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Izzie spends a lot of time contemplating her undeposited check for $8.7 million. Of course, she does this while hanging around the hospital trying to quit medicine. Because she's there, she accidentally wanders into the mortality & morbidity conference at which Denny's death is discussed. At that M&M conference, Bailey is raked over the coals by other doctors, basically ending up being dismissed as an emotional female. In the process of treating a young mother with breast cancer, Bailey ends up realizing that her emotional femaleness is something she can use as a doctor.
Meredith still hasn't told McDreamy that she's broken up with Finn. McDreamy and Addison finalize their divorce, with McDreamy taking very little of their shared real estate. He does this because he thinks he's more to blame for the divorce. He changes his mind when Addison confesses that she and McSteamy didn't just have a one-night stand â they spent two months living together after McDreamy took off. That revelation puts McDreamy in a pretty bad mood, so that when Meredith finally tells him about Finn, he's totally non-responsive.
George follows Callie around trying to apologize for ditching her the other night, but she won't accept his apology because she's too consumed with her own guilt over having slept with McSteamy. George shows up at her hotel room and tries to pick up where they left off, and she makes it clear that she really truly has broken up with him.
And Burke engages in complete and utter malpractice by performing heart surgery on a guy who got his pierced junk caught in his ex-wife's diaphragm, even though Burke is clearly still suffering from the shakes. But Cristina saves his bacon (and the patient's life) by stepping in when the tremors start. The sight of this inspires Izzie to realize that she loves being a surgeon, and she tells the Chief she wants to come back. And she still doesn't deposit the big check, deciding that she'll leave it sitting around until she decides what good things she can do with it. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Thanks to the many people who wrote to remind me about the difference between a diaphragm and an IUD. My high school health teacher is so embarrassed for me right now. Also, in a recap I maligned Addison by claiming that she called McSteamy's visit an "intercontinental booty call." In fact, she properly called it a "transcontinental booty call." Finally, Addison's stated medical specialty (or specialties) involves pregnant women, newborn babies, and people with genetic abnormalities, so it make sense that she's involved in so many different types of cases. You guys sure keep a recapper honest. And I don't mind, as long as you don't choke me.
Previously, on Grey's Anatomy, Izzie cut Denny's LVAD wire and Denny died. And lots of pretty people screwed up their relationships.
Izzie is cooking pancakes and bacon on a griddle. She's smacking her gum like a short-order cook. I hope she tells somebody to kiss her grits. George and Meredith enter the kitchen. George is apprehensive, worried that they're about to be buried beneath a mountain of high-fat breakfast goods. But Izzie reassures him that she's not planning to cook breakfast obsessively -- she just felt like making a big breakfast for Meredith, who is returning to work for the first time after having her appendix removed. Meredith asks if Izzie is okay, and she tells them both that she's obviously fine, as she's now a millionaire. She continues to babble about what she might do with her life now that she's rich enough to do whatever she wants. She's leaning towards opening a bed and breakfast in Vermont. She also tells them that she's going to the hospital -- but not to ask for her job back. Instead, she's just going to clean out her locker. And then she spills a massive amount of orange juice on the kitchen counter, completely soaking the check for $8.7 million. George and Meredith freak out over this, but Izzie doesn't seem to care a bit. I'm guessing that the check already has some bacon grease and pancake batter on it, given its proximity to the stovetop. George cleans up the check and deposits it in the dish strainer to dry off, while Meredith insists that Izzie deposit the check in the bank. Meredith and George both give her worried looks, but she insists several times that she's fine. Oh, you really want to know what the Meredith V.O. says? She's babbling on about the first rule of doctoring being "first, do no harm." But harm inevitably happens, and it's followed closely by guilt.
In the locker room, Meredith and George are telling Alex and Cristina how crazy Izzie is becoming. Mere: "She almost battered and deep-fried an eight-and-a-half million dollar check this morning." Cristina fantasizes about what she would do with a check that size. It involves buying her own hospital and filling it with the most interesting surgical cases. George points out that she's a psycho, and she responds by noting that she's clearly not as crazy as the woman who won't deposit her massive check. And then we hear Izzie's voice, telling them to stop talking about her. She claims (again) to be fine, and then deflects them all by pointing out that Meredith is the one with the serious problems. Everyone looks at Mere, and she asks them all what her problem is. Izzie points out that Mere still hasn't told McDreamy that she picked him over Finn. Cristina and Alex tell her to suck it up and tell him, and George notes that Mere is scared. She denies it, telling them that McDreamy walked away from her and she's just thinking that he may be happier without her. So, she dumped the hot vet for somebody that she thought was maybe not interested any more? Meredith's relationship logic never ceases to amaze. Meredith's explanation drags on and on, and nobody's buying it. So she shifts the attention back to Izzie by reminding them that she's the one with the fat undeposited check. Izzie repeats again that she's fine. Mere's V.O. tells us that guilt is always accompanied by doubt and insecurity.
