𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ━ jackson avery

040. ━ valentine's day

season eight // episode fourteen
[ valentine's day ]

❝I might need therapy, but
she's fine.❞

ELLIE SAT ON the floor of Derek and Meredith's house beside Lexie, sipping on her iced coffee, when the new parents came down, neither noticing their younger sisters. They shared a smirk before the blonde cleared her throat.

"Well, good morning, brother of mine," she said.

Derek looked up and groaned when he locked eyes with her. "Oh, my God."

"Well, that hurts," she replied with a frown, turning back to the television screen.

"We're watching a pyeloplasty," Lexie told them as they sat upright on the couch. "I can rewind it to the beginning if you'd like."

Derek shook his head. "No, let's go," he said to Meredith before pausing. "Ellie, don't you have your own apartment?"

"Yes," she replied with a nod. "But April decided to deep clean the apartment before work today and told us to go get out, so... here I am. Feeling so welcomed."

Derek rolled his eyes at her. "Just listen for the baby."

"What?"

"Twenty minutes!" he called back, closing the front door behind him and Meredith. Ellie wrinkled her nose at the thought.

"Okay..." Suddenly, Zola started to cry and Ellie chuckled to herself. "Oh, how I love that baby and her perfectly timed cries. I got her, Lex." With a groan—and Lexie laughing at her—she got off the floor and up the stairs toward her niece's room.

"Well, hi there, big girl," she said, picking up the girl from her crib and Zola looked up at her. "Do you want your mommy and daddy? Let's go find them." She walked down the stairs and out of the house toward the car that the new parents currently sat in—well, not exactly sitting. Her eyes widened as she approached the vehicle and immediately covered Zola's eyes. "Look away, Zola. We don't need to mentally scar you yet..." She knocked on the car's window and Derek looked up, sighing when he locked eyes with her. "I'm sorry, but she woke up and she wants her parents, not her super-cool aunts. But don't worry, she didn't see anything. I mean, I might need therapy, but she's fine."

Derek rolled his eyes as they got out of the car and Meredith took her daughter from the blonde. Derek wrapped an arm around her as they walked back toward the house. "So... you got any plans for tonight?" he asked her.

"You know I don't," she replied, her tone deadpan.

"Hmm," Derek hummed thoughtfully. "Do you want to babysit Zola?"

"I think I'm the first choice for Sofia," she said, shaking her head. "Besides, I thought Lexie already offered? But tell her to stop by, she and Sofia can hang out. Anyway, I'm gonna be late." She kissed his cheek and began walking toward her car. "Enjoy your alone time tonight."