No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

S09E13

Carter has led them to Ed, and cautions the older man to go back on the insulin. "I'd be lucky to find four times during the week to do that," Ed scoffs, referring to a complex medication schedule Carter has laid out. He suggests that Ed hire an assistant, and whips a check out of the envelope Abby had given him. Ed tries to refuse it. "For one thing, it's got too many zeroes," he notes. Abby cranes her neck to get a better look at the check, but Carter shoves it toward Ed and beams that he can use the money to buy equipment and pay a staff. Ed accepts it gingerly. "I'm not going to have to name the place after you, am I?" he crabs. Carter shakes his head, then cracks that the Carter Family Clinic is kind of catchy. Yeah, I'm sure Gamma would be thrilled to her frosted tips at the idea.

Luka informs Weaver that he's taking six days off. Weaver in turn informs Luka that he will do no such thing, because he's lucky to have a job there still, much less have vacation time to take. Luka flatly states that he needs to sort himself out. "And you do it on your own time," Weaver brats. So Luka, ever the mature one this season, throws down his stuff and walks away, straight past an incoming trauma. He is a man on a mission, and that mission is to take off his makeup and raid the craft-services table.

Abby gives chase. "He seems pissed," says a voice in the ambulance bay. Abby stops dead in her tracks when she sees Eric gazing at her. "I've been out here almost two hours," he says. "I figured you couldn't go that long without a cigarette." Abby gapes at him. "What are you doing here?" she chokes. We fade to black thinking that if we weren't recapping the episode, this wouldn't make us want to stay tuned and find out what he's doing there, because we can guess he's there to eat crow, because we are familiar with television and its many -- by which I mean, few -- variant plots.

Abby and Eric are sitting at Doc Magoo's having some coffee. Eric offers to buy Abby some food, but she demurs, insisting that she's fine with coffee and cupping it like it's the nectar of life. Which we all know is Diet Coke, so nice try, Abby. "Good, I need the gas money," Eric jokes. "How's Carter?" Abby nods that he's fine. "I like him," Eric offers. "Me too," Abby says, keeping a safe emotional distance by sighing loudly and averting her eyes. "It was the disease," Eric admits gently. "I was scared. I was afraid that I was going to end up like Mom." Abby shifts her gaze to his face, studying him with trepidation. "I didn't want you to see me like that -- like Maggie," Eric continues. "I never meant to hurt you. If it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be." Abby is still silent, as if willing him to continue extolling her greater qualities and the very depth and breadth of her rightness. Eric obliges by talking about how she did nothing but protect him, and all he did was let her down. "That's not true," Abby whispers. "That could never be true." Sadly, Eric stares at the table and wishes that he could be eight again, because even when things got bad -- and they did -- he knew Abby would be there for him to make it right. "And I always will be," she shrugs, biting back tears. Eric considers this. "Yeah, but no one's ever there for you," he decides. "I turned my back on you, after everything that you did for me, and for Mom, and that was a really crappy thing to do." Smiling, Abby swears he doesn't have to apologize, but Eric wants to. "I love you, Abby," he says passionately. She seems happy for a second, and moved, yet still wary. Eric grins adorably at her. "You deserve a better family," he announces. This elicits a chuckle from her, which in turn makes Eric gleeful, and it's sort of sweet even if I don't want him to be smooching her booty quite so fervently. Also, Abby doesn't deny that she thinks she deserves a better family. You know she's thinking, "Damn skippy, babe." Abby begins to bite back a sentence, then stops and goes for it. "It's not over, you know," she reminds him. "Yeah, I know," he says ruefully. Then, Eric brightens and offers to show her a photo of his new girlfriend -- and brandishes a picture of an airplane. He sold everything to buy it and will be running fishing charters. "You're going to be a bush pilot," Abby giggles. Eric's all, "Yeah, baby, a bush pilot -- and I'm going to fly a plane, wink-wink." And then he asks for my number.