Home (Grey's Anatomy Series)

Life In L.A: Part Two

5 MONTHS LATER

Sitting on the wooden porch, I hugged my knees close to my chest as I watched Theo and Bailey play in the sand down the hill towards the water.

"Careful, Theo!" I blurted out as he ran into the water with his bucket and back to the sandcastle.

"What time do you go to work?" Meredith asked, handing me a hot cup of coffee.

"In two hours. I have new patients that Violet wants me to diagnose before continuing." I whispered.

Sipping on my coffee, I heard Zola coming up behind me.

"Aunty Ella, are you going to wear this today?" She asked holding my ferry boat scrub cap in her hands.

"Zo, where did you get this?" Mer asked.

"I found it in Aunty's jacket...it fell out of your pocket, I didn't mean to take it." She questioned in a worried tone.

"It's okay, honey. Um, why don't you put it back, huh?"

"Okay..."

Watching as she climbs back up the stairs, I return my gaze back towards the boys as they started to bury themselves in the sand.

"Look Mama!" Bailey yelled.

"Careful, Bailey!"

Wrapping my hands around my cup of coffee, I watched Meredith from the corner of my eyes as she clasped her fingers together and looked just to the right of her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I mean, taking care of the kids by yourself. I can hire a nanny if you want, Addison gave me her caregivers' number just in case."

"No, it's okay. It's just...hard."

"Yeah, I know," I whispered as I looked out towards the distance and tried to block out any memory that might trigger me before I start my shift.

~

Standing at the end of my desk with my back facing the windows, I quickly buttoned up my black blouse, when I heard the door open behind me.

"Oh, hey. I didn't think you'd be in for another hour?" Dell asked, holding a stack of pink notes in his hands.

"I wanted to catch up on some work Charlotte wanted me to look at."

Turning back around, I continue to button up my shirt when I hear the floor creak again.

"You're not used to wearing office clothing, are you?" He asked, peeking to the left.

"I'm more of a Navy Blue scrubs Kind-of-girl." I chuckled.

"Yeah, I can tell."

Grabbing the notes in his hands, he leaves my office as I walk around the room trying to rearrange my furniture.

"Shepherd, we have a patient in for you," Pete said peeking his head in my office.

"Okay."

Heading out into the curved hallway, I followed him into Violet's office where two young men stood, one with dark brown hair and another with blonde hair. 

"Well, let's just hope our new Neuro surgeon is as good as they say." The blonde man said.

"Hmm. I'm Dr. Elena Shepherd, you are?" I asked him.

Turning around, the blonde man's face began to familiarize me with every inch he turned.

"...Archer..." I gasped, seeing as he was still the same conniving little bastard.