Addison is back for one glorious week so that she can be sassy and facilitate some communication between different folks. Oh, and to help out on a complicated surgery that involves her, Bailey, Mark, Hahn, and Alex delivering a baby whose heart is outside its body and then to put the heart back inside the tiny chest. She has somewhat awkward but also ultimately pretty cheerful reunions with everyone there, including Alex. But that particular reunion is cut short by Ava showing up to tell Alex that she's pregnant. Alex can't deal with it at all and continues to brush her off throughout the day, telling her it's her own problem. After the surgery, when the baby looks like its going to be okay, it seems to soften Alex towards Ava's situation. Too bad it looks like she's a psycho who is trying to trap him, since Izzie finds out when she runs some routine tests that Ava isn't actually pregnant. Izzie also had a day that culminated in a change of heart. She's totally jealous that George has actually made friends with the other interns and tries to hone in on their plans. But when George reminds her that she's their boss, she grows a bit of a spine and actually starts acting like a doctor again. She winds up helping a pregnant HIV-positive woman decide against an abortion with the knowledge that she has a 98% chance of delivering a perfectly healthy baby.
Meredith's clinical trial is starting, and her first test subject is Bear Attack Philip. His tumor has grown so that his emotions are running wild and even more inappropriate, including trying to set up his wife, Jennifer, with anything that walks. He loses his sight and they decide to move up the surgery to that day. Both he and Meredith have had a hard time watching Jennifer go through the abuse and despite reminding each other to not get their hopes up, they're actually kind of attached. Derek gets Philip to admit that he can't stand the idea of leaving Jennifer alone, and he's able to get Philip to tell her this before he goes into surgery. It's a good thing, because sadly he does end up dying on the table, but the good that comes of it is that Meredith is able to admit to Derek that it was nice to work with him. She actually opens up to Dr. Amy a bit too, even if only for literally five minutes, so it looks like this whole idea of character growth might actually take off.
Cristina is still freaking out about Hahn not liking her and so she goes to Callie about it. Callie's advice is to tell Hahn how she feels, which doesn't suit Cristina at all. But at Joe's after work she finally confronts Hahn about it, and Hahn tells her to stop seeking her approval about everything. Once Cristina walks away, Hahn admits to Addison that Cristina reminds her of herself. Ah, TV clichés, how we love them. Callie's feeling a little weird around Hahn herself, since Addison assumed they were a couple. She decides to deal with it by shooting tequila and going home with Mark, while Hahn gazes after her mournfully to prove that at least one of them would like to be in a relationship with the other. The last thing Addison does before she leaves is to tell Meredith she wants to kick her ass for letting Derek get away, and practically orders her to fight for him. And with that, having opened everyone's eyes to various relationship possibilities, she decides to go back to LA and her aromatherapy candles for good.
Addison! It's a good episode when it starts out with a shot of her looking somewhat smug. She's darkened her hair up and I like it best when it's redder, but beggars can't be choosers. Besides, she's totally still hot. Meredith starts out this week's VO: "Great surgeons aren't made, they're born. It takes gestation, incubation, sacrifice. A lot of sacrifice. But, after all the blood and guts and gooey stuff has washed away, that surgeon you've become? Totally worth it." Addie seems to have spent a long time standing there based on the special effects of people whizzing around her like ghosts when Bailey comes up and greets her. Addie reminds Bailey and the viewing audience that she's only there for a surgery, which clearly bums out Bailey (and me.) Bailey gets her set up with keys, etc. when Richard comes up and excitedly announces, "You're back!" and she reminds him she isn't back. Oh boy, a funny little theme. I'm done recapping it as of now. He assures her that once she's back in surgery she'll decide to be back, and Addie says that things never change around there. Well, yes and no, Addison.
Hahn and Callie arrive at work making cute-talk about sunrise yoga and I must say that they really are amping up the flirting in between the two. Cristina runs up and, like a desperate puppy, hands over the films and pertinent info for a surgery that day and asks who is going to be assigned the surgery. She reminds Hahn that she diagnosed it, but still in a pathetic, shrinking, non-Cristina way. Hahn just takes the films and leaves. Callie gives her a shrug and takes off.
