17 Seconds (2)

S02E25

Well. To echo the constant refrain of the episode thread: HOLY SHIT. So Burke gets a call that there's a heart available for Denny across town at Mercy West. Cristina begs to go along with him for the ride, but he's still mad at her for falling asleep during sex and takes Alex out of spite. When they arrive, they're informed that there are two hearts available -- the dead guys are a pair of brothers who crossed the center line and ran headlong into a semi -- and the doctor getting the second heart is Burke's old med school rival. Alas! Burke's guy is already dead, so he runs into the other OR to try and steal the one good heart for Denny. Turns out the intended recipient of the good heart made the transplant list just seventeen seconds before Denny did, so other guy is technically the winner -- unless Denny's condition deteriorates dramatically within the hour or so, that is.

And what do you imagine happens when Izzie finds out about this? Why, she comes up with a diabolically CRAZY plan to stop Denny's heart by cutting his LVAD line. It'll be okay, she says, because Burke is on his way back to the hospital any second to revive him! That way Denny can live, get the heart, and everyone will live happily ever after. And since it can never be said enough, Izzie Stevens COMPLETELY drops her basket, going so far as to drag George and Alex along for her insane little ride.

Meanwhile, a bunch of gunshot wounds arrive at the hospital, the result of a disgruntled ex-waiter attempting to shoot his overbearing manager (who didn't even get shot, just lacerated!). One of the more heartbreaking victims is a young pregnant girl who was shot in the head. She ends up brain dead, leaving her parents to decide whether to keep her alive long enough to deliver her baby.

In character relationship news, Mere, McDreamy, and Addison get the news from McVet that Doc has osteosarcoma. McDreamy is still stupidly upset with Mere for dating Finn, and he shows his ass in front of all of them. Poor Addison finally realizes what's going on -- after a particularly painful conversation with Meredith, in which she pathetically asks her husband's dirty ex-mistress if they're still sleeping together -- and confronts McDreamy. Unfortunately, she does it in front of the entire hospital. Callie is a total bitch to Meredith in re: Doc's illness, but redeems herself slightly after a little talking-to from George. Callie sadly unredeems herself by telling George she loves him -- and George, bastard that he is, leaves her hanging to go help Izzie with her "plan."

Speaking of which. Just as Izzie is getting ready to cut Denny's LVAD cord (in front of a totally stricken George), the original-target restaurant manager is released from the hospital. What nobody could have imagined is that his shooter is waiting for him outside. Shots are fired. Bailey hears them from inside the hospital and runs outside. The manager is down. And, as much as it pains me to say this, my friends, so is Burke. BURKE! Dr. Burke is on the ground and he has been shot, is what I am saying to you. Izzie doesn't know this, though, and cuts through Denny's LVAD line with a pair of scissors, saying, "It's okay, Dr. Burke will be here in a minute." Holy shit!

Welcome to the first third of the season finale! We open at Joe's bar. Mere voice-overs that, in life, we're taught that there are seven deadly sins. "We all know the big ones -- gluttony, pride, lust." Burke and McDreamy are sitting at their own table, away from those icky girls. The icky girls sit at another table nearby and watch the men (hotly) play some darts. Burke flings his dart at the board so hard that it makes a "thwack!" sound as it hits the bull's-eye. I'm going to take this dart-playing scene as a psychic shout-out, as darts are mine and my husband's current obsession and bar game of choice. Cristina turns around to watch and comments, "He's picturing my face. He's totally picturing that dart puncturing my skull." Mere VOs that the thing you don't hear much about is anger, maybe because we think anger's not that dangerous. As she says this, McDreamy takes his turn at the board, and hurls the dart with beautiful manly force. Izzie says he's so picturing Meredith right now. Mere: "He called me a whore; he lost the right to picture me." Cristina's all, "So I fall asleep during sex, so what?" The boys glare at the girls, and the girls glare back, each proclaiming, "ASS!" Alex strolls by, and Izzie calls out, "Oh, aaaaass!" She throws back a shot. Hee. Alex snaps back, "Isobel Stevens has finally left the hospital -- does this mean heart patient Denny finally kicked it?" Izzie says she's sorry, but this section of the bar is for surgeons only; they don't socialize with gynecologists. Damn, I like drunk Izzie. George walks over with Callie and sits down. All the girls greet George heartily, and then are all Mean-Girly, "Ohheycallie." Poor Callie. Mere voice-overs that we don't give anger enough credit -- maybe it can be a lot more dangerous than we think. "After all, when it comes to destructive behaviors, it did make the top seven." We get one more shot of Incredibly Angry McDreamy, then cut to...