A cell phone rings, and Callie leans across McSteamy's massive (and still pale) chest to see who's calling. McSteamy asks if it's her boyfriend, "again," and she denies having a boyfriend. McSteamy: "Then why the guilty face?" Callie: "You were sexier when you weren't talking." If you want to shut him up, I suggest you find some way to keep his mouth occupied. (By the way, either Callie and McSteamy have been sleeping together for multiple days or Meredith is returning to work one day after her surgery.)
Cut to George on his cell phone, waiting for Callie to pick up. Bailey yells at him for holding her up, so he hangs up and comes running to the other interns. And then Bailey tells them all that they have to attend the M&M (a.k.a. the morbidity and mortality conference) that is starting in fifteen minutes. Based on their reactions, this is not something they normally get to do, and they're pretty psyched about it. Bailey sees the happy reaction and gives them a stern lecture about how their actions as physicians sometimes contribute to patients' deaths and how important it is for them to discuss those deaths and learn from their mistakes. She reminds them how serious it is and is then called away by a patient. As she leaves, Cristina tells George and Alex to save good seats while she and Mere grab some snacks.
The patients that called Bailey away are actually a husband and wife pair (Mr. and Mrs. Niles) and their adorable little baby. And Mrs. Niles is played by Justina Machado. Bailey is surprised to see them, and they tell her that they got lost on the way to admitting. Although it's actually the husband who speaks -- the wife is all sullen and withdrawn. However, that's pretty understandable in light of the fact that she's there because she has a mastectomy scheduled for the day. Bailey comments on just how adorable the little baby is, and Mrs. Niles tells her that he's not that adorable when he wakes up screaming at 4:00 a.m. and won't take his bottle. Mr. Niles explains that it's been a rough week, since Mrs. Niles had to stop nursing and the baby isn't adjusting well to the bottle. Bailey is totally caught up in the baby and offers to carry him while she shows Mr. and Mrs. Niles where they need to go. She also explains about putting a little sugar water on the nipple (of the bottle) to get the baby interested in drinking. Bailey and the Niles family walk away, and the interns express shock at the fact that a woman as young as Mrs. Niles has breast cancer. Alex posits that her diagnosis was probably delayed because her pregnancy and subsequent breast feeding caused enough changes in her breasts that she wouldn't have noticed an unusual lump. Cristina reminds them that they should be thinking about the M&M, which she views as prime entertainment, and sends them off to get seats and snacks.
Cristina, carrying a huge armful of vending machine snacks, runs into Burke and expresses surprise that he's attending the M&M. He chastises her on the snacks, and she asks him if there are any surgeries scheduled, reminding him (and us) that she's ready to help him if he gets a shaky hand.
Outside the entrance to the M&M, a sign tells us that the meeting starts at 7:00 AM. Gah, what's with the early hours? Are these people farmers or doctors? George calls out for Callie to wait up. He asks if she got his messages and if she wants to sit with them -- both of her responses amount to cold brush-offs.
In the lecture hall where the conference is taking place, Callie sits a few rows in front of our gang of interns (except for Izzie, who is no longer an intern). George stares at her and tells Mere that he thinks she's trying to make him feel guilty about the fact that he helped Izzie instead of having hot monkey sex with Callie. George tells Mere that he's sick of apologizing to Callie. And he says it loudly enough that Callie must have heard him. Cristina sits down and distributes the snacks.
The Chief calls everyone to attention and begins the M&M. We see a Powerpoint slide that establishes pretty quickly that the topic of discussion here is Denny's death. (Which is described as having occurred "last month.") The interns don't take long to realize what's happening, and they suddenly don't seem very entertained.
In the locker room, Izzie opens her locker and starts taking things out of it. She pauses when she sees her stethoscope, takes it out, and listens to her own heart. Is it broken, Izzie?
