¹ 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘀, 𝐝.𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

oix. the shepherds

oix. the shepherds
9.09

Atlas steps into the conference room, shutting the door and moving to stand behind his husband. He rests his hands on Dereks shoulders, eyeing the Shepherd sister who sits across from them. He smiled, and she smiled back.

Jackson glanced up from where he had been fiddling with the paper in front of him — the consent forms. "Atlas, thank you for finally joining us." Derek had insisted that they all waited for Atlas, that the meeting between them all wouldn't start tell he showed up.

"Of course, Doctor Avery. Thank you for having me." Atlas smiled, his tone teasing yet still kind. He sat beside his husband, waiting for Callie or Jackson to start talking.

This was a big moment for them. Derek's younger sister, Lizzie, was giving Derek a nerve so Derek can regain more function in his injured hand.

"Now," Jackson looks up from his paperwork, having spoke briefly before but would now say more since Atlas had arrived. "Once I remove the sural nerve from your leg, Doctor. Torres will graft it to Doctor. Shepherds median nerve. You'll most likely experience some discomfort in your legs for a few weeks —"

"Months." Derek but in. He was not going to sugar coat what was going to happen. He knew that his younger sister would have pain after the surgery, he's seen it happen to many of Marks patients. "And when he says 'discomfort,' he really means that it is gonna hurt like hell."

Liz, the younger Shepherd laughed slightly. Smiling at her older brother. "Well, you're a bag of sunshine, aren't you?"

"I don't want to hear six months from now that you can't move and that the ibuprofen hurts your stomach because you take too much." Derek muttered and leaned back in his rollie-chair, glancing towards his husband who was writing things down on paper.

Liz glanced to Atlas, this was the third time she's met him and she wanted to hear and talk to him. "He makes me sound like I'm a 90-year-old man. Have you noticed that?"

Atlas chuckled, looking up from the recipe he was writhing down — something he had just envisioned in his dream. "He tends too..."

"Babe, no." Derek eyed his husband with narrowed eyes. He then turned towards his sister. "I've heard for decades how I ruined your life."

Liz didn't back down, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest she stared her brother down and spoke again. "Because you did."

Derek shook his head and continued. "And that mom doesn't love you."

"Because she doesn't. I don't want to hear about this. I think what you're trying to say is 'thank you, Lizzie,'for cutting off a leg and giving it to me." Lizzy sarcastically smiled before she reached for some papers on the table, only for a grouchy Derek to pull them away and towards himself.

Derek hummed. "Ah. Here it is. This is how it's gonna go down in history. It is a nerve. It is not the entire leg, Liz."

Atlas blinks, glancing towards his husband and then towards his sister in law. "Alrighty, Jackson, can we keep going?"

Jackson nodded, eyeing Atlas and then leaning forward in his chair. "Uh, I think Dr. Shepherd's right. If you're unsure, we can always —"

Liz chuckled, "Oh, come on. I'm just winding him up because it is so easy. He's like one of those wind up toys. Just give me the form." Jackson slides the form across the table, along with a pen so Liz can sign the paperwork. "Okay. Now can I go hang out with Star and Cam in day care?"

Atlas frowns, "We aren't supposed to come and go now, because it's harder on the kids, but I can bring then buy sometime today once I've signed them out?"

"I'll look forward to it." Liz went from frowning to smiling, happy that she would be given a chance to see her niece and nephew.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

"You have a brother," Liz points out as she flips through a picture book that Atlas had brought from home. It's full of things that Star and Cam had accomplished that many hadn't had a chance to see. "And a sister."

"Oliver; but we call him Ollie. Then there's Eliza, but we call her El." Atlas grinned as he pointed to the picture of Oliver and Eliza, both holding a pile of gifts for the two children. "This is when we got Cameron and they were so excited, they had went out and bought as many gifts as they could and gave them to him."

Liz smiled, flipping the page and eyeing the image of Mark Sloan holding a sleeping Star back when Atlas and Derek had been given custody of her. "He was a good uncle, yeah?"

"Greatest. He was an amazing father too." Atlas smiled sadly. He missed Mark, a lot. "He was babysitting Star when me and Derek were working,
she had rolled of the tummy time mat and he was so scared that she was on the floor and it was hurting her little bones."

Liz chuckled before she flipped to another page, her voice going quiet. "We aren't in any of these."

"No." Atlas sighed. "You aren't. But I would like you to be."

Liz nodded. Reaching out for her phone and handing it to Atlas. "Take a picture of me and my niece and nephew."

Star and Cam grinned from where they both sat on the bed, looking right at Atlas who was taking the picture on the phone. 

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hi! oh my goodness! it's been like four months since i've updated. i feel horrible, but i'm gonna try to complete this soon! thank you all for being patient, love you all <3