…McVet's office. His initial diagnosis of Doc is bone cancer. Aw, Doc! Mere and McDreamy have a snitty little session of "Bone cancer?" "Are you sure?" "That's what he said, isn't it?" "I HEARD HIM." This makes Addison and McVet uncomfortable, as it should. McVet tells them that osteosarcomas are aggressive, but they can try to treat it with chemo, or remove the tumor entirely, but he needs to first see how far it's spread. As a last option, they can amputate the leg. McDreamy asks if it's even worth it at that point. Mere: "Oh, right. Let's just let him die!" McDreamy, clearly projecting, says he doesn't want "him" to suffer.

Later, in the elevator, McDreamy and Mere stand on either side of Addison, both fuming. Addie awkwardly asks if there's something going on between them, or if they had a fight. They answer in unison, "NO." Addie wants to make sure that they're all still...friends. "Still"? Mere and McDreamy, poutily: "Yes." They exit the elevator, leaving Addie in there alone with her confusion.

Cristina catches up to Burke elsewhere in the hospital and says she heard he might be getting a heart for a transplant. Burke robotically tells her that Mercy West has a heart, and he's going to get it. Cristina of course wants in. She reminds him that she's done it before, with Bailey. "You can ask her, I was very helpful." Burke cares not: he says he's sure she was helpful, but he's not going to need her on this one. Cristina ponders this rejection on her way to the ambulance bay, where a whole fleet of ambulances have arrived.

The ambulances have brought a surgical bounty of gunshot wound victims, the result of an employee who went postal and shot up a restaurant. George tells the Gang that he heard the shooter got away. Meanwhile, the hospital is filling up with the walking (and not-so-much) wounded. Bailey and Cristina's patients are an engaged couple who both got shot. The girl, Deborah, reveals that her fiancé ducked behind her during the shooting, using her as a human shield. Naturally, she's livid. The fiancé tries to make it all about love: "Deborah! The bullet went through you and into me! That's a sign we should be together forever." I'm pretty sure that's a sign Deborah should kick this guy to the curb forever, but who am I to judge? In response, Deborah shows "Neal" the hole in her arm...that she can see through. Ew. Bailey tells Cristina good luck, and takes herself far away from these people.

Callie and Meredith work on a nice-looking guy with a hipster haircut and a gunshot wound to the leg. Mere tells Callie that the guy got some morphine in the field, and he pipes up, "Ohhhh, trust me, it was not enough." Callie tells Mere to rule out other injuries and get him up to radiology. She's none too sweet about it, by the way.

George wheels in McDreamy's patient on a gurney, a young woman named Kendra Thomas. Kendra's head is all wrapped in bandages, so I'm going to assume that's where she's been shot.

Izzie's patient is Vinnie Van Lowe from Veronica Mars, and he's acting like the few scratches he's got are the most painful lacerations that ever lacerated. He jackassedly asks Izzie, who's cleaning his wounds, if she knows what she's doing, because she's really hurting him. Izzie: "Know what REALLY hurts? Gunshot wounds." Heh. "Brad" says he didn't get shot because he's such a quick thinker (here he calls her "sweetheart," which...shut up, Brad) that when he saw the shooter, he knew what was coming and dove right through the window. Two of Brad's employees roll by, crying into their actual gunshot wounds, and Brad calls out, "Hey Chaz, Larry. No offense, but you guys gotta think quicker on your feet!" Oh my God. Izzie reminds him that the people he just taunted have serious gunshot wounds. Brad can't shut up about how awesome he is. "Really helps that I'm an athlete. When I saw Petey with that gun? I was like, cat quick! Those guys? Not so smart." Izzie takes a wild guess that Petey must have been looking for Brad.

Alex asks Mere if she's seen any enema kits. Mere asks him why he's looking for enema kits when they have thirteen GSWs. Alex: "Trapped upstairs with the Gyno-Beast on the Uterus Parade." Oh, man. That is officially my favorite sentence ever. Mere says Addison can't keep him forever. Alex says she can, too, and swears she's ruined vaginas for him.

Webber reports to Burke that there are two dead and fourteen injured on Petey's little shooting spree, and since he got away, there could be more incoming. Burke offers to stay and send Bailey in his place; Webber tells him no, he's their only cardio-thoracic transplant specialist, so he should go get that heart. Alex overhears this, and his eyes light up as Burke's walking out the door. Cristina tells him to forget it -- she already asked. Alex runs after Burke anyway. Cristina follows him, yelling, "It's not gonna happen!" We'll see. Alex catches up with Burke as he's getting into the helicopter, and asks if he can go too. Cristina yells over the helicopter noise that she asked first. Burke gives Cristina a long look, then says, "Let's go, Karev." Cristina gapes at them as Alex boards the helicopter, all, "See ya, Yang!" Damn, that was cold. Inside the helicopter, Alex asks who the lucky patient is. Burke stares out at Cristina and answers, "Denny Duquette." (Duh.) Cristina stands on the helipad and watches as they take off, first defeated, then angry. She stomps back into the hospital, aaaaand...credits.

