Don't Stand So Close to Me

"At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close. But sometimes, that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need."

- Meredith Grey

Don&#39;t Stand So Close to Me is the tenth episode of the third season and the 46th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Miranda tries to make sure that Burke and Cristina are punished, but Richard feels otherwise. Meredith is spooked when her half-sister is admitted and George gets too involved in his father's case as the rest of the staff attempt to separate adult conjoined twins.

Full Summary
Everyone's cranky at the beginning of this episode. So much so that there's no one willing to do the voiceover as the cameras sweep over West Seattle and into the Roseridge Home for Extended Care. There, Ellis Grey is having a world-class freakout about the Chief tossing her to the curb (again). Meredith tries to bring her back to the present, to little avail.

At Seattle Grace, Bailey is back in Nazi form. She, Derek, Cristina, and Burke have been called to the Chief's office. And she's ranting about how unfair it is Burke and Cristina are evading punishment for their cover-up antics. She wants justice, but the Chief says that there's no such thing within the four walls of a hospital. His main argument is "no harm, no foul" since they didn't kill anyone and so far there haven't been any malpractice suits. She doesn't even pretend to be happy that Cristina's heading back out onto the floor, but off they go.

The Chief insists that Burke fix have his 2 million dollar hand fixed, stat. Burke's in the stage of grief where he's blaming Derek for not miraculously healing him and sulks about not wanting another surgery, saying that the first one caused enough trouble.

Mr. O'Malley asks George to be the responsible one if he kicks it during surgery: the insurance papers are in the nightstand and "his magazines" are in the garage. If he dies, George's first order of business is to infiltrate the porn locker before his mom gets a look at her husband's kinks. George doesn't have much time to be appalled by this revelation of his dad's masturbatory aids since Torres stops in to be nice/check on his collar bone. George storms off in a huff, despite his father's pleas for more polite behavior.

Back in the locker room, with the exception of Dr. Grey, the interns are all mad at Cristina. Meredith tries to defend her, but no one else is buying it. After the trio of anger steps out to rounds, Grey tries to find out how it's going. She and Burke are existing in silence, but she asks Meredith not to make an effort to be nice. This brief conversation causes them to be 30 seconds late; so Bailey threatens a world of hurt / expulsion if Cristina doesn't mind her manners.

As they're heading off, Addison nabs Meredith. Her Half-Sister is having an emergency c-section. She thanks her for the heads-up, but says that she really doesn't need to know about them. Good luck, her ridiculously nice stepmother is just around the corner, sucking Grey into her family's drama. As the rest of the interns beg to scrub in for Dr. Hahn's replacement of Mr. O'Malley's heart valve, Bailey assigns the case to Cristina. They all whine like spoiled children about the unfairness of it all until the Nazi plays a little Let's Make A Deal, promising to show them what's behind Door #1 only if they agree to shut up. They comply, and she reveals tonight's extra special weird medicine case: adult conjoined twins. The twins fight about one brother having a small bladder. As they shuffle off to the toilet, the mouths of the trio hang agape.

We get the backstory on the conjoined twins. The guys are attached at the lumbar-sacral junction. They were in six months ago, but decided that the separation surgery was too risky. As they bicker about one being overcautious vs. the other being over risky, Alex brownoses a bit to flatter New York's top plastic surgeon. Although Sloane tries to make nice with Derek, he's not too keen on being called part of a team. George wonders why they've changed their mind. On cue, the answer enters. It's about a girl. She insists that she doesn't want them to have the risky surgery for her benefit. The girl is dating the twin with glasses, the other one pouts about not wanting to be attached to someone who doesn't want to be attached to me. All the interns want in on the case, but Sloane takes Izzie because he thinks she'll be fun to look at and because she's not allowed to help. He does want a blueberry scone and his trademark "bone dry cappucino", but she tells doesn't do coffee.

In the X-Ray Viewing Chamber, the Chief drools over the surgery, imagining the press and fame for the hospital. Derek isn't keen on it because of the high risk. The Chief says that unless there's overwhelming evidence to stop it, the show will go on.

