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Infections have a nasty way of sneaking up on you. You're feeling pretty good, you think the infection is gone, and then, it reappears, out of nowhere. When your body's still weak, when you're barely recovered, BAM! You're infected all over again. And once the infection spreads, once it gets into your bloodstream, well, then you really have to watch it, cause that's the kind of infection that can kill you. You know that thing, that terrible thing, you thought you had laid to rest? What if you didn't? You know that thing you think you finally figured out? What if you haven't? When do you know you've put something to bed? When is it finally safe to move on? Maybe you never know. Maybe you just have to test the water. You have to see how it feels. And if it feels good, I mean really good, then, hell, I say go for it.

At Last is the twenty-third episode of the twelfth season and the 268th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Amelia and Owen take their relationship to the next level. Alex gains some clarity on his future with Jo, and Callie and Arizona continue to struggle with the current custody arrangement.

Full Summary[]

As Meredith drives into work, she sees Owen outside the trailer in the parking lot. She goes up to him and he tells her he sold the trailer. She asks if he's moving into her house. He says he actually bought his own house, at Amelia's behest. Owen sees Meredith watching the trailer and asks if he should have asked her before selling it. She says he paid for it, so it's his to do with what he wants. She congratulates him on the house. Meredith watches as the new owner drives away with the trailer.

Jackson, Richard, Bailey, and Ben are in the elevator together. Richard says Catherine's coming into town and invites them all to have dinner. No one answers, so he prods them more and Jackson agrees to come. Bailey says she'll be there, but she's not sure about Ben. Ben says he's in and offers to bring something. Richard wants the artichoke dip, but it's Bailey's secret recipe. She says she'll bring it. Bailey and Ben get off the elevator and go opposite directions. Jackson says it'll be a great party.

Owen and Amelia are operating when Maggie scrubs in to join them. Amelia tells her about Owen's new house. When they start talking about furniture, Maggie asks if they're moving in together. Owen plays along, saying why not and talking about the school district. Maggie says she couldn't even sleep in the same bed as her fiancé and they were engaged for a year. Amelia says long engagements are a bad idea and Owen agrees. Maggie asks if they're engaged now. They both say they aren't. It was hypothetical.

Amelia and Maggie look at scans and talk about her relationship with Owen. Meredith comes in and asks about it. Maggie tells her what's happening, but Amelia corrects that it was hypothetical. Meredith wants to drop it and asks Amelia to look at a scan. Amelia asks why she wants to drop it so badly. Meredith's the one who pushed them back together. Meredith takes her scans and leaves.

Callie is looking at scans on the computer when Penny comes in. The landlord agreed to swap their two-bedroom for a one-bedroom. That would save some money so she can fly back to Seattle every weekend to visit. Callie says okay. Penny says she doesn't want to leave when they're like this. They've barely talked since the trial. She's trying to be around and help, but Callie says she's helped enough. Penny leaves.

Alex tells Nash and his grandma, Evelyn the x-rays came back clear. No breaks. He advises Nash to listen next time his grandma tells him not to climb the bookshelves. As they step away from the bed, Evelyn tells Alex he's been so good with Nash and tries to set him up with her daughter when she sees he doesn't have a ring on his finger, despite him saying he's involved.

Alex tells Meredith about Evelyn and Meredith tells him about Owen and Amelia. She says they can have a double wedding, so she only has to live through it once. Noah comes in carrying Rhys. He says Rhys passed out, came to, and passed out again. Noah's not his father. He's his driver's ed teacher.

Alex runs outside to find the other kid Noah mentioned. He sees Arvin in the driver's seat of a car that's been run into the wall outside the hospital. Arvin asks if he can park there.

