season six // episodes thirteen and fourteen
[ valentine's day disaster ]
❝Cristina saw you two leave
an on-call room together last
week and London had sex hair.❞
𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 first to say that despite their rocky relationship, he loved his brother more than words could adequately describe. Derek was always his hero while growing up; especially after their father was killed, his older brother became his role model—the person he looked up to.
He was the reason he pursued medical school and a career in the surgical field—though, he was also the reason he said he would never become a neurosurgeon.
And in any other circumstances, he would be a very proud brother that Derek had gotten what he finally wanted; to be chief of surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West. But the circumstances regarding his promotion were far from normal.
Richard Webber falling asleep on his couch in his office after drinking a bottle of alcohol that Derek had given him, causing him to miss his surgery with Meredith was not a normal circumstance.
"Will you stop pacing?" Lexie asked him with a sigh, watching her best friend walk from end-to-end of the on-call room. "I really hope nobody gets the wrong idea of us being in an on-call room together." Oliver paused and looked at her making her shrug. "Sorry. Everyone knows you're sleeping with London Halloway anyway."
"My brother is the chief today," he said, continuing to pace. "The chief, Lex! That means he's everybody's boss, and—wait, what do you mean everybody knows I'm sleeping with her?"
She shrugged. "Cristina saw you two leave an on-call room together last week and London had sex hair." Oliver groaned and sat down on the nearby bed, holding his head in his hands. "Good for you, though. She's hot."
"This is not what I need today," he muttered, shaking his head in frustration.
"You're getting worked up over nothing, Ollie," Lexie told him with a sigh and he gave her a look. "You are! I know you and your brother don't have the best of relationships, but he wouldn't purposefully do anything to make your life a living hell."
"Derek is a better brother to sisters than he is to a brother," Oliver replied softly. "He always has been. But... he has this ego that always gets in the way of things. Even when Amy became a neurosurgeon, it was like he was personally attacked by her decision. Now she's known as the other Dr. Shepherd."
Lexie tilted her head. "Then what are you?" she asked.
"The forgotten one?" he replied with a shrug and she frowned. "I'm just saying, Lex! I was the last kid. By that point, my siblings were raising me more than my own mother was."
She sighed and sat down beside him. "Everything is going to be fine," she told him gently. "But we do have to go. He has his first speech as chief and we have to be there for it."
"Do we?" Lexie nodded and he let out a breath. "Fine."
Meanwhile, London was standing in the hallway of the hospital lobby where everybody had gathered for Derek Shepherd's first speech as chief and she looked up at him, furrowing her brows. "He looks like he's suffocating from that tie," she commented under her breath.
"They know."
She jumped at Oliver's sudden appearance and glanced up to find him standing incredibly close to her. "They know what?" she asked quietly and he raised his eyebrows in response. Her eyes widened in realization. "How?"
"Apparently it was your hair."
She opened her mouth in offense and ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it down. "Well, you're the one who flipped me over," she said in a hushed tone. "I told you my hair gets tangled easily."
"I didn't hear you protesting at the time," he replied and she huffed. "Look, it doesn't have to be this big of a deal."
"'Not that big of a deal'?" she repeated with a scoff. "Of course, it's a big deal, Oliver! People know."
"So what?" he asked with a shrug and she rolled her eyes. "People sleep together all over this hospital. It's not like nobody's heard of this before."
She crossed her arms. "That doesn't make me feel that much better..."
"It'll only be a thing if you make it a thing," he said and she pressed her lips together. "But if you want to end things, then we can. But the sex is really good."
She sighed and looked up at him. "I know it's good," she replied and he smirked. "Don't look at me like that. We're only sleeping together, not in a relationship."
Oliver shrugged and the pair looked up when Derek cleared his throat. "Oh, here we go..." He sighed, crossing his arms.
"I want to thank you all for being here," Derek began and London tilted her head. "I know you're busy, so I'll try and make this quick. As you may have heard, I have been appointed the new interim chief of surgery. It's my personal goal to make this transition as smooth as possible. I know we've had a rocky few months." London and Jackson glanced at each other. "Mistakes have been made. I intend to right those wrongs, and, uh... bring this hospital back to its former glory."
"'Former glory?'" Oliver repeated, raising his eyebrows. "Who wrote this speech?"
London leaned closer to him. "Is he talking about the merger?" she asked him in a whisper and he looked down at her. "Because we weren't a part of Seattle Grace's 'former glory'."
He shook his head and she nodded, looking back up at the new chief. "And, um..." London turned her head and saw Richard Webber walking into the room with a board representative. She gently rested her hand on Oliver's arm and he followed her gaze. "What I meant..." Derek glanced at Richard, now stumbling through his words. "By that is—What I'm trying to say is, I wanna thank you for your support in advance. Uh, that's all. Okay, let's get back to work."