Burke is presenting the case in the M&M. It's a pretty straightforward presentation of the medical facts concerning the cause of death. There are a million questions, and the doctors present imply that they all think there's some kind of cover-up taking place. One doc refers to the "LVAD malfunction," but another very loud and pushy doc (whose name is Savoy) notes that everyone knows that the LVAD was cut by an intern. George slouches down in his chair and whispers, "I'm going to my happy place." Burke claims that the exact chain of events is unclear. Savoy notes that the events are unclear to Burke because he was being operated on himself at the time everything happened. Which leads Savoy to wonder why Bailey isn't presenting the case, since she was the senior doctor involved in it. Burke tries to shield her, but she sucks it up and tells him that she'll take over the presentation. When she asks for questions, it seems as though everyone except for the interns raises their hands. Credits.
Back at the M&M, Savoy is grilling Bailey. He basically tells her that the fact that she recently gave birth has made her incompetent. No, really, that's just about what he says. He blames it on "sleep deprivation and wild swings in hormone levels." The Chief reminds everyone present (by whom he means Savoy) that the purpose of the M&M is not to place blame. Savoy keeps going, asking where Bailey was while everything was going on. She points out that Burke had been shot and there was a huge overflow in the emergency room. Savoy asks if she paged her interns, and she tells him that she did. He accuses her of having lost the respect of her interns since they didn't bother to respond to those pages. Alex jumps to his feet and tells Savoy to shut up. Bailey tells Alex to sit down, and when he does we (and Bailey) see that Izzie is standing at the back of the room. Whoops.
And now we move to different type of morbidity and mortality conference. Addison and McDreamy are meeting with a lawyer to finalize their property division. Except for a trust of Addison's (which she will keep), neither of them brought any property to the marriage, except for a very ugly futon sofa that they ended up giving to McSteamy. Heh. All of the liquid assets (bank accounts, 401(k) accounts, stocks, etc.) will be split down the middle. The lawyer moves on to a discussion of real estate, and McDreamy tells her that all he wants is the land in Seattle, giving her the townhouse in Manhattan and the house in the Hamptons. Addison thinks this is some kind of a trick, but McDreamy tells her that he feels more at fault for the divorce -- she had a one-night stand while he had an ongoing affair. She starts to stammer and mutter about maybe not having just a one-night stand, but he cuts her off by noting that it was really a two-night stand. He still thinks he was more at fault, and he tells the lawyer that if he changes the real estate provisions of the documents he'll sign them right away. And I have to say, if this meeting is taking place at the same time as the M&M (i.e., at 7:00 AM), I'm just glad I don't work for that law firm.
Back in the hospital lecture room, the M&M conference has ended and the interns are telling Izzie how badly they feel that she heard all of that. She says about fifty more times that she's fine. She starts to walk away and George tells her that she can't go home -- she needs to be where the other interns can keep an eye on her. Izzie does not look pleased, so George brings out the big threat: "Either you hang out with us or we call your mother." Cristina is clearly impressed with George's bloodthirstiness. Meredith notes that Mama Izzie could likely be there in a few hours and would undoubtedly love to spend time taking care of her little girl. Izzie thinks they're bluffing, and George starts to dial his phone. And does he really have Izzie's mother's phone number programmed into his cell? Izzie caves and tells them that she'll hang out in the locker room. What's wrong with the cafeteria, or a waiting room? Does Izzie have a thing for smelly clothes? As Izzie leaves the room, she looks back at the stage. Burke is sitting there all alone, exercising his choking hand.
The Chief and Bailey walk up to the interns. The Chief wants to know what the hell Izzie was doing in the room. Bailey looks at Alex, and he freaks out, reminding them all that he had nothing to do with anything that happened. Alex walks away, and George volunteers to stay with Izzie. But he does it with the most stilted dialogue ever: "I'll stay with her today, if that's okay. I'll update charts and run labs and just keep an eye on her, if that's okay." Did David Mamet write this episode? The Chief walks away, and the remaining interns start to tell Bailey how awful they feel about how she was treated. Bailey: "No. You do not get to apologize to me for this. You do not get to feel better. Neither do I. Just get to work."
