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The time has come for each of the Chief Resident hopefuls to interview with Owen, and at the same time everyone is doing what they need to do out of the interview room as well. Jackson actually knocks himself out of the running early when he inexplicably resigns from the Chief's diabetes clinical trial. Owen's actually kind of pissed about it since he thinks Jackson has a history of quitting when things get hard, and then he wonders if the trial is flawed. But when Owen investigates the trial, he finds that it's actually so awesome it could potentially win awards, such as the very one named after Jackson's grandfather. Owen realizes that Jackson quit because he realized that if he was on the trial it would never win said award, and he tells Jackson he respects the decision but also warns him not to let the name hold him back. Jackson isn't too worried that he's out of the running because he still has his loving girlfriend Lexie -- though she spends most of the episode mooning over Mark and Sofia, who are hanging out during Callie's first day back at work. It seems the image of Mark with an infant isn't as horrifying as she had anticipated, and in fact is turning out to be her own personal catnip.
Meredith is finding that she's pretty into the baby idea as well. She and Derek are still working to try and adopt Zola, but Meredith is fretting about all the ways things could go wrong and the adoption could fall through. Zola has to have routine surgery for a hernia, and Mere worries during the entire procedure while watching through the window, but things go totally fine. She then has a meeting with someone from the adoption agency to see how suitable she might be as a parent, and she's crazy nervous and awkward during the interview. Once she calms down a bit and just speaks honestly, she winds up doing a great job showing the woman how much she cares about Zola in her own way. The other thing adding to Mere's stress level is that she's terrified that Alex is going to spill the beans about her switcheroo in the trial, but he keeps it to himself, even though he's pretty bitter about it.
As part of her interview, April shows Owen how well her checklists work to make sure the doctors follow protocol in treating every patient. But her plan is messed up when Cristina swoops in and takes one of the patients herself instead of calling Teddy to consult as the list told her to do. Cristina discovers that the guy has a tiny little tree that is growing in one of his lungs and decides that she's going to do the surgery to remove it herself. April is totally against it until Cristina offers to put in a good word for her with Owen if she keeps her mouth shut. April seems tempted, but ultimately she blows the whistle on Cristina, and Richard, Teddy and Owen are all livid. The patient, however, is so grateful for Cristina figuring out what was wrong with him that he insists she do the surgery herself. It seems like Teddy's head might explode from seeing Cristina totally flaunt the rules and yet save the day once again. Once Cristina has her own Chief Resident interview with Owen, he tells her point-blank that she's not getting the job, but it's not because of the stunt she pulled -- instead, he points out that the job entails a ton of managerial bullshit, scheduling, dealing with other residents' problems, and all sorts of other things that Cristina would hate. He tells her that she's a brilliant surgeon and should just focus on surgery. She's completely pissed off, but once she has time to think about it (time, and a few drinks at the bar) she realizes he's right and that he's looking out for her, and they make up.
After the showdown with Cristina, Teddy seems to be thinking a life on the other side of the world with a hot man might not be the worst thing ever. She kind of breaks Henry's heart when she tells him about the possibility of her moving, and it's made worse when he realizes that she hasn't even told Andrew that they are married. Henry decides he has to start taking care of himself, so he manages to convince Richard to accept him into the diabetes trial, and then that helps Henry get his old job back, too, since he won't be falling sick all the time like he had been. He hopes that this will give him a fighting chance against Andrew, but Teddy ultimately decides to move to Germany, and Henry asks her for a divorce.
