Props to Sars, whose recaps of this show I'm really going to miss.
Previously on ER: Benton patronized Luka, and Luka had none of it; Carol, in the process of telling Luka she was still in love with Doug, hopped into her eighteen-wheeler and drove donuts over Luka's heart; Carter sent a patient into anaphylactic shock by giving her medication to which, she'd already told him, she was allergic; a haggard Carter stared with acute self-loathing into a bathroom mirror.
As a couple of swings wave in the breeze, we hear the crackling of a CB radio and see a cop car parked in the background. Abruptly, one of the swings starts sweeping back and forth with much greater force, as an EMS helicopter touches down on the playground. "Salt" Peter Benton emerges from the helicopter carrying a red bag of medical gear; he is wearing, as Sars pointed out on the Not! Line, scrubs that are so tight as to be rather unseemly. Luka "Brazzi Sleeps With the Fishes" Kovac climbs out after him. A couple of police officers jog up to them; the one in the white shirt tells Benton there have been "three gunshots; one looks fatal." Benton complains that the cops should have let them land sooner, but White Shirt Cop explains that, ten minutes ago, the suspect was pinned but still shooting. "He was shooting at the school?" Luka asks incredulously. I know -- the very idea that such a thing could happen in the Land of the Free is preposterous. "They were shooting everywhere," WSC replies. It seems that cops were responding to the robbery of an armored car, and the robbery suspects opened fire.
we get a shot of a pair of glasses with one bloody lens, lying on the ground, and hear a boy feebly ask for his glasses. As the camera pans up, we see that the boy's right eye is bleeding profusely; Cop #2 tries to comfort him. Benton runs over and asks the cop whether the kid is alert. "Sort of," the cop says, and tells Benton the boy's name is Daniel. Benton asks Daniel whether he knows where he is, and Daniel asks, again, where his glasses are. Benton asks again, and Daniel says, "School." A redheaded paramedic working on Daniel's other side says, "Exit wound out the right temple." Um, ow.
On another part of the playground, Cop #3 does compressions on a woman's chest; there is a rather large puddle of blood under her head. Standing over Cop #3, Luka asks WSC what kind of ammunition the shooters were using. WSC says that one had a large-calibre assault rifle to shoot through the engine block of the armored car. Luka tells Cop #3, "We'll never get her back with a head wound like that! Stop compressions!" The cop stops, and Luka runs over to another kid, who's crying, "My dad! Somebody call my dad!" Luka tells the kid his name, and the kid says his name is Nicholas. Nicholas has a wound in his right shoulder. Luka examines him as Nicholas asks again for someone to call his dad, saying where he works and starting to give the phone number. I'd like to think I'd have that presence of mind if I ever got shot, but I barely have that presence of mind when I get an ingrown toenail. Redheaded Paramedic runs over to assist, and Luka tells her that Nicholas's "chest is clear" and that he has a "good radial pulse." He orders medication, which she administers. Nicholas is still trying to choke out his dad's phone number, but Luka tells him not to worry, and that the school probably has it. WSC says that could take a while. Luka asks why, and WSC says they're evacuating the building; having apprehended two suspects, they think there might be a third. "'Might be'?" Luka demands.
Cut to Benton running over as Luka asks Nicholas whether he can feel his legs, and Nicholas saying, "Kinda! It's like going to sleep!" "Pins and needles?" Luka asks, and Nicholas rogers that. Benton pitches in on Nicholas, and Luka asks Benton whether his patient is "stable by ground." Benton says he should be: "Bullet fragment missed the brain." Luka says that the bullet that struck Nicholas went "clean through the shoulder, but there's one to the groin with a cold foot." Okay, I think that trumps the bullet in the eye. Benton starts to call out their moves when we hear gunshots. Everyone tries to duck down (though they're already all squatting on the ground), and WSC tells them to clear out: "He's in the building, coming out!" Benton runs toward Daniel. Luka and RP cover Nicholas's body with their own as police snipers on the roofs of adjacent buildings open fire at the suspect...who's kind of no longer a suspect since he's standing in the doorway of the school wearing a balaclava and shooting every which way. Benton reaches Daniel and scoops him up just before the police sharpshooter picks off the "suspect," who falls over. Luka and Benton stare at each other. Then they run into each other's arms and start making out. (Just kidding.)
Okay, that shot of Anthony Edwards in the opening credits is six years old. He has waaaaay less hair now. We all know it. Give it up, already.
The CTV throw to commercial depicts Julianna Margulies and her clipboard. Uh, someone at the network might want to go ahead and pull that one, mmmkay?
After the break, the shooter is lying on his back, surrounded by barriers and encircled by several cops, all of whom have their rifles trained at his head. Benton asks to be allowed to examine him, but WSC says the cops have to search him first. Benton asks whether Shooter is still breathing, and the SWAT team cop (Cop #4) checking him over yells "yeah" to Benton, and tells WSC, "He's clear." Benton leans over Shooter and asks the cop, "You shot him through the [bullet-proof] vest?" "Right chest," Cop #4 says, somewhat proudly. Benton asks the paramedics also working on him for Shooter's blood pressure, and asks Shooter whether he can hear Benton. "Go to hell," Shooter mumbles, and Benton quips, "I'll take that as a 'yes.'" Blah blah blah bulletcakes, Benton determines that there is no exit wound, and that Shooter needs a chest tube. Luka ambles over and asks Benton if he's got Shooter, and when Benton confirms that he does, Luka says, "I'm sending the eye by ambulance, and taking the leg in the chopper." Benton asks him to wait, since he may need to send Shooter by helicopter. Luka says there's no room, and that Benton should send him by ambulance. Benton asks him to wait until he can make sure Shooter's stable, and Luka tells him to send Shooter to Mercy (yeah, 'cause Mercy is what a guy who'd open fire on a GRADE SCHOOL requires, not) because County has the closest pediatric trauma centre. Benton implores Luka to wait until he can get the chest tube in, and Luka totally ignores him: "Chris, take two units of O-neg from the cooler in the chopper; I'm loading my kid." "I said wait!" Benton screams, and Luka keeps on walking, shooting him an "I've got your 'wait' right here, bitch" look. Sorry, Benton, but where I come from, "kid" trumps "shooter."
