Phones are ringing and Pratt and Morris are busy at the admit desk. Frank approaches and introduce Pratt to ‘his’ new med student, Larry Weston. Pratt tries to pass him off to Morris who is busy adding random numbers. Pratt then tells Larry to go find Gates and tell him that he is going to shadow him all day. “Gates?” Larry says. “Yeah… a swarthy looking guy with his hands in his pockets.” Pratt looks rather pleased with himself as Larry moves off in search of Gates. Frank mutters that he is a cruel man. Ray approaches and asks Gates to sign off on his thumb versus table saw guy and Chuny thrusts a huge birthday card at both of them to sign for Sam. Ray asks sarcastically if she could have found a bigger card. Chuny tells him that in spite of what he has been told, size does matter. They are all laughing when Sam says she is going on a coffee run and asks if anyone wants anything. Frank hides the huge card behind his back. Sam moves off suspiciously and Pratt finally asks Morris what he is doing. ‘A well known medical axiom,” he says. “When the ages of all of the ER patients add up to 1000, you can go home.” He is up to 781. Pratt sends Ray off with a chart and Morris out to the bay to await an incoming rig. He grouses that he is surrounded by knuckle heads.

Cut to the bay as Sam is crossing back in the rain with her coffee. Luka hurries up with an umbrella and she tells him it was a long night. Morris calls for her help and Luka takes her coffee. He tells her the caffeine fix will be waiting for her at the admit desk and oh uh….happy birthday. She tells him thanks and hurries to help Morris as they unload an elderly man on a gurney. He is Alfred Gower, end stage esophageal cancer, with a blocked G tube. He is coming from a hospice. He is being followed closely by a woman carrying a camera. She gets in the way to snap pictures and Sam is a little peeved and tells her not to get in the way as they push the gurney through the ambulance bay doors. The woman says she is ‘authorized’ and to ‘smile for the camera, birthday girl!” The camera freezes on a black and white shot of Sam’s hand headed for the camera lens. Hee.

Luka is studying an x-ray and Morris is studying Luka with a smirk on his face. Luka asks him for some help here and Morris says he can help him with one word – Las Vegas. He tells him it is the hot venue for weddings. Luka is dismayed and looks around. Morris tells him not to worry, that he has been sworn to secrecy. He pulls out a travel brochure and goes on about the thrills and the chills of wedded bliss compliments of Las Vegas. Glitz, glamour…..Celine Dion. He and Abby aren’t the glitz and glamour type, he says so Morris tells him there are cultural things as well….as he follows him through the ER. The Hoover Dam…Nudes on Ice, page 49. Luka tells him that he is not talking about this and that he’d better not mention it to Abby either. Morris asks him about his bachelor party because brothels are legal there. Luka closes the door and Abby comes around the corner. ‘What’s legal?” she asks. Morris pales in fear and slides the travel brochure into a folder as he tells her that cockfighting in Louisiana is legal. Abby chuckles in confusion and says that’s good to know. Morris tells her that he’d like to have this conversation but he hears Frank calling him. He hurries off and Abby frowns again as she pulls back a curtain in the exam room. She stops short with introducing herself when she sees her patients. They are college/high school age girls with orangeish tanned skin and bleached blonde hair. The girl who is standing says her friend passed out at the Sun ‘n Go. Abby asks if she had any breakfast and the girl says she had a diet cola and two saltines. Sam approaches and exchanges glances with Abby. Abby asks for a saline and a chem panel. The girls say they plan to be skinny and tanned for spring vacation. Abby tells the girl that she is putting herself at risk for skin cancer. She asks if they have ever considered do it yourself tans or spray on tans. Sam adds that they don’t want to have skin like leather when they are in their 40’s. The girls look at Abby and Sam and say that they “are at an age where they care about how they look.” Abby says they will wait for their labs and Sam mutters ‘ouch’ when they are out of ear shot. She can’t believe that they got ‘dissed by the walking raisins’. Abby says that she hopes it rains every day of spring break….and uh…happy birthday.

