Episode 24:
Didn't We Almost Have It All

Air Date: 05/17/2007

Meredith tells Cristina that her marrying Burke is a sign that "women like us" can really have it all. Cristina wants to scrub in but Miranda orders her to go home since she's getting married in less than 12 hours.

Richard is indignant that, since he's still Adele's husband, he was not notified she was in the hospital. Addison finally tells him Adele might be having a miscarriage. Adele comes to and is flustered to see Richard at her bedside. Addison leaves Richard alone with her. He wants to know why she didn't tell him and she snaps at him that he must have work to do. He insists on staying right where he is.

Rina, Joe and Walter's potential birth mother, needs to have her twins delivered immediately. She's upset because she hasn't made a final decision on who to give her babies to and they assure her that it doesn't matter right now. When the babies arrive, they each hold one.

With the fourth hiker, Lonnie, found alive with an ax in his head, Derek demands to know what really happened on the mountain. The three hikers say that Lonnie insisted they climb back down, not up, to camp for the night. Since they were all tied together, when he started down, they all fell. One of the men swung his ax to try to catch a rock, but caught Lonnie's head instead. "It was an accident," they insist, and swear they thought he was dead when they left him behind.

During surgery, Derek discovers that the ax wound is clean, meaning it was no accident. He tells Lonnie's friends that he knows the ax would was deliberate and that if they won't tell him the truth, they can talk to the cops. One of the hikers finally reveals what happened: They were so sure Lonnie wasn't going to make it that he tried to put him out of his misery. "He's my friend," the man sobs.

Rebecca's husband, Jeff, shows up at the hospital and has trouble recognizing her after her plastic surgery. He holds his daughter, telling Alex that she looks like Rebecca, or at least what she used to look like. Alex demands to know why he didn't come looking for his wife, since the ferry crash was all over the news. Jeff says he thought she'd left him. "I didn't look for her when she was missing," he says, "but what's worse is I didn't see her when she was there." He tells Alex he still loves her.

Derek tells Meredith about the pretty woman who offered to buy him a drink last night. He says nothing happened but she wants to know if she should be worried. He tells her, yeah, she should be worried that flirting with that woman was the highlight of his week.

Richard meets with all of the attendings to tell them whom he's selected to succeed him. He thinks Mark only wanted the job to compete with Derek. Addison says she needs the job as a reason to stay in Seattle and because she's 39 and alone. He says that's why he didn't pick her, because she shouldn't need a job to give her a new life. Even though Richard wants to give Burke the job, he says he can't because Burke let him down.

Callie tells George all she can think about is having a baby and George says if she really wants to, they can try.

Mama Burke pressures Cristina into wearing a choker that was worn by "five generations of Burke women" on their wedding day. She says she'd initially thought Cristina was selfish, but that she admires the way she's given into all of Burke's wishes. Next, she wants to know what Cristina intends to "do" about her eyebrows -- and Cristina ends up with none! Cristina begs Miranda to let her operate, because she has no eyebrows and no dignity left. "One cut," Miranda says and then sends her off to get married.

Addison asks Burke if he's nervous for the wedding. He says he's excited, but admits he's uncertain about the vows he wrote himself. Addison urges him to practice them on her, Izzie and the nurses. In his vows, he doesn't promise to love or honor Cristina, saying those are vows for people who are optimistic and hopeful and he is neither of those things. "I am sure," he says. "I am steady." He goes on at rapturous length and when he is done, Addison jokes, "I think I speak for every woman in this room when I say, dump her and marry me!"

Izzie, emboldened by Burke's vows, corners George and tells him because she's his best friend, that if he's in love with Callie, she will do everything in her power to make his marriage work. But she's in love with him and she hope she's in love with her too. Before he can answer, the other interns barge into the locker room, in a rush to prep for Cristina and Burke's wedding.

Just then, a nurse arrives with their test results. They all announced that they passed, even Meredith. She's preparing to leave when Derek shows up, so she stays behind to talk to him. She tells him if he wants to break up with her and see other people, to just tell her he doesn't love her anymore. "I do love you," he says. "You're the love of my life." He can't leave her, but she's always leaving him, so if she doesn't see a future for them, to please end it because he can't. She answers that she really needs to go make sure Cristina walks down that aisle.

Alex shares the good news about passing his exam with Rebecca and she tells him she and the baby have been discharged. Medically, there's no reason to stay, but she wants him to give her one. Jeff is a good man but he knows her as Rebecca and she doesn't know if she's that person anymore. "I was more me as Ava than I'll ever be as Rebecca," she says. He tells her her husband loves her and she should "stick with the decent guy."

Adele starts to crash and Addison informs her she might have a placental tear due to the accident and they need to operate on her right now. Addison saves Adele, but not the baby. Richard rushes in to see how she is and asks if she wants to call someone. She admits that the father didn't even know she was pregnant. "I misjudged him. He's a much better man than I thought," she says. He slowly realizes she's talking about him and they tearfully embrace.

At the church, Burke congratulates Derek on being named Chief and he tells him that Richard didn't pick him. Derek confides that he and Meredith might not make it but that today is all about Burke.

Alex sits next to Addison and asks if she wants to grab a drink after the ceremony. "You don't want me. You want Ava," she says. He tells her Ava's not Ava anymore and she tells him to go after her.

Miranda is devastated to see that Callie has been chosen for Chief Resident instead of her. George skips the wedding and commiserates with Miranda, who tells him she is so sorry that he's failed his exam. He now has two options: Walk away from being a resident or repeat his intern year.

Izzie looks for George in the church and Callie tells her he's going to be late, since it was a big day for them: She was named Chief Resident and they've decided to have a baby. The music starts to play and Cristina panics when she realizes that she no longer has her wedding vows written on her hand since she scrubbed in. She orders Meredith to give her the advice Cristina herself would give if their positions were reversed, so Meredith threatens to kick Cristina's ass if she doesn't walk down that aisle. After a noticeable delay, Burke goes to talk to Cristina and she assures him she's ready. He says he knows she doesn't want to do this, but that she was only doing it because she loves him. And that if he really loves her for who she is, instead of who he wants her to be, he wouldn't be waiting for her at the altar, he would be letting her go. Meredith informs the guests that the wedding is off, saying, "It's over." She follows Cristina to her apartment. "He's gone," Cristina says. "I'm free." Meredith helps her tear the choker and the dress off and holds her as she sobs. Alex rushes back to the hospital, but Rebecca is gone. George is joined in the locker room by a fresh batch of interns. One of them, the pretty girl who asked Derek for a drink, asks him for advice. She introduces herself as Lexie Grey. We find out that in Derek's interview with Richard, he turned down the position of Chief of Surgery. "You're the best man for this job," he tells Richard.

- description by ABC.com

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