chapter sixty-one ━ grey sloan memorial hospital
( season nine, episodes eighteen & nineteen )

❝A tanker did not blow!❞

ELLIE RESTED HER head on Jackson's shoulder and he glanced down at her, wondering why she hadn't slept the night before. He had woken up that morning to the blonde making pancakes, and waffles, and had somehow made fresh orange juice.

They didn't even own a juicer.

The elevator dinged at the lobby floor and she bolted upright. "I wasn't sleeping!"

Jackson chuckled softly in amusement and followed Ellie off the elevator towards the lobby. She paused in the middle of the hallway, glancing down at the new logo and name. She smiled softly at the sight and looked up when she felt Jackson's hand on her lower back.

"I love the new logo," Richard said as soon as the couple had joined the rest of the board members at the nurse's station. "It really catches the eye. And—And the coffee sleeves. Great."

Ellie tilted her head. "Is this a comforting sign?" she asked out loud.

Cristina sighed. "We're not changing anything," she said in a grumble. "We had a seventeen-hour meeting about them."

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine this morning?" Ellie asked sarcastically, looking at the cardio resident who rolled her eyes.

Derek gestured at the white sheet behind Ellie and Jackson. "What's up with the sheet?"

Ellie followed his gaze and shrugged. "I thought one of you put it up there for some kind of unveiling..."

"No."

"Well, somebody should say a few words, right?" Richard asked and Ellie raised her eyebrows. "I mean—it's unlucky not to."

"Unlucky?" she repeated in a whisper. "Haven't we had enough bad luck with this place? Shooting, plane crash, bankruptcy. Just to name a few."

Laughter could be heard as Arizona and Callie joined them at the nurse's station, and Ellie briefly looked at the ortho surgeon. Things were still frigid among the two surgeons following the settlement decision, but Ellie never made a scene.

If anything, it was for Sofia's sake.

"Hey, why are you guys staring at the wall?" Arizona asked with a bright smile.

Cristina shrugged. "Oh, we're waiting for the... big unveiling."

"Mm." Callie nodded, pressing her lips together. "Well, you should be staring at my wife."

Ellie raised her eyebrows, peering around Richard. "New haircut?"

"No, it's her leg!" Callie exclaimed happily. "She's wearing high heels! Because she has a sexy high hell leg that makes her ass go pow!"

"Nice."

Arizona shook her head, hiding her face behind her hand. "Let's just do the unveiling."

"Uh—guys, I think the painters actually just left that there," Jackson said, walking over to the sheet. He pulled it off, revealing the new sign in the entryway. "Let's get back to work. End of speech."

Ellie looked up at the sign, her eyes glossing over the two names now the identity of the building.

𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐋

𝐞𝐬𝐭. 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐

She smiled softly. "Do you know that I find it incredibly attractive when you're the boss?" she asked Jackson who hummed.

"Do you now?"

She nodded, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling innocently. "There's something about how deep your voice goes." She glanced back at the sign. "He'd be proud, right? Or it would make his ego even bigger, I'm not quite sure yet."

"Probably both." Ellie chuckled. "You seem happy."

"I am because, for the first time in a long time, I don't immediately cry when I think of Mark." She looked up at Jackson. "And I have you to thank for that."

He furrowed his brows. "Me? But I didn't do anything."

"You stayed," she said quietly. "Any normal person would've run away by now, but you... You didn't hesitate to take my pain and make it your own. You never complained. Thank you."

He smiled softly. "You don't have to thank me."

"But I do," she countered, shaking her head. "Because for the first time since that day, I feel like me again. And, I'll always miss Mark, of course, I will, but... I'm okay." She looked down when she heard her pager go off. "Intern with a problem. I gotta go." She kissed him quickly. "I love you!"

Jackson chuckled lightly as she hurried away down the hallway. He nodded to himself. "Well, alright then..."

☀️

ELLIE AND JACKSON made their way towards the ER when they were suddenly being followed by Bailey. "Oh, Dr. Avery, Dr. Sloan!"

The blonde sighed. "Is it so hard to be a doctor anymore?" she asked with a small whine. "I just want to break some bones."

