Grey's Anatomy, Season 3

Meredith:
[voiceover] In the OR, time loses all meaning. In the midst of sutures, and saving lives the clock ceases to matter. 15 minutes, 15 hours — inside the OR, the best surgeons make time fly. Outside the OR, however, time takes pleasure in kicking our asses. For even the strongest of us it seems to play tricks. Slowing down... hovering... until it freezes. Leaving us stuck in a moment — unable to move in one direction or the other.

Meredith:
[pause, glances around] Why are you all looking at me?

Cristina:
Well, this is familiar territory for you.

Meredith:
There is nothing familiar abut this! Unfamiliar! Denny died. The man she loves, died.

Cristina:
Yeah, but you're all dark and twisty inside.

Meredith:
Dark and twisty?

Cristina:
What, with the Alzheimers thing and the father you don't talk to.

Alex:
And the tequila thing and the inappropriate men thing.

George:
You are dark and twisty inside, Meredith, and now Izzie is dark and twisty inside.

Meredith:
So all of a sudden I'm the president of people with crappy lives?

Izzie:
I feel like I'm moving in slow motion. Like I'm moving in slow motion and everything around me is moving so fast and I just wanna go back... to when things were normal. When I wasn't "Poor Izzie" laying on the bathroom floor in her prom dress with her- her dead fiance. But I am. So I can't. And I'm... just stuck. And there's all this pressure cause everyone's hovering around me waiting for me to do something. Or say something, or flip out, or yell and cry some more and I'm happy to play my part. I'm happy to say the lines and do whatever it is that I'm supposed to be doing if it will make everyone feel more comfortable. But I don't- I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to be this person. I don't- I don't know who this person is.

Derek:
[to Meredith] I'm in love with you. I've been in love you with you forever. I'm a little late- I know I'm a little late in telling you that. I just, I just want you take your time, you know? Take all the time you need because you have a choice to make. And when I had a choice to make... I chose wrong.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Time flies. Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds. All any of us wants is more time. Time to stand up. Time to grow up. Time to let go. Time.

Meredith:
[voiceover] At any given moment, the brain has 14 billion neurons firing at a speed of 450 miles per hour. We don’t have control over most of them. When we get a chill...goose bumps. When we get excited...adrenaline. The body naturally follows its impulses, which I think is part of what makes it so hard for us to control ours. Of course, sometimes we have impulses we would rather not control, that we later wish we had.

Cristina:
Benjamin O'Leary, 32, in for the removal of a brain tumor that's pressing on his frontal temporal lobe. Clearly it's affecting his impulse control.

Benjamin:
It makes me say everything I think. Which apparently is annoying. This doctor looks annoyed anyway. Although it's hard to tell cause she always has kind of a pinched uptight look on her face. Am I annoying you?

Cristina:
It's fine.

Ruthie:
You can't say it's fine. He doesn't perceive sarcasm or irony. If he's annoying you, you have to tell him.

Benjamin:
Maybe I'm not annoying her Ruthie.

Cristina:
No, you are.

Bailey:
Doctor Yang!

Cristina:
He asked!

Derek:
Okay Benjamin, Doctor Yang, pinched and annoyed though she may be, is going to prep you for surgery today. Do you have any questions for me?

Benjamin:
[about Meredith] Is that blonde your girlfriend? 'Cause the way you keep looking at her, you might as well just mount her right here and now. [Derek and the interns are trying not to laugh.] I'm sorry was I rude?

Bailey:
Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd is out sick, you can cover the pit, or you can... you can tell me whose damn panties are on the bulletin board! [everybody in the background starts snickering]

Cristina:
[whispers to Meredith] Is it yours?

Bailey:
This is a hospital. People, serious work happens here. We save lives! [interns laugh] Oh, something funny? Whose're these?

Meredith:
This is bad. This isn't good.

Cristina:
You better claim them. She thinks they're mine!

Meredith:
Claim them? No.

Bailey:
Yeah I know it's one of you. It's always one of mine. Always. So, tell me. Which one of you left your damn drawers on my surgical floor?

Cristina:
Your mother wants to have coffee with me!

Burke:
And?

Cristina:
And, she thinks I'm a racist. Oh, and a stripper. She thinks I'm a racist stripper!

Meredith:
[voiceover] The body is a slave to its impulses. But the thing that makes us human is what we can control. After the storm, after the rush, after the heat of the moment has passed, we can cool off and clean up the messes we've made. We can try to let go of what was. And then again...

Meredith:
[voiceover] Surgeons usually fantasize about wild and improbable surgeries. Someone collapses in a restaurant, we splice them open with a butter knife, replace a valve with a hollowed out stick of carrot, but every now and then some other kind of fantasy slips in. Most of our fantasies dissolve when we wake, banished to the back of our mind, but sometimes we're sure if we try hard enough, we can live the dream.

Bailey:
(while operating on Megan) Look at this. Everybody wants a life without pain. What does it get you? She needs to be on a poster somewhere to remind people pain's there for a reason.

Meredith:
Enough! This is NOT dating. I want moonlight, and flowers, and candy and people trying to feel me up. Nobody is trying to feel me up. Nobody is even looking at me. I'm an intern, do the two of you have any idea how much effort it takes to do all this? I am waxed and plucked and I have a clean top on. And the two of you are looking at each other.

