Beat Your Heart Out

Summary
Izzie, now aware she is ill, has the interns perform diagnostic procedures on her, claiming she's letting them practice on her.

Bailey, having taken three days off, returns and tells the Chief that she will catch up. The Chief then informs her that he's not worried and that he is recommending to the board that she be given an offer as an attending, immediately after her residency is finished, despite hearing that she was becoming tired of general surgery, but first, she is working with Dr. Dixon today. Dr. Dixon's patient is another child, and Bailey feels she cannot handle it, to the extent she asks Dr. Robbins to scrubs in instead, until Dr. Robbins convinces her to scrub in. The patient now requires a heart transplant and until she can get it, she will need to take medication every three minutes, meaning that she would be unable to leave the hospital. Bailey has another idea, a backpack with a drug delivery system, and the family are thankful, being loud and touching Dr. Dixon, panicking Dr. Dixon. Dr. Dixon needs pressure to relax her sympathetic nervous system, and has Bailey and Cristina to hug her tightly. Dr. Robbin points out to Bailey that although she feels she will not be able to handle Pediatric surgery, she will, as she is "uniquely qualified", and Dr. Dixon also points out that her manner and actions to this patient, that is is not a general surgeon, but she is a peads surgeon.

The Chief and Karev work on a married man who was trying to spice up his marriage by doing #15 in a magazine, although he's accidentally got the object stuck inside of him. The magazine becomes a heated topic amongst the residents and interns.

Meredith asks Cristina to pre-read her mother's ninth journal. Claiming it "reads like a Victorian romance novel" between Richard and Ellis, stolen glances and slight touches, which she also repeats around Owen, until he sees somebody from his past and panics. Cristina uses the same technique used with Dr. Dixon to calm Hunt down, and eventually he falls asleep in her lap.

Lexie and Meredith work on an admission from the ER, a man run over by his pregnant wife, though the wife also collapses in the ambulance bay. Derek, Mark and Callie are asked to consult, with Mark and Callie taking the husband into surgery for fractures and burns, while Derek treats the wife to find the cause of her collapse. The wife's blood pressure is extremely high, even when pregnancy was accounted for and Lexie spends the day trying to keep he calm, even as her husband takes a turn for the worst in surgery.

All the while, Lexie wants her and Mark to go public with their relationship and refuses to even flirt with him until they go public. Callie feels alone and she has nobody, that is, until Arizona kisses her at Joe's Bar.

And Derek, now he has the ring, finds a way to propose to Meredith, after establishing she's ready. He decides to create a grand gesture, filling their bedroom with roses and candles, until Addison calls him, leading into Private Practice

Music

 * "Band/Singer" - Song

This episode's title originated from the song Beat Your Heart Out, originally sung by The Distillers.

Hospital Staff

 * Ellen Pompeo ... Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh ... Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Katherine Heigl ... Dr. Isobel 'Izzie' Stevens
 * Justin Chambers ... Dr. Alex Karev
 * T.R. Knight ... Dr. George O'Malley
 * Chandra Wilson ... Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens Jr. ... Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramirez ... Dr. Callie Torres
 * Eric Dane ... Dr. Mark Sloan
 * Chyler Leigh ... Dr. Lexie Grey
 * Patrick Dempsey ... Dr. Derek Shepherd
 * Kevin McKidd ... Dr. Owen Hunt

Guest Starring

 * Jessica Capshaw ... Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Brandon Scott ... Dr. Ryan Spalding
 * Melissa George ... Dr. Sadie Harris
 * Mary McDonnell ... Dr. Virginia Dixon

Patients and relatives

 * Jennifer Westfeldt ... Jen
 * Ben Shenkman ... Rob
 * Peter Mackenzie ... Warren
 * Laura Allen ... Beth