Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
10,916
pages
in: Articles with unsourced information, All Episodes, GA Episodes, GA S15 Episodes
English

What I Did for Love

Edit

Not to be confused with the Private Practice episode What You Do for Love

“ Here's a partial list of chemicals that our bodies produce when we're falling in love. PEA is a natural form of amphetamine. It puts us on high alert. Pheromones produced from DHEA create an inexplicable sense of wellbeing and comfort. Oxytocin has been called the cuddle hormone and it stimulates the secretion of dopamine, oestrogen and LHRH. This cascade of feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters is also generally accompanied by poor judgment. No wonder they call it crazy in love. When we're in love, the prefrontal cortex, where we make most of our good, rational decisions, goes into sleep mode. And the amygdala, which activates our threat response defenses, calls in sick. Which leaves us pretty vulnerable to take more risks. And left alone without our normal neurological protections, we might find ourselves in dangerous and unexpected places we normally wouldn't dream of going. ”

What I Did for Love is the twenty-third episode of the fifteenth season and the 340th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Maggie treats one of Station 19's own, and Jo learns a hard lesson. Meanwhile, when working with a family seeking asylum, Meredith makes a call that could jeopardize her career.

Full Summary[]

Meredith tells her kids to go get their teeth brushed. Zola still has to finish her breakfast. Amelia expected to find a handsome Italian man brewing cappuccino. Zola knows Amelia is talking about her mom's boyfriend and asks if she has one, too. Maggie arrives, which Amelia uses as an excuse not to talk about Link. They thought she was spending the night at Jackson's. Maggie says she has not officially moved out. Zola teases her about her boyfriend. As Meredith readies the kid's backpacks, Amelia tells her she looks happy.

Link and Amelia are behind Jo at the coffee cart as she orders a quadruple espresso. Link is happy she's back. She's not really working. She's on LEGO duty with Gus. Owen walks up with Leo and notices how Link touches Amelia's back. Leo is fussing. Owen gets paged.

Maggie runs into Jackson at work. He asks what Meredith said about them moving in together, since Maggie said she'd ask her and then took off. Maggie says they didn't really get to it. Jackson doesn't understand why she needs Meredith's permission. Maggie says it's not really permission she's after, but Meredith depends on her with the kids and she's a buffer between her and Amelia. Maggie stresses she will make the decision.

In the clinic, Andrew presents the case of Gabriella Rivera, 4, who's suffering from abdominal pain. Her father Luis translates. Luis came here on a visa and applied for asylum. He only sent for his family after he got an apartment and a job, but they were detained at the border and stuck in cages. They only gave Gabby an antacid. Alex asks Andrew to page Meredith for a consult. While he has been saving for it, Luis does not have insurance yet so he's worried about the costs. Alex says they take care of sick kids no questions asked.

Teddy joins Owen in the ambulance bay. He asks about the house hunt. She keeps comparing houses to the ideal place she had in Germany. The ambulance arrives with Schmitt on it. He says he found the patient, Lucas Ripley, outside the flower shop. Lucas is tachycardic and still unconscious. They take him inside to a trauma room. Levi proudly says he managed the ABC's and stabilization of the neck in the field. Bailey then gets a good look at the patient and identifies him. Levi just saved the Fire Chief of Seattle.

Levi is taking care of Lucas's scalp lac as Andy Herrera, Ben Warren, and Robert Sullivan arrive. Maggie tells them she heard a murmur typical for aortic stenosis, which passing out is typical for. Owen says he may have had this condition for years. Andy wonders why he was at the flower shop. She asks Robert if he's seeing someone. Robert claims he doesn't know. Levi says Lucas was there for Vic. Andy and Ben are shocked, unlike Robert. Maggie plans on doing a TEE and a stress test. Ben and Andy explain why Lucas dating Victoria Hughes is shocking. Lucas wakes up. He wants to see Vic. Robert says they'll call her. Andy follows him asking how long it's been.

Tom finds Teddy in the ER and they banter about Kegel exercises. He's leaving Seattle at 6. She'll miss him. However, with the due date only three weeks away, he'd like to find a sub to cover him in Baltimore so he can stay. He asks if that would be weird. She says it wouldn't be. He actually already made the arrangements but just wanted to feel out her reaction. Owen comes up and Tom tells him he's staying. He already started a playlist. Owen can't deal with him and leaves.

Levi finds Nico, who asks for a hand with his patient. As they reduce an interior shoulder dislocation, Levi talks about his saving the Fire Chief at a flower shop. Nico thinks his mother must be proud, but he hasn't called her yet. Levi says he was buying flowers for Nico since he was going through something and he was expecting an apology. Nico is sorry that he killed a guy and Levi's making it all about himself. Link appears and Levi quickly leaves.

Amelia and Owen are waiting for Lucas's scans to pop up. Owen asks about her and Link. She says he doesn't get to ask or have an opinion. Amelia looks at the scans and clears Lucas. He's just groggy from a concussion.

Jo is building a tower with Gus when a nurse fetches her for a phone call. The caller is Sophie Williams, Head of Trauma at St. Boniface, Winnipeg. They haven an RH-Null patient and they saw Gus in the database. Jo is excited and tells Sophie she'll find the other Dr. Karev and call her right back.

Meredith is examining Gabby and tells her about her own daughter Ellis. She takes a look at the abdominal scan and diagnoses a blockage. If an air enema doesn't help, they might need to fix it surgically. Luis worries about the cost. Alex says he can apply for state coverage, which kicks in immediately. Andrew can take him to fill out the forms. Luis is hesitant to leave Gabby. He promises her he will be back. Gabby asks if she has to go back and if her mother's coming. Meredith says they'll get her well first.

Jo runs into Lori Carter as she's looking for Alex. Lori knows something happened. Jo thinks they found a donor. Lori hugs her.

Lucas just shared that Vic proposed to him. And he said nothing. He needs open-heart surgery for the aortic stenosis. He consents, but he wants to go and say yes to Vic first. They can't reach her. Lucas thinks there's no harm in leaving since he has had this condition for years, but Maggie says there are still symptoms inconsistent with his diagnosis, making her uncomfortable with discharging him even for one day. He gets frustrated and throws the other firefighters out of the room. Everyone but Maggie leaves. She saw right through his overacting. She knows he's planning to take off but she really needs to run some more tests first.

Jo has just delivered the news to Alex. He's happy and gives her instructions on how to prepare for Gus's surgery. He tells her she's a good luck charm. She's really glad she came in today.

Tom shows Teddy a house he found. She brings up her perfect apartment in Germany. She doesn't know how to keep a three-bedroom house clean. Tom says you hire help.

Alex joins Meredith in the CT boot. The air and water enemas didn't clear the intussusception and the pain is getting worse. Luis isn't leaving her side. Meredith gets it since they have been separated for three months. Andrew comes bearing bad news: Luis makes too much money with his cleaning job to qualify for state coverage. Gabby's scans reveal an ileocaecal mass. They need to prep for an ex lap.

Jo's back on the phone with Sophie. As they're making arrangements, it turns out Sophie's call was to look for an RH-Null donor for her own patient.

Lucas tells Maggie about the proposal. Maggie says she also ran when her boyfriend asked her to move in. She realizes she doesn't really have a reason not to move in with Jackson.

Alex and Meredith explain to Luis that they need to operate to find out exactly what the mass is. Whatever the pathology results, they need to remove it to clear the obstruction. Luis freaks out about the expenses now that the insurance is denied. Meredith promises they will take care of it. She tells Luis to consider it taken care of. Andrew is confused, but Meredith claims she has a plan.

Jo returns to Gus's room and overhears Lori making a call to Scott about finally having found a donor. She can't stop crying.

The firefighters still haven't managed to reach Vic. Andy says she's stubborn, so if she thinks she has been stood up, they can forget about her answering their calls. Ben notices an upset Jo down the hallway. She tells him she screwed up and runs off, bumping into Richard in doing so. Richard sees something alarming on his tablet and runs off.

He arrives in the scrub room and asks Meredith if Ellis is alright. Andrew and Alex find out she put her daughter's name down for the ex lap. Richard asked if she even looked into other options. Meredith refuses to ship her off to County. She needs Alex Karev-level care. She can't ask Luis to quit his job. He did everything right but the system failed him. It's broken. Richard says this is the wrong way to fix it, but Meredith says they can debate this later. He can have her arrested after the surgery.

A panicky Jo has told Teddy about her mistake and she's hoping Teddy can pull some strings with the military. This is not a matter of jumping the line. There just is no Rh-Null blood to be found. Teddy notices Jo is spiraling down and encourages her to breathe. She tells her Gus is not dying today. She did not kill him, it was just a mistake. Teddy asks if something is going on with her because she doesn't seem to be doing okay. She offers to come talk to the parents with her, but Jo declines and leaves.

Owen finds Amelia outside Kari's room and asks about the stem cell treatment. They have about two weeks before the window of hope slams shut. He brings up earlier. Ever since he told her she was incapable of love, he has done some therapy and he has come to realize he was talking about himself. What he said is the opposite of true. She thanks him. Owen says Leo also misses him, so she should feel free to spend time with him. She'd love that.

Maggie has told Lucas about the milk situation when Jackson proposed. Lucas says he was stupid not to yell "yes." Maggie stresses that if he leaves here, his heart could stop. He wants to say staying could break his heart, but stops himself because it's too cheesy. Maggie mocks him, but he points out she's not one to judge. Maggie says she's just rational, but it doesn't mean she loves Jackson any less than he loves her. She realizes that's what she should have told him. Lucas tells her to go tell Jackson that. She will if he promises to stay until she's done with her evaluation. He tells her to go find her guy. However, once she's gone, he tells a nurse Maggie cleared him to go.

Meredith, Alex, and Andrew found gangrenous segments in the ascending colon, meaning they got in there just in time. Tech Jeffrey comes in with the pathology report of the first specimen: it's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. That means they are looking at chemo and repeat scans, in other words, years of treatment. Meredith wants to focus on the surgery and they'll think about long-term later. Andrew makes a face. From the gallery, Richard asks Meredith to come find him in his office when she's done.

Ben is telling Bailey that Jo didn't seem like herself. Teddy comes in, but she sees Ben in there and wants to go. Bailey tells her it's okay. Teddy says it's about Jo.

Jo tells Lori about the mistake she made. Lori is mad. She has to call Scott and her mom. Jo offers to help, but Lori says she has done enough. Lori apologizes immediately for being unfair and comforts Jo as she starts sobbing. Alex and Bailey arrive simultaneously. Alex takes Jo away while Bailey stays behind to talk to Lori.

Nico and Link are going over a chart. When Nico sees Levi coming up, he quickly leaves. Levi want to go after him, but Link stops him. Nico made a mistake that took a man's life. Levi is just trying to be there for him. Link says it feels like having a box of rocks where your heart should be. Levi should back off and let Nico come to terms with it, however he needs. If Levi's lucky, Nico will do the same for him when it happens to him.

Richard is yelling at Meredith for committing insurance fraud. Per his AA program, he's committed to rigorous honesty in all his affairs so her having him bear this secret is endangering his sobriety. She didn't mean for him to find out. He knows reporting her means she might lose her license or her children if she goes to jail. Richard points out implicating Luis in insurance fraud won't help with his asylum. The only thing to do is make Gabby sicker on paper. If they keep her in the hospital for 30 days, a new state policy kicks in regardless of income. He's not doing this for Meredith, but for Luis and Gabby.

Ben is comforting a sobbing Jo outside Bailey's office. Inside the office, Alex tells Bailey he has no idea what to do. Jo came back a changed person from Pittsburgh. He doesn't know what to do. He needs to break something. She hands him a mug. He opts against it and sits down instead.

Meredith tells Luis they need to keep Gabby here for a few weeks to properly stage the cancer and for follow-up. Luis says work keeps calling. Meredith assures him they will take good care of Gabby and they will set up a cot for him here so he can sleep next to his daughter. Andrew watches on as Luis hugs her.

Maggie enters Jackson's lab. She realizes now that the only correct answer to his question is yes. If he knew her, he would have asked her to weigh the pros and cons together. She knows that's not romantic, but it is romantic to let a person be herself. Weighing and measuring is what she needs. He can't resist some slight mocking. She just needs to know he can accept her being her. He asks her to come camping with him first before they pro and con. She wants to pro and con the camping. Levi comes in with worrying pre-op labs for Ripley.

Link finds Amelia playing with Leo in the lounge. He wanted to ask her to dinner, but he sees another guy beat him to it. He'll take a rain check.

Tom paged Teddy to take a look at an apartment he found that looks just like her dream place in Germany. He rented her the apartment since the baby deserves not to live in a hotel and a happy mother. Teddy admits it's perfect. She kisses him.

Owen is back with Ryan Shaw. He admits the voodoo is working. He feels clear on what it is he wants and he doesn't feel guilty about going to get it. That is some kind of miracle, so he wants more. He wants to feel perfectly clear when he tells her he loves her.

Meredith meets Andrew in an empty exam room in the clinic. She knows he has a problem with the call she made, but she would do it again. She won't apologize for it and she's not changing. Andrew says he spent the entire day thinking this could have been him. People look away all the time, but she refused to let it happen. He's in awe of what she did today. And he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, the only thing that would come out was "I love you." Meredith is glad they cleared that up. She quickly leaves.

Maggie and Andy rush to Lucas's room. His labs show worsening hypocalcemia and lactic acidosis. She asks Andy if they have been exposed to chemicals recently. Andy gets nervous. They arrive at the room, where Robert and Ben just found that Lucas has left.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Gabriella Rivera[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Intestinal blockage
    • Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
  • Treatment:
    • Enema
    • Exploratory laparotomy

Gabby, 4, came into the clinic with abdominal pain. She didn't know how long she'd had it. They did an x-ray, which showed an intestinal blockage. They did an air enema, hoping it would resolve it, but it didn't work, so they ran a CT, which showed a mass, so they scheduled an exploratory laparotomy and a biopsy diagnosed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In order to get her medical care covered, they had to devise a plan to keep her in the hospital for more than a month.

Lucas Ripley[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Aortic stenosis
    • Systolic crescendo-decrescendo murmur
    • Hypocalcemia
    • Lactic acidosis
  • Treatment:
    • Staples

Lucas came into the hospital after collapsing on the sidewalk. He had a scalp laceration from hitting the sidewalk. in the ER, they did a syncope workup and a head CT. Maggie did a TEE and a stress test after his scalp laceration was stapled in the ER. Amelia looked at his head CT and cleared him neurologically. Then Maggie told him he'd need open heart surgery to replace his valve. Because some of disparities between his condition and his diagnosis, Maggie wanted to keep him for more tests. However, before his lab results, which showed worsening hypocalcemia and lactic acidosis, could come back, he fled the hospital.

R. Smith[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Interior shoulder dislocation
  • Treatment:
    • Closed reduction

Nico, with Levi's help, reduced a shoulder dislocation.

Gus Carter[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Thymoma
    • Anemia
  • Treatment:

While building with Gus, Jo received a phone call that there was a patient in Canada who also had RHnull blood. Jo shared the news with Alex and Gus's mom, but later found out that they needed a donor, which meant Gus wasn't getting his blood.

Kari Donnelly[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Paralysis
  • Treatment:
    • Stem cell transplant

Kari was working with physical therapists to move her arms, but was not able to make any independent movements.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Way Back In" Ages and Ages
  • Meredith and Amelia get the kids ready.
  • Zola asks Amelia if she has a boyfriend, like her mother. Amelia's not sure.
  • Zola teases Maggie about her boyfriend.
  • Amelia tells Meredith she looks happy.
"Back From the Fire" Gold Brother
  • Meredith decides to operate on Gabriella. They'll figure it out.
  • Jo can't bring herself to tell Gus's mother about her mistake.
  • The firefighters still haven't been able to reach Vic.
  • Ben checks in Jo, who says she screwed up. She runs off, running into Richard in the process. Ben looks after her, worried.
  • Richard exposes that Meredith put Ellis's name down for the ex lap. She defends her decision. It's on them to fix the system.
"My Sins" Unions
  • Lucas lies to a nurse that he was cleared to go.
  • Meredith discovers that Gabby has cancer, meaning they are looking at years of treatment.
  • Ben and Teddy express their concern over Jo to Bailey.
"Borderline" Florrie
  • Link leaves Amelia to spend time with Leo.
  • Tom shows Teddy the apartment he found her.
  • Owen visits his therapist. He feels clear and intends on declaring his love to someone.
  • Andrew tells Meredith he loves her. She runs.
  • Andy, Maggie, Ben, and Robert discover that Ripley's gone.

Notes and Trivia[]

Grey's_Anatomy_15x23_Promo_"What_I_Did_for_Love"_(HD)_Station_19_Crossover_-_Season_15_Episode_23

Grey's Anatomy 15x23 Promo "What I Did for Love" (HD) Station 19 Crossover - Season 15 Episode 23

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

Tom: Oh. Hydrating. Nice work, Altman. What about Kegels? You keeping those up?
Teddy: Stop now.
Tom: What? No, I started doing them, too. Apparently, if I strengthen my pelvic floor muscles, I can improve my sexual performance. But, I mean, is that even conceivable?
Teddy: Don't even make me laugh. I'll pee.
Tom: What? No, that's why we do the Kegels.
Tom: Hey, Birth Buddy!
Owen: Hey, I thought you were headed back to Baltimore.
Tom: No, decided to stay for the big show. I already started a playlist. Hope you like Enya.
Link: Nico killed a man. It wasn't some big trauma and the guy just didn't make it. Nico made a mistake that took a man's life, and he will remember that man and that mistake for the rest of his life.
Levi: I know. And I'm just trying to be there for him. He made a mistake, and I'm just trying to tell him...
Link: Have you ever made that mistake? It feels like your blood's boiling and you can't turn down the heat. It feels like there's a box of rocks where your heart should be.
Levi: That's so poetic. If he would just talk to me like that...
Link: Schmitt, I'm telling you to back off, okay? Let him come to terms with it, however he has to. That's how you can be there for him. And maybe, if you're lucky, he'll do the same when it happens to you.
Richard: I'm supposed to report you! And if I do that, you could lose your license, or worse, you could lose your children!
Meredith: I'm not gonna lose my children.
Richard: They don't put your kids in jail with you, Meredith.
Meredith: Unless you come here seeking asylum.
Lucas: Milk. He proposed, and you said "We need more milk." You actually said that.
Maggie: It was the best thing I could come up with in the moment.
Lucas: Wow. See, I get to say, "Whoops. Fire. Got to go." Always works. You didn't just want to yell "Yes"?
Maggie: Neither did you.
Lucas: I was stupid, and I know that now. And if you'd let me leave here, I could...
Maggie: You could tell her yes next week. You could text her yes. You could tell her yes in a voice mail.
Lucas: You're an incredible romantic, you know that?
Maggie: If you leave here, your heart could stop.
Lucas: If I stay here, my heart could...
Maggie: What were you about to say?
Lucas: No, I...
Maggie: Were you about to say "break"? Oh, my God, that is so cheesy.
Lucas: I stopped myself, okay? And you're no one to judge. "Milk" when he proposes, and "I need to talk to my sister" when he asks you to move in?
Maggie: That is because I am not impulsive. I am reasonable and rational, and that does not mean that I love him any less than he loves me. That's what I should have said to him.
Owen: I told you a while back that you were incapable of love. But I've been doing some therapy, and I'm realizing that I think that it was me that I was talking about, not you. And I'm sorry I said that. It's not true. It's the opposite of true.
Amelia: Thank you.
Meredith: So here's the deal. I made a call today and I know you have a problem with it.
Andrew: That's not the issue.
Meredith: It was rash, and I didn't think it through. But I would do it again. And I know that's tough to hear and it's not what you're looking for.
Andrew: Mer...
Meredith: But I cannot apologize for it, and I'm not going to change.
Andrew: Meredith, I spent the whole day with Luis thinking that could have been my mom. Hell, it could have been me if I was born in Honduras instead of Italy. People look away all the time, but not you. You said, "Not here, not today." You got me all wrong, Mer. I'm in awe of what you did today, and I was afraid if I opened my mouth, the only thing that was gonna come out was... I love you.
Meredith: Oh. Well, okay. I'm glad we cleared that up.

See Also[]

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


References[]

Deutsch
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki