One week after Lil' B's birth, Mere and Derek are both super sleep-deprived and Callie isn't much better since she's still staying at their house. Bailey and Smash are left to take care of Richard, who is doing terribly since he refuses to eat -- which, we learn, is because he's physically unable to swallow -- and also refuses to let them put in a feeding tube. Bailey is also determined to work with Richard and not put in the tube, but Smash realizes that this is pretty much a terrible idea. He calls Mere and tells her what is going on, so she shows up at the hospital to figure out what they can do. Smash finally goes in to see Richard alone and tells him that Mere showed up and manages to convince him to put in the tube now and have a big showdown with the exhausted new mother later. But when Mere goes in and sits with Richard, and mentions that she knows he made her his family, Richard quietly growls that he did nothing of the sort. He explains that he made her his person because he thought she wouldn't be sentimental and wouldn't let them bring him back from being on the edge of death, but announces that now he knows he chose wrong. I feel like just having a clear medical directive that said that might have solved this whole situation…?
In relationship news, the interns are all sleeping in a pile on the floor every night at Alex's house (and I think they are also studying for their boards) which is all very sweet but it's putting a crimp in Alex and Princess consummating their relationship. But by the end of the episode Cristina has convinced Alex to just go for it if he has someone that's important to him and Princess realizes she's not dirty or disrespecting Heather if she also goes for it, so they finally do the deed. On the flip side, Cristina and Owen are both having a really hard time keeping their relationship purely professional. They do, but admit that basically all time one of them wants to touch or kiss the other. Finally, out of desperation Cristina does that thing that always happens on TV and never happens in real life and tells Owen that she thinks they should date other people; she figures it will be awful but maybe eventually it will help even though it basically never has, ever, in any situation.
Callie still refuses to be in the same room as Arizona and though they agreed to go to couples therapy, Callie decides that she doesn't want to do it after all. After dealing with her Patient O' the Week, who confessed to cheating right before she died, Callie does some thinking -- she shows up at the end of the day and Arizona is desperately relieved, assuming it's to go to therapy. But Callie says that she can't talk any more about the Other Woman for the time being and also that she realizes Arizona wasn't happy before the cheating episode. So she tells Arizona to just go to therapy by herself for now, which basically shatters Arizona.
While the interns are still studying, April seems to have already taken her boards -- maybe if you're on your second go-round they let you take them earlier? She is, of course, a basket case waiting for her results, but she passes and has Jackson check the results and tell her. They have a very sweet moment that seems to start to make up a little for last week's showdown.
While all of this personal drama is going on, there is the larger problem of the state of the hospital -- the storm basically destroyed the outpatient wing and Owen keeps telling the Board members that they have to meet and make some important decisions about how they are going to rebuild and more importantly, how they are going to find the money to do it. But everyone is so consumed with their own stuff that they keep putting him off. Finally, he fakes taking away a pro bono surgery from Jackson so that Jackson will really see how urgent the situation is. He and Jackson then trick all the Board members into gathering and announce that they are going to hold a big fundraising gala to get all of the money that they need to put the hospital back together.
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One week after the storm/electrocutions/birth, Callie is still staying at the McMansion and the adults have been turned into exhausted, empty husks from sleep deprivation. Mere can't actually pick the baby up because of her surgery so when he cries, Callie goes to get him. Of course, his cries wake the little girls up before he can do that and we hear the kind of auditory chaos that has surrounded these three for a week. Mere VOs about a sadistic game that kids play where they try to snap each other's fingers off until one cries mercy. When I was a kid there were a lot of chicken-related pastimes, but fortunately none of them involved possibly breaking bones.
Arizona is getting ready for work in her quiet apartment and is deciding between a blue and (amazing) red dress. Bailey is already at the hospital, and as she peeks into Richard's room she looks fairly dejected at how awful he looks even while he's sleeping.
