Props to Djb and Sars who, as I write this sentence, are both packing their bags in preparation of spending the weekend with us in Toronto. Whee!
Previously on ER: Abby's mother promised Abby that she would take her medication, and begged Abby not to throw her out; fluid leaked out of the spine of one of Elizabeth's patients, but she blew it off in favour of a weekend getaway with Mark, and then got sued for paralyzing him; Jackie screamed at Jesse's girlfriend; Mark found out he has a brain tumour.
Abby "Lisa" Lockhart is curled up in bed among cozy-looking white linens when a very unobtrusive tapping is heard at the door. It's so unobtrusive, in fact, that, at first, I mistake it for someone tapping his (or her) toothbrush against the edge of the sink in the room. Lisa reluctantly rouses herself and goes to the door, where a room-service dude is escorting a room-service tray full of breakfast. See, here's where the logic of living in a hotel really asserts itself. Come on, that would rule! Why the hell did I spend all this money on a stupid house when I could have lived in a nice hotel for a year instead? But enough about me. Lisa and her bedhead sign for the food and Luka "Balkan It for All It's Worth" Kovac has. No. SHIRT ON. Oh my word. And he's smiling! And he has toothpaste foam all over his mouth! And no shirt! And he's kind of wet! And...give me a minute...calm blue ocean...okay, anyway, he sees Lisa with her sweater half on and chuckles that he told the guy to leave the cart outside. She tells him it's okay, and continues rummaging around on the floor in search of the rest of her clothes. He offers her some of the breakfast, or access to the shower, and she tells him she has to go home. Is he working today? No. Is she? Yes. Insert pregnant pause for them to undress each other with their eyes, and Lisa's out, telling him she'll see him later. Luka goes back to the mirror and thinks, "I am one hot, sexy bitch." At least, that's what I would do if I were him. And I'd take off the track pants and towel while I did so. I'll stop right there because I don't work blue. Much.
At what one might reasonably presume is Lisa's condo, Maggie "Sally Field" Wyczenski is working at a sewing machine; various lengths of purple fabric seem to be draped across every piece of furniture. Sally asks how Lisa's night was, and Lisa blandly asks, "What's all this?" Sally says she borrowed the sewing machine from "Marge," a neighbour Lisa didn't know she had, and adds that the coffee's fresh. Lisa goes to get a cup and asks, with more curiosity than accusation in her voice, whether Sally's been up all night. Sally says that she got up early to finish her project, and that she has a "big interview" today. Lisa asks where all the fabric came from, and Sally claims there was a big sale at the yardage store. Lisa returns to the table with her cup and a carton of cream, and Sally sadly confesses, "Honey, I'm sorry, I used the money you gave me for bus fare. I know it wasn't my money. I will pay you back just as soon as I get this job." Sally adds that the interview is at a "high-end" store with "big commissions," and that she'll use her earnings to "buy [them] all new furniture." Lisa blinks, but her face is completely open and blank and she says nothing. Sally leaps up to show Lisa the suit jacket she's just made; it's nice -- a short blazer in a neutral dove-grey colour. As Sally holds it up to her chest, a cloud comes over Lisa's brow. "You don't like it," surmises Sally, and Lisa visibly shakes off her reverie and smiles, "No, I do." At this tiny morsel of approval, Sally's nervous energy increases and she bellows, "Oh! You know what I got YOOOOOOOOOOU?! Something great!" She starts rifling through the piles of cloth littering the living room, blathering on, "Knit jersey fabric. I LOOOOOOOOOVE jersey. Where is it? I'm gonna make you something [that'll] make that Euro doctor stand up and take notice!" Okay, I hate to say this, but Manic Sally kind of reminds me of my grandma. Of course, my grandma is not actually manic. But she does go on the way Sally does, filling the silences. Also, she sews. Grandma, if you're reading this, I mean it nice. "'Euro doctor'?" Lisa repeats, bemused, and Sally puts hand on her hip and declares, "I've been here long enough to know what's happening. As far as I'm concerned, he's very handsome, but too old to be playing hard to get." Heh. Lisa's all Mae Midwest: "Well, I thought I had him." Sally says, "You do, you just don't know you do. When you're not looking, he stares at you all the time." Lisa looks as if she'd like to ponder this -- or write Sally's assessment of Luka in her *NSYNC diary with the real lock! -- but Sally's located the jersey, which is a bright teal. Good choice for a woman we've only ever seen wearing white, black, cream (as she is now), grey, and, at work, mauve scrubs. And my mom -- daughter of the grandma I mentioned above -- used to do that to me all the time. I am also a fan of black and white and my mom feels I should wear nothing but jewel tones. Any. WAY. Sally calls Lisa over and drapes the fabric against Lisa's chest, muttering, "We're going to make one of those wraparound dresses with the plunging neckline..." "He stares at me?" Lisa asks incredulously, and Sally confirms, "All the time." She tells Lisa she needs to take some measurements, but Lisa begs off, saying she has to take a shower. Lisa leaves the room, taking the wind out of Sally's sails with her, and Sally sputters that her interview isn't until noon: "Maybe we can have breakfast?" Lisa noncommittally replies, "If there's time," and Sally exhorts her to "hurry up."
