It's Valentine's Day, and Derek and Hunt are dragging out their ladies the only way they know how -- on a double date. The girls are absolutely thrilled when they all get pages because of a massive medical emergency: a local restaurant's roof has collapsed and because it was Valentine's Day, it was full. Everyone is called back to the hospital to work, and it seems that Arizona and Callie were the only ones smart enough to go on an early date that day. That means that they are loved up and giggly, so when they notice that hot anesthesiologist Dr. Warren is flirting with Bailey they begin to tease her and then realize from her reaction that she might actually be interested. Arizona hangs out in Bailey's surgery with the excuse that she is observing, but instead just makes a lot of coy comments to insure that Warren realizes Bailey likes him, despite turning down his dinner invitation earlier. Bailey is completely annoyed but later admits to Dr. W. that she does like him and they make plans to go to dinner. Go Bailey!!
Callie, meanwhile, gets roped into helping Sloan Sloan, who is back from LA and acting all shifty as she asks for an ultrasound. It turns out she wants to give the baby up for adoption and is trying to do it without Mark finding out, on account of his being so gung-ho for the baby. When Callie finally forces her to admit what she's doing, Mark offers to adopt the baby himself, and Callie is so moved by his sincerity that she offers to help him raise it. They convince Sloan to at least think about this offer, but that evening Callie finds Sloan trying to sneak out of town. Sloan finally makes her see that she needs to get a clean break from the baby, which she would never have if Mark was the one raising him, and so Callie gives her some money and makes her promise to take care of herself before sending her off, and then deals with the heartbreaking task of telling Mark what happened.
Lexie, meanwhile, tries to make a change to get over Mark and goes blonde, though based on where the story goes I guess she's also maybe trying to get his attention? I'm not sure, the getting from a to b there was a bit sloppy. I must admit that she looks way better than I thought when I heard that this was going to happen, but while Mark flirts with her before he realizes who it is, the new hair color doesn't do much for her and Avery convinces her that if she wants to get noticed, she needs to do something major. One of the victims from the restaurant accident is a dishwasher whose arm is severed, and while Lexie is able to clean up the arm enough for it to be viable, his remaining stump needs a few days to heal. She has the idea to attach his arm to his leg so that the blood flow will keep it viable until his stump heals enough to reattach the arm a few days later and convinces Hunt and Mark to try it. The poor dishwasher is completely freaked out when he wakes up and sees his new appendage, as he is someone who likes to keep to himself and draw no notice, but now he's the guy with an arm sticking out of his thigh. Lexie, however, convinces him that he's special, not different, and that that is a good thing -- then she celebrates by hooking up with Alex again.
Alex needs some cheering up after his evening -- his patient is a veteran head waiter from the restaurant who has been in love with one of his customers for the last fifteen years. He bribes Alex to be put in the same room as the woman while her husband is in surgery with a giant piece of glass sticking out from his chest. Meredith is the woman's doctor, and she and Alex wind up betting the bribe money on whether or not the waiter will spill how he really feels. Alex thinks that he will, but Meredith thinks that he won't. Alex kind of wins because when the waiter admits to everything, the woman was only faking sleep and heard it all, but later she admits to Meredith that while he thinks she is unhappy in her marriage because they don't talk a lot during dinner, she's actually just comfortable and loves her husband -- and she knew that he was in love with her but since he never said anything before, she made a choice and that choice was the man she wound up marrying. While Bailey winds up saving the husband after a tricky surgery, the waiter friend turns out to have a brain bleed that was undetectable, and he dies -- and even though Mere's patient made her choice, she's still devastated and neither Mere nor Alex really want to claim the bet money after all that. While Alex winds up comforting himself with hot blonde Lexie, Meredith steps up and joins Derek at a trustee brunch which she had been planning to avoid, but she realizes that she is a wife and that her husband needs her.
Finally, Hunt spends the whole evening trying to avoid Teddy, until she confronts him and yells at him that she misses her best friend who she could just talk to. He admits that he misses her too, but feels like he is cheating on Cristina when he talks to her so they can't. Teddy finally comes up with a solution to confront Hunt with Cristina there, and she tells him that she's basically taking it all back so that she can have her friend back, because she has an awesome job she loves and a great new house and an amazing student in Cristina and doesn't want to not have Hunt just because of what she said. Cristina seems happy with this, especially because Teddy puts her right onto a cardio surgery, and while Hunt tells Teddy she can't unring this bell, she happily tells him that she knows it but she's still going to try.
Izzie is gone, Sloan leaves for good, and characters are acting mature and displaying personal growth? Pinch me, I must be dreaming!
