- During days 20 through 40 the staff continues toward acceptance. Meanwhile, Arizona takes a manipulative step to diagnose her pain patient and Hunt's amputee patient sinks into a deep depression.
- Note: This synopsis covers the second half of a two-hour season premiere. Part 1 can be found here: www.imdb.com/title/tt1457924/synopsis
Day 20: Meredith saw Amanda sitting on a bench outside the hospital when she walked in to work.
Day 21: Clara was doing better and told Lexie she should go home. She read another postcard from her friends, who were in New York and said it "smells like pee." Bailey came in and told Clara she developed an infection and needed surgery to fix it. Clara asked about the risks and Christina told her that the worst case senario would be for her to wind up with a colostomy bag. Clara refused, saying she didn't want any more surgery. They warned her the infection would kill her, but she insisted, "No more surgery."
Alex and Arizona pleaded with the chief to let them do the MRI on Andy, but he refused, telling them that if they had a problem with it, they could come to his board meeting and explain why they were running the hospital like a charity.
Bailey was upset with Cristina for talking Clara out of the surgery.
Day 22: Meredith, Izzie and Cristina sat around chatting about Bailey's rampage and other stuff. Cristina mentioned that she and Hunt weren't having sex because of his shrink's advice. Izzie said Alex was "withholding everything" and Cristina said he was afraid of having "cancer sex." Lexie helped Sloan move in to his new apartment, across the hall from Callie's place. Callie was picking out a dress for her new job as an attending at Mercy West. When Sloan suggested a different dress, she stripped down in the hallway, right in front of both Sloan and Lexie.
The chief was driving to his board meeting and was practicing his speech defending his performance when he drove through a red light and got into a car accident. Wouldn't you know it? The chief was brought to Mercy West and ran into Callie. She took her opportunity for revenge, putting an intern on the chief's leg repair. The chief asked the intern whether he liked the program and he said it was "not too shabby." The chief agreed as he looked around. The intern also confided in Webber that they were having budget issues at Mercy West.
Day 23: Meredith saw Amanda sitting on a bench as she walked into the hospital. Inside, Cristina was trying to prove to Hunt's shrink how much she knew about Hunt. Cristina was speechless when the therapist pointed out that Hunt didn't talk with her about the war, his post-traumatic stress, and the "incident" that happened between them. The therapist said she was concerned that if Hunt didn't talk about these things, he wouldn't get better. So she asked her to wait because if they got lost in the lustfulness of it all, he wouldn't improve.
Lexie read Clara another e-mail for Clara's mom, but this one told Clara's mom about the accident. Clara was upset, saying she was going to sue Lexie and the hospital, but Lexie said she'd be dead.
Andy's mom brought her son to Mercy West, telling Callie that Arizona referred him there. Arizona told Andy's mom to ask for a 3-D MRI.
Clara was in surgery and Bailey was still upset about Cristina having told Clara about the risks of her surgery. Cristina defended herself, getting snippy with Bailey as she said, "If you know a way to sugarcoat a colostomy bag, I'd like to hear it." Bailey fired back, "If you know a more respectful way to speak to an attending surgeon I'd like to hear that. Until you do, you don't talk to me. You're off my service." Bailey walked out.
Derek told Sloan the chief was retiring and that he was going to named the new chief. He was joking.
Callie was upset with Arizona that night because of her manipulative move in sending Andy to Mercy West. They sat down with some wine and went over possible diagnoses. Meanwhile, Lexie walked in on Derek and Meredith.
Izzie and Alex hung out at the trailer and she told Alex she was wishing for a brain tumor that would let her hallucinate George and talk and laugh with him. She asked Alex to come inside and help her feel better. "You miss George?" Alex said. "Nice. Real seductive." Izzie walked inside alone.
Day 36: Callie walked into Sloan's apartment and Lexie said he was taking a shower, so Callie went into the bathroom and talked to Sloan as he lathered, rinsed and repeated. She told him there were rumors about the chief leaving and going to Mercy West. Lexie walked in as Callie handed Sloan the shampoo. Lexie asked Callie "how gay" she was, because she was uncomfortable with Callie seeing Sloan naked. Callie explained that Sloan doesn't look at her boobs anymore -- not since he started dating Lexie. This made Lexie feel better.
Derek asked the chief about the rumors that he was leaving for Mercy West. He wanted to know what was going on because Jennings wasn't returning his calls anymore. The chief told Derek not to go behind his back and Derek reminded the chief that he's the one who had his back all along. "Don't you forget that," he said, before leaving the chief's office.
