chapter fifty-seven ━ new measures
( season nine, episodes thirteen & fourteen )

❝I think we should buy Seattle
Grace Mercy West Hospital.❞

"THEY'VE INSTALLED CAMERAS." Ellie stood beside Meredith and Cristina, the three fellows looking at the new cameras inside patient rooms.

"They're all over the CCU." Cristina nodded. She leaned closer to her friends, her eyes still on the cameras. "Next they'll be in the ORs, the hallways, the on-call rooms." Ellie and Meredith glanced at each other with a mild disturbance while the cardio fellow dropped her voice down to a whisper. "We're being spied on! Who knows what evil lurks behind that electronic eye?"

"Morning, Dr. Yang," the voice behind the camera said.

She looked over at the camera. "Big brother knows my name!" she hissed and Ellie shook her head.

"Big brother can read your name tag," she replied and Cristina looked down and covered her ID, looking back at the camera.

"Excuse me."

The three surgeons joined the rest of the staff in one of the ORs where Cahill explained her new system to them. "The cameras are not here to spy on you," she began, looking around at the doctors while Ellie quietly moved beside Jackson against the wall. "They are here to supplement you. On the other side of the camera is a remote physician, an extra set of eyes to help reduce mistakes, improve patient care, and maximize physician hours... now the initial program..."

Ellie and Jackson looked at each other, Cahill's words entering one ear and exiting the other. She looked around at the rest of the room and saw everybody else had the same look of confusion as them.

"And, of course, ultimately reduce cost litigation." She looked over at Cahill. "So does that answer your questions?"

Cristina nodded. "With disturbing clarity," she replied sarcastically and Ellie chuckled softly.

"Alright." Cahill nodded and cleared her throat. "Let's move on, then." She gestured behind her at the room. "As you can see, this OR has been arranged with maximum efficiency, specifically for OR turnover. Now, what are the main causes for bottleneck?"

"The layout of OR supplies, equipment, and instruments," Ellie said and everybody looked at her making her shrink back against the wall. "Sorry... I read the debriefing on the way to work. Sorry, continue."

"Thank you, Dr. Sloan," Cahill replied just as Arizona and Callie walked inside. "So, what we have done here..."

"What did we miss?" Callie asked.

Richard sighed. "ORs are sloppy."

"There are doctors in the ceiling," Bailey added.

"What?" Arizona asked, furrowing her brows in confusion. "What do—What does that even mean?"

"We'd know if you'd just put her stupid tights on her," Callie replied in frustration while Bailey clicked her tongue and turned back to Cahill.

"I was talking her into it, okay? She was getting on board."

Callie frowned. "Uh—she's two. At a certain point, she doesn't have to get on board. She has to be in daycare. So, you pick her up and you yank her tights on her."

"That's what you do, and then she cries," Arizona argued.

"This sounds riveting," Ellie whispered, leaning over to them. "Could you talk about it later? And not when our hospital is being changed drastically?"

"Because when every second counts, you need the most efficient approach," Cahill continued and Ellie sighed, crossing her arms. "Your average time between surgeries is thirty-seven minutes. With these new OR procedures, I'd like that to be cut in half." The blonde bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head. "Thank you, everyone."

"Good grief," she muttered, following Jackson and her friends out of the OR.

Cristina shook her head. "Closing the ER should cut down on time," she told them. "We won't have any patients."

"How's Hunt feel about that?" Jackson asked while Ellie and Meredith both glanced at the interns who were lining the walls.

"Oh, he says he's not gonna do anything until it actually happens," Cristina answered.

Ellie tilted her head. "Well, it's happening."

"And he can't be a trauma surgeon without an ER," Alex added. "Is he gonna leave town? 'Cause if you go with him, I'm screwed. I'm kinda depending on your rent check."

Ellie frowned. "You're making it sound like he's on the run from the law."

Cristina rolled her eyes. "Way to make this all about you, Alex."

"The ER is not gonna close," Meredith told the group and Ellie glanced at her. "Derek has a plan."

"Oh, well good," she said sarcastically before looking around the hallway. "And—uh—where is he exactly?"

"He spent the night with Kepner."

Ellie paused and looked at Jackson who looked as confused as she did. "I have questions..." He nodded and they both continued down the hall when Alex looked at her.

"Have you spoken to Bailey yet?" he asked.

She let out a breath and Jackson pressed his lips together. "No."

"Will you."

"No."

