Time Stops

"Time stops when you’re in the O.R. You step up to the table, you evaluate the patient, you pick up a scalpel, and then you go into a bubble. It’s just you and your surgery and nothing else matters; not time, not pain, not exhaustion, nothing. It happens in real life too. When something big happens, something tragic, you freeze, you retreat into your happy bubble for what seems like a second, until you look up. And suddenly, you realize it's a whole new world. How do you step back into the world? It’s scary. Time stood still and now it’s speeding by. You’re looking for a lifeboat, something to give you hope. But are you really ready to leave your happy little bubble and step back out into the big, blinding, bloody, terrible world? Are you ready to achieve the impossible?"

- Meredith Grey

 is the twenty-third episode of the eleventh season and the 244th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
The doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital are forced to put their emotions aside when a catastrophic event occurs.

Full Summary
Meredith's voiceover talks about time stopping when you're in the OR as Meredith stares at the post-it on the wall.

Meredith watches Amelia play with the kids.

Meredith writes her own name on the surgical board.

Amelia comes up and asks if she missed it. Meredith says no. Meredith gets a text. She says it was fast. Amelia asks what was. Meredith says she put out feelers with a real estate agent for the house and she already got an offer. Amelia is surprised that she's thinking about selling the house. Meredith's not sure if she's selling it or not. Maggie and Callie then join and ask if they're there yet. Alex joins them and says he wants to see someone actually crap. Callie says she's seen it and smelled it and it's not as fun as you'd think. Arizona comes up and says the baby chicks and ducks are there.

Meredith remembers Derek dying.

The new interns come in and there are flashbacks to Meredith's class. Richard gives the new interns his speech. One of the interns interrupts to ask why it'll be the best and worst years of their lives. The doctors watch from the gallery and mouth along with his speech. They talk about how young and stupid the interns look.

The new interns walk around the locker room. Stephanie says they look pretty good for chicks and ducks. She asks Richard if he hooked her up with some good ones. Richard introduces her. She congratulates him and tells them that he's getting married that day. Then he asks which interns are there for her. When they raise their hands, he informs her that he did not hook her up.

Stephanie tells her new interns her three rules. 1. Listen to the nurses, respect them, and do whatever they say. 2. Their lives are now about her, not about them. 3. No complaining. You complain and you're out. She has one of the interns repeat her rule back to her.

Arizona asks Owen how much longer Richard will be interim chief, because she wants to expand her department and he has a different approach to the budget. Owen says he's not coming back to the chief position. The board will appoint a new chief. When she and Amelia ask why, he says he's been chief long enough and it's time for something else.

Catherine is getting her hair done as Jackson watches a game. He says he's supporting her as her maid of honor and keeping her company. He tells her that Meredith also said the maid of honor drives the getaway vehicle if she makes a run for it, so he's there for that, too. Catherine's surprised that April's not with him and asks if everything's okay. He says it's fine. She says that April has changed because of her time away and it would be understandable if that caused problems. Jackson gets a page. Catherine hopes it's Richard and he's finally there. There's a breaking news report.

Callie and Alex get gowned up and ready. They don't know what has happened, but they know it's huge. Jo is fascinated by April's time in the desert. April says you get desensitized pretty fast. Owen tells Jo there's a group leaving in two weeks if she's interest. Alex says she's not living in a tent. She says she grew up in a car and they should both go. He says he won't go. An ambulance pulls up. The woman inside is pronounced dead on arrival after 28 minutes of chest compressions. The patient in the other ambulance is also DOA. The paramedic says the other four ambulances behind them also have DOAs. Alex wonders what the hell happened out there since all the patients are dead.

Owen tells the doctors that a tunnel on 99 collapsed during rush hour, trapping nearly 20 vehicles. There were at least 13 fatalities so far. Just then, Ben comes in on a gurney, doing chest compressions on Scott Henry, 17, who had been extracted from a car and had penetrating trauma to his abdomen. They rush him to a trauma room. Amelia tells people to back up and give the doctors room to work. Maggie says since they have one alive, there could be more. April tells her not to get her hopes up. Jo, who is on the phone, then says there are at least three rigs on their way in and they'll bring in as many people as GSM can handle. Owen orders people to get surgical trays by every bed and bring up reserve o-neg.