Oliver fluttered his lips. "Should've done debate in high school..." he said and London chuckled softly. "Who are you with today?"
"Hunt," she replied, starting to walk toward the ER and he followed her, making her glance back at him. "You're with him, too, aren't you?" she asked with a sigh. He nodded and she let out a breath. "Great."
"Oh, come on, you don't actually hate me."
She shook her head. "No, I just find you annoying a lot of the time, Oliver Twist."
He hummed. "The feeling is mutual, England."
"See?" Alex said from the other end of the hallway to the Mercy West residents. "Shepherd hates the merger because his brother is spending so much time with her." Jackson quirked an eyebrow upward. "And he doesn't like you guys."
Lexie rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him," she told them. "He doesn't hate the merger, he hates what it caused. Besides... he's still a good brother... I hope."
___________________________
"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 patient woke up in the middle of surgery?" Oliver asked his sister-in-law later that day in the cafeteria. "She just—She woke up?"
Meredith shrugged. "I don't know. But Bailey freaked out and now the patient is refusing to let her touch her."
Oliver blinked in confusion. "Well, how can you bring her back to the OR if Bailey can't touch her? Bailey is the only general surgeon at the moment since Webber is..."
"Out?" Meredith finished for him and he nodded. "I don't know. So..." Oliver glanced up at her and raised his eyebrows. "Word around the hospital is that you and London Halloway have been spending some time together."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, not you, too." He fluttered his lips. "It's just—just a casual thing, okay? I never said a word when you slept with my brother. While he was married, but that's because he didn't tell you, so it's not really your fault..."
Meredith sighed and looked at her brother-in-law. "He does love you, Ollie. I promise. Even if he doesn't show it all that much."
She pressed her lips together when her pager went off and she quickly hurried out of the cafeteria. Her spot was soon occupied by her younger sister. "Mark won't talk to me," Lexie said to her best friend and he raised his eyebrows. "I mentioned that I slept with Alex Karev and now he's ignoring me."
"Mark is mad at you?" Oliver asked with a chuckle. "He's mad at you because you slept with someone while you two were broken up and you had every right to do that? Not to mention that he slept with Addison while in LA."
"Exactly!" she exclaimed, gesturing at him as he had just proven her point. "He's being hypocritical, right?"
Oliver nodded. "Very. You want me to talk to him?"
"Would you?"
"I never pass up the opportunity to humble Mark Sloan," he said, standing up from his seat. "It's my favorite pastime."
Lexie chuckled to herself as he handed her his remaining fries before leaving the cafeteria in search of his brother's best friend. "And that's why he's my favorite Shepherd..."
Oliver slowly made his way up to his brother's new office when he heard London's voice. "Yes, I—I know that he's been chief for a long time, I just—" He peered around the wall and saw the brunette on the phone. "Well, it's a complicated situation, Dad." He looked over at her as she ran a hand over her face. "I—I can't say. It's not my news to share. How did you even find out that Webber was being replaced?"
She sighed and hung her head. "Yes, I know you have your connections, I just—" She pressed her lips. "Dad, I'm begging you, do not come to Seattle. Please. Please." She looked down at her phone and brought it back up to her ear. "No. Oh, come on, not again." With a groan, she walked away and Oliver watched her disappear.
Her father seemed like a... lovely human being.
Not.
Shaking his head—and remembering why he was in front of the door in the first place—Oliver walked into his brother's office and he immediately found Mark Sloan, complaining to Derek and Owen Hunt about Lexie sleeping with Alex Karev.
"I don't think you get any say in who she sleeps with," he said making the three attendings aware of his presence. He was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. "She's a grown adult, Mark. As are you. You chose Sloan, so she coped with that by sleeping with Karev."
"But... I was in LA with my sick daughter and she slept with him while I was there."
Oliver scoffed. "And while you were there, you slept with Addison Montgomery," he retorted pointedly. "Also, the two of you were broken up. So you don't get to be angry. Especially since you tried to force motherhood—and grandmotherhood—on Lexie without talking to her about it first. Do I need to remind you that Lexie cut off part of her finger when you told her Sloan would be moving in with the two of you? Luckily there was an ortho surgeon present."
"I thought you'd be on my side," Mark said and Oliver chuckled.
"What? On the side of misogyny?" he asked, shaking his head. "I grew up with four sisters. My best friend is your ex-girlfriend. I'm closer to my sister-in-law than I am to my own brother. My best friend growing up was a girl. I was raised by a single mother. I'm surrounded by women every day. And you are a very privileged human being. All of us are. So, because of your privilege, shut up and talk to Lexie. She deserves that much at least." He nodded. "Good day, doctors."
