Bank of Arizona

S06E08

This week is a bad one for children at Seattle Grace -- well, ultimately good for most of them, but bad that they are all patients to begin with. Hunt pages Callie in the middle of the night to help treat a teenage girl who, while tripping on mushrooms, fell off the roof of her house and broke 52 bones. Okay, so technically it's 52 breaks, so I suppose that some could be bones with multiple fractures but the bottom line is, she's a sack of twigs now. She's also a complete pill, as the docs witness her talking back to her parents when they find out about the mushroom component of the fall. She brags about how she's the perfect child except for this, and so they should be happy, and once in surgery, Cristina admits that she could get away with doing or saying almost anything since she was also a crazy high achiever and perfect student. Avery seems to like this since he was the same way, and he likes it even more when in the middle of surgery, Cristina goes against protocol and Hunt's direct order to take care of a cardiac complication. Hunt goes ballistic, but Avery finds it so hot that he gets drunk and tries to make out with her. She's so mad at Hunt and her ego is so stoked that she's into it for half a second, but then decides better of it -- you see, Meredith earlier said he might have a point to be mad and that also his being mad proves he loves her. Cristina seems to really absorb this, and so she goes to talk to him and actually apologizes, and they go home together.

Avery isn't the only one with a thing for their merger buddy -- as set up last week, Reed has the hots for Alex. He's still upset about the Izzie situation, which goes from bad to worse when the Chief gives him her outstanding $200,000 hospital bill since no one can reach her. His patient is a preemie who he expects to die, but between the baby's mother freaking out at the idea that she could die before she's ever held (Mom has just had her own surgery and can't be moved to see her baby) and Alex having essentially nothing left, he's moved to pick up the tiny baby once he's alone. Bailey finds him and realizes that his touch is helping the baby's vitals, and has him take off his shirt so he can give skin-to-skin contact. I promise this is an actual medical thing -- Kangaroo Care -- but it's also a good excuse to get Alex out of his shirt and send Reed (and I'm sure a good amount of the viewing audience) all aflutter. By the end of the day, when Alex is out of fight and admits he's got control over nothing but sitting there and holding the baby, he seems to allow Reed to sit with him for a little while.

But the main story of the hour is Arizona and her awesomely cute and sweet 10-year-old patient Wallace. He has a terminal condition and was expected to die but under Arizona's care got a couple of extra years out of his life. His wealthy parents are so thrilled that they tell Arizona, Richard and Jennings that they are donating 25 million dollars to the hospital. When Wallace takes a turn for the worse, Arizona realizes that this time his life really is nearing its end, but his parents want him to have another surgery if it could buy another couple of months. Arizona is adamant that Wallace isn't strong enough but Richard, blinded by the dollar signs in his eyes, urges her to move forward with it. She does the surgery, and Wallace lives... only to go into septic shock a few hours later. Arizona rushes back into surgery, where she gives the Chief an awesome telling-off for his money-hungry idiocy, but she can't save the boy, and she opts not to be the one to tell the parents since she knows she'll admit they never should have done it, and invite a lawsuit. Jennings and Richard chase after the parents and kiss their asses, but as they are packing up Wallace's things Arizona comes in and speaks to them after all. Richard even tells Jennings to shut it when Jennings gets worried about what she might say. Arizona gives the couple a chance to say goodbye to their son, and they are so moved by her genuine caring that the dad tells them all he's still donating the money, but solely because of Arizona and not because of Greedy and Greedier. It's a nice end to what turns out to be Arizona's (and Wallace's) birthday -- much nicer than the unwanted and ill-timed surprise party that Callie tried to throw -- and when Arizona comes home that night to find Callie, knowing she was dumb and really sweetly all ready to celebrate along, the two finally exchange "I love yous."

Find out why we think the show has taken a turn for the better lately.

As has been popular this season, this week's episode starts during a Seattle night. Derek and Meredith are asleep when his pager goes off, and after Mere groggily hands it to him he reads the screen, sighs, and gets up. Mere is back on voiceover duty and begins, "It's impossible to describe the panic that comes over you when you're a surgeon and your pager goes off in the middle of the night."

Arizona and Callie are also asleep when a pager goes off, and Arizona sits up in confusion and panic, then quietly begs for it to not be hers. Mere: "Your heart starts to race. Your mind freezes. Your fingers go numb. You're invested. They're someone's mom, someone's dad, someone's kid, and now it's on you, because that someone's life is in your hands." Arizona is happy to see that it's not hers, and when she wakes up Callie, she literally rolls out of bed and crashes onto the floor out of surprise. It's a dumb slapstick moment because seriously, how many people above the age of, say, four, even do that? Of course as Callie is checking it, Arizona's pager then goes off too.