Izzie approaches Bailey, who immediately says, "The answer is 'no,' Stevens." Izzie says Bailey doesn't even know what she's going to ask. Bailey most certainly knows that Izzie wants to prep Denny for his transplant. Izzie: "So it's true? He's getting a heart?" Bailey looks at Izzie and says her face right now is the problem; she's overly emotionally attached to her patient. "So the answer is 'no.' Go back to sutures." Izzie argues that she knows Denny's case and meds better than any other intern, and

she promises to be one hundred percent professional. Bailey: "No flirting, no knitting him sweaters, no marathon games of Scrabble?" Izzie says she'll treat him just like she would any other patient. Bailey finally relents, and Izzie runs off happily, with Bailey calling after her not to even so much as sit on Denny's bed.

McDreamy and George are with Kendra the head wound patient. McDreamy says he can't imagine: you're at work, you're doing your job, and somebody just comes and puts a bullet in your head. My foreshadowing-dar suddenly goes off. It tells me to get a nice cocktail, because this is going to be a long night. George says he called Kendra's parents, and they're on their way. McDreamy wants to get Kendra into the OR right away -- the bullet's lodged in her brain, surrounded by a huge hematoma. George breaks the news that Kendra is not only head-wounded, but also pregnant.

Down in the ER, Brad is prattling on and on and ON about how, since he's management, he's fully covered by insurance, and it's just too bad for all his underlings that they're not also covered. Hipster Guy asks Mere if there's any chance she could please up his morphine. Mere says if Brad keeps talking, she's going to need some herself. Hipster asks Mere if she can find out about Kendra for him -- they're not friends, exactly, but everybody likes her because she's a really nice person, the kind of person who will cover your shift and tip the busboys, and she's the only person who calls Brad on his crap. Mere asks why he himself doesn't say something. Hipster says he wishes he could, but he's saving up to go back to school. "I need the job." Just then Callie walks over and barks at Mere to quit socializing and get to the five other patients she has to see. "Move your ass!" Mere looks at Hipster and confides, "I need the job."

Izzie walks into Denny's room and says she has some news for him. Denny: "Am I getting a new television? Because this one is ridiculously small and it doesn't get the porn channels." Hee. Izzie tells him he's getting a heart. Denny drops his head and can't look at her for a second. He says he doesn't mean to be dramatic and all, but he needs her to repeat that -- slowly, because this is one of those moments in life he wants to remember. Izzie wastes no time breaking Bailey's first rule (no flirting!) and gets very, very close to Denny's face. "You. Are getting a heart. From Mercy West. Dr. Burke already left to get it." Denny guesses this means he's going to have to start taking her on some real dates. Izzie guesses so, and gets all giddy at the thought. Webber's assistant comes in with some papers for Denny to sign. They're DNR papers, and Izzie goes apeshit. "Why are you signing these? You're getting a heart!" Denny has been in this situation before, though, and if this heart doesn't come through for some reason, he's done. Izzie reminds him that the LVAD could give him two more years, at least. Denny says he's tired, and he's done. Izzie says she's not going to let him make this decision right now. Denny: "That's funny, because I thought DNR was a patient's choice." Izzie rolls her eyes and tosses the papers on his tray table. Denny tells Izzie that he believes in heaven, and if he had to choose between the life he has now, and one in heaven? He'd pick the place with the pearly white gates. "Okay?" Izzie tearfully says okay, and Denny signs the papers.

Cristina tells Deborah, the poor girl with the chickenshit fiancé, that she's probably fine, but they need to see if the bullet that went through her arm hit bone. Neal, over in the bed, says however this turns out, he wants them to operate on his fiancée first -- he doesn't care if he's dying. Cristina tells him he's not dying. Deborah: "And I'm also not your fiancée anymore." Neal whines that they already sent out the invitations, and pleads with Deborah, and says that he loves her. Deborah looks like she's softening up, but Cristina tells her not to fall for it. "That's how they do it, huh? With the 'I love you's, and the 'move in with me's, that's how they suck you in. And it melts your resolve, and the minute you actually need something? Forget it, it's not gonna happen! Because they're gonna pass you over for surgeries, or they're gonna duck behind you when someone's shooting!" Deborah, who is both kind of cool and also annoying, tells Cristina that she's very very bitter. Neal says that's exactly what he was thinking, which means that they're meant to be together. Deborah rightly tells him to shut up.

