Now that Zola is back, the Grey-Shepherds are quite the happy family and Mere in on Cloud Nine watching her learn to walk, and bringing her in to the gallery to see daddy operate. Bailey is also happy with Ben, but Ben wants to move their relationship forward to the point of cohabitation. Bailey isn't ready for this, so she grabs Meredith to help on a surgery -- and by "help" she means to have her ask a lot of questions and keep the subject on anything but Bailey possibly moving in with Ben. Of course this only works for a little while because Ben sees Meredith's happiness as the perfect example of what he wants for them, and finally after possibly losing a sponge in a patient (don't worry, it's found) she admits that she's scared that if she moves forward something horrible will happen again. Ben manages to convince her how much he loves her and Tuck and she finally agrees to leave a toothbrush at his place and go from there.
Teddy, April and Cristina are together for a couple of surgeries but it's only Teddy and April who are working -- In the two weeks since Henry's death, Teddy has taken to having Cristina stand at attention and recite every single step of his surgery from the start until time of death. It's all rather morbid and terrible, and April is absolutely horrified to be a witness to it all. Cristina seems to be the only one willing to go along with it, probably because she has had her own experience trying to crawl out of a black hole of despair. After hearing the story one too many times, and listening to Teddy grill Cristina on every move she made, April finally snaps and yells at Teddy that Henry is gone and she can't do this anymore but Teddy basically tells her to shut up and leave if she can't handle it. She stays, and so she sees when Teddy finally has a breakthrough and seems to accept what happened; Cristina apologizes but Teddy breaks down and tells her in no uncertain terms that it's not her fault at all, and that she was brilliant and did everything Teddy would have done, and that Henry just died.
The big Surgery O'The Week is the separation of conjoined twin girls, and this takes the skills of most of the doctors in the hospital. Arizona is in charge of the whole thing and winds up so high-strung that she drives everyone up the wall bossing them around and freaking out about every little detail. She manages to get under Alex's skin something fierce, which Richard notices and then uses to his advantage to take over Alex's role in the surgery. Twice. Alex is pissed that Richard took advantage instead of teaching him but Richard points out that he just taught him never to give up a chance to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime surgery. Lexie is the main contact for the very, very young parents of the girls and has her hands full keeping them updated as the hours tick by and various complications crop up. In one way, thought, it's a good thing because it keeps her out of the OR where one of the main subjects of conversation seems to be the utter awesomeness of Mark's girlfriend. Finally, despite the complications and Arizona's freakouts, the surgery is a success and we can revel in having more characters finish up the episode happy rather than unhappy, which is a refreshing change of pace.
Meredith and Derek have fallen right back into parenting and Derek is now Everydad, filming every moment he can of Zola's waking hours, in hopes of getting her first step on tape. Mere's VO O'the Week is about the pressure to perform, like when you were a kid with a starring role in the school play. Zola's probably not feeling any pressure since she is a baby, but she's also resolutely not taking that first step as long as Derek has the camera on. He and Meredith are beside themselves with joy at having her; it's really sweet. I also imagine it's not hard at all to act with this baby and to tell her she's the cutest baby in the world because I practically coo that at my television screen every week.
Mere then tells us that back in olden times we used to call the operating room an "operating theater" and explains how it still feels like one: As the sun rises in Seattle we see the overhead OR lights turn on and the support staff get the room ready for the big show, putting on their costumes and masks. Classical music plays as she continues that everything has to be rehearsed and choreographed which is what almost every doctor on the staff is doing right now as they gather in the now-ready OR. As Owen talks to them all about being prepared, we see that everyone has on a red or a green headband which designate which surgical team they are on. Arizona is heading up the Red Team while Derek has the Green Team and Owen explains that they have given a couple all of their pro bono dollars and resources, so he wants the docs giving everything they've got in this surgery. You know, as opposed to all the other days when he's fine with them just phoning it in. He explains that Arizona has been caring for these patients since the day they were born and then pulls back a sheet to reveal two baby dolls stuck together at their backs, one with a little red headband and one with a little green headband; these are the practice dummies that represent the conjoined twins that the docs are separating today.
