Mer and Derek wake in kinda wedded bliss, which freaks Mer out. She talks to Alex about it (and Derek wanting kids) while he's in the shower. Meanwhile, his brother has shown up to talk about old times and to diagnose his protruding bell button.
Arizona and Callie are still weird around each other because Callie wants a kid. Meanwhile, Mark liked his sex with Teddy. She liked it too. However, she still felt weird around Owen.
A lady, Mrs. Clark, is in the hospital because she fainted, which she doesn't do. Dr. Webber promises to do everything he can do save her. Alex's brother doesn't have health insurance and Mer tells him to ask Bailey to do it pro bono, but Alex refuses. Apparently, Alex hasn't seen his family members in seven years. Then, a cop shows up with injuries and a load of other people show up in trouble as well. She apparently showed up without any backup and her job is in jeopardy, which naturally puts her in distress.
Lexie notices that Kepner is really concerned with Derek's opinion of her work. Work crush! Alex talks to Bailey while she's hanging out with her kid and asks her to check on his kid brother. His name is Aaron. Bailey and Mer find out that all of the Karev kids were in foster care, with Alex getting the worst of it. Bailey pushes for more info.
The cop lady's husband is begging her to retire and settle down and have kids, while she's thinking about her duty. Webber is concerned about Mrs. Clark's condition and tells Kepner to check her brain activity just as Mr. Clark walks in all happy and starts talking to her. Turns out, the lady had a huge stroke.
While a group of them are busily working on the cop, Yang mentions that she doesn't want to have kids, then she really effs up the patient with an explosive bullet. Owen freaks on Yang about her bullet action but Teddy tells him to chill. Outside the OR, Arizona accidentally reveals to Aaron that Alex got married. Their younger sister is Amber. All A's. Aaron confronts Alex about the fact that he's married. Big fight. Aaron decides that he doesn't want surgery. Then, they fight with their fists. Bailey pulls them apart.
Webber tells Mr. Clark that his wife is not waking up. Mrs. Clark declared that she didn't want to be kept alive on a ventilator. The Mr. is upset. So sad. Lexie tells Mark that she told a patient's husband that she'd be fine. He tells her that telling someone the bad news is the hardest part of the job. Aaron, who is so hot, gets his operation. Bailey is impressed by Karev's circumstances.
Yang and Teddy talk -- she apologizes to Yang for talking in shorthand. Teddy says that his "triggers" are in effect. Owen's a "guy." A "man." Whatever. Bailey tells Callie that kids are not convenient, but they're sweet . Aaron's fine. Mr. Clark refuses to believe that his wife is dead. Derek reminds him that his wife signed a DNR. Mr. Clark is pissed. Lexie follows a disturbed Kepner out of the room. Kepner asks Lexie to forget about what she saw, which was that she was totally drooling over Derek. Alex is sitting in Aaron's room when he wakes up. Aaron says that he feels bad that Amber doesn't have Alex. Alex says he can't be a surgeon and be a brother.
The cop is fine, but she had to have an emergency hysterectomy. The cop husband is like, "We can't have kids?" Yes, that's what that means. This ties conveniently into Callie's conflict. Lexie unplugs Mrs. Clark even though Mr. Clark protests. He begs for her to wake up. She does not. The cop lady and her husband decide to adopt, even though she is welcomed back on the force, which doesn't make her husband happy. Mer reminds Alex that he's nothing like his deadbeat dad. He tells her she'd be a good mom. Callie and Arizona begin a serious talk about babies and moisturizer. Owen reminds Yang that she said she didn't want to have kids. Then he freaks out about overcooked food. Then he asks her if she's scared of him and she says she doesn't want to be. He says he needs to go back to the doctor. Derek tells Mer that he doesn't want her to be alone if anything should happen to him. She says something vague about maybe they'd have babies. Meanwhile, Mark and Teddy are doing it as Mer is VO'ing that babies just happen. Teddy says she needs to be honest about something. The doorbell rings and Mark answers. It's Sloan. She's in labor. -- Jeff Long
Find out how we would have written Izzie off the show.