While Cristina is explaining the surgery to Mr. O'Malley, George storms in and gets all pushy about it and cause trouble. Dr. Hahn tries to kick him out, and he says that he can do whatever he wants because he "hired her".

Meredith decided to volunteer to help out with her Half-Sister and the c-section. Susan says that it's nice to have a familiar face in the hospital. She's stoked to be a grandmother and tells Grey that her Half-Sister doesn't know about Thatcher Grey’s neglected daughter. Later, she helps with the C-section by cutting the umbilical cord. But the baby isn't doing well, and needs to be whisked off to surgery. Addision leaves Meredith in charge of explaining the situation to Susan and her Half-Sister, but she panics and isn't very helpful.

Addison realizes that it was a mistake to let Grey volunteer for this case; so she's banned from the very exciting newborn surgery (Jejunal etrisia). Instead, she's tasked with keeping Susan updated. The Nazi is back, lecturing George abou this bad behavior and demanding that he stay 50 ft away from his father at all times. George glares at Burke, across the hall as he strolls up to Dr. Hahn to check on the status of O'Malley Senior. She says that everything's O.K. George is a pain in the ass, Cristina is an asset. He awkwardly agrees, calling her very "professional".

Having survived the tension of dealing with his girlfriend/partner in crime/betrayer and his cross-town rival, Burke fires up his laptop to research neurosurgeons; The Chief is all, "You know that Derek is the best there is.” When he says that he wants someone else, the Chief finally decides to bust out the yelling and scolding. He wants to retire so that he can get his wife back, but Burke spoiled all of that by having a tremor and keeping it quiet. He's tired of "you men acting like boys", saying that if Burke doesn't let Derek fix his hand, he'll be letting himself down.

In the O.R., Izzie raves about how it will take the impending surgeon-palooza required to separate the twins. Sloane is optimistic, Derek isn't. Doing a practice run on mock-up twins, he makes a mistake, saying that it will be even trickier with real live humans. He thinks that the Brothers are fine, and that the de-conjoining isn't worth the risk. Tantrum hour continues, as he storms off the practice field.

In between, we get a quick scene of Meredith explaining the situation to Susan and her Half-Sister. Her Half-Sister isn't sure about calling her husband in Iraq to come up with a name for the baby. As if the conjoined twin surgery wasn't medical intrigue enough, we get to find out more about why they've decided to get separated. The rules don't work. As Glasses explains it all, the doctors all watch with interest, exchanging glances and surprised looks like there's an enthralling tennis match happening before their eyes.

The boys have rules for when they're with someone: no looking, no touching. But the plot thickens, when the girlfriend assures Glasses that she's completely fine with Squinty touching her while she's naked. She didn't think it was such a big deal and thought it was kind of sweet. When she re-iterates that it wasn't a big deal, Glasses recognizes that she enjoyed having his brother in on the action. She stresses that she's completely in love with him and really enjoys their conjoined lovemaking. But ... it's just that after he falls asleep, Squinty talks with her. She loves it too. Glasses freaks out and demands that she choose a brother. Because after they're separated, she can't have both of them. Surprise, she goes for the sensitive, chatty brother. Squinty smirks, gets an elbow to the face from his brother.

For some reason the trio bring their lunches into a room with a sedated / possibly dead old man. It's clearly the place to be, Cristina's there, and Meredith is on her way. The trio are all atwitter over the bizarre love triangle until they notice Cristina sitting there. Alex feigns surprise that she hasn't been kicked out of the program yet, claiming to want the inside track on how to get ahead. George makes a snide comment about whether she's kept a headcount of how many patients she endangered during her reign of deception. Izzie gripes that since her patients lived she avoided candy striper duty. Meredith plays defense, but Cristina doesn't appreciate it, retreating with her hospital food for friendlier shores.

Still awaiting surgery, Mr. O'Malley pleads with his son to make nice with his crazy ex-girlfriend. He says that all of this anger isn't like him. Still, Dad wants to play rage counselor before going under the knife. He suspects that George isn't really mad at everyone, just at good old dad. For eating unhealthy foods, not exercising, smoking, drinking, and getting cancer. He gnaws on the scenery a bit, saying that he's mad at himself, too. George assures him that he doesn't mind taking care of him, and promises that he isn't going to die. Enter the Brothers O'Malley, being more annoying than six-year-olds. They call their brother "Georgie" and he flips out saying that Georgie doesn't work here. Meanwhile, his dad starts choking.