Once at the hospital, Hunt sends Arizona to Alex, and takes Callie with him to see a 15-year-old who fell off a roof. On their way to the room the girl's mom stops them and begs to know if her daughter will be okay. Hunt brushes her off as politely as possible to keep talking to Callie, who is annoyed that she was called in at 4 AM for some broken bones. Hunt, like he's presenting her with a gift, gleefully tells her it's more like 50 bones, and opens the door to show a girl with a bone sticking out of her wrist, and legs that look as bruised and lumpy as a sack of stones. Just how tall is her house?? Because while I'm sure you can get hurt badly by falling off of a roof, this seems a little extreme. Mere reminds us, "As surgeons, we're always investing in our patients."

Alex and Arizona, meanwhile, have a patient named Laura who is 30 weeks pregnant and was in a car accident. She appears to have a subdural hematoma and Alex says that Derek is on his way in, but these two need to take care of the baby right now as it is in distress. Arizona directs the ultrasound and realizes that the baby's brain is hemorrhaging and they have to do a c-section right away while Derek works on the mom.

"But when your patient is a child, you're not just invested, you're responsible." Really, you aren't responsible if the patient is an adult? That seems extreme. Callie and Arizona both run out with their patients on gurneys, heading for the only ready OR. They argue about who is more urgent but Arizona wins by default when a nurse opens a door and Callie nearly runs her patient into it. I guess it's not like she could break any more bones, right? Fortunately they don't actually crash, and Callie orders the nurse to get another OR ready. Mere finishes her thought so that doctors seem a little less biased towards just saving the lives of children: Responsible for whether or not that child survives, has a future -- and that's enough to terrify anyone."

By Lauren S

In some fantastic multitasking, Arizona and Alex get the baby out while Derek starts on the mom's craniotomy, and Arizona tells Alex they need to get to the NICU right away.

We know they've made it to the NICU because everyone is in pink gowns instead of the usual yellow ones. A bit of time has passed and Alex tells them that the baby seems to be breathing OK, so they decide to extubate her. Arizona then gives Alex lots of instructions about what he needs to look for given that her head is still bleeding. It's 8:30, and she gripes about the rough start to her day but Alex snaps things right back into perspective by pointing out having a stroke before you're born is a rough way to start one's life. The baby is hooked up to all sorts of tubes, and wires are everywhere.

Callie brings Arizona some coffee and then Hunt greets them and immediately starts preparing for Cristina's arrival, since he knows she'll be mad he didn't call her and potentially mad at Callie for not waking her up anyway. Callie gives him a great, "Oh, don't pull me into this, buddy," look but he assures her he'll handle it, and warns them not to provoke her. Callie is incredibly skeptical that his plan is to ignore the "scalpel-hungry" animal but it's what he's going to do until he comes up with something better. Cristina then walks past them all with a slight smile, but other than that is pretty pointedly ignoring them, not giving them the chance to ignore her first.

As they all just happen to have child patients, most of the docs are all on rotation with Arizona that day. After getting in a slight dig at Cristina for her first try at peds (and Cristina at least looks appropriately abashed for a moment) Arizona tell them that she runs her department differently than other pediatric units. Avery is there, as well as Charles, who quite frankly I keep forgetting even exists -- I had forgotten he was in half the scenes he was in this week until I watched it a second time, in fact. Arizona then tells them all that this isn't general surgery in miniature, but that she treats her patients like tiny humans. Tiny humans who believe in magic and have fairy dust in their IV bags. (It sounds a little unsanitary to me.) Charles is skeptical, Cristina is disgusted, and Avery tries not to smirk but fails as Arizona happily tells them that kids hope and make wishes, which helps them heal faster and survive more things than adults do. Callie beams at her girlfriend, clearly proud, and Hunt looks happy at all the optimism too, though his girlfriend sticks her finger in her throat for one second to show what she thinks of it all before they go in for rounds.

A well-spoken child in a lab coat is with their first patient and greets Arizona, much to the confusion of everyone else. No one is really sure of what is going on, and I was worried we were about to have a Doogie Howser gimmick on our hands. Cristina is called upon to present and she moves to the bedside behind him with, "Um, excuse me, little... doctor boy." This is Callie and Hunt's broken patient from the night before, Hillary, and she's decidedly not amused. Cristina explains that Hillary has 52 fractures, and pointedly reads off the chart that she was brought in the night before and already had one complicated surgery performed by Callie and Hunt, who looks a little sheepish. Arizona then asks a question about the correct dosage of one of her meds, and has little doctor boy figure out the correct dose for the girl's weight.

