Chapter Twelve: Moving On
"Finn!" Rachel said in the middle of the night, waking up from sleep. "Wake up."
"What's going on?" he asked, still half asleep.
"I'm starving. Will you get me food?"
Finn blinked a few times and looked at the clock on his phone. "Rach, it's noon. We don't have to be up for a few more hours. Can it wait?"
Rachel's eyes narrowed and she lightly smacked him on the arm. "Did you really just say that. To me, the mother of your child and your girlfriend?"
Finn groaned into his pillow. "Sorry babe. What are you hungry for?"
"Much better. But, do you think you could go get me a milkshake from the one place and mac and cheese from the other place?"
"Rach, I'm gonna need more descriptive words than that."
"Finn! Seriously, why don't you pay attention? I've told you what I like five times in the last week. How can you not remember that?" She got out of bed and fished some clothes out from one of the drawers. "I might as well go get it myself since you have no clue what I want."
"Sorry," he said, already planning on going back to sleep.
Later that day, Finn was walking the hospital with someone before the shift started. "That was a brutal work out. I've not been hit that hard in a long time."
"It was great for me. I can never kick your ass enough, Hudson."
"Oh, yeah? Hey, Rach, this is Smalls aka Colonel Elwood Green, my group therapy MMA leader/torturer," Finn said, noticing Rachel walking by, looking at something on one of the iPads. "This – this is Rachel."
"Whoa," Smalls said. "How'd you end up with him?"
Rachel laughed. "He got lucky I guess," she said, smiling at Finn.
"Rachel!" Nurse Molly said. "I was looking for you. You have a call."
Rachel sighed. "It was nice to meet you," she said as she walked off.
"Smalls, the Skype video call is ready," Puck said. "Showtime."
"What? What's this all about?" Finn asked as Smalls started heading into the break room.
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," he said. "A little patience, Hudson."
At the nurses' station, Rachel hung up her phone call when Santana came into the hospital. "Rachel!"
"What's going on?"
"Nine-year-old boy, Ethan. He has a temperature of 101," Santana said.
"He is burning up and I'm fever concerned about his fever. It hasn't gone down," Ethan's mother said as Rachel looked at the paperwork Santana handed her.
"Mrs. Edwards, this is Doctor Berry," Santana said.
"So, he's fine one minute and then the next, it's…you need to help him," Mrs. Edwards said.
"Okay. We are going to examine Ethan but just so you know, it's very common for children to have fevers," Rachel said, pulling the gurney down one of the hallways. "He probably just has a virus or something."
"I am not concerned about other people's children. I'm concerned about mine so please tend to him."
"Artie, hi," Rachel said as she stopped walking. Would you takes this young man into peds please?"
"Sure, what seems to be the issue?" he asked.
"He has a raging fever of 101," his mom said.
"I will be with you shortly," Rachel promised. "In the meantime, I'm going to need you to fill out some paperwork with one of our nurses here. Molly, could you help Mrs. Edwards please?"
Rachel and Santana watched Molly lead her away as Rachel turned to face her best friend. "911 for a fever?"
"You should have seen her back at their house. I told her this isn't why you call 911 but she wasn't having it. She's a helicopter mom. So I figured I'd just save another crew a trip, you know?" Santana said.
"We just have a few moments for this, but Smalls has a big surprise for us," Puck said, walking into the break room.
"I wanted to thank all of you for the volunteer work you've been doing on the mobile vet centers, but I got outranked. There's somebody else here today that would like to do that," Smalls said as Finn followed him into the break room. Smalls nodded at the people who were setting up a video feed in the corner and they turned it on. The doctors turned their attention to the TV. "It's all yours, ladies," Smalls said.
"Thank you, Smalls," First Lady Michelle Obama said. "Hello San Antonio Memorial night shift."
Everyone gasped and stood up a little straighter. They couldn't believe Michelle Obama and Doctor Jill Biden were talking to them through a video feed.
"How are you doing?" she asked. Everyone nodded and a few peopled cheered. "Well, I know you all are busy and about to start your shift, but Jill and I wanted to personally thank you for everything you're doing to serve this community."
"Just from a show of hands, how many of you are veterans or married to veterans?" Jill Biden asked. Many of the staff raised their hands.
"Outstanding," Michelle said. "And by the way, we heard from Smalls about the terrific work you're doing with our veterans. Let me tell you, we're grateful to you for encouraging your veteran patients and their families to go to vet centers."
"We're so glad that, if they need it, the San Antonio veteran community can get the free counseling and support they have earned."
"We're big believers in counseling," Puck said. "And know how much it can help," he said, looking over at Finn.