The interns are all sleeping at Alex's house in a giant tangle of blankets, limbs, pizza, flashcards, and certainly BO. Cristina is standing in the doorway regarding the mess of them, eating cereal out of the box, and then finally rolls her eyes and goes up to Alex's room.
He's asleep, but she wakes him up and shoves him over, explaining that she couldn't sleep and she's bored. I imagine that also, she's restless and heartbroken and trying to keep herself from calling Owen, but doesn't want to admit to that part. Alex wakes up enough to try and shoo her out, but she stays put and in the ensuing teasing about if she's looking for sex (and Alex actually using the world "girlfriend" to describe princess) Cristina comes to realize that something weird is going on between the new couple with regards to getting it on. After much guessing about how it must have been awful, she realizes that they haven't actually done it yet. She is positively delighted at the juicy news, since it takes her mind off of her own situation.
Callie is pulling her stuff together and has agreed to take both the girls to daycare since she claims they are the only people who don't piss her off right now. I assume Mere and Derek are exempt from that as well since they are putting her up indefinitely. They are super grateful for the extra help, though, so it's mutually beneficial. Callie manages to rant about Arizona repeatedly so it's clear that she's just as hurt and uninterested as yet in forgiving her. Once she goes, Derek asks how they will cope once she fixes her marriage and leaves, but Mere points out that she thinks that's probably not happening anytime soon. Bailey's voice then comes from Mere's phone -- Mere called her to get an update on Richard. Bailey carefully admits he's not the easiest patient but tries to convince Mere that his weight loss and difficulties are totally normal and nothing to worry about. Mere doesn't seem convinced but Bailey assures her that she's taking care of him, and Mere should not come over nor call again since she has a sweet baby to cuddle instead.
Smash is finally speaking again, and working with Bailey, so he leads a group of previously unseen interns into Richard's room to give the bullet on the patient. Richard's eyes are barely open but still you can feel the glare he is directing Smash's way. The nutshell is: Richard is not doing well, and one of the things they need to do is a "swallow study." Until that is done, however, Smash thinks that Richard needs a feeding tube. Richard pipes up to croak, "No tube," and after he and Bailey exchange a look she takes the chart from Smash and insists that replenishing Richard's electrolytes will fix him right up. Smash clearly hasn't worked with Bailey yet because he tries to argue, but she won't listen to anything and Richard just gives him a look of death in response.
The other interns are all in the locker room wondering where Smash is since they were all supposed to study for their intern exam, because it's so hard to guess that he might actually be doing his job. Princess is conveniently too tired to remember her pants, so that the other girls can notice her sexy little undies and ask what is going on. Despite being gung-ho last week to consummate her new relationship with Alex (as long as they could find an unchristened room in the hospital) she now is waiting for him to make the first move so she's been prepared with lots of lady grooming and sexy underwear every day. Stephanie finds this as ludicrous as I do but Princess maintains that she doesn't want to be the slut who jumps right into bed with someone right after her friend dies. Maybe while living in her car she missed that the very first thing most people do in times of tragedy is jump into bed with someone both for comfort, and to seize the day, and celebrate life, and all that good stuff. It makes no sense but whatever, she's sticking to it that she doesn’t want to appear too eager. She does find it a little weird that Alex hasn't made a move yet, and Stephanie agrees. Leah gets a page that there is a trauma so she sprints down to the ER.
Arizona looks slammin' in her sexy red dress and great makeup but she's nervous and self-conscious and fiddling with her white coat. She also got a haircut so her hair is all sassy and shoulder-length; Cristina notes the cut but when she doesn't add that it looks good, Arizona is such a basket case that she freaks out. They are both following Owen somewhere and eventually he opens a door to reveal a literal disaster area -- the outpatient surgery wing has blown-out windows, mess everywhere, and light coming in through the hole in the ceiling, but it's not going to be fixed anytime soon because the insurance company is already swamped with storm claims. And, of course, why would a hospital take precedence over anything else in a time of disaster? He tells them that the Board has to meet to figure out how they are going to find the money to fix it but both women have reasons why they can't do that right now, namely that Mere and Derek are on leave and the rest of them are all swamped with patients. Owen adds that Arizona and Callie also can't be in the same room as each other, and his acknowledgement of that elephant in the room doesn't make Arizona any more willing to figure out a solution. Owen understands that they are busy being doctors but points out that they have to be both doctors and a Board and if they can't handle that then the hospital is screwed. Once an offended Arizona leaves, Cristina reaches out as if to touch his arm and assure him that it will be okay. But then she stops herself and points out that they can't be alone together, no matter what the subject of conversation.