Over at Mercy West, Burke is informed that there are actually two hearts -- two brothers tried to pass a semi on a double yellow and came out on the losing end of it. Wait, didn't that just happen on Supernatural? Shout-out to my girl Drunken Bee! Both hearts are a match for Denny. Alex thinks that means they get their pick, but Burke says it doesn't work like that; UNOS has already assigned who gets which donor. Alex asks who's retrieving the other heart, and a voice calls from across the room, "Took you long enough, Preston. Why is Junior here, your ego get too big for one man to carry?" The owner of the voice is a very tiny, very snarky-looking lady doctor. I love her instantly. Burke laughs, and tells Alex that Dr. Hahn here graduated second in their class at Johns Hopkins. "Ask her who graduated first?"

Addison tells McDreamy that Kendra's fetus is twelve weeks along. He ignores her and continues to scrub in. Addie's all, "Did you hear me, Derek?" He heard her, he says, but he clearly didn't hear the agony in her heart. Wake up, stupid dreamy doctor! Addie asks if he's going to tell her what's going on between him and Meredith. McDreamy says there's nothing to tell. George opens the door and announces the arrival of Kendra's parents. McDreamy tells him to have them sign the consent forms and then scrub in. And that's it; he leaves without another word to Addison, who watches him go with tears in her eyes.

Back at Mercy West, Burke's donor has gone into V-fib. Burke and Alex try compressions and shocking him, but he's asystolic, a word I love for no good reason at all. Alex doesn't understand why they can't use the heart anyway. Burke says it's dying with the rest of the guy, and the heart is useless. Burke waits a beat, standing over the body, then takes OFF. He sprints from his OR into Dr. Hahn's, and holds out his hand in a commanding gesture. "Stop right there. Don't move that scalpel. Not even a single slice." My notes on this part of the episode just say "awesome," and I have to tell you...well, that'll do. There is no better word for the beauty of Burke. Commercials.

When we return, Dr. Hahn is telling Burke that just because his donor's heart died, that doesn't mean she has to give him hers. Burke asks testily if her patient is higher on the transplant list. Dr. Hahn, getting madder by the second, says she has no idea. Burke turns to Alex, who has followed him into the OR, and tells him to get UNOS on the phone right now. Dr. Hahn would like for Burke to give her a break, and one of her doctors picks up the scalpel again. Burke's all, "Hey, HEY!" Dr. Hahn asks what he's going to do, beat the guy up? Burke: "If I have to." You may have wondered in your life if it possible for someone to smolder behind a surgical mask. I am here to tell you that it is. Dr. Hahn tells everyone to just hold on. She tells Burke this is pathetic...but hey, it worked.

Mere finds Callie at the board and says she's finished with all five patients. She asks to scrub in on Hipster's surgery, and Callie grumps that they can't, because the board is all backed up. She mutters angrily about stupid macho surgeons thinking their specialties are more important than ortho. Mere takes this opportunity to ask Callie's advice about Doc's bone cancer, and shows her the film. She wonders if Callie knows the success rate of curing osteosarcoma in a canine leg. Callie stares at her. "We have an ac

tual human patient, with a bullet lodged in his tibia. And you're asking me about your precious dog that you share with your precious McDreamy? Yeah, I know about him. And you think I care? UNBELIEVABLE."

Dr. Hahn and Burke are arguing about whose patient is sicker. Her guy's on a dobutamine drip; Denny's got an LVAD. Who will win? Burke says her guy can climb Mount Shasta on a dobutamine drip. We pull back and see that they're in a conference room, on a call to UNOS. The voice on the phone announces that, as of this morning, Dr. Hahn's patient was twenty-two hundredths of a point ahead of Dr. Burke's. Burke says that's a virtual tie. The voice then says that Dr. Hahn's patient was admitted into the program before Mr. Duquette. Burke asks how long. The voice on the phone: "Seventeen seconds." Oh my God, that's the same amount of time as the title of this episode! Do you think it's a coincidence? Dr. Hahn says it might as well be seventeen weeks. Burke's phone rings, and he slides it over to Alex to answer. It's Izzie, calling to check up on the heart recovery. Alex says Burke is "working on it." Izzie takes this to mean that Burke is operating. Alex explains what's going on with the donors, and says that the higher guy gets the heart. Those good old dramatic drum beats start up. Izzie starts to look a little frantic, only a glimmer of the crazy that's to come, and blurts, "Denny's getting sicker. He's getting worse by the second. His sats are in the eighties! No, they're in the seventies, and dropping!" Alex gently tells her that he's not going to lie for her. Izzie: "Then put Burke on the phone."