"Well, we're both so proud of all of you for being a driving force behind this work so thanks again. Keep up the great work and now we're going to let you get started with your shift. Take it easy," Michelle said as her and Jill waved to the staff.
"Finn," Molly said, coming into the break room. "There's been an accident at a construction site. They need you there stat."
"On it," he said as he walked out of the break room.
Puck turned to Smalls. "Thanks for arranging that. It's a huge thrill. And thanks for helping Finn in group. It's made a big difference for him."
"You know, he still has some things to work through but he'll get there."
Artie pulled back the curtain to Ethan's exam room. "So, your fever still hasn't broken so we're gonna give you some more—"
"Where's my mom?"
"She's with Doctor Berry."
"I want to see her now."
"Ethan, it's alright," Artie said.
"No, it's not alright. I need to see her."
"Okay, well, I'll bring her to you? Okay? But, listen to me, I need you to pee for me."
"I told you I don't have to go. I want my mom."
"Okay," Artie sighed.
In the hallway, Sam caught up with Kurt. "So, Brody's still on leave, huh?"
"Yeah, for another day. The family's getting ready to sue him. And to make matters worse, the DA's considering to charge him with reckless driving."
"I just talked to him and he's a total mess," Mercedes said. "He feels terrible about the kid."
Jesse walked up to the nurses' station and shuddered. "I just examined a teenager who was wearing a necklace made of squirrel parts. He had it all chained together as necklace," he said as Kurt started laughing. "He wanted to know if it would give him AIDS. Kinda freaky, huh?"
"I don't know," Mercedes said. "On a full-moon Saturday night? That's nothing. It's gonna get a lot freakier tonight."
"Yeah, that might be the most conventional thing you see tonight," Kurt said.
"I thought all this full moon crazy stuff—"
"I don't care what the research says, okay? My experience tells me it's gonna get nuts in here."
"You know, it sounds like we have the makings of a bet tonight," Sam said. "Okay, how about this? You three, 100 bucks a pop, weirdest case, winner take all?"
The three of them looked at each other and nodded.
"Okay, I'm the judge," Sam said, writing their names on the dry erase board. "Weirdest case, 10 points, one point for the least. Whoever has the weirdest case by the morning takes the pot and bragging rights. Good luck to you all."
Finn rode up to a construction site accident on his bike. "You the doc?" one of the workers asked.
"Yeah. What's going on?"
"The equipment collapsed and landed on Carlos. The paramedics just took him away. We have another one that we tried to get to him but he's pinned under the pipes."
Finn walked over to where he was. "I'm Doctor Hudson, I'm gonna help you."
"How's Carlos? Is he okay?" he asked.
"It's serious, he's being transferred to the hospital. Hold still for me," Finn said as he put gloves on. He turned to the other construction workers. "We need to get this off him. You boys ready?" They nodded and helped Finn move the scaffold.
Finn moved the guy's leg out of the way and they set the scaffold back down. "This could have been much worse," Finn said, looking at his leg. "You have an open fracture and a dislocated ankle. I need to reset the ankle and get blood flow back into your foot or you could lose it."
"Do what you gotta do."
"Okay, let me get you some pain meds," he said, rummaging through the bag to find them.
"No! I can't have any," he said.
"You in recovery?"
"No, I'm on parole. I have anything in my system, they're gonna send me back."
"It's cool. I'll call your parole officer and it won't be a problem."
"Yeah, and if you forget, I'm back in the joint. Like I said, you just do whatever you gotta do."
Finn shrugged. "Okay. You ready for this?" He nodded. "On three. One. Three," Finn said, twisting the ankle back into place.
Back at the hospital, Mrs. Edwards was badgering Rachel and Artie. "I'm telling you, one minute he's fine and the next he is burning up."
"Well, we're going to run some tests and we've started him on fluids," Rachel said, putting her stethoscope back around her neck.
"I'm actually feeling better, Mom," Ethan said.
"Temp's still hovering around 101," Artie said.
"Well, that's not better. That's the same. Baby, you may think you're feeling better but you're not."
"Ethan, can you tell us where else you're feeling some discomfort?" Rachel asked him.
"Kind of feel like I have a—"
"He's got headaches," his mom said, finishing for him. "He also has this sort of sweating that's happening—"
"Mrs. Edwards, I think it would be best if Ethan could answer these questions."
"Well, he tells me everything. And I really don't want to t-tax…" Mrs. Edwards said as she started to trail off. She fell and hit her head on the paper towel dispenser.
"Are you alright?" Rachel asked, catching her before she could hit the floor. Artie came around the other side of Ethan's bed to get her other side. "Let's get you seated," she said, guiding her towards the chairs.
