It's a Long Way Back

"After a trauma your body is at its most vulnerable. Response time is critical. So you're suddenly surrounded by people. Doctors, nurses, specialists, technicians. Surgery is a team sport. Everyone pushing for the finish line. Putting you back together again. But surgery is a trauma in and of itself. And once it's over, the real healing begins. We call it recovery. Recovery is not a team sport. It's a solitary distance run. It's long, it's exhausting and it's lonely as hell. The length of your recovery is determined by the extent of your injuries. And it's not always successful. No matter how hard we work at it, some wounds might never fully heal. You might have to adjust to a whole new way of living. Things may have changed too radically to ever go back to what they were. It might not even recognize yourself. It's like you haven't recovered anything at all. You're a whole new person with a whole new life."

- Meredith Grey

 is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season and the 145th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Everyone pulls together to help Callie and baby Sofia on their painstaking journeys to recovery in hopes of allowing mother and baby to finally meet; the sudden death of a clinical trial patient has Derek proceeding with more caution while Meredith makes a calculated and risky move; Alex treats a cranky old rich woman dying of cancer and gets an idea for a grandiose endeavor that is sure to get him the Chief Resident spot; and Teddy is pleasantly surprised by the return of a familiar face.

Full Summary
We open on Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres, one week old and weighing 1 pound, 1 ounce. Callie is working on getting her fingers to move the way she wants them to, and Sloan is bringing her baby updates on his phone. Callie is happy that she almost got her hand straight. Callie is upset that she can't see her baby with her own eyes until her wounds are healed and her infections are clear.

Alex and Hunt are dealing with an elderly woman who refuses to stop smoking despite lung cancer. She doesn't want a lecture from Hunt. She's a wheeler and dealer and wants to negotiate the required white blood cell count level she needs before Hunt will let her leave.

The chief and Meredith have an awkward exchange and when he walks away a post-it note falls off of him. He doesn't notice. Meredith picks it up and tries to get his attention but can't. She looks at the note and seemed a bit upset.

Arizona is looking at X-rays of a kid she was treating in Africa. She was planning to go back the following week but now she can't.

Callie tells Cristina she wants to see her baby and Cristina says the baby looks like a featherless chicken and she should wait until the baby is cuter. Callie calls Cristina the worst godmother ever. April comes in with news that the baby opened her eyes and Callie starts to cry and try to get herself out of bed. Cristina calms her down.

Derek is treating a clinical trial patient when he has some kind of reaction and flatlines. No one knows what caused the event. Derek wants to know why no one saw it coming.

Cristina tries to talk Stark into letting Callie see the baby. He says he's "all for mother-baby bonding, but not if it'll kill the baby." She asks Avery for help with "something."

Henry is having some problems and Teddy comes over to help him. It's his blood-sugar. She says he saved her from a bad date.

Alex takes a cigarette away from the elderly lady, who yells at him and calls him worthless and stupid after he tells her that her white blood cell count is getting lower. Alex tells Hunt that the patient is "a bitch." Hunt asks Alex what his plan is if he becomes chief resident. Alex blurts out, "African kids." He wants to bring them over for surgeries they need.

The doctors sneak into Callie's room at night and quietly wheel her -- around Bailey, who Avery distracts in the hallway -- to the room where her baby is. Callie gets a chance to see the baby through a window and she smiles and tells her baby, "Don't worry. I'm a little messed up, too. We're going to be fine. We're going to be just fine."

Derek is looking for a replacement patient in the trial for the one who just died. Meredith asks again about the chief's wife, Adele. Derek says he wants to include her, but her test left her ineligible. Meredith then hands her the post-it note she saw fall off of him. It reads, "This is Richard. Richard is your husband."

At five weeks and two days, the baby is now two pounds and eight ounces. Callie scares off her third physical therapist after saying he isn't pushing her hard enough. She's trying to accelerate her recovery so she can hold her baby.

