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Everybody is pissy, angry, and crabby. It's just like Thanksgiving with my family. Meredith's half-sister arrives at the hospital for an emergency c-section. Meredith works with Addison on the surgery, but panics when the baby seems to be failing. After a long day of surgery, Addison saves the baby. But Meredith finishes the day by telling her father's wife that, as nice as she seems, she's not Meredith's family. But Meredith's resistance crumbles a bit when she sees her beautiful new niece.
In the aftermath of Cristina's confession to the Chief, he's angry with Burke for hiding his tremor. And Bailey is furious with Cristina for being yet another intern to royally screw up, and for contributing to Bailey's own crisis of confidence. As punishment, Bailey assigns Cristina to work with Dr. Hahn on George's father's heart surgery. This doesn't sit well with George, who's angry himself at Cristina for being willing to allow Burke's shaky hand into his dad's chest cavity. A temper tantrum from George causes a cardiac crisis for his dad, but Burke's quick response helps him regain some of George's confidence. And that confidence is further restored when Burke watches the surgery with George and helps him remain calm when there's a problem. George's anger at Cristina is also reduced because the work she did while helping Burke hide his tremor enables her to step in and help save Mr. O'Malley's life during the surgery.
And you're asking, why was it "punishment" for Cristina to be assigned to George's dad's case? That's because the other interns all get assigned to the surgery separating two adult conjoined twins (who have decided to go ahead with the surgery because one of them has a girlfriend, who seems to have a crush on the other one). The surgery is incredibly complex, with the Chief handling the cardiothoracic stuff, Mark on the plastics, and Derek on the very complicated neuro portion. Izzie is assigned to Mark, and he treats her like shit -- but she stands up to him and earns his respect. Things don't go so well for Derek, who blames himself for Burke's tremor and doubts his own skill. In the end, the surgery is a success.
After an episode of everyone holding everyone else at arm's length, we finish with some forgiveness. Burke gets over his anger at Derek and consults with him about further surgery to relieve the tremor. And he tacitly invites Cristina to join in that conversation as the woman who loves him. And Meredith has a very moving scene with her mother in which she comes to grips with some of her own anger at her mother's abandonment of her family. It's pretty weepy, and pretty sweet. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Dear ABC Promo Department: You're probably not going to win new viewers for this show with promos that make it seem that the episode is about some revolutionary cutting edge surgical procedure. You've got hot doctors having inappropriate sex -- stick with that.
Previously, on Grey's Anatomy, Meredith kissed McDreamy, George's dad was admitted with what eventually turned out to be cancer and a heart problem, Meredith learned that she had a half-sister she never knew about, George was an ass to Callie, the Chief stopped seeing Meredith's mother in order to focus on his own marriage, and the truth about Burke's tremor came out when George asked Dr. Hahn to perform his father's heart surgery.
We're at Ellis's nursing home, where she's freaking out over the fact that the Chief has decided he can no longer visit her. There's an incredible amount of pain and rage in her voice as she rants on about the Chief leaving her for his own wife (the nerve!). Meredith tries to calm her down by bringing her into the present: "Mom. Mom, look at me. This happened a very long time ago. This is not happening now." Ellis seems to comprehend for just a second, and then she tells Mere, "It's because I have a daughter, isn't it? He always said he didn't want kids. I should never have had a kid." Ouch.
The Chief's office. Bailey, Cristina, Burke, Derek, and the Chief are all sitting silently. It's like someone put them in a time-out. Bailey stands and walks to the door, but before she leaves, she turns and asks the Chief, "What's going to happen to them?" She's pointing at Cristina and Burke. She wants to know what their "punishment" is going to be, declaring, "There's a need for justice." The Chief: "Justice has no definition within the four walls of a hospital." Well, certainly not within the four walls of this hospital. The Chief declares that Cristina and Burke have done nothing wrong, "legally and technically." What about ethically? Morally? Medically? Do any of those words ring a bell, Weber? Bailey is not happy about this shit, but she doesn't press the point. That is, until the Chief tells Cristina to go back to work with Bailey. The Chief doesn't understand why she's so angry, and asks, "Am I not understanding this? Does this situation directly harm you in some way?" She tells him it doesn't, and he orders her and Cristina to get back to work. Once they leave, the Chief tells Derek and Burke to get together to find a solution for the tremor right away. Derek: "He doesn't want my help." The Chief doesn't understand this, and then Burke tells him, "I don't want his help." The Chief is not pleased: "That hand is worth two million dollars. I want it fixed!" I bet Burke is just thrilled to have his human worth reduced to a dollar figure on the hospital's balance sheet.