First off, a big thank you to Jeff Long for covering this week's recaplet for me! And now, to Seattle and Mere, who is back on voiceover duty after a week off. "Psychologists believe that every aspect of our lives, all our thought processes and behavior patterns, are the direct result of our relationship to our parents." She and Derek and being schmoopy in bed, and as he gazes at her he comments on how pretty she is and immediately arouses her suspicions. He thinks it will come off as innocent when he tells her he was merely thinking about how pretty their children will be, but she freaks at the subject in general and especially because he used the plural "children." He assures her they can start with just one, but she can't even fathom the idea of starting. Derek, realizing he needs to back off, tells her again that she's pretty but it doesn't seem to work as well as he'd like to calm her.
We see Cristina and Owen in bed, but they aren't nearly as comfortable as Mere and Derek (pre-children talk, at any rate). They are not touching at all nor even looking at each other while Mere VOs: "That every relationship we have is really just another version of that first relationship." Cristina finally asks him casually if he has talked to Dr. Amy, but he brushes her off and gets up, looking grouchy, while she stays in bed, a forlorn little figure.
Back at Casa Grey, Mere walks into the bathroom where Alex is showering and informs him that since Izzie is gone and Cristina isn't answering her phone, she needs him to be a girl for a moment. Endearingly, he sticks his head out the door and asks her if she wants Alex to kick his ass, though the look on her face says he might not be keeping little Alex as out of sight as she would prefer. That's only momentary, though, because she's freaked out about Derek's wanting a baby, and Alex guesses that this could mean she does want him to kick Derek's ass. Hee. He displays his ability to actually be rather thoughtful sometimes and asks if she wants a baby, but Mere just responds by pointing out she had the worst mom in the world and would therefore be awful as a mother herself. As opposed to tackling that issue, he announces that Izzie sent over divorce papers, and Mere asks if he wants her to kick Izzie's ass. Aha, but that won't happen because she's never coming back! Hahahahahahahahaha, Merry early/late Christmahanukwanzaakahunbirthday to ME! But I digress. Derek pokes his head in to talk to Alex and is rather taken aback to see his wife hanging out there, and though they both explain that Alex was being a girl, he's a little thrown off and it takes him a second to remember that he came up to tell Alex that there's a guy downstairs who claims to be his brother. He asks if he should send him up to the party, but Mere tells Derek to have him wait, and then when Derek leaves a very surprised Mere asks if he wants her to get rid of him. Alex doesn't really hear her and just asks himself why he'd be there.
Downstairs, Lexie is listening with rapt attention as Aaron tells them that Alex was the oldest brother, then Aaron, and that they have a younger sister named Amber who is about to graduate from high school. He says she's wondering why she should bother going to college and he doesn't know what to say because Alex is the smart brother while he is just a mover, so he shouldn't be the one giving advice. Alex comes in then and they hug, but Alex asks fairly pointedly what he's doing there. Aaron claims he was driving to Portland and therefore in the neighborhood, and when Alex points out that Portland is 300 miles away Lexie jumps in and points out that his brother is allowed to come say hi. Mere sends Lexie off to work as Aaron reminds Alex he hasn't been home in seven years, and when Derek expresses surprise Mere sends him away too. She then introduces herself to Aaron, who assures Alex that his little sister was ten the last time he was home. Alex asks him again what's going on, and finally Aaron comes out with it, and admits that he thought since Alex was a doctor, he could take a look at something. He pulls up his shirt to reveal what looks like a golf ball embedded under his belly button, and asks the doctors if he should be worried about it before we fade to white.
At the hospital, Callie and Mark meet up at the coffee cart and when Callie asks him about his most recent date with Teddy, she is thrilled to realize they finally Did It. Arizona then bounds up with a grin, but she and Callie clearly don't know what to say to each other and finally Arizona grabs a slice of poundcake and goes on about just how much she loves it. When she leaves, Mark asks Callie if "poundcake" is code for something dirty -- because if not, that conversation was awkward and pathetic. Callie admits that because she and Arizona aren't talking about the baby issue, they wind up having idiotic conversations like that one about poundcake. Mark asks just how long they are going to avoid the subject, but Callie replies by changing the subject to Teddy, and even though he calls her on it, he's clearly thrilled to talk about how amazing the sex was. He tells Callie, "I blew her mind."
