Grey's Anatomy s14e12 Episode Script
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
1 I got something that you want MEREDITH: We've all heard the quote I possess what you desire "Genius is 1% inspiration" - Tell me I got it going on - [GASPS.]
"and 99% perspiration.
" Honey, you're preaching to the choir - You're having trouble staying calm - [INDISTINCT TALKING ON TV.]
Easy for Thomas Edison to say.
[SIGHS.]
He had all the good ideas.
I can see it in your eyes It's what they call infatuation - It's like you've been hypnotized - [GROANS.]
Great.
You're just a victim of temptation You're like a schoolboy at the prom [SIGHS.]
And I got something that you want - Get up! - [GASPS.]
Mother! - You have to go.
- I know.
I know.
No daylight hangs.
And if you know, why did you fall asleep again? Uh, because sometimes humans need to sleep.
Choices, Vik.
Sex or sleep.
You can't have it all.
- Go.
Go.
- [GROANING.]
- I'll see you tonight then? - No.
I have Harriet tonight.
Hey, weren't you supposed to post the contest rules this morning? [SIGHS.]
God is asleep at the wheel, and humanity is locked in the trunk.
They can wait for their damn rules.
I got something that you want All right, so, is this maybe online or something? No, she should be here with the rules right now.
Kepner's MIA? Yeah, and Bailey's still out on vacation.
"Bailey" and "vacation" sounds weird together.
I just wish there were dates, you know, deadlines, bylaws.
- Guidelines are nice.
- I've got five viability studies going.
I need to know if I should start making panic-based decisions.
- Five? I don't even have one.
- You don't? - What's yours? - Shut up.
JACKSON: I mean, do you guys want to know what you're gonna lose to, or you want to be surprised? Aerosolized stem cells that provide rapid tissue coverage and epidermal regeneration without any grafting.
Spray-on skin? That's spray-on skin, ladies and gentlemen.
Finally.
Thank you.
- We have to write a paper? - In three days? - MLA or APA style? - How many people get in? - How many people get seed money? - How many people get big money? Okay, it's a brief proposal.
It's not gonna kill you.
You've known about this contest for weeks.
You've had plenty of time.
25 proposals will be chosen to receive $100,000 in seed money.
After phase two, five projects will get a million grant, and the eventual winner will receive $5 million.
It's all right there in the rules.
Okay, but who's judging this thing? - Not just you, right? - This is a world-class hospital and a multimillion-dollar contest.
Of course it's not just me.
I have assembled an esteemed panel of emeritus surgeons from Seattle hospitals, and I expect you all not to waste our time.
So I suggest you get to work instead of asking me questions which are answered by the papers in your hands! - [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
- Ow.
Good God, I've created a monster.
KIMMIE: All the odds are They're in my favor Something's bound to begin It's gonna happen Happen sometime Maybe this time Maybe this time I'll Win [APPLAUSE.]
- Good job, Kimmie.
- Thanks.
[CHUCKLES.]
This is my year.
I can feel it.
For four years, I've missed out on auditions because of stupid cancer.
And every year, Suzie Oppenheimer gets the lead.
Girl cannot hit those high notes.
Hi, Suzie.
Your diaphragm is there for a reason.
And so are your doctors.
So why don't we let them talk a minute, huh? Kimmie Park, 12 years old, one-year status post resection of a recurrent low-grade glioma.
She's here for her follow-up head CT.
Poke me, scan me, whatever.
Just tell me I can make it to auditions.
Your liver is failing because of the cirrhosis, and you are not eligible for the TIPSS procedure - as I'd previously hoped.
- Dang.
- And no transplant, right? - Right.
Again, I'm so sorry.
Ah.
[CHUCKLES.]
No one cries for an alcoholic with a bum liver.
- Am I right, Richard? - Harry, stop the pity party.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- I can make sure your pain is minimal.
No pain meds.
If I'm gonna meet my maker I wanna be clean when I do it.
[CHUCKLES.]
Sorry I don't have better news.
Well, I knew you wouldn't, but, you know, Harry's a friend, and, uh, it was worth a try.
So, I appreciate the consult.
How's your project for the contest coming? [SIGHS.]
Would you believe me if I told you I don't have one? Harper Avery Winner Meredith Grey doesn't have an idea? Well, that makes me feel much better.
You don't have one, either? Well, I'm a 9th-inning, grand-slam kinda thinker.
You know, it'll it'll come.
I just feel like there's so much pressure.
Everyone's looking at me to see what I'll do next, you know? You see? You're looking at me.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
- You paged? - Oh, honey, come on in.
I want you to meet a dear, old friend of mine.
Hey, not that old.
- [LAUGHTER.]
- JACKSON: How you doing? So nice to finally meet you, Jackson.
I'm Dr.
Michelle Velez.
- Oh, from Cedars? - Mm-hmm.
Of course, yes.
I've read your work on stem-cell clone engraftment.
I'm actually pulling together a research project kind of similar right now.
I'd love to tell you about it sometime.
Jackson, she's not here to work on your project.
She's here to pitch us one of her own.
- Exactly.
- Okay.
Catherine, I know you've taken part in several successful gender-affirmation surgeries for trans women.
- As has Jackson.
- Mm-hmm.
Which is why I need you two.
To do what exactly? A traditional vaginoplasty using ileum or the sigmoid colon gives you the feel of a vagina, but it's been shown to be at high risk for prolapse and narrowing or obstruction.
So, the goal is to find a tissue that's smooth, with good elasticity, that secretes moisture and repairs itself.
And I believe that tissue is the peritoneum.
But the peritoneum protects the internal organs.
Yes, but we'd only take a small portion.
And it regenerates itself.
Have you thought about how you'd harvest it? Laparoscopically, minimally invasive.
This technique could be life-changing, and not just for trans women, but women who were born with congenital defects, potentially cis women who have lost their vaginal canals to cancer.
And it would allow for an even better orgasm.
Ooh! Now you're talking my language.
[CHUCKLES.]
Thank you, Mom.
Great.
So, I heard of this contest, and if we work together, we can win that money.
And if the surgery works, we could train surgeons everywhere to do it.
In fairness, you are one of the top plastic surgeons in the nation, so I don't see where I fit in.
I'm the trial subject, and I can't operate on myself.
And whatever work you do on this contest will be done on your own time.
You will still be expected to do scut.
You will not be given any leeway just because you're working on a paper.
- I call Meredith Grey.
- You don't call Meredith Grey.
- Meredith Grey calls you.
- Yes, but we made a rule, Mom.
- What rule? - The rule that says you and I don't work together on genitalia - because you have no filter.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Don't be a child.
This is our work.
We're surgeons.
The genitals is where our work intersects.
Yes.
That doesn't mean you and I have to intersect - around said genitals.
- That sounded terrible.
Which is why I made the rule.
Mom, Dr.
Velez has a great pitch.
She does, all right? And you guys should do it.
You should enter the contest and change a bunch of lives.
But I already got my own thing going on, and, frankly, it's a little more cutting-edge than what essentially amounts to an elective cosmetic procedure.
Oh, come on.
Look, my birthday is coming up.
You could think of this vagina as your gift to me.
Now I'm gonna go smash my head in with a hammer and see if I can forget that you said that.
Jackson Avery, you are such a disappointment! I thought you were woke! [SCOFFS.]
All set.
You ready? I know the drill.
Break a leg.
Places, everybody.
- In 5, 4 - [MACHINES WHIRS.]
3, 2 for the first time Maybe - A catchy song.
- [MACHINE BEEPS.]
- Damn it.
- It's back.
And it's encroaching on Wernicke's area.
- Son of a bitch.
- Yeah.
[SIGHING.]
Yeah, it is.
We're gonna have to operate.
And we're gonna have to do it while she's awake.
Um, hello? [CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY.]
I got to the second verse in my head, so that's your cue to take me out now.
It's back, huh? [EXHALES DEEPLY.]
- So, you're still sleepwalking? - It's not sleepwalking.
It's just failure to believe that Paul's dead and that I'm not dreaming.
Well, I had the same thing when Derek died, except you believe you're in a dream, and I believed I was in a nightmare.
It's called cognitive dissonance.
Yeah.
I have bruises on my arm from pinching myself.
Well, you should probably stop doing that.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Judy? I did not think I would see you so soon.
Yeah, no offense.
Me neither.
She's complaining of the same symptoms she had.
- I would think spleen.
- But I took it out myself in a dark room with a human blood bag.
- Okay, Judy, where does it hurt? - Uh, it just hurts everywhere.
The incision's clean.
There's no sign of infection.
No sign of obstruction.