In her huge bathroom, Lisa sets her coffee on the counter and runs the hot water in the tub. She gazes back toward the mirror, and then opens the medicine cabinet, snatching a prescription pill bottle out of it. Sitting down, Lisa empties the bottle into her palm and starts counting the pills with her pinkie. Of course, she hasn't locked the door, and of course, Sally bursts in and catches Lisa pill-handed. Unnecessarily, Sally asks what she's doing, and Lisa matter-of-factly admits she was counting Sally's pills. Sally whines that she told Lisa she'd take them. Lisa knows. Sally asks whether she passed inspection, and, by way of answer, Lisa asks whether Sally's been taking Prozac. Sally is wounded by the question, and insists, "I'm normal. I'm normal! I'm a little nervous about this interview." Lisa repeats, "Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor...?" Sally says she gave them all to Lisa, who asks, "Did you get more?" "How would I get more?" is Sally's evasive non-answer. "Mom," says Lisa in a "don't bullshit me" tone. Sally blithers, "I told you, I promised you! You don't believe me?" Lisa asks Sally to do her a favour, and Sally gushes, "Anything!" Lisa asks Sally to come to the hospital with her for a blood test. Sally's all hangdog and then wistfully agrees: "Sure, sure. I'd do anything for you." She hurries out. Lisa rolls her eyes and closes the door behind her.
Should there be two pages of recapping to do before the opening credits? No. Damn this show!
On the El, Elizabeth "White Picket Defense" Corday reviews material related to her lawsuit. Mark "It's not a TOOOO-muh! Oh, wait. It is" Greene advises her that if she answers the questions honestly, she'll be fine. Oh, and then they exposit the only information that's really at issue in the malpractice suit. She says, "I was the only one remotely close to the dura...I had to have punctured it." Mark says, "It's a known risk. It does not constitute negligence." Elizabeth anxiously replies, "Mark, missing a leak does. I don't even remember looking before I removed the endoscope." This will be important later. In fact, it's the only thing that will be important later. It's the only thing they'll be talking about later. Mark assures her, "You've done a hundred of these [she has?], you know the procedure. There was a bad outcome, they're looking for someone to blame. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong." As the light strikes Mark's pate, a big square Band-Aid is visible about an inch and a half above his left eyebrow. The El lurches to a halt, and Mark offers to ride with Elizabeth to her appointment; she says she'll be fine and tells him to go to work. They peck chastely and she adds, "Hey, don't go jogging into any more street signs." He makes an unfunny remark, and as he makes for the door, she bleats, "How long do these depositions usually last?" "Call me if it goes past midnight," he replies. "What?!" she squeaks, and from outside, he catches her eye through the window and tells her he was joking. Ha. Ha. Not. Her medical career may well be over in a matter of days. Yuk it up, Chuck Tumour.
At the hospital, Sally -- who's curled her hair into a flip which is quite becoming -- is perched on the edge of a bed with her right sleeve rolled up, yammering, "I hate to go on an interview with a big Band-Aid on my arm. What will they think?" Um. They might wonder why you're showing off the bare inside of your elbow when you're wearing a blouse with sleeves straight to your wrists. I really think Maggie would be able to come up with a more plausible pretext not to go through with the test, under the circumstances. Either that, or they could have dressed her in a short-sleeved blouse. Though maybe that's the point -- that her excuses are weak and groundless and yet she has to make them. Anyway. Lisa chirps that Sally has a suit jacket, and Sally passive-aggresses that she doesn't have to take it off if the room gets warm. Lisa blithely tells Sally to tell them she gave blood. Sally tries another tack: she doesn't want to be late, and, in fact, wants to be early. She suggests that she return to the hospital after the interview, "and then, if you still want to do this...." Lisa tells her to hold still. Sally babbles, "I just don't understand, Abby. I mean, you've let me in your home, we're getting along so well. This is an absolute gift! I mean, what will taking my blood accomplish?" "Hopefully nothing," says Lisa, getting exasperated. Throughout this speech, Lisa has been prepping Sally's arm for the needle, and Sally finally claps her left hand over the crook of her right arm and wheedles, "When this test comes back negative or positive, or whatever it's supposed to be, then you're going to feel foolish, and I'm going to be hurt. And then you're going to feel back." Lisa looks down, her face drawn and weary, and she quietly says, "You can't touch the vein after I've cleaned it." Sally blurts, "That can't be what you want!" Lisa says it's not, and Sally throws up her hands and begs, "Then, honey, let's just not do this." At this moment, "Dr." Dave Malucci ducks into the exam room and flattens himself against the adjacent wall, peering through the glass in the door. He registers the scene and asks whether they need any help. Pointedly, Lisa tells him that they're fine, and Sally simpers, "Hi, Dave!" He greets her as Ms. Lockhart, and she corrects him: "It's Wyczenski." He asks if she's not feeling well, and she asks, "Why, do I look sick?" He tells her that she looks great; Lisa fixes him with a "stow it" look. Sally thanks Dr. Dave and tells him he looks good, too; Lisa shoots her a "girl, please" look. Dr. Dave nosily asks, "What's the draw for?" and Sally proudly replies, "I'm giving blood." Dr. Dave nods noncommitally and continues monitoring something or other out in the hall. Lisa smirks. Sally hisses, "What? That's what you told me to say!" Lisa gives up, removes the tourniquet, and tells Sally to go. Sally kisses her rapidly a few times and flits off, telling her she'll call and let Lisa know how the interview goes. Dr. Dave remarks that it must be nice for Lisa to have such "good genes, knowing that you're gonna grow up looking like that." And that is an appropriate observation in what professional universe? He indicates that Lisa has some of Sally's lipstick on her mouth, and Lisa bitterly swipes at it with her hand.