He then runs ahead of the group to the room, where he jumps into a bed covered in bedding from home -- between that and the toys and decorations, it's obvious he's been there for a while. He then presents himself -- Wallace Anderson, 10 years old, who has been there for seven months and in and out for two years with short gut syndrome, which means his body can't absorb nutrition. He's really cute and obviously bright, and when Charles explains that he's already had 15 surgeries but that lately he's had to go back to being fed through a tube, Wallace shakes his feed bag and comments, "Yum!" He's very endearing, which is worrisome for his future. His parents come in and Arizona tells them that they did some algebra (referring to the math problem regarding dosage that he did in the room) and Wallace tells the other docs that Arizona helps him with his math and science homework by letting him go on rounds. His parents are trying to keep his life as normal as possible, and Lexie then slips into the room for what turns out to be no other reason than to hear Wallace ask if he gets Friday off from homework on account of it being his birthday. He then gives up that it's Arizona's birthday too, and she reminds him that she'll celebrate with him. As the doctors file out, Mr. Anderson pulls Arizona aside to tell her that he called a meeting with Richard and a board member, and that he wants her to be there too. She smiles, but is clearly terrified at what might be coming.

As Jennings is the only member of the board who seems to matter, he's the one who is there with Richard and when Arizona walks in he immediately starts threatening that she better not have screwed up anything with Wallace's treatment. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson then walk in and Jennings falls all over himself to greet and compliment them in a pretty disgusting display of brown-nosing. I notice that there's a tray of small muffins in front of them that look like they came from Costco -- clearly Richard has finally stopped supplying the good pastry. But, with what they have to say he might be able to buy some croissants -- the Andersons tell them that they didn't think Wallace would reach his ninth birthday, much less be looking at his eleventh at the end of this week, so they want to give a gift of 25 million dollars to the hospital's pediatric program. They hold hands while the doctors and Jennings just gape, and Mr. Anderson explains that half is to go to research for Wallace's condition while the other half will go to the hospital in general. Jennings nearly cracks his cheeks with his wide grin, but Arizona can't even form words. Mrs. Anderson happily tells her, "Happy birthday, Arizona," and Richard and Jennings turn to her, stunned, seeming to take a whole new notice of her.

By Lauren S

The morning, Callie is making breakfast for half of the hospital staff in her and Cristina's apartment. Lexie and Mark are there, as well as Arizona and Hunt, and the topic of the moment is the 25 million dollars, and Arizona points out that while she knew the family had money, this is Money-money. Callie thinks it's awesome, Mark is jealous that no one has given him that kind of money and thinks kids give an unfair advantage, and after Hunt and Cristina come out to each get their personalized breakfast order, Arizona declares it cool. Lexie, whose sole purpose of appearing on rounds was to drop this particular bomb, says that it's the best birthday gift ever. Callie's not thrilled that Lexie knows it's Arizona's birthday when she had no idea, and even though Arizona protests that she thinks they are no big deal and never celebrates, Callie is miffed. I think it's really weird that they are at the point where they are girlfriends in a committed relationship and Callie has never asked when her birthday is -- seriously, how is that possible? It's unrealistic, but important to the plot. Arizona maintains she's happier about the money than her birthday, and leaves for work. Once she's gone, Callie asks if Arizona was downplaying things, and thinks she has to do something since this is her girlfriend. Hunt and Lexie agree while Cristina votes no, and Mark just keeps reading his paper until his girlfriend suggests a surprise party. He jumps in to say it's a bad idea: "Surprise parties are hostile. They're dark. People jump out and scream at you; they never come to any good." Cristina nods in earnest agreement but the others all just look at him like he must have a doozy of a surprise party story in his past.

Alex then finds Richard, who claims he doesn't want to dump this on Alex but then proceeds to literally dump a thick file on him. These are Izzie's unpaid medical bills -- she has no forwarding address and Alex is of kin, so they are his problem. Alex is super confused as they work at the hospital, but Richard tells him that insurance doesn't cover everything. I know that you do what you do to get healthy, but did both Alex and Izzie really not have any idea of what was covered and what wasn't? Wouldn't he at least be aware that there would be bills, even if he didn't realize just how bad they really were? Do I ask more questions than most people when getting into a relationship and also when receiving medical treatments? It seems so. Richard tells him that with the merger he is under financial pressure and so couldn't put off the bill-dumping any longer. As Alex flips through the papers, Reed looks on, having heard everything.