"Dr. O'Malley" to the rescue; Burke comes in to tell him that his choice of drugs for the atrial fibrillation would have done more harm than good. So it's Burke to the rescue; except the tremor is back. So George to the rescue again, by injecting the correct meds. Never mind, Dr. Hahn comes in to fix things up.

Sloane finally gets Izzie to fetch him his bone dry cappuccino. Elsewhere, Addison is still slaving away on the baby’s intestines. She tells Grey to keep the family on the up and up about her progress. Bailey and Derek cheer each other up about their own personal crises of confidence. He's feeling skittish about having not worked a miracle on Burke; she's still plagued by guilt over the death of Denny. Being shut out of Burke's surgeries only compounded her angst.

Mr. O'Malley is rolled off to surgery, Bailey agrees to let George skips the un-conjoining to be with his family. As the twenty-two surgeons are gearing up to take the twins apart, Sloane requests that Izzie gets to scrub in. The Chief reminds him that she's still without hospital privileges, but Bailey sticks up for her and calls her down to the O.R. As they get ready to cut the twins apart, Derek does one last assessment. The Chief says that it's his call as to whether they proceed. The music swells, and newly confident Dempsey says that it's on.

George & Burke illegally watch Paddy O'Malley's surgery from the scrub room. George can't look; so Burke quietly narrates.

There are all sorts of medical intrigue, cutting, reattaching, Sloane suggestions, and Bailey on nerve stimulators, but eventually Derek announces that the separation was a success and that they have four functioning legs. There's applause all around, and the doctors take sides to pull the brothers apart. Happy music plays. Derek says that it would be nice if every love triangle could be solved with a scalpel; Sloane smiles, saying that if they could, Derek would have stabbed him with a ten blade a long time ago. Relieved, they both laugh a little beneath their surgical masks.

Meredith tells Susan that Addsion will be around to explain everything. Although the baby will need recovery time, she'll be just fine. Susan is very relieved and says that the new baby is Meredith's niece. Meredith says that she's sorry, they're very nice, but she doesn't know them and they aren't her family.

In Mr. O'Malley's valve replacement, Dr. Hahn says that Cristina reminds her of herself as an intern. She's focused, intense and cold. Suddenly, there are the bad noises, and too much bleeding. Hahn says that it doesn't look good. But Cristina to the rescue; she can put Mr. O'Malley back together again all by herself. She re-inserts the aortic canula and does a running whip stitch. Burke assures George that she's done it before. Han compliments Cristina's beautiful work. With the crisis averted, Burke tells George that Dr. Han's work was impeccable, that he would have done the same thing himself. He pauses, reflectively, saying that you never know how the body's going to respond and that every surgery is different. He concludes his narration, leaving once they're in the home stretch. George thanks him, and it seems to mean a lot to both of them. Alone on the skyway with the Chief, Bailey says that it undermines everything for Cristina and Burke to go unpunished. He asks her to take a step back and asks what she would you have him do: fire them? End their careers? He says that they made a bad judgment call and reminds her that nobody died. This brings back the ghost of Denny, which still hangs over her. She feels responsible for killing him, but the Chief insists that it wasn't her fault.

She's not so sure. Thinking about Izzie and Cristina's transgressions, Bailey worries that she is the common thread. She faults herself for losing control of them. He tells her that she raised them like children, some make mistakes, some disappoint. He asks if she knows the kind of strength it must have taken for Cristina to report on an attending, let alone her boyfriend. He sees this as evidence of growth. Reminding her that she raised them like children, he says that some turn out exactly like you.

The girl who split up the twins finally gets some alone time with Squinty. He says that it's been a long day, and she leaves with a quick kiss saying that she'll see him in the morning.

And then our much-missed Meredith voiceover finally makes its return as the other brother is rolled into the room with his bed pressed against his twin. They crack a quick joke, and hold hands before drifting off to sleep and out of the storyline.