By the desk, Randi asks a sulky blonde, "Is this about a patient?" "No," whines Sulky, adding, "He's supposed to be working!" Lisa walks behind the desk and Randi asks her whether she's seen Dr. Dave. Sulky tells Randi to give Dr. Dave the message that Stephanie stopped by. "Your last name?" prompts Randi, and Sulky pouts, "He knows my last name." Cleo "LoveLetter Virus" Finch, standing beside Randi, snickers, "I don't get it. He had some other girl in here looking for him yesterday." Chuny snorts, "You fire enough shots, eventually you're going to hit something." "Or catch something," prigs Finch. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it," Randi drawls. Sally returns to the ambulance-bay doors bleating, "Abby! Abby! A girl out here needs help! She's bleeding! Some kids, they just threw her from a car!"
Outside, Lassie leads Timmy to the boy trapped by a...no, my bad, what actually happens is that Sally shows Finch to the bleeding girl and then proceeds to place herself between the patient and the caregivers, and generally to make a nuisance of herself. (I hope you were sitting down when you read that.) Leaning against a lamppost is Braids, Jesse's girlfriend, first introduced in "The Visit." Sally hands Braids a handkerchief and tells Finch and Lisa (following close behind) that Braids's apparent assailants "hardly stopped the car." Beset by the crowd, Braid mumbles through her split lip, "I'm okay," and Sally, fluttering around in front of her, insists, "No, you're not okay!" Lisa tells Sally to step back, and Finch helps Braids to sit down on the curb. Basically, Finch attempts to perform a preliminary exam on Braids (who claims she "fell") while Lisa and Sally bicker. Sally reluctantly leaves. Finch determines that Braids did not experience a loss of consciousness, and tells Lisa to get a gurney and page x-ray. Lisa doesn't respond at first because she's too busy watching Sally leave, but Finch gets her attention and she takes off.
In a posh-looking law office, Elizabeth nervously waits with her lawyer, played by Matt Craven; some of you may recall Mr. Craven as That One Ugly Doctor on the short-lived L.A. Doctors. He's Canadian. I seem to recall Glark's mom telling me at some point that she goes to the same beauty parlour as Matt Craven's mom. Anyway. A suited female assistant tells them that opposing counsel called from the car and that he's on his way. Matt Craven leafs through a magazine and looks generally unconcerned; he checks his watch and notes, "We'll wait another five minutes, and then we'll leave." Elizabeth says that she took the whole day off, and that she can stay, but Matt Craven tells her, "We shouldn't have to play these kinds of games." At that moment Opposing Counsel I Presume strides in and greets "Gordy" (Matt Craven); Matt Craven pointedly looks at his watch before standing and shaking his colleague's hand. Opposing Counsel is played by Zeljko Ivanek (and yes I know there is a diacritical mark over the Z but there is no such character in HTML), best known as D.A. Ed Danvers on Homicide. He shakes Elizabeth's hand and remarks, "They didn't tell me you were so stunning." She gazes at him serenely and he snorts, "That's okay, you don't have to respond!" He turns his back and Elizabeth shoots Matt Craven a "the fuck?" look. Danvers asks an underling whether the court reporter is set up, and the underling directs him to the library.
Danvers leads Elizabeth and Matt Craven into an even more plush-looking library and offers the court reporter a familiar greeting. He draws Elizabeth's attention to the videocamera by telling her to ignore it. Danvers continues being all Chatty Chatterson about the car accident that delayed his arrival to the meeting. Elizabeth is sworn in (and she seems either rattled or relieved that there's no Bible on which to swear). Danvers asks her to spell her name for the record, and asks how long she's been a surgeon. She says it's been ten years. He asks her if she's ever been deposed before and she tells him she hasn't. Danvers notes, "After ten years, that's pretty good." She replies, "Well, only three have been in America." "Touché," says Danvers. Yeah, what a wit! Americans sure are litigious, right? Whatever.
Finch and Dr. Dave examine Braids in a trauma room. Finch tells Braids that she'll need to remove her pants, and Braids is adamant that she not: "It's just my face!" Finch glances outside and sees Peter "Deep Knee" Benton loitering in the hall. She goes out and tells him there's a patient with a hernia for him to examine, and he says he will, "after the assault victim." Totally blank, as ever, Finch says it's probably just a facial fracture, and Benton says that he'll clear the belly. She insists that the patient is stable, whereupon Lisa comes out and says that Braids has blood in her underwear, which she claims is her period. Finch is like, "Nice one," and tells Lisa to get a rape kit. Benton makes to go in, and Finch tells him he shouldn't see Braids: "It's Jesse's girlfriend." Of course, this only steels Benton even more; he takes two steps away, and then charges past her to Braids's bedside. Dr. Dave tells Braids that she didn't crack her skull. Benton roughly throws back the sheet covering Braids and gruffly introduces herself; she tells him she knows who he is. He glances at her face. Dr. Dave -- for once -- slips out unobtrusively upon Benton's appearance. Benton curtly asks Braids whether there's anyone she wants them to call -- her mother, for instance -- and Braids slurs that her mother won't be home. Benton shoots Finch a warning look; she stares back placidly, while millions of applications are processed behind her face plate.