Richard sees Catherine walking up and starts to apologize. She says she's not there to haul him out. She's there to help and she needs scrubs. He tells Bailey that's one of the reasons why they're made for each other. Catherine says surgery is sexy and tonight, on their wedding night, she'll show him just how hot surgery can make her. Bailey interrupts that people are dying. Catherine tells her she's uptight for a best man and leaves. Bailey tells Richard she's never been a best man before. Richard tells her that they're appointing a new chief and he's recommending her. He asks her why she's not more excited and she says they've done this dance before, with the board seat. He told her it was hers and then she had to fight with Alex Karev. He then reminds her who is on the board now. He leaves. She smiles and follows him.

Stephanie rushes out to the ambulance bay with her interns. Nicole tells them about Joan Paulson, who is 40 weeks pregnant. Andrew DeLuca is in the back of the rig with Joan and takes over, telling Stephanie that Joan is in active labor and has neck pain and a broken arm, which he has tied his tie around. Stephanie questions who he is and he says he's Andrew. He was on his way to work when he saw the site and stopped to help. Joan says they need to go back. Stephanie tells Andrew they've got it from here, but he says he's a doctor, actually a surgeon. He says her contractions are five minutes apart and her husband is still trapped in the car. They rush her inside.

Joan is still begging them to go back and get Keith out. Richard hangs up the phone and says search and rescue has a victim they can't extract, so they need to send a team. Amelia, April, Maggie, and Meredith are on the field rotation, but Meredith hasn't been cleared. Owen says he'll go in her place, but Richard says there's too much going on at the hospital. Richard calls for Meredith and tells her she's cleared and sends her. Bailey says she can't favor Meredith like that, but he says he can.

Jo is walking into the ER when she runs into Anna and Phillip. They're looking for Scott. They're friends who drove to Seattle together from Missoula, Montana to tour the University of Washington. Their parents let them drive alone because they're nerds and they never get into trouble. Jackson calls Jo away to work on Scott and Anna asks if Scott's going to die.

Jo enters the trauma room just as Scott goes into V-fib. She turns around to see Anna and Phillip and closes the curtain so she can go help..

They have a fetal monitor on Joan and Arizona is on her way. Andrew suggests they also page ortho to look at her arm and neck. Joan asks if her baby's okay. Andrew assures her that the heart rate's right on target. One of the interns asks if it's true that the fetus can be compromised if the patient is in the supine position, which causes Joan to panic. Stephanie dismisses all the interns to radiology. Joan says she went into labor in the morning. The doctor said they could wait, but she made Keith take her right away. He wanted to take the bridge, but she insisted on the tunnel because it's faster. She says she's constantly telling him what to do. Andrew asks how long they've been married. She says they're not. They met nine months and three days ago. It's crazy what you learn about a person when you get knocked up on the first date. She then says they're getting married next week. Then she asks them to tell her they're getting married next week.

April, Maggie, Amelia, and Meredith arrive at the scene. Hal finds them and asks if they're the surgeons from GSM. He takes them to Keith. They're shocked that he's alive because the car is completely crushed. Meredith tells Keith they're going to get him out and they start to evaluate him.

The doctors continue to work on Keith, but the tight quarters makes it hard to be sure about things. He asks them about Joan and Meredith tells him she's alive. He's bleeding from his abdomen, so Meredith checks it and sees that he's impaled on a piece of the car. He says it's pretty bad, but Meredith says she's seen worse.

Owen gives a nurse orders on his patients and then Andrew DeLuca introduces himself. He asks if there's any paperwork he needs to do for Joan, but Owen says he can do it later if he doesn't mind jumping in and helping out more.

