The Best of Intentions

S08E17

Catherine Avery is back this week so that she can do a surgery with Bailey and Richard and then attend a fancy benefit dinner, while also doing a little bit of motherly meddling in Jackson's life. She brings along her "star urology fellow," Mara, who happens to be young and stunning, and then orders Jackson to take Mara on a tour of the hospital. For some reason it takes him a while to realize that this is a setup, and he tries to tell Mara that he's not interested. She's completely offended that he thought she was, but admits that she is there because Catherine told her to spy on him and find out as much as she could about what is going on in his life. They wind up bonding over lunch and he gives her some tips on how to best handle his mom as a boss. They both get all dressed up to go to the benefit but since Catherine has scored herself a date in Richard (well, for a moment at least) they declare that they are not going. Instead, Mara decides that Jackson's not so bad after all, and they have a hot night in the on-call room. Mark will be thrilled.

Bailey notices that Catherine seems to have her sights set on Richard as she flirts up a storm with him throughout the day. She invites him to be her date to the benefit and he accepts, even going so far to put on his tux. But once he sees her he tells her that he can't go after all. She assures him that she just enjoys flirting and that Adele has nothing to worry about, but Richard explains about Adele's Alzheimer's and how, with his wife not even knowing who he is, he actually really enjoyed the flirting and felt like a man for the first time in forever. He doesn't trust himself to go out with her, so he politely declines, and she seems to understand even if she is now left attending the thing all alone when five minutes earlier she was part of a party of four. My guess is that when you are an Avery, you have no shortage of people to talk to at one of these things.

Alex and Morgan are spending basically all of their time together between his being Tommy's doctor and Morgan still helping him study for his Boards. As we all saw coming from the beginning, she's developed an obvious crush, and he seems to be enjoying her company while getting a little bit emotionally invested in Tommy's recovery. Callie notices what's going on and warns Alex to be very careful, but he scoffs at the very idea that Morgan is interested. However, once the seed is planted, he starts to see that Callie is right. It's unclear if he's going to heed everyone's warnings to shut it down, though.

Meredith and Derek are in such a state of wedded bliss that he gets the bright idea that she should come back to neuro with him. Proving that she really has grown up, Meredith tells him it is an absolutely horrible idea but he is all for it and moves her on to his service for the day, along with Lexie. Their patient has a cyst that needs draining, and while they also found she has a small tumor Derek explains that it is benign and so they are going to just leave it there for now. He gets called out of surgery to go take care of some other emergency and leaves with instructions to Mere to just observe and let Lexie do the whole procedure. As they work on the cyst, they stumble upon the tumor and wonder if they should just go ahead and take it out. Mere is adamant that they wait for Derek and find out what he thinks, but when he gets called into another emergency surgery the girls make an executive decision. Mere comes in to see him later and happily tells him they took out the tumor too, and he blows up at her. He points out that the girl didn't consent to having the tumor out, and it's in a delicate part of the brain, blah blah bad things. Mere is sure that everything went perfectly but they won't actually know until she wakes up. The girl's parents arrive in time to see her wake up and when she does, it turns out she now has aphasia and can't speak -- oh, and did I mention that it's irreversible? Yeah. Mere tries to take responsibility for it but Derek of course takes it all himself, and the girl's parents declare that they are going to sue. That's what we all need: another lawsuit storyline. Mere tells Lexie what happened and Lexie breaks down, but Mere tells her to suck it up when she goes and sees Derek, warns her how he's going to yell at her and ignore her for days, but that then he will get over it and she'll learn from this. That night at home, Derek basically does just that Mere but while he won't look at her, he will at least still communicate in monosyllables; when she asks if he wants her to leave him alone, he says no. So, progress?

Cristina is making progress too... into full-on jealous insanity. It seems that Owen not coming home has become a regular thing, and she's surer with each night that he's having an affair with Nurse Emily. Her patient is a man who is brain dead and Cristina is supposed to get the paperwork signed by his husband for them to pull the plug. The husband can't let go, though, and tells them to keep everything on. Owen orders Cristina to stay there and convince the guy that it's best to let his husband go; Emily is hovering and pipes up that she thinks she could help since she's been caring for the guy the past few days. Cristina tells her no, but Owen orders her to let Emily help. As they try and convince the husband, Cristina sees a parallel to her own life and how her marriage might already be dead but she just can't admit it and let go. After the husband finally signs the papers, Cristina faces off against Emily and accuses her of sleeping with Owen, but it turns out that Emily is just a flirt with a boyfriend, and she and Owen never hooked up. At home that night Cristina waits up for him and orders him to finally start talking to her. She admits what happened with Emily and how relieved she is that she was wrong... and then Owen admits that while he didn't hook up with Emily, Cristina was right and he did cheat on her with someone else.

First of all, as always, thanks to Joe R for filling in for me while I was away! He is the best. So, the only new episode to air in March was on the first night of March Madness. Wait, am I allowed to say that? March Mayhem Mania Meatballs Marsupial Moldypants. Whatever it's called, it meant I didn't watch the episode live and my DVR cut off the beginning of Meredith's voiceover. But from what I can put together of the rest of it, the gist is that doctors are trained to dig deep and try to figure out what someone's problem is, but that also means that sometimes they create problems out of thin air. On a night that he's actually home, Cristina stares at Owen while he sleeps and then finally plugs his nose to wake him up; she is obviously still obsessed with whether or not he's having an affair with Nurse Emily. She checks his phone when he's out of the room and on the nights he doesn't come home, calls the hospital looking for him.

When she wakes up to find herself still alone at four in the morning, she gets up and shuffles to the hospital in her pajamas and a leather jacket; when she hears giggling coming from an on-call room she throws open the door but it's just Alex and Morgan, fully clothed (but sitting on the bed together all chummy), supposedly studying for Alex's boards. She goes to the room and finds Owen asleep and confused to see her. He tells her that there had been a bus crash so he needed to stay at the hospital and when he asks why she's there, she lies really badly that she thought he might want coffee. Except that she forgot the coffee. He's still half-asleep, so while he is confused he's also happy enough to just go back to bed when she tells him to. She then sees Emily walking down the hall and her suspicions are aroused anew.

Meredith and Derek, on the other hand are all loved up and in a bubble bath together -- Mere seems to have learned that it's really easy to take the duckies and their prying eyes out of the bathroom when she wants some adult time. Derek is so blissfully happy that he has the WORST IDEA IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD and tells Meredith she should come back to neuro. What in the what? The man who treated his wife like she was the devil until she offered to quit that field of surgery to save their marriage now flippantly tells her he misses her and wants her to come back? I'm appalled but happy to see that Meredith continues to be a full-fledged adult and tells him the idea is insane. He's all smoochy and tries to get her to come back for just a day, but she seems to (rightly) think this is nuts.

By Lauren S

At the hospital, Richard (I love that when I take my notes I unconsciously still call him "Chief" but only even realized this week that I do it. It just looks normal!) has fallen asleep in his chair and is snoring loudly when Bailey wakes him to announce that Catherine Avery has arrived. When I see her I have much the same reaction that my friend's two-year-old twins have to everything they like, which is to cheer: Debbie Allen! Debbie Allen! Yaaaay! I might hold my hands up and do a little dance too. MIGHT. She and one of her students are there to assist in a bladder surgery in which they will give a woman a new bladder grown from her own tissue and some stem cells. Bailey pulls out a clear box with what looks like a small handball mounted inside and Catherine oohs and aahs over it; Richard admits they couldn't have done it without her help. Catherine is all sorts of flirty and giggly before she leaves to go find Jackson. Once she's gone Bailey asks Richard if he had a late night and he explains that every night he stays with Adele until she falls asleep and then goes back early each morning to be there when she wakes up. Bailey points out that this doesn't give him time to sleep but he declares with finality that he's fine. She raises a doubtful eyebrow but says nothing else.

Morgan and Alex are flirting up a storm as well, over his breakfast burrito and her inability to eat while she's worried about her preemie son. The flirt-exposit that Tommy has a brain bleed but that it's something the doctors expected and Alex is keeping an eye on it. He gets a page and tries to go answer it alone but she suspects it's about Tommy and insists on going with him to answer it.

Meredith and Cristina meet up with each other in the hallway and simultaneously ask if the other has seen her husband. Mere's upset that Derek went ahead with his boneheaded fantasy and put her back on his service for the day against her wishes, while Cristina needs Owen to sign off on paperwork so that she can turn off life support for a brain-dead trauma patient. Mere sees Owen and points him out, and then the two women watch him have a little smiley moment with Nurse Emily over some trail mix. Mere immediately assures Cristina that it doesn't mean anything, people share trail mix all the time, but Cristina is off in another world. Realizing her friend barely even realizes she is still there, Mere trudges off to find her own hubby.

