season eight // episode twelve
[ richard webber's 10,000th surgery ]
❝I'm not talking about this with
my ridiculously overprotective
brother and certainly not with
my niece's mothers.❞
ELLIE SAT IN Callie's apartment the morning before her shift, bouncing Sofia gently on her lap, smiling at the little girl's giggles of happiness.
Julia, who had been cutting Arizona's hair, handed her a mirror. "Okay, take a look," she said. "I took a little more off this time."
"No, I love it. Hey." Both Ellie and Callie looked up at the blonde. "Look."
Ellie nodded. "Nice!"
"I want that," Callie said, standing up from her spot in the armchair. "Move."
"Oh, I've got surgery in an hour, so we'll do you tomorrow," Julia told her, putting away her scissors before crouching in front of Sofia who was snuggled against Ellie on the couch. "And you I will see tonight at Zola's party. Yes?" She stood up and looked at Mark. "Love you."
"See ya."
Ellie furrowed her brows at her brother, the same look on the couple's faces. "'See ya'?" she repeated incredulously.
Callie nodded. "Yeah," she agreed, looking at her best friend. "'I love you, too' is the appropriate response to 'I love you'."
"We've been dating for three months," he replied with a frown, looking around at the three women. "It's way too early for that."
Callie gasped suddenly. "Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "No, no, no, no. This is classic Mark. He found out Lexie and Jackson broke up, and now he's getting cold feet about Julia. You and Lexie are over, okay? The ship has sailed... and sank."
"Well, geez," Ellie muttered, smoothing back Sofia's black hair.
"This has nothing to do with Lexie," Mark contradicted. "This has more to do with Ellie."
The woman in question looked up from her niece at her brother. "Me?" she asked, furrowing her brows. "What did I do?"
"You and Avery," he replied as though it was obvious and he took his daughter from her. "I see the stolen looks between you two."
Callie and Arizona looked between the siblings. "You like Jackson?" the blonde asked, a smile coming to her face.
"Oh, God." Ellie groaned and stood up, collecting her bag. "I am not talking about this with you guys. I'm not talking about this with my ridiculously overprotective brother and certainly not with my niece's mothers. Who are both my mentors, might I add? I'm going to work."
Callie smiled at her. "Oh, she totally likes Jackson," she said. "Look! Now she's turning red!"
"Shut up!" Ellie exclaimed, hurrying out of the apartment, slightly red in the face—either from embarrassment or disgruntlement; that was undetermined.
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.
April nodded, letting out a breath. "Yeah," she replied, looking up at her. "Derek and Meredith have a kid. Jackson is living with his ex."
Ellie tilted her head. "Fair point," she said before walking over to her mini-fridge and taking out a Diet Coke. "Hey, I have an idea. Come live with me."
April furrowed her brows. "What?"
"Come on, Apes, I know what you like," she said with a small sigh, sitting down on the couch. "We lived together for years before. Come on, my apartment has four bedrooms, a washer and a dryer, and it's a five-minute walk from the hospital. Besides, I saw you eyeing the amenities when you helped me move in. And nothing is going to beat the location."
"But Alex lives there."
Ellie shrugged. "Then Alex lives there. Come on," she begged. "I need a girl with me. I love Alex, I do, but I need some females."
"You're serious?"
"Well, you'll still be paying rent, but yes," she said with a nod. "I'll even let you put up a chore wheel if you really want to."
"Really?"
Ellie sighed. "Just take your time," she told her, opening her can of Diet Coke. "Let it process. Yes, I'm serious, Apes. It's not a riddle."
April squealed and tackled her in a hug just as Jackson walked in. "What's got her so excited?" he asked them.
"We're moving in with Ellie," April replied.
"We?" Ellie and Jackson repeated in unison and April nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, this is amazing," she said, not noticing her two friends had gone silent. "I'm gonna start making the chore wheel right now. Thank you, Ellie!"
The redhead bounded out of the room in excitement and Ellie looked at Jackson. "I—uh—" She cleared her throat. "I didn't know you were moving, too."
"It's fine," he said, waving off the issue. "I can find somewhere else."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," she replied, shaking her head. "Welcome to the crazy apartment. Chore wheel, round two."
He chuckled lightly. "Alright. Hey—uh—have you noticed that Torres has been acting strange at all?" he asked making Ellie pause.
"No," she said, pressing her lips. "What—What makes you say that?"
