Where the Boys Are

"As surgeons, we are trained to look for disease. Sometimes the problem is easily detected, most of the time we need to go step by step. First, probing the surface looking for any sign of trouble. A mole or a lesion or an unwelcome lump. Most of the time, we can't tell what's wrong with somebody by just looking at them. After all, they can look perfectly fine on the outside, while their insides tells a whole other story. Not all wounds are superficial. Most wounds run deeper than you can imagine. You can't see them with the naked eye. And then there are the wounds that take us by surprise. The trick with any kind of wound or disease is to dig down and find the real source of the injury - and once you've found it, try like hell to heal that sucker."

- Meredith Grey

 is the seventh episode of the third season and the 43rd overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Derek gets annoyed when all the boys go on a camping trip, instead of just Preston and himself. Back at the hospital, Addison and Callie bond over a patient while Mark continues to annoy everyone as Bailey punishes Cristina, but Cristina claims ignorance as to why. Izzie is peer counselled by an unlikely person and Meredith is a shocked when Sloan assigns her to a sex change.

Full Summary
Cristina is drinking coffee and looks on as Burke is packing up camping gear. Cristina questions his going camping: "With the sleeping on the ground and everyone peeing behind the same bush?" Burke says he is going camping with Shepherd for the fresh air. Cristina says she booked two O.R.'s for them already, Burke cancelled them. She asks why and he replies, "Because I'm going camping with Shepherd." He leaves and Cristina still does not understand why he is going. Derek is picking up Burke with his jeep. They're putting all his things in the back and excited at the prospect of camping and being 'mountain men in the wild'. They both get into the safari-looking-jeep. Burke tells them they need to make a stop. Chief comes out of the hotel dressed in camping gear and holding a picnic basket. He hands his things to Derek and says, "You know, this is my first camping trip." Derek sarcastically says, "Oh, you don't say." Derek gives Burke a slight repremanding look and asks if there are more surprises. George and Izzie are coming down the stairs. She asks him if he has sun screen, insect repelant and a shovel to bury their poop. Meredith, in a red robe and drinking coffee, looks on. George says, "Izzie, I'm not five." He tells her that if Callie calls to say that George is a "mountain man, a man of the mountain". Derek looks a little annoyed and Burke looks amused. He whispers to Derek, "Okay, him I invited." George passes, holds up a brown paper bag and says, "Izzie baked us treats!" They go outside leaving Meredith and Derek alone. She says, "Have fun with your, um, space or whatever" all with a smile on her face. Derek looks even more annoyed. He is sitting at a table with George while in the background you see Joe and his boyfriend, Walter, packing their camping things. George tries to explain that he only asked for an extra tent but Joe must have misunderstood. Alex comes in with camping gear also. George says, "That wasn't me, I swear." Derek asks Burke what he's doing. Burke shrugs. All the men are shown walking to where they will set up camp. Addison is at a table reading. Callie is sitting on a couch reading also. Mark comes in the room. Mark and Callie look at each other with odd expressions. Addison notices. Mark gets a cup of coffee. Meredith, Izzie, and Cristina are looking at the board. Meredith brings up the camping issue and how Derek is going there for time and space. Cristina says, "Prestons do not go into the woods. A guy named Preston is gonna get his ass kicked by a squirrel." Izzie says it's a guy version of a slumber party, the difference is they do it outside. Mark comes and asks where 'what's his face' is. Izzie says, "Alex Karev." Mark tells them Alex gets a thrill out of tagging along with him. Meredith says that he went camping. Mark asks her if she wants to tag along with him for a thrill. Meredith says that Bailey gives them their assignments. Right as she says this Bailey comes and says that it's fine with her. Meredith looks at her as if she couldn't have picked a worse time to show up. Mark and Meredith leave. Bailey tells Izzie to go to the conference room to see her peer counselor. Izzie is surprised because she is already seeing a 'shrink'. Bailey tells her to go. Izzie leaves. "Exciting procedures on the