chapter sixty ━ new management
( season nine, episode seventeen )

❝I want to know who the hell sent
my kidney flying coach to Seattle
when I sent two surgeons to pick
it up.❞

"ELLIE AND JACKSON Avery really have a bigger say in running this hospital than any of us?" Arizona asked the group.

Cristina shook her head. "That can't be true. Can it?"

Ellie was sorting through the large pile of paperwork in front of her, briefly glancing up at the rest of the room who were still angrily chittering about Jackson's addition to the board. Something he had complained to her about the previous night.

Derek shrugged. "Well, he's a voting member of the management team and he and Ellie also represent the Harper Avery Foundation."

"And their one hundred-seventy-five million bucks," Meredith added from the seat beside her husband.

Arizona sighed while Ellie tilted her head; had she become invisible? "As opposed to our fifteen million apiece. Well—and Ellie's forty million."

"According to Stan, not only do they have the deciding vote but they can veto ours," Derek said and Ellie looked around.

It seemed as though they had all forgotten that they were complaining about her while sitting next to her.

Cristina stared back at Derek. "This is ridiculous. He's a fellow."

"So are you," Ellie reminded her and the group jumped at her voice. "Oh, did you forget that I was here? If you want to complain about people, you may want to ensure they're not within your earshot. Just a thought..."

"But he's a plastics fellow," Cristina argued making Ellie roll her eyes. "And I'm me."

"You need a new argument," she countered. "It's getting old."

"Let's not overreact," Meredith interjected, preventing either of them from continuing. "I mean, it's Ellie and Jackson, they aren't some corporate strangers. And, besides, this was all Ellie's idea."

Derek nodded. "And Jackson's a smart kid," he added. "He's gonna follow our lead."

"Well, actually—"

"Let's get on with this," Arizona interrupted Ellie who let out a small breath. "So we're all agreed that the peds and adults ERs will be combined to save on personnel?"

Ellie raised her hand. "Well—"

She was once again interrupted when the group all nodded in agreement. She looked behind her when she heard the door open and Jackson walked inside with a box of donuts in his hand. She smiled softly; that's what Mark had done when he was chief.

"I'm sorry, guys," he said, dropping his own stack of files on the table beside Ellie. "I was running on time and then my last rounds' patient turned into a crier."

He looked at Ellie who pulled out the chair and he sat down just as Meredith cleared her throat. "Uh—we were discussing the reopening of the ER and the trauma department."

"I tried..." Ellie whispered to him.

He nodded. "Uh—we—we're not quite ready for that just yet—"

Derek looked at Ellie and Jackson. "If you two need more time with the material, we can go ahead and just—"

She shook her head. "We've read it all," she interrupted, clearing her throat. "Uh—it's just that—"

"The Foundation feels like the ER is not a foregone conclusion," Jackson added and she pressed her lips together. "They need a site visit, a chance to look over the numbers. It could be a month before a decision."

Arizona chuckled. "Okay, the Foundation knows that we plan on getting our level one trauma designation back, right?"

Ellie nodded. "Yes, they know. Look, we're working on—"

"I think we should table this until we can bring in Owen," Cristina said and Ellie rolled her neck. "Uh—he'll have lots of thoughts on this, too."

"That's the other thing."

Derek looked at Jackson. "What thing?" he asked before shifting his gaze to Ellie who shifted in her seat. "Ellie, what thing?"

"Uh—" She pressed her lips together and picked at her fingernails. "So—uh—the Foundation thinks that since we're—we're starting fresh, they—their thought is that new leadership would be good for morale. But we're—"

"What, like, a new chief of surgery?" Cristina asked her. "Okay, we're not firing Owen."

Jackson tilted his head. "Well, the Foundation thinks that—"

"Your mother," Cristina countered.

"The Harper Avery Foundation—"

"Your mother, Avery, just say it!"

Ellie let out a breath. "Look, nothing has happened yet, nor will anything happen, okay? We are on your side and personally, I don't want Owen gone."

