So fifth year really is starting to get competitive -- Alex has to hand over some of his surgeries to Arizona, who is courting some super crazy impressive resident who is in the running for her fellowship. Alex spends the day being a depressed jerk but that night when he is at the bar the girl comes in to get a drink and he overhears her on the phone complaining that Arizona could only talk about Alex and how awesome he is.
Meredith and Bailey are pulled off of mouse duty for a day when a VIP patient comes to the hospital, and that patient turns out to be none other than Mrs. O'Malley. She had a surgery done at Seattle Presbyterian but they botched it and so she sucked it up and came to Seattle Grace to have them fix it. She's obviously a little bit scared and is very emotional, especially when she sees Callie for the first time in years. Callie decides not to drop the bomb about her sexuality and new wife but Mrs. O saw her wedding ring and peppers Mere with questions. Meredith tells Callie that she thinks that whether Callie tells her the truth or not, she thinks Callie should be there for her after her surgery since Mrs. O loved her so much. They're doing surgery because Mere figured out what was wrong with her, but in the process pissed Bailey off because she ran extra tests that weren't what Bailey had ordered. Mere finally confronts her as they get ready to scrub in and reminds her that she may have screwed things up and not have a lot of control over certain things, but she is a good surgeon. Bailey finally swallows her pride and lets Mere do the surgery, and while they are working says it's hard for a parent or similar person to see a child they raised do something stupid and screw up their lives, even if they did that something for a good reason. Having said that, she offers an olive branch in the form of advising Meredith on what she should wear in her court hearing so that she looks like a warm and loving mother.
When Mrs. O wakes up from surgery Callie is there and just blurts out everything about her life now. When she sees her former mother-in-law crying she thinks she disappointed her but it turns out that she is crying with happiness to hear that Callie had a baby and they re-bond while looking at cute pictures on her phone.
Henry is at the hospital to observe Teddy kicking ass in the OR, and he's so excited by it all that after a romp in the on-call room (she's making this day in the hospital as authentic as possible) he admits that he wants to go to med school. She's totally against it, finally admitting that she likes life as-is and doesn't want to be married to a med student for the ten years. Henry's pretty offended since he thinks that she just wants him to be the adoring husband while she gets the glory, so he cuts his day short and leaves. When she gets home she seems to have mellowed and wants to talk about their first fight but it's quickly forgotten when she finds him coughing up blood. Please, can we not kill off another likeable, hot non-surgeon love interest?? We won't know the answer to that this week, though.
The surgery that Henry did see was Teddy and Cristina harvesting a heart for transplant, but the recipient dies before they send it away, so they leave it hooked up to a nifty machine that keeps it warm and beating until a team from a new hospital can arrive. Cristina's having a bitch of a time coming up with her surgical bucket list because she is writing down every surgery that pops into her head, interesting or not. Richard takes a look at this list and tells her that the beating heart is the key to her making the list. Finally, Cristina has the realization that if something isn't as cool as the heart in a box, it's not worth going on the list. With that, she makes an edited version of the list that Richard heartily endorses.
Derek has decided that his project is to find patients with hopeless, inoperable conditions and to try to fix them, and it's basically as obnoxious as it sounds. He also has a lot of time because he has a patient (played by the always-awesome Alfre Woodard) with three aneurysms, and one has sprung a leak and needs to be fixed. But the patient is an author who is trying to finish her book and refuses to go into surgery until it is done. Derek orders Lexie to convince her to do it now, and Lexie winds up taking dictation and typing up the rest of the book and getting really, really into it. Let's face it, this sounds like something I'd totally read too -- a sort of time-travel love triangle.
If you think this sounds conveniently like it might parallel what's going on in Lexie's life with Mark and Jackson, then you've definitely watched TV before. Jackson spends the day avoiding Mark and a really cool surgery because he's so uncomfortable about Lexie's obvious jealousy and lingering feelings for him. Mark freaks out because he senses that Jackson is leaving but he truly does like working with him and wants to continue teaching him. Also, he seems to have no clue about Lexie's feelings even though she did just hit his girlfriend with a softball. Jackson goes to talk to the all-knowing heart in a box and finally tells Lexie that she's obviously still got feelings for Mark but that he wants to keep working with the guy, which means that he's got to break up with her. Lexie had just come from a fight with Alfre about the end of the book, and how the girl in the middle should end up with the guy who is sweet and wonderful and good for her, but Alfre insists that the guy may be good, but the heroine's soulmate is the good-for-nothing pickpocket character. Lexie kind of breaks down when she seems to realize that while Jackson is sweet and wonderful and good for her, her soulmate might just be the equivalent of a French pickpocket.