He's not exaggerating. In the elevator, Teddy tells Arizona just how amazing it was, and that Mark is a legend for a reason. "He has skills I never even knew existed." Their giggling is interrupted when Owen gets on the elevator, and after saying hello they all ride in silence until he gets off again. After he's gone, Arizona says that he's always grumpy but Teddy defends him, saying that he's going through something that Cristina doesn't understand, which isn't her fault, but Teddy understands yet can't do anything about it, and it's hard. She's obviously seriously upset by it, and Arizona points out that in spite of this, she's seeing Mark. Teddy agrees, but her smile is a little more forced now than when she was thinking about Mark's bedroom prowess. I guess this means that she figured out what his problem was from the last episode, then.
Lexie and April are working with Richard today, and their patient is a woman, Mrs. Clark, who fainted in the grocery store, which is super unusual for her. As they look at one of her scans Lexie starts to point out something in her brain but April just talks right over her to point out the problem, much to Lexie's annoyance. Mr. Clark explains that Swender told them the cancer was back but that Richard might be able to take it out, and Richard tells them he's not sure but he will try. When they don't get a guarantee Mr. Clark's face falls so quickly it's almost childlike, and his wife winds up consoling him and holding his hand, even though she is in fact the one with the recurring cancer.
Mere and Alex got Aaron to the hospital but he's clearly nervous and Alex gets annoyed and orders him to just fill out the paperwork already. Aaron finally admits the other reason he came so far to get this checked out -- he has no insurance. Mere thinks Alex could ask Bailey to do it pro bono, but Alex absolutely doesn't want to do that. Cristina overhears the conversation and comes right over, shocked that Alex has a brother, and after meeting him asks Alex why he can't be nice like Aaron? Alex shoots back, "Why can't you?" and Cristina shrugs and admits, "Fair enough," before pulling Mere away. I like a woman who knows herself.
Mere says she called Cristina ten times and Cristina explains that Owen isn't doing well, and she turned off her phone in hopes that he might talk about it, but he didn't. "I hate men. They're stupid." Mere responds by announcing that Derek asked her to have a baby with him that morning. It wasn't quite so cut and dried like that, but Mere is so terrified at the idea that that is how she saw it. Cristina laughs and adds, "Really stupid." Meredith makes a terrified face, but Cristina gets paged and has to go down to the ER to work with Owen, who is still in his "dark place." She runs off, no time to talk more about babies.
She isn't the only one who got paged -- there are about 20 people waiting for the ambulance when it arrives carrying a policewoman, Gina, with multiple gunshot wounds. Hunt comments on the number of police cars that escorted her there, but when they pull her out of the ambulance she tells them she's going to be fine and that she's been in worse shape. As any TV cop worth their salt would say, she announces, "You should see the other guys." They all look as three guys are rushed in from other ambulances and Callie asks amazed if she really took out three guys by herself. "Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Am I right, ladies?" Teddy, Callie and Cristina certainly look impressed.
As they all work on Gina, Teddy and Hunt are so in tune that they are completing each other's sentences. Her worried husband Jimmy rushes in and he's followed by her boss, who is super angry that she disobeyed a direct order by not waiting for backup, and endangered herself and others. She's pissed on account of the fact that she didn't injure anyone else and in fact got all three guys on her own, but her only reward is that she is suspended, and her case is going to be reviewed and she could not have a job by the end of the day. This freaks her out more than anything, and that combined with the internal bleeding in her chest make things pretty rough for a few moments, and the doctors clear everyone else out of the room.
Lexie and April are in the OR with Richard working on Mrs. Clark. Lexie is invested in the surgery, but April is distracted by Derek, who is observing from the gallery. They totally catch her and she makes a lame comment about how she wasn't expecting him there, but that she supposes it is his job to evaluate and observe, golly gee. Testily Richard informs her that he is the only one who is observing and evaluating her, and unspoken is his demand to get her lovesick eyes back on the body in front of them. She can only stand it for a second though, and sneaks a second glance, not realizing that Lexie totally catches her doing it.
Bailey is sneaking in some time with Tuck in the nursery when Alex finds her. She uses Tuck to try and shoo him away with an adorable little wave, but Alex pulls up a tiny chair and tells her about his brother. Bailey carries on the whole conversation through little Tuck, telling him she didn't know Alex had a brother, did he? Tuck stays quite silent through the whole thing, more interested in his blocks than in Aaron's potential pro bono surgery. Bailey laughs at the suggestion and tells Tuck/Alex that she has a ton of surgeries to schedule which leaves little time for her to perform a free surgery but Alex tells her he'll schedule her surgery for a week, then ups it to two weeks and then a month when she keeps playing with Tuck without giving him an answer. She agrees to do it, and after he leaves she tells Tuck that she would have just done the surgery, but then Alex just kept talking!