Valentine's Day is for jazzy, funny music! Over evening shots of Seattle, Mere tells us, "The surgical scalpel is made of sterilized, carbonized, stainless steel. This is a vast improvement over the first scalpel, which was pretty much a sharp stick. Medicine is constantly reinventing itself. That means surgeons have to keep reinventing themselves, too." Derek has reinvented his vehicle -- he's driving himself, Mere, Hunt and Cristina on a Valentine's double date in a Porsche Cayenne which feels about as far a cry from his old jeep as he could get. I guess he figured this was more Chiefly. The girls are not into this outing at all, and when Hunt dares to suggest that there's more to life than the hospital Cristina shuts him down. Mere then also corrects Derek when he suggests that this is romantic. All four of them perk up as an ambulance drives by, sirens blaring. Mere VOs: "There's constant pressure to adapt to changes. It can be a painful process. But without it, you'll find yourself moving backwards instead of forwards." When a whole line of ambulances follows the first, the guys insist to their drooling ladies that if it's important, they will be paged. A second later, their pagers erupt and the girls cheer as they turn around to head back to the hospital.
Callie is wiping the entire surgical board and explains to Bailey and Arizona that the roof of Grandinetti's (yes, let's spell it like that, shall we? It sounds right for a fictional Italian restaurant...) (yup, closed captions still only working some of the time) collapsed, and as it was a romantic restaurant and it's V-Day, it was packed. As the three walk and Callie gripes about how she knew this would happen, Arizona cheerfully reminds her that this is why they went to dinner early and exchanged gifts. In unison, she and Callie pull out silver necklaces and show them off to Bailey in a fit of delighted giggles. Bailey dryly informs them that she is squealing with joy. She doesn't put much stock in this fake holiday, and I tend to agree -- you're either single and made to feel kind of like a loser, or you're in a couple and face a ton of pressure to do the perfect thing that usually involves dinner at an overcrowded restaurant. And in this case then the roof of said overcrowded restaurant goes and collapses, which really puts a damper on a celebration of your love. Hot Dr. Warren walks up and tells Bailey he's sorry that their surgery was pushed, and then asks her to dinner. She shuts him right down saying she has surgery most nights, and so he stutters that maybe he'll see her in the OR. She doesn't answer, but when she and the girls get in the elevator Callie laughs as she comes to the realization that Bailey likes him. Bailey bites her lip and tries not to laugh while they giggle away behind her, and she finally gets a hold enough to demand that they stop the girl talk because she's busy. They manage it for a second before dissolving into giggles again while Bailey shakes her head.
When she gets out of the elevator, Mark grabs Callie to ask her if she knows how to put a crib together. She's shocked at the question but he explains that Sloan is coming home, so he bought a crib, and it wobbles. Callie affectionately points out that he's become a "sweet nerdy dad." Mark then sees a blonde from behind who he doesn't recognize, and he becomes single dad on the prowl and excuses himself. He walks up and delivers a pick-up line, then jumps and screams when a newly-blonde Lexie turns around. She tells him that she made a change but then stops, realizing that he didn't recognize her and was therefore hitting on her. Mark tries to deny it and then tries to tell Lexie that she isn't a blonde, because blondes are either badass or fun, and that she's a brunette. Hey! On behalf of all badass, fun, and generally awesome brunettes out there I take issue with that. She's wearing a whole lot more eye makeup than usual but is actually pulling off the blonde way better than I would have thought after seeing a still picture of her about a week ago. Avery gives her a low, "Damn," after witnessing the exchange but she just snaps at him to shut up.
She walks up to Alex who starts and then stares at her, and she gripes at him to stop because she's probably changing it back. Alex is supportive in his own Alex way and says he understands that she got dumped and then went for the extreme makeover, that girls always do it. She corrects that she wasn't dumped, that she wanted to do something for herself on Valentine's Day, and he asks how that's different than what he just said. He leaves, and she declares to no one in particular that she's changing it back.
Mark and Hunt arrive at the ER right behind paramedics wheeling in a number of patients on stretchers, and Callie greets them to run down the list of things such as sucking chest wounds that await. April calls after them and Derek is surprised that she's still there, but she chirps determinedly that if he's there, she's there. She tells him that a rep from OSHA is waiting in the lobby and that the TV crews outside want a statement. Callie cuts back in to talk about the medical side of things, so April tries to talk over her and the two wind up shouting for Derek's attention before he quiets them and pointedly asks Callie who to see first. She sends him to a trauma room while April tries to get him to see the OSHA rep, but he goes in to deal with the patient while April looks on dejectedly.