Shockingly, Alex and Lucy (remember her?) now appear to be dating, or at least sleeping together. Lucy tells him she's been offered a position at Baylor and he thinks that's great and she could take it, which hurts her feelings since she thought he'd fight at least a little bit to have her stay for the sake of their budding relationship. Alex is still treating some of his African patients and he seems to really care about them, as more than just an edge in the Chief Resident race. The older sister of one of his patients falls ill, and the docs discover that not only is she pregnant, but she's got complications of the highest order, with the baby growing outside her uterus. Lucy delivers the baby and then hands him over to Alex, who continues to be awesome and gets the baby breathing and doing well. He makes a comment to Arizona afterward about how sad it is to know that all these patients still won't necessarily get the long-term follow-up care that they need, so Arizona suggests he go to Africa and take over the position in the clinic which she vacated. He makes some inquiries about it, which makes Lucy even madder, and Cristina has to point out for him that Lucy is mad because he didn't take her into consideration when thinking about the job. He finally does and decides he wants to see where the relationship might go, but when he goes to tell her that, she admits that she swiped the job in Africa out from under him. He goes to the bar to drown his sorrows, and while talking to Cristina she babbles that she thinks Mere will win Chief Resident on account of how organized and trustworthy she is. This is the last straw for a hurt and pissed-off Alex, so he does what he does best -- lashes out -- by drunkenly announcing to Owen that Meredith messed with the Alzheimer's trial.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!"No sex." Cristina has decided that she's got to play hardball in the Chief Resident game, and she thinks that, with formal interviews later that day, Owen shouldn't have his judgment clouded by thoughts of the hot sex he had with his beautiful wife the night before. Owen is incredibly skeptical about the plan, but Cristina won't budge. She also managed to work her way onto Owen's service for the day, claiming that since she can't work with Teddy and show what she's got, she has to then show it to Owen directly and prove what an amazing candidate she is. Of course, she hasn't totally thought this through as she might be ensuring that her boss is rather frustrated and cranky, but we'll see. Mere's VO for the day reminds us that we all know the saying, "Adapt or die."
Sometimes, when one is adapting, they have to attack or kill. Meredith tries to convince herself that Alex wouldn't attack but she's clearly unsure, so she actually asks him if he's going to say anything about her in his meeting. Alex oozes contempt as he points out he thought that she was going to just wish him luck, but now he knows it's every man for himself in this race. He walks out of the room leaving Mere aghast and even more scared than she was before. Is she new? Does she not remember that it's best not to poke a grouchy Alex with a stick lest he bite?
Lexie and Avery are brushing their teeth, both clad in towels just out of the shower. Now that's a view I'd like every morning. She coaches him about all the awesome things he needs to say about himself and the trial, adding that the trial is going to win every award there is. This seems to push some button and he goes from just silent and slightly nervous to full-on grouch who cuts her off, saying he knows what to say, and then shuffles out of the bathroom. Ooh, but what a view as he leaves. I've decided I'm not in love with his slightly longer hair, but I'll take that trade for those back muscles any day. Holy lats, Batman!
When Alex gets back to his room, Lucy is there in bed, checking her email. Really? These two are still happening? I never believed that Alex would moon around after this girl like a puppy. Stop trying to make Lucy happen, show. She is stunned to find out she got into some program at Baylor, but when Alex is excited for her she immediately starts hedging and talking about everything she has to consider before leaving Seattle. Alex doesn't pick up at all on the fact that she's trying to say that he is one of those factors, so she takes a different approach, saying that if he gets Chief Resident and she's still around, at least he'll have one friend. Alex just brushes that off, saying that all the docs know that this competition isn't personal, and sometimes you have to be a shark. He then congratulates her and takes off to get ready for his interview with Owen while she sits in bed, miffed, and I start inspecting my cuticles since I find them more interesting than her bruised feelings.
Derek is spending a few cute moments with Zola when Meredith joins them and tells him she's been cramming for the social worker interview she's having later. Derek finds it funny but Mere is dead serious, given that she doesn't have any personal experience with quality parenting. Derek teases her about how she'll have to sew Halloween costumes and then hands over the baby, who starts to fuss. Arizona comes in and tells them that Zola is doing really well, and then explains the simple hernia surgery she will have later. Zola's howling unhappily now and Arizona guesses that she is hungry since she can't eat with her surgery later, so gives her a pacifier to soothe her. Derek and Meredith both look a little shell-shocked at how easily Arizona fixed the situation and how neither of them knew to do that, but Derek tries to assure Meredith that they'll figure all of these types of things out as they go.
Bailey is rolling a young girl, Abena, out of the hospital in a wheelchair while her sister Lebo walks beside them; Abena is one of the kids from Africa who is happy and excited to be going home. Alex runs up with a bag containing her meds and then also pulls a teddy bear out of his pocket for her, which she loves. He reminds her to take all of her sickle cell meds and Bailey reminds Lebo that she needs to take them too. The little girl then gives "Dr. Alex" a huge hug as he continues to fretfully remind them to follow up at the clinic. He's genuinely concerned, and Lebo thanks him and then gives him a hug. When they hug, though, she winces; she tries to write it off as nothing but then is hit by a wave of pain that causes her to scream and collapse.