board today, huh, Yang", Bailey says. Cristina looks very excited at what the day might hold for her. Cristina is holding up an X-ray. A little boy, Eric, swallowed 21 Monopoly pieces because his older brother did not let Eric play with him and his friends, now no one can play. Bailey asks Cristina what they should do to handle this. Cristina asks if this is even a surgical case. Bailey says, "Yang" as if to say, just answer the question. Cristina says they would have to track and inventory the pieces and measure the progress through X-rays. Then they would have to look through the stool. Bailey smiles and says "enjoy" before leaving. Cristina goes after Bailey and says that her assignment with Eric is more of a nurse's job. Bailey asks if Cristina thinks she's too good to help him. Cristina, frankly, says yes then after seeing Bailey's reaction says, "No, definitely not. I just thought I'd be more help if I was assisting you in a surgery." Bailey says, "No surgeries for you", and starts to leave. Cristina says she doesn't understand. Bailey turns around and says, "I don't understand why you erased my name from the O.R. board." Cristina pretends that she does not know what Bailey is talking about. Bailey says not to pretend she doesn't know, she wants to know why Cristina would do that. Cristina looks off into nothing for a few seconds then says with a glum face, "I have no comment." Bailey responds with, "No surgeries, Yang", and leaves. Mark and Meredith are in an elevator together and have the following exchange: Meredith: Okay, before you start, there are rules to this friendship thing or whatever. Mark: The dirty mistresses club has rules? Gosh, you'd think a bunch of dirty mistresses would be a little less uptight about things like rules. Meredith: Number one, no flirting. Second, no talking about Derek. And C, no giving me the face. Mark: The face? Meredith: The McSteamy face. It doesn't work on me. I'm immune. Mark: You know if I'd gone off to the woods I would have invited you to keep me warm. Meredith: Breaking rules one, two, and three. Izzie walks in to find Sydney, who was one of their residents while Bailey was on maternity leave. Izzie does not look pleased that she is her peer counselor because Sydney is often too enthusiastic and happy. Sydney gives her a hug and asks how she is doing. Izzie says she's fine. Sydney says that only the 'outside Izzie' is talking she wants to know how Izzie is doing on the inside. Izzie chuckles and slightly rolls her eyes. Meredith and Mark are walking. He asks about her status with Derek. She says that they are taking some space. Mark asks, "You're taking space from each other or he's taking some space from you?" Meredith says, "Derek and I, there's just a lot of water under the thing or something. Whatever." Mark and Meredith walk into a hospital room where two women are unpacking. One of the women, Donna, calls Mark her knight in shining poly-cotton. He asks if they had a good trip. The other woman, Vicky, apparently is still having penis issues. Meredith is confused. Mark and Donna smile at each other. Vicky says, "I believe you're missing the fact that Dr. Sloan is planning to remove my husband's penis this afternoon." Meredith asks where her husband is. Donna says, "Right here", referring to herself. Meredith is reading off Donna's chart, "Daniel Gibson, 34, in for sexual reassignment surgery." Mark corrects her, that her name is Donna and has been living as Donna for two years. Meredith has a hard time figuring out what pronouns to use when referring to Donna. Mark asks Meredith if she knows the steps for a vaginoplasty - turning a man into a woman. She doesn't so she needs to study them in order to get in on the surgery. Donna tells Meredith not to pay attention to Mark because she is doing very well, even better than when Vicky first found out. Mark says they'll run pre-op labs to make sure everything is good to go. Vicky asks if the surgery is really going to be today. Mark says yes and asks if Donna is excited. Donna says, "Excited doesn't begin to cover it." Mark holds her hand in comfort and reassurance. Derek breathes in the fresh air and observes the rest of the men. Everyone else is setting up camp and making themselves comfortable. George drops a bunch of football sized stones causing a ruckus. George says that the picnic basket that Richard brought is very nice. Chief says the concierge at the hotel put it together - crackers, pate, and various cheese. George walks in Alex's direction. Alex says, "Dude, he brought silverware", referring to Chief. George