Jackson shrugged in response and let out a breath, glancing behind him at Bailey. "Hey, I know you've been thinking about raising the profile of the hospital."

"Not today, Dr. Bailey," he replied, shaking his head. "Today we are going to the ER to find someone to operate on."

"Well, I have a proposal for a Grey Sloan human genome mapping program that'll cost less than Chicago's program," Bailey continued.

Ellie pressed her lips together. "There's no money, Bailey, we spent it on the new ER. I'm sorry."

"Okay, if you and the other board members would just read over the—"

"We're doctors today, Bailey!"

Ellie looked back at the general surgeon. "Look, I promise that we'll get to it, okay? But not today. Just let us be doctors. Please?"

She followed Jackson into the ER to see Owen bringing in a patient towards their newest machine. "Oh, someone say 'Lodox'?" he asked in excitement. "Got here just in time."

"This is gonna be great!" April exclaimed with—in Ellie's opinion—too much enthusiasm.

"Alright, everyone," Owen said, looking around the room. "Let's get ready for this transfer. Alright, on my count." He paused and looked at their patient. "Hold on. She's bleeding through these bandages."

April hurried around them. "Ross, APB pads."

"Got it."

Owen sighed. "It looks like it's a branch of the MCA," he said, looking at the wound. "Pressure's not gonna tamponade it."

Ellie peered over his shoulder and her eyes widened, seeing a chunk of her skull was missing. "Oh, my God. Get her out of there!"

He nodded. "We gotta get her straight to the OR."

Ellie moved to the phone. "And someone page Shepherd!" She turned back to the receiver. "Yes, prep OR 1 for neuro and trauma. Quickly, please! They're coming now!" As she hung up the phone, she looked over at Jackson. "You'll use it one day."

"It cost so much money..."

Heather shrugged and looked at them. "You guys wanna look for my marble?"

☀️

IT HAD BEEN the most boring day for Ellie, mostly doing paperwork after a lack of patients, and she found herself walking into the ER at the end of the night. "I heard you got to use the Lodox today. Was it worth the wait?"

"You know... it really was," Jackson replied with a nod.

She smiled, walking over to him. "Good. So, does that mean you're finally free and we can go home?"

"We can go home," he said, chuckling and pulling her close.

"'Avery and Sloan are too young,' I said." Ellie and Jackson looked over when they heard Bailey's voice. "'They're too inexperienced,' I said. 'They have no business running this hospital.'"

Ellie sighed. "Is there a point to this, Bailey?"

"I was wrong," she said, holding onto the files that Ellie had reviewed earlier that day. "That's where I was going. You made a smart decision today. I'm not gonna disappoint you. Thank you." The blonde nodded wordlessly. "Ellie... I'm really, really sorry for everything that I said." She glanced up. "It was stupid and immature, and you did not deserve that. Not at all. Is there any chance that you can forgive me?"

She paused and bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't forgive people easily, Bailey, you need to understand that. I can forgive you. But not yet. Your words hurt and they still do. So you just have to prove to me that you deserve my forgiveness."

Bailey nodded. "I can live with that."

☀️

ELLIE WAS PULLING her hair into a messy bun as she made her way to the ER when she felt eyes on her. "Do I have chocolate on my face?"

April shook her head. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked her. "You look kind of pale compared to other days."

"Don't worry about me," Ellie replied, stifling a yawn. "I just didn't sleep well. And don't tell Jackson. He's gonna spend the entire day over-worrying. Which is sweet, but a tanker blew."

"A tanker did not blow!" Owen called out and she stuck her tongue out at him. She was about to walk out to the ambulance bay when she was stopped abruptly by a woman.

"Excuse me?"

She looked over. "Hi. Can I help you?"

"Um—I'm Casey, and—um—this is my son, Parker," the woman said and Ellie looked down at the young boy on the bed. "He's had a fever for almost a week. And we came here last week and were sent home with antibiotics, but it still hasn't gone down."

Ellie nodded. "Okay...?"