Teddy and Henry are jogging together along a trail and she's trying a little too hard to point out possible dates for him as they jog by. He plays along but shoots down all of her suggestions and instead asks her about how things are going with Andrew. She finally admits that he invited her to go to Germany with him when he leaves in a week, causing Henry to have to stop and catch his breath from the punch in the gut jog. Teddy is clearly considering it though she tries to convince herself that it's crazy and lists her obligations in Seattle: she's got a contract at work, residents to teach (though that's become kind of a non-issue lately), and Henry. It's not lost on Henry that she lists him as an obligation and she immediately backtracks, but he just "jokes" that he's an anchor that's dragging her down. He's smiling but he pretty clearly believes this is at least partly true. She assures him that it just could mean insurance headaches and that they would figure it all out, and he agrees. She then too-cheerfully tries to continue the, "What about her?" exercise and Henry gamely plays along, but both of them are working hard to avoid the fact that now things seem even weirder between them than before.
It turns out that Lebo is eight months pregnant, but that she never told the doctors since she knew that they wouldn't let her fly to the States with her sister. Lucy has come in to help with the case and they prepare to send the girl to CT, but then all of her vitals start to drop and they have to rush her straight into the OR instead.
April and Owen are walking along together as she sells the idea of a checklist, and how using one with every patient can help cut down on human error. She wants to show him rather than tell him how it works, so for her interview she brings him to see the checklist in action with a patient. The stop at the side of a curtained-off bed as she explains how the checklist would go with each patient's chart and would show any doctor or nurse that looked at it what steps had already been taken. She explains that this patient, Raul, was coughing up blood and the step on the list is to give him a bronchoscopy to rule out cancer. The curtain is ripped open by his horrified wife, since they and their young son heard the word "cancer" and now the kid thinks daddy is going to die. So today, we are back to realizing that curtains aren't audio forcefields like they seem to be so often in this hospital. April tries to clarify that she never said he had cancer but the damage is done. Cristina comes over and reports officially how all of her patients are doing, so Owen tells her to go ahead and take Raul to bronchoscopy. April jumps in, though, and chirps that the protocol on the checklist is to call Teddy and have her schedule the procedure. Cristina is unimpressed and when April and Owen leave, she just checks a few things off the list and takes Raul for the procedure anyway.
In Lebo's surgery, Arizona and Bailey are digging around inside her abdomen, shoving intestines aside to try and find where she is bleeding. Horrifically, as they pull everything aside, they come across the baby, just hanging out in there rather than in a cozy uterus, and Lucy jumps into action to get him out.
While Lucy was in over her head with a pregnant Callie after her accident, that must have been a strange, momentary brain fog because she's all over this totally rare case of a baby incubating outside of a woman's uterus. She explains to Bailey how Lebo's tubes were scarred, so the egg just found somewhere else that it could grow. They cut the cord and Alex takes the baby while Lucy works away to save Lebo, who is now hemorrhaging. After a tense couple of moment, they hear a cry from the little dude, but all of the doctors still seem concerned over their face masks.
After being labeled an obligation, Henry decides it's time to change his situation, and he approaches the chief about getting into his diabetes trial. Richard still has his nose bent out of shape about this insurance marriage, so he's skeptical about Henry's ability to be an impartial participant. Henry is brutally honest with Richard (and himself) as he admits he really likes Teddy but that to her, he's just an "insurance sponge." He figures that to become more than that, he needs his own insurance and to do that, he needs a job. To find a job, he needs to not be constantly going into diabetic shock, so he is now throwing himself at Richard's feet.
Callie is back at work for the first time since her accident but is finding it harder to be away from Sofia than she thought, so she seeks out Owen to try and find some bones to break -- she figures this will remind her why she loves her job so that she'll actually come back again tomorrow. She hears a baby cry and gets wistful about her own baby until she realizes that it is fact is her own baby -- Mark has brought Sofia to work to show her off (and to get some adult time for himself). Even if he does need some adult interaction, it's incredibly cute what a proud papa he is as he carries his daughter around in a little carrier strapped to his chest. Callie happily picks her up but then Sofia's Baby Cuteness Powers render Callie unable to hand her back over, and she has to order Mark to reach in and take her from Callie's arms. He does, giving us a full cute view of her little diapered butt in a pink giraffe outfit with a ruffle at the waist, while Callie happily learns that a motorcycle accident is on its way in so she'll have bones to snap in no time.