Derek:
Meredith...

Meredith:
No, my fantasy is not two men looking at each other.

Finn:
We didn't...

Meredith:
No talking until one of you figures out how to put on a date. I want heat! I want romance! Damn it, I want to feel like a freaking lady!

Meredith:
[voiceover] The fantasy is simple. Pleasure is good, and twice as much pleasure is better. That pain is bad, and no pain is better. But the reality is different. The reality is that pain is there to tell us something, and there's only so much pleasure we can take without getting a stomach ache. And maybe that's okay. Maybe some fantasies are only supposed to live in our dreams.

Meredith:
[voiceover] At some point during surgical residency, most interns get a sense of who they are as doctors and the kinds of surgeons they're going to become. If you ask them, they'll tell you they're going to be general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons. Distinctions which do more than describe their areas of expertise, they help define who they are, because outside the operating room, not only do most surgeons have no idea who they are, they're afraid to find out.

Cristina:
So, who's the father?

Meredith:
I'm not pregnant.

Cristina:
I didn't think I was pregnant when I was pregnant either. But the abdominal pain, fever and the nonstop vomiting?

Meredith:
I'm not pregnant.

Cristina:
You don't know who the father is, do you?

Meredith:
It would have to be Derek's, there's no way it could be Finn's.

Cristina:
You haven't had sex with the vet yet? You gotta get out of that relationship immediately.

Meredith:
I can't be pregnant, can I?

Cristina:
With McBaby!

Meredith:
Was I this mean to you when you were pregnant?

Bailey:
Never would have figured Mark Sloan to be your type.

Addison:
He's not... he's not... What is he doing here? He's NOT supposed to be here. I can't have him here, I can't... he's supposed to be in New York. I can't... I can't function with him here. I'm a professional here, people respect me here, but when he's here I'm just... I'm...

Bailey:
A woman who gets the hots for man candy and cheats on her husband.

Addison:
That is rude. And unkind. And completely true. Oh my God, what am I gonna do?

Bailey:
For starters, you can keep your knees closed in his presence.

Addison:
Miranda!

Bailey:
You asked. And also, you can remember, that no man, not Derek, not Mark, defines who you are.

Meredith:
[to George] Oh, oh, on the table, keep me draped. Too many people have seen me naked already. I'd like to keep whatever dignity I have left. [sees Mark] McSteamy. McSteamy! Yoo hoo!

Mark:
That's what you're calling me now? McSteamy?

Meredith:
Yeah, but I don't think you're supposed to know that.

Mark:
How's my favorite dirty mistress?

Meredith:
Haven't you heard? Now I'm an adulterous whore!

Denny:
[voiceover] Dad, mom... It's me. I'm calling from Seattle Grace Hospital where the - the beautiful, talented and incredibly stubborn Dr. Isobel Stevens has, she's just given me a brand new heart and promised to marry me. I know we've had our differences and I'm sorry we've been out of touch. Believe it or not I was - I was trying to make everything better. I know you're angry but I hope you'll forgive me. It turns out, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. Sometimes you have to make a big mistake to figure out how to make things right. Mistakes are painful, but they're the only way to find out who you really are. I know who I am now. I know what I want. I've got the love of my life, a new heart and I want you guys to get on the next plane out here and meet my girl. Everything's gonna be different now, I promise. From here on out, nothing's ever going to be the same. I love you, bye.

Meredith:
[voiceover] First, do no harm. As doctors, we pledge to live by this oath. But harm happens and then guilt happens. And there's no oath for how to deal with that. [...] Guilt never goes anywhere on its own, it brings its friends - doubt and insecurity.

Izzie:
Hey, you're Addison Forbes Montgomery-Shepherd. That's a lot of names, a lot of rich-sounding names. You're rich, right? That's rude. That's a rude question. I'm sorry. It's just I'm rich now too.

George:
You're not rich until you deposit the check.

Izzie:
Do you ever feel guilty?

Addison:
I'm sorry?

Izzie:
Being rich. 'Cause I have all this money now and I don't really feel like I did anything to deserve it and I can't really talk to my friends about it because they're all so poor.

George:
Standing right here, Izzie.

Addison:
Deposit the check, Stevens. Just start there, ok? And, um the guilt will work itself out.

Mark:
She told you. [Derek ignores him] I've known you my whole life, I grew up with you so I know what you're thinking. That there is a year of your life wasted. Trying to make it work with Addison and you could have been with Meredith. That you could be happy right now. That all this, everything. That you and Meredith could have had a real chance. Still, I thought you should know the truth. Thought I owed you that, as a friend.

Derek:
You're not my friend.

Meredith:
[voiceover] First do no harm, easier said than done. We can take all the oaths in the world, but the fact is, most of us do harm all the time. Sometimes even when we're trying to help, we do more harm than good. And then the guilt rears its ugly head. What you do with that guilt is up to you. We're left with a choice. Either let the guilt throw you back into the behavior that got you into trouble in the first place, or learn from the guilt and do your best to move on.

Meredith [voiceover]:
To make it - really make it - as a surgeon - it takes major commitment. We have to be willing to pick up that scalpel and make a cut that may or may not do more damage than good. It's all about being committed, because if we're not we have no business picking up that scalpel in the first place.