Bailey is one of the only doctors not on the twin case and when she walks in to her significantly less crowded OR, she's not pleased to see that Ben is working with her. He switched off of the conjoined twin case so that he could talk to her, and after a lot of back and forth where she tells him she's not talking about "it," we find out that "it" is moving in together. If you are close enough to want to move in together, can't the conversation wait a day if one of you has the chance to work on a once-in-a-lifetime surgery, as everyone is so quick to remind us this is? But we needed a subplot, so here we are. After he points out many of the benefits of cohabitation ranging from romantic ones to the practicality of having one electric bill, she points out that they have been together for two weeks. He insists that it's been two weeks and nine months that they had before the "pause." He wants to pick right up where they left off, but Bailey seems not to share this idea, and she leaves the room.
Owen reminds the teams that the surgery on the twins will last at least 18 hours, and each doctor is to get there at least 30 minutes before their procedure. With that, Arizona and Jackson begin the final practice run. She's really jumpy and keeps cutting off everything Jackson says and basically takes over every single step whether it is supposed to be hers or not. Richard and Alex are watching what's going on and Richard, who came in on his day off just to see this, mentions casually how wound up she is. Alex is helping out with the "flip" and he says he's ready, but as they watch Arizona's nitpicking Richard points out that she'll destroy everyone else's confidence that way. He then reminds Alex that if the flip goes wrong she will blame him and it will look really bad on his record, right before the boards and all. On cue, Alex is then up for the practice flip and the doubtful glance he shoots at Richard shows that Richard has done a good job gnawing away at Alex's confidence.
Out in the waiting area, Lexie is explaining to the extremely young parents why the flip is so important -- the babies will have open incisions that need to be kept sterile, they need to stay intubated, and the docs need to keep all of the various wires that are attached to them from getting tangled. Seeing that they don't really understand what most of that means (they obviously don't watch medical procedural shows every week) she compares it to changing a car battery while speeding down the freeway. She immediately realizes this is a rather insensitive metaphor since she is talking about their actual children, but the dad points out that this is the first thing he's really understood all day. The young mom, Gretchen, is extremely worried but Lexie assures them that the doctors have been practicing for weeks and have it down pat.
Back in the OR, though, the practiced choreography has dissolved into a shouting match between Arizona and Alex as they hopelessly tangle up the baby dolls and blame each other for Brandi and Andi, the twins, now suffering all sorts of damage from the botched flip. Owen just calls them back and has the other doctors move on with the step of the surgery. Meredith leans over and points out unnecessarily to Alex that that was a disaster, but he argues that he's got this down and all would be fine if Arizona would just trust him. Bailey then comes in and calls Meredith away.
Once in the hall, Bailey admits that she's going to tell Meredith something about her personal life, and Meredith almost falls to the floor in her utter shock. But let it be noted that there's also an undercurrent of extreme excitement in her voice that the Miranda Bailey Emotional Vault is about to open. Bailey is quick to tell her how much she loathes knowing so much about Mere's personal life as well as the idea that Mere will now know anything about her, but she sees no other choice. She then admits to Meredith that she and Ben are involved. Mere points out that everyone knows this, but Bailey yells at her to act surprised, so Mere does so accordingly. Bailey explains that during surgery he is going to want to discuss personal business and that Bailey doesn't want to, so she needs Meredith to ask a lot of questions and play dumb in order to change the subject. Mere is rather put out to have been pulled out of a once-in-a-lifetime surgery to act as a buffer, but Bailey doesn't care.
Inside the twins' OR, Cristina gets a page from Teddy and goes to leave, but Owen reminds her that it's been two weeks now since Henry died and Cristina needs a break. From what, we aren't sure, but Cristina takes off to do whatever it is despite Owen's furrowed brow. He doesn't have time to dwell on it, though, because Derek and Callie are done with their pretend portion of the pretend surgery. Arizona starts to pepper Derek with questions about complications and doesn't want to accept, "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," as an answer, but Owen finally shuts everyone up and declares that the practice is over and after weeks of rehearsals now they need to just do it. The classical music starts up again as a gurney is wheeled in with the actual Andi and Brandi Evans. Owen announces that it's time to give them new lives.