Lebo is still in surgery but it looks like she's going to be fine, and Alex reports that the baby is okay as well. He then starts to fret again about their follow-up care, including the baby who likely has sickle cell anemia as well. Finally, Arizona suggests that maybe Alex handle their follow up care -- the job at the clinic is still open, they are looking for someone single and unattached, and they know and like him already because of his involvement in bringing the kids over for surgery. Lucy's head snaps up at the suggestion of Alex's singledom and totally-not-casually snarks that it's a long way to travel for a follow-up exam. We can add "smooth" to the list of things Lucy is not, behind "interesting." Arizona is confused by her reaction and pretends she didn't say anything at all, just assuring Alex he would be great and should think about it. Alex appears to be doing a lot of quality smell-the-fart acting so that we know he's seriously considering the idea.
Avery goes to see the Chief and when the Chief asks him to screen Henry's chart as a possible candidate, Avery answers by politely resigning from the trial. He is incredibly apologetic and thankful but claims that he wants to focus on surgery for the time being. Richard is baffled but Avery is firm, though when he tells Richard he is sure he's got his hands jammed in his pockets and runs out of the room seemingly before he can change his mind.
Alone in a hallway, Meredith sits and nervously jiggles her foot until Alex walks out the door with Owen and shakes his hand, having just finished his interview. Owen asks Meredith for a moment and closes the door, which gives Meredith a chance to stare pleadingly at Alex until he admits that he didn't say anything, but that she should if she's really that worried about it. Meredith maintains her idiotic stance that no one will find out about it, ignoring all logic about how the FDA will likely compare the results with the info they have about which patients got the medicine and which ones didn't. She obviously doesn't truly believe herself or she wouldn't be a jittery mess. Owen then calls her in for her own interview.
Cristina is doing the forbidden bronchoscopy, and once she finally gets to the spot she wants to see, she and the nurse gape and ask a lot of vague, "Is that what I think it is?" questions. The nurses asks if she should page Teddy but Cristina shoots down that idea, almost vibrating from the excitement of the mystery ailment she just found.
Us peasants in the viewing audience have to wait through a commercial break first before seeing her announce to Raul that he has a tree growing in his lung. She's trying to stay professionally straight-faced, but she's delighted while the family is a little bit horrified at the idea of a plant taking root in one of his organs. She explains that he probably inhaled a seed and then the little thing just somehow adapted. The writers are making sure we don't forget this week's "adapt or die" theme with all of these fantastically literal examples. April catches her as she tells Raul that he just needs a simple surgery and will be fine, and she calls Cristina outside. Before they go, April is yelled at by the boy who calls her a bad doctor for telling them that Raul had cancer. No matter how many times April tries to tell them that isn't what she said, she's not going to win this one. She and Cristina are good cop/bad cop, and Cristina couldn't be more pleased to actually fall into the former role for once.
Out in the hall, April yells at Cristina for messing with the checklist, but nothing she can say can bring Cristina down for her high. She also can't talk Cristina out of doing the surgery herself, without telling Teddy, even though what she refers to as a "glorified lung biopsy" is actually a thoracotomy, which is a procedure that needs to be supervised. Yeah, from experience that's not really a little one and poor Raul might be a little surprised at how his lung might be treeless but he'll feel like he was run over by a truck for a while as he recovers. Cristina finally admits it was a small breach in protocol and April can't help but crow about that, but Cristina still isn't deterred and tells April that if she goes along with this, she'll put in a good word for April with Owen. April is suspicious but can't hide that she's also a little bit intrigued.
Henry is waiting for Richard's verdict, which is that he's medically a candidate but that he's still not sure he feels good about it. Andrew then comes over to say hi; he's there to take Teddy out to lunch, and Henry realizes immediately that this suave, tall, good-looking dude is his competition. Teddy walks up, a little alarmed to see them talking, and then metaphorically kicks Henry in the chest by introducing him to Andrew as her "friend." Andrew is nice enough, having no idea of the real story, but Richard realizes quickly what's going on and announces to them all that Henry is going to be in the trial. Teddy is surprised but really happy for him, and congratulates him before she and Andrew leave for lunch. Henry then asks Richard what brought about his change of heart and Richard admits that if he's up against Andrew, Henry is going to need all of the help he can get since the guy is, as a trauma counselor, basically a professional knight in shining armor. Henry is suitably daunted after hearing all these details but hey, at least he gets a replacement pancreas as a consolation prize!
