Grey's Anatomy : Meredith's New Flame Steps Up and 2 Fan-Favorites Reveal Shocking Truths

GREY’S ANATOMY - “I’ll Cover You” – A former patient of Link’s, Simon, is in the ER with his pregnant wife; and Bailey receives an offer from Nick on a new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” THURSDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Liliane Lathan) ELLEN POMPEO
GREY’S ANATOMY - “I’ll Cover You” – A former patient of Link’s, Simon, is in the ER with his pregnant wife; and Bailey receives an offer from Nick on a new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” THURSDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Liliane Lathan) ELLEN POMPEO

Liliane Lathan/ABC

This post contains spoilers from Thursday's episode of Grey's Anatomy.

During Thursday's episode of the Grey's Anatomy, titled "I'll Cover You," Dr. Meredith Grey's (Ellen Pompeo) new flame Dr. Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman) officially started his temporary gig at Grey Sloan Memorial while Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) confessed her love for longtime best friend, Dr. Atticus "Link" Lincoln (Chris Carmack). And Dr. Catherine Avery (Debbie Allen) had a shocking bit of news for her husband, Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.).

First, Nick — who suggested last week that he and Meredith stick around Seattle for a bit to help Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and her deteriorating residency program — addressed the elephant in the room. (Meredith was offered a job in Minnesota — and has agreed to take it).

"Okay I know you blame me," said Nick. "You think I'm taking Meredith away which is perfectly understandable."

"I do not blame you," Miranda replied. "I do not know you. Meredith is an adult woman. No one can take her away, it would be ridiculous for me to think that."

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GREY’S ANATOMY - “I’ll Cover You” – A former patient of Link’s, Simon, is in the ER with his pregnant wife; and Bailey receives an offer from Nick on a new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” THURSDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Liliane Lathan) CHANDRA WILSON, SCOTT SPEEDMAN
GREY’S ANATOMY - “I’ll Cover You” – A former patient of Link’s, Simon, is in the ER with his pregnant wife; and Bailey receives an offer from Nick on a new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” THURSDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Liliane Lathan) CHANDRA WILSON, SCOTT SPEEDMAN

Liliane Lathan/ABC

"Your residency is failing and I want to help," he said. "I want to help you and I want to help this program. Grey Sloan rejected me back in the day and now so are you. I'm going to be in Seattle for the next few weeks anyways, so if you say, 'No,' I'm just going to be spending my days hiking and fishing instead of helping you..."

In the end, Miranda gave Nick temporary privileges at Grey Sloan Memorial.

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Speaking with Miranda later, Meredith asked why she was so upset with her and her plans to leave. "I stayed," said Meredith. "I said, 'Yes' to helping, 'Yes' to working and you still can't be happy. You have to torture a doctor who volunteered to be here to help. Why did I stay? What do you want?"

"I don't know," said Miranda. "This program is failing. I feel like I'm failing. The first female chief, it's on her. It's always on her the woman who was given a chance after a string of messy men. I just feel helpless because it is all out of my control ... I am thankful for you for staying and for Nick for coming, but I'm not sure if that's enough."

The duo ended up apologizing for the hurtful remarks that were said in the past and decided to move on.

RELATED: Grey's Anatomy Stars Consider the Show's End: 'It's Bigger Than All of Us at This Point'

Meanwhile, Link and Jo — who hooked up earlier in the season — were in disagreement over a patient, and Link called Jo a "user."

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Liliane Lathan/ABC

"You used me for sex, which was fun so I could roll with it," an emotional Link said. "But then you kicked me out which was less fun. And now you have Todd (Skylar Astin). So now you want me to sleep over with Luna (Jo's daughter) any time you have a date, which might be okay if you ever wanted to just hang with me, but you don't which means I'm being used..."

"I fell in love with you," she admitted. "I wasn't using you. I had feelings. I developed feelings and I thought that you might too, but you didn't I asked you to move out because I wanted to protect our friendship. I'm not a perfect person. I'm a person who is doing the best I can, but I am also a person who cannot lose you."

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Early in the episode, Richard, who has been sober for 10 years, accidentally drank a bottle of cannabis juice that was in his refrigerator. After he and Meredith realized why he was acting so strangely — and craving munchies — she stayed with him while he waited for Catherine, to be able to pick him up. In the meantime, they talked about Meredith's plans to eventually leave Seattle.

"It's that Nick character. That's why you're leaving," Richard surmised. "Maybe he could fall in love with the city? I mean, we have trees, and we have an ocean, and we have ferry boats."

"The ferry boats might be one of the reasons why I need to, you know," Meredith responded. (Her late husband, Derek Shepherd — played by Patrick Dempsey — famously said in the first season, "I have a thing for ferry boats," and, indeed, ferry boats became their thing.) "Seattle is just..."

"Haunted," Richard said, completing her sentence, "because everywhere you look, there's a memory. A memory of people who aren't here anymore. I get it."

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Towards the end of the episode, Catherine finally arrived to pick up Richard. When he asked her why there was cannabis juice in their refrigerator, her answer shocked him.

"It's for my pain," said an apologetic Catherine. "My cancer has progressed."

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.