Mr. O'Malley is trying to have a manly conversation with George, telling him, "Your brothers are good boys, but they're not that responsible." Or that smart. Or that good-looking. In fact, they're kind of losers, no matter how you look at it. George doesn't want to talk about serious things, as the heart valve surgery Mr. O'Malley is going to undergo is routine. Mr. O'Malley insists, and tells George where the life insurance papers are kept. And then he tells him, "And my...magazines are in the garage." George doesn't get it at first, but understands once his father asks him to get the magazines out of the house before his mother finds them. This conversation reminds me -- now that my friend Lewis has moved away, I need a new porn buddy. Callie interrupts to check on Mr. O'Malley's shoulder, and George just gets up and walks away. His father didn't raise him to be so rude, and asks, "You're not going to say hello to Dr. Torres?" George doesn't, and leaves.
On the Bridge of Sighs, Derek and Burke are chatting. Derek tells him that if Burke had told him about the tremor, he could have run some tests. Because in all likelihood it's something that's incredibly easy to fix. Which just blows my mind. If Burke were in a position of hiding his tremor or giving up his surgical career altogether, I could kind of have some sympathy for him. But if it's not really a big deal, he's transformed from someone with a difficult choice to make into someone who is incredibly selfish. Someone should choke him. But even though it would likely be easy to fix, Burke doesn't want another surgery on his arm: "The first one caused enough damage." Or, you know, maybe the damage was caused by the bullet that necessitated the surgery in the first place. Derek thinks he can fix the problem, but Burke blames him for causing it in the first place.
In the locker room, Izzie and Alex are wondering what Cristina's punishment will be. Izzie is hoping to have someone join her in the "don't talk, don't touch" brigade. Alex just hopes the punishment is bad. Meredith chastises both of them, telling them that Cristina made a mistake. George, whose father was going to undergo surgery at the hands of McShakey, thinks it's a lot more than a mistake. Cristina enters and the room goes silent. George is glaring daggers at her, and she asks him, "Would you stop looking at me like that. It's creepy, and it makes me feel like you haven't been fed." George, Izzie, and Alex all leave without saying a word to her. Meredith asks how things are going, and Cristina acts as though she has no idea to what Meredith could be referring. Meredith wants to know how things are with Burke, and Cristina tells her that they're living in total silence. Meredith asks if that means he's not speaking to her, and Cristina clarifies, "I'm not talking to him, either." Meredith asks if Cristina is okay, and Cristina tells her to stop asking. Meredith tells her that she's making an effort, and Cristina responds, "Please don't." Bailey enters and starts yelling at them because they're late for rounds. Meredith runs out, and Bailey tells Cristina, "The Chief may be confused about punishment for you, but I'm not. You're late again, you will find another resident."
As the interns follow Mama Duck Bailey down the hall, Addison asks for Meredith. Meredith asks what Addison needs, and Addison tells her that her sister Molly has checked into the hospital for an emergency C-section. Meredith: "Molly's not my sister." Addison points out the inconvenient genetic truth that Meredith and Molly have the same father. Addison mentions Susan, Meredith's step-mother, and Meredith says that Susan is definitely not her mother and that Meredith really doesn't need to know anything about her other family. Addison tells her that she actually really does, and Meredith turns around to find that Susan, played by the '80s-riffic Mare Winingham, is standing right there.
Bailey and the non-Meredith interns have arrived at Papa O'Malley's room on rounds. George greets his mother, who gives him a big hug. Mama O'Malley tells the interns, "I put out some breakfast in case you kids haven't eaten yet." Alex prepares to dive in, but Bailey and the new stick up her ass tell him to keep it professional. The Brothers O'Malley barge into the room and start eating the grub. They're followed by Dr. Hahn, who tells the assembled doctors that she has to make it quick. She asks Bailey which intern she gets, and Alex tells Bailey that it must be his case, since George can't work on his own father and Izzie's on probation. George wonders what would happen if Dr. Hahn picked him, and his brothers start mocking him. George shuts them up, and then Bailey announces that Cristina is assigned to the case. Izzie and Alex are stunned, but Bailey talks right past them and tells Cristina to present the patient to Dr. Hahn.
Bailey leads the remaining interns down the hall, and Alex bitches about Cristina getting the case: "I haven't had a cardiac case in ages." George: "It's not a case. It's my father." Izzie mutters about the double standard that has her doing nothing while Cristina gets "rewarded" with a primo surgery. Bailey stops at a door and tells the interns, "If you thumbsuckers don't stop whining, I swear I won't show you what's behind this door. And trust me, you want to see what's behind this door." This shuts the thumbsuckers up, so Bailey opens the door. We get close-ups of the faces of two identical men who tell the doctors that they'll have to wait, because one of them has to pee. And then we get a wider shot and see that they are conjoined twins, joined together alongside their torsos. One of them is bitching about getting dragged along to the bathroom every five minutes because of his brother's small bladder, and the brother with said bladder threatens to pee messily if he doesn't shut up. They shuffle off to the loo while the doctors look on, totally flabbergasted. Bailey asks them, "And which one of you thinks that Yang got the better case?" They all smile at each other. Bailey: "That's what I thought." Credits.
When we return, Bailey is presenting the twins' case to the combined team of the Chief, Derek, and Mark. They apparently came in for a separation procedure six months earlier but decided not to go forward due to the risk. The twins are Jacob and Peter, by the way -- conveniently, Jacob wears glasses and Peter does not. Jacob accuses Peter of having chickened out at the last minute, and Peter defends himself by pointing out that he didn't really want to risk dying, even if it meant staying connected to Jacob. The bickering is very realistic, which is probably due to the fact that the actors playing the twins are obviously twins. Alex tells them that they picked the right time to come back, because "New York's top plastic surgeon" just joined the staff. Isn't anyone on this show just an average surgeon? Mark introduces himself, and tells the twins that he and Derek used to work together as a team. Derek: "We worked together. We were never actually a team." George steps forward and asks the twins why they decided to go ahead with the procedure if they thought it was too risky six months earlier. And the answer is revealed as a pretty young blonde woman walks in the room. She's a bit awed by the number of doctors in the room and starts to leave, but Jacob calls her in and introduces her as "the love of [his] life, Elena." In an entirely unsubtle bit of foreshadowing, Peter looks pained to hear Elena described this way. Elena tells the doctors that she told them not to get separated on her account, "because Pete tells me they could end up paralyzed, they could end up dead." Jacob is angry with Peter for telling Elena things like that. Peter: "I wasn't telling her, I was telling you. She just happens to be the only one who listens to me." Derek notes that it is a very risky procedure, and Jacob starts complaining about how awful it is to have to be stuck with the same person all the time for every minute of every day. Derek asks how Pete feels, and he responds, "I think, 'Why would I want to be attached to someone who doesn't want to be attached to me?'" If only Addison had been as smart as Pete at the beginning of Season 2.
Bailey and the interns walk out of the room, and the interns immediately begin fighting over who gets the case. After a bit, Bailey lets them off the hook by telling them that they'll all be assigned to it. But she reminds Izzie that she's still on probation, and Izzie promises not to touch, speak, or breathe near a patient. Mark walks out, and Bailey tells him to pick an intern. Mark: "How 'bout I take the one who doesn't touch or speak or breathe." Izzie rolls her eyes, but walks off after Mark as he walks away.
As they walk down the hall, Izzie thanks Mark for picking her, because even the chance to observe the surgery will be great. He tells her, "I thought you might be fun to look at while I worked." You know, I thought the same thing about McSteamy when he first joined the show, but it really hasn't worked out that way. She asks him a medical question, and he tells her to fetch him a blueberry scone and a bone-dry cappuccino. He tries to hand her some money, but she doesn't take it. Izzie: "There's a cafeteria on the second floor and a coffee cart in the lobby." And this is the Izzie I once loved. Mark calls her "feisty" and again asks for the cappuccino. Izzie: "You can kick me back to Bailey if you want. I don't do coffee." He gives her a look and walks away, and she runs after him asking medical questions about the surgery.
The Chief and Derek are in a dark room surrounded by x-rays of Jacob and Peter. The Chief is gushing, all Donald Trump about how this surgery will be yoooge for the hospital. And then Derek pulls a Melania, by which I mean he tells the Chief that he'd rather not. Do the surgery, that is. Derek is doubting his abilities, don't you know, and he thinks the risk that the twins will end up paralyzed or dead as a result of the surgery is too high. The Chief tells him that the surgery is going forward, so he should just suck it up. (That Donald/Melania metaphor just keeps working, doesn't it?)
