- Top security measures go into place as a team of doctors, led by the Chief, try to save the life of a major political figure from the Middle East. Meanwhile Cristina decides to finally decorate her new place and throw a housewarming party, and Alex shows up late from a weekend getaway to his first day of rounds with the new Pediatrics Attending, Dr. Robert Stark.—ABC Publicity
- Cristina sits amid a pile of boxes. Alex's car has broken down. Avery is worried that no attendings want to work with him. We learn Alex was driving back from a weekend in Vegas (which, for the record, is a roughly 19-hour drive from Seattle). He's supposed to be working with Dr. Stark, the new peds attending who has replaced Arizona (which, by the way, is only slightly further from Seattle than Las Vegas). Teddy, meanwhile, is giving a presentation about Mr. Henley's transplant, and this is where word comes out that Cristina quit the program. Sloan is surprised by the news and asks Meredith, in front of the entire auditorium, what happened with Cristina. Derek questions Teddy about why she put Cristina in charge.
Callie sits alone in her apartment with a box of Kleenex. Her phone rings and she excitedly answers, only to learn it's Sloan. He apparently tells her Cristina quit.
At the hospital, Hunt tells Teddy that Cristina seems fine but she "goes blank" when he brings up work. The chief asks Hunt whether there's any reason he should hold off on submitting final word that Cristina has quit. "Yes," he says, with Teddy echoing his feelings. They want more time to figure it all out.
April seems more excited than necessary to work with Alex. Lexie tells her "he's not for the guy for you. OK? Trust me." Lexie also tells Avery not to be paranoid about attendings not wanting to work with him.
Callie finds Cristina dancing around her new house. Callie tells her to stop. Cristina wonders why Callie is there. Callie says she was considering a radical change, like cutting her hair. Cristina sneaks up behind her and cuts a piece of Callie's hair off, telling her, "Let's make lemonade."
Alex is hungover and can't deal with a kid shooting ping-pong balls at him, and meets Dr. Stark.
Hunt and Teddy go with the chief to the VIP area of the hospital and they're given a patient who, a Secret-Service-looking guy tells them, "from a global perspective, it would be great if he didn't die." He's been in a car accident. Men speaking Arabic are talking about the man's condition on cell phones.
The security guy tells the chief that the man "is not" in Seattle, and that there would be a "serious international incident" if he dies. Teddy knows the man is the leader of a country that is having elections soon and that if he dies, Al-Qaeda can move in.
Alex and April have a patient whose parents seem to have read a lot of information on the Internet. Alex asks Dr. Stark for help talking to them and he blows Alex off.
A guard is stopping Bailey and Avery from entering the VIP area. They're curious about who's in there, but they can't get any info. The chief comes out and gives Bailey some instructions about another patient.
Meredith and Derek are making out in an on-call room when another Secret-Service-type guy knocks on the door and asks for Meredith.
Cristina is cutting Callie's hair and Callie is shocked to see what it looks like. They decide to throw a house-warming party for Cristina's new place.
Teddy decides to insert a pacemaker into the important guy. They start getting word about the house-warming party. Teddy gets a little more pressure from the security guy to save the important guy. Hunt asks Meredith to do what she can to reach Cristina.
Bailey goes to the chief's patient and talks her through the procedure she needs. She tells Avery to watch the patient closely and page her if anything happens.
Alex and April are in surgery with their liver-transplant patient, but the liver is too large for the baby. Dr. Stark does some kind of quick fix to get the liver in place. Alex and April are worried the liver will fail with the process he's used and are concerned that Lisa, the baby, will need another transplant in the future. April asks how it is a solution, and Alex says it's not.
Cristina and Callie go to the mall. Cristina buys an entire living room set. Callie is wearing a hat and is waiting for a haircut.
Alex gets upset with Dr. Stark for not giving the live patient's parents more information about where her procedure stands. He accuses Dr. Stark about not being worried enough about Lisa's condition. When Alex can't provide a better solution, Dr. Stark tells Alex to keep his mouth shut and walks away.
At lunch, the doctors shoot ping pong balls at each other while Jackson complains about his job watching Bailey's patient. Meredith walks in and is escorted by a Secret Service guy. Alex grabs a ping pong ball from Lexie and appears to get an idea as he leaves the table.
Teddy gives a status update to a roomful of Arab men about the important guy's status. One man wants to know if the tear in the important guy's artery was a result of the car accident. The security guy tells Hunt not to answer, but Hunt says there's no way of knowing. They want assurance that the hospital's finest surgeons will be operating on "his highness." The chief says Hunt and Teddy are the chiefs of his cardiothoracic and trauma departments. The man meant his question was about whether the finest doctors in the country would be working on him, not just the finest doctors in the hospital. Teddy jumps in and says they're the best they've got, and they'll get to work.
Another man, the important guy's apparently closest aide, pulls Meredith aside and tells her not to let Teddy and Hunt operate on him. He later tells Derek that the Emir was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm four months earlier, but he promised the Emir that he wouldn't tell anyone because of the upcoming election. Derek is worried the aneurysm has already burst, which they find out it has. He's upset with Teddy for having mistreated the man earlier in the process.
Derek is suspicious about everyone converging on Cristina at the party. He warns Meredith that it's a bad idea.
Alex sterilizes a ping pong ball, which he says can stay in the liver-transplant patient and her new liver can grow around it. Stark is annoyed and Alex just tosses the ball into a sink.
Cristina marvels at the slow and meaningless lives led by people at the mall, and she decides to get a pretzel.
Avery is a little bothered that Bailey doesn't want him to scrub in on their patient's surgery.
Alex learns that Stark went back into surgery on the liver-transplant patient. He goes into the gallery to watch, and April is in the surgery. Another doctor says the ping pong ball is a great idea, and April asks Stark whose idea it was originally, his or Alex's. Stark wants to see if it works before doling out credit.
Avery checks back on their patient to find she's delirious. He calls Bailey, who tells him to open her up.
Avery goes into an O.R. and cuts into the patient. Meanwhile, Derek and Teddy try to avoid stepping on each other's toes in surgery. She's working on the Emir's heart and Derek is working on the man's brain. They're also arguing over how Teddy handled Cristina.
Avery loses his patient just as Bailey walks into the O.R. She's upset, but Avery claims it's not his fault. Bailey tells him to step out of her O.R.
Cristina sips wine in her newly furnished living room when Derek arrives. He wants to give her a warning that "a bunch of other people" are coming to convince her to come back. April finds Alex and says she wants to talk to the chief about Stark trying take the credit for Alex's idea. She says he was great and she wants him to know that. He kisses her, and they get down to business, despite her telling him it's her first time. She asks Alex to go a little slower. He freaks out, and yells at her, saying he can't hold her "virgin hand" through it. He says he "can't take care of everyone in this friggin' place." He leaves.
Teddy learns from the security guy that the E mir is long gone, having been flown across the country. He tells Teddy it was nice meeting her, and she says, "I'd say the same, but you were never here."
At Cristina's party, Avery drinks alone in the kitchen. Sloan is hosting, but doesn't know where Cristina is. Callie asks Sloan if she can move in with him at least until she can get rid of the sub-letter in her place.
April shows up late and she seems rattled. She starts to cry. Avery comes over to comfort her. Hunt wants to know where Cristina is. She's sitting on the roof with Derek, who is telling her she should ... and that she absolutely has to ... keep and refinish the original floors in her new place. She agrees.
At the hospital, Alex looks at the baby who got the liver transplant, and sees her parents standing over her, and smiles.
Bailey wonders why there are so many post-op fistulas (that's the problem her patient had) despite flawless surgeries. The chief tells her to figure it out and let him know how he can help. Bailey asks if he can have Avery help because "he was great today." The chief then tells Bailey that Alex saved a baby's life with a ping pong ball. They're both amazed.
At the party, Alex arrives to see Avery consoling April. Avery walks over. Alex says, "Just let me talk to her", but Avery punches Alex in the face. Twice. Then knocks Alex onto the coffee table, breaking it and continues to punch him until he's pulled off of Alex and other people break them up.
In the kitchen, Lexie applies ice to Avery's hand. Avery says that April is his only friend. Lexie disagrees. Avery gives Lexie a "look".
Outside, Meredith is asking Alex why he went after April and suggest he should have gone back to Vegas because "there's a whole industry there." Alex says he didn't go to Vegas, he went to Iowa to see his brother. (Note: The northwest corner of Iowa, the closest part of the state to Seattle, is almost exactly 24 hours worth of driving time away). He got diagnosed schizophrenic, just like Alex's mom. The doctors found out because his brother tried to kill his little sister. Meredith says it was good Alex was there, but he says he wasn't really there. He showed to make a token appearance and left because he can't handle it.
Cristina decides to head into the party. Derek asks if there's anything else she wants to talk about, and she asks about bathroom tiles. They sit down again.
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