The Great Pretender

"Everybody has something to hide. We can't just expose all our secrets to the world. That's how we get hurt. That's how we risk hurting other people. We have to decide how much we let out and keep the truth to ourselves. It's scary to reveal everything about ourselves. Fear makes us hold ourselves back. Is that so wrong? Maybe. Probably. But still. It helps to be a little sneaky, a little protective. It's not safe to just blurt out all of your secrets. We can't just lay all the truth out there. Expose ourselves to God and everybody. 'Cause once the truth is out, we have to face it ourselves."

- Meredith Grey

 is the twelfth episode of the eleventh season and the 232nd overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Maggie gets upset when Meredith dodges her questions about DC, Bailey and Ben become concerned about Ben's brother after he is admitted to the hospital, and Dr. Herman starts to warm up to Arizona. Meanwhile, Richard feels manipulated by Catherine.

Full Summary
Bailey is in the woods with Ben and his brother Curtis. She's worried, because they're close to the road and what they're doing is illegal. Curtis takes an urn from his backpack. They're here to scatter their father's ashes, as it was his wish.

Arizona is about to hop in the shower. As she takes off her robe, Jo comes in, so she puts it back on. Jo apologizes but their shower is still broken, and she's having a discussion with Alex on how to preserve bread. She takes off her clothes as she explains it to Arizona and hops in the shower instead of Arizona.

As she walks back to her room, she yells at Alex to get his shower fixed.

Meredith's waiting for an elevator as Maggie comes over. The kids are good, Maggie tells her. Meredith thanks her again and tells Maggie she's a little exhausted from her weekend in D.C. as Callie comes over, asking how Derek reacted when she showed up and what they did. Meredith appears to want to dodge the questions and is relieved when the elevator arrives. Alex is on it and they all get on it too.

Alex asks to tell them all about the weekend so she doesn't have to show up at his bed in the middle of the night. Luckily, she didn't do that this morning. Callie doesn't like to hear everyone's getting sex but her. Meredith again dodges all the questions and gets off the elevator.

Owen and Callie enter the attending's lounge. He complains about Herman overloading the OR schedule with procedures, while Callie is concerned about not being great with one night stands anymore. She wants to know how he picks up woman. He says he's just honest about his past in the army and his work as a trauma surgeon, and Callie understands why that works. Owen then notices the couch has disappeared from the room.

Arizona joins Amelia and Stephanie in the CT boot. Nicole is about to have her scan taken as Arizona tells her colleagues what happened in the shower. The mic is still on, so Nicole tells Arizona to get her own place. Nicole loves the story and asks some more questions. She laughs at "residents gone wild", as Arizona described it. Amelia asks Arizona to go because she's making Herman laugh, which is not ideal for the scan.

Catherine thanks Richard for being there for her this weekend. He hates the circumstances, but he likes how it gave them a chance to reconnect. Catherine asks him about Jackson and April. Richard reminds her they asked her to keep her distance. He knows it's hard for her to do that, but they know she's around for when they need her. She just hates it. She says she'll miss him. He tells her he has a surgery, and she proposes she scrub in so they have a little more time together. He syas he can make that happen and they kiss.

Alex and Maggie enter the attending's lounge and Alex asks Maggie about Meredith's weekend. She replies Meredith didn't actually tell her anything, and they conclude she didn't tell any of them. Alex, too, notices the couch has disappeared.

Curtis is scattering his father's ashes and Bailey asks if he shouldn't say anything. Curtis replies his dad hated funerals; he just wanted to be scattered in the woods. Ben says he was a pain in the ass. Curtis and Ben recall their camping trips in the woods with their dad. Curtis proposes they go now, and Ben suggests a race to the top of the hill. Bailey can't quite follow them, and Curtis has difficulties climbing too. He has difficulties breathing. As Baliey suggests he sit down, Curt rolls down the hill. Ben rushes down and orders to call 911.

Jo, Callie, and Meredith are waiting for the ambulance. Jo heard about Meredith's weekend and even though Meredith won't talk about it, Jo says she got some sex too, which Callie doesn't like to hear. Meredith rushes to the first ambulance and is surprised to find Bailey presenting the patient instead of a paramedic. She, Meredith, and Ben take Curtis inside as Callie and Jo take on the case of Hillary. She fell down a concrete stairs at the park. Hillary's boyfriend is with her, saying it was his fault. He didn't push her, but he proposed to her. Callie doesn't quite understand why that would cause her to fall down the stairs, and just takes Hillary inside.