Bailey also has a baby in the NICU, so she can conveniently make conversation with Arizona and Alex throughout the day. Arizona tells Alex that there was more bleeding overnight, and when Alex suggests a course of action she tells him they should try anything, seemingly at a bit of a loss of what might actually help at this point. She orders and MRI and tells Alex to page her if there are problems. Reed is working with Bailey, which she uses as a total opportunity to talk to Alex -- she lies badly that she just happened to see that Alex had labs waiting and so she picked them up for him. He doesn't react and she is clearly a slow learner, so she asks if he's okay and admits she overheard the bill stuff. Alex reacts just as anyone who knew him for more than five minutes would expect, and barks at her that he's trying to save a baby's life and shoos her away. Has she really absorbed nothing about his personality yet?

Arizona goes into Wallace's room and his mom quietly tells her that he had a bad night. Wallace hears them and tries to get up to go on rounds, but when his mom shakes her head, Arizona convinces him to rest and tells him they can do evening rounds together. He's bummed, but he crawls back into bed and his mom then performs what is clearly a little ritual for them, waving her hands over him as she softly says, "Bad dreams, bad dreams go away, good dreams, good dreams here to stay." She repeats it twice and then gets distracted when Charles walks in, but Wallace sleepily reminds her she has to do it three times for it to work. As she smiles down at him and finishes, Arizona pulls Charles aside and has him run some extra tests to make sure they aren't missing something.

Derek and Alex go to visit Laura, who wakes up as Derek calls for some more meds. She asks where her baby is, and the guys assure her that she's struggling but hanging in there. Laura wants to see her but Derek tells her gently that she can't yet, as neither she nor the baby is strong enough to move from where they are now -- it doesn't go over well. Laura descends into a panic and cries frantically that she can't die before she sees her baby, begging to know what if she dies before she's ever held? It's too much and she starts to seize, which is of course right when Alex gets an emergency page about the baby.

He joins Arizona, and as they work, Charles comes back with Wallace's x-rays. She tries to push him off but Charles tells her seriously she'll want to look, and she has him hold them up so she can quickly see what's going on. She begins swearing when she realizes he's got a bowel obstruction and his body isn't compensating for it, so Alex insists she go since he's got the baby covered.

Cristina is checking out her patient, and notes that her right hip has written on it, "Right hip okay." I can see where this is especially important, given that her legs resemble Ava's face back when the ferry hit the dock lo these many seasons ago, but Hillary gripes that someone has already done it. Cristina assures her that many more will, too, and Hillary's parents tell her to let the doctor do her job. Hunt and Callie then come in, and each sort of hesitates before admitting the tox screen came back and showed that Hillary was on some sort of very technical-sounding drug. I can see that breaking it to them wouldn't be super easy, but I never took these two to be cowards hiding behind medical terms that of course the patient and family wouldn't know. When they hesitate to translate their medical-ese, Avery nicely quips that Hillary was shrooming. Callie then belatedly says they are talking about magic mushrooms. Hillary's parents are aghast and start lecturing her about how they are so disappointed, which shocks the docs a little until Hillary retaliates in a bored fashion. She's clearly a pro at being a bored, egotistical nightmare and she assures her parents that she's actually the opposite of a disappointment, given how she gets straight A's, is the school president, runs the paper, etc. She then gets all wordy and talks about how she was "exploring the bounds of her consciousness," which, give me a break. She then says she took a calculated risk going on the roof (still, no one has mentioned just how ridiculously high this roof must have been) but she claims they are upset because it reminds them of their own fallibility, and like she's talking to a child, she says she knows they are bummed. Cristina and Avery smirk while her dad just simmers but says nothing and Hillary oozes, "I'm bummed too." I have no patience for this -- these are the kids these days who are doing nothing at jobs and expecting raises because they feel they are deserved them and no one is allowed to reprimand them. I got amazing grades and had lots of extracurricular activities in high school too, and let me tell you about how I would have been skinned alive for ever talking to them like that. Gah! Clearly, this snotty entitlement is a pet peeve of mine, and very clearly I am a full-fledged adult for how often this sends me to my soapbox. Learn some humility and work ethic, it will serve you well. And also, get off my lawn! I'm not supposed to be getting upset, though, I'm supposed to be giggling -- the kooky music on the soundtrack is telling me so. Sorry, music.

