chapter sixty-three ━ a happy surprise
( season nine, episode twenty-two )

❝Or musical theater ballads if I'm
feeling particularly dramatic.❞

ELLIE LEANED AGAINST the bathroom sink, holding her stomach. She had been charting at a nurse's station when she felt an uneasiness in her stomach, which led her to the bathroom. She let out a breath and stared back at her reflection. She wasn't pale; she didn't have a fever.

But there was one potential answer.

An obvious potential answer.

Leaving the bathroom, she began walking to the ER where she paused, seeing Owen standing in the ambulance bay with a soccer ball in his hands. "You okay?" she asked, gently touching his shoulder and he jumped slightly.

He nodded. "Yeah." Ellie frowned at his response. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug. "Maybe it's the fact that you normally play soccer with Ethan and you're standing out here with a sad expression while holding a soccer ball."

"I just feel bad for him, you know?" he said and she nodded. "He just wants his dad to wake up. And don't get me wrong, I do, too, but..."

"But you've grown attached to him," she finished softly, sighing when he nodded. "I'm sorry, Owen. I know how much you care about him."

Owen shrugged. "It's just... when his dad wakes up, then he'll leave."

"Yeah," she agreed, remembering their previous conversations about the young boy who was always with Owen. "But that's a good thing. It means that his father will be alive to see Ethan grow up."

"But what if I want to be that person?"

Ellie tilted her head. "You want to adopt him, don't you?" she asked and he glanced at her, nodding slowly. "Have you told anyone?"

He shook his head. "It's stupid."

"It's not stupid," she countered. "I wish there was something I could say to reassure you, but I got nothing. But if the time is right and it happens, I will be the first to congratulate you, and if it doesn't work out, I'll be the first to your apartment with a bucket of ice cream and sad movies. Maybe scotch if that's what you drink."

Owen chuckled lightly. "Deal."

She patted him on the shoulder and started for the door when she stopped. "This might be really awkward timing with all of this happening, but... can you do me a favor?"

"What's up?"

"Can you take my blood?"

☀️

ELLIE'S BLOODWORK WAS not ready yet, but she had other things to occupy her mind. Namely, hers and Derek's young patient. "Mm." She looked over from her computer at Derek who sighed quietly. "That's okay, Iris. Yeah, her arm is still weak from the T.I.A.s, but we—we'll take care of that. Brooks?"

"Iris Kane, seven years old," the intern presented. "Here for an omental flap that will treat her Moyamoya disease."

"Moyamoya," the little boy in his mother's arms repeated loudly. "Boring!"

Mrs. Kane leaned down to her son. "Hey, David, hospital behavior, okay?"

"Let me go!"

She shook her head. "No, no, no, honey. Mommy and Daddy need to hear how the doctors are going to fix Iris."

"Buddy, here." Mr. Kane handed the little boy a toy in an attempt to keep him quiet. "Look what I brought from home. I'm sorry," he said, looking at Ellie and Derek. "He just feels left out." Derek nodded. "I—I'm sorry. Go on."

Ellie cleared her throat. "Okay, so, some of the blood vessels in Iris' brain have narrowed and been choked off," she continued, looking at the little girl in the large bed. "So, I'll take tissue with healthy vessels from Iris' abdomen."

Derek nodded. "And I will take that tissue, place it in her brain where it'll absorb the vessels and get the blood supply it needs," he finished.

"And this will help with her arm strength?" Mr. Kane asked before seeing his son squirm in the chair he was sitting in. "David, buddy, come here. Just sit still, okay?"

Heather glanced at Ellie and Derek before walking over to the little boy. "Uh—hey. Um—David, I'll play army men with you..." However, David poked her in the eye with one of the soldiers. "Oh!"

"David!"

"I want to go! I want to go! I want to go!"

Ellie walked over to Heather and moved her hands away from her face. "Let me see. Come on, let me see."

"I am so sorry," Mrs. Kane apologized as David ran out of the room. "Uh—we'll be right back."

"Go ahead," Iris said once both of her parents were gone and Ellie looked at her. "You can just tell me, they're gonna be a while."

Ellie looked at Derek before sighing and shrugging. She left the room and looked down at her pager when it went off. Her blood results were ready. Once they were in her hands, she stared down at the envelope.

Answers were inside, but was she ready?

She noticed Alex was standing at the nurse's station with earbuds in his ears and she furrowed her brows, moving to stand beside him. She pulled one of the earbuds out and leaned towards the sound. "Hard metal?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "Since when do you listen to hard metal?"

He frowned, taking it back. "You don't know what kind of music I listen to."

"Is it normally hard metal?" she countered and he looked at her, shaking his head making her sigh. "Is this about Jo? Is this what you listen to when you're sad?"

"Well, what do you listen to?"

"Disney," she replied simply. "Or musical theater ballads if I'm feeling particularly dramatic."

Alex nodded. "Of course you do... I am not thinking about Jo. I ran into her this morning on the elevator, but I haven't seen her since. The more I avoid her, the more I won't see her."

"Smart," she quipped sarcastically. "Genius plan. I have a better one." He raised his eyebrows. "Talk to her."

"No."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Fine. Be lonely for the rest of your life. Or you could be a man, find some courage, and talk to the intern you have a crush on." She patted his cheek. "Your move, my friend." She sighed, hanging her head when she heard her pager. "And I'm off." She hurried out to the ambulance bay, stopping abruptly. "Ethan?"

☀️

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Owen asked, running over to Ellie as she rolled the gurney into the ER. "Sloan, what happened?"

"He got into his grandma's sleeping pills," she said, looking down at him. "Unresponsive. B.P. seventy-four systolic."

He nodded. "Okay. Let's get him to trauma room one. Let's prep for a gastric lavage."

