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Dory and her quintuplets are still in the hospital (it's actually the day following last week's episode), and only one of them is doing well. Dory, understandably, gets hit with a five-time whammy of hormones and depression, and feels like her babies' health problems are all her fault. Izzie does her best to juggle: 1) taking care of the babies, 2) being real mad at Alex, and 3) getting in a fight with Meredith for talking to Alex. She finally loses her shit when Addison teaches her a "lesson," which is not so much a lesson as leaving her alone all night to "save" a baby who is totally going to die. Thanks, Addie! Fortunately, Meredith takes Izzie to buy a dog, and the dog is adorable, so everything is all better.
Cristina gets assigned to a prisoner, played with much gnawing of scenery by Rosanna Arquette, who has swallowed several razor blades in an attempt to get out of solitary for a while. When that doesn't work, she swallows a broken light bulb, and wins Cristina's heart in the process. It's really weird. Even weirder? George, poor George, who spends the entire episode putting leeches on an old man's nose and fighting with Nurse Olivia of the Syph. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Mere starts her voice-over as we fly over Seattle at night. She says that forty years ago, the Beatles asked the world a question: they wanted to know where all the lonely people came from. As we fade into an outside shot of the hospital, then into the NICU, Mere says her theory is that a great many of the lonely people come from hospitals. "More precisely, the surgical wing of hospitals."
In the NICU, George proclaims that his quint, Lucy, is the best one. "She just smiled at me!" Izzie wearily reminds George that she's nine hours old. George insists that of the five babies, Lucy is clearly the best. The rest of Fool and the Gang are parked in front of their own incubators, and Mere says her quint Charlotte is already so smart, she's got wrinkles on her forehead. If that's a sign of intelligence, I must be a freaking genius. Izzie looks over at Mere: "A, this is not a competition. And B? My quint kicks your quints' asses." Cristina points out that Julie has her organs on the outside of her body, and she's still alive, thank you very much. Alex interrupts this amusing scene to boast about his quint, Kate, then try talking to Izzie, who tells him he's way too busy screwing nurses to talk. "Get out." Alex asks if someone will just make sure Kate's vitals remain stable. Mere says she will, which earns her a dirty look from Izzie, who then says, "I am so glad I never slept with him, which is his loss, because I'm really good in bed. Mind-blowing. Mind. Blowingly. Good in bed." Cristina asks if she's trying to seduce them, but Izzie just goes on freaking about how she can't believe he slept with Olivia instead of her. George is like, "Hey. I slept with Olivia." Izzie: "Well, then you both have bad taste." Damn. George doesn't know why she's even surprised; she knows how Alex is. Mere tells Izzie she dodged a bullet, and is better off without him. Cristina wonders why she's even surprised, since if you sleep with a snake, you get bit. Izzie thanks them for their "support." Bailey walks in and asks who's on call; Izzie says she is. Bailey tells the rest of them to go home and get some sleep -- all five quints are still alive, so it's been a good day. Mere takes this opportunity to finish her VO: "As surgeons, we ignore our own needs so we can meet our patients' needs. We ignore our friends and families so we can save other people's friends and families. Which means that, at the end of the day, all we really have is ourselves." Over shots of each Fool sleeping or sitting sadly alone, Mere says, "And nothing in this world can make you feel more alone than that."
The morning, a hurried Cristina runs around Burke's house trying to get out the door. Burke, sitting placidly at his kitchen table reading the paper, tells her he made breakfast. Cristina just stares at him as if he's speaking a foreign language. "I don't have time for breakfast! I've got to round before anyone else if I want to get the good cases!" Burke offers his freaky girlfriend coffee instead, which she takes and pours into a go-cup. She runs out the door before Burke can even say goodbye. Ungrateful!
