Adrift and at Peace

"The first 24h after surgery are critical. Every breath you take, every fluid you make is meticulously recorded and analyzed. Celebrated or mourned. But what about the next 24 hours? What happens when that first day turns to two and weeks turn into months? What happens when the immediate danger has passed, when the machines are disconnected and the teams of doctors and nurses are gone? Surgery is when you get saved. But post-op, after surgery, is when you heal. But what if you don't? The goal of any surgery is total recovery, to come out better than you were before. Some patients heal quickly and feel immediate relief. For others the healing happens gradually. And it's not until months or even years later that you realize you don't hurt anymore. So the challenge after any surgery is to be patient. But if you can make it through the first weeks and months, if you believe that healing is possible, then you can get your life back. But that's a big if."

- Meredith Grey

 is the tenth episode of the seventh season and the 136th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Despite Meredith's objections to the idea, a concerned Derek takes Cristina on a fishing trip in order to get away from it all, while Teddy, feeling directionless without Cristina, directs all of her efforts and compassion towards a dying patient who lacks the proper insurance to seek medical treatment.

Full Summary
Derek is taking Cristina fishing at Hunt's suggestion. He tells Meredith they're not trying to get Cristina back to work, just trying to make sure she's OK. Callie and Mark shower together, but she tells him that sex with him makes her miss Arizona. He tells her he was thinking about Lexie, but it upsets her. She kicks him out of the shower. There's awkward silence between Cristina and Meredith when she comes over to head out for the fishing trip.

The chief and Bailey are removing a gall bladder through a patient's mouth, and Lexie is amazed. Bailey starts a contest among the residents: Whoever can figure out a protocol that will reduce the number of post-op fistulas will get to remove a gall bladder through a patient's mouth. April asks to be excused. Lexie follows, and Avery wants to go, as well. The chief calls Bailey "a mad genius."

Teddy runs into a patient in the elevator who is in a wheelchair and wants to know how he looks because he's going to propose to his girlfriend. She tells him she'd be a fool to say no. Alex and Callie share a moment of mocking Arizona because she left them in bad spots.

Sloan tells Lexie he misses her. She's watching a post-op patient to make sure he doesn't have a fistula.

A husband and wife who fell 100 feet into a ravine come to the ER and Meredith and Hunt treat them. The woman, Trina, says they were posing for a picture when they fell. Her husband is in a more urgent situation and Hunt and Meredith head into surgery. As soon as they cut into him, blood sprays everywhere.

Cristina did some research on fishing and when she and Derek are out on the lake, she makes suggestions on his technique.

Back at the hospital, Callie and Alex are treating a patient who needs a new hip. They tell the patient, whose wife mentioned the their fact that their daughter in Sarasota is a doctor, about Callie's minimally invasive. She offers them a 2 p.m. surgery but the man's wife is skeptical and wants a second opinion. Callie lets it go, telling Alex she knows they'll come back.

Lexie, April and Avery compare notes on their fistula research. A male nurse named Eli is slacking on Lexie's protocol and she tells him to get a sample of her patient's pancreatic fluid.

Teddy's friend from the elevator says his girlfriend turned him down, but what he liked most about her was her health insurance. He says he capped out three surgeries ago. She looks at his chart. He has a tumor on his adrenal gland. Teddy says she'll see what she can do.

Sloan treats Trina, whose ear was severed in the ravine fall. She tells Sloan the story about how she met her husband. In surgery, her husband is bleeding out and Hunt freezes for a moment. Meredith snaps him back to work and he puts together a quick plan. He tells her she can't talk to him "like that" in his O.R., and that she should go if she can't keep her problems outside.

Cristina wants Derek to quiz him on different kinds of bait. He tells her fishing is supposed to be quiet. She wants to move the boat and he says no. She wants there to be a reasonable expectation that they will get some bites. He finally tells her to stop talking. She says she can't turn her mind off. He tells her she can.

Teddy tries to get the chief to agree to treat her patient pro bono. She says she wants to do something good, partly because she's feeling guilty about Cristina not working (thinking it's partially her fault), and the chief agrees to set up a meeting with the review board.

The hip patient finally calls Callie after she and Alex argue about whether she should have let them go get a second opinion. She says she's stubbornly believing that those people are good and smart, and aren't the type of people who'd leave her in an airport.

Hunt lets Meredith sew up their patient. She's surprised, but thankful.

April's patient has a fistula. Eli the nurse tells Lexie he took her patient's pancreatic fluid drain out and he refuses to put it back in. When she says she'll do it herself, he tells her not to touch the patient. He says his 12 years of experience tell him that if she puts the drain back in could put him at greater risk for infection.

Lexie asks Sloan to smooth things over with the nurse so that he won't make a scene when she goes to put the drain back in. Sloan agrees, but only if she has a drink with him later. She reluctantly agrees. When he sees it's Eli, he ups it to two drinks. Sloan goes and talks to Eli, but only to have him pretend to argue with him in exchange for Seahawks tickets.

A nurse gives Hunt a bunch of important messages, but he only wants to know if Cristina has called. She hasn't.

The hip patient, Ron, and his wife come back and asks for Callie's 2 p.m. surgery slot. She pretends it's already taken and she and Alex go through a little routine about how packed Callie's schedule is, which now includes a dinner where she's receiving an award, but she agrees to fit Ron's surgery in. They thank her.

Lexie talks to Eli herself about Lexie's protocol and asks him to put the drain back in, but he argues with her and says he's good at what he does. He asks her if she can think of the last time there was a post-op complication with one of his patients.

In surgery, Meredith wants to do one more stitch despite Hunt's objection. He tells her to stop but she does it quickly anyway and he tells her to get out of his O.R. She throws down a towel and walks away.

Meredith calls Derek and yells at him, saying she's sick of Cristina not talking to him and of him pretending to be friends with Cristina. On his end of the call, he pretends it's another doctor updating him on a patient. Cristina knows it was Meredith, but before they can talk about it she catches a fish and panics about what to do. Derek helps her out.

Back at the hospital, Callie tells Alex he's doing a good job. He says Stark, the pediatrician, doesn't think much of him and she offers to teach him her surgery because in a year everyone is going to want it. "Screw Stark," he says.

Meredith confronts Hunt and tells him he treated her differently because she criticized his handling of Cristina. He tells her she's reckless, and he doesn't want that in the hospital or around Cristina. Meredith tells him she knows Cristina and that Cristina needs to work. Hunt tells her she's "fearless" and "not in a good way." He says most people are "afraid" like Cristina. "She isn't you, Meredith," he says.

Bailey and the gang check out Eli's patients' charts and are impressed (except for Lexie) by his low percentage of patients with complications. Bailey sees a trend in which something significant happens on Day 3, post-op. She's excited.

The review board wants to send Teddy's patient home with a Medi-Alert bracelet. Bailey interrupts the meeting to happily tell the chief that the drains should be removed on Day 3 instead of Day 5, then she touts herself as "the doctor who cured fistula."

Cristina gets her fish weighed. It's 21 pounds, and she is about to get her picture taken with it when the guy with the camera tells Derek, "She really is something." Derek says, "Yes, she is." Cristina starts to cry. Derek tells the guy to take the picture, adding, "We're going to want to remember this." Cristina finally smiles.

Trina, the wife of Meredith and Hunt's patient, comes in to see her husband, who is still unconscious. Hunt says they're just focusing on getting him through the first 24 hours. Meredith tells her that even though all she can see are "the machines and the damage" he's "still there."

Callie wants to take Alex for a drink, but he tells her he's going to assist Stark on a surgery. She's upset, but when he leaves she tells herself, "I'm still awesome."

The chief gives Teddy's patient, Henry, some drug samples and sends him on his way. Teddy comes and tells him she's sorry she couldn't do more. She then offers to marry him because she has great medical insurance. He says it's a great offer, but he can't take her up on it. He tells her it's an absurd idea and she'll regret it later. She tells him she can help.

Bailey thanks Eli for his help in curing fistula. He asks her out. She agrees, but only because he gave her "Day 3."

Lexie meets up with Sloan at the bar, but tells him it was unfair of her to agree to the drink. She keeps talking, but he plants a kiss on her.

Cristina gets home with her fish and tells Hunt her fishing trip was good. She puts the picture of herself with her fish on the refrigerator. At their house, Derek tells Meredith he thinks Cristina will be OK, but that he doesn't know if she'll still be a surgeon.

Callie's at home and there's a knock on the door. She thinks it's Sloan. It's Arizona. She's hoarse and says Africa was awesome, but she was crying constantly because she missed Callie. She was offered a chance to leave and she took it. She tells Callie she looks "really pretty." Callie closes the door.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
 * Chyler Leigh as Dr. Lexie Grey
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman
 * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Stars

 * Scott Foley as Henry Burton
 * Daniel Sunjata as Nurse Eli
 * Jamie Chung as Trina Paiz

Co-Starring

 * Lenora May as Sheila
 * Ken Meseroll as Ron
 * Sarah Hunley as Adriana Kay
 * Joel Bond as Marina Worker
 * Barry Livingston as Wayne Sheehan
 * Michael Lesly as Paramedic #1
 * Nicole Cummins as Paramedic #2
 * Payton Silver as Dr. Knox
 * Carissa Kosta as O.R. Nurse
 * Ray Singh as ER Nurse
 * Michael Brady as Fisherman #1
 * Kris Jeffrey as Fisherman #2

Notes and Trivia
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 * This episode's title originated from the song Adrift And At Peace, originally sung by Nine Inch Nails.
 * This episode scored 11.02 million viewers.

Quotes

 * Callie: I am stubbornly choosing to believe that not all people are evil and bad and leave me at airports.


 * Owen: Do you want to know what I think? I think you are reckless. I think you are reckless with your own life and today you were reckless with a patient's life. I don't care who you are. I don't want that in my OR, and I don't want that around my wife who is struggling just to hold on.
 * Meredith: Your wife is struggling just to hold on because you married her and let it be OK for her to completely fall apart.
 * Owen: You are fearless, and I don't mean that in a good way. Most people don't tell the guy with the gun to shoot them. Most people are like Cristina. Most people are afraid. So what she needs isn't what you need. She isn't you, Meredith.