Joan has another contraction as Arizona examines her. Callie compliments Stephanie on reducing the wrist, but Stephanie says it was actually Andrew. He says the paramedics ran out of splints, so he used his tie. Callie shows him that she had to cut it off. He says it was his favorite one, but it's not a problem. Joan is three centimeters dilated and has a fracture at C5/C6. Callie tells her that it's a broken bone in her neck, but since it's stable, they'll fix it after she delivers. Callie tells Stephanie to keep her in the collar until her labs come back and then take her upstairs so they can repair the fracture and deliver the baby. Arizona asks to be paged when the contractions are more frequent and leaves after thanking Andrew.

Scott is losing blood quickly, so Jackson says they should rush him upstairs. Owen has a different idea. He wants to remove Scott's blood and replace it with cold saline, cooling him down to give them more time to repair his injuries. Jackson thinks it's too risky, but Owen pushes for it and opens Scott's chest.

Richard finds Catherine and asks how it's going. He says they're coming in faster than the doctors can treat them. He then asks if they should just postpone the wedding, but she tells him she already did. Their guests are being notified as they speak. She minds, but they both know where they need to be. Ben then comes to get Richard because they need him.

In the trauma room, Jackson and Owen are still fighting over Scott. Owen explains how they'll do it. Anna comes in and is shocked, but they send her away. Alex is in support of trying it. Jackson says it's dangerous to do it without Pierce. Catherine sides with Jackson and tells him no. After she leaves, Owen says they only need two physicians to give consent. Alex and Richard both say to do it and Owen starts the process. Richard then tells Jackson that too many people have died and he doesn't want to add Scott to that list.

The doctors continue to evaluate Keith. He's still bleeding seriously. He needs surgery soon. Maggie needs to put in a chest tube, so she gets Meredith to help her with that. Keith wonders if he'll get out of this. Meredith says he has to because he's having a baby. He asks her if she has kids and she tells him she has three. He says just one is freaking him out. But they did it backwards. They did the huge thing first. They're still getting to know each other, the little things. He really loves all her little things. She's his home. He thinks he should tell her that.

Bailey runs into an intern who is eating. He says it's a brie tart. She notes that he's eating brie while carrying lab samples, which is nasty. As he walks away, she asks where it came from.

Bailey enters the lounge, where the food from the wedding is set up. Arizona says she heard that Catherine had it sent over and she has two minutes. She wonders how many sliders she can eat in two minutes. She then asks Bailey if she thinks Catherine will help pick the chief. She doesn't know why Owen won't just do it. It's such a hassle picking a new chief. She asks if Bailey would want to be chief but leaves before Bailey can give a real answer. After she's gone, Bailey says she would like to be chief.

Jo asks Anna and Phillip if they found Scott's parents. They haven't yet, but they're trying because they should know that the doctors are killing their son. Jo asks what they're talking about and they tell her that the cold saline approach is very risky and has never worked in a human. She asks how they know that and they produce their smart phones. Jo takes one and starts reading.

Jo enters the OR and confronts Owen about it never being done in a human before. They've only just started trials. It's too late to stop, though. Scott's already cold. Alex tells them to get on board or get out. Jackson decides to stay to watch them. They set a clock for 90 minutes and start working.

Catherine finds Richard in the scrub room and tells him she said no. He knows what she said. If it goes wrong, it'll reflect poorly on the surgical program. She says he needs to follow orders. He reminds her that he's the chief. He goes to leave, but then says the boy had no chance and they've given him one.

The doctors stand off to the side and discuss options for Keith. They talk for a few minutes before April says he's a black tag. Hal says they're going to cut him about. April offers to stay and do what she can for him and sends the other three back to the hospital to work on patients they can actually save. April goes back to Keith and tells him they're going to cut him out.

The interns get ready to take Joan to surgery. They're talking about Keith and reveal to her that they left him out there to die because they couldn't get him out. Joan starts to panic and says she can't breathe. Mitchell, thinking it's because of the collar, starts to loosen it a small amount. Stephanie comes in just too late to stop him and then Joan's neck cracks. Stephanie steps in to stabilize her spine just as Joan says there are shocks going through her body. Stephanie asks Andrew to help, but he says he doesn't know how. He's actually an intern. He was late for his first day.

Maggie, Meredith, and Amelia ride back to the hospital. Maggie tries to suggest another option, but Meredith says it wouldn't have worked. He was a lost cause. Amelia scoffs and Meredith wonders why.