☀️

ELLIE WAS SITTING at the nurse's station, her eyes glossing over her patient's chart, when Alex came up to her. He leaned against the counter with an innocent smile that made her pause and look up. "What's wrong with you?"

"Do you remember when you were chief resident and I did you a favor by running the pit that one day?" he asked her and she raised her eyebrows. "And you said that you owed me one."

She sighed and closed her chart. "I knew that would come back to haunt me..." she muttered. "Alright, what do you want?"

"I want you to talk to our scary kid," he replied and she furrowed her brows making him let out a breath. "She's thirteen, just had a double hip replacement, and she won't get out of bed and move. She's..."

"Depressed?" she finished and he nodded. "Alright. Peds or ortho?"

"Peds."

She nodded and made her way toward the hallway. Once she arrived at the girl's room, she saw Callie and Arizona watching her through the window from the outside. "Really? Three of you?" she asked and they looked at her. "There are three of you and you couldn't get her to stand up?"

"She uses reverse psychology," Callie told her, turning back to look at the girl through the window. "And she's scary. And man."

Ellie frowned. "I thought you said you were the bad cop?"

She let out a breath and glanced inside the room before knocking on the door and turning the knob. "Oh, great," Simmi, their patient, said with an eye roll. "Another one."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, too," Ellie replied, sitting down on the empty chair beside her bed and crossing one leg over the other. "How are you feeling?"

"Why do you care?"

She shrugged. "Well, it is my job—I get paid to care."

"Whatever you say, it's not going to work," Simmi told her and Ellie tilted her head. "My life is over. My career is over."

She nodded. "Did you know that most gymnasts retire in their early twenties?" Simmi looked up briefly at her. "You spend your entire life training for a few years in the spotlight before your body decides that it's done. I believe you when you said that you'd be going to the Rio Olympics, but then what?"

"Well, I—I would..."

Ellie sighed and pressed her lips together. "I'm really sorry that you can't do gymnastics anymore, but you do still have a life," she said before looking outside the room window. "Do you see that blonde surgeon out there?" Simmi followed her gaze, seeing Arizona. "About four months ago, we were in a plane crash and she severely broke her leg, to the point that she lost it, which I'm sure she's already told you." She nodded. "My brother was in that crash, too."

"Did he lose a leg, too?" Simmi asked and Ellie shook her head.

"No," she replied softly. "He died a few weeks after we were rescued." She let out a breath and leaned forward in her chair. "Look, Simmi, you may think that your life is over, but it's not. This... setback just means that you get to find a new passion. If Dr. Robbins can stand up after losing her leg and I can get up after my brother's death, then you can, too.

"You just have to start small. Start with standing up because you won't feel better until you do. So..." She stood up and pushed down the sides of the bed before holding out her hand to the teen. "What do you say?"

Simmi looked at her outstretched hand. "You got back up?" she asked, glancing back up at the surgeon.

Ellie nodded. "I did."

Simmi let out a breath before taking the blonde's hand. Ellie smiled and helped her out of the bed while the others quickly hurried in, Callie with a walker.

"Good," she said, holding her steady. "You're doing great. How are you feeling?"

Simmi looked back at her. "I got back up."

She nodded with a smile. "You got back up."

☀️

ELLIE STOOD BESIDE Jo, holding her head in her hands in annoyance, while watching a photographer trail Jackson wherever he went when Alex and Stephanie walked in.

"Great, great," the photographer was saying. "Now, if you could just... move a little closer to her—him."

"Oh, I—I'm the him," Brian said, correcting the man. "She's the her. I—I—No, I was born a her, and Jess was born a him. I know it gets confusing."

"You're kidding." Ellie let out a frustrated breath and looked over at Alex. "Cahill's got more of you guys trailing me?"

She shook her head. "Actually, he's been trailing Jackson."

He nodded. "It's for this brand ambassador thing or something," he added while Ellie rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall. "It's not a—It's not a big deal. Just—uh—we'll be done in a sec."

"Ready?" the photographer asked. "One, two, three."

Jackson looked over. "How's that?"

"This has been going on for ten minutes," Ellie said with a sigh, still watching the apparent photoshoot. "My entire day is going to be delayed because of this. And Wilson and I are bored, aren't we?"

"Well—"

"We're bored." Alex looked at Jo who nodded in confirmation.

Once Jackson had finally finished, the three surgeons stood in a corner of the room with Ellie still holding her head in annoyance.

"You really think it's okay to let these people in here?" Alex asked.

Jackson shrugged. "The patient's fine with it."