asks if Alex has been camping before. Alex wonders why. George comments on the fact that Alex is wearing a t-shirt and sneakers, that he's going to freeze. Alex says he'll be fine because he's wearing a jacket. George says, "Just do me a favor. Don't come crawling to me in the middle of the night when you wanna huddle for warmth." Richard notices how spacious Joe and Walter's tent is. Alex and George look at each other. Joe says he thought Richard would sleep with one of the doctors because he and Walter are going to share. Richard does not understand. Alex and George walk closer. Joe says, "But I guess if you really want to." Joe goes to console Walter. George and Alex try to explain it to him, that Joe and Walter want to be alone. Richard looks at them and it finally dawns on him and says, "Oh! So you are um -- Wonderful! Man love! It's beautiful. My cousin's gay. So I'm hip. Brokeback Mountain, all of that." Burke gets up to make the situation less uncomfortable and asks who wants to go fishing. Richard eagerly says he'd like to go. Cristina is looking at Eric's X-rays to see the progress of the Monopoly pieces. Meredith comes and says, "Guess what I'm doing today: removing a man's penis." Cristina is jealous and thinks it should be her in on the surgery, that it should be her penis. Izzie comes and says she has to hide because Sydney is her peer counselor. Cristina and Meredith don't understand. Izzie reminds them, "Heal with love" Sydney. They both have appalled faces and say "ew". Izzie needs a good medical reason not to have to shadow and dialogue with Sydney the whole day. Cristina watches Izzie in the bathroom going through Eric's stool looking for potential Monopoly pieces. She finds a couple houses and the dog piece; she is always the dog when she plays. Addison is with a married couple, Ted and Jamie Carr. Callie comes into the room because she was paged, she looks uncomfortable with the prospect of working with Addison. Addison fills Callie in. Jamie is pregnant and fell down in the shower. Addison is performing an ultrasound on Jamie. Callie sees the break in her wrist. It is painful to the touch because Jamie refuses to take meds to help with the pain. She is worried about the effect it would have on the baby. Jamie asks if their son is okay because he's no longer kicking. Addison says that perhaps he is asleep. Callie says that she'll need to put a cast on. Addison is looking at the ultrasound monitor and her expression changes to one of sadness. She excuses herself and leaves the room. Meredith is looking at paperwork in front of a doorway to an office. Vicky is seated in the waiting area and says, "Trade you." She explains that Donna gets the surgeries and she gets to fill out insurance forms. Meredith thinks Vicky is handling everything remarkably well. Vicky tells Meredith that at first she left Donna when she found out; that you plan a life together - one with kids and all of a sudden it's changed. Now her husband is another woman in the house borrowing her eye liner and waxing her legs. Meredith asks why she came back. Vicky can't remember why at the moment and says, "I'm really gonna miss the penis." Callie comes into the room and you can hear quiet sobs. She walks towards a stall and asks if Addison is okay. She says she's okay, fine, and good. Callie says, "Don't make me climb over this stall. I'll do it but I'll be really pissed cause I don't know you that well." Addison opens the door. Callie says that Addison does not look okay. Addison doesn't know why she's crying, why she is being affected so much. She says that yesterday Jamie is fine and today her son is dead. She continues crying. Callie looks sympathetic. The men sans Walter, who is reading, are all fishing on the river. Richard asks Joe how long he and Walter have been together. Joe says it's been ten years on and off that but now they are definitely on and even thinking about kids. Richard says that's a big step. Joe asks if he has any kids. Chief says he doesn't because he works a lot and his wife, Adele, did not want to raise kids alone. Joe says that Walter is the same since he's always working at the bar. Joe adds, "If i'm not there, who's gonna run the place?" Richard says, "Exactly." Then Joe says, "If I have to make a change I'll do it. I can't imagine my life without him, you know?" Several feet away Alex, George, and Burke are fishing together. Burke compliments George on his casting technique. George explains that his dad took him and his brothers fishing often, at least once a month. Burke asks George how he and