Post by Addison M. Shepherd on Aug 14, 2008 18:36:10 GMT -6
GREY'S ANATOMY
1X03 - WINNING THE BATTLE, LOSING THE WAR
Original Airdate (ABC): 10/APR/2005
WRITTEN BY SHONDA RHIMES
DIRECTED BY TONY GOLDWIN
TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY HAZEL FOR "TWIZ TV.COM"
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DISCLAIMER:
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The following is not a novelization or an actual script but a dry transcript of the aired episode that includes accurate word-to-word dialogues, settings descriptions, action scenes and/or camera movements where the transcriber felt they were necessary. This transcript is posted on "TWIZ TV.COM" in world wide web exclusivity by courtesy of HAZEL."GREY'S ANATOMY" and other related entities are owned, (TM) and © by THE MARK GORDON COMPANY in association with TOUCHSTONE TELEVISION. This transcript is posted here without their permission, approval, authorization or endorsement. Any reproduction, duplication, distribution or display of this material in any form or by any means is expressly prohibited. It is absolutely forbidden to use it for commercial gain. For entertainment and educational purposes only. No infringement intended.
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TRANSCRIPT:
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INT. MEREDITH’S TOWNHOUSE, MEREDITH’S BEDROOM]
(Opens with it raining outside. The camera pans across her room. It passes her alarm clock which is flashing with time of 4.37am. Meredith is lying in bed)
Meredith Voice Over: We live out our lives on the surgical unit. Seven days a week, fourteen hours a day. We’re together more than we’re apart.
MEREDITH: Aaah!!!
(Meredith wakes up scared to find Izzie hovering over her bed with a cup of coffee)
IZZIE: George’s room is bigger than mine.
(Meredith sighs and gets up. She trips and falls flat on her face)
(Scene switches to Meredith moving hurriedly down the hall with Izzie following her)
MVO: After a while …
IZZIE: I have more clothes. I should have the bigger room.
MVO: … the ways of residency …
(They pass George who is guarding his room door)
GEORGE: I got here first.
IZZIE: It’s Meredith’s house, she should decide.
(George runs after them)
MVO: … become the ways of life.
(Cut to Meredith walking down the stairs with Izzie and George following her a few feet behind)
GEORGE: My room is like, two inches bigger than yours!
MVO: Number One …
IZZIE: You have a bigger closet!
GEORGE: So? Why is everything always a competition? I –
MVO: … always keep score.
(Izzie and George argue in the background. Meredith enters her laundry room and rummages for some clean clothes)
MVO: Number two. Do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy.
GEORGE: … you could put your clothes somewhere else!
IZZIE: Everywhere else is filled with Meredith’s mom’s boxes.
GEORGE: Meredith? When is your mom coming back to town anyway? (Meredith grabs her clothes and starts making her way back up the stairs) Because maybe we can put her boxes in storage.
IZZIE: Or unpack a few things, make this place a little more homey. Some throw pillows, some lamps, a few paintings.
GEORGE: Oh, paintings would be nice.
IZZIE: Yeah. You have all this amazing stuff just packed away. In the back hall, I found this box with like a hundred tapes of your mother performing these amazing medical procedures.
(Meredith walks down the hallway quickly and enters her bathroom)
GEORGE: Really? We should watch them. Meredith do you want to watch –
(Meredith slams the door in their faces. A moment later she opens it again and takes Izzie’s coffee from her and shuts the door again)
GEORGE (quietly): Meredith, do you want some privacy?
(Meredith slumps against the other side of the door, holding her coffee)
MVO: Number three. Don’t make friends with the enemy.
(Cut to Bailey standing on a street corner of Seattle City. Dr. Shepard walks up to her)
DR. SHEPARD: Morning Dr. Bailey.
DR. BAILEY (holds up a hand, preoccupied): Shut up.
DR. SHEPARD: You realize that I’m an attending and you’re only a resident? That you work for me, right?
DR. BAILEY (ignores the question, murmuring to herself): I know I’ve forgotten something. Something is happening today. I know I should know what it is, but I just can’t …
(She shakes her head)
DR. SHEPARD: All right, nice talking with you Dr. Bailey.
DR. BAILEY: It’s right in front of my face …
(DR. SHEPARD moves to walk across the street but Bailey gasps suddenly and pulls him back on the to curb)
DR. BAILEY: Ah doctor!
(Several bike riders race past. A few of them crash. Bailey and Shepard dart around trying to avoid them)
DR. BAILEY: Now I remember! Oh Dr Shepard come here. Watch out. Watch out.
(The bike riders continue to race past. Another one crashes)
[INT. SGH, HALLWAY]
(Bailey is walking down the hallway with George, Izzie, Alex, Meredith and Cristina following)
DR. BAILEY: Fools on bikes killing themselves. Natural selection is what it is.
ALEX (quietly to George): So what’s up with the Nazi? Is she off her meds?
GEORGE: You never heard of the race?
(Shot of the O.R board with a very organized schedule. Richard, Burke and Dr. Shepard are standing in front of it)
RICHARD: Excellent board. Well-timed, balanced, efficient. If all goes well, we’ll have an early night.
(Bailey passes them in the hallway with her interns following. She stops when she sees Richard)
DR. BAILEY: Chief! Dead baby bike race started twenty minutes ago.
(She continues on walking)
RICHARD (calls out): All right, people! Dead baby bike race day!
(He claps his hands to get everyone moving while an Intern starts wiping off some of the O.R board schedule)
(Cut to Bailey and her group walking off an elevator and down another hallway to the pit. They stop and start getting themselves dressed in yellow gowns)
GEORGE: Every year this bar–
MEREDITH (interrupts): The Dead Baby Bar.
GEORGE: Every year, they hold this underground bike race.
IZZIE: Don’t you wonder why someone would name a bar something so disgusting?
CRISTINA: Keep your panties on, Nancy Drew.
GEORGE: The race is completely illegal, and–
MEREDITH (interrupts): Crazy, a bunch of bike messengers racing against traffic trying to beat each other for free shots of tequila.
ALEX: All-out, no holds barred competition. Sounds like fun.
IZZIE: Yeah, you would think that.
GEORGE: The race, the race doesn’t even have any rules. Except eye gouging. No eye gouging.
(Izzie chuckles)
CRISTINA: Oh great, we’re going to be trapped in the Pit bandaging up idiots when we could be up in the O.R?
(George moves to help Izzie tie up the back of her gown)
GEORGE: What kind of people engage in a race that has, as its only rule, that you can’t rip out the eyeballs of another human being?
(George moves to help now Alex tie up his gown)
ALEX: Men, Georgie, men.
(George throws Alex gown so it practically goes off him)
DR. BAILEY: I need someone to get up to the OR floor, the Chief needs a right hand.
(Everyone’s hands shoot up including other interns that aren’t apart of Bailey’s group)
MVO: Oh and yeah number four.
DR. BAILEY (resigned): George.
MVO: Everything. Everything is a competition.
(George looks pleased while everyone brings their hands down annoyed)
DR. BAILEY: Okay people, the rules of trauma. Don’t mingle with the E.R interns, they don’t know their ass from their oesophagus. Sew fast, discharge fast, take bodies up to the O.R. yesterday. And don’t let me catch you fighting over patients. Got it? Come on, let’s go.
(George takes off his gown and heads back the way he came as the other interns all run and push to enter the Pit. There are injured bodies everywhere)
CRISTINA: Oh, it’s like candy, but with blood, which is so much better.
IZZIE: Oh my god…
(A person is wheeled in by paramedics looking pretty shoddy)
CRISTINA: Mine!
(She dashes to the patient)
IZZIE: No I saw him first!
(Izzie runs after her)
MVO: Whoever said that winning wasn’t everything …
(The camera moves to a guy sitting on a bed with nail spokes coming out of his abdomen. Meredith’s whole face lights up)
MEREDITH: Ooh. I’ll take that guy.
ALEX: No, you’ll have to beat me to him first.
(They both push their way against each other hurriedly)
MVO: … never held a scalpel.
(Cut to Meredith and Alex arguing who should get the guy who is sitting with nails. The patient’s name is Viper who is watching with interest)
ALEX: Heads he’s mine, tails he’s yours.
MEREDITH: Why do you get to be heads?
ALEX: Because I have a head, and honey you are tail.
MEREDITH: Excuse me. (Meredith closes the curtain on Viper) How do you manage to make everything dirty? (Alex flips the coin and they both look) Ha. Tails. There are plenty of other cases.
ALEX: So go get one. I was here first.
MEREDITH: I am not backing down so I can do sutures all day while you’re up in the O.R. This is a surgical case, and you know it.
ALEX: It’s superficial. I mean, it’s cool, but it’s superficial.
MEREDITH: How do you know those things didn’t rupture his peritoneum?
ALEX: Because he’s sitting up, and he’s sitting there talking to us!
(Viper pulls back the curtain. He sounds a little British)
VIPER: ‘Allo. Excuse me, I was wondering if you could take these out, and sew me up, so I can go and win my race?
MEREDITH: Well, we can’t just pull them out, I mean, we –
(Alex pulls out a spoke. Viper groans)
VIPER: Ow.
MEREDITH: … do some tests …
VIPER: Oh, wicked.
(Alex pulls out all the nail spokes out of Viper)
MEREDTIH (shocked): Are you out of your mind?
VIPER: Ah!
ALEX: It’s a superficial wound. (He hands Meredith the spokes) Sew him up, and let him finish his race.
MEREDITH (in disbelief): You … you!
VIPER: Ah good man.
(Cut to Cristina, Izzie, Derek and Burke in an exam room with patient they both fought for from earlier)
CRISTINA: Unidentified John Doe, mid-thirties pedestrian, hit by a motorist swerving to avoid a bike, GCS 3. Um pupils fixed and dilated. Atropine given for a pulse in the forties. BP 183 over 112. Pulsed at 98 percent.
IZZIE: Chest films show wider mediastinum and head CT revealed cerebral oedema. He’s gotten 78 mannitol, dexamethasone 10 and a gram of phenytoin.
CRISTINA: Get him to the O.R?
DR. BURKE (to Derek): Is he corked?
DR. SHEPARD: Looks like.
DR. BURKE: The bike race claims its first victim.
DR. BURKE: I ought to make my Triple A repair after all.
(Burke leaves the room)
IZZIE: Uh, Dr. Shepard, he’s not going to the O.R?
DR. SHEPARD: No. Do an EEG, and confirmatory tests. If he doesn’t respond … six hours. Declare him.
(Derek leaves the room as well)
IZZIE: Declare him? Declare him what?
CRISTINA: Brain dead.
(Cristina seems disappointed and Izzie looks sad. They both leave the room)
(Cut to Richard scrubbing up in a scrubs room. George enters)
GEORGE: Sir, Dr. Bailey sent me in to assist you, should I scrub in?
RICHARD: No, I’m stuck here all day. I need you on the floor, monitoring my pre and post-op patients.
GEORGE (disappointed): Oh.
RICHARD: You got a problem with that, O’Malley?
GEORGE: Oh, uh, no sir.
RICHARD: Oh, a buddy of mine in forty-four, fifty one, Lloyd Mackie? Give him whatever he needs.
GEORGE: Yes sir.
(George leaves the room)
(Cut to a patient room where Lloyd Mackie a middle aged black man lights up a cigarette)
GEORGE (shocked): Mr Mackie! No smoking! There’s no smoking
LLOYD: Why not?
GEORGE: Oh my god! (He grabs the cigarette from him) You’re in a hospital.