Alex makes his pitch to Stark about bringing African children in for surgeries. Starks says it's worth nothing. He tells Alex he's not one of the people who can pull off that sort of project after he delivers his half-assed proposal while shuffling papers all over the table. Alex goes back to his rich, elderly patient, who is still insulting him, and gets an idea. He tells her about his plan to bring African kids to Seattle for some desperately needed surgeries. He asks for $100,000 and she tells him to stop, calling him Sally Struthers.

Adele is a lot worse and declining quickly. Meredith asks Derek why they can't give her the medicine on the side, but Derek says the FDA will kill the trial and their careers if anything like that happened. "Don't think I haven't thought about it," he adds.

Stark says Callie's baby needs surgery as soon as possible. Stark tells Arizona that because she's not technically related to the baby, the hospital would have no objection to her joining him in the OR.

Callie is pushing Cristina around on a gurney, trying to work on her strength. Arizona comes and tells her Sofia needs surgery. Callie then notices she's bleeding from her incision.

Bailey is frustrated with Callie as she operates on her. In another OR, Sofia is having surgery.

Alex shows his patient pictures of the African children he wants to help and she threatens to have his job and sue the hospital. She tells him she never wants to see his face again.

Something goes wrong in Sofia's surgery. Arizona leaves the room and Sloan comes over to bring her back in. Stark says Sofia "tried to bleed out but I wouldn't let her." Everything is fine now.

Alex's patient calls him over because she doesn't like Lexie. He tells her he won't come in and roll her over until she agrees to give him $100,000. She agrees after some tense negotiation.

Teddy comes back to Henry's place after another bad date.

Alex boasts to Meredith about how he got the money from the patient, telling her, "See what happens when you break the rules?" He then gets a page. His patient has died.

Meredith sees Adele at the hospital waiting for Richard. Adele confides in Meredith that it's getting worse. Adele starts talking to Meredith as if she's Ellis Grey, telling her that she thinks Richard is in love with her. She asks Meredith, "Please give me back my husband." Meredith tries to explain to her who she's talking to, but Adele just repeats the plea until Meredith finally says, "He's all yours."

at 12 weeks, Sofia is five pounds, eight ounches and Callie is picking her up. Bailey comes over to tell Callie to go home because her vitals are stable and everything is good.

Alex's trailer gets towed from the parking lot because of unpaid tickets. Adele is all smiles as she goes in for an MRI. The chief thanks Meredith for catching it early.

The first batch of African kids are arriving that night and Alex is trying to dole out which doctors get which patients. Alex is nervous. Arizona it proud of him, saying she didn't think he could do it, but he did. He goes and throws up into a trash can. He says, "I am in so much trouble."

Lexie realizes that Alex has brought all the kids over without any plan or method of paying for it.

Meredith sneaks into the locked room where the files for the clinical trial are kept, and changes out some envelopes after checking their contents to see who's getting the active agent and who's getting the placebo.

Lexie comes to Alex with a letter from a lawyer. It includes a $200,000 check from the "dragon lady."

Derek prepares Adele for the clinical procedure. The envelope comes in and when it's opened, Derek is happy to see that she's slated to receive the active agent.

Callie doesn't want to go home until Sofia is, but Stark says she can go. Stark says that she can go since there are three doctors at home. They'll know if anything is going wrong. April has been paying attention and tells Stark that people are saying he's kind, funny and compassionate. She says she's glad they're getting to know the "Robert" she got to know and like. He turns to her and says, "It's Dr. Stark."

Teddy knocks on Henry's door. He asks her how her date is going, but she says it's still going. She hands him some leftovers and leaves.

Cristina is most sad to see Callie go because she's her last cardio patient. She still hasn't heard from Teddy.

Callie gets panicked and says Sofia's not ready to go home. She says Sofia shouldn't go into a car because cars aren't safe. Bailey convinces her that she doesn't feel that way because she was in an accident, but because she's a parent.

Derek tells Meredith he wishes he could tell Richard that Adele got the real medicine, but he can't. "Me, too," she says.

Alex's patients arrive from Africa and he brings them into the hospital.

And Callie leaves the hospital with Sofia in her arms.