Arizona went to Derek about her patient, Andy, and said she needed to run another test. He asked her if the chief denied the request before, and she said yes. He did the test.
Lexie watched as Clara tried to start walking with a prosthetic leg.
During the test, Arizona told Derek she now understood why they call him "McDreamy." She then congratulated Derek on marrying Meredith. Alex, who was in the room, mocked the marriage, saying it was all on Post-Its, but Derek took a cheap shot when he told Alex that he and Meredith consummated their marriage, "how's that going for you?" Derek said "girls talk," and that Alex might want to consider that before judging his Post-It.
Meredith told Cristina she hadn't cried yet and that she was using work and sex as a distraction. Cristina said she missed sex, and Meredith walked out. Lexie walked in and told Cristina she was worried that Clara was depressed and Cristina asked if she was talking about "ceviche," which is a chopped fish dish. Lexie said that was rude and walked out.
Derek told Andy and his mom that he had a tethered spinal cord and that was causing him the pain he was experiencing. The fix was fairly simple. Derek would just have to cut the thread that was tethered. Andy's mom cried.
Alex and Izzie got news that her cancer stopped growing, which was about as good as the news could possibly get. They seemed a bit distressed.
Day 37: Derek and Arizona did the surgery to untether Andy's spinal cord as Alex looked on. Derek told Arizona that she should cut the tethered thread because Andy owed his whole future to her as she saved him from a lifetime of chronic pain. She did it and looked relieved. Alex smiled.
Clara got a talking to from Hunt. He told her she had to do the work. He said he knew what it was to not want to live and not want to call your mother. He said he'd been there and he was back now. He told her she could come back, too. Lexie told Clara that people were calling her "ceviche," and that she couldn't "go out like that." Lexie explained that ceviche is chopped up fish. This made Clara laugh.
Day 39: Izzie and Meredith sat on a bench outside the hospital and Izzie said she didn't expect to continue living with cancer. They saw Amanda sitting on a bench and Meredith told Izzie that Amanda sits on the bench all day, every day. Izzie went over and told Amanda to get up and "go get a life."
Izzie said Amanda should go do something with her life because she had one. "You lived and George didn't," she said. "I know that feels horrible and shocking and terrifying, but you lived, so go live your freakin' life." Amanda said she didn't know how, but Izzie said nobody does but Amanda should "have enough respect for George to figure it out." She told Amanda if she saw her sitting on that bench again, she would kick her ass "from here to Sunday." She really said that.
Cristina and Hunt were chatting it up in front of the therapist when Cristina mentioned "ceviche" and the therapist said that was "pretty dark." Cristina said, "I'm dark? I'm not the one going around choking people in their sleep!"
They got serious for a moment and Hunt explained it was a dream. He couldn't remember what it was about, but he was trying to save his own life. "I wasn't trying to hurt you," he said. "I was fighting for my life."
"OK," Cristina said. The therapist said they made a start.
Clara shakily took her first step with a prosthetic and laughed with pride. Then she asked Lexie to call her mom.
Lexie came over to Sloan's place with a toothbrush, a panty and a suitcase. Alex went back to the trailer to find candles laid out and Izzie telling him to take off his pants. She told him that she was scared, but she didn't know why he was so angry. He told her she died in his arms and she left instructions for him not to save her. Then he started shouting about how he's scared of everything. "I'm scared to move, I'm scared to breathe, I'm scared to touch you," he said. "I can't lose you. I won't survive." He blamed her for making him love her and then dying in his arms. Izzie grabbed Alex's head and kissed him.
As Bailey left the hospital, Derek caught the same elevator. He stopped it, knowing Bailey had to talk to someone. She said she was an attending and she was a single mother and she lost George, "and I just can't care anymore. Stevens is not my child. O'Malley was not my child. I have to stop treating -- I just have to stop caring so much." She said she had to save the feeling for her son, who needs it. Derek said nothing and restarted the elevator.
Hunt told Cristina he didn't want to hurt her again. Then they went at it.
A janitor came in and cleared out George's locker, telling Meredith they needed the space. Arizona and Callie met at a bar and Callie started talking about George.
Meredith looked at George's empty locker and finally cried. Cristina, laying in bed with Hunt, stopped and finally acknowledged, "George O'Malley died."
Day 40: The chief pulled the staff together to clear up some rumors. He explained the economic climate and rolled into the announcement that Seattle Grace would be merging with Mercy West. "I wish I could tell you you will all survive the merger, but there are only so many jobs," he said. "And the board and I have some tough choices to make."
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