Time Has Come Today

"In the OR, time loses all meaning. In the midst of sutures, and saving lives... the clock ceases to matter. 15 minutes... 15 hours — inside the OR, the best surgeons make time fly. Outside the OR, however, time takes pleasure in kicking our asses. For even the strongest of us it seems to play tricks. Slowing down... hovering... until it freezes. Leaving us stuck in a moment — unable to move in one direction or the other. Time flies. Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds. All any of us wants is more time. Time to stand up. Time to grow up. Time to let go. Time."

- Meredith Grey

 is the first episode of the third season and the 37th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Addison and Alex treat an abandoned baby, George and Derek are sealed off from the rest of the hospital (possibly with plague), Izzie mourns for Denny, Meredith tries to choose between Derek and Finn, Callie and Cristina try to help Izzie, Bailey helps a distressed patient and many of the doctors have flashbacks from their past.

Full Summary
‎ Meredith runs out of Seattle Grace, not choosing between Derek or Finn and in her trailer, Addison finds a pair of panties. Izzie lies on the floor of the bathroom while Meredith, George, Cristina and Alex try to talk to her. They try to encourage Meredith to go in because she is so dark and twisty but in the bathroom Izzie remembers the Seattle Grace mixer party.

Izzie greets Alex who is surprised to hear that Izzie is in the surgery program, he tells her she won't last a year.

George tries to help Izzie but does so unsuccessfully. ‎ At Seattle Grace Hospital, Bailey confirms that the body the funeral home man is taking away is Denny Duquette's and says her last goodbye to Denny. Back at Meredith's house, Meredith confesses to Cristina that she had sex with Derek and at Derek's trailer, Addison takes the panties out of the dryer, folds them carefully and puts them in a clear plastic bag. ‎  In the hospital a couple who had an accident checks in and Derek has to handle it. They were apparently very sick with flu when the accident occurred and the wife who was driving the vehicle is seriously injured. The husband's flu starts to get more dangerous and he's admitted.

Alex has to deal with a serious situation when new born is brought to the hospital after being found in a trash can at a high school. Alex cannot get help from the nurse as she's totally busy with all the flu cases flooding the hospital.

While Addison is checking on the newborn we see that she has a connection to him especially when she hears that he's been dumped in a trash can.

Back at the house, Meredith and Cristina are discussing the thing that Meredith did with Derek and Meredith's flashback takes us back to a day in park with little girl Meredith and her mother. While riding on the merry-go-round, she spots her mother talking to a man no other than Richard. She sees them fighting and her mom crying "You have to tell Adele. Richard you can't leave me!" and Richard takes off with Meredith's mom still calling after him.

At the hospital, an angry Adele booked an appointment to talk to a very busy Richard when Miranda comes in to notify him that the IDC is in the hospital and the couple who checked in earlier might have come in contact with the plague.

A bunch of parents arrive at the hospital with their four 14 years old high school daughters. Apparently one of these girls might be the mother of the baby. No one wants to confess to Addison the truth and she's concerned that the baby might die soon because of it.

In the locker room, Derek and George are getting ready to take off when the IDC worker comes in and orders them to stay in the room as they performed a surgery on an infected patient and might have caught the plague also.

Omar, the husband in the car accident, is quarantined in his hospital room. It is suspected that he too may have caught the plague just like his wife. Miranda tries to keep him calm from the other side of the door and he asks her to keep him company.

Callie drops by the gang's house with bags of food and instantly tells Meredith that she's not gonna say a word of what she saw in the hospital. In the bathroom, it's Cristina's turn with Izzie. She tells her that she must change that dress and that what she's doing is unhealthy. Izzie then asks her about "Shiva" and Cristina explains that it's something Jews do in honor of the dead. They stay indoors for 7 days without going to work, and, like Izzie, no clean clothes, and goes on to tell her that what's going on with her doesn't have to be a "Shiva". Izzie then asks her how would she feel if she never got to see Burke again and decided that they're sitting "Shiva" for Denny.

Back at the hospital, the parents are fighting about whether their daughters have to pass a virginity test, and Addison tells them that they can't legally force their daughters to take such a test. When the parents start fighting again, Addison flashes back to the stormy night whene Derek found out about her affair with Mark. Derek apparently kicked her out of the house throwing all of her clothes on the street in the rain and forcing her out the door. When he then lets her in again, he tells her that he's the one who will go, as he cannot look at her anymore. While she wants to fix things he had no interest.

In another flashback, this time of Cristina's, we are back to the intern party where she first met Burke, a doctor that she really admired. We learn that he had a girlfriend with him at the party. Cristina approaches him to say hello but after that he totally ignores her. In the same party, we see Meredith and George chatting, however Meredith is not so interested with his life's story and keeps staring at Richard.

