Grey's Anatomy Episode 10.24 Fear (of the Unknown)

Cristina can't put off her move to Zurich any longer. She needs to pop by the mall to get a European charger for her phone. She kisses Owen goodbye after spending the night with him. This isn't their big goodbye though. That'll come later.

In random news, Alex is being groomed to be a junior Dr. Butthole at his new private practice. Funding for Bailey's genome lab is being yanked. Derek and Meredith are planning their move to DC. They'll keep their seats on the hospital board though. Finally, April breaks the news of her pregnancy to Owen. He's happy for her, but a news report on the TV demands his attention. There's been an explosion at a local mall. This is troubling news on many levels, as Cristina was going to a mall.

The hospital is flooded with injured patients from the mall explosion. Homeland Security questions a suspicious patient, but Meredith orders them out of her way so she can treat her crashing patient. Owen is managing the chaos while trying to get hold of Cristina. Jackson and Callie work on a surrogate mom who desperately wants to carry her baby to term. Her water breaks so Arizona does a C-Section. Catherine Avery came to visit Jackson, but jumps in to help treat the wounded. Leah is back, too. With coolness and precision, she helps Shane repairs a patient's hideously injured eye. She leaves again without fanfare once all her work is done.

A young boy is missing amongst the wounded. Alex finds a kid being worked on after having been down for a full minute. Cristina steps in to help. She never made it to the mall. As for the young boy, his chest needs to be cracked. Cristina tells Alex that he's already there. He should do it. Inside the hospital, Owen thinks he sees Cristina but ultimately can't find her in the crowd. He lets out his frustration on a TV reporter who is scaring everyone with unsubstantiated reports that the carnage was the result of a dirty bomb. The truth is the explosion was caused by a gas main explosion.

Cristina works on the young boy while ordering her new boss for one more day, Dr. Maggie Pierce, to prep an OR so she can do a heart transplant on her patient, Link. She chastises Alex for wasting his talents in a private practice.

April is thrilled to reunite the young boy with his father, but the man tells her that the patient they found isn't his son. Catherine helps April get over her doubts about being able to raise a child in the world we currently live it. She lets her know there are always going to be accidents and stupid people out there. That's just the way it is. But if you don't give in to the fear, they the fear will never have the power.

Cristina is desperate to finish things at the hospital. That's why she wants to work on Link. Nothing feels finished. Meredith says she doesn't feel finished because this isn't the end for her. She has to go. Meredith will help her. Cristina hugs Derek goodbye. It's not long. It's not overly emotional. It's exactly what it needs to be.

Cristina says goodbye to Richard and Bailey, but not Shane. He's going to Switzerland to be with his teacher. Later. Right now, Cristina has a plane to catch. She finds the OR where Owen is in surgery. She knocks on the observation window. Cristina and Owen share one last knowing look with each other. Then she's gone.

Meredith rushes Cristina outside where a cab has just pulled up. The courier who gets out has Link's new heart. Cristina wants to do the surgery. Meredith won't let her. They have it covered. Cristina needs to go. Now! Meredith wonders if she needs an "I love you" before her departure. She doesn't wait for an answer. Meredith says, "I love you. Call me when you get there."

Meredith sends the cab away. Cristina looks back at her best friend in the world through the cab window. Then she looks forward. It's time for her to go forward. Well, maybe not just yet. She needs to dance it out with Meredith before she goes. That's how they finish. Before they get down, Cristina gives Meredith instructions. She can't let Owen get dark and twisty. Alex needs to be mocked at least once a day. Things like that. She also tells Meredith to not be a hero. She's her person. She need her alive. She makes her brave. Then they dance. Then Cristina goes.

Callie and Arizona look on as the surrogate mom is reunited with the parents of the baby they helped save. Maybe surrogacy is something for them, too. Jackson and April are also having renewed baby faith. Their child will be just fine because they'll always be there for him or her.

Owen watches from afar as the new head of cardio gives Link's mom the news that the transplant went just fine. He knows that Cristina was the driving force that made this joyous day possible. Elsewhere, Bailey is giddy about the news that Richard is recommending her for Cristina's seat on the board. What she doesn't know is that Cristina left her shares in the hospital and her seat on the board to Alex. In other news, Richard has a chat with the new head of cardio, Dr. Maggie Pierce. He learns she was adopted. Her birth mom's name is all over the hospital. She was Ellis Grey. Needless to say, Richard is totally thrown by this revelation.

Before Cristina left, she told Meredith that she's the sun. She shouldn't let what anyone wants eclipse what she needs no matter how McDreamy they may be. That's why Meredith can't sign the papers on the home Derek found for them in DC. She thinks she needs to stay right where she is. This leads to a big blowup fight. The bottom line is that Meredith doesn't want to leave. She's not going anywhere. Cristina, however, is already gone. She's enthusiastically beginning her new adventure as Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery so may miles away from the place where she started. It's just geography. Wherever Dr. Cristina Yang goes, she'll be brilliant.