chapter seventeen ━ amelia, not amy
( season seven, episode three )

❝You're cute, too.❞

ELLIE STOOD IN line at Starbucks, waiting for her coffee. "Alright, a venti iced latte with 5 pumps of vanilla, 2 pumps of caramel, an extra shot of espresso, topped with whipped cream and caramel drizzle."

"Thank you." Ellie smiled and took hold of the cold drink.

"That's quite a bit of sugar in that cup." Ellie turned at the sound of the voice, facing a man around her age. His brown hair swept upwards and his brown eyes stared at the drink in her hand.

Ellie shrugged. "What can I say? It helps wake me up."

"I'm not judging," the man said, showing his drink. "I might have the same problem."

Ellie smiled. "Then, you have good taste. I'm Ellie."

"Andy."

She bit her bottom lip before sitting down beside him at the table. "So, why do you need all of the sugar? Extra help staying awake?"

Andy chuckled. "I work with 3rd graders," he replied. "If anything, it's to try and keep up with them."

"You're a teacher, then?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. And what is it you do? Something tiring that needs all of that sugar?"

She smiled. "Uh, a surgical resident. Over at Seattle Grace Mercy West."

"I had a surgery there once," he said. "Phenomenal service."

Ellie chuckled. "Well, I'm glad we left a lasting impression, but I don't think we'll want to see you again." Andy smiled softly. "As much as I've enjoyed this little chat, I'm gonna be late for work. It was nice to meet you, Andy."

"Likewise." She smiled and started for the door. "Any chance I can get your number?" She turned around and tilted her head to the side. "You're cute."

Ellie looked at him before shrugging. She pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and took his pen from the table. She handed it to him. "You're cute, too."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED WITH Jackson and April, hugging the stack of charts to her chest when her eyes widened. She quickly moved to the other side of Jackson and kept looking around him. He looked at April who shrugged. "Um, Ellie?" She looked at them. "What are you doing?"

"Amy is here," Ellie replied, still looking around Jackson. "The person who is as good a sister to me, who I haven't spoken to since the shooting, and she's standing in the middle of this hospital. Right there."

Jackson and April followed her gaze, landing on the young neurosurgeon with brown hair falling in loose curls.

"Just keep walking," she said. "If nobody sees me, I don't have to talk to her."

"Why do you not want to talk to her?" April asked.

"Well, I was shot and almost died. Twice," Ellie said with a shrug. "She's only five years older than me. She's practically my sister. Tell me, how do you think she's gonna react when she finds out I almost died and didn't tell her?"

Jackson sighed. "If she's as much a sister as you're describing her to be, you need to tell her. Before she finds out herself."

Ellie looked at Amelia, now joined by Derek and Meredith. "You know, I'll just—"

"Ellie!"

She stopped short in her tracks, turning around to see Derek quickly walking over to her. He grabbed her by the arm before she could say anything and dragged her over to his sister. She forced a smile. "Amy."

"Ellie!" Amelia exclaimed, hugging her tightly. "I haven't seen you in years. How are you?"

"Great."

"What are you doing here?" Derek asked his youngest sister.

"Well, if you'd answer the damn phone, I wouldn't have to stalk you."

"Yeah," Mark said from behind the youngest Shepherd. "Why didn't you call your sister?"

Ellie scoffed. "You're one to talk. Remember those two years when I called you and you didn't answer?"

Mark stayed silent. Ellie smirked at the victory and Meredith looked at her husband. "Sister?"

Derek sighed. "Meredith, Cristina, this is Amy."

"Amelia," she corrected. "He and Ellie are the only ones who get to call me Amy." She held out her hand to Meredith. "Um, nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise," Meredith said, still confused.

"Amy—" Amelia sent Mark a look. "Amelia — is also a neurosurgeon."

"Another one?" Cristina asked. "You Shepherds grow them like weeds."

"Who's this?" Derek asked, looking at the man beside Amelia. "Your husband?"

"Derek, this is Tom," Amelia introduced.

"Todd," he corrected.

Derek raised his eyebrows. "Oh, best of luck to you both."

"No," Amelia argued. "We met on the plane. He has a portable pituitary tumor."

Derek turned around, looking at Tom. "Did she say you had spongy hands?" he asked him.

"Yeah."

"Yeah." Derek nodded. "Were your hands on her breasts at the time?"

"Yeah."

"So this was a mile-high hookup?" Derek asked Amelia.

