The Shepherd Legacy

Shadows of Yesterday

The Shepherd-Grey household, consisting of Derek, Mary, Mark, Meredith, and Lexie Grey, was a unique fusion of personal and professional worlds. But beneath their routine lay the unhealed scars of a recent tragedy that had shaken the hospital to its core—the shooting by Gary Clark.

During that harrowing day, Mary had been thrust into a situation far beyond her years. With Derek undergoing surgery at the hands of Cristina, who was trying to remove the bullet lodged in his chest, and Meredith breaking down, unable to assist, Mary had faced an unimaginable choice.

That day had seen Mary confront the shooter, pleading with him to take her life instead of Derek's, arguing that killing her would hurt Derek more deeply. "You want justice, right? Your wife died. I know what happened. Derek told me the story. The man on the table ... I'm his sister. I am the only living member of his family. If you want to hurt him the way that you hurt, shoot me. I'm your eye for an eye." The shooter had finally left, leaving Cristina and Jackson to operate on Derek, Meredith still unable to breathe, and Owen bleeding on the floor.

In the adjacent OR, she had worked feverishly to save Owen Hunt, aware that her brother's life hung in the balance next door. "Cristina begged me with tears in her eyes, 'I'm trying to save your brother, so please save my guy,'" Mary recalled to the therapist, the memory vivid and painful. Every member of the hospital present on that day had to undergo therapy to be cleared for surgery. The intensity of that moment, removing the bullet from Owen with steady hands while her heart raced with fear, had left an indelible mark on her.

Months later, these memories lingered like shadows, influencing every moment of their lives. The memories were brought back to life when the hospital faced an influx of patients from another shooting at a college campus.

In the OR, Mary assisted Derek in a complex surgery on a student, a victim of said shooting. The parallels were not lost on her, and her thoughts frequently drifted to the patient's sister waiting outside, a mirror to her own past experiences.

"Oh, son of a bitch. I.C.P.'s still 45. His brain is still swelling. We're gonna have to remove the other side." Derek exclaimed, sighing in exasperation.

Mary, surprised, asked, "You're gonna take off both sides of his skull?" While this was not unheard of, it was incredibly rare to remove both sides of the skull during a craniectomy due to the increased risk of infection.

"We're gonna leave this strip here that covers the upper superior sagittal sinus. Let's get the other side prepped." Derek's voice was tense, his brow furrowed in concentration as he addressed his surgical team.

"Well, I'm going to update the sister." Mary started taking off her gloves, on her way to scrub out.

Derek, focused on the surgery, was surprised by her insistence. His annoyance showed, as he shot her a look. "Since when are you more interested in updating the sister in the waiting room than doing this?"

Mary's response was tinged with a mix of pain and frustration, born of experiences Derek seemed to overlook. In the past few months, it seemed that Derek kept forgetting that Mary went through the same events that the rest of the family did.

"Since I was the sister in the waiting room, Derek. I mean, honestly, do you think you and Cristina and Meredith are the only three who have ever been through a trauma?" She replied, hurt present in her voice.

"Stop. Don't do that. Do not bring Cristina and Meredith back into this. You don't get to act like a spoiled little brat in my O.R, even as my sister." Derek told her off, hearing her words but not listening to what his sister was saying.

Her frustration evident, Mary countered, her voice rising slightly.

"Why is it okay for Cristina and Meredith to do whatever they want, but it's not okay for me, because I'm not hiding under O.R. tables or bartending?" The therapists said Mary had handled the events remarkably, perhaps even too well.