chapter sixty-four ━ storm
( season nine, episodes twenty-three & twenty-four )

❝I can't lose another person I
love.❞

ELLIE STOOD OUTSIDE the ambulance bay, overseeing storm prep for the hospital when she heard her name being called out. "Andy," she said in surprise, seeing the man approaching her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was—uh—hoping I could talk to you," he replied, sticking his hands in his coat pocket. "It's kinda important."

She nodded. "Sure, what—?"

"Hey." Andy looked over when April approached him, kissing him quickly. "I thought you said you were running errands?"

"I—uh—I am," he said with a nod, clearing his throat. "I was just..."

Ellie glanced between the couple, noticing Andy's nervousness. "Hey, Apes, Owen needs a hand prepping the ER for the storm," she told her and April looked back at her. "Do you mind going? I'll catch up before the meeting."

She nodded. "Yeah, sure."

April took the stack of files from the blonde and hurried into the ER. Ellie turned back to Andy. "What's going on? It's clearly something that you don't want April to know about." He nodded, digging into his pocket, and pulled out a small velvet box. "Y—"

"I already asked for her parents' blessing," he said and she raised her eyebrows, tilting her head. "And we've talked about it. She wants it, I want it."

Ellie clasped her hands together. "You're proposing?" she asked, practically bouncing in excitement. "Oh, when are you doing it? How are you doing it?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to ask you," he told her and she looked up at him. "I need your help." She nodded. "It doesn't need to be big, I just need enough time to get her away from work before this storm happens."

"Y—You want to do it today?" she asked him, furrowing her brows. "Like... today today? When there's a storm coming? Odd timing..."

Andy shrugged. "Well, when she gets into 'trauma' mode, she's kinda hard to reach."

Ellie tilted her head. "Fair enough. So, what do you want from me?"

"I've already asked Dr. Hunt if I can use one of the conference rooms," he said and she nodded. "And he's promised to keep her off surgeries so that nothing gets derailed. But I need you to bring her there."

"I'm on it," she replied with a smile. "Just tell me when and where and we'll be there. But I gotta go, we have a storm to prepare for."

"Thank you, Ellie."

"Not a problem." She turned back from the ER doors. "Good luck!"

She made her way out to the hospital lobby and found the staff all gathered at the stairs. She stood next to Owen as he began to address them all.

"This storm will bring in a lot of casualties," he told the doctors. "We're gonna need to make room for them, so let's discharge all patients that can be."

Ellie nodded. "As for post-op and long-term patients, they're gonna be transferred to Seattle Pres further inland." She hugged her clipboard to her chest. "We're gonna bring in supplements—food, water, meds, lighting. We're gonna be checking and refueling backup generators, too."

"And as for you surgeons, push, postpone, or cancel all elective procedures until after this storm," Owen continued while Ellie sucked in a breath, a small wave of nausea hitting her. "Most importantly, we're gonna need to print hard copies of all computerized patient charts in case of a power loss."

Jackson furrowed his brows. "All of them?" he repeated. "Do we have time to—?"

"I'll do that."

Ellie looked up from her papers and saw Bailey raising her hand. Ben was trailing behind her and Owen nodded. "Bailey," he said with a smile. "It's good to have you back. I'll put on the OR rotation."

"Uh—I mean I'll do the charts."

Owen let out a breath and nodded again. "Okay. Folks, they're saying that this is going to be a bad one, but we have three days to prepare. So, let's do it and be ready when the storm hits."

"And regardless of what the weather service says, use this time wisely," Ellie added, clearing her throat. "For all we know, this storm could come early. Thank you, get to work."

The group of doctors all dispersed and she nodded to herself, still standing on the staircase. "I like it when you're in charge," Jackson told her while she held onto the railing. "You sound like a hardcore boss." She smiled lightly. "Are you okay?"

She held up her finger and hurried over to a nearby trashcan, throwing up the contents of her stomach. "Oh..." She sighed, crouching down and holding her head in her hands. "I don't like this 'all-day morning sickness'."

"You know, we'd be fine if you went home," Jackson said, resting his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them. "You've been sick all week."

"I can't go home!" she contradicted with a frown, looking up at him. "There's a storm coming towards us in potentially three days and I am a doctor. It's my job!"

