𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ━ jackson avery

042. ━ welcome back, catherine avery

season eight // episodes sixteen and seventeen
[ welcome back, catherine avery ]

❝You're in for an interesting
life, Sof.❞

ELLIE AND ALEX were walking towards the NICU when Lexie ran up to them with a smile on her face. "Hey, guess what?" she said making them both jump at her sudden appearance. "I'm on peds today. Babies! Yay!"

"It's the NICU," Alex replied and Ellie opened the door in front of the trio. "Not the nursery. It can get pretty intense."

Lexie shrugged it off. "Oh, well, nothing is as intense as working on Derek's lost causes." Ellie glanced at her. "It's like a death march up there. I mean—I call time of death on a daily basis. What do we got today?"

The blonde let out a small breath, leading them into a nearby room. "Well, have you ever seen a baby that weighs less than a pound?" she asked her.

"Uh—no—because babies that weigh less than sixteen ounces—" Her steps slowed as the two peds residents walked towards the incubator. "—don't survive." She moved closer to the incubator and Ellie pulled out the chart. "My God... He's the size of a soda can."

Alex nodded. "Fourteen ounces," he confirmed.

"But he's growing," Morgan said and the three residents looked over, seeing the intern wheeled in by her boyfriend.

He shrugged. "That might just be the bloating from the fluids," he told her causing Ellie and Alex to share the same exasperated look.

"Well, let's take a look," Ellie said, clearing her throat as she took hold of her stethoscope and opened the incubator.

Lexie looked at the new mother. "How are you feeling, Morgan?" she asked her.

"I—I'm the least of my worries," she replied, her eyes briefly flickering away from her son and Ellie.

"You must be Chris," Lexie said, glancing up at the man standing behind Morgan's wheelchair. "Cardio resident at Cleveland, right?"

Chris looked down at his girlfriend. "You talk about me?"

"You don't talk about me?"

"Oh." Lexie was looking at the sign on the side of the incubator. "You guys haven't had time to pick a name yet, huh?"

Chris shook his head. "No, we, uh—"

"Yeah," Morgan said, looking up at him. "We—We should do that. Any thoughts?"

"We should probably wait a few weeks, don't you think?" he replied and Ellie glanced up momentarily from examining the small baby. "Until he can see and hear and breathe on his own?"

She cleared her throat and wrapped her stethoscope around her neck, looking up at the new parents. "Fourteen point three ounces today," she said and Alex nodded, filling out the chart.