April heaves a dramatic sigh as she stares at her phone, so when Jackson walks up he bites and asks what is going on. It turns out April retook her boards two days earlier but she hasn't yet gotten her results. Jackson tries to reassure her but she's in full nervous-martyr mode and instead just cracks that if she fails again then at least Jackson will know that the first failure wasn't his fault. Instead of pointing out just how involved April herself was in that first failure, Jackson just gives her a genuine smile and tells her not to freak out. Stephanie then walks up, clearly about to ask Jackson if she can study that day instead of work with him, but he tells her they've got a great case for the day.
Leah is utterly delighted that she has an extra gory trauma: a woman (Kathleen) who took a shattered baseball bat straight to the chest. She even calls to April -- over the conscious patient -- that they have a "human pincushion." How has no one benched her until she learns to not say these things in front of the patients? Kathleen, though, is too worried about the foot-long shard sticking out of her chest (and the state of her baseball jersey) to notice. Her husband Dante follows along behind, desperately worried, but when Callie arrives she escorts him out so they can work. They assure Kathleen that she isn't dying but she is panicked and grabs Leah's wrist to make her promise to tell her husband something if she doesn't make it. Leah promises that of course she will, but what she was not expecting was for Kathleen to confess that she cheated on her husband with his brother. That said, she then passes out, leaving Leah aghast and April just trying to work with an, "I am not getting involved," look on her face.
While Leah continues to freak out, Callie and April work on the woman and Callie asks about April's test results. She seems to think that the delay isn't a good thing, and April reacts just like you'd expect but at least she's working so she can't completely melt down. Leah tells Callie what happened so that Callie can weigh in on what she should do, but Callie of course just calls the woman a bitch and puts a little bit of extra oomph into cracking Kathleen's wrist back into position. Callie muses that maybe the husband cheated first and ruined the marriage, making it nicely all about herself. It's uncomfortable for everyone on every level and the solution is really just to not let the woman die so that they don't have to deal with it. Arizona then pops her head in to confirm a couples therapy appointment at 7 PM. She's dismayed when Callie announces that she doesn't think it's a good idea after all since she made a promise, but at this point in time Callie is extremely unconcerned with breaking a promise to her wife. While Leah and April work hard to appear as if they aren't paying attention, Arizona sadly says that she'll still be there.
Smash, still worried about Bailey's ostrich-style doctoring, calls Mere to tell her about how Richard really needs an NG (feeding) tube. Mere seems to agree with him but knows Bailey won't take well to her calling again, so she suggest that Smash order the tube so that it's ready to go when Bailey comes to her senses. Once she gets off the phone Derek comes in and admits that when he ran out to quickly get milk, he fell asleep in his car in the parking lot for a little while. Mere somehow looks amused, jealous, and exasperated all at the same time.
While Stephanie tries to excuse herself from work, Jackson leads her into a room where they meet their patient, Karen, and her husband, Carlos. Karen's face is over 50% burned, but Jackson shows her a simulation of what her face will look like once they do her reconstruction surgery and the results are astonishing. Both she and Carlos are overjoyed but he asks to make sure that the surgery is free since their insurance ran out a while back. Jackson assures them that this one is covered, and Karen can't help but cry happily about everything. Just in case we didn't find her lovely enough, her husband explains that she is a kindergarten teacher and she's been terrified of scaring the kids, but this way she'll be able to go back to work. Stephanie is, of course, totally over the idea of studying with this heartwarming, awesome surgery in front of her.