Stephanie keeps working on Joan, who can't wiggle her toes. She can't feel anything. Stephanie's trying very hard to prevent paralysis. Callie runs in and asks what happened. Stephanie explains that she dislocated her fracture and Stephanie's trying to stabilize her neck. Arizona says the baby's having decels. Callie wonders how it happened and Mitchell says he thought she couldn't breath because of the collar, so he loosened it. Stephanie sends them all away. Arizona says she needs to deliver the baby right away.

The doctors are still working on Scott. They have just under 17 minutes left. Jo tells Alex they should go to the Army thing because they'd get to do surgeries like this all the time. Alex isn't interested. Scott has another injury, but they don't have time to repair it. Owen says he can live without it, so he tells Alex to ligate it so they can get out.

Meredith, Amelia, and Maggie exit the ambulance. Meredith says they were needed back at the hospital. Amelia says there might have been something they could do. Meredith wants to know why she's second-guessing it. Meredith says there was nothing they could do. Amelia wonders when that point comes, when she can see a sad situation and turn her back on it. When she can look at someone and say he doesn't have any chance. An intern comes up and tells Maggie that they need her need her in trauma two, thinking she's Dr. Shepherd, but Amelia corrects that it's actually her. Maggie tries to talk to Meredith, but Meredith sends her upstairs.

Scott is warmed up, but his heart's still not beating. Owen is convinced he'll come back. Pierce comes in and asks what they did. They explain and then continue to watch the monitors. Scott's heart then starts to beat, so they start to take him off bypass.

Richard tells Catherine they have a heartbeat. Scott's surviving. Richard thinks he made the right call, but Catherine says she'll wait until they see what kind of brain function he has when he wakes up. Catherine says the next chief won't be so cavalier. He says it's not just her decision; it's a board decision. She says they'll see about that.

Meredith is getting supplies when Amelia comes in and closes the door. Meredith apologizes about Keith and for not telling Amelia about the house. Amelia says they don't talk about a lot of things. Meredith says she's mad about Meredith going away and Meredith's sorry for that, but she couldn't breathe. Amelia says Meredith didn't call her, but Meredith says she didn't call anyone. Amelia says she's a neurosurgeon. She could have saved him. Amelia wonders how long Meredith was sitting there waiting and how long it was before Amelia was even informed. Meredith says there wasn't anything Amelia could have done. Amelia says she pulls off miracles for a living. Meredith says it was too late. Amelia asks how she could do that without giving Amelia a chance to say goodbye. She didn't get to tell Derek goodbye because of Meredith. After Amelia leaves, Meredith starts crying and slams her supplies to the floor. She then gathers her things, but drops them again to wipe her tears.

Richard looks at the empty food trays. Bailey comes in and says she's sorry about the wedding. He says it was right to cancel. She says he means postpone, right? He says the odds aren't in his favor. He's tried this before and failed. It always comes down to choosing between the woman and work and when pressed, he always chooses work. You'd think he'd learn sometime. Bailey says it sounds like he has learned. He just needs to be okay with it. Richard says it'll keep being a problem with him and Catherine and he's not sure he wants to go down that road if it'll go nowhere.

Callie, Arizona, and Stephanie inch Joan into an elevator. Joan gasps and says she can feel something in her fingers and toes. She has regained feeling. Then a contraction hits and they hold her down so she won't move.

Owen leaves Scott's room, where his parents and his friends stand by his bed. He tells Jackson he was right. It was a big risk. Jackson says he got lucky. Owen understands that. He asks Jackson if April's back yet. Jackson admits that the doesn't know. April's been different since she came back. He's glad she found something that makes her so happy, but they're not on the same page anymore. Owen says it happens more than you think. You go away, come back, and the world has shifted. He asks if Jackson heard that he's resigning as chief. He then tells Jackson to give her time. That's all he can do.

Jo asks why Alex's face is so glum when Scott's alive. He says he doesn't want to have this fight. He doesn't want to do the Army thing. Jo wants to do it. He says he's worked hard to get to where he is. He's finally found where he's good. It's here at this hospital doing this work with these people. Meredith's back and he finally feels like things are good again. He doesn't need to go anywhere. He has roots here and he never has before. He can't stop her, but he's not going.