Lexie goes down to find Mr. Clark after surgery and tells him that Mrs. Clark came through with flying colors, and they got all of her tumor out. He's so relieved he gets teary as he thanks her, and admits that his wife is always telling him to be more manly about these things. She's the one with cancer yet she's afraid he's the one that won't make it. It's sweet until you think about it for too long -- come on, dude, don't make your cancer-stricken wife care for you on top of herself. But she's great and I'm sure nothing is going to go horribly and surprisingly wrong as Lexie asks if he wants to go see her.
Bailey is shocked that Aaron took so long to have his bump looked at, but he just tells her that Karevs are tough, which will happen after five years in foster care. Bailey and Mere are both incredibly surprised to hear that, and even more so when they hear that Alex was in approximately 17 different foster homes over the course of five years, on account of his mom having serious issues and no meds to help her, and his dad being a monster. As is still the case, Alex could be hard to deal with if you didn't know him, so no one wanted to keep him. The surprise doesn't end there, but grows even more when Aaron mentions that Alex was sent to Juvenile Hall around age 11 for stealing food when their mom forgot to buy it for them. [He's just like Jean Valjean -- Angel]The man himself walks in with a question for Bailey and they fall silent, and between that and their faces Alex realizes Aaron has been talking about him and orders him to stop. Bailey just sends him back to work and then, over Mere's light protest, asks Aaron to go on enlightening them, as everything about Alex's tough personality is now falling into place.
Gina is talking to a police investigator to give her version of the events when Callie comes in to take her to surgery. Gina wants to wait so that she can give the guy some more details, but her husband cuts her off and reminds her that for the past seven years she's been saying that as soon as she makes detective they will buy a house and have kids, but then each time she gets close to a promotion she does something stupid. Whether conscious or not, it's clear where her feelings lie on that issue. He tells her that that he's not going to stand there and watch her die while she tries to put off the doctors, and Callie watches this exchange with a somber expression on her face as she realizes she could be facing a very similar conversation in her own life (most likely minus the gunshot wounds).
Richard and April are in Mrs. Clark's room and he demands that April tell him whatever she just did in a voice that tells her and us that something is Very Wrong. It seems she was weaning Mrs. C off of the ventilator but saw she wasn't breathing, so she reset the machine. She starts to sound panicky as she asks what happened and Richard tells her that the woman might have had a stroke. He orders her to get various scans and tests done immediately, but cuts himself off when Lexie and Mr. Clark walk in, both beaming. Mr. Clark cries and tells his supposedly sleeping wife that she looks great, they got the tumor, and honey, are you still sleeping? It's laid on a little thick -- wouldn't she still be sleeping at this point anyway? But we know that this is probably more than sleep and that Mr. Clark is about to have the worst day ever. April runs out, and Lexie looks at Richard, realizing something isn't right.
As Derek looks at Mrs. Clark's scans, April gazes at Derek with puppy love in her eyes, and is stricken when Meredith pops in and comments on the massive bleed that they are studying. Things only get worse for her when Derek gazes at his wife and tells her how pretty she is in scrubs. Mere asks him what they are going to do about the stroke they are looking at, and to April's shock he tells her that it's too big and there's nothing they can do. Proving he's good at emotionally disconnecting, he then turns to Meredith and asks her to go get coffee, and they flirt their way out the door while April pines away.
The whole gang of doctors from before are in the OR working on Gina, and Hunt pulls out a bullet he calls a "devastator" because it's sharp like shrapnel and can explode on impact, and they are told to be very careful. Callie makes some thoughtless conversation, asking if anyone can imagine going to work where you have to worry about getting shot at, and the Army vets exchange glances. Cristina of course thinks that Gina is awesome, and she and Callie gripe about her husband practically saying he wants babies or he is leaving; Callie asks why it always has to be one or the other, and Teddy wisely points out that you don't want kids when you are facing mortar fire every day, as it screws with your head. Callie seems to recall that she's with someone who has been there, and asks Teddy if that's why she doesn't have kids. Teddy points out she had her residency, and then Iraq, and then she also hasn't met the right guy yet. Well, she says that, at least, though deep down she might not believe that last part. Cristina expresses surprise that Teddy wants kids, Callie expresses surprise that Cristina doesn't, and Cristina asks, "Have you met me?" Seriously. Cristina doesn't seem to notice the silence that is her boyfriend frowning at this revelation, especially as she thinks she can feel the bullet in Gina's chest and tries to get it. She digs for it but as Hunt yells "Don't!" there's a small explosion and blood spatters across their faces. Teddy is pissed but Hunt is positively furious, and when Cristina asks in panicked confusion what just happened, he snaps that she basically just fired a bullet into the patient's chest. He glares at her while she tries to make sense of whatever that just was.