LLYOD: Your point being?
(George rushes into the adjacent bathroom)
GEORGE: I don’t know if you’ve listened to the surgeon-general lately, say in the past twenty years, but smoking is bad. Smoking will kill you.
(He flushes the cigarette down the toilet and turns back to Lloyd)
LLYOD: Liver cancer will kill me. Smoking will just speed up the process.
GEORGE: You’re at the top of the donor list for a new liver. There’s hope.
LLOYD: Sweetheart, I’ve been at the top of the list for … eight months. I’m not in the batter’s cage. I’m in a dugout, about to be traded.
GEORGE: You like baseball?
LLOYD: No.
GEORGE: Oh. Um, well, um, the chief wanted me to look in on you.
LLOYD: Hmm. Richard’s a dear old friend. He’s been my doctor for thirty years.
GEORGE: Well, whatever you need, I’m your man. Just name it.
LLOYD (gives suggestive George a look): Oh … I’m sure I’ll think of something.
(Cut back to Izzie and Cristina with their John Doe)
CRISTINA: There’s no corneal reflexes.
IZZIE: It’s been fifty-five minutes. If he doesn’t respond to these tests in the next five hours, what? We’re supposed to just stand here, and watch him die?
CRISTINA: If he doesn’t respond to these tests, it’s because he’s already dead.
IZZIE: Technically. Legally.
CRISTINA: Actually, Izzie, actually dead.
IZZIE: He’s breathing, he has a heartbeat.
CRISTINA: Look at his EEG. There’s no higher brain function. He’ll never talk, move or think again. There’s no one in there. Think like a doctor, Izzie.
IZZIE: He could wake up. What about a miracle? There are medical miracles, you know.
(Dr. Shepard is revealed standing at the doorway and he appears to have overheard some of the conversation)
DR. SHEPARD: I know. You’re right. Miracles happen. (He walks in and checks John Doe himself) People do wake up, that’s why we do a series of tests over a set number of hours, so when we call time of death, we know that we’ve done everything in our power to make sure it’s actually his time of death. But there isn’t going to be any miracles. This is the hard part. To stand around as surgeons and not cut. That’s what ‘do no harm’ means.
(He leaves the room)
CRISTINA: Wish he’d just go into the light already, so I can get on another case.
(Izzie looks at Cristina appalled)
CRISTINA: Oh, I’m the devil because I’d rather be in surgery, instead of standing watch over the death squad? It’s depressing.
(Izzie rifles threw John Doe’s personal items)
IZZIE: Look at his sneakers. They’re brand new. And somebody sewed this tear in his shirt, and he has one of those electronic key cards. He belongs to someone. An hour ago, he was out there, alive. To simply stand here and wait for him to die…
CRISTINA: Would be a waste of life.
IZZIE: Exactly.
CRISTINA (suddenly excited): It would be a waste of organs.
(Cristina leaves leaving Izzie looking appalled once again)
(Cut to Meredith stitching up Viper in small exam room adjacent to the Pit)
VIPER: Ah, you got a nice touch. And by the way, you are a rocking babe.
MEREDITH: Seriously, do you actually think you have a shot here?
VIPER: I like to think I’ve got a shot anywhere.
MEREDITH: Oh.
VIPER: Mmm.
MEREDITH: Look, you really have to let me take you for some tests; run a CT. You could have internal bleeding.
VIPER: No thank you, I’ve got a race to get back to.
MEREDITH: Why? You can’t win now anyway.
VIPER: Doesn’t mean I can’t cross that finish line. There’s a party at the finish line. (he whispers) Do you want to meet me there?
MEREDITH: One test. A CT. I’ll have you out of here in an hour.
VIPER: Can’t do it, gotta go.
MEREDITH: Okay, well, you realise that you’re leaving against medical advice and that I strongly urge you to stay.
VIPER: The frat guy said I could go.
MEREDITH: The frat guy is an ass. Okay, well, you have to sign an AMA form.
VIPER: Darlin’, I will do anything you want me to.
(She holds out a clipboard for Viper to sign)
MEREDITH: What is it with you guys and your need to dirty everything up?
VIPER: I don’t know. Maybe it’s just testosterone, eh?
MEREDITH: Maybe. You might want to see a doctor about that, too.
VIPER: Come here. (he takes the form and signs it and puts it on a table) There.
(He gets up and takes a few steps towards the door but turns back abruptly. He grabs Meredith and kisses her who just holds her hands up in protest)
VIPER: That was for good luck. (he opens the door) Don’t worry, darling, you’ll see me again.
(He leaves)
MEREDITH (calls out): For your sake, I hope not!
(Meredith shakes her head and begins to strip the bed. She looks up and sees Derek standing outside through a window watching her looking shocked. She moves to exit as Derek opens the door)
MEREDITH (tries not to smile): What do you want?
DR. SHEPARD: You make out with patients now?
MEREDITH: What are you jealous?
DR. SHEPARD: I don’t get jealous.
MEREDITH: We had sex, once.
DR. SHEPARD: And we kissed, in an elevator.
MEREDITH: And we kissed in an elevator, once!
DR. SHEPARD: No, seriously, I mean come on, go out with me.
MEREDITH: No.
DR. SHEPARD (semi serious): You know, I almost died today. Yeah, I came like (he gestures) this close. How would you feel if I died? And you didn’t get a chance to go out with me?
MEREDITH: Get over yourself already.
DR. SHEPARD (smiles): Come on.
MEREDITH: It’s the chase, isn’t it?
DR. SHEPARD: What?
MEREDITH: The thrill of the chase. I’ve been wondering to myself, why are you so hell bent on getting me to go out with you? You know you’re my boss, you know it’s against the rules, you know I keep saying no. It’s the chase.
DR. SHEPARD: Well, its fun, isn’t it?
MEREDITH: You see? This is a game to you. But not to me. Because unlike you, I still have something to prove.
(She leaves the room)
(Cut to an O.R. where Bailey is performing surgery on a patient. Cristina and Izzie enter the O.R)
DR. BAILEY: I know you see me resecting this bowel. Do I strike you as someone who enjoys multitasking?
CRISTINA: We have a John Doe. In three hours, we have to declare him brain dead. We want to harvest his organs.
DR. BAILEY: So why you wasting time on this? You know how many patients we have downstairs.
IZZIE: If he dies (to Cristina) and he could still live, you know (back to Bailey) his death should mean something.
DR. BAILEY: And you want a harvest surgery.
CRISTINA: I wanna save lives. (Bailey looks gives her scalding look) Okay, I want a harvest surgery.
DR. BAILEY: Getting organs from a John Doe is a long shot. Without ID, you can’t contact the family, without the family, you can’t get consent to harvest the organs. Let the poor man die in peace.
IZZIE: But if we can find the family –
DR. BAILEY (interrupts): And get consent.
CRISTINA: We could harvest the organs?
DR. BAILEY: If you find the family.
(Izzie and Cristina dash off)
(Cut to Alex walking over to a nurses’ station where George is sitting in front of a computer looking over patient charts. Alex puts his own chart down and starts writing in it)
ALEX: What’re you doing?
GEORGE: Hiding. There’s this VIP patient, he likes me.
ALEX: Well, that’s good, right?
GEORGE: He likes me likes me.
ALEX: Go for it, man, get yours. I’m down with the rainbow. (George looks up, wide-eyed) Oh. Are you not gay?
GEORGE: No.
ALEX: Really? (looks amused) Dude, sorry.
(He leaves as Izzie and Cristina come up to the other side of the nurses’ station)
GEORGE (holds out a disk) Uh Cristina?
(She comes over and moves to take the disk which he drops to the desk)
GEORGE: Do you … do you think … does Meredith think I’m gay?
CRISTINA: Are you?
GEORGE: No.
CRISTINA: Really?
(George looks frustrated. A nurse comes over to Izzie and Cristina walks back up to her)
IZZIE: Hey, we found this on our John Doe, It’s a hotel key card? I’ve called the police and they’re going to send someone over and maybe they can figure out what hotel he’s staying at, get his ID from there. Could you…
NURSE #1: I’ll make sure the police get it.
IZZIE: Okay. It’s just, it’s really important. We only have a few hours before we have to declare him and I’d really like to find his family.
NURSE #1: You want their permission for organ donation?
(George looks up at this interested)
IZZIE: I just … really want to find them.
(She leaves. Cristina looks after her, surprised, and then turns to go)
GEORGE: You have a potential donor? (Cristina turns around and nods) What’s his blood type?
CRISTINA: Uh, O-neg.
(Cristina walks off and George pulls out a folder)
(Cut to Izzie looking over her John Doe)
IZZIE: Okay, well, I know you probably can’t hear me, and you’re feeling this big push to go towards the light, where everything is all haloes and all-you-can-eat buffets and stuff. And I mean, sharing your organs is really great and all, but I think you have a family. I can feel it. So I think it’d be really great if you could do me a favour, and get better. Just … live. So you think you could give that a shot for me?
(There is a brief silence before his heart rate and pulse start dropping. The monitors start beeping rapidly)
IZZIE: Oh no.
(She sees Meredith outside and calls out to her)
IZZIE: Meredith! Meredith!
MEREDITH: What?
(Meredith walks in the room with Izzie)
IZZIE: He’s crashing.
MEREDITH: Well, what the hell are you doing? Call the code!
IZZIE: I can’t. I’m not supposed to. He’s brain dead.
MEREDITH: Well Izzie, if he’s brain dead, you have to let him go.
IZZIE: No. It’s only been five hours and thirty-three minutes. He’s supposed to get six hours.
(The monitors slowly return to normal and Meredith looks through his chart)
MEREDITH: Well, we can’t do anything to help him live. It’s not our place to make that call.
IZZIE: He’s a person, we’re doctors. We should have every right to make that call. We can’t just stand here and do nothing while he dies. He has a right to the next twenty-seven minutes.
MEREDITH: Screw it. I’ll get the dopamine, you get the blood. We’ll transfuse him.
[EXT. SEATTLE CITY DAY TIME, COVERED IN FOG]
[INT. SGH, LLOYD MACKIE’S ROOM]
(George is examining Lloyd)
GEORGE: Do you feel any pain here?
LLOYD: No. You know, you really do have beautiful eyelashes.
GEORGE: Um, thank you. Uh, what about here?
LLOYD: No. And nice eyes. Kind. I like a man with kind eyes.
GEORGE: Really, you think I have kind eyes?
LLOYD: Mm-mmm.
GEORGE (suddenly uncomfortable, he pulls down Lloyd’s shirt): I mean, uh, you can, um…
(He moves away and rights in Lloyd’s chart)
LLOYD: What are you examining me for?
GEORGE: Oh you know just routine, medical stuff. You’re doing very well.
LLOYD: Because I’m enjoying the view.
GEORGE (uncomfortable): Okay … well … I gotta go.
(George leaves and Lloyd waves after him)
(Cut to Izzie and Meredith walking up some stairs in a stairwell as Cristina is coming down them)
MEREDITH (calls out): He’s stable.
CRISTINA: For now. I had a radiologist look at his chest films. He has a traumatic aortic injury. He’s going to rupture and bleed out.
IZZIE: So he needs surgery.
CRISTINA: If he’s going to remain a viable organ donor, yeah.
IZZIE: If he’s going to live.
CRISTINA: Izzie…
IZZIE (interrupts): No! I’m not giving up on him. He has the surgery, he lives longer, that’s the point. So I’m going to help find the family, you guys find a way to get him into surgery.