Callie are doing. George says, "Good. She doesn't know it yet but we are. Excellent even. For awhile she wanted a certain level of commitment. I just didn't feel that I was ready. Now I am though...I am stepping up." Alex looks skeptical. He asks Burke if he knew when it was right with Cristina. Burke says yes and fixes the hook on his line. His hand starts to tremble. George sees and asks if he is okay. He says he is okay. George starts to pry further and Burke says he's going down stream a bit to see if he gets a better bite there. Burke walks towards the area Derek has been fishing. Mark is telling Donna that her labs showed she has breast cancer - there were abnormal cells in her breast tissue. Donna asks if it is the hormones that she has been taking that is causing it. Mark says she'll need to stop taking the hormones and start treatment immediately. Donna asks about the operation and looks at Meredith. Mark says the operation would not be a good idea because once she stops taking the hormones, the facial hair would grow back and her breasts would shrink. Somewhat anxiously Vicky says that Donna would become a man again. Donna wants to know what happens if she has the vaginoplasty and continues with the hormones. Mark says it would be best to treat it in the early stages. Meredith adds that continuing with the hormones would feed the cancer. Donna asks, "Are you saying if I become a woman I could die?" Addison and Callie are watching the Carr's through the window. Addison notes what a happy couple they are, that they love each other, that happy people should have happy things happen to them. Addison says she's going to tell them. Callie says to wait, at least a little while longer, because when they hear the news they won't be happy anymore. Alex and George are fishing together. Far off in the distance you see Burke and Derek. Alex asks if George is really getting back together with Callie. He says yes. Alex says it's not a good idea. Then George says if he told Callie that they shouldn't get back together anymore she would ask why and that he would say 'Well, Alex Karev thinks our relationship isn't such a good idea' He asks Alex, "Do you think that'll do the trick?" Alex says, "Fine, suit yourself." Down stream, Burke and Derek are fishing together. Derek says, "This was my camping trip. I was gonna come alone." Burke asks why he was invited. Derek explains that it's a guy trip, mountain men. Burke says, "You don't have any friends, do you?" Derek says he has friends. Burke skeptically asks, "Guy friends?" Derek says he does then adds, "I just need peace, space. I have a right to space and you go and invite half the hospital." Burke replies with a smirk, "It's because I have guy friends." Sydney is at the doorway very happy she has found Izzie because she was looking for her everywhere. Izzie said Cristina needed help with a patient. Sydney says, "Patient care always comes first", with a very big grin on her face. She sits down on a chair near Cristina and says she'll wait until Izzie is finished. Cristina looks at Izzie implying that she needs to get Sydney out. Meredith asks Mark what is going to happen with Donna now. Mark says, "She goes back to being an unhappy man who's stuck with a penis. There are millions of us out there." Meredith asks if he's unhappy with his penis. He says, "I could be a lot less unhappy. Maybe it's for the best that he's taking some space. Maybe you two aren't meant to be together. Look, Derek on the outside he holds it all together but he's damaged goods, Meredith. It's my fault. I damaged him, maybe forever. You really wanna drink from a poisoned well?" Vicky comes out of Donna's room and asks for Mark because Donna is talking about getting the surgery again. Richard has joined Derek and Burke. In the background, Alex and George are fishing. Richard says Walter and Joe are tired of not catching any fish so they went on a hike. He asks Derek and Burke what they make of it. Burke asks, "Joe and Walter?" Chief says no, he's talking about the fish and any theories as to why there aren't any. Derek says he has one, with disdain in his voice, "fish generally don't like to go where there's a lot of noise." Upstream, George asks Alex if he noticed anything different about Burke. Alex says no, before George has a chance to continue he sees Alex baiting a hook when he shouldn't so George offers to help him. Abruptly Alex says, "She's sleeping with Sloan, dude. Callie. She's sleeping with Sloan." George says she's not. Alex reiterates and says, "Torres is doing Sloan." George drops his tackle box and tells Alex to take it back. Back down stream, Derek says, "People chatting, laughing, moving around that sort of thing. That's sort of the thing let's the fish know that they're not alone. That's the theory." Burke says, "So I invited other people." Derek says, "I'm just saying it's not a frat party." In the background you hear George telling Alex to take it back while exchanging hits with each other. Richard sees and tells them to break it up. In the middle of a cleared out area, Alex and George are standing face to face with Richard in between them. In the background Derek has his hand to his face and Burke is watching with interest. Richard says, "I don't condone fighting. I don't like fighting. I think it is pointless and foolish. But you two idiots seem determined to beat the hell out of each other. So if you're gonna do it you're gonna do it by my rules." George does not like the idea of rules. Richard says, "Yes, O'Malley, rules to help you protect your hands so you don't do irreparable damage to them. Damage that would end your careers before they even started." Alex whispers, "You're dead." He looks very intense. Richard continues, "So with that in mind we're going to do open-handed combat." Alex and George both say, "A slap fight?" Richard continues with the rules: no scratching or biting, no kicking or wrestling moves of any kind. Alex looks disappointed. Derek says to Burke, "This is ridiculous. Karev is gonna kill him." Burke says, "Not necessarily." Richard asks if there are any questions. George says, "That doesn't leave us with much." Richard moves away from them because the fight is going to begin. Burke says that George is a scrapper. Derek thinks Alex is going to destroy George. George throws off the beanie and vest he was wearing. He and Alex get into their ready positions. Burke continues to defend George - that he is tougher than he looks, silent but deadly. Derek says, "This is immature and stupid. I would think you would agree with me." Burke says, "They're letting off some steam. This is why you don't have any guy friends." Derek stands up and says, "Yeah, this is why I should've come alone." Alex and George start fighting. Donna is seated on a couch convinced to have the surgery and if Sloan does not perform it she'll go to New York and find someone who will. Meredith, standing next to Vicky near the bed, says she's going to have a hard time finding someone to do it. Mark says he's trying to save her life. Donna says, "As a man. I am not a man. I'll fight the cancer. I'll just fight it as a woman." A frustrated Vicky says, "Wake up, Daniel!" She calmly says, "My name is Donna." Vicky says, "I'm not gonna stand by and watch you kill yourself." She leaves the room. Donna says, "I need Vicky to love me. But I need her to love me. Callie has just finished putting Jamie's arm in a cast. The Carr's laugh about using this story against their son when he is 15. Callie nods at Addison who is standing by the door. Addison approaches the couple and says she needs to speak with them about their son. They seem to already know the news before Addison says anything. Ted shakes his head in disbelief. Jamie says, "You have to say it. I won't believe it unless you say it." There is no audio. Through the window Addison tells them the bad news about their baby. Jamie puts her head against Ted's chest and braces his arm. Cristina and Izzie are in the bathroom looking through more poop when Cristina says, "Thanks for this Izzie, thank you. 'No good deed goes unpunished'." Izzie says, "Good deed? You're making me dig through crap. It's not like I asked her to spend the day with me." Sydney asks them if everything is going well with a big smile on her face. Cristina says to Izzie, "Okay I can't have that grinning puppet head stare at me another second so just go. Hey this is my crap. This is my crap. Bailey assigned me this crap and you get Sydney." Izzie says, "Fine. Come on, Sydney, we can go." Sydney says, "Okie dokie smokey." Izzie gives Cristina a look of deepest loathing as they leave. Eric walks to the door of the bathroom and says, "Man, I thought my brother and I had problems but you two are morons." Cristina says, "Okay, well, swallowing Monopoly pieces wasn't exactly a genius move. You could've really hurt yourself." Eric says he didn't hurt himself and now his mother is going to let him play Monopoly whenever he wants, that's all that matters - getting to play. Cristina asks, "And that makes you smart?" Eric says, "You're fishing through my poop. How smart are you?" Cristina sighs under her