Jackson is reminding Mark about the game plan when they see his mother: they are telling her that they are super busy and Jackson doesn't have any time to spend with her. When Catherine sweeps in to see them with her super hot urology fellow, Mara, in tow, Mark's no longer interested in playing along. After explaining that Jackson is going to be her date to a benefit that night, Catherine suggests that he spend the day giving Mara a tour of the hospital. It's an obvious setup and Mark starts going along with things immediately; he assures Catherine with a smarmy smile that Jackson is free to take as much time as he needs. Jackson tries to get them back to the plan of pretending they are busy, but Mark's having none of it since Mara is gorgeous, with a plummy British accent to boot, and he realizes that his mentee might finally be able to... let's say, "ease some tension," shall we?

Cristina's brain dead patient is a man named Michael and his husband is none other than Will's Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Phil signs off on the paperwork and when Cristina asks if he needs a moment, he brushes off the idea and jokes sadly that Michael has been listening to him for 22 years so now he'll appreciate some peace and quiet. He kisses Michael's head and then asks Cristina what is so she gently explains how they will turn off the ventilator and all the machines and gradually, Michael's body will shut down. Phil interrupts her to tell a story about how they watched a movie where one person was pulling the plug on another and as he talks, Cristina gives the nurse a small nod to start the process. But when Phil recounts how Michael told him never to do that to him he first tries to pass it off as a joke but then gets serious and orders them to turn all of the machines back on.

When Cristina tells Owen that Phil withdrew consent, Owen just asks her what she's going to do. She plans to get on another surgery but he informs her that she's going to stay there and get Phil to agree to it again. Cristina is slightly appalled that Owen wants her to talk Phil into it, and Emily drifts over as Owen says that's not what he meant, he wants her to help Phil understand that this is the only option. Then, angry for having to actually speak to his wife at all, he adds rather cruelly, "I want you to do your job and find some damn compassion." When Cristina realizes that Emily has been hovering she asks if she needs anything, and Emily suggests tentatively that she might be able to help. Cristina is absolutely against it and doesn't care that Emily has formed somewhat of a relationship with Phil over the past week, but Owen orders her to let Emily assist if she can. Emily smiles and Cristina forces herself to say thank you but everyone can see she's not happy about the situation.

Derek and Grey the Younger are in with their patient, Lori -- a cute, friendly, twenty-something who is telling the hilarious story about how she passed out at her first post-law-school interview and wound up with her skirt around her waist. The reason she passed out is because she's got a cyst in her brain, and they are going to open her up and drain it, easy-peasy. Obviously, something is likely to go horribly wrong because this show isn't known for sweet patients whose surgeries go swimmingly. She asks about a tumor that they found and Derek explains that it's small and benign, so they want to leave it alone for now. He adds that if it ever starts to cause problems they can take it out -- it's so easy, Lexie could do it! -- but they're going to just handle the cyst today. When the docs walk back out into the hall they meet up with Mere, and Lexie seems kind of freaked out that she's going to be joining them though I'm not entirely sure why. Derek says with a smile that Mere is thinking of coming back to neuro but Mere shoots that idea right down.

By Lauren S

It turns out that preemie Tommy needs heart surgery, so Teddy, Arizona, and Alex are sitting with Morgan to explain everything. She wants to wait until the brain bleed is resolved but Teddy tells her they need to operate now. Callie comes in to tell Morgan she can treat Tommy's hip dysplasia except really, she's just there to conveniently witness events and serve as a lurve mentor for Alex. She brings Arizona a scone but when Arizona incredibly wrongly turns up her nose because it's pumpkin -- the best baked good flavor in all the world in the history of time -- Alex takes it and tosses it to Morgan, telling her she has to eat. All of the ladies (minus Morgan) notice the gesture and raise an eyebrow; Morgan turns it down because of nerves. They all start to leave to get Tommy ready and Morgan teases Alex that he loves all this since it will look good on his Boards. Alex admits that's true but insists he just wants to be there, but this prompts Morgan to tell the women not to let him in since he was up all night. Cue the raising of the other eyebrows. Once the youngsters leave Callie asks if Alex should really be hooking up with his intern. Arizona is apparently blind and dumb because she's appalled at the idea and insists nothing is going on and Alex is just trying to be a more caring human being. Callie doesn't buy that for a second and insists to Teddy, "They're doing it."