Addison, looking for Alex, asks Mere if she's seen him. Mere says she has, but it was hours ago. Addie stands there, hesitant, then apologizes and says she's having a little trouble. She needs to ask Meredith something, and what she needs to ask isn't something she's even sure she wants the answer to. She hems and haws and finally comes out with it: "Are you sleeping with my husband?" Mere answers truthfully, "Not since I knew he was married." Addie, visibly relieved, says okay. But wait, there's more! Now Addie wants to know why everything seemed so weird in the vet's office that morning. "It felt a little bit like you two were having...a lover's quarrel?" Mere says no, they're not -- she's moved on, to dating Finn. It takes about half a second for Addison to understand what's happening, and it shows on her face about half a second after that. Mere understands too, and says, "Addison." Addie says no, no, thanks, she's great.

Burke's on the phone with Izzie. "Flash pulmonary edema?" he asks. "Is the LVAD working?" Izzie says it is, absolutely. Burke asks about a nitro drip and Denny's pressure. Izzie, standing in the hall and not anywhere near Denny's room or, you know, monitors, lies that it's still dropping. Burke gives her instructions, and tells her not to hang up. Burke addresses the room and the disembodied person on the conference phone: "According to my intern, Denny Duquette is now a 1-A candidate for that heart. That puts him ahead of Dr. Hahn's patient." Dr. Hahn stands up angrily and says she's outta here, that this is crap. Disembodied Voice pipes up and tells Dr. Hahn that if Burke wants to run labs on his patient to assess his status, they'll allow it. Dr. Hahn says that will take an hour. DV confirms that the donor is stable, then tells Burke that he's got an hour to get the tests done. Burke gets back on the phone with Izzie, who says she heard. "Good," says Burke. "Get going with that." Izzie hangs up the phone, freaking OUT. Eeeeee! Izzie, you FOOL. Commercials.

Kendra's surgery isn't going well. McDreamy sees that she's brain-dead, and there's nothing they can do now. Cut to him telling Kendra's parents that their daughter has no brain activity and isn't going to wake up. Fun for the whole family! They ask about the baby. McDreamy says as far as they can tell, the baby's fine, but...uh, that's not the point. "Essentially, your daughter is dead. We need your consent to remove her from life support." Kendra's dad asks if the baby could live if they kept Kendra alive. George says, with all due respect, they don't want to do that. Kendra's dad gets upset and asks George if he's part of this family, and if he has a daughter. "If you don't, you really ought to just shut up." George shuts up.

Oy, it's Brad again. "Even with all of these cuts, I don't even feel any pain. I swear, I have the highest pain threshold of anybody I know!" Hipster looks over with so much hatred and tells Bailey, "Gaaah! If I could just say something to that guy and not get fired..." Bailey says he can't fire her, and walks right over to the unsuspecting Brad, who doesn't realize he's about to get a double dose of Bailey. She tells them that she is happy for him that he's not feeling much pain from his "very minor" injuries, but there are a great many people in this hospital in a great amount of pain. "They have bullets in their bones. In their chests. In their brains. Bullets! From a gun that was aiming for you! And although they can't say it, because you're the boss of them? Most of these people at this moment are praying. Not that they'll live, not that the pain will subside. They're praying -- TO GOD! -- for you, at this moment, to shut the heck up!" Bailey turns on her heel and walks out, as Hipster mouths a "thank you" to her. She stops long enough to say, "No problem," then continues on her awesome, awesome way.

Cristina and Meredith are sitting on a gurney complaining about the jerks in their lives. Cristina can't believe that Burke chose Alex when she, his girlfriend, was standing right there. Mere complains that McDreamy just sat there talking about putting Doc down, when all McVet was doing was trying to save his life! They exchange sadnesses until Izzie walks over and tries to articulate what she's done. She stutters out that she told a lie to Dr. Burke. Cristina: "Good for you. Fight the power!" Hee. Izzie says no, she needs them to help her think, because she doesn't know what to do. "What do I do?! There's this guy ahead of Denny on the transplant list!!!" She appears, if it is not obvious to you, to be seriously losing her mind. Mere tries to console her, saying that Denny will get the heart. Izzie yells, "NO! He needs to get this heart!" Cristina, talking to Izzie like she's four years old, says that as long as Denny is doing well, he's not going to jump ahead of anybody on the transplant list. Izzie takes a moment to compose herself, realizing she's going to get no help from these two, and lies, "Yes. You're right. Thank you." Izzie nutsily starts rooting around for supplies, and wheels some huge contraption out of the room with her. Cristina tells Mere under her breath that if she was gonna pick someone to shoot up the place, it'd definitely be Izzie. Mere: "Totally."