"No!" Ellie shook her head. "No, you're too close to him. I got this." She rolled the gurney into the trauma room. "Alright, let's—uh—start a flumazenil drip now."

Despite her best attempts to ignore the voices outside, it was hard to ignore Owen's shouts. "She is legally obligated to contact social services." She groaned. "He took an overdose, Nancy. What were you thinking? Were you thinking?"

"Hunt!" Ellie snapped and he looked at her. "Shut the hell up! You're not helping any matters!"

She sighed to herself and turned back to Ethan, starting the drip on his IV. She pressed her fingers against his wrist while watching the time on her watch.

"This seems to be working," she said out loud. "Okay, keep the drip going, please." The nurse nodded and walked out of the trauma room where Owen was waiting with Cristina. "We're still monitoring him, but we got him in time to administer the drip to reverse the effects of the zolpidem. So, hopefully, he'll wake up soon."

Owen nodded. "Okay. Listen, about the social services—"

"Owen, I already had a nurse call them," she interrupted and he paused. "The social worker's on her way. Like you said... I was legally obligated." She pressed her lips together and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry."

She started out of the ER when she saw Jackson walking towards her. She felt the blood work results in her coat pocket.

"Hey—"

"Can you talk to Bailey?" he asked and she furrowed her brows. "She won't leave her lab. It's locked and we can't get in. She won't listen to anyone on the board, Richard is still taking all of her patients, and frankly, you might be the only one of us she might even listen to. Please?"

"Okay." She nodded and pulled out a collection of keys from her pocket. "Oh—also, I need to talk to you tonight."

"O—Okay..." Jackson frowned as she found the key to the lab. "She had keys this whole time?"

Ellie glanced inside the lab and saw Bailey sitting at one of the tables. She let out a breath and pulled out her phone, sending a text before unlocking the door. "Knock, knock." She turned when she heard no response. "Well, that's one way to ruin a joke."

"How'd you get in here?" Bailey asked, not looking up from her hands.

"People ask for rooms, I keep a key," Ellie replied and the general surgeon stayed silent, still running a Q-tip over her hands. "Bailey—"

"Please, just go."

Ellie glanced at the many tubes and vials in front of Bailey on the table. They all had her DNA. "Oh... what are you doing?"

"My job."

She shook her head. "No, your job is being performed by Dr. Webber," she said softly. "You're a surgeon, Bailey. You were cleared, the CDC cleared you."

"Those people are dead because of me," Bailey replied. "Because of something I have."

"They died because we didn't have the right gloves at the time," Ellie corrected her. "But we do now, which means you can go back to being the surgeon we all know."

Bailey shook her head. "I am doing this, and I will continue to do this."

"Until what?" Ellie asked, crossing her arms. "Until you retire? Until you're dead? You're a damn good surgeon, Bailey, and you're letting that talent go to waste."

"Just go."

She sighed. "Bailey—"

"Go!"

She bit her tongue and nodded. "Alright. Good luck." Once she was outside the room, she looked down at her phone, smiling at the text. "Good man..."

☀️

AT THE END of the night, Ellie and Jackson were getting ready to leave when she saw a figure in the doorway. "You made it."

"Where is she?" Ben asked, walking over to her. "I got on the plane as fast as I could. Where's my wife?"

She held out the key to him and he took it. "She's in the lab. She needs you, Ben. She needs to see you." He nodded. "Welcome back."

"Thank you for letting me know."

"So..." Ellie looked back at Jackson as Ben left the lounge. "You called Ben?"

She nodded. "I wasn't the person she would listen to. It's Ben and I think it always has been him," she replied softly. "He made remarkable time getting here, though, I'll give him that."

"Oh, you mentioned you wanted to talk?" he asked and she paused, glancing at him as they left the hospital. Her hand found the blood test results in her pocket. "What's up?" He furrowed his brows when she stayed silent. "Ellie?"

"Let's go home first."

Despite being confused, and Ellie being unnaturally quiet, Jackson drove them home. The entire car ride, she kept her hand on the test results, her heart beating quickly. "Should I be worried about anything?" Jackson asked once they were inside their apartment and she shook off her coat. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm—I'm fine. Um..." she said, swallowing the growing lump in her throat. "I asked Owen if he could do a blood test for me." She let out a breath and played with her fingers. "Because I—I haven't felt great in weeks, and I sleep horribly and... I'm late. Like... really late."

Jackson raised his eyebrows. "Are you—?"

"I don't know," she replied before pulling out the envelope. "I haven't opened it yet. I just—I figured you would want to find out with me. I'm not good at cute surprises..."

He nodded. "Are you ready?" he asked and she shrugged. "Here, we'll do it together. It'll tell us point blank."

"What if I am?" she whispered, looking up at him. "What if it's positive? Then what?"

"Let's find out first." Ellie nodded and slit open the envelope, sucking in a breath. Her eyes glossed over the words and her breath hitched. "Well—?"

She nodded slowly, turning around the paper. "It's positive," she said quietly as he took it in his hands. "Pregnant." She looked up at Jackson who met her gaze. "I'm pregnant."

"And... How do you feel?" he asked cautiously.

Ellie looked back at the paper, blinking slowly. "We're gonna have a baby," she said, a small smile growing on her face. "We're gonna have a baby, Jackie."

Jackson chuckled and hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground which made her yelp in surprise. "Yeah. Yeah, we are. Oh, I love you."

"I love you more."

"Impossible."

☀️

━ author's note:

it's short, but... my babies are having a baby! (again!)

I feel like it was very obvious the first time I wrote this and ellie's too smart to not act on it, so... new version means new timeline :)

the storm episode is next and it's a big one!