Meredith can't find anything wrong with Curtis. He claims he was just woozy because he missed breakfast. Meredith finds some tenderness in his abdomen and Bailey orders tests. Meredith gives Curt a gown to wear, but he doesn't want to put it on. He tells Ben to back off, so Meredith takes Ben and Bailey outside. She'll be back for Curtis when he's done changing. Bailey wants to go back to talk to Curt, who's usually a sweetheart, but Meredith says she can take it.

In the ER, Todd tells Callie and Jo, who are examining Hillary, that he proposed on top of the stairs because that's where they had their first date. He's repeating his speech as Hillary wakes up. He promises to never leave her side again and Jo and Callie appear to find him exagerrating. Seconds later, Hillary faints again. Jo shows Todd to the waiting room.

Owen finds Herman in her office. She scheduled another surgery. He then sees she's sitting on the attending's lounge couch. She claims she needs this couch, as it's the best in the building. She seducingly invites him to try it out. He doesn't know what to say, but she says she was joking. She promises the surgery will be quick and again, albeit laughing, seducingly tries to get him to test the couch.

Meredith tells Curtis his lever enzymes are off the charts. He explains he may have drunken too much whisky last night, reminiscing about his father. Meredith wants to go get a CT. He asks her where she's getting at. She responds that the test results didn't make any sense. He has the estrogen levels of a young woman. She wants to help him, but she's gonna need him to tell her what he's dealing with in order to do that.

Amelia informs Hillary that an artery under her skull is bleeding, so they surgically need to repair it. Then Callie and Jo will repair the knee fracture. Amelia is concerned about the fainting, which Todd told them has happened more than once, but Hillary doesn't seem to want her to run tests to find out what causes them. She reveals she didn't faint. She faked it because she didn't know how to say no to his proposal without breaking his tender little heart. Callie is shocked.

Catherine and Richard are operating. As he suggests he come visit her sometimes to do it more often, she keeps the talk professional. She asks the scrub nurse to have Dr. Avery paged, not paying attention to Richard at all.

Meredith tells Curt that his spleen is swollen, so they have to take it out. Ben thinks his brother's on drugs, because he doesn't know what else could cause this kind of organ damage. Meredith doesn't have an other idea. Curt assures his brother he's never done drugs.

Outside the room, Ben tells Bailey that Curtis would never lie to him, so drugs are off the table. Bailey tells him to start thinking like a doctor. He says he is. He suspects it may be colon cancer, which is what their father died of, and he wants to run tests. Bailey appears to be suspecting something else and as Ben walks off, she approaches Meredith. Her husband might be blind, but she's not. Curtis has no body hair and he waxes his eye brows. Looking at his results and organ damages, she thinks she knows what he's doing. Meredith appears to be thinking the same thing and says they're gonna have to ask Curt.

Meredith is watching Bailey talk to Curt as Maggie comes over. After some small talk about Zola, Maggie says she's not here to judge Meredith, but she's a bad liar. Maggie knows that Meredith didn't pack the suitcase full of lingerie to go see Derek, because he called her three times, asking where Meredith was. Meanwhile, Meredith texted her she was having a great time. So, wherever Meredith was this weekend, it wasn't with Derek. Maggie wants to be there for Meredith, but she likes Derek and she hates lying. Suddenly, Bailey calls them into Curt's room as he throws up blood.

Nicole interrupts Arizona and Alex's talk because they have a surgery to get too. Arizona wants Alex to buy Jo a robe or something, but Alex doesn't see why he'd do that. Alex informs Nicole, who's excited to hear all about it, that Robbins got handsy. Arizona claims she's not, but Alex reminds her that her being handsy with a resident lead to the policy. Arizona thinks Jo walking around naked around the house puts them in an awkward position, but Alex is down for whatever's gonna happen. Nicole is smiling at the whole conversation. Jo comes over and Alex tells her that Arizona needs her to put pants on because she keeps checking out Jo's ass. Arizona objects, but does say that Jo's ass is nice. "That's reportable," Nicole remarks. Arizona says she hates them all and walks off for her surgery. Nicole says this is the best day and follows her.

Hillary tells her doctors that Todd is nice, but he cares for her too deeply. He likes to pet her. He's boring. So she started to pretend to faint. Amelia comments it's diabolical and Jo asks why she doesn't just tell him. Because it would kill Todd, Hillary says. The more feelings Todd get, the less she got. And then she pretended to faint during his proposal, but she didn't realize the steps were so close. Then she had to go with it, all the way down. She can really commit, but not to Todd.

Owen finds Amelia, who informs him Nicole's tumor has grown a little, albeit in the margins she expected. Owen brings up Nicole's behavior, especially the flirting. Amelia asks if he took her up for it, because Herman is attractive and tall. She asks if he finds being tall people attractive. Not by rule, he replies. Besides, she's a colleague, so that's not a good idea either. She asks if that's a rule, no co-workers. Owen says he likes co-workers, although the hospital has rules about dating co-workers. He feels a little awkward, thanks her for the update and walks off.

Jackson enters Catherine and Richard's OR. Catherine asks him to check her suture, but he suspects she's just using it as an excuse to check up on him and April. Richard says he got played too.

Bailey finds Ben and tells him Curtis is in surgery. Ben wonders how it could've happened in just an hour's notice. Ben is now convinced he is using. As he starts guessing which drugs his brother is on, Bailey tells him to talk to Curt. He'll tell Ben everything after surgery. Ben keeps on pushing her to tell him what's going on, feeling like he's being lied to by his brother and his wife. Bailey decides to tell him, only so he can react better when Curtis tells him. Bailey tells him Curt is transitioning. She's transgender. She identifies as female and wants to live life as a woman. Curtis is becoming his sister. Ben laughs, suspecting it's a joke Curtis put her up to. She remains dead serious, making him face the truth.

Maggie and Meredith are operating on Curtis. Meredith asks Maggie what she said when Derek called. The first time, she said Meredith was in the shower. The second time, she said Meredith was taking a nap, and the third time, she made up a medical emergency. Maggie repeats she hates lying, but Meredith doesn't react and continues operating.

Bailey leaves the gallery and updates Ben on the surgery. Ben thinks his brother is having a nervous breakdown after their father's death and suggests they get him a psych consult, but Bailey objects. She wants him to go talk to his sister and listen to her. She needs to her that he's okay with her decision and that he'll always be there for her.

Arizona is talking to Herman about the surgery. Herman says Arizona's a hypocrite, as she was so high and mighty when she was boffing Graham, and now she found out that Arizona had sex with a resident too. She wants to know which one, finding it all interesting. Arizona says that resident is gone now. The many break-ups with Callie come up and she reveals she cheated on Callie. Herman is surprised. She thought Arizona was no fun at all, and now she finds out that she's in fact a dirty, dirty girl. Arizona laughs.

Amelia finishes up Todd's brain surgery. She sends Jo out to update Todd. Callie feels for him, but Amelia is on Hillary's side. She thinks it's a problem when a person is so invested in you that it makes you want to pass out. Callie finds that this is the reason why she can't pick people up anymore: she doesn't know how to put them back down. That's why she has no game. Amelia says she used to have game. She used to be fun, and cool, and sexy. She went to bars where she did this thing where she shortly made eye contact and looked away, sparking a guy's interest. Callie asks what her secret was. Drugs, Amelia replies. Ever since she got off them, she totally lost her game. Callie recognizes herself in that. Amelia wants to clarify that she's in no way encouraging using narcotics as a dating aid.

Still in the OR, Catherine asks Jackson how April is doing. Jackson replies that she's fine. They're doing okay. Catherine replies she doesn't believe that for a bit. Jackson admits April is sad and angry about the baby and God. He can't help her with that, because it makes her crazy, which makes him feel useless. So, he's giving her space. Catherine recommends he do as she does: stay out of her way, but not too far, and find something else to occupy your mind, like work. Be close, but out of sight, so he can be there when she's ready. Jackson concludes that's stalking and leaves. Richard asks Catherine if this weekend was just something to occupy her mind.

In the scrub room, Meredith tells Maggie she's not cheating on her husband. Maggie wants to know why she's being so weird about her weekend then. Maggie needs her to tell her something as she lied for her. Meredith apologizes for having put her in that position, but that doesn't make it her business. Maggie thought they were finally getting somewhere as sister, as Meredith trusted her with her kids. Meredith snaps that she trusts her babysitter with her kids, but that doesn't mean she owes her her life story. Maggie is hurt and Meredith realizes that came out wrong. Maggie tells her to call her babysitter and leave her out of next time then, and she leaves.

Todd happily enters Hillary's room and Amelia informs him both surgeries went very well. He thanks them and he tells Hillary that he's going to take her home and make sure she has everything she needs. Behind his back, Callie urges Hillary with gestures to tell him the truth. She starts saying he's been sweet for, but she's been unfair to him. He shushes her and tells her not to worry about him. He's right here and he's never leaving her. Hillary doesn't know what to do and "faints" again, despite of Callie's angry gestures. Callie then tells Todd the truth. She walks Todd out and says that he needs someone who wants the kind of attention that only he can give. And it's not gonna be Hillary. He'll be fine without her and he'll find the right girl. Amelia tells him Callie's right and not to waste another minute. Callie closes the door behind his back and urges him to walk away. Hillary thanks them.

Ben asks his sister where it's suddenly all coming from. She replies she's known ever since she was five. Ben doesn't understand why she's never told him, as they've always shared everything with each other. Curtis says she's felt trapped and she's been pretending her entire life. She's done with that. She wants to be happy with who she is. She asks if Ben can understand that. An emotional Ben asks if it now suddenly matters what he thinks. Curtis replies he knows it does. As Baliey appears in the doorway, Ben asks if he's supposed to be just okay with this. Ben storms out and Bailey tells Curtis she'll go talk to him. Curtis tells her not to bother and asks how soon she can get out of here.

As he's walking her out, Richard admits to Catherine that he feels used by her. She got what she wanted and now she's leaving. Catherine recalls he said to her that she uses people all the time, so it shouldn't surprise him now. Richard said he was angry when he said that. And she was angry when she heard them. Richard thought they'd moved on from that after the last few days. She appreciates that he was there for her in her time of need, but she's still her and he's not okay with who she is. One minute, he finds powerful women attractive, the next minute his feelings are hurt. He can't have it both ways, and he has to figure that out before they move on anywhere.

Meredith finds Maggie and tells her that she froze in the airport, right before getting on the plane. She watched it take off and she got in her car, and she left. She didn't know how to tell anyone that she didn't go visit her husband, so she spent the entire weekend by herself in a hotel near the airport. Maggie understands that she hid out of embarrassment. She understands it must've been awful, and she only made it worse by asking all the questions. She apologizes and thanks Meredith for having told her. Meredith thanks her for understanding.

Bailey finds Ben and tells him she's really disappointed in him. Ben says he's not as quick to adjust as she is. He spent a room or an apartment with his brother for 25 years, and only now this thing comes up. Miranda understands that Curtis wasn't ready yet. Ben says it wouldn't be an issue if it were anyone else, but he's shared every single detail of his life with his brother, and now Curt waited 25 years to tell him the biggest thing. Bailey says it's not about him, it's Curtis's story. Ben feels like their entire life together's been a lie. Bailey says Curt needs his help now. Ben says he should've asked 25 years ago. He's done with him. Her, Bailey corrects him.

Bailey walks into Curt's room and introduces her to Jackson. Jackson asks her if she has a name. Rosalind, she replies. Jackson shakes her hand and goes over some ground rules. These off-shelf hormone treatments she's been taking are off the table. Everything that goes into her body now gets regulated and approved by this hospital. Curt agrees. Bailey smiles as Jackson starts walking her down the process.

Arizona and Herman are hanging out on the couch. Arizona says she used to be fun, and now she lives in a house with naked people and her friends are also Callie's friends and all she has is work and she never wants to go home. Herman opens up about her past and says she used to do everything that her ex found important. She was worried about what he thought about her, what her peers thought, what everybody thought. Now, she does what she wants, when she wants. She likes life so much better now that she has nothing. She recommends Arizona do that. Arizona says she should go home, but Herman says this is her home now. That's why she stole the couch. She's gonna spend every minute here, until it's over. Arizona decides to stay with Herman tonight then. Herman says she should know that they're not going to have sex. They both laugh.

Amelia visits Owen at the trailer. She wanted to visit, so she brought wine, which is what people do. Owen brings to her attention the bottle she brought is a bottle of water. Because she doesn't drink, Amelia says. Amelia apologizes for literally having no game and hands over the bottle. She says she should go and leaves him with the bottle. As she walks off, he asks if she wants some water, but she's not thirsty. He tells her to stop and walks after her. He says he's going to kiss her now. So he does. After they finish, he says that she can go home now. She's a little lost and wanders off smiling towards her home.

Callie is at Joe's bar and sees a hot guy at the other end of the bar. She uses the short look thing Amelia told her about, but since it takes him too long to come over, she just walks up to him and asks him to dance with her. He agrees and they go to the dance floor and start dancing.

Arizona and Herman are moving another couch through the hospital.

Meredith enters her old house and sits down in the living room with Alex. She tells him she didn't get on the plane. She tells him she went to a hotel by herself. He asks if she didn't wnat to see Derek. She did, but too much. She was scared he wouldn't be happy to see her, which would mean it'd be over between them. He asks why she didn't just come back. She was going to come back, but then she didn't. And it was amazing

A flashback shows her arriving in her hotel room, watching TV while eating pizza, falling asleep after reading a book, drinking, and jumping on her bed in lingerie.

Meredith says she liked the three days, not being anybody's wife, mother, or doctor. Just her. She really enjoyed it. If she'd gone to D.C., they would've fought or talked about fighting and she didn't want to do that. She doesn't want to split up with Derek, but she definitely doesn't want to be with him right now.

Not knowing Meredith's visiting, a naked Jo walks into the living room to ask Alex something. She hides behind the wall and says a little warning would be nice. Jo says it's perfectly fine not to wear pants though. She walks off and Alex says he's going to marry that girl. Meredith says she doesn't know what's going to happen with her and Derek.

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 (credit only)
 * 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
 * Benjamin Patterson as Curtis Warren
 * Amelia Rose Blaire as Hillary List
 * Charlie Bodin as Todd
 * Geena Davis as Dr. Nicole Herman

Co-Starring

 * Shi Ne Nielson as Paramedic
 * Juan Antonio as Hot Guy

Nicole Herman

 * Diagnosis:
 * Brain tumor


 * Doctors:
 * Amelia Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
 * Stephanie Edwards (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:

Nicole had yet another scan and Amelia told Hunt that her tumor had grown as expected.

Herman's Patients

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Nicole Herman (fetal surgeon)
 * Arizona Robbins (fetal surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Surgery

Herman mentioned that she and Arizona were seeing three patients that day.

Richard's Patient

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Richard Webber (general surgeon)
 * Catherine Avery (urologist)
 * Jackson Avery (plastic surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Colectomy

Catherine scrubbed in with Richard on an open colectomy to place his ureteral stents. Catherine called in a plastics consult just to get Jackson in the OR.

Rosalind Warren

 * Diagnosis:
 * Splenic bleed


 * Doctors:
 * Meredith Grey (general surgeon)
 * Maggie Pierce (cardiothoracic surgeon)
 * Jackson Avery (plastic surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Splenectomy

Rosalind, 31, was assigned male at birth, but identifies as female. To start this process, she started taking off-shelf estrogen. When she was taken to the ER after fainting in the woods, scans revealed that her spleen was enlarged, probably due to a clot in the splenic artery, so it had to be removed. While she was waiting for surgery, she started to cough up blood. Her use of off-shelf estrogen to jump-start her transition had caused bleeding in her esophagus, which had to be repaired. After her surgery, Bailey got her a plastics consult to get her started on a healthy transition.

Hillary List

 * Diagnosis:
 * Head injury
 * Wrist injury
 * Knee fracture


 * Doctors:
 * Callie Torres (orthopedic surgeon)
 * Amelia Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
 * Jo Wilson (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Casting
 * Surgery

Hillary, 27, fainted and fell down a set of concrete stairs. She injured her head and right wrist and knee. They ordered a CT and x-rays to assess her injuries. An artery under her skull had ruptured, so she needed surgery to fix that and her knee fracture. They were also concerned about her fainting, as Todd had mentioned that it had happened before. When pressed, she admitted she'd been faking it, including the spell that caused her fall down the stairs. She was taken into surgery and both surgeries went well.

Larson Mom

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Nicole Herman (fetal surgeon)
 * Arizona Robbins (fetal surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Surgery

Herman scheduled an additional surgery, on the Larson mom. She told Hunt it would be in and out.

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by The Platters.
 * This episode scored 8.13 million viewers.
 * Filming was scheduled from December 2 to December 13, 2014.
 * The episode will feature scenes that were filmed on location at the Descanso Gardens.