Stephanie watches Kyle in his room. Jo tells her to quit hovering and go talk to him. Stephanie won't because he doesn't want it. Stephanie asks about his condition and Jo reluctantly hands over the tablet to let her look. She then runs into his room when she hears him crash. She finds him in his bathroom on the floor. The room started spinning. Kyle leans up and vomits into the toilet. She tries to offer him water, but he tells her to leave. He says he doesn't need help and doesn't want an audience. She tries to get him to pretend he's puking for another reason, like whiskey shots after a show. She asks if his friends and family know he's there. He says it's not her business, but she says she'll need someone. His tremor will come back, but he shows her it already has. She says she's sorry, but he says she should go.

Arvin is on the phone tells his dad he may have brushed against the wall. Alex says he has no sign of any injuries. Arvin says the wall was at the hospital. Noah tells him to tell his father Rhys had a medical emergency. Rhys says it's just strep throat. He's been on antibiotics for two days. Meredith says that shouldn't cause him to faint. Noah says he doesn't know if Rhys has passed out before and Rhys's mother will kill him if he lets something happen. Rhys begs him not to talk about her. Rhys has a peritonsillar abscess that needs to be drained. Rhys doesn't want it, but Noah says he's right there. He told Noah to think of him like a father. Rhys says his mom always talks about when she's going to break up with him. Rhys's mom, Laura, comes in and is upset to learn that Rhys told Noah about her wanting to break up with him. Arvin says it's way better than their last driver's ed class as Meredith starts to drain his abscess.

Arizona and April watch as Callie approaches them. April tells her to be nice. She won, so she can afford to be magnanimous. Callie comes up and asks to switch days. Arizona says she'll make it work. Once she's gone, April tells Arizona to lose the crazed smile.

Stephanie tells Amelia she's worried about Kyle. He's not doing well. Amelia says not to talk to her about it. She's not on the case. Amelia says she's neither family nor friend. He has a complication. She enters Kyle's room as Amelia watches from the door. Kyle's mother and sister are there. They're upset because he waited three days to call them. Stephanie comes in and starts to tell them about the case. When they find out who she is, they say she needs to leave. Ally says her brother's broken a lot of hearts, but no one ever broke his until her. And she thinks her brother would be better off if he'd come in sooner instead of trying to avoid her. Amelia escorts Stephanie to the door and closes it behind her.

Maggie tries to give Nathan a case, but he says he already did the consult. It's a surgery she hates to do, so now he just takes them so she doesn't have to deal with them. He offers her some bacon from his bacon box. She takes some, even though she says it's not healthy.

Noah fights with Laura. He thinks she doesn't respect him because of his job. She doesn't. He says that he saves lives. He's a hero.

Meredith and Alex watch and she says he and Jo are doing it right by not rushing into things. He says they've been together a million years. Andrew comes up and delivers Rhys's results. Meredith says they need a CT now. They need to interrupt the fight to let his mom know. They leave Andrew to do so.

Stephanie gets on an elevator with Jo and begs her to update her on Kyle. Jo says he's not getting better. Amelia's doing a ventricular washout, which is very risky. Stephanie opposes that. Jo leaves and Stephanie asks if he knows how dangerous it can be.

Owen and Amelia talk about life plans after sex. It's all just pretend, but it's fun to talk about. Amelia's pager goes off. She needs to go prep for surgery.

Ben finds Jackson and says Knox needs him to trade surgeries and asks if that's okay with Jackson. Jackson says it is and offers his couch to Ben. Ben says they're not talking to each other, but he and Bailey are fine. She just needs to realize he's right. He's waiting for her to apologize. He says it's like him and April. Jackson says they're divorced. Ben just tells him to stay strong.

Richard finds Bailey and talks to her about her marriage. She says they'll be fine. She's right and once he remembers that's always the case, they'll be fine. He says she should reinstate him once that happens. She says it's hard for her to be forced to tell him it's not her problem and to go do his job. He doesn't think it was hard for her at all.

As they wait for Rhys's CT, Meredith says she'll probably have to host the wedding. She hosted Owen's last wedding, too. Alex asks why she cares. Meredith just wanted Amelia to get a hobby because if she's talking Owen's ear off, she's not doing it for Meredith. This means more talking now. She makes Alex promise not to do it to her. Just elope or something. Rhys's CT comes up. He has necrotizing fasciitis. They rushed him into surgery to remove the infection.