surgical mask. Alex and George are fighting - mostly hitting their arms against each other because of the rules Richard set up. Derek says he doesn't even know why they are fighting. Burke coaches George from where he is sitting. Alex wraps his arms around George's torso. Richard comes in and says no wrestling and pulls Alex away. Derek says this is stupid. Burke says, "George is defending his honor. Karev said that Sloan's been sleeping with Torres." Derek says, "He what?" Burke continues to coach George. Joe and Walter come back and are confused as to what is going on. George and Alex continue to fight. Burke emulates their moves. Walter tells Joe, "Next time we're not going camping with straight guys." Right as he says this, Alex tackles George into Walter causing him to fall and hit his head against a rock. They all spring into action and see if Walter is okay. Meredith is sitting at a desk with a book. Cristina comes in and says, "So basically you're getting paid to look at penis's all day." Meredith says she's studying for McSteamy's surgery. Cristina asks if Meredith likes McSteamy. Meredith says yes then, "I mean no, no not like that. He thinks I'm better off without Derek's baggage, thinks there's too much history there. Maybe in his own sick, twisted way he's just trying to protect me." Cristina says, "Protect you? Maybe." Cristina is quiet for a few seconds then says, "Hey, um, when your mother was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's why didn't you tell anyone?" Meredith says her mother asked her not to and asks why. Cristina asks, "So you think it was right to keep her secret?" Meredith says yes and asks why. Cristina says, "Even if it meant you had to fish crap out of a toilet all day [quieter] and probably for years to come." Meredith puts the book down and says, "Okay rewind. Start at the beginning. Whose secret are you keeping?" Cristina gets a page and has to leave. Meredith looks confused. Cristina rushes into Eric's room. He is coughing and looks very ill. She tells him to lie down. She examines him and notes that his abdomen is rigid and that there's blood in his vomit. She tells the nurse to page Bailey. Walter is seated in the middle of all the doctors. Derek is cleaning his wound, a deep cut on his forehead, with a cotton swab. Burke is making a needle with a fishing hook. Derek is finished cleaning and tells Walter they will be giving him stitches. Walter asks if it's going to hurt and Derek says yes. Walter winces at the thought. Joe is holding his hand, he kisses it and says it's going to be okay. Richard sees them and looks sad for a moment then asks Alex if he wants to do the stitches. Joe says he wants an attending, Burke, to do it. He adds, "You're doing some kind of crazy MacGyver surgery in the middle of the woods I want what's best for my guy." George watches Burke closely. Burke seems to be having a hard time. George says, "Don't worry. Dr. Burke is really good at doing this. You are, right?" Burke looks at George. Everyone looks at George then everyone looks back at Burke. They proceed to give him stitches. Burke is struggling and Derek asks, "You got it?" With confidence, Burke says, "I always have it", and looks at George again. Bailey is washing her hands as Cristina stands next to her. She clears her throat to get Bailey's attention. Bailey asks what she wants. Cristina says, "He is my patient. I've been with him all day. If there's any chance that I can get in on this surgery. I'd really --" Bailey interrupts and asks why her name was erased from the board. Cristina tries to say she doesn't know what Bailey is talking about. Bailey says, "You really want to go head to head with me? You really want that? Right now, this second, in this moment you chose your own fate." Bailey goes into the O.R. Izzie and Sydney are watching Bailey's surgery. Sydney says, "So tell me about Denny." Izzie, in an annoyed slightly angered voice, asks, "What?" Sydney says it helps to talk about it. Izzie says, "We are done here." Sydney moves a seat closer to Izzie, puts her hand on her thigh, and says, "It helps to share." Izzie says, "No. I don't want to share with you." She looks at Sydney's hand and Sydney takes it away. Izzie says, "Do you know what I've been doing all day? Sifting through feces. I would rather sift through feces than talk to you." Sydney looks taken aback. Izzie continues, "And now you bring up Denny like you want me to gossip with you." Izzie gets up to leave and Sydney says she understands that it is difficult for her. Izzie says, "You understand? Really? You