In the Corridor of Discomfort, Susan is telling Meredith and Addison that Thatcher (Meredith's father) isn't there because he's off visiting their other daughter at med school. (Which he thought he could do because the baby's not due for a while yet.) Meredith asks Addison if she needs anything else, and Addison asks her to get Bailey to assign an intern to the case. Meredith looks around and then tells Addison that she'll do it. After a little back and forth, Addison agrees. I don't know -- don't you think it might get kind of awkward, operating on your own half-sister? Too bad the hospital doesn't have a rule against interns working on their family members. Susan thanks Meredith for "being there," and Meredith tells her, "It's my job to be here." And then, to avoid any unintentional outing, Mere asks if Molly knows that Meredith is her sister. It turns out that she doesn't, because Thatcher decided to keep Meredith's identity a secret. Addison tells Susan to get some scrubs, because the surgery is ready to start and she's going to be there as Molly's coach. Susan is tense about becoming a grandmother. Addison leads her down the hall with a "here we go," which Susan and Meredith repeat in decreasing levels of enthusiasm as they follow after her.
In Papa O'Malley's room, Cristina and Dr. Hahn are reviewing the details of the surgery with George's parents. Cristina tells them that the surgery is very timely, because he's had a bunch of irregular heart rhythms just that morning. And then George bursts into the room and asks if they checked some level or other, because some mineral or other was high or low. Dr. Hahn's initial response is, "What are you doing?" followed by a "We've got a handle on things." Everybody looks a little freaked out (including George's moron brothers), and Cristina quietly suggests that George should probably step out of the room. With quite a bit of anger in his voice, he tells her, "You don't talk to me like that!" One of the brothers calls George a baby, so he continues his temper tantrum. Dr. Hahn calmly but sternly tells him to get out of the room. He refuses, and claims that she can't kick him out of the room because he hired her. You know, I'm pretty sure it's the insurance company that's footing the bill for this procedure. He tells Dr. Hahn that he's staying, and she does not shove her clipboard up his ass sideways. But she should have.
C-section. Things seem to be going fine, until the moment that Addison removes the baby from the womb. Meredith cuts the cord, but Addison just has a concerned look on her face, and she takes the baby over to the tiny little warming table and tells Mere that they have to stabilize the baby and get it into surgery. Susan starts to freak out and walk over to the table where they are working on the baby. Addison asks Mere to talk to her and calm her down, but Meredith just freezes, staring at her niece. And rather than calming Susan down, she freaks her (and Molly) out by telling her, "The baby's not breathing." Commercials.
Meredith walks into the scrub room, where Addison is prepping for the baby's surgery. Addison chastises Meredith for her freakout in the O.R., and Meredith (to her credit) simply apologizes without trying to make excuses. She offers to scrub in on the baby's surgery, but Addison wants her to stay with Susan and Molly and keep them informed of what's going on in the surgery. Meredith tries to get out of this duty, suggesting that Susan and Molly would much rather get updates from Addison (which, hello, she'll be operating) and that it would be super neato for her to observe the surgery. But Addison recognizes that it was a stupid mistake to let Meredith in the O.R. with her family, and unlike practically everyone else on this show, she actually learns from her mistakes and does not repeat them.
Outside Papa O'Malley's room, Bailey is ripping George a new one for daring to question Dr. Hahn. George thinks the fact that the patient is his father gives him some special privileges, but Bailey quickly disabuses him of that notion: "You interns think you can do whatever you want to do. Well not anymore. Not with me! Which is why you are going to stay away. Fifty feet away, to be precise. You are going to remain fifty feet away from your father at all times today. And Dr. O'Malley, do not make me tell you again." Scary Bailey is back!
Burke asks Hahn how things are going with Mr. O'Malley, and she tells him that George is a pain in the ass but that Cristina (who is standing there) has been great. Hahn: "I hear she studied under you. You trained her well." Cristina is looking at Burke to see how he responds to that. There's some powerful wanting in her eyes. Burke looks at her and tells Dr. Hahn, "Yes. She's very... professional." And that was strange enough that even Dr. Hahn noticed that something is up between the two of them.