Mere and George are walking through the hospital making plans for the evening when they come upon McDreamy and Addison, arguing about moving out of McDreamy's trailer and into a regular-people house. Mere shushes George and follows them so she can totally eavesdrop. Addison says she didn't give up a Central Park brownstone to come live in the woods. Oh, poor Addie with her dreamy husband and million-dollar job and total inability to build an enormous house in the beautiful forest. Mere finally stops following them and turns to George: "Oh, I'm sorry. What were you saying?" George says it's nothing, and stomps into the locker room. Cristina, who is dumb, is eating some kind of snack in a bag and complaining about the lack of breakfast items in the hospital. She says sometimes she thinks we'd be better off as dogs. Mere tells her she's preaching to the choir; she's over men. George gets all offended: "A dog is not a replacement for a human being!" Oh, George, that didn't even make any sense. Alex tells the gang they better wake Izzie, who's been passed out on the floor, this whole time, because Bailey will kill her if she catches her sleeping. Cristina calls Izzie's name, then when that doesn't work, kicks her in the shoulder. Lord, Cristina! Izzie wakes up all mad. Cristina: "Hell hath no fury like a woman whose non-boyfriend screws a nurse." Hee. Izzie calls Cristina a bitch, and Cristina says she likes Izzie bitter and pissed-off, because she's almost like a normal person now.
Bailey leads rounds; they go into their first patient's room and Bailey asks George what they've got. George introduces the patient, a rugged-looking middle-aged man who has had reconstructive surgery for multiple melanomas on his nose, ear, and finger, only now blood is pooling in those sites and they're all purple and swollen and icky-looking. Bailey asks George what they need to do to get "Carl"'s blood moving again, and George suggests a "bio-therapeutic agent," which, as Carl soon learns, means they're going to put leeches on his face. Yum! Carl is completely cool with this, all, "Leeches. Huh. You don't say." Aw, I love Carl already. Bailey explains that the leeches secrete blood thinners and act sort of like a big drain for all the pooled blood, but if this makes him uncomfortable... Carl says no way, he's been a hiker for forty years, and Mother Nature hasn't come up with anything yet he hasn't found a reason to love. Bailey laughs adorably, and comments, "Big outdoorsman?" Carl: "How you think I got all these melanomas in the first place?" Oh, Carl! It's called sunblock. Learn it, live it, love it.
up is Annoying Pituitary Cyst Man from last week, the one Alex accidentally put into a coma. McDreamy is already there checking on him. Mere explains that APCM collapsed and hit his head, which causes McDreamy to interrupt, "That WAS the problem," and look pointedly at Alex. Alex looks nervous. Mere goes on to say that APCM was supposed to have surgery, but it was postponed when... "When I told the nurse," Alex starts to say, and is interrupted by Izzie, who snarls, "OLIVIA." Way to be professional, Iz. Alex goes on to say that he told the nurse to administer an incorrect dosage of saline. McDreamy: "Essentially dehydrating Mr. Martin's brain." Alex says there's still a chance he'll wake up and be fine. McDreamy starts to walk out angrily, but Alex stops him, says he knows he screwed up, but to please put him back on the case. McDreamy says there's nothing they can do at this point, but if he wants back on, fine. Alex takes the chart and goes over to stare really hard at APCM, as if that will wake him up. Haven't y'all heard of Blue Steel therapy?
Back in the NICU, the Quint Parents are looking sadly at all their sick little babies. Bailey leads the interns in, and Addison asks Cristina to give the parents an update. Cristina, in typical fashion, starts throwing around all kinds of medical jargon at them until Bailey interrupts her. "Uh, Yang, how 'bout we do this in plain English?" Heh. Cristina starts over and explains that Julie's surgery went well; they pushed in as much of her organ sac as possible, and think they can get the rest with a second operation. Quint Mom, whose name is Dory, is shocked that Julie has to have a second operation. Cristina's like, "Yep!" until Bailey gives her a look, then amends her statement to the much gentler, "Not for a few days." George reports on Lucy -- they put in a brain shunt, and she's doing very well. Izzie tells Dory, who's looking more and more horrified with each report, that Dr. Burke operated on Emily's atrial septum last night, and today they're going to go in and try to reconstruct the lower chamber of her heart. Mere says Charlotte's lungs were a little more underdeveloped than they would have li
ked, so they put a special mask on her to help her breathe, and are monitoring her closely. Mere has the best delivery of all the doctors, and she's totally who I'd want to tell me about the leeches on my face or my new brain shunt or whatever. This just leaves Kate, whom Alex says seems to be pretty healthy, and she can be moved from NICU as soon as she makes four pounds. Dory's husband Tom says, "You hear that, honey? Kate's doing really well?" Dory does not find this comforting, and starts to wheel herself off, saying she'll be in her room. Addison assures Dory's husband that she'll be fine, but she's just had five babies and her hormones are all over the place. I'd imagine so. I wonder if you get five times less estrogen and progesterone after delivery of quints, because that would probably suck harder than actually carrying and delivering five babies.