In the locker room again, Derek tries to calm a very nervous George. He is worried that he has been infected with the plague and thinks he's gonna die. When he accidentally tells Derek that there's food in the lockers, Derek invades them and starts his feast with a bite of Alex's apple.

After Addison and Richard realizes that they're almost out of options with the 4 girls, they decide to use blood type tests to see which one of them is related to the baby.

Meredith and Callie are in the kitchen having a discussion about how Meredith is an avoiding person when Finn unexpectedly arrives and Meredith avoids him by saying that she gotta check on Izzie. Callie then explains to him that he should not take it personally because all doctors are socially retarded. She starts telling him about her sad story with George.

Now it's Meredith with Izzie, still on the bathroom floor. Izzie tells her that she feels she's living in slow motion everything around her is going very fast and all she wants is to go back to when things were still normal. Meredith then tells her that she's not alone and they hold each other hands.

Again in the locker room, George and Derek are discussing how Izzie is never coming back when Derek gets his own flashback, one that takes us back to the night where he first met Meredith in a bar just one night before she started working in the hospital. She tried ignoring him at first but then we see things heating up a little between the two.

Addison and Alex are talking about how someone can throw their baby in a trash can and pretend that everything is fine the next day when blood type results finally arrive and two of the four girls are not a match.

Miranda visits Omar's door again, while he's feeling much better, she has some bad new to tell him - his wife has died because the plague complicated her recovery. Omar panics and Miranda tries to calm him down.

George is so into the "we're gonna die" idea that he starts to panic and sweat, he even regrets not telling Callie that he loves her before he dies. Regretting what he did with Meredith when they first met, Derek then tells him that he has to tell her before it's too late and someone else comes and takes her away.

Finn tells Meredith that despite the fact that he doesn't know what happened between her and Derek on prom night, he always agreed that their relationship is not exclusive but it does not mean that he's not pissed. On his way out of her house, he tells her to choose wisely as Derek is bad for her while he is good.

Adele, who has finally gotten her meeting with Richard, tells him that she's done waiting for him and he has to choose between her and his job, she asks him to retire.

Addison takes the two girls with the blood type matching the baby's and gives them a speech about right and wrong reminding them that a baby's life is in their hands, one of them finally ends up confessing that she's the mother.

In the locker room the IDC worker finally comes in telling Derek and George that they're free to go.

When George and Derek arrive at the house, Callie hugs George and express how worried she was, and reminds him that she loves him a lot. Derek, expecting George to say it back, is disappointed when George just gives her a kiss and hugs her back. Derek enters the kitchen to find Meredith there, the smile at each other and then she asks him "What does this mean?". He tells her that he's in love with her and she has to make a choice, he also tells her to take her time in order not to make the mistake that he did in the past.

It's night, and back in the hospital Miranda is sitting alone in the dark (apparently still outside Omar's door), Richard tells Adele that he needs more time to think about the whole retirement things and she tells him that she has no more time and takes off. We finally find out what Addison wanted to do with the panties she found: Hang them in the hospital's messages board under "Lost and Found." Cristina shows up at Burke's hospital room and unexpectedly starts crying and asks him to never die. He replies "I'll do my best".

Izzie is still lying on the bathroom's floor. Her final flashback takes us again to the interns party where everybody is ready to leave and she says to George "Isn't it cool? Tomorrow we'll all be surgeons". She stands up from the floor and tells Meredith that she's ready and Meredith helps her take off the dress.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie Stevens
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * T.R. Knight as Dr. George O'Malley
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Special Guest Star

 * Chris O'Donnell as Dr. Finn Dandridge

Guest Starring

 * Loretta Devine as Adele Webber
 * Jessica Tuck as Shannon's Mom
 * Sarah Utterback as Nurse Olivia Harper
 * Pepper Sweeney as Lisa's Dad
 * Joanie Fox as Sara's Mom
 * Mia Wesley as Karen's Mom
 * Steven W. Bailey as Joe
 * Robin Pearson Rose as Patricia
 * Kate Burton as Ellis Grey

Co-Starring

 * Jeremy Rabb as ER Doctor
 * Haley Ramm as Shannon
 * Kelli King as Sara
 * Wayne Lopez as Paramedic
 * Frank Merino as Funeral Home Guy
 * Damon Standifer as Hazmat Guy
 * Elizabeth Goldstein as Giselle
 * Matt Crabtree as IDC Dude
 * Alexandra Brandl as Karen
 * Paulina Olszynski as Lisa
 * Nicolette Collier as Young Meredith

Uncredited

 * Steve Harris as Omar Toussant

Patient

 * Diagnosis:
 * Doctors:
 * Treatment:

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by The Chambers Brothers.
 * This episode scored 25.41 million viewers, making it the most watched season premiere in the series' history.
 * This is the first episode Meredith has not been in the hospital. This is also the first episode for Izzie and Callie.
 * This is the first flashback episode.
 * As of this episode, Sara Ramírez joins the main cast as Callie Torres.
 * The season 3 extended DVD-box includes an audio commentary on this episode by Kate Walsh and Chandra Wilson.