He shrugged in response. "I don't know," he said and she nodded. "She just keeps smiling whenever she sees me. And Sloan, too."
"'Sloan'?" she repeated, furrowing her brow. "What—What about Sloan? What did Mark do?"
"He's... being nice—er than usual," he replied and she cleared her throat, taking another sip of her Diet Coke. "I don't know... it's like they're plotting or something."
"I'm sure it's just in your head," Ellie told him, mentally remembering to find them later. Just then, Alex walked into the room and she looked up at him. "Oh, good," she said, grateful for an interruption in topics. "Alex, we have new roommates. Jackson and April are moving in."
Alex glanced at the man sitting beside Ellie and nodded. "Cool." Suddenly, Meredith came into the office with April trailing behind her and took the casserole that Alex was holding out of his hands. "What the hell?"
"I need food for Zola's party," she replied, undoing the cover and looking inside. "I thought I was gonna have time to go to the store, but Richard's 10,000th surgery is going to take forever. Do you think Teddy's gonna care if I take some of her widow casserole?"
"No," Cristina told her, walking in with another dish in her hand. "Go for it. You know what? Take this one, too. It's turkey tetrazzini."
"Ooh, yum."
Cristina looked at Alex. "You and—um—McQueen finally find a patient who's willing to let you operate on them?" she asked the resident and Ellie glanced up; she had been reassigned to ortho.
"Bite my ass."
April laughed and Cristina tilted her head. "Oh, Mer, proctology," she said, looking at her best friend. "There's your specialty. Explore the mysteries of the butt."
"Why aren't you just doing general like your mom?" April asked her, sitting beside Ellie and Jackson. "It's a no-brainer."
"And good marketing," Alex piped up. "I mean, when people hear the name 'Grey', they know they're getting quality."
Ellie shrugged. "Probably for the same reason I don't do plastics."
Jackson nodded. "You can't win following in the footsteps of a phenom."
"Said the lame, mediocre grandson of Harper Avery," Cristina said and Ellie narrowed her eyes at her. She shrunk back and Jackson smiled at the blonde, going back to his lunch.
☀️
ELLIE WALKED INTO the lobby when she paused and furrowed her brows. "Adele?" she asked herself, walking over to the woman and she looked at her.
"Where is my husband?" she asked and Ellie opened her mouth. "Do you know where he is?"
"I—"
"I—I found her out on the street," the woman who had come with Adele told Ellie. "She was trying to walk here. I—I live next door to the Webbers. It's seven miles away."
Ellie sighed, sadly. "Oh..."
"Where is he?" Adele asked again. "I want you to go find him right now!"
Ellie nodded. "Yeah, I—I will go and find your husband, okay?" she replied. "I'll be right back." She pulled the woman aside. "Uh—could you just stay with her until I can talk to Dr. Weber and figure out what to do?"
"I can try," she replied. "She's pretty insistent."
"Yeah..." Ellie let out a breath and looked around. "Uh—well—I have an office on the third floor. Maybe the two of you can—" She paused and followed the woman's gaze, looking behind her. "Mrs. Webber? Uh-oh..."
She took off down the hallway and began looking for the missing wife. "Mrs. Webber?" she called out. "Mrs. Webber?" She stopped outside of the chief's former office. "Oh, Mrs. Webber, there you are. Uh—"
"I don't understand," she said, standing in the middle of the empty office. "What's going on? Where are Richard's things?"
"I—I know this must be very confusing because..." She shrugged. "Well, this used to be Richard's office, but now he's—"
"He—He's gone?" she asked, looking at the blonde whose heart nearly broke at the sight. "He left me?"
Ellie shook her head. "No," she said softly. "No, not at all. He's just—He's in surgery right now."
"He—He's always wanted to leave me for her," she cried while Ellie tried to console her to the best of her ability. "He finally did."
"No."
"He never loved me," she continued. "Never!" Ellie opened her mouth and looked back at the woman. "It was always her. And now he's gone? And he just left? He didn't even tell me where. He's just gone."
"No, Mrs. Webber—"
"Oh, Richard!" Ellie pulled the woman into a tight hug, rubbing her back. "I can't do it alone. Please, Richard, don't leave me. Richard, I can't do it alone. I can't."
☀️
ELLIE LED ADELE out to the observation deck of Richard's surgery. "He left me," Adele said to her. "He left me. I don't want to see him working."
"No—"
"He's always working."
