I Choose You

"The body is a bundle of possibility. Every time we cut one open, we're faced with a series of decisions. Some choices are made for you. But for the most part, surgery is a choose your own adventure. When you're faced with the tough choices, it comes down to you. What can you live with? What can you leave behind? Right or wrong, you have to decide what you're willing to go down fighting for. The choice is yours."

- Meredith Grey

 is the third episode of the twelfth season and the 248th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Maggie reevaluates her life choices after receiving an invitation to her ex-boyfriend's wedding. Richard questions Bailey's loyalty, and Jo confides in Stephanie about a secret she's been keeping from Alex. Meanwhile, Alex struggles with a decision that will affect the lives of newborn twins.

Full Summary
While Meredith talks about making difficult decisions, Alex wakes up and kisses Jo before getting out of bed.

April's getting dressed when there's a knock on the door. She says he doesn't have to knock as Jackson walks in. Jackson says he can't sleep on the couch again. She says he should just sleep in the bed. He says he's been nice, but he's going to book her a room at The Archfield and he's going to sleep in his bed alone. She reminds him that he signed up for better or for worse.

Meredith sits in her car and honks. Maggie gets in with a toothbrush in her mouth. She apologizes and says they can leave, but then notices that Amelia's not there. Amelia's the late one. She hands Meredith the mail and says her contract's in there. Meredith honks again and opens her contract as Amelia gets in and starts getting dressed in the car. Meredith is upset that Amelia is naked in her car, but Amelia says it's not a problem. Meredith said that if she didn't care so much about the planet for her babies, they wouldn't even be carpooling in the first place. They then celebrate Meredith's contract. Maggie looks at it and makes a face, though she denies it when Meredith asks what the face was for. Meredith then starts to drive.

Alex walks into the peds ward and greets Sadie. She wants to leave the hospital, but she can't because she hasn't pooped yet.

Maggie looks at a card in her hand as Meredith says she's making the face again. Maggie again denies making a face, but says she's been invited to her ex-boyfriend's wedding. She tries to pretend she's okay with it, but Meredith and Amelia know she's not okay.

Arizona and Ben enter the room where Laurie Kiefer is in labor. Her OB is on vacation and she's pregnant with twins. Arizona looks at the ultrasound and then has Ben page Alex 911. She then goes to deliver.

Andrew finds Alex and says he's on his service. He's reluctant because peds isn't his first choice, though he says he doesn't hate kids. Alex sends him to get his labs and meet him in labor and delivery.

Laurie delivers her babies, first the girl and then the boy. Both babies are severely jaundice. Alex says he'll take them to CT while Arizona breaks the news to the parents that they have to take the babies away.

Stephanie is shocked by the news Jo has shared. She just found out that morning. She hasn't talked to Alex about it yet. Stephanie says she has to.

Alex and Ben wait for the girl's CT results when Andrew comes in with Alex's labs. She again defends that he doesn't hate kids. Arizona comes in and the scans come up. It's what they expected. Both twins have hepatoblastomas, aggressive, malignant liver tumors. Andrew again says he doesn't hate kids, but Arizona tells him to shut up. After she and Alex leave, Ben explains the results of the scans to Andrew.

Laurie and Mason are shocked. The doctors explain the tumors and say they're recommending liver transplants. Laurie's worried that their decision not to know the sex kept them from finding this, but Arizona assures them that the OB probably wouldn't have caught it either way. Both parents agree to get tested to see if they're potential matches as Alex gets paged away. Arizona tells the Kiefers that their babies are in very good hands.

Alex gets into an elevator where Jo is. He asks her what's the matter. She says nothing, but then asks if he wants to have kids. He struggles to answer. She asks if it's something that he wants at some point. He asks her what's going on. She says nothing and gets off the elevator.

Meredith finds Callie and has her look at the new contract. Callie makes the same face and when Meredith pushes, she says they lowballed her because she should be getting a lot more money than they're offering.

Jackson is complaining to Ben about his marital troubles. Ben tries to beg off, telling Jackson about the newborn twins, but he ends up going back and offering Jackson a couch to crash on. Jackson says thanks, but she's going to be out tonight. If he leaves, she wins and he doesn't want her to win.

