‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Preview: Will Meredith Stay With Derek? (VIDEO)

The good news is Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is off the vent and has regained consciousness, albeit briefly. The bad news is no one knows why she isn’t fully awake. But the promo for the April 22 episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Good as Hell,” does offer a clue.

“Meredith’s X-rays have shown a remarkable improvement,” Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) says, leading Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) to wonder, “why isn’t she [awake]?”

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The answer is simple: On that beach, in her mind, she’s with her late husband, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). And she doesn’t want to leave him.

“People love you, Meredith,” he tells her as he seemingly tries to convince her to wake up. “People need you.”

“I’m tired,” she says, and “I want you closer.”

But that’s a problem. Because, “if you get closer…,” he tells her. She knows: “I’ll never leave.”

As the end of the promo below shows, however, she does get closer to him. So what does that mean for Meredith? Will she return to her kids, family, and friends? Or will she stay with Derek?

Since we highly doubt Grey’s is about to kill Meredith off, chances are we’re just going to get a heartbreaking goodbye scene between her and Derek in Dempsey’s fourth Season 17 appearance.

Also, in “Good as Hell,” Jo (Camilla Luddington) tries to convince Bailey (Chandra Wilson) to let her switch specialties. (Perhaps the fact that upon initially regaining consciousness, Meredith told Richard they needed to talk about Jo will help?) Plus, Link (Chris Carmack) accuses Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) of overstepping while he’s treating a patient remotely, and Winston (Anthony Hill) has an out-of-the-box idea.

ABC

Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays, 9/8c, ABC