Savoy pushes the button for the elevator and sees that Bailey is standing to him. I must confess, he's kind of hot in an arrogant sexist bastard kind of way. He tells her that his attack on her was "nothing personal." Bailey: "People talking about your hormone levels starts feeling pretty personal." She's trying to maintain her considerable toughness when Mr. Niles walks up, carrying the baby, and calls her "the baby whisperer." Apparently the sugar water trick worked and the baby took a bottle. Bailey smiles at the baby, but when Mr. Niles offers to let her hold him she realizes that she's undermining her toughness in front of Savoy and begs off. And then Mr. Niles asks her to speak to Mrs. Niles, who is having doubts about the surgery and thinking of switching to a lumpectomy. He wants Bailey to talk Mrs. Niles into having the mastectomy, but she tells him that it's not her job to talk the patient into anything. But she offers to send their plastic surgeon to speak with them so Mrs. Niles will know more about the cosmetic options. Savoy is hotly smirking at this entire conversation. Bailey should beat the shit out of him. Or have Burke choke him. And then send him to me to be tenderly nursed back to health.
On the bridge of sighs and regrets, Burke chases after the Chief and asks for a minute of his time. Burke tells him that the M&M reminded him of how important it is to always "be at the top of your game." Burke starts to tell the Chief about his shaky hand, but the Chief just cuts him off to tell him how glad he is that Burke is back and how much they need him, because the staff respects him "as an authority figure." An authority figure who knows how to choke a bitch. And then the Chief walks away. I'm getting sick of this storyline, mostly because I don't believe people would be so unwilling to actually listen to Burke for five minutes. Although maybe everyone's just trying to end any conversation with Burke before he loses his temper and chokes them.
Meredith walks down some stairs (but not in the stairwell of shameful secrets) and runs into McDreamy. He's glad to see her back at work. They make eyes at each other and generate enough electricity to heat a small cup of water, but neither one tells the other that they're both finally free (i.e., that McDreamy is divorced and Mere is vet-free). McDreamy's omission is especially glaring, because Mere gets paged by Addison and calls her McDreamy's wife, giving him the perfect opportunity to point out the truth. And then he walks away.
Meredith tells a nurse that she was paged "by Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd." Addison walks up, welcomes Mere back, and tells her that it's just "Dr. Montgomery," since the divorce was finalized that morning. And then Addison tells Mere that they've been asked to "consult on a case where a woman has a foreign object stuck...inside of her." She grimaces and opens the door to an exam room.
And in that room we see a middle-aged woman straddling a middle-aged man. She complains that it hurts whenever he moves and he tells her he wouldn't move if she wasn't putting weight on his bad knee. She forgot which knee it was, and he thinks she should have figured it out after nineteen years of marriage. And then Addison needlessly tells Mere that the foreign object stuck inside the woman is her husband. The two patients simultaneously correct her: "Ex-husband!" Commercials.
Addison and Meredith peek under the sheet that is covering the lower extremities of the couple. For reasons that will become obvious, I will call them Pierce and Di (and I know it wasn't a diaphragm, but I can't make a good nickname out of "IUD"). Anyway, Di blames their predicament on Pierce's new genital piercing. And let's just be glad it wasn't a tongue piercing. Pierce can't believe she just told them about the piercing, but she notes that they're obviously going to see it sooner or later. Pierce is embarrassed, but Di is far more embarrassed by the fact that she's stuck to her ex-husband while she's supposed to be meeting her current husband for lunch. Di begs Addison and Meredith to fix the problem. The first step is figuring out what the piercing is caught on. Gingerly, Addison asks Di, "Do you have any... piercings?" Di is shocked at the notion, since she sells real estate. And unless the real estate market has really gone downhill, I'm not sure what the state of her genitals has to do with her profession. But Pierce also sells real estate, and he obviously doesn't think a realtor can't be pierced. Di and Pierce have been divorced for five years but keep running into each other in professional settings and occasionally falling into bed together. We get shots of Addison and Meredith each realizing how much like Di and Pierce they each are with McDreamy. Addison tells the two of them that the first step is for Mere to get x-rays. She also suggests that Di cancel her lunch plans. Because Addison is all about keeping adultery secret.
Burke is reading some papers in a conference room when Cristina enters. She commiserates with him over how brutal the M&M was. He tells her that he went to tell the Chief about his tremor but he couldn't do it. Burke: "I don't know what I'm going to do." Have you tried choking someone? That always seems to solve my problems. Cristina has another idea, reminding him that he can rely on her to help him out in surgery. But he doesn't plan to do any surgery any time soon. He tells her that he's going to catch up on paperwork, and she starts to ask him...something, I'm not sure what. Burke: "I don't know! I don't know what I'm going to do. I need time to think." And choke.