Mark and Jackson are up first and they want to have a race to see who can finish the procedure on their twin the fastest. Arizona immediately dismisses this idea and so Mark and Derek get to talking about Julia and how much fun they all had at dinner the other night. Lexie looks like she's trying to hold back some bile as they all talk about how much everyone loooooves Mark's smart, pretty, talented, no-seriously-might-not-be-just-a-fling girlfriend, and so she decides to go give the parents an update. Arizona realizes that the boys are racing against her orders and actually tries to tell on them to Owen, who tells her to handle her own team and he'll handle the big picture. He grimaces just a little when, at that moment, both Mark and Jackson jump up, finished, each trying to proclaim himself the winner. They then decide to race to the cafeteria while new doctors come up to take their turns.
Bailey and Meredith are working away when Ben asks about Zola; Meredith beams as she tells him that Zola is great and then walks right into his conversational trap. He asks about her being at the hospital daycare, and comments pointedly about how nice it must be to have the whole family in the same place. Dutifully, Mere starts asking Bailey questions about the patient's spleen, and Ben gripes that he can't believe he skipped the conjoined twin surgery for this. Well seriously, dude, that's your own fault. If you guys are close enough to discuss moving in together, then you should be secure enough to let that conversation wait a day so you can participate in the (let's all say it together now) once-in-a-lifetime surgery. Bailey is just happy that Mere is playing along while Ben stews in his own annoyed juices.
Teddy and April are the other two doctors missing out on the once-in-a-lifetime conjoined twin surgery. When Cristina comes in April figures that Teddy paged her as a replacement and is really confused when Teddy tells April to keep working. She then calls out to Cristina to start from the beginning. As if standing for a military inspection, Cristina holds her head high and begins to recount, step by step, everything she did in Henry's surgery. April is kind of alarmed at the strange little scene playing out in front of her and Teddy has to call to her to get her mind back on her work. Cristina has clearly done this quite a number of times now and has it down, but she is by no means unfeeling about it. She just very professionally walks through each step and each decision that she made as the surgery progressed. She finishes up by saying that she and Richard finally agreed that Henry had lost too much blood for his heart to restart and declared time of death at 8:52 PM. Teddy thinks this all over, visualizing it, and then tells Cristina to start again from the beginning, much to April's horror.
Meredith is not having nearly as awful a time, but it's still pretty awkward when Bailey starts using Mere's mishandling of the clinical trial as an example of someone feeling far too comfortable working with her husband and consequently screwing up both of their careers. (And I might argue that what she did didn't have anything to do with her relationship with Derek but rather her relationship with the Webbers, but that feels like an argument for another time with Bailey building up a head of steam here.) Mere tries asking some more stupid questions to get the conversation back to surgery, but Bailey is on a roll and won't be stopped. Finally, after Bailey keeps talking about setting boundaries so her life doesn't fall apart like Meredith's did, Mere has to step in to defend that in fact, her life is rather awesome right now. Bailey just hushes her. Ben then asks her who is the last person she sees before she goes to sleep. She starts talking about the spleen and pancreas like a lunatic, but finally he makes her answer the question and when she tells them it's Derek, Ben pointedly says that it must be nice.
