The Shepherd Method
"So I'm guessing Callie's date went good since she didn't text us or anything," Alison cleared her throat.
"Two lesbians dating...hot. Two lesbians dating and the other one comes back bitching about how bad the date went...not hot," Mark commented and Alison hit his shoulder.
"Be nice Mark," Alison warned him and gave him a pointed look.
"You know you're hot when you get mad at me," he smirked at her and she rolled her eyes.
"Is your mind always on sex?" She asked as he pulled her to him.
"Can you blame me? Your beautiful and when you're carrying my son that makes you even more beautiful," he told her as his hands roamed her body and he leaned down to kiss her as his tongue pushed past her lips, her eyes closing as her hands tugged his hair, making him moan into her mouth.
Alison put her hands on his chest and he was breathing harder with his chest rising and falling rather harsh, and she pushed him away and she walked backward.
"What-" Mark began but she interrupted him.
"What are you waiting for?" Alison asked as she leaned against the wall and her hands were crossed over her bump.
"God I love that woman," Mark commented and followed her into the bedroom.
*
"Alison Marie Anderson," Momma Shepherd chastised her on the phone as she had received a copy of the picture of their latest scan of baby boy. She also sent a picture of her and Mark with him cradling her stomach and looking down at her lovingly.
"I'm guessing you got them?" Alison sheepishly smiled as Mark was flipping pancakes. Mark turned around and gave his fiance a smirk as her phone was on speaker. She was a thirty-one year old woman and while no one really phased her, she was scared about Carolyn's reaction. Carolyn had known that Alison was dating Mark and knew they were engaged now. She couldn't wait for their wedding!
"Yes, I did," she began in a stern voice and then it changed to happiness. "Congratulations you two! I can't believe Mark is having a baby. Actually, I take that back, I can," she said which made Alison laugh.
"Hey," Mark whined.
"Mark honey, I love you, but you don't have the cleanest reputation," Carolyn pointed out which made Alison laugh slightly and she walked over and kissed Mark's cheek.
It was currently six in the morning and while Alison didn't need to be into work this early, Mark did, which was why she was having breakfast earlier. Besides, as a surgeon herself she was used to waking up at strange hours of the day and night when she had the night shift.
"But that's okay," Carolyn added. "You've learned from those mistakes and grown up. I couldn't be prouder and happier for you, Mark and Alison! I know this baby boy is going to be so loved. I am RSVP'ing to your baby shower next week."
"Thank you Carolyn," Mark gloated and puffed out his chest slightly which made Alison laugh.
"Sounds great! We're looking forward to seeing you next week! We love you."
"Love you both as well," Carolyn told the couple and they hung up.
When she hung up the phone she felt pressure in her uterus followed by what felt like period cramping and she leaned forearms on the table as she took breaths in and out due to her face getting hot. Mark knew instantly that these were Braxton Hicks contractions as she had started getting them around week twenty-five and they had discussed this with their OB the first time it happened. He instantly stopped what he was doing and walked beside her as he ran soothing circles on her back as he murmured encouraging words in her ear. Last visit with her OB, Morgan, she had also said while it can be Braxton Hicks contractions, she said baby boy is getting heavier now. She recommended buying a belly support band. Not even a minute after that did Mark buy one for her and she wore it whenever her belly felt uncomfortable. She had gone shopping in store for some maternity clothes from the brands Seraphine, A Pea in the Pod, HATCH, ASOS Maternity, PinkBlush Maternity and Zara.
"You good?" He asked her and she nodded her head as she started to calm down and the pain subsided.
"Yeah, sorry. It was another Braxton Hicks contraction," she smiled sheepishly up at her fiance.
"It's okay," he told her honestly and kissed her forehead as she closed her eyes and leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her. "You okay to have some waffles?"
"Yeah," she nodded her head and grabbed a plate to put her breakfast on it as they ate until it was time for him to go.
"I love you, have a good day," Alison told him as she pecked his lips three times.
"I love you too," he smiled at her. "I'll see you over there later."
*
"Alison," Richard let out a sigh of relief. "It's great to have you back."
"Thank you, Richard," she smiled at her boss. "It's good to be back."
