chapter seventy ━ monkey in the middle
( season ten, episodes ten & eleven )

❝If it helps, I find you incredibly sexy.❞

"WHAT EXACTLY AM I supposed to do?" Ellie asked, sitting at the kitchen table. Jackson turned away from the eggs he was cooking to look at her. "There's only so many times I can go over the budget and finances before I want to bash my head against a wall."

He shrugged. "Well, you could always use my suggestion."

"I want to go to work," she replied with a small frown. "If I sit here all by myself, then thoughts creep into my mind which is not great for me."

Jackson sighed. "Ellie, you're thirty-seven weeks pregnant," he said and she held her head in her hand. "You should be at home, resting. Or nesting, I don't know. Whatever other soon-to-be mothers do before their baby comes."

"I've already packed the nursery three times, your mother bought us all of our stuff, and I didn't want to do a baby shower," she counted off, looking up at him. "Can I at least do consults? Please?"

Jackson looked back at her and his face softened at her puppy dog eyes. "Alright," he agreed with a nod. "But don't overdo it, okay? If you get any surgeries, give them to Callie, Arizona, or Alex. I'm sure the baby would appreciate you not overdoing it, too."

Ellie squealed. "Thank you, thank you!" He chuckled in amusement and handed her the plate of eggs he had been cooking. "Can I get—?"

"I'm coming," he interrupted, opening the fridge and pulling out a jar. "Your morning snack of pickles." She smiled happily making him shake his head. "At least the weird cravings will stop after this. Will they?" She shrugged, opening the jar and crunching on a pickle. "Well, maybe Meredith and Cristina will stop fighting with you around at the hospital."

She furrowed her brows. "You're acting like I'm a miracle worker," she said, taking another pickle out of the jar. "And it's not that simple, Jackson. Meredith was doing research and Cristina destroyed it without asking."

"She needed an organ."

"That's not the point," she replied with a sigh, looking up at him. "Yes, the hospital got a 3D printer, but the issue is that Cristina went behind Mer's back when she knew how much this research meant to her. And she hasn't apologized yet."

Jackson nodded. "I guess you've taken a side."

"So have you." She let out a breath. "Why are we fighting over other people? This is ridiculous." She walked over to the fridge. "It's their issue, not ours."

"You're right," he agreed, kissing her forehead and she smiled lightly. "Let me go get changed and we can head out."

She nodded and glanced at the ultrasound on the fridge door. It seemed the closer she got to her due date, the more excited everybody else was becoming. Derek had already informed the parents-to-be that he had gotten their future children multiple stuffed animals. And continued to insist that they use the name 'Derek' as either a first or middle name despite Ellie already telling him that they had a name picked out.

Meredith seemed more excited at the thought of her children having cousins close in age to them. She already knew how much Zola and Bailey loved their aunt, and she knew that Ellie was going to be an amazing mother.

She was already acting like a mother to them as residents.

April was potentially the most excited aside from Ellie and Jackson themselves. The blonde assumed she would have been more excited about her wedding, which was in a few weeks, but instead, she spent her entire time talking about all the things she was going to do with the baby once they were born.

Ellie knew that April would be a wonderful mother someday.

As for Catherine, she was still calling Ellie every other day to ask her how she was. And even after Ellie would assure her that she was okay and not in labor, she had recruited Richard to keep on her and Jackson.

Not that he could do much while sitting in a hospital bed recovering from an electrocution.

Alex wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was secretly excited for baby Sloan-Avery to make their appearance in the world. He knew that if that baby was anything like Ellie, they were going to succeed in the world. If anybody had looked at Alex and Ellie four years ago when the Mercy West residents first arrived at Seattle Grace, nobody would have ever believed they would become friends. They were as different as they could be. She listened to Disney music and always had a smile on her face; Alex was a moody human being who only smiled when he was forced to.

And yet, they were best friends.

Who would've thought?

And then there were the actual parents-to-be.

Jackson had never envisioned having kids or getting married, but that all changed when he met Ellie on their first day as interns at Mercy West. She could make people smile even in the darkest moments, if anybody could be the best influence on a child, it would be her. As for Ellie herself, she was completely terrified. She was excited, of course, she had always wanted to be a mom, but she was a woman who craved knowledge and certainty. And becoming a parent was completely foreign to her.

No matter how many books she read, she would never be completely prepared. And that scared her the most.

☀️

ELLIE TRAILED BEHIND Jackson when they got to work and as soon as she stepped foot in the building, Meredith was at her side. Ever since she and Cristina had gotten into their fight, it seemed that Ellie and Alex had gotten caught in the middle. Cristina seemed to take refuge with Alex while Meredith stayed close to Ellie.