Lexie goes out to talk to Gretchen and her poor young husband who never gets a name. "Mr. Evans" sounds far, far too old for a kid in a beanie who looks like the lost member of Fall Out Boy. Let's call him Pete. Pete asks her if they've done the flip yet and when he hears that it's coming right up, asks where there is a bar he can escape to for a little while. (I'm just surprised to lean that he's supposed to be at least 21 years old since I figured these two were 18 or 19.) Lexie does seem a little surprised at the request as she directs him to Joe's, and Gretchen's hackles are raised. She snots that he's not a total drunk like she's sure Lexie thinks, and that he has a good job with benefits. Lexie immediately tries to assure her that's not what she thought but Gretchen is on a roll, accusing Lexie of thinking, "what everyone thinks," which she goes on to say is that these two accidentally got pregnant and now have kids they can't take care of who will probably wind up being raised by one of their mothers. She's so wound up about it that I can't help but think that somewhere deep down, this is what she might fear about herself. But she continues on that they love each other and wanted these babies, and will do everything they can to make sure they are okay which includes taking the hospital's charity and sitting with judgy doctors. She's not making a huge case for her maturity level here but she's also obviously terrified, and Lexie immediately tries to talk her off the ledge. She assures the girl that all she was thinking about was how lucky Gretchen is to be with someone she loves.
Back in the girls' surgery, Jackson and Arizona are figuring out their step but every time Jackson makes an observation or suggestion, Arizona jumps down his throat and proceeds to cut off anything he tries to say before announcing that they'll do this procedure her way. Callie raises her eyebrows at her wife but seems to know better than to jump in to the fray. It's now time for the flip, and Owen reminds everyone that they can't repeat the disaster from earlier. Alex goes to Owen and tells him quietly that he wanted to talk to him about just that -- that their practices had all been fine but today Arizona doesn't trust anyone and is making everyone uncomfortable. Owen asks him to get to the point and Alex says he doesn't want to screw up the procedure and that they have to be a perfect team. Richard is watching this exchange from afar and it plays out just as he intended: when Alex agrees with Owen that he doesn't want to do the flip with Arizona, Owen calls out to the room to find a replacement for Alex and Richard immediately offers his services. Alex is left stewing that his plan just blew up rather spectacularly in his face.
As Richard goes over the procedure with Arizona, Alex glowers at them. Lexie comes in and when she finds out what happened, she starts to freak out since she just promised the nervous parents that the flippers had been practicing for weeks. As she watches nervously, Alex gripes that he hopes that Richard drops the babies. Lexie is aghast and Alex quickly admits he's just mad, but Lexie thinks what he said was way over the line. Of course, the flip goes perfectly and all of the doctors minus Alex applaud the good job.
Cristina finishes up yet another macabre recitation and Teddy asks her about the tumor, grilling her about how she could possibly be sure it had eroded Henry's pulmonary artery if she didn't actually see it. Cristina seems frustrated for the first time as she explains her entire thought process and then defends that she really was totally sure of what had happened. After a moment, Teddy tells her to start again from the beginning, and Cristina has to take a deep breath and gather herself for a moment before starting over. Teddy again closes her eyes and visualizes the surgery as Cristina repeats it -- thank goodness April is there to keep an eye on the actual patient in front of them, but she looks like she'd really rather be any place in the world other than here, witnessing this rather tragic spectacle.
As Mere and Bailey's patient is wheeled away, Mere tells Bailey she's going to duck out for a moment before the one is brought in. Bailey freaks out, not wanting her to leave, but Mere finally points out that Ben is a nice man and she'll be okay with him for a half hour. With the buffer gone, Ben comes over to continue the dreaded conversation. Bailey pleads with him, wondering why he'd want to rush and possibly screw up the good thing that they have going? He tells her that they aren't kids, and life is happening right now and he wants to share it with her. He then can't help throwing in a little emotional manipulation, saying that if she doesn't think the same thing then maybe they aren't right for each other. Bailey still hedges, and so he tells her he got his answer and walks off. However, upbeat, kooky music is playing so we know not to take this as him seriously leaving her.
The gallery is nearly full but Mere, carrying Zola, is able to find a seat and the walk gives her a chance to show off her cute baby to everyone. She then tells Zola that her daddy is down there working and we all take a moment to marvel at what a happy family they now are. Alex is still complaining about Richard stealing his procedure, but the others basically ignore him. April then leans over to Cristina and tells her she thinks what Teddy is doing is awful. Cristina quietly tells her that it's fine but April can't let it go and continues to say how horrible it is. There's some back and forth with Jackson pointing out that it's horrible to have a dead husband, but Cristina tries to stop the whole conversation by continuing to insist she is fine. When Meredith tells her that after two weeks it must be getting to her, Cristina tells her that she can handle it. Everyone is finally distracted by what is going on down below.
