So, the "No Fraternization Rule" is in place, and the only couple it really impacts is Jo and Alex. They stage a big fake breakup in front of half of the hospital so that they can continue to sneak around and be all lovey-dovey. When they sneak off to do it in a supply closet, though, they run into April and Jackson who are having their own secret marriage sex, and then Richard walks in on all four of them. Alex figures this is no big deal and the board isn't really going to enforce the rule, but he finds out he's wrong when he's called into an emergency meeting for the four closet sex-havers to face the music. The board offers a pretty fair solution, which is that what the sex-havers do on their own time is their business, but they need to keep it professional at work. Imagine that?! But Alex is livid and won't stand for it, and yells that he's tired of sneaking around when all of these other married couples are all loved-up and obnoxious, and that they can fire him if they want but he refuses to comply. After he storms out, Jackson and April fess up that they are actually married and therefore not breaking any hospital policy. They spent the day treating a woman totally hung up on her married boyfriend and came to realize that they didn't want to hide their love away anymore anyway, so while it wasn't the way they wanted to announce it, it's ultimately a happy thing.
Before his meltdown, Alex, Callie and Bailey have a teenage patient with a gene that makes her susceptible to all sorts of cancers. Bailey does some research and realizes that the girl, her mom, and possibly her sister have an incredibly rare disease, and tasks the interns with finding the few existing case studies and trying to figure out a treatment. The residents are all at war with each other because Jo thinks Stephanie is the one who filed the complaints, everyone still seems to not trust Ben because he's older and married to Bailey, and Smash is just trying to get his work done and keep to himself. After Jo confronts Stephanie and lays into her for ruining her relationship, it comes out that Leah is the one who actually filed the complaints and that she did so because all this bullshit is compromising her education and obviously right now it's also happening to everyone else too. Smash finally speaks up and convinces everyone to focus on medicine and work together, and they come up with a possible treatment but not before the girl unexpectedly bleeds out in surgery. (The weak consolation is that their plan wouldn't have helped her since her aorta was basically shredded, so we aren't dealing with any sort of "if only we'd started working on this earlier, we would have been on time," nonsense.) Later, they then band together (minus Jo, who is still facing the board) to go drink and even invite Ben along.
Derek has to go to Washington for yet another interview, and Mere is still annoyed at the whole situation. She admits that as his wife she wants him to get the job, but as a surgeon who wants to do her own research she doesn't. However, she also realizes she has to hand her research off to a bioengineer so she couldn't continue on her own anyway, though admitting that to Derek feels like it would be letting him win. She invites Cristina over for a sleepover and the two drink wine and talk about Cristina and Owen -- she overheard him say that he and Emma are going to move in together and she realizes that would mean that they are really, truly, actually over since surely moving in would lead to kids and all that. She wants him to be happy, but it still makes her awfully sad. Derek then shows up because his interview was cancelled, so she orders a cab to take her… to Owen's trailer with a bottle of wine so she can congratulate him on this big step. Of course as they talk, they clearly realize how much they miss each other and totally wind up having sex. The day, Emma talks to Owen about how many kids she wants and how she wants to take a few years off of work to raise them, and while he assures her he's not freaked out by the conversation, that combined with the cheating with his ex-wife makes him think. That night, he breaks up with Emma and tells her it's because he wants to be with someone passionate about surgery and talk about medicine every night instead of children. So I guess that actually makes one more couple that's going to be sneaking around in supply closets.
Oh, and the reason Derek's interview was cancelled? Is because they didn't need to grill him any more since they had already decided that they actually want him to head up the whole fancy Presidential study.
Sex, sex, sex. Jo and Alex are having it, and Emma and Owen are having it. But Emma and Owen take their bedroom talk up a notch when Emma teases Owen about living in a tin can and he responds by thinking for five seconds and then suggesting they think about moving in together. She thinks for five seconds herself, agrees, and happily mauls him with more kisses. There's no way this can go wrong! Just in case we didn't suspect that this might all go to crap, Mere VOs that cancer always sneaks up on you when your body is feeling particularly safe and healthy or it's making plans to move in with its girlfriend who doesn't have any sort of distinguishing personality traits.
Derek is choosing a tie for yet another presidential interview while Mere starts to get ready for the day and grouses that she wants Neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd to get the job but not Husband Derek. She goes to take a shower and he tries to get in on that action, so to speak, but she shuts the door in his face after reminding him that he went back on his promise, and she can't sleep with a lying liar who lies. She taunts him from behind the door but he doesn't actually seem too bothered by it, probably because he's too excited about his date with the President.