After they leave, Bailey tells Mere to keep an eye on Dory, and not let the hormone changes get the best of her. Izzie says she can do it, but Bailey reminds her that she has Emily's heart surgery with Dr. Burke. Izzie insists she has a relationship with the mother, and Bailey's all, "Uh, why are you arguing with me?" Izzie, who is clearly out of control, continues to argue. Bailey tells her she doesn't know what she's so angry about, but she doesn't care, and to keep it to herself. She addresses the rest of them: "Look, these are preemies, people. They were supposed to have spent another eight weeks in the womb. Just like interns, they're not ready for the real world." The Fools all look sheepish, and Bailey's pager goes off. It's the pit; she directs Cristina to follow her.
In the ambulance bay, Bailey and Cristina walk up just as they're unloading the patient. A paramedic gives them the facts: "Constance Henderson, 40, an inmate at Henderson. Swallowed a razor blade." Excellent! Bailey surmises that Constance, who is being played by a screaming and writhing and maniacal Rosanna Arquette (so..."as herself"?), just wanted a field trip from solitary, and it worked. Cristina asks if she's crazy, and the paramedic answers, "If you call a murderer crazy." Rosanna then crazies at Cristina, "Yeah, BABY, that's what I'm talkin' about! WHEEE!" Okay, then. Credits.
We return to Bailey asking Rosanna if she's feeling any discomfort. Rosanna, who is chained to the bed, replies, "You mean besides these snazzy handcuffs pinching my wrists?" Bailey sighs. "Did you at least put tape on the blade?" Rosanna says she's not an idiot. Bailey points out that she swallowed a razor blade, then asks Rosanna to tell her what hurts. Rosanna says she'll do no such thing, as that would shorten her delightful vacation, only less articulate and more heavy New York accent, with a little dash of...I'm not quite sure, but I want to say Sarah Michelle Gellar? Okay, with a smidge of Smidge thrown in. The effect is certainly bizarre, I can tell you that. Anyway, Rosanna tells Cristina to get her some chocolate pudding, since she's just standing there doing nothing. Bailey tells Cristina to get an X-ray, but make sure it's portable. "To minimize flight risk," she directs at Rosanna. Cristina's like, "But...but I have to check on Julia!" Bailey says she's got it covered. Cristina: "Are you sure you can't do it?" Bailey: "I can. I choose not to." Rosanna tells Cristina to come on, she's not gonna hurt her. "I only murdered three people, and none of them were doctors." Jesus.
Over in Carl's room, Nurse Olivia is having trouble getting the leeches to bite. George says sometimes they get a little anxious. "Bright lights, thunderstorms." Olivia flinches and drops the leech. "Nervous handlers." Olivia tells Carl she's sorry, she's just a little squeamish around leeches. George says dryly, "That is not what I have heard." Ooh, face hard! A chill falls over the room as Olivia tells Carl that Dr. O'Malley can take over from here. George tries his hand with the leeches as Carl asks what that was all about. George unconvincingly says it was nothing, and succeeds in getting a leech to bite Carl's nose. Carl and his sweet leech-face look up at George, and we cut to...
…Olivia, getting into the elevator with Izzie. Girl fight! Olivia tries to apologize, saying she had no idea that Alex and Izzie were seeing each other, but Izzie just stands there stone-faced. Olivia blathers on about how she was having a bad day, it was good to have someone there, and Alex really is good, like, a good person, not just good "that kind of good," which he is, as Izzie obviously knows, and someone please shut this girl up. Izzie exits the elevator without a word. Poor Olivia, who should bear none of the responsibility for this, is like, "Okay. Bye?"