Complications have arisen and Derek and Callie are trying to figure out what to do. Arizona can't help herself and keeps butting in, offering feedback to each thing they suggest. Callie calmly reminds her that they are aware of the situation but Arizona still continues to butt in so that the doctors who are actually working together on the babies can't have a conversation with each other. Callie finally has to lecture Arizona that they know full well what horrible things might happen, and that's why they are working to make a decision on how to fix it. She pointedly asks Arizona if she is fine with that. Arizona is very clearly not, but realizes that she can't do anything but agree. Derek then orders everyone in the OR to stop talking altogether so that they can work.
Lexie is playing on her phone when Pete makes his way back over to them with a bag in his hand. It's actually super cute -- he tells Gretchen that he realized the girls will now need their own clothes and he pulls out two awesome new onesies, one of which says "Punk" and the other of which has a crown printed on it and a little purple tutu attached. Lexie melts, as does Gretchen, who tells him she loves him and then throws herself on them and they start making out in earnest. Just as it starts to look like they might just get down to business right there in the lounge, Lexie's phone rings and she yells out excitedly that the doctors are about to separate the girls. But they can't hear her for all of the groping and heavy breathing that's taking place.
Inside, Derek announces that they are ready for the final cut and then we're treated to a lot of squelching sounds as that cut is made. Once done everyone starts to applaud but Derek stops them, pointing out that they need to make sure that each of them have muscle function in their legs. Using a machine that delivers some sort of electric stimulation, they first do Andi and her little leg moves nicely. When it's Brandi's turn, though, her leg stays steadfastly still. The doctor ups the level of the charge but still nothing, and a lot of worried glances are exchanged over surgical masks. The docs all plead quietly with her as the machine is turned up to its highest setting and finally, her foot twitches. Now the applause is allowed, and up in the gallery Zola adorably joins in the clapping. The red team then takes Brandi away to the adjoining OR and Owen reminds the docs that there is still a long way to go as Derek and Callie furiously work away on Andi.
Mark gives Owen an update on how his procedure went (nailed it, of course) on Brandi and asks if Jackson did the same. Owen goes to check but finds that Jackson hasn't even started yet because they are still dealing with a bigger problem: Brandi's one kidney is refusing to work and they have realized that it's never going to. Bum bum buuuum. Look, I chose, this week, to believe that both twins would ultimately be okay because if they tore my heart out yet another time I was going to have to have a serious State of the Relationship talk with this show.
We join Lexie right after she's told Gretchen, who is in full meltdown at the news. Lexie tries to be calm as she tells her that sometimes complications do arise but Gretchen has hit her breaking point. She starts screaming at Lexie that the doctors talked them in to doing this surgery in the first place by promising it would be okay. Pete is also scared but is calmer, and asks Lexie what exactly she is saying. Gretchen jumps in to yell that their daughter who started the day perfectly healthy sharing three kidneys with her sister now has none. Do we all not see the solution here? I feel like even Pete could have suggested it at this point. But he is too worried and just asks Lexie rather desperately if Brandi is going to be okay. It looks like it's breaking her heart a little to admit that they don't know yet.
Owen has jumped in to help with the transplant and pulls out one of Andi's kidney's, depositing it in a bowl that Alex is holding. He then runs to the other OR, where Arizona tells him to go and scrub in. Richard watches him go to the sink with a far too innocent look on his face.
Cristina is still reciting, and April can barely contain herself anymore. As Teddy again grills Cristina about the tumor and how sure she was about it, April snaps and yells that she's sure. A shocked and angry silence fills the OR and April decides to go on, lecturing Teddy that she can't keep doing this; Henry is gone. Cristina just drops her eyes to the floor, not wanting to watch, as April pleads with Teddy that this won't bring Henry back, so please stop. Finally, she realizes that it's time she stopped, and after a moment Teddy angrily asks if she is all right or needs a moment to control herself. April is surprised that this is Teddy's reaction, and a little intimidated, so she backs right down and shakily assures Teddy she's fine. That settled, Cristina answers that she is 100% sure about the tumor, and then continues until she again reaches the time of death.
