It's April's wedding day, and she's in a tizzy trying to herd bridesmaids, none of whom have yet shown up for any fittings. She brings seamstresses to the hospital to get Cristina and Meredith ready, which also forces them to be in the same room with each other and they finally start to get to the meat of their problems with one another. Earlier, Cristina had a press conference regarding Nathan's successful surgery, but she seems tongue-tied and awkward. She admits to Mere that was because she doesn't know what she did that made the conduit start working -- it was the surgical equivalent to hitting the side of a TV to get the picture right. This riles Mere up that Cristina is so brilliant she can be amazing even when she has no idea what she's doing. Mere finally admits she's super jealous of Cristina and can't get over Cristina calling her a mediocre surgeon. Cristina yells back that Mere has basically called her a terrible human being. And on and on they fight. This continues right up until they arrive for the actual wedding, and Cristina admits that now she's alone and that's sad because she thought she'd have Mere at this point in her life. They might maybe be fighting their way to a breakthrough, but April finally loses it and points out that she is supposed to be the center of attention, and she needs them to make her feel special. To their credit, they drop what they are doing and do just that.
It's not going to help Mere's insecurity when she finds out that Derek is being pursued hard by a group wanting to do a brain mapping project, which has been funded by some sort of presidential initiative, and they want him to be a consultant. Derek tells them he doesn't have the time, much to Owen's disappointment, and actually sticks to his guns through a rather hard sell. He then tells Owen that they are just trying to get government funding by using his name to sweeten their proposal, and it has nothing to do with the President wanting the brain mapped. Later, Mere thanks him for supporting her and giving her time to do her research, saying she knows he's turning down an awful lot of things for her. What she doesn't know is that the President himself calls Derek during April's wedding to try and talk him into the project personally.
Princess is still trying to help James, and Alex goes to have a talk with him which goes well for a little while but then disintegrates and winds up with Alex yelling that he became the man he was only because James left them. However, Alex then has to treat a kid who got in a horrible accident, and whose father was so terrified that he drove him to the hospital himself and in doing so probably paralyzed his own son. The dad beats himself up for possibly ruining his child's life and it being all his fault, and Alex sees his own life reflected, and he goes back to James and says that he knows he did the best that he could. However, he also wants nothing to do with him and after forgiving him, wishes him luck with his other family. What he has no way of knowing is that might be the last time he ever has a chance to talk to him, as James has a heart attack or something similar. Since almost all of the doctors are at the wedding, Smash -- hyped up on energy drinks and his own ego from sleeping and working with Cristina -- yells at Leah that he can do the surgery himself. They get to the OR and things go horribly wrong, and Leah runs and gets Richard (on his first day back) to assist. Richard finds Smash in a full-on meltdown about Heather, convinces him to go rest, and then frantically takes over trying to save James. Alex, when he arrives at the wedding, finds Princess and desperately makes her promise that they are all of the family that they each will ever need.
Bailey is back at work but Ben notices that she's giving surgeries to interns (which she would never do before) and trying to figure out new research and suggests that she is trying to avoid actually doing surgery. She shoots back that he's a big old quitting quitter, and then points out that her OCD symptoms got worse once he came home. Nothing much happens for them from there other than that they look crazy uncomfortable sitting to each other to celebrate April and Matthew's love. In other couple news, Callie is trying really hard to make things okay with Arizona but keeps talking about her research and how it's moving forward and possibly going to be able to make Arizona as good as she was before. Arizona's having a hard time with it because she finally likes who she is now and wants to be loved just for that -- which is basically why she had the affair in the first place.
Finally, Jackson and Stephanie are working together on a case involving a patient and his wife who are totally cute and in love. Things of course go tragically wrong for the patient but while it's all going on Jackson remembers Mark's advice to tell someone you love them, even if it destroys your life. Stephanie almost tells Jackson she loves him but chickens out, and it's all for the best, because, as we all sort of suspected might happen… Jackson stands up in the middle of Jackson and Matthew's wedding and declares that he loves April and thinks she loves him too.
"Failure is an inevitability." Thanks, Meredith, for starting us off on such a high note for this Winter finale. Though really she's talking about medical research and breakthroughs like she has before, and it's true, and all the doctors we know who came up with nifty things like the polio vaccine are the ones who refused to take "no" for an answer. Currently, it looks like one of those doctors is Cristina -- she's doing a press conference with Owen and Smash about Baby Nathan's successful groundbreaking surgery. However, she's totally tentative and stuttering, and refuses to say anything other than that she's cautiously optimistic that the surgery will be a success. She sees Mere glaring at her from the back of the room, which surely isn't helping her insecurity. Owen is a little bit worried about her, while Smash looks annoyed and fidgets. Finally, he grabs the microphone away from Cristina to shout that she hit a home run and thanks to her, "Baby Nathan" is thriving this morning. Wait a minute, we know that's his name, but is the press supposed to know that given all of last week's privacy concerns. No one mentions it though, and the crowd all gathers in a big round of applause. Mere does clap but she then leaves, and Cristina totally sees and that distraction may be all that kept her from throttling Smash in front of the crowd.
Mere and Steph go and zip up their poor sheep carcass; while they do Mere forces them to stay positive and says that they will print another vein from new material, and do new research, and will learn from this setback. Fortunately this time, Steph isn't crying.
Ben and Bailey come upon Richard gazing at the surgery board and notice that he's down for a procedure; he's breaking himself in with a small easy one that he scheduled for the time that everyone else would be gone at April's wedding so there was no fuss. Ben sees that Bailey has a long surgery scheduled herself but she assures him she'll be on time for the nuptials, and they share a sweet kiss before he leaves. Bailey is still fiddling with her hands a little bit but it's nothing at all like the purposeful, orderly yanking of her fingers. Richard asks her if the medication is working and she grumbles a yes, but while she seems like she doesn't want to admit she's using it, she also seems happy and proud to be doing better. Richard tells her she's proud of her, and she glows a little from his praise, trying to brush it off.
After the conference call, Owen, Cristina and Smash walk out and Smash crows that he thought it went well. Cristina is super annoyed, though, and tells him he must be over his hours, and he should take the day off. She also points out that he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Smash gets all defensive about his work, Cristina gets all funny about the case, and finally Owen breaks in and points out that Smash said what needed to be said while Cristina just sort of froze up there. Smash is almost manically punching his fingers into the screen of one of the tablets and then puts it in Cristina's face, proving that he's only worked 68 of his 80 hours. Owen then leaves them, and Cristina tells Smash she's worried that he's going too fast, and she's not the only one who noticed. He demands to know who was badmouthing him but Cristina keeps that to herself and over his protestations and questions she finally tells him he's going to burn himself out. He takes a different approach and puts his hand on her arm, saucily telling her he thinks that what she really needs is to work off some steam. Men, a little note: if anyone -- man, woman, partner, friend -- is saying this kind of thing, don't try to suppose you know what their "real" problem is. Especially if it's that they should have sex with you. Unsurprisingly, Cristina shoots him down and in fact tells him that they are over. Smash tries to claim that the only reason on earth he's been sticking it to her is to relax her, and then he begs her not to shut him out. Cristina is unmoved, and just orders him to go home.
Callie and Derek are going over their research, and she's excited because they are about to enter Phase 2. Owen comes in and reminds him that some neuroscience guys are coming to meet with him, but Derek tries to brush it off even when Owen reminds him that this is regarding a presidential initiative on brain mapping. Callie claims that she is the only one who currently gets Derek's brilliant mind (Mere gets the rest of him) and when Owen keeps running up against a wall, he changes his request and makes sure they are going to April's wedding. Callie isn't actually all that excited, but both she and Derek say they will be there.
Princess, Leah and Steph are all hanging out and Leah tells them how she's not going to the wedding because she can't stand to see Arizona looking gorgeous while she's the discarded piece of trash. They both start to point out that this is What Leah Does every time something doesn't work out, but she interrupts to totally deny it. Owen comes up and asks if they are going to the wedding and gets two out of three yeses. They then go back to their conversation, and Leah tries to convince them that this time it's really different, and she and Arizona had something special. Steph and Princess, though, seem skeptical. Maybe that's just the reaction to her hair, though, which is in a ponytail but still all bumped up on top of her head in weird static waves that age her at least ten years. Honey, you are not a heroine in a Jackie Collins novel of yore. Pull your hair back in a slick ponytail, look cute and current, and be done with it.
Arizona asks Alex about his dad, and he's dismayed to learn that James has been bragging to all of the nurses that Alex is his son. He's probably relieved when they are interrupted by the screech of brakes and someone yelling. A man pulls his young son out of a truck, cradling him in his arms, and says that there was a tractor accident where the kid fell off and was run over. The doctors holler at him to stop moving and quickly get the boy onto a backboard. He was moving after the accident, but after the dad called 911 he got scared about how long it was taking and loaded the kid into the truck himself. The doctors seem especially interested and worried to learn that he was moving before he passed out, and then Arizona tells the dad he has to wait outside and they'll do all they can.
Owen walks into Mere's lab, with Cristina following, and tells her they need pictures of the printer. She's printing a new portal vein and all happy to pose with her baby, but it turns out they just want Cristina and the machine, and they don't care that it's actually printing Mere's work at the time. Cristina tries to leave, saying they can do it later, but Mere just rolls her eyes and walks away, taking a moment to glare at them before she storms out. Cristina can barely bring herself to give a quarter-smile for the camera.
So as Arizona and Alex examine the kid, they realize that there's a good chance that his dad paralyzed him by bringing him to the hospital rather than waiting. Arizona tries to send Alex off to spend time with his own dad, but Alex isn't super excited about the idea. The kid's dad then asks about him and they tell him that his neck his broken, but they'll know more in surgery. The dad pleads that the kid had been moving, and an annoyed Alex opens his mouth to tell the dad what a horrific mistake he made. Fortunately, Arizona saves a big horrible incident from occurring by cutting off Alex and promising to give the dad an update as soon as they know more.
April arrives at the hospital and like all good TV brides, she's got massive curlers in her hair. She runs into Jackson, sees the delight in his eyes and warns him not to tease her, and explains that she's hunting for her bridesmaids. She then asks Jackson if he's going to be there, and he gets serious and asks if she wants him there. She does, very much, so he finally agrees to attend. They then try to have a hug but her curlers are keeping them from much contact, which could be for the best, all things considered.
Leah may be upset about Arizona, but she's relieved that Bailey is finally operating again so that she can get back into the OR. They have a 20-year-old patient named Elliott who is there for his 312th surgery. Nope, not a typo, though Leah thought it was. He has some crazy aggressive tumors that have to be lasered out every 7-10 days, and his parents finally bought a house near the hospital the way other families buy homes close to good schools. Bailey thinks a moment and then has an idea, and excitedly asks what Elliot thinks of her culturing his cells in the lab and creating a custom drug to inhibit his tumor growth? Elliott is pretty stoked about the idea, but Leah actually blurts out a dismayed, "OH MY GOD." Bailey turns and gives her a death glare.
Outside, Bailey quickly puts Leah in her place, and after Leah apologizes she orders her to the lab. But Leah draws on some strength and/or insanity and refuses, saying she hasn't had enough surgery, and that she came to study surgery and is currently being left behind. All Bailey has to do is raise an eyebrow to cut her off, and then she icily informs Leah that they have to do one more surgery to get the samples anyway, so she'll be the one to do it from beginning to end. Leah is stunned that she not only wasn't killed, but that she actually got what she wanted.
Stephanie and Jackson have a patient, Dalton, with supremely bad breath due to a condition where his muscles don't actually work his food all the way down his esophagus. He and his wife Karen are super cute and loving and jokey, so surely they are doomed. Jackson explains the surgery he'll perform and tells them that there are normal risks such as stroke or death, but that they are minimal in his case. The greater risk is that his vocal cords could be damaged, but that's also unlikely. Just in case, though, Dalton starts saying all sorts of adorably inappropriate things to Karen, like that she has a cute butt. DOOMED.
April finds Cristina having her picture taken by some of the still-gathered press but jumps into frame and grabs her away. Cristina asks if she's bailing on her wedding but she's not, she's there to find Cristina.
Derek let Owen drag him into this neuroscience presentation but just in case they weren't sure that he had other priorities, he comes with Lil' B strapped to his chest. They explain that the President issued a mandate for a full and complete map of the human brain, and they are there because of course Derek's sensors are the best ones they've seen so far. They hand over a slip of paper with the fee they want to pay him to consult, but Derek refuses to turn it over, insisting that it's not about money. The guy tries to convince him that it's a figure that could change his mind, but Derek continues to turn them down. Finally, they ask if they can show their movie, and Owen practically yells that they can, so nervous and embarrassed about Derek's breezy dismissal.
