Owen Hunt faced an emotional surgical case, which he worked on with Callie Torres, and also the prospect of moving on in his personal life as it was hinted in this episode that the female physician he met at the hospital's gala fundraiser was someone with whom he's kept in touch. While Callie teased him about having a new girlfriend, Owen remained adamant that was not the case, even as he had plans with the woman later that evening. While it was fun to see a resurgence of Owen and Callie's friendship in this episode, Owen's otherwise muted emotional approach made it difficult to gauge the context for his continued contact with this woman as being indicative of anything other than his seeming willingness to see what the future might bring. Disappointingly, he and Cristina Yang didn't share any scenes in this episode.
Cristina's main story in this episode was her surgical plan for one of Meredith Grey's former patients and the conflict that developed between these two surgeons and friends on Meredith's first day back following maternity leave. When UNOS called to unexpectedly offer a heart and liver transplant for this patient Cristina had been following in Meredith's absence, Cristina first enlisted the aid of Miranda Bailey to best meet their patient's needs. When Meredith took offense, Cristina tentatively agreed to operate with her friend on the condition that Meredith be fully prepared by the time the surgery was set to take place. When personal issues took precedence for Meredith and put her off schedule, Cristina requested Bailey's assistance and they proceeded with the surgery. When Meredith later took issue with her friends' approach a frank discussion of their professional skills and their personal choices left both friends shaken.
Elsewhere in the hospital: Richard Webber's healing process put Bailey in conflict with Catherine Avery; Jackson Avery navigated the process of officially introducing his girlfriend Stephanie to his imposing mother; Derek Shepherd returned triumphantly to surgery while bearing the brunt of Meredith's frustrating return to work and its potential impact on their family; Callie regained her personal mojo via moving out of Meredith and Derek's home and back into her own apartment; Arizona Robbins was left effectively homeless by Callie's actions and she faced the prospect of moving in with intern Leah, her unexpected new friend; and Jo Wilson struggled to reconnect Alex Karev with his long lost father before he was discharged from the hospital.