Alison was handed a copy of The National Journal magazine and rolled her eyes when she saw her person had the biggest picture of himself with his smile wide and arms crossed over his chest. She wanted to be happy for him but once she looked through the article that was labeled The Shepherd Method, with no mention of Meredith, she had to roll her eyes as she took the elevator to her floor on Peds.
"Alison," Clair greeted the blonde with a hug. "I'm so glad you're back!"
"Me too," she greeted her blonde Nurse Practitioner with a smile as she hugged her back.
"Your bump is getting so big," she said excitedly as she placed her hand on Alison's bump, knowing it was okay with her.
"I know, it's insane. One day I barely have a bump and then next it doubles in size," she shook her head with a smile.
*
"Oh thank God I've been looking for you everywhere for you," Callie exclaimed as she ran into the on-call room where Mark was and sat down across from him on the bed.
"I had an early morning palateoplasty," Mark told her as he was reading The National Journal. "Did you see this? The Shepherd Method?"
"Yeah, yeah, very impressive. Listen last night -"
"Did they airbrush his picture? I mean the man does not have one wrinkle-" Mark said annoyed and Callie brought the magazine article down.
"Could you focus? I need you right now," Callie told him and he gave her his attention. "I need to talk to you. Get your advice. Last night Erica and I, we, we did it," Callie finished. "Sort of."
"Congratulations."
"N-no it was not good. At all. I choked. I couldn't go down there. I tried just felt so weird," she said and Mark began to get up from the bed. "I got up this morning before she woke up. I couldn't even face her. What if me and Erica were a mistake? Wait, where are you going?" She asked Mark as he began to put on his white coat.
"I can't talk about this," he told her.
"Oh come on. You love talking about this stuff. Girl on girl. It's hot."
"Two girls getting it on and loving it - that's hot. One girl talking about how much it sucked? That's wrong. Just wrong," he told her and then left.
*
"The chief wants us to give George one of our interns," Cristina said as they were in the locker room.
"Except for Grey," Alex told Cristina. "She already lost O'Malley. Just dump your dead weight."
"Oh please they are all dead weight," Cristina told him. "That's why I need all four of them. Not three."
Lexie then walks into the locker room with balloons and things to decorate George's locker with as Alex looks up and so do the rest of the group as they are confused.
"George is filling out paper work," Lexie explains to the residents as she moves to where George's locker is. "He's going to be busy being a real-life doctor so I thought now would be a good time to decorate his locker."
"Give me that coffee," Cristina orders Lexie and she hands it to her as Lexie sets the basket down.
"I don't even want credit for the trial but it was my idea and I had to beg him to do it more than once," Meredith complained as Lexie put up a Congratulations, George banner on his locker.
"It's okay if you want the credit. I would want the credit," Izzie told Meredith.
"When you screw the attending's you get screwed. They have all the power," Cristina tells Meredith.
"Interns. You can screw interns," Lexie chimes in. "I mean you can date interns because they're non-threatening. I read once that a study showed interns are the least to file sexual harassment claims. We feel so weak and powerless in a hospital environment so that's good," she finished and Izzie laughed.
*
Alison had a full day of surgeries on her schedule and she was so thankful that she had Clair and nurse Rose back on her services to help her out. The first scheduled surgery was a pregnant mother as her child had congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation otherwise known as CCAM. They are benign lung lesions that appear before birth as a cyst or mass in the chest. They had been keeping a close watch on the mother and baby during her entire pregnancy and had noticed the complication getting worse, which is why they are performing surgery on the baby today before she comes into the world. Next, she would be taking out the appendix of another little girl. Lastly, she would be working with Doctor Kenley and Doctor Hahn as they would be helping a four year old boy who would be having open heart surgery to repair his congenital Tetralogy of Fallot. This would be his second surgery and Alison felt his parents and the little boy whose name was Simon were so incredibly strong. That surgery though was going to be so incredibly long that she would be taking breaks in-between as that was her deal with Mark so that she didn't faint. In-between she would also be discharging her patient, Stephanie, who has been coming to the hospital for her medicine with stage two leukemia. She was finally in remission and Alison couldn't be prouder and happier for her!