Izzie and George amble down the hall. She complains about everyone thinking that she needs a babysitter, and he suggests they talk about what she's going to do with the money after she gets it in the bank. The door to Pierce and Di's room opens, and George nearly turns around in shock at the two of them lying on top of each other. Addison walks out of the room, and Izzie asks if Pierce and Di are having sex. Addison: "They were having sex. Now they're just fighting." I can't think of a single couple on this show to whom that description does not apply. Addison tells Izzie that it's good to have her back, and Izzie tells her that she's not back (although she is fine). And then a light bulb goes on over her head, and she asks Addison, "Hey, you're Addison Forbes Montgomery-Shepherd. That's a lot of names. A lot of rich-sounding names. You're rich, right?" George and Addison are shocked at the effrontery, and Izzie realizes how rude that question was. But she continues, telling Addison that she's rich now, too. George: "You're not rich until you deposit the check." Izzie asks Addison if she ever feels guilty about being rich. She would ask her friends about it, "but they're all so poor." George: "Standing right here, Izzie." Addison tells Izzie to start by depositing the check, and that the guilt will work itself out as time goes on.
Meredith walks out of radiology with an x-ray in her hand. She holds it up to the light, and when she lowers it, McDreamy is standing in front of her. He tells her that for once, he's not stalking her on purpose. She asks him if the x-ray looks blurry, and he asks her what he's looking at. She tells him that it's a couple that's been divorced for five years, "and still going at it like teens at the prom. So to speak." He gives her a smirk and turns back to the x-ray. She raises the opportunity to point out that she knows about his divorce, and he asks her how Finn is. She does not tell him that she has no idea, having thrown Finn to the curb. He tells her that the x-ray is blurry and walks away.
McSteamy is telling Mrs. Niles about her breast reconstruction options. He shows her both saline and silicone implants. The baby is crying, and Mrs. Niles tells everybody that she really doesn't want to deal with this stuff at the moment. Mr. Niles pushes her to think about the options. Mrs. Niles: "You're the one who has to feel them, so you decide." Mr. Niles claims not to care. Alex: "Dude, believe me, you care." Bailey shushes him. But McSteamy tells Mr. Niles, "Dude, he's right. You care." But the scene ends before we see Mr. Niles fondling the implants.
Bailey looks at some paperwork at a counter. Mr. Niles (with Baby Niles) approaches and asks Bailey what's wrong with his wife. Dude, she has breast cancer, a new baby that she can no longer breast feed, and is dealing with having one or both breasts removed. What the fuck do you think is wrong with her? She's depressed, anxious, and freaking out, and rightly so. Bailey seems as confused as me, but Mr. Niles wants to know what's really going on in his wife's head. He seems especially upset by the fact that she won't hold the baby. I guess Bailey is supposed to have some magic words that will cure this dude's terminal cluelessness, but all she does is recommend a psych consult for Mrs. Niles. The Chief watches this exchange from a distance. Mr. Niles also tells Bailey that his wife is now talking about not having the surgery at all.
Back in radiology, Pierce tells Di that he got the piercing for her. She tells him to stop doing things for her, because she's happily married and in love with her husband. Pierce is not happy to hear this and asks what her new husband has that Pierce doesn't. Just before Di can tell Pierce that what her new husband lacks is a pierced penis, Meredith shuts them up and tells them to stay still so the picture is clearer. Di tells Pierce that their marriage sucked except when they were having sex, and he cries and says that's not true. Because I'm guessing the sex sucked as well. Pierce, crying, tells Di that he still loves her. Di: "Okay, I'm in hell!" A young woman walks in and says, "Mom? Dad?!" Di: "Scratch that. Now I'm in hell." Commercials.
Meredith tries to get Jennifer (spawn of Di and Pierce) to leave the room, but she's freaking out and telling her parents that they are paying for her therapy, rent, and a new car. Pierce agrees, but Di just tells Jennifer to grow up and recognize that her parents are sexual beings who make mistakes. Jennifer says it looks less like a mistake and more like Di being a slut. Di: "Hey, you don't talk to me like that." While Jennifer continues to harass her parents, Addison comes in and puts the film up on the light board. Addison: "Well, it seems like your IUD has dislodged from your uterus, hooked onto your husband's piercing, and is embedded in your vaginal wall." Jennifer: "Did she say piercing?" Meredith, to Addison: "Daughter." Addison: "Perfect." That was a nice little exchange.