Lucy comes out of Lebo's room and catches Alex on the phone getting the details about the job in Africa, and he tells them he needs a few days to decide before signing off. He wants to know how the patient is doing but Lucy is only interested in hearing about the call. He admits that it sounds great, and he loves the idea of doing all those surgeries and being the boss, since he can't see himself just going back to being a regular resident after this project. He adds that it might be worth it to stay if he becomes Chief Resident but other than that, he doesn't really have a reason to stay. I almost feel sorry for him because he's just so completely oblivious and inept when it comes to relationships. The girl who wishes she was a reason gets increasingly livid and when he finally asks what she thinks, she spits that she doesn't think her opinion matters and then storms off, leaving a baffled Alex behind. On the one hand, I totally get it but on the other, I still don't buy that these two are serious enough to actually take their "relationship" into consideration.
Meredith finds Cristina and wants her to help Mere prep for her adoption interview. Despite Cristina saying she has no time, she and Mere walk and talk and Mere asks tricky questions while Cristina gives her crafty answers. For example, if they ask about Mere's sleeping her way around Europe, Cristina tells her to call it, "absorbing other cultures." Oh come now, if that is really considered a liability, I feel like there'd be far fewer couples even possibly considered suitable adopted parents. I would call it a "rite of passage" for many. Cristina gives Meredith all sorts of advice as Meredith throws out hard questions but when she gets to the point about telling the shooter to shoot her, Cristina advises her to just change the subject. Apparently I am as crazy as Meredith for not considering this near the most ludicrous thing she has done in her life, given that at the time it looked like it was a choice between her or Derek and they weren't both going to live through the day.
Cristina gets into the elevator, mightily pleased with herself, but Alex just sneers at her and gripes about women. Cristina asks him what his problem is and when he points out that she doesn't care, she agrees but tells him she's on a brilliant roll so he should open up to her. He tells her the story and about how pissed off Lucy is, so of course Cristina asks if he asked Lucy if she wanted to go, or at least said he would miss her. Cristina didn't have to be on a roll to give Alex that advice, she just had to be a marginally able to understand how to interact socially with the opposite sex, which isn't always Alex's strong suit. She tells Alex that obviously Lucy's feelings have been hurt, but adds that he should take the job since it sounds amazing. Alex isn't fooled -- he knows she just wants him out of the Chief Resident race.
Lexie is the one to enter into Cristina's Orbit of Brilliance, and her question is, what is it about guys with babies that gets to women? She goes on about how a man with a puppy is irresistible and all of a sudden, a girl can see herself spending the rest of the life with the baby/puppy daddy. Cristina finally looks up to see that as Lexie is dreamily describing the phenomenon, she's staring at Mark, with Sofia, surrounded by a gaggle of cooing women. Much like Alex's troubles, Cristina doesn't have to be on a hot streak to figure this out. She bluntly tells Lexie that all those ladies are looking at the baby, and Lexie is the only one looking at Mark. Well, Lexie and scores of woman viewers across America. Lexie scoffs at the idea, still in total denial that she and Mark have totally unfinished business between the two of them.
April comes by to tell Cristina that she booked and OR but when she tries to say something else, Cristina cuts her off to bask in her own awesomeness. She declares that after three whole days of no sex, she's totally clear and focused, and that this must be why April is so organized: virgin superpowers! April tries to stop Cristina but then Cristina does the unimaginable -- she thanks April sincerely for helping her out, and for giving her the first day in months where she feels like her old self again. April comments, kind of horrified, that Cristina is actually being nice to her, and Cristina replies, "So?" With that, they turn the corner into Raul's room and see Teddy and Richard standing by the bed, and Teddy explaining what surgery she's going to perform. They see Cristina and the looks they shoot her are about as far from warm and inviting as looks can get. Richard demands that Cristina come join them but Cristina turns to glare accusingly at April a moment, who meekly defends that she's sorry, but she needed this too.