Mere is watching her quint when McDreamy comes in to check on Lucy's shunt. George runs up in the background, thinks better of it, and runs away. Aw. Mere smiles to herself and asks McDreamy if he's giving up the trailer. McDreamy says he is most definitely not, why, was Addison telling people that he was? Mere says she would never have pegged him for that guy: the marble bath, private pool, gated community...guy. McDreamy: "Don't peg me. I'm not peggable." I beg to differ. Mere's quint starts to crash, and McDreamy, George (who must have been lurking outside), and a nurse run over. Her lung has collapsed. McDreamy hands Mere a needle, and tells her to stick it between the baby's ribs. She does, there's a gush of air, and...all better! George stands watching them in disgust. Heh. McDreamy tells Mere nice job, and adds, "I'm not giving up the trailer." Mere giggles, "Whatever you say, Dr. Shepherd."
Cut to Mere explaining to Dory and Tom what happened. She says it sounds scary, but really not that uncommon in a preemie this size. Dory has her back turned to Mere, and her head drops lower as Mere explains that they inserted a tube in Charlotte's chest to help her breathe. Mere tries to assure Dory that the baby really is doing fine now. Tom's phone rings, and he says he has to go, because his mom can only handle the triplets for a little while. He leans down and tells Dory he'll call as soon as he gets home. Dory is unresponsive. Mere tells Tom she'll keep an eye on his wife. Snap out of it, Dory! It's just quintuplets! Mere walks over and tells Dory that she can't blame herself for this. Dory says she's got one baby who can barely breathe, one with half a heart, two other sick ones, and if she'd listened to the doctors, she could have three healthy girls instead of four who might not live until tomorrow. "It was my decision. Tom agreed with the doctors. So, really, Dr. Grey, who else should I blame?"
Burke is quizzing Izzie before Emily's surgery. I don't know what he's talking about, but Izzie correctly answers, "Stenosis and atresia of the mitral and aortic valves." Burke asks another question, which Izzie also answers perfectly. Burke is impressed that she's done her homework. Izzie says she studies when she's on call. Burke says no matter what the books say, he guarantees she's never seen a heart this small. Izzie catches sight of Alex outside the room, and says to herself, "Betcha I have." I don't know what Izzie's so upset about, since she's about to spend a few hours just inches away from the way hotter Burke, but to each her really dumb own, I guess.
Cut to Bailey, who is in the NICU baby-talking to one of the quints. It is too awesome for words, so I will just give you hers. "How ya doin', you? You know I'm havin' a baby too, yes I am! A little boy! Maybe you could meet him someday! How's that sound, does that sound good?" Yes ma'am, it surely does. We pull back and see that Cristina has been standing there for some time, and is currently trying to control herself. Bailey notices her, and her demeanor changes instantly. She barks, "Pregnancy has not made me soft. I haven't gone soft, I don't do soft." Cristina says oh, of course not, she was just talking to a patient. Heeeee. She has Rosanna's
X-rays, which she shows to Bailey. It seems that Rosanna has swallowed not one, but four razor blades. Bailey calls her a foolish, foolish woman, and they go see her.
When they arrive, Rosanna is berating a nurse for not bringing her mint chocolate chip ice cream. She sees Bailey and says, "Thank God, Mama Bear! Help me out here, okay? I'm starvin!" Bailey tells the nurse not to give her anything, and fixes Rosanna with a look that could kill. Cristina tells her that she can't eat anything, because she's about to undergo major surgery. Rosanna doesn't understand; in the past, her razor blades have just passed the day! Bailey says she's at risk for a perforated intestine and half a dozen infections, and they need to operate right away, since this time she swallowed four blades. Rosanna says she thought it would buy her an extra day, and then perks up. "Does this operation have a nice, long recovery time?" Cristina, who is very tired of this act, asks Rosanna if she realizes this is major surgery, which is dangerous and could kill her. Rosanna just gives both doctors a long look, and says she wants at least a gallon of mint chocolate chip when they're done splitting her open. Bailey and Cristina roll their eyes and leave wordlessly, as they should.
Dory sits in a wheelchair outside the NICU and dejectedly asks Meredith what it is that they're doing. Mere says they're visiting, instead of throwing all kinds of medical talk at her and practically scaring her to death. "The one thing we haven't done is give you a chance to actually be with your daughters." Dory asks how that's going to help; if she's learned anything these past few days, it's that she needs to face reality. What you actually need to do is take about six thousand doses of Zoloft, Debbie Downer. Mere wheels her over to Kate, and says she can reach in and touch her if she likes. Dory says she would like that very much, and just as it looks like Dory's feeling better, Charlotte crashes. Mere runs over to Charlotte's incubator, and tells the nurse to page Addison. Dory looks over at them in terror. Great idea, Mere!