By Lauren S

Catherine, Mara, Richard and Bailey are all in to talk to Irene, their bladder recipient. Catherine is still gleefully flirting away with Richard as they assure Irene that after surgery she won't have to worry about peeing every time she laughs (or does basically anything). Richard tells her that she's going to live a full life once they are done with her and Catherine turns and saucily says that she likes to think everyone lives a full life once she's done with them. Bailey raises her own eyebrow at Richard. Seriously, did they have someone come in before this episode and give Skeptical Eyebrow Lessons?

In the OR, Lexie successfully pulls off a piece of Lori's skull (ew) and gets compliments from both Derek and Meredith on her work. Mere is basically just observing as this is Lexie's first solo cyst drainage; she's there as cheerleader. And as Derek's unenthusiastic plaything, I guess. They are interrupted by Callie who needs Derek's help immediately on an emergency spine surgery but Mere assures him that they will be fine and tells him to go. As he leaves, he reminds Meredith that Lexie knows what she is doing and Mere is just there to observe.

Jackson is giving the dullest, most monotone tour he can and is dismayed when Mara gets excited at the idea of sitting and watching a little bit of a surgery from the gallery. He tries to take his leave but she keeps talking to him and casually asks if he is still dating anyone. He notes her use of the word "still," and instead asks her about herself. It turns out she has more in common with him than he could have guessed since her father is the Director of Surgical Science at Oxford, which is naturally then where she started her own studies that eventually led to her studying under Catherine. Unlike Jackson she seems to appreciate the boost she's gotten from her family name, telling him it was a little hard work and a lot of good timing. She's quite likable but he's determined to be sullen and tries to sit and study with his flash cards until the realization hits him that this is a setup. Mara sees THE Derek Shepherd walk in the room and gets all twitterpated but when she turns to ask Jackson if they can stay and watch THE Derek Shepherd work, she finds that he's gone.

Meanwhile, Tommy's surgery takes a turn for the worse and Alex quickly does an ultrasound and realizes that his brain bleed is getting worse and he needs surgery on it right away. Arizona tells him to go get a doctor who isn't Shadow Shepherd and whose name I don't recognize, but Alex is insistent that Derek has to do this and sprints off to the other OR to get him. Teddy and Arizona share a look that might mean Arizona is starting to see that Callie could be right.

By Lauren S

Lexie is doing a great job draining her cyst but there's one little hiccup when they encounter a bleeder. Mere calmly tells her to extend the craniotomy a bit, which makes Lexie nervous, but Mere assures her it is okay and so Lexie starts to drill.

Poor Phil is in an absolute panic now at the idea of pulling the plug on Michael. He almost pleads with Cristina that there are stories all the time about people waking up from comas and Cristina is clearly getting frustrated -- although she sounds more desperate than mean -- as she tries to explain the science of the machine doing Michael's breathing for him. Emily comes in with a scan that Cristina requested and she tries to show Phil what a brain scan looks like in someone who still has brain activity versus Michael's scan, which shows nothing. But none of this is swaying him and he just gets angry. Emily finally steps in and assures him that it's a difficult decision and he can take his time. Cristina finally adds that he can take all the time he needs, and she leaves the room. When she turns back, she's perturbed to see Emily standing with Phil, rubbing his back and comforting him.

Once Lex pulls off another little piece of skull, she's able to find the bleeder and fix it right up. As she and Mere look in at Lori's brain, Meredith realizes that the tumor is right there too. Lexie asks if they should take it out but Mere seems a little bit nervous to make that decision and thinks they should call Derek. Lexie tells Mere that Derek already said it would be so easy to remove that Lexie could do it, and Mere seems to agree that if it's right there in front of them, it would be easy to just pop the thing out. But she tells Lexie that they should wait until he's back to see what he says, and a nurse tells them that he's finishing up his other surgery and should be back in just a few.

Well, he would have been back in a few but Alex runs in to his OR as he finishes up and begs him to come take care of Tommy's brain bleed. Callie has to explain to a confused Derek who this Tommy is, all while making more mental notes about Alex's obvious personal investment in his case. Alex is desperate that Derek come right away so Callie assures him she can finish up this guy and tells him to go.