"If he gets to stay, I get to stay," Alex's photographer argued making the blonde roll her neck; there was too much unnecessary tension happening.

"It's the ambassador thing," Alex said, turning to Jackson. "You think this kid makes you look good."

"I always look good."

Ellie shrugged. "He's not wrong."

"We're at UW together," Jess said to the photographers while the surgeons turned back to Brian. "I'm a sophomore and Brian's a freshman."

"Uh—actually, no," Brian replied, shaking his head. "It was—uh—actually Dr. Sloan and Dr. Karev who introduced us. A few years ago, I booked an appointment to see how old I had to be to, you know, start the process."

Alex nodded. "He was fourteen."

"And—uh—Dr. Sloan told me about this transgender support group," he added making her smile. "That's where Jess and I met."

"Brian walked in that first day and all I could think was, 'Oh, my God, he's so cute,'" Jess said while Jo handed Ellie the chart. "I thought he'd never notice me."

Brian frowned. "It's impossible not to notice you. I've been saving up for this ever since that appointment."

"Wow, Dr. Karev, you really changed Brian's life," his photographer told him.

"And Dr. Sloan," Jo interjected making Ellie chuckle. "Just saying..."

The blonde nodded. "Why, thank you, Wilson."

"Well, you could also say that I'm changing Brian's life," Jackson said and she shook her head. "Today, in surgery, where I'll be taking the lead."

"And what is today's surgery exactly?" his photographer asked. "A full gender reassignment?"

Brian shook his head. "Oh, no. Uh—nothing that drastic yet. Today we're just chopping off my boobs."

"Alright, can we get back on track now?" Ellie asked the room before looking at the interns. "Wilson, Edwards, could you please take the photographers outside?" She looked at the two competing surgeons. "And you two... behave."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED OVER to the nurse's station and looked at Meredith and Cristina. "Is today over yet?" she asked. "I'm stuck on a case with two men competing to be the face of the hospital."

Cristina raised her eyebrows. "Well, what's so bad about that?"

"Uh—one is my boyfriend and the other is one of my best friends," she replied with a sigh. "Oh, and they're both really annoying whenever the photographers are around."

Meredith forcefully clicked on her tablet just as the two competing surgeons and their interns joined them. "Every time I touch this thing, it deletes another patient!"

"It deletes a patient?" Ellie repeated as Jackson held out an apple to her.

"I did the exactly same thing this morning," Jo said, taking the tablet from the general surgeon. "Here. Let me see..."

Meredith glanced at the photographers in the corner. "Who are the stalkers?"

"The reason my life sucks today," Ellie replied, taking a bite of her apple and she nodded.

"Ah. And why are there no women in the running?" she asked.

"Did you want to be the face of the hospital?" Ellie questioned in response and she shook her head making her chuckle.

"And there was," Cristina added. "I turned them down. This face only goes on the Nobel brochure."

Ellie laughed softly just as Cahill walked in the hallway behind her. "And here we have a fully centralized electronic records system," she said and Ellie glanced at her. "Everything you need to know about any client at any time. Smart, streamlined, efficient—"

"Oh, efficient," Meredith interrupted with a tight nod. "It would be more efficient if it didn't keep deleting my patients!"

"Sing it, Grey!" Callie called from the conference room.

The blonde looked over and immediately rolled her eyes when she saw Bailey walking towards her. "Ellie... could we talk?"

"No, we cannot," she replied, taking Alex's arm. "We have a consult."

"But—"

"You've said plenty," she interrupted, looking back at the general surgeon. "We got it, you blame us. Just keep your mouth shut."

She shook her head and began walking in the opposite direction. Alex raised his eyebrows and looked at the others before following her. "Damn."

She looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "Just... I've never seen you so mean before."

"I'm not mean," she contradicted with a small frown. "Just frustrated and a little pissed off." They made their way into the peds hallway where they saw Jess arguing with who they remembered to be Brian's father.

"He."

"She doesn't know what she wants!" his father argued.

"He! He!"

They glanced at each other before walking over. "Jess, is everything okay here?" Ellie asked her and Brian's father looked at them.

"Are you the ones?"

"What?"

Ellie jumped when Alex was suddenly pinned against the wall. "Are you the ones... who want to hack my little girl into pieces?!"

She looked over when she heard a camera click and rolled her eyes, ushering her out of the hallway. "Call security!"

Once they had arrived, and Brian's father had calmed down a little, security remained stationed in the hallway. "I'm sorry," his father said to Alex. "I... lost my cool."

"You think?" Jess asked.

