Chapter Text
Amelia loves her nephew. She really does. But sometimes that love comes into question on days like today. She told Lucas he could borrow her car, but apparently he didn’t hear the part where she said to ask first. Luckily, she still made it to the hospital on time and she makes her way to the elevator in a huff. “Hey.” “Hey.” She greets Owen as she presses the button.
“I already did that twice.” Owen states.
“Can you evict family?” Amelia says, still frustrated. “Lucas is crashing at my place and it is not ideal. He’s into all of my stuff, his stuff– every time I turn around there’s more. I mean, I know I’m not the easiest person to live with, but–”
“But you do pick up after yourself.” Owen finishes her sentence.
“Is it so hard?”
Monica quietly approaches, pressing the elevator button.
“We already did that.” Amelia and Owen say in unison. The elevator doors open as they finish speaking.
“Maybe it just doesn’t like you.” Monica says as she looks at Amelia.
Amelia stares for a second, a little caught off guard, but she recovers quickly and turns to Owen.
“I’m gonna take the stairs.”
What was that? Amelia thinks as she climbs up the stairs. She can’t still be mad about the parking spot, right?
Amelia just pushes the thought aside, having bigger things to think about.
Later, Amelia finds Lucas at the nurse’s station.
“You took my car this morning.”
“You said I could borrow it.” Lucas says plainly.
“Not without asking me first.” Amelia whisper shouts.
“I left you a note.”
“Under which pile of stuff?”
“Would now be a bad time to let you know that I’m on your service today?”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“I’ll go round on your patients.” Lucas says and scurries away.
Amelia grabs a tablet and lets out a frustrated sigh. Nothing was going according to plan today.
“Intern woes?” Beltran asks.
“Yeah. Something like that. The fetal embolization is canceled. Mom got spooked.” Amelia says as she’s looking through another chart.
“Well it’s a spooky surgery. Not only are you inserting a needle, but multiple metal coils into their tiny baby’s brain.”
“Well this is the best shot that baby has.” Amelia retorts.
“Doesn’t make it any less terrifying.”
Luckily, Arizona was able to talk to Vida and she agreed to the surgery. Amelia just needed to find Lucas.
Amelia finds him talking to Beltran.
“And then after that I’m gonna need labs on the Turner kid in room 1343 and make sure that—“
“You stole my intern?” Amelia interrupts.
“Your surgery was canceled.”
“It’s back on.”
“Well if interns aren’t allowed in the OR anyway I could really use him on my post ops.” Beltran reasons.
“Yeah I could use the hours in peds.”
“Prep Vida right now.” Amelia says sternly.
“He’s occupied.”
“Clearly.”
After a long, but successful day, Amelia heads to the front desk in hopes of finding her keys.
“Are my keys back there? Adams texted that they were at the desk.” The nurse shakes her head. “Ok, yeah. I’m gonna kill him. Would you page Adam’s and tell him the chief of neuro needs a word.”
“Wow, you really have it out for that intern.” Monica states.
Amelia turns around. “You really sneak up on people.”
“Did he make a mistake on one of your patients?”
“He’s my nephew,” Monica smiles at the revelation.
“And he’s crashing at my place and he’s a slob. Also he has my car keys.”
“Do you need a ride home?” Monica asks.
Amelia hesitates. Maybe for the obvious reason that they started off on the wrong foot and have yet to address it but also for the reason that Beltran is a hard woman to read. One second she’s stand-offish and the next she’s offering Amelia a ride home. It’s not ideal and it’ll probably be awkward but Amelia can’t take another conversation with Lucas and his carefree attitude.
“Yes. I’d appreciate that. Thank you.” Amelia smiles and Monica returns the same expression.
The elevator ride is quiet, but Monica breaks silence as they walk to her car.
“I heard your surgery went well.”
“Yeah. Arizona was even able to talk Bailey into letting the interns in the OR. I should have just left Adams with you actually. They’re finally allowed in the OR and they’re on their phones the whole time.”
“You’re kidding.” Monica looks at Amelia.
“Nope.” Amelia shakes her head.
“But that was a groundbreaking surgery.”
“Apparently it wasn’t worth their time.”
“Their loss then.” Monica says as they reach the car.
They get into the car and Amelia suddenly feels nervous. Why am I nervous? It’s just a ride home. Amelia thinks to herself.
“Do you have the address?” Monica asks, holding her phone.
“Yeah.” Amelia grabs Monica’s phone, hands brushing for a second. She types in the address and hands the phone back.
As they pull out of the parking lot, Amelia is reminded of the day they met and decides maybe apologizing wouldn’t be the worst thing.
“I wanted to apologize for my behavior your first day here.” Amelia starts.
“I appreciate that, but you really don’t have to.” Monica says, glancing at Amelia.
“No, no. I stole your parking spot and made you late on your first day. And then I gave you a hard time about the procedure. What I’m trying to say is, that wasn’t my finest moment. I’m usually not like that or at least I try not to be. I’m sorry.” Amelia finally lets out.
Monica looks over and sees Amelia fidgeting with her hands.
“It’s okay. Really. And I’m sorry too.”
Amelia looks over, a look of confusion on her face.
“I didn’t have to push you so hard. It’s just… I got used to being both the surgeon and the advocate when it comes to my patients. I kind of have a reputation for pushing people’s boundaries. That’s not a quality many people like.” Monica clarifies.
Amelia smiles, remembering her conversation with Richard. “Yeah. Webber mentioned something about that. He said that’s actually why he hired you. Looks like you found the right hospital.”
“I hope so.” Monica responds.
The silence stretches for a minute before Amelia speaks again.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you move to Seattle, to Grey Sloan?”
“Do you want the real answer or the obvious answer?” Monica asks.
“Real.”
“I needed the change and the space.” Monica lets out a sigh before she continues. “I’m going through a messy divorce and my wife was fighting me on everything, still is. Dr.Webber actually called me a few times before, trying to get me to work at the hospital, but I wasn’t interested at the time. When he called again, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.”
“I’m sorry about your divorce. I know that can be hard.”
“You’ve been divorced?” Monica asks, seemingly surprised.
“Yeah. I was only married for a little over a year though. I was actually married to Owen.”
“Hunt?”
“Yeah. It all happened very fast. It ended for a few reasons, but at least I had a brain tumor to blame it on. Now I’m Auntie Amelia to his kids.”
“Wait… you had a brain tumor?” Monica asks, curiously.
“Ironic, right? It was benign. At least medically. In life, not so much, hence the divorce. I’m fine now though. This was a few years ago.”
Monica is slowly pulling up to Amelia’s building as she finishes her sentence. Amelia gets unbuckled and turns to Monica.
“Thanks, for the ride.” She pauses. “I know we barely know each other, but if you ever want to talk, I’m here. I know divorces can be hard. Even if you just want to rant or not rant, I’m here. Consider me your first friend in Seattle.” Amelia offers.
Monica smiles. “I just might take you up on that.”
Amelia opens the door, stepping out. “Goodnight, Beltran.”
“Goodnight, Shepherd.”