Richard wanders over to where Alex is scrubbing in and admits that Alex has every reason to be angry with him, that Richard played him like a fiddle because he wanted in and looked for the weakest link, which turned out to be Alex. Alex is riding high on his transplant idea and graciously tells Richard it's fine, and he'll know better time. But WILL HE? Because Richard then goes into a sad tale about how he's, "and old man acting out of fear," because he realizes he doesn't have much time left in the game. He then weaves a tale of woe that in a year or two he'll be shoved off into an office out of the way and will be given a couple of appendectomies every so often so that he can pretend he's still a surgeon. Alex assures him he doesn't have to worry but Richard just continues that this is the way of the world, and at a certain age this is just what happens. He says that he can't think of anything more humiliating... can Alex? Alex mulls this over, and then graciously asks Richard if he wants to go ahead and scrub in on this one. Richard is all wide-eyed and asks if Alex is sure, and Alex tells him to go do it before he changes his mind. Richard thanks him and pats him on the back slowly, like he really is getting to be a slow old man.
Mere and the nurses are counting bloody sponges, but are still coming up short. Bailey walks over to look at the patient's x-rays while Mere frets that he has been under too long and they have to close. Bailey just lectures her, asking if she really wants this kind of thing on her record, but Mere just stares at her in response. Bailey is fed up and somehow still very comfortable on her high horse, lecturing Meredith about not giving up, until Meredith finally points out what she and Ben just noticed: the sponge is on the bottom of Bailey's shoe. As she looks down at it, Ben can't help but laugh about her laser-like focus.
As Richard and Arizona are working, she asks why he is there instead of Alex and boldly he answers that he picked Alex's pocket. This is not Alex's day -- he doesn't seem to get it at first and Richard just turns to incredulously ask if this is really twice in one day. He then tells Arizona that it was like taking candy from a baby, but quickly revises that because a baby at least puts up a bit of a fight. While Alex tries to figure out what is going on, the docs see a splash of urine that tells them that the transplant was a success and they all cheer.
As April closes up the patient, Teddy and Cristina are in the scrub room, still performing their horrific dance. Teddy has her eyes closed, walking through everything but this time, as Cristina talks, Teddy actually takes over for her and starts going through all of the steps. Even though we've clearly illustrated that you can't hear what's happening through the windows, April seems to sense what's going on and looks up to watch. Teddy starts to cry as she continues through the surgery and Cristina quietly agrees with each thing she says. Then, together, they quietly give the time of death. Teddy cries for a few moments until Cristina finally tells her she is sorry. Teddy turns on her and orders her to never apologize, because she was brilliant and did everything that Teddy would have done -- she WAS Teddy in there. And obviously Teddy needed to really, truly be sure of that before she could really accept what happened. "You were good, and you did it right. He just... he just..." She finally cries out, "He just died." Cristina, tears about to spill over, looks in the OR to see April crying as well. Teddy sobs while Cristina stands with her and waits.