"Are you okay?" Ethan asked.
"I'm fine."
"Mrs. Edwards, I need to do an exam on you," Rachel said, grabbing her mini flashlight from her scrubs top.
In the lobby, Finn was coming back with the construction site victim. "Male, 40s, ankle fracture. I'm taking him to trauma two."
"Where's Carlos? How's he doing? You gotta find out for me?" he asked as Sam came over to help Finn.
"Sam?"
"Sorry brother. He didn't make it," Sam said. "Doctor Puckerman's talking to his wife now."
"Lois," he said as they walked by Carlos' wife, "I tried to do everything to help him. I did! I tried! You gotta explain it to her. I tried to help him. I was there," he said as they took him into his trauma room.
At the nurses' station, Mrs. Edwards was talking to Rachel. "I didn't want to talk in front of Ethan, but I'm very sorry we got off on the wrong foot."
"That's okay," Rachel said. "Mrs. Edwards, is there something going on that I should know about?"
"No. Well, there's always something going on with me. I just have a very high-stress, very high-strung personality. My doctor has me on Xanax and I've been trying to get off it. So, I guess, lesson learned."
"Well, that shouldn't cause fainting," Rachel said.
"I didn't faint. I was dizzy and I lost my balance. I have vertigo. I was in a car accident several years ago and it's one of the residual effects. That and the eye thing. I'm just a bit of a mess."
"Well, thanks for telling me all of that. You did take a pretty big shot to the head so I would like to get a scan."
"Oh no. God no. I'm fine. But if you would just look after my son."
"We will. Doctor Abrams is going to run all the tests on Ethan and we will get his fever down—"
"Okay. I'm just gonna email my husband first. He's on a plane and he touches down in 90 minutes."
"It's okay. Take your time," Rachel said as she walked away.
Finn started working on the fractured ankle in the trauma room. "Man, I can't believe Carlos is dead. It's not right."
"You guys close?" Finn asked.
"Gonna be. Met him a month and a half ago at church. He got me the job. Really stuck his neck out for me because I can tell you, most places, they don't want to take on ex-cons."
"I can imagine," Finn said. "How long were you in for?"
"16 years. I just got out three months ago. And I didn't kill anybody, if that's what you were wondering."
Finn shook his head. "I wasn't."
"Well, a lot of people do wonder. They get scared when they find out somebody's been to prison. Think I'm some kind of killer."
The door opened and Puck came in. "Excuse me, Finn? When you have a second—"
"Weren't you Carlos' doctor?"
"Uh, yes. Yes I was."
"So did he suffer?"
"I'm sorry, sir. He was DOA at the site. We did everything we could. Would you like to talk to his wife, Lois? She's still here."
"No," he said quietly.
"Sorry, what was—"
"I said no! I don't want to talk to her, okay? She just lost her husband. So I'm sorry, but I just—" He turned and faced Finn. "Can you just give me a minute?"
"Of course," Finn said, scooting the chair back before he left the trauma room.
"Sorry, but the reason I came in is that Ali's been moved up the transplant list," Puck said. "The embassy in Kabul has his visa so I'm gonna tell him later and let him know."
"That's great," Finn said.
"So it looks like I'm going sooner than expected. Maybe about a week."
"Puck, I will go with you if you want," Finn said. "Just say the word."
"I know. I know you would. Rachel would kill both of us. She's already yelling at me for going."
"Ali saved your life. There's only one way you can pay him back."
Puck nodded. "I know. But wives and pregnant girlfriends don't always understand that."
"No," Finn said with a slight laugh.
"I'll go get Ali. Be back before you know it."
At the nurses' station, Kurt was showing Jesse, Mercedes and Sam something on the computers. "Wait, what is that? A tumor?" Sam asked.
"No, fortunately. Some knucklehead teen had a contest to see how many sunflower seeds he could eat," Kurt said. "So, 10 days later, ix-nay on the poo-pay, no bowel movement so his parents brought him in."
"Not bad," Sam said.
"Please. I just pulled a cockroach out of a patient's ear," Mercedes said.
"Who cares? That's nothing."
"Oh, then he ate it," Mercedes said.
"Now that's something," Sam said. "Okay, six points for Mercedes, five and a half for Kurt and my good friend Jesse is still in the lead with six and a half with the squirrel necklace, my friends."
"I should get more points," Kurt protested.
"Me too," Mercedes said.
"I have ruled. Move on to your next patients," Sam said.
Rachel pushed open the doors to Ethan's exam room and was greeted by beeping monitors. "His pressure's dropping, he became altered and completely soaked himself," Artie said, giving her an update.
Rachel looked at him. "He's septic. Hang a gram of ceftrianone and bolus 300 cc of saline." She crossed the room and checked his labs on the computer. "His white count is 19,000. What did his chest and urinalysis say?"
"His chest x-ray is clear but we didn't do a urine. He wouldn't pee."
"Wouldn't or couldn't?"
"He said he didn't have to. I gave him fluids to help."
Finn pushed open the doors to radiology and wheeled his patient in. "Look, Walt, I think you may need surgery."
"Surgery? I can't have surgery. I have to work. I want to go back to work tomorrow."
"Well, that's not gonna happen because you're gonna be on crutches," Finn said, putting the brakes on the wheelchair.
"You don't understand. I can't be off that long. I'll lose my job and everything hinges on that job."
"I'm sure you'll get some workers comp or something to help you get by, right?"
"I'm not talking about getting by. I'm saving up so I can send my boy some money for college. He's graduating high school in a month and I need to show him that I've changed."
"Walt—"
"No, doc. This is not gonna happen. I'm not having surgery. I'm just gonna limp along," he said, starting to get out of his wheelchair.
"Let's just run the test and then we can—"
"No. Ow!" Walt said, crashing to the floor. "It just gave out on me."
"Yeah, I told you, your ankle's barely hanging onto your leg."
"I'm not talking about that leg. I'm talking about the other one – my good one. It just gave out on me."
"Okay, your good one? Can you feel this?" Finn asked, tapping his fingers on it.
"No."
"What about this?" he asked, putting more pressure on a different part of the his leg.
"Nothing. I can't feel anything and I can't stand up on it. What the hell is going on?"
Back in Ethan's room, he was starting to wake up. "I'm sorry!" he said, taking off his oxygen mask as he noticed they were changing his bed sheets.
"Come here, I got you," Artie said, helping him take the oxygen mask off.
"Please don't tell my mom I wet myself. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Ethan. No one's gonna be mad at you, okay?"
"But my mom will get upset. And she doesn't handle that well."
"Just curious," Rachel asked. "What does your mom do when she gets upset?"
"She just…I don't want to talk about it. I'm tired and I don't feel well." He turned to his side and fell asleep.
"That doesn't sound good," Artie whispered.
"No, it doesn't. I need to talk to the mother. I'm getting a picture here I don't like," Rachel said as she left the room.
In Walt's trauma room, Finn was trying to get to the bottom of what happened. "What about the leg weakness? When was the first time you noticed that? Is it new or is it the same as the hand weakness? I can't help you if you don't tell me."
Walt sighed. "Tonight was the first time."
"So just now?" Finn asked.
"No. If I told you something, we still have doctor-patient confidentiality, right?"
"Of course. 100 percent."
"Carlos and I…we were always playing around, you know? We were friends. And I stepped in front of him, just as a joke, as he was driving by. And I was just kidding around. And I tried to move and I couldn't. And my legs were stuck in cement. It was like I fell down and he swerved to avoid me and he ran into the scaffolding," he said as he voice cracked. "I killed him. I can't help but believe that I'm the only one who's responsible for killing my best friend."
At the nurses' station, Rachel and Artie were going over Ethan's test results. "So you're sure there's no evidence of an obstructing stone?"
"Yeah, the renal ultrasound shows the hydronephrosis but no reflux or stone," Artie said. "Have you talked to the mom about why Ethan's so afraid of her?"
"No, she went to meet her husband." The elevator doors opened and Mrs. Edwards stepped out with her husband. "Actually, here they are. Hi," Rachel said when the two of them got over to where she and Artie were standing.
"Good evening, doctors, I'm David, Ethan's father."
"They said that the antibiotics would help, so why is he getting worse?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, I just took a cab straight here. Can you catch me up?" David asked.
"Yes, we think that Ethan has a kidney infection due to a blockage but he doesn't have any of the common causes so we have him on potent antibiotics."
"And they take some time," Artie said.
"You said that hours ago," Mrs. Edwards said.
"Artie, why don't you take Mrs. Edwards in to see Ethan? I think he would like that," Rachel said, giving Artie a look. Once they left, she turned to face Mr. Edwards. "I'll fill you in. But we need to talk about your wife," Rachel said as they walked off.
At the nurses' station, Sam was tallying up the points. "Okay so Jesse is still ahead. It's been a bit of a slow night but I'm sure things will pick up after the bars close."
"They better. Because we're not losing to the noob," Mercedes said.
"That's a fact, Jack. You understand? You will not win," Kurt said.
"You two are feeling a little confident, huh? How about a little side wager," Jesse said.
"Bring it on," Mercedes said.
