Susan is sleeping in the lounge and Lydia comes in and wakes her up.  She tells her that someone is being brought in and Susan tells her that she is not starting her shift until noon.  Lydia tells her that Mark is in the PICU with Ella and Kerry wants her to work his shift.  Kerry gets on to Frank for eating bagels that were left there by a pharmaceutical company.  Kerry updates Susan on Ella’s condition.  Susan reminds her that she has worked all night and needs some rest before she covers for Mark’s shift.  Kerry reminds her that Romano put her in the position to assist her.  Susan starts to get a bagel, but Kerry reminds her that she should not be eating them.  She tells her that it might influence her in prescribing pharmaceuticals from the company who left them and that it would not be fair to the patients.  Susan tells her that she will go to Doc Magoo’s to eat breakfast and Kerry tells her to be back in fifteen minutes.  In the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Mark and Elizabeth watch and worry as the doctor remove the ventilator from Ella.  Ella begins to breathe on her own.

Abby and Joyce discuss her staying with Abby for a while.  Joyce is still concerned about Brian and his temper.  They have agreed to speak to Brian about getting some counseling.  Abby asks Joyce to come with her to work, so that she can be safe, but Joyce tells her that she will be alright if she can stay in her apartment for a little longer.  Abby leaves for work and runs in to Brian.  Brian asks Abby if she has seen his wife and Abby tells him no.  Mark updates Susan on Ella’s condition.  A man is brought in after being bitten by a sloth, so Susan goes to tend to him.  Jing-Mei tells Mark that she is suppose to file a report regarding what happened with Ella and Rachel, but thinks he may want to file it himself.  Mark tells her that he will.  Eleanor is with Mickey and is upset that everything is taking so long.  Carter tells her that Mickey will be moved.  She is not happy that he is going to be starting chemo treatment.  She wants to know about a bone marrow transplant, but Carter tells her that it did not work on him before.  Carter tells her to rest.  Susan takes care of a midget woman and her customer.  The woman is Ginger and she is a lap dancer.  Her problem is that she swallowed the man’s wedding ring and he needs it back before his wife finds out.  Frank and Yosh are sick.  Abby gets a call from Joyce.  She and Susan are with a young girl named Valerie who may be pregnant.

Elizabeth and Mark are with Ella.  Rachel calls, but Mark is not able to speak with her in front of Elizabeth.  Elizabeth discusses with Mark about calling the police about Rachel and the drugs.  Elizabeth can’t believe that Mark hasn’t done anything about it yet.  She wants him to call Jen about it too.  Frank has to go home sick and a temp.will come in to cover for him.  Abby goes home to find Joyce bleeding.  She is outside and does not even have a coat on.  Joyce’s cheekbone is broken.

Susan takes care of a man who was stabbed by an icicle.  Weaver gets sick after eating a bagel, so she tells Susan that she has called for Luka to come in and that Mark will come down to help her.  Eleanor tells Carter that Mickey is throwing up blood.  Babcock is with Carter.  Eleanor runs to the elevator.  Carter runs after her.  She tells Carter to stay with Mickey.  She is not able to see him go through all of this.  Carter tells her that she is not going to put him through this again, so he stops the doors from closing.  He is not able to convince Eleanor to stay.  Mark comes down to assist Susan.  They tend to a young girl named Ariel who got sick eating shrimp and lobster.  Susan notices that Mark is having some trouble pronouncing words.  Abby x-rays Joyce, while Joyce tries to convince her that she should stay with Brian.  Elizabeth makes a call to a neurologist.  She then sees Rachel with Ella.  Rachel tells Elizabeth that she is sorry.  Elizabeth tells her that she can leave her house.  Rachel tells Elizabeth that she will call her mom.  Abby tells Susan that she needs to see Joyce.  Rachel tells Mark about Elizabeth telling her to leave.  She tells him that she has already called her mother and it is okay for her to go home.  Mark tells her that he doesn’t want her to go.  Mark bites his tongue and Rachel asks if he is okay.  Susan talks to Ariel’s parents.  They tell her that she has been eating a lot of food lately.  She has gained fifteen pounds in three months.  Mark checks on his tongue and Susan looks at it.  He is not able to stick it out straight.  He runs to the bathroom and bangs his head against the towel dispenser.  He knows that his tumor must be back.