[Last night Meredith mistook Derek's sister Nancy for his one-night stand]

Meredith:
Derek had a woman in his trailer last night. She was ugly. Very ugly. Except she was tall and beautiful and he was naked.

George:
Oh. Uh, McDreamy was doing the McNasty with a McHottie? That McBastard.

[Later, Izzie and Meredith meet Nancy, who is visiting Seattle Grace.]

Izzie:
[to Meredith] McDreamy's sister is McBitchy.

Nancy:
What are you doing here, Mark? Are you trying to torture him?

Mark:
He's my family, Nancy. Plus I needed a change of pace. [Nancy gives him an unconvinced look] Plus I slept with my tennis partner's wife and he went out and bought a gun.

Nancy:
There it is.

Callie:
[to George] I'm out of my element here, I, I break bones for a living, I, I, I used to live in the basement, most days I wear last night's eyeliner to work, I don't give a crap what other people think of me! Because I am a happily independent, successful woman and I like it that way, only when you say stuff like this, [sighs] it just makes things too hard. So please, don't chase me anymore, unless you're ready to catch me.

Meredith:
[voiceover] There are times when even the best of us have trouble with commitment, and we may be surprised by the commitments we're willing to let slip out of our grasp. Commitments are complicated. We may surprise ourselves by the commitments we're willing to make. True commitment, takes effort, and sacrifice. Which is why sometimes, we have to learn the hard way, to choose our commitments very carefully.

Meredith:
[voiceover] As surgeons, we're trained to look for disease. Sometimes the problem's easily detected, most of the time we need to go step by step. First, probing the surface looking for any sign of trouble, a mole, or a lesion, or an unwelcome lump. Most of the time, we can't tell what's wrong with somebody by just looking at them. After all, they can look perfectly fine on the outside, while their insides tell us a whole other story.

Meredith:
Derek's camping. Taking time. Getting space.

Cristina:
Prestons do not go into the woods. A guy named Preston is gonna get his ass kicked by a squirrel.

Izzie:
It's basically a slumber party, they do it outside, we do it inside. That's really the only difference.

Meredith:
Okay, before you start, there are rules to this friendship thing or whatever.

Mark:
The Dirty Mistresses Club has rules? Gosh, you'd think a bunch of dirty mistresses would... be a little less uptight about things like rules.

Meredith:
Number one, no flirting. Second, no talking about Derek and C, no giving me the face.

Mark:
The face?

Meredith:
The McSteamy face. Doesn't work on me. I'm immune.

Mark:
You know, if I'd gone off to the woods, I would've invited you to keep me warm.

Meredith:
Breaking rules 1, 2 and 3.

Eric:
Man, I thought my brother and I had problems. But you two are morons.

Cristina:
Okay, well, swallowing Monopoly pieces wasn't exactly a genius move. You could've really hurt yourself.

Eric:
I didn't did I? Now my mom's gonna make my brother let me play all the Monopoly I want. I get to play. That's all that matters, getting to play.

Cristina:
And that makes you smart?

Eric:
You're fishing through my poop. How smart are you?

Meredith:
[voiceover] Not all wounds are superficial. Most wounds run deeper than we can imagine. You can't see them with a naked eye. And then there are the wounds that take us by surprise. The trick with any kind of wound or disease is to dig down and find the real source of the injury, and once you've found it, try like hell to heal that sucker.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Many people don't know that the human eye has a blind spot in its field of vision. There's a part of the world that we are literally blind to. The problem is, sometimes our blind spots shield us from things that really shouldn't be ignored. Sometimes our blind spots keep our lives bright and shiny.

Meredith:
Today is the day people, today is the day when dark and twisty Meredith disappears forever, and bright and shiny Meredith takes her place! You're probably not gonna want to be friends with me anymore, because the sheer intensity of my happiness is going to make your teeth hurt, but that's OK, because life is good. Life is good.

Mark:
There you are! What, did you go all the way to New York for my pastrami?

Alex:
Extra spicy, extra lettuce, light on the mayo.

Addison:
Mark, what are you doing?

Mark:
Lunch. Want my pickle?

Addison:
Seattle Grace is a teaching hospital, part of your job is to teach, your interns aren't your slaves.

Mark:
Fine, no pickle for you!

George:
I don't get you people.

Meredith:
Us, with the boobs? We make a lot of bad decisions.

Meredith:
[voiceover] When it comes to our blind spots, maybe our brains aren't compensating. Maybe they're protecting us.

Cristina:
[voiceover] As doctors, we know everybody's secrets. Their medical histories. Sexual histories. Confidential information that is as essential to a surgeon as a ten-blade, and every bit as dangerous. We keep secrets, we have to, but not all secrets can be kept.

Erica:
So how have you been, Preston? Last time I saw you, you stole my patient's heart, and then you got shot. Karma rocks.

Burke:
What brings you all the way from Seattle Presbyterian to Seattle Grace?

Erica:
A consult, and knowing how much my being here would annoy you.

Burke:
Oh, on the contrary. It's always a pleasure, though not as much as when you leave.

Cristina:
[voiceover] In some ways, betrayal is inevitable. When our bodies betray us, surgery is often the key to recovery. When we betray each other... when we betray each other, the path to recovery is less clear. We do whatever it takes to rebuild the trust that was lost. And then there are some wounds, some betrayals that are so deep, so profound that there's no way to repair what was lost. And when that happens, there's nothing left to do but wait.

