Meredith's Legal Woes Finally Catch Up to Her on Grey's Anatomy

Welp. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) might have thought that having a kid go through emergency neurosurgery might be a good enough excuse to miss her court proceeding, but the judge was not so convinced. The latest episode of Grey's Anatomy saw its title surgeon-turned-outlaw bail on her hearing after Zola began exhibiting signs of a defective shunt for her spina bifida -- and, whaddya know, the child did indeed need an on-the-spot surgery to correct the issue -- but the decision to hang around the hospital instead of county will cost her a bit of her freedom. Trash duty is off, and now she'll have to put on a jumpsuit as she serves a little jail time for her crimes. Now, there's a Halloween scare.

The good news is that Zola pulled through the surgery without incident. The shunt that she initially received from her now-late father is still in place but just needed a little correction, which Tom Koracick (Gregory Germann) was happy to handle. As she waited in the wings, forbidden from watching in the gallery and relegated to the normal patient mom waiting spot, her sisters Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Maggie (Kelly McCreary) converged on the waiting area to distract her with some small talk about relationships.

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Amelia revealed that she's pretty well adjusted to the idea of having a baby with someone she barely knows at this point, and Maggie is just chuffed to be single and spending all her mingle time in the OR. Her one true love is surgery, and she doesn't feel bad about that anymore, hmph. This prompted Meredith to reevaluate her own feelings for Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti), and she may or may not be having doubts about whether he's ~the one~ ... make that ~the other one~. While Meredith thinks she might love DeLuca, and she certainly appreciates how good with her kids he is, there's still a major division between them: "He's kind. He's trying. But he's not a parent, and he does not get it," she explains.

But DeLuca has a way with surprises, then, doesn't he? While Meredith was disappointed that he thought she'd even consider attending her court hearing as scheduled while her daughter was under the knife, he also showed up with Jell-O in the recovery room, just like Zola wanted. So, another mark in the plus column for MerLuca. Stay tuned.

Speaking of surprises, Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) also went through a major test of resolve in the latest episode. What started out as an innocent breakfast invitation from Gemma (Jasmine Guy) turned into something else entirely. Turns out, Gemma's been harboring the hots for Webber and really wants to be his sidepiece while Catherine (Debbie Allen) is away on business -- which is very often, lately.

Richard might not be 100 percent happy in his marriage, but he makes no bones about his intention to stay faithful to his wife, no matter how much Gemma insists he is the type, based on his personal past. He doesn't worry about sparing her feelings when he says to her, "Just because you know my history doesn't mean you can use it against me to make yourself less lonely. Call your sponsor. Go to a meeting. That was not sober behavior."

Meanwhile, Jo (Camilla Luddington) also had to face an uncomfortable blast from the past when she was assigned to treat her former therapist in the hyperbaric chamber, where there is no easy exit. She and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) spent the whole episode trying to bring the woman back to consciousness after she was poisoned by carbon monoxide, and Jo began to feel hopeless and erratic about the woman's condition. A few key flashbacks revealed that the patient once helped snap Jo out of the cone of silence and shame she wore upon meeting her birth mother. One of the most clutch pieces of advice Jo took away from her counselor was that she, unlike her abusive ex, knows how to control her behavior while experiencing anger. So, if Jo's counselor could resort to harming herself, what hope did Jo have? Fortunately, Jo was able to figure out what was keeping the woman unconscious -- the hyperbaric chamber greatly affected her sugar levels, and she was a diabetic -- and revived her to find out that the woman didn't try to end her life; this was just an accident. With that news, Jo is ready to throw plush toys at the wall just like in treatment and continue to channel her feelings with healthy avenues. Success!

In addition to helping Jo cope, though, Bailey had her own big reveal to deal with: her surprise pregnancy. With Jo's help, Bailey remembered some of the methodology to motherhood that she forgot -- the systems of diapering, bedtime stories, and night-night time in particular. It might've been a long time since she did any of that with Tucker, but the routines were still burned into her mind, which made her feel much better about the prospect of starting the parenting process anew. The trouble was, she still needed to tell Ben (Jason George) that she wasn't just going through menopause but was also carrying their baby. Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised her much, but after a confusing grimace or two, he was absolutely delighted and her worries were for naught. Of course. And, hey, at least she already knows what kind of dad he'll be!

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.