Owen has a nightmare, triggered by the helicopter-like
blades of Cristina's ceiling fan. She wakes to find Owen choking her.
He only stops when Callie hears a commotion and comes in to check on
her. Callie immediately calls Meredith, even though it's 3 a.m.
Cristina insists she's fine, even though her neck is severely bruised.
Owen can only sob, "I am so sorry. I don't know what happened."
Cristina hugs him and tells him it's okay.
Derek shows up at Meredith's the next morning and wordlessly presents
her with the ring. "No, not like this," Meredith says, closing the box.
"Today's about Izzie," she tells him. "You have a gift and you can do
this."
At the hospital, Meredith comments on the fact that Cristina is wearing
a turtleneck and tells her, "You're not okay and your boyfriend's not
okay."
To their surprise, Alex comes up and asks, "Is your boyfriend okay?"
but he's talking about Derek, not Owen. "I was there for his carnage in
the OR, remember? This isn't just any patient we're talking about
today. This is Izzie."
George is so hurt that he was the last to hear about Izzie's illness
that he asks Callie to assign him plenty of work that doesn't involve
Izzie.
Miranda tells Meredith, Cristina and Alex that they need to be there as
Izzie's friends, not as doctors, but when Izzie shoos them all away,
none of them go back to visit her all day, even though they can think
of nothing else. Bailey presents Izzie's case: They've lined up several
treatments and surgeries for her over the next few weeks. Dr. Swender,
who'll be administering her chemotherapy, tells Izzie, "The treatment
will be aggressive and harsh. You should prepare yourself."
Richard suggests that Izzie might think about saving some eggs in case
she wants to have babies later on. Richard informs Alex that frozen
eggs have a better survival rate if they're fertilized. Alex quickly
agrees, but he's too guilt-ridden about not having recognized Izzie's
symptoms. "This isn't how Izzie and I were supposed to make a baby," he
tells Meredith, but eventually he's able to present Richard with his
"contribution."
Owen awaits the arrival of a patient trauma case by helicopter, and the
helicopter blades, like the ceiling fan, clearly trigger an unpleasant
memory, but he runs off before anything happens. Derek witnesses Owen's
rooftop meltdown and advises him to get treatment for his
post-traumatic stress disorder, but Owen refuses. Owen tells Cristina
they have to stop seeing each other. "I know my limits. Let me decide
what I can handle," she says. Meredith presses Cristina to leave Owen
and Cristina insists that Owen's condition is no different than if he'd
lost a leg.
Miranda quizzes Izzie on a medical procedure, saying she'll need to
know it in the future. "You really think I'll be here a year from now?"
Izzie asks and Miranda answers, "Yes, I do."
Arizona finds Callie in the chapel, wracked with guilt because she
literally "wished Izzie Stevens dead for a year. What kind of person
wishes someone would die?" Arizona asks if she's praying right now for
Izzie to die and Callie says, "No, I'm praying for her to live." Callie
finds George, who's furious that Izzie told him nothing was wrong every
time he asked. "We are going to go pray for her," Callie insists. "One
time you loved her enough to ruin our marriage. I know that you care if
she lives or dies."
Derek preps for surgery, but he tells Meredith, "I'm not ready." He
tells her he needs her to say yes, but she says she's not going
anywhere.
Alex goes to talk to Izzie before her surgery, but he's too late. "It's
a beautiful day to save lives," Derek says as he puts Izzie under.
Izzie makes it through the first surgery just fine, but Miranda chews
out her friends for not going to visit her. "Tomorrow, do better," she
tells them.
When Richard wants to know why Derek and Meredith aren't out
celebrating the success of the surgery, Derek tells Richard that she
has turned him down twice. "Meredith believes in you," Richard replies.
Richard makes Meredith wait for the elevator and when the doors open,
she sees why: A clean-shaven Derek is inside and the elevator is
decorated with scans of all the surgeries they did together. He
recounts the stages of their relationships as they played out during
each case. Lastly, he shows her the post-op scan of Izzie's brain. "You
got me into the OR," he tells her. "You put the rest of us to work
because you've seen worse. You know we'll survive. You say you're dark
and twisty, but that's not a weakness, it's a strength. It makes you
who you are. I love you Meredith Grey, and I want to spend the rest of
my life with you."
"And I want to spend the rest of my life with you," she says, and they
kiss.
Owen and Cristina make love for the first time. Afterwards, she
confesses, "I don't think I can handle this after all," she says. "I'm
so, so sorry, but I'm lying here and I'm afraid to fall asleep." Owen
turns to Derek for the help he offered earlier, and Derek starts with
an MRI scan.
Meredith goes to Cristina's apartment to tell her, "I'm engaged."
"I broke up with Owen," Cristina says. Meredith crawls into bed beside
her, just as Alex does with a groggy Izzie.
