Not Responsible

"Everyone figures doctors are the most responsible people they know. They hold lives in their hands. They're not flakes. They don't lose track of important details or make stunningly bad judgment calls. 'Cause that would be bad, right? We are responsible with our patients. The problem is we blow it all out at work. In our own lives, we can't think things through. We don't make the sound choice. We did that all day at the hospital. When it comes to ourselves, we've got nothing left. And is it worth it—being responsible? 'Cause if take your vitamins and pay your taxes and never cut the line, the universe still gives you people to love and then lets them slip through your fingers like water. And then what have you got? Vitamins... and nothing."

- Meredith Grey

 is the sixteenth episode of the seventh season and the 142nd overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Meredith must choose between her fertility treatments and her eyesight when she begins having trouble seeing, Mark makes it clear to Callie and Arizona that he takes his role as father-to-be very seriously, and April discovers there's more to Dr. Stark than first appears.

Full Summary
Derek and Meredith are going over plans for their house and she's squinting more than usual. She tells Alex her eyes are drying out because of her fertility drugs. Alex suggests she talk to "that hot OB."

Speaking of the hot OB, she's giving Callie an ultrasound when she suggests an amnio, and Sloan is against it despite Arizona wanting it.

Meredith is dealing with a trial patient, asking a lot of questions. Her young son, who's playing a handheld video game, chimes in on occasion with answers to Meredith's questions that his mom can't remember.

Teddy is preparing a lung transplant patient for surgery. His girlfriend has shown up rather suddenly.

The chief is upset with Hunt for calling him away from filling out a 357-page application for a research grant. Hunt has a "VIP patient." It's Adele, who's bruised again and bleeding.

Meredith notices a small bump on the neck of her Alzheimer's patient's son. She says she'll have a doctor check it out.

Adele says she fell over a display at the grocery store. She can't remember how it happened. The chief is worried that this is the second time she's fallen recently and won't let her leave the hospital.

The lung patient's girlfriend is coughing uncontrollably and when some drugs fall out of her purse, Lexie and Avery realize that she has cystic fibrosis -- which means she and her boyfriend pose a significant risk to each other's health. Such patients aren't contagious to the general population, but face serious infection when they are together. The girlfriend says no one else understands. and Ricky, her boyfriend, agrees. He says they spent eight years making small talk across a doctor's waiting room, and they eventually decided to be together despite the risk.

Meredith takes the boy's neck bump case to April, who says she now owes her one. Meredith's having trouble seeing her watch.

The chief hands Adele off to Bailey and asks her to run every test she can on her.

Meredith calls Alex to an eye exam room to check her eyes. Her eyes look OK, but she can't read the eye chart without squinting.

Sloan is insistent about the risks of amnios. He plays the "she's carrying my kid" card when Arizona argues with him. Lexie sees all this, and Avery watches it all.

Alex goes to talk to Fields about Meredith, but she thinks he's making up reasons to talk to her. He asks her out, then she says she's busy.

April says the boy's bump is possibly dangerous. Stark comes and sees it and gets worried, saying something should have been done about it a long time ago. Meredith explains the boy's mother has Alzheimer's and that was why the bump was overlooked. Stark tells them to call protective services because the parents have been negligent with the child.

Meredith asks Arizona to call Starks off on the protective services suggestion. She doesn't want Kyle's mother to spend this difficult time fighting for custody of her child. Stark tells Arizona and April that protective services won't take the kid from his family if there's no real problem. He tells Arizona to "be a good example" for her residents and make the call.

Adele tells Bailey that all the tests are a waste of time. She goes on to say she tripped at the pharmacy and Bailey reminds her she first said she was at the grocery store. Bailey pulls out a breathalyzer test and Adele gets upset.

Sloan and Arizona continue arguing over the amnio, and Callie reminds them she has the tiebreaking vote. Sloan gets upset and screams at Callie that she doesn't get a bigger vote because he's a parent.

Teddy yells at the cystic fibrosis couple about how lucky they've been to avoid infection. She tells them that the lungs Ricky is about to receive are "a gift" and she doesn't want them squandered. Ricky says their love is a gift, too. Teddy tells them to end their relationship or he won't get the lungs.

Meredith explains to the Alzheimer's patient and her husband about Kyle's cyst. She also says protective services is coming and the husband becomes upset. The woman, too, gets very upset and threatens to leave. While the parents shout, Kyle sings "I Walk the Line" quietly in the corner. The husband says his wife loves Johnny Cash and Kyle sings it to calm her down when she's upset.

Teddy goes back to Ricky, the lung patient, and asks if the relationship is over. He says it is as his girlfriend stands next to him. She insists that she say goodbye "this minute" so Ricky can be prepped for surgery. They kiss and she leaves the room.