Judy, I'm afraid whatever this is, it's completely unrelated to your splenectomy.
Great.
I'm a medical mystery.
Try not to worry.
We'll get you some answers.
Let's take her up to CT, and page me when the scans are up.
- Okay.
- Uh, Dr.
Grey.
We've, uh we've all been wondering.
What are you doing for the research contest? I mean, whatever it is, I would love to Hellmouth, when I'm ready to tell you, I'll tell you.
Here I am in your house [CHUCKLES.]
In your bedroom, with all your personal smells.
I need you to bring me some things.
I thought you called me to work on your project.
I'm on bed rest for reasons that are far above your pay grade.
What you do need to know is that what happens here stays here.
No one needs to know what we do in this room.
Agreed? Uh Good.
Now, here's what I need.
I have an awake brain surgery on a kid tomorrow, so I'm gonna need my beauty sleep, which means you two don't get to sleep because I need you to narrow down these studies to two options by tomorrow.
Do a feasibility evaluation, including a timeline, and don't forget to evaluate likely subject availability - and do a cost projection.
- Yes, ma'am.
- On it.
- More on it than him.
- Really? - [CRUNCHES.]
What? It's like your fourth bag of chips.
- You counting? - Yeah.
You're a loud eater.
- And your tongue - Ugh! It helps me focus.
Well, it's distracting.
And you're the one who said we shouldn't have sex anymore, so [CRUNCHING SLOWLY.]
Mmm.
Fine.
- [KEY CLACKS.]
- We were alive We had sparks in our eyes, we were young - Are you serious? - I was yours, you were mine What? - That song? - Mm.
It helps me focus.
You You know that that song is our Well, stop eating chips like you're trying to seduce them.
Stop trying to seduce me! And all I can think of - Sam.
- Is holding you again The way that I used to I really appreciate you being game for this.
- Are you kidding? I love this! - [CHUCKLES.]
I love that you're doing this for Catherine.
You know, my dad did this for my mom for their 20th anni Wow! Wow.
I thought I was past the spontaneous-tears stage.
Oh, there's no timeline for grief, Maggie.
- And you can talk to me, you know.
- I know.
- Okay.
- [SIGHS.]
I think it's 'cause I'm dating.
Clive.
Clive the stockbroker.
- Mm.
- He's a good guy, I think.
But my mom was my barometer, you know? And right before she died and I mean right before she died she told me to be more slutty.
[VOICE BREAKING.]
And I just wish I could call her and tell her how slutty I'm being.
I'd, uh I'd I'd rather you not talk about that particular detail, yeah.
- You know, I felt that as I said it.
- [DOOR OPENS.]
Yeah.
Okay, okay, we're gonna learn to salsa today.
[CHUCKLES.]
- [SALSA MUSIC PLAYS.]
- [LAUGHING.]
Okay.
Well, uh, my my wife's birthday is is this weekend.
Okay.
- And she loves to dance.
- Mm.
I'm usually pretty good at keeping up, but this salsa - He struggles with salsa.
- Oh.
- I'm Maggie.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
- Oh, sorry.
Okay.
- No worries.
Okay, well, look I'll have you salsa-ing in no time, all right? - Let's start with the basics.
- All right.
- All right.
- Dr.
Webber, take my hand.
Okay.
- Okay? The other on my waist.
- Okay.
You're going to go left, right, left, and then right, left, right.
- All right? - Okay.
All right.
And left, right, left.
Right.
All right.
- Right, left, right.
- Okay, okay.
The hand goes up, and it turns me around.
- Ah.
- Okay? Maggie.
Let's try.
Come on.
- Okay.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Okay.
Hand up.
And remember the hand shows you where you need to go, okay? - Oh.
- And left, right, left.
- Right, left, right.
- Okay.
The hand goes up, and it turns her around.
Okay, but you have to turn the other way, okay? Ahh.
- Oh.
All right, here we go.
- Let's do it again.
- What'd you find? - I'm not sure.
Look.
- Wow! - Yeah.
And here and here and here.
I mean, is that - Is it what I think it is? - I guarantee it's not.
MEREDITH: It's rarer than that.
Sometimes when a spleen is removed, the cells mature, and they form functioning, smaller spleens.
JUDY: Um, did you forget to take out my spleen? Your spleen is definitely gone, Judy.
So, these are a bunch of tiny What? Cancer? Am I infested with cancer? No.
You're infested with a bunch of tiny spleens.
[SIGHS.]
[WOMAN TALKING INDISTINCTLY OVER P.
A.
.]
Hey.
- Hi.
- I haven't seen you.
Have you been ill? No, I, uh, took some time off.
- To work on the contest? - No.
I'm not doing that.
But why not? [SIGHS.]
Honestly? I barely made it out of bed for that consult.
Oh.
It never gets easier, losing a mom.
I can only imagine.
No matter how many times, it's What do you mean, "you can only imagine"? What do you mean, "no matter how many times"? - You've never lost a mom? - Have you lost more than one? Excuse me.
So, it's a 33 Triple-C cross-polymer.
It's the only one that adheres to hepatocytes, and it's the key to my clotting-factor project.
Uh, roger that.
I'll run it down, Major.
You don't have to call me that here Lieutenant.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Oh, hey, Carina.
- How have you been? - Um, fine.
- Um, busy.
- Mm.
- And you? - Yeah.
W Y-You're working on this contest, yeah? Uh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, we're we're we're working away.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CHUCKLES.]
Okay.
Well, that was awkward, Major.
I am aware.
The 33 Triple-C Cross-polymer.
ETA ASAP.
I can feel you staring at me.
You gotta be thinking something.
I was thinking maybe you'd be more comfortable if we moved you somewhere else.
You mean hospice? That's the bench for players who gave up the game.
[COUGHS.]
I'm here to fight, kid.
Is there someone we can call for you? Family? Richard, the other guys from A.
A.
That's all I got left for family.
There's no fight left to fight, huh? If there was, I would tell you.
Can I give away my organs, then? Can I do that? [LAUGHING.]
Any good ones left? - Sorry.
- Hell.
[SNIFFLES.]
I'm sure you hear that from a lot of drunks.
[SIGHS.]
Trying to undo all the stupid things they did in this life.
Do some good before they go.
Harry, first of all, it's ex-drunk, and it's not your fault.
You have a disease, and you got sober, so you're treating it.
[CHUCKLES.]
Here are the beakers.
- And the stoppers? - They all have stoppers, yes.
- And Oh, the tubing? - Oh, yeah, the I brought the tubing of various gauges and thicknesses, like you asked.
What is it precisely that we're - [POPS.]
- Oh! Nice.
So, is that all you needed? Keep your pager on.
I might need you in a while.
And, hey, take off those scrubs before you come here next time.
What's wrong with you? This is really cool.
- [MACHINE BEEPS.]
- Thanks.
I think so.
It'll change so many lives.
That's the plan.
You're so attractive.
Talented.
I meant to say "talented," but I confuse "attractive" and "talented" because I find talent attractive.
Not that you aren't already attractive, but Oh, my God.
Jackson.
I need to speak with you.
JACKSON: Uh, great.
What Dr.
Velez is proposing is revolutionary.
Why wouldn't you want to be in the forefront of something like this? It's not that I wouldn't, all right? I just don't have any time.
- Ma, I'm making skin here.
- [CHUCKLES.]
You are years of research and millions of dollars away from making skin.
This surgery is real.
This surgery's right now.
And we have a willing subject.
Mom, if Do you know how easy it is for a man, a cisgender man to walk into a hospital and get the penis enlargement of his dreams? - I've done dozens.
- Yeah, I hear you.
I do, okay? But come on.
Vaginoplasties already exist, too.
I do a bunch of them every year.
Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be better.
We throw billions of dollars a year at perfecting little pills to make erections.
If we know how to perfect this, why shouldn't we? Why shouldn't we help people like Michelle feel for the first time in their lives like their bodies match their souls? That's what I'm doing.
Mom, that's literally what I do every day.
Jackson, do you have any idea the rate of attempted suicides in people with gender dysphoria? 41%.
41%.
This surgery won't just change lives.
It will save them.
But go on.
Make your little skin.
Make your little skin.
KIMMIE: Everybody Loves a winner So, nobody loves me Lady peaceful Lady happy That's what I long to be AMELIA: Kimmie, we're gonna try something else now.
The singing and speech functions work in different parts of the brain, so we test them separately using a cortical stimulator.
Now say lyric.
Don't sing.
Can you do that? KIMMIE: You got it.
AMELIA: Okay, whenever you're ready.
- All the odds are in my favor.
- Good.
Something's bound to begin.
Okay.
Repeat that line again now.