Owen glanced at Derek as Oliver left the office, closing the door behind him. "Has your brother thought of a specialty yet, Shepherd?" he asked and the new chief shook his head.
"Nope," he replied with a sigh. "Only that he will not be going into neurosurgery. He's very adamant about that, actually..."
The trauma surgeon nodded to himself. "Hmm..."
___________________________
𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐊 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 Kepner, and despite her being one of London's best friends, Oliver found her to be a bit... annoying. He had tried to make an effort to get to know each other, but it often ended with the younger Shepherd walking away with a sigh.
"I hate Valentine's Day," London declared on the day in question while walking into the resident's lounge, sitting down beside Oliver in a huff. "Everywhere I look, there's adorable bears and people eating chocolate in fancy packaging. What about stuff for all the single people? Where's my adorable bear and fancy packaged chocolate?"
Oliver chuckled softly at her. "So, how's your day going?" he asked sarcastically and she rolled her eyes.
"Haha, you're hilarious," she replied before rolling her neck. "Sorry... I just find Valentine's Day to be really annoying. Especially since I've been single for the majority of Valentine's Days in my life. It's depressing..."
London and Oliver both looked down when their pagers went off and she smiled, perking up slightly. "Oh, my day is looking a bit better."
"You're happy that there was an accident on Valentine's Day?" Oliver asked, following her out of the lounge and putting on his coat. "That sounds kinda horrible..."
"Oh, don't act like you're not secretly happy that there was an accident," she said, glancing at him while waiting for the elevator. "At least something is happening." They stepped onto the elevator and stayed silent for the majority of the ride. "So..." she said, trying to break the silence. "Did you have any Valentine's Day plans?"
He shook his head. "Nope," he replied. "I actually agree with you. Not a big fan of Valentine's either. I was dumped on Valentine's Day when I was nineteen. Not a great memory."
"My first boyfriend broke up with me on my birthday," she told him. "Which is also Christmas. But I took back the video game I bought him and gave it to my brother instead."
Oliver tilted his head. "Isn't your brother—"
"Twelve years older than me?" she finished before nodding. "Yes. But he's a big nerd. And because he's a teacher, he tries to stay up-to-date in current trends so he can talk about them with his students."
"Hmm."
The elevator doors opened and London pulled her hair out of her face into a messy bun before they went their separate ways. She walked into a trauma room just as the patient was rolled inside and Derek met her inside.
Oliver, meanwhile, was about to find a patient to help when Owen Hunt called him over. "I think you have the makings of a great trauma surgeon," he told the resident. "I want to see what you can do. So find a case and get to work."
He blinked at the attending. "The last time you said that to a resident, he joined the Army and got hit by a bus..."
"It's a depressed skull fracture with a subdural hematoma," Derek said to London who nodded. "Alright? Let's book an OR."
___________________________
"𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 to stop telling me about the trustees' breakfast tomorrow morning?"
London furrowed her brows and looked up to see Meredith standing in front of her. "I—Wait, what?"
"The one that Derek just hired back," Meredith said and London nodded with a small 'ah'. "I think she's currently raiding my closet for something for me to wear."
"Yeah, she's like that," London told her, looking back down at her chart. "And I kinda figured she had something to do with Shepherd replacing Nelson in the OR." She thumped her pen against the paper and glanced up at the resident. "I'll get her to calm down. Or... at least try."
"Thank you."
London nodded and let out a breath, closing her chart. Luckily for her, her surgery had been successful, and was expected to make a full recovery.
She looked down when she heard her phone ring and she smiled at the contact. "Uncle James!" she exclaimed happily.
"Hey, kid," he replied with a small chuckle. "How are you?"
"Well, I just finished brain surgery after a restaurant roof collapsed during a Valentine's Day dinner service," she said with a shrug. "And it was successful, so... can't complain."
James nodded. "Good. Listen, I called for a reason. Your father—he's coming to Seattle next week. I just wanted to give you a heads-up."
"Why?" she asked. "Why—Why is he coming?"
"I don't know," he said and she sighed, holding her head in her hands. "But I thought you'd want to know before he ambushes you."
She let out a breath. "Thank you." She stared at the phone in her hands before shaking her head. "Shit."
___________________________
━ author's note
and with that, ladies and gents, we're finally going to meet present-day arthur halloway in person... buckle up for the ride that is london's daddy issues
anyway, sorry this chapter was so short, i kinda hate it, but oh well
and i thoroughly enjoy ollie being women's biggest defender (i mean, i created him so i'm biased), but go ollie!