Luka is back.  Abby gets Luka to look at Joyce’s x-rays.  She explains to him about Brian beating Joyce up, again.  Susan checks on Mark.  Mark can’t stop worrying about it, even though Susan tries to reassure him.  She tells him to go get an MRI.  A boy is brought in after an airbag accident.  Abby gets on to a nurse, that came to help out, for taking a break.  She tells her that they are busy and that none of the others have had a break yet either.  Brian comes in looking for Joyce.  He wants to know if Abby brought her in.  Abby acts like she doesn’t know anything about it.  Brian doesn’t believe her and he explains what happened.  Abby tells him that she already knows that he beat her up.  Abby tells him that Joyce is with the police and telling them what happened.  Luka sees Brian with Abby.  After Brian leaves, Abby tells Luka who the guy was.  Mark and Susan take care of the boy who was injured from the airbag.  Mark gets on to the father for letting the boy ride in the front seat.  Elizabeth comes in to speak with Mark.  She tells him that she has been trying to page him.  They argue about Mark missing the appointment with the neurologist concerning Ella.  They then begin to argue about Elizabeth telling Rachel to go back to her mother’s.  Elizabeth tells Mark that if Rachel doesn’t go, then she and Ella will not come back to the house.  Joyce is upset that Abby called the cops.  She tells Abby that Brian never even hurt her, but Abby knows that it is a lie to cover up the beating.  Luka hears all of this and knows the truth.  He mentions a shelter, but Joyce wants to go back home.  Carter meets up with his mom back at Gamma’s.  She tells him that she is leaving.  Carter tells her that Mickey will not mind it if she was to come back to the hospital.  He would never even know about it.  She tells him that she was too involved and she couldn’t handle it.  They talk about Bobby and the secrets that he and Carter use to keep from her.  They smile and he wants to know if she has time now to take care of another little boy.  She tells him that Bobby had believed her when she told him he would get better.  She feels like she had betrayed him for giving him false hope.  Carter tells her that Bobby knew he wouldn’t get better, but he acted like he would only to make her feel hopeful.  He had asked Carter to make her happy, but Carter wasn’t able to keep that promise.  Eleanor tells Carter that she loves him and they hug.  Abby is home and is drinking some wine.  She is talking with Joyce on the phone, who has taken their advice and gone to a shelter.  Someone is at the door, so Abby goes to answer it.  She thinks it is the man delivering her food that she had ordered, but to her surprise, it is Brian.  Abby tells Joyce that she will call her back, not telling her who is standing at the door.  Abby tells Brian that he needs to get some help for his anger.  He tells Abby that all he wants is to speak with Joyce and that he loves his wife.  He learns that Joyce is in a shelter and he wants Abby to tell him where she is.  Abby will not say, so Brian gets angrier and starts to yell.  Abby threatens to call the police, so Brian acts like he is going to leave her alone.  Abby bolts the door and calls 911.  She goes back to the door to see if Brian is gone, but just then, Brian shoves the door open and attacks Abby.

Abby wakes up and finds herself bleeding.  She gets up and heads to the door to lock it back.  She is worried that Brian could still be around.  She goes into the bathroom with the phone and locks the door.  She can see the damage that has been done to her in the mirror.  Susan speaks with Ariel about her weight problem.  She tells her that it can be dangerous and wants to know if anything has been bothering her.  Ariel tells Susan that she hates boys and this makes Susan wonder.  She asks about Ariel’s mom and stepfather, but doesn’t get to find out any information, because Abby is brought in beaten up.  Luka is already with Abby when Susan goes to check on her.  Abby tells Susan what had happened.  Luka did not know that Abby was a neighbor of Brian and Joyce.  Abby is uncomfortable in the room with Luka, so she asks for a gown.  He wants to medicate her for the pain, but she tells him no.  She doesn’t want any drugs.  Susan thinks that she may have been raped.  Mark is with Ella when Elizabeth comes back in.  She has been home and cleaned up.  She tells Mark that she will take care of Ella and that he should go get something to eat.  She does not want to discuss anything else at that moment.  Susan tells Abby that it does not seem that she has been raped.  She tells Abby that she would be safer if she would move away from Joyce and Brian.  Abby does not want to move.  Susan tells her that she may want to start minding her own business and not getting involved with the other neighbors.  Abby insists that she was just trying to help Joyce.  Susan wants to know if she would like her to call someone who could look after Abby for a while but Abby knows that there isn’t anyone.  Susan offers to let Abby stay with her a while and she reluctantly agrees.  Luka speaks with Susan on her way out of Abby’s exam room.  He is relieved to find out that she had not been raped.  He tells her that everything in the ER is looking good and that he is going home to unpack.  Susan goes back to the admit desk to check the board.  She is surprised to see that Jerry is there.  He is eating a bagel and some dip that he had found.  She tells him that he had better go on home, knowing he would be getting sick.  Luka finds Brian in a bar.  Brian is surprised to see Luka there.  He tells Luka that he had gotten angry and didn’t mean to hurt Abby, but this does not fool Luka.  Luka tells him to lose his temper with him.  Brian tells Luka that he will turn himself in.  Luka hits him anyways.  Luka continues to hit Brian, until he starts to cry.  He tells Luka that he will not bother Abby again and that he will move away.  Luka threatens to kill him if he ever touches Abby again.  Eleanor and Carter are back with Mickey.  They made it in time for his chemo treatment.  Mark goes to get an M.R.I. to see if his worst fear has returned, his brain tumor.

Reviewed by Tony Conner on February 27, 2002