Mere is still going on about how cancer is the master of surprise. Callie is unpacking boxes and when Arizona comes to the room Callie forces her to open a box although Arizona is trying to get the family out the door for the day. Once she opens it she finds a tiny gift box, and honestly seems more terrified than happy as Callie urges her to open it. Inside is a beautiful sapphire ring, and Callie happily says that she had the band inscribed with the date they moved into the house, their "new start." Arizona still seems pretty shocked and tentative but does whisper Callie's whole name, so I guess she does actually like it? I don't know if this is a sign of things to come or a weird acting choice. Regardless, Callie is super excited and urges Arizona to put it on.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, April hisses at her secret husband to take his ring off, since he clearly forgot. They have a horrible fake conversation to try and cover their tracks but no one is paying any attention since everyone is gathering at the stairs for an announcement from Owen. As Owen and Derek walk up, they talk about his and Emma's moving in together, and Cristina totally overhears and reports this development sadly to Meredith. There's no time to discuss because Owen calls them all to attention to announce the new "Non-Fraternization Policy." For the first time in the history of the hospital they realized that they are supposed to be a safe work environment and focus on patient care, which surely isn't going to stick because that sounds like the most boring television drama in the world. Yet also, this is approximately ten seasons overdue. The policy states that relationships between co-workers will be discouraged, while those between superiors and subordinates are forbidden. Jo's chest heaves when they announce this. Owen then tells them that their supervisors will arrange meetings to go over the actual details.
Richard is kind of disgusted by the whole situation and calls Owen the Panty Police. The joke's on him, though, because Owen tells him that since he's formed such good relationships with the interns, he should be the one to discuss the policy with them. Richard refuses, but they are interrupted by Jo who walks up and demands to have some questions answered. Owen pawns her off on the new Panty Police Captain and flees. The interns are all super upset, though Jo is the only one that this really affects as of this moment.
Alex and Callie go to see their Patient O'the Week, a teenager named Rory who has bone cancer, and this after she beat brain cancer a few years previously. Her sister Ariel is painting Rory's toenails, and they've clearly got an awesome relationship and have learned how to at least joke about the horrible situation -- brain cancer got them a puppy, and bone cancer gets both of them out of finals, so it's all good. As Alex listens to her chest he realizes there might be something going on in there too so the docs order another test, but they try to sound light and breezy and like it's no big deal so that the family doesn't worry.
April has her PotW brought into the ER -- a woman named Lisa who was found after two days in a trash chute, and who has a disgustingly mangled leg to show for it. The paramedics assume she was foraging for food but Lisa actually has a phD and insists she's not homeless and they can call her boyfriend Ted, who was probably worried sick. The only trick is that if his wife answers, they are to hang right up and wait an hour to try again.
Jo is grilling Richard about the new hospital policy, and just in case we forgot she reminds him that Derek met Mere when she was an intern and thus, the entire basis for this television show was set. They bring up Ben but he points out that he and Bailey are married so they are fine. Jo figures that now all the residents are screwed because they spend so much time at work that their co-workers are their only dating pool. Reminding us that he's back to being pathetic, Smash pipes up that he's fine with all that and Jo finally displays an incredible lack of self-awareness when she demands to know why she's the only one who seems upset? That would be because you are the only one who is currently impacted by the Panty Police. Richard reminds them that the policy is supposed to help them, and that it stemmed from "one of [their] own" filing an anonymous complaint. They are all shocked to learn that it was one of them, and of course assume that brokenhearted Stephanie is the one who did it. Jo confronts Steph for making her relationship "illegal" but an angry Steph just reminds her that it was an anonymous complaint. Anonymous among the five of them, one of whom is married, one of whom is affected negatively by it, and one of whom is a broken shell of a person after almost killing a superior's father, so realistically it's anonymously one of either Steph or Leah. It maybe wasn't the smartest thing in the world for Richard to word things that way.
