B.J. is looking up at the kite in the sky, listening to his daughter's laughter. "Do you want to try, sweetie?" he asks her, and she nods her head emphatically. He hands the spool of string over to her, saying, "Hold on tight, now. Be careful. I'm right here, so if you get into trouble, just let me know."
He watches as Erin flies the kite. Her face looks positively angelic as she gazes up at it in the sky, and every now and then she lets out the cutest little giggle. He's so happy to be back home with his family… he'd been away forever, it seems.
As if she's reading his mind, Erin looks at him and says, "You missed my childhood."
He's puzzled by that and not sure how to respond. A dog runs by, barking, and that distracts him for a moment. When he refocuses on his daughter, he gasps and stumbles backward. All of a sudden she's a teenager, probably 14 or 15… her hair long and curly, her teeth in braces, her chin sporting a small patch of acne. She's still looking up at the kite, which is flying high in the breeze, but now her expression is very serious and intense, as if she's doing trigonometry homework instead of playing.
"Erin?" he asks with an unsteady voice. "Is that you?" But he knows that it is. Somehow she's aged more than 10 years in the blink of an eye.
"Daddy," she says, but she doesn't take her eyes off the kite. "You have a problem."
"What problem?" He's getting panicky now, worried that she's going to give him bad news about herself or her mother. He can feel his chest tightening with anxiety. "Erin?"
Still not looking his way, she says, "A shooting. You need to stop it. Lots of people will get hurt, unless you stop it."
Frantic, B.J. whirls around, his eyes scanning the park, looking for someone with a gun, or just anyone who appears dangerous. "Here?" he asks her as he turns and turns and turns. "Do you mean here in the park?"
"Daddy… incoming wounded! We've got ambulances in the compound and choppers on the way!"
The P.A. announcement pierces B.J.'s dream and he bolts up in his cot. He doesn't stop to figure out the dream he just had… there's no time. He grabs his bathrobe and throws it on as he runs out the Swamp door to the OR.