Her surgery over, all the sponges cleaned up, Bailey goes back to the OR to go talk to Ben alone. She's kind of sheepish about what happened but tells him quietly that she had the husband, baby and job and then it all fell apart, and then she got back on her feet and found Ben and then there was a shooting -- basically, she's terrified that something is going to mess up her life once again. He smiles at her and assures her that he is scared too, but can't it be in the same house? She thinks he's acting too much like this is an easy decision but he assures her that's not the case and suggests she start with a toothbrush. Methinks the whole day might have gone differently if he had led with that -- there is a whoooole lot of room in between a toothbrush and full cohabitation. But then again, what would we have done for an additional storyline since almost all of the other docs were helping on the same surgery? She's still nervous, and brings up the fact that she has a son. Ben feigns surprise, much to her annoyance. He then asks her who would win a fight between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Megalosaurus. She doesn't get his point and seems to think he has lost his mind as he goes into a long description of who would win and why. (For the record: T. Rex wins.) His point is that he and Tuck have spent tons of time together doing things like debating dinosaur fights, and that Ben loves that, and loves Tuck, and knows full well that when he says he wants her to move in, he knows she doesn't come without her son. Thinking he's gotten his point across nicely he leans in for a kiss, but she pulls away and starts to walk to the door. He's mystified, but then she tells him slowly that her toothbrush is in her locker. She then turns to leave, giving him a mock glare that's really a little bit of a smile, and he grins after her.
Callie is finishing up in her own OR when Arizona dances in and happily talks about how awesome the surgery went today. Callie smiles at her and points out that she was a monster, but Arizona is having a good time playing the denial game and says she was just amped up and thinks people even found her helpful. She's not serious, right? Because she's playing this as gleefully oblivious. Well, that is until Callie decides to give her a taste of her own medicine -- she asks Arizona if she can turn on the humidifier in Sofia's room when she gets home, but then when Arizona tries to answer she cuts her off to give more and more instructions, getting more and more ridiculously nitpicky until she's yelling repeatedly about which side of a particular blanket should be face-up on her bed. Arizona finally concedes that in fact, she was a monster. But that's all Callie wanted, and she's happy to forgive and go check on the twins with her.
Mere's voiceover laments that in life there are no do-overs. Richard walks past Alex, who explodes at the former chief, yelling that this is a teaching hospital so he should be teaching and not stealing surgeries. Richard drily points out that he's pretty sure he did in fact teach Alex something today; he orders Alex to never give up a once-in-a-lifetime (drink!) surgery for any reason, ever. He then turns to leave but warns Alex to watch his back in case he has any lessons to teach tomorrow.
Lexie walks past Mark and as she does, he says that he wishes she could have been in there with him. She is thrilled that she's finally hearing what she's been longing for and turns, breathily asking, "Really? Me too!" Unfortunately, she then sees the bluetooth in his ear and realizes far too late that he's talking to Julia. She quickly tells him she was hearing things and having a bad day and then scurries off, while he just looks confused and keeps talking to his girlfriend. I don't believe for a second that he wouldn't pick up on the fact that she has feelings for him again so for now I'm going to assume he either didn't really hear what she said with Julia talking in his ear or that he is somehow now 100% over her and truly isn't affected by it. Julia's nice and all, but I'm rooting for the former and that we might see some movement towards a Mark-Lexie reconciliation this season.
Mere continues that every day is a real, live performance. I thought the babies were going to the PICU but Andi is already in a regular hospital room and Derek is explaining that they will need rehab but that things look good. Owen then arrives with a team wheeling in Brandi to join the party. Gretchen and Pete cry with happiness as they gaze at their healthy, separated daughters.
Derek and Mere are back at home with Zola, who is playing with toys while they put on the video of her from that morning and coo over how much bigger she seems just in the one day. They specifically say that this is the same day, but the sun was rising before the surgery started, and Owen said it would take at least 18 hours, and then there were complications... whatever. I know better than to delve too deeply into the details of the Grey's timeline. As the two of them watch the TV, a little head goes by and they realize that Zola is taking her first steps. She's actually rather spectacular, walking all over the room without missing a beat, which isn't really what happens when a baby takes her first steps but I'm intoxicated by her smile so I'm going with it. She's a genius baby! Derek frantically tries to turn on the video camera to catch the moment and Zola pauses to give them a look like they are lunatics as they freak out at their inability to get it working. As Meredith cheers her and Derek laughs at himself for missing it, Mere's VO points out that even when we get the chance to rehearse, we're still never quite ready for life's grand moments. Ah yes, but then life would be so boring!
p>Lauren S is a writer and gal-about-town who lives and works in Atlanta and prefers to dazzle people off-camera rather than appear in front of it. 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."