At the desk, John "Chevy Chase" Carter, Abby "Lisa" Lockhart, Conni, and Randi all watch a TV report on the shooting. Out of respect for Sars's final ER recap, Lisa has. Her hair. UP. She asks, "Is that Dr. Kovac?" Carter claims it's hard to tell, as if that ass could be mistaken for any other. Randi opines that the figure shown is too short to be Luka. Dr. Dave "Nuke" Malucci strolls in behind the desk and asks for the tool kit. Without taking her eyes off the TV, Randi asks, "What are you going to do, build a treehouse?" Heh. Dr. Dave explains, "I've got a guy who drilled a wood screw into his tibia with a power drill." Ow! What the hell is with this episode?! Enough with the horrifying injuries! I know it's sweeps, but give us a break! The radio starts beeping, and Lisa asks, "Is somebody going to get that?" "Thanks, Abby," Conni says. Is this supposed to be a continuation of the all-the-nurses-hate-Lisa plot line that was feebly kicked off last week? Because, again, enough already. Lisa makes for the radio as Dr. Dave asks what they're watching. Carter fills him in, including the part where Weaver sent Benton and Luka. "Why'd they get to go?" whines Dr. Dave. "Because they don't get sick in the chopper," Carter snorts. Defensively, Dr. Dave replies, "I already told you, I had the flu, okay?" He locates the tool kit, and Conni asks whether he intends to take the screw out of his patient using a screwdriver. From the radio, Lisa says there's an MVA coming in: "Single auto vs. parking structure," and that the ETA is five to ten minutes. Carter asks Lisa to tell Weaver, and says he'll meet them in trauma two. Dr. Dave bitches, "Why do you get it?" and Carter shoots back, "I'll call you if he needs his oil changed." Oh, burn! I'll bet Dr. Dave hasn't had a burn like that since his days in Grenada! I see by the credits that, now that The Others has been cancelled, Dr. Anspaugh can come back to ER. I also see that certified Hey! It's That Guy! Amy Aquino will favour us with a performance as the bitchy Head of Obstetrics. Woo!
Benton and the paramedics (one of my favourite doo-wop trios of the '50s) have moved Shooter to a gurney and are moving him to the helicopter. One of the paramedics suggests that it might be faster to drive than fly, while the other says that Shooter's pulse is "weak and thready." Benton determines that Shooter is bleeding out through his chest. He tells the female paramedic to "spike a unit of O-neg," and then yells, "Follow me!" The male paramedic asks where he's going, like, duh, are you new? Benton says, "We'll transport by chopper."
Cut to ChopperCam; Luka and Nicholas are nestled within, and Luka languidly gives RP orders that don't seem terribly urgent. At the door, Benton tells Luka that Shooter must travel by helicopter. Luka asks, "Where are we going to put him?" Benton says they'll have to take the boy out. Okay, they argue and argue and ARGUE about this. Benton: "My patient is more critical!" Luka: "Your patient killed people!" Finally Benton turns his back to go get Shooter, and Luka yells, "Close the door! Let's go!" Benton starts pounding on the window, and Luka yells at the pilot to take off, and is told (naturally) that they can't take off until Benton moves. A cop shoves a very angry-looking Benton out of the way. Burn! Can I get you an ice pack, Dr. BURNton? I realize Benton's patient was more critical, but really, I can't muster that much sympathy for his bleeding chest over, say, the KID HE SHOT. Admittedly, I'm not trying that hard to muster it.
In a trauma room, a patient is moaning, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Haleh says the IV is in. Doris says, "I'm leaving." The patient bellows, "Screw you!" "You're welcome," she chirps, on her way. At the door, she passes Kerry "Indiana" Weaver, coming in. Carter tells Weaver the patient is a "combative single-MVA" who rammed a parking-lot booth with his car. Parking Lot Guy demands that they take the collar off his neck, and Carter comments that he's " altered, tach-y, and hypertensive." Weaver notes that he'll need a head CT, and Lisa comes in with an X-ray and says, "The neck looks clear." Carter tells her to take the collar off, which she does, and Weaver, looking at another X-ray, says it looks like "a posterior hip dislocation." Carter calls for "titrate, two hundred of fentanyl, and six of versed," adding, "I'll reduce it." Lisa invites Weaver to look at PLG's rather large goiter (ew). Carter administers the drugs; Haleh says, "That's one of versed." "And fifty of fentanyl," Carter adds, telling her to keep going, since PLG is still squirming around and generally making a nuisance of himself. Weaver asks Lisa whether she noticed any hand tremors, and Lisa says she couldn't tell, since he "was moving around all over the place." Carter continues to count off the drugs: "That's another fifty of fentanyl," and asks Weaver, "You're thinking thyroid storm?" Weaver calls for more meds, and Lisa asks, "So...he's not on drugs?" Carter explains that PLG's thyroid is hyperactive. PLG slurs, "I'm going to kill someone. I swear." Carter says, "Okay, he's out," and climbs up to show Lisa how to reduce a dislocated hip. Lisa gets in position, and Carter starts to pull up on PLG's leg, when PLG screams and kicks Carter with enough force to send him slamming into the trauma-room doors. Chaos ensues; PLG starts yelling that he wants to get up. Everyone asks Carter if he's all right, but can't go over to check on him since they have to hold down PLG. Carter struggles to his feet and suggests that they "push another two of versed." Weaver calls for Dr. Dave, but Carter insists he can do it and asks, "Is he out this time?" Haleh tells Carter that PLG's out (though he's still making noise), and Weaver tells Carter, "I don't want you to aggravate your injury." They relocate the hip, and Weaver, looking suspicious, tightly says, "Good job, Carter." Carter says, "It's just like falling off a horse." Malik appears at the door to tell Weaver there's "a hot MI in curtain three," and she books. Carter tells everyone to get PLG up to Radiology, and says they should look at a post-reduction film later. As the gurney goes out into the hall, attended by Lisa, Haleh, and another random nurse, Carter asks Lisa to "babysit [PLG] while he's in Radiology," and she consents.
As soon as the room is empty, Carter pulls the doors closed, goes over to the sink, and rubs a little pad of alcohol on his wrist. He glances around, then produces a syringe from the pocket of his lab coat, slides his watch a little ways up his forearm, and injects himself in the wrist. As he enjoys this moment of quiet narcotic time, Lisa marches back into the trauma room, asking, "Did I leave his chart in here?" Still injecting the drug, Carter turns slightly away from her and, without turning his head, asks, "Is it on the mayo stand?" Lisa stares at him for a moment, because clearly something is up, and then quietly replies, "Uh. No." Carter finishes shooting himself up, replaces the cap on the syringe, and drops it into a medical-waste bin, saying, "Just cleaning up!" in an overly hearty voice. "Yeah," Lisa says sadly. But he still hasn't turned around. "There it is. Over on the pulse ox," Carter says. "What?" Lisa asks. "The chart?" he explains. Lisa hesitantly takes the chart and starts to go. Carter crosses the room to a little tray and comments, "Oh, look at this -- a needle stick waiting to happen." "Can't be too careful," Lisa says, on her way. "That's right," Carter replies, then stops her to make sure that PLG gets films of his head, abdomen, and pelvis. She says she will make sure. He tells her to come find him when it's done, and after a moment, she says, "Yeah," and goes. Carter's eyes get a bit bleary, and then he leans against a doorframe and angrily bangs his head back against the wall. Yeah, that was a close call, wasn't it? I suggest calling Chase to find out how best to conceal your illicit drug use, since he was able to keep it from you for a long, long time.