"That doesn't change the fact that he's a very sick man," Amelia said with a shrug.

"If he has symptoms..." Everyone looked at Meredith. "It could be a tumor."

"Not just 'could', it—it is," Amelia argued, looking at her brother.

"Alright." Derek nodded, pointing at Cristina. "Well, this fine lady will find you a surgeon."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Derek, don't you walk away."

"Todd needs a workup. Take care of it?" Derek asked Cristina and walked away. Ellie sighed and smiled awkwardly.

"So..." She looked at Amelia. "Coffee?"

☀️

ELLIE FOUND HERSELF sitting in the scan room with the Shepherd siblings and Cristina, waiting for the scans to come for Todd.

"Did it hurt?" Amelia asked.

Ellie and Derek both looked at her. "Getting shot? Oh, you're amazing."

"Well, did you feel the bullet, or did you just feel pain?" Amelia pressed.

"I feel pain now because you won't stop talking," Derek muttered with a sigh.

"Yes," Ellie answered, moving to the other side of Derek. "You can feel the bullet. And you feel the pain. Wouldn't recommend it."

"And we have images," Cristina said and Ellie silently said a thank you. Amelia looks at the monitor.

"Yeah, there it is," she said, pointing at the tumor.

"Dr. Yang," Derek said, "What's the best approach for a tumor like this?"

She glanced at him. "I don't know."

Ellie and Derek looked at each other in confusion before he continued. "It's a pituitary tumor, so your, uh, access would be coming in from?"

Cristina remained silent and Amelia answered impatiently. "You go in transnasally. Can we book an OR?"

"What's the chance of me finishing a thought today?" Derek asked, equally annoyed.

"Not great," Ellie and Amelia answered at the same time. Derek looked at Ellie and she shrugged.

"Um," Amelia continued. "There's some compression, so I'd like to get in sooner rather than later."

"Dr. Yang, can you book an OR, please?" Derek asked. "You and Ellie will be scrubbing in."

Ellie sighed. "Do I have to?" she asked and Derek nodded.

"You know..." She leaned back, looking at Amelia. "If she wants to do it, you know, be my guest."

"Dr. Yang, book an OR," Derek repeated.

"Fine."

Cristina left the scan room, leaving Ellie alone with the bickering Shepherd siblings. Amelia looked at her brother. "Okay, that's my patient in there," she said, pointing to the man. "You're gonna let what's-her-face with the learning disability scrub in? Why don't you just shoot the guy?"

Ellie gave Derek the chart and started to leave. "Two of my best friends are dead from that shooting. Cristina, you know, what's-her-face, she's traumatized. Your brother almost died, Amy. I almost died. Twice. Don't you talk about shooting in this hospital." She opened the door. "Especially not around me."

☀️

ELLIE AND MEREDITH were filling out the OR board when Amelia found them. "Hey."

"Got a bronchial obstruction."

"Nice." Amelia leaned forward. "You think it's bad if I write my own name on your board?" she asked. "I mean, I did bring in the patient, and they gave me privileges."

Meredith turned back and wrote down Amelia's name on the board. "Shepherd and Shepherd. Classic."

"What's going on?" Derek asked, walking up to his sisters and wife. "You think I'm gonna let you do to him what you did to my mustang? I don't think so." Derek erased her name and Amelia walked away.

"Amy—" Ellie turned to Derek. "That was low, Derek. And you know that. She's in recovery. She's trying."

"Oh is she?"

"Yes!" Ellie snapped. "Yes, she is. You're treating her like she's still that teenager. That's not fair. You told me that Mark changed. Well, I'm telling you that Amy's changed."

"She OD'd, Ellie," Derek told her. "After my mother lost our father, she died for three minutes. So, excuse me if I don't trust her."

"No." She stopped him, shaking her head. "No. You've barely put in an effort. She calls you, you decline it. She shows up, you dismiss her. She was 5 when your dad died, Derek. She doesn't know how much of a toll it took on the rest of you and you never bothered to explain it to her. Do you know why we're so close? Why she's my favorite out of all of the Shepherds, including you?"

"Why?"

"Because she would come over to our house whenever she felt lonely," she said. "Just to talk. I was abandoned by my parents. She felt like she was abandoned by you. I know she has a hard past, but she's trying. She's trying so damn hard. You need to try, too."

☀️

"A CONDOM?" ALEX asked. Ellie was walking with the other residents, talking about Meredith and April's patient.