Denny looks on in wonder as Izzie wheels the machinery over to his bedside. He jokes that he didn't know they did transplants right inside your room. Izzie has to tell him about the situation at Mercy West, and his mood darkens considerably. "So this isn't gonna happen. Again." Izzie: "Not necessarily." She then starts babbling that she's been over this and over this, and it can't be a lie, but it can't be fake. They need charts, and tests, and for UNOS to believe them. "It HAS to be real." Izzie is in no position to discern between real and not-real at this moment, but she soldiers on with her crazy. Denny's like, "Who in the what now?" Izzie sits down on the bed (someone call Bailey, she's broken rule #2!) and tells him that in order for him to get the heart, he would have to get much worse, and very quickly. Denny says he doesn't see that happening, does she? Izzie sets her jaw. "I am going to make it happen." You know what's -- drum beats! Commercials.

Burke and Alex wait at Mercy West for Izzie's call. It's been thirty minutes, and Burke is getting worried. He asks Alex if he called Bailey; Alex

says she's not answering her phone. Dr. Hahn practically taunts them, saying they can look at charts all they want, but they're not getting this heart. Burke tries reverse psychology: "You might not want it. His angiogram shows 30% LAD." Dr. Hahn smirks, "Still not enough to give it to you." Burke taps his feet and looks at his watch.

Back at Seattle Grace, Izzie is busily readying Denny's room for her law-breaking, boyfriend-saving maneuver. She locks the doors and shuts the blinds while Denny protests from his bed. He tells her to stop and listen to him -- they're not doing this. Izzie blithely -- and I do mean blithely, it's as if she's baking a cake, not killing her one true love -- pretends he's said nothing. "Don't worry, you're not going to die. I will be here the whole time to make sure of that, and that's what this stuff is for." Denny says it's wrong, but Izzie argues that he's waited a year and a half for this thing, and who knows when the one will come along. Denny says he'll take his chances. I don't understand this feeling I'm having; why do I suddenly love Denny when I have hated him for so long? They start to argue much more intensely, now, Denny saying he's not about to steal a heart from another man's chest and Izzie saying he sure is. Denny finally says he's had enough, and is getting ready to call a nurse. Izzie tells him about the 17-second discrepancy between him and the other guy on the list, which is her way of rationalizing what she's doing, because obviously Denny deserves the heart just as much as the other guy. "And if you tell me any more crap about heading towards the light or looking down on me from heaven, I swear I will kill you myself right now." Denny's eyes fill with tears, and he drops his voice. "Izzie. I'm gonna be all right. You don't have to worry." Izzie isn't worried about him -- she wants to know what's going to happen to her. "What about me when you go to the light?" Here's where Izzie starts to really break down, and a lot of people have said she sucked, and overacted, but I have known this feeling of being this out of control of my life, and it is JUST LIKE THIS. So huge, huge ups to Katherine Heigl for this performance. Anyway. Izzie says she gets it, he'll be fine, but what about her? Denny just has to watch her as she gets more and more hysterical. She begs, begs him to do this for her, sobbing now. "Please do this for me. Because if you die? You have to do this for me, or I'll never be able to forgive you." Denny's crying now, too, and asks, "For dying?" Izzie screams, "No, for making me love you! Please? Please do this for me, okay? Please. Please, I can't do this, please do this for me." He takes her in his arms and says, okay, he'll do it. Izzie cries some more. Someone else you know cries, too.

We cut to some people who aren't hysterically crying. Callie tells George with great disdain about Mere asking her about Doc. George is all, "Well, she likes her dog." Callie can't believe he's defending Meredith. "I get Izzie...well, I don't, but if you want to defend Izzie that's fine. But I don't get how you can defend Meredith." George says they're interns, and they're in this together. Callie reminds him how badly Meredith hurt him. George says that may be, but they're family. "Izzie, and Meredith, and Cristina. They're my family. I can hate Meredith, and I can be angry with her, but I'm always gonna defend her." Callie: "So you don't have to forgive Meredith, but I do?" George: "If you want a chance to be part of the family, yeah." Heh.