On the roof at County, Luka and RP wheel Nicholas's gurney down a ramp. Elizabeth "Curl, Interrupted" Corday runs up to ask how the patient is; Luka says he's sustained a gunshot wound to the groin, resulting in "a pulseless leg." Elizabeth asks how his arm is, and Luka says it's "through and through," adding something that sounds like "neural circuits intact," but wasn't captioned. Elizabeth asks if Nicholas has sensation in his foot, and Luka says, "We're losing it." Poor Nicholas asks, "I'm going to lose my leg?" "Not if I have anything to say about it," Elizabeth says firmly. That's what I like to hear from my doctor, man. ["Plus, didn't she save that cute African-American paramedic's arm after a building collapse a couple seasons ago? If anyone can save a limb, it's Elizabeth." -- Sars]
Mark "Marcus Snorelius" Greene hands charts to Yosh, with instructions, when they hear someone bellowing in pain. Mark asks what's going on, and Yosh replies, "Mr. Goodwrench is tuning up a patient." Heh. Mark goes into the room, where Dr. Dave is admonishing his writhing patient, "You gotta hold still." Long story short, the patient refuses to take any drugs; Mark tells Dr. Dave to instruct the patient not to yell so loudly, since it'll scare the other patients, and then heads on his way, finding Carter at the desk. Carter is in the process of putting on a yellow trauma gown when Mark tells him he heard about his being kicked across the room. Slightly defensive, Carter asks how he heard; Mark replies, "I hear everything." Carter asks, "Haleh?" "Yeah," Mark says. Dr. Dave's patient bellows some more, and Mark asks whether Carter hurt himself. Carter says the impact just "knocked the wind out of" him. Mark snorts, "Another tough guy," and, noting his gown, asks, "Something rolling up?" Carter says it's "something rolling down," and that he thought he might help out with Nicholas. Mark tells him not to fall off any gurneys, and then asks, "So, did you call any of those psych referrals?" "For what patient?" Carter asks. Mark explains, "That list I gave you." "Oh. Yeah," Carter lies. Mark asks how it went, and Carter evasively replies, "Oh, you know. Okay, I guess. It's kind of hard to tell." Mark says, "It could take a while."
Carter wanders into the trauma room where Luka and Elizabeth are working on Nicholas. Luka tells Nicholas that they're going to look at him in the ER, and then send him up for "an operation." Nicholas asks whether they've called his dad; Luka tells a random nurse, Mary, to call the school or the police to reach Nicholas's father. Carter observes, "It's been all over the news; I'm sure his dad's looking for him." Luka tells Mary to make sure, and she takes off. Elizabeth asks where the exit wound is, and Luka says, "Couldn't find one for the leg." Elizabeth says, "The bullet's still inside." Carter says, "We should see it on the pelvic film." Luka, checking Nicholas's lower half, says, "No pulse by Doppler." Elizabeth asks them to turn Nicholas so she can look at the back. Luka insists, "Through and through! Missed everything! I assessed it in the field!" Quietly, Elizabeth tells him she needs to examine Nicholas herself. Carter glances up and through the window, where he zooms in on Lisa talking to Mark. Though he can't see what they're saying (duh), he sees them each, in turn, look through the window and straight at him. Luka snaps him out of his spying by asking Carter to help turn Nicholas.
Out in the hall with Lisa, Mark asks a muddy patient whether he hit his head or passed out. Muddy Patient says, "'Course I hit me head! It's rugby!" Y'all, I think he might be Australian. Mark asks if he has any pain in his chest or belly, and he says he didn't, and that he didn't even want to come to the hospital, but "the fellas" made him. Mark and Lisa make to cut his shirt off him, since he may have broken his collarbone and, if so, it will be very painful for him to lift his arms over his head. MP protests, saying the shirt is new, until they all hear Dr. Dave's patient hollering again. MP asks what's up with that guy, and Mark darkly informs him he's hearing "someone who didn't want [them] to cut off his shirt." MP relents, and Lisa cuts his shirt off. Beneath, his chest is all blue: "That's what happens whenever you sweat in these new jerseys." "New Jersey"? That's where Sars is from! Shout-out? Mark suggests that they wash the jerseys, and MP protests, "It's brand-new!" I swear, the only point of that exchange was to get MP to utter the phrase "new jersey." ["Whee!" -- Sars] Mark determines that MP does have a broken collarbone. Lisa is really distracted throughout this examination. As soon as they're a few paces away from MP, Mark asks her if everything's okay. She hesitates, and then asks, "Do you have a minute?" She's going to narc on Carter. Hey -- literally!
Carter and Elizabeth check out an X-ray. She says, "I don't see a bullet." He posits that "it must be higher up in the abdomen." Luka asks Nicholas if he's sure his stomach doesn't hurt, and Nicholas insists, "It's just my leg." A machine starts beeping, and Lydia says, "PVCs on the cardiac monitor." Everyone springs into action and Nicholas, kindly acting on behalf of the viewing audience, anxiously asks, "What is it?" Luka says, "Just an extra heartbeat. Nothing to worry about." Just then Weaver comes crutching in with another X-ray, saying, "You're not going to believe this....I found your bullet." She throws it up on the light box, and Elizabeth gasps, "Oh, god, it's in his heart!" Luka supposes that it travelled through Nicholas's femoral vein. Weaver adds, "From there to the IVC into the right atrium and ventricle." Elizabeth asks Lydia to call the OR and tell them she and Nicholas are on their way up. Weaver instructs Carter -- who's still fussing with a syringe, like, can't you score later, junkie? -- to make sure that there's an open cardiac room with a perfusionist standing by in case Nicholas requires a bypass. Luka tells Elizabeth she'll have to revascularize Nicholas's leg at the same time. They put the railings up on Nicholas's bed and prepare to move him upstairs.