Hunt is calling out instructions and Bailey runs by with a man who has a huge piece of window sticking out from his abdomen. A woman asks after them where they are taking her husband and Mere explains that they are going to surgery and will get an update soon. Teddy is there to examine the woman and tells Mere to put in a chest tube; as she runs out she runs smack into Owen, who looks shocked and kind of pissed, which in turn ticks Teddy off as he then flees.
Alex's patient, Emile, has a break that he needs reset, but Emile is less interested in his own problems and just asks Alex if he can be put in a bed to the woman who just asked about her husband. Alex snorts that it doesn't work that way so Emile chuckles and reaches into his pocket, saying he was a head waiter for 25 years and knows how it works. He hands Alex a $50, and a now accommodating Alex says he will see what he can do.
On account of Valentine's Day, it seems that no kids were in the restaurant and Arizona consequently decides to play cupid since she doesn't have to really work. She finds Derek and asks him to switch Dr. Warren to Bailey's surgery but while he says he doesn't play cupid, she assures him he just has to be Chief while she plays cupid and he's distracted enough to just sign the paper. April then grabs him to give a statement to the reporters, and when he tries to say he has surgery April tells him that another doc can take the surgery and then reminds him that he has a trustee breakfast in the morning and the trustees will want to see his face on the news regarding the tragedy. He turns and looks longingly at the chaos as more paramedics run in with a guy with a severed arm. He clearly wants to follow the action but April snaps him out of it and helps him put his coat on to go greet the reporters outside.
Emile really does know how things work; he's now in the bed to Mrs. Banks, the woman whose husband has the giant piece of window sticking from his abdomen. He asks if she can have some water but Mere says that she can't, and Mrs. Banks laughs and tells him to stop. She then explains to the doctors that she and her husband have gone to the restaurant for 15 years, every Friday night. Emile adds that they also come on Tuesday sometimes, and she says that he takes very good care of them but now it's time to look after himself. He's attentive, but there's a longing behind his voice that's also a little bit sad. He tells her that he thought she would want company until she found out that her husband was okay, and she thanks him sincerely.
The doctors walk outside and Alex comments that his patient is stalking Meredith's patient, and when Mere doesn't think it's that deep he shows her the $50 and says that Emile has the hots for Mrs. Banks. They spar back and forth a bit about what might happen and Alex cracks about her not being married, then offers to bet the $50 that Emile will make a move. She takes the bet, thinking that he won't, and says that she's married. Unfortunately for her, April walks up and refers to her as "Mrs. Shepherd," and Mere has to insist that she's Dr. Grey, not Mrs. Shepherd. April gets all flustered and stutters as she asks Mere about going to the trustee breakfast, and her stutter gets worse when Alex starts mocking her for being Derek's flunky. She tries to hold her head high as she says that she is on Derek's service and that during his transition to Chief he needed some help with the admin side of things. Mere pointedly doesn't look at her as April asks if she plans to go to the brunch with Derek or just meet him there. She admits that she's not sure she's going and when April laughs disbelievingly that she has to because she is his wife, Mere grins uncomfortably, obviously having not thought about this side of things.
Speaking of people who don't think, well, much at all -- Callie finds Sloan at the front desk and Sloan lies really badly about her flight being early and stammers that she didn't want to bug Mark. She then asks in her blunt, startled way if they have a clinic. Callie is worried that things aren't okay but Sloan says that they are, she just wants someone to check her out. Callie points out that the clinic closed an hour before, but that she has a moment and can do a quick ultrasound.
I was really confused as to why Arizona would be working with Hunt on the patient whose arm was severed, and then realized that it was Lexie. Hunt goes to look at the arm, which is totally contaminated as it was lying in dishwater for a while before someone found it. The guy, Frankie, says that they forgot he was there, and while Lexie tries kindly to assure him that they didn't, he assures her it's okay because he doesn't really like to talk to anyone, and they just bring him the dirty dishes. He's in shock that his arm is gone and tells Lexie sadly that he doesn't want to be a freak with only one arm since he doesn't like people staring. Lexie assures her that they will do all they can, and Hunt then comes back to take him to surgery to try and reattach it. He sends Lexie to go work with Avery to clean up the arm itself, and she really pointedly pulls her newly flaxen hair back in a ponytail so that Avery can call her "trauma room Barbie."