"This is going nowhere," Arizona said with a sigh and Ellie hung her head. "I have surgery."

Derek nodded. "Yeah, me too. We should get back to this."

Ellie looked up at him and he shook his head, trailing behind Arizona through the door. She pressed her lips together and held her head in her hands.

"You know, I don't care who's giving you your marching orders, this thing with Owen is not happening," Cristina said.

The blonde looked up. "You can be as angry as you like, Cristina, but without the Foundation, this hospital would be gone. Just stop fighting us at every corner. We're never gonna get anywhere if we can't agree on one freaking thing."

"We appreciate that they wanted to help, Ellie," Meredith said and she glanced at her. "But we didn't think that they'd go around changing everything we had ideas for. That you fought for." Jackson looked at Ellie. "This was your idea."

She watched the door close before rubbing a hand over her face in frustration. Jackson leaned back in his chair and let out a breath. "Well, that went well..."

"Did you see his face?" she asked quietly and he looked at her. "Derek. He... I've seen that look on his face only one other time in my life and it was when I didn't do well on a test. It's not anger, it's... it's disappointment. He... He's disappointed with me."

He shook his head. "That's not true."

Ellie scoffed. "Of course it is." She began gathering the papers into her arms, bending down to collect the ones that had fallen from her grasp. "Who am I kidding? Everything's been my fault. Why the hospital went into bankruptcy, why Cahill came here, the Foundation wanting to help—it's all because of me... apparently. People have been blaming me for months, why wouldn't they join?"

"Ellie—" Jackson sighed when she closed the door behind her. "—it's not your fault."

☀️

"AVERY, SLOAN!" ELLIE looked up from her paperwork when she heard Owen's sharp shout and found him walking towards them with a frustrated look on his face. "Am I in or out?"

She furrowed her brows. "Uh—I'm sorry?"

"Word is I might be out of a job," he said and she opened her mouth. "So, I'd like to hear it from the two of you since you're now in charge."

Ellie looked at Jackson who sighed and nodded slowly. "Well, there was a thought that a change in leadership could be good for staff morale—"

"Oh, for morale?" he interrupted, raising his eyebrows. "I've been killing myself trying to keep morale up for the past three weeks, to keep this place open!"

"And no one is taking away that fact, Owen," Ellie replied, moving to stand between the two men. "We're just—"

"Nobody's saying anything!" he argued and she pressed her lips together. "I've been shut out of every decision that you people make, and now I hear this?"

"Owen, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

Ellie threw up her hands in frustration just as Derek walked over to the three, hearing the commotion. "Guys, let's take this somewhere else."

"Oh, this is coming from you, too?" Owen asked, rounding on the neurosurgeon. "You're all just talking about a new chief?"

"No," Derek countered, shaking his head. "No, it was brought up and we tabled it."

"Oh, you tabled it?" Owen asked, raising his eyebrows and Ellie bit the inside of her cheek. "You shouldn't even be talking about it!"

Ellie stepped forward. "Okay, for everybody's sake, just take a freaking breath!"

Jackson nodded. "Listen, this is a decision that we have—"

"Avery, enough."

Ellie looked back at the man. "Derek, he's a part of this—"

"You know as well as I do there are politics here," Derek said to Owen, ending the conversation with Ellie who scoffed and walked to the other side. "We're just trying to find our way. Just sit tight."

"I am through sitting tight!" he hissed. "I am through looking like an idiot while you all lie to me!"

Derek shook his head. "No, we're not lying to you."

"Oh." Owen nodded, sarcastically. "When you said that we were in this together, I thanked you, and then one hour later you quit. You're a liar."

"Well, that was actually me," Ellie piped up.

"You lied to the staff," he continued.

Derek let out a breath. "We are doing the best we can."

"And then I'm this poor sucker running around trying to fix this mess that you all made!"

"You don't!" Derek snapped and Ellie winced at his shout. "You do not want to get into whose responsibility this is. You don't want to get into who's responsible for all of this. You don't!"