"Last place finisher washes the other two's cars."
"Deal," they both said at the same time.
Finn was wheeling Walt around the hospital. "You know, whatever happened out there with your leg, you couldn't control that."
"I shouldn't have been messing around."
"He was playing around too. You said you guys did it all the time," Finn said, moving him into a new room. "So it wasn't your fault."
"You're a smart man, doc, but unless you ever felt responsible for getting someone killed…"
Finn put the brakes on the chair. "I have," he muttered.
"Here?"
"Afghanistan."
"Someone close?"
"Yeah. Very."
"You don't like talking about it?"
"Nope," Finn said. "In my group."
"Good for you. I thought therapy was BS. Bunch of guys sitting around, whining. I thought it was weak."
"Me too," Finn said, moving the wheelchair once Walt was in bed. "But I was wrong."
"You know what I learned listening to all those stories about who's the toughest and the baddest?"
"That you weren't the toughest and the baddest?"
"Exactly. I thought I was tough. I wasn't tough. I was a coward. I took the easy road. You know what kind of man I am?" Walt asked. "The kind who would walk out on his kid. You got any?"
"No, not yet," Finn said, taking some of the pillows from behind his head to prop up his foot.
"Well, when you do, don't mess it up. You gotta be there for them."
"I will."
"Easier said than done. Life can pull you in way you wouldn't expect. Ow," he said when Finn hit a spot on his ankle.
"Sorry. Your ankle hurting again?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"I'll get you some ibuprofen. This'll help with the pain," Finn said, handing him a few pills and a cup of water.
Walt tried to swallow the pills and started choking. "You okay?" Finn asked.
"Sorry. I was having a problem swallowing. It happens sometimes."
"It's not the first time, right? You have this with food too?"
"Yeah. I mean, no, it's not the first time, and yeah, sometimes with food. Is that bad?"
In the break room, Puck set up a Skype chat. "Ali? Ali, can you see or hear me?" he asked. "I'm losing you."
"Puck, I can – I can hear you," he said weakly. "Let me adjust my device."
"Okay." Puck watched as he adjusted the computer and a concerned look grew on his face. "Ali, what's been happening?"
"I haven't been feeling well lately. I might have a cold or – or flu."
"Listen, I'm gonna get back to you tomorrow with…with all the details of your trip. And I'm gonna give the aid worker a list of some meds to get for you so you can feel a lot better, okay?"
"Thank you, Puck."
"I can't wait to see you, Ali, in Dubai."
"Me too."
"I miss you. Take care, okay?"
"Okay, goodbye," Ali said as the screen went blank.
Kurt, who entered the break room in the middle of the conversation came up to where Puck was sitting. "So that was Ali?"
"Yeah."
"He didn't look too good, Puck. You think he's gonna make it to Dubai?"
"Not without an LVAD to bridge him to a transplant. If he doesn't get that, he's not gonna make it," Puck said, sitting back in his chair. "He didn't realize."
Finn came into the break room and got Puck so he could try and bounce ideas off of him. "So, I think Walt's issue could be neuro, it could be from the pipe falling on him because he took a pretty good bruising on his spine."
"It could be a pre-existing problem too. Try a nerve conduction test and get a baseline to see if the wiring in his nervous system's working," Puck said.
"Good idea," Finn said, writing it down.
"After being in prison that long, he could have all sorts of issues that were never addressed."
"He's had a pretty messed up life. I gotta give him credit, though. He owns all his dumb decisions. Oh, did Smalls get back to you about whether they can take Ali to Kabul or to an American base? He is pretty well connected with the security firms."
"He's making calls, but I gotta say, I'm freaking out here because Ali's running out of time. You should have seen him. He did not look good."
"Puck, we'll just keep working our contacts. We both got calls and emails to Joey. Maybe he can get a doctors without borders team in there."
"Your lips to god's ears."
"I gotta go. My patient's in the bay," Finn said as Puck pressed a button for the elevator.
In a private area, Rachel was talking to Ethan's dad. "Yeah, she's flighty, but that's all. There is no way that she would—"
"Okay, but he was legitimately afraid of her finding out," Rachel said.
"Well, that's probably because of the bed-wetting issue."
"The bed-wetting issue?" Rachel asked. "She didn't mention anything about that."
"It's sort of a thing between them. She takes it personally because she can't solve it."
"Well, it doesn't exactly work like that."
"And then she gets upset because she feels like a failure and it's like a cycle. She's been to therapists about it."
"She did mention that she was taking some medication," Rachel said.
"She's trying. She really is. But the shrink – he says that the right medication is an art, not a science. I just travel so much for my job that I'm not there a lot and I don't really know everything that goes on."