As Bailey works away on Mr. Banks (with Warren there as her anesthesiologist, of course) Arizona hangs out and chats about the restaurant being gone, asks Dr. Warren if he's been there, and then dreamily recalls how romantic the place was. Bailey is very pointedly ignoring her as she continues her musings, figuring it might be too much for a first date. She asks Bailey where she would go
on a first date and Bailey just asks her if there isn't a dying child that needs her help? Nope, she's just there to observe, and apparently to keep everyone amused with her constant chatter.Callie finishes up Sloan's ultrasound and says that everything looks good, so Sloan asks if she can get it in writing. Callie hasn't picked up on Sloan's clearly having an ulterior motive, and gives her a photo instead, figuring Sloan will be happy. She's not, she wants something official, and when Callie asks why Sloane snipes that it's none of her business. Callie points out that if she wants anything official it totally is, so Sloan finally gives up that she needs paperwork for her adoption attorney, as she has a couple in San Francisco who are going to adopt her baby. Callie can't believe it but Sloan, in one of her few self-aware moments, says she's not ready to be a mom. Callie asks if she has told Mark and of course she hasn't, and then she gets shitty again and tells Callie that she can't tell him either, asking about doctor/patient confidentiality. Callie is clearly pissed to have been played by a conniving little shit such as Sloan.
Mere is working away on a sleeping Mrs. Banks when Emile asks if she can have an extra blanket as she gets chilled easily. Alex snarks that she must be a really good tipper, and makes a crack about Emile taking better care of her than her own husband. Emile gives him an incredibly pained look, and then explains that she used to come in before she met her husband and that she would try anything the restaurant served. She and Emile became friends and after she'd had the whole menu he had the chefs make special dishes just for her, and he wistfully says that she became his favorite part of the week. His voice takes on a bitter tone when he says that then she came in on a first date, thinking the restaurant was a safe place, and he tells the doctors that he was the one who put her engagement ring in her crème brulee. He's incredibly bitter that her husband now orders her the same thing every week, and that they now no longer even speak when they are there. He's teary thinking about how she'll be alone if Mr. Banks dies, and he can see she's afraid and wants only to comfort her and say he'll be there for her if she wants it. He closes his eyes to stop his own tears and then asks Alex pointedly if he'll let him know any good news about Mr. Banks. Alex of course agrees, and looks pretty affected by his speech; across the room Mere looks down and sees Mrs. Banks give her a flicker of a sad smile, having heard the entire thing.
Sloan has done what she does best: run. Callie chases her down the stairs and yells that she can't leave without telling Mark, and Mark of course comes in that moment happily surprised to see Sloan there. He seems to have a moment of suspicion but Sloan distracts him by shoving the ultrasound photo in his face, and he gets super emotional as he sees that the baby has the Sloan nose. Callie looks pained as Mark happily holds up the picture to compare it to his own profile, and she gives Sloan a pointed look which she ignores. Mark then gets paged but tells Sloan to wait for him as he has a surprise. He takes one last gleeful look at the ultrasound before he runs off while Callie shakes her head in disgust.
Alex hands Meredith the $50, figuring that if Emile hasn't said anything for fifteen years that it won't change now, but Mere points out that he did just tell her since she was actually awake the whole time. Mere thinks she has to say something back, but Alex thinks she won't with her husband in surgery. She won't accept the $50, figuring that Mrs. B is miserable in her marriage, and bets that she will tell Emile he loves her too. April then walks in with her house keys, and Mere is horrified when April explains that Derek thought she could go home and get Mere whatever she wanted from her closet for the breakfast the morning. She refuses, and when April argues that Derek will need her by his side at the breakfast, she snips that she is still a surgeon and to tell Derek she will be in surgery. She stalks off and April calls after her that she'll just pick something out, yet again being left behind with no one actually caring about a word she says.
Avery and Lexie are working on Frankie's arm, and he goes down all of the couples, commenting, "It's a wonder you guys got any work done." Hear, hear, Avery. He thinks Sloan dumped her and Lexie corrects him that he forgot about her father than dumped her -- he decided to start a family with her but never asked her about it, he just forgot she was there. Hmm, I'm not sure that Lexie's being unforgettable was the issue here so much as it was Mark desperately trying so hard to be an adult that he got tunnel vision. Avery thinks about this and announces that he's the pretty one in his family, and then he goes on and toots his own horn a bit about just how pretty he is without a shirt on. Look, if you have not seen his torso, go rent Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 IMMEDIATELY. Helloooooo, Dr. Avery's torso! But his point isn't just his flawless eyes and abs, it's that his family is all smart and they look like it (Avery, are you telling us they are ugly?) and that they treated him like the pretty one and therefore never expected anything from him. Since they didn't push him he pushed himself, and he didn't tell his family he even took the MCAT until he knew he aced it. His point, supposedly not just about his brains as well as his brawn, is that to be unforgettable she has to change more than just her hair. There's more commentary about brunette = mousy, and I'm grumbling here again on my sofa, especially because Lexie was actually really hot with brown hair. She glares at him through her new blonde heavy eye makeup as he tells her she has to actually change.