Burke's on the phone with Izzie, demanding answers. Izzie says she's working on it, and he should get back with the heart as soon as he can. Burke would like to know, please, what the hell she's talking about. Izzie calls him Preston, and Burke knows something's up. He asks her what she did. Izzie says she'll fax Denny's UNOS status over as soon as she gets confirmatory labs, and then he should waste no time getting back. "Because I don't know enough to know how long Denny will have once I start." Burke's all, "Start? What did you do, Izzie?" Izzie says she's hanging up now, and tells him again to hurry. Burke has to go back inside and lie his ass off, which he does. He tells Dr. Hahn that according to his intern, Denny Duquette is in pulmonary edema, has been intubated, and placed on multiple IV drips. Oh, shit. However, Burke says, given the unusual situation and out of respect for Dr. Hahn, he'd like to confirm those results -- in person. Dr. Hahn's like, "Are you kidding? That'll be another hour! What are you up to, Burke?" She asks why he doesn't just confirm the results with his chief of surgery, and Burke stands there speechless until Alex jumps to his rescue. "Well, because of the shootings today," Alex says, "all of our attendings are still in surgery." Go, Alex. Wait, why am I cheering for these people? They're breaking the law! Dr. Hahn sighs and tells him to go. Burke thanks her, and catches Alex on his way out. "I'm going back to Seattle Grace. You stay here and protect my heart. If that woman so much as looks at a scalpel, tackle her, do you understand?" Alex does. Percussion of Tension picks up.

McDreamy asks Addison to talk Kendra's parents out of keeping their daughter alive until the baby is born. Addison would much rather talk about the sad state of their relationship, but says she'll do it. She tells Kendra's parents that Dr. Shepherd asked her to talk to them about the baby. Kendra's parents say they've already made their decision -- she's having it. Addison tries in vain to talk them out of it, but Kendra's dad says if they wanted her opinion, they'd have asked for it. Wow! Addison says she understands that they want to keep their daughter close to them, but this is a great risk, and if Kendra were to contract an infection, she could pass it on to the baby. Kendra's parents have cared less in their lives, but this time is not one of them. Kendra's mom asks what about organ donors that they keep alive after they're gone...why not Kendra? Addison says Kendra can't regulate body temperature or hormones or any other of the myriad things a fetus needs. Kendra's dad is so dumb and I hate him. "You guys can regulate that stuff, right?" Addison says they could try, but it's not a good idea. Kendra's dad tells them to try, then, and what's the problem? Addie: "The problem here as I see it is you want to use your daughter's corpse as an incubator, that's the problem." McDreamy has to drag her out of the room and ask her what her problem is, as if he doesn't know. He says they could use a little sensitivity, because they just love their daughter. Addie says the issue here is not love, it's..."well, it's like you." McDreamy's all, "Huh?" Addie says it's like how he pretends to love her to fulfill some need he has to be a good guy. McDreamy says this isn't the time, and starts to walk away. Addie follows after him. "What, you're not going to yell at me, or call me names, or...I don't know, ignore me in an elevator?" McDreamy tries to calmly ask what she wants from him. Addie says she just wants him to care -- she slept with his best friend, and it had no effect, and then the guy came out to Seattle to get her, and still McDreamy got a good night's sleep. "What do I have to do? Oh, I know. Maybe I should go out on a date with the vet. Because that seems to be something that sends you into a blind rage. Oh, but wait, that won't work either, because I'M NOT MEREDITH GREY." Finally. FINALLY! Addison gives good speech. It's too bad she's so caught up in the moment she doesn't realize she's just given it atop a balcony, in full view of the hospital -- including Webber, Cristina, and MEREDITH GREY. Commercials.

them about Denny, who's dying and is only 36. Kendra's not a match for him, but she could save a dozen other lives. "And from what I know about Kendra, I've gotta believe that if she had the choice between where she is right now, and saving a dozen other people, she'd save those people. That would be her decision. The question is whether you stick by her one last time." Oh, George. Tears.

Callie calls Mere into a room where she's put up a bunch of films. She says they're of a human patient with osteosarcoma, and it was the closest she could get to mirror what's happening to her dog. Mere is shocked, and touched. Callie explains what happened to the person (he died in the end), and Meredith softly thanks her. Callie tells her she's welcome, and just like that, I love Callie.

Deborah and her fiancé, The Duck, are getting all kissy-kissy when Cristina walks in on them. She observes joylessly that they made up. Deborah says she decided to give him one more chance. Neal says he told her that she won't have to, because what they went through today has changed him. "This bullet will always remind me to do the right thing by my Deborah." Cristina hands them their release papers and tries not to vomit. Deborah advises Cristina to just try and forgive her boyfriend, no matter what he did. "That reaaaaaally feels better than all that anger!" Cristina's like, "Oh, thaaaanks. Uh huh." Jeez.

Bailey checks on Hipster and tells him they haven't forgotten about him, and they'll get him to the OR as soon as possible. Hipster asks about his friend Kendra, and Bailey just shakes her head and says she's sorry. Hipster hangs his head so Bailey won't have to see his tears, but the ever-perceptive Brad has been watching from his bed. He gets up and walks over to Hipster. "I'm gonna get you some time off, man. It's not your fault you got shot...I mean, I didn't pull the trigger. People blame management. We do the best we can, I mean, I do the best I can." Aw, he's actually sorry about something for once in his catlike-quickness life.

