chapter sixty-two ━ the cdc
( season nine, episodes twenty & twenty-one )

❝I am not discussing this with
someone who took five years to
admit to her boyfriend
that she liked him.❞

JACKSON LOOKED OVER at Ellie who yawned as she stepped off the elevator that morning. "Did you not sleep again last night?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"Well, technically, I did sleep, just not well," she replied, rolling her neck to release any tension. "Every time I laid down, I got dizzy, so I spent the night on the couch so you wouldn't wake up. I dozed on and off, read three books, and watched The Wizard of Oz. You'll be happy to know that Dorothy did in fact make it back to Kansas after her magical adventure."

He nodded. "Um... good... But, still, Ellie, you need to sleep," he told her and she frowned, looking back at him. "I'm serious. At the very most, take a nap when you can."

She saluted dramatically. "Yes, sir!" Jackson cracked a smile and shook his head in amusement. "I promise, I will take care of myself. But not right now. I said I would help April and Owen with their project and I'm slightly regretting it..."

He furrowed his brows. "Why?" Ellie held up her phone and his eyes widened at the very long texts that April had sent her. "Oh."

"I don't think she slept last night either."

Ellie made her way to the lounge where she found April and Owen already inside with Callie and Richard. "Swag bags for the Syrians," April told her the minute she walked through the door, holding up a box. "Some—um—sweatshirts and baseball caps, post-its." She dug through the box. "Ooh! Really cool penlights."

Richard furrowed his brows. "You're sending post-its to Syria?" he asked, looking up at the two trauma surgeons.

Owen nodded. "Yeah. I'm working with Doctors Aid International. We've flown in two Syrian doctors; they're general practitioners. But with the war, they've been recruited to staff the field hospitals. They're getting advanced trauma training with Seattle Pres and are here for a crash course in basic surgical skills."

"They need to learn what they can do quick and dirty," Ellie added.

Richard looked over at her. "They roped you in?" he asked and she nodded. "Which must mean that..."

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "They're losing a lot of kids over there. I volunteered to help while Arizona and Alex took my patients."

Richard sighed. "Godspeed."

Owen cleared his throat. "Alright, let's get this stuff with the boxes of supplies we're sending back with them."

"Ah, so Bailey got her genome thing funded, you got this thing funded..." Callie said, walking over to Ellie who glanced up from her clipart. "I need to get my cartilage bankrolled while we still got bank."

She shrugged. "So long as you write a proposal and don't bother Jackson and me, go for it," she replied and Callie nodded, leaving the room while passing Stephanie.

"Dr. Hunt?"

"Hmm?"

"Dr. Avery's recommendation on your burn patient," Stephanie said, handing him the tablet before turning to Ellie. "And he asked me to tell you that you should still take a nap at some point today."

Ellie frowned. "I just saw him!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Tell him that I will, but he should stop using his intern to tell me things. Which... I realize I'm doing the same thing, but he started it!"

Stephanie nodded. "Got it."

"Tell Avery that's fine," Owen said to the intern, handing back the tablet. "Ready, Sloan, Kepner?"

Just as Ellie was about to follow the two redheads, Meredith walked into the room. "Actually, could I borrow you for a second, Ellie?"

"Uh—sure." She handed her clipboard to April. "I'll catch up with you, Apes." She nodded and hurried after Owen. Ellie turned to Meredith. "What's up? You look a little worried. Something wrong?"

"Well, there—there might not be, but given my luck, I probably should be worried," Meredith said, and Ellie furrowed her brows. "I mean, when has anything ever gone right—?"

"Take a breath, Mer," she cut her off, taking her by the shoulders. "Just talk. What's wrong?"

Meredith sighed. "Right now, our will states that if anything happens to me or Derek, then Zola and the baby would go to Lexie. Which obviously doesn't work anymore, so... we were kind of hoping that you would be their guardian if anything were to happen to either of us."

Ellie smiled. "Of course I will," she said softly. "I'm not letting my niece and nephew go to just anybody. But that doesn't mean you get to go and die on me."

She chuckled. "Understood."

☀️

"SO MEREDITH ASKED me if I would take Zola and the baby if anything happened to her and Derek."