Susan invites Meredith in to see the beautiful baby. She offers to be her family if she wants them to. Grey looks pained, but doesn't turn back. She walks away.

In the locker room, Izzie, George, and Alex are still giving Cristina a hard time. Meredith stands up and yells at them saying that she can't take this anymore. She pleads with them to let her off the hook, reminding Izzie that Cristina helped out after she cut Denny's LVAD wire, helped Alex study for the boards even after he slept with SyphNurse, and that when everyone was calling George 007 ... George points out that that it was Cristina who started the 007 business and stomps off. The speech worked on the other two, Alex and Izzie apologize before leaving.

Cristina asks why Meredith can't mind her own business. Grey responds that she's her sister, her family, all she's got. Cristina sighs, saying that she's so tired and leans on Meredith's shoulder.

Torres runs into George in the hallway to check on his dad. Apparently he's doing O.K. That's the extent of their conversation.

As Meredith and Cristina are exiting the Elevator of Convenient Encounters, Derek and Burke are entering. They're going upstairs to check Burke's shoulder. Cristina follows them, to stand by her man.

Back at the Roseridge Home for Extended Care, Ellis is ranting again about how she just couldn't stay with Thatcher even though he was Meredith's father. And then Richard left her a throbbing bundle of anger. Meredith, emotionally wrecked, stands up and hugs her without saying anything. This calms her down and ushers in a worried moment of clarity. She recognizes her daughter with a quiet "Meredith", and Grey responds with a sad "Mommy."

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
 * Sara Ramirez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
 * Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Starring

 * George Dzundza as Harold O'Malley
 * Brooke Smith as Dr. Erica Hahn
 * Debra Monk as Louise O'Malley
 * Jennifer Aspen as Elena
 * Greg Pitts as Jerry O'Malley
 * Tim Griffin as Ronny O'Malley
 * Mandy Siegfried as Molly Thompson
 * Jason Sklar as Jake Weitzman
 * Randy Sklar as Peter Weitzman
 * Mare Winningham as Susan Grey
 * Kate Burton as Ellis Grey

Co-Starring

 * Jack Axelrod as Really Old Guy
 * Linda Klein as Nurse Linda

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song Don't Stand So Close to Me, originally sung by The Police.
 * This episode scored 24.01 million viewers.
 * This episode only features the closing voiceover and does not feature the opening voiceover.

Quotes

 * Richard: Burke, you and Shepherd need to come together on this tremor as soon as possible.
 * Derek: He doesn't want my help.
 * Richard: Derek...
 * Burke: I don't want his help.
 * Richard: That hand is worth 2 million dollars. I want it fixed and I want it fixed yesterday. Figure it out!


 * Bailey: I start to think I shouldn't be operating after the Duquette M&M, all the whispers and talk. I let that in and started to question myself, I believe it when I was told that I was no longer of use in the OR.
 * Derek: Oh, so when you said you wanted justice you were talking about...
 * Bailey: I'm a surgeon, there are lives in my hands and to make me question that—well that's like putting a life at stake every time that I hold a scalpel.
 * Derek: I told Burke I could fix his hand and...
 * Bailey: Well, you did. I mean, he is not paralyzed or- or disabled in anyway. He has a tremor and if he had been honest about that well, then there's no telling what you could've done to prevent it.

(About the case with the conjoined twins)
 * Alex: I'm calling it. It's mine.
 * George: I have two brothers. I feel their pain.
 * Izzie: I would be great at watching this.
 * Bailey: Zip it. All of you.
 * Alex: We're all on the case, right?
 * Bailey (reluctantly): Right.
 * George: Yes!
 * Alex: Awesome.
 * Bailey: Stevens. You are to---
 * Izzie: Look and not touch or speak or breathe. I got it.
 * Mark: So this is the crack team, huh?
 * Bailey: Feel free to take one.
 * Mark: How about I take the one who doesn't touch, or speak or breathe?
 * Izzie (under her breath): Great.

Cristina: I do?
 * Hahn: You remind me of myself when I was an intern.
 * Hahn: Focused, intense, cold, and I don't mean that as a bad thing, cold is good. The dating, the friends and the family, if you ask me, it's all overrated.