Alex takes care of the baby and as faint alarms ring he starts little tiny chest compressions with two fingers. Reed comes over and asks if she can help but Alex brushes her away as he is wont to do, and says that he doubts the baby is going to live through the hour. Reed's disgusted and asks if he's just going to stand there and watch her die, and he says yes, it sucks but it is what it is, and get out if she can't handle it. Honey, if you really like this guy you're going to have to stop reacting quite so much to his personality, which by the way is the only personality you've seen from him thus far so it shouldn't be a surprise. She storms off, but once she's gone and Alex has turned off the alarms and some sort of breathing tube, he looks around and picks up the baby. Sweetly, he says that he's got her, and she's not alone. Clearly this is not a real baby as his "soothing shake" is rather... intense, but the point is made that he's still got a bit of heart somewhere.

Richard and Arizona are meeting with the Andersons, and are in the middle of what is clearly a heated conversation, with Mr. A. demanding to know if Arizona can't or won't do surgery on his son. She tells him, clearly hating her answer, that it isn't either of those things; her medical opinion is that Wallace isn't strong enough for surgery. Mr. A. is having none of it -- clearly he handles his problems through intimidation and is used to getting what he wants -- and he demands to know how long Wallace would have if she operated. She tries again to advise against it but he cuts her off and she finally guesses that maybe he'd have two months. It's really awesome that Richard is doing nothing at all here other than looking worried while they duke it out. Mrs. A. starts to cry as Arizona gently tells them that Wallace's time is here, and they need to prepare him and themselves, but Mr. A. spits that they didn't donate all this money to research to find another kid a cure, and orders her to do the surgery. "You buy him more time so that we can buy him a cure." Mrs. A, crying just looks at Arizona who tells them she's sorry, and as the parents turn to each other, Arizona leaves and Richard runs after her.

He, of course, is looking to protect his investment, and he tells Arizona that these people aren't used to hearing "no." Really? That was a tough one to figure out, with the yelling and the monetary threats. In one of the most galling things he's done -- and there have been a whole lot lately -- he actually tells Arizona that if she doesn't do the surgery, they'll just have it done somewhere else, implying that she might as well be the one to do it since she's been there since day one. (Also, this is like that other patient of Mark's -- Arizona hasn't been at the hospital for two years, so does this mean they came with her? I guess it could, but I feel like that's been one of the sloppier storytelling aspects of this show, them pretending they have these long-term Seattle Grace patients.) Richard tells her not to walk away unless she's sure she can't do the surgery, and it's really gross how he kind of flatters her skills, implying that if anyone can do it, she can. She's not biting, because she actually has medicine and not money at heart, and repeats, pleading, that surgery is a bad idea, but Richard asks if it's impossible. This from a guy who refused to let Derek do a risky surgery last week, on a full-grown adult aware of the consequences. He presses some more and finally, defeated, she says she'll try. He smiles at her, and she tries to smile back, but when he walks off she looks more like she's trying not to vomit.

Bailey walks in and sees Alex holding the baby, who is wrapped in a blanket with now just a couple of wires sticking out neatly from the bottom instead of the whole bunch of them from earlier. She asks if that is his preemie and he explains that he thought someone should hold her before she dies, but Bailey is a bit distracted and eventually says, "Kangaroo!" She's not expressing her love for the land down under, but instead is thinking of something called Kangaroo Hold, which is the way Alex is holding her and which has been shown sometimes to help the baby. They look at the monitors and see her numbers rising, and Bailey tells him he might have just kick-started the baby's system. He's happy about this and turns the little girl to face him, smiling at her. Dude! If that hold is what's doing it, don't then pick the baby up and hold her in the air in front of you! Keep the hold! Sheesh. Bailey then tells him to take off his shirt. He tells her no and she should take off her shirt, but she tells him she's serious, and that skin-to-skin contact is an important part of this, and that it's usually the mom but here he'll have to do. He raises an eyebrow but she assures him she's not kidding.

Callie and Hunt are doing some surgery I can't even look at since it's such a gory mess, but it appears they are reconstructing Hillary's hip. They are talking about the mouth on the girl, and Callie seems to have had an upbringing closer to my own, as she laughs that her dad would have killed her for talking like that. Cristina, however, pipes up to say that she was a perfect student, so could say and do whatever she wanted and her parents couldn't do anything about it. Hunt looks at her like he's seeing her for the first time, which is getting a little old. Avery asks if anyone wants to hear about his childhood, which sounds like it was about the same, but he's awesomely met with silence. As they get the hip all set and Callie admires her handiwork on the x-ray, alarms start to blare, and Cristina pulls the x-ray over to show an air embolism in Hillary's heart. Hunt yells for cardio to be paged, but Cristina tells him she can take care of it in 30 seconds. Hunt is adamant they wait for cardio, despite Cristina arguing that she knows what she is doing.