Uh oh. Here comes trouble. Benton stomps inside from the ambulance bay, straight past Cleo "Gort" Finch, who's attending to a female college student who got stabbed in the belly. Benton stomps straight up to the elevator -- where Luka's just dispatched Nicholas, with a promise that he'll reach Nicholas's dad -- and tells Luka, "Congratulations. He's dead." Weaver asks, "Who?" and Benton replies, "The man [Luka] abandoned at the scene." Luka, raising his voice a little, says, "I didn't abandon him." Benton says, "He went into asystole five minutes outside of Mercy. They cracked him, but it was too late." Luka spits, "Oh, and ten minutes would have made a difference?" "We'll never know, will we?" Benton snaps. Weaver asks if they're talking about the shooter, but before Luka can answer, Benton tells him that the first rule of triage is that the most critical patient goes first. Luka yells, "The boy has a bullet in his heart!" although it's not like he knew that when they were thumb-wrestling over the helicopter. Benton has no response to that -- not even mine! -- and shakes his head. All three of them start yelling at once, the gist basically being the same "your patient shot people"/"you should be making medical judgments, not value judgments" hoo-ha we heard at the scene, with unheard interjections from Weaver, who finally shouts Benton down by saying that Elizabeth needs him in Surgery. Luka fumes some more. Mark comes up to Weaver and asks to speak with her. Paramedics, with Finch, push the Stabbed College Girl -- who's played by Emily "The Rage: Carrie 2" Bergl -- down the hall. Luka continues yelling his objections in Weaver's direction, but she goes with Mark, and tells him to help Finch.
Carrie 2 gets hoisted onto a bed, crying wanly, as a cop asks her to give him a physical description of the guy who mugged and stabbed her outside her dorm. She says he was "darker -- maybe Mexican?" Luka, looking put-upon, comes in and asks Finch for the bullet. As soon as Finch gets it out (pinching and patting Carrie 2's swollen belly throughout the description), the cop asks what the stabber was wearing; she says she thinks it was a grey sweatshirt. Luka calls out some orders and asks Carrie 2 how far along she is. She is apparently caught off-guard by the question, so he rephrases it to ask what month she's in, and when she's due, and she chokes, "I'm not pregnant!" even though she clearly is. Luka gives Finch a look like, "The hell?" and Finch returns it with a look that says, "," and then tells Carrie 2, "You look about eight months." They bust out the ultrasound as Carrie 2 tells the cop that her assailant grabbed her purse and, when she didn't let it go, stabbed her. Luka looks dubious, but says that, based on the ultrasound, Carrie 2 shows no signs of internal bleeding, and the baby -- thirty-two weeks old -- shows good cardiac activity. "I'm pregnant?" Carrie 2 quavers. "Very," Finch says. "Oh, god!" Carrie 2 says. Yeah, I'm buying this like I'm buying Snowball stock. Which is to say, I'm totally not. Luka pipes up, "Hold on...there. A blood clot." "Abruption?" Finch asks. He says it could be, and calls for meds. Carrie 2 starts squirming around, demanding, "You can't tell my parents." Luka explains, "The stab wound has damaged the placenta, causing it to bleed, which would cut off oxygen to your baby." "I didn't even know I had a baby!" yells Carrie 2. Luka says, "Well, you do. Right now it looks okay, but we may need to bring you upstairs for a C-section." Carrie 2 asks if this would mean they'd have to "cut [her] open," like, what college was she attending -- clown college? Luka says that thirty-two weeks is early for a C-section, but they're giving her steroids to mature the baby's lungs. Carrie 2 says she doesn't want to have the operation, and Luka tells her that if she doesn't, the baby will die. "But nothing bad will happen to me, right?" she asks. Well, you might experience conscience pangs, but any conscience you might have once had seems also to have been damaged in the "assault." Luka plainly can't believe what he's hearing, and says, "Right now you're all right, but --" She very emphatically tells them not to do anything. Damn, that's cold. I mean, I'm pro-choice and all, but that's just it -- I'm pro the choice, not pro-letting-the-viable-baby-you-never-wanted-die-in-your-uterus. I can't imagine being so deep in denial about an unwanted pregnancy that instead of having an early abortion, I'd somehow prefer to stab myself in the gut and hope to kill the baby.
At the desk, Carter greets Dr. Dave as "Dr. Torquemada," which was pretty funny, even more so since Dr. Dave doesn't know who that is. As they walk through the hall, Carter asks him if he's discharged the "screamer" yet, and Dr. Dave admiringly allows that the patient "was pretty tough" and "took on the pain and won," and that you have to respect that. Carter pushes open the door to the lounge, where Mark, Weaver, and Lisa are seated around the table, looking grim. Carter registers the composition of the group, and his face falls. Dr. Dave asks whether somebody called a staff meeting, and Weaver simply says, "No." Carter tries to deflect by giving them good news about Nicholas, which Weaver receives impassively. Dr. Dave starts yammering on about rituals of withstanding pain among the Masai, but Mark is like, "Everyone who isn't a prescription drug addict should leave. Not so fast, Carter." Not in those words, though. Carter asks what this is about, and Mark tightly says, "I think you know." Carter complains idly about the little coffee Dr. Dave left in the pot, and Mark says, "Abby saw you." Carter, staring into the cupboard, asks, "She saw me what?" Mark says, "Abby?" and Lisa says, "I saw you inject the fentanyl into your wrist." Carter, having prepared his face for righteous indignation, spins and demands, "What?" Lisa continues sadly, "In the trauma room, when you said you were cleaning up." Carter looks to Mark for support, then back at Lisa to say, "I was cleaning up." Weaver says she has the chart, and that while Carter had drawn 200 of fentanyl for the patient, he only gave 150 "mikes" to the patient. Carter makes with the offended incredulity and says, "Okay, hold on, slow down -- this is a mistake." Weaver says evenly, "You stopped after three ccs." Carter reminds her that Haleh gave the patient the rest of the versed. Weaver asks, "What happened to the rest of the fentanyl?" Carter says, "I don't know. Must have wasted it down the sink." Weaver reminds him, "Someone's supposed to witness you doing that." Carter gives her a "girl, please" look and says, "Come on. Come on! We do that all the time!" Weaver says, "We have a protocol for disposal of narcotics." Carter says that doesn't mean he injected it, but no one at the table looks at all convinced, and no one at the table says anything. Carter tries a different tack, and in a gentle yet menacing tone, says, "Abby. If you thought you saw something, why wouldn't you come talk to me?" Lisa glances at Weaver, who says, "It's appropriate for Abby to come to us." "Not when she's wrong!" Carter yells. Mark asks Carter if he's still on pain medication. Carter crosses his arms and says, "Why? What?" Mark clarifies, "For your back." Rapidly, Carter says, "Yeah. Why. A little. Why?" Mark asks, "How much is 'a little'?" Carter sarcastically replies, "Well, that's between me and my doctor, isn't it?" Mark leads the witness: "So you're not overmedicating...?" Carter sadly asks, "You think I'm a drug addict?" and then laughs bitterly, "Do you honestly think I'm a drug addict? That I'm -- what -- sneaking around, injecting whatever drugs I can find? You guys -- you know me! This is ridiculous!" Weaver quietly confirms, "So you deny this." Jovially, Carter says, "Yes, I deny it. Abby, I think you're, uh, seeing things. Maybe you're on drugs. Yeah, I think I saw you with a needle once." Lisa looks away, and Mark says, "If this is a misunderstanding, I apologize." "This is a misunderstanding," Carter says firmly. Mark says, "You know why we had to ask you." Carter tightly asks, "Can I go back to work now?" Mark looks down, because he's weak. Carter looks at Weaver, who stares him down, because she's strong, and then flicks her eyes toward the door to let him know he can go. "Thank you," Carter drawls sarcastically, and stomps out, but not before adding, "And thank you, Abby. I really appreciate that." As soon as the door swings shut behind Carter, Weaver says simply, "He's lying, Mark." "I know," Mark replies. Sars's cat Hobey phoned me up at the break and said, "Shit, dude, even I could tell he's lying. Hey, while I have you on the phone, do you think you could score me some tuna?"