Emily's surgery. Burke explains to Izzie that the baby's aorta is narrower than they thought, and there's just not much they can do. He tells Addison he wanted her to see this before he closed the baby up, and Izzie starts freaking out. "Closing up?! You didn't do anything! No, we just started!" Addison says this is as much as Burke can do for now, so unless she can fix it, it's time to close this baby's chest. As well as Izzie's mouth, I'd add. Addison's pager goes off, and she leaves the room. Izzie asks Burke if she can go, too. Burke nods yes.
Addison rushes into the NICU and asks what happened. Mere says Charlotte had an apneic episode, and is still not breathing on her own. Addison intubates the baby as Dory watches, mortified. Mere tells Addison she was doing fine, and Addison says preemies are like that -- just when you think they're doing better, they slip backwards. Mere finally realizes that Dory has witnessed this whole thing, and gasps, "Mrs. Russell." But when she looks over, there's just an empty wheelchair. I sure hope Dory knows how to crawl, because I can't imagine she's walking very well with that giant incision across her midsection.
Rosanna's in surgery. Heartless Cristina asks Bailey who would do this to themselves. Bailey, who actually does understand human feeling, says the woman wasn't just in prison, she was in solitary. Cristina says she's deranged. Bailey: "You try spending a month locked in a room with no windows, no one to talk to twenty-three hours a day. See how deranged she is then." Cristina argues that she's a murderer. Bailey's like, "I didn't say she wasn't. I said, try having no one to make your snarky comments to for a solid month. My guess is, you'd swallow the entire razor." Bravo!
George checks in on Carl and the leeches. He looks much better, and George says so. Carl asks George if he made up with that cute little girlfriend of his yet. George says Olivia's hardly his girlfriend, and retrieves a bloated leech that has leapt from Carl's ear. EW. Carl asks if "she" is okay. George: "'She'?" Carl says he's named her Isabella, and the one on his finger is Darcy. "And that little guy on my nose? Named 'O'Malley.'" George doesn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. Carl laughs and says that's right, he named him O'Malley, since George was the one who got him to bite. George says Isabella's fine, she's just full. He goes to dispose of her, but Carl asks if he can take her home.
Cut to George complaining to Olivia. "Crazy nature man! Wants to take a leech home as a pet." He looks for a container for Isabella, and Olivia tells him he had no right to speak to her that way in front of a patient. George says she hurt his friend. Olivia says she had no idea about Izzie and Alex, and that's not what he's upset about anyway. George says she has no idea what he's upset about. "And why Alex? And why AGAIN?" Olivia: "People get lonely, George."
Just outside Dory's room, Mere's on the phone with Tom, asking if he could bring the boys by to visit, because Dory could really use it. Three boisterous toddlers? Again, I submit medication for your consideration. Unfortunately, the boys have the flu, so Mere tells him not to bring them. She thanks him, and hangs up, only to run into Alex in the NICU. She remarks that he's been lying low. Alex says that's easy when nobody's talking to you. Mere: "I'm talking to you. In short, monosyllabic sentences, with disdain and contempt." Heh. Alex wonders if girl rules say they all have to hate him. Mere says she doesn't hate him, and if her mother hadn't gotten Alzheimer's, she'd probably be him. She asks if he's okay. Alex says he almost killed a guy yesterday, and is just trying to find anything he can to help. Mere grabs one of the books he's studying, and asks what they're looking for. Just then, Izzie walks in and sees them together. She gets teary-eyed, tells Mere she's unbelievable, and storms out.
Mere runs after her, and tells Izzie that she and Alex are sort of friends. Izzie would like to know since when they're friends. "You tell me to cut my losses, that I'm better off without him, and as soon as I turn my back..." Oh, please. As if Alex is any match for the dreamy McDreamy. Mere says she's making way too big a deal out of this. Izzie tells her to do whatever she wants; sleep with him for all she cares! Mere says she's obviously not going to do that. Izzie: "Why not, you've slept with everyone else." Oh, NO. Izzie walks off angrily, and Mere does the same in the other direction. Commercials and bitterness.
