Grey's Anatomy's 25 Greatest Couples Ever

In 16 seasons of hookups and letdowns, "I dos" and "Oh no you didn'ts," Grey's Anatomy has turned us all into heart specialists of a sort. So your friends at TVLine are counting down the show's 25 greatest couples of all time and ranking them from the least to most legendary.

25. Izzie and George

Juuust kidding. The countdown actually starts with the next slide.

25. Meredith and Nathan

Turned out he was only a stopgap boyfriend. But the mischievous way that she initially warned her one-night stand not to get any ideas about them — not to mention the tryst itself! — gave us a lot of ideas.

24. Alex and "Ava"/Rebecca

As deeply as Karev loved the amnesiac — and the unhappily married woman she turned out to be — he couldn't pull her from the depths of mental illness.

13. Bailey and Ben

There's nothing wrong with being a show's rock-solid "old married couple"... provided the couple in question, as this one does, still has the passion and playfulness of frisky newlyweds.

23. Callie and Erica

So into Torres was Hahn that their friendship-turned-romance made her realize that she was a lesbian — and one who was unable to deal with her lover's bisexuality.

22. Richard and Adele

Thanks to the Webbers, to this day, we can't hear "My Funny Valentine" without tearing up. Luckily, when it gets played a lot, there's usually chocolates around.

15. Teddy and Henry

No sooner had the doc come to agree with her smitten patient — that their marriage was more than one of convenience — than she realized the gravity of "till death do us part."

18. Amelia and Owen

"This is messy and scary," she once said of their on-again/off-again relationship. And if that isn't the very definition of love, we don't know what is.

12. Mark and Addison

She argued that, "just because [she] made what can only be called a transcontinental booty call," they needn't try to make a go of a relationship. We respectfully disagreed (and still do).

16. Owen and Cristina

Since, even post-divorce, these two couldn't stay apart, their relationship didn't end until they'd put between them... um, however many miles there are between Seattle and Zurich.

9. Izzie and Denny

When Stevens tried to resist her charming patient, he wished her luck — with good reason. She could no more deny her feelings for her future husband than he could elude the Grim Reaper.

4. Lexie and Mark

If there's one thing we all can and should take away from the couple's romance — and certainly its heartbreaking conclusion — it's, "If you love someone, you tell them."

7. Jackson and April

Whether breaking up or hooking up — or both in the same episode! — the former Averys exhibited the kind of combustible chemistry that should have come with a "Danger! Explosives!" warning label.

5. George and Callie

From the moment that Torres popped O'Malley's dislocated shoulder back into place, he was destined to take her in his once-again-functional arms... at least for a while.

10. Alex and Jo

Secrets, breakups, breakdowns... Nothing could tear apart Jolex for good, we thought. Until the sudden departure of original cast member Justin Chambers went and did exactly that.

14. Cristina and Burke

Hot as it may have been, the cup of coffee that started their tempestuous relationship had nothin' on the relationship itself. So maybe it was inevitable that someone would get burned.

8. Callie and Arizona

After their bitter breakup and custody battle, it would have been nice to see the former marrieds' eventual reunion play out on screen. But Calzona's ending was still a lot happier than the couple at No. 4's.

3. Alex and Izzie

Years (and years) after we had given up on the idea of the former marrieds being endgame, Grey's shocked the hell out of us by giving them a happy new beginning. Well, not so happy for Jo, but...

2. Meredith and Derek

Well, duh. Of course MerDer is at the top of the... Wait a minute. They're not at the top of the list, they're No. 2. But if they're not Grey's best couple ever, who is?

19. Levi and Nico

Rather than reflect on the callousness that led to Schmico's split, let's instead remember the good times — those palpitation-inducing glances and the kiss that made Schmitt feel like he was holding the Sunsword.

17. Teddy and Tom

Granted, Koracick can be a lot. But it's hard not to root for him to win Teddy away from Owen in the end when, time and time again, he's proven that she'll always come first with him.

20. Richard and Catherine

Passionate and petty, immature and jealous, the estranged marrieds have long had a relationship that's as volatile as an active volcano.

21. Owen and Teddy

When he insisted that his answer to any problem they might face would be "I love you," it was hard to disbelieve him. But it was also impossible to buy that either of Allison's folks would be able to give up their favorite hobby: self-sabotage.

1. Meredith and Cristina

Yeah, yeah, we know — they weren't that kind of couple. But you'll never convince us that Grey and her person didn't and don't have a truer love than any of the show's many (many!) romantic couples.

6. Link and Amelia

They've come a long way from being one another's "pain management." Sweet and sexy in equal measure, the parents-to-be make us want to write love songs in the rain.

11. Meredith and DeLuca

Some viewers never saw the sparks between these two. We, on the other hand, don't know how they could've missed 'em, especially anytime Andrew was whispering sweet nothings in Italian.