Here’s How ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Said Goodbye to Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey

Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey officially left Seattle in the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy, and we now know just how the longtime character said her goodbyes. In the episode, things between Meredith and Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman) continued to be unresolved, following Meredith’s decision to move without first telling Nick. “I know it’s been a lot but what was your plan? You’re going to leave and not call me back,” he said. “Move across the country without a conversation. I don’t get that.”

Nick went on to say, “I moved here to be with you. Yes, I took a job but I moved here to be with you.” In response, Meredith made it clear that she was making the decision she believed to be right for her family. “I said I love you. You were standing exactly in that spot where you are right now. I said I love you,” she said, recalling a past conversation they had. “You didn’t say it back. You had just taken a job at my hospital… I had hoped we were going to pick it up right where we left off. But, you seem to want to take it slow so it did not occur to me to confer with you about me moving.”

Nick responded, “I didn’t do and say exactly what you thought I should do and say exactly on your timeline so this whole mess is my fault that’s what you’re saying.” Meredith then replied, “That’s not what I said.” Nick then walked away.

Later in the episode, Meredith served Nick an evolved version of the  “pick me, choose me, love me” speech she gave Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) way back in Grey’s Anatomy Season 1. “I’m a grown woman with a big life and big career and three kids. This move is what my daughter needs. I want you in my life if you want to be in my life,” she said. “But if I have to choose, I pick me, I pick my kids, and I pick what is best for us and I’m not going to beg you to love me.”

The hospital staff later threw Meredith a going away party, which Nick missed. By the time he arrived, she had gone to the airport already. Nick called Meredith to lay it all out, telling her, “I fell in love with you the first day I met you. I fell in love with you the second day I met you and I have loved you every minute of every day that I have known you.” Meredith replied, “I can’t quite hear you. We’re about to take off so I’ll call you when we get settled.”