Carrie 2 mopes in bed as Finch tells her they'll call someone she can talk to, and that it doesn't have to be her parents. Carrie 2 wanly says she doesn't want to talk to anyone. My girlfriend, Dr. Amy Aquino, snaps off her gloves and tells Carrie 2, "We don't have much time. If we're going to save that baby, we need to operate now." Enunciating very clearly, Carrie 2 says, "I told you, I don't want it." Finch informs Carrie 2 that she could give the baby up for adoption, and that her parents would never have to know. Carrie 2, getting agitated, says that she doesn't want an operation, and that they should all leave her alone. She sits up and tries to free herself from the monitors and tubes, but Luka tells her she'll have to keep the monitors on for her own safety, in case she starts bleeding internally. They had better be careful, or else Carrie 2 will use her telekinetic powers to burn down the hospital. Dr. Amy calls Luka over and they go out into the hall, where she
ruefully says, "Seventeen years of practice. I thought I'd seen everything." Luka asks whether Dr. Amy is going to take Carrie 2 up to OB, and Dr. Amy says, "I can't -- not if she doesn't want to." Luka tells Dr. Amy about the baby's health, which, hi, I think Dr. Amy probably knows, and Dr. Amy says, "I made the consequences very clear to her." Luka moans, "She doesn't care about the consequences!" Dr. Amy says, "You can't cut a woman open without her consent -- that's assault!" Luka says, "The baby will die." In unison, Dr. Amy and I say, "I'm aware of that." Luka tries to guilt her with "and you can just stand by and blah blah" talk, but she's having none of it and says, "There's nothing I can do." "You can operate!" Luka exclaims. "No, I can't!" she says. Luka petulantly says, "I'm calling another OB." Dr. Amy snaps, "Who? I am the head of the department. We don't force C-sections on women in this hospital." Luka asks, "What if I can get her declared incompetent?" What is this, the catch-all for women who do bad things to their bodies? That's what Elizabeth tried to do two weeks ago with the anorexic patient and it didn't work then. I mean, I agree that for Carrie 2 to stab herself in an attempt to kill her baby was wrong, but Luka, don't try to go over the head of Obstetrics because there are laws in place that prevent you from saving the world, one unplanned pregnancy at a time. (Would I feel differently about this if said head were not played by my girlfriend Amy Aquino? Oh, probably.) Anyway, Dr. Amy folds her arms and says, "She seemed coherent to me." Luka says, "I think the stab wound was self-inflicted." "You can prove that?" she asks dubiously. Luka says, "She is delusional! She claims she didn't know she was pregnant!" Dr. Amy points out, "She's lying. That doesn't mean she's crazy." Luka melodramatically asks, "What kind of woman carries a child for eight months, and then refuses to let us help her baby?" Dr. Amy says that if psych rules Carrie 2 incompetent, Luka can send her up to OB, and Dr. Amy will perform the C-section. This seems to placate Luka, who still needs to learn when to pick his battles.
In the OR, Elizabeth and Benton operate on Nicholas. Benton is still bitching about Luka's bumping Nicholas ahead of Shooter, like, MOVE ON, and Elizabeth backs Luka up, saying she'd have trouble prioritizing a playground shooter, too. Nicholas's blood pressure starts falling, but they can't figure out why. Benton suggests that the bullet may have "embolized." Elizabeth calls for someone to turn on the fluoroscope, which shows that the bullet is still in the heart, but that it's moving closer to the pulmonary artery. Suddenly, blood spatters on the floor, and the Synthesizer of Trauma strikes up its tense refrain, and they determine that Nicholas is bleeding out from the wound in his shoulder. Benton comes over to check out the shoulder, and Elizabeth protests because she's just opened his heart, and Benton says that won't matter if they can't stop the bleeding, and she tells him to wait, and he tells her to clamp the artery, and they fight, and yada, ultimately Benton fixes whatever he was working on about half a second before Elizabeth has to shock Nicholas with internal paddles, and they get normal rhythm. Yawn.
Mark breaks the news to Muddy Patient that his collarbone is, in fact, broken. MP (whose name is Mr. Tanner) protests that he's got a tournament the week, and asks if Mark can't just put a cast on it. Mark says it requires a sling, and plenty of rest. Mark asks a passing Yosh to get a sling for Mr. Tanner. Yosh says he'll have to call Central: "All we have are smalls, he looks large." Yosh takes off, and Mr. Tanner calls after him, "You'd better make that extra large, mate." Heh. Weaver fetches Mark, who tells Mr. Tanner he'll be back to discharge him, and takes off.
In an empty curtain area, Weaver tells Mark she's spoken to Legal. Mark asks whether she used Carter's name, and she says that she spoke in hypotheticals, but that the bottom line is that they need more evidence. Mark clarifies that they shouldn't let Carter treat patients. Weaver says that Lisa's is only one accusation, and that they have to be careful. Mark asks whether they can require that Carter take a drug test, but Weaver reminds him that since Carter is taking a prescription pain medication, he'll test positive regardless. She adds, "I'm afraid just asking will push him further away." Mark asks what she wants to do; she says she wants to get him some help. Mark says he'll talk to Carter again: "He might open up if he doesn't see it as a threat." Weaver, as she nearly never does, seems close to breaking down as she asks, "Mark, how could we let this happen? I mean, he showed all the signs!" Mark says he knows, but "it's Carter. Your mind just doesn't go there." Weaver nods slightly.
