Mark Greene grunted loudly at the computer at the Admit desk. "Jerry, what's going on with this computer? Can we get the old system back?" he snapped at the desk clerk, Jerry.

Jerry shrugged, walking over to Mark's side as he looked on the computer. "Sorry, it's Weaver's idea. Let me take a look." Jerry stepped in front of the keyboard to punch in a few keys.

"It's Kerry's idea?" Mark said, looking at the screen. "Every time Kerry has an idea, I just want to take that woman's crutch and –"

"And what, Mark?" Kerry Weaver asked, who came standing by his side. Mark looked at her and quickly pulled himself together.

"Kerry, I cannot figure out this new system," he told her. "Look at this. You have all of the colors all over the place, all these different boxes and the patients' names are all over the place. Can we have our board back?"

Kerry put on her glasses she had hanging around her neck. "Mark, I told you that the board takes up much room in this area and we need to make a lot of changes to make space now that we have a change in staff with Dr. Del Amico here with us. And with Morgenstern out with a heart attack, I'm in charge of this hospital. This is a busy hospital and patients come in and out complaining about how much time we take to make them wait and that is because we're completely unorganized."

"When is Morgenstern coming back?"

"I don't know." Mark sighed, turning back to the computer screen. Kerry looked down at some papers she had in her hand. "While you're here, here." She handed him some papers.

"What the hell are these?" Mark asked.

"There will be a national conference for Emergency physicians next week in Las Vegas. These are papers of information about the conference, the schedule of seminars and workshops etc… I need an Emergency physician to go attend to represent our hospital."

"I can't, Kerry," Mark said, handing her back the papers.

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"Not good enough, I need for you to go," Kerry said, giving the papers back to Mark stepping away from him.

"Why don't you go?"

Kerry turned back towards Mark. "Did you hear what I said? I just said that I'm in charge of this hospital so I have to stay here in this hellhole until Morgenstern recovers. Don't worry, Doug Ross is going, too."

"Doug Ross?"

"Yes, he's going for the Peds of this department. I already talked to him and he's going."

Kerry walked away then Jerry tapped on the desk. Mark looked back behind him at the computer and Jerry. "Anything, Jerry?"

Jerry shook his head. "Nah, I'll have to get maintenance to come down here. It could take about an hour."

Mark tore up a piece of paper that Kerry had given him. "Forget it, Jer. I'm going to get that board back," he said, tossing the papers in the trash and exiting the Admit area.

"So, you going to miss me?" Doug Ross asked in the drug lock-up, while sitting with Nurse Carol Hathaway.

Carol was packing a few medical boxes and supplying the shelters of medications. "Of course I will but you'll be gone for a week."

"I know, it's a long time. I promise to call every night."

Carol stopped packing and looked at Doug. "Every day, too?"

"Every day and night." Doug and Carol moved in closer.

"How about every afternoon?"

"Every morning, every afternoon, every night." They kept moving closer.

"How about every hour?"

"How about every minute?"

"How about every second?"

"How about I skip the conference and I stay with you?"

"Oh that sounds good," Carol said with a smile as she leaned more for a kiss and Doug chuckled.

They kissed for a minute then Carol moved back to keep packing the boxes. "So you're representing the Peds here in the ER?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am. Mark's coming along."

Carol looked at him. "He is? He didn't say anything about it." She looked back at the medical shelves.

"Well, he didn't know anything about it yet. Kerry told me that she was going to send him instead of herself. Someone has to hang out here while Morgenstern is out."

"Sounds like Kerry didn't give him a choice," she said, stacking a few bottles on the shelters.

"Since when does Weaver give anyone a choice? I'm going to go find Mark." Doug got himself off his seat. "Lunch?"

"Sounds great."

"Alright, I'll see you then." Doug kissed her then stepped out of the drug lock-up. Upon leaving, he spotted Mark, glancing at an x-ray film.

"Hey, you gonna talk to him?" Carol asked him.

Doug turned around, glancing at Carol and scratching his earlobe. "Who? About what?"

"Mark. He's been having it pretty rough. I thought that trip to San Diego helped."

Doug moved closer to her again. "Yeah, it did but it's still hard for him. He and Cynthia just broke up."

"Well, maybe he should go to that conference. That should get his mind off things."

"Yeah, it should. I'll see you later. Lunch!" Doug said, walking away.