And now, Mark Greene stars in Prognosis: Negative. A man I'm going to assume is a neurosurgeon says, "The ring enhancing legion and central necrosis on MRI was suspicious. The biopsy confirms it." Mark chokes, "Another pathologist should take a look. Could be an astrocytoma." Dr. Death says, "Two neuro specialists have reviewed the slides independently; they concur. It's a GBM." That stands for glioblastoma multiforme, which is most common in patients fifty years of age and older. It's a kind of tumour that most frequently occurs in the cerebral hemispheres and grows as an irregular mass in the white matter of the brain. The prognosis is very poor; the mean survival length, post-diagnosis, is less than a year, with less than 10% survival after two years. (Thanks, Brigham Hospital at Harvard University!) Mark looks stricken, of course, and asks the survival rate in his case; Dr. Death says that, untreated, the rate is eight weeks, but that he can gain six to nine months with radiation treatment. Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about losing his hair! Mark asks, "What about surgery?" and Dr. Death breaks it to him with no preamble at all: "I'm afraid the tumour is inoperable." Mark asks why, and Dr. Death explains (speaking really fast in order to make it as difficult as possible to transcribe), "It looks like it invaded Broca's area. The speech arrest that you were experiencing was probably the result of a focal seizure. Even if we removed the entire tumour, you'd most likely be left with the inability to speak and understand language." "Communication," Mark surmises, steepling his fingers in front of his mouth. Dr. Death clarifies, "More than communication: you'd lose all ability to comprehend, interact with the world around you -- essentially what makes you human. Even if you consented, I wouldn't even consider operating. We'll keep you on Dilantin, three hundred milligrams daily. Do you have disability insurance?" Mark doesn't answer right away, and Dr. Death prompts him, "Dr. Greene?" "Yeah," says Mark. Okay, first, this is my PSA: it's exactly because of stuff like this that it's even more important that you get hooked up with disability insurance than it is that you have life insurance. The likelihood that you'll hurt yourself and linger on, unable to work, is much greater than that you'll be accidentally killed and leave your heirs destitute. You should have both, of course, but -- disability insurance! I'm not on commission! Get some! Second, I'm experiencing intense option paralysis, here. I can't decide which is more appealing: a Mark who can't talk and is barely human, or a Mark that's dead like a doornail. Oh, and, happy holidays!
Mark evidently decides that the best thing to do after getting hit unexpectedly by this devastating news is to go to work anyway, and inflict his bad mood on his oblivious co-workers. He starts by bitching about how backed up it is. John "Total Eclipse of the" Carter haltingly says that he doesn't know why it's so backed up, since he just started his shift; Randi says it always gets like this when Weaver's off. Weaver's off? Yeah, happy fucking holidays to me, not. DAMMIT. Randi adds that Weaver left Mark a note, which he reads. Carter asks what happened to Mark's head, and Mark feeds him the jogging/street sign cover story. Carter makes for a couple of patients we'll never see, and Lydia appears to tell Mark about a patient with palpitations; Mark gives a quickie diagnosis that Carter, overhearing, corrects, and Mark takes back his initial orders, thanking Carter for the catch. Carter asks him whether he's okay, and Mark waves Weaver's note and says that since it's been three months, it's time to do a blood and urine test on Carter. "Right now?" Carter asks, and Mark says it has to be sometime in the six hours. "Whenever," Carter says tightly, and Mark adds that if Carter wants privacy, Mark will do the stick, or Carter can ask a nurse; Carter says he'll get Lisa to do it.
Benton does an ultrasound on a wan-looking Braids. Apparently her belly is fine. Under a sheet, Finch performs an external pelvic exam and asks Braids when she last had intercourse; Braids claims she doesn't remember. Finch asks Lisa for a "Wood's lamp," which, when pointed at Braids's action, shows no semen in the vicinity. "What?!" squeaks Braids. Finch tells Braids that she needs to do a full-on pelvic exam, and Braids objects and tries to get off her bed. Finch says they have to check her out, and Braids tells them just to "fix [her] face." She explains that she didn't get raped: "I got beat up. That's all." Long story short, she got jumped out of a gang, and proudly says, "I did okay. Some girls, they get real messed up. I did okay!" So she probably got that bleeding in her underwear from getting kicked in the crotch? Um, ow. That's why I could never be in a gang. Well, it's one of the reasons. Another is that I'd have to spend a lot of time out-of-doors, and I don't care for that. Finch purses her lips and sits in judgment. Benton prefers to stand in judgment.
Back at the deposition, Danvers and Elizabeth argue over whether she rushed Mr. Patterson's procedure because of Jesse's arrival at the hospital before Mr. Patterson's operation. Danvers knows Jesse's relationship to Benton, as well as Elizabeth's former relationship with Benton. Matt Craven tells her not to answer whether Benton is a "former lover." Danvers moves on to whether Jesse's death upset her ("of course") and how long it upset her ("I'm not sure"). Blah blah, the point of his line of inquiry is whether she messed up Mr. Patterson because she was upset about Jesse.
Lisa prepares to draw Carter's blood, and Carter engages in a lot of lame gallows humour: "I guess I should have had that blood transfusion this morning, huh?...Check my cholesterol while you're at it." On the other side of the room, Mark writes on a chart; Carter amiably calls, "Hey, you, you're supposed to be watching this! You better watch!" Mark looks up and snits, "You think I want to be doing this, Carter? I don't have better things to do?" Carter stares back like a wounded puppy, and Lisa asks Mark what she should do with the blood she's just drawn. Mark curtly tells her to give it to him. Carter leaps off the bed, snaps, "Are we done?" and makes for the door; before he can complete the Carter Stomp out of there, Chuny sticks her head in and tells Lisa that the paramedics called to say that Sally's hurt, that she's outside a clothing store, and that she's asking for Lisa.
Benton and Finch talk to a cop, who says there's not much he can do for Braids unless Braids gives him some names. A nameless nurse pokes her head out and tells Benton that Braids wants to talk to him.