[after successfully separating conjoined twins]

Derek:
It'd be nice if every love triangle could be fixed with a scalpel.

Mark:
If they could, you'd have stabbed me with a ten blade a long time ago.

Hahn:
You remind me of myself when I was an intern.

Cristina:
I do?

Hahn:
Focused, intense, cold, and I don't mean that as a bad thing, cold is good. The dating, the friends, the family, if you ask me, it's all overrated.

Meredith:
[voiceover] At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close. But sometimes, that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need.

Izzie:
VATER syndrome is a genetic condition that affects the vertebrae, anus, trachea, esophagus and renal system.

Heather:
Wow, give this girl a medal. She memorized the whole acronym, which I assure you is a hell of a lot easier than living with it.

Callie:
You know Shepherd pretty well, yeah?

Bailey:
Lots of hair, too many women, likes elevators and long walks on the beach.

Callie:
So, um, what's the best way to get him to do something?

Bailey:
What kind of something?

Callie:
A consult that the patient hasn't requested, but that the friendly neighborhood ortho resident thinks is worth pursuing.

Bailey:
Shepherd thinks he's busier and maybe a little more important than everyone else.

Callie:
Standard neurosurgeon breed.

Bailey:
Exactly.

Callie:
OK, so?

Bailey:
So he'll say no. Until you stare him down.

Callie:
Stare him down?

Bailey:
Stare him down. [stares at Callie]

[Callie laughs but realizes that Bailey is serious]

Meredith:
Oh, you have got to be kidding me? Where is George?

Derek:
[groggily] Spent the night at the hospital.

Meredith:
And you slept in his bed! All night?

Derek:
No, right after you fell asleep.

Meredith:
So you're telling me that my snoring is so bad, how did you deal with it for all those nights before I found out about your wife?

Izzie:
[walks past] He usually sleeps on the couch, sets an alarm, gets back in bed before you wake up.

Derek:
Yeah, didn't want to hurt your feelings.

Meredith:
Oh, I'm going to do more than hurt your feelings. [smacks Derek with a pillow]

Meredith:
[to Derek] I'm a girl with abandonment issues. You have to sleep with me from now on.

Meredith:
[to Cristina] You are in a relationship with no words. [to Izzie] And you are a millionaire in twenty dollar shoes. Whatever!

[after Izzie helped pay for a patient's surgery]

Bailey:
You spent 300 grand, so you could scrub in on the surgery?

Izzie:
No?

Bailey:
No?

Izzie:
I... I spent the 3- Have you seen that girl? Her life is miserable. She's desperate. She, she'll never have a date. She'll never wear high heels. She'll never feel normal. I, I spent 300 grand because it's a good thing.

Bailey:
[long pause] I was hoping you would tell me you spent the money so you could scrub in.

Mark:
If you'd had the baby, we'd be together in New York right now; it wouldn't be raining and even if it was, we wouldn't care because we'd be together. We'd be together. And I'd have a family instead of walking pneumonia and an ex-best friend who hates me.

Addison You didn't want to raise a child, Mark. You wanted to trump Derek, you wanted to to win.

Mark:
Don't make this my fault. You didn't want a baby.

Addison No, I did want a baby, Mark. That last woman you slept with before I left New York, Charlene, the peds nurse, did you think that she was the only one I knew about? You're rewriting history Mark. We wouldn't still be together. We weren't a great couple and you would have made a terrible father, Mark. I did want a baby, I did. I just... I just didn't want one with you.

Cristina:
There's a club. The Dead Dads Club. And you can't be in it until you're in it. You can try and understand. You can sympathize, but until you feel that loss. My dad died when I was 9. George, I'm really sorry you had to join the club.

George:
I... I don't know how to exist in a world where my dad doesn't.

Cristina:
Yeah, that never really changes.

Meredith:
[voiceover] No one believes their life will turn out just kind of okay. We all think we're going to be great. And from the day we decide to be surgeons, we are filled with expectation. Expectations of the trails we will blaze, the people we will help, the difference we will make. Great expectations of who we will be, where we will go. And then we get there.

Izzie:
George has turned into a sex machine. Are you hearing me? A machine of sex! We have to do something. What's wrong with you people?

Meredith:
Derek kept me up all night with his ranting. Cristina and Burke still are not speaking to each other.

Cristina:
Okay, you know what? I'm fine. I mean I'm just not going to be the first one talking. I mean, he has to talk because I'm in the right. Talking first is for losers, I'm winning.

Meredith:
Plus she's starving because he won't cook for her, and that makes her a little crazy. And Alex. I don't know what's wrong with Alex.

Alex:
I'm good. I'm all good.

Bailey:
You didn't think of maybe telling me this morning that you were planning to step down instead of sending me on this wild goose chase?

Webber:
Dr. Bailey. You need those clowns to sign off on your proposal because one of them may be Chief of Surgery in a month. It's hard to imagine, for me more than anyone, but since you're not ready for the job, one of them's gonna have to do it for the next few years.

Bailey:
Me?

Webber:
It's you in the chair eventually. That's who you are. But you're gonna have to get a new chair because you're short. You have short legs. But someday you are going to be Chief of Surgery. I wasn't sending you on a wild goose chase. I was trying to get you in a habit of doing things without me.