Cristina tells Rosanna that her surgery went well, and should be ready to go in about 36 hours. This is not nearly long enough for Rosanna. "Four razor blades and that's all you can give me? Come on, sugarplum, I thought we were having fun." You know, I really hated Rosanna up to this point, but when somebody uses the term "sugarplum," it will win me over every time. I don't know what it is, maybe some kind of repressed love for the Nutcracker ballet. Cristina starts to take off, but Rosanna calls out for her not to leave. Cristina is all, "What?" Rosanna says she just wants a little conversation; she's all alone in there, without even a roommate to talk to. Cristina relents. "Okay. Why'd you kill three people?" Rosanna: "Start with a little small talk, why don'tcha?" Cristina looks at her expectantly. Rosanna says she was high on meth, and had this boyfriend who had a robbery all planned out. "He said he would leave me if I didn't help him. Things got out of control. He was gonna leave me. He was all I had." She starts to cry a little, and says she would have been all alone. Cristina looks at her unsympathetically and says, "Clearly being alone has its benefits." She shakes her head and leaves the room. Oh, Crissy, you heartless bastard.
George walks into Carl's room to find Olivia waiting there. She says another leech fell off, and she can't get the new one to bite. George says coldly that he's a surgeon. Olivia shoots back that he's an intern. Carl watches this exchange like it's a tennis match, then says, "You know what time it is? Time for you two kids to kiss and make up, that's what time it is!" I love him. ["This actor has played George W. Bush in three different venues, which is so messed up, it's awesome." -- Sars] George reminds Carl that he and Olivia are not a couple. Carl says he knows there's something between the two of them. Olivia tells Carl he's right; there was. George says this isn't the time, but Olivia has started up and just can't stop. She tells Carl all about how George broke up with her for a girl who doesn't even know he's alive. She addresses George: "You? Meredith Grey? Never going to happen." Damn! George stutters, "Why, why, why would you even...why? Meredith?" Olivia says anyone who's paying the slightest bit of attention knows it's Meredith, except Meredith, which should tell him something. She apologizes to Carl and runs out. George, to Carl: "She gave me syphilis."
Addison is in Webber's office, and she asks him if he remembers what he did to her when she was an intern. Webber says he couldn't forget, because she didn't speak to him for almost a year, but she learned. Why, Webber! You dirty old man. Addison says she thinks she's going to have to do the same thing to Izzie Stevens. Webber knows Stevens: "Smart, hard-working, gets a little too involved with her patients. A lot like you." Addison says she knows, and it took her a long time to get over it when it happened to her. Webber says the question is, is Izzie talented enough to make the lesson worth it? Lord, he makes it sound so violent. Addison says Izzie's the best she's seen in years, and she was hoping... Webber cuts her off. "You're not here to make friends, Addison. You're here to make better surgeons. Being a teacher can be a lonely business." Out with the cat o' nine tails, Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd!
Outside at a table, Izzie is telling George and Cristina about how Meredith was all over Alex. Cristina brings Izzie back to freaking earth: "Seriously? She was all over him? Was she, like, mounting him? With all the babies watching?" George says they were just talking. Izzie says you don't talk to bastards who cheat on their girlfriends, that's the rule. George reminds her that she wasn't officially his girlfriend. Izzie says that's not the point. I believe, unfortunately for Izzie, that it is. George says he doesn't get all emotional about people he's not dating. Izzie: "Really. You wanna go there?" George shuts up real quick, and Cristina looks confused. Izzie tells them that she's having a moment here, and not to mess with her. Cristina asks if she's going to have a nervous breakdown or kill herself. Izzie says no. Cristina: "So...there's no chance you'll kill us?" Seriously. Izzie shoves her chair back and stomps off. George tells Cristina that was wrong on so many levels, then they totally laugh about how awesome it was.
Mere looks at Charlotte's chest X-ray, then tells her that her lungs are not good. She says they have to find something to help her, then looks over to see Addison counseling Dory in the room. She tells Charlotte if she has any ideas, it's time to start talking.
Ooh, it's time for the Great Izzie Experiment. Addison tells Izzie that she's leaving for the evening, but she and Burke have decided to try again with Emily's aorta if she can only make it through the ten hours. She asks Izzie to look after her for the night. Izzie says she was on call last night, but at Addison's look, is all, "But I can definitely stay tonight, too." Addison tells Izzie that this baby is her responsibility, and she better be alive when she gets back in the morning. Izzie says she will be. Addison wa
lks off with a guilty look on her face. Aw, Addie, you schemer. Izzie almost deserves it for the way she's been acting.