Within, Benton tosses some x-rays on a table. He tells Braids that she broke her cheekbone, and that they'll have to do a CT-scan of her face. Braids says nothing. Benton scoffs, "So, you're really going to protect the girls who did this to you, huh?" Braids says that she's protecting herself, since if they find out she said anything, they'll kill her. "Like they did Jesse?" Benton leads the witness. Braids is quiet for a long moment, and then says, "You don't know that." Benton says he knows that Jesse wasn't a gang member, and that Braids is. "Was," she corrects him. Benton adds that he knows the only reason Jesse was in that neighbourhood was because of Braids. Braids murmurs, "He only came there twice. He said he didn't like me banging. Kept telling me that I was better than all that. That he loved me. That he was going to get me out!" Oh, it's just like Romeo and Juliet, except with people getting kicked in the crotch until they bleed into their panties. Oh, wait. That happened in Romeo and Juliet. Oh, no, excuse me, I'm thinking of A Winter's Tale. Anyway, Benton takes in Braids's story and asks, "You're telling me that's why they killed him?" Braids continues, "He ditched school. Tried to get me to come over. Told me that his mom was going to figure things out. We had a fight. I was walking away when it happened." "You saw who shot him?" Benton asks. Braids muses, "That's why I don't want to be a part of it no more. I loved him, too!" Benton asks who shot Jesse, and she evasively says that he'll just go to the cops if she tells him. Benton says that he won't, and she asks why, then, he wants to know. Benton growls, "'Cause I gotta know." Braids tells him to swear he won't say anything, and he asks her again, "Who murdered my nephew?"
Lisa leaps out of her SUV at the scene of Sally's evident crime. A paramedic is trying to treat Sally, but she is angrily telling him -- at a pace of ten miles a minute -- that her daughter is a doctor and that she will take care of Sally. Sally spots Lisa trying to bypass Sally and go straight to a nearby police officer; Sally waylays her to say that none of this was her fault, and that some man she didn't know came after her. A woman -- I'll assume a woman from the shop -- interjects, "She was shoplifting." Sally rounds on her and barks, "I was not shoplifting! Why would I shoplift a ten-dollar scarf?" "It's a three-hundred-dollar scarf!" Shop Woman replies. Holy shit, really? Admittedly I am no fashion plate in my Old Navy t-shirt and fleece leggings right now, but for $300 a scarf better double as a lawnmower before I'd think it was a worthwhile investment. Anyway. Shop Woman tells Lisa that Sally walked straight through the shop's door and shattered glass everywhere. Lisa nods rapidly, evidently not even considering contesting the charges against Sally, and tells Shop Woman and the nearest cop that they don't want to arrest Sally: "Believe me, It's not worth your trouble. I'm a nurse at County --" The cop asks what's wrong with Sally, who hysterically answers for herself: "Nothing! Nothing is wrong with me!" Lisa looks down and speaks over her: "She has a mood disorder." Shop Woman snaps, "She was stealing." Lisa replies, "She wasn't stealing, she was confused." Shop Woman spits, "You weren't there! She walked into the store, demanded a job, and when I explained to her --" "Let me tell you something, dearie -- I have better retail skills than you do any day of the week!" hisses Sally. Shop Woman is both incredulous and amused. Lisa turns on her and snaps, "Be quiet, Mom!" Sally goes on for a while about her retail skills, and Lisa gives the cop her phone number and offers to pay for the broken glass. Shop Woman snottily asks, "What if she comes back?" and Lisa promises that Sally won't come back. The cop confirms that Lisa will take care of it, and Shop Woman finally agrees not to press charges as long as they get Sally out of there. Shop Woman? I'll go in on that action with you. Get Sally out of here! Her constant yammering is making me so very, very tired.
At the hospital, Mark enters a trauma room as Dr. Dave accompanies a patient out. Carter comes in and, to Mark's back, snaps, "What." Mark offers the witty rejoinder, "Huh?" and Carter reminds Mark that he wanted to see Carter. Mark tells Carter that his naltrexone level was non-detectable. Carter says he thought it was just a drug screen, and Mark reminds Carter that taking naltrexone is one of the terms of his contract. Carter calmly says that his prescription ran out, and that he hasn't had a chance to refill it. Mark raises his voice a little to repeat that Carter knows he's supposed to take it. Getting even calmer in the face of Mark's agitation, Carter evenly replies, "And I'm taking it. I don't need it, but I'm taking it." Mark looks down and passive-aggressively chuckles a bit. "What?" Carter asks, and Mark hissyfits, "You're not the only one with something at stake here, Carter! We put ourselves on the line to give you a fresh start! In any other circumstance, you would either be dead or in jail." Carter takes a step back the better to let Mark have it: "'Fresh start,' huh? You really think this has been a fresh start? I think that I've done absolutely everything that you've asked of me, and I think I've done it without complaint. I think that I've obeyed all these arbitrary and arcane rules and regulations about what patients I can treat and what patients I can't, and when I can treat them, and when I can't." The Strings of Imminent Trauma thrum on the soundtrack as Mark looks vaguely nauseous. Carter's on a roll: "I think I've peed into cups! I think you've taken my blood, and I think at some point, it's going to have to be enough. I think at some point, you're actually going to have to trust me!" Mark's face is crumpled in on itself, and he falls to the floor, taking a small tray of instruments with him. On the floor, he shakes and seizes. Carter and Chuny administer ativan. I yell at the TV, "Swallow your tongue! Swallow your tongue!"
