chapter sixty-seven ━ daddy issues
( season ten, episode five )

❝I haven't talked to him in
decades.❞

"SO THAT'S YOUR dad?" Ellie asked Alex, standing next to him as she looked into the patient's room. Cristina and Jo were still inside while he looked up from the chart with a frown.

"He's not my dad."

She nodded, clicking her tongue. "Okay... So that's half your DNA in there?" she corrected and he cracked a small smile. "How are you doing?"

"I haven't seen him in almost three decades and somehow he is now in the same hospital I work at with heart problems," Alex replied with a frustrated groan. "I've been better."

"Have you talked to him at all—?"

"I don't want to talk to him," he interrupted, closing the chart forcefully. "I don't want anything to do with that son of a bitch ever again."

Ellie sighed and tilted her head. "Alex—"

She let out a breath as he marched away from the hall in the direction of the Peds wing. Jo suddenly appeared at the blonde's side. "I take it he doesn't want to see him?"

She shook her head. "I think he might kill him if he sees him."

"Is there anything I can do to help him?" Jo asked her and Ellie glanced down at the intern with a shrug.

"At the very most, be there for him," she replied softly. "But don't pressure him. The last thing we need right now is an angry Alex Karev. He tends to let his fists speak for his anger." She cleared her throat. "You should probably go get what Cristina asked for."

"Oh—right."

The intern quickly left, and Ellie looked back inside the patient's room at Alex's dad, who was sitting on the bed while reading a book. He seemed so normal. She was playing with the ring on her finger when her phone buzzed.

[ JACKIE ]
7:12 am
Meet me in the on-call room.

She stared at the text in confusion before shrugging and making her way to the requested location. Her hand found the piece of mail she had received earlier that morning and knocked on the door, trying to put it in the back of her mind.

"Did you sleep here all night?" she asked, furrowing her brows at Jackson who was groaning as he sat upright in the bed when she walked inside. "You do know that there's a nice, comfy bed at home, right?"

"My surgery went late and I didn't want to wake you up," he replied, fighting back a yawn. "You know, I think these beds have gotten worse over time."

Ellie shrugged. "Well, then file a complaint." She sat down beside him. "Which you just did since we're both on the board. Did you hear that Alex's dad is in the hospital?"

"What happened?"

"Heart attack, I think," she said, leaning back against the wall. "He's freaking out and Jo is trying to keep him from killing him. That'd be a bit of a legal issue if he became a murderer."

Jackson tilted his head. "Maybe a bit."

She looked down at her hands, picking at her nails. "Do you ever wish you might see your dad again?" she asked him suddenly and he paused, looking at her mid-putting on his shirt. She sighed and shook her head. "Sorry. I know that's a rough subject for you. Forget I asked."

"Well, sometimes..." he replied with a shrug and she glanced at him. "But then I remember everything my mom did for me that he wasn't there for. Why?"

"No reason," she said, fluttering her lips. "Just... have a lot of thoughts on dads today, I guess."

They looked over when they heard the door open and Catherine walked in, stopping abruptly at the couple. "Oh—I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Ellie chuckled softly while Jackson rolled his eyes. "No," she assured the woman, standing up from the bed. "I have rounds. Oh! Jackson, don't forget that we have our ultrasound after lunch." He gave her a thumbs-up and she turned to Catherine who had opened her mouth. "I'm already going to get you a copy of the scan. And one for all of the Shepherds because apparently, they all want one. Even Derek... Fatherhood has changed him."

Catherine smiled at her. "Good. Now, Jackson, be a dear and get some new pillows for Richard."

☀️

ELLIE WAS READING through the mail she had received that morning when she suddenly ran into a solid object that grunted. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

She looked up when she heard chuckling to see Derek, not noticing she had dropped the paper. "How do you always manage to run into me?" he asked her, bending down to pick up the fallen letter.

"Wait—!"

He looked down at the paper and furrowed his brows at the signature. "Your dad wrote to you?" She pressed her lips together and his face filled with concern. "I didn't know you were in contact with him."

"I—I'm not," she replied, shaking her head and looking at the paper. "I don't even know how he found me. I haven't talked to him in decades. How did he get my address?"

