he?" Derek asked.

Arizona nodded at them. "Well, that's right. You and—and Mark did his original cranial expansion," she said. "He does say hi, Ellie."

She smiled to herself while Callie looked at the group in confusion. "Wait, wait, wait." They all paused and turned to look at her. "Why is everyone rushing off? This is a momentous event. Shouldn't we do something, like, celebrate or—" Ellie scoffed and Callie shook her head. "Okay, maybe 'celebrate' is too strong a word. Dinner. We should have a dinner.

"Come on," she pleaded, looking around at them. "We've been sitting in rooms with each other for months talking about this, and we just won. What's wrong with sitting in one more room with—with food in front of us?"

"Dinner?" Ellie repeated slowly. "You want us to have a dinner?"

"Well... yeah."

She shook her head. "No. No, I am not going to sit in a restaurant to 'celebrate' the victory we had. Because, to me, it's not a victory. I'd much rather have my brother than that money. So, for all I care, you can all have a nice dinner, but I won't be there."

"Ellie—"

"Just leave me alone," she said, cutting off Callie. "Because you're really starting to get on my nerves. Enjoy the dinner."

☀️

"SORRY. I'M BACK," Ellie said, walking into Jill Crawford's room following her return to the hospital after the judge's decision. "It's been a weird day. So..." She pulled out her file. "The scans show that the cancer is definitely in the calf, but what your doctor never told you is that it can be accessed in surgery."

"So, what does that mean?"

"Well..." Ellie sat down on a stool. "I'd like to bring you into surgery and see just how much I can remove. Try and kill the rest with chemo and we'll go from there."

Jill looked back at her. "And—And then it'd be gone?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, but that's the goal," Ellie replied with a smile. "That's always the goal. So, we're going to finish up some labs, I'll put together some surgical plans, and we'll talk it over. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," Jill said and Andy nodded. "Thank you, Ellie."

The blonde smiled. "Not a problem. I'll have my intern page me when your labs are finished and I'll be back. So, I'll see you soon." She tilted her head. "Where did April go?"

"She got paged for a trauma," Andy replied and she nodded.

"Ah. Well, I'll see you both soon."

She walked out of Jill's room and made her way towards Jackson's OR where he was operating on James. She fully expected him to be in the middle of the surgery, but when she arrived, she found him and Arizona bickering in the middle of the room.

"I didn't," Jackson was saying with a sigh. "I spoke with Dana and Phil and Dr. Jovan, the plastics attending who's overseeing me."

Arizona shook her head. "Dr. Avery, Mark had a very good reason for not wanting to do a simple jaw—"

"Dr. Robbins, Mark is dead." The occupants of the OR looked up at Ellie's voice and saw her standing next to the intercom. "He's not James' surgeon anymore. Jackson is. This means that if he has support from the patient, the parents, and his attending, then he can do the surgery he wants to do. Mark is dead, Arizona. Carry on, Dr. Avery." She paused and looked back at her boyfriend. "And, by the way, Mark would be very proud of you."

She nodded with a soft smile and left the observation deck, only to be cornered by Derek. "Ellie, come to the dinner tonight," he said and she sighed. "Callie wants you there."

"Oh, well if Callie wants me there..." she muttered sarcastically before shaking her head and walking away. "Callie is the least of my concerns. I'm not going to a dinner—it's morbid, it's..." She let out a breath and looked back at Derek. "I'm finally finding some peace in all of this and I'm not going to let a stupid dinner ruin that for me. I'm not going, end of discussion."

☀️

ELLIE LEANED HER head against Jackson's shoulder while reading Jill Crawford's chart. She looked up when she heard Owen clear his throat.

"Uh... Okay, folks, let's just start," he said, looking around at his doctors. "As many of you know, Seattle Grace Mercy West has suffered a financial setback." Ellie let out a breath and glanced at Derek. "The administration is working hard to keep the impact of that setback as small as possible. To that end, we're gonna have to initiate some cost-cutting measures. The board has hired a physician advisor."

Ellie furrowed her brows. "What exactly is a physician advisor?" she asked.

Owen shrugged. "Well, she consults on maximizing efficiency, streamlining processes, assessing where we can trim our budgets."

"Who to fire and when to fire them?" Bailey finished.

He cleared his throat. "She's here to advise and to help," he told the room. "I was hoping to introduce her in person, but she seems to be late."

"Oh, on her first day?" Cristina asked. "Not very efficient..."

Ellie chuckled as Owen let out a breath. "You can expect to see her in the halls, in your labs, in the OR."

"So we're gonna have an accountant following us around the OR?" Derek asked.

Owen sighed. "She's not an accountant," he replied. "She is a trained surgeon. Frankly, she is here to try and help us. Thank you for your cooperation."

Ellie pressed her lips together. "Lovely..." As she made her way to Jill's room, Alex hurried beside her and she glanced at him. "Uh—can I help you with something?"

"Do you think that advisor will shut down the African program?" he asked abruptly and she raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

"Yang said something about how the advisor is going to shut down the program and now I'm freaking out."