Meredith is on a computer at the nurses' station showing Aaron his scan, and as all TV hicks/daredevils/smartasses do, he asks for a copy to put on his fridge. Arizona comes up and asks to use the computer so Meredith introduces them, not realizing that everything is going to hell in a split second. Arizona is excited and bubbly as usual, and asks him why she didn't meet him at the wedding. Mere tries to jump in at this point but Arizona is on a roll and can't be stopped, babbling that she remembers now it was last minute. Aaron asks what wedding, and Arizona tells him it was Alex's while Mere tries to say it was no one's. Arizona finally realizes things are getting hairy but Lexie walks up and hears Aaron telling them he can't believe Alex would get married and not call, so she jumps in to accidentally muck things up even more by saying it sounds weird but it was spur of the moment because of the cancer. Cue Aaron's freakout that Alex has cancer, then his question about who Izzie is, and then his general system overload when Lexie explains that Izzie left, then came back, and then Alex decided it wasn't right any more. Mere finally is able to shut her up but it's about five personal revelations too late and Lexie realizes that she just made quite a mistake.
Richard has obviously delivered the bad news to Mr. Clark, but he doesn't seem to be able to absorb it, so Richard has poor Lexie explain. With tears in her eyes she tells him that his wife has a massive hemorrhage and now has minimal brain activity. Unfortunately he grasps on to the word "minimal" and thinks that there's hope since they didn't say "none." April has to explain how the ventilator is the only thing keeping her alive, and when she mentions turning it off Mr. Clark turns into a rabid animal, demanding to know why they would turn it off. It seems Mrs. Clark signed a directive three years earlier to not be kept alive by a ventilator, and despite her husband's argument that she did that when she thought she was dying of cancer but she beat the odds, made it, and will make it this time too, Richard tells him that legally they have no choice. He tries to tell them that it should be his choice, but Richard sadly tells him it's not the case, so Mr. Clark turns and takes all of his heartbreak out on Lexie, yelling at her for telling him the surgery went well and calling her a child and useless before demanding to see who is in charge. It can't help this moment for Richard that he then has to go to Derek rather than just pointing out that he's the man as would have happened previously.
As Bailey and Mere prep Aaron for the free surgery that he really does need, he tells them that Alex protected he and his sister all their lives, and even kicked their dad's ass so hard he never came back. He sounds admiring but then adds that maybe Alex just liked throwing punches, and Mere warns him sweetly that while she likes Aaron she can't have him talking about her friend that way. I like when Mere and Alex get to be friends -- maybe it's because they seem to be the only people each other hasn't slept with, so they have some sort of special chastity bond or something? Whatever it is, it makes for a good relationship. They put Aaron under and once he's gone, Bailey tells Mere that while she's not easily impressed, she's impressed with Alex for growing up with a "junkie dad" and "crackpot mom" and still becoming a doctor.
Lexie is slumped at the desk outside of Mrs. Clark's room, and Richard comes by to tell her that they are meeting with Mr. Clark in Derek's office in five minutes. Mark walks up in time to overhear the end of the conversation and Lexie, needing someone to talk to and not caring that she and Mark haven't really been able to coexist lately, spills about what happened and how now they are supposed to just unplug Mrs. Clark. She knows she's supposed to be tough and not care but obviously is having a hard time with that and desperately she asks Mark how he manages to not care. Mark sighs and then admits, "It's the hardest part of the job. The very hardest part." When she asks how one learns he tells her he's still learning, and the look on his face very clearly shows that he's only still learning how not to care about Lexie herself.