Jackson briefly looked up from his paperwork. "And I imagine you said yes?" he guessed and she shrugged sheepishly making him chuckle. "Do I know you well, or do I know you well?"

"And that's okay with you?" she asked him, sitting down in the empty chair next to him. "That I said yes?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" he replied, setting aside his files. "They're family. I can't and won't stop you."

She smiled softly just as Callie sat down beside them and leaned forward. "My talk was a viral sensation." Jackson immediately hung his head while Ellie quirked an eyebrow upward. "Cartilage is trending... because of me."

"I couldn't be happier," Jackson replied in a bored tone.

"A cartilage regeneration lab would be a huge boon for this hospital."

He let out a frustrated breath. "We're not an ATM," he said to her. "We each have one vote just like your wife and everybody else on the board."

"Oh, no." Callie shook her head. "Arizona has to vote for me 'cause she's my wife. And your guys' votes are like a vote and a half which means it's three votes."

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you? You're arguing with math now."

"Is this how it works?" Alex asked suddenly making Ellie jump at his voice. "You all whisper to each other in your board meetings about your pet projects and that's where all the money goes?"

Richard nodded. "That is exactly how it works."

"That is not how it works," Ellie countered, shaking her head. "Everybody's supposed to submit their proposals in writing. I don't care who you know on the board, write the damn proposal like you're supposed to."

"Exactly," Jackson agreed with a nod. "You can't have people bugging board members while they're trying to work."

Callie frowned. "Uh—you're sitting in a chair."

"Waiting for a meeting, which is work," Ellie told her.

"I need money for my orphan thing," Alex said to her and Jackson. "I want to take it global."

"Great..."

"Who canceled my valve replacement?" Cristina asked, walking into the room and looking around the room.

"Hunt did," Ellie replied. "Half of everybody's day got canceled."

Just then, Owen and April walked into the room. "Thank you for coming, everyone," he began, clearing his throat. "Sorry we had to rearrange your schedule, but this is important."

April nodded. "We've got two Syrian doctors here," she continued. "They used to be GPs, but now they're operating in a field hospital in a war zone."

"We were planning on teaching them surgical procedures they could do with limited resources, but it turns out they have way less to work with than we anticipated," Owen finished.

Alex shrugged. "Just give 'em more stuff."

"But when it runs out in two weeks, they'll be right back where they started," Ellie said, turning to look at him.

Richard nodded. "He wants to help them function with what they know they have."

"Which is this," April told them, holding up the box of supplies in front of her.

"So..." Owen looked around the room. "We need to be able to do the procedures on this list using only what is in this box."

"Are you kidding me?" Cristina asked, looking at the list that Meredith was holding between them. "There's no way."

Owen shrugged. "There has to be." Ellie sighed as Jackson held up the list. "We gotta figure it out."

☀️

ELLIE STOOD NEXT to Callie as the two ortho surgeons as well as Jackson and Richard looked at a whiteboard full of potential ideas. "Okay..." Callie nodded. "So they can debride the wound with a basic instrument set."

Ellie shook her head. "But now they're faced with a huge risk of infection."

"Well, I guess wound vacs are out of the question, then," Jackson added with a sigh.

April shrugged. "Simple wet-to-dry dressings might work?" she suggested, though it sounded more like a question than a statement.

Callie clicked her tongue. "No. They'd have to change those out three times a day. They would use their entire gauze supply with one patient."

Richard snapped his fingers suddenly. "Sugar."

Ellie and Jackson glanced at him. "I'm still a little tired, but did you say sugar?" she repeated, looking at the man who nodded.

"It's not in the box, but they may have it around," he replied and she shrugged. "It's an osmotic dressing that allows you to avoid multiple dressing changes."

Ellie nodded. "Worth a shot. Apes, can you go see if the doctors have sugar?"

"On it."

"Does anybody have any betadine?" Cristina asked, calling out from the other end where she was brainstorming with Meredith and Derek.

Jackson peered into the box. "Just bleach."

"That'll work," Derek said and Jackson threw him the bottle.

"Alright." Owen clapped his hands as he walked into the room. "So, anybody ready to start teaching?"

Callie nodded. "Uh—Ellie and I can do fracture repairs."