Alex, in all his tanned and chiseled glory, is holding the baby to his chest as Bailey explains that the baby can feel his warmth and sense his heartbeat, and it's awesome how in awe of medicine she sounds at this moment. Derek of course walks in and is super amused and curious about what's going on, and Bailey yells at him that Alex is saving a baby's life. He's followed by Reed, who is rendered speechless by the half-naked, hot asshole in front of her. Derek keeps up the teasing as Mark walks in to ask if this is the room for the calendar shoot, and Alex actually snarls at them all until Bailey shoos them away. I was talking about these scenes my friend Heather, who just had twins of her own, who were preemies that needed a few weeks in the NICU before they came home, which is how I know that the Kangaroo Care of which Bailey speaks is a real thing. Let me tell you, I think they opted out of a number of wires to preserve the view of Alex's delicious chest. While I certainly think is an important service to us all, I feel obligated to point out that it's laughable to see him there easily holding this tiny baby unobstructed. In reality those babies are hooked up to tons of different monitors and whatnot; as Heather eloquently described, "Between that and the feeding tubes and vitamin IV, they were more plugged in than a home theater system HEY-OOOOO." So, to review: Hot Bare Torso is always good, but should you find yourself in the NICU maybe don't use this TV program as the educational material with which to prepare yourself. A side note: you also probably won't find such a concentration of insanely hot medical professionals at your hospital, but if you do, please let me know where you are receiving your medical care, thank you.

By Lauren S

The page turned out to be for Wallace, and Arizona has him back in the OR. The shaky camera work plays up just how urgent it is, and as they work frantically the Chief comes in demanding to know what happened. Arizona yells that Wallace is in septic shock since his body was too unstable for surgery, which is what she said in the first place. Richard offers to help but Arizona, no tears this time when standing up to him, yells that he can't help because as long as he stares at her, "I feel like I'm operating on a stack of dollar bills." She reminds him she needs to be invested in the child, not the bills, and yells, "So get the hell out of my OR." While I don't like what seems to be the end for Wallace, that was extremely satisfying.

Richard and Jennings are in the waiting room when Arizona and Charles come out, and when Richard asks how it went, Arizona just shakes her head. Jennings swears and throws down his magazine, but Richard is clearly still feeling his talking-to and assures Arizona they will let the Andersons know she did everything she could. He's probably as worried about the millions just like Jennings, but he seems at least to have learned how to present himself around Arizona, if nothing else. Charles is confused that they won't be talking to the parents, so Arizona explains that as far as everyone is concerned, she just killed Wallace and is a liability, because if his parents asked for the truth she'd say that she did kill him and that they should in fact sue because she is responsible. Jennings has the gall to at first seem pissed off about Arizona's attitude, but when she smoothly adds that saying that isn't in the best interest in the hospital, and asks if Jennings agrees, he quickly says they are on the same page. Arizona nods and leaves, while the Chief appears to Think.

The morning, Cristina is hanging out at Mere's before work and griping to her about the incident of the day before, and how what she did was awesome. Mere is finally dressed and on top of the covers and I must say, looks fabulous. Pregnancy agreed with Ellen Pompeo and I hope she doesn't rush back into being rail skinny again because she's positively glowing now. Meredith the character is also glowing as she tells Cristina that Hunt cares about her. Cristina's not thrilled to hear that her best friends understand his side, that even though she's dying to get back to work and cut, Cristina did in fact do something unauthorized and if anything had gone wrong, her career would be over. Mere is giggly about the fact that Hunt's caring shows that he's in love with her. Cristina gripes that she hates married, happy Meredith, but married, happy Meredith just giggles and sends her off to work, warning, "Don't cut anybody open without permission!" I think those are words to live every day by, really.

Avery and Reed are hanging out, making up a two-person, "We're In Love With Our Merger Buddy" club. When Avery sings Cristina's praises from the surgery, Reed warns him that she's out of his league, so Avery just counters by looking at a sleeping, shirtless Alex and asking if he himself is really the hopeless one. Should one really fall asleep with a preemie casually in their arms? Or any baby, for that matter? I'm guessing no. But then again, there's that torso on full view. Reed berates herself for her feelings on account of Alex being married and an asshole.

Bailey comes in and asks Alex if he was there all night, then tries to dismiss him to get some rest. In addition to everything else, please someone get that tiny baby a hat! She can't waste energy trying to regulate her own temperature at only 30 weeks! Alex is a bit embarrassed as he assures Bailey that he's fine, but she's impressed by his caring, and tells him he'd be good in pediatrics since he gets invested. It's an interesting statement, given that I thought she decided earlier this season that being personally invested was a bad thing. But regardless, she compliments him on his good instincts and repeats that he'd be good in peds. I do appreciate that they finally came back to this point after all the time he spent working with Addison, when he also showed promise with the kiddos.

