Grey’s Anatomy season 12, episode 3, “I Choose You,” has the baby blues and everyone wants the best shot to grow up on their own terms.

The babies are the focus of Grey’s Anatomy season 12, episode 3. Not just the pair of newborns who are fighting for the same liver, but the residents who are ready to take their first steps in new directions and leave their former selves behind. It’s time for the doctors to come into their own and accept that they are no longer dependent on anyone but themselves.

Meredith

It’s time to rise up, Meredith Grey. After getting an offer for a salary that makes every other doctor in the hospital feel like they are kings and queens (mostly queens!) of their respective departments, it is up to Meredith to make a move for her future. For too long Webber and everyone else has followed Meredith around lifting her up to get ahead.

Bailey is done coddling her baby, it’s time for Meredith to take her first steps into her future. And Meredith walks away with a number she deserves and Bailey’s respect.

Maggie

Poor, abandoned, alien Maggie Pierce. As she soared away from her home planet on the east coast for a life among those unlike her in every way, the life she left fell apart. She was reborn in a place where she had to learn the lay of the land and make meaningful connections.

There is nothing wrong with hooking up with a guy in radiology for a few months. But when he invites you to his wedding, it causes you to rethink every baby step you made that led you to that moment. But there is only one direction to keep walking and that is forward, right through the doors of Joe’s bar and into the arms of an intern. She still has a few stumbles. Whoops.

Karev

From day one, Alex Karev held his own as a pillar of Grey’s Anatomy. From intern who failed his boards to chief of pediatrics, Karev carries his responsibilities with much more care and caution than anything else we’ve seen thus far. When twins are born with jaundice indicating liver failure, he takes on the burden of picking the twin who will receive the chance to grow up.

But first Alex must convince two people how much he has grown up and not revert back to his old habits– himself and Jo. A pregnancy scare gives Jo time to think about where she and Alex are heading in the future, but a fertility sample receipt from his days with Izzie (remember her?) may be the straw that breaks his back.

Arizona has other plans for him. She reminds Alex that from the very start of his time in pediatrics, he had the heart and the mind to get the job done. Alex is no longer a toddler finding his way around the hospital, he is taking on the parental role and guiding by example.

DeLuca

This baby duckling is starting to molt and come into his own skin. DeLuca is a curious intern. He is a good doctor, a good student, and he knows exactly what makes him tick. When it comes time for him to regress and revisit working with parents, not children, he tells Alex flat out that pediatrics is not the place for him.

It is the parents that get to him, the pain that they express when they lose a child is something he cannot bear to leave them with if he fails in the pediatric field. He watches Alex hold the baby until he passes away and turns away when the parents receive the news. DeLuca knows what he is good at and is willing to learn where he fits in elsewhere.

But he is still an intern and has plenty of mistakes to make along the way. Like, sleeping with his boss.

Tonight’s Covers:
“Single Ladies” -Beyoncé
“Scrubs” -TLC
“Already Gone” -Kelly Clarkson

Watch Grey’s Anatomy season 12, episode 4, “Old Time Rock and Roll,” Thursday, October 15 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.