Grey's Anatomy is about to wrap up its 17th season and has just been renewed for an 18th, and over the course of those seasons, there has been no shortage of romantic relationships between main characters.
Some have been brief flings (Derek and Nurse Rose or Meredith and McVet) while others have stood the test of time, existing on the show and the afterlife. The importance of these relationships to the storytelling of Grey's depends on the couple, and whether or not the two characters grow from their time together (Alex and Jo) or end up making each other miserable (Amelia and Owen).
Cristina & Burke
Cristina Yang and Preston Burke started dating around the same time as the beloved Grey's couple MerDer, but their relationship reaching a screeching halt when he left her stranded at the altar on their wedding day.
They were together for roughly three seasons, and during that time Cristina learned how to be a better cardio surgeon and figured out what she wanted from a romantic partner. Burke, for his part, learned that he needed someone who wanted the same things as him, despite how much he loved Cristina.
Izzie & Alex
Izzie and Alex were the first in their class of interns to hook up with each other, and had an on and off relationship through the first five seasons of the show, only being an official couple for about three of those all together.
Izzie helped Alex become the man he was for Jo Wilson later on in the series, and Alex allowed Izzie to let her guard down and let love in. 10 seasons after Izzie's departure from Seattle Grace, Alex went back to her and their two children, allowing their story to come full circle and get a happy ending.
Owen & Teddy
Teddy Altman and Owen Hunt have been 'together' for about three seasons now, but their love story goes back decades. First meeting when they served in the army, the two had an instant friendship and shared various moments of unrequited love for one another.
Teddy waited as Owen wed Cristina and Amelia before realizing what had been in front of him the entire time. These two are like the Ross and Rachel of Grey's; even when they're not together, they should be. Even though she's cheated on him and he ignored her love for him for years, it's nice to know they're finally mostly on the same page.
Jackson & April
Jackson Avery and April Kepner first got together right before their board exams in Season 8. Their love spanned approximately five seasons as they broke up, almost married other people, married each other, had a couple of children and then divorced one another.
With Jackson, April learned to break loose of the 'good girl' image she had branded herself with and turned into the strong woman she was always meant to be. Jackson took Mark's wise dying words of love advice to confess his feelings for April, giving them a fair shot at their fairytale romance. The status of Japril in the current day is now up in the air given Jackson's exit from the show and his decision to move to Boston with April and their daughter.
Cristina & Owen
Cristina and Owen were inseparable pretty much from the moment he stepped foot in Seattle Grace in Season 5. They had their initial struggles as he battled PTSD, but the bond they shared was far stronger than anything Cristina had with Burke.
They eventually married in Season 7 and divorced in Season 9. Their relationship lasted about five years before they called it quits, with Owen wanting children more than he wanted to spend a lifetime with the cardio surgeon. Regardless, Cristina and Owen both opened each other's hearts to love after heartbreak and were made all the better for it.
Callie & Arizona
Callie and Arizona were together for nearly six seasons before they got an ugly divorce in Season 11. The orthopedic surgeon and the pediatric surgeon couldn't survive life-shattering injuries and infidelities to make their marriage work, but their relationship was beautiful while it lasted.
Arizona was Callie's greatest love story on the show, coming off the heels of a divorce from George O'Malley and a failed romance with Erica Hahn. Arizona was always ive of Callie, even when she became pregnant by Mark, and Callie did her best to tend to Arizona after she lost her leg in the plane crash. They loved each other deeply, despite not making it work in the end.
Alex & Jo
Alex and Jo first met when she was an intern in Season 9, and later their relationship blossomed into an honest-to-goodness love story that Alex had craved for so long.
Alex and Jo went through ups and downs but always came out stronger. They ed each other with their family issues, mental health struggles, and tragic pasts. Though their marriage was short-lived due to his return to Izzie, they lasted seven seasons, being one of the longest-running romances on the show.
Richard & Catherine
Chief Richard Webber was married to Adele for a long time before her death in Season 9, despite his affair with Ellis Grey back in the day.
After Adele's ing, Richard became romantically involved with Jackson Avery's mother Catherine, and the two wed in Season 11 surrounded by their co-workers and loved ones. The legendary doctor pairing has remained married ever since, making them one of the longest-lasting and most successful couples on the show, finally giving Richard a sense of comfort and stability.
Ben & Bailey
Miranda Bailey and Ben Warren butted heads when they first met, but she eventually realized he wasn't just berating her for fun -- he had a crush on her.
The two dated and briefly broke up, but returned to each other in true soulmate fashion. They married in Season 9 and stayed together through career changes, a miscarriage, and now a cancer diagnosis. These two are going on ten years together, which is hard to come by in the Grey's world.
Meredith & Derek
Meredith and Derek are one of the greatest love stories on television, first getting together the day before Meredith's first day as an intern at Seattle Grace. They were on-and-off throughout the first five seasons of the show but were always in love. They wed via post-it in Season 5 and remained married until his untimely Season 11 death.
Despite his death, Meredith felt Derek's presence around her and even got to be briefly reunited with him on her dream-state beach in Season 17; proving once again that these two would never really be apart. Derek will watch over his wife until the end of time, and if there's such thing as an afterlife, they will live happily ever after there.