Nathan and Maggie get to the OR at the same time. They argue over who's taking the surgery. He offers it to her because she has seniority. She says she doesn't want it. She tells him to give as good as he gets with Meredith and leaves.

Stephanie talks to Amelia again about Kyle. Amelia tries to brush her off, but Stephanie says she doesn't want Amelia doing the washout. Amelia says it's her plan. She's confident in it. End of discussion. Jo comes to say the OR will be ready in 45 minutes. Amelia tells Stephanie it would be a Hail Mary for another surgeon, but she has it.

Callie is working in her lab when Penny comes in. Penny offers to delay leaving until they're good again. Callie says there's no point. They both know how it ends. Penny doesn't and asks Callie to tell her. She says they'll drag it out. Things will get better and she'll leave. Things will taper off and they'll be sorry and make empty promises. She's stuck there and there's no good solution. Penny asks if she's breaking up with her. Callie says maybe instead of dragging it out, it's better to end it now. They should and Penny should go. Penny leaves.

Stephanie comes into Kyle's room. She says she's bad at following directions. She holds his hand and apologizes to him for hurting him. His sister hates her. He says he missed her, like in a manly way. Stephanie assures him he'll make it through it. He says he's glad because he's way hotter not in a hospital gown. He wants to know the plan for them after it's all over. He wants them to go away together. He suggests she come to tour with him in Europe. She says she's a surgeon, not a groupie. She says she'll just embarrass him. Kyle says he's in it deep with her, so she shouldn't say things if she doesn't mean them. She stands up and kisses him. Jo interrupts, saying it's time for him to go to surgery.

They are working on Rhys. Meredith tells them to go as deep as they need to to get all the infection. They talk about why Meredith's angry. She says they need to focus on Rhys. Nathan makes a joke. He says they all know the stakes. They're all on the same page. Meredith isn't more invested than they are.

Amelia asks Meredith what she was in for. Meredith tells her about Rhys and Amelia says she has a ventricular washout. Meredith says it's a Hail Mary. Amelia says she feels good about it. Meredith says she feels good about a lot of things. Amelia thinks Meredith opposes her being with Owen. Meredith says Amelia's living the life Derek should have had. She's taken over everything else. Meredith tells her to get her own life.

Laura tells Noah he doesn't have to stay, but he wants to make sure Rhys's okay. He cares about her and Rhys, even though it meant nothing to her. Meredith and Alex come up and say they got all the infected tissue. If he hadn't been brought in when he was, they wouldn't have done so well. Laura says Noah saved Rhys's life. He is a hero. She kisses him.

Alex tells Meredith happy endings do happen, but she says it's Post Traumatic Stress Romance. He tells her not to crap on everyone else because she chooses to be unhappy. She has choices. As she walks away, he tells her he's going to have a big wedding and she'll have to deal with it because she'll be his best man.

Arizona is tending to a patient in the nursery. Callie comes in and asks if she can have Sofia tonight. She's had a rough day and she'd like to have Sofia. Arizona they already moved things around once to accommodate her. Arizona says they're only in this place because of her. She ruined everything and expects Arizona to leap to fulfill her needs. Callie gets that Arizona's angry. Arizona says she wasn't angry. She was gracious. She tried to help. But now Callie has used up all her grace.

Meredith sees Penny in the locker room crying. She asks what's wrong. Penny says she's getting her things together to leave. She's leaving sooner because she and Callie broke up. She stayed for Callie, because she though they'd be together. But they're over. They don't work anymore. Meredith says she's sorry. Penny hugs Meredith and Meredith tells her to go kick fellowship ass and she'll be okay. Penny thanks her for teaching her and Meredith says it's her job.