It's morning in Seattle, ushered in by the birds... and the bees, at least at Casa Grey-Shepherd. Meredith thinks that they should be practicing their statement for the judge, since their hearing is only 36 hours away. But Derek is more interested in trying to pull her shirt off. Once again, just in case we don't remember that there is an empty hole in their lives, there's a loving close-up of the empty crib to really drive it home. Though really, Derek only seems interested in some morning booty and tells Meredith that if they speak from the heart, that's all the judge will need to hear to realize they truly are Zola's parents and he should send the baby home with them. Thank goodness he was a surgeon and not a lawyer. He finally convinces her to focus on the nookie at hand, and she VO's about how when a surgery goes to hell, it just takes a surgeon a few nifty moves to fix it all again.
At the hospital, Lexie runs into Jackson and asks him if everything is okay since he left the house before she even realized it that morning. She doesn't notice that he's pouting and inventing lame excuses, and he finally manages a smile until the elevator arrives, and seeing Mark inside wipes it right off of his face. Jackson notices her discomfort but Mark is oblivious since he's so pumped to do a nerve graft procedure with Jackson later. Mere's VO laments that you can't use a scalpel to handle all of life's challenges.
Mere and Bailey appear to be still working together under their uneasy, Richard-forced truce but while Mere has a big pile of data for her Bailey ignores that and tells her that they have something "bigger" to worry about than mice. She's not amused when Mere asks, "guinea pigs?"
As Alex gets ready for his day, Arizona comes up and unceremoniously takes two fancy-sounding surgeries from him. Well, she asks, but it's one of those questions that really only has one right answer. She has a prospective fellow with the most twee name in the world -- Polly Preston -- coming in to observe and since she's being courted by the likes of USC (ew) and Johns Hopkins, Hunt wants her to get the star treatment and scrub in on some surgeries. Wait, come on. "Polly Preston?" No wonder she excelled; she had do to something badass like surgery to get past the fact that her name implies she'll have pigtails and be sucking on a lollipop. Alex is just shocked to hear that she's got candidates coming in already about the fellowship.
Alfre Woodard, is in the hospital this week, playing a patient named Justine and winning my heart by ignoring Derek completely. Though really, she should probably be listening since he's talking to her about her three aneurysms (which she's had for a while) and how one has sprung a leak. She dryly tells Lexie that he's been warning her for years about needing surgery and gives Derek permission to tell her, "I told you so," though she doesn't seem like she's going to pay much attention to him. She's a famous writer and she tells him that she'll only do the surgery when she's finished with her book. She and Derek spar through Lexie as it's pointed out that the risks of waiting are the same as the risks of botched surgery: stroke, hemorrhage and death. So, a big party is what they are saying. Of course, what's not said is that those chances are probably a lot smaller in surgery than they are just letting one's aneurysm slowly leak. Even Derek can't help but be mildly amused at her comebacks for a moment. She explains that, for her readers, she just has to figure out how to get Kate to the bridge to meet Nathan before she's pulled back in time. Dude, that sounds like a book I would read. She then promises she'll go right under Derek's knife; he's done being amused by her but she tells him, "Between your voice and my leaky aneurysm I'm having a bitch of a time focusing, so..." and she dismisses him with the brush of her hand. Fed up, he leaves, and Lexie trots after him.
Mere trots after Bailey as she explains that they have a patient who is very important to Bailey personally, and since Bailey has a crowded day Mere is going to have to take care of anything Bailey asks for and repeatedly report back with results. Bailey adds that the woman lost both her husband and son in the hospital; "I will not have another O'Malley lost under this roof." Meredith is stunned to learn that their V.I.P. is George's mom but she's not given any time to think about it since Bailey leads her in and an emotional Mrs. O greets Mere and holds out her arms happily for a hug. Mere gives it while shooting Bailey a deer-in-the-headlights smile.