cut someone's LVAD wire? You fell in love with a man and he died?" Sydney says no. Izzie says angrily, "Then what in the hell could you possibly know." Izzie leaves the gallery. Mark and Meredith are operating on Donna. She says she's surprised that Mark agreed to go ahead with the surgery. Mark says, "People don't come to me to fix what's on the outside. They come to me to fix what's on the inside. So if that means giving someone a straighter nose, or bigger breasts, or if that helps a person get by. I don't run. I don't hide. I don't take space." Richard and Alex are seated around the fire. Alex says, "Don't look at me. I didn't start it...I just came out here to have some fun. Then the guy gets all over me about what I'm wearing. Just rubs me the wrong way." Chief says he, Alex, should be enjoying the great outdoors. Alex says, "You know I grew up in a bar, literally in a bar. My dad was always doing one of two things in there: playing music or drinking. Dude never even took me to the park. I just figured this is my chance to get out with the guys. The one time I try." Chief says, "You wanted to be a different person?" Alex looks at him and doesn't say anything. Richard notices Walter and Joe behind Alex and says, "They're a happy couple." Richard opens up and says, "I miss my wife." Several feet away George and Burke are seated together. Burke tells George he has high standards. George tells Burke that HE, Burke, has high standards. Burke tells him that his, George's, standards are too high; that people make mistakes. He adds, "Your standards are too high. You see a flaw, you attack." George pauses and starts to ask about Cristina. Burke says, "Cristina and I are a team. We are a team. You're either part of a team or you play alone for the rest of your life." George closes his tackle box and walks away. Addison is with the Carr's. Jamie is delivering her son. She looks as if she is in a lot of pain, both physical and mental. Addison tells her to push. Ted supports her as much as he can. Jamie is able to push the baby out. She is in tears. Ted strokes her forehead as Addison hands her their baby. Ted breaks down and starts crying as well. They try to console each other as much as possible. Callie comes next to Addison with tears in her eyes. She puts her hand on Addison's shoulder. They both look extremely sad. Derek is quietly fishing. Burke and Richard look at one another gesturing their heads towards Derek both trying to get the other to say something. Burke says, "So that Mark Sloan, he's bad news." Derek says, "He's like a cancer. He infects everybody. We're three hours out of Seattle and, still, he affects everything. You know, I thought, if I just got away for awhile by myself I would get some answers, a fresh start." Richard says, "Fresh starts. No such thing." Derek says, "Any other words of wisdom there, Chief?" Richard replies, "I'm living in a hotel. I buy most of my clothes from the hotel gift shop. And my wife won't speak to me." Burke says, "Don't look at me. I came out here for the same reasons you did. I have no wisdom. There is no wisdom here." Derek says, "So, in other words, we're all a bunch of idiots. They all say yes and Chief adds, "Who wants to go home?" All the men are shown walking on the trail and bridge back 'home'. Sydney comes in to find Izzie. She is sitting on a bench putting on her boots. Izzie sees her out of the corner of her eye but does not say anything. Sydney says, "I lost a kid my first year. It was my fault and I just couldn't [trails off] so I had a break down. They gave me time off and when I came back I put a smile on my face and everybody thought I was fine. I lost a kid. It comes in waves, Izzie. There's a lull and then another wave hits you. I wasn't trying to pry I just wanted you to know that it's okay not to be fine sometimes." Izzie nods and says, "I miss him. All the time I miss him. It's not waves. It's constant, all the time. And I walk through the doors of this hospital and I want to be here, I do. But I, I don't know if I can be a surgeon again and I can't talk about it because it scares me too much. Okay?" Sydney nods and says okay. Meredith comes in to find Vicky at Donna's bedside. Donna is asleep. Vicky smiles at Meredith. Meredith says, "You came back." Vicky nods and says, "I was heading home. I was on my way to the airport. You know you asked before why I came back the first time. You know I tried not to. I went on dates. I had a lot of great first dates with guys who were planning to stay guys. But you know you have a great date and you want to