The scan of Rory's heart shows a new tumor which makes it look as if her heart is sprouting Play-Doh hair, and while that toy is an awesome memory from my childhood, you really don't want something like that rooting into your heart. Richard and the interns have joined Callie and Alex, and Alex mentions that Bailey is testing to see if there's any sort of genetic link to show why Rory and many of her family members keep getting multiple cancers. They need to figure out the best way to treat what they now know are Rory's two separate cancers, and after Callie and Alex leave Richard tasks the residents with studying the case files and coming up with a surgical treatment plan. He goes so far as to say that the board did them a favor by implementing the new rule, because now they can take all of the brain power they used to "devote to penises and vaginas" and put it to good use. I hope he's rebelling against his appointed Panty Police role by being deliberately stodgy about it but suspect he really just can't think of a smoother way to word that, and even Jo can't help but chuckle. Ben asks if they can use other docs as resources, and though Richard encourages that, it earns Ben some snark from the others since he's clearly going to be working with his wife. Richard orders them to work together but as soon as he's gone, Jo stalks out and the others all sit down and ignore each other.
Derek and Mere are walking and he tells her that he'll leave for the airport from the hospital that evening, and he's got all of their ducks in a row at home so she doesn't have to worry about anything. Mere is a little weary of all of these "one last" interviews, but at least Derek's going out of town gives her and Cristina a chance to have a sleepover. Cristina turns her down at first but once Mere promises wine, Cristina is in like drunken Flynn.
Bailey goes to Rory's family and has all of them donate vials of spit so that she can test for any genetic issues. Rory's dad Brian figures it must be his wife's side of the family that has the faulty genes since apparently a bunch of them have had a wide variety of cancers. How is it that someone is only thinking to test these folks now, for goodness' sake? Sure, Bailey is getting good with her whole genome lab but if some lowly recapper on the sofa can sense that this is probably more than horrific coincidence, it shouldn't take a brilliant specialist surgeon to have the idea. Rory's mom Patricia just says with gusto that they are the family that beats cancer, it's what they do, and reaches for Rory's hand in a show of support.
Jackson and April have the uniquely revolting task of picking garbage out of Lisa's mangled leg and as they do so, Lisa's friend arrives, disgusted that Lisa attended the party that ultimately ended with her stuffed in the trash chute. Her friend is tired of the affair, and unmoved when Lisa tells the story about how Ted ignored her all night except for the very end of the evening when he asked her to take out the garbage. When she tossed it in the chute, she threw her purse in too and then somehow decided to go in after it -- to her credit, she admits to April that she realizes she has an obvious history of making poor personal decisions. Her friend is surprisingly okay with the gore on display in front of her but finally grimaces when they pick out something especially gross. Jackson then finds a prawn tail, and Lisa begins to cry that Ted's wife made them, and they were actually really good. Her poor friend might burst a blood vessel if she keeps rolling her eyes so hard.
Arizona catches up with Callie and Alex and coos about her ring, but when she tries to show it off to Alex for some crazy reason (maybe starting with "he's Alex" and adding a dash of "he's now engaging in a forbidden relationship") doesn't care to see it. Jo then runs up and yells at him that they have to talk, and he finally turns around right when they are on the landing for everyone to watch and starts to holler at her. Alex doesn't care about the new rule and wants to ignore it, but Jo's worried because she's a resident and she doesn't want to mess with her education and career. Mere and Richard stop to watch the show, along with a whole gang of extras, as Alex yells that Jo always has a choice in what she does. But if she wants to walk around and pretend they mean nothing to each other, he'll make it easy on her: "We're through!" She's crying like a pro and screams that isn't what she wanted, but when she sees everyone staring she runs away. Once in the stairwell, though, she calls Alex and the two of them gloat about the brilliant piece of theater they just performed.
That night, Ben and Bailey are eating dinner while both doing research in her lab. Ben is frustrated that the new policy gives the other residents yet another reason to shun him, since he's married and therefore can't be touched by the rule. He and Bailey start to get a little bit flirty, but when he gets up to lock the door for a little bit of pants-off work, Bailey gasps at something on her computer screen -- she has found some sort of gene mutation in Rory and her family.
Mere and Cristina are well into a bottle of wine at the McMansion, and naturally they are talking about boys. Mere is enjoying torturing Derek and only feels mildly guilty about it. Cristina slurs that surely Emma "keeps a nice home" and she thinks Owen must like things like window treatments and placemats. Cristina herself actually had a fantastically decorated home since she purchased the entire thing from the display floor of a showroom, but those details are not to be quibbled about over vino. She seems genuine but very sad when she concludes that she wants Owen to be happy, and if he and Emma move in together that means it's really over between him and Cristina. Mere asks if it wasn't already really over what with the divorce and seeing other people, but Cristina rightly points out that those types of things were never roadblocks for Mere. Cristina realizes that cohabitation could very easily lead to babies, and once Owen has kids even she isn't enough of a monster to get in the way of that. She gets up to grab a new bottle of wine, and is shocked when Derek walks in and tells them that the interview was cancelled before he even left the hospital. He's seriously dejected about it and even his cruel wife reminds him that they don't know yet if it's really over or not. Cristina realizes that they need some time so she happily shuffles out the door to get herself a cab. Once she's gone, though, Derek still doesn't want to talk and just puts himself to bed.