In the OR, Bailey finally takes the glass out of Mr. Banks' middle, and Arizona gives her a breathless compliment before telling Warren that Bailey almost left general surgery for peds. When he says he didn't know that, Arizona pointedly says that Bailey thought about it but then changed her mind -- I'm surprised she hasn't gone over and started giving him an overexaggerated poke in the ribs to make sure he gets her point. She says that Bailey isn't afraid to rethink things, and sometimes just needs to be asked again. He clearly gets it and is smiling behind his mask, but Bailey is less than thrilled.
Callie walks up with the paper for Sloan but won't let the girl grab it from her and first reminds the girl of everything Mark did for her: took her in, gave her money, flew her to LA for surgery. She says that if Sloan won't tell Mark, she will, and on cue he shows up to answer his page. Sloan is pissed but when Callie finally starts to tell him she jumps in and blurts out that she's going to give the baby up for adoption, so that he will have good parents and a good home. Mark begs her not to, but she holds firm and so he without thinking blurts out, "Give him to me. I'll take him." He pauses a moment as if to think about the words that just came out of his mouth and then adds, "I'll adopt him." The girls are both stunned but Mark pleads with his daughter, telling her that he's ready for this and that he knows he should have been there for her but he wasn't. There's no real mention here of the fact that he never was given a choice in that matter -- he obviously would never have been dad of the year but that can't be held fully against him as he didn't have a chance. Sloan wants the baby to have a family, though, and while Mark is great he's just one guy. Callie, seeing how sincere Mark is, then does the unthinkable and blurts out that she will help him, that she's just across the hall and they are best friends and good people who will love the baby and take care of him together. Mark begs Sloan to think about it and finally she smiles and agrees that they can talk about it at home later.
Mrs. Banks is in bed and seems kind of numb after the events of the day and then Emile's declaration of his decades-long love. Meredith is watching from outside and Alex joins her with some Valentine's chocolates he swiped from a coma patient. Ha! Oh, that's totally mean. But seriously, who gives chocolates to someone in a coma? That's a waste of delightful candy morsels. Mere updates him that she thinks Mrs. B. wants to say something, but Emile is sleeping. Cristina joins them and asks what they are doing, so they give her the story in a nutshell -- he loves her, will she say anything or will her boring husband die? Meredith adds that it's all okay because she and her husband are miserable, and then asks if this is what marriage turns into: running out of things to say and changing who you are? The other two tell her that it is, and Meredith counters that she didn't marry Derek to be the Chief's "arm candy," nor did she marry him for the good surgeries, as Cristina suggests. Mrs. Banks turns towards Emile and they are all excited, thinking she's about to say something, until Meredith realizes that she actually is struggling to breathe and they run in and yell for a crash cart.
Teddy thinks that Mrs. B. has an air leak in her chest tube and has Meredith sign them up for an OR just in case it doesn't get solved. In the bed, Emile is clearly worried.
Lexie and Avery run into the OR clutching Frankie's arm and shout that they saved it and it's ready, but Hunt rains on their two-man parade when he announces that they have to amputate as there's too much wrong with the stump. Mark adds that they could push antibiotics and give the stump a few days but then the arm would be dead -- clearly this is for the viewers because the doctors would know that already without it being spelled out. Lexie is really upset and says to Avery that they could attach the arm to a healthy zone while the stump healed, so he challenges her to tell someone who matters, calling her "Mouse." He then shoves her forward and she blurts out her idea to Mark and Hunt, who are rather intrigued at the idea of transplanting the arm somewhere that it could hang out while the stump healed. It's something that hasn't been done before and Hunt tells Lexie that he would lose a lot of range of motion in his elbow but she argues that she promised they would do all they could and that he deserves extreme measures. The men are swayed by her passion, and talk it over a little more given that it's something neither of them has ever done before. Lexie adds that after today they won't have the ability to choose if they want to try, and Avery tries to hide his smile as he watches her plead. Hunt tells them to both scrub in, and Mark gives her an appraising look before he heads out. Avery then tells her that she was definitely not mousy just then.
Derek seeks out his Post-It wife and mentions the brunch, which she tells him she knew about from a resident currently rifling through her closet. Derek apologizes for April's being overeager, and Mere then tells him that she has a surgery she can't just give up. Derek immediately says that he doesn't want her to, but Mere is obviously having a bit of an internal struggle because she goes on justifying her decision -- her patient is someone's wife too, and Mere is her doctor and needs to be there. She's stalling and tripping over her own words and when Derek smiles at her and tells her it's okay, she's clearly still unsure about the whole thing. Once she leaves he seems a bit bummed, but not surprised. I'm kind of curious why this breakfast didn't come up before, given that trustee brunches are generally not thrown together on a mere 12 hours notice, but man does it work nicely with the day's other stories about adapting.