She shook her head. "Not if I have anything to do with it," she replied with a frown. "They're donations from me, not the hospital. So, if she does take it away... we're gonna have more legal issues than before."

"Good." Alex nodded and clapped her on the shoulder. "Glad to hear it. Okay. Bye."

She blinked and watched him walk away. "Alright then..."

☀️

"DR. SLOAN, THIS is Alana Cahill," Owen said, walking over to Ellie with the advisor in tow. She looked up from her chart and nodded.

"Ah, yes," she replied with a sigh. "The woman who sat in our extremely busy ER when nothing was wrong with her. Yes, Dr. Kepner has told me all about you. I take it you want to watch my surgery today, don't you?"

She nodded. "Well, yes—"

"Then I'll save you the energy," Ellie cut her off with a smile. "There will be no one in my OR during my surgery. I hope you have a good day now."

"Your brother was Mark Sloan, right?"

Ellie furrowed her brows and turned around. "He still is. Why?"

"I'm very sorry to hear about his death."

She nodded. "Hmm. Thanks. You're still not getting in. Look, I know that you're just trying to help the hospital, but you being in the corner of the OR watching our every move doesn't help anybody."

☀️

ELLIE STOOD BESIDE Jackson as all of the attendings and fellows were called into the conference room.

"Alright, welcome," Cahill said from the head of the table. "Welcome, everyone. Thank you so much for coming. It has been a privilege to watch you work. And I am so impressed with what I've seen. Dr. Karev's pediatric African Exchange Program—"

Cristina stood up. "You cannot cut that program." Ellie glanced at her in amusement. "I'm sorry, but these children, these... little orphans—we are the only hope they have. Many of them have rare disorders that most Western doctors rarely have the opportunity to treat. And if you stop the program, I will never get that chance again." The blonde snorted to herself. "They. They will never get that chance, the precious children..."

Cristina sat back down sheepishly and Cahill nodded. "I have no intention of cutting it," she replied. "It's a no-brainer from a PR standpoint. That kind of positive visibility is gold. However, there will have to be some cuts. And I'm going to suggest one that is going to seem surprising at first, but that addresses fiduciary concerns with nominal impact on the core facility and the human and physical resources."

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry," Jackson said, as confused as the blonde. "What?"

Bailey nodded. "Uh—yeah. I'm out."

"Was that even English?" Ellie added.

Cahill let out a breath and looked around the room. "I am proposing that we close your ER."

"What?"

"We're a level one trauma center," Owen said.

Richard nodded. "We're a hospital."

"In the last three days, your ER went from being in shambles to peak efficiency," Cahill said to them.

"Well, then why would you propose cutting it?" April asked.

"This allowed me to see that in either case, it's not bringing in the money," Cahill replied and Ellie frowned.

"It's bringing in the patients," she argued, crossing her arms. "And an ER run by April Kepner is always peak efficiency."

Cahill looked at her. "Half of those patients are non-emergent, under-insured, and belong in a primary care physician's office," she countered. "You have surgical interns in there doing chest exams. It's hemorrhaging resources." Ellie shook her head and scoffed. "Look, I know these cuts are going to be painful, but understand that I am trying to keep your hospital doors open."

"This is ridiculous," Derek said, shaking his head. "You can't close the ER. You went to med school, you have to ask yourself—"

"Do you have a better idea?" Bailey interrupted and Ellie looked at her. "Because the way I see it, this woman is trying to keep the hospital from closing, in—in which case there'd be no patients, we'd have no jobs, and... some of us don't have a few million to fall back on." Jackson glanced at Ellie. "So unless you have a better idea, why don't you just sit there and listen to what she has to say?"

Cahill nodded and looked up. "Dr. Sloan?" Ellie paused from opening the door. "Where are you going? The meeting isn't over."

She turned around and pressed her lips together. "You don't get to blame us," she said, shaking her head. "We were out there for four days and none of you seemed to notice. We were trying to start a fire while you were at home in the warmth; we were sharing a stick of gum while you were eating dinner.

"So, if you really want to blame someone, Bailey, blame me, okay? Not them. I was the one who pushed them to sue—they wanted to take the settlement, but I convinced them otherwise. I didn't want the hospital to suffer; in fact, it was the last thing I wanted. I just wanted to sue Bayview. Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey are dead and you're worried that you won't be able to find another job." She nodded. "It's good to know that you have your priorities."

She brushed past the others and left the room, pushing open the door. Bailey let out a breath and stared at the spot where the blonde had been standing. Jackson cleared his throat.

"Um... I'm gonna..."

He quickly left the room and found Ellie leaning against the wall, her hands resting on her knees. He walked over to her and she grabbed his shoulder. "I can't... I can't breathe."

Jackson crouched in front of her as she slid down the wall. "Come on, count with me," he said. "Down from five." When she reached 'one', she wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks. "You did the right thing, Ellie. Remember that."

She glanced at him. "Then why does it feel like I didn't?"

☀️

━ author's note:

oh alana cahill, i don't like you

i know i said i was going to write an april-andy chapter, but i'm waiting for a bit later. that way i can add more things in. technically they've been dating since right before the boards, so not long for a whole chapter in my opinion.