Rachel nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Mr. Edwards, for filling in some of the blanks. We will get to the bottom of Ethan's medical problems."
"Thank you," he said.
Sam, Kurt and Jesse pulled back the curtain on one of the exam rooms and gasped. "Sir, I just need my colleagues to confirm my diagnosis," Mercedes said. "This gentleman attempted to impress his girlfriend by kissing a rattlesnake on the lips. Now, rattlesnake envenomation occurs in 75 percent of all rattlesnake bites, which means, sir, you are very lucky to be alive," Mercedes said. "Would you gentlemen concur?"
"We concur," Kurt said in a sour tone.
"Yeah, I thought you might. And if I were you, I'd get yourself a new girlfriend. But that's my advice," she whispered to her patient as the guys walked out.
"We have a new leader," Sam said. "That's definitely an eight and a half. And with Kurt's werewolf last hour, that puts you in last place, Jesse."
"I'm gonna get my car extra dirty for you," Kurt said. "My neighbor's got triplets. I'm gonna let them eat chocolate in the front seat all day. Have fun with that."
Sam started to follow Kurt before Jesse grabbed his arm. "Hold on a sec. I got 40 bucks for the next crazy patient," he said, fishing money out of his pockets.
Finn knocked on Walt's door. "Hey," he said when he opened it.
"So what is it? I can tell by the look on your face it ain't good."
"It's not great. Based off the results of your EMG and the numbness in your legs, the weakness in your hands and the difficulty swallowing and—"
"Just say it, would you?"
"You have ALS."
"Whoa. What, like that ice bucket thing?"
"Yeah, the ice bucket thing."
"So I'm gonna be laid up like this for the rest of my life? I'm not gonna be able to work?"
"The thing is, Walt, with ALS, once the symptoms start, the life expectancy is maybe one to two years and based off of your symptoms, you've probably had it awhile. I'm sorry," Finn said.
"I don't understand. I can feel my leg now. Look, I can move it. So just like maybe what you said, I hurt my spine in the fall or something?"
"Look, I wish it was, but I consulted a neurologist. We reviewed the tests and he concurred. You have ALS."
"So I was right. Carlos died because of me because I couldn't move."
"No, Walt. You couldn't help that."
"Oh yeah, I couldn't help anything, can I?" he asked, his voice rising. "All I wanted was to work, make money for my boy. The truth is, I was thinking about going up there to see him graduate."
"Maybe you can still do that," Finn said.
"Yeah, and show up empty handed after all these years. That would make a great impression. I should have swallowed my pride and told that boy every chance I had how much I loved him. But I didn't do that. And I blew it. Now…I'm never gonna be able to get that back.
In the lobby, Santana arrived from another run. "Incoming!" she called.
"Is this the one?" Jesse asked.
"Yep," Sam said.
"What happened?"
"Don't even try and guess because you never will," Santana said.
"It's all yours, Jesse," Sam said. "Go ahead and take a look."
Jesse nodded and lifted up the blankets spread across the two gurneys. "Whoa."
"Yeah. Male and female, both 30s. She just got cosmetic braces and wanted to try them out on her boyfriend, as it were, and let's just say something got caught between the tracks," Santana said.
The female patient tried to say something and her boyfriend yelled out in pain. "Stop talking! It hurts like crazy when she tries to talk. Just help. Please. I'm begging you."
"This would put me in the lead?" Jesse asked, turning to Sam.
"This would definitely put you in the lead."
Jesse nodded. "Molly! Get me a needle please."
Sam watched Jesse and Molly go tend to the patients and shook his head. He walked over to the nurses' station and started filling out some paperwork when Kurt came up to him. "Did you just…are you kidding me? You gave that to him?" Kurt asked.
"Sorry, man, you were not around. Looks like you're in last place. Not looking good for the home team."
"If you give me the next crazy patient and I'll give you 20 bucks of my winnings," Kurt said, dropping his voice to a whisper.
"Why are you whispering?"
"Because I just offered you 30 bucks to throw me a solid," Kurt said, emphasizing that he was upping his bribe money.
"You're right. 50 bucks is a lot of money to be advertising to everyone."
"What?"
"That's cash money up front."
Kurt sighed and grabbed his wallet, fishing through to see if he had the money. "Have you no morals?"
Sam smiled at his friend as he tucked the money into his pocket. "You better be taking me out with all that cash you're earning," Santana said from where she was standing.
"Why do you think I'm doing it?"
"To mess with the doctors," she said with a laugh.
"Okay, maybe. But I'm still gonna take you out. And then maybe take you down."
"Oh really?"
"Thanks for the heads up on the braces."