The Chief enters the doctors' lounge and finds Burke sitting at a table with a laptop in front of him. Burke asks the Chief for his opinion about a couple of doctors, and the Chief asks him why he's researching neurosurgeons when "Derek's better than anybody." Burke doesn't want Derek to operate on him. The Chief clearly thinks it's stupid to blame Derek for the tremor. He calmly tells Burke that until now he hasn't yelled because Burke was clearly in trouble. He continues, "But now...I am YELLING! I'm yelling very loudly. I want to retire, Burke. I want my wife back. And I passed the torch to you. I passed the torch to you, and you blew it out!" Burke is a little bit scared, and he apologizes for letting the Chief down. The Chief: "Burke, I'm tired. I'm tired of you men acting like boys." Can I get an amen? The Chief tells Burke to let Derek fix his hand.
Derek, observed by the Chief, Mark, Bailey, the interns, and a bunch of other doctors, practices on a special conjoined twins surgical practice dummy. Do you think they sell those at Toys R Us? Izzie exposits that it will take twenty-two surgeons to perform the procedure. Everyone runs down what part they are working on as Derek fiddles with nerves in the dummy's back. Derek notes that once he does something to a particular blood vessel, they will have only two minutes to do something else to some nerves. (I'm normally up for translating all of the medical mumbo jumbo, but this week I have no patience for it. I think the sight of my brother-in-law carving the Thanksgiving turkey put me off surgery for a while.) Mark thinks they can do whatever they need to do, but Derek thinks it's not worth the risk since the twins are in good health. He throws down his instruments and leaves the (very crowded) room.
Meredith enters Molly's room to let her and Susan know that Addison is operating to remove an intestinal obstruction from the baby. Molly starts crying (as one does), and Susan is very comforting in a strong mother kind of way. Molly wants to call her husband, who is serving in Iraq, but she's scared that he'll want to name the baby, which she'd rather not do until she knows the baby will survive. Meredith is kind of freaked out by the sight of a loving mother-daughter interaction, and she leaves the room.
Izzie enters the twins' room, and Alex asks why she isn't shadowing Mark. She tells him that Mark can kiss her ass, but she doesn't reach the last word because one of the twins makes a pained exclamation. Alex tells him (Peter) that he hasn't even stuck him with the needle, and Peter apologizes for his extreme fear of pain. Izzie points out that they're about to undergo a very painful surgery. Jacob is not thrilled with her attitude, and asks her, "You think this is an elective procedure? That we're just coming in here because we're getting on each other's nerves?" Well, you're certainly getting on my nerves. Can I get surgery to take care of that? Jacob tells Izzie that the real reason they're getting the surgery is because they have rules, rules that Pete has been violating. It turns out that most of his violations involve doing things like talking to Elena when Jacob is on a date with her, or accidentally touching her when she and Jacob are having sex. And that is an image you will not soon get out of your mind. I know, I've tried. Elena comes to Pete's defense, and Jacob tells her not to talk to him anymore. He also asks her how she could possibly be fine with having Pete touch her while she's naked. Her inability to answer is pretty much all the response anybody needs. Jacob accuses her of being into Pete, and (after a short pause that's still too long) reassures him that she's completely in love with him. Pete is really hurt to hear that. However, as much as Elena loves Jacob and the sex with him, she finds herself chatting with Pete after Jacob falls asleep. And not to be all "Men are from Mars," but Jacob might consider what a sweet deal he's got -- he can feel free to fall asleep as soon as sex is over without his girlfriend wanting to chat and cuddle because she's already got someone to chat with. But he doesn't agree with me. In fact, he demands that she choose one of them. When she doesn't immediately choose Jacob, he's furious and Peter is elated. And then Jacob punches Peter in the jaw and tries to smother him with a pillow. It takes the other three people in the room to separate them. But not too far.
Cristina is sullenly eating her lunch in the sleepy old man's room. Izzie, Alex, and George enter with their lunch trays. Izzie is chattering about the bizarre love triangle, but kind of shuts up when she sees Cristina in the room. While the other three interns sit on the other side of the room, Meredith enters and sits down to Cristina. Alex sees Cristina and wonders why she hasn't been kicked out of the program yet. And then he starts asking her how she and Burke did all the surgeries together without getting caught. He's not genuinely curious -- he's just accusing her of using some unfair advantage to get ahead while he fetches coffee for Mark. George and Izzie make their own smart remarks. Meredith tries to shut them all up, but Cristina tells her, "Will you please just stop defending me?" Cristina takes her lunch tray and leaves.