"Ok!" Carol put the cardboard box on the floor with a sigh, tiredly.

Doug scratched his earlobe again, approaching Mark, who was still staring at the film. "Hey, Mark? How about Vegas?"

Mark glanced at Doug quickly. "I don't gamble. You interested in going?" He removed the film from the light box.

Doug looked at him with surprise. "Weaver didn't tell you about Las Vegas?"

"Oh that crappy conference? Yeah, she told me." Mark started moving the films around on the counter.

"So how about it? You going?"

"Do I really have a choice?"

"I don't. If I don't, you don't either."

Mark finally looked back at Doug again and grinned weakly. "Is that how it works?"

Doug reached out to put a hand around Mark's shoulder. "Come on, it'll be fun. We had fun going to California, didn't we?"

Mark shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, sure. But that was California. This is work."

"So we'll make it fun. At night, we can trash hotel rooms, play the slots, check out all the showgirls. Girls, Mark!"

Mark looked at Doug and behind him quickly. "You sure about the girls? What does Carol say?"

"Hey, keep it down. No one but you knows about me and Carol yet."

"You gonna tell anyone?"

"Not right now."

Mark stuffed the films back into the brown envelope. "Hey, I got an idea."

"What?"

"You and Carol go. We don't tell Weaver, I'll hide at home for a week and you go to Vegas with Carol and I don't know… get hitched!"

Mark stepped away from the counter with Doug following him. "Sounds great but I don't think a quick wedding is something Carol has in mind. What would we tell the staff when we got back?"

Mark and Doug arrived to the door of Exam 3. Mark shrugged. "It's Vegas, right?"

"Yeah."

"Lots of alcohol going around. Tell them you got drunk."

Doug chuckled. "You're a big help."

Mark nodded with a weak grin. "Yeah, I am. Anytime, Buddy."

"Come on, how about it?"

Mark pressed his back against the door and paused. He nodded. "Alright, fine. If it'll make you happy."

"Trust me, it'll make the both of us happy. You gotta get your mind of things. We'll make it fun."

"You serious about trashing hotel rooms?"

Doug shrugged. "Why not? You know how to do that."

Mark didn't remember ever trashing a hotel room, not even one that he stayed in with Doug in California. "What do you mean?"

"You know how to trash a hospital lounge."

Mark sighed, leaning his head back against the door as he looked away from Doug. "Yeah, not my proudest moment." Doug and Mark paused for a second before Mark spoke as he lifted his head from the door. "Alright, we'll talk Vegas later. I gotta break the news to this guy."

"Ok. How about a beer tonight? We'll plan Vegas!" Doug exclaimed, starting to walk down the hall.

Mark nodded. "Sounds good!" he said pushing the door open to Exam 3.

Doug headed down the hall just when a young, blonde doctor ran towards him. "Hey, Dr. Ross?"

"Hmm?" Doug replied.

"I got a kid in curtain 4, who's vomiting blood. He's tachy at 120 and pulse is dropping!"

Doug started running down the hall with the doctor. He spotted Carol coming out the drug lock-up. "Carol! We need a nurse in curtain 4. Del Amico got a kid vomiting blood!"

Mark leaned his head back on his plane seat, closing his eyes. He waited for Doug to return to his seat from the bathroom. When Doug returned, Mark opened his eyes as Doug plopped into his seat. "Ok, I – Ow…" Doug moaned, reaching behind his back.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked.

Doug lifted himself up and pulled a cell phone out of his pants pocket. "Almost sat on my phone."

"I thought you put that away?" Mark asked, straightening out their little whiskey bottles they had on their tables in front of them.

"No, I just turned the phone off."

"You didn't call Carol in there, did you?"

Doug looked at Mark before answering. "No…." he said with a grin.

Mark stared back at Doug, knowing he was lying.

Doug rolled his eyes. "Just for a few minutes! You should know about that. When you're in love with a beautiful woman, you have to call her every chance. Sometimes you gotta break the rules."

Mark shook his head. "I wouldn't know anymore. I'm divorced and now I'm going through a break-up," Mark replied, opening up the whiskey bottle and gulping it down.

"Hey easy on the whiskey, pal!"

"Oh, sorry. You want some?"

"No, that's not your first one," Doug commented, opening up another bottle for himself.

"And what are you doing?"

"Celebrating!"

