Still in the OR, Burke has calmed down. Derek asks him to touch each finger with his thumb. Burke does so. Derek and Richard are relieved, as is Cristina. She leaves the room.
In Hahn’s OR, the surgeons are still waiting. Hahn urges everyone to wait for it. After a moment, the heart starts beating. Izzie, still up in the gallery, is relieved. She starts crying and smiles.
The five interns are lined up in Richard’s office. Izzie says she cut the LVAD wire. All the others say the same thing, except for Alex, who says he’s got nothing to do with it. The others get enraged, but Richard silences them. He says he knows who did it, so they might as well come clean. Meredith says he has his suspicions, but he can’t be sure. Without proof, he can’t do anything. Richard angrily says one of them stole an organ, comprised a patient’s life, and jeopardized the hospital’s integrity with UNOS. He wants them to spill right now. They all remain silent. He decides no more surgeries for either of them until someone comes clean. Until then, they’re assigned to Camille Travis’ case. They will provide whatever she desires. They leave the office.
Izzie offers to go tell Richard it was her, but Meredith tells her to keep her mouth shut. Everyone’s going to keep their mouth shut. Izzie apologizes. She really appreciates what they all did for Denny. Alex says he doesn’t care. He only lied so he could scrub in, but he couldn’t care less for Denny. Cristina says they are all sticking together, surprising the others. George is reading Camille’s file. He wonders how hard it could be to give her what she want. Bailey comes over with Camille’s friends and replies it could be harder than he thinks. Claire and Natalie say that Camille’s the Chief’s niece. Camille wants the best prom ever.
Meredith and Cristina are watching George and Alex, who are in a conference room with Claire and Natalie. Cristina hated teenage girls when she was one herself. Meredith says she wore a lot of black and she had pink hair. She didn’t go to her prom. Cristina’s mother made her go. Her date barfed on her dress and then tried to feel her up.
Izzie’s visiting Denny. He looks amazing. Denny says he’s got warm hands for the first time. She feels his hand. Also, he’s got a regular heartbeat. Izzie has to go before Bailey catches her. She tells him about the prom thing. He wonders why she’s all swirly and twitchy. He recalls he asked her to marry him. She says she’s giving him an out. It was an extraordinary situation, but them getting married would be insane. They should date and have lots of sex once he gets home. Denny says it’s his turn now. For five years, he’s had to live by his doctors’ choices. Now, he has a working heart. He gets to make his own decisions now. He can do whatever he chooses. What he chooses, is Izzie. He wants to wake up to her, go to bed with her, and do everything in between with her. It’s her turn again. She doesn’t say anything and walks out of the room.
Richard tells Bailey her interns won’t talk. Bailey says she has her suspicions, but they’re the only ones who know the truth. Richard wants to meet with them individually. He will break them. Richard asks Bailey if she has a dress for the prom. If he has to go, everybody he has to go. He loudly announces this to everyone in the lobby.
Claire and Natalie are still discussing themes, much to Alex’ annoyance. He calls them boring. Claire says the colors matter to them.
The interns tell Bailey that Camille’s friends can’t agree on the colors. They were hoping that Bailey speaks teenage girl.
Bailey is meeting with Claire and Natalie. She tells them to go for silver and white. It’s mystical and magical without being over the top. No matter what color the clothes are, they pop. Bailey tells George and Alex to get silver, white, and black balloons. Cristina has to keep Camille happy. She wants Meredith to go talk to Patricia to ensure that they can use the second floor nurses station and waiting area. She notices the looks on their faces, but she says they don’t get to look at her like this. After everything they did, they’re gonna do this right.
Callie finds George and Izzie blowing up balloons in an on-call room. George leaves with her so they can talk. She says he didn’t call her, while he had told her he would. George says a lot came up, but he can’t talk about it. What happened in that room, stays n that room. Callie is very disappointed and angry. He asks if she wants to go to prom with him, but she says no and walks off. George returns and Izzie asks what that was about. George says Callie told him she loved him.
Meredith bumps into Finn, who’s been calling her all night. She says it’s a long story, which essentially ends with her inviting him to a prom. He loves proms, so he’s in. Finn says he was crowned King. She says that’s cute. He says he’s here because Doc had seizures last night. The cancer has spread to his brain.
Addison meets with Derek in front of the OR board. She asks about Preston. He’s doing good. She doesn’t want to talk about that other thing. He forgave her for her slip with Mark and now they’re trying. Addison says she was jealous when there’s no need to be. Derek asks her if she wants to go to prom with him.
Burke’s in his room, staring at his stretched out hand. There’s a small tremor. Cristina observes him through the window. She lets it sink in as he sees her. They share a look before she walks off.
Alex is meeting with the Chief. He’s talking about the sports he played in college, choosing football as the prime example. He got drafted to a team he wouldn’t have chosen, and he doesn’t like the players. The quarterback’s a pain in the ass you don’t own a damn thing to. But it’s your team. You don’t quit. You don’t talk to the press or bitch to the coach. You just go out there and play to win. You show up, suit up, and you play. It’s your team.
Richard tells Cristina he knows her type. She’s a surgical junkie. It won’t be easy for her to be away from the OR that long. If she wants to get back, she’s gonna have to tell her what he wants to hear. Cristina says he’s right. It’s not easy to sit in front of him, or any authority figure for that matter, and not give him the exact answer he wants to hear. She’s always been the one with the answers, but right now, she doesn’t have any. She asks Richard how he keeps his edge. He’s focused. He is the job. Nothing gets to him. She was like that until she got here and started doing this job. That is the point. She can’t tell him what happened in that room. Before, she would have been able to because there were no loyalties. Before, she wouldn’t have even been in that room, or she’d never have frozen in the OR. She has lost her edge and she needs it back. So, if Richard could just tell her how he keeps his edge, she’d appreciate it. Richard says she’s excused. She says she’ll tell him who cut the LVAD wire. He doesn’t want the answer from her. He won’t give her the answer she seeks. He won’t be responsible for her becoming less human.
Izzie tells Richard she’s a pretty girl, in an obvious way. She made a career from her looks. She’s not a smart or interesting, she’s the pretty girl. That’s how men see her. She’s used to that. She’s used to them walking away, but then Denny went and asked her to marry him. He doesn’t make her feel like a pretty girl. He makes her feel like her. He knows her. So, if she did cut the LVAD wire, she wouldn’t feel guilty. She can’t feel anything but happy.
Richard and George are staring at each other. George wonders if he’s gonna say anything. He says he won’t break, even though he’s a little freaked out. He does care what Richard thinks about him, but he can’t tell him what he wants to hear. That seems to be a theme in his life right now. You can be with someone without loving them. It’s frustrating when what your brain tells you what you want and what you actually want don’t match up. It’s exhausting and complicated. But that’s life, and life sucks.
Richard tells Meredith he’s known her for a long time. He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that she didn’t do it, but he needs to know who did. Meredith says she’s been going over this in her head. It was Richard. He was the reason her parents broke up. Ellis really loved him. She left her husband for him. But he stayed with his wife, because it was the right thing to do. It was safe to stay with his wife, and there’s nothing wrong with that since they’re talking about forever. He’s never looked back and regretted his decision. “Right?” she asks. He remains silent.
Meredith finds Derek and tells him that Finn needs them to make a decision about Doc. Derek says that’s good for Finn. Meredith would like to do this one thing without arguing. Meredith thinks it’s best to put the dog down, but she wonders if he might get better. Derek says there’s no chance of that happening and she knows that. Meredith says that Finn thinks they should do it today then. She leaves.
Izzie walks into Denny’s room as Bailey is examining him. She tells Izzie to come back during visiting hours. Izzie says this can’t wait. This is her turn. Izzie tells Denny her answer is yes. Denny is over the moon. Bailey tells Izzie she’ll call security. Izzie will come back during visiting hours. Before she can go, Denny tells Izzie she did good. She’ll come back so he can see her dress. He then tells Bailey he got her to marry him.
Cristina steps into Burke’s room and tells them that they’re throwing a prom. He already heard from George. He tells Cristina he won’t bear a grudge. He has to take care of himself and he can’t expect her to take care of him. If she can’t stay here for this, he won’t bear a grudge. She asks if he’s going to tell Derek about the tremor. He replies not yet.
In his office, Finn has some documents to sign. Addison takes care of those. Meredith asks how they’re doing this. Finn says he’ll give Doc an injection to make him sleepy, and then he’ll inject phenobarbitol. That will stop his heart. Meredith asks what they do with his body. Finn says they have the means to dispose of it for them. Derek is fine with that. Meredith reminds Derek that Doc is their dog. They can’t just throw him away like a piece of garbage. They agree to bury Doc at the clearing near the trailer, where you can overlook the water. Meredith and Derek hold the dog. They tell him they’re sorry. Addison gets paged to the hospital and leaves. Finn gives Doc the injections. As they cuddle Doc, Meredith and Derek’s fingers touch for a moment. Once Doc is gone, a crying Meredith grabs her stuff so she can go home to change. She tells Finn she’ll see him later. Finn tells her he’s sorry for her loss. Meredith says he was more Derek’s dog. Derek says he was a good dog. She agrees and then leaves.
The prom has started. Bailey tells Cristina she’s too tired for this. She also thought that the Chief would allow Cristina to skip the prom so she could spend time with Burke.
Finn finds Derek and asks him if he’s seen Meredith. Derek thinks she hasn’t arrived yet. They both look around and see Meredith coming down the stairs in her dress. Both of them are in awe, but only Finn walks up to her. Addison joins Derek and says this brings back bad memories for her from when she was a band geek with braces. She spent the entire prom talking about Star Wars with Skippy Gold. Derek is distracted as he’s watching Finn and Meredith, but he does agree to dance with his wife.
Richard cuts in and takes Brian’s place so he can dance with Camille. Brian walks off. Camille wonders why Brian’s so scared of him. Camille tells Richard to be kind to Brian because he loves her. Everyone should be loved once in their life. She’s been loved. She thanks her uncle for the prom. He tells her she’s welcome.
George finds Callie, all dressed up, on her way to the prom. He thought she wasn’t going. She only said she didn’t want to go with him. She told him she loved him, which she never did before, and now he’s ignoring her. He says he’s not doing that. She asks if he’s gonna say it back. He says no. He presses her against a wall and tells her to stop fighting him. He won’t say it back now because then he’ll only be saying it because she said it to him. When he says it, he wants to mean it. She has to give him some time to mean it. She hates that she’s so into him. They share a kiss.
Meredith and Finn are dancing. He says she’s hotter than his last prom date. She says if he keeps it up with the compliments, he might get lucky. He asks kind of lucky or seriously lucky. She says she appreciates that he’s been so patient with her. Finn says he stopped making plans when his wife died. He’s been fine with that, but right now, looking at her right now, he has all kinds of plans again. She’s not freaked out. As she’s hugging Finn, she locks eyes with Derek. She tells Finn she’s gonna splash some cold water on her face because she’s hot. At the same time, Derek tells Addison he’s going to check on a patient. He promises he’ll be right back.
Meredith’s running down a hallway with Derek chasing after her. She asks him to leave her alone. She enters an exam room. He follows her and asks if she’s all right. She says she’s not. Derek has a wife, he called her a whore, their dog died, and now he’s looking at her. She tells Derek to stop looking at her. Finn is perfect here and she’s really trying to be happy. However, she can’t breathe when Derek’s looking at her like that, so he has to stop. Derek says he doesn’t want to be looking at her. He’d rather be looking at his wife. He has responsibilities towards his wife. Addison doesn’t make him sick to his stomach when he’s thinking about his vet touching her. He’d give anything not to be looking at Meredith. He comes closer and kisses her.
Alex passes by Izzie, who’s wearing a gorgeous dress. He compliments her. She asks if he has a date. He says no, because it’s too cheesy to spend a decent chick on it. Izzie’s going to see Denny first before heading in.
Derek and Meredith are passionately making out. He takes off her panties and they proceed to have sex.
Denny’s reading when he suddenly experiences pain. He falls back into his pillow with his eyes open. His monitor flatlines.
Meanwhile, Izzie gets on the elevator with a smile on her face.
While they’re getting dressed, Derek asks Meredith what this means. She’s preoccupied with looking for her panties. Callie suddenly walks in. She notices what happened between the two as Derek turns around to zip his pants. Callie says the nurse sent her to look for Meredith because there’s something with Izzie. Before Meredith leaves, Callie fixes her dress. Meredith walks off and Callie follows her after giving Derek a judgy look. Derek fixes his tie.
Bailey finds Richard in the empty gallery. Richard tells her that he did his internship and residency in this hospital. He came back the minute he’d finished his fellowship. He was standing in that OR when he heard he was going to become Chief. He spent his whole career in this hospital. Bailey sits down with him and tells him that Denny Duquette died at 7:42 this evening. “Dammit,” he says.
Callie, Meredith, Alex, George, and Cristina are outside the ICU. Nurse Olivia tells them she called them since she thought they wouldn’t want her to go to the Chief. George asks her where she is. Olivia responds in there, with him. They all proceed to Denny’s room and find Izzie lying on the bed, holding Denny. She suspects Denny had a stroke since he was prone to blood clots. A clot could have formed on his sutures and traveled to his brain. It only takes a second. Hahn did a beautiful job, but Izzie has no idea why she didn’t think of blood clots. Denny died all alone. George says there’s nothing she could have done. Izzie says she changed her dress three times because she wanted to look nice. She could have been here sooner. George says they shouldn’t be here. Izzie knows they have to take Denny to the morgue, but she asks them all to leave. She wants to be alone with Denny. Alex says that is not Denny. The minute his heart stopped beating, he stopped being Denny. Alex knows that Denny loved Izzie. He wouldn’t want her to do this to herself. Izzie says Denny was proposing an hour ago, and now he’s going to the morgue. That’s ridiculous. She starts sobbing. Alex picks her up from the bed and sits down with her. The others look on as she keeps sobbing in Alex’s arms.
Burke is flexing his hand. The tremor is still there. Cristina watches him from the doorway. She comes in and holds his hand. He looks at her, glad that she’s chosen to stay with him.
Derek comes across Addison and Finn. Addison asks him where he’s been as Bailey and Richard come over. Richard asks Derek if he’s seen Bailey’s interns. Derek says no, but then Izzie, George, Alex, and Meredith walk by. Izzie turns around and tells Richard that she cut the LVAD wire on her own. She thought she was a surgeon, but she’s not. So she quits. Bailey stands there defeated as Alex and George follow Izzie on her way out. Addison says that puts an end to the evening. Richard agrees and the two walk off, followed by Bailey. Finn tells Meredith he’ll drive her home, but she doesn’t follow him. He turns around and notices she’s looking at Derek. Both men call out for her. They stand there as Meredith looks at the two of them indecisively.