Oftentimes, that meant that Ellie would answer the phone to a sleepless Meredith early in the morning.

Not that she was sleeping, her unborn child had already seen to that.

"Hi, Mer," she said with a smile, sipping on her iced tea. "How can I help you today?"

"You're not going over budgets again, are you?" she asked in response, closing her chart and looking up at the blonde who shook her head.

"Nope," she replied brightly, popping the 'p'. "I get to do a different kind of math instead. It's like I'm trading in one poison for the other, but..."

"Oh, good." Ellie glanced at her with her eyebrows raised. "I really didn't want to come find you in the conference room again. I think it gets more depressing the more I go in there."

She chuckled. "You're telling me."

"Did I tell you that I'm printing a new vein?" Meredith asked her while Ellie set down her belongings in the lounge.

She nodded. "Yeah, you said that last night," she replied, looking at her. "Ooh, let me know when it's done. I want to see a 3D-printed vein. Especially because that printer was a damn process to buy. I know. I did it."

Meredith gave her a thumbs-up. "Will do."

"I thought you were in the conference room." Ellie and Meredith looked over when they heard Derek's voice. "I didn't know you were taking patients."

"Well, she is," Meredith told him. "And about time, too. I've gotten tired of only talking to you."

Ellie glanced at Derek and chuckled at how offended he looked at her blunt statement. "You stole my wife," he said, turning to Ellie.

"Hey, she came to me," she countered with a shrug. "Maybe you scared her away with all of your stories."

"My stories are perfectly entertaining, thank you very much," he argued and she raised her eyebrows. "My children always enjoy them."

She nodded. "And do they always end up asleep?" He pressed his lips together. "Face it, Derek, your stories are boring."

☀️

ELLIE'S DAY MAY have been boring compared to whenever she could do surgery, but it had been an enjoyable one. She was out of the conference room for the first time in weeks, April had bombarded her with potential cake flavors for her and Jackson's wedding, and a little kid hugged her.

It was a good day.

Until she heard more bickering from Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang.

"Okay, you've had a day," Meredith said, opening the door to the lab and Ellie paused in the hallway, looking in their direction. "Day's over. I need you to clear out."

"We need more time," Cristina replied, looking up at her.

"You've had more time!" Meredith exclaimed before clenching her jaw. "I need to get started printing my portal vein by tonight or—"

"We're having trouble with the vacuum seeding," Cristina explained to her and Ellie glanced between them. "And we need to print out another conduit."

Meredith sighed. "Again?"

Cristina nodded. "Yes, we started a new one, and it should be done by three am."

"I mean, Cristina, no," Meredith said, shaking her head. "You are not Christ's child reincarnate." Ellie raised her eyebrows. "You don't walk on water. You have failed to revolutionize modern medicine and save a baby all in one fell swoop. And you are endangering a child's life while you—"

"Stop!" Ross snapped at her.

Meredith looked at him. "Excuse me—"

"That's enough."

"Ross, take a walk," Ross said, ignoring Cristina while Ellie's voice fell on deaf ears. "I practically had to force her into it."

"Ross, just—"

"Because she cares about you!"

Ellie rolled her neck. "Alright, that's enough, all three of you."

"Just stay out of it!" Ross shouted and immediately froze.

He turned around slowly and saw Ellie cross her arms and bite the inside of her cheek. "I'll deal with you later," she said quietly. "Get out, Ross." He quickly left the room with no argument and she turned to her friends. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous and childish." They looked up at her. "I know the two of you have always had a friendship and rivalry here, but you need to remember that you two are now owners. Board members. You have to set an example."

"She just—"

"Uh—don't interrupt," she said, holding up a finger. "You two are owners of this hospital. And right now you're acting like children. Like surgery-hungry interns."

Cristina scoffed. "We are not."

"Really?" Ellie questioned with a humorless chuckle. "Because you two are standing in the middle of the lab shouting at each other. And I don't even know what's up with Ross—"

"He's helping me."

She looked at Cristina. "No, he's becoming a bitch," she corrected her, gesturing outside the room. "And he's not supposed to boss anybody around because he is a resident. Here's what you two are going to do... Cristina will finish her print job—"

"But—"

"I said don't interrupt," Ellie interjected, her gaze shifting to Meredith. "Cristina will finish her print job," she repeated calmly. "It's already in the printer and it would be a waste to stop it now. So she gets until three am when she said it would be done. And after that, Meredith will get the printer back. And next time, you will ask her, Cristina."

"But it's the hospital's!"

She nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "But you took out her print job without permission. Friends don't do that to each other. Both of you, get your acts together. Alex and I are sick of the bickering. It's unattractive, it's stupid, and frankly, it's annoying."

She closed the door behind her and rolled her eyes when she saw Ross standing at the nurse's station, turning his head when he locked eyes with her.

"You know that you're a resident, right?" she asked him, walking over to the desk. "You don't get to talk to an attending that way."

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't know it was you."

She tilted her head and furrowed her brows. "So you would have spoken like that to somebody else?" she questioned and he cleared his throat. "Dr. Avery, Dr. Kepner?"

"It's just—" He let out a breath. "Well, you're really scary." She shook her head. "I am sorry, though."

"So sincere," she said sarcastically, crossing her arms. "Ross, listen to me closely. You're a resident, the bottom of the surgical chain. You don't get to command any respect until you've earned it and even then... it's small. I don't know what you think you've accomplished to be able to say things like that, but you haven't done anything yet."

"Dr. Sloan—"

"Don't interrupt." He fell silent and pressed his lips together. "I'm taking you off Dr. Yang's service, effective immediately."

He shook his head. "What? You can't do that—!"

"I can and I just did," she replied with a shrug. "And since you don't think they command respect, you'll be splitting your time between Dr. Avery and Dr. Kepner's services. And I'll be sure to inform them of your... opinions on them." He sucked in a breath. "Walk away, Ross."

"You ready to head home?"

She turned around and nodded. "Yeah," she replied, smiling up at Jackson. "Give me a second. Our unborn child is sitting on my bladder. Ooh, do we have any sauerkraut at home?"

"Uh—maybe?" She smiled innocently. "We can stop at the grocery store on the way home. And think of other weird food in the meantime."

"But I never know what I'm craving until I want them!" She paused. "Anchovies."

☀️

"WHY ARE WE going to this bakery again?" Jackson asked, helping Ellie out of the car and she let out a breath. "I have patients to take care of—especially because Ross keeps forgetting to do things. Why'd you have to put him on my service?"

"Because he doesn't think you can be scary," she replied, bending down to peek through the bakery window. "So you have to prove to him that you can be. Ooh, there she is."

Jackson looked over her shoulder and chuckled. "Well, doesn't she look thrilled?" he said sarcastically and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I see why we're going now. We're the rescue squad."

She nodded and pulled him in the direction of the bakery entrance. Once she was inside, she found April and Andy sitting at a table with her three sisters. She made her way over to them while Jackson went to order them breakfast.

"Hi, soon-to-be newlyweds," she greeted them with a smile. The tension around the table was very obvious. Two of them seemed very uncomfortable while three were overly excited at everything that was mentioned.

"Ellie!" April exclaimed happily, looking up at her and grabbing Andy's arm. "You're here. Uh—these are my sisters, Libby, Kimmie, and Alice."

She looked at the three redheads. "It's nice to meet you."

"And down there is Ellie's fiancé, Jackson," April added, pointing at the plastics surgeon who had just turned around from the menu.

"Look at those eyes," Kimmie said, turning in her seat to look at him. "I would marry him just because of those."

Ellie nodded. "Oh, yeah, totally sealed the deal for me, too."

Kimmie smiled and gestured at her. "See? She gets it."

She shook her head at the unnoticed sarcasm from her end. "Are you ready to go, Apes?" she asked, turning to her best friend. "We have patients waiting."

"Yeah. Let me grab my bag."

"Oh, wait," Libby said, grabbing her sister by the arm as she stood up. "You'll be done in time for mani-pedis, right?"

April pressed her lips together. "I will try," she replied, a small hint of annoyance present in her tone. "Andy, can you take them back to my apartment? I'll grab a ride with Ellie and Jackson."

He nodded. "Sure," he answered, kissing her cheek.

"Oh, no way!" Alice pouted and April looked at her from beside Ellie. "We wanna go with you!"

"You won't even know we're there," Libby added pleadingly. "We can see the room for the shower tomorrow, and plan decorations."

"Whoo!" Kimmie cheered loudly, making Ellie jump and Jackson furrowed his brows as he approached the group. "Field trip! Come on, Duckie."

"Duckie?" Jackson whispered in Ellie's ear before handing her the croissant and tea he had gotten for her. She shrugged and accepted it with a smile. "Well, we'll see you at the hospital then, I guess."

April fake cried behind her sisters' backs and Kimmie leaned closer to her. "So that's Ellie," she said quietly. "I totally see why you named a pig after her."

Ellie turned around. "I didn't know I was the namesake of a pig," she said, tilting her head. "Is she cute?"

