Grey's Anatomy Episode 8.13 If/Then

We all ask ourselves the "what if" question. Let's now take a look at the way things could have been at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

Ellis Grey never got Alzheimer's. She married Richard Webber and became head of Seattle Grace where her daughter works. Callie and Owen are married with children. She's a heart surgeon and he's coping with some PTSD from the war by having online chats with someone named Teddy. Derek is an underachiever who is married to a pregnant Addison. Bailey is a soft-spoken, timid doc. Seriously!

Meredith Webber shows her sparkly new engagement ring to her person-April. Who is she to marry? Why that would be an overly-enthusiastic Alex Karev. Did you catch how we said April is Mer's person? That's because Cristina is an angry island who has alienated all of her colleagues. This includes Dr. Charles Percy, who did NOT die in a hospital shootout. He's alive and well and smitten with a supremely-uninterested April.

There's some reminiscing about the days when Cristina slept with Preston Burke, who eventually fled the state. There's talk of the time a crazy lady named Izzie stole a transplant heart for a patient she was sleeping with. Iz was fired after Meredith turned her in. Alex recalls a guy named George, call him 007, who failed his intern exam and was never heard from again. Funny how things work out, isn't it?

Ellis steals a surgery away from Mandy. By the way, Mandy is what folks are calling Dr. Miranda Bailey these days. Mandy wants Alex to tell Ellis about a potential problem because she's too afraid to do so herself. The information is never conveyed. Ellis ends up being embarrassed in front of a bunch of reporters hanging in the gallery. She wants Mandy Bailey fired.

Callie and Arizona disagree on how to treat a young man with a severe respiratory condition. All is forgiven when the boy makes a stunning recovery. A celebratory hug lasts just a little too long. Callie and Arizona make plans to grab a drink sometime in the future, but we get the sense this will never happen.

Derek and Addison team up to save a woman who gave birth to a baby with a tumor. These two should be the perfect couple, but they are incredibly unhappy. Ellis warns Derek that he's on thin ice after his personal problems with Addy spill into the workspace.

Jackson treats a super-tattooed drug addict. She says her name is Lucille Ball, but it's Lexie. A half-sister she's never met works at the hospital. Jackson gently encourages his patient to turn her life around, but Lucy/Lexie steals some drugs instead. A passerby brings her back to the ER after she collapses outside. The Good Samaritan happens to be Dr. Mark Sloan. He's also the father of Addison's baby. Yes, this is awkward.

Meredith muscles in on a heart operation that Cristina was supposed to do solo. These two do not work and play well together. Cristina takes over the entire operation and later drops the bombshell that Mer's fianc�©, Alex, is having an affair with her person, April. Uh oh.

Cristina isn't completely evil in this alternate universe. She tends to Owen after he punches a glass window in a sudden burst of rage. This isn't the first anger episode she's helped him through. She eventually works with Meredith to save Lexie after complications arise. Meredith is getting along better with Cristina, but she can't stand the way her mother tries to make everyone around her feel ordinary. Sound familiar?

The newly-unemployed Mandy Bailey tells a distraught Alex that we create our own destiny. Guess that's why Meredith and Cristina agree to skip a tender moment where someone cries. It may also be the reason why Meredith tells Derek that his nickname around the hospital is McDreary. Things could be different. Derek could just be some guy in a bar and Meredith could just be some girl. Why? Because some things are just meant to be.