"Yeah, you can put me down, too," Jackson added. "I got a blade I can use for skin grafting."

Owen gave a thumbs-up. "Great. You three get to the lab."

A short time later, Ellie, Jackson, and Callie stood in the lab with the Syrian doctors, showing them their new techniques.

"Okay." Callie smiled as Ellie guided the doctor's hands. "So, you want to place the screws medial to the tibial crest so you don't interfere with the intravascular bundle."

"Medial to the tibial crest," he repeated to himself.

Ellie nodded. "Now advance the screw by hand," she continued, watching him closely. "Yeah, good. And keep going until it's anchored in the far cortex."

The doctor looked at the cadaver on the table and Callie saw him pause. "Don't be afraid to push too hard."

"Ah, sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I'm—I'm just—I'm trying to figure out how to hold down the patient to keep him still while I do this."

"Oh, the patient's sedated," Callie replied.

"Not when you don't have anesthesia."

Jackson and Callie glanced at each other. "You're gonna need someone to hold down the patient from their chest." They looked over when they heard Ellie's voice. "Someone strong, who can keep them from sitting upright. And... if it's their hand... give them something to bite down on to muffle their screams. Either way, they'll be moving."

"You've done this before?" the Syrian doctor asked.

She nodded with a shrug. "Not in a war, but... I had to sew the skin of someone I think of as a brother with a safety pin and a handkerchief. And then I had to do a heart procedure with a hand sanitizer tube, a pocket knife, and a plastic bag. On my actual brother. While they were both awake." She cleared her throat and smiled tightly. "Let's take it from the top. Here, I'll hold the patient, and you..."

Callie and Jackson looked at each other. Sometimes they forgot just how much the plane crash survivors had gone through and how much Ellie had done to bring her brothers back to Seattle alive.

☀️

"HAVE I TOLD you just how incredible you are?"

Ellie looked at him as they made their way to the conference room after being paged. "If you're worried that I'm going to spiral because of what I told the doctor, I'm not. I was just stating a fact."

"I wasn't worried," he replied, shaking his head.

She frowned. "Jackson Avery, you are a horrible liar," she retorted. "I promise, I'm fine. Now, as much as I appreciate how much you care—I love it—right now we have to be the bosses." He sighed and nodded, following her into the conference room. "Alright. What the hell happened?"

"Bailey has three patients who have all had post-op infections," Owen told her as they sat down at the table. "She said the second patient isn't responding to antibiotics. So she's going to need surgery."

Richard cleared his throat. "I just operated on the third. He's hypotensive and still pretty unstable."

Ellie and Jackson looked at each other. "Once Murphy's identified all of her patients for the day, then we'll get them in here and make sure no one else is infected," Owen said.

"We're gonna need to make a statement of some kind," Jackson told the room. "Before this gets out on its own."

There was a knock on the door, and Bailey walked inside. "Hey—uh—the first patient, Joyce Basche, she didn't make it." Ellie sighed and dropped her head in her hands. "I thought that the surgery would get rid of the infection, but..."

Arizona looked at her. "You need to get cultures on the other two right away," she told her. "And we need to make sure that we're using the right antibiotics so that this doesn't get out of control."

Bailey nodded. "Okay." She turned just as Leah Murphy and Meredith walked into the room. "We just lost Joyce Basche," she said to the intern.

"Dr. Bailey—"

"No." Bailey interrupted Meredith harshly. "She's her patient. She should know."

"Leah checked all of her charts," Meredith said to the attending. "She was only on two of the patients that got the infection. She never touched the third one."

Ellie tilted her head and grabbed Jackson's arm as he leaned forward. "What, is that supposed to reassure me?" Bailey asked. "A woman just died."

"It couldn't have been Leah," Meredith told her and Ellie looked at her boyfriend. "The only doctor who touched all three patients... was you."

"Jackson—"

"We're gonna need to get legal down here," he said, finishing Ellie's sentence and he stood up to the phone.

Bailey turned back to the board. "Wait. Any—Anything could've caused this kind of infection."

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, well, we know that, but until there's an investigation—"

"No—um—I gotta go," Bailey continued, shaking her head. "'Cause I have two more people—"

The blonde cleared her throat. "Bailey, Dr. Webber will deal with them," she said, nodding to the general surgeon who left the room.

