Readiness is All

"They hit you out of nowhere. When bad things come, they come suddenly, without warning. We rarely get to see the catastrophe coming, no matter how well we try to prepare for it. We do our very best, but sometimes, it's just not good enough. We buckle our seat belts, we wear a helmet, we stick to the lighted paths. We try to be safe. We try so hard to protect ourselves, but it doesn't make a damn bit of difference, 'cause when the bad things come, they come out of nowhere. The bad things come suddenly, with no warning. But we forget that sometimes, that's how the good things come too."

- Meredith Grey

Readiness is All is the twenty-third episode of the ninth season and the 195th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
The doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital prepare for a super storm heading towards Seattle; Owen's desire to be a parent gets stronger as he becomes closer to Ethan; and one wrong move puts the lives of Meredith and her baby in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Jo looks to Alex for help in a moment of crisis, and one doctor gets the shock of her life.

Full Summary
Jo is in Alex's house, crying and pressing ice against her wounds on her face. Alex comforts her and asks her about what happened. Jo replies they had a fight and that it got really bad. Alex assures her she's safe and he rushes off, leaving Jo wondering what he's going to do.

Outside the hospital, Owen is telling maintenance workers what they should do to protect the hospital from the upcoming storm. April comes over and asks him what's going on. Owen tells her about the storm that's coming in 3 days and gives her the disaster preparedness protocol. He tells her they'll have to overstock supplies and get ready for double capacity.

Later, Owen informs the other doctors and nurses about the storm and the supply stocking. He tells them to discharge patients that can be discharged and to push, postpone or cancel all elective procedures. Alex comes over to Derek, asking him to help him. Derek follows Alex. Callie asks Arizona about surgery on the baby with his brain on his face, but Arizona says she can't push it. Owen continues his speech, saying they will need to print hard copies of computerized patient charts in case of a power loss. Bailey says she'll take care of that. Owen thinks she's back to operate, but she says she meant taking care of the chart printing. Owen encourages his people, saying it'll be a bad storm, but that they still have three days to prepare themselves for it.

Richard asks Ben Warren how Bailey's doing. Ben says Bailey still thinks that she'll kill anyone she touches in the OR. Richard realizes he's the only one who can't help Bailey because of what she overheard him saying in a previous episode.

Alex reveals to Derek that he needed him to help him with Jason Myers, who's in a hospital bed suffering from a severe head injury. Alex says he brought him in a few hours ago and that he had a CT.

Dr. Boswell and Dr. Robbins are informing Tyler's parents (the baby with his brain on his face) about the surgery they'll be performering on their baby boy. Arizona tells them she's not worried at all, showing great faith in Dr. Boswell. This calms the parents down. They leave together, and while walking in the hallway, Arizona confesses that she googled Lauren too. They have had the same mentor (though at a different time), which convinces Lauren of Arizona's skills. Lauren promises Arizona to let her do part of Tyler's surgery. When Lauren asks to get some coffee, Arizona says she has to take care of other stuff and leaves.

Next to his dad's bed, Ethan is informed by Owen on what will happen if his father doesn't wake up. Owen tells Ethan not to worry and leaves. Cristina tells Owen that Nancy asked her about withdrawing care. Owen gets angry because Cristina told Nancy it's unlikely that Paul would wake up. Cristina orders Stephanie to do a head CT and some other tests.

Owen and Meredith are in an elevator together. Owen asks Meredith about when they were sure they were going to adopt Zola. Meredith wants to know why he's asking, but Owen tells her to forget it and gets out of the elevator.

April and her intern Leah are on their way to an ambulance. While walking, April tells Leah to have the hallways cleared as people will be coming looking for shelter. They arrive at the ambulance and the paramedic tells them their patient is a construction worker, who was blown off a building by the strong winds and got impaled by three iron construction bars. The patient is still awake and responsive. April tells Leah to page Meredith and Callie. Owen comes over and says he'll take it, but April says it's her big case. She managed to convince him to let her operate on him.

In the ER, behind a closed curtain, Derek is examining Jason Myers. Intern Heather seems to think that Alex beat him up. Derek asks what happened, but Alex only says Derek can't let him die.

In the OR, April, Meredith and Callie are looking at Leon's scans. Meredith says that the rough metal bars will shred the vessels.

To Be Completed

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
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Stars

 * Hilarie Burton as Dr. Lauren Boswell
 * LisaGay Hamilton as Dr. Connie Ryan
 * Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren
 * Justin Bruening as Paramedic Matthew
 * Charles Michael Davis as Dr. Jason Myers
 * Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson
 * Gaius Charles as Dr. Shane Ross
 * Tina Majorino as Dr. Heather Brooks
 * Jerrika Hinton as Dr. Stephanie Edwards
 * Tessa Ferrer as Dr. Leah Murphy
 * Jennifer Bassey as Nancy Dawson
 * Michael Buie as Paul Dawson

Co-Starring

 * Mike Holley as Leon
 * Andy Forrest as Maintenance worker
 * Kyle Red Silverstein as Ethan Dawson
 * Jeff Howard as Tyler's Dad
 * Frankie Ingrassia as Tyler's Mom
 * Nicole Cummins as Paramedic Nicole
 * David Haley as Paramedic
 * Teresa Huang as Nurse Ruth
 * Payton Silver as Dr. Knox
 * Cynthia Youngblood as ER Nurse
 * Kate Mines as Nurse Gloria

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song Readiness is All, originally sung by Alias Eye.
 * This episode scored 8.97 million viewers.
 * At the end of this episode, Meredith goes into labor.

Quotes

 * Alex: How does Kepner get that? How does that happen? And I get crazy, I get cancer, and now I got a psychopathic maniac! Screw it, I give up, I'm walking away.
 * Meredith: Alex, what were you gonna do if you'd got to Peckwell's house first? Were you gonna have coffee and talk it out? I mean, tell me he wouldn't have been worse off if you'd gotten there first. People change but they don't change.