Jackson sighed. "But—"

"And Mer is nine months pregnant and not leaving," she continued while he pressed his lips together. "I'm only six weeks along—maybe—I'll be fine." She stood up and closed her eyes. "Why did biology include morning sickness in pregnancy? Don't we go through enough?"

"Ellie, have you talked with Karev recently?" Derek asked her, walking up to the couple and she shrugged.

"Well, I mean, I teased him yesterday," she replied and Jackson chuckled softly. "Does that count as talking with him?"

"Did he seem... out of the ordinary?" he asked and she furrowed her brows. "Did he mention anything about someone from OB?"

She tilted her head. "Wait, wait. Who from OB?"

"Uh—Jason Myers?" he replied and her eyes widened. "He brought him in earlier. He has a brain bleed."

"Crap..." She ran out of the lobby at a run. "No, no..."

Derek and Jackson glanced at each other in confusion. "I feel like we're missing something..." the plastics surgeon commented and the neurosurgeon nodded.

"Yeah..." he agreed before looking back at him. "Hey, when are you asking Ellie? You asked me almost a month ago and I have yet to either see a ring on her finger or her calling me in tears."

Jackson sighed. "Soon."

Ellie, meanwhile, was wandering the hospital in search of Alex but instead found Meredith and Cristina. "Oh, thank goodness," she said, relief flooding her face. "Do you guys know where Alex is?"

"No." Meredith shook her head. "Why? What's wrong?"

She sighed. "We have a problem."

☀️

ELLIE STOOD IN front of Alex. "I'm not one to jump to conclusions, but please tell me that you did not beat up Jason Myers."

"When I said fight the guy, I didn't mean fight the guy," Cristina added.

Meredith sighed. "Alex, this kind of stuff was okay when we first met you, but now?"

"Now you're supposed to be less stupid," Cristina said with a nod and Ellie glanced at them. "I mean, you could go to jail, your whole career—"

"Okay, both of you, take a breath," Ellie interrupted, resting a hand on their shoulders. "I don't think you're helping."

"And I'm not going to jail," Alex told them and they looked back at him. "He was like that when I found him."

Meredith frowned. "That's your story?"

"No cop is gonna believe you," Cristina said, shaking her head and Ellie hung her head, letting out a breath.

"Alex, it's us," Meredith pleaded. "Just tell us."

He shook his head. "I didn't do anything."

"He didn't do it." Ellie looked up at the voice and her eyes widened when she saw Jo and the state she was in. Her bottom lip was swollen, and she had a black eye and cuts on her face. "He just found him. I did it."

"Oh, my God..." The blonde hurried over to her and began checking over her cuts. "What happened?"

"We were fighting," Jo explained, wincing slightly from Ellie's touch on her injuries. "He—He grabbed my arm, and I fought him off. It just—It got ugly. He fell backwards and he hit his head on the fireplace, but he was still yelling when I left. He was fine, I swear."

Alex stood up. "Alright, you gotta go. Go."

Cristina shook her head. "Uh—no," she countered, turning to him. "She has to explain to the police what happened."

"No, nobody does anything until we see how Peckwell is," Alex contradicted before looking back at Jo who was still being tended to by Ellie. "Look, go home. Don't let anyone see you." He turned to Meredith and Cristina. "You two don't say a word to anybody until we know exactly what's going on. Understand?"

The door to the lounge opened and Stephanie walked in, scans in her hand. "Hey." She stopped abruptly when she saw Jo. "Are you okay?"

"She's okay," Cristina replied, walking over to the intern and shielding Jo from her view. "You never saw her. What?"

"I have Paul Dawson's CT angio results," Stephanie told her, handing her the tablet.

"Great."

Cristina took her out of the room and Jo looked back at Alex. "Go." She sighed and left the lounge with Meredith trailing after her.

Ellie turned to Alex. "You promise that you didn't beat him up?" she asked him, crossing her arms. "That you're not the reason he has a brain bleed?"

"Ellie, I swear, I didn't do it."

She nodded slowly. "I believe you." She hugged him tightly. "I believe you. But, I swear, if you're lying to me..."

"I'm not," he promised and she hugged him tighter. "Thank you for believing me."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED INTO the supply closet where she found April angrily gathering supplies. "Hey, you." She looked over at the blonde with a small huff. "You seem upset. What's wrong?"