The others are all still working on Gina's surgery and Callie sees her vitals and realizes that something must still be bleeding. The doctors get to work, and rather disgustingly start scooping blood and clots out from her abdomen while they are trying to find whatever it might be. Hunt clearly hasn't calmed down and gripes about how they would have found this bleed earlier if they hadn't been dealing with "artillery" in the OR but Teddy orders him to stuff it for now. Callie is clearly uncomfortable while Cristina looks completely alarmed and with good reason -- even though Hunt shuts up, he continues to glare at Cristina accusingly.
He's scrubbing out when Cristina shuffles out of the OR and pulls her mask down, staring at him, but he just glares at her and storms out. Defeated, she starts scrubbing and Teddy joins her and immediately apologizes, saying it was their fault for speaking in shorthand and forgetting that the other docs are civilians who don't know ballistics. Cristina cuts her off, though, to tell her that the problem isn't specifically what happened, but that it's not the first time. "He's been..." she trails off, not sure of what to say, and Teddy tells her that he's been through a lot. Cristina points out that he doesn't talk about it and Teddy defends that he can't, and that she has a hard time talking about it too but didn't have it nearly as bad as he did in Iraq. She tells her that he's "triggered" right now and that the triggers might never go away but they could get better if she gives him time; Teddy then turns to her and practically begs her to give him time because he's in love with her. Her heart is clearly still broken and it's almost like she herself needs Hunt to be in love with Cristina or else all of this crap she's gone through will have been for naught. When Teddy says Hunt needs time, Cristina counters that what he needs more is therapy, but Teddy warns her not to tell Hunt to go because he's a [stereotype alert!] man that way, and he'll never do what he's told to do. She advises Cristina instead to just tell him how she feels.
Callie is sitting in a darkened break room and when Bailey comes in to get some coffee, Callie asks her what the best time is to have kids. After thinking a moment, Bailey tells a surprised Callie, "Never." Callie, you're better than this -- you're a savvy grown woman and by this point I think we all have learned either personally or just through other people in our lives that there's never the perfect time to have kids. But she seems to really not know this and listens in shock as Bailey tells her how they sap everything from you until you have nothing left. Of course there's a flip side to this, and Bailey goes on to tell Callie how Tuck woke her up that morning and when he ordered her to wake up he actually made the "k" sound for the first time, rather than using his usual (and adorable) "wade up." She beams as she talks about how proud she was, and tells Callie that the pride is at least as good as any whipple. To finish her answer, she says that if Callie tries to wait for the perfect time, she'll never do it.
Meredith finds Alex updating the surgery board; she tells him that they finished Aaron's surgery and it went well, describing how it was pretty big, but Bailey fixed him all up and he'll be waking up soon if Alex wants to stop by. He finally nods -- the first sign he's heard anything she said -- and as she walks off to let him digest the news he turns and watches her go.
Mr. Clark is sitting across from Derek in his office while Richard stands to the side, and April and Lexie are back in the corner watching the horrible conversation. When Derek tells Mr. Clark how sorry he is for the man's loss, Mr. Clark orders him not to talk about his wife like she's already dead. He again voices hope that she could wake up, and firmly Derek tells him that she won't. When they talk about her signed directive her husband again argues that it was something she signed three years earlier, so Derek describes how her health will deteriorate, and Richard adds how expensive it will be. Mr. Clark doesn't care, nor does he want Derek suggesting that he has any idea what Mrs. Clark might have been thinking about not wanting either her or her husband to have that kind of life. Derek is actually hitting a perfect balance between sympathetic and firm, one I feel he hasn't been able to quite achieve before this -- his scales always tend to tilt towards "pompous." But he finally tells Mr. Clark that the ethics board reviewed the case and decided that the hospital has to obey the directive. Mr. Clark accuses them of killing her by unplugging the machine, but Derek just stays calm and tells the man to take all the time he needs to call the family and say goodbye. That's what tips Mr. Clark's own scale, and he slumps and tells them that there isn't anyone to call because it was just the two of them, and they never had any kids. Wow, that was subtle. Derek just looks sad, and April is staring at him with lovesick eyes again but this time she realizes that Lexie has caught her. She runs out of the office but Lexie is on her heels.