George enters his father's room and finds him alone with Callie. George acts all awkward, and Callie offers to leave. But Mr. O'Malley tells George to be nice to Callie. George gets a stubborn look on his face, and his father asks him why he's so damn angry all the time. Between the syphilis, the tear-stained sex, and learning that Callie had sex with Mark, I think he's got a few things to be angry about. Callie offers to leave, and then George offers to leave, but Papa O'Malley tells them to stay, and then tells George that while he's angry at everyone around him, he's really angry at Papa O'Malley himself, for not taking care of himself and ruining his health. George tries to deny feeling any anger at his father. He's kind of hot when he's repressed. Mr. O'Malley: "I'm angry at me, too. You think I want to die and leave my boy in charge?" George seems surprised that his father would think of him as being "in charge." Although when you consider that his brothers seem to belong in a home for developmentally disabled adults, it's not such a shock. Mrs. O'Malley and the two Doofus Brothers enter and find Mr. O'Malley in tears, with George and Callie not far away themselves. George's brothers, each eating a popsicle like they're twelve, make fun of "Georgie," causing him to start screaming at them: "Georgie doesn't work here in this hospital. My name is Dr. O'Malley." I hope that felt good, George, because your screaming just gave your father a heart attack. (Or, as we say in Rhode Island, "He took a hot attack.") Commercials.
When we come back, George and Callie are trying to treat Mr. O'Malley while his brothers yell out moron suggestions based on what they've seen on TV. (At least, I think they're moron suggestions, based on what I've seen on TV.) George also clarifies that his father isn't having a heart attack but is having some crazy spike in his blood pressure. A nurse runs in and George gives her some instructions, but he's clearly rattled. He's also having to struggle with his father, who seems intent on pushing George away from him. Burke enters (because Callie paged someone from Cardio) and asks George for the bullet. George hands him the printout from the EKG and details the instruction he gave. Burke calmly tells him that the drug he ordered would make things worse and orders up some lidocaine. The nurse hands the needle to Burke, but he sees George staring at his hands and gives the needle to him. (It may also be the case that Burke was having a tremor; the camera work is really jerky here, and I couldn't quite make out what was happening). George injects the drug into his father's I.V. and then Hahn enters with Cristina and asks what's going on. Burke gives her the bullet, and she tells everyone to leave. George and Burke exchange some enigmatic yet meaningful stares before Burke leaves the room.
Izzie walks up to Mark and tells him that she got his page. He tells her he needs another cappuccino. Izzie: "Did you think I was kidding before?" He tells her that if she wants in on any of his surgeries she's "going to have to learn to fetch, and stay, and heel." I hope she gets rabies and bites him. She angrily snatches up his proffered cash and walks away. He calls after her, "Don't fetch angry." If I were him, I'd be more worried about her fetching spit. She tells him that his demonstration of bullying has not made her respect him; to get her respect, he'll have to do something to earn it.
Derek is practicing on the conjoined dummy, and he thinks it's way too complicated. Bailey is the only other person there with him, and after he says that he can't do the surgery, she breaks out some of her patented Miranda Bailey wisdom. Basically, she tells him that after what happened with Denny, she was made to doubt herself and feel useless. Making her question herself risked the lives of all the patients she was treating. Derek acknowledges that he feels guilty about failing at Burke's surgery, and she tells him that the surgery was a success because Burke isn't paralyzed or disabled. She tells him that they can do the twin separation surgery, and he seems to believe her.
Mr. O'Malley is being wheeled off to surgery. He hands his wedding ring to his wife, and asks George if he'll be in the O.R. He won't, of course, because family is not allowed in the O.R. Mrs. O'Malley cries.
In the Maximum O.R. of Conjoined Twin Separation, a million doctors are preparing for a million procedures. The twins are wheeled in, and Peter (I think -- Jacob took off his glasses, and they seem to be turned around) says he changed his mind. Jacob: "No you didn't." Alas, he does not do a triple finger snap as he says it. George asks Bailey if he can leave to be with his mom. She thinks that's the right thing for him to do and sends him scurrying. One twin asks Bailey to make sure the other twin comes out of the surgery with a fat ass.
Meredith is surprised to find that Addison is still operating on the baby. Addison is taking longer than she thought she would, and doesn't know what Meredith should tell Molly. Addison looks super hot with her special magnifying glasses on. I also just noticed that she seems to be wearing diamond earrings in the O.R. How classy.