"Yeah, this is Dr. Avery," Jackson said on the phone and Ellie glanced back at him. "Get me Joelle Geller from legal down here, conference room two."

Bailey nodded to herself. "I will... go over my notes..."

"Sit down, Dr. Bailey," Owen told her.

She shook her head. "No. My—My patients are in danger."

"Dr. Webber has it under control," Ellie said again.

"I haven't even told Joyce's husband that she didn't make it!" Bailey exclaimed and Ellie nodded at Meredith. "W—I know the man! I don't need Grey to tell him that I killed his wife!"

"Dr. Bailey," Owen said firmly. "Please sit down."

Bailey further into the room as Ellie stood up. "What are you saying?"

She closed the door to the conference room and faced the general surgeon. "We're asking you to sit down."

☀️

"WE ARE THROWING Bailey under the bus!"

Jackson handed Ellie her coffee before sighing. "Come on, that is not what we're doing," he replied, shaking his head.

"It seems like that's exactly what we're doing," Cristina told him.

"Two of our patients are dead of the same post-op infection," Jackson countered. "A third one's barely hanging on. It was time. We get the CDC in here and figure this thing out."

Meredith frowned. "By treating Bailey like a criminal? She hasn't done anything."

"And we hope that you're right," Ellie said, siding with Jackson. "You all know that I'm not Bailey's number one fan, but she's a damn good surgeon and I don't want to see her career end over this. But the truth is... we don't know anything yet. All the CDC is asking is that we temporarily freeze Bailey's files."

Derek scoffed. "Oh, come on, Ellie..."

She rolled her eyes. "And that we do not discuss this investigation with her," she added. "So today, just keep your distance. That's all."

"That is ridiculous," Cristina muttered.

"Also," Jackson said, gaining their attention. "I think now's the time to put out a statement."

"No," everyone said in unison.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Arizona interjected with a small frown. "About what? I mean, we don't even know if Bailey's the source of this thing."

Jackson shrugged. "If one of ours is at fault and we just sit on this information, we look like we're trying to cover something up."

"But we don't know what the problem is!" Ellie exclaimed. "I told you last night that I agreed to the CDC coming to investigate." He looked back at her. "But if we release a statement that says Bailey is the source of this and she's not, then we look like a bunch of idiots. This hospital has been through too much in the last few months for it to take a hit like that."

He sighed. "But, Ellie, the only way to let the public know that we can be objective is by being transparent."

"Vote?"

"I get that, I do," Ellie agreed while the others glanced between the frustrated couple. "But if our statement turned out to be false... Come on, you know we can't take something like that."

"But people should learn the news from us."

"So, we release something that says we have an infection among patients but don't know what the cause is?" she countered. "That almost sounds worse than saying it's Bailey. Give us a day. Let them do their investigation and we'll come around to it if they tell us Bailey is the cause of this. Okay?" Jackson looked back at her before nodding. "Great. No press release."

She stood up and left the room, running a hand over her face. She was about to walk into her patient's room when she heard Jo's voice.

"Really?"

"No," came Alex's voice. Ellie peered around the wall at him and Jo. "I think he's a douche who you've known for about two minutes and that makes you an idiot for moving in with him."

"Alex—"

"I'll be nice!"

Ellie watched him walk to the nurse's station before she joined him, a smile on her face. He glanced up at her and furrowed her brows.

"What's with you?"

"You have a crush on Jo Wilson," she replied in a sing-song tone.

Alex stared back at her before laughing. "No, I don't."

"I'm not wrong about this," she said with a frown. "What? Jo told you something and it pissed you off so much that you started yelling at her because she's your friend?"

"Yes."

"No." He rolled his eyes. "Alex... just admit it. You like Jo Wilson and you're jealous that she's with Jason Myers."

"Ches Peckwell."

Ellie frowned. "Whatever. But you like her! So why not go for it?"

"I am not discussing this with someone who took five years to admit to her boyfriend that she liked him," he countered and she opened her mouth with a huff.

"Rude."

☀️

ELLIE SAT IN the cafeteria with a stack of files in front of her when she felt a presence appear across from her. "You're staring," she said, her eyes still glossing over the words.