Cristina does get a cab, but she has that cab deliver her drunk self to the trailer and when Owen opens the door she slurs a happy congratulations to him for his upcoming move. She hands over a bottle of wine and he's shocked to see what a nice one it is until Cristina admits she stole it from Derek's collection. She tells him to enjoy it with his lady, but Owen admits that the lady isn't home. So…
Jo and Alex are trying to figure out their plan of action, and Alex is still sure that the whole thing is going to blow over. He admits that it might be best, though, for her to sneak in his window like a petty thief until he can bring Mere and Cristina around. Since they have the house to themselves for now, though, they decide to get busy on their special couch.
Callie and Arizona are getting busy in their own home; Arizona is still giddy about all of the compliments she received for the ring that I still think she wasn't that excited to receive. Callie tries to point out that it is sad to see Jo and Alex's relationships torn to shreds, but finally is convinced to focus on her own happy (sex) life instead of theirs for now.
He goes to the band of Panty Criminals and sets them to work; when he announces that one of them needs to work with Alex Jo jumps at the chance and then lies that she has to face him sometime, so why not now. She should definitely work on acting less eager to see him if they're really going to keep up their charade. Richard sends the rest of them to the library but then calls Smash back for a private word, wondering if maybe Smash came back to work too soon? Smash assures him that his silence is just because he's trying to keep his head down and work and Richard accepts this, but reminds him that if he does have something to say he should speak up. Smash doesn't think this is great advice since the last time he did that, he nearly killed someone, but Richard points out that was grief and exhaustion talking, not Smash himself.
Derek finds Owen and dejectedly tells him that he can put Derek back into the rotation for surgeries. Cristina walks up and she and Owen are slightly stilted around each other, but Derek doesn't notice since he's wallowing in self-pity. He laments that surgery used to be all he wanted to do, but now he knows that this amazing research project is out there looking for answers to questions that he's had for his whole career, and now that he knows that how can he just go back to boring old neurosurgery? Owen really subtly stares over Derek's shoulder at Cristina the whole time as if maybe Derek has just metaphorically described his love life. Cristina gives a glance and leaves, and Owen just mumbles that Derek's standards have changed. Ruh-roh, Emma.
After Lisa's surgery, April and Jackson are attending to her when her friend brings in a big bouquet; Lisa is elated when she thinks they are from Ted and falls apart when she finds out they are from her mother. She berates herself for acting like a fool and loving a man who won't even talk to her in public. So I guess April and Jackson are going to Learn From Her because they also aren't being honest about their relationship in public? Except that their relationship is completely loving and mutual and they just don't want to hurt anyone? The prawn tail in the leg was quite amusing, but otherwise this whole storyline has been an awfully forced metaphor. Lisa asks her friend for her phone so she can call her mom, and her friend almost hands it over until she realizes that Lisa is totally going to call Ted instead. When Lisa starts to wail pathetically that she's a monster, April and Jackson hustle out of there.
Jackson reaches out to April but she shrugs him off and he complains that they have to go public because he can't keep track of where and when he is allowed to put his hands on his wife. Much like the idea of keeping one's pants on in the workplace, this is not actually a difficult problem – just don't touch her while you are in the hospital, dude. Everywhere else is fine. Boom, solved. April leads him three feet away to what must presumably be an invisible soundproof bubble so that they can discuss how she doesn't want all of the stares and whispers to start up anew. Jackson, however, wants to brag to the world about how he's got this awesome, smart, beautiful wife, and that very sweet proclamation melts April and she agrees that they should start telling people they are married. Jackson agrees, but when April tries to blurt it out to the random extra that walks by, Jackson steers her away and tells her they should carefully pick a time and place.
Alex is working on Rory when Ariel walks in and announces that their mom is crying while talking to Bailey. They talk about the possibility of Ariel having Li-Fraumeni, and Rory reminds her that she doesn't have to find out if she doesn't want to – now that Rory knows for sure that the rest of her life will just be one cancer after another, she's pretty devastated and doesn't wish that for her beloved little sister. Ariel hadn't thought about this, and their parents have told her she has to find out and are already on a mission to get the whole family tested and start a foundation to try and fight the disease. Rory reiterates that it doesn't matter what they want, it only matters what Ariel wants. She turns to Alex to find out if this is true, since she's only 16, and he just tells her that it's her life and no one can make her do anything she doesn't want to do. I am actually not sure if that is correct since she is under the age of 18, but doesn't that advice sound good especially when applied to Alex's current dilemma?