Amelia and Jo are working on Kyle. There's more fluid than they thought. The abscess has ruptured. The work quickly to try to drain it, but his BP rises. Amelia sends Jo up to go to the gallery and get Stephanie out of there so she doesn't have to watch. Jo runs to the gallery, but by the time she arrives, Kyle is dead and Stephanie watches as Amelia pronounces.

Socorro and Ally cry and embrace after being told Kyle died. Stephanie watches from outside the room. Amelia comes out and calls after her. She tells Stephanie they tried everything they could. He was too far gone. She apologizes to Stephanie.

Arizona vents to Richard about Callie, saying Callie was acting like the victim. Callie set it all in motion and there's not a single part that doesn't suck. He says good night and goes to leave. He watches April talk to Jackson about her ultrasound. Then he sees Bailey and Ben getting ready to leave for the night. He goes to the elevator and Catherine is there. She couldn't wait another week to see him and he's very glad to see her.

Alex comes home to find the smoke alarm blaring. Jo tried to make dinner. She asks if she should order pizza or Thai. He puts the pan in the sink and says he's ready to get married. He's proposed twice and she hasn't answered. He bought a ring and it's collecting dust. He needs to know when she'll be ready to get married. He needs to know she's up for it. He's not scared, but he's done waiting. Jo says she can't. She's sorry, but no, she won't marry him.

Owen shows Amelia his house. She says it's great and he goes to go inside, but she doesn't follow. She tells him her patient died today. She thought she knew what she was doing and he still died. She asks if they're good, the two of them. It's real. They know what they're doing. He says they do, so she asks why they aren't building their life. She doesn't want to waste time or talk about hypotheticals. She wants a real life with him. She wants to get married, for real. She proposes.

Meredith stands by her car trunk staring. Nathan scares her by unlocking his car. He tells her it was a hell of a save and says he hopes she feels better. She says she feels fine, but he doesn't believe her. He says she turned the OR into a mine field. He gets why she's angry. Amelia's Derek's sister. He's gone and she's here. He compares her situation to his with Megan. She says it's not the same. They fight and he asks her what she wants. She starts kissing him and he pushes her against the car. He pulls back to say it'll make things weird, but she doesn't care.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Amelia, Maggie, and Owen's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery

Amelia, Owen, and Maggie operated together on a patient.

Nash[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Arm injury
  • Treatment:
    • Sling

Nash injured his arm. In the ER, Alex told him it wasn't broken.

Rhys[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Strep throat
    • Peritonsillar abscess
    • Necrotizing fasciitis
  • Treatment:
    • Antibiotics
    • Surgery

Rhys was brought into the ER when he passed out, came to, and then passed out again. In the ER, he said he'd been taking antibiotics for two days for strep throat. Meredith looked at his throat and saw a peritonsillar abscess, which she said would need to be drained. His films then showed air around his trachea, so they ran a CT. His CT showed necrotizing fasciitis. It had already spread down to his chest wall, so they rushed him into surgery to remove the infection. Meredith encouraged them to go as deep as they needed to so Rhys didn't go through it for nothing. After surgery, they believed they'd resected all the infected tissue.

Arvin[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:

Arvin crashed the car he was driving into a wall at the hospital. He was taken into the ER, where he had no signs of injury.

Kyle Diaz[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Meningitis
    • Sepsis
    • Periventricular abscess
  • Treatment:
    • Antibiotics
    • Drainage
    • Ventricular washout

Kyle was in the hospital being treated for his meningitis. They had to remove his DBS implant, which made his tremor come back. Even with treatment, he was still septic and his neck was stiff three days after surgery. His white count went down and his wound was clean, but CT showed a periventricular abscess, so she planned drainage and ventricular washout. In surgery, the abscess ruptured into the ventricular and despite their best efforts to remove the infection, he was pronounced dead at 15:23.

Nathan's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Decortication

Maggie tried to hand off a patient to Nathan, who said he'd already done the consult.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Walk Into the Sun" Maverick Sabre
  • Amelia and Owen plan their future.
  • He asks if they're really planning it and she says no, but it's fun to pretend.
  • She leaves to prep for surgery.
  • Ben talks to Jackson about surgery and Jackson offers him a place to crash.
  • Ben talks about his marriage.
  • Richard talks to Bailey about her marriage.
"Pray You Catch Me" Beyoncé
  • Callie works in her lab.
  • Penny walks in and they talk about their relationship.
  • Callie suggests ending things instead of dragging it out.
"Waiting Game" Parson James
  • Meredith leaves Penny in the locker room.
  • Amelia operates on Kyle.
  • He starts to crash.
  • Amelia sends Jo to make sure Stephanie doesn't watch.
  • Jo runs to get to Stephanie in the gallery.
  • By the time she gets there, Kyle is dead.
"Masterpiece (Mona Lisa)" Jazmine Sullivan
  • Jo turns down Alex's proposal.
  • Owen shows Amelia his new house.
  • She tells him about Kyle.
  • She proposes to him.
  • Meredith waits in the lot.
  • Nathan compliments her and wishes her well.
  • He asks her about Derek and Amelia and how Amelia's living Derek's life.
  • They argue and then kiss.
  • She shushes him when he tries to stop.

Notes and Trivia[]

Grey's_Anatomy_12x23_Promo_"At_Last"_(HD)

Grey's Anatomy 12x23 Promo "At Last" (HD)

  • This episode's title originated from the song At Last, originally sung by Etta James.
  • This episode scored 7.77 million viewers.[1]
  • The table read for this episode took place on April 6, 2016.[source?]
  • This is the last episode to feature Samantha Sloyan as Penelope Blake.
  • This is the last episode in which Derek's Trailer appears.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

Penny: Callie and I broke up. I came here for her. I stayed here for her. I thought we were going to be together. Doesn't really matter what I thought. We're over. We don't work anymore.
Meredith: Sorry, I had no idea. You'll be okay, Blake. You will be okay. You will pick yourself up and you will go kick some fellowship ass.
Penny: Thank you for teaching me, for everything.

Alex: Just because you choose to be unhappy, doesn't mean everybody else has to.
Meredith: Not true. Not always a choice.
Alex: You have chances, you know. You're hot, you're smart, you're funny. Maybe Thorpe didn't work out, but that doesn't mean you have to stop trying. And it sure as hell doesn't mean you get to crap on everyone else. And yeah, I'm gonna have a big wedding and you're gonna be there 'cause you're gonna be my best man. Deal with it!

Owen: Are you asking me to marry you?
Amelia: Yes. Will you marry me?

Amelia: Hey, Maggie, did you hear Owen bought a house?
Maggie: Oh good, now you can naked-snuggle on his sofa.

Arizona: We already did move things around. Or rather, I already moved things around for you.
Callie: I know, and I thought that's why you would be okay with letting...
Arizona: With bending the rules for your convenience? The rules that only exist because you put us and all of our friends through hell? No. I'm sorry. I just... You know, you chose this. You ruined everything. And yet you still expect me to leap to fulfill your needs. But I did that. I did that this morning.
Callie: Okay, Arizona, I get it. You're angry.
Arizona: I wasn't angry. I was gracious. I was nice and I was accommodating and I tried to help you, and yet here you are again, asking for even more. I do not have any more to give you. You have used up all of my grace.

Alex: I'm ready to get married. I have proposed to you twice, and you still haven't given me an answer. I bought you a ring. You told me not to get rid of it, so it's just sitting in a drawer, collecting dust.
Jo: I know.
Alex: No, I'm ready to be married, and I need to know when you will be ready. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow, but I need to know it's gonna happen. I need to know that you're up for this, 'cause I am. Look, I'm not scared of being committed to you. I want to be married to you. But I'm done waiting. So I just need to know, will you marry me?
Jo: Oh, God. Okay. Okay. I w... Alex, I can't.
Alex: Of course you can.
Jo: Alex...
Alex: I don't need a big thing. I just need you.
Jo: I'm so sorry, but... no.

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.


References[]

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