Teddy and Cristina are assisting on a surgery and as they work, Teddy asks Cristina about how her wish list is coming. Cristina sounds kind of panicked as she asks if Teddy needs it yet -- it's not finished -- and Teddy reminds her that this is supposed to be fun for her. They stop working while another doc does something and as they stare at the gallery, Cristina notices that Henry is there. Teddy brought him in to observe and she's all gooey and proud as Teddy gives her a happy, flirty wink from above. The doctor working away is from UCLA (go Bruins!) and he happily pulls out a heart that he's going to take for a transplant. He's attached a tube to it and then hands it over to the women, who together put it in a fancy box with valves attached; they hook up the tube and watch as the heart keeps beating and Teddy marvels at how awesome it is that "she" is going to fly to L.A. without even realizing she was taken out of her first body. The visiting doc gets a call and then swears, telling Teddy that his patient just died; he then rips off his mask and throws it to the floor in anguish like all good thwarted television doctors. Cristina looks at the heart pumping merrily away and wistfully notes, "All dressed up and no place to go."
As Bailey moves a nurse out of the way to just take care of Mrs. O herself, Mrs. O explains that she had her gallbladder removed at Seattle Presbyterian three weeks earlier and that she's gone back with some issues but they keep telling her she's fine. Bailey is clucking about her like a worried mother hen while Mere starts to feel her abdomen, and Mrs. O explains that her sons insisted that she have her surgery at another hospital because of all of the O'Malley deaths that have taken place there. She is in quite some pain and sheepishly admits that she's been having some pretty bad symptoms; Mere gently chides her with a smile and she forgets about the pain and gushes about how proud she is of Meredith and how happy she is to have her as her doctor. Mere is uncomfortable with all of this but still gracious. Mrs. O says she could keep hearing George's voice telling her to just go to Seattle Grace and that they would take good care of her; Bailey orders a bunch of tests and then promises that they will do that, with a very pointed look at her still-not-forgiven assistant.
Cristina is waiting with Heart in a Box as Teddy explains that they found a match for "her" at Columbia, but that it will be hours for the team to come pick her up and that she will need her vitals monitored until then. Cristina forgets everything she finally learned and says she'll get an intern to watch it, but Teddy quickly points out that this is a beating heart in a box and that she wants Cristina taking care of something so important. She points out that this will give Cristina time to finish her bucket list, too. She leaves, while Cristina slumps in her seat and shoots some seriously annoyed side-eye to the heart.
Owen and Derek are looking at a bunch of scans and while Owen says he can't approve whatever Derek is asking, Derek replies that he's not asking -- he's just giving Owen a courtesy heads-up. Owen leaves for a board meeting and Lexie walks in to find Derek with a proud smirk on his face. The scans all show various awful brain afflictions, and Derek explains to Lexie that he's looking for patients who have been told their cases are helpless, and he's going to tell them that yes, he'll try to fix them. In other words, his latest career move is to play God. Lexie thinks this is awesome; even more so when he tells her that she's going to help him with all these things. But when he realizes that Justine is about to check herself out of the hospital against medical advice he snaps at Lexie that if she can't get the woman to say yes to a simple life-saving surgery, she's obviously not ready for things like the big amorphous white blob he's pointing at. He tells her that once he gets Justine to say yes to surgery, she can help him out with the great blobs of the world. He's happy when she agrees -- so I guess he likes Lexie now too and finds her talented, much like how he's suddenly in love with Mere again. And one butterfly tumor was all it took to have him change from thinking she's inept to thinking she's a great assistant for impossible, medical-history-defying cases. I'm getting whiplash from all of these immediate changes of heart.
Jackson is moaning to April about his romantic problems but she's not really paying attention and just says what he wants to hear. Well, until she reminds him that Lexie did hit Mark's girlfriend with a softball, so he really might have a problem on his hands. He decides he has to think about things and can't work with Mark but April refuses to change the schedule around just because he's acting like a scorned teenager. Alex then comes in complaining about losing all of his surgeries to Polly Preston, and April has a minor orgasm upon hearing that her "number one peer role model" is in the hospital. Her hair is extra bouncy today and she's got a lot of sass -- could she be taking Mama Avery's advice these days? Anyhoo, Jackson offers Alex the nerve graft with Mark and he happily accepts, so April grudgingly switches their schedules around.
Lexie walks in to Justine's room just to see the woman wince from a particularly bad headache. She points out that clipping the aneurysm would take care of those pesky pains and adds that she's sure that Justine's publisher would extend her deadline. Justine explains that she's not worried about the publisher, just about her readers who are waiting for her to finish a 10-year series of books. Lexie's less than tactful when she expresses surprise that Justine is that popular and earns a withering stare; she apologizes quickly and points out that surgical residents don't have a lot of time to read. To everything Lexie says Justine insists that she needs to give the readers closure on Kate, Nathan and Alexander, and that she doesn't want to risk that she might not come out of surgery and would then leave everyone hanging. When Lexie tells her simply that she just wants to help, Justine raises and eyebrow and asks how fast she can type.
Cristina is surrounded by books with post-its marking hundreds of pages when Richard walks in to see Heart in a Box. "Hot diggity." He makes me think about one of my most cherished gifts, the Hot Diggity Dogger. I suppose if anything can hold a candle to a dedicated hot dog toaster, it's a heart in a box, so I'll allow his excited use of this expression. Cristina ignores him as she clearly doesn't share his appreciation for HIAB, and he finally asks what she's doing. Once she tells him, he snatches her list to read it before she can stop him. He flips through pages and pages and, disappointed, tells her that the list is full of totally common procedures. Cristina helplessly argues, "She let a starving person loose in a grocery store!" Richard offers her some advice, telling her that the heart is the key to the list. Cristina looks at him as if he's completely nuts, and has no idea what he is talking about when he tells her to unlock her mind. He won't help her any further than that, though, and just exclaims one last time of the Hot Diggity Hearter before leaving Cristina alone with her list that's the equivalent of a week's worth of Oreos and soda.
Mere has Mrs. O in a wheelchair and they seem to be waiting, so Mrs. O wants to hear all about how she's been. She's thrilled to hear that Mere is married and doesn't notice Mere's grimace when she asks if they have any kids; Mere tells her they are working on it. Callie and Arizona then round the corner and Callie is shocked and speechless to see her dead ex-husband's mother in front of her. She gives her a big hug and apologizes for not calling, then gets worried when she realizes that her former mother-in-law is a patient. Mere tells her that they are waiting for a CT, and that's when Mrs. O realizes that someone else is standing there. Callie takes a moment and then finally introduces her wife as merely "Dr. Robbins." A tech calls and Mere gleefully rolls Mrs. O away from the awkward conversation, and then Arizona gets a call from Polly and head off to meet her. As she goes, she pointedly tells "Dr. Torres" that she will see her later.
Jackson is studying a YouTube video of a nerve graft when Mark walks in, and he shuts the monitor off just in time as Mark asks him why Alex is suddenly helping out with this surgery they have been prepping for weeks. Because Jackson was determined to be oblivious about the state of his relationship and then decided today to cut off his nose to spite his face, Mark. Mark is just heartbroken that their team has been broken up. "The Plastics Posse? Kicking surgical ass and taking names?" Jackson finds this nickname appalling and Mark admits he was just testing out the sound of it. Jackson lies that he has a paper due and that he can't possibly be late turning it in since it's now fifth year and all. Mark seems to accept the answer and leaves, dejected, while Jackson, who has spent years and years in medical school, goes back to watching a procedure he now won't be doing because of a girl he just realized is still in love with his mentor even though it's been strikingly obvious the entire time.
Callie goes and finds her wife, who is hanging out with Polly, looking intently at the children's art on the wall in the hospital. Callie doesn't realize she's with Polly and immediately launches into an apology that includes comments on their marriage and sexuality. Arizona turns to Polly and asks for a second, so the girl takes off to look at their nuclear protein machines, like you do. Callie's embarrassed to have put her foot in her mouth yet again. But Arizona, to Callie's surprise, totally understands why it is that she didn't tell Mrs. O'Malley about what's going on. She points out that while coming out to one's friends and family is a crucial step, coming out to one's dead husband's ultra-Catholic mother isn't necessarily on the "must" list, at least for them personally. Callie is relieved and thanks her, and Arizona runs off to find her genius would-be fellow.
At lunch, Alex finds Jackson in the cafeteria and gripes that Mark won't shut up about him and the Plastics Posse. Jackson is embarrassed about the name when really, he should probably be making a mental note about how much Mark wants to teach him. Alex gripes that he wishes Arizona talked about him like that. Lexie walks up to them with a really thick book in hand and her finger in the middle, as if she managed to catch up on at least 200 pages in the hour or two since she last saw her patient. She's already obsessed with Kate's waffling between the 1890s Paris pickpocket who she can't trust and the hot American WWII soldier. She then dashes off, sending Jackson an air kiss as she goes. When Alex turns and sees Arizona laughing with Polly, the two disgruntled docs decide to go eat lunch somewhere else.
They wind up joining Cristina, Mere, April, and HIAB in the lounge, where Cristina is still despairing over Richard's riddle-like advice. She tries asking HIAB what to put on her list, or even on her sandwich. But HIAB just beats in her face, taunting her. The subject of George's mom comes up, and when the Mercy Westers ask who George is Alex starts making disparaging comments about him being a creep. George was many things, but "creep" isn't one of them. Alex is off his game with worry about Polly taking his spot. Meredith won't stand for that and yells at him, and to back up her friend, Cristina asks if Alex remembers when he gave George syphilis. Mere asks if he remembers Heart in an Elevator. Even Jackson has heard that story and he's impressed, which irks Alex all the more; Cristina wishes she could put that on her wish list. They all lapse into silence, and then Cristina has a Moment. She looks at HIAB and asks, "Heart in an elevator?" HIAB seems to beat a touch slower for just a second, and everyone other than Cristina is confused. She, on the other hand, declares that Richard is a genius.
Lexie might not be great at being a girlfriend right now, but she's aces at taking dictation. As Justine talks, she starts really getting into the story -- so much so that when she disagrees with what Justine says is about to happen they get into a full-blown argument that's only broken up when Derek walks by. Out in the hall he reminds her that she's supposed to be talking Justine into her surgery, but Lexie maintains that is what she is doing by helping her finish the book. He's not impressed but there's not much he can do about it, so he stalks off and Lexie gets back to the computer.
Her sister, meanwhile, is doing a scope on Mrs. O when Bailey walks in, livid to find her conducting a test that wasn't anything Bailey asked for. Mere ignores the reprimand because she seems to have found what the problem is, but Bailey is fixated on the fact that Meredith wouldn't follow directions. She and Jackson should have a spite-off; it would be a neck-and-neck race. Once she realizes Mere is right, she chides her for celebrating. Mere, who was doing nothing of the sort and was just relieved to have figured out what was wrong with her patient, is confused and seems to be starting to get a wee bit pissed. Bailey orders Mere to prep Mrs. O for surgery and can't help asking if that's too much for Mere. While she's in a delicate position and needs to work together to repair her relationships with people, I wouldn't blame Mere for having another softball game-type outburst again.
Post-surgery, Henry and Teddy are walking down the hall and he's exclaiming over how awesome and sexy a surgeon his wife is while she giggles with delight. She wants him to have the 100 percent authentic Seattle Grace surgeon experience, so she leads him into an on-call room, and when he asks innocently what happens in there, starts to pull his clothes off.
Mere tells Mrs. O what's wrong with her, and between a couple of different scenes I can't tell exactly what that is but it means Seattle Presbyterian botched the surgery but it will be a fairly simple procedure to fix her right up. Mrs. O looks worried but it turns out to have nothing to do with her surgery: she noticed Callie was wearing a ring, and wants to know if she got married. Mere is extremely tactful as she says that she did, and when Mrs. O clasps her hands and wishes her happiness, Mere adds that she seems happy. She asks Mrs. O if she has questions about her surgery but Mrs. O is headed fully down memory lane now, and she muses that after raising all boys it was so nice to have Callie as a daughter, and she misses her. She squeezes Mere's hand and adds that she misses all of them, and that all of them were so important to George. Mere's having a hard time being led down the lane with her, and with tears in her eyes she brings her back around to the surgery. It's not just tears, either -- she's obviously uncomfortable as well, probably because she and the others were so against what George was doing with his life and about to confront him when it turned out he died. Mrs. O assures her that she is ready but the grip she has on Meredith's hand shows that she might still be a little bit nervous to go under the knife under this particular roof.
Mark is working on his nerve graft when he sees Jackson up in the gallery, and he calls up for him to come observe from the OR. Lamely, Jackson tells him he'll only be in the way. Richard then leans in to tell him he's an idiot who has clearly lost his way. But you know what might help him find it again? Heart in a Box. He says he's already seen her, but Richard tells him he has only looked, and now he needs to See. "See it, Avery. See Heart in a Box." Richard makes an awesome guru. Jackson thinks he's insane and so leaves the gallery, and when Mark sees this from below he asks Alex what's up, since he seems distant. "Want me to put a note in his locker?" Alex took the words right out of my mouth. Fortunately, Mark doesn't actually catch what he said and Alex doesn't repeat it.
Callie and Mere run into each other at the surgical board; when Callie sees Mrs. O's name she asks what's wrong, really worried, and is relieved to hear that she should be totally fine. Meredith turns to leave but almost as an afterthought turns back and drops the bomb that Mrs. O knows Callie is married. Callie panics and Meredith calmly points out that she saw Callie's ring, and all that Mere said is that Callie was happy. Callie snaps that it wasn't her place to say anything. That's one of my very favorite comebacks. Was she supposed to ignore the point-blank question? She saved your ass by being as vague as possible, so maybe cut her a break. Good grief. Mere just calmly tells her that Mrs. O misses her, and that even though it's a complicated situation it would be nice if Callie was there when she woke up from surgery. Mere leaves and Callie ponders the idea. Hey, maybe Heart in a Box can advise her!
Derek is studying his Impossible Scans when Mark comes in, and though Derek asks for a moment Mark plows in to yet another pathetic series of questions about Avery that make him sound like a lovesick puppy. Derek finally gives up what he was doing and finally can't help himself and mocks Mark that he's afraid he's about to have his heart broken. Mark is in such a state that he doesn't notice the smile playing at Derek's mouth and agrees wholeheartedly. He claims that he's really invested in seeing Jackson do well and that he enjoys teaching for the first time, and then wonders if he needs to back off. Owen comes in and then tries to flee as soon as Derek tries to rope him in to the conversation. Owen was just trying to talk to Derek, but Derek tells him he knows why he's there, he understands that as Chief Owen is worried about the hospital's mortality rate, he knows how Owen must hate himself saying no so much and turning down cases... Owen finally gives up trying to interrupt this blowhardian lecture. Derek then turns to Mark and advises him that if he loves something, he needs to set it free, and if it comes back -- to this he blows a kiss, so Mark offers to punch him. Okay, I'm still firmly over Derek again, but Patrick Dempsey's smarmy delivery of that last line was brilliant. Mark tries to get Owen's opinion, but he's shut right down.
In the on-call room, post-hookup, Henry declares how much loves that room and Teddy thinks she wants to bring him to work every day. That gives him a perfect opening to talk to her about an idea he claims to know is silly, but that is something he really wants to do. She props herself up to hear it, and he announces that he wants to go back to school. She's surprised but manages to cover and tells him (and herself) that adults do that all the time. But as it turns out, Henry means med school. He's genuinely excited at the idea but she acts as if he just said he wants to become a time traveler; he jumps up and reminds her they have another surgery to get to, and this conveniently keeps him from seeing her aghast expression.
Bailey is scrubbing in when she is joined by Meredith; when Bailey asks her if she double-checked the labs Mere can't help but sound kind of annoyed when she tells her of course she did, and Bailey just defends that she doesn't want any surprises. Mere then casually mentions that Mrs. O thought she would be doing the surgery, and Bailey acts kind of like Mere just suggested they use hot pokers and no anesthetic to get this procedure done. Mere insists that Bailey herself taught her this procedure but Bailey just quips that she thought she taught Meredith a lot of things. Oh lord, ENOUGH. Bailey, you now have to work together, which means you have to LET IT GO. Meredith proves once again, however, that she is calmer than me, and rather than yell back at her superior, she changes the subject to her hearing the day and how she has no idea what to wear that would be right to convince the judge how desperately she wants her daughter back. She talks about feeling useless and frustrated, and then comes back around and tells Bailey that at least here, she isn't useless because she knows how to do the procedure and when to double-check labs. Her approach seems to work, and after appraising her a moment agrees to let her do the surgery.
Cristina is staring serenely at HIAB; she suggests a surgery, watches for a moment, and then crosses it off her list. Jackson has joined her but thinks she's completely nuts, so she decides to be kinder than Richard was and explain what's going on. She tells him that in a normal transplant you take out an organ, put it on ice, put it in someone else's body, and then just wait and hope for it to come back to life. But HIAB is special because she is warm, living, and has never stopped beating -- she's a miracle. Jackson is skeptical, but Cristina tells him that when he realizes he's staring at a miracle, his perspective will change. She's been looking at items on her list and then looking at HIAB, and if that item isn't half as cool as she is, then into the trash it goes. She tells him that HIAB will tell him what's most important. She adds sweetly that she's also just nice to talk to, but by then he's found some of the magic for himself and shuts her up so he can concentrate.
Teddy is tying a surgical cap onto Henry's cute head as he muses about medical school and tells her he thinks UW is a "doable" school. She's been looking less and less happy, but that finally makes her snap, and she tells him that medical school isn't something one just suddenly decides to do. Henry's really good-natured as he pokes holes in her arguments against his doing this; he tells her he's serious about it, and it's no different even though he's far older than she was when she made her decision. As she goes on he starts to get a little bit fed up, and finally she admits that she loves things the way they are right now and doesn't want to be with a med student for the ten years. This thoroughly offends Henry, who replies drily that she'd rather just have him follow her around like an admiring puppy dog. She claims not to mean that, but he's done with the conversation -- he tells her that he was going to die but then he met her and now has insurance, a wife, and an actual life expectancy which he doesn't want to go to waste. He then tells her he'll see her at home, and shows he's at least a little bit prepared for med school since he has the aggravated yanking off of a cap/mask/etc. down pat.
Mere is doing the procedure just fine but Bailey starts shaking her head, and Mere asks if something is wrong. Bailey is just thinking about how Mrs. O worked so hard to raise her son, and then one day he threw himself in front of a bus. And yes, it was to save someone else, but you don't want to watch your child destroy themselves in order to do what they think is right. Oy. I'll ignore how much this makes me want to bang my head into the wall because I love Mrs. O'Malley and am relieved that Bailey and Meredith might actually, finally, work out some sort of truce for themselves. Oh, and I'm supposed to understand that Bailey was mad because she was just heartsick that Meredith destroyed herself to do something she thought was right but really, I still feel like it wasn't her business as much as she clearly thought it was her business. Bailey admits to Mere that she finds her maddening, but her voice has softened and it sounds like she's giving up. She then also admits that George was her favorite, which Meredith well knew and she agrees, "He was the good one." Mere finishes up the surgery and Bailey advises her to wear a sweater set, because that will make her seem warm and motherly to the judge.
Oh good, now it's time for Jackson's obligatory weekly shirtless scene! He's in the locker room when Lexie walks in, responding to his page, and I'm sad to report that he pulls his shirt on before he talks to her. He admits that he skipped a surgery because of whatever is going on with her and Mark, and she's very confused as she tells him (and she believes it) that nothing is going on between them. But Jackson has finally opened his eyes to the truth, and he tells her that while he spent a long time trying to deny it, there totally is. But, he also loves plastics and wants to keep that up, so something has to give and he's realized it has to be their relationship. He's walking away, "From you. For me." Ah, he's pulling the old Kelly Taylor. She's pretty heartbroken and a little bit offended to be dumped for Mark, but when Jackson asks her if she can tell him that he shouldn't do this, she just thinks, so he leaves.
Richard goes in to where Cristina is sitting with HIAB, and she looks both proud and serene as he tells her that he heard the helicopter. Cristina is ready to say goodbye, since HIAB helped her write her list. She hands over one sheet of paper to Richard who reads it and then compliments her on a job well done. He then hands over his own notebook -- he felt inspired and made his own list. Of course, Cristina then sees something cool on there that she wants for her own, so he agrees that if one comes to the hospital they can fight for it. The guys from Columbia walk in and they hand HIAB over; as they wheel her away, Cristina quietly exclaims one last, "Hot diggity." I still want a hot dog.
Lexie pulls herself together and goes to check on Justine, who is groggy but doing well. She knows her name, but when Lexie asks her the date she points out that she never knows that even when she hasn't just had brain surgery, so she needs a different question. Lexie asks, "Why can't Kate choose Nathan?" She's losing her cool again already and doesn't realize at first that Justine tells her that Kate is going to do just that, but once she does realize it Justine adds that it will only be for a couple of more books, and then she'll go back to Alexander. It's too much, and Lexie starts to cry as she asks Justine why she hates Nathan. Why are we even still calling him "Nathan" at this point? Justine loves Nathan because he's kind, funny and honest, but Kate doesn't love him. Lexie is defeated; the only comeback she can muster is that she should, and it's not fair. Justine tells her that she knows, but it makes for a really good read. As Lexie cries, she reaches for her hand and gently asks if it would make her better to work on the book some more. Lexie nods, dries her tears, and sits back down at the computer.
