𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ━ jackson avery

043. ━ mark sloan, chief of surgery?

season eight // episodes eighteen and nineteen
[ mark sloan, chief of surgery? ]

❝Baby Simba or Adult Simba?❞

ELLIE GLANCED OVER at Meredith as they and Cristina walked down the hall towards her office. "A lion?" she asked her. "An actual, physical, walking lion wandering the streets of Seattle? Seattle of all places?"

Meredith nodded. "Looking at me like I was lunch," she confirmed.

"Are you sure it wasn't a mountain lion?" Cristina asked her best friend. "Or... maybe a well-fed cat?"

Ellie chuckled in amusement and Meredith rolled her eyes. "I was staring at Simba!"

"Baby Simba or adult Simba?" Ellie asked.

She quirked her eyebrow upward, looking at the younger Sloan. "Does it matter?" she asked and Ellie nodded.

"Yes."

"Grey," Owen said, walking up to the resident. "You're on my service."

She nodded. "See you."

Ellie waved goodbye and opened the door to her office. She paused abruptly when she saw Jackson sitting on the couch. "Oh. H—Hi."

"Uh—hi?" he replied, furrowing his brows. "Are you okay?"

"Y—Yeah," she said, nodding and he tilted his head at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. W—Why wouldn't I be fine? Do I not look fine?"

"Well, you're stuttering," he told her and she bit the inside of her cheek. "Which you never do. And rambling. Which you only do when you're nervous about something."

"I—I stutter plenty, thank you," she said just as her pager went off and she looked down at it. "Oh, good. An intern has a problem that I need to solve. Uh—I'm gonna—" She found herself backing into the wall. "—ouch—" Jackson stood up from the couch. "—bye."

She hurried out of the office before Jackson could reach her and he paused. "Bye?" He frowned to himself. "What just happened?"

☀️

ELLIE TRAILED BEHIND Mark and Callie as they walked into the trauma room and saw Jackson and Richard already inside, examining the patient. She glanced briefly at Jackson before clearing her throat and shaking her head.

"What do we got?" Callie asked, putting on a pair of gloves.

"Deep animal claw laceration extending down the left side of the body," Richard answered as Jackson peeled back one of the bandages.

"And there's your arm," he added.

Callie and Ellie looked down at the arm. "Yeah." Callie nodded. "That's what you expect when you hear 'lion'."