"It's just—I learned about this surgery last night in an email," he said and Ellie tilted her head. "I mean, a stupid email! I had no idea about... any of this."

She nodded and looked back at the security guards. "Guys, you can go." They looked at Brian's father and she sighed. "We're fine. Thanks."

She sat down on the chair opposite the man and Alex stood behind her. "A surgery like this is a big adjustment for any parent," he said. "Let alone if you're hearing about it for the first time."

"Exactly," Ellie agreed. "So, let's just all take a breath and—"

"Dad." They all looked over when they heard Brian's voice and saw him standing in the doorway looking at his father. "What are you doing here?"

Ellie's phone rang and she immediately groaned. "Sorry, sorry. I'll be right back." She looked down at the contact and frowned. "April? I'm a little busy right now."

"I know, I'm sorry," she said. "And I wouldn't have called if it wasn't an emergency. Look, Andy suggested that I do a ride along with some paramedics so I can get first response action, so I talked to this guy, Matthew, and we got this call—a kid, about ten years old, hit and run."

"Damn it," came from, who Ellie assumed, to be Matthew. "He's still locked down. We can't intubate him."

"Well, can you ventilate him?" Ellie looked around the hallway, hearing the conversation from the other end of the phone call.

"Barely. His SATs are still in the gutter."

"Okay. Let's get him backboarded. We need to load and go."

"Ellie, Seattle Pres is slammed, so they're diverting us to Redmond," April said, turning back to her best friend who had begun walking through the hallway. "But that's an hour and he... he doesn't have an hour. He—He doesn't."

She sighed. "Okay, okay. How are his vitals?"

"Bad," she answered. "We've got no airway, I can' crike. He's got sub-q emphysema. He will die en route if we have to go way out there. He'll die."

Ellie paused just as she found Jackson at a nurse's station. "April..." He turned around when he heard her voice and furrowed his brows when he saw her face. "Are you asking me what I think you're asking?"

"If I am, will you do it?"

"You know I would." She let out a breath and handed Jackson her phone. "It's April," she said when he opened his mouth. "She's got a critically injured kid and they want to send him an hour away when he doesn't have an hour."

He shrugged. "So go to Seattle Pres."

"They're the ones sending him an hour away." She ran a hand through her tangled hair. "Okay, stay on the phone with her, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"To find Hunt!" she called out to him, starting to run down the hallway. She continued through the hospital frantically searching for the chief of surgery. When she finally found him, he was speaking with Alana Cahill and the group of salespeople she had brought with her. "I am so sorry to interrupt," she said, looking around. "Uh—chief, do you have a minute?"

He nodded and turned to Cahill and the group. "Give me a moment."

Ellie smiled politely at them before yanking on his arm, pulling him away from prying ears. "April's calling with a hit-and-run kid. He's in bad shape."

"Wait." Owen furrowed his brows. "Kepner's in the field?"

"They diverted her to Redmond," she continued, not answering his question. "Okay? Owen, we're closer. Much closer. So can we arrange—?"

"Absolutely not," Cahill said, moving to stand beside Owen and Ellie bit the inside of her cheek. "We are not a trauma center anymore. If we take them in, and something happens to them—"

"Owen, it's a kid!" Ellie insisted, turning back to look at him. "A kid who will die if we don't help him."

He shook his head. "Protocol dictates the patient goes to the nearest trauma center, and that's not us. I'm sorry."

"Owen!" She scoffed in disbelief and watched as he and Cahill walked away. She let out a breath and turned around just as Jackson came up to her with Jo and Stephanie trailing behind him.

"She had to hang up, but she's desperate, Ellie."

She sighed and glanced at the two interns. "Can I trust you guys?" she asked them and they nodded. Ellie looked back at Jackson. "You know what? Screw Cahill and her stupid sales pitch. We're supposed to help people and she's keeping us from doing that. Call April back—they're coming here."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED INTO the empty ER. Jackson and the two interns trailed behind her and Jo looked around. "Wow. They really cleared the place out. Okay, where do we start?"

"Start by guarding the door," she said as she and Jackson began sorting through the supplies left behind. "It's important, Wilson. No one can know about this. Nobody comes in. Understood?"

She nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"Well, except for—and she's gone." She shook her head. "Never mind then." Jackson began moving the ladders out of the way when she paused. "Do you hear—?"

"Medusa me all you want. You're not getting in."

"I am an attending and I'm ordering you to let me in."