Callie tells Joan she's almost there, but Stephanie notices that Joan's bleeding. Arizona checks her and sees that she's crowning. The baby's coming now. The doors open and Arizona shouts that it's occupied and prepares to deliver the baby.

Meredith needs to ask Alex something. She doesn't want to because she knows he'll say yes. He tells her not to ask. Meredith says she went away and pressed pause on her life. She needed it. But unpausing isn't happening as easily. She goes home and it's not her house. It was their house and now Derek's gone and it just feels like a house. She's back, but she's not home and she wants to be home. She asks Alex if she and the kids can some stay with him for a while. He says they can. She asks if he should check with Jo first. He says he doesn't need to.

Meredith gets paged.

Maggie is on the phone with her mom. She asks when it happened.

Callie continues to coach Joan. Arizona says one more big push will do it. Joan says she can't do it because Keith is gone. The head's out and then her baby is born. Joan says Keith was supposed to be there to cut the cord and hear the first cry. Arizona wraps up Joan's son and puts him on her chest, telling her to hold him. Joan cries and says this isn't how it's supposed to be. This isn't part of the plan.

Maggie gets a page and tells her mom she has to go. Meredith comes by and asks if she got pages to the ER, which she did. Meredith thought they'd seen the last of it and asks Maggie if she's okay. She says she is.

Maggie, Meredith, and Amelia step out into the ambulance bay, shocked to see April there standing on a truck bed with Keith's car. April says she stopped them from extracting him. She says they said he'd have a chance if they were closer to the hospital, so she brought the whole car in to get him a chance.

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
 * 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
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd (credit only)

Guest Stars

 * Debbie Allen as Dr. Catherine Avery
 * Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren
 * Heather Matarazzo as Joan Paulson
 * Dan O'Brien as Keith Gardner
 * Giacomo Gianniotti as Dr. Andrew DeLuca
 * Joe Adler as Dr. Isaac Cross
 * Irene Keng as Dr. Audrey Shaw
 * Joe Dinicol as Dr. Mitchell Spencer

Co-Starring

 * Robert Neary as Hal
 * Jasmine Jessica Anthony as Anna
 * Ray Cham Jr. as Phillip
 * Nicole Cummins as Paramedic Nicole
 * Jed Sura as Rob Henry
 * Michelle Murphy as Ellie Henry
 * John Cappon as Paramedic #1
 * Michael Anthony Rogers as Paramedic #2
 * Aniela Gumbs as Zola

Amelia's Patient

 * Diagnosis:
 * Spinal injury


 * Doctors:
 * Amelia Shepherd (neurosurgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Corpectomy

Amelia had just finished a corpectomy.

Woman

 * Diagnosis:
 * Crush injuries


 * Doctors:
 * April Kepner (trauma surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Attempted resuscitation

A woman in her 60s was pronounced dead on arrival.

Man

 * Diagnosis:
 * Ventricular fibrillation


 * Doctors:
 * Owen Hunt (trauma surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Attempted resuscitation

A man, 39, was pronounced dead on arrival.

Scott Henry

 * Diagnosis:
 * Penetrating abdominal wound
 * Intra-renal IVC injury


 * Doctors:
 * Alex Karev (pediatric surgeon)
 * Richard Webber (general surgeon)
 * Owen Hunt (trauma surgeon)
 * Maggie Pierce (cardiothoracic surgeon)
 * Jackson Avery (plastic surgeon)
 * Ben Warren (surgical resident)
 * Jo Wilson (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Suspended animation
 * Surgery

Scott, 17, had penetrating abdominal trauma. He was bleeding so quickly that they decided to remove his blood and replace it with cold saline, putting him in suspended animation, which would give them enough time to repair his injuries. They went over the allowed 90 minutes and when they warmed him up, it took a while to get his heart beating, but they were ultimately successful.