Quotes

 * Cristina: You and McDreamy did the Nasty Nasty?
 * (Meredith glares at her)
 * Meredith: Cristina!
 * Cristina: I'm not judging! I'm just trying to wrap my mind around it. I mean, you are with Finn and he's with Addison.
 * Meredith: He's married to Addison.
 * Cristina: YEAH! Well what did Derek say?
 * Meredith: He said "Meredith what does this mean?"
 * Cristina: Ugh! Ok! He has sex with you and he's standing there all McGuilty and all he can say is "Oh, What does this mean?" What does this mean?


 * Meredith: Why are you all looking at me?
 * Cristina: Well, this is familiar territory for you.
 * Meredith: There is nothing familiar abut this! Unfamiliar! Denny died. The man she loves, died.
 * Cristina: Yeah, but you're all dark and twisty inside.
 * Meredith: I am not dark and twisty!
 * Cristina: What, with the Alzheimers thing and the father you don't talk to.
 * Alex: And the tequila thing and the inappropriate men thing.
 * George: You are dark and twisty inside, Meredith, and now Izzie is dark and twisty inside.
 * Meredith: So all of a sudden I'm the president of people with crappy lives?


 * Addison: If that baby isn't treated, he's going to die. Now, I can do vaginal exams on each of the girls.
 * Karen's Mom: My daughter is 14 years old! She's not sexually active, and I won't have you violating her body!
 * Lisa's Dad: You won't have it because you know it's your kid! Tell you what. You have my consent. Do whatever it takes to prove that my Lisa is innocent.
 * Karen's Mom: You are a sick bastard. Do you know that?
 * Addison: A child's life is in jeopardy here! Now, it's not your consent that I need. (looks at the girls)
 * Sara: We didn't do anything wrong.
 * Lisa: Yeah, just because we were in there doesn't mean it's our baby.
 * Shannon: Do we look like the kind of girls who get pregnant and throw their kids in the trash?


 * Addison: (when she brings Shannon and Sara over to see the baby) There he is. That's your son. I want you both to look at him, because it's not true that you did nothing wrong. You both are wrong. You're wrong for covering this up, you're wrong for lying about it, and you're wrong for letting this little baby. This sweet, innocent, beautiful little boy suffer like this. He's dying, and it's your fault. It's both of your faults, and the thing is, the truth will come out. In time, it will come out. It always does. It just... it just does. And when it does, this baby will be dead.
 * Sara: (long pause) Shannon...
 * Shannon: (near tears) Don't tell my mom, okay?
 * Addison: (heaves a sigh of relief and gives Shannon a hug) Thank you. Thank you for telling the truth.


 * Shannon's Mom: (about Shannon) Well, it's obvious, then. The baby can't possibly be Shannon's. Look at her! Nobody can stay a size two and be pregnant. Trust me, I've tried it.
 * Sara's Mom: What are you saying?
 * Shannon's Mom: Just that Sara is a little pudgy.
 * Sara's Mom: At least she's not sleeping around!
 * Addison: Girls, I am a little short on time here...
 * Shannon's Mom: Shannon didn't even think about boys until she started hanging out with Sara.
 * Sara's Mom: You've got some nerve!
 * Addison: Do I need to remind you two who the teenagers are here?
 * Sara's Mom: She started it!
 * Addison: Enough!


 * Addison: (while operating on a baby boy) Poor little guy. As soon as he's better, he's getting turned over to a mother who's going to juvie and grandparents who are so clueless, they didn't even realize their own kid was pregnant. Imagine the kind of life he's going to have.
 * Alex: You can get over a bad childhood. I mean, you can have the worst crap in the world happen to you. You can get over it. All you gotta do is survive.


 * Alex: How do you not know your kid's pregnant?
 * Addison: You love your kids, you want to see the best in them.
 * Alex: Okay, then how do you have a baby and throw it in a trash can?
 * Addison: Something happens, and you panic. You freeze, and you wanna hide it and pretend like it didn't happen... I get that.
 * Alex: You get that?
 * Addison: I do. I just don't get what happens afterward. I don't get how you go back to class and pretend like everything's fine, everything's not fine.