"Anything for my man. Whatever happened to that kid I brought in with the fever?"
"Yeah, that's gotten complicated. I think the mom may be behind it somehow. Come on, I'll walk you over."
"Okay," Santana said, gathering the paperwork she was working on.
Sam's phone went off and he grabbed it. "Got it. Eight o'clock dinner reservations Saturday night. Only me and you."
"Sounds great. Wine me, dine me, then be my dessert?"
"You drive a hard bargain. On it," he said, going back to typing something on his phone.
They rounded the corner and Santana took off running. "Sam, call security. Code gray!" she called. She grabbed Ethan's dad and pushed him against the wall.
"What are you doing to me? Let go!" he said.
"He was hurting her, I saw the whole thing," Santana said as Rachel ran over.
"What are you talking about? Who are you?"
"You had her pinned against the wall."
"What, no? He was grabbing me to hold me up," Ethan's mom said. "So that way I didn't hit the floor."
"She was dizzy and about to fall. I was helping her."
Santana turned to Sam. "Sam, help. He saw the whole thing."
"Sorry, I was looking at my phone," he said as Puck joined the commotion.
"Get her away from me," Mr. Edwards said.
"Santana, stand down and back away," Puck said.
"Mr. Edwards, I apologize. She's been under a lot of stress lately," Rachel said, giving her best friend a look.
"Fine. Whatever. Just keep her away from us. And look after our son."
"Santana, come on," Rachel said.
"I swear I saw him. I swear," she said as Rachel led her away.
Rachel led her to the locker room so they could talk. "Santana, listen to me. Lisa has vertigo, okay? She fell earlier tonight and I had to grab her too."
"I saw the look on her face. She is scared of him."
"Santana—"
"And when he grabbed her before, he was pushing her. He wasn't holding her."
"No one else saw that."
"Because no one was there. Why do you think he picked that moment?"
"And Sam?"
"Sam wasn't looking. God, Rachel, listen to me! I know what I saw. Don't you think I know an abuser when I see one?"
Rachel sniffed. "Santana. You are my best friend. Okay? You are my family and I love you. But you and I both know that you have a history of jumping the gun. And if the hospital knew that, you could be out of a job."
Santana slid down against the wall. "He's abusing her. I've never been more sure in my life."
Rachel walked over to where she was sitting. "Sweetie, listen to me. I have already called legal and protective services for Ethan, okay? Hopefully they can talk to him and get some more answers but we have to follow protocol on this," she said as the door opened and Puck walked in.
"Puck, I'm sorry. I could have handled it better," Santana said, getting up from where she was sitting.
"Yeah, you think?" he said as Rachel shot him a look. "Legal is all up my ass, they're going to call your boss and that dad is some kind of suit. You know the trouble he's gonna make."
"No because he knows that I know what he's up to—"
"Santana, we're going to talk about this later when cooler heads prevail. In the meantime, I'm gonna have to ask you to go home."
Santana sighed as the door opened again and Molly came in. "Puck, there's a call for you at the admit desk."
"See that? It's hitting the fan already," Puck said. "Just take a message for me."
"It's about Ali," Molly said. "It's long distance. Doctor Chavez."
Puck nodded and left and Rachel turned back to face Santana. "Santana, I—"
"Get out. Just get out. I don't want to look at you right now."
"Santana—"
"Get the hell out!"
Rachel wiped the tears from her eyes and left, slamming the door behind her. Once it shut, Santana broke down into tears.
Finn was sitting in the hallway slumped against the wall. It wasn't a good night for him.
"I heard you were up here," Rachel said when she left the locker room. She handed him a cup of coffee and sat across the hallway from him. "Hell of a night, huh?"
"You too?"
"I got a kid with kidney failure in the middle of a family drama whose mother may or may not be emotionally or physically abusing him. And Santana just jumped the father, thinking that he is abusing her."
"She did that?" Finn asked, taking a sip of coffee.
"Yeah. Puck had to send her home."
"You think she's right?"
"I don't know. She's been wrong before. And you know, when you love someone and you really want to believe them but you're just having a hard time?"
"I hear you."
"So what's got you slumped up against the wall?" Rachel asked, twisting to loosen her back.
"I just had to tell my patient that he has ALS. Then I had to call his family in Chicago and tell them he was a ticking clock to a slow and terrible death."
"Yeah, that's a tough call to make."
"Yeah. He was just getting it together and all of a sudden," Finn said, snapping his fingers. "You just never know. So he's talking to them now and I wanted to give him some privacy."
Rachel looked up and saw Puck walking down the hallway. "Hey Puck."
"Hey, what's up?" Finn asked.