Alex goes to his dad's room where Princess is trying to help him get up with the help of a walker. Alex asks for a moment, and as Princess goes she puts a supportive hand on his shoulder. Alex then points out that he recognized his dad immediately, and asks how on earth his dad didn't recognize him back. James sadly replies that he did a bunch of drugs and let himself forget because he couldn't stand himself, and he's so very self-deprecating but Alex is having none of it. James tells Alex that he used to laugh in his sleep as a young kid, and then laments that he ruined that pretty quickly. Alex finally sits down and gives his dad the luxury of one fond memory, when he took Alex to the fair and rode all the scary, creaky rides twice. James claims to remember it but each time he brings something up from the past, he mentions Alex's mom and what a crazy mess she was. Alex doesn't want to hear it and asks about his other family, and James admits that he might be able to try and go back to them. When James starts in on Alex's mom again, and then says that Alex can't have any idea of how hard it was to be with someone like her, Alex absolutely loses it. He points out that when James left, Alex had to become the dad and take care of the rest of the family, including having his mom committed. He screams at James that his best effort was worthless, and continues yelling until Princess runs in and orders him to walk away.
Callie comes in to help out with the possibly paralyzed boy, and after she consults she tells Arizona about the phase of their research and how good it could be for her. Presumably Arizona already knows this so she explains for us that her goal is to create a prosthetic that is as sensitive and responsive as a real limb, to get Arizona back to where she was pre-horrific plane crash. She doesn't notice that Arizona doesn't have much to say in response and seems relieved when Alex comes in. Pretty quickly Arizona realizes that he needs to focus on something other than his dad and she puts him to work.
April storms into the lab where Mere is working, and is insulted when Mere also thinks she's making a run for it. Awesomely, though, Mere is a cool head and assures her, "Don't worry, I know what to do." It turns out, though, that April is actually there with seamstresses in tow to tailor her bridesmaids' dresses. Cristina is already there, unhappily being pinned into her dress by a brusque woman who sounds like she is Russian or from some other severe Eastern European locale. April reminds them that they are actually supposed to be doing these kinds of things for HER, and then she leaves. Mere gets into her dress and then asks Cristina what on earth happened to her during her press conference. Cristina admits that she couldn't tell the press what happened because she isn't actually sure -- the conduit did fail, and she did the surgical equivalent of hitting the side of a TV to get a good picture. This has been eating her up and she feels like a fraud. Mere asks, with not just a little bit of judgment in her voice, why Cristina didn't say anything but Cristina points out that Mere has been ignoring her and Alex didn't agree with the surgery in the first place. She claims she had no choice, because it was Baby Nathan's best shot. Mere thinks a moment, and for one brief glorious second it sounded like maybe she'd commiserate and they'd start to work things out. But instead, she confirms that the two of them are in two different places: she claims that she may overreach and have something to prove, but she'll never be as arrogant as Cristina. That is awfully rich, coming from the doctor who was just strutting around the hospital trumpeting her brilliance to all who would listen. Cristina is so very over it, and tells her to go to Hell, that she's put up with Mere's abuse for weeks and refuses to stand there and take it anymore. Too bad the seamstress orders, "You stand here," and the two women pout with their backs to each other.
When the neuroscientists' film ends, Owen blows some smoke up their backsides while Derek again turns them down with a smile, saying he's overextended. The guys and Owen all try desperately to talk him into it, unsuccessfully, and when one of them asks about their work Derek declares that it's crap. Owen is absolutely appalled, but Derek claims that they made him. He then decides to throw them one brilliant little bone, and says that they have to start looking at the bigger picture. This as if he didn't just have the revelation himself a few days earlier after months of failure. He reminds them that when you kiss someone, your brain makes about a million things happen, none of which are you having a conscious thought to pucker up. He then tells them to stop looking at what they all do, and instead look at why they do it. All that with an adorable perfect baby strapped to his chest, ladies and gentlemen. There is nothing McDreamy can't do. One of the dudes understands that this approach means they have to change all of their own research, as Derek leaves. He whispers to a still-startled Owen all dreamily that they guys are starting to understand. And with that gift, he leaves.
Karen is walking alongside Dalton as Jackson and Stephanie transport him to the OR. He keeps being charming and awesome, hilariously admitting to his wife that one dress makes her look fat, but adding it's not right because she's so gorgeous. He then sings a few lines of "It Had to Be You," and explains that is their song. When they get to the Door of No Return, he pulls Karen close and whispers something in her ear which makes her smile and cry. Jackson and Stephanie are all sweetly charmed by their amazing love that is surely only going to be better once his breath doesn't reek of weeks-old stuck food.
Leah and Bailey are in the OR, and Leah finally has a professional, composed moment when she apologizes for blowing up at Bailey. Bailey points out that it got her what she wanted and admits that she was right, Bailey is supposed to be teaching her and she'd not been doing that lately. She's doing it while they talk, in fact, and Leah lasers Elliott's tumors. Finally, Bailey concludes that Leah should never be afraid to stand up for herself -- but she should be sure she's right when she does stand up. Little does she know that she was just waving a red flag in front of a heartbroken bull. Leah takes this super to heart and forgets all about what she's doing as she yells, "That's so true!" She repeats that she has to stand up for what she deserves.
Cristina and Mere are still fighting, while their seamstresses deserve medals for just continuing with their work and ignoring the scene around them. And by "ignoring" I of course mean, "filing this all away to tell their friends over a bottle of wine all about the crazy bitches they had to work with that day." Cristina still thinks it's mathematically impossible for Mere to give 100% to both her job and her family. Mere thinks Cristina is screwing with her research, which I understand her wallowing in because she's hurt, but Cristina didn't set out to better Mere just for the sake of it. Fighty fight fight. Mere thinks Cristina said she's a terrible doctor and Cristina (correctly) denies that, but (semi-correctly) points out that Mere said she was a terrible person, many times, because Cristina doesn't want the same things that Mere wants. "When did I become such a monster to you?" Mere doesn't have to answer because right then Smash runs in and Cristina yells at him to leave as she pulls the top of her dress up to cover her bra. She yells at him to go home but he's there with an email from the Harper Avery Foundation, saying she's in the running for the annual award. Mere had been smirking until she hears that, and finding this out didn't seem to make Cristina any happier either. The seamstresses then finally let them get dressed again.
While Callie works on the Tractor Kid, she chats away about the wedding, and asks if Arizona will wear her sexy high heel leg? She prattles on about it until Arizona cuts her off a tad sharply, and Alex saves the day by asking if the kid is going to be paralyzed. They don't know yet, and when Alex asks Arizona if she's going to tell the dad what he might have caused, Arizona explains the whole situation to Callie. Callie and Alex both seem to think it was pretty dumb of the dad not to wait, and Alex is especially angry since it so clearly echoes his own life when he says that the kid would have been better if his dad had let him be. Arizona finally stops them both and reminds them that sometimes we all try to make things better and have no idea we're causing more pain. Callie seems to have no idea that Arizona is talking about her, and I think that even with their "less talk, more action" mantra this is something that would be worth a discussion, but then where would we find television-grade tension? Arizona chastises both of them that of course they aren't going to tell the dad he might have done this.
In Dalton's surgery, Jackson can't get in with a scope so he has to make an incision in the guy's neck. He and Stephanie then muse about what Dalton might have whispered, and Jackson seems in awe that the two of them seem like they could tell each other anything. He claims he can tell Stephanie anything while she thinks they aren't quite at a Dalton/Karen level yet and they have some cute teasing banter about her shedding hair and bras all over his apartment, and Jackson having an angry resting face. After they get all schmoopy, Steph concludes that Dalton probably said he loves her, and Jackson repeats some old advice of Mark's: "Say it loud and go from there." He tells Steph about how Mark counseled that you should always tell someone if you love them, even if you're scared it might burn your life to the ground. Well my goodness, I wonder where advice like that might lead today, HMMMMMM? Surely not to anything inappropriate at his old flame's wedding.