"And—um—I looked up his symptoms and they said it could be cat scratch fever or Stevens-Johnson Syndrome—"

"I'm sorry." Ellie furrowed her brows. "Who said this?"

"One of those medical sites online."

She hummed and nodded just as Jo walked up to them. "It's strep." Ellie looked at the intern. "Casey, Parker's rapid test came back positive for strep throat. I have a prescription for amoxicillin."

"Oh, God. Thank God!" Casey let out a breath of relief. "I just knew it wasn't a virus."

Jo nodded. "As soon we get you signed out, you can take Parker home."

"Thank you."

"I hope you feel better, Parker," Ellie said to the little boy. "Excuse me." She turned around just as a man caught fire outside the ambulance bay. "Oh, boy... Page Avery!"

"And call the burn unit!" Owen added. "We're gonna need a gurney."

Jackson quickly joined them in the ER and furrowed his brows. "What the hell happened?"

"Human fireball stepped out for a smoke," Bailey told him with a sigh. "Covered in gasoline."

He nodded. "Right... Let's get him up to the burn unit."

"Listen up, everyone!" Owen called out, the ER going silent for a moment. "We're gonna be receiving more patients. So buckle up, this is gonna be a long day."

☀️

ELLIE WAS SPEAKING to a nurse in the waiting room of the ER when she heard a shout from one of the beds.

"You think I—I skip work and drag my kid to the ER because it's fun? Because—Because I enjoy this?" She looked over and saw Casey with Jo and one of the hospital psychiatrists. "My son is sick, okay? My son is sick.

"He used to wake me up every morning at dawn by jumping on my bed. Now I can barely get him up. He does this thing before school—I let him run out and get the newspaper—it's his big kid chore." Ellie clipped her pen to her jacket and walked towards them. "He loves it. He hasn't done it in a week and a half. I show him cartoons, and he doesn't care. I try to get him to eat..."

Casey's voice shook. "I mean, I even gave him potato chips for breakfast once, and... nothing. I know... that I am not a doctor, but you have to believe me. You have to."

"I believe you." Jo looked at Ellie who nodded. "I believe you, Casey. And we're gonna figure this out and take good care of your son. Wilson, admit him."

"You actually believe that something might be wrong?" Jo asked the attending, following after her away from the ER bed.

Ellie paused and turned around to face the intern. "If there's one thing I've learned since residency, it's to always trust a mother's intuition. She knows her kid better than we ever will. So if she says something is wrong with her son, then it's our job to figure out what. And you're gonna help me, Wilson."

"I—I am?"

She nodded. "You've been on Parker's case since last week. Don't you want to be there when we figure out what's wrong with him?"

☀️

APRIL AND JACKSON were sitting in a hallway full of gurneys when Ellie walked in with a disgruntled look on her face. She paused. "April...? What's wrong?"

Jackson sighed. "We lost a mom."

"No, I lost a mom," April countered, wiping away her tears as Ellie sat beside her. "I don't know why this one is hitting me so hard. It's not supposed to happen this way. It's—It's not right." She shook her head. "I can't tell him."

"One of us can do it," Ellie offered.

"No, no..." April let out a shaky breath. "I'll do it. I can do it, I just... I need a minute."

Ellie pulled her closer when Alex walked in. "Hey, I was—uh—coming to give the mom an update on her baby—Elyse Cruse."

She nodded. "Yeah. She didn't make it."

"We were gonna go tell the husband now," Jackson added.

"No, I was," April interjected, sitting upright. "I was. I—I will. I just—I need..." She puffed out her cheeks. "Oh. I just have to pull myself together."

"Chest Peckwell's name's on the file," Alex said. "You want me to make him do it?"

Ellie smiled lightly and nodded. "Yeah." She sighed and leaned against the wall. "Oh, if only I could get an answer that easily..."

"What's wrong with you?"

"I have a kid with a mysterious illness," Ellie said in exasperation. "Nothing makes sense! It's science, it should have an answer, but I can't find it. His mother is worried beyond belief and I can't help them!" Her pager went off and she looked down at it. "Wilson. I gotta go."

