Back at SGH, He-Shepherd interrupts She-Shepherd on the stairs and asks if she has a free minute. She assumes he finally wants to talk about Meredith, but it turns out he just wants her to help convince the brain-dead girl's parents to pull the plug. So She-Shepherd tells the parents it's a bad idea to keep the daughter alive simply to keep the baby alive—there are too many unknowns and potentially complications. The father becomes angry and yells back at her. At her wit's end, She-Shepherd blurts out that the problem isn't the doctors but the fact that the parents basically want to use their daughter's corpse as an incubator. Oh damn. He-Shepherd apologizes and ushers She-Shepherd outside.

In the hallway, he admonishes her to be more sensitive given that the couple just lost their daughter. She-Shepherd loses it, railing into him about how he pretends to love her but really is just stringing her along. He-Shepherd walks away and refuses to talk, which just sets her off even more. She says that for once she just wants him to care about something she does: he barely batted an eyelash when she slept with Mark Sloan or even when Sloan came out to Seattle and rubbed it in his face. She says maybe instead she should go out on a date with the vet because that apparently sends him into a rage—but even that wouldn't work, since she's not MEREDITH GREY. Oh man—good for her for unloading finally. Unfortunately, though, this whole argument occurs in plain sight of Webber, Cristina, and Meredith. Oof. This is awkwarder than, say, Christmas dinner at the Cheney household.

The brain-dead girl's parents remain undecided about life support. George mentions to them that he has a friend whose boyfriend is dying and needs a heart transplant. (Oh great, since we haven't heard enough about THAT plotline.) Though their daughter isn't a match for Denny, George noticed that she did sign up as an organ donor and could thus save a dozen other lives with the heart, liver, kidneys, and all the other giblets she has on offer. George asks them to consider their daughter's wishes one last time.

Callie, meanwhile, pages Meredith—not to yell at her but instead to show her x-rays of several human legs with the same type of bone cancer her dog has. Meredith thanks her sincerely, and Callie is polite as well. Aww, bonding. Likewise, Cristina's young engaged couple are by now fully reconciled, as the boyfriend asserts that he's a changed man and will always think of his girlfriend first whenever in the line of fire. The girlfriend eats this up and advises Cristina to forgive Burke rather than try to hold all her anger in. Cristina says THANKS with a classic shit-eating grin.

The wounded busboy asks Bailey for word about his friend with the head wound—unfortuntely the one who's now brain-dead. Bailey delivers the bad news sensitively, and the kid starts crying. The prick restaurant manager tries to be nice for once and says he'll arrange for the busboy to have some time off without risk of losing his job.

Out by the stairs, Dr. Webber lectures She-Shepherd, saying that everybody has tough days at work, but nobody's allowed to make a scene like she did in front of her peers. But She-Shepherd insists she feels hopeless: He-Shepherd's not having an affair, not trying to hurt her, it's just that the only two people who don't realize that he loves Meredith are, well, he and Meredith. How can she compete? Webber holds her hand tenderly and asks whether she might be interested in a threeway with him and Ellis Grey, just to "lift her spirits."

He-Shepherd and Meredith, meanwhile, get stuck in yet another tense, awkward elevator ride. She looks incredibly frozen and pale; he is clearly emotional and tries several times to say something but can't bring himself to do it. They both exit the elevator in silence.

Then, in the locker room, Callie starts running her mouth and blurts out "I love you" while George is halfway done picking out some toe cheese and putting on his socks. Great timing! Callie regrets it as soon as she says it, apologizing for her verbal diarrhea and telling him not to pay any attention. I love how she's so merciless and bonebreaking with everyone else yet falls apart completely anytime George is around. Anyway, before George can respond, who pops up but Izzie, saying she needs him for something really important right this minute. George is forced to leave Callie hanging, saying he'll call her later.

After work, Meredith rushes over to Finn's and asks him to tell the truth about her dog's prospects; he admits that the cancer is bad and the dog will probably last only a few months. He gives Meredith a hug and says he's sorry because he knows how much she loves him (the dog), to which Meredith responds that yes she loves him (He-Shepherd) so much. Oh, blink and you miss the subtlety.

Back at the hospital, Izzie has pulled George into Denny's room. She starts messing around with the tubes on his LVAD machine, and George, initially baffled, starts to realize that something seriously wrong is up. Before she gets started, Izzie says she thinks she and Denny should "say stuff," so they launch into a big reverie about love and luv and ruv and lurve and a kiss is worth a thousand words and MY GOD, ENOUGH ALREADY.

"I love you too... with all my whirring, diseased, 120-volt heart"

Suddenly, gunshots ring out in the hospital. Everyone panics, particularly the young man who hid behind his girlfriend at the restaurant—in fact he does it AGAIN, which prompts the fiancée to say they're through.

Posted by m_ruv on May 15, 2006 5:04 PM