𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ━ jackson avery

039. ━ richard webber's 10,000th surgery

The ortho surgeon looked back at her wife and best friend. "They'd make a cute couple."

"They'd make cute babies," Arizona added thoughtfully. "Though, not as cute as Sofia."

Mark winced at the thought. "Stop talking."

"You're the one who brought up Jackson and Ellie in the first place," Callie reminded him with a smile. "You have no one to blame but yourself, Papa Bear."

☀️

ELLIE AND ALEX were giving their patient an ultrasound while actively trying to ignore the bickering between Teddy and McQueen happening behind them. The blonde glanced briefly at the female cardio surgeon who was still grieving the loss of her husband.

She had found the entire ordeal incredibly unfair to both Teddy and Cristina. That Cristina had to operate on her mentor's husband without her knowledge—only for him to die on her table.

Then there was the fact that Owen hadn't told Teddy about Henry's death immediately, forcing Cristina to tell her instead after assisting with a surgery, acting as though everything was fine.

"I was paged here," McQueen was saying in annoyance. "I already ordered the CT. He's my patient."

"This isn't finders keepers," Teddy replied with a frown, putting on a pair of gloves. Just then, Cristina and Owen walked in having heard the arguing. "I'm taking over the patient."

"Whoa, what do we got?" Cristina asked.

"Back off, Yang," Alex told her, still doing the ultrasound. "Ellie and I met the ambulance. He's ours."

"Everyone, take a breath," Owen said over the chaos. "Can someone tell me what happened?"

Ellie sighed. "A thirty-two-year-old ran his bike into a wrought iron fence," she replied.

Teddy nodded. "Yeah, and this is the fence going directly into his heart," she interjected, pointing at the fence. "I know how to deal with these injuries."

"He's my patient," McQueen argued in frustration. "I can remove it thoracoscopically."

"Yeah, and that's when the poor guys dies because if you do that, you won't have a direct visual," Teddy challenged.

Alex looked at her. "Plenty of people use the vats technique to remove impaled objects," he said.

"Oh, now you're the expert?" Cristina asked him.

"You don't get every cardio case, Yang!"

Ellie groaned and rubbed her head. "Oh, both of you, shut up. You're giving me a headache."

Owen nodded slowly. "McQueen is the doctor on-call," he said, finally making a decision. "Karev and Sloan, you'll both assist. Altman, I believe today is your day off. Go get some rest."

Teddy ignored him and Cristina faced her husband. "Dr. Altman has way more experience, and this is gonna be a complicated procedure."

"Well, both of you have been up for the past forty-eight hours straight," he replied with a shrug. "This is a liability issue. Hands off the patient." Teddy looked up briefly and over at him before glancing back at the ultrasound. Alex and Ellie looked at each other. "Dr. Altman?"

"Ugh. Fine."

Alex smiled victoriously at Cristina. "Enjoy your nap."

☀️

ELLIE WALKED INTO her office and saw April sitting at her desk with a stack of papers in front of her. She peered over her shoulder. "Are you moving?" she asked.