This Is How a Heart Breaks

Jo’s outlook was not good at the beginning of the hour, which found Ben performing CPR on her in the OR as Winston delivered her twins. She was eventually stabilized enough to be put on a breathing machine, with a heart pump keeping her alive. When her test results didn’t improve, Winston dropped a heartbreaking bombshell on Link: Jo might need a heart transplant. Link or Ben stuck by her side at all times, then Bailey took over at one point, confiding in an unconscious Jo about Richard’s prostate cancer.  While she was talking, Jo’s heart monitor started beeping, and Winston had to perform an emergency procedure. The stress of it all brought on a panic attack for Bailey.

Meanwhile, Baby A and Baby B — Jo and Link hadn’t decided on names yet — were in the NICU. Baby A was OK, but Baby B had an aortic defect that might require surgery. For now, she was put on meds. Teddy offered to go with an overwhelmed Link to the NICU since she knows all the right questions to ask. She urged him to take a break and check on the rest of his family, and in the meantime, she would stay with the babies. When Link returned, he found that Baby B had to be sedated and put on a vent after her health took a turn. Link lashed out at Teddy, exclaiming that he should have never left her in charge.

With his whole family in various states of distress, non-believer Link ended up in the hospital chapel, looking for forgiveness for not being there for his daughter. Richard sat down next to him and offered some advice: If you can’t believe in a higher power, believe in the people around you and let them bring you peace. And Link certainly had people supporting him and Jo and the babies in spades. He apologized to Teddy and told her that he was grateful to have people who understand. Then there was finally some good news: Jo’s heart was recovering, and Baby B had peed. As the episode came to a close, Link sat by Jo’s side, relaying to her how the babies resemble her and Luna, when Jo started to wake up. Of course, the trio aren’t out of the woods completely — the babies are still in the NICU, and Jo just went through a major trauma — but at least they made out of this episode alive!

Romance Check-In

In the sex and love department, Winston apologized to Jules for not making it to Joe’s. When he asked for a rain check, she didn’t think that was a good idea. However, a plane crash victim who was proposing to his girlfriend after just two months spurred Jules to change her mind. The girlfriend was going to say yes, much to cynical Jules’ disbelief. Then the man suddenly died, prompting Jules to seize the moment. As she approached Joe’s, she saw Winston and OB nurse Iris looking very chummy at the bar, so instead, she turned around and left.

Simone was also breaking her and Jules’ pact to focus on work and not relationships. After struggling to avoid Wes for most of the episode, Simone finally took him into the on-call room to get down to business. And when she wasn’t trying and failing to steer clear of Wes, Simone was offering bad advice to Kwan about his hookup with Mohanty. Simone insisted that there was no such thing as just having fun with a colleague and that he should make a gesture of some kind to Mohanty. So per Simone’s idea, Kwan sent Mohanty flowers — but that was the wrong move. Mohanty told Simone that she thought Kwan was on the same page as her about not looking for a relationship.

“You’re not dating,” Simone admitted to Kwan, who tried to take back the flowers from Mohanty by pretending they were for another Dr. Mohanty. Awkward! But Mohanty just replied, “You coming?” as she left the hospital, and Kwan most definitely was.