Meredith is geared up and excited for the first day of her clinical trial and while she chatters, Izzie tries to rain on her parade. Meredith (very correctly) points out that she's jealous, which Izzie actually concedes. Cristina comes over and bitches some more about Hahn not talking to her while Izzie winds her up by saying that they talked all the time when they worked together. Cristina points out that she isn't living in the clinic like Izzie, but Iz defends herself by saying that the clinic is her "happy place." If only it was a place we never had to visit -- Then it would be my happy place too. Cristina wants Mere to use the Sparkle Pager to get her on Hahn's surgery and even tries to steal it (while Izzie screams like a child in the background) but Mere won't do it, grabs the pager, and happily trots off to find her "path to medical history. "
Meredith and Derek are on the way to see their first patient. His enzyme levels or something like that are all better than they expected, but Derek warns Mere that this still isn't actually good and that she shouldn't get her hopes up. She assures him that they aren't and they shake hands before starting. Addie comes up just in time to see them together and after an awkward moment gives them both big hellos and actually hugs Meredith, pointing out that she just hugged Meredith. "You stole my husband from me and I hugged you... I've grown!" She assures them that she's thrilled for the "happy couple" and then goes on to say that she's at one with herself now that she's in L.A. As someone writing this recap just blocks from the beach and the supposed location of her clinic, let me assure all of you that not all of us -- nay, NONE of us -- Angelenos are going around talking about how we're at one with ourselves. I'm also not eating granola, nor do I have either a yoga mat or a surfboard propped up in my closet. Feeling weird after being called a couple, Mere and Derek split up to do rounds.
up on Addison's reunion tour is Mark, who is working on making skin for Addison's patient. He remarks that all he had to do was take a couple of stem cells, and six weeks later, voila! Skin. "Like God!" He then propositions her "for old times' sake" and she declares that the hospital and Mark are still exactly the same. He points out that he now grows skin for babies, "Like God." He then admits that the nurses have all shut him down and he's horny. She's not swayed by that killer revelation and leaves him to his skin flap.
Izzie leads her interns (yeah, remember them? I didn't) into the clinic where they complain, "Coding, coding hard." Izzie turns and challenges them to complain to her face, so they point out that the clinic is horribly boring and ask to go to the pit. She maintains grandly that they are there to learn bedside manner and patient care (because those things aren't in the pit?) and orders them to "suck it up." The first patients they see are a couple that might be pregnant. Izzie tells them they'll get a test and as the husband cuts in to tell her something, one of her interns moans quietly, "Coding!" I absolutely hate that these interns make me take Izzie's side, but they really are horrific morons. She pulls the curtain to yell at them and notices that they all reek of booze. Turns out George and Lexie had a party the night before, and Izzie gets into a jealous snit that she didn't know about it.
Mere's got interns other than George this week too -- seriously, where do they all go the rest of the time? She overdoes it some as she basically tells them they're about to witness extraordinary medical history and to take in the moment. Derek arrives and asks if she told them what to expect -- she tells him greatness, but he adds that because of the tumor the patient has inappropriate outbursts and emotions and can be really aggressive. He reminds them that it's the tumor talking and with that, they go in. The patient is Bear Attack Phillip and he's there with his wife Jennifer. Derek thanks them for taking part in the trial and Jennifer asks him to confirm that there is a chance that this procedure could save Phil's life. Phil just cracks up, pointing out that if the surgery doesn't kill him, the tumor will. He keeps laughing as Meredith explains that they'll be injecting a virus into the tumor to try and kill it from the inside out, which is a procedure never tested in humans. George gives his symptoms from the last month, which include headaches and worsening vision. I take this to mean that a month has passed since last time, but with this show you never can quite be sure, so take that with a grain of salt. Phil interrupts him to say that the first thing he noticed about Jennifer was her ass, and asks if George likes "a nice piece of ass." Jennifer tries to smooth things over by adding that he's started picking new husbands for her lately. Phil roars, "Was I talking to you?" and Meredith reminds Jennifer that it's the tumor talking, which she repeats to herself while trying to hold back tears. Phil then asks George if he's single.
