The long-awaited encounter between Callie Torres and Erica Hahn happens, and then it's over before it began.  Callie stars walking up to Chief Webber, then awkwardly glances at Erica Hahn before quicklly averting her eyes and walking away.  Evidently the kiss was received with mixed emotions.  Later the two bump into eachother in the hallway and Erica and Callie exchange banter on how "busy" they've been.  Callie's been "studying" up in the library.  Erica's been "studying, but on the internet."  Obviously there is some tension between the two and they have not been speaking since we left them. 

It is soon evident that Callie's patient from the limo accident has had a spinal injury that has left him with no feeling in his legs.  Derek Shepard makes it clear that the patient will never walk again.  Our new arriver, Major Hunt, butts in and suggests they do a risky procedure where they freeze tha patient.  Evidently it's been tested elsewhere but only with a young patient.  Derek quickly shuts down the idea saying that it's too risky on a man in his sixties, like their patient.    Still, Callie is intrigued and askes Hunt for more information once Derek leaves.  She goes off to study some more about the procedure before she goes to pitcht he idea to Richard Webber.  Richard who is on a mission to prove that they are not a #12 teaching hospital is quickly convinced to do the surgery. 

In the O.R. everything with Callie's patient starts out fine, Chief Webber and Miranda are there to support her through it.  They start bringing the patient's temp down to freeze him,  carefully trying to perform with the "knowledge" of Callie.  Suddenly the patient is unstable and they look to Callie, "what did the research say?"  but Callie is freaking out, she has no idea what to do or how to procede.  She freezes up and is speechless at this critical time for the patient.  They do what seems logical and call in Erica Hahn for consultation on the patient's heart.  There is another wave of the patient being unstable and again, Callie freezes and has nothing to say.  She doesn't know what to do and the patient may not make it.  Erica turns to her, looks her straight in the eyes, and asks her calmly just to think about what the research says.  Somehow, with Erica there to calm her, she is able to recall what to do, they get the patient stable and it looks like he's going to be okay.  The end of the episode is hopeful as the patient wiggles his toes after waking from the procedure.

Callie leaves Seattle Grace at the end of the shift to find Erica outside.   She thanks Erica saying, "I don't experiment, but then you showed up and it was a success."  An off-guard Erica takes a second before realizind that Callie is talking about the surgery not the kiss.  Callie then starts rambling, as she does when shes nervous, ". . . I don't even like kissing girls. . . just kissing one girl-you."  Erica feels a little more at ease with this, "I don't have anything to compare it with.  You're the only girl I've ever kissed."  The girls admit their struggles - Hahn and therapy, Torres and freaking out - and decide to "be scared together."  The two leave together while joking about "being virgins" again.

When we left Izzie Stevens and Alex Karev, he was an emotional mess, begging for it after Ava left.  Izzie was there for him.  The two seem to be getting along together, almost flirting even.  Izzie, who has been a wreck since Denny died is finding comfort in sharing loss with someone.  Alex is telling Izzie that he is completely fine and she doesn't need to worry.  He makes it clear that it isn't the same thing as her and Denny - Ava didn't die.  Still, she's there for him.  Somehow she's able to feel stronger knowing that she's not alone. 

Izzie talks with Meredith about "love" and Derek.  She shares that Meredith shouldn't be so worried because there are really good men out there.  She is the voice of reason telling Meredith that Derek is a "good man" and that fairy tales can come true.  She loses herself for a second to say that Alex is a really good man too.  Almost daydreaming about it, she pays him this compliment even if he is undeserving it.

Meredith later runs into Alex Karev and tries to tease him a little about being an emotional deep guy even if he doesn't act it.  Alex flips out and asks, "Did she tell youI cried."  Meredith realizes he's upset and tries to back-peddle the situation.  "No."  He tells her that it's good she didn't because it didn't happen and he storm off.  He goes to confront Izzie telling her, "You know what you did," while the confused Izzie puts together that it must have been Meredith.  Now she's upset.  Izzie goes off and finds Meredith just to tell her off, "I should have known, you only keep secrets for Cristina," before she storms off, too. 

The day is over and Izzie returns home only to find Alex with a half-naked woman in his bedroom making out.  She turns her head to retreat and is caught up in a dream of her in the prom dress coming down the elevator to meet Denny.  She is giddy and excited and in her dream, the elevator doors open and Denny is there waiting for her, smiling and welcoming.

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Meanwhile, Lexie Grey is following George O'Malley around like a love-sick puppy.  She is helping him study for the exams, backing him up on all his decisions and being his personal cheerleader during the whole episode, rallying him on in his efforts.  Lexie is following Cristina and Meredith for rounds when she overhears that Meredith slept with George.  She tries to butt in to get details, but is very quickly put back in her place by Cristina.  Later, Lexie and George are helping Mark Sloan in a plastics surgery.  When Mark casts a snide remark at George, Lexie quickly defends him and talks back to Sloan.  As soon as George leaves, Mark teases Lexie about her "boyfriend."  "He's not my boyfriend," she answers too quickly.  "You wish he was," but she tries to deny it.  Sloan knows and tells her that she should just tell George she likes him.  She's to nervous.  The three are soon in surgery together when Sloan tells Lexie, "Is there something you want to tell Dr. O'Malley."  She turns every shade of red and dodges the question.  George thinks that she must have slept with Sloan to be so defiant and frank with him, which she assures never happened.  She gets the guts up to ask George about Meredith.  He explains how he's made a lot of bad choices in the last year and how he tried to get her to like him for selfish reasons.  Lexie starts to tell George about how she feels like they might be more than just roommates, but George cuts her off and says, "We are just roommates. . . you're the best friend I have right now."  Looks like Lexie will have to be frustrated for a little longer.

more from this episode . . .