"Hunt is actively keeping me from surgeries!" she exclaimed in frustration. "I don't know if he thinks that I'm gonna fail my boards again, or maybe he's just finally realized that I'd make a better secretary than a surgeon."

Ellie shook her head. "I'm sure that's not—" She looked down when she felt her phone buzz and she smiled softly at it. "Can you help me with something?" April furrowed her brows and looked at her. "There's something in the conference room that I need help grabbing and Jackson's unavailable."

"Well, what about Derek or Alex?"

"Please, Apes?"

April sighed and nodded, reluctantly following her towards the conference. Ellie peered through the window and smiled to herself. "Actually, I think you can go in yourself."

"Ellie, what—?" April paused when she opened the door and saw Andy standing in front of the window in a suit with bouquets of flowers surrounding him. "Ellie...?"

"Go on, Apes," she whispered, pushing her lightly into the room. "He's waiting for you." She rubbed the corners of her eyes as April closed the door behind her. She looked up when she felt arms wrap around her waist. "She's growing up."

Jackson chuckled softly, looking into the conference room. "She's grown a lot from that intern who carried her notebook everywhere she went."

She nodded. "Now she's a strong trauma surgeon who is gonna kill it on her boards when she retakes them."

"You two sound like proud parents." Ellie and Jackson looked over when they heard Cristina's voice. "Just saying..."

The blonde shrugged, looking back into the conference room just as April jumped into Andy's arms with a wide smile on her face, leaning against Jackson's chest. "I think she said yes."

☀️

"WHAT EXACTLY IS our risk of flooding here?" Ellie asked Frank, one of the hospital's maintenance workers. He shook his head.

"Oh, you got water pumps and sandbags..."

She frowned. "But the lights keep flickering," she replied, gesturing to the ceiling. "Now, are the generators—"

"I tested 'em last month," he told her and she fluttered her lips. "Listen, you have patients to worry about, you take care of them. This—This hospital's my patient."

She nodded. "Okay... Thank you, Frank." She turned around and jumped. "Ah! Can I help you with something?"

"You don't have kids," Owen said and she bit her bottom lip, tilting her head. "But... did you ever talk about it with Avery?"

Ellie let out a breath. "Yeah, we talked about it," she replied with a nod. "Well, the first time it was because of a pregnancy scare, but..." She cleared her throat. "Yeah. Kids are something we want." She tilted her head. "Is this about Ethan?"

He nodded. "He needs someone," he said and she sat down beside him on a nearby gurney. "And his grandma said she can't be that person. And I like him. And—uh—he likes me. He's scared and alone and... and... I could help. I know how to help, and I want to."

"But?" she asked gently.

"But then I talk myself out of it because he's not my kid," he replied with a sigh and she nodded. "I mean, he's ten! It's... It's a huge commitment. It's a lifetime of responsibility. And it pretty much uproots everything. But then I spend one minute with this kid, and... I can't imagine not doing it." He looked over at her. "You're thinking I'm crazy, aren't you?"

She shook her head. "I think you sound like someone who wants to be a dad."

He smiled lightly just as Cristina rounded the corner. "Owen, it's Paul." He and Ellie looked at her. "You should come."

The blonde watched them disappear down the hallway before looking down when her pager went off. She made her way down to the lobby where she found several doctors helping patients and people who had begun to take refuge at the hospital.

Andy was still with April. He volunteered to stay at the hospital and help however he could.

"Did I miss anything?" she asked Jackson who held out a flashlight to her and he shook his head.

"Not yet."

"Do you hear that noise?" They both turned when they heard the sound of scraping metal coming from outside of the hospital.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God..." A school bus flew through the air and landed on its side.

"It flipped right over!" It slid to a stop before a part of the vehicle burst into flames. "The bus caught on fire!"

☀️

"I SMELL GAS!" April exclaimed as Ellie rolled a patient away from the bus.

"There's a fuel leak somewhere, I think," Andy told her.

"We were coming from the church," one of the passengers of the bus said. "Trying to wait out the storm." Ellie stood under Jackson who was on the roof, helping a man down. "The roof, it caved in on us. We had nowhere else to go."

Owen looked around. "We've got to get everyone away from this fire!"

"Alright, if you can walk, let's get you inside!" April shouted in agreement, gesturing towards the hospital. "This way!"