The reunion we've all been waiting for takes place outside the elevator when Addie gets off and runs into Alex. They greet each other awkwardly and then she hugs him, which he returns with one confused arm while pointing out that they're hugging. She cheerfully tells him, "I hug now!" Come to Los Angeles, folks -- we're so ready to hug we'll greet strangers off the plane! It seems he's "her guy" on the surgery and he cracks that he wouldn't let anyone else have a case like this... when who should appear behind her but Ava. This is starting to get a little bit old. He asks if she owns a phone but she doesn't take any notice of the tone and just tells him she needed to speak to him in person. He tells her he's busy so she announces, "I'm pregnant." She then claims to his surprised face that he never has time to talk so she had no real choice but to blurt it out. Just get him in the on-call room -- he's always got time for that and then you can blurt it out not in front of all of the staff. He just asks, "Are you keeping it? Or are you having an abortion?" Ava actually deviates from her normal blank stare to pull back in shock but Alex just reminds her that he's got a big case, and he takes off.
The pertinent staff members, which in this case are most of our regulars, are in a meeting about the big case -- their patient is a baby in utero whose heart is growing outside his body. Very few cases have ever been recorded and even fewer survived, so it's a pretty Big Deal. Addison tells them that she had a case like this ten years earlier where the baby squeezed his own heart in utero and died. They go over some possible complications and Hahn tells her they've got a lot of work ahead, but they have a rah-rah moment when Addie asks if she's up for it and she replies, "Always." Mark tries to get in on that action by reminding them about the skin-growing, but it only makes Alex look at him like he's a doofus. A really hot doofus, but a doofus nonetheless.
George comes into the clinic and as he passes Izzie's interns, the air is thick with inside jokes. Izzie had paged him so that she could make him feel guilty for having a party without inviting her -- she apparently spent her evening googling recipes. (As someone who has gotten caught up for hours reading up on random subjects on Wikipedia, I can't throw stones here. I also don't think it sounds like such a terrible evening.) George points out that he didn't think Izzie would want to spend an evening hanging out with the interns and seems torn between feeling like he has to explain himself and feeling cool and confident with a new group of friends. A new group with a horrible inside joke that involves telling someone they "coded," complete with hand signals. But while I hate most of these interns and the joke is annoying, it's nice to see George not acting like a kicked puppy, and it's also nice to see something annoy Izzie so badly. Lexie bounds up to tell George they're all set for that night, and at Izzie's questioning they admit the interns are having a darts tournament at Joe's. Izzie totally tries to push her way into the plans, so George asks meekly if she'd like to come. She happily agrees and as they walk away, Lexie informs him, "You SO coded."
Back in Phil's room, Meredith notes that there's been a lot of change in him since the last appointment and that he seems more erratic. Jennifer tells her that's a nice way of putting it, and Meredith assures her genuinely that she's been really strong. It's clear just how strong when Phil blows them a raspberry. He adds that if Mere wants to help she can send by some single men. When Jen tries to stop him he flies into a rage and hollers at her that they're in a hospital with single doctors (and how!) and that she's, "a waitress with no prospects who needs to learn to use her ass to catch a new guy before I bite the dust!" As he spits, Jennifer repeats, "It's just the tumor talking." Meredith echoes her and Phil laughs, only this time he's not laughing at his wife -- he's laughing at the fact that he's just gone blind.
Derek comes in to check him out and Phil comments that he remembers Derek to be good-looking. Then he screams, "You know just because I'm blind doesn't mean you can ignore me, you sick, twisted bastard!" He rants and raves about Derek playing games with people's lives with all of his brain slicing and Derek quietly interrupts to say the tumor is now pressing on his optic nerve, and that they should consider moving up the surgery to that day. Phil cackles and then, calling Mere "sexy," asks if she thinks Derek is hot enough for Jennifer. Jennifer flees and Mere chases after her to comfort her. Jennifer notes that her husband is probably going to die that day, and she knows this is all the tumor talking, "But if he dies, my last memory is going to be of him calling me a piece of ass." I like Clea DuVall but I always think of her as being really tough and abrasive. She's amazing in this role, though, as someone trying to be strong but who is being destroyed emotionally. She's made my heart break a little bit and she's definitely the character I'm rooting for the most this week. God knows it's been a long time since I've felt like that about any of the regulars. Derek approaches Mere and she asserts that she's not emotionally involved, nor are her hopes up. Clearly he doesn't believe her.