Jackson finds Mark, who is curious as to why Jackson isn't still with Mara. Jackson announces like it's a great reveal that this was a setup, but Mark knew that from the start and thinks it was a great idea. He then dissolves into some immature -- even for Mark -- jokes about Jackson getting busy and Mara getting his point ifyaknowwhatimean, winkwink. Y'all know I love Mark (sorry, Joe), but this is gross even for him. On the other hand, he's obviously thoroughly enjoying winding Jackson up as he tries to pimp him out. Jackson declares him to be disgusting, and says that he's not going to give his mom the satisfaction of hooking up with Mara. Of course Mark makes the, "It's not your mom you should be trying to satisfy," cheap joke. These two are both idiots, really. Mark, you're gross, but Jackson, being mean to the hot, nice doctor to spite your mom is just ridiculous. No wonder they work so well together: their idiocy complements each other. Together they might make an emotionally adult man.

Mere walks in to Tommy's OR and finds Derek, and reports happily that Lexie drained the cyst. She then tells him that as a bonus, they took out the tumor too, and Lexie did the procedure perfectly. The camera zooms in on Derek to illustrate his horror at hearing the words and he demands to know why Mere would possibly allow that. If you could have seen me on my sofa at this point of the episode, the camera would have zoomed in on me to illustrate the horror I felt thinking we were about to just start this same freaking storyline all over again, after everything. Hey Derek, this is why your wife thought it best that she never work with you ever again. Way to go pushing her back into it.

Derek just yells that Lori didn't consent to that part of the surgery -- which, fine, is an incredibly valid point, and Mere's argument that, "It was right there!" doesn't really hold up against that. But when Derek yells that she should have paged him, Mere wins that one by pointing out that she did, twice. And I would add that he had specifically told them to call if they needed anything which implies that he would then answer. Yes, Mere assured him that they wouldn't need anything, but he should have known then that if they were trying to get a hold of him, it was most likely important. Oh good grief, why am I wasting this many words on this argument? I completely understand that Mere wanted to take out a brain tumor that was staring her in the face and was supposed to be a simple procedure. Derek's wrath becomes understandable later but right now he just seems pissed that they made a decision without him and it's infuriating since she specifically tried not to end up in this situation from the beginning but he insisted. The other doctors and nurses in the room all squirm as this fight unfolds in front of them and Derek demands to see all of the scans and to know exactly what he and Lexie did. Mere seems pretty justifiably fed up.

As Catherine and Richard work on Irene Catherine continues to flirt away, batting her spectacularly long eyelashes at Richard with every chance she gets. Bailey just rolls her eyes and reminds them that she's holding on to a bladder for them whenever they'd like to actually do some work. Mara finds them and asks if she can scrub in, since Jackson is nowhere to be found. But Catherine is ticked off to hear that her star fellow lost her son and orders her out to find him, insinuating that if she doesn't, she's not going to get to go along to the benefit. Once Mara shuffles dejectedly out of the OR, Richard comments that a benefit sounds like fun, but she counters that it is exhausting. She talks about how, once she became an Avery, she had to start acting the part, going to every single event and representing the family. Not to mention always doing Harper Avery-level work while not actually being eligible to win the prestigious award. She complains that the name comes with too much pressure and can cause a person to burn out, which is what happened to Jackson's father and she's adamant that it not happen to Jackson too. Do we know what happened with Jackson's father? It only occurred to me during this very scene that he's not around, what with Catherine flirting with Richard, but I can't for the life of me think of what happened to him and Dr. Google is being no help at all on the subject. Richard makes understanding noises and she asks him if he ever wants to go back -- she definitely would enjoy being regular, fun, Catherine Fox again. Richard dutifully tells her she's fun now, and Catherine practically purrs that she's glad he noticed.

By Lauren S

Meredith and Cristina, grossed out by the idea of cafeteria jambalaya, are raiding April's fridge for lunch. Meredith complains about Derek's freaking out but there seems to be a tiny grain of doubt in her head when she tells Cristina she's sure the girl is fine. Cristina complains about spending the morning with "Owen's" stupid nurse; Meredith notices the Freudian slip there and doesn't want to let Cristina brush it off. She's saved by the arrival of Alex, and asks him how long he's been hooking up with Morgan. Alex acts appalled at the very idea, while Meredith truly IS appalled at the idea. He maintains that she's both a patient and his intern so there's no way, but obviously the whole intern/resident/attending divide hasn't stopped anyone else in this hospital. They tease him that this is going to end up like it did with Ava: Morgan will fall for him and then go crazy. This truly pisses Alex off, and he storms out.