God the bogs are cranberry.
Someday fox I'll creep.
[SIGHS.]
Crap.
Bag the diamonds are umbrella.
It's too close to her speech center.
Right.
Her singing is fine, but when I stimulate the edge of the tumor, she loses her words.
She has no idea it's even happening.
- Something's bound to begin.
- I can't resect this.
- You just can't leave it.
- Maybe this time.
If I take it out, she'll lose her ability to speak.
Maybe this time I'll win.
So, I'll be equipping the LVADs with a magnetic interface so that I can eliminate ports and recharge transcutaneously.
Ferret.
Jango.
Everest.
- That's what I just heard there.
- [LAUGHS.]
I'm sorry.
[LAUGHS.]
Um, okay, so, right now, people who need a device to help their hearts pump have to recharge the battery every couple of hours using a plug-in charger.
So, I want to design a device that charges through the skin.
So no wires, no ports, no external batteries.
You know how to do that? - [CELLPHONE CHIMES.]
- [CHUCKLES.]
What? Oh, my God.
Oh, shoot! Lab emergency? I-I forgot I have a thing.
- I'm sorry.
- Maggie, it's okay.
You can just say, "Clive, I don't like you.
I couldn't think of a better excuse to leave.
" What? No! I like you.
I do.
I I just have to go.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
Thanks.
Bye.
I'm so sorry.
I double-booked myself.
- I never do that.
- I guess I'm just overwhelmed.
- Is it this contest? - No.
I love being busy.
I'm usually pretty type-A, but I don't know.
I'm just overwhelmed, I guess.
- All right, let's do cross body lead.
- Okay.
Ready? Cross body lead.
Here we go.
Cross body lead.
Good.
Ah, ah, ah.
Yes.
Ah, ah, ah.
Honey, no.
No cha-cha.
- Oh.
- This is what we're gonna do.
I want you guys to practice just the first combo - with no music and no cha-cha.
- [CELLPHONE RINGING.]
All right.
Thank you.
I'm gonna take this call.
- All right.
Okay.
- Okay.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
It's been close to a year, hm? - What? - Since your mother died.
On the one-year anniversary of my mother's death, I was sent to the principal's office five times in one day.
On the first anniversary of me being sober, I was the most tempted I've ever been to drink.
Anniversaries are hard.
First anniversaries [SIGHS.]
are worse.
When I was a little, I had a stick from the tree in the backyard that I used to pretend was a magic wand.
And, um when I would feel like this, I would go my room and I would wave it and, for a second, it would all go away.
When my mom got sick, I wished I had that wand.
I still do.
[SIGHS.]
We'll go after it with radiation and chemo.
And in the meantime, she'll get sick, go bald, and lose all her spirit.
Where does it end? Well, unfortunately, at the rate of the expansion of the tumor - We need to prepare ourselves - You listen to me.
That girl is a survivor.
Her parents never bothered with her, either of 'em.
Kimmie survived that before she could even walk.
And she didn't just survive it.
She smiled through it.
She sang through it.
And, yes, it drives me crazy some days with the over and over again, the notes that could shatter glass.
But that girl has a spirit that has nothing to do with me, and I'll be damned if I don't fight for her or if I'll stand by while you don't.
So, you go back to your doctor room, and you come up with another plan.
Please and thank you.
Dr.
Kepner, I got you a coffee.
Stop it.
Stop that.
Go away! [SIGHS.]
- Oh, hi.
Sorry.
- It's fine.
So, the intern I'm sleeping with is everywhere.
We have a no-daylight rule, but he keeps making faces at me, like, "I've seen you naked" faces.
And I can't do anything about it because he has, so I'm just, like, hiding from him by day and then un-hiding at night.
- I'm like a sex vampire.
- These numbers are insane.
26.
4 out of every 100,000.
26.
4 what? Mothers dying from having babies.
- Arizona - I mean, Italy's is 4.
2.
So, why is our maternity mortality rate 6 times higher than Italy's? What's going on? I am sorry about what happened to Karin.
I am so sorry that I can't sleep without at least a bottle of wine.
I promise you I am punishing myself enough without having This is not about you, April.
Just stop talking.
[KEYS CLACKING.]
[SIGHS.]
Spray-on skin.
Of course you would come up with something cool like spray-on skin.
Yeah.
You don't even seem that excited about it.
No, no, no.
I am.
I mean, I feel great about it, you know? This is the kind of thing that wins contests.
I could definitely win a Harper Avery with this.
There's a "but" in there.
But thanks to my mother, all I can think about is vaginas.
Yeah.
I should explain that.
Um, my mom has this friend who's this amazing plastic surgeon, and she has this idea she presented to laparoscopically harvest the peritoneum for vaginoplasties.
I mean, this thing would revolutionize gender-affirmation surgery.
But the thing is, this surgery already exists, which is good, but has its downfalls.
But she thinks that if we use the peritoneum that we're creating the Ferrari of vaginas.
Hm.
Poor Jackson.
He has two amazing ideas, and he can't decide which one to submit.
The thing is, this is the future of my specialty.
I mean, this is cutting edge right here.
Look, trans men and women obviously deserve the best medical care possible, but come on.
It's not gonna revolutionize medicine to perfect an already successful surgery, one that only impacts like less than 1% of the population.
Well, 1% of the population is still 75 million people.
[SAM SIGHS.]
What are you doing? - Sam.
Sam, stop that! - I'm hot, Andrew.
You know I overheat when I'm reading about neuroscience.
Oh, yeah, I remember.
Clotting factors? That sounds cool.
- It is.
- I'm working with the chief.
So I think that makes me chief intern.
What's the chief working on? I am not at liberty to say.
Oh, that's interesting.
I wonder if - Shut up, Blood Bank.
- [CHUCKLES.]
AMELIA: DeLuca, Bello.
- I was hot.
- Uh, we didn't do anything.
- Change of plans.
- Stop my viability studies.
Start looking for a way to get a tumor out of a little girl without cutting part of her brain away, not a single cell.
MEREDITH: I mean, I've never seen anything like this.
She's grown mini spleens all over her abdomen, her small bowel, her ovaries.
It's incredible.
- Clamp.
- Insane.
The original organ has been removed, yet these fragments continue to do the job of the parent.
It's too bad she didn't grow extras of something useful, like kidneys or livers.
Hellmouth, do you have your cellphone on you? Uh, I I-I'll yell at you later for bringing it into the O.
R.
- Just get it out.
- Okay.
Open your voice-recorder app.
Whoa, whoa, whoa Okay.
A small multi-fragmented organ can still provide the same function as a whole single organ.
Injecting native cells into lymphatic tissue with the utilization of growth-enhancing - I'll need a biopolymer.
- Pull up a seat We need to look up biopolymers with adherence properties.
Oh, you'll need colony-stimulating factors.
- Did you get that? - Got it.
By introducing liver-cell precursors into lymph nodes, we can produce enough small, mini livers, which will take over the function of the patient's original failing liver.
More, more [BOTH LAUGH.]
- So, who holds the patent? - The 33 Triple-C polymer is patented by a Dr.
M.
J.
Cerone in Madrid.
- And it's pretty expensive.
- So I'm screwed.
I wouldn't say you're screwed, Major not to your face.
- [SCREAMS.]
- We picked him up for a head LAC, and he started seizing two minutes out.
- Move.
Move! - Pushed 2 of loraz.
No response.
I was trying to get him an airway.
And he bit your finger off, huh? - First week on the job? - His second.
OWEN: Okay, let's push another 5 of lorazepam, and hand me a laryngoscope, please.
Parker, get this guy in trauma 2.
- Am I gonna lose my finger? - We'll see.
I gotta get it out of this guy's throat first.
Oh, whoa, oh Whoa, oh, oh What happened? Head LAC.
Seized in the ambulance.
He's gonna a CT.
Rule out TBI.
- Page neuro, please.
- Who's in 2? Rookie paramedic, down one finger.
- I'm gonna need a MaGill, please.
- Yep.
You know [SIGHS.]
I stop bleeding every day.
What are you talking about? I don't need to write papers and file patent requests.
Every day, I compete with death, and more often than not - [GURGLES.]
- [GRUNTS.]
I win.
- [GASPS.]
- Okay, G.
I.
Joe.
Get this to the kid in trauma 2.
He's gonna be happy to see that.
So, I promised my husband - I'd stay in bed today.
- Mm-hmm.
So, um, I need you to go to the closet and bring a measuring tape.
And in the bathroom, there should be a pair of latex gloves.
And in the kitchen, - there's a turkey baster.
- No! I'm sorry, Dr.
Bailey.
I have to speak because I have to believe we live in an age where I can speak the truth - to those in power over me.
- What? I don't know what it is we're doing, but it does not feel good to me.
It's too much tubing and corks and secrecy in your bedroom.
It does not feel good, and I do not feel safe here.
No.
Oh No, I I'm making my prototype.
For the contest entry! - [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- [CHUCKLES.]
Look.
Okay.
See? It goes in your rectum.
So, my spleen planted seeds and grew more? Something like that, yes.
Your spleen inspired Dr.
Grey to come up with something that might help save thousands of people.
Wow.
Really? Can we put that on a certificate or something? [LAUGHTER.]
- We need good news.
- DeLuca, go.
Right.
So, I looked at gamma knives and proton-beam therapy.
Nothing there.
We checked out high-frequency ultrasound applications in neurosurgery.
It was utilized for thalamic stimulation in comatose patients.
There was a study that was done in There was no mention in the literature of its usefulness as a surgical modality in the brain.
I - I think it's a dead end.
- So So, we got nothing.
I'm sorry.
"Notes that would shatter glass.
" High frequencies.
They shatter the glass because the note has the same resonance frequency as the glass itself.
ALEX: So, an ultrasound wave, if it was at the same frequency as the tumor tissue It would shatter it without cutting.
But I-it's never been done in the brain.
Not yet.
With ultra-precise targeting of the cancer cells, we think we'll be able to use it as an alternative - to invasive brain surgery.
- Has this ever been done before? Well, not on brain tissue, but if we experiment on models first, we think we could use it on tumors.
So, you want to use my kid as a lab rat? No, ma'am, not as a lab rat.
She's the goal.
- I'm the lab rat's cheese.
- We're really close.
We just need a little more time to get funding and do some more research.
How much time are we talking? "Ready for the spring musical" kind of time? Kimmie, there will be more auditions in the fall.
- I promise.
- By fall, I'll be bald.
Maybe they'll do "The King and I.
" [CHUCKLES.]
[SIGHS.]
We're really close to figuring out a way to help you, Kimmie.
- I believe it.
- Well, we both do.
So, in the meantime Radiation, chemo, rinse, repeat.
DAHLIA: Dr.
Avery.
I finished the paper for your spray-on-skin proposal, but the other Dr.
Avery asked me to type up a proposal for the gender-affirmation-surgery idea, so I did both of them in three days without sleeping.
Both of them.
Did I already say that? I may be over-caffeinated.
Anyway, I know you asked me to do this one, but, um, this one is really cool.
Not that you asked.
I'm gonna stop talking now.
Thank you.
[SIGHS.]
I love you, too.
- Hey.
- Hi.
What's your pitch? Let's hear it.
I want to design LVADs with magnetic interfaces so that we can eliminate ports and recharge transcutaneously.
Recharging the heart through the skin.
Yes, yes.
Exactly.
[INHALES SHARPLY.]
- What? - Nothing.
You just get it.
- Yeah.
- It's nice.
How's Chive doing? Clive.
Is it "Clive"? Really? Lightning strike? - More like a hailstorm.
- [CHUCKLES.]
When? [SIGHS.]
Just now.
[SIGHS.]
I'm sorry.
[SIGHS.]
We knew there was nothing we could do.
I thought of something for the contest.
It's theoretical, but it could work.
It could have saved him.
And it could save people like him.
And it was inspired by him, so I just wanted to let him know that he had done some good after all.
- Karin Taylor was 33 years old.
- Arizona, stop! She was in pristine health.
She gave birth to a gorgeous 6-pound, 7-ounce baby.
Stop! This is not healthy, and it's not gonna bring Karin back.
This is healthy! This is my paper.
It's a verbal paper, but this is what I am going to study! And it may not bring Karin back, but it could help a whole lot of future Karins, - so please, please just listen.
- Okay.
Karin was healthy, and now she's dead from an entirely treatable condition, okay, and it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't your fault that she died.
Do you hear me? It wasn't your fault.
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't fix it.
Preeclampsia is is only one of the reasons that we are losing laboring mothers at an unprecedented rate.
The United States has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the entire developed world.
There is something going on here, and we need to fix it, not someday, but now.
Put that in writing.
Send it to me.
Okay.
Okay, everyone.
Here we go.
"Generation of functioning accessory livers in lymphatic tissue, Dr.
Meredith Grey & Dr.
Josephine Wilson.
" Wow.
I'm on mini livers? You put me on your proposal? But wait.
You already have Hellmouth.
I don't want you on it as my assistant.
I want you on it as my partner.
I mean, you found a critical piece of the puzzle.
You're on this.
Stop doing that.
You're awake.
This is real.
Paul is dead.
And you're free.
And if there's another name you'd prefer I put on that paper, I'm happy to change it.
How about [SIGHS.]
Dr.
Josephine Brooke Wilson? "A novel approach to vaginoplasty using laparoscopically harvested peritoneum, Dr.
Catherine Avery, Dr.
Michelle Velez, and Dr.
Jackson Avery.
" [BOTH CHUCKLE.]
I knew you'd come around.
- Mwah! - Oh, man.
- Okay.
- Let's do this.
Now, I'll just ask that you to keep the orgasm jokes to a minimum.
"The Path Pen, Dr.
Richard Webber.
" Now, this is just a mock-up, so don't laugh.
It's a pen? Kinda, okay, but the the idea is that we create a file of the chemical and molecular markers in various types of tumor cells, and then we pre-program this into the device to rapidly identify the different types, okay? So you can know in surgery on contact - where the healthy tissue is - [BEEPS.]
- and where the cancer is - [BEEPS.]
and make it go away.
It's not a pen.
It's a wand.
It's a magic wand.
"Transcutaneously rechargeable ventricular assist device, Dr.
Maggie Pierce.
" "The Rectal Access Port for hydro colonoscopy, submitted by Dr.
Miranda Bailey.
" And "MRI-guided ultrasound ablation of inoperable gliomas, Dr.
Amelia Shepherd and Dr.
Alex Karev.
" [LOCKS SNAP.]
All set.
You ready? - Places in - It's okay.
You can just start.
- Tell me we're gonna fix this.
- We're gonna fix this.
KIMMIE: It's gonna happen Happen sometime Maybe this time Maybe this time I'll Win Essentially, it's a jack for the rectum that allows for an easy-access water colonoscopy.
- Ass jack.
- [LAUGHTER.]
Colonoscopies are messy and painful, and surgeons ruin their shoulders with all that Roto-Rootering.
- Mm.
- Ew.
I'm just saying.
She's gonna be rich.
- Hey.
- Hi.
Thank you for being worried about me.
Of course, and you seem better.
Are you better? Yeah.
I entered the contest.
And, I mean, I don't know.
I don't know if I'll get in, but I'm gonna study maternal mortality.
And you're an O.
B.
, and Italy seems to have it way more figured out than we do, so would you like to be my partner? - Your partner? - Yeah.
On the study.
- It makes no difference - Only on the study? To a satellite Oh, yeah We think we can can create multiple fully-functioning livers, like mini livers all over the body.
- Wow.
- That is amazing.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
- Good luck to the three of you.
- To all of us.
What do you mean? - Nope, not me.
- What? - What? - Why not you? Not doing it.
Didn't apply.
Research, patents it's it's not my thing.
But I am rooting for the three of you.
Uh, speaking of which, how did you get that polymer? - Which polymer? - The 33 Triple-C, the cross-polymer where you inject with the cells.
I mean, I wanted it for my thing, but Cerone's has that patent locked up tight.
Hunt, why don't we go, uh, grab a refill, huh? Yeah.
Sure.
Wow! That patent must've cost a ton.
You did get the patent, right? I Okay, everyone, um the results are in.
[GASPS.]
- Yes! - Yeah.
- Ah-ah-ah! Yes! - You got in? - Got in? - Yes, yes, yes, yes.
[GASPS.]
We got in.
What are you doing? What? Honey, we're not stay - We have reservations.
- Yeah, yeah.
Uh, excuse me.
You're on my dance floor here.
- Excuse me.
- What are you doing? W-We are celebrating your birthday a little early, okay? [SALSA MUSIC PLAYING.]
[LAUGHS.]
Come on.
Oh, my God.
- Whoo! - MEREDITH: Inspiration is not some mystical, unattainable thing.
- [LAUGHTER.]
- Inspiration is a seed.
Somebody been practicing.
That seed turns into vision.
- Look out, now.
- That vision turns into a goal.
- Watch this one.
- [LAUGHS.]
Oh! [APPLAUSE.]
And hopefully, that goal turns into victory.
Our paper was great.
It was great.
I can't believe it.
I can't believe we didn't get in.
What are we gonna do about Kimmie? I said hopefully.
"and 99% perspiration.
" Honey, you're preaching to the choir - You're having trouble staying calm - [INDISTINCT TALKING ON TV.]
Easy for Thomas Edison to say.
[SIGHS.]
He had all the good ideas.
I can see it in your eyes It's what they call infatuation - It's like you've been hypnotized - [GROANS.]
Great.
You're just a victim of temptation You're like a schoolboy at the prom [SIGHS.]
And I got something that you want - Get up! - [GASPS.]
Mother! - You have to go.
- I know.
I know.
No daylight hangs.
And if you know, why did you fall asleep again? Uh, because sometimes humans need to sleep.
Choices, Vik.
Sex or sleep.
You can't have it all.
- Go.
Go.
- [GROANING.]
- I'll see you tonight then? - No.
I have Harriet tonight.
Hey, weren't you supposed to post the contest rules this morning? [SIGHS.]
God is asleep at the wheel, and humanity is locked in the trunk.
They can wait for their damn rules.
I got something that you want All right, so, is this maybe online or something? No, she should be here with the rules right now.
Kepner's MIA? Yeah, and Bailey's still out on vacation.
"Bailey" and "vacation" sounds weird together.
I just wish there were dates, you know, deadlines, bylaws.
- Guidelines are nice.
- I've got five viability studies going.
I need to know if I should start making panic-based decisions.
- Five? I don't even have one.
- You don't? - What's yours? - Shut up.
JACKSON: I mean, do you guys want to know what you're gonna lose to, or you want to be surprised? Aerosolized stem cells that provide rapid tissue coverage and epidermal regeneration without any grafting.
Spray-on skin? That's spray-on skin, ladies and gentlemen.
Finally.
Thank you.
- We have to write a paper? - In three days? - MLA or APA style? - How many people get in? - How many people get seed money? - How many people get big money? Okay, it's a brief proposal.
It's not gonna kill you.
You've known about this contest for weeks.
You've had plenty of time.
25 proposals will be chosen to receive $100,000 in seed money.
After phase two, five projects will get a million grant, and the eventual winner will receive $5 million.
It's all right there in the rules.
Okay, but who's judging this thing? - Not just you, right? - This is a world-class hospital and a multimillion-dollar contest.
Of course it's not just me.
I have assembled an esteemed panel of emeritus surgeons from Seattle hospitals, and I expect you all not to waste our time.
So I suggest you get to work instead of asking me questions which are answered by the papers in your hands! - [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
- Ow.
Good God, I've created a monster.
KIMMIE: All the odds are They're in my favor Something's bound to begin It's gonna happen Happen sometime Maybe this time Maybe this time I'll Win [APPLAUSE.]
- Good job, Kimmie.
- Thanks.
[CHUCKLES.]
This is my year.
I can feel it.
For four years, I've missed out on auditions because of stupid cancer.
And every year, Suzie Oppenheimer gets the lead.
Girl cannot hit those high notes.
Hi, Suzie.
Your diaphragm is there for a reason.
And so are your doctors.
So why don't we let them talk a minute, huh? Kimmie Park, 12 years old, one-year status post resection of a recurrent low-grade glioma.
She's here for her follow-up head CT.
Poke me, scan me, whatever.
Just tell me I can make it to auditions.
Your liver is failing because of the cirrhosis, and you are not eligible for the TIPSS procedure - as I'd previously hoped.
- Dang.
- And no transplant, right? - Right.
Again, I'm so sorry.
Ah.
[CHUCKLES.]
No one cries for an alcoholic with a bum liver.
- Am I right, Richard? - Harry, stop the pity party.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- I can make sure your pain is minimal.
No pain meds.
If I'm gonna meet my maker I wanna be clean when I do it.
[CHUCKLES.]
Sorry I don't have better news.
Well, I knew you wouldn't, but, you know, Harry's a friend, and, uh, it was worth a try.
So, I appreciate the consult.
How's your project for the contest coming? [SIGHS.]
Would you believe me if I told you I don't have one? Harper Avery Winner Meredith Grey doesn't have an idea? Well, that makes me feel much better.
You don't have one, either? Well, I'm a 9th-inning, grand-slam kinda thinker.
You know, it'll it'll come.
I just feel like there's so much pressure.
Everyone's looking at me to see what I'll do next, you know? You see? You're looking at me.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
- You paged? - Oh, honey, come on in.
I want you to meet a dear, old friend of mine.
Hey, not that old.
- [LAUGHTER.]
- JACKSON: How you doing? So nice to finally meet you, Jackson.
I'm Dr.
Michelle Velez.
- Oh, from Cedars? - Mm-hmm.
Of course, yes.
I've read your work on stem-cell clone engraftment.
I'm actually pulling together a research project kind of similar right now.
I'd love to tell you about it sometime.
Jackson, she's not here to work on your project.
She's here to pitch us one of her own.
- Exactly.
- Okay.
Catherine, I know you've taken part in several successful gender-affirmation surgeries for trans women.
- As has Jackson.
- Mm-hmm.
Which is why I need you two.
To do what exactly? A traditional vaginoplasty using ileum or the sigmoid colon gives you the feel of a vagina, but it's been shown to be at high risk for prolapse and narrowing or obstruction.
So, the goal is to find a tissue that's smooth, with good elasticity, that secretes moisture and repairs itself.
And I believe that tissue is the peritoneum.
But the peritoneum protects the internal organs.
Yes, but we'd only take a small portion.
And it regenerates itself.
Have you thought about how you'd harvest it? Laparoscopically, minimally invasive.
This technique could be life-changing, and not just for trans women, but women who were born with congenital defects, potentially cis women who have lost their vaginal canals to cancer.
And it would allow for an even better orgasm.
Ooh! Now you're talking my language.
[CHUCKLES.]
Thank you, Mom.
Great.
So, I heard of this contest, and if we work together, we can win that money.
And if the surgery works, we could train surgeons everywhere to do it.
In fairness, you are one of the top plastic surgeons in the nation, so I don't see where I fit in.
I'm the trial subject, and I can't operate on myself.
And whatever work you do on this contest will be done on your own time.
You will still be expected to do scut.
You will not be given any leeway just because you're working on a paper.
- I call Meredith Grey.
- You don't call Meredith Grey.
- Meredith Grey calls you.
- Yes, but we made a rule, Mom.
- What rule? - The rule that says you and I don't work together on genitalia - because you have no filter.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Don't be a child.
This is our work.
We're surgeons.
The genitals is where our work intersects.
Yes.
That doesn't mean you and I have to intersect - around said genitals.
- That sounded terrible.
Which is why I made the rule.
Mom, Dr.
Velez has a great pitch.
She does, all right? And you guys should do it.
You should enter the contest and change a bunch of lives.
But I already got my own thing going on, and, frankly, it's a little more cutting-edge than what essentially amounts to an elective cosmetic procedure.
Oh, come on.
Look, my birthday is coming up.
You could think of this vagina as your gift to me.
Now I'm gonna go smash my head in with a hammer and see if I can forget that you said that.
Jackson Avery, you are such a disappointment! I thought you were woke! [SCOFFS.]
All set.
You ready? I know the drill.
Break a leg.
Places, everybody.
- In 5, 4 - [MACHINES WHIRS.]
3, 2 for the first time Maybe - A catchy song.
- [MACHINE BEEPS.]
- Damn it.
- It's back.
And it's encroaching on Wernicke's area.
- Son of a bitch.
- Yeah.
[SIGHING.]
Yeah, it is.
We're gonna have to operate.
And we're gonna have to do it while she's awake.
Um, hello? [CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY.]
I got to the second verse in my head, so that's your cue to take me out now.
It's back, huh? [EXHALES DEEPLY.]
- So, you're still sleepwalking? - It's not sleepwalking.
It's just failure to believe that Paul's dead and that I'm not dreaming.
Well, I had the same thing when Derek died, except you believe you're in a dream, and I believed I was in a nightmare.
It's called cognitive dissonance.
Yeah.
I have bruises on my arm from pinching myself.
Well, you should probably stop doing that.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Judy? I did not think I would see you so soon.
Yeah, no offense.
Me neither.
She's complaining of the same symptoms she had.
- I would think spleen.
- But I took it out myself in a dark room with a human blood bag.
- Okay, Judy, where does it hurt? - Uh, it just hurts everywhere.
The incision's clean.
There's no sign of infection.
No sign of obstruction.
Judy, I'm afraid whatever this is, it's completely unrelated to your splenectomy.
Great.
I'm a medical mystery.
Try not to worry.
We'll get you some answers.
Let's take her up to CT, and page me when the scans are up.
- Okay.
- Uh, Dr.
Grey.
We've, uh we've all been wondering.
What are you doing for the research contest? I mean, whatever it is, I would love to Hellmouth, when I'm ready to tell you, I'll tell you.
Here I am in your house [CHUCKLES.]
In your bedroom, with all your personal smells.
I need you to bring me some things.
I thought you called me to work on your project.
I'm on bed rest for reasons that are far above your pay grade.
What you do need to know is that what happens here stays here.
No one needs to know what we do in this room.
Agreed? Uh Good.
Now, here's what I need.
I have an awake brain surgery on a kid tomorrow, so I'm gonna need my beauty sleep, which means you two don't get to sleep because I need you to narrow down these studies to two options by tomorrow.
Do a feasibility evaluation, including a timeline, and don't forget to evaluate likely subject availability - and do a cost projection.
- Yes, ma'am.
- On it.
- More on it than him.
- Really? - [CRUNCHES.]
What? It's like your fourth bag of chips.
- You counting? - Yeah.
You're a loud eater.
- And your tongue - Ugh! It helps me focus.
Well, it's distracting.
And you're the one who said we shouldn't have sex anymore, so [CRUNCHING SLOWLY.]
Mmm.
Fine.
- [KEY CLACKS.]
- We were alive We had sparks in our eyes, we were young - Are you serious? - I was yours, you were mine What? - That song? - Mm.
It helps me focus.
You You know that that song is our Well, stop eating chips like you're trying to seduce them.
Stop trying to seduce me! And all I can think of - Sam.
- Is holding you again The way that I used to I really appreciate you being game for this.
- Are you kidding? I love this! - [CHUCKLES.]
I love that you're doing this for Catherine.
You know, my dad did this for my mom for their 20th anni Wow! Wow.
I thought I was past the spontaneous-tears stage.
Oh, there's no timeline for grief, Maggie.
- And you can talk to me, you know.
- I know.
- Okay.
- [SIGHS.]
I think it's 'cause I'm dating.
Clive.
Clive the stockbroker.
- Mm.
- He's a good guy, I think.
But my mom was my barometer, you know? And right before she died and I mean right before she died she told me to be more slutty.
[VOICE BREAKING.]
And I just wish I could call her and tell her how slutty I'm being.
I'd, uh I'd I'd rather you not talk about that particular detail, yeah.
- You know, I felt that as I said it.
- [DOOR OPENS.]
Yeah.
Okay, okay, we're gonna learn to salsa today.
[CHUCKLES.]
- [SALSA MUSIC PLAYS.]
- [LAUGHING.]
Okay.
Well, uh, my my wife's birthday is is this weekend.
Okay.
- And she loves to dance.
- Mm.
I'm usually pretty good at keeping up, but this salsa - He struggles with salsa.
- Oh.
- I'm Maggie.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
- Oh, sorry.
Okay.
- No worries.
Okay, well, look I'll have you salsa-ing in no time, all right? - Let's start with the basics.
- All right.
- All right.
- Dr.
Webber, take my hand.
Okay.
- Okay? The other on my waist.
- Okay.
You're going to go left, right, left, and then right, left, right.
- All right? - Okay.
All right.
And left, right, left.
Right.
All right.
- Right, left, right.
- Okay, okay.
The hand goes up, and it turns me around.
- Ah.
- Okay? Maggie.
Let's try.
Come on.
- Okay.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Okay.
Hand up.
And remember the hand shows you where you need to go, okay? - Oh.
- And left, right, left.
- Right, left, right.
- Okay.
The hand goes up, and it turns her around.
Okay, but you have to turn the other way, okay? Ahh.
- Oh.
All right, here we go.
- Let's do it again.
- What'd you find? - I'm not sure.
Look.
- Wow! - Yeah.
And here and here and here.
I mean, is that - Is it what I think it is? - I guarantee it's not.
MEREDITH: It's rarer than that.
Sometimes when a spleen is removed, the cells mature, and they form functioning, smaller spleens.
JUDY: Um, did you forget to take out my spleen? Your spleen is definitely gone, Judy.
So, these are a bunch of tiny What? Cancer? Am I infested with cancer? No.
You're infested with a bunch of tiny spleens.
[SIGHS.]
[WOMAN TALKING INDISTINCTLY OVER P.
A.
.]
Hey.
- Hi.
- I haven't seen you.
Have you been ill? No, I, uh, took some time off.
- To work on the contest? - No.
I'm not doing that.
But why not? [SIGHS.]
Honestly? I barely made it out of bed for that consult.
Oh.
It never gets easier, losing a mom.
I can only imagine.
No matter how many times, it's What do you mean, "you can only imagine"? What do you mean, "no matter how many times"? - You've never lost a mom? - Have you lost more than one? Excuse me.
So, it's a 33 Triple-C cross-polymer.
It's the only one that adheres to hepatocytes, and it's the key to my clotting-factor project.
Uh, roger that.
I'll run it down, Major.
You don't have to call me that here Lieutenant.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Oh, hey, Carina.
- How have you been? - Um, fine.
- Um, busy.
- Mm.
- And you? - Yeah.
W Y-You're working on this contest, yeah? Uh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, we're we're we're working away.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CHUCKLES.]
Okay.
Well, that was awkward, Major.
I am aware.
The 33 Triple-C Cross-polymer.
ETA ASAP.
I can feel you staring at me.
You gotta be thinking something.
I was thinking maybe you'd be more comfortable if we moved you somewhere else.
You mean hospice? That's the bench for players who gave up the game.
[COUGHS.]
I'm here to fight, kid.
Is there someone we can call for you? Family? Richard, the other guys from A.
A.
That's all I got left for family.
There's no fight left to fight, huh? If there was, I would tell you.
Can I give away my organs, then? Can I do that? [LAUGHING.]
Any good ones left? - Sorry.
- Hell.
[SNIFFLES.]
I'm sure you hear that from a lot of drunks.
[SIGHS.]
Trying to undo all the stupid things they did in this life.
Do some good before they go.
Harry, first of all, it's ex-drunk, and it's not your fault.
You have a disease, and you got sober, so you're treating it.
[CHUCKLES.]
Here are the beakers.
- And the stoppers? - They all have stoppers, yes.
- And Oh, the tubing? - Oh, yeah, the I brought the tubing of various gauges and thicknesses, like you asked.
What is it precisely that we're - [POPS.]
- Oh! Nice.
So, is that all you needed? Keep your pager on.
I might need you in a while.
And, hey, take off those scrubs before you come here next time.
What's wrong with you? This is really cool.
- [MACHINE BEEPS.]
- Thanks.
I think so.
It'll change so many lives.
That's the plan.
You're so attractive.
Talented.
I meant to say "talented," but I confuse "attractive" and "talented" because I find talent attractive.
Not that you aren't already attractive, but Oh, my God.
Jackson.
I need to speak with you.
JACKSON: Uh, great.
What Dr.
Velez is proposing is revolutionary.
Why wouldn't you want to be in the forefront of something like this? It's not that I wouldn't, all right? I just don't have any time.
- Ma, I'm making skin here.
- [CHUCKLES.]
You are years of research and millions of dollars away from making skin.
This surgery is real.
This surgery's right now.
And we have a willing subject.
Mom, if Do you know how easy it is for a man, a cisgender man to walk into a hospital and get the penis enlargement of his dreams? - I've done dozens.
- Yeah, I hear you.
I do, okay? But come on.
Vaginoplasties already exist, too.
I do a bunch of them every year.
Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be better.
We throw billions of dollars a year at perfecting little pills to make erections.
If we know how to perfect this, why shouldn't we? Why shouldn't we help people like Michelle feel for the first time in their lives like their bodies match their souls? That's what I'm doing.
Mom, that's literally what I do every day.
Jackson, do you have any idea the rate of attempted suicides in people with gender dysphoria? 41%.
41%.
This surgery won't just change lives.
It will save them.
But go on.
Make your little skin.
Make your little skin.
KIMMIE: Everybody Loves a winner So, nobody loves me Lady peaceful Lady happy That's what I long to be AMELIA: Kimmie, we're gonna try something else now.
The singing and speech functions work in different parts of the brain, so we test them separately using a cortical stimulator.
Now say lyric.
Don't sing.
Can you do that? KIMMIE: You got it.
AMELIA: Okay, whenever you're ready.
- All the odds are in my favor.
- Good.
Something's bound to begin.
Okay.
Repeat that line again now.
God the bogs are cranberry.
Someday fox I'll creep.
[SIGHS.]
Crap.
Bag the diamonds are umbrella.
It's too close to her speech center.
Right.
Her singing is fine, but when I stimulate the edge of the tumor, she loses her words.
She has no idea it's even happening.
- Something's bound to begin.
- I can't resect this.
- You just can't leave it.
- Maybe this time.
If I take it out, she'll lose her ability to speak.
Maybe this time I'll win.
So, I'll be equipping the LVADs with a magnetic interface so that I can eliminate ports and recharge transcutaneously.
Ferret.
Jango.
Everest.
- That's what I just heard there.
- [LAUGHS.]
I'm sorry.
[LAUGHS.]
Um, okay, so, right now, people who need a device to help their hearts pump have to recharge the battery every couple of hours using a plug-in charger.
So, I want to design a device that charges through the skin.
So no wires, no ports, no external batteries.
You know how to do that? - [CELLPHONE CHIMES.]
- [CHUCKLES.]
What? Oh, my God.
Oh, shoot! Lab emergency? I-I forgot I have a thing.
- I'm sorry.
- Maggie, it's okay.
You can just say, "Clive, I don't like you.
I couldn't think of a better excuse to leave.
" What? No! I like you.
I do.
I I just have to go.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
Thanks.
Bye.
I'm so sorry.
I double-booked myself.
- I never do that.
- I guess I'm just overwhelmed.
- Is it this contest? - No.
I love being busy.
I'm usually pretty type-A, but I don't know.
I'm just overwhelmed, I guess.
- All right, let's do cross body lead.
- Okay.
Ready? Cross body lead.
Here we go.
Cross body lead.
Good.
Ah, ah, ah.
Yes.
Ah, ah, ah.
Honey, no.
No cha-cha.
- Oh.
- This is what we're gonna do.
I want you guys to practice just the first combo - with no music and no cha-cha.
- [CELLPHONE RINGING.]
All right.
Thank you.
I'm gonna take this call.
- All right.
Okay.
- Okay.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
It's been close to a year, hm? - What? - Since your mother died.
On the one-year anniversary of my mother's death, I was sent to the principal's office five times in one day.
On the first anniversary of me being sober, I was the most tempted I've ever been to drink.
Anniversaries are hard.
First anniversaries [SIGHS.]
are worse.
When I was a little, I had a stick from the tree in the backyard that I used to pretend was a magic wand.
And, um when I would feel like this, I would go my room and I would wave it and, for a second, it would all go away.
When my mom got sick, I wished I had that wand.
I still do.
[SIGHS.]
We'll go after it with radiation and chemo.
And in the meantime, she'll get sick, go bald, and lose all her spirit.
Where does it end? Well, unfortunately, at the rate of the expansion of the tumor - We need to prepare ourselves - You listen to me.
That girl is a survivor.
Her parents never bothered with her, either of 'em.
Kimmie survived that before she could even walk.
And she didn't just survive it.
She smiled through it.
She sang through it.
And, yes, it drives me crazy some days with the over and over again, the notes that could shatter glass.
But that girl has a spirit that has nothing to do with me, and I'll be damned if I don't fight for her or if I'll stand by while you don't.
So, you go back to your doctor room, and you come up with another plan.
Please and thank you.
Dr.
Kepner, I got you a coffee.
Stop it.
Stop that.
Go away! [SIGHS.]
- Oh, hi.
Sorry.
- It's fine.
So, the intern I'm sleeping with is everywhere.
We have a no-daylight rule, but he keeps making faces at me, like, "I've seen you naked" faces.
And I can't do anything about it because he has, so I'm just, like, hiding from him by day and then un-hiding at night.
- I'm like a sex vampire.
- These numbers are insane.
26.
4 out of every 100,000.
26.
4 what? Mothers dying from having babies.
- Arizona - I mean, Italy's is 4.
2.
So, why is our maternity mortality rate 6 times higher than Italy's? What's going on? I am sorry about what happened to Karin.
I am so sorry that I can't sleep without at least a bottle of wine.
I promise you I am punishing myself enough without having This is not about you, April.
Just stop talking.
[KEYS CLACKING.]
[SIGHS.]
Spray-on skin.
Of course you would come up with something cool like spray-on skin.
Yeah.
You don't even seem that excited about it.
No, no, no.
I am.
I mean, I feel great about it, you know? This is the kind of thing that wins contests.
I could definitely win a Harper Avery with this.
There's a "but" in there.
But thanks to my mother, all I can think about is vaginas.
Yeah.
I should explain that.
Um, my mom has this friend who's this amazing plastic surgeon, and she has this idea she presented to laparoscopically harvest the peritoneum for vaginoplasties.
I mean, this thing would revolutionize gender-affirmation surgery.
But the thing is, this surgery already exists, which is good, but has its downfalls.
But she thinks that if we use the peritoneum that we're creating the Ferrari of vaginas.
Hm.
Poor Jackson.
He has two amazing ideas, and he can't decide which one to submit.
The thing is, this is the future of my specialty.
I mean, this is cutting edge right here.
Look, trans men and women obviously deserve the best medical care possible, but come on.
It's not gonna revolutionize medicine to perfect an already successful surgery, one that only impacts like less than 1% of the population.
Well, 1% of the population is still 75 million people.
[SAM SIGHS.]
What are you doing? - Sam.
Sam, stop that! - I'm hot, Andrew.
You know I overheat when I'm reading about neuroscience.
Oh, yeah, I remember.
Clotting factors? That sounds cool.
- It is.
- I'm working with the chief.
So I think that makes me chief intern.
What's the chief working on? I am not at liberty to say.
Oh, that's interesting.
I wonder if - Shut up, Blood Bank.
- [CHUCKLES.]
AMELIA: DeLuca, Bello.
- I was hot.
- Uh, we didn't do anything.
- Change of plans.
- Stop my viability studies.
Start looking for a way to get a tumor out of a little girl without cutting part of her brain away, not a single cell.
MEREDITH: I mean, I've never seen anything like this.
She's grown mini spleens all over her abdomen, her small bowel, her ovaries.
It's incredible.
- Clamp.
- Insane.
The original organ has been removed, yet these fragments continue to do the job of the parent.
It's too bad she didn't grow extras of something useful, like kidneys or livers.
Hellmouth, do you have your cellphone on you? Uh, I I-I'll yell at you later for bringing it into the O.
R.
- Just get it out.
- Okay.
Open your voice-recorder app.
Whoa, whoa, whoa Okay.
A small multi-fragmented organ can still provide the same function as a whole single organ.
Injecting native cells into lymphatic tissue with the utilization of growth-enhancing - I'll need a biopolymer.
- Pull up a seat We need to look up biopolymers with adherence properties.
Oh, you'll need colony-stimulating factors.
- Did you get that? - Got it.
By introducing liver-cell precursors into lymph nodes, we can produce enough small, mini livers, which will take over the function of the patient's original failing liver.
More, more [BOTH LAUGH.]
- So, who holds the patent? - The 33 Triple-C polymer is patented by a Dr.
M.
J.
Cerone in Madrid.
- And it's pretty expensive.
- So I'm screwed.
I wouldn't say you're screwed, Major not to your face.
- [SCREAMS.]
- We picked him up for a head LAC, and he started seizing two minutes out.
- Move.
Move! - Pushed 2 of loraz.
No response.
I was trying to get him an airway.
And he bit your finger off, huh? - First week on the job? - His second.
OWEN: Okay, let's push another 5 of lorazepam, and hand me a laryngoscope, please.
Parker, get this guy in trauma 2.
- Am I gonna lose my finger? - We'll see.
I gotta get it out of this guy's throat first.
Oh, whoa, oh Whoa, oh, oh What happened? Head LAC.
Seized in the ambulance.
He's gonna a CT.
Rule out TBI.
- Page neuro, please.
- Who's in 2? Rookie paramedic, down one finger.
- I'm gonna need a MaGill, please.
- Yep.
You know [SIGHS.]
I stop bleeding every day.
What are you talking about? I don't need to write papers and file patent requests.
Every day, I compete with death, and more often than not - [GURGLES.]
- [GRUNTS.]
I win.
- [GASPS.]
- Okay, G.
I.
Joe.
Get this to the kid in trauma 2.
He's gonna be happy to see that.
So, I promised my husband - I'd stay in bed today.
- Mm-hmm.
So, um, I need you to go to the closet and bring a measuring tape.
And in the bathroom, there should be a pair of latex gloves.
And in the kitchen, - there's a turkey baster.
- No! I'm sorry, Dr.
Bailey.
I have to speak because I have to believe we live in an age where I can speak the truth - to those in power over me.
- What? I don't know what it is we're doing, but it does not feel good to me.
It's too much tubing and corks and secrecy in your bedroom.
It does not feel good, and I do not feel safe here.
No.
Oh No, I I'm making my prototype.
For the contest entry! - [EXHALES SHARPLY.]
- [CHUCKLES.]
Look.
Okay.
See? It goes in your rectum.
So, my spleen planted seeds and grew more? Something like that, yes.
Your spleen inspired Dr.
Grey to come up with something that might help save thousands of people.
Wow.
Really? Can we put that on a certificate or something? [LAUGHTER.]
- We need good news.
- DeLuca, go.
Right.
So, I looked at gamma knives and proton-beam therapy.
Nothing there.
We checked out high-frequency ultrasound applications in neurosurgery.
It was utilized for thalamic stimulation in comatose patients.
There was a study that was done in There was no mention in the literature of its usefulness as a surgical modality in the brain.
I - I think it's a dead end.
- So So, we got nothing.
I'm sorry.
"Notes that would shatter glass.
" High frequencies.
They shatter the glass because the note has the same resonance frequency as the glass itself.
ALEX: So, an ultrasound wave, if it was at the same frequency as the tumor tissue It would shatter it without cutting.
But I-it's never been done in the brain.
Not yet.
With ultra-precise targeting of the cancer cells, we think we'll be able to use it as an alternative - to invasive brain surgery.
- Has this ever been done before? Well, not on brain tissue, but if we experiment on models first, we think we could use it on tumors.
So, you want to use my kid as a lab rat? No, ma'am, not as a lab rat.
She's the goal.
- I'm the lab rat's cheese.
- We're really close.
We just need a little more time to get funding and do some more research.
How much time are we talking? "Ready for the spring musical" kind of time? Kimmie, there will be more auditions in the fall.
- I promise.
- By fall, I'll be bald.
Maybe they'll do "The King and I.
" [CHUCKLES.]
[SIGHS.]
We're really close to figuring out a way to help you, Kimmie.
- I believe it.
- Well, we both do.
So, in the meantime Radiation, chemo, rinse, repeat.
DAHLIA: Dr.
Avery.
I finished the paper for your spray-on-skin proposal, but the other Dr.
Avery asked me to type up a proposal for the gender-affirmation-surgery idea, so I did both of them in three days without sleeping.
Both of them.
Did I already say that? I may be over-caffeinated.
Anyway, I know you asked me to do this one, but, um, this one is really cool.
Not that you asked.
I'm gonna stop talking now.
Thank you.
[SIGHS.]
I love you, too.
- Hey.
- Hi.
What's your pitch? Let's hear it.
I want to design LVADs with magnetic interfaces so that we can eliminate ports and recharge transcutaneously.
Recharging the heart through the skin.
Yes, yes.
Exactly.
[INHALES SHARPLY.]
- What? - Nothing.
You just get it.
- Yeah.
- It's nice.
How's Chive doing? Clive.
Is it "Clive"? Really? Lightning strike? - More like a hailstorm.
- [CHUCKLES.]
When? [SIGHS.]
Just now.
[SIGHS.]
I'm sorry.
[SIGHS.]
We knew there was nothing we could do.
I thought of something for the contest.
It's theoretical, but it could work.
It could have saved him.
And it could save people like him.
And it was inspired by him, so I just wanted to let him know that he had done some good after all.
- Karin Taylor was 33 years old.
- Arizona, stop! She was in pristine health.
She gave birth to a gorgeous 6-pound, 7-ounce baby.
Stop! This is not healthy, and it's not gonna bring Karin back.
This is healthy! This is my paper.
It's a verbal paper, but this is what I am going to study! And it may not bring Karin back, but it could help a whole lot of future Karins, - so please, please just listen.
- Okay.
Karin was healthy, and now she's dead from an entirely treatable condition, okay, and it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't your fault that she died.
Do you hear me? It wasn't your fault.
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't fix it.
Preeclampsia is is only one of the reasons that we are losing laboring mothers at an unprecedented rate.
The United States has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the entire developed world.
There is something going on here, and we need to fix it, not someday, but now.
Put that in writing.
Send it to me.
Okay.
Okay, everyone.
Here we go.
"Generation of functioning accessory livers in lymphatic tissue, Dr.
Meredith Grey & Dr.
Josephine Wilson.
" Wow.
I'm on mini livers? You put me on your proposal? But wait.
You already have Hellmouth.
I don't want you on it as my assistant.
I want you on it as my partner.
I mean, you found a critical piece of the puzzle.
You're on this.
Stop doing that.
You're awake.
This is real.
Paul is dead.
And you're free.
And if there's another name you'd prefer I put on that paper, I'm happy to change it.
How about [SIGHS.]
Dr.
Josephine Brooke Wilson? "A novel approach to vaginoplasty using laparoscopically harvested peritoneum, Dr.
Catherine Avery, Dr.
Michelle Velez, and Dr.
Jackson Avery.
" [BOTH CHUCKLE.]
I knew you'd come around.
- Mwah! - Oh, man.
- Okay.
- Let's do this.
Now, I'll just ask that you to keep the orgasm jokes to a minimum.
"The Path Pen, Dr.
Richard Webber.
" Now, this is just a mock-up, so don't laugh.
It's a pen? Kinda, okay, but the the idea is that we create a file of the chemical and molecular markers in various types of tumor cells, and then we pre-program this into the device to rapidly identify the different types, okay? So you can know in surgery on contact - where the healthy tissue is - [BEEPS.]
- and where the cancer is - [BEEPS.]
and make it go away.
It's not a pen.
It's a wand.
It's a magic wand.
"Transcutaneously rechargeable ventricular assist device, Dr.
Maggie Pierce.
" "The Rectal Access Port for hydro colonoscopy, submitted by Dr.
Miranda Bailey.
" And "MRI-guided ultrasound ablation of inoperable gliomas, Dr.
Amelia Shepherd and Dr.
Alex Karev.
" [LOCKS SNAP.]
All set.
You ready? - Places in - It's okay.
You can just start.
- Tell me we're gonna fix this.
- We're gonna fix this.
KIMMIE: It's gonna happen Happen sometime Maybe this time Maybe this time I'll Win Essentially, it's a jack for the rectum that allows for an easy-access water colonoscopy.
- Ass jack.
- [LAUGHTER.]
Colonoscopies are messy and painful, and surgeons ruin their shoulders with all that Roto-Rootering.
- Mm.
- Ew.
I'm just saying.
She's gonna be rich.
- Hey.
- Hi.
Thank you for being worried about me.
Of course, and you seem better.
Are you better? Yeah.
I entered the contest.
And, I mean, I don't know.
I don't know if I'll get in, but I'm gonna study maternal mortality.
And you're an O.
B.
, and Italy seems to have it way more figured out than we do, so would you like to be my partner? - Your partner? - Yeah.
On the study.
- It makes no difference - Only on the study? To a satellite Oh, yeah We think we can can create multiple fully-functioning livers, like mini livers all over the body.
- Wow.
- That is amazing.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
- Good luck to the three of you.
- To all of us.
What do you mean? - Nope, not me.
- What? - What? - Why not you? Not doing it.
Didn't apply.
Research, patents it's it's not my thing.
But I am rooting for the three of you.
Uh, speaking of which, how did you get that polymer? - Which polymer? - The 33 Triple-C, the cross-polymer where you inject with the cells.
I mean, I wanted it for my thing, but Cerone's has that patent locked up tight.
Hunt, why don't we go, uh, grab a refill, huh? Yeah.
Sure.
Wow! That patent must've cost a ton.
You did get the patent, right? I Okay, everyone, um the results are in.
[GASPS.]
- Yes! - Yeah.
- Ah-ah-ah! Yes! - You got in? - Got in? - Yes, yes, yes, yes.
[GASPS.]
We got in.
What are you doing? What? Honey, we're not stay - We have reservations.
- Yeah, yeah.
Uh, excuse me.
You're on my dance floor here.
- Excuse me.
- What are you doing? W-We are celebrating your birthday a little early, okay? [SALSA MUSIC PLAYING.]
[LAUGHS.]
Come on.
Oh, my God.
- Whoo! - MEREDITH: Inspiration is not some mystical, unattainable thing.
- [LAUGHTER.]
- Inspiration is a seed.
Somebody been practicing.
That seed turns into vision.
- Look out, now.
- That vision turns into a goal.
- Watch this one.
- [LAUGHS.]
Oh! [APPLAUSE.]
And hopefully, that goal turns into victory.
Our paper was great.
It was great.
I can't believe it.
I can't believe we didn't get in.
What are we gonna do about Kimmie? I said hopefully.