One of Izzie's interns slurs that she's having trouble finding a heartbeat on an ultrasound. Last I checked, there was in fact a difference between being drunk and being hung over, so it's an... interesting acting choice here. Izzie hugs her and mocks her until they reach the patient, and she's shocked to find that it's Ava. She hadn't wanted an ultrasound, but had come in to get some medicine for her horrible morning sickness; she explains that she's about five weeks pregnant at this point. Izzie manages to compose herself and says they'll take a blood sample to make sure everything is okay. As she leaves, Ava asks when Alex is out of surgery. Smooth one, there -- I'm surprised she didn't just blurt out that Alex is the father. Izzie tells her she's not sure he's even in surgery yet and bolts.
Forget baby surgery -- Addison's found what she needs to do and that's holler at Derek for breaking up with Meredith and for allowing her to hug her former rival. He won't tell her anything, though, so she asks about the clinical trial. He tells her, "Well, if it doesn't go well I'm killing people for sport!" He admits how scary this is for him, that usually in surgery he's the expert but here he's just experimenting and hoping. "She wants greatness from me. She's expecting greatness." And clearly, Rose should be expecting heartbreak. Addison asks what he's doing and he replies, "Seeing somebody else. She's lovely. She's really lovely." "Lovely" has never been a ringing endorsement when said in the flat, unconvincing tone he's using right now.
Ava, for whom this hospital seems to have no boundaries, is in the locker room with Alex, who gripes at her for paging him and maintains that he can't deal with this right now because of his big surgery. She tells him she's as scared and confused as he is, to which he immediately denies that he's scared. He just asserts that he is horrible father material, and tells her that her husband doesn't need to know the baby isn't his. Ava won't accept that and orders, "I'm just asking you to get over yourself for one minute and talk to me. So we can figure this thing out. Together." She clearly knows less about him than she thinks, because rather than sitting down for a little heart-to-heart, he walks out of the room.
He's not exactly in the right frame of mind to meet with patients, but there he is while Addison explains to Nikki how she will deliver the baby. When Nikki asks about complications, her husband pipes up to say that they can't think like that, and that nothing else is wrong with their son, adding that their intention is to have a strong, happy, healthy baby. Really? That's your intention? Not to have a baby born unhappy and with lots of medical problems? Sheesh. Alex cuts in to ask if he understands what they are saying, which is that the baby will probably need a lot more surgery. Hubby counters that chances are he won't. It's what breaks Alex, who argues that they can't cross their fingers and hope this goes away. Bailey yells his name sharply, and cut to...
Outside the room, where he maintains he was just trying to prepare them. There's preparing them, and there's taking out your emotions about your kind of creepy ex-sort-of-girlfriend springing a pregnancy on you at your workplace. He tells Addie and Bailey that the baby will be screwed up because his parents are unprepared. "They want to talk about loving each other as if, AS IF that has ANYTHING to do with having the ability to raise a baby! A sick baby!" Bailey will only tell him that right now he's feeling all of his feelings out in the open, and he needs to stuff them back in. Addie points out that it's interesting advice -- what's also interesting is that someone is actually recognizing a blatant metaphor for once. Bailey just tells her not to start.
All this action, and it's only lunchtime. Addie is out enjoying the Seattle sun and Callie walks over to join her. Before she can sit she's stopped by Cristina, who tells her that Hahn is no longer allowed in the apartment. Callie's totally confused and Cristina explains that Hahn is unfair and refuses to teach her. She lists all of the prosperous programs where she was accepted and indignantly squeaks, "And she won't teach me!" All that was missing was a foot stomp. Callie tells her calmly that "Erica" (Yeah, I can't. That sounds too weird. She's "Hahn" to me) is a good listener and that Cristina should tell her how she feels. Has she met Cristina? Or ever witnessed the exchanges between the two? But if she weren't all admiring and glowing, the scene wouldn't seem quite as natural, would it? Cristina rolls her eyes at the suggestion and answers, "Tell her how I feel? Well, I don't speak Girl." With that she takes off. Callie apologizes and mentions to Addie that she and Cristina are now roommates. Addie doesn't respond, but just seductively takes a bit of potato chip. Well, as seductively as one can take a loud bite of potato chip. Callie wonders what that look is for and Addie asks, "Are you speaking the vagina monologues now?" Oh, ADDISON. Is that the best euphemism you can come up with? Callie is taken aback while Addie reassures her how wonderful she thinks it is, and when Callie asks if she thinks they're a couple because she defended her to Cristina, Addison replies that she thinks they're a couple because they act like a couple. Well, they didn't necessarily before, but she's got something today. Callie giggles nervously and exclaims that she is insane. "I like penis! I mean, I'm a huge, huge fan of penis." And man, do the writers love that they can say "penis" on TV. She declares that Addison has been in L.A. too long. You know, because we assume everyone is gay.
