'Grey's Anatomy' Relationships

Keep track of who is sleeping with whom

People's Choice Awards 2016 - Getty Images Portrait Studio
Getty Images for The People's Ch / Getty Images

There are so many different relationships on "Grey's Anatomy" that it's difficult to keep them all straight. Here's a rundown:

Meredith Grey

Derek Shepherd
Meredith sleeps with Derek before she realizes that he's her boss. At the beginning of Season 1, she thwarts his advances but finally gives in. For a while, they keep their relationship a secret, but before long the whole hospital knows. At the end of Season 1, Derek's wife shows up, and the Derek/Meredith thing is over—for now.
In Season 2, Meredith takes home a guy whom she meets at Joe's. The next day, he comes to the hospital because of a constant erection and Derek finds out that Meredith slept with him. Meredith is embarrassed, and Derek is hurt.
Finn Dandridge
Meredith begins dating the veterinarian of Doc, the dog she shares with Derek. Derek realizes that he doesn't love Addison and doesn't want to be with her but allows Meredith time to make her choice between him and Finn.
Meredith finally chooses Derek, but then he says he needs time to get over Addison's relationship with Mark.
Derek (again)
Meredith and Derek end up back together but then break up when Meredith can't commit.

They continue having sex until Derek starts dating a nurse, Rose. Meredith and Derek realize they belong together after working closely together and finally succeeding with a clinical trial. Meredith reluctantly asks Derek to move in, which he does, but Meredith won't kick out her roommates, Izzie and Alex.
They decide to get married but give up their wedding so that Izzie and Alex can get married. They end up writing promises to each other on a Post-it Note and consider themselves married.

Cristina Yang

Preston Burke
Burke notices Cristina and brings her coffee. She's surprised by this, but later when she walks in on him while he's changing, they hook up. Their relationship continues in secret throughout Season 1. Cristina discovers she's pregnant but doesn't share this information and schedules a D&C. In Season 2, Cristina loses the baby and Burke finds out about the pregnancy. They get back together, and Burke tells Chief Webber of their relationship.
Cristina has trouble coping with the fact that Burke might no longer be a great surgeon after he is shot. She comes up with a scheme so that Burke can operate without anyone knowing he has tremors in his hand. She is extremely upset when he asks her to step away from a surgery and tells the chief what is going on. Derek can fix Burke's hand.
He asks Cristina to marry him, and she says yes, but he leaves her at the altar. Cristina is devastated and doesn't date throughout Season 4 until Owen Hunt comes to Seattle Grace in Season 5.
Owen Hunt
Owen was an Army major and is a trauma surgeon.

He and Cristina begin dating but break up after Owen chokes Cristina in his sleep because of post-traumatic stress disorder, but as he goes through therapy, they get back together. They have a rocky relationship because Owen seems to be in love with both Cristina and Teddy Altman, though he chooses Cristina.

Izzie Stevens

Alex Karev
Izzie begins to show interest in Alex at the beginning of Season 2. He takes her out on a date, but she has a horrible time. He doesn't even kiss her good night. She complains to George, and the next day Alex kisses her. Izzie thinks they have a relationship until she catches him in bed with George's ex-girlfriend, Olivia.

Izzie eventually forgives Alex, and they continue dating until Izzie falls in love with Denny Dequette.

Denny Dequette
Denny is a patient of Burke's waiting for a new heart. Izzie cuts Denny's LVAD wire so that he will move up the donor list and get a heart. The surgery is successful, but Denny dies a couple of days after proposing to Izzie.
Denny leaves Izzie $8.7 million. Much to George's distress, she keeps the check under a magnet on the refrigerator, waiting until she thinks of something spectacular to do with it. When Bailey mentions her idea to open a free clinic, Izzie invests in it.
Alex (again)
Sometime after Denny's death, Izzie begins dating Alex again, but she starts seeing Denny everywhere and even carries on a relationship with him, though she knows that he's dead. Once she realizes that cancer is causing her to hallucinate, Izzie looks to Alex, and when she is at her sickest, they get married.
When she starts to get better, she distances herself from Alex and leaves for a while. She comes back and wants him back, but he says he deserves to be treated better than how she treats him.

She leaves again.​

Alex Karev

After he and Izzie have dated but before they begin a relationship, Izzie catches him sleeping with Olivia. Izzie eventually forgives him, and they begin dating again until Denny enters the picture. After Denny's death they begin dating yet again and following her recovery from cancer they get married, but it doesn't last.

Lexie Grey
Alex begins sleeping with Lexie, and they soon begin a real relationship.

George O'Malley

At first, everyone thinks George is gay, but soon everyone but Meredith knows he's in love with her. George sleeps with Meredith when she is vulnerable despite knowing it is wrong, and he and Meredith have a strained relationship for some time afterward.
George dates nurse Olivia for a short time.
Dr. Callie Torres begins to show interest in George, but they break up because George puts his friends ahead of her. They get back together and spontaneously get married in Vegas. One night, while drunk, George sleeps with Izzie. He and Callie break up, and George tries to make things work with Izzie, but they have no sexual chemistry.

Callie Torres

Callie and George have an on-again-off-again relationship. Callie sleeps with Mark Sloan and feels terrible about it.
After helping George through a tough time with his dying father, George asks Callie to marry him, and they run off to Vegas and get married. When he tells her that he slept with Izzie, she forgives him, but they soon break off their marriage.
Erica Hahn
Callie begins dating Erica Hahn, though she's terrified because she's never dated a woman before and doesn't know what to do. When they fight, Hahn leaves the hospital, leaving Callie behind.
Arizona Robbins
Callie begins dating Arizona Robbins. They're well matched and getting along great until Callie finds out that Arizona doesn't want to have children. After the shoot-out scare, Callie decides she can live without children, but she can't live without Arizona. Arizona says they can have dozens of kids.

Miranda Bailey

Tucker Jones
Bailey is married to Tucker Jones for over ten years, but they divorce because she puts more priority on her job.
Ben Warren
Bailey reluctantly begins dating anesthesiologist Ben Warren. She gets upset when she sees him flirting with a nurse, but he says he's doing it just to get in good with the nurses, so they give him a better schedule. Bailey seems fine with that explanation.