"She's a mini pig," April replied with a smile. "The cutest of them all."

Ellie smiled to herself. "Good."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED INTO an exam room to find a young girl sitting on the table while her parents were on the phone. "No, do not cancel that trip!" the mother exclaimed and Ellie glanced at her. "Michael and I are supposed to be there tomorrow. This shouldn't take very long, she's just being dramatic."

"I don't care what you have to do!" the father said into his phone. "Find somebody to take her for the week. She'll be fine."

Ellie cleared her throat making them both look up. "Uh—Samantha?"

"You can call me Sam," she said, smiling lightly at the blonde.

"Alright, Sam," she corrected, sitting down on the stool. "So what brings you in today? The nurse said you were having trouble breathing?" She nodded. "When did that start?"

"Uh—about a year ago?"

"A—" Ellie looked up at her. "A year?"

Sam nodded and glanced at her parents who had gone back to their phones. "They just got back from a months-long trip," she explained quietly. "I didn't want to bother them."

Ellie frowned. "But, Sam, you not being able to breathe is very serious," she replied and the girl shrugged making her let out a breath. "Okay. Well, I'll just take a listen and we'll go from there." She turned to the parents. "Did either of you have any concerns about Sam that you wanted to talk about?"

"Sam?"

"Samantha," she repeated, gesturing to the girl next to her. "Your daughter."

"Oh." Her mother shook her head. "Do you think she's going to be done before tomorrow? Her father and I have a trip to the Caribbean tomorrow that's non-refundable."

Ellie raised her eyebrows.

july 1987.

"She is not sick!" Judith exclaimed while Mark held five-year-old Ellie in his arms. "She's fine. Nothing is wrong with her."

Mark frowned. "She has a fever," he said, holding her closer as she rested her head on his shoulder. "She's been throwing up all day. She is not fine."

"Don't argue with your mother," David told his son, walking through the front door from bringing out the suitcases. Mark rolled his eyes. "We'll be back in a few weeks. It might be longer, though, we're not sure yet."

"You can't leave," Mark argued and followed them out to the car. "You can't abandon your daughter when she's sick. It's not right."

David shook his head. "Oh, she'll be fine. Just give her some Tylenol."

Mark paused. "She's allergic to Tylenol."

"Well, then give her something else."

Mark scoffed as the car drove out of his sight. "Yeah. Abandon your kid." He rested his head against Ellie's. "You're pretty good at that."

present day, 2013.

"We'll know more after we run some more tests," Ellie said, standing up and opening the door. "But your daughter is sick. I don't think you want to leave her when she doesn't feel good."

The father shrugged. "She'll be fine."

"Right," Ellie whispered, letting out a breath. "I'll put a rush on the test results."

She closed the door behind her and leaned against the wood, closing her eyes. All she could see when she looked at Sam was a younger version of herself. The little girl who all she wanted for Christmas was for her parents to be at home with her.

After assigning a resident to do the labs, she was sitting on a gurney in the hallway while waiting for the results. No matter what she did, she could not get her mother out of her head.

She had never been particularly close with either of her parents, but her father seemed to try; at least that's what she had always told herself when she was younger. Her mother simply ignored her, it was as though she had forgotten that she ever had children. As horrible as it sounded, Ellie was glad that her mother was not alive to become a grandmother.

If she was a neglectful mother, she would have been a worse grandmother in her opinion.

"Hey." Ellie looked away from the wall she had been staring at and saw Owen standing beside her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well, you look like you've been crying," he replied and she raised a hand to her cheek, feeling a dampness against her fingertips. "Do you want to talk about it? Or should I get Shepherd or Avery?"

She shook her head. "No." He nodded and started in the opposite direction. "When you were thinking about adopting Ethan, did you ever have a fear that you would have all the bad qualities of your parents?" He paused and turned to look at her. "Jackson does. I do."

He let out a breath and went to sit beside her. "Do you know why people always say that you'll be a good mother?" he asked her. She looked up at him. "Because since you've been here, you've been acting like a mother to everybody—even attendings." He tilted his head. "Let me ask you something... do you plan to love your child and any future children you might have?"

"Yes..."

"Do you plan on loving them unconditionally no matter what?" he continued. "Being there when they're sick and sad?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Then you are going to be a wonderful mother," he said softly. "Don't let your childhood affect how amazing your children's childhood is going to be."

She smiled lightly. "Thank you." He nodded and squeezed her shoulder. "Owen?" He turned back to her. "Mostly because I think I'm stuck on the gurney for right now, do you... do you mind giving my patient her test results? I keep seeing myself in that room."