Speaking of his maybe-love, April is storming around a corner when she almost smacks into Matthew, and they both jump back on either side of the wall, demanding to know what the other is doing there. April is dismayed that he saw her and that means bad luck for them, but Matthew assures her that he barely saw her, and he's glad to have seen her for a moment because if his first glance of her that day was looking all beautiful in his wedding dress he'd probably pass out… schmoopy schmoops schmoops, he loves her no matter what, she loves him too. April tells him that she can't wait to marry him and then also reminds him to wear black socks, because he's what, ten years old and never managed a suit or tux before? However, he's already disappeared.
The kid is out of surgery, and Alex explains to his dad that they won't know for a while if he's paralyzed or not but if he is, he'll most likely be quadriplegic. The dad, crying, suddenly has a horrible realization and asks if it was his fault -- he just remembered that his son had been moving immediately afterward. He can barely contain himself, but Alex tries to comfort him that whatever happens is not his fault because he was just trying to do the best for his kid. While the man sobs, Alex reaches out and pats his back.
Dalton is also out of surgery, and Jackson is explaining to Karen how everything went super well. Steph notices he is waking up, and Karen goes to his bedside, all excited. But immediately, Dalton's eyes roll back and he pulls his hands up into tight fists. Jackson immediately has Derek paged and runs to check Dalton.
Mere and Cristina are still fighting about Mere's competency and Cristina's humanity. They are starting to serve some low blows now, with Cristina suggesting that Mere regrets having a family and Mere thinking Cristina wants success so much she'll sabotage those she loves. She then calls Cristina on sleeping with Smash, pointing out that he used to blush "at an exposed ankle" but didn't bat an eye at Cristina in her bra. Cristina is dumbfounded, and Mere uses the silence to point out that he's just doing what Cristina did, sleeping with the best to get ahead. Just in case Cristina somehow forgot her own history, Mere reminds her that she did this in med school and then during her intern year with Burke. (She somehow forgets to mention that she was also sleeping with an Attending that year.) She congratulates Cristina -- "You've become the thing we worshipped." Without missing a beat, Cristina replies, "And you've become the thing we laughed at." At that, Mere leaves.
Seeing his patient's dad break down seemed to finally get through to Alex, so he goes to visit James. James immediately starts to apologize but Alex stops him and admits that James did the best he could and Alex turned out all right. James thanks him, but when he continues that he wants his family back, Alex draws a very hard line, informing him that they aren't family and if he wants one he should try and make it work with his kid in Florida. Alex points out that he's who he is because James left, not in spite of it. He grudgingly gives James permission to stop beating himself up, and James is fighting back tears -- interestingly, they both chew their lip the same way during times of emotional distress. Alex sticks a hand out and wishes Jimmy good luck; he takes it, but can't seem to let go and finally Alex pulls himself away and leaves James looking fairly heartbroken.
After Derek examines Dalton, he gives Karen the heartbreaking diagnosis -- he had a massive stroke, possibly from dislodging a blood clot in his carotid which is a super rare but not unheard of risk. Dammit Dalton and Karen being so happy and in love! She realizes they can't fix it, but the doctors promise to do all they can and tell her he'll need extensive rehab. His eyes are open; they don't know if he can hear them but Karen gives it a go anyway when she cuddles up to him and sings, "It Had to Be You." Jackson tactfully leads Stephanie out so Karen can have some privacy.
In the hall, she asks desperately if it's something they did but Jackson tells her it was totally unforeseen. He then seems to go mentally far away, thinking about something… something unforeseen? Something to do with love? Something to do with letting someone know before it's too late? Whatever could be going on? Stephanie just looks at him a while and then starts, "I lo…" She only gets the first letter of the word out when Jackson snaps back to and asks her what she said, and she immediately backs down and tells him it was nothing.
Princess runs up to Leah and asks if she can cover her patients during the wedding. Isn't that something you think about earlier than an hour or so before the ceremony? Regardless, Leah turns her down and makes some grand declarations about how she's going to go and stand up for what she deserves, and tell Arizona how she feels… mercifully, she finally has one lucid moment of perspective and realize she sounds like a lunatic, and that this is What She Does. Princess agrees, relieved she can see it, and Leah grabs her in a hug and tells her she'll cover her patients. Princess leaves, and Smash walks up, by now almost visibly twitching as he sips what seems to be an energy drink of some generic unlabeled variety. Leah is looking at a tablet and swears when she realizes that she's over her weekly hours and can't take Princess' patients after all. But smoothly, Smash tells her he knows how to cheat the system and goes in and reduces her hours so that she can work some more. She's relieved but kind of appalled that he seems to do this all the time, and wonders when he sleeps.