Both babies are getting worse quickly. They hope the parents will be a match. Alex tells Arizona about the conversation he had with Jo. Arizona says he'll be a good dad. He didn't think they were there yet. He's not sure if he is and didn't think she was. Arizona wonders if she's asking because she's already pregnant. Ben comes up and says the results are back.

The doctors tell Laurie and Mason that he's a match, but she's not, so they only have the ability to save one baby. The parents fight over if there was something they could have done. They don't know how to choose which baby to save. Alex says he'll evaluate them and he'll be making the decision.

Maggie, Amelia, Callie, and Meredith are hanging out at Meredith's house. They discuss Meredith's contract and why Bailey would have made such a low offer. They think it's because she's an in-house offer, so they thought she wouldn't reject it. They tell Meredith she earned the job and she needs to re-negotiate. She says it's too late, but they say it's not. Meredith says what's the worse they could say. If it's not, she'll just go back to her old job. They say no, she'll have to leave the hospital, possibly the state. Meredith asks Maggie what she thinks, but Maggie says she makes bad decisions, so Meredith shouldn't trust her. She talks about dating Ethan. She could have have him, but she got bored, so she let if fizzle out and then he found someone to get married to. She then says she's done that with her whole life. She's an alien and now she's stuck. She can't go back. Amelia says she likes Maggie because she makes her not the crazy sister. Meredith wonders what they're paying Maggie.

Jackson comes home to find April cooking dinner. He says she was supposed to be packing, but she says she's not leaving. He says she has to. It's his home. It's his name on the lease. She moved in and then moved out. She says she just went away and then came back. She apologizes. He says he wanted to eat his burrito and go to bed. He says she's sounding crazy. She says marriage gets hard, but you don't just stop. He says sometimes you do. It's called divorce. He tells her that when she goes to work tomorrow, he's having the locks changed. She says she'll come home with a crowbar.

Ben asks Bailey how Karev's supposed to make the decision. She starts to go through the steps as we see Alex doing them. He'll try to avoid making the decision by finding a second liver. Then he'll examine both babies to look for anything else that might be wrong. He'll run labs and go over it. He'll get someone to check his work. Then he'll go to the tumors themselves. He'll look at indications that one is worse. You don't give up until you find the answer. Ben gets out of bed and gets dressed to go back to the hospital.

Ben comes in to where they're looking at scans and offers to help. Arizona hands him paperwork to read through. Alex says everything's the same. The girl's tumor is bigger, but the boy's tumor is invading the left hepatic vein. Arizona tells Alex he needs food, a shower, and sleep. She tells him to walk away for a while and then come back. He leaves after telling Andrew to check with UNOS again.

Alex comes home and tells Jo he just needs a few hours of sleep before he goes back. She asks if they can talk. He says they can. She shows him a piece of paper she found while unpacking. It's about the embryos he and Izzie stored when she had cancer. They start to fight over him wanting to have babies with Izzie, but not her. She's worried he doesn't want to stay with her. Alex puts his jacket back on and leaves, saying he's not going to talk about this. He has two babies at the hospital to take care of and that's enough to worry about.

Back at the hospital, Alex is still looking at scans. Meredith comes in and asks him how he negotiated his contract. He doesn't want to talk about it. He asks Meredith which of her kids she'd choose to die if one of them had to. She says Bailey because he kept her up all night, but if he asks tomorrow, it might be Zola. He tells her about his case. She says he has to run all the tests. He says it's tied. They're just kids now and he has to choose. He says if he were one of the kids, he wouldn't have bet on himself. He says one could be a serial killer and one could cure Alzheimer's. Meredith says that's not his problem. It's like raising your own kids. They're going to be who they are. You just have to do your best. Arizona comes in and says the babies' lungs are filling with fluid, so he has to make the decision now. He decides he won't make the decision. He wants to put in on Bailey. Arizona stops him and says she's been in awe of him. She reminds him of when they went to pick up organs from a kid who died, the first time they really talked. She says she knew even then that he could do it. She says she was proud of him for the way he was handling the case. He can't hand the case over because it's his. If he does, he'll always wonder what kind of doctor he could have been.

Alex tells the parents he has to open both babies to look at the tumors up close to make the decision.It's the only way to make the right decision. He says they need to move now. Laurie says the babies don't even have names. They have to name them before the surgery. They name their daughter Emma and their son Daniel before they're taken for surgery.

Alex scrubs in and asks Andrew why he hates kids. He says it's not the kids. It's the parents. He was an EMT right after high school. He loved it and that's why he went to medical school. His second call was a car accident. He arrived to find a woman with a neck laceration. He tried to help her, but she was wailing and holding her toddler, who was DOA. She wouldn't let him go. He said he thought she'd cry like that for the rest of her. He made the decision then not to go into peds. He doesn't want that responsibility. It might make him a bad doctor, but that's what he chose.

Alex opens Daniel's abdomen as Arizona opens Emma's. Bailey prepares to retrieve Mason's liver for transplant. After both twins are open, Alex looks at each of them and he and Arizona decide that Emma gets the liver. He asks Arizona to do the transplant as he wants to try to resect Daniel's tumor. It's unlikely to work, but if he doesn't try, Daniel will be dead by night.

Bailey and Richard watch as Alex tries to resect Daniel's tumor. Richard says he's upset that Bailey offered Meredith such a low salary. He's disappointed in her. She says he's coddled Meredith since Derek died. Bailey says she knows what it's like to be a woman in the hospital. She's taught Meredith everything she needs to know. Meredith needs to stand up and asks for what she's earned. She needs to rise on her own so she knows she can do it on her own. Bailey says this is what a feminist looks like. Arizona and Ben come in and Arizona says Emma's doing well in the NICU. She asks about how Alex is doing.

Down in the OR, Alex has almost finished the resection when Daniel's hepatic vein starts to leak.

Ben asks the others if Alex made the wrong call. They say it's bold, but not a bad call. Because of this, they know that Alex chose the right twin.

Alex stops the bleeding, but Daniel arrests. They get him back, but Alex says it's just agonal beats. He goes to close. There's nothing else he can do. Alex disconnects all the tubes and strips off his gown and gloves. Then he picks up Daniel and holds him while he dies.

Arizona tells Laurie the happy news about Emma and then Alex comes in and breaks the bad news about Daniel. She starts to cry.

Meredith sees Bailey in the conference room. She prepares herself and then goes in. She tells Bailey they need to talk about her contract. She explains that she deserves more money. Bailey asks if she has a number in mind. Meredith writes one down and Bailey says she can make it happen and dismisses her after saying well done.

Alex enters the peds ward. Sadie comes out of her room and says she pooped. He says they can get her out of the hospital.

April comes home and is relieved her key still works. She hangs up her keys and calls out to Jackson. She thanks him for not changing the locks. She says maybe she's being a little crazy, but she wants to save the thing that matters most to her. She then notices that he's taken his things and left.

Bailey makes up the couch for Jackson. She asks if he needs anything else. He doesn't. As they go to bed, Ben says Jackson shouldn't have to sleep in a hotel.

Andrew is at the bar. He has had two shots and orders two more. Maggie comes in and sits next to him. He hides the empty shot glasses and says he's off-shift, just grabbing a drink before he goes home. Maggie says she has no home. Her planet exploded. She takes one of his shots and downs it before ordering more. He says he doesn't hate kids. He just hates it when they die. They have that in common. They each take another shot. He asks her why people should trust them to make the most important decisions. They're just people, but they make important decisions. She interrupts him to say he has pretty eyes and then starts kissing him.