Before she scrubbed in for her first surgery Derek came over as he wore a gloating smile on his perfect stupid face that Alison wanted to be annoyed at. She was happy for him. She was. But she could also understand Meredith's position as she was the one who tried and tried and tried to get Derek to sign off on this trial in the first place. To not receive recognition for that is just wrong.
"Did you read the journal?" He asked as he leaned against Alison's desk with his arms crossed and that smile on his face that made his blue eyes sparkle which made her roll her eyes.
"Derek, I love you but you have the worst ego I've ever seen," Alison tells her person and he looks at her shocked.
"Excuse me?"
"You are an egotistical maniac," she says honestly and his jaw dropped.
"Wow, way to congratulate me. Thanks best friend," he scoffed and shook his head.
"Congratulate you? For what? For not giving Meredith the credit she deserves and taking all of it? Just because she's a resident and your girlfriend doesn't mean she shouldn't at least have had her name printed in their like yours. I'm happy for you, I really am. But maybe try thinking about how this affects others next time too, yeah?" Alison let out a huff and stomped off but not before knocking her shoulder into his, not caring that she bumped into him.
After her annoyance with Derek she knew she had to get into a better mood and not let her attitude about him affect her work on her patients. So what she did was blast music in the area where she cleaned her hands. She blasted Usher as she prepped herself for her first surgery.
*
"Guess who gets to go home today," Alison said as she walked into Stephanie's room with some balloons and a stuffed penguin knowing it was her favorite. She also had a Wendy Darling stuffed doll for Stephanie to remember her. Her whole family was here today as they were all excited for her.
"Me," Stephanie exclaimed as she sat on her hospital bed and perked up as the discharge papers were all set.
Alison walked in with George and Lexie because she knew that she wanted them to witness this. She had just gotten done with her fetal surgery and it went great. Alison let George carry the stuffed penguin and Lexie carry the Wendy Darling stuffed doll as Alison held the balloons.
"That's right. You know I think the magic fairy dust worked, Steph," she told her patient.
"I know it did," she said with a big grin. "And guess what Georgie?"
"What?" George asked with a smile.
"I get to go to Disneyland!"
"No way!"
"Yes," she exclaimed excited which made everyone in the room laugh. "And I get to meet all of the characters too!"
"You do?" Alison asked excited for her. "Who are you going to meet?"
"Hmm, I don't remember all of them but I know my mom said Peter Pan and Tinker Bell and Belle-"
"Your also meeting Wendy Darling," her mom interjected.
"Oh that's right," Stephanie rubbed her hands together as her brown eyes sparkled which made everyone laugh again.
"You know you're going to have so much fun," Lexie told her.
"I know," Stephanie said in such a cute way.
*
While Alison was with Lexie and George the rest of the residents were with Bailey as they were working on a domino surgery. After they left Stephanie's room George and Lexie were paged by Bailey to meet up with them as they told Alison they would see her later.
"She was so cute," Lexie gushed. "And the way she called you Georgie was so sweet."
"Yeah," George smiled at Lexie. "I hate that she had to go through that so young. But I'm glad she's in remission now."
"Me too," Lexie smiled at the thought. "Oh which reminds me before I forget did you see your locker? I put a smelly candle in it so that it smells like cinnamon bun," she said excited.
"Oh thanks," George said to Lexie.
*
"Hey, you okay?" Erica asked as she saw Callie get done with a patient.
"Uh, Bailey snagged all the surgical residents and interns so I'm stuck with the psych interns. Not the brightest."
"Okay, you're busy. I'll be brief. I was thinking if you weren't on-call tonight that we could maybe uh, go to my place? Order dinner, rent a movie."
"Tonight? You want to get together again tonight?" Callie questioned her.
"I had a lot of fun last night," she said with a smile.
"Fun," Callie said nervously.
"Anyway, just let me know," Erica told her and then left.
*
"Uh, it says here that you don't have a loved one in the domino, miss Herman," Lexie said to the patient as she looked over the notes and her chart.
"No," Lindsay said.
"So you're just donating a kidney to a complete stranger for nothing in return?" Lexie said in amazement.
"It's really no big deal," Lindsay said. "I have two kidney's and they say you can live with one."
"Are you kidding? It's amazing what you're doing," Lexie told their patient. "We're always short on organs. If everyone in the world did this-"
"Yeah, yeah. It would be all peace, love and unicorns. She gets it Grey," Cristina reprimanded Lexie.