Leah is explaining Kathleen's surgery to a terrified Dante when his brother Marcus walks up and asks if she's going to be okay. Leah can only barely control herself when Dante introduces them; she looks back and forth enough and finally flees back to the OR as Dante tells Marcus how glad he is to have him there. Good lord, maybe he can add, "… and I'm so happy you're here to support me and my wife who you would never even think about sleeping with because we are so close and functional a family and also we'd never want to put this weird surgeon into any sort of awkward personal situation."
Cristina and Alex are working together on a 17-year-old boy who needs a valve replacement for the heart that he received in a transplant when he was a baby. His parents are really hopeful that this will mean he won't need another transplant, but Alex is awfully worried since it's a really risky procedure and he points out that the kid could possibly die. The mom tells the story of when he was a baby, and she thought he was going to die and held him all night one last time before getting the call, and says that she can't again go through the idea that she might lose him. (Nevermind what Alex said about how risky the surgery will be, I guess.) The kid adds that he knows it's a very slim chance that he'd live long enough for a matching donor to be found, so he wants to go with this surgery instead. Cristina agrees to it and says that if his MRI comes back okay they'll get to work. Out in the hall, Alex protests that what the kid really needs is to get on the transplant list, and when Cristina counters that he just wants a shot at fixing the problem this way, Alex snarks that Cristina never found a high-risk surgery she didn't like. She just tells him to wait for the MRI results.
Smash heads back to Richard's room but when he opens the door, Bailey and Richard are angrily waiting to confront him. It seems the tube arrived, and Richard thought Bailey had changed her mind without talking to him about it, but then when he talked to her they realized that Smash must have done it. To his credit, Smash is nervous but holds his ground that he was trying to be proactive in case the electrolytes didn't work. His superiors are not impressed, though, and Richard finally growls that Smash can be proactive and get him some soup. That's actually a really positive step since he'd been refusing to eat, so for now ordering the tube wasn't all bad.
Unfortunately for Jackson, Owen has had to cancel all pro bono surgeries until further notice because of the storm repairs, and Jackson is livid. His mood isn't helped when Owen points out that the Board made this decision, not him, and so Jackson says he'll just call an emergency meeting so that they can vote to approve his surgery, right after he takes all of his toys and goes home. Owen rightly points out that everyone has their own pro bonos so it might not be that easy. He's not happy about having to play bad cop but since the Board refuses to have an actual meeting and make real decisions, he's got to make the tough decisions. Jackson echoes Arizona that they can deal with that when they slow down, but Owen repeats that they won't slow down until they deal with it. It's a very classic example of people finding out just how not fun it is to become management, after all. Jackson won't go down without a fight and decides to pull out the "I make the rules," card, which the Board members seem less and less worried about using when it suits them these days. He tells Owen to be a good cop, suggesting that maybe he be a traffic cop. He then also orders that Karen's surgery is not to be cancelled. Owen is appalled but just answers, "Yes, sir!"
Cristina gives Mere a call to talk to her about her kid's heart surgery, but Mere can't think much past her own problems right now including the fact that she's dying for a nap and has sore, smelly, lanolin-covered boobs. She starts the shower running while Cristina tells her about almost touching Owen's arm, but she's too tired to really follow Cristina's story. Cristina then goes and takes a look in at Richard to see if he's got his feeding tube, and Mere curses Shane when Cristina reports that there is nothing. Cristina then tries to get back to discussing her own business but she's greeted by silence at the other end of the line as Mere has fallen asleep on the bathroom floor like a college kid after a bender.
When she comes to, the bathroom is filled with steam and Derek and standing in the doorway, holding a crying Lil' B who is ready for his meal.
Stephanie and Jackson go to visit Karen, and on their way there he blusters that he just made sure Hunt knew that they doing the surgery no matter what. However, when they open the door they are greeted with an empty bed and the nurse explains that Karen was moved out.
It's then Callie's turn to get mad at Owen because he's rescheduling all her surgeries, but he just calmly tells her to call a meeting and he'll explain what's going on. But, showing just how hard that's going to be, Arizona walks up and Callie immediately leaves. She's mad because her budget has been frozen and she needs things like more baby blankets. Blah blah call a Board meeting, already. Jackson then comes up, yelling about his pro bono surgery. Owen calmly explains that he took Jackson's advice and transferred Karen to another hospital that could take care of it and instead scheduled three butt liposuction surgeries for Jackson, just like a good traffic cop would do.
April and Leah are working on Kathleen, but it's not going as well as they'd like since they can't find the source of her bleeding. Leah is less worried about Kathleen's life, and more about how she doesn't want to have to pass on the confession to Dante. April tries valiantly to get her to be quiet but isn't super successful.
Smash brings Richard a bowl of soup on a tray and then very reverently gets it set up right in front of him and puts a napkin across Richard's chest. He then hovers until Richard asks if he's really going to watch him eat; Smash then scurries away and hides in the hallway where he can do just that. Unfortunately, when Richard slowly tries a spoonful, he winds up coughing it all up and heaving in pain because he can't really swallow.
Alex goes and searches a supply closet for baby blankets; he only finds one but he also stumbles onto his new girlfriend studying her flashcards. She tells him she's got a painful erection that won't subside. Oh how funny! Because they are both sexually frustrated! And of course what she's talking about is actually the case on her flashcards that she's studying for the test. After they talk about that she comes out from behind the shelves and tells Alex casually that he can go ahead and kick her friends out of the house if he wants to. He of course is trying to be understanding and do whatever she needs so he assures her it's fine, while she grimaces and tells him he's so understanding while cursing that they can't get any alone time. Just a week ago, these two couldn't keep their hands off each other in every semi-private nook in the hospital -- just do it again, kids, and let nature take its course.
Cristina takes her MRI films in to take a look and pauses when she realizes Owen is already in the room alone. They both take a look and she says that the surgery is going to be risky but the parents and the kid both want it. Owen wishes her luck, and then after an awkward pause, she seems to stick out her hand for a shake. Owen's sad because usually he'd give her a kiss and wish her luck. Fortunately the tension is broken by Callie sticking her head in; unfortunately it's because she's asking them how couples therapy went for them and then realizing it probably wasn't great given the state of their relationship now. Cristina is indignant but a showdown is saved when Callie gets a call. Horrified, she screams into the phone not to cut the clavicle without her there and she sprints away toward the OR.
She shoos people out of the elevator and then shoves people aside as she ties on her cap and runs into the OR, yelling the whole way that April and Leah are to wait for her to get there. But inside, April is losing her patient and the only way she can get to where she needs to be is to cut the clavicle, so she gets the bone saw and cuts through. As she finishes, Callie bursts in and angrily demands, "What the hell did you just do??"
I guess this is supposed to make us think April is still in over her head and might fail her Boards again? April insists that she made a clean cut and it was the only way to get to where they needed to be to fix the bleeder. Callie yells back that it's incredibly difficult for a little bone like that to heal after a cut and thinks that April could have done it without cutting, but it would have been more difficult and this was the easy way out for her. Hmm, anyone else once again sensing how this can sorta maybe be applied to her marriage? Just in case it wasn't obvious enough, Callie yells at them that they feel like they can do anything in the moment and Ortho will just come in and clean everything up afterward. April maintains that the patient was dying but Callie's done listening and just orders them out so that she can finish up.
Alex and Cristina take their kid in for surgery but Alex can't stop fretting about it and finally Cristina tells him to relax, "No wonder you can't have sex." After protesting that he can, he finally explains about how he thinks Princess is sad because of Heather, and trying to study, and that she's the first girl since Izzie who has really mattered to him and it seems important to wait for the right time. Cristina for one second pretends to be understanding for then mocking him for being too sensitive. She then focuses back in on the surgery and makes a noise like it looks bad. But when Alex hopefully tries to get her to call it off, she forges ahead.
While Jackson and Stephanie suck out someone's butt fat, he rants about the situation with Owen and admits that at times like this it's really complicated to untangle the relationship between them of boss vs. owner. Stephanie is back to wanting to study and eventually, Owen lets her go since he can lipo on his own.
Derek puts the baby down and he and Mere sit on the sofa like zombies -- Mere is folding laundry but says she is too worried about Richard to sleep. She explains to Derek what is going on and seems quite sure that Richard needs an NG tube. She then adds guiltily that Richard made her his family, and then she abandoned him. She looks over at Derek and realizes he's fallen asleep; when she sees that she seems to make a decision and pushes away her laundry.
She takes Lil' B to the hospital and meets up with Smash, then makes him push the stroller while she looks at Richard's chart and exclaims, appalled, over just how badly he is doing.
Leah and Stephanie are out at their old, smelly, outdoor hangout by the trash bins, studying. Princess runs out and announces with no preamble that they are not allowed at Alex's house that night, because she's almost out of sexy underwear until laundry day, and she wants to finally Do It because she can't possibly put granny panties back on. Seriously, they are in a house that I am certain has a washer and dryer, which makes this the dumbest excuse in the book. Are you too lazy to throw in a load of laundry while you are studying? I guarantee it only takes a second. This is the beauty of house living. She also tries the excuse that "Heather would understand, she'd want me to get laid." And while Leah says that is a stretch, I think that's actually the first thing they've come up with about Heather that is totally true. She was always so unbothered by everything, I'm sure she'd have happily decamped for the night for Princess' sexual satisfaction. Leah then gets a page, starts yelling, "No no no!" and runs to the OR.
She and April run in and are horrified to see that Callie is doing compressions on Kathleen, who has been down for 15 minutes. So I guess she can't just march in and be the savior in every situation, after all. She finally has to give up and calls time of death, and Leah tries to keep herself from totally melting down about what she's going to tell Dante. April thinks that hearing his wife is dead is going to be enough, but Callie insists that Kathleen trusted Leah with this, and she made a promise, and Dante deserves to know because at least then his last memory of his wife will be an honest one. It's rather vindictive and awful even for someone who is going through their own romantic pain. April is totally disgusted, but Callie says she's going to make sure Leah follows through, and then the two of them leave which gives Leah a chance to raise her voice at Kathleen's corpse.
Bailey is rather shocked to see Mere and the baby, especially since she thinks Mere has staples still in -- Mere tells her that she took them out herself, the idea of which makes me curl up in the fetal position for a few moments. (Not because it hurts or anything, but just… the very idea of it gives me the willies.) (Just in case any of you have staples one day and get all scared because your sensitive recapper made you scared about having them removed.) Mere announces that she's worried and is not reassured by Bailey claiming that she and Richard have a plan; Mere says that as the patient, he doesn't get to make decisions. …but wait, doesn't he? I mean, if he's of sound mind, doesn't he get to decline care he doesn't want? Bailey wants Mere to go home and they start a bit of an argument about the NG tube, but one that is softened because they both know that they are trying to do right by Richard. Bailey reminds Meredith that having a feeding tube has psychological ramifications because it takes away a patient's dignity; Mere counters (rightly) that dying takes away dignity too. Mere wants to talk to radiology about the swallow study, so Bailey agrees and off they go. Smash watches them go and seems to make up his mind about something, so he goes into Richard's room and closes the door.
Richard is the opposite of pleased to wake up to Smash changing his bed so that he is sitting up. Even with severely limited mobility and not much voice, Richard is still scary as he demands to know what Smash is doing. But Smash holds his ground, and after he takes off Richard's oxygen he lists all the things that are wrong with him and points out that even if he physically could eat (which he can't) he'd be at risk for aspirating his food. Let's none of us get to that point, okay? Basically, he needs the tube or he's going to starve to death. Richard is livid that an intern is talking to him like this but Smash holds firm and even goes so far as to point out that both Richard and Bailey are pretending this isn't happening. He announces that Mere is there and won't leave until he has a tube, so Richard can let Smash do it now or wait and have Mere do it later. Smash thinks that Richard probably would rather do it now, just the two of them. Richard thinks, clearly pissed, and tries to swallow but is in obvious intense pain when he does so.