Addison walks down a corridor and McSteamy catches up to her. He asks her who got the brownstone. It seems he left his bike in the basement and he wants to know who to speak with about getting it back. She tells him, "Buy a new bike." He tells her that the "angry divorcée thing" is very sexy. She tells him that she got the brownstone and that he can have the bike back when he comes to his senses and goes back to New York. That must be a hell of a bike if she thinks that's a credible bargaining position. McSteamy realizes that McDreamy must have given Addison both properties, since he hates the Hamptons. And then he realizes that Addison hasn't told McDreamy "the whole story" of what happened between the two of them. She admits that's true, and he notes that her keeping the secret allows her to look good and makes McSteamy look like the manwhore he is.
In the cafeteria, Izzie eats lunch with the interns. She tells them that she's thinking of buying something for Bailey and something for Burke. She asks Cristina what Burke would like, and Cristina tells her it's nothing she can get with money. George notes that Burke likes jazz, and Izzie mocks him for suggesting she get Burke a CD. I don't know. Maybe George was suggesting that Izzie buy Burke the Utah Jazz. The interns have a discussion about what they would buy with the money. A house in the Bahamas is mentioned, and then the entire Bahamas. Or maybe just one small Bahama. Cristina thinks those are stupid ideas, since they would never have time to go to any island. Alex suggests that he would quit, and Cristina thinks that no real surgeon would quit. She looks at Izzie and realizes what she just said. Izzie just looks back and tells them all again that she's fine. She's not a surgeon. Alex thinks that the moral to learn from Mrs. Niles and her advanced breast cancer is to live life while you can, which means he would retire to his Bahama. Izzie asks Meredith if she's told McDreamy about Finn. Mere says that she's giving McDreamy some time, and Izzie thinks that's stupid. George thinks that carrying around a massive check is stupid. Izzie reassures them again that she's fine: "I'm fine. The check is fine. We're all fine, okay?"
Meredith works on some paperwork. Callie is sitting to her but not looking at her. Callie: "I slept with another guy. Do I tell George?" Mere: "I broke up with Finn. Do I tell Derek?" Pause. Mere: "I can't tell Derek." Callie: "I have to tell George." They both pick up their paperwork and start to walk away.
Mr. Niles tries to get Mrs. Niles to hold the baby. She resists, won't really speak to him, and just covers her ears and hides when the baby starts crying. Bailey, followed by the Chief, watches all of this from the doorway. The Chief grabs Bailey's arm and shuffles her down the hallway. He tells her that she took a lot of crap at the M&M, only some of which was justified. He tells her that regardless of what Savoy thinks, being a parent makes Bailey a better doctor.
Burke continues to do paperwork and gets a tremor in his hand. He stretches his hand for a second and then picks the pen back up. Izzie enters the room and tells him that she just wanted to say hello. He doesn't respond to her. She tells him about the money and asks him if he knew Denny was rich. He didn't know. She starts to babble about the things she might do with the money (like travel), and he shuts her up by saying her name. She tells him she's really, really fine. One broken person to another, he tells her, "You're fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine." He tells her that he got shot and is really not fine, and that her fiancé is dead and that she is really not fine. All right then, nobody's fine. She tells him that she thought of him (Burke) as a friend, and she didn't mean to mess up his life. And then he yells at her for quitting surgery. Burke: "You have two good hands, and you aren't using them. Feel guilty about that." Well, as long as she isn't using them to cut LVAD wires, I think it's kind of a draw on the karmic scale. Izzie leaves.
Pierce and Di are in radiology being scanned with some type of imaging device -- I have no idea what it is. Cristina and Meredith are, um, manipulating the two patients so that Addison can get a clear picture of exactly how the piercing and IUD are intermeshed. The Chief enters the control room with Addison and tells her that he had to get a look at what was going on. And then there's all kinds of lifting and pulling and pushing and swirling. It's supposed to be comical and then Pierce starts moaning. But he's not having an orgasm -- he's having a heart attack. Commercials.
We return to the middle of the code blue on Pierce. Cristina is doing compressions while the Chief examines the patient. He needs immediate surgery, and the cardiothoracic guy on call is already in surgery -- which means that the case will go to Burke. Cristina tries to protect him by noting that he's not "on the board yet" (and I have no idea what that really means), but the Chief doesn't care. Cristina moves to straddle Pierce as they wheel the gurney towards the O.R. I hope she doesn't get stuck on anything.
Cristina and Burke scrub in while Pierce is prepped for surgery. She asks him how they should proceed. He tells her to stand on his right side and that if he starts to tremor, he will give her a signal and she can step in to do the stitches. Cristina is worried that a scrub nurse will notice the tremor, but Burke thinks he has no choice, since Pierce will die without immediate surgery.
In the O.R., Burke gowns up, takes his position by the patient, and asks for a scalpel. And then there is cutting and it's all very tense.
Back in Di's room, Addison is telling her that as soon as they know anything about Pierce, they'll pass the info on. Addison also reminds her that she is now sans IUD and should find some other method of birth control. But Di thinks she won't be having much sex in the immediate future once she tells her current husband about the sleeping with the ex. Addison is clearly confused as to why someone who's gotten away with it would come clean about the adultery. Although it's not like it's really a well-kept secret, what with her daughter having caught them. Di tells Addison that the first time she slept with Pierce (post-divorce) she felt incredibly guilty, but as time wore on she stopped feeling any guilt. And she thinks the truth has to come out. I don't quite see the connection between the lack of guilty feelings and the need for truth-telling, but Addison is clearly moved by these words of wisdom.
O.R. Burke is clearly having a touch of difficulty, but he hasn't given Cristina the signal to step in. But she doesn't let that stop her, telling him, "Dr. Burke, I know it's a lot to ask, but I would really appreciate if you'd let me try my running whip stitch." Nobody seems too freaked out by this suggestion, and Burke lets Cristina take over as he talks her through the procedure. Up in the galley the other interns are in awe. Alex thinks Cristina is benefiting from the sexual favors she provides to Burke. George: "This sucks! Cristina gets sex and perks." Mere thinks that if George apologizes to Callie he might get the sex and the perks himself, but he doesn't really want relationship advice from Meredith. Point well taken. While the others squabble, Izzie just continues to be in awe.
Bailey enters Mrs. Niles's room. Mrs. Niles is alone and tells Bailey she doesn't really want to speak. Bailey sits down anyway and tells Mrs. Niles that when she drives home at night, she only wants to see her little baby. Mrs. Niles: "If this is where you tell me to fight the cancer so I don't miss out on the joys of motherhood..." Bailey keeps going, telling Mrs. Niles that when she gets home to the reality of a crying baby, she resents the presence of the very loud baby in her previously very quiet house. Mrs. Niles wants to know why Bailey is telling her about this, and Bailey tells her that she ends up taking out her resentment on her husband, the neighbors, the squirrels in the yard, and sometimes on the baby. And then Bailey notes that it's perfectly natural for Mrs. Niles to blame the baby and the breast feeding for the fact that she didn't catch the cancer earlier. This clearly hits the mark with Mrs. Niles, who thinks that she's a horrible mother for blaming her baby for her cancer. And then Mrs. Niles wonders if it wouldn't be better for her to die while the baby is still young so he doesn't have to go through the pain of losing her. Bailey: "And this is the part where I tell you to fight the cancer so you don't miss out on the joys of motherhood."
Addison and McDreamy run into each other in the hallway. She calls out his name, but he stops her and tells her that he's so glad they can be civilized with each other about the divorce. And it seems to me that he's only really civilized when he's getting what he wants -- the rest of the time, he acts like an absolute asshole. And then Addison blurts out that her thing with McSteamy wasn't a one-night stand. She thought she was in love with him and they lived together for two months after McDreamy moved west. Like many a young person who falls in love with the first person he or she sleeps with, she wanted to believe that it wasn't about sex but was about true love. And then she caught McSteamy being a manwhore (i.e., sleeping with someone else), and then she moved west herself. She tells him that since they are both equally at fault, he should take the brownstone. He tells her, "All I want is Seattle. I want Seattle, and I want never to see you again." See, not so civilized. And really, this is the moment that he deserves to be choked.