After the break, Mark is laid out on a bed. Carter orders tests. Lydia tells Carter that Mark is awake, and Carter hurries over and asks Mark to squeeze his hands. Mark asks what happened, and Carter tells him that he had a seizure, but that his vitals have been stable, and he didn't drop his sats. He adds that Mark will need a head CT and tries to perform a rudimentary neurological exam on him. Mark is having none of it, and quickly climbs up off the bed and gets dressed. Carter tells him that they need to work this up, and that Neuro's coming down for a consult. Mark keeps insisting that it's not necessary, and books as fast as his legs can carry him, with Carter still protesting that he even got Luka to cover Mark's shift, and that Mark needs to under go more tests. In the hall, Finch asks him whether he's okay, and he curtly says he's fine. He passes Dr. Dave, who says he heard Mark had a seizure. "You heard wrong," Mark declares.
Deposition of my crushing boredom. Danvers is trying to get Elizabeth to admit that the endoscopic surgery was the easier and faster option for her. It turns out that she performed Mr. Patterson's surgery more quickly -- by a margin of twelve minutes -- than she'd ever performed the procedure in her life. She admits that she had an engagement after Mr. Patterson's surgery. Matt Craven tells her not to say anything more, and they leave. She really could have been coached better than that, I think.
Lisa quickly ushers Sally into the hospital as Sally blathers about wanting to see the owner of the store, since if she could just talk to him, he'd want to hire her. Finch and Luka both watch as Lisa races to an exam room. Luka asks Finch what happened, and she tells him that she doesn't know. However, she does know that Mark had a seizure. Oh, the office gossip mill. How I do miss it. At my last place of employment, I was the editor's assistant so I knew all the dirt before anyone else. It was a sacred trust I violated over and over and over again. It was the only reason I stayed in that job as long as I did, actually.
Anyway, Sally yips on and on: "I've never understood who try to make themselves feel big by making other people feel small." Shout-out? Lisa sits Sally down on a bed and pulls the curtain around her. Sally's new theory is that Shop Woman chased Sally into the window because she was threatened by Sally's obvious experience in the retail field. Lisa starts undoing the loose bandages wrapped around Sally's various wounds and idly asks, "Did you even have an interview?" Sally winces at the pain and insists she did have an interview. Lisa tells Sally that she'll need stitches, as well as an x-ray to ensure that there's no glass in any of her cuts. She tells Sally to wait and heads out. Sally calls after her to wait, and desperately demands to know whether Lisa's mad at her. Lisa quietly and with steely self-control replies, "No, Mom, I'm not mad at you." She leaves Sally in her curtain area and hurries off. Luka watches as she goes into the adjacent trauma room, covers her mouth with her hand, and then sits down, looking lost. The soundtrack to his watching Lisa, by the way, is Sally's litany of grievance: "I hate people. I have so much more experience than you." Can't someone just knock Sally out with a fire extinguisher, for real? SHUT UP, WOMAN!
Benton ushers a couple of cops to Radiology, where Braids has just had her CT-scan. It seems that, off-camera, Braids told Benton the shooter's name, but before the cops can do anything, they need to hear it from Braids, since she's the witness. Benton warns them that Braids will be reluctant to share the information, and asks what they can do if she won't tell them; apparently, not much. The CT-scan is favourable. Braids spots the cops and gets agitated, insisting that she doesn't know anything.
Mark shoots baskets in the ambulance bay. Carter comes out and jovially tells Mark he looks like he's feeling better. He adds that he refilled his prescription and asks whether Mark wants to watch him take it; Mark says it's okay, and thanks Carter for helping him. Carter asks whether Mark wants to talk about what happened, and Mark demurs. Carter reminds Mark that, since he did treat Mark, anything Mark tells him will be confidential. Mark's voice tightens and, still dribbling and shooting, he announces, "It's quite simple. I have a brain tumour." The camera does a rapid one-eighty around Carter, as if to (subtly, not) visually represent the fact that Mark has just rocked Carter's very world to its fragile foundations, but really, Mark is no Benton, and the most Carter can manage in response to the news is a strangled and slightly high-pitched, "What?!" Mark tells him what kind of tumour, and adds that it's inoperable. Carter is chagrined, and gently asks what Mark is going to do. "Die, I guess," Mark offers. I very seldom say this about anything that comes out of Mark's sorry mouth, but, word. Carter cocks his head in mild disapproval of Mark's glibness, and Mark adds, more sincerely, "After today, I probably won't be able to work anymore." Carter asks whether Mark got a second opinion, and he replies that they double-checked the biopsy. Carter clarifies that he meant an opinion from another neurosurgeon: "I mean, there's got to be a clinical trial going on someplace, right?" Mark tersely (but not unkindly) says that he's looking into it. An ambulance pulls in, and Mark tells Carter they'll need him. Carter looks quickly back and forth between Mark and the rig, and finally asks Mark, "Are you going to be okay?" Mark gently tells Carter that's a stupid question, and Carter realizes his mistake and shakes his head at himself. Mark asks Carter to keep the rumours at bay until Mark has a chance to speak with Elizabeth.
Outside Danvers's library, Matt Craven asks Elizabeth whether she knows what time it is. She glances at her watch and answers, "2:47." He says, "Correct, but it's not the right answer...The right answer is 'yes' or 'no.' 'Yes' or 'no' when possible. Don't elaborate." She shirtily informs him that not all questions have "yes" or "no" answers, and he repeats, "'Yes' or 'no' when possible. Don't elaborate." Um. Matt? Yeah, hi -- this is exactly the kind of coaching I meant when I said that she wasn't sufficiently coached. You couldn't have had this conversation, maybe, sometime before you went into Danvers's library? Elizabeth, get a new lawyer. Matt Craven goes on to explain that cases aren't won in deposition, but they can be lost at that stage: "Now, at best, this is a stain that follows you for the rest of your career; at worst, you lose your license. We're not here to win an argument. This is about information. He's looking to gain information to use against you in court. We're looking to limit that information." "You mean, hide the truth," she Pollyannas. Oh, Jupiter Christmas. Naïve much? What are you, eight? "I didn't say that," replies Matt Craven, digging into his hot dog. Mmmm. Hot dog.