Jackson, mad from spending a day gathering ass fat, stalks back to Owen who fairly quickly reveals that his pro bono surgery for Karen is set for the morning. He admits that he lied about transferring her, and instead just moved her so that Jackson would think she was gone. Jackson is livid and starts to yell but Owen breaks in and points out that the three lipos he performed will pay for the pro bono surgery, and that they have to think about these things because money doesn't grow on trees. (Even trees that are shading the forest crash site of a private plane carrying a bunch of doctors.) Owen explains that he needed to make a point, and Jackson finally agrees that he was right. Owen points out that he can't force the Board to meet about the budget problems, but Jackson thinks that he can due to the fact that he's their boss and he can lie.
Despite Cristina's orders, Alex is still freaking out with every move she makes in surgery. She just ignores his fretting and instead talks to him about his relationship, advising that he just has to throw Princess over his shoulder and take her to bed. Alex adds drily that that is every woman's dream. Fed up because of her own situation, Cristina finally snaps and points out that Princess is the thing that is special, not the situation -- he's got the right person, and they want the same thing, so he needs to stop being so scared. She ties it back to the current surgery by pointing out that the kid and his parents are all not scared, and that she's operating because they asked her to and she can, not because she wants to. Of course, at that moment alarms start to ring, and that is the moment Cristina realizes they've bitten off more than they can chew. The heart is too damaged to continue, so they have to close him up and get him on the transplant list.
Jackson finds April sitting alone on a gurney, sad because her patient died and she still has no results. He sits down to her and listens to her fret some more until finally her phone dings and she sees that the results have arrived. Once they are there she is too nervous to open them, and she forces the phone on him despite his honest protests. Finally, when she says, "Please," he takes the phone, reads it, and after a moment congratulates her. She leaps up, hands in the air, thanking God, and then turns to grab Jackson in a hug. He smoothly holds up his hand for a high five instead, and after a slight pause she smacks his hand; he congratulates her, and she thanks him and walks off. They both have kind of serene smiles on their faces as they walk away… because they can now really be friends? Because they managed not to hug? Because Jackson is finally off the hook now that April is a Board-Certified Surgeon? I am not quite sure.
She then has to go with Callie and Leah for the much less happy notification to the family of Kathleen's death. Dante cries, and his brother holds him while the whole family around them seems horrified. Once Callie is done, Leah takes a few moments and finally says that there's one thing she has to add. She says that before she went into surgery, Kathleen wanted her to tell him… Callie jumps in and deftly finishes, "that she loves you." Leah is relieved, while Dante breaks down but thanks them, clinging to that last message of love like a lifeline.
An incredibly bedraggled Derek wanders into the hospital looking for Mere, much to Owen's surprise. Mere walks by and exclaims when she realizes she never told Derek where she was going, and he was a bit terrified to wake up and find no wife, baby, nor note about where they were. Adorably, Bailey points out that Mere is wearing mismatched shoes and tells Derek to cut her a break. Mere blows him a kiss as she and Bailey run off to Richard's room. Owen reminds Derek that he is in a building full of beds, so he shuffles off to get a bit of sleep.
When Mere and Bailey get to Richard's room, they are shocked and rather dismayed to find Richard with the NG tube already in place. Mere exclaims that Smash was supposed to wait but he firmly replies that Richard was overdue, and he was starving, and so he did what had to be done. It's true, but it doesn't make it any less of a sad situation all around.