"I'm sick of all the 'yay you'," Lindsay said.
"I totally understand," Cristina commented.
*
"The chief has got me doing press all day with journalists," Derek explained to Meredith once he saw her as he let out a sigh and pressed the elevator button. "My face is starting to hurt from smiling."
"Uh huh," Meredith said as he pushed the button again. "I already pushed that."
"It comes faster when I push it," Derek told her and Miranda came over unseen for right now.
"Oh it might be that Shepherd Method?"
"Funny," Derek commented.
"I think I'll take the stairs."
"Meredith are you bothered by this?" He asked his girlfriend.
"Why would I be bothered? You can't call it The Shepherd-Grey Method because then people would think you had help," she said annoyed and then left.
*
"She's barely a second year resident. I made the virus," Derek told Mark annoyed.
"She assisted. When Michael Jordan scores and nobody cares about the assistant," Mark told him.
"Scotty Pippin," Derek said and he turned around.
"You know what I mean. These women they overthink everything. Alison would tell me something different and I know because she came up to me fuming mad today. So whatever you did to piss her off you need to fix it."
"I didn't do anything to her," Derek feigned upset. "If anything she rained on my parade and couldn't be happy for me."
"Well most of the time I know Alison is right and I try not to argue with her. Do you feel better about the article knowing that they didn't include Grey? So if she says something is wrong, then something's wrong."
He hated when Mark was right. Even worse when he included Alison in it.
"Experimental treatments for cleft palettes," Derek said as he read what Mark was looking up as he changed the subject. "You're working on your own clinical trial, aren't you?"
"I'm just doing a little bit of research."
"This side of me reminds you that you have not made one worth while contribution to medical history, doesn't it?" He asked gloating slightly as he sat down.
"Get out," Mark said annoyed.
"You should read my article. It will enrich your life," Derek said smiling as he flashed his pearly white teeth. "Make you a better man."
"I'm saving it for the bathroom," Mark said even more annoyed as Derek left.
*
Mark and Alison were taking a lunch break before she went in for her six hour heart surgery. After she had lunch with Mark she was going up to dermatology to get a pregnancy massage from Chris to relax her muscles. She had just gotten done heating up her ramen noodles and sat down next to Mark when Callie came in.
"Apparently Erica loved it. Sex, sex, sex," Callie said annoyed as Alison ate the first bite of her noodles with her chopsticks. She also had pickle chips set out in front of her and fruit while Mark had chicken and salad. "She might want more."
"Did I miss something?" Alison asked confused as her eyebrows furrowed and then took a pickle flavored chip and handed one out to Callie. "Want one?"
Callie scrunched her nose up at the thought of eating a pickle flavored chip.
"Pregnancy cravings," Mark commented and rummaged in her chip bag and grabbed some to eat.
"I'm good, thanks," Callie told her friend. "I told Mark earlier but Erica and I went there last night."
"O-oh. And it wasn't good?" Alison asked as she noticed her friends reaction as she continued to eat her lunch.
"I can't go there again," Callie groaned as she ate her salad. "I freaked out and I'm so nervous."
"I have something that might help you," Mark told her with a smirk and Alison felt nervous all of a sudden for some reason. "Porn."
Alison hit her head lightly against the table at her sometimes very stupid fiance.
"Porn? Really Mark?"
"What?" He asked as though he thought what he came up with was the most brilliant thing ever. "She's nervous about having sex with Erica and porn can teach her how to do it."
"No, I actually think that's brilliant," Callie said excited. "Okay, I'll watch it."
"Really?" Alison asked shocked.
"Really?" Mark asked as his point was taken and Callie nodded her head with a smile. "Alright," he shrugged his shoulders. "I'll bring it to you later."
*
Erica opened the door to the room she knew Callie was in and put an X-Ray picture on the stand and then put her hand behind Callie's back gently, which made Callie uncomfortable.
"I have a break in an hour. Want to get some coffee?" She asked Callie and she let out a sigh.
"I'm not cut out for this," Callie finally told Erica.
"Coffee?"
"No," she shook her head. "This. The touching, the sex with the girl, I can't do it. I thought I could but-"
"But you did do it, I don't understand. Oh," Erica said as it finally sunk into her. "It wasn't good for you," she said and then left.