So Callie didn't need HIAB to tell her what was right when it came to Mrs. O; Callie is at her bedside when she wakes up. Unfortunately, she immediately awkwardly launches into telling Mrs. O that she now likes women, and got married to Dr. Robbins, almost died in a car accident, and has a beautiful baby. Mrs. O's eyes fill with tears as she's talking, and by the time Callie finishes her mouth is just hanging open. Callie feels awful and starts to apologize -- adding that her own mother basically disowned her over all of this -- but when Mrs. O can finally speak it's just to ask, "You have a baby?" Oh geez, now I'm starting to cry, as is Callie. Mrs. O wants to see pictures and then can only exclaim and cry in happiness to see the little cutie on Callie's telephone screen.
Owen is now staring at all of Derek's scans when Derek comes in and tells him that the guy whose brain is up on the screen just booked a flight to Seattle; he then challenges Owen to call the guy himself if he doesn't want to allow the surgery. Owen explains that he's not worried about the hospital, he's worried about Derek since he's been through a ton and thinks that trying to play God at this point in time might not be the healthiest thing in the world. Fine, so I'm paraphrasing. Derek just counters that he doesn't have a reputation anymore and that now that he's not going to be the guy who cured Alzheimer's, he can choose what he wants to worry about. He chooses all of these inoperable folks because he thinks he can change their stories and therefore owes it to them to try. Owen asks him if that's not rather arrogant, but Derek just grins that he has a reputation for arrogance. Well, at least he's admitting it.
Alex is eating dinner at Joe's when Polly walks in and sits down at the bar to him. She ignores him, orders a scotch, and then calls what sounds like a significant other to bitch about her awful day in Seattle. Alex listens interestedly as she complains that Arizona could only talk about some guy who helped some kids in Africa when hello, she has three published articles. She warns whoever it is that they should wait up, because she's going to be drunk and cry when she gets home. That's an invitation any significant other would die for, isn't it? Polly, get a grip. If you're really being courted by every prestigious program in the country, losing a spot at a disgraced hospital shouldn't even be a blip on your radar. But what's inexplicably sad for her is great for Alex, and since he overheard it all he grins as he takes a big bite of his burger.
Mark sees Jackson outside and runs after him to apologize, but both keep trying to apologize to each other at the same time. Finally, they stop, and Mark goes first and tells Jackson that he wants to be his teacher. He's shocked that Jackson replies that he wants to be his student. Happily, they agree to work together on a surgery the day, and Jackson chokes on his words only a tiny bit as he adds that the Plastics Posse is back in action. Kicking surgical ass and taking names, folks. They then manage to awkwardly screw up their fist bump/posse solidarity signal and settle on a simple happy handshake. I'd make fun of them but as I'm the person who does that to other people all the time, I can't throw any stones at their clumsy glass house.
Mere and Cristina have joined Alex at the bar, and he admits that George wasn't a creep but that he doesn't like to think about him because then he also thinks about Izzie and it all hurts too much. He does admit that if George was there, he would have been Chief Resident, no contest. "George is dead, Izzie's gone, we're all different." It's a little bit sad but also kind of a nice moment for the last three originals standing, and they all seem to ponder it for a moment. Mere VO's that it's horrifying how quickly things can go to shit, but that sometimes it makes one stronger and better equipped to deal with the disaster.
That disaster is about to stare Teddy in the face. She gets home and sees Henry at the sink, so starts to try to talk about their first real fight. Something about his stance is a little bit odd, though, and she finally asks if he is okay. He turns around to show that he's covered in blood, and then he coughs some more up, looking terrified. Teddy jumps into action, assuring him that he's going to be okay, but Mere's VO wraps up by ominously saying that sometimes we're equipped to deal with the disaster, but not always.
Lauren S is a writer and gal-about-town who lives and works in Atlanta and really wishes she could read the books about Nathan, Alexander and Kate and their time-traveling love triangle. She wants everyone to know: "The views expressed in my recaps and anything else I might write on TWoP are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer."