Heart-shaped Box - Recap

The show opens with the Shepherds rolling around in bed in their home, kissing and chatting as a prelude to making love. They are discussing the upcoming hearing of little Zola.
At Seattle Grace Hospital, Avery and Doctor Grey run into one another at the elevator, Grey asking him about something she wants to do with him later on that evening when Mark
intervenes, asking Avery if he would like to go fishing with him the next day. Flustered, Grey gives up trying to get Avery's attention and stomps off to work.

Arizona Robins is discussing an upcoming surgery with Doctor Bailey, the ins and outs of a delicate heart operation soon to take place. She mentions that a very important person, namely the deceased
George O'Malley's mother, Louise, loved and admired by many of the medical staff, is coming in to have gall bladder surgery. Bailey has other things on her mind and hardly hears what Robins
is trying to tell her, then has to ask to have it all repeated. Arizona impresses on Bailey that Louise needs to have gold standard treatment.

Author and now patient Justine Campbell is typing away madly while sitting up in bed and being told about her multiple aneurysms that need to be treated immediately. She blows off the information
that she could possibly have a stroke, etc., if she doesn't agree right away to treatment, i.e., a brain operation to remove them. She loudly complains that she must first finish her book because
she feels she owes it to her readers. Doctor Grey reminds her she may not make it if she doesn't have the operation right away. After some give and take, Grey agrees to type Justine's dictation
to speed up the process toward the much needed operation. Once Grey begins, she falls in love with the novel and suggest improvements to it which Justine finds helpful.

The much discussed heart operation is being readied when a call comes to one of the doctor, telling him that the recipient has died on the table, so another recipient is being searched for.
Meanwhile, the donor heart is sitting in a pan on the operating table. A nurse quips that the heart is all dressed up and has nowhere to go. A little later, the heart is sitting in a box, pumping
with help from machinery, being monitored by Christine Yang. Yang is making a list of what she wants to do with her medical career when Chief Webber sweeps in, remarking that
the heart is a miracle. He reads Yang's mundane list and tells her to use the heart in a box as an inspiring point. She looks at him, puzzled, as he leaves her with furrowed brow. She begins to work on that point.

Webber later does the same thing with Avery, telling him during the heart transplant operation, to see the miracle being performed before his eyes as a way to breathe life into his career.
Avery finally gets it and shares the wonder and awe with Christine, who gets it too.

Louise O'Malley is lying in her hospital bed, being interviewed by Meredith, when Louise begins to reminisce about old times when Meredith and George were kids together. They exchange
memories and Louise says how much she misses her son who threw himself under a bus two seasons ago to save someone else. Meredith has found scars from a botched gall bladder operation that another hospital had done that have caused Louise's present problems. Later, as a wheelchair riding Louise runs into Torres and Arizona
Robins in the hallway, an embarrassed Torres brusquely introduces Robins as her friend and co-worker, neglecting to mention that Robins is her wife now and that herself is a lesbian. It's an awkward
moment for the two younger women. The quick-to-observe Louise sees a marriage ring on Torres' finger and after her surgery, mentions it to Meredith.

The gall bladder surgery for Louise goes well and Meredith feels obligated to sit at her bedside til she wakes up post-op. Once Meredith knows she is stable, Torres comes in and explains
that she is now married to Arizona, that they are both lesbians and that she has a baby she is raising with Arizona. Louise doesn't bat an eye, instead asking for pictures of the baby.

Justine's book is nearly finishes, thanks to Doctor Grey's help, when Justine grabs her head, saying that her headache, caused by the aneurysm, is very painful now. Dropping everything,
Grey calls for help and Justine ends up in surgery posthaste. The operation is a success and Justine comes through with flying colors. When she wakes up in her bed, she is told her
problems are over and the book is on its way to the publisher's.

A fed up Avery tells Doctor Grey that he is too busy with his career to put up with her flirting with Mark and he is breaking up their relationship so that he can take on Mark as his
instructor. She is very hurt and unhappy but realizes that there is nothing she can do about it and lets him go. Later, Avery tells Mark he would like his mentorship to which Mark agrees.

Chief Webber meets once more with Yang and reads her medical career wishlist. He heartily approves of it, seeing that she is much more inspired now by his encouragement. The heart she
has been babysitting is whisked away by a team who takes it to another hospital where the new recipient awaits.

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