"We're gonna need to set up an emergency triage inside," Owen told them as Ellie watched Jackson walk back to the bus. "We're gonna need meds. Bailey, can you handle this?"

She looked up at him. "Y—Yeah. Uh—Murphy!"

"Hunt, we gotta move!" Ellie yelled at him as the rain began to fall harder and her blonde hair stuck to her face. "This thing's gonna blow. Jackson, get out of the damn bus!"

"I got him, Sloan!" Owen called back to her. "Go help the others!" She looked up at him and hesitated for a moment. "I got him!" She nodded reluctantly and ran after the other doctors, glancing back at the two men still inside the bus. "Avery, hurry up!"

"I got one more!"

Several minutes had passed and Jackson had still not returned. "Start a large-bore IV!" Owen exclaimed as he and Callie rolled a gurney inside the hospital.

"Where's Jackson?" she shouted at them, running past them outside.

"Right behind us!"

"No, he's not!" she replied, shaking her head and turning back to the bus. "Jackson!" The bus began to shake and Jackson was still inside. April glanced between the vehicle and her best friend, quickly grabbing her tightly. "Let me go!"

"No!" she shouted, pulling her away from the bus. "It's too dangerous!"

"April—" The two women fell backward when they heard an explosion from the bus. "No! Jackson!" She looked over at Owen. "Can you see him? Jackson!"

"Ellie." She looked at Callie who pointed behind her. "Look."

Ellie turned and her gaze landed on Jackson who was walking towards them with a small girl in his arms. She stumbled against April as he handed the girl to her mother. "Evie? Evie! Oh, God, baby. Thank you so much."

April looked at Ellie, who hurried into the hospital, holding onto her stomach. She ran after her and found the blonde crouched next to a trash can, leaning against the wall. "Are you okay?" April asked her, walking over to her. She furrowed her brows when Ellie threw up. "What's wrong?" Ellie glanced at her, and April raised her eyebrows. "Wait... are you... y—you're pregnant?"

She nodded wordlessly. "I found out last week..." she replied quietly, holding her head in her hands. "We haven't told anyone yet. Well, now you know." She chuckled lightly to herself. "And he—he saved a little girl from a burning bus..."

April sat down beside her. "And you're scared." Ellie let out a breath. "You're not gonna lose him. He wouldn't let that happen." She leaned her head on the blonde's shoulder. "He loves you too much. Congratulations, by the way." She smiled softly. "A mini Ellie!"

☀️

ELLIE OPENED THE curtain around Jackson's bed and glanced at Callie who was standing beside the computer. "How is he?" she asked quietly.

"He's fine," Callie replied, turning away from the computer. "He just dislocated his shoulder. Has a few scrapes and bruises, but he's gonna be just fine."

She nodded. "Can we have a minute?" Callie pressed her lips together and left them alone.

"Look, before you say anything, I'm okay," Jackson said and she looked back at him. "I'm alive, I'm okay. But... you know, I had to save that girl."

"I know," she replied softly, sitting down on the chair. "But you need to be more careful, okay? I mean... anything and everything seems to happen to us. We could die in a shooting or because of a plane crash—"

Jackson sighed. "Ellie—"

"And I can't lose another person I love," she continued, running a hand through her blonde hair. "I can't."

"Ellie—"

"Especially not right now," she finished, letting out a breath.

Jackson nodded. "Ellie." She looked up at him. "Grab my coat." She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Just grab my coat." He took it from her and dug into the pocket. "I can't get on one knee because Torres would probably kill me, but..."

He opened the small velvet box and Ellie looked down at the ring, her eyes widening. "I love you." She met his gaze and her eyes immediately filled with tears. "Ever since I met you I thought you were adorable with your bubbly personality and contagious smile."

"Jackson—"

"I've been meaning to ask for weeks, but the timing was never right," he continued and she wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "But I don't think the timing will ever be right. Ellie... will you marry me?"

She nodded. "Yes," she whispered, cupping his cheeks. "Yes." Jackson smiled and pulled her closer, sliding the ring on her finger. "I love you."

"I love you more."

"Impossible." Ellie cleared her throat. "Oh—uh—I may or may not have mentioned that I was pregnant to April..." He raised his eyebrows. "Oops?"

☀️

━ author's note:

of course april and ellie would get engaged on the same day lol

and of course april would be the first person to find out about ellie's pregnancy

#friendshipgoals