What Richard and Teddy didn't count on is that Raul wants Cristina to do the surgery. He's not impressed by Teddy's credentials; he's impressed by Cristina being the only doctor who was able to figure out what was actually wrong with him, especially after April said he had cancer. It's a silly running gag and yet oddly amusing as April gets more and more indignant trying to defend herself, her voice squeaking more and more with each false accusation. Teddy and Richard look at each other and try to have a silent conversation about Cristina performing the surgery.
Avery's up for his interview, and Owen's first, very pointed question is what Avery would do if a colleague of his was dropping out of a potentially prestigious clinical trial. Owen is livid, and when Avery tells him that he'd advise the person to think it through but would ultimately respect the decision it's clear that Owen feels quite the opposite. He doesn't mince words as he accuses Avery for his history of quitting when things get touch and warns him that this is a mistake. Avery manages to maintain his composure and respectfully disagrees; he won't take the bait and start to argue even though Owen is doing quite a good job trying to goad him into it.
From one mad doctor to another: Teddy is furious that Richard is considering letting Cristina do the surgery though when pressed, she has to admit that Cristina is capable of conducting the procedure. Cristina jumps in and tries to defend that she was just streamlining the process but her wide-eyed innocent act is fooling no one and Teddy snaps at her that she knows full well that Cristina just did this out of spite. She's not totally wrong, and I still understand her teach-not-tell approach with Cristina, but these two need to figure out something because obviously the teaching isn't happening and things are only getting worse. Richard seems to think so too, and refuses to get into the middle of their personal shit. To Teddy's utter horror he allows Cristina to do the surgery but he angrily assures both ladies that he'll decide a punishment later but will take it out on Cristina and not the patient. To fully frost Teddy's cookies, he then tells her that she has to observe the procedure while April assists. April doesn't want any part of it either -- probably doesn't want to be around Cristina holding any sharp objects -- but Richard is done dealing with this and promises Cristina this will be taken into consideration with regards to her bid for Chief Resident. Cristina manages to keep a straight face until the two senior surgeons have left but once they are gone, she celebrates triumphantly.
Meredith and Derek are hanging out in the hallway during Zola's surgery, peeking through the window to try and see what's happening. Mere can't stop worrying about everything that could go wrong, and Derek keeps trying to assure her that everything is going to be okay. Finally, Mere blows up at him and tells him that he doesn't know that -- she reminds him of all of Zola's serious medical problems and then, when Derek tries again to tell her it will be okay, her real worries bubble to the surface and she asks about all the things that might go wrong with the adoption. What if they find better parents? What if they realize these two rushed into the decision? What if they think a resident with an 80-hour workweek isn't good mom material? Derek finally stops his platitudes and instead just tells her that everything will go the way it goes. She smiles and thanks him, satisfied and a little bit calmer, and then she goes back to the window.
Lexie walks into a dark room to look at some x-rays but as she is about to turn on the light screen a deep voice asks her not to. Mark is actually sitting in the dark with a tiny sleeping Sofia, and explains this is the only place she will sleep. He does then offer to leave but Lexie assures him it's fine and then comes over to see Sofia up close. She's too nervous to accept his offer to hold her, and laughs nervously that then the baby would wake up and cry, and then Mark would hate her. He looks devastated to hear this come out of her mouth and just regards her seriously for a very charged moment. Finally she makes an excuse to leave but tells him first that she's really happy for him, and that he seems happy. Mark agrees that he has almost everything he's ever wanted. Not sure how to respond to this, and the encounter in general, Lexie turns and leaves.
The threat of discipline absolutely can't even touch Cristina's glee as she does Raul's surgery and pulls out a perfectly formed, 2-inch tall fir tree. She very pointedly tells a stunned April that the tree managed to thrive in a hostile environment, and then shoots a pointed look over her shoulder at Teddy. I love Cristina, and I get it, but Germany and a hot, hot man would be looking pretty good to me about now, too. Cristina wants to keep it, which rattles every protocol-loving bone in April's body, and she lectures Cristina at an ever-increasing pitch about the importance of rules. She concedes that they (and the people who follow them) might be fussy, but they are there for a reason. Cristina finally agrees, more to get April to be quiet, but when April tries to continue her rule-worshipping lecture, Cristina cuts her off and harshly informs her that she'll never be chosen Chief Resident. Not even following protocol can heal the sting April feels at that.