Alex catches McDreamy as he's leaving the hospital, and says he thinks he found something that could work on APCM. McDreamy shuts him down. Alex tries to argue his case, but McDreamy tells him it's over. "You screwed up. Mr. Martin's fried. You fried his brain. You killed him. Deal with it." Well, then! I guess he just...will have to!
Izzie rocks the NICU. Emily's blood pressure has dropped, but Izzie works some medical magic and brings it back up to the right level. The nurse assisting her is all proud. Mere walks in and says, "Hey, Iz." Izzie says she's not talking to her. Mere says she just wanted to say she was sorry. Izzie: "When Derek broke up with you, nobody told you you were better off without him. It's not supportive, it's condescending. Everyone was there for you guys, and the one time I need you? Just go away, Meredith." Meredith does, and Izzie looks like she wishes she hadn't said that. Too late now, weirdo!
Cut to Cristina, running into Rosanna's room. Rosanna is all jerking and spazzing on the bed. The nurse says she just started seizing. Cristina realizes that Rosanna isn't seizing, she's choking. She reaches into her mouth and pulls out a bloody shard of something from her throat. Cristina looks around the room, and sees a broken lamp on the floor. "My God, she's swallowed a light bulb." Cristina tries to shove a tube down her throat as we go to commercial.
When we come back, everything is still crazy and tense and awful and making me nervous in Rosanna's room. Cristina can't intubate, and calls for help. She's preparing to do something called a "crike" when Burke shows up. He says she'll be okay, and tells a nurse to prep OR 2 for an emergency thoracotomy. Cristina sighs in relief that her hot doctor boyfriend has saved the day.
Emily crashes. Izzie fixes it with more epinephrine, and heaves her own sigh of relief.
Dory's room. Mere walks in to find her packing, and Dory says she needs to go home. "I can't be here. I can't watch them die." Mere says they're not dying; they're trying to live, and her leaving isn't going to help them. Dory needs Meredith to understand that she can't do it, because they're too sick and hurt. Mere: "Which is why they need their mother." Dory says she can't. What if Emily dies? Mere says if Emily dies, it will be horrible. "But if Emily dies and you're not here?" She says Dory can sit with them, and talk to them, and let them know they're not alone in this world -- that's all they need. And then a total light bulb goes off over Mere's head. She says she thinks she knows how to help Charlotte, and rushes out of the room. Dory's like, "Wait, I thought you were going to help me fold these nightgowns!" Just kidding.
Mere is putting Charlotte into an incubator with one of her siblings, and says she doesn't know why she didn't think of this sooner. She explains to Dory -- who, judging from her fetching hospital attire, has clearly decided to stay -- that what she's doing is called co-bedding, which hospitals sometimes do with twins when the other one is sick. She says it helps, although they don't really know why. Izzie watches from across the room and pouts at Meredith's back. She can't see you, Iz, but if she could, I bet she'd tell you that your face can stick that way.
George tells Carl that he's doing very well, but doesn't know what his wife will think about his new houseguests. Carl has all his leech friends lined up in containers, and he says he's going to let them go on his favorite hiking trail. He adds that he doesn't have a wife, though. George says he just thought that, because of Carl's wedding ring. Carl says he's divorced; he just never took off the ring. Then he puts his hand on George's shoulder, which makes George very uncomfortable, and teaches George a valuable lesson about people who just can't love you back in the same way, no matter how much you love them. "Believe me, son, living with a woman who can't love you back? Way lonelier than being alone." Aw, Carl! I'm gonna miss you when you go, you and your leeches both.
Emily crashes once again. Izzie doesn't know what to do, and asks the nurse to page Addison. The nurse says she called to say Izzie has to handle this herself. Izzie's all, "What? I'm an intern! Okay, just give me a second." The nurse says they don't have a second. Izzie says they have to push more epi, but the nurse says they can't keep doing that. Izzie's like, "I know! But I don't know what else to do!" A sweet song starts to play as Izzie stands over the baby, and tells her, "You can do this." We shall see.