Out in the hall she yells at April that Derek is her sister's husband, and April tries to act confused but Lexie orders her not to play stupid. April drops the guise immediately and whines that she isn't playing, she really is stupid as well as humiliated. She cries that she's never felt like this before, and then begs Lexie to forget what she saw and go back to the way things were, promising that she'll never see anything like that again. April begs, and finally Lexie just turns and storms down the hall, yelling, "This day sucks! I hate this day!" I feel for her, but it's also kind of awesome because it so embodies just how I feel when you have one of those hopeless, terrible, everything-that-can-does-go-wrong kind of days and there's nothing left to do but stamp your foot.
When Aaron wakes up, he finds Alex doing paperwork in a chair to his bed. Even though he's groggy from surgery he seems suitably subdued and tells Alex he doesn't have to be there, but Alex gruffly replies that he's just making sure Aaron doesn't die and then he's leaving. Aaron stares at the ceiling and then admits to Alex that he was a better parent than both of their actual parents combined, that he feels guilty that Amber only has him and not Alex to help her out, and he asks Alex what happened. Alex helplessly reminds Aaron that he sends money home to them every month (!) and sends their mom her medications (!!) and asks if he wants that to stop. He really does have the soft center we knew he had under that tough exterior. He then admits that he's so close to making it as a surgeon, and, "I can't be in that and do this." Aaron is teary but seems to understand, and he tells Alex that Amber turned out well and he'd like her; Alex reminds Aaron that he turned out okay too. Aaron, finally realizing he probably was a little rash in accusing Alex of dumping his wife, says he's sorry she left or got cancer or whatever -- still confused by the crazy storytelling from the morning. Don't worry Aaron, we're all going to get over it mighty quick! Oh wait, there I go again with the celebrating. Alex is more subdued than me and just thanks him.
Gina is awake and her husband is in her room as the doctors give them the report on the surgery -- her husband is appropriately horrified when he hears about the bullet and shrapnel (or shrapnel-like bullet, as it were) near her heart, and she thanks them profusely. They all seem to have been avoiding something, though, and Callie finally admits that there were lots of complications, and in order to stop the bleeding they had to remove her uterus. Both of them are in complete shock and can't seem to really absorb the news at first, but when he asks if they can never have kids and Callie nods, Gina breaks down and he tries to assure her that it's okay. There's another long lingering shot of this being Extra Meaningful for Callie and her current dilemma.
April and Lexie both watch Mr. Clark through the window as he sits with his wife. Richard comes up and when he hears that it's been three hours, tells Lexie that it's time and to, "See it through." Lexie takes a deep breath and then walks in, and Richard keeps his eyes only on her throughout this difficult task. Mr. Clark begs her for more time but now he's just broken rather than angry, and Lexie apologizes as she walks slowly around the bed. Mr. Clark tells her that he keeps telling himself there's a chance that she'll wake up when the machine is turned off, and looks to Lexie desperately for encouragement. But she sticks to her guns and sees it through; managing only barely to keep her tears from spilling over, she again says she's sorry and then flips the machine off. He begs his wife to wake up but nothing happens, and basically it's just horrible for everyone involved.
Later that night, Richard is still at the window while Mr. Clark sits with his wife's body. Derek walks up, and Richard asks if he was checking up on him during the surgery earlier. Derek claims he was just observing since the observation deck is as close as he gets to an OR these days -- I guess he didn't take Richard's advice to schedule one early surgery a day? -- and Richard says dryly that he's going to choose to believe that answer. He's clearly sad for what happened but Derek tells him there's nothing that he could have done, and advises Richard to go home to his wife like Derek is now going to do. Of course, April is there to hear this and look as bereft as ever, despite telling Lexie it would never happen again.
Callie and Cristina are working on Gina and Cristina assures her that she'll be "back on the beat" in no time. After some laughs at her unsure use of police lingo, her husband tells the doctors that she won't, and Gina explains that they talked about it and she's quitting her job. Both of the doctors are shocked, but she seems at peace with it and smiles at her husband as she says that while she loves her job, she loves him too and they're going to adopt a slew of Haitian orphans. As the couple gazes at each other in a loved-up haze and the doctors are congratulating them, her boss comes in and sternly tells her that he did the best he could about her job. She tries to tell him that it's okay but he cuts her off and announces that they want her back on the job, and as she asks if he's kidding all of her fellow cops file in and congratulate her. Her poor husband is pushed to the side, and she tellingly just thanks them and repeats a dazed but happy refrain of, "Oh my God!" instead of putting an end to the celebration. Callie watches him scowl as he realizes that his dream is probably gone only a few minutes after it seemingly came true.