Hunt is scrubbing in when Teddy enters to do the same, and after a second of hesitation she walks up and they briefly talk about their surgeries. She's impressed with whatever crazy arm shenanigans he's going to perform, but when she tells him this he looks pointedly away, almost comically, like a little kid trying to ignore someone. Teddy decides the best thing to do is just to forge ahead, and she tells him that she rented a cottage on the water, and found a good coffee place, and wanted a puppy but knew she wasn't around enough for one so she just went to the shelter and played with them. He's still pointedly not looking at her, and it's seriously ridiculous right now, so she tells him angrily that she got a fish instead, and then announces that she also got a bikini wax for the first time in forever. That's what finally does it for Hunt, and he interrupts her to demand what her problem is. The problem is hearing about her once trying an at-home waxing kit -- seriously, ladies, take it from Lauren and never, ever try that at home. Well, that's the problem I see, but Teddy yells at him that they were best friends, and she could tell him everything, but now he won't even look at her. He reminds her that she said those terrible three little words, scrubbing so hard I worry that he's going to lose some flesh before this surgery. She reminds him that he said he loved her too, but then chose Cristina, so Hunt points out that Teddy chose her too. He feels like he's cheating on Cristina when he talks to her, and says that he's sorry but pulls his mask up to end the conversation. Quietly, he admits that he misses his best friend too, but he's back to not looking at her and she storms out in frustration. While I appreciate his feelings in theory, they all work together. And Cristina is fully aware of what happened and not innocent herself. So wouldn't it be better to try and figure out how to all get along?
Derek has found momentary refuge in the gallery and is watching surgery when Mark finds him, and he says slightly bitterly that this is the closest he's been to the OR in a week. He's not terribly in love with the brunch/glad-handing side of being Chief, which I get but it's also a not-so-secret reality and one he might have considered. Mark decides to change the subject by announcing that he's adopting Sloane's baby, and then he tells Derek (and I think himself) that it's the right thing to do. Derek nods as Mark explains his reasons for why this will work and then congratulates his friend when Mark grins and says he's having a baby. Mark congratulates him back on his Chiefdom and says that this is always what he wanted. Right? Derek mumbles yes but the fact that he can't take his eyes off of the surgery below says he's not so sure.
Bailey is nearly done working on Mr. Banks, and Arizona delightedly points out that it is just in time for dinner, maybe even dancing. Bailey finally responds to what she's been listening to for hours, and puts it in terms of her patient -- that he'll be fine, he won't be dancing anytime soon, but that when he wants to dance and the time is right he'll be able to make the decision on his own. She then dismisses Arizona, who slumps out of the OR a sad, unsuccessful cupid. Dr. Warren starts to make conversation but Bailey shuts him down too, and he counters that he wasn't the one that said anything about dancing. "Although..." He can't finish the thought because Bailey shushes him just as blood starts gushing into the open wound from a torn artery that Bailey missed.
Alex goes to check on Emile but he's gone, and Tyler pops up long enough to suggest that he just left. Alex seems a little down about that, and when he walks into the room he goes to take the $50 off his clipboard but it flutters out of his hand and to the ground. Unsurprisingly, if you've ever watched a medical drama before, once he bends down to retrieve it he sees Emile collapsed on the floor on the opposite side of the bed, terrified and convulsing, and Alex yells for help.
Derek is increasingly agitated at his non-doctor-ish day, and when April runs up with his clothes for the brunch as well as notecards for his speech, Derek tells her to go home. April again chirps that she's there if he is and Derek turns on her and asks if she wants to be an assistant or a surgeon, as all he wants to do right now is surgery. April starts to tremble and admits that she's not sure that she can be a surgeon, that she's grateful he hired her back but that it's easier to help him out than to be the doctor who killed someone. She then says that if Derek doesn't need her to be an errand girl, she should maybe not be there at all. I totally understand it but also -- didn't Derek think to talk to this girl before he rehired her the second he became Chief? Alex runs up before Derek can reply and when he says that he's got an epidural bleed, Derek tells April to come with him.
Frankie is out of surgery, and the doctors are all gathered around as he sees that he's still only got a stump coming from his shoulder. He logically and sadly assumes they couldn't do it, but Trauma Barbie is the one to tell him that they could save his arm, and he just has to prepare himself as they took extraordinary measures. She's already working around the clock!! Sorry, I think for the rest of my life that's going to be my knee-jerk reaction to the term on account of Harrison Ford's recent pathetic return to the big screen. As Lexie rolls back the sheet, Hunt explains that the arm needed a blood supply to keep it viable until they could reattach it, so they had to relocate it for a bit. The big reveal is then that his arm is attached... to his thigh. Frankie is horrified, and demands to know why they would do this to him. Lexie is hurt that her effort is being received so badly, and assures him it's only temporary and that this is what he wanted -- his arm. Frankie yells that he wanted his arm in the right place, which... is fair. He also reminds her that he didn't want to be a freak, and he can't believe they didn't just leave him as he was.
Callie gets home from work only to catch Sloan trying to sneak out of Mark's apartment with her suitcase in hand. She's disgusted at the younger girl and asks if she even told Mark she's leaving, but Sloan just defends that she only wanted a place to stay and some money, and didn't expect Mark to care so much. She was horrified to get home and see the crib, and she takes off with Callie running after her trying to assure her that Mark is a good guy and that Sloan could know the baby this way. That, however, is the whole issue -- Sloan wants a clean break like Mark got with her. The soulful guitar starts up as she asks if she deserves that, and Callie is moved by the strings and pulls out her wallet. With a fistful of cash she orders Sloan to take her vitamins, go to all her doctor appointments, and to call if she gets into any trouble. She then hands over the wad -- seriously, I only ever had that many bills in my purse on the day I sold my car for cash -- and Sloan seems both happy and appreciative of the gesture, which is clearly a first. She thanks Callie sincerely and then leaves.
Mrs. Banks is awake after her scare and asks about her husband; Mere answers that there were complications but that Bailey is doing all she can to fix him. She then asks about Emile, and Meredith has to admit that he is in surgery for bleeding in his brain. Mrs. Banks is horrified, and after a moment she tells Mere that Emile didn't say a word to her for 15 years. Mere asks if she knew, and she did, which is why she kept going back. Instead she met her husband, Emile never made a move, and so she made her choice. Mere can't quite get a grip on things and prods gently that she kept going back to the restaurant, but Mrs. B. says sincerely that Bob liked it and she loved Bob, so it became their place. She then says with a fond smile that he orders for her because he knows what she likes, and that they have reached the point where it's comfortable to not talk sometimes. She seems utterly at ease with her choice, which she says she keeps making every day. Mere is left to some serious thinking about relationships and what she perceived earlier as Mrs. B. tells her that's what marriage is.
While she's calm, though, her two men are not faring well in surgery -- Bailey can't get Bob's bleeding under control, while Derek is cursing at the discovery of a severed artery in Emile's brain. Alex is beating himself up, wondering what he missed, but Derek assures him that this kind of thing has no symptoms and the CT was negative, so it's the kind of thing that you don't find until it's too late. He asks if it's too late and Derek admits he doesn't know. Both Bailey and Derek beg their respective patients to stay alive.
Emile did not listen to Derek's begging, and April watches in tears as they zip him into a body bag. She tries to cry quietly and not give away that she's falling apart, but Alex knows she's upset and says harshly that Emile watched his life happen without him and is probably better off. His tone is very obviously trying to cover up that he had gotten fond of the guy over the course of the night. April can't take it and lets out a sob as Derek comes in, and she cries that she can't be a surgeon and watch people die. He practices yet another Chiefly role -- comforting an upset employee -- and pats her on the shoulder as she sobs that she should never have come back. He admits to making his own mistake last year and almost walking away, but assures her that if you don't feel the losses you aren't cut out to be a surgeon. Wait a second; aren't you supposed to not feel for your patients so that you can work more efficiently? I'm confused. But Derek assures her that he hired her back because he knows she can be a good surgeon, and she fights to get a hold of herself.
Dr. Warren approaches Bailey, who is updating the surgical board, and it see
ms Mr. Banks pulled through and Warren congratulates her awesome work. Bailey cuts him off and says she can't talk to him, and then explains that she can't do it because he makes her nervous and she forgets what she was going to say and says the wrong thing. I'm consolidating here, as she's illustrating nicely with a lot of flustered stammering. Arizona realizes what is happening and starts to listen in, nosy cupid that she is, as Bailey admits that she likes him and that she'll go to dinner if he wants to and will try to talk. She still manages to maintain her Bailey attitude even through the stammering, and Dr. Warren is clearly a very smitten kitten. He asks her for tomorrow night and she agrees, then warns him that she might have surgery but he happily tells her that he'll then join her. He walks off with a smile while she bites her lip and Arizona chuckles at her brilliant matchmaking.Alex is gutted, hanging in the hallway when Meredith finds him and he reports that Mr. B. is okay. She asks about Emile and Alex repeats dully that Derek said there was nothing they could have done, and then hands her the money. She thinks that he won but neither of them actually want the now-tragic $50, and Mere tells Alex that he would have won anyway. He's not sure but Mere says simply that she has a husband, and seems to have reached a peace with what Mrs. Banks told her earlier. Teddy then comes in and asks her to scrub in for a valve replacement, but Mere thinks and looks at her watch, hesitates, and then asks if Cristina could do it instead. Over a shot of Teddy's surprised face, she VOs, "We have to keep reinventing ourselves. Almost every minute.
"Because the world can change in an instant." One of those instants is now for Mrs. Banks, who is watching her husband sleep when Alex comes up and sadly reports that they did all they could but that Emile died. This is definitely a more emotional Alex than we usually see with patients, and he sincerely tells her that he's sorry. She thanks him with tears in her eyes and when he leaves, breaks down completely with her back to her husband so he won't wake and see. Mere adds, "And there's no time for looking back."
Frankie is supremely pissed that there's a hoard of doctors outside his door who want to stare at him, but Lexie decides to take a different approach, one that shows some understanding that having one's arm sewn to one's leg would be a pretty crappy situation. She agrees that they want to see him and ask questions because he's rare and special, and then adds that there might also be press, and that there's a lawyer there as well who thinks that the restaurant might owe him a lot of money. This gives Frankie a new perspective, and after a moment asks how much. She just smiles and asks, "Sometimes change is good, right?" He smiles at her, his arm-leg forgiven.
Mark walks into his place and when he sees Callie with the crib, thinks that she's rebuilding it for him. She looks scared, and comments that she wanted to do this before he got home, but he is too happy to read her expression and tells her sincerely that she didn't have to do this and he also isn't going to hold her to the offer to help raise the baby. She stands up and says his name, but he just smiles and asks if she thinks this is kind of great. There's a slight hitch behind his smile though, like maybe a little part of him recognizes that this is all about to go horribly wrong. Callie pulls two pieces of the crib apart, and his face drops like a lost child and he asks what she's doing. Tears pool in his eyes as she tells him to sit down, as Mere explains, "Sometimes the changes are forced on us.
"Sometimes they happen by accident." Lexie walks up to Alex and takes one of the Valentine's chocolates, and he watches her as she bites into it. She notices his staring and grouses at him to get used to the hair because she's keeping it. Newly Emotional Alex is also now supportive, and says that he thinks she should because she's moving on, and he didn't think it was a bad change in the first place. They both gripe about hating Valentine's Day, and as Mere adds, "And we make the most of them," they make the most of the situation and start making out and ripping off each others' clothes in the supply closet.
Owen and Cristina are walking out -- she might hate Valentine's Day, but she's clearly enjoying a schmoopy cuddle with her hot boyfriend. Teddy stops them and asks if Owen has a minute, but when Cristina offers to wait outside Teddy tells her to stay and then announces bluntly that she told Owen she loves him and knows she can't unring the bell, but that she's taking it back. Cristina starts to insist she'll wait elsewhere but Teddy manically insists she stay, knowing that this is the only way Owen will possibly hear what she has to say. She tells him the same thing she did earlier, that she misses her friend, and says that she can deal with everything else because she's got a cottage and a great job and an amazing student in Cristina. She clearly means it, too -- she's not just blowing smoke to try and smooth things over. She announces that they are going to be friends and tells Cristina she's about to do a valve replacement. Cristina's jaw drops and then she happily runs off to prep. Mere VOs: "We have to constantly come up with new ways to fix ourselves." Owen, still uncomfortable talking to her, tells her she can't unring the bell but she assures him happily that she knows, "But I'm gonna try like hell."
"So we change. We adapt." Mere, in one of her biggest adaptations to date, has changed into a sexy Mrs. Chief in a grey sweater dress and black belt. Derek has been shaking hands and is surprised and clearly super happy to see her, but says she didn't have to come. She's happy to see his smile and insists that she chose to come and then takes his arm to go inside -- her smile falters when she sees the sign for the brunch honoring "Dr. and Mrs. Shepherd."
"We create new versions of ourselves." She manages to hold on to her hissyfit until they are in the car, and she morphs back into Old Meredith and screams about being known as "Mrs. Shepherd." Derek knows, and just agrees with everything she says while she changes back into her scrubs and yells that she doesn't do brunch, or Valentine's Day, or miss surgery. After that's out of her system, she gets a gleam in her eye and informs him that he is going to have to make up for this with lots of sex, and he replies dutifully, "Yes, dear." She concludes, "We just need to be sure that this one is an improvement over the last." Well, and be sure it sticks, even a little, as I feel like we're now due for a whole lot of Meredith regressing and rebelling against being any sort of traditional wife.