Bailey:
These are your letters of support for my free clinic. Sign them.

Burke:
Why do you want this clinic so badly?

Derek:
You're a surgeon.

Bailey:
Because I need something more. I know you all have your messy love lives and your secrets and your silliness, but I want more. I need something to hold on to. I need a reason to believe that medicine can do more than stitch you up and, and send you away. I need to believe that medicine can not only save lives, but, but change lives! I need... I need... I need to believe in something the way I used to believe in you all. Sign the papers! Besides if you really want to be considered a candidate for Chief of Surgery, pioneering a pilot program, like a free clinic, will look very good on your resume. Sign the papers!

Meredith:
[voiceover] We all think we're going to be great and we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren't met. But sometimes our expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You got to wonder why we cling to our expectations, because the expected is just what keeps us steady. Standing. Still. The expected's just the beginning, the unexpected is what changes our lives.

Meredith:
[voiceover] As surgeons, we live in a world of worst case scenarios. We cut ourselves off from hoping for the best because too many times the best doesn't happen. But every now and then something extraordinary occurs and suddenly best case scenarios seem possible. And every now and then something amazing happens, and against our better judgement we start to have hope.

Mark:
Aren't you gonna get in there? If you wanna be chief, you gotta fight with the big boys.

Addison:
Oh, I intend to fight like a girl. I'll let them kill each other and then I'll be the only one left standing.

Meredith:
I'm not sure refusing treatment is what you wanna do-

Ellis:
Apparently, what I want doesn't matter. It isn't even legally binding. So it's really about what you want, Meredith. You're in charge.

Meredith:
You think I like making these decisions for you? You think it's fun to get calls from the nursing home asking if it's okay to change your medication, asking whether I was planning on giving the nurse, who changes you every morning a Christmas tip? But I do it. I do it because there is nobody else. Because you have managed to alienate everybody else in your life and I am the only one, so I have to step up and do it. [voice wavering] You wanna know why I'm so unfocused? So ordinary? You wanna know what happened to me? You. You happened to me.

Ellis:
Then let me refuse the heart surgery.

Meredith:
No.

Ellis:
Why not?

Meredith:
Because killing my mother is not gonna be another thing that happens to me.

Izzie:
Hey! It's the little woman. So what are your plans now? You're not moving in, are you?

Callie:
Nice.

George:
Wait, Callie.

Callie:
Forget it.

George:
No. Unbelievable. People, you're supposed to be my friends. My closest friends. Callie is a big - She's the most important part of my life now. If you wanna drive her away, and you're masters at it, you'll do it. But if she's gone, I'm gone. She's my wife. Calliope Iphigenia Torres is my wife. [Izzie starts to laugh at Callie's name] Don't you dare.

Izzie:
Okay.

Meredith:
[voiceover] As doctors, we're trained to give our patients just the facts. But what our patients really want to know is - will the pain ever go away? Will I feel better? Am I cured? What our patients really want to know is - is there hope? But, inevitably, there are times when you find yourself in the worst case scenario. When the patient's body has betrayed them and all the science we have to offer has failed them. When the worst case scenario comes true, clinging to hope is all we've got left.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Disappearances happen in science. Disease can suddenly fade away, tumors go missing, we open someone up to discover the cancer is gone. It's unexplained. It’s rare, but it happens. We call it mis-diagnosis, say we never saw it in the first place, any explanation but the truth. That life is full of vanishing acts. If something that we didn't know we had disappears, do we miss it?

Meredith:
I'm a surgeon. I do the rescuing. You are not my knight in shining whatever.

Derek:
So we're gonna fight because I pulled you out of the tub?

Meredith:
You have a place. You could sleep at it. And then you don't have to pull me out of the bathtub. You're everywhere, all the time, saying things.

Derek:
This is the happy ever after part. And in the happily ever after, the guy is there all the time, saying things and the girls love it!

Meredith:
Go to work, I'll see you there.

Derek:
And just for the record? I am your knight in shining whatever. [Kisses her]

[Derek walks into the elevator and notices that Richard dyed his hair]

Derek:
What's different?

Webber:
Nothing.

Addison:
Leave him be.

Derek:
What happened to your hair?

Webber:
Nothing.

Derek:
Mm-hmm.

[The elevator opens and Mark and Burke enter and keep staring at Richard's hair.]

Derek:
[whispers to Addison] See. Look. Watch.

Burke:
What happened to your hair?

Addison:
Ahem. Leave him be.

Mark:
He dyed it.

Derek:
But why? [Addison smacks him with a magazine] Ow!

Addison:
[hisses at Derek] Leave him be.

Derek:
[whispers] What are you doing?!

Addison:
What?

Burke:
[looks back at Richard] OK, but why?

Richard:
Men who have gray hair are noticed less than men who don't.

Derek:
By who?

Richard:
Well...

Burke:
By the ladies?

[Mark and Derek start laughing until Richard glares at them]

Derek:
It looks good, chief.

Burke:
Very natural.

Mark:
Ladies will love it.

Addison:
[to the guys] He is alone. All alone. Do any of you even know what that's like? [looks at Burke] Lives with Cristina. [looks at Derek] Dates the perfect twelve-year-old. [looks at Mark] Man whore! His wife left him after 25 years of marriage. So if the man wants to dye his hair for the ladies, let him dye his hair for the ladies. Leave him be.