"Yep."

"Wait." Cristina stopped. "And she aspirated it?"

"A condom in her lung?" Jackson asked. "I'm gonna gag."

"And her fiancé thinks she's a virgin," Meredith added. "So I—"

"Okay," Jackson announced. "Here we go. Here we go. Check it out."

The residents looked into a patient room and saw Lexie working on their patient. "Ew, ew, ew, ew."

"Okay, now I think I'm gonna gag," Alex said, looking sick to his stomach.

"Oh, look at Grey," Cristina laughed, pointing at Lexie. "It looks like she's gonna heave."

"She's looked like that all day."

"I mean, I kinda wish I was in there," Meredith said and everyone looked at her.

"What?"

"Seriously," Meredith told them. "How often does a case like this come along?"

"Ew."

"About as often as twenty-seven-year-old virgin brides," Alex answered.

"She could still be a virgin," April defended. "Just cause she's twenty-seven, I mean, it's—it's not impossible."

Ellie sighed, her being the only one knowing that April was a virgin. "So, Karev, how old were you your first time?" Jackson asked, not changing the subject.

"Fifteen," he answered. "School nurse, back of her car."

"Fifteen?" Jackson repeated. "That's impressive."

"When I was sixteen, she taught me how to drive that same car."

"Sophomore in high school," Meredith said. "Paul Waxman, had absolutely no idea what he was doing."

"Junior prom," Jackson told them. "Sarah Richardson and Penny Caraway, together." Everyone looked at him. "I knew exactly what I was doing."

Cristina looked at him weirdly before answering. "Nineteen."

"Nineteen?" Alex repeated.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded. "I was very focused on my studies. It was my chem TA. He was a whole head shorter than me, but... man, he was smart."

"And you, Little Sloan?" Alex asked. "You have Mark Sloan as a brother. He's the hospital whore."

"Hospital whore, huh? I haven't heard that one yet." Ellie chuckled. "Seventeen. Homecoming dance. Mark found out about it when he was with Derek."

"And how'd they take it?" Jackson asked.

"Oh, please. Derek turned bright red and Mark gave me a high-five." They all laughed and looked at April who was walking away.

"Hey, April," Jackson called out and she turned around.

"I'm not talking about this," she said, shaking her head. "It was a private—private memory."

"What happened?" Alex asked. "Did the guy die?"

"Alex!" Ellie and Meredith reprimanded, the former hitting him in the shoulder.

"Oh, did it last, like, three seconds, so you don't know if it counted?" Cristina asked.

April scoffed. "No."

"Mm-hmm." Cristina walked away.

"Uh... it was on the beach at sunset. It was beautiful."

"Sunset?" Jackson repeated, furrowing his brows. "Really? Weren't—weren't there people there?"

"Oh, on the beach?" Cristina asked. "Man, you get sand up in places you don't want to get sand."

"Mosquitoes," Alex added and April looked down. "Ha! You're a virgin."

"No, I'm not," she said, chuckling awkwardly.

Cristina smiled. "Oh, my God. You are! Oh, my God. Do it. Do it." She looked at Alex. "Do it to her right now. Alex go deflower her. Do it. Do it."

"Alright, shut up everyone." Ellie slammed down her chart with an eye roll. "So, what if she is? It doesn't freaking matter. Go, be doctors."

☀️

ELLIE STOOD IN the OR when Derek and Amelia walked in, arguing. She groaned and watched them. "No, I'm not going anywhere. He's my patient. I'm helping you."

"I don't need help," Derek retorted. "I have Ellie and an exceedingly capable resident."

"Really?" Amelia asked, doubtful.

Just then, Cristina walked into the scrub room. "Uh, sorry I'm late. There was a long line at the cafeteria."

"You're right," Amelia said with a nod and turning back to Derek. "Crack team. Except for Ellie."

"Fine," Derek replied with a sigh. "You can stay."

Ellie let out a breath. This is going a very long surgery...

The four of them stood in surgery after Cristina and Amelia finished scrubbing in. Derek looked at Cristina. "Okay, you see how I'm removing the tumor gently?" he asked and she shook her head.

"Not really."

The Shepherd siblings looked at each other before Derek sighed. "Okay. Irrigate and suction." She followed his instructions. "Good. Good. Okay. Can you see now?"

Cristina looked up. "Yeah, I can."