"Well... are you going to reply?"

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know," she said quietly. "He never reached out after Mark died. I mean, it was his son! And he missed my high school and college graduation, my first day of residency, everything. All he did was sit on the couch and drink his ass for the last twenty years.

"But... a part of me wants to reach out." She looked up at Derek. "A part of me hopes that after all this time... he'd try and be a dad."

She took the letter from him and stared at the writing.

The handwriting should be familiar and comforting, but instead, it was cold and distant.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked her softly and she looked up with a nod.

"I'm always okay," she said with a forced smile. "I have to go."

She crumpled the letter into a fist and stuffed it into her pocket, hurrying away from the neurosurgeon. Derek watched her go, the memories of five-year-old Ellie filling his mind.

1987.

"Derek!"

His face instantly lit up when he heard her voice and Ellie ran into Derek's arms for a hug. He immediately picked her up and began tickling her, her little laughs ringing out in the room. Mark, from the front door, smiled softly at his sister and best friend.

"Thanks for watching her," he said, handing over her little backpack and Derek nodded. "This is what happens when her school day ends before my classes are over for the day."

"I don't mind," he replied, holding Ellie in his arms and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I always have time for this big ball of energy. Are your parents still not home?" Mark shook his head. "Where are they this time?"

He shrugged. "Mexico, I think. They never told me, and they never said goodbye to Ellie, though I don't think she's even noticed that they're gone." He kissed the top of his sister's head. "Be good for Derek, okay? I'll be back in a few hours."

"Okay!" she said brightly, jumping from Derek's arms to sit down on the couch.

Derek looked at Mark and shrugged, beginning to pull out Ellie's favorite board game, Trivial Pursuit. Mark clicked his tongue and nodded to himself, closing the door behind him.

"Are you ready?" Derek asked her, noticing she was looking down at her hands. "Now, I said I was gonna go easy on you, but you crushed me last time, so bring your A-game, little miss."

"Why haven't Mom and Dad been home?" she asked suddenly, causing him to stop in his tracks. She looked up at him with her big, round blue eyes making him instantly sigh and sit down beside her.

"Well, they've just been busy, sunshine."

Ellie looked at himself quizzically. "For six months?" she countered quietly. "I learned how to read a calendar, Derek. They haven't been home."

He let out a breath and pulled her onto his lap. "I don't have the answers you want, sweetheart. But what I can tell you is that your big brother would move mountains for you. He would do anything and everything for you and you are so lucky to have him as your big brother. And you'll always have me and Mark."

She held out her pinky finger. "Do you promise?"

He chuckled and linked his with hers. "I promise, sunshine."

present day, 2013.

Derek leaned against a nearby wall and let out a defeated breath. "Mark... What would you do?"

☀️

"ELLIE, DO YOU have any surgeries today?"

She turned around at her name and saw Meredith walking towards her with a pleading look on her face. "Uh—no?"

"Great!" she exclaimed with a smile and Ellie furrowed her brows in confusion. "I didn't want to have to do this, but can you take my transplant with Cristina so that I can have a tea party with Zola?"

"Uh—I mean, I—I can," Ellie replied, crossing her arms. "But I thought you really wanted to do that surgery? It was what got you so excited about coming to work. Why are you giving that up?"

Meredith let out a breath. "I just... I promised Zola a tea party and I want to be a good mom and a good surgeon." Ellie nodded slowly. "And Derek isn't helping, so it's on me."

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not doing that surgery, you are." Meredith opened her mouth to protest. "And after our ultrasound, Jackson and I will take Zola and have a fun tea party until you're ready to take her home. She'll still have the tea party she was promised, just with her favorite aunt and uncle instead."

"Really?" she asked, her smile widening. "You'd—You'd that for me?"

"Of course I would!" Ellie exclaimed. "You deserve that surgery, so you are going to do that surgery. It takes a village to raise a kid, Mer. We're your village."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Meredith squished Ellie in a hug that made her chuckle. "Really. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Ellie shook her head. "Don't thank me, just go kick that surgery's ass. Oh, and Mer?" The general surgeon looked back at her. "You're already a good mom, you don't have to worry about that."