Cristina:
Meredith, I have a thing... news.

Meredith:
You're not pregnant again, are you? Cause I can't handle the extra months of bitchiness.

Webber:
What's the news?

Mark:
Shepherd and Grey are on the rocks, Burke and Yang got engaged... you need highlights, in your hair, that's why it looks so odd. I'm gonna go save lives.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Like I said, disappearances happen. Pains go phantom. Blood stops running and people, people fade away. There's more I have to say, so much more, but... I've disappeared.

Burke:
What is your problem?

Cristina:
You know everyone's back. Everyone's back except her. And I listen to her. Everyday, about her McLove life, her McDreamy, her McCrap. And the one day, the one day I have a thing she disappears...

Burke:
Meredith, this is about Meredith.

Cristina:
She doesn't know yet.

Burke:
Meredith?

Cristina:
She's my person.

Burke:
Right. And if Meredith doesn't approve, then what?

Cristina:
This, this is not about getting her approval, it's about...

Burke:
What?

Cristina:
Telling her makes it, makes it... If I murdered someone, she's the person I'd call to help me drag the corpse across the living room floor.

Burke:
Ok, so now, you're likening someone here to a corpse. I'm done.

Cristina:
She's my person.

Cristina:
[after finding out about Meredith] It's Meredith?

Alex:
Yeah.

Cristina:
Are you sure? Did you see her? Because it could be...

Alex:
[grabs her arm] It's Meredith.

Cristina:
Oh. [sees Derek crying in hall] Oh. Oh.

Izzie:
She will come through this.

George:
You don't know that.

Izzie:
She will come through this.

George:
People die.

Izzie:
I know people die. People die in front of us every day. But I believe Meredith will survive this. I believe - I believe - I believe in the good. I believe that it's been a hell of a year, and I believe that in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we will all be okay. I believe a lot of things. I believe that - I believe that Denny is always with me. And I believe that if I eat a tub of butter and no one sees me, then calories don't count. And I believe that surgeons who prefer staples over stitches are just lazy. [to George] And I believe that you are a man who made a terrible mistake marrying Callie. And I believe that because I am your best friend, I can tell you this and we can be okay. I believe that even though you made this mistake, you will be okay. I believe we survive, George. I believe that believing we survive is what makes us survive.

Meredith:
[voiceover] There are medical miracles. Being worshippers of the altar of science, we don't like to believe miracles exist. But they do. Things happen. We can't explain them, we can't control them, but they do happen. Miracles do happen in medicine. They happen everyday, just not always when we need them to happen.

Denny:
What happened in that water?

Meredith:
I swam, I fought!

Denny:
No, you didn't, and you can't stay here, Meredith.

Meredith:
I don't want to!

Denny:
Yeah, you do. It's easier, but you can't. Because George's dad died, because Izzie lost me, and Cristina, when she was nine she was in a car accident with her father and he bled out right in front of her while they waited for an ambulance to arrive, and Alex...

Meredith:
Stop!

Denny:
They are barely breathing, this will break them, and none of them deserves that. And this, this is the big one, so you pay attention. Do you know what kind of miracle it is that Derek is who he is? Do you know how rare it is that someone like him even exists? He's still an optimist. He still believes in true love and magic and soul mates. He's waiting for you, and if you don't come back from this... you will change who he is.

Burke:
You know, some do come back from this.

Cristina:
You know what? I am not a civilian. I know the science here. It's drinking time.

Burke:
Not yet. You have a responsibility to Meredith.

Cristina:
No. Uh-uh. I don't do this stuff. You should know. I don't go to great lengths.

Burke:
Well, you were there for me.

Cristina:
After. After I knew you were going to make it. Hey, I'm not proud. Okay, I just... I can't. I can't go back there. I can't. I can't go back there and watch her.

Burke:
Listen to me. This is about you and the woman you call your person. And you do know the science here. And if she dies, and you are sitting here when that happens, I can't see you coming back from that. Come and say goodbye to your friend.

Ellis:
You shouldn't be here.

Meredith:
Neither should you.

Ellis:
Just keep going. Don't be a damn - [hugs her] You are - You are anything but ordinary, Meredith. Now run. Run!

Meredith:
[voiceover] At the end of a day like this. A day when so many prayers are answered and so many aren't. We take our miracles where we find them. We reach across the gap and sometimes against all odds, against all logic... We touch.

Meredith:
[voiceover] People have scars, in all sorts of unexpected places. Like secret road maps of their personal histories. Diagrams of all their old wounds. Most of our old wounds heal, leaving nothing behind but a scar. But some of them don't. Some wounds we carry with us everywhere and though the cut's long gone, the pain still lingers.

Izzie:
Alex is moving in?! To this house?!

Meredith:
He's taking George's room.

Izzie:
Why?

Derek:
I was asleep just a minute ago.

Izzie:
Uh! And I was naked in the bathroom when Alex walked in. I'm lucky I didn't come out of the shower to find him peeing all over the seat.

Derek:
And we're up.

Burke:
That's Colin Marlowe.

Alex:
Like the Marlowe transplant?