Luka stitches Sally's hand. Oh, god help him. She leans her face way too close to him and asks him how many stitches he thinks she'll need; he guesses four or five. She coos, "You're so good at this. You're so gentle!" Hey, that's what Lisa said! Just kidding. But, not really. Excuse me a moment...ahhhh. He diffidently thanks her without looking up, and she fails to quit while she's ahead: "It's hard to believe, 'cause you have such great, big, masculine hands!" Suddenly she gasps and tells him to hold still; she catches a stray eyelash on her finger and tells him to make a wish and blow. He pauses and, with barely disguised contempt, replies, "That's all right." She offers to blow for him, and basically blows into his eyes. She asks, "What did you wish for? Don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me." Behind her, Lisa has appeared, and to Luka, she says, "I'm sorry." Sally turns on her and asks what she's sorry for. Ignoring her, Lisa says, "It's part of the disease." Sally throws her head back and laughs bitterly, "Oh, ho, ho, yes, we're going to now apologize for your diseased mother, are we?" Hey, Sally, I know you're bipolar, but pick a pronoun and run with it. To Luka, Sally says, "She's always misbehaving. You know, Abby never wanted me around her friends." Lisa, noticing that the tone of Sally's voice is getting angry and rushed, tells Sally to stop it. Sally yaps, "She was always ashamed -- ashamed and embarrassed. You think I don't know that?" Lisa quietly tells her to calm down, but Sally gets up in her face: "You would walk right by me and pretend you didn't know me! You'd pretend I didn't even exist!" Sally starts repeating herself, and Lisa keeps asking her to sit down so that Lisa can finish her hand, and finally she snaps and...well, snaps, "Shut! Up!" Sally starts racing even more, and points her finger at Lisa's face: "Don't you sass me! I'm your mother!" "Not by choice," Lisa replies, and Sally lunges for Lisa's head, digging her thumbs into Lisa's cheeks and grunting ferally. Luka quietly moves the tray of pointy instruments away as Lisa grabs Sally's wrists, forces them down to her sides and warningly asks, "Do you want five of Haldol?" Sally immediately squeals, "No!" and starts apologizing frantically. Luka tells Sally that if she sits down and behaves, they won't have to give her anything. Sally breaks away from them and runs down the hall yelling, "I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" over and over again. She practically runs straight into a security guard, and then turns and runs back toward Luka, who grabs her around the waist and carries her bodily -- Sally screaming hysterically all the while -- toward a bed. Carter joins them and calls for five of Haldol; Luka calls for leather restraints. Sally starts sobbing for Lisa not to let the doctors restrain her. Luka tells Chuny, who's appeared with the restraints, to put Sally on monitors. They strap down Sally's arms and legs as Sally screeches, "NOOOOOOOO!" Carter says Sally's name over and over, I guess in an attempt to calm her. Sally sits up and growls, "You're my daughter, you little bitch! Make them stop!" Lisa works silently and tries not to cry. Okay, Sally? Sybil was thirty years ago. You've now chewed your way halfway around the Warner Brothers lot. The Friends can no longer sit on the couch at Central Perk because you've got all its upholstery stuck between your teeth. Dial. It. DOWN. Because you're going to give me an inoperable brain tumour pretty soon.
Law office. Elizabeth emerges from the loo and Matt Craven tells her they're ready to start again. He observes that she looks peaked, and tells her that if she can't maintain her composure, they should resume on another day. She assures him that she'll be fine and strides confidently toward the library door.
In the library, Elizabeth is pulled up short by the sight of Mr. Patterson in his wheelchair. She wheels around and asks Matt Craven what Mr. Patterson is doing there. Matt Craven says that Mr. Patterson has a right to be at his own deposition, and that they've brought Mr. Patterson in to rattle her, but that she should pretend he's not there, and not let it affect her testimony. Danvers asks whether they're ready. Matt Craven says they are.
Lisa watches through the glass as Kim "Mitchell" Legaspi speaks with Sally. After a moment, Mitchell and Carter come out into the hall, and Lisa asks Mitchell, "You removed the restraints?" Mitchell says that she can admit Sally voluntarily, but that she doesn't meet the criteria for a hold. "Ran through a plate-glass window," Carter mutters by way of rebuttal; Mitchell judges that "an accident," adding that Sally is "not gravely disabled; she's not a danger to herself or others." Lisa, whose skull Sally tried to crush with her bare hands moments earlier, looks down and replies, "That's debatable." Mitchell argues that Sally is "rapid cycling: probably experiencing a drug-induced mania." Carter adds that Sally's blood alcohol is .092 and Mitchell says, "Well, that'll do it." She asks whether Lisa wants Mitchell to admit Sally. Lisa looks askance and says, "I don't care." Mitchell says that she'll admit Sally, and tells Lisa, "She wants to talk to you. She's remorseful; she wants to apologize." "No, thank you," Lisa says, and walks off. Of course, Sally appears in the doorway, sobbing, "Abby, I'm sorry! I'll go in the hospital! I'll get better! I'll get better! I'll get better! I'll get better! I'll get better!" I really hope you people appreciate my sacrifice in having to listen to these snatches of dialogue ten times, because if you think Sally is annoying when you watch the episode, she's...well, ten times as annoying when you have to hear her screeching and moaning over and over and over again. Lisa keeps on walking, trying to maintain.