Once they are alone again, Mere tries to get Cristina to talk about Owen but they are interrupted by April coming in and shrilly freaking out when she finds them eating all her food. Jackson then comes in and yells at her to stop Facebooking with his mom, but she shoots back that she defriended (how has Word not added these things to its spellcheck yet?) Catherine when Jackson told her to last time. He wants to know how his mom could possibly know details about his life, then. Mara then joins the fray, searching for Jackson, and April happily points him out so that he has to go continue his tour. Everyone leaves and Mere once again tries to bring up Owen, but Cristina refuses to talk about it and just says she's fine in that angry way that says she is anything but.

Out in the hall Mara suggests that they go to the cafeteria to get some food and talk, but Jackson turns around and starts to give her the, "You're great, but I'm not interested," talk that everyone always loves hearing. However, he actually had it wrong. After thoroughly offending Mara by suggesting (as she puts it) that she was presented to him like a "concubine" for one night, she yells at him that his mom forced her to come to try and get all the dirt about what is going on in his life and she's doing it because she's sucking up to get a good grade. It's good to see that the goings-on at other hospitals are just as professional as those at Seattle Grace Mercy West. Jackson is totally embarrassed when he realizes she was just a spy, but Mara is thoroughly incensed and yells at him that as he knows how demanding his mom can be, he might help her out and give her some info to bring back. She yells that he also might do this in the cafeteria because she is starving. He tells her, "Not a chance," but of course he's only referring to the part about the cafeteria, since it's jambalaya day. He tells her conspiratorially to come with him.

Catherine and Co.'s patient is awake and Catherine is laughing and telling her how amazing Richard was during the procedure. Bailey is still rather unbelieving at her brazen display but her attention is torn away when her patient grabs her and pulls her to the bed in a giant hug. While Bailey is occupied, Catherine tells Richard they are a great team, and then casually invites him along to the benefit with her. He starts to decline but she gives him giant Bambi eyes and he changes his mind, saying he'd be honored. They walk off arm in arm and when Bailey sees, her incredulity seems to start to turn to alarm.

Cristina goes back to Phil's room and is incensed to see Emily in there, talking with him about his decision when Cristina told her not to. She calls Emily's name but Emily decides to go on, telling Phil that he needs to think of this as helping Michael, and she knows it is difficult, but Michael needs her. Cristina then decides to use her own approach and bluntly -- not unkindly, but bluntly -- tells Phil that it would have been better if Michael died in the crash. Phil is appalled but Cristina explains that he would be just as dead, but that way Phil would have seen it happen, and would have seen his body taken away, and it would have given him some sort of closure. The way it actually happened, Michael died in slow motion, his organs failing one by one over the course of a week. She admits that she didn't know Michael, but Phil did, and she thinks Michael would have wanted him to have the comfort of closure. Phil looks at her and tells her to bring back the paperwork so he can sign, while Emily looks surprised that this approach worked. And yes, in a parallel to her own life, we know Cristina needs to have something happen and not continue deeper into insanity as she wonders what Owen is thinking and possibly doing.

Jackson has taken Mara right back to April's office, where they had been five minutes earlier, and are taking their turn eating the rest of her food. They are now getting along as they talk about Catherine and her disregard for boundaries. Jackson coaches her, telling her that she has to tell Catherine no, and that Catherine will ultimately respect her for it. The idea terrifies Mara and she thinks she doesn't have it in her to stand up like that, but Jackson of course thinks she does.

Meredith is the one to break the news to Lexie, and Little Grey is absolutely shattered by it. She pleads with Mere that Derek has to be able to fix it, but Mere tells her matter-of-factly that it is irreparable. Lexie is devastated at the idea that she ruined Lori's life, but Mere tells her that it is her fault too since she shouldn't have let Lexie perform the procedure in the first place. Lexie starts to fall apart but Mere basically tells her that she has to buck up and go face Derek first. She orders her not to shed a tear in front of him; that he will be livid and scream at her and won't talk to her for days, but she'll take it, learn from it, move on, and will never make this mistake again. And man does she know, since she's been through it herself and is probably about to go through it yet again.