Arizona is watching Alex through the window as he hands Lebo her baby and it's obvious to anyone that Alex seriously cares for these patients. When he comes out of the room, Arizona asks him if he's going to Africa. When he tells her that he's not sure yet, she asks point-blank if he's in love with Lucy. Alex is as surprised as I am at the very thought, but he's also a little embarrassed and just tells Arizona that it's a new relationship. He asks why it matters, still displaying some phenomenal obliviousness, even for Alex. April has to explain that she doesn't want to recommend someone who is then going to turn around and do what she did: run back to the girl back home. She warns him to be totally sure of his decision when he finally makes it, or he'll have to answer to her.
Zola is out of surgery and is babbling while playing with her toes. Seriously, this baby might actually kill me. It's like she was genetically engineered to make women start ovulating. Derek gazes at her from the doorway and is joined by Mark and Sofia; Mark baby-talks that Sofia can't wait to have a new friend. His voice turns almost Kermit-esque and Derek gives him an amused look, but Mark promises Derek will be doing the same thing in no time. In fact, we already saw it when he introduced Zola to Meredith for the first time. Derek is really worried about the adoption since it's difficult to get through all of the international hoo-ha (official term) but Mark assures him that he is Derek Shepherd, and on that fact alone it will happen, in addition to the fact that he and Mere will make great parents. It's kind of amazing to see these two boys all grown up.
This heartwarming conversation takes place while Meredith is finally in her interview with the social worker. She's incredibly nervous, and manages to just put her foot deeper and deeper into her mouth as she describes growing up with her non-nurturing surgeon mother but tries to convince the woman that she plans to be different. The worker's face is impassive but there's a hint of sympathy behind her eyes as she asks Mere to tell her about Zola. This, Meredith does with way fewer nerves -- she tells the woman about Zola's surgery and gives a lot of medical information that the woman doesn't understand, but it's clear that Meredith is proud of how Zola did and the worker seems amused. Mere realizes, though, that this probably isn't what the worker meant. She thinks that she's supposed to talk about how cute and sweet Zola is, and she assures the woman that Zola is totally those things, but then trails off and finally asks, embarrassed, for confirmation that she's not doing very well in this interview. The woman assures her that she just wants a sense of who Meredith is, and Meredith tells her that she's a good surgeon, wants to be a good mother and is ready to learn how to do that despite not having much firsthand experience with it. This and her telling of the surgery are the two most sincere, honest moments she has had during the interview, and the worker sees it. She tells Meredith that good moms brag about their babies and know where they are and how they are doing at all times. And even though Zola was in surgery rather than a play group or the like, Meredith knew everything and was watching out for her and then bragged about her, to boot. She tells Mere that she appreciates seeing that, but Mere seems wary and not quite ready to believe her.
Cristina is in an uncomfortable interview of her own: she's in her formal Chief Resident interview with Owen, and he is hollering at her for the stunt she pulled. She tries to claim that she was showing initiative but come on, this is her husband, she can drop that act for him at least and point out that she was desperate for a cool surgery. But she instead puffs out her chest and claims that Teddy is doing a disservice to her and her education, so she took matters into her own hands which she thinks is a good Chief Resident quality. Owen finally loses it and declares that she's not going to be chosen, and Cristina recoils, demanding to know whose decision it was. When Owen says that it is his, she starts to melt down about how Chief Residents have their pick of fellowships, and he's screwing with her career (which we know is actually worse to her than screwing with her personal life). Owen doesn't take that bait and just tells Cristina that the job is full of all sorts of administration and general "working within the system," which is not at all in her wheelhouse. He claims the job would make her crazy, just like they saw today, and she'd fight it until she failed at it, so she should just focus on what she truly is, which is a surgeon. "Just be excellent at what you are." She's too mad to really hear how much sense he's making and finally just asks if he is done, and leaves, curtly thanking him for his time.