Sam enters a trauma room and tells Mr. Gower that she has a new G tube in just his size. His photographer friend asks if they could just clean the old one. Sam tells her they tried to flush it but it didn’t work. Mr. Gower (a sweetheart of a patient) tells her to forget the G tube and he will buy them all a steak and a bottle of Cabernet. Sam tell shim it’s tempting but offers him a pureed meal and an Ensure chaser. He tells her that somehow that doesn’t quite make it. Sam grins and moves to the end of the bed. The photographer approaches her and introduces her self as Diana Moore and apologizes for getting off to a bad start with her. Sam tells her that even if she is authorized she cannot get in the way when they are doing their work. Mr. Gower tells Sam not to blame her. She is dedicated to her work. Sam asks if she is ‘patient paparazzi’ and Diana laughs. She explains that she works documenting hospice patients through their deaths. Mr. Gower says he keeps mucking it up by still breathing. He says he wants to hang around long enough to convince her to run away with him to Cabo and she says she is holding out for Maui. Sam laughs. Diana asks if there is a room where she can stash her stuff and maybe download some pictures. Sam says she will check. She exits and asks Frank for a pureed meal for trauma one and Frank tells her she is getting bossy in her old age. There is some teasing at the admit from Frank and Morris about turning 30 and Sam says she is only 28.

Gates is coming from a trauma room with new med student, Larry, close behind. He tells him that even though Pratt assigned him to shadow Gates it doesn’t mean he is to follow him into exam rooms. Gates tells him to categorize the patient charts and then asks Frank if he knows anything about Bluetooth technology. Frank hasn’t a clue and Gates explains that it is the gizmo in his hand that allows him to send his notes to the computer but it’s broken. Frank tells him to get himself a secretary. Gates glances evilly back over his shoulder at Larry.

Cut to Neela entering the break room from one door and ray from another. She heads for the coffee machine and he says ‘tea’. They are standing close together and uncomfortable as they get their respective drinks. ‘Honey’ he asks and she is alarmed before she realizes he means honey for his tea. They bump one another accidentally and then head off in opposite directions as Sam and Diana come in. They are talking about her job and Diana says it has been known to stop conversation at dinner parties but she isn’t just document their deaths…but their entire lives. She says she has seen a lot of dying in her life….name a war or civil unrest since 1983 and she has been there. Then she has been a fashion photographer in Paris. Sam is kind of wistful when she says she has always wanted to see Paris. Diana said she was eighteen , no responsibilities, nothing to tie her down. Asks if Sam remembers that feeling. Then she tried nature photography. She asks if Sam likes photography. Sam tells her she is lucky if she doesn’t end up with her finger over the lens on a disposable camera. They laugh. Gates knocks on the door and Sam says she has to go.

Sam hurries to the side of a gurney carrying Derek Marchak, the 32 year old driver of a truck that jack knifed on an interstate off ramp. He is asking about his wife, who always rides with him. They were cutting her out of the rig when they left. Derek gets combative as he tries to get off the gurney and they calm him down.

Cut to the bay, where it is still pouring rain, and a kid , Corey Hales, is unloaded from the ambulance. His father, Vincent Hales, climbs down after his stretcher is unloaded. Luka asks why he isn’t on a stretcher….coming in like that was unacceptable. Pickman says that the boy was crashing and she wasn’t about to argue with Dad.

Cut back to Derek who is being examined by Gates, Ray and Neela. He tells them that scars on his knees were from football injuries in college. Sam asks him to sign a consent form and it’s obvious that he doesn’t know what it says or where to sign. Sam catches this and points to the correct line. Morris says he must have hit his head harder than they thought and calls for a CT.

Cut to Corey who is being examined by Pratt, Luka and Abby. Luka wants the dad in another room with a c-collar on him but the dad says no. he says that they were driving back from Ohio. They had let the kids miss school in order to make the trip. Frank comes in to say he has a stab wound to the neck in triage and can’t find a white coat to treat him. Luka tells Pratt to go. Neela comes in and asks about putting in a femoral and Luka tells her to do it. Corey’s dad sees Derek through the open door and says he was at the scene of the accident. He is yelling through the door that Derek killed his wife and daughter and asks him to look at what he did to his son. Derek looks at Sam and asks if the kid is going to be all right. He asks if what the guy is saying is true. Gates moves away.

Hope comes in with Corey’s x-ray and Abby shows Luka a joint disruption. All of the fluid they have been giving him is going right into the fracture. Neela looks up as the new surgery superstar – Mae Lee – walks in to the trauma. She says that Dubenko sent her to observe. They are rerouting the blood and Luka tells the dad he may have to have an operation but that he should be okay. Abby and Luka exchange quick glances and slight smiles.

Sam brings Derek’s x-ray in to ray and Morris and tells Derek that his wife is being choppered in. She will be there soon. Morris tells Derek his head CT looks fine and they will want to keep him overnight for observation. He can wait there till they have a room. Morris and Sam leave and Morris asks the birthday girl if she has ‘her sexy on’ now that Alex is away at the fancy boarding school. Sam is instantly defensive and tells Morris that it’s not a fancy boarding school and she sent Alex there because he needs help. Morris apologizes and agrees that he will get it there. Sam says she is not sure she made the right decision because Alex is ignoring her phone calls and emails. Morris tells her she did the right thing and it will turn out fine after he adjusts.

