Carter has a nightmare. It is a dream of a baby crying and Kem’s voice.
Carter gets up and runs through the house searching for them. He ends up in
an empty nursery. Luka wakes up and walks over to where Sam is standing. She
is worried about her ex-husband finding them. Luka suggests that she and Alex
move in with him, but she does not like the idea. She wants him to want them
to move in because of other circumstances, not because he wants to protect
them. Neela is staying with Abby. Abby seems to be upset about the coffee
being out. The phone rings several times before Abby answers it. Abby takes
the phone over to the couch and hands it to Neela. It is Neela’s mother
calling.
Neela is trying to pick up her mess. She pushes the dirty clothes around and
even puts dirty dishes up in the cabinet. Her parents are on their way and
she is really nervous about it. Abby is on her way to work and Neela begs her
to stay. There is a knock at the door and Neela’s parents have arrived. Luka
goes in to work and finds Carter out in the ambulance bay. Luka comments on
how bad Carter looks and then asks him about Jing-Mei. She is still in a cast
and has to have physical therapy. Pratt wants to be put back on the schedule
and is ready to come back to work. The ambulance that Carter was waiting on
arrives. It is a twenty-three-year-old man who is altered. His mother is
with him. He was in Iraq and has had many skin grafts. He is also missing
one of his legs. Sam and Ray assist Carter with him. Sam takes the bandages
off of the young man’s face. Ray tells him that they will fix him right up,
but the soldier tells him no they won’t. Kerry is still helping in the ER,
since they are short staffed with Pratt, Jing-Mei and Susan being out. She
tells Abby to start delegating more so that she can handle more patients. Sam
has a new medical student for Abby. Her name is Penny. Abby and Ray both ask
Sam to do some patient work-ups and she agrees. Sam has just returned back to
work and is overloaded. Abby then corrects Haleh on a mistake and Haleh
disagrees. Abby’s student, Penny tells her that nurses are the backbone of
the ER and that she needs to get on their good side. Penny doesn’t know that
Abby use to be a nurse. Neela is at Abby’s apartment with her parents. Neela
tells them that she doesn’t want to be a doctor any longer. Her father wants
to know why she is trying to punish him. They need her help in sending the
rest of their kid’s through college. The other nurses are upset with Abby
over what happened between her and Haleh. Abby and Penny help Howard with a
patient. She is a Hispanic girl who speaks very little English. The girl
looks to be in her late teens. Her aunt is with her and she seems to have a
dislocated shoulder and is in a lot of pain. Abby orders some pain
medication, but Howard and Haleh do not think that it was the right choice.
After the girl is medicated, Abby is able to fix her dislocation. Carter has
to do a spinal tap on his patient. Carter is worried that there may be some
infection from the scars on his face. Carter does the spinal tap and it looks
cloudy. He sends Sam to the lab with it and tells the young man to get some
rest. The guy tells Carter that he has been having a hard time getting any
sleep. He dreams about how he used to be and then wakes up to what he is
now. You can see by the expression on Carter’s face that he knows what the
guy is going through. Abby sees that the young Hispanic woman she has been
working with has some other cuts, bruises and cigarette burns. The aunt gets
worried and wants them to leave the ER. Abby calls security to come and stop
the aunt from leaving with the girl. They take the woman and the girl wants
to go with her. Abby sees that she is scared, but assures her that she is
safe now.
Weaver is not happy about how
Ray dresses for work. She doesn’t like the piercing, the black fingernail
polish, the tattoos and things that he wears. She is worried that it will
make the patients uncomfortable. Ray is a member of a band. Kerry asks
Carter if Kem got off okay and if she has called. Carter asks her about
Henry. Neela comes in looking for Kerry. Carter tells her that Kerry just
went down the hall. Neela asks Jerry why Carter is working and Jerry doesn’t
know why. Penny is trying to calm an older woman down and Carter goes to
help, but ends up getting smaked in the face with a bed pan. Neela finds
Kerry with Malik and a patient. She asks for her job back, but Kerry is
unable to help her. Kerry tells her to go back to Michigan before it is too
late. Abby is still with her Hispanic patient. Abby finds out that the woman
that was with her was not really her aunt. The woman has a house full of
young girls that she keeps for men to come visit with. Jerry gives a file to
Carter. It is on the young man that Carter has been tending to. Carter opens
it and sees a picture of the young man before his accident. He looks totally
different; the soldier looked happy.
Luka finds Sam outside drinking
a cup of coffee and sits down beside her. He tells her that he wasn’t trying
to be a hero that morning. He wants her and Alex to move in with him because
he loves her. Sam is left speechless. Before she can respond, a man is
brought in with a shark attached to him. The shark will not let go of the
man’s leg. Abby gets a reluctant Chuny to help her communicate with her
Hispanic patient. Howard runs into the shark victim and they fall to the
floor. Howard freaks out. Neela speaks with her parents and tries to get
them to understand why she decided that she doesn’t want to be a doctor. They
listen, but they still do not understand. Chuny tells Abby what the Hispanic
girl is saying. She was kidnapped when she was twelve-years-old from Mexico.