go and tell your best friend about it. Well, my best friend is Daniel. Donna. And then you have a few bad dates and -- she's my best friend. She knows me. She loves me. She's my husband. At the end of the day it's Donna. Even when she hurts me, even when I hate her." Vicky wraps Donna's hand around hers. Meredith smiles and says, "She's who you wanna talk to." Callie and Addison are sitting on the floor in a hallway. Addison says, "So, you're sleeping with Sloan." Callie corrects her and says "was". Addison says, "Me too. Was." Addison asks if it was a hail storm of self loathing and misery. Callie laughs and says yes. Addison laughs too and asks if Callie wants to get a drink. Callie gets a page and Addison says, "Some other time then." Callie says definitely. They both smile. Callie gets off the ground and leaves. Cristina watches Bailey in Eric's room from the nurse's station. Bailey tells Eric's mother he is going to make a full recovery. Burke comes next to Cristina and puts his arm around her waist. She says, "You're back! I'm glad you're back." She leans her head against his shoulder and he kisses her forehead. He says, "Me too." George finds Callie. They both say they need to talk. Callie says it is about his father. A curtain is drawn back and George's father is laying in a hospital bed. Meredith and Mark are seated at a booth together. Mark says, "So this could be just a drink or this could be more than a drink...Start over, Meredith. Start fresh." He gets a page and says, "Saved by the bell." Meredith smiles. Mark stands up to answer his page at the pay phones. He asks Meredith to get him another beer. Meredith is at the bar counter when Derek comes in. He walks up to her and says, "Hi. I'm Derek Shepherd." He extends his hand out to shake. Meredith lets out a quick laugh and asks what he's doing. Derek says, "We met at this bar. Do you remember? We met and you said 'I'm just a girl' and I said 'I'm just a guy' and we started this thing. We started this thing and you didn't know anything about me; the good, the bad, the wife. You didn't even know my name. You didn't know me. I want you to know me. I wanna start over from the beginning. So, hi, I'm Derek Shepherd." Derek extends his hand again. Meredith looks down at it and says, "You walked away and now it's too late. There's too much water under the thing or whatever." Derek says her name and adds a quiet "please". A few feet behind Derek, Meredith sees Mark. She looks at him then back at Derek. Derek smiles. Meredith extends her hand and says, "Hi, I'm Meredith Grey." Mark sees this interaction and leaves. They shake hands and Derek says, "Very nice to meet you, Meredith." She says, "It's nice to meet you." Derek and Meredith get closer and closer and finally lean in to a kiss.

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 Ramírez 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
 * Kali Rocha as Dr. Sydney Heron
 * Clare Carey as Nikki Gibson
 * Alexandra Billings as Donna Gibson
 * Alexandra Holden as Jamie Carr
 * Jim Parrack as Ted Carr
 * Steven W. Bailey as Joe
 * Jack Yang as Walter

Co-Starring

 * Moe Irvin as Nurse Tyler Christian
 * Joshua Cabrera as Eric Sanborn
 * Monica Sanchez as Holly Sanborn

Donna Gibson

 * Diagnosis:
 * Doctors:
 * Treatment:

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song Where the Boys Are, originally sung by Connie Francis.
 * This episode scored 20.65 million viewers.

Quotes

 * Meredith: Derek's camping. Taking time. Getting space.
 * Cristina: Prestons do not go into the woods. A guy named Preston is gonna get his ass kicked by a squirrel.
 * Izzie: It's basically a slumber party, they do it outside, we do it inside. It's really the only difference.
 * Mark: You seen what's his face?
 * Izzie: Alex Karev.
 * Mark: Poor bastard gets a thrill out of tagging along after me.
 * Meredith: He's camping.
 * Mark: How'd you like to get a thrill out of tagging along after me?
 * Meredith: Dr. Bailey makes the assignments.
 * Bailey: Dr. Bailey says it's fine.


 * Meredith: Okay, before you start, there are rules to this friendship thing or whatever.
 * Mark: The Dirty Mistresses Club has rules? Gosh, I thought a bunch of dirty mistresses would be a little less uptight about these uh, rules.
 * Meredith: Number one, no flirting. Second, no talking about Derek and C, no giving me the face.
 * Mark: The face?
 * Meredith: The McSteamy face. Doesn't work on me. I'm immune.
 * Mark: You know, if I'd gone off to the woods, I would've invited you to keep me warm.
 * Meredith: Breaking rules 1, 2 and 3.