Meredith smiled back at her and nodded, hurrying for the OR and Ellie nodded to herself. She began making her way to the ER when she was suddenly met with a frustrated Catherine Avery.

"Ellie, good," she said and the blonde glanced at her. "Can you extend me privileges?"

"Uh—you have privileges," she replied before pausing. "Why do you need privileges? I thought you were here to visit Richard."

Catherine nodded. "I was. But then one of the interns of this fine establishment allowed a man's bladder to burst and now I have to fix it."

"Which intern?"

Ellie walked into the intern's locker room and found Stephanie standing in front of her locker making the intern look over at her.

"We had a world-famous urologist in this hospital, you had a problem with a penis, and you never thought to consult said world-famous urologist?"

Stephanie cleared her throat. "Um—"

"This is a learning moment," Ellie interrupted her, shaking her head. "The next time something like this happens, find a solution quickly. If you can't get a hold of someone from the department you need, find an attending and they'll do it. Okay?" Stephanie nodded. "Good. Now, you're scrubbing in with both Dr. Averys, so get to it, Dr. Edwards. Catherine doesn't like to be kept waiting. Especially for an intern."

"Right—Right away."

Ellie smiled to herself, watching Stephanie hurry out of the locker room. "I love my job."

☀️

IT WAS AFTER lunchtime and Jackson was still in surgery with his mother. "Sorry to interrupt," Ellie said, walking into the OR's observation deck and turning on the intercom. "But, Jackson, we—"

"Right." He looked up at her. "Ultrasound. I didn't forget. I'll be right there."

"Don't forget—!"

"I won't forget the pictures!" Ellie called back to Catherine who nodded at her.

The blonde turned off the intercom and made her way downstairs, meeting Jackson who had scrubbed out of the surgery. Once they were all checked in, they sat in the exam room.

"Did you see my text about Zola?" she asked Jackson while waiting for their OB. "About the tea party?"

Jackson nodded. "I already got mini cupcakes," he replied and she raised her eyebrows. "I googled what people eat at tea parties. That was the number one answer."

Ellie chuckled. "You'd make a good girl Dad."

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Dr. Taylor said, walking into the room and closing the door. "Are you ready?" She nodded and leaned back on the table, glancing at the screen to her right. "Now, did you want to find out the gender today?"

Ellie looked over at Jackson. "We... We never talked about that," she said before tilting her head. "Do we?"

"Why not be surprised?" he suggested with a shrug. "Live on the edge a little."

She snorted. "Alright. Surprise it is."

Dr. Taylor smiled and nodded. "Well, everything is looking good. However, it seems we had the due date wrong earlier. You're much further than we thought."

"How far?"

"About six months along," Dr. Taylor said and Ellie's eyes widened. "A December baby!"

"That—That—That's sooner than I thought," the blonde stuttered making Jackson look down at her. "Three months? We have three months to get ready to have a baby?"

"Hey, breathe," Jackson assured her and she bit her bottom lip. "Don't worry, we can do it. We'll be ready."

She nodded slowly. "Unless you have any questions, you're both free to go," Dr. Taylor told them, handing Ellie a cloth to wipe away the gel.

"Thank you."

Ellie sat up and let out a breath as she looked down at the ultrasound pictures. Jackson rubbed her back. "You okay?"

"We're gonna have a baby in three months," she said quietly before looking up at him. "We get to meet our baby in three months."

He chuckled. "Yeah. Yeah, we do."

☀️

JACKSON UNLOCKED THE door of their apartment and they walked inside. He set the pizza down in the kitchen while Ellie made her way into the living room. "Come and get some before I eat it all," he called out to her and she looked up. "I could eat a bear. Mini cupcakes aren't very filling on an empty stomach..."

"Just a sec!"

Ellie pulled out the wrinkled letter from her pocket and read through it one final time before shaking her head and crumpling it into a tight ball. She threw it into the fireplace and watched the flames burn through the paper.

"I hoped you saved me some sausage!"

☀️

━ author's note:

I remember before the original book was taken down that I had a storyline planned with ellie's dad, so now I'm fleshing that out :)

girl with daddy issues 🤝🏻 boy with daddy issues