Owen nodded and let out a breath, turning back to Ellie and Jackson who had been watching. "Well, I can make this easier for you. I quit."

"Owen!" she called after him as he walked away before looking behind her. "Thanks a lot, Derek. Real helpful."

"This is not my fault," he countered and she scoffed. "This is—"

He paused abruptly and glanced at Ellie who crossed her arms. "This is what?" she asked, tilting her head. Jackson raised his eyebrows; he had never heard her speak in that tone before. "Our fault?" He stayed quiet and she nodded to herself, looking at Jackson. "See? Everything's my fault."

"Ellie, that's not what I—"

"No, I think it's exactly what you wanted it to mean," she interrupted, shaking her head. "Well, that's too bad for you. Whether you wanted it or not, which you've abundantly clear, you didn't, I outrank you. It sucks to be you." She ran a hand through her hair. "And now thanks to you, our chief of surgery just quit which means that this entire damn hospital is a sinking ship because we're all too freaking clueless and you won't listen to us. And who's fault is that?"

She turned around before pausing. "It's nice to know that you had no faith in me, Derek. Means the world."

"Where are you going?" Jackson asked her.

"Our chief of surgery just quit," she repeated, glancing behind her. "We have three transplants happening today."

"So?" Derek asked.

"Owen was taking care of it, you idiot!" Ellie snapped and he sighed. "If you'll both excuse me."

☀️

"DOES EVERYONE ELSE seem to hate you?"

Jackson looked up from his paperwork and saw Ellie collapse in a chair across from him. "You, too?"

She nodded, resting her head in her hand. "Everyone's either giving me the silent treatment or very vocally telling me that I'm just like the rest of the survivors and the only reason I'm in this position is because of your mother. Which is true, but still... it doesn't sound great to hear all the time."

"Sounds about right," he agreed with a sigh, closing his binder. "I saw that you got the OR board in order."

"Well, I tried." She fluttered her lips and dropped her head on the table. "We've been doing this for one day," she said, her voice muffled from the surface. "We've been in charge for one day and everyone hates us. The rest of the board hates us. Why did your mother force us to do this?"

"I've learned to stop questioning her choices," he replied. "Despite what Derek said, none of this is your fault."

"It sure feels like it," she muttered, standing up. She took half of his paperwork and made her way out of the conference room. "I never wanted to be in charge." Jackson quickly followed behind her. "I just wanted it to go back to normal. Hunt is chief and I'm a surgeon. Instead—" She looked around the hallway. "—we're social pariahs."

"They'll get used to it," Jackson told her and she gave him a look. "Or not."

Ellie chuckled softly and dropped the files on the nurse's station. She groaned when a binder fell to the floor with a loud thump making Richard look over at them.

"Are you okay there?" he asked them. "You look a little overwhelmed. Anything I can help you with?"

Ellie looked up. "Would you like to own the hospital and learn what all of this legal jargon means?" she asked in response.

Before Richard could reply, Bailey walked up to them. "Have you two actually looked at those protocols or are you just gonna keep carrying 'em around?"

"Right." Jackson nodded. "Your hernia. Uh—I'm gonna get you an answer just as soon as I—"

"Too late," Bailey cut him off. "I already did it. My way."

Ellie shook her head. "That's not—Bailey, you shouldn't—"

"Well, you two couldn't make a decision, so I made it myself," she replied and Ellie let out a breath, rolling her neck. "You gonna get rid of me like you did Hunt?"

"Oh, for—We did not get rid of Hunt!" Ellie exclaimed. "It—"

Cristina held up a clipboard in front of her face. "Sign this."

"What is it?"

"Authorization," Cristina answered as the blonde began going through the papers. "For a domino transplant."

Ellie nodded. "Yes, I can see that. Why am I—?"

"Because you are at the top of the pyramid, and it comes with certain responsibilities," Cristina told her. "Either you or Avery has to sign this."

She let out a breath. "We need to know what it is first."

Cristina shrugged. "Well, I could take the time to explain to you how a heart-lung domino transplant works, but by then, both of my patients will be dead."

"I know how a damn domino works!"

"Then sign it."

"Fine!" Ellie snapped, writing her loopy signature at the bottom and all but throwing the clipboard back at Cristina. "Go away."

"Avery, Ellie."

Jackson hung his head. "What now?"

Alex walked over to the couple. "I want to know who the hell sent my kidney flying coach to Seattle when I sent two surgeons to pick it up."

Ellie furrowed her brows. "What?"

"He's talking about the protocols," Bailey told them. "Look..." She opened the binder Ellie had dropped and held it out to them. "Pegasus policy states, look, 'donated kidneys coming from outside a certain radius will be flown unaccompanied, saving personnel hours.' So when the other hospital called, the nurse just told them to put it on a plane. Told you they were stupid rules. You should read them sometime."

"Thank you very much, Bailey."

"Does anybody know what's going on around here?" Alex asked.

Ellie bit her tongue and Bailey looked at her and Jackson. "Tough day, boss?"

"Shut up," she muttered, walking away. She opened the binder and began reading the protocols, not paying attention to where she was walking. As she rounded the corner, she collided with another person.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She looked up from the binder and saw it was Derek. "Oh. Sorry."

She maneuvered around him and continued the hall. "Ellie, wait!"

"For what?" she asked, still looking down at the binder. "Is there another thing that's also my fault?"

"Look, I'm sorry!" Ellie let out a breath and paused. "I'm sorry about earlier." She turned around and looked at him. "It was... stupid and selfish and... completely wrong." He sighed and pulled her into an empty exam room. "Hunt quitting wasn't your fault, it was mine." She raised her eyebrows. "Owen is an easy person to blame for the crash because... because the real person I'm angry at isn't here anymore."

She furrowed her brows. "What?"

"I'm angry at Mark," he said. "I'm more than angry, actually, I'm pissed. I'm pissed that he's dead, I'm pissed that his death..." He sighed and looked at her. "I'm pissed at how much you miss him." She looked up and saw tears in his eyes. "These past few months, I've seen you struggle so much with his death, and I've tried to be there for you, but I—I didn't know how. I didn't know how to help him when... I'm still pissed at him."

Ellie pressed her lips together. "But that doesn't excuse what I said," he continued. "I know that you didn't choose to be put in that position with the Foundation and it's not your fault that the hospital went bankrupt. We all agreed to do this; we had a chance to say no and we said yes. Please, Ellie, you need to know how sorry I am."

She bit the inside of her cheek. "Do you think I can do this?" she asked quietly, her blue irises meeting his. "Because all day, people have been telling me that I'm not cut out for this, that I'm too young and inexperienced to run a hospital. That Jackson and I are only going to run this hospital into the ground.

"Even the rest of you don't have faith in us. Look, Jackson didn't choose to be a part of the board. And you're making it even harder. You shut down everything we suggest when we have a set of rules to follow. Because if we don't follow them, then the Foundation is just gonna bring in a bunch of strangers in perfectly ironed suits who don't know you and won't cooperate with you. We're doing everything we can to keep this hospital afloat. We're trying so damn hard and you're all making it impossible!"

"Ellie—"

"Just show me that we have your support, Derek," she interrupted, opening the door. "Be my supportive big brother."

She walked out of the room and began making her way toward the OR floor, knowing that Cristina's surgery was happening. However, instead of surgery, all she heard was angry shouts.

"Kepner, go back to your patient." Ellie poked her head around the corner and saw Alex, April, and Cristina at a standstill. Jackson was in the middle of them. "He can take as long as he needs. We'll wait. Yang, you're in OR two."

"What?" Alex asked, shaking his head. "No."

"Heart and lungs trump kidneys," Jackson replied with a shrug. "So you're gonna take the patient back to holding and the next OR that's available is yours."

Ellie tilted her head when nobody moved. "Have your legs suddenly stopped working?" she asked them. "He's the boss. Get moving, people." She looked over at Jackson as the hallway emptied. "I think we need a word with your mother."