Through the glass, we see Dr. De Raad talking with Carrie 2. The camera pans over to Finch, who observes that Carrie 2 is a little calmer now, which is a good sign; she adds, "He'll talk her into it." Luka, standing behind Finch with his arms crossed and a big scowl on his face, pouts, "How do you know?" Finch says, "He has to." Chuny calls Luka's name and introduces Vinny Rosato, Nicholas's dad. Luka snaps to attention and shakes Mr. Rosato's hand, assuring him that the surgeons should be able to repair Nicholas's groin and shoulder injuries, and explaining about the bullet in Nicholas's heart. Mr. Rosato asks whether the surgeons will be able to get the bullet out, but before Luka can answer he notices that De Raad has emerged from Carrie 2's room, and he suggests going up to Surgery to get updated information on Nicholas's status. Finch offers to take Mr. Rosato upstairs, and Luka looks to De Raad, who says that Carrie 2 is "certainly emotionally distraught. She could be clinically depressed and even have a personality disorder." Luka asks whether that means De Raad can declare her incompetent, and De Raad says, "She's not acutely psychotic. She understands that failing to perform the C-section could endanger her baby's life." "You mean 'kill it,'" Luka says darkly. De Raad says that Carrie 2 is willing to take that risk. Luka wearily says, "It's not a risk. She wants it to happen. She stabbed herself to make it happen." De Raad reminds Luka that he has no evidence of that. Luka presses the point: "And she's a danger to others." De Raad asks to whom she is a danger, and Luka says, "The baby!" De Raad says that "doesn't count," with as much force as he might if they were playing Scrabble and Luka tried to lay down a curse word: "It's still her body. Is the C-section necessary to save her life?" Luka gets philosophical: "Somewhere, there has to be a point!" De Raad repeats his question, and Luka admits that Carrie 2 will live without it. De Raad says that, in that case, they can't impel her to have a C-section without a court order. Luka says he doesn't have time for a court order, and De Raad says that they can expedite it, and that County's legal department is acquainted with "friendly judges," but that Luka will have to write up an affidavit. Exasperated, Luka says, "Yeah, whatever." Luka should move to Seattle, where Carol is just waiting to guilt expectant mothers over decisions exactly like these ones. ["Luka -- and everyone else in the ER -- should also learn that calling Dr. De 'You're So' Raad never does any good. Either he doesn't get downstairs in time (Sobriki), or he comes down and releases the psych hold (everyone else). Give it up, people. De Raad can't help you." -- Sars] If Carol were here, Carrie 2 would have her baby out and enrolled in Montessori half an hour ago. Right, Luka? Yeah.
Carter smokes in the ambulance bay. See? Smoking. And you know as he takes each cancer-soaked drag, he's asking himself, "How far have I fallen that I would even consider touching this poisoned weed to my lips? Who am I?" Mark ambles out and, with false cheer, asks, when Carter started smoking. Carter snots, "That depends. Does it make me a druggie?" Uh, YES. On this show, it does, anyway. Mark sits beside Carter and we see that he's wearing clogs. I had planned to make a great deal of fun of his femmy footwear, but then Sars told me that friends of hers who work in hospitals told her that clogs are de rigueur in a hospital environment because they're good for your back. So I'll let that -- and only that -- slide. Mark has, for instance, no excuse for wearing beige socks. Anyway, he tells Carter he's worried about him. Carter seems to have called Chase on the break and been advised to act understanding, and he says, "Look, I'm okay. I got angry, and I shouldn't have. Not that I didn't have a right! [But] I'm okay." Mark asks, "You didn't talk to anyone, did you? Any psychiatrists?" Carter admits that he didn't, and then takes the fakest drag on his cigarette. Okay, even I -- who have smoked all of an eighth of a cigarette in my life -- could tell that he didn't inhale; he just sucked down the smoke and swallowed it. He isn't exhaling anything! Mark asks why he didn't call any psychiatrists, and Carter says, "I didn't feel like talking. Look, I'm going to be fine. Or, I hope -- no, I will be! It's been rough -- you can understand that. I got stabbed twice in the back with a six-inch butcher knife. I'm in a lot of pain. And this place isn't exactly the easiest work environment. Lucy's dead, which is partly my fault. I haven't slept in months. I had to take more pain medication just to function." Mark glances up at this, and Carter barrels ahead: "I didn't steal it. It was prescribed to me." Mark asks whether Carter took the prescribed amount, and Carter says, "Yeah! More or less." Mark pauses, and says, "I think you need help, Carter." Carter sighs, and says, "Look, I understand that you have to make this your business, but please, please, let me deal with it." Mark asks when Carter's off. Carter says, "Midnight." Mark curtly tells him not to see any more patients. Carter rolls his eyes, and Mark tells him he can work on Q/A chart reviews. Carter insists that he's able to see patients, and Mark tells him, "Carter! You have to trust me. Let me figure this out." Carter nods, pressing his lips together, and, smiling, claps Mark on the shoulder. Mark gets up and walks back inside. As Carter watches him go, the smile fades from his lips, and he clasps his hands, looking lost. For about ten minutes. That word you're looking for, Jack Orman, is, "CUT."
Benton and Elizabeth stagger out of the OR, clearly flush with victory over the successful operation. They joke about the events of the procedure. Benton reminds her of the moment when she was "cranking his chest with one hand and suturing with the other," and Elizabeth drawls, "I still have a few moves you haven't seen." At this moment, Finch comes out of the recovery room and stands a few paces away, watching the interaction with obvious envy. Benton: "Dibs on the bullet, all right?" Elizabeth: "No way! It's mine!" Benton says he called it. Finch starts walking toward them just in time for Elizabeth to shove Benton away playfully and remind him that she was the one who "fished it out." As soon as they notice Finch and her tight robotic smile, they move away from each other and try to behave as if they weren't totally flirting. Benton tells Cleo they "just made a great save." "I can see that," Finch snots. Benton and Elizabeth give each other props for jobs well done. Finch icily tells Elizabeth that Mr. Rosato is outside waiting to talk to someone, and Elizabeth cheerily offers to do it. When Finch and Benton are left alone, and she just stares at him, he asks what's wrong, and she says, "Nothing." Oh, no. Did she get a fridge magnet stuck to her outer casing again, erasing her entire hard drive? At this point, Glark yelled, "Psycho! Psycho hose beast!" Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until October to find out whether his prediction is correct.