George carries his tray into the cafeteria and immediately his name is called by both Lexie and Izzie. While he stands, torn and spineless, Lexie jumps in front of him to tell him that she's only the messenger, and that the interns are going to drop out of the darts tournament if Izzie comes along since no one wants to get drunk and play darts with their boss. Cue a Nelson Muntz, "Ha Ha!" Especially since getting drunk and playing darts with one's boss seems like a rite of passage at this hospital, except when it comes to Izzie. George can't believe he has to uninvite her and glumly goes and sits. Izzie comes up to ask what the conversation was about, more, "Special plans with your special friends?" Sorry he can actually make friends and all you can do is alienate people, Izzie.
Cristina joins their table and announces that she wants to talk, "Because I care and I want to know things and I have fifteen minutes to hear about your feelings. So..." Four faces stare back at her, stunned, so she asks Alex why he looks thoughtful. He only replies by slurping his soda. She turns to Izzie, who informs her that she's worried about Alex because Ava keeps showing up, "Like something from Fatal Attraction. Alex defensively reminds everyone that she's not his girlfriend but Izzie won't let up and asks if they've had sex recently. Alex reminds them that she's married. That's not a "no," Alex. Cristina excitedly asks if it hurts him that she's married. "Does it hurt... your heart?" Man, she really is bad at this. Mere demands to know what's wrong with her and she pouts, "I'm TRYING to talk Girl." Izzie announces, "Well, ya coded! Right?" She laughs uproariously at her own joke while George snickers that in delivering that line, she herself was the one that coded. She's pissed off, once again, and stands up and yells that she cares about patients before storming away. Cristina wants the Sparkle Pager so that she can get on Hahn's surgery and she and Mere fight over it. Callie comes up and interrupts to ask if anyone ever thinks they're a couple. Without batting an eyelash Meredith responds, "No, because we screw boys like whores on tequila." Cristina adds, "Then we either try to marry them or drown ourselves." That sums it all up pretty nicely, I'd say. Cristina pulls Callie down and orders her to make Hahn let her scrub in or she'll make Callie move out. "Desperate times."
Anxious to display her awesome patient-care skillz, Izzie comes back to the couple who took the pregnancy test and happily announces that they are expecting. She hands over a giant box of prenatal vitamins and is too busy patting herself on the back for being kind to notice that they are horrified. The wife interrupts her to say that she needs to schedule an abortion immediately, while the husband whispers to her that he's sorry. Izzie quietly tells them they might want to think about this decision first but the wife explains that she's HIV+ and the condom broke, so there's no decision to make. Her husband explains that he's been tested and so far he's negative while Izzie continues to gape. The wife begs her to try and schedule the procedure for today, and Izzie goes off quietly agreeing to try.
Callie hovers nervously while Hahn finishes up a conversation and then comes over and blurts that she needs a favor: Putting Cristina on the surgery. Hahn smiles happily and says she'll do it if Callie buys that night's drinks at Joe's. Callie happily but nervously agrees and then runs away past a nurses' station. Addison is there doing paperwork, and sitting behind the desk is Izzie, morosely stuffing potato chips into her mouth. She tries to get Addie to talk to her patient but Addison reminds her that she doesn't work there and what's more, she's a doctor herself. Addie comments bitterly that if she did work there she'd be doing tons of surgeries and maybe even be dating her ex-husband, which she doesn't really want but which would be easier than dealing with her love life in L.A. Oh, if only I cared enough to watch her trials and tribulations in Southern California. Izzie tells her that her patient thinks she needs to abort her baby and for the sake of everyone viewing, Addison replies that she doesn't. Izzie knows this, but seems incapable of explaining that to her patient herself. Addison tells her that she needs to pull her face out of the potato chips and take care of her patients herself. She observes that Izzie used to be a fighter and asks what happened. "I lost a lot of fights," Izzie mopes. I would argue that there's been no fighting since Denny died, and that since then she's been an ineffectual, rude, self-centered blight on the hospital, but I guess she sees it differently. Addison orders her away and says, "Go. Be the change you want to see in the world." Confused, Izzie asks, "Did you just quote Gandhi to me?" Yes she did. All Angelenos do that.
Alex tells Nikki's husband that it's time to take her to the OR. He replies that he isn't an idiot and he knows what Alex was saying to them, and that there's plenty of bad that they could focus on. But, he counters, there's nothing wrong with the opposite. As he gazes at his wife he says, "There's always hope, too." I hope Alex recovers from being hit in the face with his Lesson of the Week so blatantly.
Derek heads in to see Philip, who is having a brief lucid moment. He admits that he hates not being able to see mainly because he wants to see Jennifer. Derek tells him that he could take some more time to be with her before this ultra-risky surgery. Philip reveals that the reason he's been trying to set Jennifer up is that he doesn't want to leave her alone. He says that leaving her alone is the one thing he can't stand the thought of, and that he wants her to be all right when he's gone. Derek firmly orders him to tell her that before the surgery, while Meredith watches him from afar.
Something about the conversation gets under her skin because she willingly pops into Dr. Amy's office for a moment before scrubbing in. Meredith in surgery could be counted as even more change in the hospital, but as it's a positive step and not the demise of a relationship, it's clearly not worth mentioning. While Dr. Amy watches with her poker face, Meredith rants about how Derek told her not to get her hopes up but that he's the one with his hopes up and anyone that knows her knows she isn't a hopeful person. That's actually some good personal insight there. She concludes that it's no wonder they broke up. She then turns to run off to surgery and Dr. Amy asks, "The surgery with no hope?" With a smile, Mere tells her to shut up and Dr. Amy can't help but smile a bit herself.
The baby surgery has started, and Addison makes conversation by asking who it is that Derek is dating. "Who's the unlucky McRebound?" When no one says anything, she wonders if the Mc-thing is finally dead. Bailey finally decides to save her from herself and declares, "Addison, the woman standing immediately to your right, the one handing you the surgical instruments?" Addie turns and after a second tries to cover and cheerfully says, "Hey!" Rose deftly handles the situation by replying, "Hey! Six dates, heavy petting, lots of tongue. Good guy! Scalpel!" Addison just sighs. She must be liking the idea of L.A. and her messy love life a bit more now.
Izzie has made her way out of the chips and back to her patient, and the husband is ecstatic to hear that they might have a healthy baby. Izzie's pleased and tells them that the risks are "substantially reduced." She adds that they haven't found a doctor for the procedure yet and it might take a while, but is cut off by the furious wife. While the husband thinks they can figure anything out, the wife growls that Izzie didn't do the one thing she was asked, and that she got her husband's hopes up. She explains through clenched teeth that she was diagnosed at nineteen years old and has learned to deal with it but that she won't put that on a baby. She orders Izzie to schedule the procedure and to never come back -- she wants a new doctor. Oh, don't we all, ma'am.
Derek, Meredith and their team roll a laughing Derek into surgery while Jennifer follows behind looking nauseated. Derek leans in and reminds Phil about what they talked about, so he calls Jennifer to his side. When she doesn't respond immediately his anger flares, but when she comes to his side he grasps her hand desperately. He tells her that he doesn't want to leave her alone and has her promise that she'll try to meet someone, because he can't go into surgery thinking about leaving her alone. Jen manages to agree, and Phil points out that he could make it through and he hopes that he does. Jennifer just leans in and kisses his face, which sets off another round of laughter. They wheel him into the OR and Meredith pauses a moment before going in to look back at Jennifer's tear-stained face.
In another OR, Addie and Bailey deliver the baby. Nikki begins to hemorrhage so Alex looks after the infant while Addie helps to try and stop the bleeding. Alex then wheels the incubator down the hall and explains to Richard that Addison is helping. Richard sends him along, reminding him that Addie knows what she's doing. Ah yes, that's probably why she left -- too many surgeons knowing what they're doing. This might start to resemble a functional hospital!
Izzie is talking to herself; she's realized that she's been hiding in the clinic. George is trying to talk to her but of course she can't hear him over her self-pity. She reminds herself and all of us that she lost the contest, couldn't hack cardio, and did CPR on a deer. I'm just glad to hear she's embarrassed about that. George finally blurts out that she can't come play darts, which shakes her out of her fog so that she can get indignant. He just tells her that she should understand that she can't play -- that she's a resident and he's an intern, and that he's trying to make the best of the situation and make new friends. And those people don't want to get drunk and hang out with their boss. Izzie doesn't seem to be listening again, and she repeats that she's their boss. George agrees and points out that she is in charge and she should know it. "Should" is an awfully strong word, George. But Izzie seems to have learned something, and she marches inside telling him "I've got to do something."
She marches past her hung over interns and orders them, "Get in here," as she goes back to the pregnant couple. The wife is incensed to see her again, asserting that she thought she made herself clear. In an authoritative, adult voice that I can't remember hearing for approximately the last two seasons, Izzie replies, "You did. I didn't." She hollers at her interns again and they shuffle in. The wife freaks out, assuming she's pushing an agenda, but Izzie interrupts the would-be tirade to tell her that isn't the case. She explains that if the woman takes her meds responsibly then she has a 98% chance of having a perfectly healthy baby -- that in fact the chances are greater that her child would have Down's Syndrome than be HIV positive. The wife's face begins to soften as Izzie tells her that she knows she gave up on having kids, but that this is her chance to be a mom. The woman repeats the 98% statistic and takes a shuddering breath before falling happily into her husband, who thanks Izzie with tears in his eyes while her interns gape.
Hahn's got the baby in the OR but begins to lose her cool just a little bit as the baby's heart rate starts to rise and Addison still isn't there. Cristina steps in and asks what to do. She winds up massaging the heart, which brings the rate back down so that Hahn can get to work. But Hahn ends up sending Cristina back away from the table to watch.
In another OR, Derek notes that it's the moment of truth and injects the virus into Phil's tumor. At the same time, Mark lays the skin flap on the baby's chest to cover the tiny heart, mostly back inside. Phil flat-lines, and Derek begs for him to respond as the alarms clang. In Nikki's OR, Bailey gets everything under control and sends Addie to the baby.
Once there, she admires the little tiny heartbeat and Mark announces, "And God admired his amazing skin flap. And he saw that it was good." He's such a pig -- I just can't help but love him. They update Addie that there were no intestinal or diaphragm problems, and Alex has a Moment while he watches the heart beat.
Sadly, the other surgery doesn't have its own miracle outcome; Phil has flat-lined. Derek announces somewhat angrily, "Patient #1, treatment failed. Call it, Dr. Grey."
Addison joins Bailey, who is scrubbing out, and gives her the update on the surgery. Bailey tells her that Nikki is okay too, and calls it a good day. But Addison can't ignore her tone and observes that she seems sad. Bailey looks up and her face is both pleading and scared. She sighs and says that they aren't going to do "this," and that she can't share or catch up with Addison because if she admitted that Tucker left, that she's sleeping alone for the first time in 12 years, or that she hurts so much she wants to rip out her own heart, she would fall apart. And, gathering herself back together, she announces that she has no time for that. She's happy to see Addison but admits she wishes she would leave so that the option of talking and falling apart would be removed. She gazes into the sink, and Addison sits quietly to her. Where is the California hugging now, Addison? Good grief.
Through a window, Mere watches Derek break the news about Phil to Jennifer, who breaks down. Once they're walking down the hall together, she admits that she got her hopes up, and he admits that he did as well. She then asks, "Dr. Shepherd?" He turns to her and she tells him, "It was a pleasure working with you today." She sticks out her hands and they shake, with him taking an extra moment to caress her hand with his thumb. It's a tiny but very telling gesture. He acknowledges, "Dr. Grey," and they go their separate ways.
Addison is kicking back with Richard and admits that she misses some parts about being there. Richard jumps on the opening and tells her he'll do the paperwork that night so that she can start tomorrow. But she tells him it was good to come back to see that leaving was the right choice, and tells him he has to fill her position. Izzie runs by and yells, "I was Gandhi. I was so freaking Gandhi, I kicked Gandhi's ass!" Addie laughs while Richard looks confused and she just tells him it's an L.A. thing. He really should be used to much weirder stuff than that by now.