Ellie sighed and hung her head. She walked over to the door, poking her head out to see Jo walking toward Meredith. "Well, you're not my attending today, so—"

Meredith shook her head. "Don't make me force you."

"I'd like to see you try."

Ellie cleared her throat. "Uh—hello. Jo, it's okay. I paged her, she's cool. But... I appreciate the enthusiasm. Do that to Cahill if you see her."

Jo nodded and looked back at Meredith, stepping out of the way. "I hope you understand that I would never ordinarily speak to you that way and I look forward to working on your service again soon."

"How can I help?" Meredith asked Ellie, ignoring the intern.

"Follow me."

☀️

"JACKSON GOT US a monitor," Ellie said as several more surgeons spilled into the ER and she looked around. "Also a ventilator and central line kits."

Meredith nodded. "I have saline, infusion pumps, a crash cart, and... Cristina."

Ellie furrowed her brows at the sudden appearance of the cardio surgeon. "I'm sorry," Jo said and she looked at her. "They overpowered me."

She sighed. "The fewer people who know about this, the better, guys."

"I brought lackeys," Cristina said, pointing to Shane, Leah, and Heather who were standing beside Jo.

"What?" Jackson asked, shaking his head. "No, we don't need interns."

"No, that's a good idea," Ellie countered. "The room has three internal exits. Each one has a lookout now."

Cristina nodded. "Exactly. Happy, ponytail, you man the doors. Mousy—um—be the nurse. We need gloves."

"On it."

"We're gonna need lights," Meredith reminded Ellie who shook her head.

"No, if I turn on more overheads, you can see it from the hallway." Her phone rang and she looked down. "April? Yep. Okay." She looked around. "Alright, they're pulling up now. Let's go."

Heather, Meredith, and Cristina ran to the door when the intern ran into the glass door. "Oh!"

"Oh, brother..." Ellie sighed.

"I'm okay," Heather assured them.

Cristina looked at Jackson. "That's why we needed interns."

"The door won't open?" Ellie asked, walking over to it. Jackson tried to pry open the electronic doors just as April banged on them.

"Ellie! Jackson!"

The blonde dragged her interns with her and joined Jackson. "Come on, people, pull!"

"It's starting to give," Ross told them; was it, though?

Just then, Alex walked over to Meredith. "Go sit down, Mer."

"Oh, come on," she replied with a frustrated groan. "Just because my uterus is occupied—"

"Just give Alex your spot, Mer!" Ellie interrupted and Jackson furrowed his brows at the sight of the peds surgeon.

"What—"

"Don't worry, I ditched my PR chick before I got down here," he said though that still left Jackson confused.

"How did you know—"

"I paged him," Ellie answered, still pulling on the door. "It's a kid, I need another peds surgeon. Did you bring the stuff, Alex?"

He nodded. "I brought a peds cart with a bunch of crap. Alright, are we doing this?"

"On my count, guys," Ellie said, looking around. "One, two, three!"

With a final, collective groan, the door slowly opened and April, Matthew, and Nicole hurried inside with the stretcher.

"We need to do rapid sequence intubation, stat!"

"We could only get a twenty and a twenty-two gauge in the field," Nicole informed them as chaos ensued. The doctors all surrounded the kid.

"I'll start a central line," April said. "I need some lactated ringers."

Matthew nodded. "On it."

"I got it," Ellie called out from beside Alex. "I can see the chords. Paralytics are working. Alright—uh—I—I need an ET tube."

Alex looked at Heather who nodded, turning to the peds cart. "Orange drawer," he told her. "Orange drawer."

"I knew that."

"No chest sounds on the right," Cristina told the group. "I have to throw in a chest tube."

"Uh—I think I saw betadine somewhere," Heather replied, still looking through the carts full of supplies.

Jackson looked around. "Wait a second, does anybody actually have chest tubes?" he asked and there was silence making him groan.

"I'm trying to set up this saline drip, and I can't get this thing to stop beeping," Meredith said. "Anyone?"

Matthew shrugged. "I can give it a shot."

"Alright, I'm not finding chest tubes, but I got N.G. tubes," Jackson told the group, looking through the supplies in the carts. "Did anybody bring suction?"

"Uh—there's a portable suction in the rig," Matthew answered.

"Okay."

Nicole sighed. "I'll get it."

"Thank you."

"Incoming!" Ross called out from his position at the door and Ellie looked up.

"Lights."

Jackson obliged the blonde and quickly turned them off, all of them continuing to work in silence. "All clear!"

Ellie nodded just as the lights turned back on. "I'm in," she said. "Brooks, bag him."