Mark sighed, closing up the bottle. "What's to celebrate?"

"Life! Vegas, girls, being in love, our jobs. Oh, and that lawyer friend of yours got that Chris Law civil suit thrown out the window. What's not to celebrate?" Doug said, dreamily with a smile and leaning his head back in his seat.

"I've been to Vegas, I've had girls, been in love and still have my job after trashing that lounge. Trust me, it is not that big a deal."

Doug looked at Mark after taking a sip of the whiskey. "Oh, you're just a joy to be around, Mark," Doug said sarcastically. "We're in Vegas and you still got a job. Stop complaining."

Mark sighed. "Alright…"

Mark looked out his window to see the clouds. The sky was a light orange as the sun was about to come down the horizontal line of clouds. Mark was heading to Las Vegas with Doug but he was not having the time of his life. He didn't feel he was going to have the time in his life once they got to Vegas. All he thought about was Cynthia Hooper, Chris Law and getting a heck of a brutal beating in the men's restroom. He looked down in his lap then his hand. The sharp pain was gone but his fingers still tingle sometimes. It could take more months before he could stop feeling the tingling. His mind ran through the day he was attacked. Chris Law was his only suspect but the police did their investigation and concluded that Chris had an alibi, even though he threatened Mark in the parking garage one day. Mark could not imagine who else could be angry enough to attack him. Every day, patients come into the E.R., agitated and frustrated. Mark understood the feeling and Kerry's reason for changing the system in the hospital but he could never imagine that someone would do the unthinkable in a place that was supposed to be one of the safest places on Earth. To this day, he was still convinced that it was Chris Law who attacked him.

The past six months have been the worst for Mark. He's been divorced for a little over a year now and he was still not interested in going to Vegas and finding all the attractive showgirls on stage like the next man would be. He and Cynthia Hooper had just broken up. After his attack, Mark met Cynthia and it was easy to talk to her than it was to talk to anyone close to him, including Doug. He talked to her about the attack and everything that went on with the police afterwards and Cynthia was there, listening to him. Cynthia and Mark had a good time but there was clearly no chemistry. It was just a fling that Mark was using to cope with his love life after the divorce and his attack. He didn't like to be alone and held on to Cynthia's side until he realized that he was not in love with Cynthia. He soon realized it when he found out something he didn't know from the beginning…. Cynthia was a mother to a five year old boy. Growing up, Mark had a father who was in the Navy and he moved around a lot as an only child with his family. He and his father weren't close and would often have disagreements, most recently over how his mother should be cared for her as her health started to go downhill. He was closer to his mother and he had been in San Diego trying to rekindle his relationship with his father without much success. He grew up without a very stable home and a father who spent a lot of time on the naval base. As he was in medical school, love was very important to him. He met his first love, Jen, and married her and soon had a baby. After his attack, Jen threatened to take their daughter, Rachel, away from him because of his reckless behavior affecting Rachel and her schoolwork. Mark took the divorce pretty rough for a while until he realized his love for another woman…. Susan Lewis.

Susan Lewis was the woman he was in love with but at first, they were very close friends. Susan was a med student at Cook County General and Mark was her teacher and mentor until she started her residency at the hospital. They were always able to talk and be in good company with each other. All of this started to change slowly when Mark was separated from Jen and Susan spent a year almost fully focusing on her niece, Little Suzie. From that point, they didn't talk so much to each other anymore. After Susan had to give up Little Suzie and his divorce was final, Mark had hopes that Susan would stay at County longer when she had a chance to become Chief Resident. To Mark's surprise, Susan turned it down but she wasn't leaving yet. Mark felt closer to Susan after she confided to him that she had "nothing" now that Little Suzie was gone. Suddenly, he realized that he probably couldn't live without Susan and he just fell in love with her. Susan never really returned his feelings but he was so consumed in them, he didn't think about exactly how Susan might feel about him. He felt like a schoolboy infatuated with another girl in school. After Susan left Chicago to live in Phoenix, Mark spent weeks in misery with a broken heart but that took time to fade slowly. She was all he could think about until he found himself in the men's room, covered with bruises and blood. Since she left, Mark and Susan exchanged no more than a few e-mails, called once or twice but all of this stopped when Mark was attacked. His life changed at that moment. What Susan must be thinking when she never heard from him again! As far as he knew, she was completely unaware of Mark's attack.