Cristina is working on Hillary's chart while Hillary chats on the phone, and incredibly she asks her friend for drugs right there, commenting how lame it is that they have her on such a small dose of morphine. Cristina can be reckless but even this is too much, and she grabs the phone and threatens the girl on the other end before hanging up. Hillary is totally indignant, but Cristina just calls her out on how she thinks she can do and handle anything. Hillary rolls her eyes but Cristina reminds her that in fact she fell off a roof because she was high and then almost died in surgery because her system was taxed by her drug use. (First time we've heard that, but it makes for a good argument.) Cristina points out that this in fact makes her an idiot, and informs her that the only reason she's alive is because she's lucky. Cristina pauses a second, as if she's going to give herself credit for Hillary's survival, but she seems to have learned something and doesn't. She then tells Hillary to grow up, though by Hillary's sulking I'm sure she'll do nothing of the sort.

Arizona watches from the walkway as Jennings and Richard deliver the news to the Andersons, and they fall apart. Afterward, she walks to Callie's where she opens the door... to a hoard of people yelling "Surprise!" and blowing plastic horns. She finally falls apart, and as she starts to cry Mark gives a knowing nod about the evil surprise party. Arizona can't speak and eventually walks out, and a horrified Callie takes off her party hat and runs after her. Mark can't help but drop a, "Told ya," and Lexie doesn't contradict him.

By Lauren S

Once in his surgery she's pissed off, and as the Chief watches closely over his investment with crossed arms, she keeps repeating to herself what a bad idea this was. Charles calls for a cloth for her forehead and Arizona argues she doesn't need it, but he's firm that she should just take a moment. After having her forehead dabbed, she thanks him and gets back to work.

The we see her, she's waiting at Callie's apartment, and when Callie gets in she immediately picks a fight, pointing out she left a ton of messages. Callie defensively replies that she was in surgery but Arizona doesn't care, and tells Callie she just performed Wallace's surgery and has been going over and over it in her mind. When Callie asks gently if he didn't make it, Arizona says he did but that's not the point. She's mad that she's been there for tons of Callie's crises, but that Callie wasn't there the one time she needed her. It's definitely an argument brought on by stress, and one that can be worked out, and Callie points that out to her.

Unfortunately, Cristina and Hunt walk in right at that moment, yelling at each other. They are still arguing about Cristina's move in the OR, and Hunt is upset because he thinks she wouldn't have done that with another attending. Ah, and now all his taking it personally makes much more sense. Arizona interrupts their arguing to ask what happened, and when Hunt tells her she then gets mad at Callie for not telling her earlier. Callie says she was going to but then Arizona 'was all, "Tell me I'm great.'" It's a valid point, but presented horribly on Callie's part, and Arizona's hackles go right up, asking if it's now her fault that Cristina went rogue on a child. Cristina jumps into the fray to defend that it wasn't rogue, it was brilliant, which finally is what sends Hunt storming off. Before he goes, he warns Cristina that she thinks she can get away with everything but she just got lucky, and one day it will run out. Arizona then gets a page and stomps out herself to go tend to a patient. She slams the door, and Cristina raises a glass of wine to Callie and comments defiantly, "Bitches."

Cristina walks into her room, holding a beer, and finds a drunk Avery emerging from the bathroom. He wants to call her Cristina but she assures him they aren't at that point yet. He then starts to tell her how hot she was in the OR, and after letting him blather on for a little while, Cristina asks if he really thought it was hot. He sees his opportunity, leans in, and they start to make out. It only lasts for half a second, though, before she thinks better of it and pushes him away. She asserts that she is involved and then leaves him there looking like a kicked puppy.

Alex, clothed for the first time in two days, is holding the baby as Laura is rolled in to meet her for the first time. She starts to cry as she takes her daughter, and big tough Alex looks a little bit wistful to give her up.

Mere starts up her voiceover: "They say the bigger your investment, the bigger your return." Cristina has gone to the hospital to find Owen, and when she does she tells him that the surgery, "It was me. Can't you see that?" He clearly can't, actually, and he tells her that he can't ignore what happened. Cristina seems ready to argue but instead holds her tongue a moment, and then apologizes for overstepping. She then asks him to come home with her, and after a moment he agrees. Meredith: "But you have to be willing to take a chance." I am really kind of worried about what they are doing with these two since the theme of the last few weeks is that Owen doesn't seem to really get Cristina whatsoever.

