[voiceover] When my mother left my father, she didn't tell him she was leaving him and taking me with her until we landed on the other side of the country. And those days, it was called family troubles. Today, it'd be called kidnapping.
S8 E2She's Gone
JJanet
A lot of questions came up today, about your relationship, your employment...
[about Meredith] Well, she got her job back. That was a misunderstanding.
JJanet
She disappeared.
Well, that was a miscommunication.
JJanet
And the part about you two living in separate houses, that's miscommunication, too? Look, I get it. It's not easy bringing a child into a relationship, you're allowed to have some bumps in the road. But, this afternoon when it looked like you two had split up, your wife got fired, she lied to me and left with the baby. It set off some alarms. Now, I'm trying to dial them all back but it's not that easy to do. Once a system has been set in motion, there's protocol that needs to be followed once the agency believes there's questions about Meredith...
Janet. Meredith is the best mother a child could have. She loves Zola and she loves me, and if she has any flaws, it's that she loves people so much she will do anything for them.
JJanet
Derek, please. I hear you. But no matter what I say social services still needs to re-evaluate the placement and when that happens, Zola can't be in your home. I'll give you a minute to say good-bye.
I still don't understand what you possibly could've been thinking.
They fired me. Janet basically told me that they were gonna take Zola away. I mean, possibly send her back to Malawi. You and me... I just needed some time. I just needed to hold her and look at her and just think about how everything, everything got so screwed up. You should take Zola. Janet has a problem with me, not with you and we need to do everything that we can to make sure they don't take her away and if that means that you have custody of her and I don't... then that's what we need to do.
You're not fired. Richard's gonna take the fall for you.
What? He can't do that. I'm not gonna let him do that.
Yes, you will. If you wanna keep this baby you will let him protect you.
I think I stole a baby.
Okay, first of all, you didn't steal the baby, she's your baby. What you did is... You took her for a nap... in a very odd location and you failed to answer your phone. But y'know, many people find all the technology in our lives to be intrusive, so you're not the first person who didn't answer your phone or your pager. You know, all we have to do is- is find a reason why you were AWOL for an hour.
Four... hours. [Cristina glares] Janet was gonna take the baby so I took off.
Okay, okay. You know, people make mistakes. I mean, I almost killed Alex in the OR today, so we'll just figure it out.
How?
I don't know.
No, how'd you almost kill Alex?
With a cc of epi. [Meredith looks shocked] Ah, y'know, whatever. He'll be fine. Just uh-- stay here. I'll fix this.
What are you gonna do?
I'm gonna fix it.
[voiceover] You think that true love is the only thing that crush your heart. The thing that will take your life and light it out. Or destroy it. Then, you become a mother.
S8 E3Take the Lead
[voiceover] You work, you study, you prepare… months and years leading to a day, the day when you step up. On that day, you have to be ready for anything. But there’s one thing you can never quite prepare for… the day when you step down.
You did it again today in the OR.
What? I had a successful surgery today.
You refused to listen to me.
I didn't listen to you because I didn't need to listen to you. I knew what I was doing and I was right. You just couldn’t trust me.
Why should I ever trust you? Why should I trust you? You ended my trial, you set back my career, you nearly ended your own, you destroyed Richard’s. I have no reason to trust you!
Well, then, why are you with me?
[points to its post-it] Because of that! Because I meant that! I promised I wouldn’t run. I promised I would love you.
Even when you hate me.
Even when I hate you. I’m trying, Meredith. I’m trying, but you make it so damn hard.
I understand, and I don’t want you to keep the promise, not if you don’t want to, and not if you can’t trust me with our daughter.
I do, I trust you with Zola.
Well, you just said—
That’s not what I said. I know that you took her to protect her, I know you altered the trial for Adele and for Richard. You stood in front of a bullet for me. I know why you do all of it. It’s what I love about you.
And what you hate about me.
Yeah!
You know, you have a kid and your worry a lot about screwing them up. Like something you do or say, or something you don't say will change 'em forever.
Yes ma'am.
I was just thinking, you're totally determining the course of this kid's life. You will determine whether or not this kid gets made fun of for his looks or if he cries when he looks at his school picture every year. And today you will decide who goes to prom with, and who he will marry, I mean if he gets married at all. If he dies all alone, unattractive and unloved. Did you want me to call Sloan?
You know Sam's wife took care of him after his last two surgeries, she died of a stroke last year. His son Jason dropped out of college one semester before graduating and he was--
What the hell, Kepner. Why are you telling me this?
Talking to patients is your job, Alex. Because they're more than just... an easy A or something that you can win. It's your job.
No, it's not. Not anymore. My job is to open him up and to fix him. And if I can't do it, no one's gonna do it for me. It's on me. So I can spend time talking to him or I can use that time figuring out what I'm gonna do after I open him up. Which one do you want me to do?
You're really nervous. That's why you didn't wanna work on a kid today. Look, you'll be fine. You're ready. I mean, you feel ready, right? [Alex nods]
I am thoroughly enjoying this book, Karev.
That's great.
Hopefully I'll finish it in there. Because as long as I'm reading it means that you're not screwing up. Will I finish this book today?
Yes, sir.
[voiceover] Sometimes it happens in an instance. We step up, we see a path forward. We see a path and we take it. Even when we have no idea where we're going.
S8 E4What Is It About Men
[voiceover] There are distinct differences, between male and female brains.
[voiceover] Female brains have a larger hippocampus...which usually makes them better at retention and memory.
[voiceover] Male brains have a bigger parietal cortex, which helps when fending off an attack.
[voiceover] Male brains confront challenges differently than female brains.
[voiceover] Women are hardwired to communicate with language. Detail. Empathy. Men, not so much.
[voiceover] It doesn't mean we're any less capable of emotion.
[voiceover] We can talk about our feelings. It's just that, most of the time, we'd really rather not.
Derek! You're trying to steal my guy. He's my guy. Avery go get in the car.
What? No.
Mark.
You've been moving in on him all week. You weren't even interested in him until you saw how much he meant to me. I don't take the time to teach anyone if I can help it.
Mark.
But I'm takin' the time with Avery because he's a quick learner and he can do a c-plasty better than I could at his level.
I can? [Mark turns to walk away]
Hey, hey. Don't do that. Don't just yell at me then walk away.
I'm not. It's just that Sofia likes it if I'm moving.
You guys talk. I'll take the baby.
Okay, careful. We had a scare this week. [hands Sofia to Owen] Thank you. Now, Avery go get in the car. Friends don't steal from each other.
It's not stealing if he asks to scrub in on my surgeries.
Oh, don't be a jackass.
Okay, look. I appreciate this, I do. But if I have to choose, I choose plastics. I mean, I really appreciate being able to take the lead on your neuro surgeries but I feel like--
[to Jackson] You usin' my boy here? To get more surgery? Nobody uses my boy. [Derek smiles, Jackson looks confused]
Okay, I get that you like to put your dirty clothes in my laundry because, frankly, if you didn't you'd never have any clean clothes. Fine. I will wash your dirty underpants. But you know what? I am not okay with washing your "skank of the week's" dirty underpants.
Actually those are Lexie's, thank you.
Oh, she w...
Oh yeah.
Okay, never mind. [Leaves]
Not Lexie's.
Nope. Lauren, third floor, radiology.
Oh, nice.
It's three days. We're gonna be fine. Bye mommies. Have fun at the conference mommies.
Bye-bye, baby boo...
Go.
Just one more kiss.
Go. Come on.
I'm gonna miss you so much.
Bye. See ya.
Bye.
It's just you and me kid. High five. High five. Dap. Blow it up.
[voiceover] People say 'be a man.' People say it all the time.
[voiceover] But what does that even mean?
[voiceover] Is it about strength?
[voiceover] Is it about sacrifice?
[voiceover] Is it about winning?
[voiceover] Maybe it's simpler than that.
[voiceover] You have to know when not to man up. Sometimes it takes a real man to set his ego aside, admit defeat, and simply start all over again.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Grey's Anatomy pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.