McDreamy gets on the elevator and finds Meredith there. It seems like these two are always alone on elevators. Do you think people see them and just decide to take the stairs to avoid all the staring and flirting? Meredith starts babbling, telling him that since he's everywhere she goes, she can't avoid telling him about Finn, even though she thought she was being kind and giving him space by not telling him. And I wish that excuse made the tiniest bit of sense to me. But when she actually gets to the part where she tells him that she broke up with Finn, he just says, "Okay." Meredith has no idea what to make of this. And then the elevator doors open and he walks away. Commercials.
In the middle of the commercials, Kate Walsh appears to remind us all that breast cancer is a horrible disease that affects the lives of millions of women (and the people who love them). For more info, check out the website of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Burke (massaging his hand) and Cristina tell Jennifer that they expect Pierce to make a full recovery. Jennifer thanks Burke and hugs him, but you can tell that Cristina is really feeling the glory of having participated in the surgery. Mere's V.O. is back on the "first, do no harm" kick. She thinks it's easier said than done.
The Chief is looking at some x-rays when he sees that Izzie is waiting to speak to him. Mere's V.O. notes that no matter how many oaths people might take, they do harm all the time. For example, some people do harm by choking other people. Izzie tells the Chief that she has eight million dollars and can do anything she wants. Except, apparently, talking about her money. But what she really wants is to be a surgeon and do a running whip stitch. The Chief tells her about a time when he was an intern and a patient died because the Chief was too scared to put in a chest tube and it was too late by the time other doctors arrived. And that would be a more convincing analogy if it were a story about the Chief deliberately taking out someone's chest tube. But whatever, they've got to get Izzie back in the hospital somehow, so they might as well just call the whole thing a mistake. The Chief's point is that after his mistake, he stuck around and continued to work and learn (and have an adulterous affair with another doctor) in order to become the doctor he is today. He tells her, "If I had quit, all I would have had was that life. That I lost. Instead, I get to save lives. Every day, I get to save lives."
McSteamy enters some doctors' lounge where McDreamy is working on his laptop. McSteamy knows that Addison told McDreamy. He tells McDreamy that they've known each other their whole lives, and McSteamy knows that McDreamy is thinking that he wasted an entire year of his life trying to get back with Addison when he could have been perfectly happy with Meredith. But McSteamy thought the he owed McDreamy the truth, as a friend. McDreamy: "You're not my friend." And then he closes the laptop and leaves. The Mere V.O. in this scene is about doing harm even when you try to help. And then feeling guilty.
Mr. and Mrs. Niles are having a tender moment together while Bailey holds the baby. Savoy walks by and dismissively asks Bailey if she's babysitting. She's perfectly happy to tell him that she is, and that she's being "all unprofessional and emotionally involved" while Mr. and Mrs. Niles have a moment together. She continues, "But you might want to leave now. I'm feeling a rush of hormones coming on and there's no telling what I might do." Savoy, vanquished, walks away. Alex has observed this whole scene. He walks up to Bailey and they chat. After some small talk, he tells her that while he wasn't involved in what Izzie did to Denny, he had the chance to stop it and did nothing. Alex: "You weren't the only one." He walks away, but she calls out his name (calling him "Alex") and thanks him.
Callie opens her hotel room door and finds George there with a bucket of chicken from the GayFC. (Oh, come on, I couldn't let T.R. Knight's public coming out go by without some kind of comment). He's also got some video games to play with her. Callie is not amused: "The other night, when I told you was done trying to compete, that was me breaking up with you." George thinks he really would have noticed that. (And I think that he is not being stupid here -- he's just telling her that he really doesn't want to break up.) But she tells him that his failure to notice is the exact reason she broke up with him.
Addison is in bed to McSteamy, clearly post-coital. He tells her, "At least now you don't have to feel guilty anymore." But if I were her, I would be worried about STDs with the rate he gets around. She tells him to shut up because, after all, he's sexier when he's not talking. Mere's V.O. tells us that when confronted with guilt, you can either let it pull you back into the guilt-inducing behaviors or you can use it to become a better person.
Cut to Izzie sticking a very battered (but not deep-fried) check up on the refrigerator (with a magnet). She plans to leave it undeposited until she figures out what good thing she can do with it. I hope she realizes it's probably only good for ninety days. Izzie walks away, leaving George and Meredith staring at the jumbo check. Mere reaches for it, and George playfully slaps her hand away.