Derek, all dapper in a suit, finds Owen to report that he's helping with Dalton, and then asks Owen if he's going to the wedding, given that he's been yelling at everyone else all day about how they need to go. Before he goes to change, Owen asks Derek if he really needed to rip apart the neuroscience dudes' work on top of turning them down; Derek points out that he'd love to help them but the timing is wrong because he has to raise his family and make Seattle Grey Mercy Whatever into an "innovation hub." Owen doesn't accept that, and tells him that this is bigger than all of them because it's a Presidential initiative -- a call to serve. Derek finally stops being quite so breezy about the whole thing when he tells Owen that his own service was a calling, but in this case these are just guys trying to get government money and they want Derek's name attached to help. He tells Owen he appreciates his viewpoint but thinks this is very much not a call to serve at all, which seems to annoy Owen further.
As Callie noted to Arizona earlier, April is indeed getting married on a farm but it's absolutely gorgeous -- an old weathered barn all decorated and beautiful. The two women arrive and Callie tells Arizona that later she wants to toast Phase 2 of her research, which was totally inspired by and for and wrapped up in and around Arizona. She manages to squeak out an "OK" and then fights to keep smiling but starts to tear up. Callie notices, but swallows Arizona's lame excuse that she's just crying because it's a wedding. I appreciate that Callie is clearly trying to make it work and is doing it the only way she knows how, but pleeeeease start noticing that your wife is struggling with a happy façade for you!
Jackson and Stephanie arrive, all happy and lovey and not at all destined for anything awkward or awful later. Jackson opens up one of a pile of tiny boxes that says it's for after the ceremony, and lets out a butterfly -- Stephanie teases him and jokes that he just ruined April's wedding. It's cute and funny because of course he's done nothing of the sort yet, har har!
Ben and Bailey arrive and Ben seems unable to contain himself any longer and asks what's going on with Miranda suddenly giving surgeries to residents and going back to the lab where she hid out after she unwittingly gave her patients that infection. Bailey gets all prickly and asks Ben what he means, and he chooses unfortunate wording when he tells her that he's worried she's quitting surgery. Bailey of course thinks that they should discuss his own quitting, but Ben once again just says that he wanted his family back and needed to be there instead of LA. I'm starting to have a bad feeling that he needed his family because he got out of line in LA with them so far away even though I do think it's perfectly normal and acceptable that someone would realize they want to live in the same state at least as their spouse and that that could be more important than a choice of new career. Ben adds rather unfortunately that he's glad he came back because he was able to help her get her OCD symptoms under control. Bailey finally asks him the obvious question -- had it occurred to him that they got worse when he made his grand return to Seattle? The mood destroyed for them, they both unhappily go inside.
Back at the hospital, Jimmy seems to be in heart failure, and Leah runs in and yells for a crash cart while he grabs at his chest.
April is in her wedding gown, and she looks totally beautiful -- it's a sweet gown but not twee, with a sleeveless mesh overlay on the top over what would otherwise be a strapless bodice, and little flowers that are on one side going up towards her collarbone. It's very April, as is her hair which is in a braided updo. Arizona is gazing at her and then starts to cry, and when April hands her a tissue and hopes she doesn't get puffy, Arizona loses it and cries about how Callie is trying so hard but it's actually driving her crazy. She admits what I think she has said before -- that she had the affair because Lauren didn't know her pre-accident and liked her the way she was, while it seems Callie only wants to get her back to who she was before the accident, and it makes Arizona feel like she's not enough when she's otherwise finally actually happy with who she is now. It's a super legitimate and sad problem, because one can totally see both sides, and April is sympathetic but also really wishes this was taking place not on her wedding day. She's super relieved when Mere arrives.