*
"So tomorrow we will meet one hour before pre-rounds," George tells his interns.
"Dude, that's like four in the morning," one pointed out.
"Doctor Stevens never had us coming in before pre-rounds," another said.
"Yeah, O'Malley. You gotta chill," the other intern said and they left as George smiled at them and Lexie watched the whole thing.
"They probably should say Doctor O'Malley," George joked to Lexie.
"So those are your interns?" She asked heartbroken. "Did you even ask for me?"
"What?"
"I helped you study. I helped decorate your stupid locker. And y-you don't even see it," Lexie said as it sunk in to her. "You don't see anything. I am such an idiot. And you are a jerk. You didn't even think to ask for me? Screw you, Doctor O'Malley," Lexie told him and left.
*
They were watching an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County as Mark had gotten out their movie theater candy that they had stashed in a drawer. They had Haribo gummy bears, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch watermelon, and Buncha Crunch laid out in front of them as Alison was resting a container of edible cookie dough on her ever growing baby bump. Mark was eating Twizzler's because it was the couples favorite and while he was handing some to Alison she allowed him to eat some of her cookie dough. Earlier they had made their own pizzas and while Alison loved Margherita pizza she had really been crazing cheese pizza so that is exactly what she had made earlier. A side effect she had been having lately due to pregnancy symptoms was that she could no longer tolerate spicy foods which was funny because Alison had always heard of those old wives tales about how if you are having a boy then you'll be eating a lot of of spicy foods.
"You know I can't stand Vicki," Alison told her fiance as they were watching Vicki getting into it with some of the other girls as she then grabbed some Sour Patch Watermelon and ate them.
"She doesn't know what she wants," Mark shrugged her shoulders. "Besides she's an awful friend. I don't know how some of these women even made it on the show."
"Because these shows are drama filled. That's the only reason why Vicki is still on it," she pointed out and Mark shrugged his shoulders as he took some gummy bears and ate them.
Alison had her laptop open as they were looking at places they would like to go on a babymoon.
"I think we should go somewhere tropical," Mark told his fiance.
"I agree," she nodded her head. "Oh, what about Hawaii?" She asked excited.
"I like it," he agreed. "Where though?"
"What about Maui? I heard it's a more peaceful island."
"Okay," he agreed after she showed him pictures of Maui.
They had been looking at hotels to stay at in Maui while they considered the time off availability they both had. They had decided on the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa for when she would be thirty-one weeks pregnant as she was still twenty-eight weeks. Though it was expensive, it wouldn't be putting a dent into their bank accounts anytime soon and they had read great reviews about the hotel.
"Have you thought about baby names?" Mark asked fiance after she booked the room and he booked the flight tickets.
"Yes," she gave a shy smile. "Have you?"
"Here and there," he shrugged his shoulders with a small smile. "Want to go over some?"
"Yeah," she nodded her head as he began massaging her feet and she had opened her notes app on her MacBook Pro. "I know for his middle name I want it to be Christopher."
"After Derek?" Mark asked with a smile as he kneaded a certain muscle in her feet which made her let out a sigh.
"Yeah. You think him and Meredith would be okay with it? I knew I couldn't name our first born son Derek."
"Unfortunately I think he'll love it a little too much," Mark grumbled as he took a break to take a sip of his water. "But I love it."
"Good, so his middle name is settled."
"Yeah, let's hear what names you have," Mark told his fiance.
On Alison's list she had the names:
- Mason
- Alexander (Alex)
- Everett
- Mateo
-Beau
- Benjamin (Ben)
"Babe this is a lot of names," he said shocked at how much Alison had been thinking about this.
"Let's see yours," Alison said as she took his laptop.
- Evan
- Mark Jr.
"Really, Mark Jr.?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and sniggered.
"Hey, it's a good name."
"Well I guess it's better than using Sloan as a first name," she said as she laughed harder.
"Hey," Mark whined. "Why do you insist on making fun of me?"
"I-I'm sorry," she wheezed as she caught her breath. "I love you," she told him.
"I love you too," he told him as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
Mark went back to massaging his fiancé's feet when her doorbell rang and she was eating edible cookie dough as she made a noise.