In the twins' O.R., Mark tells Bailey that he would like his intern to observe from a closer vantage point and not from the gallery. Bailey is surprised, but tells him that she doesn't mind. The Chief tells her, "Dr. Bailey, Stevens is without privileges." Bailey: "Oh, 'cause she messed up? Dr. Yang messed up, and she's over in O.R. two right now." Bailey asks a nurse to push the intercom button and tells Izzie to scrub in. Derek notes how complicated everything is. Mark makes a suggestion about how to proceed, but Derek is doubtful. The Chief tells them to just make a decision. After a second, Derek looks at Bailey and then agrees to proceed. Commercials.
George watches his father's surgery from the scrub room. Burke enters, and George admits that he's not supposed to be there, and Burke confesses that he's also not supposed to be there. They settle in to watch the surgery together. When Dr. Hahn starts sawing through his father's chest, George can't bear to watch and turns his back to the window. Burke looks over at him and then begins to calmly and dispassionately describe each step that Dr. Hahn is taking. George doesn't say anything, but he seems to find the narration comforting. I kind of agree, although I'm very disturbed to hear that there's such a thing as "bone wax." It sounds like something you should be buying at the local Condom Hut. Or maybe something a mad scientist uses to keep his lab skeletons nice and shiny. Cristina and Burke catch each other's eyes. As always, enigmatic but meaningful.
Over in the other O.R., it's all cut this, sew that, graft the other thing. The big news is that after poking around in the twins' spines, they can tell that the nerves to their legs have been separated and are still functioning. There's applause in the O.R. And then everyone joins together to slide the two operating tables apart, separating the twins for now and forever. More applause. Derek mutters to Mark, "It'd be nice if every love triangle could be fixed with a scalpel." Mark: "If it could, you'd have stabbed me with a ten blade a long time ago." It's not too late for that, is it?
Susan is on a cell phone looking super tense when Meredith approaches her. Susan asks for good news. Meredith tells her that Addison is on her way to explain (which starts out sounding pretty bad), but then goes on to tell Susan that the baby should be fine after some recovery time. The baby's name is Laura, by the way. Susan takes a second to realize that this is good news, and then grabs Meredith up in a big hug. Meredith looks a bit scared. I don't think she got a lot of hugs when she was a kid. Susan backs away and points out that Laura is Meredith's niece. Meredith: "I'm sorry. You're very nice. You both seem so nice. But I don't know you, and you are not my family." Susan is sad, and Meredith walks away.
Back in Mr. O'Malley's O.R., Dr. Hahn is asking Cristina to describe the steps in the surgery. Cristina answers the question perfectly, and Dr. Hahn tells her, "You remind me of myself when I was an intern." Cristina is surprised to hear it, and Dr. Hahn describes Cristina (and herself) as "focused, intense, cold." But she means "cold" in a good way. Just like all those e-mails I get mean "asshole" in a good way. Dr. Hahn thinks that things like dating, friends, and family are all overrated. Cristina looks over at Burke as she says this. And then there's some unwanted bleeding in the open chest cavity. George hears Dr. Hahn say "this doesn't look good," and he finally turns around to see what's happening. Commercials.
Back in the O.R., there's still bleeding, and Dr. Hahn is calling out orders. Cristina suggests a step that she can take involving the aorta and an atrium. Dr. Hahn asks if she can really do that by herself, and Cristina very confidently says that she can. Because she's already done it before. Dr. Hahn tells her to go ahead, and Cristina grabs instruments and starts operating. Burke describes what Cristina is doing, and George starts wondering why Cristina is touching his father's heart. Burke: "It's okay. She's doing a running whip stitch. She's done it before." Dr. Hahn praises Cristina's work, and Mr. O'Malley seems to be out of the woods. Burke tells George that Dr. Hahn did great work and that he wouldn't have done anything different if he were operating: "It's just, you can never tell how the body is going to respond. Every surgery, everybody is different. You just...never know. But it's okay now, they're in the home stretch." Burke leaves, and George calls after him to thank him.