Cristina and Alex go to talk to their patient's parents, and when they tell them that the repair was impossible and he has to go on the transplant list, his mom falls apart. Alex finally speaks up and says what he should have driven home earlier -- that the list is not a death sentence but rather a chance that most people don't get. Cristina adds that when the kid wakes up, he needs to hear that from them. Because yeah, while they certainly mean well and want the best for their child, I'm sure some of his attitude about the surgery is what has rubbed off on him from his parents. Cristina then adds that she knows it's not what they wanted but they have to now move forward and that the kid needs to have hope or he won't survive. Hmm, does this sound like it could apply to her life too? How uncanny. Fortunately, Mom seems to understand and nods even though she is crying.
Derek doesn't get much rest; soon he finds himself jogging to answer a page. He's confused about who would page him when he's off, and the confusion only grows when he sees that Mere and then also Callie got one as well. They meet up with Arizona and Callie as they all run to outpatient surgery but when they open the door, they find Owen and Jackson with a table set with pens and blank notepads. Owen exclaims to Jackson that their plan worked, and Jackson explains that this is a Board meeting. Before they can get too worked up he announces that they are going to hold a gala fundraiser and invite a bunch of rich folks so that they can then charm money out of them to repair the hospital. He invites them to all sit down so that they can shiver in the cold night air and plan their big 200th episode/hospital repair party. Everyone rolls their eyes, but they do as they are told.
Princess is waiting at the house and when Alex walks in, she jumps up and says that they have the house to themselves, and while she's about to throw herself at him she doesn't want him to think she's an unfeeling slut, because she's sad… Alex cuts her off and then takes Cristina's advice and throws her over his shoulder to walk up to the bedroom. Far from being offended as he feared, she giggles and screams an excited, "Yes! Oh thank God!" FINALLY.
As Owen is on his way out for the day, he and Cristina run into each other in the elevator and we're reminded of all of the romantic elevator angst of these past 199 episodes of Grey's. She finally tells him that eventually she'll touch his arm, and he'll kiss her good luck. Since that wouldn't help anything, Cristina comes up with a terrible idea on the spot: let's date other people! Why on earth to TV characters always suggest this? It always ends in tears and I have yet to know two real-life people who have had this idea and conversation. Cristina admits that it will suck and be really weird but thinks maybe it will help eventually lessen her wanting to grab Owen's arm. My guess is that one meets someone worthy of some "Mc-" nickname and falls for them while for the other it is no help at all, and then things will be even more horrible. Owen looks devastated at the idea but when Cristina begs him to say he will try, he finally agrees. In a really nice bit of acting by Sandra Oh, you see Cristina slump ever so slightly as the doors close, as if her bravado is visibly melting away.
Arizona is sitting in a waiting room and jumps up in happiness and relief when she sees Callie arrive. It's short-lived, though, because although Callie finally gives her a genuine, if sad, smile, she's not planning on staying. She admits to Arizona that she's been wishing Arizona had never told Callie about her indiscretion and that they could go back to being happy -- but then this gave her the realization that they weren't happy, especially Arizona. Arizona pleads that she just made a mistake and is shocked when Callie admits gently that she's not sure it was a mistake. And it's true that Arizona seemed very slow to understand just what real damage she had done to the relationship, which leads me to believe that subconsciously she just saw it as something she needed to do to move on. Does that sound convincing? Because I'm still trying to figure out why she would do something so out of character and felt solely for the sake of story. Because it's definitely powerful to watch how the two of them get through this (or not), her indiscretion still felt way too out of left field for the character we knew. Callie admits that all she can think about is Arizona and Lauren together, and she can't think or talk about it anymore so she is going to go… but she thinks Arizona should stay. Arizona is thoroughly confused, and begs Callie to stay so they can talk; Callie for her part looks gutted about this and realizes what an effort Arizona went to, wearing "the" red dress and everything. As she leaves, Arizona looks like Callie just physically punched her in the gut. Mere VOs that when kids play that crappy finger-breaking game, when one cries out the other one listens and the pain stops, and don't you wish it was that easy now?