When Alex finally makes a decision, it's that he's not going to go to Africa. But when he tries to tell Lucy about it she keeps trying to interrupt him; he can't be stopped, though, since he's got a happy speech all figured out which includes suggesting that maybe in a year they could both go to Africa together. He also assures her that she is totally a factor in his decision-making now and he's sorry he didn't tell her that sooner. He keeps talking over her to say that he always thinks of himself as single since every time he opens up to a girl, he gets burned. She finally forces him to shut up before he can dig himself further into a hole and predictably, tells him that he was right about career coming first, so she took the job. Alex tells her to call Baylor and take it back, but she sucks it up and admits that she actually pulled the job in Africa out from under him. He's livid, but she just tells him that he was the one who said that it's not personal, and sometimes you have to be a shark. That was rather clumsily handled since it came out of left field, but it gives us Angry Alex to work with again and frees Lucy up to go be an Angel, and we can now forget that this unconvincing non-relationship ever happened.
Alex goes and practices what he is good at: drowning his sorrows at the bar. Cristina is there and he gripes to her about what happened and growls that he'd better get Chief Resident now. April walks up and orders herself a drink; after an uneasy glance at Cristina, she builds up her courage and again starts a speech about rules. Cristina isn't really interested but April won't be deterred, and reminds them that she killed someone once because she missed one little step. When following protocol, steps aren't missed and people live. She admits that Cristina is probably right that April won't be the Chief Resident, but she maintains that everyone has to admit that checklists work. She leaves and shockingly, Cristina looks a little bit thoughtful.
Owen seeks out Avery to talk some more about his dropping out of the trial, and Avery looks about as excited as a kid facing another lecture from his mom for losing his retainer. But Owen tells him that after what happened, he started worrying that something was wrong with the trial, so he looked into it. Interestingly, what he found was flawless, award-winning-level data. He realized that Avery left because he knew that with his name attached, it would never be eligible to win a Harper-Avery award even though it should be in the running. It's noble, and Owen has to grudgingly respect that. But he does warn Avery to also be careful not to let his name hold him back. Avery ponders this new idea as Owen walks off.
Henry finds Teddy at the hospital with more good news to share: after he was accepted into the trial he was able to get his old job back and therefore will have his own insurance within a couple of months. Teddy is thrilled for him, and he tells her that he has been thinking about where the two of them go from here, and has something to ask her. Andrew calls over to her and Henry realizes that they are going to dinner, so Teddy admits that they are going to celebrate... that she accepted his invitation to go to Germany. Henry is stunned, but tries to recover and congratulate her -- she accepts, but seems to need some reassurance that this really is, in fact, good news. Henry reassures her that it is, and that he'll be fine, but Teddy seems quite sad now and it's not helped when Henry gets back to his original question: "May I please have a divorce?" She's caught off-guard and it takes her a moment before she assures him that of course he can, and she jokes that he doesn't need her any more, right? He agrees as some super depressing song plays, and then she has to leave with Andrew while Henry just stands there and both of them marinate in their gloom. Meredith reminds us again that it never gets easier, but we all have to adapt or die.
Arizona and Callie finish up and meet Mark and Sofia happily before all leaving the hospital together. The camera pans up to show Lexie forlornly watching the little group, and then Avery walks up behind her and teases her for staring at Mark again. He seems remarkably secure since that's totally what she was doing, despite her lame denial that she was just looking at the baby. She's worried for him when she hears that he's out of the Chief Resident race but he assures her that he's okay and besides, "I have you, what else do I need?" He might need a girlfriend that isn't still in love with another man, but that's just a suggestion.
Meredith gazes at Zola in her crib and finally picks her up and says hello before (weirdly) introducing herself again and telling Zola she'd like to be her mom.
Back at the bar, Alex is getting drunker and more morose while Cristina chatters on about how Meredith is totally going to be picked as Chief Resident. She actually tells Alex a version of what Owen told her but she seems now to believe it -- that it's not about how good a doctor he is, but just because Mere is better that other things. She then tells him (shockingly, sincerely) that he's great with the kids but that Meredith is more organized, and people like and trust her. Hearing "trust" and "Meredith" in the same sentence is the last straw for Alex. Owen walks up to try and tell Cristina not to be mad at him and he's happily surprised when he's greeted with a kiss and a thank you because she has realized that he just wanted what was best for her. She promises him some excellent nookie as Alex drains (another) shot, and Owen looks over and worriedly asks if he's okay. Drunk, and with eyes full of angry tears, Alex finally reverts fully back into his familiar, prickly, self-preservation mode and slurs that Meredith messed with the Alzheimer's trial. It's Alex doing what he's good at, like Cristina was just saying, and it's sure to throw everything on its ear just in time for the season finale.