Derek nodded. "Okay. You should be able to see a little bit better now because I'm gonna be doing-" the monitors start going off, "Oh, dam it. Oh, no. It's bleeding too much."

"The carotid?" Amelia asked.

"Could be. Okay. Backing out now." Derek removed his instrument. "Okay, Dr. Yang, I need you to do some nasal packing, please."

"Uh, no," she stammered. "Um, um, you can do it."

"It doesn't have to be pretty. Just pack it in there."

"No, I—I can't."

"Yes, you can," Derek argued. "Just do it."

"No, stop, stop. Please stop it. I just... you do it."

Ellie sighed and took Cristina's place. "It's okay, I'll do it. Could somebody pass me gelfoam and thrombin, please?"

"Give me suction." Amelia helped Derek. "We're gonna have to open him up."

Cristina moved out of the way of the surgery and stood in the back while Ellie helped the siblings to get him stable.

"You got it?" Derek asked Amelia.

She nodded. "Yep."

"You sure?" he asked. "Because I can get it."

"You know, I do this for a living."

"I know." Derek sighed. "I just want to make sure you got it."

Amelia removed the tumor and placed it in a bowl. "Done. Wow. Would you look at that? I have impressed even myself."

"So you're done?" Cristina asked. "I can go?"

Derek looked up and nodded at her. "I am done."

As soon as she heard those words, she quickly walked out of the OR. Amelia turned to Derek. "How did she get past her internship?"

"Shut up."

"Derek, come on," Amelia said with a scoff. "She's a dud."

"She wasn't ready and I pushed her."

Amelia nodded. "Yeah, she wasn't ready because she's a dud."

"Cristina Yang saved my life," Derek said and Amelia looked up at him. "She saved my life. I owe her everything. Get out. Get the hell out."

☀️

ELLIE LEFT THE hospital and walked towards her car. She stopped short at the sight in front of her and hid behind a tree, listening.

"How am I supposed to call you up and tell you that I've been shot? Or that Ellie had died?" Derek asked his sister. "You love her more than all of us combined. I can't talk to you about my pain. I don't want you to know that pain exists."

She smiled and watched the siblings hug when Amelia called out. "You can come out now."

Ellie frowned as she walked around the tree. "How did you know I was here?"

"You've always sucked at hide and seek," Amelia said before holding out a hand. "Come on. I leave tomorrow. Dinner?"

Ellie smiled and hugged Amelia tightly. "Always." Ellie's phone buzzed and she pulled it out. reading the text:

[ ANDY ]
Hi. It's Andy. From the coffee shop?

[ ELLIE ]

Oh, my gosh. Hi! I didn't think you'd text.

[ ANDY ]

I didn't think I would either, to be honest. Would you want to get dinner next week? School doesn't start for a few more weeks.

[ ELLIE ]

I'd love to.

[ ANDY ]
Awesome! I'll text you details. Goodnight :)

[ ELLIE ]
Goodnight.

☀️

ELLIE LEFT THE bar after getting dinner with Amelia and unlocked the door to the apartment. She opened it and saw Mark and Amelia. She closed the door with a sigh. She pulled out her phone.

"Ellie?" Derek asked, answering the phone.

"Your sister and my brother are hooking up," she said. "Any chance I can spend the night?"

She heard Derek gag. "I didn't need to know that. Come on over. I'll get a bed ready for you."

"Thank you."

Ellie drove to Derek and Meredith's house and knocked. Derek opened the door. "You could've come by without informing me that my baby sister is having sex."

"If I had to witness it, you're sharing my pain," she said with a shrug.

Derek rolled his eyes and stepped aside, letting Ellie into the house. He showed her to the spare bed and she put on her pajamas. She heard a voice behind her. "Ellie?" She turned around and saw Jackson. "What are you doing here?"

"My brother is having a night," Ellie replied with disgust.

Jackson nodded and walked in. "Well. I'm glad to see you."

"I saw you today," she said with a frown. "At the hospital. Where we work."

"What, I'm not allowed to be happy to see my best friend?" Jackson asked, flopping onto her bed.

"Sure, you can," she said with a shrug. "I'm just surprised you're not annoyed of me yet."

She went into the bathroom and Jackson watched her go. "I'll never get annoyed of you."

☀️

━ author's note:

All of my rereaders know how much I love Andy and for anyone who didn't read the original, Andy will be very important going forward

so introducing: grant gustin as andy crawford