"Okay." He furrowed his brows and looked down at her. "Wait, why?"

"Because I think there needs to be some changes around here," she replied, leaning against the wall. "On our terms. This is our hospital, not the Foundation's. We should start acting like it."

☀️

ELLIE SAT BESIDE Jackson in the conference room as the hospital lawyer passed Arizona the contract. "Well... that's it, then," she said after she signed her name on the bottom.

"We're officially the new board of directors."

"For better or worse."

"Congratulations, everyone."

Ellie cleared her throat as everybody stood up from the table. "Actually..." They all paused and looked at her. "Before you guys go home, Jackson and I would like to share a list of a few things that we think are our top priority."

"You mean that the Foundation thinks—"

"No." Jackson shook his head. "We don't. Not the Foundation or my mother." Ellie threw the binders into the trash and looked back at them. "We mean us."

Derek nodded. "Okay. Well... let's hear it."

Ellie smiled to herself. "Thank you. The first thing we'd like to do is reinstate Owen Hunt as chief of surgery effective immediately, which he has fortunately agreed to. With some conditions."

"Which brings me to our second point," Jackson continued. "We are reopening the ER. We will be a level one trauma center again. This will be a top priority once Owen is here to share his input."

Ellie nodded. "From now on, the Foundation is taking our lead. We will tell them our decisions as we make them. This is our hospital and they know that."

"Well, hear, hear!"

"Sounds good."

"There's one more thing," Ellie added, sitting down.

Derek tilted his head. "Maybe you shouldn't—"

"You'll like it," she assured him with a small smile. "We're here building a new hospital. And Jackson knows that this was our vision, not his."

He nodded. "However, my priority is to make sure your vision comes true. And while it's important that we become a leading center for research and innovation, we have to remember something—we are now officially a hospital run by doctors. That should mean something. It's our responsibility to be the best doctors we can possibly be so that those who come after us can strive to be their best. So..." Ellie glanced up when she felt his hand rest on her shoulder. "With that in mind, I move to rename the hospital."

"Again?"

"To—To what?" Arizona asked him. "The Harper Avery Hospital?"

Ellie shook her head. "No, there's one of those in Iowa."

Jackson nodded. "I propose we give this hospital a name that can honor the very reason we've come together and been able to do this. A name that exemplifies the spirit of this hospital, but also the depth of our dedication."

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital

Ellie smiled softly at the notebook, rubbing at the corners of her eyes. "All in favor?" she asked, hearing her voice break.

Meredith shared a smile with her. "Aye."

Derek nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"Aye."

☀️

"WHY DO I have to cover my eyes?" Ellie asked as Jackson unlocked the door to their apartment. "Are you just doing this to take a silly picture of me?"

He chuckled. "Of course not." He led her over to the couch and sat her down. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

She narrowed her eyes playfully at him before looking down at the small velvet box in his hand. "What's this?"

"I got some help," he replied, opening it. Inside was a silver necklace with an M and E intertwined on a jewel. She raised her eyebrows and took it in her hands, raising it to the light. "Open it."

Ellie glanced at him in confusion before doing so and was immediately met with the sight of her and her brother when she was a small child. She smiled tearfully. "Where'd you even get this picture?" she asked, her eyes moving across her brother's face. "It's my first day of preschool."

"Derek." She looked up. "I know it's not actually him, but I thought that this way you'd always have a piece of Mark with you through everything. Like he's still with you." She wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks. "Do you like it?"

She nodded. "More than you'll ever know." She kissed him and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'm gonna go call Derek. I need to know where he found this picture."

"I'll start dinner."

She pecked his lips and walked into their bedroom. He watched her go before hearing the door click shut. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He carefully opened it and smiled down at the silver ring that matched the necklace, a large diamond in the middle.

Jackson looked at the door and smiled to himself, putting the box back in his pocket.

"So, how does chicken sound?"

☀️

━ author's note:

hehe...