Abby is heading for the admit desk and Hope stops her. She tells her it was a great save on Corey – finding the displaced joint. Abby tells her she was a lot of help as well. She wants to talk to Abby about something and pulls a very thick binder from under the desk. There are bits of lace and swatches of material sticking out of the pages. Abby is looking over the patient board and tells her she is a little busy right now but maybe later. Hope tells her sure and turns around setting the binder on the counter next to where Sam and Frank are working. Pratt hands Sam a patient chart and she hangs up the phone and asks about the binder as she tries to move it. Hope hurries to take it from her. Sam flips through the binder and reads the title of one of the wedding related articles inside. Hope is uncomfortable and turns shifts around avoiding Abby as Sam continues to read. We cut to Abby’s face through the patient board. She is biting her lip and checks off a patient. Cut back to Hope who has the binder in her arms. She tells Sam it’s a collection she has kept over the years. She has been doing wedding research since she was ten. Cut back to Abby’s face…clearly peeved and trying to keep her composure. Hope says that someone she knows is getting married and she thought she might want to look at the book…without getting mad or hurting her. Hee. Sam says that she would love someone doing that for her if that ever happened to her. Hope goes on that weddings are magical and….. Abby brushes by and knocks the binder to the floor. Hope looks after her as Abby doesn’t stop and says over her shoulder, “oooopps…….so sorry.” Hope picks up the book and tells Sam that she would be honored to help when her day comes. Abby disappears around a corner. WAY cute scene….hee.

Gates comes out of a treatment room with Larry close behind. Larry can’t believe that Gates let him to a parenthesis. Gates says that 90% of learning is doing. Larry asks if Gates needs supervision and Gates tells him to keep it between them. He doesn’t need to tell anyone like Kovac…Pratt….. Larry nods. Neela is waiting by the elevator and Gates tells Larry to go check on the charts. He asks Neela if she needs help and Mae Lee says that she has it. “Lucien wants you to stay down here,” she says. Neela casts her a smirky smile as the elevator doors close. Gates and Neela have a conversation about Sarah. She has spent the weekend with her grandparents and he has had a chance to think about telling her what her mother told him before she died. He is going to do it and go through with the paternity test. Neela wants to help with sarah but she isn’t really sure how she fits in. He will keep her posted. Gates walks away.

The elevator doors open and Abby’s anti-buddy from the chopper (remember him? The older guy who almost went over the cliff in the bus with her?) gives them the lowdown on Derek’s wife, Mary. Abby, Neela and ray are in the trauma room. This was very fast paced and difficult to follow. Mary sees Derek on a gurney in the next room and he lets her know that he is okay. The chopper guy is coughing and Abby asks how long he has had that. He says he didn’t know she cared and she says she doesn’t but to find her later and she will check it out. Hee. Love those two together. He leaves as they continue to deal with Mary.

Cut to a flashing camera and Sam enters Mr. Gowan’s room. She tells him the medivan is right outside. Diana says that he is ready to go home. She says that she is going to make sure he is set up before collecting her things. Sam tells her she will help her pack up. Mr. Gowan takes Sam’s hand and tells her it has been a pleasure. He kisses her hand and tells her ‘till we meet again’. Sam smiles at him affectionately as they push the chair to the doors.

Cut back to Mary. Lots of voices…almost panic from the staff working on her. Mae Lee has joined them and Morris is there as well. Finally he stops them and says there are too many people in there. He tells Abby to leave. Pratt’s shift is over, Luka is in a meeting and there is a full ER. She is to go push charts. Morris asks for a cell saver and Sam gets one from Derek’s room. He is in a panic and wants to know what is going on.
Cut to Abby in the drug lock up. Luka sees her there and says ‘hey’. She asks how the meeting was and he tells her it was long and boring and unnecessary. He looks around and then sneaks into the door with her. He asks how she would feel about eloping. She is aghast. He tells her that Morris suggested they get married with Celine Dion. She tells him that Hope told him. Luka is surprised that Hope knows and Abby says she has this weird wedding ESP. They are walking through the corridor quickly and he asks what they should do to shut them up before everyone knows. Abby says they could beat them with a bag of oranges. She heard it doesn’t leave any marks. (Hee…a reference to something from her News Radio days!)  Luka is grinning. Or they could talk to them, she says. He likes the sound of that much better.