Ellie shook her head, walking over to the window of the gallery. "No, no, he didn't leave you," she said, pointing down to the OR. "He's right there. See?"
Adele walked forward and followed her extended finger. "Oh, he's with that woman?" she asked and Ellie looked down at Meredith. "You tell that woman to go away. That's my husband. Not hers. Richard!"
Ellie walked over to the intercom and turned it on. "Dr. Webber."
"Richard, why are you doing this to me?" Adele asked and Richard looked up at his wife's voice. "To us?"
"Adele?"
"You lied," she continued through tears. "You said that you weren't working with her anymore."
Ellie sighed. "I'm sorry, Dr. Webber, I didn't know what else to do."
"Ellis!" Adele exclaimed and Meredith looked up. "You let him."
The resident in the gallery cleared her throat. "Uh—Dr. Webber—do you want me to—?"
"No, no," he replied, shaking his head. "Keep the line open." Ellie nodded and stepped back in the doorway. "Adele... That's not Ellis, Adele."
"What kind of woman would break up a marriage?" Adele asked Meredith, still thinking she was her mother. "Huh? Ellis Grey, what kind of woman are you? I will not have you down there with my husband. Do you hear me? I will not have it. Richard, you send her away."
"Adele... I'm right here. I'm not leaving you."
"Richard!" Adele exclaimed over and over causing Ellie to wipe away the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. She noticed Richard talking with Meredith before a song started to fill the speakers in the observation deck. "Richard... Richard..."
Ellie sat down on a chair in the back as Adele began to sing along to the song.
"It's our wedding day," Richard said to his wife once she had finished the song. "You were the most beautiful bride I've ever seen."
"Oh, Richard..."
"And for our first dance, they played 'My Funny Valentine'."
"Because we're getting married on Valentine's Day," Adele finished.
Richard smiled at her. "Happy Valentine's Day, baby. I love you."
Adele giggled to herself. "I love you, too."
☀️
ELLIE STOOD IN Meredith and Derek's house for Zola's birthday when the girl of the hour was brought out by her mother, wearing a pink dress. "Happy Birthday, Zozo," Ellie said with a smile.
"Hey, girl," April said.
"Look who didn't just wake up," Jackson added and Ellie chuckled lightly to herself, looking up at him. "What?"
"You couldn't just say 'Happy Birthday' like a normal person?" she asked.
"I was making an observation!"
Ellie shook her head in amusement while Meredith walked over to Richard before following Derek into the kitchen. Shortly after, they brought out the cake and brought it over to Richard.
"Happy 10,000th, Dr. Webber," Meredith said with a smile.
"Oh, for me?" he asked, shaking his head. "No."
"Come on," Derek insisted while Ellie picked up Zola who laid her head on the blonde's shoulder. "It's—It's not every day you get to celebrate 10,000 surgeries."
Richard gave in and blew out the candles on the cake. Ellie smiled at him as a large group gathered around him.
"Do you remember your first surgery?" Bailey asked him.
"Well, sure, sure," he replied with a nod. "I was a third-year resident. Third year's could take the lead on surgeries..."
Ellie smiled sadly at him, tears brimming her eyes and Jackson looked down at her. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said, sniffling quietly and adjusting her grip on Zola. "Just—I watched that man perform his 10,000th surgery while singing 'My Funny Valentine' to his Alzheimer's-ridden who thought that he was having an affair with Ellis Grey." She shook her head. "Oh, she was so scared. She thought that the only man who ever loved her had abandoned her..."
"And that's why you're crying?"
"I'm an empath!" she replied softly, looking at him. "I cry at everything and everyone. It's what I do!"
Jackson sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. Suddenly, Owen's angry voice carried throughout the house.
"Constantly!" he was shouting and everyone glanced over toward the kitchen. "You do what works for you. You don't care who you crush in the process... or who gets hurt!"
"It was one surgery," Cristina replied. "Okay? It was one surgery."
"It was not one surgery!" he snapped and Ellie raised her eyebrows at the volume. She looked down at Zola who had just fallen asleep in her arms. "Do you hear me? This was every choice we've made in the last—it was—it was a life that I envisioned for myself, okay? This is not one surgery."
Ellie and Jackson glanced at each other while Meredith started for the kitchen.
"You killed our baby!" Owen yelled angrily and everybody paused at his words. "You don't ever forget that!"
☀️
━ author's note:
adele's alzheimer's storyline truly broke my heart
she deserves better and i will forever stand by that.