(She heads up the stairs)
CRISTINA: She’s vice-president of fantasyland.
MEREDITH: So who do we go to for the surgery? Bailey?
CRISTINA: No, we need to go higher than Bailey.
(They also head up the stairs)
(Cut to Burke in the men’s room taking a leak. Meredith opens the door and peaks in)
MEREDITH: Dr. Burke?
DR. BURKE (shocked): Hello?!?
MEREDITH: Okay.
(She closes the door. Burke sighs and the door opens again. This time it’s Cristina that peaks in)
CRISTINA: Dr Burke, um, I know you’re busy, but our John Doe needs an aortic repair.
DR. BURKE: The guy from this morning? Isn’t he legally dead?
CRISTINA: Well, yeah, he’s kinda still around? We gave him two units PRBCs and put him on pressers.
DR. BURKE: On whose orders?
(She shuts the door and Burke flushes. He makes his way to wash his hands. This time they both open the door)
MEREDITH: Mine.
DR. BURKE: You gave a brain-dead John Doe a blood transfusion without consulting anyone. And now you want me to repair his heart?
CRISTINA: Well, yes.
DR. BURKE: You do enjoy crossing the line, don’t you?
MEREDITH: He is an excellent candidate for organ donation.
DR. BURKE: I am a surgeon. I save lives. This guy is already dead. Now, this is the men’s room. Either whip one out or close the door.
(They close the door).
(Cut to Meredith talking to Derek in a hallway)
DR. SHEPARD (amused): You’re asking my advice?
MEREDITH: Yes.
DR. SHEPARD: Now who’s chasing?
MEREDITH: Not funny. This is important.
DR. SHEPARD: Okay. You want to get around Burke? You gotta find a way to get the Chief involved.
(Cristina and Izzie watch Meredith from afar anxiously)
(Cut to George sitting down, eating a sandwich in the outdoor cafeteria of the hospital. Izzie, Cristina and Meredith are standing in front of him in a line)
GEORGE (a little scared): What’d I do?
MEREDITH: How close a match for the liver is your guy to our John Doe?
GEORGE: Very. Same type, same size. UNOS couldn’t find a better match, why?
IZZIE: He’s the chief’s VIP, right?
GEORGE: Right.
CRISTINA: How much would you kill to be in on a transplant surgery?
GEORGE: You underestimate me. I’m not a baby, I’m your colleague. You don’t have to manipulate me. If you want something all you have to do is ask.
IZZIE: We want you to go over Burke’s head to the Chief.
GEORGE: Ask me something easier.
(Cut to Richard exiting an O.R. George is waiting for him outside)
GEORGE: Sir?
RICHARD: O’Malley. How’s Mackie?
GEORGE: Fine. Sir, actually, that’s what I want to talk to you about. I, I kind of think that we uh, me and the other interns, we think, we’re, we’re not–
RICHARD (interrupts): O’Malley, I’m not getting any younger.
GEORGE: We found Mackie a liver.
(Cut to show Cristina, Izzie and Meredith are watching George and Richard from down the hall talk about the organ donation)
MEREDITH: We are so going to hell. Burke is sending us straight to hell.
CRISTINA: On an express train.
IZZIE: If it works.
(Alex walks up to them)
ALEX: What’re you doing?
IZZIE, MEREDITH AND CRISTINA (in unison): Nothing.
(Alex stops to watch as well. Burke walks past Richard and George and Richard stops him, and starts talking to him)
IZZIE (grins): Yes.
(Richard is now gone and Burke looks at George, who leaves immediately. Izzie chuckles. He then turns to look at them)
CRISTINA: Oh, crap.
(They hurry away. Alex stays and when Burke starts walking off he goes after him)
ALEX: Dr. Burke! Dr. Burke!
(Cut to an O.R. where Burke is performing open heart surgery. Alex is assisting Burke)
ALEX: Excellent work, sir. Excellent!
DR. BURKE: Flawless. It’s a shame he’s brain dead. If he wasn’t, he’d be on his feet in a few days.
ALEX: I’m amazed at what skill your hands have, it’s …
(The camera pans up to show Meredith, George, Izzie and Cristina sitting in the gallery watching the surgery)
CRISTINA: I seriously hate that guy.
MEREDITH: Alex is vermin. That surgery is ours.
IZZIE: At least Burke is doing the surgery. I don’t care about Alex. George, you did good!
GEORGE: I’m going to have to dodge Burke for the rest of my career. (whispers to Meredith) He could kill me and make it look like an accident.
(A nurse enters the gallery)
NURSE #2: The police called. They’ve identified your John Doe. His wife is on the way.
(Izzie sighs in relief and she and Cristina leave the gallery)
(Cut to Izzie watching over the John Doe. She looks as she sees people approaching. Derek brings a young woman named Shelly into the room.)
SHELLY (upset and shocked): Oh my god. Kevin…
DR. SHEPARD: It’s okay to…
SHELLY (upset): Oh my god.
DR. SHEPARD (gestures to Izzie): This is ah Dr. Stevens.
(Shelly gives Izzie a nod and Izzie nods back)
DR. SHEPARD: Now if you have any questions at all, please, please call me.
(Shelly nods and Derek leaves)
SHELLY: Is there, is there still a chance?
IZZIE: We can hold off till morning, but if there’s still no change we’d … we’d like to talk to you about organ donation.
(Cut to Richard entering Lloyd Mackie’s room. George stands at the doorway)
RICHARD (shakes Lloyd on the shoulder lightly to wake him): Mackie? How’re we treating you?
LLOYD: Oh, fine. Except that beautiful boy won’t let me smoke. (he chuckles) You should reprimand him. Make him change bedpans.
(Richard laughs)
RICHARD: Mackie.
LLOYD: Hmm?
RICHARD: That beautiful boy may have found you a liver.
(Lloyd stops smiling and looks at George. His eyes start to tear and he struggles not to cry. Richard pats him comfortingly and George nods at Richard and leaves)
(Cut to Meredith standing in the intern locker room in front of her locker dressed to go home. Her pager beeps which she checks. Alex bursts through the door and walks to his locker)
ALEX: God! I smell good! You know what it is? (He faces Meredith) It’s the smell of open heart surgery. (Meredith shoots him a look and he takes in a deep breath) It’s awesome. It is awesome. You gotta smell me.
(He walks up behind Meredith and wraps his arms around her)
MEREDITH: I don’t want to smell you.
ALEX (he nuzzles her hair): Oh, yes you do.
(Meredith turns around and grabs Alex by his shirt and slams him against the lockers)
MEREDITH: You have got to be kidding me! Okay. I have more important things to deal with than you. I have roommates, and boy problems, and family problems. (Alex yawns acts bored by her act) You want to act like a little frat boy bitch? That’s fine. You want to take credit for your saves, and everybody else’s? That’s fine too. Just stay out of my face.
(The door opens revealing Dr. Shepard who watches. Meredith grabs Alex’s chin so he looks at her directly)
MEREDITH: And for the record, you smell like crap!
(She turns to go back to her locker and they both see Derek looking at them. She walks back to her locker. Derek walks in a little and motions to Alex as if to say what just happened)
ALEX: She attacked me.
(Meredith rushes quickly to really attack Alex)
DR. SHEPARD: Meredith, Meredith, Meredith!
(Derek grabs her arms before she reaches Alex and she lets him push her back. He turns back to Alex)
DR. SHEPARD: You know you might want to leave. Before I change my mind and let her beat you to a pulp with her tiny ineffectual fists.
(He guides Alex out the door holding his arm. Alex makes a ‘boo-hoo’ face at Meredith as Derek closes the door. He turns to look at Meredith and sighs. Meredith stares at him breathing at little heavily)
DR. SHEPARD: What?
MEREDITH: Nothing. (She grabs a jacket out of her locker) It’s just ... (She gives him a long look. He nods slightly for her to speak) Nothing.
(Meredith slams her locker door shot and moves to leave. Derek opens the door for her. She stops in front of him as if to speak again, breathing still slightly out of breath. She seems to change her mind and leaves. Derek looks up and sighs)
[INT. MEREDITH’S TOWNHOUSE]
(Cut to Meredith entering the house. Izzie and George are sitting in the living room, rifling through various boxes which contain videotapes)
IZZIE: Ooh, this one is skin grafting!
GEORGE: Skin grafting? No way! I’ve never seen that done before.
(Meredith walks up to them)
MEREDITH: Are those my mother’s surgical tapes?
GEORGE: We should watch the skin grafting one first.
MEREDITH (slightly angry): Where did all this stuff come from?
IZZIE: Oh, I unpacked some of your mother’s things. I was upset, and when I’m upset I like to nest.
(Meredith stares, then starts taking down pictures that have placed around the room)
IZZIE (finds another tape): Ooh! Hemipelvectomy.
GEORGE (grabs the tape from Izzie): I think we should watch this one first.
MEREDITH: No. No. We’re not watching my mother’s surgery tapes! We’re not unpacking boxes! We’re not having long conversations where we celebrate the moments of our lives. (She grabs a beer of the table and hands it to George) And use a coaster!
GEORGE: I ordered Chinese food.
(She storms off up the stairs)
MEREDITH (yells back): I hate Chinese food!
(Both Izzie and George try not to laugh but they can’t help it)
[EXT. SGH, DAYTIME]
(Cristina and Meredith are walking down the sidewalk adjacent to the hospital, holding cups of coffee)
MEREDITH: They’re everywhere. All the time. Izzie’s all perky and George does this thing where he’s helpful and considerate. They share food and they say things and they move things, and they breathe. Uh! They’re like happy.
CRISTINA: Kick them out.
MEREDITH: I can’t kick them out. They just moved in. I asked them to move in.
CRISTINA: So what, you’re just going to repress everything in some deep dark twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?
MEREDITH: Yep.
CRISTINA: This is why we are friends.
(Alex comes up behind them as they enter the hospital)
ALEX: Why is the Nazi making us stay in the Pit two days in a row?
MEREDITH: Leftovers.
ALEX: Leftovers?
MEREDITH: Gotta get the cyclists who were too drunk or too stupid or too scared to get themselves to a hospital yesterday.
ALEX: While meanwhile, she gets (points to Cristina) to do a freakin’ organ harvest.
(Meredith chuckles)
CRISTINA: Oh, that kills you, doesn’t it?
ALEX: What?
CRISTINA: That two women got the harvest.
(They stop in front of an elevator)
ALEX: No, it kills me that anyone got the harvest but me. Boobs do not factor into this equation. Unless you want to show me yours.
(Meredith and Cristina exchange looks)
MEREDITH: I’m going to become a lesbian.
CRISTINA: Me too.
(Alex shrugs. They move to take the stairs as the elevator bings open. Alex moves to enter the elevator)
(Cut to Cristina sitting at a table talking to Shelly and her daughter in a conference type room. Bailey is standing watching. Shelly seems very upset)
CRISTINA: Now Mrs. Davidson, this form simply says that you consent to the donation of your husband’s major organs. Heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. (She hands Shelly a clipboard which she signs and hands back) Now I need to ask you a few questions. Are you willing to donate his corneas?
SHELLY (shocked): You want his eyes?
CRISTINA: Um, corneal transplants can give someone back their sight.
(Shelly pats her daughter reassuringly)
SHELLY: I suppose that’s okay.
(Cristina hands her over another form to sign. Shelly signs and hands the form back. Bailey watches looking a little sad)
CRISTINA: What about his skin?
SHELLY: What?
(She looks like she’s gonna be ill and struggles not to cry)
CRISTINA: It’s used to help burn victims.
SHELLY: You want to cut off his skin? … What about the funeral? You want me to have a funeral, and have people look at him, have- have his daughter look at her father and he doesn’t have any skin? (her voice breaks) It’s his skin!
(She struggles hard not to cry. Her daughter takes her hand to comfort her. Cristina leaves the room abruptly. Shelly cries a little and pulls her daughter in for a hug. Bailey leaves the room as well and walks quickly after Cristina down the hallway)
DR. BAILEY: What are you doing?
CRISTINA: I’m not a people person.
DR. BAILEY: No kidding.
CRISTINA: I, I can’t do that. I can’t talk to the families of patients. I’m sorry.
DR. BAILEY: What’s his name?
CRISTINA: Who?
DR. BAILEY: The patient. What’s his name?
CRISTINA: Kevin Davidson.
DR. BAILEY: Remember that. Not gorked guy, not John Doe, Kevin Davidson. He’s someone’s husband. Someone’s son. Not a collection of body parts for you to harvest, a person. Now no one said this was easy.
(She gives Cristina a hard look. Cristina moves back and enters the room again and starts talking with the wife again)
(Cut to Lloyd Mackie’s room where George is checking on him)
LLOYD: I owe you George.
GEORGE: No, you don’t owe me anything. I’m just happy we found a liver.
(They finish the exam and Mackie lies back down)
LLOYD: Well, when I get out of here, how about I take you and my new liver out for a night on the town? What do you say?
(George sits down on the bed)
GEORGE: Uh, Mr. Mackie, no offence or anything. I mean you’re, you’re very handsome, but I um I’m not. I mean you’re not my type, because … you’re a man and
(Lloyd chuckles)
LLOYD: George, I never thought you were gay.
GEORGE: You didn’t?
LLOYD: Oh child, please. You? Gay? I’m sick George, not blind.
GEORGE: Then … why have …
LLOYD: Because dying is a get-out-of-jail-free card. I can be as bold as I want, and there’s nothing anybody can say about it. So I flirt. Haven’t you ever been attracted to someone you know you couldn’t have?
GEORGE (fumbles): Well … I’m ah … no.
LLOYD: What’s her name?
GEORGE: There’s no … (he shakes his head) I’m not … you know this is really ah not … Meredith.
LLOYD: Meredith. To be young and in love.
(He holds out his hand for George to take but George doesn’t. Mackie sighs and takes his hand back)
LLOYD: Let’s go get that liver shall we?
GEORGE (holds out his own hand): No, I’m sorry. I didn’t…
(Lloyd holds up a hand to cut him off)
(Cut to Kevin Davidson’s room where Cristina, Izzie and Burke are prepping Kevin for surgery)
DR. BURKE: I never liked harvesting.
CRISTINA: Why?
DR. BURKE: Like I said, I’m a surgeon. I save lives. This ends one.
IZZIE (whispers to Kevin): I know you tried, so no hard feelings, okay?
(Cristina gives her a look)
IZZIE: I was just…
DR. BURKE: You were saying goodbye.
(Cut to Meredith and Alex in the Pit. Viper is sitting in adjacent waiting room looking quite sickly. Meredith notices him there)
MEREDITH: What’s Viper doing here?
ALEX: Probably crashed his bike again.
MEREDITH: How long has he been waiting?
ALEX: Don’t know. I’m busy on real cases. He’s all yours.
(Meredith makes her way over to Viper)
MEREDITH: Viper? Viper?
(Viper is holding his side and not looking at her)
MEREDITH: Are you okay?
(He starts coughing and tries to get up. Meredith runs to him, but he falls. He’s unconscious and blood is coming out of his mouth)
MEREDITH: Viper!
(She lifts up his shirt. His stitches have ripped open and started bleeding. The whole area is swollen and large like a very large bump. Meredith looks up panicked)
(Cut to Viper on a gurney in the pit. Meredith is sitting on top, trying to hold his wound closed, and talking to a nurse. Alex is standing there looking a little stunned)
MEREDITH: Call up to the O.R. and tell them we’re coming. And page Dr. Bailey.
TRAUMA NURSE: Right away.
(The nurse moves off)
MEREDITH: Alex let’s go. (he just stands there) Alex! Push the damn gurney!
(Alex snaps into action and starts pushing the gurney out of the pit. Another nurse helps him)
TRAUMA NURSE #2: Clear the way. Coming through.
ALEX: Somebody get the elevator!
(They enter the elevator)
MEREDITH: Hurry. I don’t know how long I can keep this wound closed.
(The elevator door closes and they watch the numbers on the elevator tick up slowly)
MEREDITH: Move faster, damn it!
(The doors open. Cut to the gurney being wheeled into an O.R where there is a surgical team prepping, including Dr. Bailey. Meredith is still straddling Viper)
DR. BAILEY: Well, this is a new one. Somebody get her off my patient. (Meredith climbs down) Ah Meredith, go get cleaned up and scrub in. Alex, get back downstairs.
ALEX: Yeah, but I helped.
DR. BAILEY: Helped? Yeah they tell me down in the Pit that you only want to take the hot cases. In every pack of interns there’s always one fool that’s running around trying to show off and Alex, this time that fool is you. Get out. (Alex storms out) Somebody get me something to stand on, lower this table. The mountain’s going to have to come to me.
(Cut to an O.R. where Lloyd is about to be operated on. Richard and George are in there)
ANAESTHESIOLOGIST: Count backwards from ten for me.
LLOYD: Rich, you’re a good friend. The best.
RICHARD: Shut up and count backwards already, Mack.
LLOYD: Ten … nine … eight … seven … sss …
(Cut to Izzie and Cristina in a scrubs room scrubbing up)
IZZIE: I’m not going to stay.
CRISTINA: It’s your job. You have to.
IZZIE: You’re better at this part than me. I don’t want to watch him get taken apart. Look at the vultures. Waiting to pick him clean.
CRISTINA: Every last one of them represents someone, somewhere, who’s going to live because of Kevin. (she hands her a scrubs mask) Here. Put it on.
(Richard and Burke enter the scrubs room)
RICHARD: I’ll be waiting next door when you’re ready.
DR. BURKE: Where everyone’s waiting. (Richard leaves) Okay, doctors. Let’s get this over with.
(Cut to the organ harvest being performed by Burke with Izzie and Cristina assisting. There are various other doctors in there awaiting for different organs. One by one, organs are removed and placed in containers. Finally the liver is removed. George comes up with a bowl of ice. Burke places the liver on the tray. More organs are removed)
(Cut to the other O.R where George lifts the liver from the bowl of ice and hands it to Richard who places in Lloyd)
(Cut back to the other O.R where the heart monitor starts to beep rapidly and the dies out. Burke removes the heart which is taken away. Izzie looks sad)
(Cut to the same O.R which is now practically empty aside from Kevin who’s just been left cut open. Izzie is still standing there. Cristina is about to leave but looks back at Izzie concerned)
CRISTINA: Izzie?
IZZIE: I’m going to sew him up. For his family.
(Cut Cristina and Izzie sewing up Kevin)
(Cut to Izzie and Cristina walking down the hallway about to talk to Shelly and her daughter. Cristina stops walking)
CRISTINA: You do it.
IZZIE: What?
CRISTINA: You do it.
(Izzie walks over to Shelly and her daughter who look exhausted)
IZZIE: Mrs Davidson? He’s ready if you’d like to see him.
(Shelly looks up. She and her daughter get up and follow Izzie. They walk past Cristina who looks pensive. The camera pans across the waiting to room where there is a large group of Viper’s friends. Tattoo’s, body piercing kinda crowd. They’re all joking and laughing)
DR. BAILEY (to Meredith): This lovely group’s his friends.
DR. BAILEY (to the group) Uh, you all belong to … (to Meredith) What’s his name?
MEREDITH: Viper.
DR. BAILEY: Viper?
FRIEND #1: Yeah, we were in the race.
FRIEND #2: How is he, is he okay?
FRIEND #3: Yeah?
DR. BAILEY: Is he okay? No. No, he is not okay, at all. He hurled his body down a concrete mountain at full speed for no good reason. (The friend are all silent) Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you all pierce yourselves and smoke up and generally treat your bodies like your grungy asses can’t break down. (Bailey gets more worked up) Hey, hey, that’s fine. You want to kill yourselves, flying down a concrete mountain, go to it, but there are other people walking, people driving, people trying live their lives on that concrete mountain, and one of them got his (Meredith tries to interrupt) brains scrambled today because one of you little sniffling no good snot rag-
MEREDITH (interrupts): Doctor Bailey –
DR. BAILEY (ignores her and turns back to the friends): Yeah, yeah so okay, no! Your friend Viper, as far as I’m concerned, is not okay.
(She storms off leaving the group looking kinda stunned)
MEREDITH: She’s um really tired, but Viper’s gonna make it. He’s gonna live.
GROUP: Cool. Thanks.
(Cut to Meredith packing up her stuff in an empty locker room again dressed to go home. Derek enters and shuts the door behind. Meredith looks up at him)
DR. SHEPARD: It’s not the chase.
MEREDITH: What?
DR. SHEPARD: You and me. It is not the thrill of the chase. It’s not a game. It’s (he walks up to her) … it’s your tiny ineffectual fists. And your hair.
MEREDITH (she smiles) My hair?
DR. SHEPARD (he nods): Smells good. And you’re very, very bossy. Keeps me in line.
(They stare at each other for a while)
MEREDITH (smiles): I’m still not going out with you.
DR. SHEPARD (nods slightly and smiles): You say that now.
(He leaves the room, leaving Meredith smiling)
(Cut to Lloyd’s room. Richard is standing looking over Lloyd post-op. George is behind Richard)
LLOYD: How’d it go?
RICHARD: Very smoothly.
LLOYD: Damn. That means I’ll have to quit smoking.
(Richard smiles, pats Lloyd and leaves. George moves up Lloyd’s bedside. He takes Lloyd’s hand in his)
LLOYD: Ahh, the pretty ones always come crawling back.
MVO: There’s another way to survive this competition. A way that no one ever seems to tell you about.
(Meredith leaves the locker room to go home. She passes by Viper’s room where all his friends have gathered around him hugging him and laughing. He gives her a smile and she smile back)
MVO: One you have to learn for yourself. Number five. It’s not about the race at all. There are no winners or losers. Victories are counted by the number of lives saved.
[EXT. SEATTLE CITY, NIGHTTIME]
[INT. MEREDITH’S TOWNHOUSE]
(Meredith opens the door to her house and enters. She hears voices and sees that Cristina, Izzie and George are sitting on couches, pigging out and watching one of her mother’s surgical tapes)
IZZIE: Oh okay, this is the best part. Watch. This is where she pulls a block of skin down over the face.
(The notice Meredith. George sits up quickly)
GEORGE: We were-
(He searches for the remote)
MEREDITH: Hi.
(He pauses the video and places his beer on a coaster as well)
GEORGE: … we were just ah … Cristina made us.
(Cristina shoots him a disapproving look that says I can’t believe you just said that)
MVO: And once in a while, if you’re smart, the life you save could be your own.
MEREDITH (smiles): What are we watching? Ooh. (She sits down between George and Izzie and grabs the remote to un-pause) This is the one where my mother -
IZZIE (interrupts): Literally pulls this guy’s face off!
MEREDITH: Yeah.
(She grabs some popcorn and they watch for a bit)
GEORGE: Come on!
IZZIE: Augh!
CRISTINA (yells): Holy crap!
[END]
1X03 - WINNING THE BATTLE, LOSING THE WAR
Original Airdate (ABC): 10/APR/2005
WRITTEN BY SHONDA RHIMES
DIRECTED BY TONY GOLDWIN
TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY HAZEL FOR "TWIZ TV.COM"
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DISCLAIMER:
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The following is not a novelization or an actual script but a dry transcript of the aired episode that includes accurate word-to-word dialogues, settings descriptions, action scenes and/or camera movements where the transcriber felt they were necessary. This transcript is posted on "TWIZ TV.COM" in world wide web exclusivity by courtesy of HAZEL."GREY'S ANATOMY" and other related entities are owned, (TM) and © by THE MARK GORDON COMPANY in association with TOUCHSTONE TELEVISION. This transcript is posted here without their permission, approval, authorization or endorsement. Any reproduction, duplication, distribution or display of this material in any form or by any means is expressly prohibited. It is absolutely forbidden to use it for commercial gain. For entertainment and educational purposes only. No infringement intended.
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TRANSCRIPT:
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INT. MEREDITH’S TOWNHOUSE, MEREDITH’S BEDROOM]
(Opens with it raining outside. The camera pans across her room. It passes her alarm clock which is flashing with time of 4.37am. Meredith is lying in bed)
Meredith Voice Over: We live out our lives on the surgical unit. Seven days a week, fourteen hours a day. We’re together more than we’re apart.
MEREDITH: Aaah!!!
(Meredith wakes up scared to find Izzie hovering over her bed with a cup of coffee)
IZZIE: George’s room is bigger than mine.
(Meredith sighs and gets up. She trips and falls flat on her face)
(Scene switches to Meredith moving hurriedly down the hall with Izzie following her)
MVO: After a while …
IZZIE: I have more clothes. I should have the bigger room.
MVO: … the ways of residency …
(They pass George who is guarding his room door)
GEORGE: I got here first.
IZZIE: It’s Meredith’s house, she should decide.
(George runs after them)
MVO: … become the ways of life.
(Cut to Meredith walking down the stairs with Izzie and George following her a few feet behind)
GEORGE: My room is like, two inches bigger than yours!
MVO: Number One …
IZZIE: You have a bigger closet!
GEORGE: So? Why is everything always a competition? I –
MVO: … always keep score.
(Izzie and George argue in the background. Meredith enters her laundry room and rummages for some clean clothes)
MVO: Number two. Do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy.
GEORGE: … you could put your clothes somewhere else!
IZZIE: Everywhere else is filled with Meredith’s mom’s boxes.
GEORGE: Meredith? When is your mom coming back to town anyway? (Meredith grabs her clothes and starts making her way back up the stairs) Because maybe we can put her boxes in storage.
IZZIE: Or unpack a few things, make this place a little more homey. Some throw pillows, some lamps, a few paintings.
GEORGE: Oh, paintings would be nice.
IZZIE: Yeah. You have all this amazing stuff just packed away. In the back hall, I found this box with like a hundred tapes of your mother performing these amazing medical procedures.
(Meredith walks down the hallway quickly and enters her bathroom)
GEORGE: Really? We should watch them. Meredith do you want to watch –
(Meredith slams the door in their faces. A moment later she opens it again and takes Izzie’s coffee from her and shuts the door again)
GEORGE (quietly): Meredith, do you want some privacy?
(Meredith slumps against the other side of the door, holding her coffee)
MVO: Number three. Don’t make friends with the enemy.
(Cut to Bailey standing on a street corner of Seattle City. Dr. Shepard walks up to her)
DR. SHEPARD: Morning Dr. Bailey.
DR. BAILEY (holds up a hand, preoccupied): Shut up.
DR. SHEPARD: You realize that I’m an attending and you’re only a resident? That you work for me, right?
DR. BAILEY (ignores the question, murmuring to herself): I know I’ve forgotten something. Something is happening today. I know I should know what it is, but I just can’t …
(She shakes her head)
DR. SHEPARD: All right, nice talking with you Dr. Bailey.
DR. BAILEY: It’s right in front of my face …
(DR. SHEPARD moves to walk across the street but Bailey gasps suddenly and pulls him back on the to curb)
DR. BAILEY: Ah doctor!
(Several bike riders race past. A few of them crash. Bailey and Shepard dart around trying to avoid them)
DR. BAILEY: Now I remember! Oh Dr Shepard come here. Watch out. Watch out.
(The bike riders continue to race past. Another one crashes)
[INT. SGH, HALLWAY]
(Bailey is walking down the hallway with George, Izzie, Alex, Meredith and Cristina following)
DR. BAILEY: Fools on bikes killing themselves. Natural selection is what it is.
ALEX (quietly to George): So what’s up with the Nazi? Is she off her meds?
GEORGE: You never heard of the race?
(Shot of the O.R board with a very organized schedule. Richard, Burke and Dr. Shepard are standing in front of it)
RICHARD: Excellent board. Well-timed, balanced, efficient. If all goes well, we’ll have an early night.
(Bailey passes them in the hallway with her interns following. She stops when she sees Richard)
DR. BAILEY: Chief! Dead baby bike race started twenty minutes ago.
(She continues on walking)
RICHARD (calls out): All right, people! Dead baby bike race day!
(He claps his hands to get everyone moving while an Intern starts wiping off some of the O.R board schedule)
(Cut to Bailey and her group walking off an elevator and down another hallway to the pit. They stop and start getting themselves dressed in yellow gowns)
GEORGE: Every year this bar–
MEREDITH (interrupts): The Dead Baby Bar.
GEORGE: Every year, they hold this underground bike race.
IZZIE: Don’t you wonder why someone would name a bar something so disgusting?
CRISTINA: Keep your panties on, Nancy Drew.
GEORGE: The race is completely illegal, and–
MEREDITH (interrupts): Crazy, a bunch of bike messengers racing against traffic trying to beat each other for free shots of tequila.
ALEX: All-out, no holds barred competition. Sounds like fun.
IZZIE: Yeah, you would think that.
GEORGE: The race, the race doesn’t even have any rules. Except eye gouging. No eye gouging.
(Izzie chuckles)
CRISTINA: Oh great, we’re going to be trapped in the Pit bandaging up idiots when we could be up in the O.R?
(George moves to help Izzie tie up the back of her gown)
GEORGE: What kind of people engage in a race that has, as its only rule, that you can’t rip out the eyeballs of another human being?
(George moves to help now Alex tie up his gown)
ALEX: Men, Georgie, men.
(George throws Alex gown so it practically goes off him)
DR. BAILEY: I need someone to get up to the OR floor, the Chief needs a right hand.
(Everyone’s hands shoot up including other interns that aren’t apart of Bailey’s group)
MVO: Oh and yeah number four.
DR. BAILEY (resigned): George.
MVO: Everything. Everything is a competition.
(George looks pleased while everyone brings their hands down annoyed)
DR. BAILEY: Okay people, the rules of trauma. Don’t mingle with the E.R interns, they don’t know their ass from their oesophagus. Sew fast, discharge fast, take bodies up to the O.R. yesterday. And don’t let me catch you fighting over patients. Got it? Come on, let’s go.
(George takes off his gown and heads back the way he came as the other interns all run and push to enter the Pit. There are injured bodies everywhere)
CRISTINA: Oh, it’s like candy, but with blood, which is so much better.
IZZIE: Oh my god…
(A person is wheeled in by paramedics looking pretty shoddy)
CRISTINA: Mine!
(She dashes to the patient)
IZZIE: No I saw him first!
(Izzie runs after her)
MVO: Whoever said that winning wasn’t everything …
(The camera moves to a guy sitting on a bed with nail spokes coming out of his abdomen. Meredith’s whole face lights up)
MEREDITH: Ooh. I’ll take that guy.
ALEX: No, you’ll have to beat me to him first.
(They both push their way against each other hurriedly)
MVO: … never held a scalpel.
(Cut to Meredith and Alex arguing who should get the guy who is sitting with nails. The patient’s name is Viper who is watching with interest)
ALEX: Heads he’s mine, tails he’s yours.
MEREDITH: Why do you get to be heads?
ALEX: Because I have a head, and honey you are tail.
MEREDITH: Excuse me. (Meredith closes the curtain on Viper) How do you manage to make everything dirty? (Alex flips the coin and they both look) Ha. Tails. There are plenty of other cases.
ALEX: So go get one. I was here first.
MEREDITH: I am not backing down so I can do sutures all day while you’re up in the O.R. This is a surgical case, and you know it.
ALEX: It’s superficial. I mean, it’s cool, but it’s superficial.
MEREDITH: How do you know those things didn’t rupture his peritoneum?
ALEX: Because he’s sitting up, and he’s sitting there talking to us!
(Viper pulls back the curtain. He sounds a little British)
VIPER: ‘Allo. Excuse me, I was wondering if you could take these out, and sew me up, so I can go and win my race?
MEREDITH: Well, we can’t just pull them out, I mean, we –
(Alex pulls out a spoke. Viper groans)
VIPER: Ow.
MEREDITH: … do some tests …
VIPER: Oh, wicked.
(Alex pulls out all the nail spokes out of Viper)
MEREDTIH (shocked): Are you out of your mind?
VIPER: Ah!
ALEX: It’s a superficial wound. (He hands Meredith the spokes) Sew him up, and let him finish his race.
MEREDITH (in disbelief): You … you!
VIPER: Ah good man.
(Cut to Cristina, Izzie, Derek and Burke in an exam room with patient they both fought for from earlier)
CRISTINA: Unidentified John Doe, mid-thirties pedestrian, hit by a motorist swerving to avoid a bike, GCS 3. Um pupils fixed and dilated. Atropine given for a pulse in the forties. BP 183 over 112. Pulsed at 98 percent.
IZZIE: Chest films show wider mediastinum and head CT revealed cerebral oedema. He’s gotten 78 mannitol, dexamethasone 10 and a gram of phenytoin.
CRISTINA: Get him to the O.R?
DR. BURKE (to Derek): Is he corked?
DR. SHEPARD: Looks like.
DR. BURKE: The bike race claims its first victim.
DR. BURKE: I ought to make my Triple A repair after all.
(Burke leaves the room)
IZZIE: Uh, Dr. Shepard, he’s not going to the O.R?
DR. SHEPARD: No. Do an EEG, and confirmatory tests. If he doesn’t respond … six hours. Declare him.
(Derek leaves the room as well)
IZZIE: Declare him? Declare him what?
CRISTINA: Brain dead.
(Cristina seems disappointed and Izzie looks sad. They both leave the room)
(Cut to Richard scrubbing up in a scrubs room. George enters)
GEORGE: Sir, Dr. Bailey sent me in to assist you, should I scrub in?
RICHARD: No, I’m stuck here all day. I need you on the floor, monitoring my pre and post-op patients.
GEORGE (disappointed): Oh.
RICHARD: You got a problem with that, O’Malley?
GEORGE: Oh, uh, no sir.
RICHARD: Oh, a buddy of mine in forty-four, fifty one, Lloyd Mackie? Give him whatever he needs.
GEORGE: Yes sir.
(George leaves the room)
(Cut to a patient room where Lloyd Mackie a middle aged black man lights up a cigarette)
GEORGE (shocked): Mr Mackie! No smoking! There’s no smoking
LLOYD: Why not?
GEORGE: Oh my god! (He grabs the cigarette from him) You’re in a hospital.
LLYOD: Your point being?
(George rushes into the adjacent bathroom)
GEORGE: I don’t know if you’ve listened to the surgeon-general lately, say in the past twenty years, but smoking is bad. Smoking will kill you.
(He flushes the cigarette down the toilet and turns back to Lloyd)
LLYOD: Liver cancer will kill me. Smoking will just speed up the process.
GEORGE: You’re at the top of the donor list for a new liver. There’s hope.
LLOYD: Sweetheart, I’ve been at the top of the list for … eight months. I’m not in the batter’s cage. I’m in a dugout, about to be traded.
GEORGE: You like baseball?
LLOYD: No.
GEORGE: Oh. Um, well, um, the chief wanted me to look in on you.
LLOYD: Hmm. Richard’s a dear old friend. He’s been my doctor for thirty years.
GEORGE: Well, whatever you need, I’m your man. Just name it.
LLOYD (gives suggestive George a look): Oh … I’m sure I’ll think of something.
(Cut back to Izzie and Cristina with their John Doe)
CRISTINA: There’s no corneal reflexes.
IZZIE: It’s been fifty-five minutes. If he doesn’t respond to these tests in the next five hours, what? We’re supposed to just stand here, and watch him die?
CRISTINA: If he doesn’t respond to these tests, it’s because he’s already dead.
IZZIE: Technically. Legally.
CRISTINA: Actually, Izzie, actually dead.
IZZIE: He’s breathing, he has a heartbeat.
CRISTINA: Look at his EEG. There’s no higher brain function. He’ll never talk, move or think again. There’s no one in there. Think like a doctor, Izzie.
IZZIE: He could wake up. What about a miracle? There are medical miracles, you know.
(Dr. Shepard is revealed standing at the doorway and he appears to have overheard some of the conversation)
DR. SHEPARD: I know. You’re right. Miracles happen. (He walks in and checks John Doe himself) People do wake up, that’s why we do a series of tests over a set number of hours, so when we call time of death, we know that we’ve done everything in our power to make sure it’s actually his time of death. But there isn’t going to be any miracles. This is the hard part. To stand around as surgeons and not cut. That’s what ‘do no harm’ means.
(He leaves the room)
CRISTINA: Wish he’d just go into the light already, so I can get on another case.
(Izzie looks at Cristina appalled)
CRISTINA: Oh, I’m the devil because I’d rather be in surgery, instead of standing watch over the death squad? It’s depressing.
(Izzie rifles threw John Doe’s personal items)
IZZIE: Look at his sneakers. They’re brand new. And somebody sewed this tear in his shirt, and he has one of those electronic key cards. He belongs to someone. An hour ago, he was out there, alive. To simply stand here and wait for him to die…
CRISTINA: Would be a waste of life.
IZZIE: Exactly.
CRISTINA (suddenly excited): It would be a waste of organs.
(Cristina leaves leaving Izzie looking appalled once again)
(Cut to Meredith stitching up Viper in small exam room adjacent to the Pit)
VIPER: Ah, you got a nice touch. And by the way, you are a rocking babe.
MEREDITH: Seriously, do you actually think you have a shot here?
VIPER: I like to think I’ve got a shot anywhere.
MEREDITH: Oh.
VIPER: Mmm.
MEREDITH: Look, you really have to let me take you for some tests; run a CT. You could have internal bleeding.
VIPER: No thank you, I’ve got a race to get back to.
MEREDITH: Why? You can’t win now anyway.
VIPER: Doesn’t mean I can’t cross that finish line. There’s a party at the finish line. (he whispers) Do you want to meet me there?
MEREDITH: One test. A CT. I’ll have you out of here in an hour.
VIPER: Can’t do it, gotta go.
MEREDITH: Okay, well, you realise that you’re leaving against medical advice and that I strongly urge you to stay.
VIPER: The frat guy said I could go.
MEREDITH: The frat guy is an ass. Okay, well, you have to sign an AMA form.
VIPER: Darlin’, I will do anything you want me to.
(She holds out a clipboard for Viper to sign)
MEREDITH: What is it with you guys and your need to dirty everything up?
VIPER: I don’t know. Maybe it’s just testosterone, eh?
MEREDITH: Maybe. You might want to see a doctor about that, too.
VIPER: Come here. (he takes the form and signs it and puts it on a table) There.
(He gets up and takes a few steps towards the door but turns back abruptly. He grabs Meredith and kisses her who just holds her hands up in protest)
VIPER: That was for good luck. (he opens the door) Don’t worry, darling, you’ll see me again.
(He leaves)
MEREDITH (calls out): For your sake, I hope not!
(Meredith shakes her head and begins to strip the bed. She looks up and sees Derek standing outside through a window watching her looking shocked. She moves to exit as Derek opens the door)
MEREDITH (tries not to smile): What do you want?
DR. SHEPARD: You make out with patients now?
MEREDITH: What are you jealous?
DR. SHEPARD: I don’t get jealous.
MEREDITH: We had sex, once.
DR. SHEPARD: And we kissed, in an elevator.
MEREDITH: And we kissed in an elevator, once!
DR. SHEPARD: No, seriously, I mean come on, go out with me.
MEREDITH: No.
DR. SHEPARD (semi serious): You know, I almost died today. Yeah, I came like (he gestures) this close. How would you feel if I died? And you didn’t get a chance to go out with me?
MEREDITH: Get over yourself already.
DR. SHEPARD (smiles): Come on.
MEREDITH: It’s the chase, isn’t it?
DR. SHEPARD: What?
MEREDITH: The thrill of the chase. I’ve been wondering to myself, why are you so hell bent on getting me to go out with you? You know you’re my boss, you know it’s against the rules, you know I keep saying no. It’s the chase.
DR. SHEPARD: Well, its fun, isn’t it?
MEREDITH: You see? This is a game to you. But not to me. Because unlike you, I still have something to prove.
(She leaves the room)
(Cut to an O.R. where Bailey is performing surgery on a patient. Cristina and Izzie enter the O.R)
DR. BAILEY: I know you see me resecting this bowel. Do I strike you as someone who enjoys multitasking?
CRISTINA: We have a John Doe. In three hours, we have to declare him brain dead. We want to harvest his organs.
DR. BAILEY: So why you wasting time on this? You know how many patients we have downstairs.
IZZIE: If he dies (to Cristina) and he could still live, you know (back to Bailey) his death should mean something.
DR. BAILEY: And you want a harvest surgery.
CRISTINA: I wanna save lives. (Bailey looks gives her scalding look) Okay, I want a harvest surgery.
DR. BAILEY: Getting organs from a John Doe is a long shot. Without ID, you can’t contact the family, without the family, you can’t get consent to harvest the organs. Let the poor man die in peace.
IZZIE: But if we can find the family –
DR. BAILEY (interrupts): And get consent.
CRISTINA: We could harvest the organs?
DR. BAILEY: If you find the family.
(Izzie and Cristina dash off)
(Cut to Alex walking over to a nurses’ station where George is sitting in front of a computer looking over patient charts. Alex puts his own chart down and starts writing in it)
ALEX: What’re you doing?
GEORGE: Hiding. There’s this VIP patient, he likes me.
ALEX: Well, that’s good, right?
GEORGE: He likes me likes me.
ALEX: Go for it, man, get yours. I’m down with the rainbow. (George looks up, wide-eyed) Oh. Are you not gay?
GEORGE: No.
ALEX: Really? (looks amused) Dude, sorry.
(He leaves as Izzie and Cristina come up to the other side of the nurses’ station)
GEORGE (holds out a disk) Uh Cristina?
(She comes over and moves to take the disk which he drops to the desk)
GEORGE: Do you … do you think … does Meredith think I’m gay?
CRISTINA: Are you?
GEORGE: No.
CRISTINA: Really?
(George looks frustrated. A nurse comes over to Izzie and Cristina walks back up to her)
IZZIE: Hey, we found this on our John Doe, It’s a hotel key card? I’ve called the police and they’re going to send someone over and maybe they can figure out what hotel he’s staying at, get his ID from there. Could you…
NURSE #1: I’ll make sure the police get it.
IZZIE: Okay. It’s just, it’s really important. We only have a few hours before we have to declare him and I’d really like to find his family.
NURSE #1: You want their permission for organ donation?
(George looks up at this interested)
IZZIE: I just … really want to find them.
(She leaves. Cristina looks after her, surprised, and then turns to go)
GEORGE: You have a potential donor? (Cristina turns around and nods) What’s his blood type?
CRISTINA: Uh, O-neg.
(Cristina walks off and George pulls out a folder)
(Cut to Izzie looking over her John Doe)
IZZIE: Okay, well, I know you probably can’t hear me, and you’re feeling this big push to go towards the light, where everything is all haloes and all-you-can-eat buffets and stuff. And I mean, sharing your organs is really great and all, but I think you have a family. I can feel it. So I think it’d be really great if you could do me a favour, and get better. Just … live. So you think you could give that a shot for me?
(There is a brief silence before his heart rate and pulse start dropping. The monitors start beeping rapidly)
IZZIE: Oh no.
(She sees Meredith outside and calls out to her)
IZZIE: Meredith! Meredith!
MEREDITH: What?
(Meredith walks in the room with Izzie)
IZZIE: He’s crashing.
MEREDITH: Well, what the hell are you doing? Call the code!
IZZIE: I can’t. I’m not supposed to. He’s brain dead.
MEREDITH: Well Izzie, if he’s brain dead, you have to let him go.
IZZIE: No. It’s only been five hours and thirty-three minutes. He’s supposed to get six hours.
(The monitors slowly return to normal and Meredith looks through his chart)
MEREDITH: Well, we can’t do anything to help him live. It’s not our place to make that call.
IZZIE: He’s a person, we’re doctors. We should have every right to make that call. We can’t just stand here and do nothing while he dies. He has a right to the next twenty-seven minutes.
MEREDITH: Screw it. I’ll get the dopamine, you get the blood. We’ll transfuse him.
[EXT. SEATTLE CITY DAY TIME, COVERED IN FOG]
[INT. SGH, LLOYD MACKIE’S ROOM]
(George is examining Lloyd)
GEORGE: Do you feel any pain here?
LLOYD: No. You know, you really do have beautiful eyelashes.
GEORGE: Um, thank you. Uh, what about here?
LLOYD: No. And nice eyes. Kind. I like a man with kind eyes.
GEORGE: Really, you think I have kind eyes?
LLOYD: Mm-mmm.
GEORGE (suddenly uncomfortable, he pulls down Lloyd’s shirt): I mean, uh, you can, um…
(He moves away and rights in Lloyd’s chart)
LLOYD: What are you examining me for?
GEORGE: Oh you know just routine, medical stuff. You’re doing very well.
LLOYD: Because I’m enjoying the view.
GEORGE (uncomfortable): Okay … well … I gotta go.
(George leaves and Lloyd waves after him)
(Cut to Izzie and Meredith walking up some stairs in a stairwell as Cristina is coming down them)
MEREDITH (calls out): He’s stable.
CRISTINA: For now. I had a radiologist look at his chest films. He has a traumatic aortic injury. He’s going to rupture and bleed out.
IZZIE: So he needs surgery.
CRISTINA: If he’s going to remain a viable organ donor, yeah.
IZZIE: If he’s going to live.
CRISTINA: Izzie…
IZZIE (interrupts): No! I’m not giving up on him. He has the surgery, he lives longer, that’s the point. So I’m going to help find the family, you guys find a way to get him into surgery.
(She heads up the stairs)
CRISTINA: She’s vice-president of fantasyland.
MEREDITH: So who do we go to for the surgery? Bailey?
CRISTINA: No, we need to go higher than Bailey.
(They also head up the stairs)
(Cut to Burke in the men’s room taking a leak. Meredith opens the door and peaks in)
MEREDITH: Dr. Burke?
DR. BURKE (shocked): Hello?!?
MEREDITH: Okay.
(She closes the door. Burke sighs and the door opens again. This time it’s Cristina that peaks in)
CRISTINA: Dr Burke, um, I know you’re busy, but our John Doe needs an aortic repair.
DR. BURKE: The guy from this morning? Isn’t he legally dead?
CRISTINA: Well, yeah, he’s kinda still around? We gave him two units PRBCs and put him on pressers.
DR. BURKE: On whose orders?
(She shuts the door and Burke flushes. He makes his way to wash his hands. This time they both open the door)
MEREDITH: Mine.
DR. BURKE: You gave a brain-dead John Doe a blood transfusion without consulting anyone. And now you want me to repair his heart?
CRISTINA: Well, yes.
DR. BURKE: You do enjoy crossing the line, don’t you?
MEREDITH: He is an excellent candidate for organ donation.
DR. BURKE: I am a surgeon. I save lives. This guy is already dead. Now, this is the men’s room. Either whip one out or close the door.
(They close the door).
(Cut to Meredith talking to Derek in a hallway)
DR. SHEPARD (amused): You’re asking my advice?
MEREDITH: Yes.
DR. SHEPARD: Now who’s chasing?
MEREDITH: Not funny. This is important.
DR. SHEPARD: Okay. You want to get around Burke? You gotta find a way to get the Chief involved.
(Cristina and Izzie watch Meredith from afar anxiously)
(Cut to George sitting down, eating a sandwich in the outdoor cafeteria of the hospital. Izzie, Cristina and Meredith are standing in front of him in a line)
GEORGE (a little scared): What’d I do?
MEREDITH: How close a match for the liver is your guy to our John Doe?
GEORGE: Very. Same type, same size. UNOS couldn’t find a better match, why?
IZZIE: He’s the chief’s VIP, right?
GEORGE: Right.
CRISTINA: How much would you kill to be in on a transplant surgery?
GEORGE: You underestimate me. I’m not a baby, I’m your colleague. You don’t have to manipulate me. If you want something all you have to do is ask.
IZZIE: We want you to go over Burke’s head to the Chief.
GEORGE: Ask me something easier.
(Cut to Richard exiting an O.R. George is waiting for him outside)
GEORGE: Sir?
RICHARD: O’Malley. How’s Mackie?
GEORGE: Fine. Sir, actually, that’s what I want to talk to you about. I, I kind of think that we uh, me and the other interns, we think, we’re, we’re not–
RICHARD (interrupts): O’Malley, I’m not getting any younger.
GEORGE: We found Mackie a liver.
(Cut to show Cristina, Izzie and Meredith are watching George and Richard from down the hall talk about the organ donation)
MEREDITH: We are so going to hell. Burke is sending us straight to hell.
CRISTINA: On an express train.
IZZIE: If it works.
(Alex walks up to them)
ALEX: What’re you doing?
IZZIE, MEREDITH AND CRISTINA (in unison): Nothing.
(Alex stops to watch as well. Burke walks past Richard and George and Richard stops him, and starts talking to him)
IZZIE (grins): Yes.
(Richard is now gone and Burke looks at George, who leaves immediately. Izzie chuckles. He then turns to look at them)
CRISTINA: Oh, crap.
(They hurry away. Alex stays and when Burke starts walking off he goes after him)
ALEX: Dr. Burke! Dr. Burke!
(Cut to an O.R. where Burke is performing open heart surgery. Alex is assisting Burke)
ALEX: Excellent work, sir. Excellent!
DR. BURKE: Flawless. It’s a shame he’s brain dead. If he wasn’t, he’d be on his feet in a few days.
ALEX: I’m amazed at what skill your hands have, it’s …
(The camera pans up to show Meredith, George, Izzie and Cristina sitting in the gallery watching the surgery)
CRISTINA: I seriously hate that guy.
MEREDITH: Alex is vermin. That surgery is ours.
IZZIE: At least Burke is doing the surgery. I don’t care about Alex. George, you did good!
GEORGE: I’m going to have to dodge Burke for the rest of my career. (whispers to Meredith) He could kill me and make it look like an accident.
(A nurse enters the gallery)
NURSE #2: The police called. They’ve identified your John Doe. His wife is on the way.
(Izzie sighs in relief and she and Cristina leave the gallery)
(Cut to Izzie watching over the John Doe. She looks as she sees people approaching. Derek brings a young woman named Shelly into the room.)
SHELLY (upset and shocked): Oh my god. Kevin…
DR. SHEPARD: It’s okay to…
SHELLY (upset): Oh my god.
DR. SHEPARD (gestures to Izzie): This is ah Dr. Stevens.
(Shelly gives Izzie a nod and Izzie nods back)
DR. SHEPARD: Now if you have any questions at all, please, please call me.
(Shelly nods and Derek leaves)
SHELLY: Is there, is there still a chance?
IZZIE: We can hold off till morning, but if there’s still no change we’d … we’d like to talk to you about organ donation.
(Cut to Richard entering Lloyd Mackie’s room. George stands at the doorway)
RICHARD (shakes Lloyd on the shoulder lightly to wake him): Mackie? How’re we treating you?
LLOYD: Oh, fine. Except that beautiful boy won’t let me smoke. (he chuckles) You should reprimand him. Make him change bedpans.
(Richard laughs)
RICHARD: Mackie.
LLOYD: Hmm?
RICHARD: That beautiful boy may have found you a liver.
(Lloyd stops smiling and looks at George. His eyes start to tear and he struggles not to cry. Richard pats him comfortingly and George nods at Richard and leaves)
(Cut to Meredith standing in the intern locker room in front of her locker dressed to go home. Her pager beeps which she checks. Alex bursts through the door and walks to his locker)
ALEX: God! I smell good! You know what it is? (He faces Meredith) It’s the smell of open heart surgery. (Meredith shoots him a look and he takes in a deep breath) It’s awesome. It is awesome. You gotta smell me.
(He walks up behind Meredith and wraps his arms around her)
MEREDITH: I don’t want to smell you.
ALEX (he nuzzles her hair): Oh, yes you do.
(Meredith turns around and grabs Alex by his shirt and slams him against the lockers)
MEREDITH: You have got to be kidding me! Okay. I have more important things to deal with than you. I have roommates, and boy problems, and family problems. (Alex yawns acts bored by her act) You want to act like a little frat boy bitch? That’s fine. You want to take credit for your saves, and everybody else’s? That’s fine too. Just stay out of my face.
(The door opens revealing Dr. Shepard who watches. Meredith grabs Alex’s chin so he looks at her directly)
MEREDITH: And for the record, you smell like crap!
(She turns to go back to her locker and they both see Derek looking at them. She walks back to her locker. Derek walks in a little and motions to Alex as if to say what just happened)
ALEX: She attacked me.
(Meredith rushes quickly to really attack Alex)
DR. SHEPARD: Meredith, Meredith, Meredith!
(Derek grabs her arms before she reaches Alex and she lets him push her back. He turns back to Alex)
DR. SHEPARD: You know you might want to leave. Before I change my mind and let her beat you to a pulp with her tiny ineffectual fists.
(He guides Alex out the door holding his arm. Alex makes a ‘boo-hoo’ face at Meredith as Derek closes the door. He turns to look at Meredith and sighs. Meredith stares at him breathing at little heavily)
DR. SHEPARD: What?
MEREDITH: Nothing. (She grabs a jacket out of her locker) It’s just ... (She gives him a long look. He nods slightly for her to speak) Nothing.
(Meredith slams her locker door shot and moves to leave. Derek opens the door for her. She stops in front of him as if to speak again, breathing still slightly out of breath. She seems to change her mind and leaves. Derek looks up and sighs)
[INT. MEREDITH’S TOWNHOUSE]
(Cut to Meredith entering the house. Izzie and George are sitting in the living room, rifling through various boxes which contain videotapes)
IZZIE: Ooh, this one is skin grafting!
GEORGE: Skin grafting? No way! I’ve never seen that done before.
(Meredith walks up to them)
MEREDITH: Are those my mother’s surgical tapes?
GEORGE: We should watch the skin grafting one first.
MEREDITH (slightly angry): Where did all this stuff come from?
IZZIE: Oh, I unpacked some of your mother’s things. I was upset, and when I’m upset I like to nest.
(Meredith stares, then starts taking down pictures that have placed around the room)
IZZIE (finds another tape): Ooh! Hemipelvectomy.
GEORGE (grabs the tape from Izzie): I think we should watch this one first.
MEREDITH: No. No. We’re not watching my mother’s surgery tapes! We’re not unpacking boxes! We’re not having long conversations where we celebrate the moments of our lives. (She grabs a beer of the table and hands it to George) And use a coaster!
GEORGE: I ordered Chinese food.
(She storms off up the stairs)
MEREDITH (yells back): I hate Chinese food!
(Both Izzie and George try not to laugh but they can’t help it)
[EXT. SGH, DAYTIME]
(Cristina and Meredith are walking down the sidewalk adjacent to the hospital, holding cups of coffee)
MEREDITH: They’re everywhere. All the time. Izzie’s all perky and George does this thing where he’s helpful and considerate. They share food and they say things and they move things, and they breathe. Uh! They’re like happy.
CRISTINA: Kick them out.
MEREDITH: I can’t kick them out. They just moved in. I asked them to move in.
CRISTINA: So what, you’re just going to repress everything in some deep dark twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?
MEREDITH: Yep.
CRISTINA: This is why we are friends.
(Alex comes up behind them as they enter the hospital)
ALEX: Why is the Nazi making us stay in the Pit two days in a row?
MEREDITH: Leftovers.
ALEX: Leftovers?
MEREDITH: Gotta get the cyclists who were too drunk or too stupid or too scared to get themselves to a hospital yesterday.
ALEX: While meanwhile, she gets (points to Cristina) to do a freakin’ organ harvest.
(Meredith chuckles)
CRISTINA: Oh, that kills you, doesn’t it?
ALEX: What?
CRISTINA: That two women got the harvest.
(They stop in front of an elevator)
ALEX: No, it kills me that anyone got the harvest but me. Boobs do not factor into this equation. Unless you want to show me yours.
(Meredith and Cristina exchange looks)
MEREDITH: I’m going to become a lesbian.
CRISTINA: Me too.
(Alex shrugs. They move to take the stairs as the elevator bings open. Alex moves to enter the elevator)
(Cut to Cristina sitting at a table talking to Shelly and her daughter in a conference type room. Bailey is standing watching. Shelly seems very upset)
CRISTINA: Now Mrs. Davidson, this form simply says that you consent to the donation of your husband’s major organs. Heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. (She hands Shelly a clipboard which she signs and hands back) Now I need to ask you a few questions. Are you willing to donate his corneas?
SHELLY (shocked): You want his eyes?
CRISTINA: Um, corneal transplants can give someone back their sight.
(Shelly pats her daughter reassuringly)
SHELLY: I suppose that’s okay.
(Cristina hands her over another form to sign. Shelly signs and hands the form back. Bailey watches looking a little sad)
CRISTINA: What about his skin?
SHELLY: What?
(She looks like she’s gonna be ill and struggles not to cry)
CRISTINA: It’s used to help burn victims.
SHELLY: You want to cut off his skin? … What about the funeral? You want me to have a funeral, and have people look at him, have- have his daughter look at her father and he doesn’t have any skin? (her voice breaks) It’s his skin!
(She struggles hard not to cry. Her daughter takes her hand to comfort her. Cristina leaves the room abruptly. Shelly cries a little and pulls her daughter in for a hug. Bailey leaves the room as well and walks quickly after Cristina down the hallway)
DR. BAILEY: What are you doing?
CRISTINA: I’m not a people person.
DR. BAILEY: No kidding.
CRISTINA: I, I can’t do that. I can’t talk to the families of patients. I’m sorry.
DR. BAILEY: What’s his name?
CRISTINA: Who?
DR. BAILEY: The patient. What’s his name?
CRISTINA: Kevin Davidson.
DR. BAILEY: Remember that. Not gorked guy, not John Doe, Kevin Davidson. He’s someone’s husband. Someone’s son. Not a collection of body parts for you to harvest, a person. Now no one said this was easy.
(She gives Cristina a hard look. Cristina moves back and enters the room again and starts talking with the wife again)
(Cut to Lloyd Mackie’s room where George is checking on him)
LLOYD: I owe you George.
GEORGE: No, you don’t owe me anything. I’m just happy we found a liver.
(They finish the exam and Mackie lies back down)
LLOYD: Well, when I get out of here, how about I take you and my new liver out for a night on the town? What do you say?
(George sits down on the bed)
GEORGE: Uh, Mr. Mackie, no offence or anything. I mean you’re, you’re very handsome, but I um I’m not. I mean you’re not my type, because … you’re a man and
(Lloyd chuckles)
LLOYD: George, I never thought you were gay.
GEORGE: You didn’t?
LLOYD: Oh child, please. You? Gay? I’m sick George, not blind.
GEORGE: Then … why have …
LLOYD: Because dying is a get-out-of-jail-free card. I can be as bold as I want, and there’s nothing anybody can say about it. So I flirt. Haven’t you ever been attracted to someone you know you couldn’t have?
GEORGE (fumbles): Well … I’m ah … no.
LLOYD: What’s her name?
GEORGE: There’s no … (he shakes his head) I’m not … you know this is really ah not … Meredith.
LLOYD: Meredith. To be young and in love.
(He holds out his hand for George to take but George doesn’t. Mackie sighs and takes his hand back)
LLOYD: Let’s go get that liver shall we?
GEORGE (holds out his own hand): No, I’m sorry. I didn’t…
(Lloyd holds up a hand to cut him off)
(Cut to Kevin Davidson’s room where Cristina, Izzie and Burke are prepping Kevin for surgery)
DR. BURKE: I never liked harvesting.
CRISTINA: Why?
DR. BURKE: Like I said, I’m a surgeon. I save lives. This ends one.
IZZIE (whispers to Kevin): I know you tried, so no hard feelings, okay?
(Cristina gives her a look)
IZZIE: I was just…
DR. BURKE: You were saying goodbye.
(Cut to Meredith and Alex in the Pit. Viper is sitting in adjacent waiting room looking quite sickly. Meredith notices him there)
MEREDITH: What’s Viper doing here?
ALEX: Probably crashed his bike again.
MEREDITH: How long has he been waiting?
ALEX: Don’t know. I’m busy on real cases. He’s all yours.
(Meredith makes her way over to Viper)
MEREDITH: Viper? Viper?
(Viper is holding his side and not looking at her)
MEREDITH: Are you okay?
(He starts coughing and tries to get up. Meredith runs to him, but he falls. He’s unconscious and blood is coming out of his mouth)
MEREDITH: Viper!
(She lifts up his shirt. His stitches have ripped open and started bleeding. The whole area is swollen and large like a very large bump. Meredith looks up panicked)
(Cut to Viper on a gurney in the pit. Meredith is sitting on top, trying to hold his wound closed, and talking to a nurse. Alex is standing there looking a little stunned)
MEREDITH: Call up to the O.R. and tell them we’re coming. And page Dr. Bailey.
TRAUMA NURSE: Right away.
(The nurse moves off)
MEREDITH: Alex let’s go. (he just stands there) Alex! Push the damn gurney!
(Alex snaps into action and starts pushing the gurney out of the pit. Another nurse helps him)
TRAUMA NURSE #2: Clear the way. Coming through.
ALEX: Somebody get the elevator!
(They enter the elevator)
MEREDITH: Hurry. I don’t know how long I can keep this wound closed.
(The elevator door closes and they watch the numbers on the elevator tick up slowly)
MEREDITH: Move faster, damn it!
(The doors open. Cut to the gurney being wheeled into an O.R where there is a surgical team prepping, including Dr. Bailey. Meredith is still straddling Viper)
DR. BAILEY: Well, this is a new one. Somebody get her off my patient. (Meredith climbs down) Ah Meredith, go get cleaned up and scrub in. Alex, get back downstairs.
ALEX: Yeah, but I helped.
DR. BAILEY: Helped? Yeah they tell me down in the Pit that you only want to take the hot cases. In every pack of interns there’s always one fool that’s running around trying to show off and Alex, this time that fool is you. Get out. (Alex storms out) Somebody get me something to stand on, lower this table. The mountain’s going to have to come to me.
(Cut to an O.R. where Lloyd is about to be operated on. Richard and George are in there)
ANAESTHESIOLOGIST: Count backwards from ten for me.
LLOYD: Rich, you’re a good friend. The best.
RICHARD: Shut up and count backwards already, Mack.
LLOYD: Ten … nine … eight … seven … sss …
(Cut to Izzie and Cristina in a scrubs room scrubbing up)
IZZIE: I’m not going to stay.
CRISTINA: It’s your job. You have to.
IZZIE: You’re better at this part than me. I don’t want to watch him get taken apart. Look at the vultures. Waiting to pick him clean.
CRISTINA: Every last one of them represents someone, somewhere, who’s going to live because of Kevin. (she hands her a scrubs mask) Here. Put it on.
(Richard and Burke enter the scrubs room)
RICHARD: I’ll be waiting next door when you’re ready.
DR. BURKE: Where everyone’s waiting. (Richard leaves) Okay, doctors. Let’s get this over with.
(Cut to the organ harvest being performed by Burke with Izzie and Cristina assisting. There are various other doctors in there awaiting for different organs. One by one, organs are removed and placed in containers. Finally the liver is removed. George comes up with a bowl of ice. Burke places the liver on the tray. More organs are removed)
(Cut to the other O.R where George lifts the liver from the bowl of ice and hands it to Richard who places in Lloyd)
(Cut back to the other O.R where the heart monitor starts to beep rapidly and the dies out. Burke removes the heart which is taken away. Izzie looks sad)
(Cut to the same O.R which is now practically empty aside from Kevin who’s just been left cut open. Izzie is still standing there. Cristina is about to leave but looks back at Izzie concerned)
CRISTINA: Izzie?
IZZIE: I’m going to sew him up. For his family.
(Cut Cristina and Izzie sewing up Kevin)
(Cut to Izzie and Cristina walking down the hallway about to talk to Shelly and her daughter. Cristina stops walking)
CRISTINA: You do it.
IZZIE: What?
CRISTINA: You do it.
(Izzie walks over to Shelly and her daughter who look exhausted)
IZZIE: Mrs Davidson? He’s ready if you’d like to see him.
(Shelly looks up. She and her daughter get up and follow Izzie. They walk past Cristina who looks pensive. The camera pans across the waiting to room where there is a large group of Viper’s friends. Tattoo’s, body piercing kinda crowd. They’re all joking and laughing)
DR. BAILEY (to Meredith): This lovely group’s his friends.
DR. BAILEY (to the group) Uh, you all belong to … (to Meredith) What’s his name?
MEREDITH: Viper.
DR. BAILEY: Viper?
FRIEND #1: Yeah, we were in the race.
FRIEND #2: How is he, is he okay?
FRIEND #3: Yeah?
DR. BAILEY: Is he okay? No. No, he is not okay, at all. He hurled his body down a concrete mountain at full speed for no good reason. (The friend are all silent) Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you all pierce yourselves and smoke up and generally treat your bodies like your grungy asses can’t break down. (Bailey gets more worked up) Hey, hey, that’s fine. You want to kill yourselves, flying down a concrete mountain, go to it, but there are other people walking, people driving, people trying live their lives on that concrete mountain, and one of them got his (Meredith tries to interrupt) brains scrambled today because one of you little sniffling no good snot rag-
MEREDITH (interrupts): Doctor Bailey –
DR. BAILEY (ignores her and turns back to the friends): Yeah, yeah so okay, no! Your friend Viper, as far as I’m concerned, is not okay.
(She storms off leaving the group looking kinda stunned)
MEREDITH: She’s um really tired, but Viper’s gonna make it. He’s gonna live.
GROUP: Cool. Thanks.
(Cut to Meredith packing up her stuff in an empty locker room again dressed to go home. Derek enters and shuts the door behind. Meredith looks up at him)
DR. SHEPARD: It’s not the chase.
MEREDITH: What?
DR. SHEPARD: You and me. It is not the thrill of the chase. It’s not a game. It’s (he walks up to her) … it’s your tiny ineffectual fists. And your hair.
MEREDITH (she smiles) My hair?
DR. SHEPARD (he nods): Smells good. And you’re very, very bossy. Keeps me in line.
(They stare at each other for a while)
MEREDITH (smiles): I’m still not going out with you.
DR. SHEPARD (nods slightly and smiles): You say that now.
(He leaves the room, leaving Meredith smiling)
(Cut to Lloyd’s room. Richard is standing looking over Lloyd post-op. George is behind Richard)
LLOYD: How’d it go?
RICHARD: Very smoothly.
LLOYD: Damn. That means I’ll have to quit smoking.
(Richard smiles, pats Lloyd and leaves. George moves up Lloyd’s bedside. He takes Lloyd’s hand in his)
LLOYD: Ahh, the pretty ones always come crawling back.
MVO: There’s another way to survive this competition. A way that no one ever seems to tell you about.
(Meredith leaves the locker room to go home. She passes by Viper’s room where all his friends have gathered around him hugging him and laughing. He gives her a smile and she smile back)
MVO: One you have to learn for yourself. Number five. It’s not about the race at all. There are no winners or losers. Victories are counted by the number of lives saved.
[EXT. SEATTLE CITY, NIGHTTIME]
[INT. MEREDITH’S TOWNHOUSE]
(Meredith opens the door to her house and enters. She hears voices and sees that Cristina, Izzie and George are sitting on couches, pigging out and watching one of her mother’s surgical tapes)
IZZIE: Oh okay, this is the best part. Watch. This is where she pulls a block of skin down over the face.
(The notice Meredith. George sits up quickly)
GEORGE: We were-
(He searches for the remote)
MEREDITH: Hi.
(He pauses the video and places his beer on a coaster as well)
GEORGE: … we were just ah … Cristina made us.
(Cristina shoots him a disapproving look that says I can’t believe you just said that)
MVO: And once in a while, if you’re smart, the life you save could be your own.
MEREDITH (smiles): What are we watching? Ooh. (She sits down between George and Izzie and grabs the remote to un-pause) This is the one where my mother -
IZZIE (interrupts): Literally pulls this guy’s face off!
MEREDITH: Yeah.
(She grabs some popcorn and they watch for a bit)
GEORGE: Come on!
IZZIE: Augh!
CRISTINA (yells): Holy crap!
[END]