"Don't get up," he told her as he moved her feet. "I'll get it."
"I love you," she called out to him and he smiled while he walked to the door.
"Little Grey?" He asked as he furrowed his eyebrows at her appearance and noticed her crying and her eyes were puffy. "Come in."
"Hey," Alison greeted her with a smile but then it faltered when she noticed the tears. "What's wrong?"
"George didn't even ask for me. I helped him study and I'm so stupid," she whined as she sat down on the couch.
"Yeah, I don't do girl talk," Mark told the girls as he stared at them. "I'm going to the gym," he told Alison as he leaned down and kissed her quickly before leaving to their bedroom to change and head downstairs to the gym.
"And you two have like the most perfect relationship," Lexie cried even more which made Alison scoff.
"Were definitely not perfect, Lexie. We have our moments where we lash out each other, especially with me being incredibly moody right now with my hormones."
"Yeah, but you guys knew right away that you liked each other," she pointed out as Alison handed her a tissue from the Kleenex box.
"Eh, not exactly."
"What do you mean?" She asked as her eyebrows furrowed.
"Don't judge me okay?" She asked the intern and she nodded her head. "At first our relationship was just sex. But then I found myself falling for him and I hated myself for it because I was keeping our relationship behind Derek's back because of his past with him. I was really hesitant to date him because of that and his reputation. The point I am trying to make is that if George doesn't know he has a good thing with you then he doesn't deserve you," Alison finished. "You're like everything that's pure in this world, Lex, and I love that about you. You're like a little ball of sunshine."
"You really think so?" Lexie asked as she sniffled.
"I know so," Alison confirmed. "Why don't you spend the night? We could have a self-care night doing masks, painting nails, watching any kind of movie or TV show you want," Alison offered.
"What about Mark?"
"He won't mind," Alison waved a hand. "I think he had said earlier something about stopping by at Meredith's to see Derek after he goes to the gym. You can even spend the night if you want. So what do you say?"
"Okay," Lexie agreed. "But I don't have any clothes."
"I think you're about my size pre-pregnancy so you can borrow some of mine if you want?" She asked the intern and she agreed.
Right now Alison and Lexie were wearing facial masks on their faces and they were painting their nails now as they were watching Bride Wars.
"Okay, name any high end hand bag brand you absolutely love but have never bought anything from," Alison told Lexie as she drank her water.
"Hmm, I haven't really thought about it," Lexie told her.
"Oh come on. There has to be something! For instance mine was Louis Vuitton."
"Okay, if I had to choose it would be Prada."
"Love it," Alison commented as she pulled open her laptop and skimmed through their handbags before landing on one. "Ah, what about this one? The Prada Re-Edition 1995 brushed-leather large handbag. Classy but perfect for you to bring your essentials to work or whatever you want to do with it."
"Wait, what are you saying, Ali?" She asked as she sipped her red wine.
"I want to get it for you."
"What?" She shrieked. "Ali, are you insane? That's a three thousand six hundred dollar handbag!"
'I have the money," she rolled her eyes playfully as Lexie's mouth was wide open in shock. "And it's done," she told her in a sing song voice.
"How?" She asked shocked. "Did you even pull out your credit card? I can't let you do that!"
Alison laughed as she leaned against her couch.
"Its already done. Please let me get this for you. You deserve it and you'll look so good going into work or wherever you use it," Alison told her and Lexie let out a smile.
"Okay," she nodded her head. "Thank you so much, Alison."
Her mother, Madelyn, was coming to stay with the couple next week and help them with the nursery. The couple was incredibly thankful as neither had no clue what to get. They had already set up a baby registry with Target and Buy Buy Baby as while her mom was here she was also having her baby shower. For the baby shower, her whole family would then be flying down for it as they told her they wouldn't miss it. The person in charge with planning her baby shower was Lexie as she had actually come to Alison and Mark weeks ago and asked if she could plan it.
"Hey, you know it's gonna be okay, right?" Alison asked in concern for her person in reference to George.
"Yeah," Lexie made a psh sound. "I'm fine. I just need to find someone to replace him is all."
"That's the spirit," Alison said as she rubbed her stomach having felt baby kick.
--
Who else felt bad for Lexie in this episode? 🥺
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