Smash runs in to James' room and begins to bark orders, which isn't what Leah had in mind -- she wanted him to get Cristina. Smash yells that she's at the wedding and he's done such-and-such procedure by himself anyway so he can so totally take care of this. The nurse, Ruth, one of the regulars, gives him the very best skeptical, "Check yourself, idiot," look, but Smash is too hopped up to notice. Once Leah and then Ruth both suggest that they wait for someone who actually knows what they are doing, he loses his shit, screeching at Ruth that they can wait and then she can explain to whoever comes why she just let James die and wouldn't let Smash the Magnificent save his life. The women are both pissed off and scared, but there's not a lot of time for them to actually have a fight since James is still in a whole ton of distress.
April is pretty sure that Cristina forgot, figuring one of them would, but Cristina then walks in the door and a super relieved April starts calling instructions out to all of them. Cristina, however, walks right up to Mere to ask how she dare suggest Cristina hasn't changed. Mere still wants to fight, but Cristina goes on that she's not the same person especially after knowing Burke, Owen, and especially Meredith. She says that living her life alone is just as hard as Mere balancing work and family but just because her life looks the same as before, it's not actually the case. Finally, she breaks all our hearts when she adds, "But I thought I would at least have you." Mere glares at her and then finally admits that she's so jealous of Cristina that she, "wants to set things on fire," because Cristina is brilliant even when she has no idea what she's doing. (Unsaid: "Like Derek." Mere is surrounded by accidental brilliance.) Mere admits that Cristina is who they both set out to be when they became doctors; Cristina replies that Mere became something they never saw coming, and Mere is as brilliant a surgeon as she is a mother. Finally, fighting tears, Cristina points out that they are growing apart. Finally, we have some actual truth and conversation and movement! Champagne for all! Well, not quite yet. Mere tells her she doesn't want to compete with her but that they were always supposed to push each other to be better. They both agree to this, and then Cristina opens her mouth to say she's so glad, because… at this point, April cannot stand it anymore and she screams at them to shut up. She reminds them that this is her wedding day, and while it's awesome that they are finally working out their issues, today they are supposed to fawn all over April and help her out and make her feel special. She adds a special instruction to Arizona: stop talking about adultery on her wedding day. She yells at them to get to making her feel special, and to their credit, after a stunned moment they all hop into adoring action.
Smash and Leah are in the OR with Jimmy open on the table, and Leah is still terrified that this is actually happening. Smash finds the bleed but when Leah says that they should put him on bypass Smash yells that he can fix it because he's seen Cristina do it. This is only going to end in tears. Or death. Bokhee is there as scrub nurse, and because she's awesome, when Smash calls for a silk to do a stitch she stands up to him and suggests bypass as well. Smash goes out of his mind, and screeches at her to give him the silk. Things are tearing, and going worse and worse, while Smash screams, "I can fix this! I can fix it!" Leah turns to another nurse and orders her to call someone, ANYONE, to come help.
Smash continues to argue that he can do it but he's clearly not even in his right mind anymore and Leah finally tries to order him away from the table. Like a rabid dog, he shoves her away and growls that he's got it. She watches him a moment, and then sprints out of the OR.
With the bride and bridesmaids finally suited and booted, Mere opens the door to find Owen and Derek. April is super touched to find Owen there, and even more so when he tells her that a ton of people from the hospital are there too. "You're very well liked!" It's super sweet, and now Owen's nagging everyone to attend makes sense to give April this happy moment. She shoos him away, but not before pointing out that none of this would have been possible if not for him. Before he leaves he tells her sincerely that she deserves all of this.
Mere goes out into the hall from Derek and asks how the kids are doing, noting with a grin that they are spoiled, always having Derek around. Have we all gotten the idea that this situation is about to be turned on its head yet? Just in case it wasn't obvious how messy this is going to be, Mere thanks Derek specifically for giving her all of this time, noting that her research is going to take even more than she anticipated, and she could never do it if not for him. She adds that she knows he's turning down a lot, and she's grateful. It's Derek's pleasure… for now.
Princess -- looking awesome in this cool navy and black lace dress -- is waiting for Alex by the barn when he arrives and sweeps her up in an almost desperate embrace and kiss. He then rather desperately pleads for her to agree that they are all each other needs and they'll be together forever, and they'll be wonderful parents and everything will be okay and they won't need anyone else. Princess realizes that he's in the middle of maybe a wee bit of an emotional crisis but assures him that they are good and then smiles and passionately kisses him back.