Benton walks Braids out to the ambulance bay, telling her to keep frozen peas on her face for the swelling, and to take ibuprofen for the pain. She doesn't say anything, so he puts her in a cab, adding, "Hey. He was my nephew. You know I had to do something." She fixes him with a level gaze and flips him off. "Yeah. Good luck," he replies. Heh.
Finch helps some old bag out of an ambulance. Benton wanders over and tells her he thinks they'll find the shooters. They get back together. He tells her she's the only thing in his life that makes sense right now. Well, I should think that in an ambiguous world, her binary functions are very soothing and reassuring. She tells him to take her out for dinner. From the other side of the room, Glark yells, "DUMP HER!" Seriously. Enough. She sucks. He doesn't. They have nothing in common.
Deposition. Danvers asks what Elizabeth thinks caused Mr. Patterson's paralysis. She admits that she punctured the dura. He points out that the anaesthesiologist noticed the leaking spinal fluid well before she did; she works the "yes"/"no" answers and says that there was fluid, but that it could have been saline, blah blah blah malpracticecakes. Anyway, the entire case comes down to one question: "Did you perform a thorough and competent inspection, specifically looking for possible CSF [spinal fluid] leaks before you closed?" Elizabeth says nothing for about three hours and then finally says, "Yes." But you can tell from her face -- oh, and from the three-hour pause -- that she's completely lying.
Carter catches up to Lisa in the ambulance bay and asks where she's been; she said she went to get a walk and a cup of coffee. You know, I really don't think the County has gotten its money's worth out of Lisa on the job today. I hope she plans to work overtime. He asks, "You didn't get my page?" She says she knew what it was about. Carter tells her what she already knows in her bones: "Legaspi was trying to find a bed for your mom, and she just took off." Lisa smiles wearily and says she figured that's what he wanted to tell her. Carter says he thought she might want to check her apartment, and Lisa quickly replies, "She's not there." Carter asks whether she checked, and Lisa explains, "No. This is the end of the cycle. Our cycle. She disappears, and then for months, I don't know where she is or what she's doing or if she's alive, and then eventually she'll turn up somewhere, and I'll have to deal with it." Carter, since there's nothing else to say, says, "I'm sorry." Lisa, who looks utterly relieved, says, "Don't be. I knew how it would end when she showed up." Carter nods, and Lisa adds, "It's the dance we do. We get lost in it for a little while, but it always ends the same." Carter motions toward Doc Magoo's with his chin and has managed to get as far as "do you --" before Luka appears behind him to whisk Lisa away. Carter stifles the question at the sight of Luka. Luka gives him some instructions about a patient, and Carter -- without meeting Luka's eye, as is his wont -- curtly says he'll tell the unseen Weaver. Lisa wishes him a goodnight, and they leave; Luka is about four feet taller than Lisa. Carter sort of shakes his head as he heads back inside. Oh, see? Why did they have to do the "do you --"? Because I really liked Luka and Lisa together but now I really do see that Carter is pining for her. Don't make me split my allegiance! I love Carter and Luka, both! I'm like Sophie with the choice, over here!
Benton pulls his car up outside Jackie's house. Where's Walt? Uh, Walt is reshingling the shed; Rex the Wonder Preemie is holding the nails in his prehensile tail. Benton asks Finch whether she's coming in, and she says she doesn't want to intrude, and that she'll wait for an invitation. As he's closing his car door, Braids appears. He grabs her roughly by the arm and asks what she's doing there. She says, "I went to the store, like you said!" (Huh?) He asks whether Jackie's seen Braids, and Braids says she hasn't. Benton urgently says, "You can't be here." Braids squeals, "The cops was there, hooking up the cousins! They're going to think it was me!" Finch gets out of the car and watches as Benton asks Braids whether she's been home yet. Braids yelps, "No! They're going to kill me! I'm dead!" Benton shushes Braids and hustles her into the car. Finch manages to look somewhat horrified.
On the deck, Mark stares at the stars. Elizabeth comes up looking dismayed. He asks her how the deposition went; she says it went "terribly," and sits down to bury her face in her hands and confess, "I lied. I lied! The fact is I rushed. I rushed through and didn't inspect the entire surgical field. That man will never walk again because I wanted to get out early for the weekend, and I couldn't even claim responsibility." Mark says nothing, but raises his eyebrows. Elizabeth continues tearfully, "I sat there, and I swore to God, and I lied to save myself." Mark smiles ruefully and offers, "God owes us one." She looks up and he adds, "I think you're allowed to be selfish for a while." She senses something's up, and he pulls his chair closer and leans in. He opens his mouth and, after a moment, admits, "I didn't run into a street sign. I had a biopsy. Those, uh, headaches weren't from hockey." The camera pulls back to show them clasping hands, and then her throwing her arms around him. Not shown: Elizabeth's visit to her lawyer to make sure the mortgage insurance is in order so that she can keep the house free and clear when he dies.
After a tricky dissolve, we find ourselves in Luka's hotel room. Luka is asleep. Lisa gently takes his hand off her shoulder, climbs out of bed and heads for the bathroom. She quietly closes the door behind her, sits on the edge of the tub, turns on the water, and, with her hand clamped to her mouth, sobs piteously.