Derek is greeted by the Santa Monica gang and congratulated on the surgery while Mere watches him from upstairs. She comments to Cristina that they sang and played guitar, and that it's almost like Derek was a different person, to which Cristina says that he was. Mere says that it kind of freaks her out, that she feels like she doesn't know him, but she's smiling the whole time so nothing she's saying matches her relaxed, amused body language and I don't believe that she's worried for a second. I'm glad about that because I can't take any more manufactured relationship doubts between these two, but it also basically makes her half of this scene pointless. Cristina plays her part much better, stating matter-of-factly that she doesn't know Owen -- they both don't know their partners. She then walks off, while Mere watches the gang some more.

Now that the contest is over, George finds Sadie and delicately offers to help her review some basics or put in some hours in the skills lab. She bristles immediately, but he continues that as a repeater, he knows how it's easy to get behind. She snaps that she doesn't need a tutor, and his delicate tone has a tiny bite to it as he asks, "You don't? At this point in your training you should be able to hear symptoms, diagnose the problem, and decide whether or not a patient needs surgery. Can you do that?" She has no answer, and he asks again and explains that her bosses think that she can. "And they will put you in situations where you have to." Sadie sulks, pissed at the idea that she should be able to keep up with her schooling, and marches off. George calls after her, worried now, that she could hurt someone, but she just breezes around the corner.

Cristina is walking down the hall when Hunt comes up and steers her into an on-call room. She takes a moment to face him as he tells her that he calls his mom once a week, but he hasn't told her that he's back yet and she thinks he's calling from Iraq. Cristina sags a bit, as if this conversation really is the straw that broke the camel's back. He says that if he drove the few miles to his mom's house, he'd only make her sad and she'd look at him like Beth does. He doesn't mean, "Like a self-righteous spoiled child," but instead that she'd look at him like he's not there. "The only time I don't feel like a ghost is when you look at me, because when you look at me, you see me." He repeats this while she stares at her shoes, and then it turns into a plea as he begs her to see him. Finally, she looks up at him and he smiles at her -- both have tears in their eyes.