He nodded. "Sure."

"And you're gonna make a hell of a good dad one day," she added, leaning against the wall. "Just thought you'd like to know that."

☀️

ELLIE HELD HER head in her hand while April opened yet another gift at her bridal shower. "Oh!" Kimmie exclaimed happily upon seeing the object. "You are gonna love that thing. I use mine all the time."

"It's a salad spinner," Meredith explained and Ellie looked at her. "I don't know what it does, but the guy at the store recommended it, and—the receipt is on the bag."

April smiled at her. "Thank you, Mer."

"Ooh, another bow!" Libby cheered, taking it from her sister. "Who's making the ribbon bouquet? Ooh, hey, yay. So she can carry it at the rehearsal dinner. Super fun."

Ellie raised her eyebrows at the woman. "She is really perky..." Meredith whispered to her and she nodded in agreement.

"Okay—um—you know what?" Arizona cleared her throat and began digging through the stack of presents while Meredith went to get more lemonade for her and Ellie. "This one is from your sisters."

"Oh, no, not that one," Alice said, shaking her head and Ellie glanced at the box. "We wanted to save that one, Duckie, to open in private."

"Oh, my God," April breathed out, excitedly taking the gift. "You guys, you—you actually remembered? You remembered how much I wanna wear Mom's veil?"

"No, we didn't... Grab it, Alice!"

April opened it and when she looked inside, her smile instantly dropped from her face. "Oh. This isn't Mom's veil..."

Nope, it was a pearl thong.

"Adorable! Delightful!"

Ellie furrowed her brows at the cheers and turned to see Stephanie, Leah, and Richard all standing in the back eating the food and mindlessly paying attention.

"It's not," Kimmie replied, shaking her head just as Meredith returned. "We're sorry. That was supposed to be for later. But since you've opened it..."

"Surprise!" Alice exclaimed. "It's for your wedding night, for when you and Andy..."

April gagged at the explanation. "Oh, God."

"There's no reason to be embarrassed," Kimmie assured her. "We all had our first times, too, right, ladies?"

Ellie pressed her lips together and looked away while Alice nodded. "We wanted to give you the lingerie and some tips. The pearls, by the way, are for the inside—"

"Stop," April interrupted and Ellie choked on her drink. "Just stop talking. I—"

"But Andy is your first real boyfriend. We're trying to help."

"Please. Don't."

"And he's a great catch," Libby added and Ellie narrowed her eyes at them. "And you don't have the best track record with men."

"No, she doesn't have any track record," Alice corrected her. "When I found you had a boyfriend, I was like, 'Don't make any sudden movements.'"

April stood up. "Oh, my God, stop talking to me like no man has ever found me sexy!"

"If it helps, I find you incredibly sexy," Ellie told her and April smiled at her. "And so does, Mer. Right, Mer?" The woman in question shrugged. "That's her response for 'yes'."

"Duckie..."

April groaned, turning back to her sisters. "And stop calling me Duckie! I'm not Duckie anymore. My acne cleared up years ago, I got rid of my braces in college, I—I wear contacts, I use makeup, I did years of physical therapy to correct my pigeon toes, and in case you haven't noticed, I've learned how to condition my hair." Ellie raised her glass in support. "I'm not your helpless, ugly sister anymore. I am not an ugly duckling, I'm a swan. And a surgeon... a freaking kick ass surgeon... who, by the way, has had sex before."

"Oh..." Ellie grimaced. "You could have left that part out..."

"Oh, my," Alice said, practically clutching her pearls. "Does Daddy know?"

"You know what?" April crossed her arms. "You're fired as my bridesmaids, all three of you. I don't want a single one of you standing up for me at my wedding."

"Honey, don't be silly. You have to have bridesmaids."

"Yeah, and not someone who's pregnant before marriage."

Ellie raised her eyebrows and smiled sweetly at them, waving with her fingers. "That 'pregnant before marriage' girl is my best friend!" April exclaimed, shaking her head. "And she's been more of a sister to me in these last seven years than you have in my entire lifetime. That's why she's my maid of honor. And I will have bridesmaids. Those three are my people now." She looked at Arizona, Meredith, and Cristina. "Right?"

Arizona nodded. "Right. Yes."

"Yeah," Meredith agreed.

April smiled at them. "These are my bridesmaids."

And that was how April Kepner knew she had found her family. Blood didn't make anybody a family, love and loyalty did.

☀️

━ author's note:

there are only five chapters left until all the chapters from the original book are published and i can start writing new ones! i'm so excited to write current-ellie!

anywho... big important chapter next :)