Tommy is out of surgery and Alex reports to Morgan that he is doing well. She teases him about getting two-for-one surgeries from the little guy, and Callie's ears perk up in time to hear her get serious, telling Alex they are lucky he is Tommy's doctor. She then gives the most damning evidence of her crush: she punches Alex lightly in the shoulder as she leaves him to go visit her baby. The love punch will give a girl away every time. And yet, despite all of his experience with women, when Callie asks if they are a thing his reaction is surprise at the very idea. He claims that since her stupid boyfriend left, Morgan just needs someone to keep an eye on her for a while. Callie decides that maybe a metaphor will work better for Alex, and asks if he's ever seen a gorilla raising a kitten. He scoffs at this like he's never gotten a cute email forward from anyone before. Callie says that this is called "imprinting" and that the scared kitten lets the gorilla cuddle it because it has no mama, or, in this case, no dumb boyfriend. Alex is dismissive and claims this isn't that kind of situation, but Callie warns him that he's smitten. And then, I think the whole reason she worked this story in was so she could refer to him as a "big dumb gorilla" as he walked away.

Richard is in a tux, trying to tie his tie, when Bailey comes in and asks if he's ready for his date. He brushes that off and says it's just a function with a colleague, but Bailey asks if Catherine knows that. She calls Richard out on all of their flirting but he's not in a mood and reminds her that he's married, with a wife in a nursing home, who he loves. Bailey immediately lightens up and assures him that she knows that -- he's killing himself because he's trying so hard to make sure Adele knows how much he loves her. She gets frustrated watching him struggle and finally reaches up to tie his tie herself. She tells him gently that he's allowed to give himself a break once in a while and flirt, and that she and everyone else all know he's a good man. She knows which one he is doing in the flirting for fun vs. flirting for profit game. But he looks at himself in the mirror for a few moments like he might not actually be so sure which one this is.

This time around, Phil really lets them unhook all of the machines. Once they are wheeled out of the room he seems incredibly alone and scared, but he thanks Cristina. He then goes to the bed and while Cristina and Emily watch from a respectful distance, he sits down to his husband and curses him, telling him this is why it took him years to say "I love you" and years more to move in with him. He cries that he was terrified of how much he loved him, and terrified of this feeling he has now that he'll never find happiness without him. It's absolutely heartwrenching and ultimately more than Cristina can bear and she flees the room.

Emily follows her out and lays a hand on her shoulder as she asks if she can do anything. Cristina whips around like her touch was fire, and blurts out angrily, "Can you stop screwing my husband?" It's not yelling at your wife that she killed your baby while you are at a one-year-old's birthday party, but still pretty high up on the list of awkward outbursts.

It seems like Cristina realized this and also was as surprised as Emily that she said it; she tries to leave, mumbling that she had no idea why she said that, but Emily runs after her and unfortunately tries to touch her arm again. It at least gets Cristina turned around so she can yell at her again. Emily admits that she's a total flirt but promises that nothing happened and even offers for Cristina to go through her phone and call her boyfriend -- she's got one, and she switched to nights because of his schedule -- to prove it. She apologizes profusely and swears she would never, ever do that; Cristina doesn't apologize but she does leave so that Emily doesn't have to keep trying to assure her.

Mere walks by a room where she sees Derek reading Lexie the riot act, and Lexie looks awful but is keeping all of her tears fully in check as Mere advised.

Jackson, in a tux, escorts Mara, in a slinky gold gown, down the stairs to meet his mom -- they are a couple of scorchingly hot people, right there. Once they are downstairs, though, Jackson announces that Mara has something to say and he holds on to her to give her support as she shakily takes a stand and tells Catherine they aren't going to go with her. Catherine is all, "O RLY?"

(tm Joe R) and Mara immediately tries to back down but Jackson makes her hold firm, and she tells Catherine that since she was brought to Seattle on a personal errand, she thinks she can take the night off. Jackson is all proud and Mara feels good enough to try and continue with some more opinions but Catherine icily tells her to stop and Jackson whispers that yes, she's done now. He was right that his mom would have some sort of respect because instead of smacking them down she teases them that he captured her spy; Jackson promises that she'll be treated well and then kisses his mom goodbye. She calls after him that she was going to uninvite them anyway, since she has a date.

Morgan is talking to Tommy, who is chilling in his incubator, when Callie conveniently walks in to find Arizona just as Morgan wants someone to take a photo. Callie is more than happy to help, and is even happier to be proven right as Morgan tries to get Alex in to the photo. Now that he can really see what's up, he tries to decline, but she makes him come over anyway. He's got a bit of a weirded-out smile in the photo, while Callie looks at him with a shit-eating grin and whispers to him that she is a "smitten kitten." Alex looks a little sick at the thought, now that he can't deny it, while Morgan just gazes at him adoringly.

Richard walks up to Catherine and after she jokes that she thought he was going to stand her up, he tells her sadly that he's actually going to do just that. She's no dummy; she asks if it is because she was flirting all day but he tells her he knows it was just fun, and then tells her all about Adele. She turns immediately serious when she hears what is going on, and is clearly devastated for Richard when he admits that Adele realizes he's a friend of some sort but has no idea that he's her husband. He admits that he misses her and he misses feeling like a man, but Catherine made him feel like that today. But because of that, he doesn't trust himself to go to dinner with Catherine, and anyway, Adele needs him. Catherine certainly can't argue with that and she repeats what Bailey told him: he's a good man. She gives him a sad hug and he thanks her for a lovely day before he leaves.

Jackson and Mara walk into an on-call room, which initially is totally innocent since it's where she changed into her gown and where her day clothes are waiting. But Jackson is finally able to admit that an awesome, gorgeous girl is right there in front of him and he asks if she really wants to change, because they could go out somewhere in their finery, with her looking that amazing. She also seems to realize that he's not a bad guy either, and he's hot for her. She tells him slowly that she's not that hungry, and then asks her if he can help unzip her dress. He kicks the door shut as he happily obliges and they get down to sexy fun times.

It's not so fun for Richard, who looks like the weight of the world is on his shoulders as he slips out of his tuxedo jacket. Mere reminds us that a surgeon's intentions are pure but they want to push boundaries and that can be dangerous. Alex watches over Tommy, while Lexie cries in her bed.

Mere and Derek are back in a familiar position: he's lying on top of the covers, fully clothed, staring at the ceiling and pointedly not looking anywhere near his wife. He'll at least respond to her in monosyllables, but she points out that this is exactly why she can never come back to neuro. He mumbles an agreement. She then asks if he wants to talk about it (no), if he wants to take his mind off of it (no), and then if he wants her to leave him alone. I do love that she didn't back down and fall all over herself to apologize since she did what she thought was right and honestly, I don't think what she did was all that out of line -- when a surgeon is staring at a brain tumor they told was no big deal, taking it out seems the logical course of action. Derek manages to look at her for a quick second before looking back up at the ceiling like a mad child trying to make a point, but he mumbles, "No," to that too. She climbs on the bed and lies down to him, putting her hand on his shoulder, and he actually reaches across and puts his own hand on hers. Phew. This better be the last of that regurgitated nonsense.

By Lauren S

Mere walks by a room where she sees Derek reading Lexie the riot act, and Lexie looks awful but is keeping all of her tears fully in check as Mere advised.

By Lauren S

Owen finally comes home at some wee hour and he's less than excited when he realizes that Cristina is up waiting for him. She points out that he didn't come home yet again and he tries to give her some trauma excuse, but she cuts him off to say he's always got some excuse these days. He just stares at her and when she asks why, he tells her bluntly that he's trying to figure out how mad she is and if he wants to get into it. That sets her off and she yells that he does want to get into this. He doesn't agree and claims to be tired but she yells that this is the point -- shouldn't he want to get into it with her, to actually talk and figure out what's wrong? He tries to escape to the bathroom but finally sits down on the bed, though his back stays to his wife. She pleads with him to be honest with her because she is going crazy, and then asks sadly if he even loves her any more. He actually tries to say that this isn't about that, but she orders him to answer the question and angrily, he answers that he loves her so much that it hurts. She's visibly relieved and makes a move toward him, saying that this means they can work on things and at least actually talk to each other. She then admits, embarrassed, that she accused Emily of sleeping with him because she felt deep down in her soul that he was cheating, but now that she knows he loves her she's totally relieved. It's so open, honest, vulnerable, and not Cristina that it makes what comes that much worse. He tells her to stop and she's stricken, seemingly knowing immediately what is coming. He repeats his love hurts line and then turns it around and tells her that it hurts to love her, and she finally tells him to just spit it out. He turns and looks at her and as she wipes away tears and tries to hold herself together, he slowly admits that while he didn't sleep with Emily, he did cheat on her with someone else. She doesn't say anything, just finally lets the tears flow unchecked as she bites her lip.

Lauren S is a writer and gal-about-town who lives and works in Atlanta, and must admit that she's totally flirt-punched a boy at least once. 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."