"I'm back." Nicole hurried into the ER with the machine in her hands. "I got it."

"Alex, help me secure this N.G. tube," Ellie said, taking the machine from the paramedic. "Alright, hook it up so we can suction."

"Okay, who's got the portable ultrasound?" Meredith asked the group and she looked around when nobody answered. "We don't have one?"

Cristina sighed. "Happy?"

"On it."

"Wilson, get in here," Meredith said to the intern. "We need some more hands."

"I need some four-by-fours to control the bleeding on the scalp," Alex added.

"All three lines are patent," April told them. "We can start dopamine at five mics per kilo per minute, but we need to figure out his IV drip-rate. It's different for kids, depending on the size. Um—anybody have a calculator?"

Cristina shrugged. "I always ask a nurse."

Everybody looked at Heather. "Not a real nurse," she reminded them.

"Broselow tape says he's thirty kilos," Jo said.

Ellie nodded. "Okay, okay, so the standard concentration of dopamine is 1600 mics per cc. So 5 times 30 is 150 times 60 minutes in an hour is 9000." Everybody looked over at her. "Infusion rate is 5.625 cc's per hour. There you go."

Jackson shrugged. "Oh, I love that brain of yours."

"Just like Lexie..." Meredith mumbled.

"Okay." April nodded. "Let's—uh—give him 5.6—"

"Exactly we don't have any dopamine, guys," Jackson interrupted. "We don't have access to any non-code medications at all unless we have a nurse or a code—"

Ellie looked over at the entrance. "Yes, we do." He quirked an eyebrow upward and glanced at her. "We needed meds and he has all the codes," she said, gesturing to Derek. "The nurses love him."

"Tell me what the patient needs."

☀️

ELLIE HAD BEEN pulled into a hip replacement that Callie asked her to take. Which meant that she had left the little boy, and the fate of their secrecy, in everybody else. When the surgery had finally finished, she had scrubbed out and found all of the surgeons sitting in front of the conference room, arriving at the same time as Jackson and Alex.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Did Cahill figure it out?" Alex added.

April sighed. "They're taking us in one at a time to see who'll break first," she told them and Ellie looked into the room.

"They started with the interns," Meredith said.

She shook her head and opened the door. "We're just trying to find out what happened..." Owen was saying as she walked inside.

"Should we stop her?" Ross asked.

The attendings all shook their heads. "No."

"You want to know what happened?" she asked, looking at Cahill. "I'll tell you what happened. A kid was dying and we kept him alive. Because that's our job."

"Dr. Sloan, hello," Cahill greeted her. "You mentioned the word 'we'. Who else was involved?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she replied, leaning against the table. "And it won't matter. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because that kid is alive," she said. "And, sure, we went against your rules, your 'suggestions'. But we did it because that kid was going to die since you closed our ER."

"Dr. Sloan—"

"Furthermore," she continued, interrupting the woman. "I've been on the phone with Catherine Avery. She and Dr. Harper own many hospitals across the country, even more than Pegasus, as well as a rather powerful foundation. And, not to mention, she's also Jackson's mother which means that I have their full support.

"So... if you want to reprimand me, or anyone else who helped me, I have Catherine on speed dial. And I don't think you want to deal with her."

"You have to get on board, Dr. Sloan," Cahill told her and she paused. "Because if you do, then everybody else will follow suit."

Ellie shrugged. "Then tough luck. Because I am done taking the blame for everything."

☀️

ELLIE HAD CALLED all of the plane crash survivors to the hospital roof. "Ellie?" Derek asked, wrapping his coat tighter around her. "Why are we up here?"

She looked at Meredith. "Where's Cristina?"

"I've been calling her, but she won't answer," she replied with a shrug.

"Okay, then, I'll just tell you three." Ellie turned to Derek, Meredith, and Arizona. "Today we did something crazy, potentially idiotic, and career-ruining, but we did the right thing." They glanced amongst each other. "Pegasus will ruin this hospital. I've read about them. They treat it like a business. Everything is on a time crunch. There are no personal feelings about being doctors. But... I think we can change the future of this hospital."

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked.

She let out a breath. "Collectively, we have ninety million dollars. Which isn't nearly enough to cover the cost, but it's a start."

"A start for what?" Arizona asked.

"To buy the hospital," Ellie said and they looked back at her. "I think we should buy Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. What do you say?"

☀️

━ author's note:

we're getting 'boss ellie' so soon and she's one of my favorite versions of her