On the Bridge of Sighs, Bailey is telling the Chief that it undermines her authority for her interns to see Cristina remain unpunished. And somehow it undermines her to see Burke unpunished. He tells her to take a step back. Is he trying to make her fall off the bridge? Oh, he means that he wants her to get some perspective. She asks him if he really means that there will be no consequences, and he tells her that's pretty much true. He describes what they did as "a terrible judgment call." She points out that what happened to Denny was also a terrible judgment call, but he notes that the difference is that they didn't kill anybody. Bailey: "And I did?" The Chief tells her that she didn't kill Denny, but she tells him that she was responsible for Izzie and is responsible for Cristina. And the Chief is responsible for the whole lot of them, so who's most to blame here? Bailey thinks that she's the common thread between Izzie and Cristina and must be the reason they both fucked up. The Chief tells her that the two cases are different. And then he tells Bailey that she raised the interns "like children." Yes, for the entire nine months or so that she's been supervising them. The Chief tells her that when you have kids, some of them inevitably disappoint you. Crap, I didn't know my mother was writing this episode. The Chief also tells her that it took an amazing amount of strength for Cristina to come forward and confess what was going on, strength that she got from Bailey. And, you know, from the parents who actually raised her and instilled her with their values.
Elena is at Peter's bedside. She nervously points out that they're finally alone. He looks incredibly sad and tells her that it's been a long day. She gives him a very timid kiss and tells him that she'll see him in the morning. Mere V.O.: "At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody." Izzie and Alex wheel Jacob's bed into the room and place it to Peter's bed. Peter tiredly asks Jacob, "Couldn't stay away?" Jacob doesn't respond. He just holds out his hand, and after a second, Peter reaches up and takes it.
In the NICU, Susan, Molly, and Addison all coo over baby Laura's incubator while Meredith watches from a distance. Mere V.O.: "So, this thing where we all keep our distance, and pretend not to care about each other? It's usually a load of bull." Susan walks over to Meredith and asks if she'd like to come see the baby. Meredith is flustered and says that she doesn't, but she does ask if the baby is okay. Susan says that she's beautiful, and Meredith smiles and nervously walks away. But Susan calls out after her, "We could be your family, if you wanted. You have a mother, I know. I'm not saying...I'm just saying that we could be your family, too." So, Molly must have figured out who Meredith is by now. Unless her mother routinely invites random doctors to join the family. Meredith stops, but doesn't respond or turn around, and then walks away.
Locker room. Cristina, dressed in human clothes, sits in front of her locker and broods. Mere V.O.: "So, we pick, and choose who we want to remain close to." All of the interns are dressed, and George, Alex, and Izzie are still ignoring Cristina. Meredith slams her locker door and tells them she can't take it anymore. Izzie asks what she's talking about, and Meredith tells them, "Let her off the hook. Let Cristina off the frickin' hook!" Cristina asks her to shut up, but she doesn't. Instead, she points out that when Izzie cut the LVAD wire, Cristina stood by her. Alex cheated on Izzie with "syph nurse," but she still helped him study. "Syph nurse?" That's not very nice, Meredith. We don't call you "tequila doctor." To George, she says, "And George, when everybody was calling you '007'..." George: "She was calling me 007." He leaves. Meredith again tells Izzie and Alex to let her off the hook. They both apologize to Cristina and leave. Meredith sits down to Cristina, who asks her, "Why can't you mind your own business? You know, what is your problem?" Meredith: "You're my sister, you're my family, you're all I've got." That was an oddly flat line reading from Ellen Pompeo, whose work I usually find so strong. Mere V.O.: "And once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by." Cristina, laying her head on Mere's shoulder: "I'm so tired." Mere: "I know. Me too."
George runs into Callie, still in her scrubs. She tells him that she wanted to check on his dad, and for once he's not completely hostile to her, telling her that he's resting and doing well. They part without acrimony for the first time in a long time.
Meredith and Cristina exit the elevator to find Burke and Derek waiting to get on it. Meredith greets her boyfriend, who tells her that he's going to go upstairs with Burke to take a look at his arm. While Derek is talking, Burke is walking onto the elevator without once taking his eyes off Cristina's. Mere V.O.: "The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping." Without saying a word, Cristina gets back on the elevator to be with Burke while Derek examines him.
Meredith is back at her mother's nursing home. V.O.: "And sure, sometimes close can be too close." Ellis is pacing the room, still caught up in her anger and pain about having to leave a man she didn't love and about Richard leaving her for his wife. She breaks down into big wracking sobs. Meredith, looking a bit uncomfortable, gets up and hugs her mother. Ellis is freaked out at first, and reacts almost as though she's being attacked. She stands there, stiff and staring into space while her daughter hugs her. But after a second she says, "Meredith?" And Meredith responds, "Mommy." And then Ellis wraps her arms around her daughter. Mere V.O.: "But sometimes, that invasion of personal space -- it can be exactly what you need." Credits.