The day, McDreamy finds Meredith on one of the hospital's beautiful balconies overlooking Seattle. They stand together looking outside, and Mere says she can't believe he'd give up his trailer. McDreamy says he loves it, and he's not moving. Mere: "You're still you?" McDreamy: "I'm still me." Aw. Mere says that's good. George watches them from afar, hopefully taking Carl's words to heart.
Izzie's asleep in the NICU. She bolts upright and asks the nurse where Emily is. The nurse says they took her away. Izzie: "Why? Where? Why didn't you wake me?" The nurse says Dr. Shepherd told them not to. Izzie can't believe it. The nurse has to break the news that Emily died half an hour ago.
In the shot, Dory is holding sweet Emily while Addison talks to her. She walks out of the room and takes Izzie by the arm. "It wasn't your fault." Izzie is in shock. She says Addison put her in charge, and she killed that baby. Addison tells her no, she didn't; she was going to die anyway. "As soon as Dr. Burke opened up her chest, we knew she didn't have a chance." Izzie would like to know, then, why Addison would order her to spend the night and take care of her, if she knew the baby was going to die anyway. "I worked my ass off. Doing CPR, pumping her full of every drug on the planet, and...do you have any idea how scared I was, and it was all for nothing?" Addison says hardly -- if a situation like this ever comes up again, she knows Izzie will be able to handle the pressure. Izzie can't believe Addison lied to her. Addison tells her that she has to learn distance; she'll be a better doctor for it. Izzie is incredulous, and walks off. Addison looks just as guilty as she probably feels. I hate that lesson! That was a really mean lesson, even for Izzie.
Bailey finds Meredith at Charlotte and her sister's incubator, and says she heard Mere worked a miracle last night. Mere is beaming. "She came around so fast, I thought the equipment was malfunctioning!" Bailey tells Mere to go home, because she's earned it. On her way out, she turns back. "Oh, and Grey. Way to go." Mere looks in at Charlotte, and tells her, "Did you hear that? Way to go."
Izzie is sitting in the locker room, defeated. Mere, George, and Cristina walk in, and she asks if they heard. George says they did. Izzie: "My baby died. She just...died." They all look very sad, until Mere says she has an idea. She holds out her hand for Izzie to take, and some rock and roll starts up.
Cut to Alex, staring at the patient he killed. McDreamy walks in and shares, "The first person I killed, I was a second-year resident. James Hanson." He tells Alex to go home; there's nothing he can do here. Alex says nobody should die alone, and stays put.
Mere starts up her VO: "Four hundred years ago, another well-known English guy had an opinion about being alone. John Donne. He thought we were never alone. Of course, it was fancier when he said it." We fade to Rosanna's room, where Cristina is telling her not to talk, because her windpipe was perforated. She says they've repaired it, and she should be fine. Rosanna reaches out her hand, but Cristina moves back. Heartless! But not for long: she tells Rosanna they'll keep her in the hospital at least ten days, then turns and sees the security guard keeping watch. She turns back to Rosanna, leans in, and says softly, "Maybe just to be on the safe side, we'll make it two weeks." Rosanna smiles weakly, and understands the gift she's just been given.
MereVO: "'No man is an island entire unto himself.'" She and Izzie walk along a gated corridor, looking in. Mere says, "That's him." Izzie leans in and agrees, "Oh! Yeah, that's him." Who's him? I want to see him!
Cut to Addison and McDreamy, sitting in one of the OR observation rooms. Addison tells him she's lonely, and moves a little closer. Mere: "Boil down all that island talk, and he just meant that all anyone needs is someone to step in."
Cristina walks into Burke's and sits down at the table, exhausted. Burke's got dinner all on the table and is sitting there reading. When she reaches over and grabs a chip, he gives her a look of wonder and amazement. Mere: "And let us know we're not alone."
It's him! The girls have adopted a dog, an adorable terrier-looking thing who's barking and jumping and delighted to have a new home. Mere and Izzie giggle and cavort and throw dog toys, then break into hysterics when the dog starts chasing George. Mere: "And who's to say that someone can't have four legs? Someone to run around with, someone to play with..." We fade to Charlotte and Co.'s incubator, and Mere finishes up, "...Or just...hang out." Or just...fade out.