Joan Paulson

 * Diagnosis:
 * Pregnancy
 * Broken arm
 * Fractured neck
 * Neck dislocation


 * Doctors:
 * Arizona Robbins (fetal surgeon)
 * Callie Torres (orthopedic surgeon)
 * Stephanie Edwards (surgical resident)
 * Andrew DeLuca (surgical intern)
 * Mitchell Spencer (surgical intern)
 * Isaac Cross (surgical intern)
 * Audrey Shaw (surgical intern)


 * Treatment:
 * Closed reduction
 * Neck stabilization
 * Traction
 * Vaginal delivery

Joan, 34, came into the ER after being in a car that was crushed by the tunnel collapse. She was 40 weeks pregnant and had gone into labor that morning. Her right arm was broken and she had neck pain. Andrew wrapped his tie around her arm to stop the bleeding and splint the wrist. She had a broken bone in her neck, but it was stable, so Callie decided to leave it and they could fix it after she delivered. Later, the interns prepare to take her to surgery while discussing Keith. When Joan heard that they hadn't been able to extract Keith, she panicked and said she couldn't breathe. Mitchell loosened her collar, which caused her neck to dislocate. Joan said she couldn't feel anything, even her contractions. Stephanie immediately jumped to action to stabilize her spine with tongs. The baby started having late decels, so Arizona said she needed to deliver immediately. They put her neck in traction and moved her so they could deliver her baby. However, while they were in the elevator, she started to regain feeling in her body, so when she had a contraction, she felt it. They warned her that even though it hurt, they needed her not to move. When she started crowning, they prepared for delivery. Arizona successfully delivered her baby in the elevator.

Keith Gardner

 * Diagnosis:
 * Crush injuries
 * Collapsed lung
 * Penetrating abdominal injury


 * Doctors:
 * Meredith Grey (general surgeon)
 * April Kepner (trauma surgeon)
 * Amelia Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
 * Maggie Pierce (cardiothoracic surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Chest tube

Keith was trapped in a car that had been crushed by the tunnel collapse. Meredith, April, Amelia, and Maggie were sent into the field to tend to him. He had multiple crush injuries, including a collapsed lung. His abdomen was bleeding severely because he had been impaled on a pole. They worked on him, putting in a chest tube and trying to stop the bleeding as much as they could. They stepped away to talk about options, but April said he was a black tag. There was nothing more they could do for him. She sent the others back to the hospital and said she'd do what she could for him. She later surprised them when she showed up at the hospital with Keith, still trapped in the car. She said she couldn't just leave him to die, so she brought the whole car in to buy them enough time to save him.

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by Explosions in the Sky.
 * This episode scored 7.74 million viewers.
 * This episode is the first part of a two-part finale.
 * Curiously, Arizona knows the intern speech performed by Richard by heart as well. She has never been given the speech, as she didn't come to Seattle Grace until her fellowship. It's most likely she has heard the speech the previous years.
 * The same could be said for Ben Warren as he began his surgical internship at UCLA. However, as he has been a resident for several years, he also could have heard the speech from prior years.
 * Filming for this episode was scheduled from April 13 to April 24, 2015.
 * The episode takes place on July 1, 2016, as it's the first day of a new residency year.

Quotes

 * Stephanie: All right. I have three rules. One: listen to the nurses. Respect the nurses. Do whatever the nurses say. You may think you know more than the nurses. You do not. Two: your life is now all about me. Not about you or your boyfriend, your fight with your sister or your nasty little rash down there. So, when we are focused on me, we are learning to be surgical gods. When we are focused on you, we're working at a gas station. Three: no complaining. You complain and you are out. Got it?


 * Jackson: You know, Meredith also said that the maid of honor drives the getaway car if you want to make a run for it. So, you know, you want to make a run for it, I'm standing by. Ready to go. Just give me a holler.


 * Owen: Is Kepner back yet from the tunnel?
 * Jackson: I don't know. I don't know much about her lately. She's... different since she came back from her training with you. And I'm glad that she found something that makes her this happy, I guess. But it's weird. We're just not on the same page anymore. Ever, it seems.
 * Owen: It happens, more than you think. You go away, you come back. The world has shifted. Things that made sense once don't anymore. You heard that I'm resigning as chief? Give her time. That's all you can do.