She has been beaten and has been treated badly by men. She was able to
contact her family once and had to tell them that she had run away. Abby
tells her that they can help her. She tells them that her name is really
Tesoro. Neela’s father is leaving Chicago. He wants Neela to leave with him
and her mother. Neela’s mom tells him that Neela is staying. Neela’s father
will no longer support her financially if she stays behind. Neela stays and
they drive away.
Penny
was able to find out the phone number of Tesoro’s family
and gives it to Abby. The “aunt” tells the police that
she is innocent. Abby wants to make sure that all of
the kidnapped girls will get to go home. Neela hangs
around for Abby to get off of work so that they can
talk. Tesoro is worried about what is going to happen.
Abby assures her that she will get to go back to Mexico
to be with her family. She is concerned that her family
does not want her any longer. Abby calls Tesoro’s
mother and the girl speaks with her and tears begin to
flow. Carter checks on his patient. The man tells
Carter that he was once engaged, until his accident
happened. He did not want his fiancé to see him the way
he looks now. The man is very depressed and Carter
seems to know how he feels. Carter cannot give him any
encouragement and seems to be bothered by what his
patient said. Some of the staff is joking around and
Carter asks them if they have some work to do. Luka can
see that he is upset. He tells Carter that he should go
home. Carter decides that it would be best. Two men
are brought in after being attacked by a tire iron.
Luka, Abby and Haleh work on them. A third man is with
them and tells them what happened. Abby’s patient is in
critical condition and does not look as if he will make
it. Abby needs Luka’s help. Luka, Sam and Chuny are
with the other victim who needs to be intubated. Luka
is unable to assist Abby right away. Abby struggles
with her patient and wants reassurance that she is doing
the right things. The two victims were attacked for
kissing publicly in the park. Haleh reminds Abby that
it is her decision, she is the doctor now. Carter goes
inside a restaurant to get his usual, but he has decided
to get something to drink instead.
Abby
is unable to save her patient. The man’s friend says
goodbye to him as the others watch on. Abby is upset
with Luka for not assisting her with her patient.
Corday comes down to take Luka’s patient up to surgery.
Luka explains to Abby that they did all they could do
for their patients. Luka’s patient had the better
chance and that is the one they could possibly save.
Abby’s patient was pretty much dead when he was brought
in. Luka’s explanation does not make her feel any
better. Carter comes back in to the ER and is drunk.
Luka follows him as Carter goes to speak to his
patient. Carter gives the guy his cell phone and tells
him to call his fiancé. Luka tells Carter that he needs
to leave. Abby is concerned about Carter. Carter tells
the guy again to call his fiancé. Carter walks away
after making a scene. The people come to take Tesoro
away and Abby asks what will happen to her.
The person
tells her that she will probably be in foster care for
six to eight months. Abby thought she would get to
return home sooner than that. Abby tells the woman that
she will go get the girl. Abby finds Neela and tells
her to take Tesoro to the bus station. She wants to
send the girl home. Luka and Carter are in the doctor’s
lounge drinking coffee to sober Carter up. Luka tries
to get Carter to talk about his problems. Carter tells
Luka that he has been having problems sleeping and about
the dreams he has been having about Kem and the baby.
He misses all of the things that he thought he was going
to have before they lost the baby and before Kem left
him. Luka listens, but is unable to give Carter any
help with his problems. Luka knows what it is like to
lose a family. Neela arrives at the bus station with
Tesoro, but she is afraid to go alone. Neela urges her
to go before it is too late, but she is still scared and
afraid that she can’t do it on her own. Back at the ER
the CPS worker is wondering what is taking Abby so long
bringing Tesoro to her. Abby lies and tells her that
they can’t find her. Carter tells Abby that he has lost
his cell phone and she hands it to him. She wants to
know if he would like to go to an AA meeting with her,
but he tells her that he is okay. He feels bad about
the times he got upset with Abby for falling off of the
wagon, but she tells him that it happens to all of
them. Luka is on his way out and he offers to take
Carter home. Sam sees Luka and takes him aside. She
reminds him about what he had told her earlier and she
tells her that she feels the same way for him. She is
still on duty, but offers to fix breakfast for Luka when
she gets off. They embrace and kiss. Carter calls Kem
on his phone to hear her voice. He leaves her a
message. Neela decided to ride with Tesoro so that she
would not be alone. Abby and Haleh are with their
patient cleaning him up from the trauma before the
family comes to see him. All the trouble from the day
seems to behind them.
Reviewed by Tony on December 17,
2004