Alex comes home to find Jo in bed. He says that it is her business. He says she gets squirrely when she thinks someone might not be there and she's allowed. He says he'll be there and if she wants to have a kid, he can be ready. He takes off his pants and says they should do it right away. She asks if he's out of his mind. She's in the middle of residency. He's never home. They haven't traveled yet. He hops onto the bed and they start kissing.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * 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 (credit only)
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd
 * Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson
 * Jerrika Hinton as Dr. Stephanie Edwards
 * Kelly McCreary as Dr. Maggie Pierce
 * Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren

Guest Stars

 * Giacomo Gianniotti as Dr. Andrew DeLuca
 * Jennifer Marsala as Laurie Kiefer
 * Tyler Poelle as Mason Kiefer

Co-Starring

 * Brooklyn-Bella as Sadie

Sadie

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Alex Karev (pediatric surgeon)


 * Treatment:

Sadie was in the hospital, waiting to be discharged. She was told she had to have a bowel movement before she could leave. By the end of the day, she had had one and was able to be discharged.

Laurie Kiefer

 * Diagnosis:
 * Pregnancy


 * Doctors:
 * Arizona Robbins (fetal surgeon)
 * Ben Warren (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Vaginal delivery

Laurie was pregnant with twins and in labor. Her OB was on vacation, so Arizona Robbins delivered the babies. Laurie was later tested as a potential match for a liver donation, but she didn't match either of her babies.

Emma Kiefer

 * Diagnosis:
 * Hepatoblastoma
 * Jaundice
 * Heart failure
 * Renal failure


 * Doctors:
 * Alex Karev (pediatric surgeon)
 * Arizona Robbins (pediatric surgeon)
 * Ben Warren (surgical resident)
 * Andrew DeLuca (surgical intern)


 * Treatment:
 * Liver transplant

Emma was born severely jaundice. Shortly after her birth, a CT revealed a large tumor on her liver. The tumor was invading her kidneys and causing early heart failure. Shortly after her birth, her kidneys also started to fail. Because of the severity of the tumor, the doctors recommended a liver transplant. They began looking immediately, starting with testing the parents as potential matches. The testing revealed that only the father was a match, but since there were two babies, they began to test to figure out which of the twins had a better chance for survival. Every test came back as a tie, so Alex decided that he needed to open each of them up and take a good look at the tumor. Once he had done that, he decided that Emma would get the liver from her father and he decided to try resecting the tumor from Daniel's liver, even though he knew it was a long shot. Emma received the liver transplant and improved after her surgery.

Daniel Kiefer

 * Diagnosis:
 * Hepatoblastoma
 * Jaundice
 * Heart failure
 * Pulmonary failure


 * Doctors:
 * Alex Karev (pediatric surgeon)
 * Arizona Robbins (pediatric surgeon)
 * Ben Warren (surgical resident)
 * Andrew DeLuca (surgical intern)


 * Treatment:
 * Tumor resection

Daniel was born severely jaundice. Shortly after his birth, a CT revealed a large tumor on his liver. The tumor was invading his kidneys and causing early heart failure. Shortly after his birth, his lung started to fail as well. Because of the severity of the tumor, the doctors recommended a liver transplant. They began looking immediately, starting with testing the parents as potential matches. The testing revealed that only the father was a match, but since there were two babies, they began to test to figure out which of the twins had a better chance for survival. Every test came back as a tie, so Alex decided that he needed to open each of them up and take a good look at the tumor. Once he had done that, he decided that Emma would get the liver from her father and he decided to try resecting the tumor from Daniel's liver, even though he knew it was a long shot. He attempted to resect the tumor, but the hepatic vein started leaking. Alex fixed the damage, but Daniel started coding and Alex closed, then disconnected the machines and held him while he died.

Mason Kiefer

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Miranda Bailey (general surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Liver retrieval

Mason went into surgery to donate a portion of his liver to his daughter, Emma.

Andrew's Patient

 * Diagnosis:
 * Neck laceration


 * Doctors:


 * Treatment:

Andrew told the story of when he was an EMT and he responded to an MVC with a woman with a neck laceration and her child who was DOA.

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by Sara Bareilles.
 * This episode scored million viewers.
 * The table read for this episode took place on August 6, 2015.
 * Behind the scenes pictures of this episode show Kevin McKidd carrying an American flag. This was a surprise by the crew to celebrate Kevin becoming an official US citizen and they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
 * Joe Dinicol as Mitchell and Kevin McKidd as Owen Hunt appear in promotional images for this episode, but not in the final aired version.