Burke:
Like the greatest thing in cardiothoracic surgery in a generation. Dr. Marlowe. I'm, I'm Preston Burke. I'm a great admirer of your work, sir. Particularly the...

Colin:
Yes, thank you I... Would you excuse me for just a second? [walks over to Cristina, group of interns backs away] Well, you going to give me a hug or what? [hugs Cristina, and squeezes her ass]

Derek:
[about Meredith] She's tough. She tries to hide it. She's difficult. But if you make an effort, she's worth it.

Thatcher:
You okay?

Derek:
Not entirely. She's worth the effort.

Meredith:
[voiceover] What's worse, new wounds which are so horribly painful or old wounds that should've healed years ago and never did? Maybe our old wounds teach us something. They remind us where we've been and what we've overcome. They teach us lessons about what to avoid in the future. That's we like to think. But that's not the way it is, is it? Some things we just have to learn over and over and over again.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Surgeons always have a plan. Where to cut, where to clamp, where to stitch. But, even with the best plans complications can arise, things can go wrong. And suddenly, you're caught with your pants down.

Izzie:
I mean, how do you know that it didn't feel so right, because it's God's plan?

Addison:
God wants you to be an adulterer?

Izzie:
God got a virgin pregnant by magic. God is not playing by the rules.

Meredith:
[voiceover] The thing about plans is they don't take into account the unexpected, so when we're thrown a curve ball, whether it's in the OR or in life, we have to improvise. Of course, some of us are better at it than others. Some of us just have to move on to plan B and make the best of it. And sometimes what we want is exactly what we need. But sometimes, sometimes what we need is a new plan.

Meredith:
[voiceover] A patient's history is as important as their symptoms. It's what helps us decide if heartburn's a heart attack... if a head ache's a tumor. Sometimes patients will try to re-write their own histories. They'll claim they don't smoke, or forget to mention certain drugs... which in surgery can be the kiss of death. We can ignore it all we want, but our history eventually always comes back to haunt us.

Burke:
What was that?

Cristina:
That was my smug, passive-aggressive, limey ex-boyfriend trying to show me I picked the wrong guy.

Burke:
Oh, I know, and I'm fine with it, as long as I'm learning something. I was actually talking about you. What was that?

Cristina:
You're going to have to put up with me being nice and sweet for a little while.

Burke:
That'll be a nice change of pace.

Cristina:
Shut up.

Burke:
That's more like it.

Derek:
I came out here to be chief, and Meredith complicates that.

Bailey:
Huh. Well if this turns into an "either or," you pick the person you love. End of story. Look, all of this means nothing if you're alone.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Some people believe that without history, our lives amount to nothing. At some point we all have to choose: do we fall back on what we know, or do we step forward to something new? It's hard not to be haunted by our past. Our history is what shapes us... what guides us. Our history resurfaces time after time after time. So we have to remember sometimes the most important history is the history we're making today.

Meredith:
[voiceover] As interns, we know what we want, to become surgeons. And we'll do anything to get there. Suffer through killer exams, endure one-hundred hour weeks, stand for hours on end in operating rooms, you name it, we'll do it. The tough part though is reconciling this huge thing we want, to be surgeons, with everything else we want.

Meredith:
Talk about divine retribution.

Izzie:
What?

Meredith:
He sleeps with his assistant, and a carnivorous fish lodges itself in his penis, that's instant karma if I've ever seen it.

Cristina:
Yeah, well, Derek wasn't struck by lightning and neither were you.

Meredith:
Addison showed up, I had months of pain and self-loathing, crazy ranting mother and a near drowning off the side of a dock. I mean, it's no fish in my hoo-hoo, but it's certainly not an easy ride.

Cristina:
Yeah, well, I've cheated on my boyfriends and I'm fine. I mean am I the only one?

Derek:
I'm fine.

Meredith:
Are we fine?

Derek:
Sure.

Meredith:
Not so convincing. I shouldn't have accused you of hovering, it wasn't nice. You were just trying to be there for me. But now, I'm being available, communicating, getting naked, and doing all of your favorite things.

Derek:
Hm, good things.

Meredith:
Then why are you still staring at the ceiling?

Derek:
I don't know, it's just, that day, you came out of the water. I spent the scariest hour of my life, trying to breathe for you. I love you, and I want you, but I don't know what to... you didn't swim. You didn't swim and you know how to. And I don't know if I can... I don't know if I wanna keep trying to breathe for you. [pause]

Meredith:
I should go. I'll go.

Meredith:
[voiceover] Too often, the thing you want most is the one thing you can't have. Desire leaves us heartbroken, it wears us out. Desire can wreck your life. But as tough as wanting something can be, the people who suffer the most are those who don't know what they want.

Meredith:
[voiceover] The dream is this - that we'll finally be happy when we reach our goals: find the guy, finish our internship, that's the dream. Then we get there. And if we're human, we immediately start dreaming of something else. Because, if this is the dream, then we'd like to wake up. Now, please!

Callie:
Okay. I rescheduled an ACL repair, but I want to be clear: I will not be wearing pink or baby blue. I do not do flowers in my hair. And I will never be seen with a bow on my ass, okay?

Cristina:
See? She's got the right attitude.

