At Mere and Derek's house that night, Hunt plays the guitar while Arizona and the Chief perform a cringe-worthy rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Derek pointedly pours Thatcher a soda while a less than sober Chief holds a glass of eggnog. Teddy is gazing lovingly at Hunt and he can't help looking back at her ever so often. Lexie is talking to Sloan, and is appalled to hear that she got her father a snow globe of Seattle for Christmas and has no idea why this isn't a good gift. Lexie's also pissed because she wants her change from the $50 she gave Sloan for the gift. Across the room, Derek tells Mark, "Your kids are bickering." He then asks if Mark has managed to talk to Sloan, and Mark says he's working on it. He might have worked on it before he asked her to move in, I'm just saying.

Thatcher shuffles into the kitchen to talk to Mere, and seems a little wistful that Lexie has a ready-made family out there. Meredith reminds him slightly impatiently that Lexie didn't forget him either and invited him. It seems Thatcher was just looking for an opening, however, and he asks if Richard is drinking again. Mere tries to brush it off as just eggnog at Christmas, like everyone drinks, but Thatcher's not buying it and reminds her that recovering alcoholics don't drink eggnog. Mere then gives Thatcher the misdiagnosis line, and Thatcher doesn't burst into laughter at his former foe's issues but just warns Meredith that Richard is an alcoholic who is drinking again, and as a surgeon that could turn catastrophic in a moment. Neither he nor Meredith know just how close a catastrophe came to happening already, and Thatcher has even less idea that he's the only one who really has an idea of the full extent of what is going on. Mere throws in his face that he wasn't drinking when he left her and got a new family, so, "We can't blame the world's evils on alcohol, can we?" I wonder if she and Bill are going to trade notes later about how best to hit below the belt. (Though admittedly, Thatcher has done a lot to deserve some pot shots while Bailey has not.)