 * Meredith: We were all there. We all saw that car. And there's a difference between knowing when you can realistically save someone and when it's time to walk away.
 * Amelia: And when is that, Meredith? When is that point? When do you look at a horrible, sad situation and decide that you are ready to turn your back on it? I'm curious. I'm curious how you make those decisions, you specifically. When are you okay making the call that someone no longer has any chance? How... how do you look around and decide that? When do you decide that you should walk away?


 * Meredith: I'm sorry about leaving the patient there. I didn't want to leave him there, either. And I am sorry for not talking to you about the house.
 * Amelia: You don't talk to me about a lot of things.
 * Meredith: And you're mad at me for going away, and I am sorry about that.
 * Amelia: That's not...
 * Meredith: I mean, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't exist. You know, I looked around at that house, and my kids, our kids... I couldn't breathe.
 * Amelia: You didn't call me.
 * Meredith: I didn't call anyone. I needed time.
 * Amelia: I am a neurosurgeon. I could have saved him. And you didn't call me.
 * Meredith: Amelia...
 * Amelia: Who contacted you first? The police? The paramedics? How far away was the hospital? How long were you sitting there waiting for them to declare him brain-dead? How many hours later was it before I was even informed? How many chances did you have when you could have called me? Why didn't you call me?
 * Meredith: There wasn't anything you could've done. He was too far gone.
 * Amelia: You don't know that. You don't know.
 * Meredith: Yes, I do.
 * Amelia: What if I could've helped him? What if I had a chance? I pull off miracles for a living. I have proven that I can reverse the impossible. I should have been there. If I had seen him or treated him...
 * Meredith: It was too late. By the time they... It was too late.
 * Amelia: How could you do it? How could you unplug him without letting me know? I didn't get to see him. I didn't get to tell him goodbye. I thought you would've at least given me the courtesy and the respect when my own brother was dying. I didn't get to tell him goodbye because of you.


 * Alex: I want to see someone crap. Actually crap.
 * Callie: Seen it, smelled it. Not as fun as you'd think.


 * Alex: This thing where this insane surgery works, and then you get back on this army thing, and then I tell you you're not going, and then you get pissed.
 * Jo: You're gonna tell me what I can and can't do? You do that, I'm gonna be more than pissed.
 * Alex: You know what? Screw it. You want to go, then go.
 * Jo: What's your problem? It sounded interesting. And for a minute, I thought it could be something that we'd do together... Why not?
 * Alex: I have worked really freaking hard to get to where I'm at right now. I have finally found my place, and it's at this hospital doing this job with these people.
 * Jo: Alex, I'm...
 * Alex: Last year was crap. And now Mer is... is home, and I finally feel like things are back. I don't need to go anywhere. I don't want to. I've put roots down here. I've never put roots down anywhere. I'm not walking away, not from this. If you want to go, then go. I can't stop you. It's your life. Do what you want. Go join the freaking army.


 * Meredith: Hey. I needed to ask you something, but I didn't want to because I knew you'd say yes.
 * Alex: Then don't ask.
 * Meredith: I went away. I pressed pause on my life. And I really needed that. But since I've been back, I just... I can't unpause. I just can't get things going again. I go home every night to my house and it's... It's not my house. It was mine and Derek's house. And now he's gone, and it really just feels like a house. I came back, but I'm not home. And I really want to be home. Can the kids and I come and stay with you for a while?
 * Alex: Yeah. No big deal.


 * Richard: Each of you today comes here hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago, you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The five years you spend here as surgical residents will be the best and worst of your lives. They will... You have a question?
 * Audrey: Yes. Why?
 * Richard: Uh, you raised your hand.
 * Audrey: No, I'm sorry. I mean why will these be the best and worst years of our lives?
 * Richard: Uh, I was getting to that.
 * Audrey: Sorry.
 * Richard: Um, where was I? Oh, right. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play, that's up to you.


 * Arizona: I heard Catherine Avery had all the food from the wedding sent here, you know, for the staff, and I have two minutes. How many sliders do you think I could eat in two minutes?