Carter poutily reviews charts. Lisa walks out of a curtain area and, seeing Carter, initially gives him a wide berth, but then apparently thinks better of it and walks over to him and says, "Hey." When he doesn't respond, she continues, "Dr. Carter, I didn't know what to do, so I asked Dr. Greene. I'm sorry. And I know I don't know you very well, but I think you're a good doctor, and I know you've been through a lot in a short time, and I'm sure I couldn't handle it myself, but I felt I had to tell them." Without looking up -- at any of this -- Carter grunts, "Feel better?" Lisa says nothing, and Carter adds, "Because I have work to do." Lisa blinks, and walks over to Mr. Tanner to give him a prescription to ease the pain in his collarbone. When he doesn't respond to her instructions, she yells his name a couple of times and Carter, still in the foreground of the shot, turns around to see what's going on. Lisa asks Yosh to get Mark, since Mr. Tanner "barely has a pulse." She calls out orders to Lily, and Carter reluctantly asks Lisa with what Mr. Tanner presented. Lisa tells him, and Carter gets up, gloves up, and says, "It must be a tension pneumo." He hurries over to Mr. Tanner and takes over, recovering his pulse and calling for a chest tube. Mark appears and, in a conversational tone, asks Carter what he's doing. Carter notices that Carol left her high horse behind when she got on the plane to Seattle, so he saddles it up to announce, "I'm saving this guy's life! You must have missed an occult rib fracture." Mark briskly says that he'll "take it from here." Carter continues to call out orders and work on Mr. Tanner until Mark reaches for an instrument someone's handing to Carter and sternly repeats, "I got it, Carter." "I'm almost in," Carter protests. Mark says nothing. Carter snaps off his gloves and slowly walks off, calling, "You're welcome." Cram it, Liz Taylor.
At the desk, Weaver breaks the news to Luka that he probably won't be getting a court order for Carrie 2 today. Luka snaps, "I can't wait!" What are you, three? Weaver emphatically reminds him, "You can't do anything until we get it." Luka argues, "I've waited too long already." Patiently, Weaver says, "Promise me that you won't do anything." Luka says, "No. I'm going to change her mind." Weaver crutches off....
...and crutches into the lounge, where Mark is sitting at the table with Jing-Mei "Flower Madam" Chen and saying, "We have to do this tonight." We hear Benton's voice saying, "I don't believe it." Chen says, "It makes sense. He's been so unpredictable, I thought he might be bi-polar." Benton says, "Carter? Come on, no way." Weaver sits down at the table as Mark says, "He as much as admitted it to me." In your little ambulance-bay chat? I heard him tell you that he'd been taking a lot of medication, but he claimed it had all been prescribed. I'm not saying I believe him, or that I would believe him, if I were Mark and hadn't, you know, seen him shoot up, as we viewers have, but I also wouldn't say that Carter "as much as admitted it to" Mark. Anyway, Weaver simply states, "Peter, he's using. I don't know for how long, but the behaviour's been there for a while." Chen asks whether "this" is the best way to address Carter's problem: "He might feel ganged-up on." Nice grammar, Mulan. Mark says that it's either "this" or they'll have to "kick it to some committee." Okay, we all know that "this" refers to an intervention, right? Okay, cool. Mark continues: "I'd rather approach him as a small group that he knows and trusts, and give him a chance to clear it up." Chen asks about Romano, and Weaver says she doesn't want to "bring him into this." Benton reminds them that "Carter can be stubborn. He might just walk out." Weaver says, "We have to be prepared for that. All we can do is be compassionate but clear. He has two options. That's it." Mark asks Benton whether he's with them. Before Benton can answer, Don "Tubby McFats" Anspaugh comes in and asks what the big emergency is. Mark says, "Don, the emergency is that, in a drug-induced rampage, Carter ate all your Fudgsicles out of the lounge freezer. Therefore, we thought you'd want to be in on our intervention." Just kidding.
Luka and Finch work on Carrie 2, whose fetus's heart rate is down to sixty. Luka asks the room at large to "get a baby warmer in here!" Lily regards him for a moment, then goes. Luka tells Carrie 2 that he doesn't have time to argue anymore, and that her baby needs to come out now. Carrie 2 yells that she wants another doctor. Luka tells her that the placenta is detaching, and that she could hemorrhage to death. Carrie 2 squeals, "You're trying to scare me!" which may very well be true. Luka says, "You should be scared. If you don't care about your baby, at least think of yourself!" Carrie 2 says that she doesn't believe him, and that if her own life were in danger, they would have done something. Luka makes with the Carol: "You're going to have a baby, Carrie 2. I saw it on the ultrasound. You really want to kill your son?" Carrie 2 tells him to leave her alone, and yells again, "I want another doctor!" Chuny says the fetal heart rate is down to forty. Luka says, "Okay, that's it. One hundred of ketamine, IV push." Finch tells him he can't, and Luka yells, "I'm the attending! I'll take full responsibility!" Carrie 2 asks what they're doing. Finch tells Luka, "You can't do this." Carrie 2 yelps, "I don't want the baby!" Luka ignores them both and administers the drug, saying, "C-section tray. Prep her." Carrie 2 starts freaking out in earnest, telling everyone else that she doesn't want the baby. Chuny says that the heart rate is down to twenty. Luka tells Finch to set up "the suction," and Finch, snapping off her gloves, says, "No, I won't." Luka yells, "Then get out of the way!" Finch reminds him that Carrie 2 didn't consent to the procedure (what?! She didn't? Well, they could have mentioned that. Oh, wait. They did. About four hundred times) and that he could lose his license. Luka ignores her and calls out, "Ten blade." The meds seem to be taking effect as Carrie 2's protests grow fainter. Chuny says they lost the heart rate. Finch says, "You can't do this! You can't." Luka relents. Carrie 2 whimpers, "Is it over?"
Weaver comes out of curtain 3 and walks up to Carter, asking him whether he has a minute. Disgustedly, he says, "No. I'm done with these. If you guys don't want me to see patients today, I'm going home." Weaver tells him that he can't leave yet, and that she wants to talk to him. He reluctantly turns back and asks, "Is this my suspension?" She says, "Not here. Come on," and beckons him into curtain 3.
When Carter pushes the door open, the first person he sees is an even-more-dour-than-usual Benton. Carter gets wise to the sitch pretty quick, and chuckles, "Give me a break," reaching for the door to walk back out. Weaver prevents him from doing so. Mark asks him to listen, and Carter yells, "No, I told you, I am on painkillers for my back, but I'm functioning." Weaver closes the door as Anspaugh tells him, "Dr. Carter, you would be wise to be quiet and listen." Carter splays his arms out in an "okay, go for it" gesture, then abruptly crosses them with his hands in his armpits.