He then runs into Jo and as she talks about treatment options he reaches out to her and she jumps back as if his hand was on fire. He proclaims that he's tired of sneaking around (after all of one day) and he doesn't care if they want to fire him. She's alarmed by his attitude and pulls him into a supply closet for a hushed argument. Alex sticks to his guns but before she can reply, they hear a noise and learn that Jackson and April are in there, sans shirts, hiding behind a supply rack. Jo is utterly appalled and tries to leave with Alex but as soon as she gets to the door, Richard opens it and catches both couples. Jackson insists that it isn't what it looks like but given that he and April are only clothed from the waist down, it's pretty clear that it's exactly what it looks like and they should all be grateful that he and April hadn't yet thrown their pants across the closet in lustful glee. Richard just puts his hand up, turns, and leaves.
Jo is certain that she is fired, but April assures her that they are going to be fine and Alex reiterates for the millionth time that the board doesn't really give a crap. Jackson pipes up that as a member of the board, he can assure everyone that they do, but his words lose a little bit of their weight as he is getting dressed while saying so. Alex asks how long they've been at it and when Jackson says it's been since the wedding, Jo thinks a moment and decides this makes her hate him even more. If you're worried about getting fired, maybe you shouldn't also antagonize a board member, honey. (Though Jackson feels so guilty he surely wouldn't do anything to her for that.) Alex peeks out and when he sees that Richard is gone, they leave, so Jackson and April gleefully get back to it.
Mere calls Cristina into the lab and tells her that she's at a standstill with her research and has to hand it over to a bioengineer. She's looking for uplifting words from her Person, especially since she's upset that lightening her workload will ease up on Derek's guilt and that's all she has to make her happy these days. She must have stuffed the children into a closet and forgotten about them the past couple of weeks, then. She admits that she feels bad for him since it looks like he's not getting the Presidential job, but that she doesn't want to admit it. Ah, true love! Cristina assures her that science just needs some time to catch up with her brilliance and besides, it would be good to let someone else have a turn with the research; Mere can go see what else is out there and come back to the project later with fresh eyes. "Better than ever. Just like coming home." She is far too giddy and Meredith guesses immediately that she slept with Owen the night before.
Richard runs into Rory's room to find the girl unconscious and Alex and a nurse desperately working on her. Alex puts in a chest tube and as soon as it's in place, blood starts pouring out of it. Ariel of course walks in at that moment and freaks out, but Alex tries to keep her calm and tells her to go find their parents. A nurse leads her out while he and Richard try to figure out what happened.
The residents are all studying their hearts out when Jo walks in and tells Steph that she's not trying to be mean but Jackson and April are still hooking up. (#sorrynotsorry) Stephanie is shaken to her core while Jo goes on and rails at her that the proper thing to do when one's heart is broken is to cry to their friends and not file a complaint, and that she and Alex faked their breakup but that Richard caught them together so they are now dead meat. Steph growls through gritted teeth that again, the complaint was anonymous, but Leah finally pipes up and takes ownership, reminding them that it was anonymous because she knew that her friends would treat her like crap instead of trying to understand that it was done because she felt her education was being compromised. The young female residents are all pretty teary and devastated about the whole situation and Ben is confused, so Smash finally stands up and lectures them all that they are all squandering their educations right now because they got distracted by booty. Ben is shocked when he admits he slept with Cristina but Smash just goes on that they have the chance to save this girl, and he has an idea. With that, he hands some papers over to Ben but before Ben can concentrate on his job, he asks to make sure he really heard right about Smash and Cristina.
Over a dramatic cover of "Man in the Mirror," we start to cut back and forth between the residents finally working together and Alex and Richard trying to save Rory's life. The kids start to bounce ideas off of each other and come up with a solution that excites them all, but they don't realize that Rory is going downhill fast in the OR; Alex can't find the source of her bleeding and they finally have to shock her heart when it stops. The residents run down the hall to give their bosses the brilliant plan, but find Alex and Richard getting off the elevator, dejected. Richard admits that it might have worked, but they'll never know since the tumor tore into Rory's aorta and she bled out. The residents can't really absorb that she's dead but the guys finally walk past them to notify the family.
Rory's family is, of course, devastated and it's kind of horrible when Patricia hugs Brian and leaves Ariel just standing there. Ariel thinks a moment and then asks, "Do I have it?" Despite what her sister told her earlier, and her mom insisting now is not the time, Ariel is struck with a burning need to know what she's facing. Since Alex respects her, he tells her evenly that she does have the gene. Patricia finally reaches for her and hugs her while horribly, Ariel comments that she always wanted to be just like her sister and now she really is.
Alex then gets called up to a conference room where he finds Jackson, April and Jo facing the rest of the board members as if they were a seated firing squad, along with an empty chair for him. He's mad that Richard tattled on them, and won't really let Owen get out his spiel, asserting that his private life is none of their business. Owen points out that he'd love to not talk about it but Alex forced the issue, and before Alex can blow up completely Derek interjects that he can do whatever he wants at home but they are just asking that he keep it professional at work. Somehow, as a normal person with a normal job, I don't think this seems like too much to ask, but Alex thinks this is ridiculous and calls out the rest of them as hypocrites who flaunt their relationships all over the hospital just because they are married. He adds that he's not going to let hypocrites tell him to keep his pants on at work. Again, this is generally something that employed people stick to as a matter of course, unless they are employed in very specific industries mostly centered in the San Fernando Valley, but for Alex it's just too much. He does have a point with, "…this place was built on all of you feeling each other up in an on-call room," though. Cristina glances over at Owen since they are now technically breaking the policy, but she manages to be discreet with it. Alex tells them to go ahead and punish him, and then storms out while Jo tries not to burst into tears. April raises her eyebrows at Jackson in a silent question and he responds by saying that they didn't want to announce it this way because it might look like they are trying to get off the hook… April then breaks in and excitedly announces that they are married. Everyone else is shocked, but after a moment they all seem fairly happy and offer congratulations. Since April and Jackson aren't breaking any rules, they then take their leave of the board and poor April can barely look at Jo, who is left to face everyone herself. April apologizes, and wishes her good luck.
Out in the hallway, Steph tells Leah sincerely that filing the complaint took balls that she herself didn't have. They know that Jo is going to be livid, and decide to hide at the bar for now. They then call out to Shane that he's coming with them.
Jackson and April go to see Lisa, and find her friend on the phone breaking up with Ted for her since she can't be trusted. Unfortunately she then decides to hit on Jackson, and he's as gentle as possible when he admits that he's married. Lisa tells April that he should wear a wedding ring since it's unfair to look like that and go without it. April wholeheartedly agrees, and spares Lisa the embarrassment of adding that she's his wife.
Ben and Bailey leave for the night and talk about the case; Ben is sad that their plan couldn't be tested but he's thrilled that he finally seems to be accepted by the others, at least a little bit. On cue, they hear someone call out his name and he sees Leah, Steph, and Smash waiting for him before they walk to Joe's. Leah asks Bailey if she can lend her hubby out for a little while and Bailey agrees, while Ben grins like a little kid and goes to join his buddies.
Meanwhile, Emma and Owen are having a much less fun time at Joe's; he's breaking up with her, and she's trying to figure out how they went from looking at houses to breaking up in less than a day. Owen finally admits that he thought he knew what he wanted but that it seems to have changed, and he wants to swap surgical stories each night rather than raise children. I'm a little hesitant to totally believe this since it's a dream he had for so long, but at least for now he's sure. I do hope he's put more thought into this than he did into moving in with Emma in the first place. Emma feels humiliated but he assures her that what she wants out of life is beautiful, and he's just not the person to give her all that. She finally gets up to leave, and asks him to give her enough time that they don't have to run into each other again. I'd feel more for her if they ever gave her more personality than, "She's nice and the anti-Cristina."
Mere VOs that the only thing you can really do with a bully is to fight back, and if you beat him, to celebrate the win before you have to put your guard up and fight the one. Derek is certainly celebrating though it has nothing to do with beating a bully -- the White House called and offered him the opportunity to actually run the entire study. I kind of thought this is what the deal was from the beginning but clearly I'm wrong and this is all new and amazing. Mere is shocked, but when Derek tempers his excitement Mere corrects that she's happy for him but realistic that there won't be enough room for her to take her career to the level at the same time. That said, she decides to be happy for her husband and call off her sex ban, at least for the night, promising that they can fight some more later.
Lauren S is a writer who lives and works in Atlanta and maintains a personal policy of keeping her pants on at the office. 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."