Mark was nearly asleep as he felt a bump on the plane. His eyes opened more as he turned his head. "Well! Here we are! Vegas!" Doug exclaimed next to him, who took his coat and slung it over his arm and started grabbing his bag. Already? It must've been at least a couple of hours since Doug returned to his seat after talking to Carol. Mark looked at his watch. 5:45p.m.

Doug looked over at Mark. "Dinner?" he asked.

Mark grunted, tiredly and stretched his arms with a nod. "Sure." The plane came to a halt at the gate and people stood up to start gathering their belongings. Chattering in the back rang in Mark's ears. "I hope the hotel has a good restaurant."

Doug glanced at Mark in amusement. "What, are you kidding? You want to eat in a hotel in Las Vegas?"

"I'm kinda tired, Doug."

"You're also a pain in the ass," Doug quipped. The two men stood up from their seats after grabbing their belongings and made their way off the airplane. Upon arriving inside the airport, they turned around a corner to find the baggage claim. While Doug spotted a luggage bag of theirs on the carousel, Mark glanced around the airport, waiting for Doug and suddenly…. he squinted his eyes on a woman he saw across the baggage claim area. Could it be? He leered at her longer and recognized the face. A face that resembled someone familiar… Susan Lewis. He couldn't believe it! Was Susan really here in Las Vegas? After all, they were there in town for a conference attended by physicians all over the country. At that time, Susan should be an attending for the first time. The woman he saw smiled at a man she was talking to. Mark sighed. What if it was really Susan and what if it was a boyfriend? Maybe it was a colleague. She was talking to the man as she looked past him, looking for a luggage. Mark shook his head. Susan may be an attending but it would be her first year. Would her hospital in Phoenix send her to this kind of conference this soon? Susan was always laid back and not the one to take charge like Mark was. Mark could be dreaming. Maybe it wasn't Susan. Before he could get a closer look, the woman walked away with a luggage so he could no longer see her face.

As Mark and Doug collected their luggage after taking the elevator to the second floor, they arrived to the exit of the airport, waiting for a cab. Mark and Doug parked their luggage besides them as they sat on the side of the building. As Doug straightened up one of the luggage bags, Mark glanced around the parking lot. "Busy place," he commented.

Doug looked up at his friend. "It's Vegas, what'd you expect?"

"I don't know."

Doug cleared his throat and sighed. "Come on, how about dinner?"

"I'm not really hungry, Doug," Mark said, still looking out in the parking lot. He had Susan on her mind and in a way, he was hoping he'd see her in the parking lot.

"Are you going to be like this all week?"

Mark finally looked at Doug. "What?"

"What do you mean, what? You hardly pay attention to what anyone say to you, you're just standing around in the baggage claim and making me get all the bags, you don't want to go out in the city for dinner and you complained about the pretzels on the plane."

Mark shrugged. "The pretzels were ok. They weren't salty enough."

"You're a doctor, you know salt's not good for you."

"Still…."

Doug looked out in front of him. "I invited you for dinner in the city. A lot of tourists would kill to be in one of the biggest places in the world. There are casinos and beautiful night lights all over the town and you would rather eat in our hotel."

Mark paused. Doug was right. Mark wasn't already enjoying his trip to one of the most wonderful towns in the world. There were millions of places and things to see and he wasn't showing any interest at all. "You're right, Doug. I'm sorry…" He patted a hand on Doug's back. "I'm just…." Mark searched for the words.

"I know it's hard breaking up with Cynthia. I know the past six months have been hard and I know you're worried about your mom. It's time to move on, Mark. Your friend took care of that suit with Chris Law and you did everything you could in your power to make this go away and you can't keep on dwelling on someone who did something horrible to you or you're letting him run your life. You just can't do that. We're here in Las Vegas. It's our first night here before the conference in the morning so what do you say we try to enjoy it?"

Looking down in his lap, Mark sighed and heard a cab car pull up. Both men looked up at the yellow cab. "New York, New York," Mark said.

Doug looked at Mark, reaching for a luggage bag. "What?"

"I've been living in Chicago for a long time and I don't go to New York hardly ever. It's right across the street from our hotel and sounds like a great place to hit the slots for a couple of hours. We could have dinner there."

Doug picked up the luggage and slapped Mark's back with a smile. "Now you're talking!"