Advice Time

"Is there a reason you called me to meet for coffee instead of just talking at the hospital?" Ivy asks her brother.

Derek sighs, "I have this problem, but I can't do anything about it because I promised Meredith. I need you to tell me the right thing to do."

"Is this thing bad?" Ivy asks.

Derek nods, "Okay, is this harming people and/or property?"

Again, Derek nods, "Is Meredith asking you to not tell because it will get her in trouble?"

Derek shakes his head this time, "Does someone important to Meredith get in trouble?"

"Can you give me advise or not?" Derek grows tired of that.

Ivy sighs, "Look, when I had to tell about April's mistake, I felt terrible. She is one of my best friends and I cost her her job. At the end of the day, my duty at the time was to help find out why that patient died. Your job right now, figure out if telling the truth is worth Meredith getting mad."

Ivy leaves her brother to think about it and goes to the hospital.

○○○○

Ivy walks to the nurses station and see Reed charting, "Hey."

"Hey, do you think-" Reed starts but is interrupted by Jackson.

He storms up to them, "Webber is letting Grey direct the neck of the pancreas from the portal vein in his whipple today and all I'm doing is opening. Shes getting secret lessons from him."

Ivy sighs, "Thats a fifth year procedure. Thats so unfair. Maybe I can get Derek to let me in on a big surgery to even it up."

"Hey, hey, no. You hate using your brother for things. Don't go down that path," Reed chastes her.

Ivy sticks her tounge out at her, "Yes, its not like selling my body."

"That was a mistake. Besides he told to do that with an attending instead of him. So I didn't end up having to go through with it," Reed argues.

"Can we get back to my problem?" Jackson asks.

"Just be helpful but not overly, don't try and outdo Meredith, but don't not stand out. But overall. Don't. Be. A. Kiss. Ass." Ivy advises.

She smiles at them and walks away.

○○○○

Ivy meets Meredith, Cristina and Jackson for lunch. She just finished a four hour surgery and is kind of tired so she lays her head on Jacksons shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asks.

Meredith is practicing for the Whipple, "Shes on this thing-"

"Okay, if you had to choose between the thing you love- surgery- and the person you love, which would you choose?" Cristina asks.

Meredith checks with Alex, "You would choose Izzie, right? Because you two are gonna get back together."

"Shut up."

Jackson is confused, "Wait, why do you have to choose?"

"That doesn't matter. You just do. Which is it- surgery or love?"

"I want both," Jackson says.

Meredith agrees, "Thats what I said."

"No, you-you can't have both,"

Jackson is confused, "Why the hell not?"

"Why the hell is he here?" Cristina asks Meredith.

Jackson munches on a carrot, Ivy stealing one, as Meredith answers, "I said he could be in here because he's in the whipple too."

"And the Little Shepherd?"

Ivy speaks for herself, "A: I'm Meredith's sister-in-law, B: I'm Jacksons friend and C: only Mark can call me Little Shepherd."

"Okay, whatever. Once again, you cannot have both. You have to choose." Cristina is adamant.

This is the moment Izzie enters, "Choose what? Uh, my, my pet scan got pushed back an hour, so I'd thought, I'd join you for lunch."

Ivy smiles politely and waves at her as Cristina points at Meredith, "Okay, that. You have to give up that. Learning the procedure, tuning out the world until you get it, like, you know, doing the procedure is the only thing that matters, like if you don't get to do it, you die. Thats what you have to give up."

"For what?" Izzie asks.

Ivy simply says, "Love."

"Okay, what about you Ivy?" Meredith asks.

Ivy thinks, "Well, I'm not in love so I can't say for sure, but in this moment. I would choose surgery."

"But why?" Izzie asks.

Jackson laughs, "Thats what I said."

"Okay, that's not the point. You know you couldn't do it. You know you'd choose the procedure," Cristina pushes Meredith.

Meredith finally accepts, "Fine! If I had to choose, gun to my head, I would choose surgery. Okay?"

"I won't tell Derek," Ivy whispers past Jackson to Meredith.

Cristina says, "Okay, well, thank you. Is that so hard to say? I don't know why is it so bad to say that out loud?"

"Because its crazy."

They all look at Izzie, "How-how"

"Its crazy. Surgery- its just a job. Its just a job. Its the thing you come home from, not the thing you come home to. And if you lose your job, you get another one, cause there's always another one. But... if you lose your love... if you think you're losing you love. Well, then suddenly, nothing else matters," Izzie looks at Alex.

Jackson asks, "This is what you guys talk about during lunch?"

Ivy elbows him, "We seriously need to talk about appropriate time and place for comments."

Jackson mocks her.

"I'm with them. Love comes and goes. Surgery doesn’t," Alex says.

Thankfully, Cristina and Alex's pagers go off, breaking the awkward tension. "Results are back."

They leave, as Izzie sighs, "You choose love."

Meredith pumps her fist in the air, startling Ivy, "Yes! Just did a perfect dissection without lacerating the portal vein. Sorry for scaring you Ivy."

"You gonna do that little fist pump in surgery, too?" Jackson teases.

Meredith shrugs as Ivy steals the rest of Jacksons carrots. He reaches down for one and looks at her, "Did you steal my carrots?"

"Heck yeah. You shouldn't be surprised by now," Ivy says, getting up.

Jackson rolls his eyes at her, "I'm sorry that I forgot you like to snack. How dare I?"

Ivy sticks her tounge out at him, "Meredith, I'll be watching from observation deck. Don't either of you mess up."

"Not nice or encouraging Ivy!"

○○○○

"Hey Der, you make your decision?" Ivy asks her brother.

He sighs, "No, I'm waiting on Meredith."

She nods, "Either way, I'm proud of you Der. I love you."

She hugs him. She gives him a peck on the cheek.

○○○○

Ivy meets up with Jackson in the locker room, "Hey, I got pulled into surgery, how'd yours go?"

"It went great. Webber couldn't make it so Bailey did it. Meredith was told to observe or leave but I got to open. Oh and apparently, your brother is the new chief," Jackson informs her.

Ivy quickly turns around, clad only in her scrub bottoms and bra, "I'm sorry, what? Derek is the new chief?"

Jackson stares a couple seconds, "Uh, yeah. Webber is drinking again so Derek told the board. They made him chief."

Ivy puts her shirt on, "So that's what he was talking about this morning. Huh. Wow."

"Things are going to be crazy for a little while, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but, we will get through this."

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AN: ahhh! Jackson and Ivy are getting closer. Some Shepherd sibling vibes. Oo, i love it!.