Meredith and Bailey compare notes on Adele, and Meredith tells Bailey that the chief thought she sees Alzheimer's everywhere.

Cristina tells Hunt she's happy she won't have to deal with the challenges of trying to have a baby that Meredith is facing.

Callie tells Sloan she's decided to have the amnio. He says, "Thank you," and explains that he just wanted everyone to think about it and if he got outvoted, that was fine. He just didn't want anyone's body parts to get more of a vote than he does.

Meredith and Derek prepare to give Allison her treatment and they're relieved to see she's slated to receive the active agent rather than a placebo. Derek hands Meredith the needle, but she hesitates and tells him she can't see where it's supposed to go.

Teddy is convinced Ricky and his girlfriend are lying and the lungs are going to waste. Lexie defends them and suggests maybe they are soulmates. When Teddy leaves the room, Avery teases Lexie about thinking of Sloan when she said that.

Cristina goes back to Hunt and asks what he meant by "yeah, yeah, yeah." He says she might "come around" in a couple of years, so they can revisit the kid conversation later. He says that being totally career-focused is something all residents do. He then gets upset and tells her he'd hope she would give some consideration to his plan in life. She says she's not planning on "coming around," and walks away.

During the lung transplant, Lexie remarks on how beautiful the new lungs are. Teddy says, "If he wastes them, I swear to God I'll kill him."

Fields tells Meredith to stop the fertility drugs right away for fear of her permanently damaging her eyesight.

Lexie goes outside to find Ricky's girlfriend. She promises she won't tell Teddy she was waiting. Lexie tells her she's killing Ricky by staying with him and says "there's nothing romantic suicide." She tells her it always seems like there is just one person in the world to love, and then you have to find someone else. The girlfriend starts to cry as she says Ricky has to try to find someone because she doesn't want him to be alone.

April goes directly to Stark and explains that Kyle's mom is getting Alzheimer's treatments and that Kyle is not only cared for, he's cherished. He agrees to put a pin in the call to protective services, and April is elated.

Lexie goes into Ricky's room to tell him his girlfriend is gone. Avery said she should go in because if he had to hear something like that, he would want to hear it from her.

Bailey tells the chief that Adele's tests were clear, but something's definitely wrong. The chief doesn't really want to hear it, but Bailey suggests that the chief ask Derek to take a look just in case it's something neurological.

Avery is waiting for Lexie outside the hospital at the end of the night to make sure she's alright. He tells her to cut the soulmate talk and tells her there'd be a line out the door of potential soulmates for her. She asks him if he'd be in the line, and he says yes.

Cristina and Hunt are arguing about the kid thing. She suggests he might have married the wrong person if he insists on having children. He tells her not to threaten walking out because he has a position that is different from hers. He tells her she has an obligation to at least pretend she cares about what he wants.

Stark asks April out on a date. She asks if he dropped the child services thing because he wanted to date her, but he says he wants to date her because she got him to change his mind -- which no one has done in at least 10 years. She asks if he'll stop giving her surgeries if she says no, and he says that would be sexual harassment, which is not his style. He just asks her to think about it.

Arizona is annoyed about having to bring Sloan into every conversation and decision that's going to be made for the rest of their lives. Callie says she can't just kick him out, and Arizona goes on a mini-rant about how Callie is living a "bi dream" by having Arizona and having Sloan around. But Arizona says, "This isn't my dream."

April races back to the house to find Lexie, who is in the shower, to tell her that Stark asked her out. Then she admits that she said yes. She finally tells April to go downstairs and when April leaves the bathroom, we see that Avery was hiding in the shower with Lexie.

Cristina and Meredith are talking about the Hunt situation when the chief comes in and tells Meredith she can't set foot in an OR until she's fully cleared by the eye doctor.

Derek, Hunt and Sloan are hitting golf balls off the roof and they're all griping about how the women in their lives didn't want to include them on big problems and issues. The chief shows up and pulls Derek aside to tell him about Adele. He struggles to ask Derek to take a look. Derek say, "Of course."

After Derek walks away, the chief gets very pensive and a bit emotional.

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

 * Loretta Devine as Adele Webber
 * Rachael Taylor as Dr. Lucy Fields
 * Peter MacNicol as Dr. Robert Stark
 * Nancy Travis as Allison Baker
 * Michael Beach as Mr. Baker
 * Laura Breckenridge as Julia
 * Patrick Mapel as Ricky

Co-Starring

 * Sage Ryan as Kyle Baker

Notes and Trivia
thumb|300px|right
 * This episode's title originated from the song Not Responsible, originally sung by Deep Purple.
 * This episode scored 9.13 million viewers.

Quotes

 * Callie: The fate of my vagina is in her hands.


 * Lexie: It always feels like there is just one person in this world to love. And then you find somebody else, and it just seems crazy you ever worried in the first place.