We get a shot of the whole room: Chen is the closest to the door, with Anspaugh and Mark a few feet behind her, and Benton leaning against the far wall. It's a nice shot, actually. Mark says, "My van is parked outside. We have a ticket to Atlanta. There's a drug rehab -- there's a drug rehab centre there that specializes in treating doctors with addiction." Carter wipes his mouth and declares, "Well, that's great, but I'm on prescribed painkillers, and that doesn't make me an addict, and I think you all know it." He makes for the door, but Mark yells, "I'm not finished!" Carter turns back, staring at the floor, and Mark, with tears creeping into his voice, says, "It's apparent to all of us that you have a drug problem. Therefore, we cannot allow you to continue working here, or anywhere else, as a physician. So you have two choices: Get in the van, go to the airport, check yourself in, and when you come back, we will support you in any way that we can." Carter squeaks, "Or...I'm fired?" Mark says, "Yeah." Benton looks down. Carter sneers, and turns to look at the door, until Anspaugh says, "Everyone in this room cares about you. No one is judging you." Carter angrily says, "Yes, you are. You've already judged me. You [to Anspaugh] have no idea what I've been through these last few months, but I've been here. I've showed up. I haven't made excuses, I haven't complained --" Weaver interjects, "That's not the point," but Carter shouts her down: "No, that is the point. Can anybody tell me that, uh, uh, that I have endangered patients?" Um. I can, but I think Chen'll get to that. He continues: "Can anybody here say that my performance has changed? Hm? That I'm some kind of liability?" Carter glances to Benton, who stares back unflinchingly; Carter can't hold that gaze for long, and seems grateful when Chen pipes up, "John, you put a patient into anaphylactic shock by giving her bactrim when she told you that she was allergic to it." Yep, there it is. Carter walks slowly toward her until she's forced to back away from him (and it occurs to me that when James van der Beek as Dawson goes into his overblown, glaring, staring, nostril-flaring fits, he's aiming at a performance like this one -- where the performer is scary and unpredictable and genuinely menacing, but naturally the Beek is not one one-hundredth the actor Noah Wyle is), and spits, "And you almost killed somebody by leaving a guide wire in their chest. Is this about mistakes? Hm? Who here hasn't made a mistake? Hell, I saved your ass [to Mark] this afternoon!" Weaver interrupts again: "John, you've demonstrated compulsive drug-seeking behaviour." "When? Just tell me when," he demands, and she snaps, "You know, I think mainlining fentanyl in the trauma room qualifies." Carter throws up his hands and insists, "Well, I told you I didn't do that. You wanna call me a liar, fine, call me a liar, but I didn't do that." Weaver plays her trump: "Okay, show us your wrists." "What?" Carter chokes, and she repeats, much more loudly and sternly, "Show us your wrists." There is a beat as Carter flicks his eyes around the room, looking for any port in a storm, and, finding none, he sarcastically asks her, "Are we looking for track marks?" "Yeah," she says sadly. Carter proffers his wrists for the length of a second, and then takes off his lab coat and bitterly offers to roll up his sleeves. "Take off your watch," Weaver orders. Carter hesitates, fussing with his lab coat as if considering it, and then tightly says, "Uh, you know -- you know what? Forget it. Forget it," storming to the opposite door. Mark calls at his back, "This is your only chance, Carter." Carter, throwing his lab coat at Mark, snaps, "Great. I quit," and walks out. Anspaugh asks, "Well. Is that it?" Uh. Yeah. Thanks for coming out, Spanky. Benton replies, "No," and follows Carter out.
In the lounge, Carter angrily empties his locker. Benton storms in and asks what he's doing. Without once looking at him, Carter says, "I don't need this. I've never needed this. I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to help people, but I don't need their damn job." Benton says, "Carter, you don't want to do this." Carter snorts, "I'm not doing it -- they are."
Carter stomps out to the ambulance bay with Benton hot on his heels, demanding, "Carter, what are you going to do -- piss it all away? Everything you've worked for! Eight years of your life!" Carter turns around, still walking backwards, and points at the hospital, yelling, "They're the ones that are handing out the ultimatums!" Benton yells, "No ultimatums, Carter! You're getting in that van!" Mark's van is, indeed, parked (probably illegally) on the street, and Carter scoffs, "Like hell I am....They tell you that I'm some kind of junkie, and you believe them? And you come down and ambush me." Benton tells him that he's out of control, and that if Carter can't see that, Benton doesn't care: "But you're getting in that van." Benton grabs Carter's arm, and Carter yanks it away, and they bark back and forth at each other over whether or not Carter will go, until Benton asks, "Where does it end, man, huh? This week fentanyl, week you end up dead -- or worse, you end up like your cousin, some babbling gork in a nursing home." At this, Carter rears back and punches Benton square in the face. Benton recoils, leaning over the hood of the van, and instantly Carter realizes what he's done -- what he's been doing, which must not seem much worse than punching his beloved mentor -- and starts to cry. Benton shakes it off and comes back, saying, "Carter, you want to fight, that's cool, man, but either way, you're getting your ass in that van." Carter sobs in earnest, and Benton sort of palms the back of Carter's head with his hand and pulls Carter to his chest, whispering, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Carter."
Carrie 2 is in labour. The trauma room is eerily silent, although Lily and Finch offer her some half-hearted encouragement. Luka glares at Carrie 2 with unmasked loathing and mutters, "He's crowning....the head is out....Clamp. And cut." There is no sound from the baby. Luka picks him up sets him down on what appears to be a nearby table, clenching his jaw, and asks Finch whether Carrie 2 wants to see him. Finch asks her -- even though it's not like Carrie 2 couldn't hear Luka herself -- and Carrie 2 says she doesn't, big surprise. Finch comes over and asks, "Do you want me to pronounce him?" Luka, with a stethoscope on the dead baby, says, "No. I'll do it. Time of death: 19:47."
Weaver fidgets at the desk. Elizabeth and Mark come up behind her in their jackets, and Elizabeth asks Weaver, "Did he get on the plane?" Weaver says she doesn't know, since Benton hasn't called, and Mark muses, "I wonder what he said." Weaver says, "Who knows. I just hope he got on." At this point Robert "Stack (Heels, That Is)" Romano strolls by the desk and makes some too-jovial comment about their all being hard at work, before roping Elizabeth into more work, which she reluctantly accepts. Mark says something about losing his ride, like, yeah, you're the big loser in this scenario (well, he's the big loser in any scenario, but you know what I mean). He says he'll see her at home -- my god, are they officially shacked up? -- and she says she'll try not to wake him. Mark notices Weaver sitting at the desk, all single, and asks whether she wants to get something to eat. She declines, saying she'd rather wait to hear whether Carter got on the plane. Mark tells her to call him when she finds out. Just then a phone starts ringing and Frank, the non-Jerry desk clerk, picks it up and tells Weaver he's got Legal on line three: "They said to go ahead; the judge signed a court order."
A court order? Oh, right. Luka. Who is standing at the El station. Who lets a train go straight past him. Who sinks down on a bench resting his chin on his clasped hands. Who is, I think, a little melancholy. Who knew?
Carter, looking wicked haggard, sips a glass of water and leans his head against the airplane window. Benton is sitting to him. Apparently, they're sending Carter to a rehab program that lasts until October.