Meredith gets home and finds Alex eating some suspiciously Lucky-Charm-Looking "Crispy Puffs" out of a box, so she sits down and asks about Aaron. Alex said he went home, and when Mere is surprised that he let him drive, Alex shrugs it off, pointing out that he's not Aaron's dad and he has his number. Meredith realizes there are unspoken issues floating around and makes sure Alex knows that he is nothing like his father. Alex turns to her and replies that she's nothing like her mother, and hands over the box, telling her that she's a good person and will make a good mom. Ah, Crispy Puffs, bringing people together. Mere smiles as her VO kicks in: "It's the most important job in the world.
You probably should need a license to do it, but then most of us wouldn't even pass the written exam." Callie is reading in bed when Arizona comes out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, and sits down on the bed with a bottle of lotion. She sits facing Callie like she wants to talk, but then begins to babble about her lotion and starts trying to read the crazy chemically list of ingredients to fill the silence. Callie cuts her off and calmly tells her, "I want to have a baby." She then explains that she can't talk about all of this nothing just because they don't agree on the baby issue. Arizona thinks a moment, and though she looks a wee bit terrified, says slowly, "So, we're gonna talk about it." Callie agrees, also clearly nervous. Mere VOs, "Some people are naturals. They were born to do it.
"Some have other gifts." Owen, it seems, has the gift of cooking -- Cristina is surprised when she gets home to find him making dinner. She seems deflated but he's actually in a good mood, and after a few beats of not knowing what to say, she tries to sound bright as she tells him it smells good and realizes he's baking bread too. As she looks in the oven, he comments super casually that she doesn't want to have kids, and given how this is just an even weirder turn to an already awkward exchange, she's caught totally off-guard. She then notices the sausage he has on the stove is burning and though he tells her it's fine, she grabs a towel to take it off. He grabs it away from her with his bare hand, and swears as he throws it full-force into the sink, his mood immediately going dark. When he turns to apologizes, Cristina visibly flinches, and it shocks him into the reality of what just happened as he asks her incredulously if she's scared of him. She thinks a while, searching for words and trying not to cry, and finally takes Teddy's advice to tell him how she feels by answering, "I don't want to be." He slumps and immediately realizes that he has to go back to Dr. Amy, and starts to break down a bit. She sees this and immediately reaches her hand out to him and tells him it's okay as he takes it. Uuuugh, as we get closer to the end of the season, when shows really like to shake things up, I get more and more worried for these two. I really want to see them work through all this and make it but I have a very bad feeling I might not get that. We'll see.
"But the good news is, biology dictates you don't have to do it alone." It's still a shock that Meredith and Derek are still currently the most stable couple on the show, but I will definitely take it after all the on-off years. She realizes that he's lost in thought and when she gets his attention, he admits seriously that he doesn't want her to be alone if anything happens to him. Mere admits with a cautious smile that they would make pretty babies, and he beams as he realizes she has been thinking about the subject of little ones. That said, she immediately tells him they aren't making the babies now, and they agree to just practice. "You can waste your whole life wondering, but the only way to find out what kind of parent you'd be is to finally stop talking about it...
"...And just do it." Oh dear. I hope she's not telling Teddy and Mark to just make some babies just yet, as that's who we join, with Mark drizzling chocolate sauce down Teddy's spine and then slowly licking it off. He tells her he wants her to enjoy herself, and while she clearly is, she's also struggling with something and admits she needs to be honest with him about something. Mark, who is generally more perceptive than he is ever given credit for, just tells her that she doesn't have to say anything now if she's honestly enjoying herself. When she tells him she is, he says that for now that's as honest as she has to be. I wonder what she wants to admit, and if it's that she's still thinking about a certain ginger former Army Major, and if he's not too worried about it because he's possibly thinking about a particular now-blonde resident. They start to get down to business when the doorbell rings, and then keeps ringing over and over, so Mark goes up to shoo whoever it is away. Unfortunately, it's Sloan Sloan, mid-contraction and yelling that the baby is coming right now. I guess this is the annoying tradeoff we get for not having to deal with Izzie any longer.
Find out who will be guest-starring on the final episodes of Grey's this season.