Addie apologizes to Webber for what happened earlier that day. Webber tells her she's judged by how she behaves in front of her peers, and sternly tells her to get it together. Addie gets all teary, and says she can't compete. "He's not having an affair, he's not trying to hurt me, it's just...the only people who don't know that Derek loves Meredith are Derek and Meredith. How can I compete with that?" Webber softens, no doubt thinking of his own situation, and takes Addie's hand. Mere starts her voice-over: "So what makes anger different from the six other deadly sins?"

Mere and McDreamy are in the elevator -- again, and alone this time. They steal glances at one another as some sad music starts up. McDreamy starts to speak, then stops himself, and the doors open. MereVO: "It's pretty simple, really. You get into a sin like envy or pride, and you only hurt yourself."

Callie and George are sitting in the locker room, when Callie busts out, "I love you." Oh, SHIT! This is obviously the first time George has been on the receiving end of this situation, and he doesn't know what to do or say. Callie apologizes, and says she's just a moron who had a really bad day. She asks what he's thinking, but Izzie interrupts them before he can answer. "George, I need your help, it's really important!" says our favorite crazy. George looks at Izzie, then back at Callie, and what do you think happens ? If you answered, "He gets up, tells Callie he'll call her later, and follows Izzie," then you would be correct.

Outside the hospital, Mere bursts into McVet's office. He says he didn't know they were supposed to have dinner tonight, but Mere is just there to find out the truth about Doc. McVet says, best-case scenario, Doc has maybe a year left -- and he's not the best case. Mere starts to cry, and McVet hugs her and tells her he's sorry, because he knows how much she loves him. Mere: "I do. I love him so much." How many people think she's not talking about the dog, raise your hand.

George follows Izzie into Denny's room, asking if she needs his help for an EKG. Izzie commands, "No. Come." She turns to Denny and tells him that after she does this, she might have to shock him a few times. "You feeling good?" Denny says he thinks so, even though he's perspiring like a marathoner, and asks her to explain this to him again. George looks on with total confusion as Izzie explains to Denny how his LVAD works, and what the crash cart is for. He's all, "Do what, Izzie?" Izzie ignores this and turns to Denny. "I feel like we should say stuff," she tells him. "Denny, do you wanna say stuff?" Denny just wants her to kiss him, and he says so, and so they do. It's very sweet, even though Izzie is nutso in the klutzo. She asks him if he's ready, and picks up a pair of surgical scissors. George: "Wait, what are you doing?" She's going down like the proverbial shithouse rat, George, what do you think the girl is doing?

We get shots of the Ducks, Bailey scrubbing into surgery, and Brad leaving the hospital as Mere voice-overs, "Try lust or coveting, and you'll only hurt yourself and probably one or two others. But anger? Anger is the worst." Brad makes it through the hospital doors, and as we switch back to an inside shot, gunshots can be heard outside the hospital. Bailey's head jerks around; Neal -- what else? -- ducks behind his fiancée, Deborah, again. Deborah crouches down in front of him: "Okay, we're DONE." Heeee. Bailey runs outside, asking no one in particular if those were gunshots. MereVO tells us that anger is the mother of all sins.

Back in Denny's room, Izzie tells Denny that, if there's some kind of big holy light, to stay out of it. George tries to intervene, and Izzie tells him his job is to make sure nobody comes through that door. Denny looks at Izzie with complete faith as she tells George that she's stopping his heart. "Not only can anger drive you over the edge, but when it does? You can take an awful lot of people with you." Bailey runs outside, where there are two people on the ground. One of them is Brad, who appears to be dead. Cut back to Izzie, who puts the scissors to the LVAD wire. George is rooted to his spot, and he whispers, "Izzie." Back on the sidewalk, we see that the other person on the ground is...Burke. Bailey rushes over to him and yells for help. Burke's eyes are horrifying, staring out at nothing. Izzie says, "It's okay. Burke will be here any minute," and cuts the cord. We hear the flatline sound, and fade out.

By AB Chao

Kendra's dad tells George that they still haven't made a decision. George tells them that he doesn't have a daughter, but he does have a family -- a couple of families, actually -- and sometimes you don't like what they do, or the choices they make, but you have to stick by them. He tells them about Denny, who's dying and is only 36. Kendra's not a match for him, but she could save a dozen other lives. "And from what I know about Kendra, I've gotta believe that if she had the choice between where she is right now, and saving a dozen other people, she'd save those people. That would be her decision. The question is whether you stick by her one last time." Oh, George. Tears.

By AB Chao