"I don't want to fight." She pressed her lips together and looked up at Jackson. "Especially about this of all things."

She sighed and set aside her files. "I don't either," she agreed quietly. "I'd rather argue about what color to paint the kitchen in our future house than this. But... I don't know, Jackie. I don't know how we're supposed to navigate something like this. It's not in any of the 'How to Run a Hospital 101' books that don't exist.

"And—And..." She let out a breath. "My fear is that we would put out a statement of some kind and then it would be wrong. People already don't trust us well enough to be in charge, this would sink us. And we can't risk that kind of embarrassment on the hospital."

"But I'm saying that we need to get ahead of this," he countered making her bite her bottom lip. "I'm thinking of the bigger picture."

"And I'm thinking of our doctors," she retorted. "What kind of leaders would we be if we just let them sink on their own? We have to stand by them. We can't release anything until we know. I'm sorry. That's my thought."

☀️

"OUR INVESTIGATION HAS determined the presence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus USA600."

Ellie sat beside Jackson while the investigator from the CDC gave them their results. Behind him, the door to the conference room opened and Bailey walked inside.

"Bailey—"

"Oh, Dr. Bailey, you should not be here right now."

"This is about me," Bailey said quietly. "I'd like to hear it."

The investigator looked at Ellie and Jackson with a shrug. "That's your call."

She turned to Jackson. "Please?" she whispered and he looked down at her, nodding slowly. "Have a seat, Bailey."

The attending closed the door and Ellie motioned for the investigator to continue. "Staph aureus USA600 is an antibiotic-resistant infection with a range of symptoms from simple skin rashes to fatal sepsis. We have traced the source of the infection to one doctor. Dr. Miranda Bailey is a carrier of MRSA USA600."

Ellie leaned forward. "But we've never had any issues with this before," she said, looking at the man. "If Bailey is a carrier, then..." She raised her eyebrows. "The gloves?"

"Yes..." he replied, furrowing his brows. "How did you know?"

"I was bored, so I went through the hospital records," she said. "I wanted to see if something like this happened before. I saw we switched glove manufacturers when Pegasus was here to 'save money'. But before them, we didn't have any issues. And for as long as she's worked here, Bailey has never had an issue like this."

The investigator nodded. "Yes. Our testing reveals manufacturing defects." His colleague filled one of the gloves with water and squeezed it tight, causing water to seep through. "Microscopic tears in the gloves, which facilitated the transmission of staph USA600 to Dr. Bailey's patients. It is the CDC's determination that, were it not for the defective gloves, the patients in question would not have been infected. As for Dr. Bailey, we recommend eradication measures before she can go back to any kind of patient care."

Derek leaned back in his chair. "Alright."

"Thank God."

"Best possible outcome."

Bailey leaned against the wall before hurrying out of the room. "Bai—"

"Here are your copies of our report," the investigator said, giving them to Ellie and Jackson. "The CDC thanks you for your time and cooperation."

Ellie shook his hand. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

☀️

"YOU WERE RIGHT to not put out a press release right away. I'm sorry."

Ellie looked up from her book that night to see Jackson standing in the doorway of their bedroom. "Don't apologize. You were voicing your opinion, just like I was. But I have been doing some thinking."

"Yeah?" he asked, lying down beside her as she set her book on the nightstand. "About what?"

"We're so consumed with our jobs that I don't want to bring it home," she said, looking down at him. "If we need to, we budget or do paperwork, that's fine. Or patients. But not board issues. So, I say, when we're inside this apartment, we're Ellie and Jackson. Just Ellie and Jackson."

He smiled and nodded, pulling her closer. "I like the sound of that."

☀️

━ author's note:

so, for all my rereaders, I'm changing up some of the original 'sunshine' timeline because the more I reread the old chapters that desperately need to be edited, the more it drives me crazy.

so, stuff is being changed.

and, as I may have said before ( I can't remember ), matthew and april are not a couple in this story. they were originally, but I've grown too attached to andy and april and I will find somewhere to write a chapter dedicated to just them because they deserve it.

okay, that's my spiel. expect some changes starting in the next chapter!

see you then :)