- The moment of truth has arrived. Amelia begins the daunting surgery to remove Dr. Herman's tumor. Meanwhile, Arizona takes the lead on a case that means a lot to Dr. Bailey.
- Amelia is preparing to operate on Dr. Herman and we're reminded that surgeons must always be prepared to lose. Hunt tells her there's going to be a full gallery and asks whether she's "good." She reassures him, then heads for the O.R. But first, she stops in the restroom, checks to make sure no one else is there, looks in the mirror and cries a little before steeling herself. Dr. Herman, meanwhile, is giving Arizona last-minute instructions on the Glenda Castillo surgery as she's being wheeled on a gurney to the O.R. Amelia and Stephanie stand together like superheroes to build up their confidence before going in.
At the same time, Arizona and Bailey go to get started on Glenda -- and Bailey is surprised that Dr. Herman isn't there. Arizona explains that Herman is not coming.
Amelia injects the dye onto the brain to make the tumor glow, and it practically lights up the room. Arizona is also working on Glenda with Bailey -- and imagining Dr. Herman's admonishments along the way.
Stephanie vows to stick with Amelia through the long surgery, which is likely to exceed 14 hours. Glenda's surgery goes awry and Bailey insists they should deliver the baby despite Arizona's protest.
Webber, watching in the gallery, notices that Amelia's shoulders seem tense. Amelia then gets into a part of the brain that she can't move through. She whispers to Stephanie that she's "trapped."
Alex shows up after Bailey had him paged to do a C-section and deliver the baby. Arizona remembers the last time this happened, when Alex delivered the baby and Dr. Herman said she embarrassed her. Arizona finally snaps and yells at Bailey that she needs to either get on board with her plan or get out of the O.R.
Webber and others start to wonder why Amelia hasn't done anything in more than 15 minutes. Webber decides to head down into the O.R. and offers to be a sounding board. Amelia gets the intercom shut off and asks Webber to get Derek on a plane from D.C. immediately. She says she's in over her head and her hubris is going to kill Dr. Herman unless Derek can help.
Arizona gets into more trouble, but talks Bailey and Alex through helping her.
Webber, meanwhile, is giving Amelia a pep talk and telling her that she can do this. He tells her she's on her own because Derek doesn't know her plan for the surgery -- and he tells her she doesn't need his help or anyone else's.
Arizona and Bailey work to get the fetus' heart beating again -- with Bailey holding the fetus in her hands the whole time. The heart restarts and Arizona tells Bailey they have to put the fetus back in, and Bailey's mind is blown when she realizes she was holding the fetus before it was even born. Arizona nods and says she knows the feeling, adding that's "it's a great privilege" -- echoing something Dr. Herman told her early in her fetal surgery training.
Amelia resumes the operation. Hours pass -- eight, then 10, then 12, 13 and 14. Amelia takes a small step back, breathes a sigh of relief and announces that she's cleared the optic nerve. She calls out that the room is going radioactive and all non-essential personnel need to leave -- including Webber. But Stephanie passes out and Amelia asks Webber if he can scrub in.
Meredith scrubs in instead and stands by while Amelia prepares to insert the radiation seeds around Dr. Herman's brain to kill the rest of the tumor. There's a limited amount of time the doctors can be exposed to such radiation and Amelia feels like the thick gloves she's supposed to wear during the procedure are making it take too long. She takes the gloves off instead -- exposing herself to direct radiation -- to work faster.
Arizona goes back to the room where she and takes Glenda Castillo's index card off the bulletin board. There's just one left. She sits back on the couch and recalls a conversation she had with Dr. Herman when they had about 12 surgeries left on the board. Callie walks in and interrupts the flashback. Callie tells her that Amelia is still operating if she wants to go watch, but Arizona says she can't go watch.
Amelia quickly places the radiation seeds in, with Hunt yelling at her through the intercom to put the gloves back on. But she wraps up quickly. Meredith says that was "bad ass."
Stephanie wakes up and runs back into the O.R. despite Webber telling her it's OK to keep resting.
More than 17 hours into the surgery, Amelia is closing up in what she calls "the easy part." Meredith asks her to let someone else do it. That's when Stephanie runs in. Amelia tells Stephanie to finish closing, whispering to Meredith to make sure she doesn't let Stephanie screw up the stitch. Amelia then goes back into a hall, sits on the floor and cries.
Hours pass -- then days -- while Dr. Herman remains unconscious in the neurology ICU. Glenda Castillo is all ready to leave the hospital and she asks about how Dr. Herman is doing. Arizona and Bailey don't say anything.
Amelia is watching and rewatching the video of the surgery, telling Hunt that she needs to figure out why Dr. Herman isn't awake yet. She can't figure it out, but she needs her to wake up. With Dr. Herman in an MRI machine, Edwards notices very slight evidence of a possible stroke. Amelia tells her, "Good work, Edwards."
Finally, Dr. Herman starts to cough. Amelia and Arizona come in, with Stephanie behind them. Dr. Herman starts to make jokes and say she's fine. She squeezes Amelia's hand and pretends to notice Hunt and Webber when they come into the room. Dr. Herman asks for a moment alone with Arizona, which soon asks whether Dr. Herman can see anything. Dr. Herman admits she's completely blind. Dr. Herman tells Arizona everything will be fine and that the point is that she's alive, "and I wouldn't be if you hadn't been such a pain in my ass." She tells Arizona, again, that she "picked the right horse."
Stephanie cries, lamenting that they were "so close," but Amelia tells her that Dr. Herman lost her sight to the tumor and they stopped it from taking her life. She tells her that mere mortals can't do that. Only superheroes can.
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