Naomi:
Addison, I did everything exactly the way I was supposed to. After college, I never dated anyone except Sam, because he was the one. I never had sex with Sam, because cheating is wrong. I had a baby, because that's what you do when you get married. I never made a single mistake, I did everything right. And then Sam comes home and says he wants a divorce. So all those photos you're busy admiring, all they are are reminders of stuff I didn't do. I'm 38 years old, and I don't know how to have fun. That's not lucky, that's sad! So, just shut up about lucky!

Addison:
Poor, sad, dried up Naomi.

Naomi:
Shut up.

Addison:
Poor, little, special, talented, doctor girl. That may be good for a TV movie, but... poor, little, special, dried up girl, who has no fun.

Naomi:
I can put you out. You'd have to sleep in the car. You're just... [sighs] I just wish I'd been a little bit more like you.

Addison:
What, an adulteress bitch who forgot to have kids?

Cooper:
That's the point. I thought I was done being single. I thought she was going to be the mother of my children.

Sam:
What was her name, again?

Cooper:
sexyboobs316.

Pete:
Are you... dude are you crying?

Cooper:
No.

Sam:
You better be crying about that car, not over sexyboobs315.

Cooper:
316!

Meredith:
[voiceover] At some point maybe we accept the dream has become a nightmare. We tell ourselves the reality is better. We convince ourselves it's better that we never dream at all. But the strongest of us, the most determined of us, we hold onto the dream, or we find ourselves faced with a fresh dream we never considered. We awake to find ourselves, against all odds, feeling hopeful. And, if we're lucky, we realize in the face of everything, in the face of life the true dream is being able to dream at all.

Meredith:
[voiceover] A surgeon's education never ends. Every patient, every symptom, every operation... is a test. A chance for us to demonstrate how much we know. And how much more we have to learn.

Webber:
So, how you feeling, Preston? You ready?

Burke:
I'm always ready for surgery.

Derek:
I think he's talking about the wedding.

Webber:
Yeah, tomorrow's a big day.

Burke:
And apart from the fact that Cristina hasn't written her vows, my best man just cancelled, and it's still raining.

Derek:
He's not ready.

Webber:
You're never ready. I certainly wasn't. And then, the minute I saw Adele coming down that aisle... Well. Have you picked your best man?

Burke:
Actually, Chief...

Derek:
You can't be his best man!

Webber:
Why not?

Derek:
It's unethical; it's a conflict of interest. The man wants to be Chief of Surgery.

Burke:
Actually, Derek...

Derek:
Not that that's why you're asking...

Burke:
I was going to ask you.

Derek:
Ask me what? [pauses] Oh! Really?

Burke:
We have been through a lot this year.

Derek:
And everybody else turned you down. Alright, what do I have to do?

Webber:
Well, traditionally, the best man plans the bachelor party.

Derek:
Drinks at Joe's after work.

Burke:
I knew you were the man for the job.

Meredith:
You're not my father.

Webber:
I know that. [They exchange a look, then he pulls her into a hug. Relieved, she sinks in his arms and starts to cry] I know.

Addison:
This is what you invited me to? This is your big bachelor party?

Derek:
It was last minute, I needed some more bodies.

Mark:
Which would explain why I'm here.

Addison:
Why am I the only girl, by the way? What am I, the entertainment? I am not stripping.

Derek:
[referring to himself and Mark] That's okay, we've seen it already.

Mark:
True.

Burke:
I haven't.

Webber:
[voiceover] Being chief is about responsibility. Every single surgical patient in the hospital is your patient. Whether you're the one who cut them open or not. The scalpel stopped with death. You need to be able to look at a family. And to tell them your team did everything they could to save someone's job. The husband, the wife, you get caught up. Taking care of other people's families. And a responsibility... it makes you you take care of other people's families. And you sacrifice your own.

Derek:
You're a lucky man, Burke. Cristina's great. She's there. She's sure. She's willing to commit. You're a lucky man.

Burke:
And you're not?

Mark:
There he is. T minus five hours. And how's the best man? Up to the challenge? I was an excellent best man.

Derek:
[scoffs, looks at Burke] Worst case scenario, I sleep with your wife in ten years.

Burke:
Cristina; I could promise to hold you, and to cherish you. I could promise to be there in sickness and in health. I could say 'til death do us part', but I won't. Those vows are for optimistic couples, the ones full of hope. And I do not stand here on my wedding day optimistic or full of hope.

Addison:
Okay, um...

Burke:
I am not optimistic, I am not hopeful. I am sure. I am steady. And I know I am a heart man, take them apart, put them back together. I hold them in my hands. I am a heart man. So this, I am sure. You are my partner, my lover, my very best friend. My heart, my heart, beats for you. And on this day, the day of our wedding, I promise you this. I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands. I promise you, me.

[silence]

Burke:
Too trite? Because I can rewrite it.

Izzie:
No, no it's...

Addison:
I think I speak for every woman in this room when I say... dump her. Dump Yang and marry me. [They all laugh.]

Meredith:
Stop whining! This is your wedding day. You will go down that aisle. And you will get married! If I have to kick your ass, every step of the way to get you there. You will walk down the aisle, you will get married. Do you hear me Cristina? We need this. We need you to get your happy ending.

Cristina:
Okay, I'm ready.

Cristina:
I am wearing the dress. I'm ready. And, and maybe I didn't want to before. But I want to now. I really think I want this.

Burke:
I really wish that you didn't think. I wish that you knew.