Abby’s anti-buddy is sitting in the corridor coughing and asks if she is ready to play doctor. She opens the door to a treatment room and he sits on the bed. She tells him to unzip his flight suit and he says that he usually gets dinner first. She tells him to be quiet or she will do a rectal just for the hell of it. Hee. He tells her that after the trade towers fell he and a bunch of buddies hopped on their truck and went to help out. They worked on a pile for a couple of weeks. Now some of the guys it – Trade Center Cough - asthma, lymphoma, leukemia. If he has something he wants to know. She will order some x-rays and some tests. He wants it to be between them. He doesn’t want to be grounded till they prove some scientific link. He tells her that he owes her.

Cut back to Mary and Dubenko joins a very bloody scene as Neela is directing the something to do with the heart. Dubenko listens as Mae Lee give him the run down. Neela starts to clarify and Mae Lee butts in . Ray and Neela exchange glances. Ray starts to tell Dubenko that Neela but Dubenko slips between Neela and ray and tells her that he will do the repair with Mae Lee’s help. Neela leaves the trauma room.

Cut to the break room where Sam is gathering up Diana’s things. She accidentally flips on the computer and watches a slide show of some of Diana’s work at the hospice. The last picture is of Diana, with no hair. “A self portrait…” she says quietly as she slips into the break room. She proceeds to tell Sam that it was ovarian cancer – the first time around. Third time is the charm she says. Sam asks if she is in treatment and Diana tells her that she has two more sessions. Sam is sorry but Diana says she is pissed off and angry. Ovarian cancer is the poor stepchild of the breast cancer publicity machine. They need money and research to develop a reliable diagnostic tool. Her cancer was a wakeup call. To be passionate about living…doing things that make her happy and not worrying about the stupid stuff. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a camera. She hands it to Sam and tells her happy birthday. Sam is shocked and says she can’t take it. Diana tells her she can. Companies give her free stuff all the time. Sam hesitates and then takes it from her telling her thank you. Diana smiles and tells her to use it…it’s fun….but to move her finger. Sam grins and watches her go…her smile fading.

Gates and Larry are working on a woman with a bee sting on her tongue. Gates take s out the stinger and tells her to suck on popsicles until the swelling goes down. Then he tells her to keep her mouth closed the next time she goes jogging. They head back to the admit desk and Larry tells Gates he went over the files and found several spelling errors. Gates tells him that he did it to see how quickly Larry would catch them. Frank hands Gates the phone and says he is not his personal answering service. Gates takes the phone and it’s Sarah, who is in the waiting room after a visit with her grandparents. She has a new cell phone, courtesy of Grandma and grandpa, so they can keep in closer touch with her and have it for emergencies, etc. etc. etc. She is full of talk about her time with them and he asks if she would like to spend more time with them…like maybe live with them. Sarah looks at him and then says her school is her, her friends, him…why would she want to do that? He smiles, shrugs and says he is going to get his stuff so they can go home.

Neela is watching through the door of Mary’s trauma room as they use internal paddles on her heart. Mae Lee is having trouble tying off a stitch and Dubenko takes over. Neela eases in, watches and then slips into Derek’s room. Morris and Ray are in a panic but Dubenko stops it and tells Ray to call it. Derek begins to cry.

Dubenko pushes his way out of the trauma room and Neela chases after him. She tells him that what they were doing was way beyond a 4th year medical students’ abilities. They stop at the elevator and argue. Neela asks him if all of this is because of Manish? Dubenko stops her and tells her that he can’t make surgical decisions based on his person….. He stops and looks at her. Neela’s mouth drops open. He stumbles and says they both know that poor woman didn’t die because Mae Lee was there and not her. The elevator opens and Dubenko steps in and pushes the buttons to close the door. Oops….Neela has another pending romantic interest. Some girls have ALL the luck!

Abby and her helicopter buddy walk out of the ambulance bay doors together and she tells him all of his tests were good and his x-rays clear. She is giving him a few meds for sinusitis (sp) and an inhaler. Everything is fine…for now. He wonders how many of the people that worked there are walking time bombs? She tells him that maybe now he will tell his wife….and she walks away.

Cut to Derek as he caresses Mary’s head and Neela and ray enter their trauma room. They ask if there is anyone they can call. He tells them no…that it was just the two of them and they liked it like that. Just the two of them on the road for days at a time in their big rig. Neela says it must be nice to spend so much time with someone they loved and Ray shifts uncomfortably. Derek said that she would read the maps for him but today was going to be different. The rain made her sleepy so he told her to take a nap. He was sure which exit to take. But the sign wasn’t the sign. He wanted so much to do it. He wanted to read it himself. He wanted to read. Ray is aghast that he doesn’t know how to read. In college he was just passed along because he could play football. He breaks down and cries.