"Good luck?"

Jackson looked at April who was still sniffling and let out a breath. "If I tell you something, will you promise you won't a word of it to anyone? Especially Ellie."

She raised her eyebrows. "Yeah...?"

He pressed his lips together and dug into his pocket, pulling out the small velvet box. He slowly opened it and she looked down at it. "You—You're going to propose?" she asked, gripping his arm. He nodded and she immediately squealed in excitement. "Oh, my gosh, that's great! She's gonna love it!"

"You think?" he asked, glancing at it doubtfully. "It's not too... flashy?"

She shook her head. "It's perfect for her. Oh, my gosh... telling me everything!"

☀️

"I'M SORRY, CASEY." Ellie sat across from her in Parker's room. "But I—I can't find anything wrong with Parker other than the strep."

"So you're gonna discharge him?"

She nodded slowly. "I'll keep him here for another day, but I can't find any other reasons to keep him here any longer. It's not surgical and his labs keep coming back clean."

Casey rubbed at her tired eyes. "I know I keep saying this, and I know it's crazy. I mean, I can hear myself sounding crazy... but this feeling won't go away. This feeling that there is something wrong with him. And I know you're telling me that there's nothing wrong with him and that I should believe you because you're a doctor and I'm just a waitress."

Ellie glanced at Parker. "But how do I ignore this? How do I ignore my gut telling me that there is something seriously wrong with my son?"

"Give me another day," Ellie said, standing up. "Give me another day and I'll have you an answer. I promise."

Casey nodded and the blonde left the room, her mind racing a mile a minute. Something was wrong with Parker, she just didn't know what. She sat in a conference room and stared at the whiteboard full of his information.

"It's staring at me..." she muttered, thumping her pen against the table. "The answer is staring at me. What is it...?"

Hours passed and Ellie was still in the conference room, the table now full of papers and books. Jo had joined her and had fallen asleep on a book. Jackson set down a coffee for her and she whispered out a distracted 'thank you', looking up at the whiteboard. Her eyes were caught by the crumpled paper from Casey.

"His eyes!" she exclaimed, making Jo jump from the sudden shout. "His eyes. What color were his eyes when you checked on him?"

"Um—uh—he was asleep every time I went to check on him," Jo replied, rubbing at her eyes. "Why?"

"Damn it." Ellie shook her head and ran out of the conference room. "Move, Wilson!" She hurried into Parker's room and Casey looked at them.

"Is everything okay?"

Ellie took out her flashlight and flashed it in Parker's eyes, seeing they were red. "Page cardio, start an IVIG right away. We're already on day ten."

"What?" Casey asked, looking between them. "What is happening?"

"If I'm right... this is Kawasaki disease," Ellie replied, turning to her. "But we need to get this IV started on Parker right away. We're still within the window to prevent permanent heart damage, but we have to do it right now."

☀️

"DO YOU REMEMBER this?" Ellie pulled out one of the papers that Casey had given her earlier that week. "Parker has Kawasaki disease. You fought for your son, and you were right. He is gonna be just fine."

"Thank you," Casey said, hugging her tightly. "Thank you for believing me."

"He's gonna be your little boy again," Ellie told her and gestured inside the room. "Go on. He'll be waking up soon."

Casey smiled and made her way inside. Ellie glanced at the mother and son before nodding to herself. "So you figured it out?"

She looked back at Jackson who was leaning against the nurse's station. "It wasn't me," she replied, shaking her head. "It was mother's intuition." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head on his chest. "Do you think we could do it? If we had a baby?"

He looked down at her. "Are you—?"

"I'm not pregnant," she said with a frown. "But... if we did have a baby one day... do you think we could do it?"

"Of course we could," he replied, nodding. "Because you want to give children the best life possible. And you made me want to." She looked up at him. "You're a natural mother. And when the time comes... we'll do things our way. You and me."

She smiled softly and nodded. "You and me."

☀️

━ author's note:

I've said it before and I'll say it again... ellie and jackson as parents is the best thing

also, we're slowly getting back to where this book was before it got taken down... slow and steady wins the race people