George is in street clothes when he finds Izzie, who asks snottily if he's late for his party. George tells her that he'll blow it off, and that he'd rather hang out with her anyway. She laughs but in a surprising moment of maturity tells him to go. Before he does, George admits to her that when someone says something funny, he always looks around to see if she thinks it's funny too -- even if she's not there. He's telling this story to the floor and she just looks at him and tells him again to go, which he finally does.
Derek gets on the elevator and Meredith follows him in. The funny music alerts us to shenanigans! She stands behind him as Addison gets on, smirks at the situation, and takes her own position in the other corner. Just as the doors start to close, Rose catches them and jumps on. Derek looks like a midget to all of these amazons, and seems like he's trying to disappear into his scarf. One floor down, the doors open and Mark looks in and bursts out laughing. As he saunters in he remarks, "I bet you wish you'd taken the stairs right about now."
Since it's nighttime, it must be voiceover time. "Giving birth may be all intense and magical and stuff, but the act itself -- it's not exactly pleasant." Everyone has gathered at Joe's, natch. Meredith and Cristina are talking at the bar while Mark orders a beer. "But it's also the beginning. Of something incredible." Incredible beginnings, party of two: While Hahn, Addie and Callie laugh over drinks, Hahn reaches over and very carefully gets a hair out of Callie's lip gloss, while Callie looks at Addison like a deer in the headlights and then tosses back a shot of tequila. We all know what happens after tequila, boys, and girls. On cue Mark comes up and asks one of them to dance. Addie and Hahn shoot him down but Callie jumps up excitedly and starts swiveling her hips on the dance floor. She looks absolutely incredible, and Hahn's gaze follows her out. Cristina pops up then to take a shot at speaking Girl. Her way is to ask Hahn if she doesn't like her because she is Asian. Hahn's taken aback as Cristina asks, "Why won't you teach me?" Clearly summoning all of her strength to not roll her eyes and to not bite her head off she tells Cristina: "You're not without skill. You're not without talent. So stop seeking my approval! I'm not going to tell you what a good little girl you are. It's not my job. And frankly it doesn't make you any better at yours." Cristina starts to absorb this and walks away. Once she's gone, Addison asks if maybe Hahn was a little hard on her. Anyone who has ever seen any TV show or movie ever can guess what's coming : Hahn admits, "She reminds me of me."
Mere's VO adds, "Something true." Hahn watches Callie dance and grind up on Mark, and Addie comments that she's pretty. Hahn, her eyes never leaving Callie, declares, "She's beautiful." Callie proves her Love of Penis by asking Mark if he wants to get out of there, which he can't do fast enough. Callie never glances back at Hahn, who looks somewhat heartbroken.
Over in the corner, the interns are all laughing at a joke and George turns and looks for Izzie. I'm very happy to report that she's not there. VO: "Something worth missing." She's still at the hospital, waiting for Ava's lab results. When she gets them, she notices they don't look right and figures there's been a mix-up.
Addie heads out of Joe's but before she does, she turns to give Meredith a piece of her Los-Angelesified mind. She tells Mere that she walks on the beach, buys aromatherapy candles, and is very Zen. If I wasn't writing this while windsurfing and eating something macrobiotic, I'd throw my hands up in defeat, but lord knows I don't want to lose my sail. Addie finishes that she wants to kick Meredith's ass, much to Mere's surprise. She asks if she's really going to let Derek get away and adds, "Because I swear to God, Meredith, if you let him ride off into the sunset with that doe-eyed little thing..." But she catches herself, stops, and leaves before she can finish. Aromatherapy candles are calling. Mere watches her go, looking thoughtful.
And the reason Izzie was confused? Because it turns out Ava really is a psycho crazy stalker who is totally not pregnant at all! Too bad she's finally got Alex in her clutches, and he reaches out and puts a hand on her tummy as the VO concludes, "Something that will change your life. Forever." Forever, or at least until he wakes up to find himself locked in a basement and Ava running around Seattle in a fake pregnancy belly, looking for babies to steal to complete their happy family.