Cut to Sarah and Gates having dinner together. They are clearing the table and he calls her back to talk to her. He tells her that her mom told him that he was her father. Sarah doesn’t believe him. He says that they can take a paternity test to be sure. She is very angry. Tells him that it’s a lie. That he is lying to her just like her mother did. She wants to know if it has to do with going to live with her grandparents. She doesn’t want him to be her dad so she is not taking his test. She runs out of the room and slams the door.

Cut to Abby and Luka leaning over a bar at Ike’s. It’s loud and rowdy. Abby says that Morris might have something. Maybe they should go someplace exotic to get married….like the beach or the mountains…or they could go to Croatia. Luka says that no one from work would be there. Abby gestures to the end of the bar where Morris and Hope are sucking on lemons and tossing drinks down like fools. “Would that be sooo bad?” Abby asks. Luka covers his face with his hand and then they both head over to talk to Morris and Hope. Luka tells them that they really appreciate their interest in their engagement….. Hope immediately flips out about ‘a wedding!’ and Abby barks out her name. She stops immediately and sobers up. Abby tells them they appreciate all of their planning but it’s borderline obsessive and they want them to stop. Not to talk to anyone about it…not them…not anyone. Morris looks crestfallen and says ‘well, if that’s what you want…” Abby and Luka both say, “we do!”

Sam and Chuny walk into the bar and everyone turns to them. Hope hands Sam a beer and then raises a toast to her. Everyone cheers. Neela and ray are huddled over the juke box and he is moaning about her choice of KC and the Sunshine Band’s ‘Get Down Tonight’. They have a conversation about awkwardness and pretending not to be awkward. She tells him there is a lot of stuff going on and she needs time to figure it out. He tells her he was there once before and it didn’t work out to well for him. She promises that it won’t take long. The music starts and she shrieks that it’s B-10 and drags him toward the dance floor. Sam is sitting at a table with frank and looks up as her cell phone rings. She races out of the bar to take the call. It’s Alex.

Cut to Gates sitting alone at the kitchen table. Sarah opens the door and joins him. She asks him that if his test turns out that he is her father can she stay in Chicago with him. He tells her yes. She asks if the test will hurt and he explains how it is done and what will happen. She wants reassurance that nothing will change until they know for sure. He tells her nothing will change. She sits across from him at the table and they both swab the inside of their cheeks.


Cut back to Sam outside the bar. She is hearing the words she wants to hear. She tells him she is coming to see him on the weekend. They exchange ‘I miss yours’ and ‘I love yours’ before he has to hang up. Aww. She hangs up with a smile and her eyes glisten with tears.

Back inside the bar a wild and rowdy party is going on. The camera swings past Chuny, Hope, Neela, Ray and others on the dance floor….and Abby and Luka slow dancing together. Then it lands on Frank and Larry and Morris at a gift laden table. Frank is going over Larry’s history. He has a law degree and is now going to med school. Larry says that corporate law wasn’t for him. He wasn’t helping anyone. He needed to be where the action is. Frank and Morris exchange aghast glances. Sam swings by and drops her sweater on the table. She tells them to get up on the dance floor and Frank says no. Sam grabs Larry’s hand and drags him up with her. Morris picks up Sam’s camera and fiddles with it as he peers through the viewfinder. Frank muses that ‘Times like these…seeing all these young people together….makes me fear for the future of mankind.” Hee…. Camera flashes on wildly dancing patrons with a laughing, happy and – tonight - very beautiful Linda Cardellini in the center of it all.

Reviewed by Lynda Foote on July 01, 2007

NBC Review

LIVE LIKE YOU ARE DYING--ANNABELLA SCIORRA ("LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT") GUEST STARS -- Sam (Linda Cardellini) and Morris (Scott Grimes) are caught off guard when a photographer (guest star Annabella Sciorra) comes into the ER snapping photos alongside a terminally ill patient. Neela (Parminder Nagra) continues to feel upstaged by the new surgical intern that seems to be Dr. Dubenko's (Leland Orser) new favorite. Meanwhile, it is Sam's birthday (Linda Cardellini) and all she can think about is Alex (Dominic Janes).

TV Guide Review

April 12, 2007: Photographs and Memories:

Sam finds it hard to be away from Alex on her birthday, plus she has to contend with an intrusive photographer (Annabella Sciorra) taking pictures of a terminal patient; Dubenko's new surgical intern unsettles Neela, who is no longer the star of the surgical service.