Arizona then walks in with the Andersons to see Wallace, who is lying on a table as if he is just sleeping. Richard and Jennings have of course come along, and stand somewhat uncomfortably as Mrs. A. starts to do the bad dreams/good dreams ritual. She, as well as her husband, start to cry, so Arizona takes over and does it herself, explaining that you have to do it three times. Mr. A. finishes, "For it to work," and smiles at her. As his wife sobs, he tells the men that Arizona is the reason why he'll still be giving the 25 million dollars. "Not because of you. Or your ass-kissing." They are kind of stunned, and Richard gives the illusion of that statement getting to him. I kind of doubt it really did, though, as nothing else has gotten to him lately. Mere: "You have to understand, you might lose it all."

Derek gets home and crawls into bed with his wife, commenting that the Chief still won't talk to him. Meredith assures him that he will, and he asks when she became an optimist. "This is married, happy me," she reports, smiling. It's almost a little bit creepy, but it's refreshing and welcome that happy Meredith has stuck so far. Derek is then extra happy to realize that Mere is healed and they can finally Do It, so he puts his pager back on the bedside table and gets down to business.

By Lauren S

Outside, Arizona is crying and Callie immediately begins to apologize, and begs her to stop crying. Arizona finally forms words to tell her that Wallace died on what was supposed to be his 11th birthday, and Callie can only stutter at the absolute horror of the situation and her wretched party timing. Arizona cries that she can't stay, and Callie assures her that it's okay, and that everyone will understand; with that Arizona leaves.

Lexie helps clean up as people leave -- or rather, most people leave, since Avery is going to take advantage of the free booze. Lexie watches him with some disdain and then turns to Mark, disappointed. She gives him permission to gloat, but he thinks the party speaks for itself. Lexie complains that the best party she ever had was a surprise party thrown by her parents, so how could this go so wrong? Well, as it turns out, that party was when she was 7. Between Callie's uber-poor decision making in having the party in the first place, and Lexie thinking it was a good idea after something that happened when she was 7, it's a pretty low point for ladies that are usually much smarter than that.

The Andersons are packing up Wallace's room in the company of Richard and Jennings, and Jennings is dancing around like an excited Chihuahua, offering to oversee the packing or do anything else they might need. Right now he's the Pete Campbell of this situation in that he clearly has no idea how to be a real boy and read the room. Arizona then walks in, and when Jennings tries to run her out, Richard orders him to let her be. Jennings is surprised that Richard has stood up to him but Richard stands his ground -- the correct ground -- for once. Jennings is clearly terrified about what might happen, but Arizona just walks up to Mrs. Anderson, who admits that it doesn't feel real. Mr. Anderson doesn't say a word, but just looks at her, and Arizona gently asks if they would like to see him. Trying not to crumble, Mrs. A. nods.

By Lauren S

Reed sees Alex sleeping again, so of course that's a perfect time to make conversation. Also unable to say the right thing, she tells him she's impressed as she wouldn't have pegged him for a babysitter. She asks if he's going home, and when he says no she chirps that she's sure someone else can take his shift. This is just painful to watch. Girlfriend, if you want to score points with him you need to at least be able to tell that he wants to stay there and work with that from the beginning. Alex, of course, yells that he can't leave, and so she shoots back, wondering if he is so messed up he can't let someone be nice. He might be, but what she said really wasn't the right thing either. Alex, though, actually softens a tiny bit and admits, somewhat defeated, that he has no idea if Izzie is even alive, and he's got her $200,000 (!!) medical bill, and he can't do anything about those things but he can sit and hold the baby. Reed finally gets it, and tells him that then she'll stay with him, and pulls up a stool.

By Lauren S

"But if you take that chance, if you invest wisely, the payoff might just surprise you." Arizona gets home and walks through a sea of gifts and balloons to find Callie, in a sexy little number, asleep on the couch. Callie wakes when Arizona puts her keys down, having not meant to fall asleep, and cheerfully tells Arizona she has hats, gifts, donuts and lingerie. The donuts are the best thing of all, since she knows Arizona eats them when she's upset, and it's more thoughtful than anything else she could have done, or unfortunately tried to do. Arizona watches her with a smile and finally just says happily, "I love you." Callie's face goes completely serious as she asks, "You do?" Arizona tells her, "I do," and as we fade to white for the week, Callie quietly tells her, "I love you too." Kudos to the show for not making us wait for that, and for letting these two so far remain a functional, awesome couple who can work through problems. May Cristina and Owen have the same luck!