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

 * Doris Roberts as Gladys Pulcher
 * Peter MacNicol as Dr. Robert Stark
 * James Tupper as Dr. Andrew Perkins
 * Loretta Devine as Adele Webber
 * Scott Foley as Henry Burton

Co-Starring

 * Newell Alexander as Ed Beckert
 * T'Shaun Barrett as Jon
 * Maurice Whitfield as Police Officer
 * Anne Leyden as Pharmacist
 * Payton Silver as Dr. Knox

Notes and Trivia
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 * This episode's title originated from the song It's A Long Way Back, originally sung by Romanes.
 * This episode scored 10.67 million viewers.

Quotes

 * Alex: Discharge her please. I'll pay you.


 * Callie: I need to see my baby.
 * Cristina: She's mostly tubes and wires. And she looks more like a chicken than a baby. Like a featherless, beakless chicken. You want to wait until she's cuter.
 * Callie: You're the worst godmother ever.
 * Cristina: You picked me.


 * Callie: (about Sofia) So, today, I can see her today?
 * Bailey: I'm sorry...
 * Callie: (whines) No.
 * Bailey: But until you can be mobilized and your infections are completely gone, you cannot see her and she cannot leave the NICU. (pouts and turns away from Bailey) Now, you know I would if I could. You know that, right? (Callie just ignores her, and keeps looking away) Yang, tell her I would. (leaves)
 * Cristina: She would. If she could. (holds up her hand, but still can't extend her fingers) Are you giving me the finger?
 * Callie: Yes, I am.
 * Cristina: Good job.
 * April: She opened her eyes. Sofia, she looked right at me, I saw her sweet little eyes, they... they're beautiful. They look just like yours. Oh, my God, I should've taken pictures. (Callie starts to cry) Why didn't I do that? Oh, no, oh God, no, I'm so sorry.
 * Cristina: April, go get the pictures! Callie... Callie... (Callie tries to sit up) No, Callie, don't. Stop it. You're ripping your sutures.
 * Callie: (sobbing) I am missing her.
 * Cristina: I know. I know, honey, I know.
 * Callie: She could die, and I'll never... I could miss her whole life!


 * Mrs. Poulter: (to Alex) Get in here. This ham-fisted, twit doesn't know to roll me.
 * Alex: You asked me not to come back.
 * Mrs. Poulter: Just shut your hole and get in here before this idiot breaks my spine.
 * Alex: 100 grand.
 * Mrs. Poulter: What?!
 * Lexie: Alex, don't.
 * Alex: Gimme a hundred grand and I'll come in.
 * Lexie: Mrs. Poulter, he's... he's joking. H-He doesn't mean that.
 * Mrs. Poulter: 50.
 * Alex: 100.
 * Mrs. Poulter: 75.
 * Alex: One hundred grand, final offer.
 * Mrs. Poulter: You don't know how to negotiate.
 * Alex: I'm not negotiating.
 * Mrs. Poulter: Oh, don't pretend to be smart, you crooked, little bastard.
 * Alex: And don't pretend you're poor, you evil, old bitch. 100 grand!
 * Mrs. Poulter: Done. One hundred grand. Now get in here and roll me over.
 * Richard: Uh... Meredith. Thank you for everything that you've done.
 * Meredith: I didn't really do anything, the circumstances changed.
 * Richard: You did. You caught it first. And the minute you did, you looked after her, you did everything you could to take care of her. ... I've made a lot of mistakes, and it's taken me a lot of years to finally realize that all I wanna do is be with her. You've given us the best chance that we can get, you've done everything.
 * Bailey: Callie... Callie... Okay, you're right. You are absolutely right. Cars are not safe for children. Okay, neither are bookcases or squirrels, strong winds, people who sneeze. They're all going to get your baby. But honey, you don't feel this was because you were in an accident. You feel this way because you are a parent. It'll pass... mostly. Some of it never will.


 * Callie: (to Sofia) Hi. Hi, baby. Don't worry. You see, I'm a little messed up too. But we're gonna be fine, okay. We're gonna be just fine.
 * Callie: (to Sofia) Hi. Hi, baby. Don't worry. You see, I'm a little messed up too. But we're gonna be fine, okay. We're gonna be just fine.