"Hey. I was just looking for you," Puck said to Finn.
Rachel stood up. "I gotta check on Ethan and calm the parents down so I will see you at the end of the shift."
"What's going on?" Finn asked, standing up as they started to walk together.
"I just talked to Joey. There's no Doctors Without Borders personnel anywhere near Ali."
"Okay, what about Smalls? What did he find out?"
"He figured out a way to get a doctor into Afghanistan."
"That's great. Who's the doctor?" Finn asked.
"Me."
Outside, Sam and Santana were talking. "I'm – I'm trying to understand."
"I know," Santana said, looping one of her arms through his. "I know. Thank you. Thank you for not pushing me. I told you last week I had some things to work through. This is one of them."
"Well, I'm the best nurse for the job. So whenever you're ready, I'll be there."
Santana saw her cab pull up and she pressed a kiss to Sam's cheek. "I know."
Back inside the hospital, Kurt left a patient's room and heard someone screaming. He shook his head and started updating a patient's chart when Molly came up next to him. "How badly you wanna win?"
He looked up from the paperwork and turned to face her. "You know something, don't you?"
"Mmhmm. She's your ticket. But it'll cost you 50 bucks in cash."
"40."
"70," she said, driving up her price.
"What? Did you go to nursing school with Sam? Fine," he whispered, fishing out the rest of his money from his wallet.
"Come on," she said, tucking the money into her pocket.
She pulled the curtain back and Kurt stared at the patient. One of the other nurses' lifted her blanket and his eyes widened.
"A chicken?" Jesse asked a little while later. "She shoved a chicken in her—"
"Yeah. She thought it would grow into a baby," Kurt said.
"I'm not gonna eat for a month," Jesse said.
"Yeah, I called the PET team to go see her."
"Sam!" Jesse called. "I think Kurt is gonna end up winning this one."
"And I'm gonna be washing cars," Mercedes said.
Sam shook his head. "Whatever. I'm not really thinking about that right now."
Rachel was walking with Lisa to go back into Ethan's room. "So it looks like he's responding to the meds and the infection is getting under control," Rachel said.
"Thank god. And thank you," she said as Rachel pulled back the curtain, revealing Santana sitting next to Ethan's bed.
"Santana!"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Santana asked.
"I thought you went home," Rachel said to Santana.
"I had the cab bring me around front."
"You need to get out right now," Lisa said.
"Or what? What is he going to do to you?" Santana asked.
"Santana!"
"Listen to her, Mom," Ethan said. "She's really smart."
"What did you say to him?" Lisa asked.
"He told me that he's been holding his pee to protect you," Santana said. "He told me that he wets the bed, your husband knocks the crap out of you," she said as her voice cracked.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I had to tell someone."
"So, the dental work that showed up on your scan, the vertigo, that isn't from a car accident, is it?" Rachel asked her gently.
"You need to get out." Lisa said.
"I understand what you're going through," Santana started.
"You don't. You can't."
"I do," she said, a little more forcefully. "My ex-husband used to beat me like a drum."
"Don't talk like that in front of my son."
"It's okay, Mom. Show her your scar," he said to Santana.
Santana looked over at Rachel, who had tears in her eyes. Santana reached up and pulled her hair to the side to show his mother a scar that ran down the back of her neck. "And that's just one of them. Lisa, you have to stop this. You have the power."
"I don't. I called the cops once and they didn't even file a report. Then he hit me so hard that I had vertigo. But if he hits me, he doesn't hit Ethan."
"And that is why you wanted us to cure him so fast," Rachel said. "So he wouldn't take it out on you."
"It's because everything's my fault. Bed-wetting, grades, fevers. You can't help me. I can file a report and the only thing that's gonna happen to me is I'm gonna get the crap knocked out of me."
"I thought the same thing and that is why I stayed so long," Santana said. "But I found a way out and I guarantee you, this is your way out. I promise you, he will never touch you or Ethan again."
"Do it, Mom," Ethan said. "Please."
In the break room, Puck was talking to Smalls. "But you got me in?"
"A flight leaves this morning. But if you're late, there won't be another one."
The door opened and Kurt came in. "Is it true?"
"Yeah," Puck said.
"Are you insane? You can't go. Listen to me. No offense but you are a doctor who was in the Army. You were not a soldier in the Army. Smalls, can you tell him what it's like over there now?" Kurt asked.
"I told him. You're being dropped into a combat zone. There are no guarantees here," Smalls said.
"I understand," Puck said.
"Do you hear that?" Kurt asked. "Now think about Quinn and the kids."
"You think I haven't thought about my wife and my kids?"
"I can go," Finn said.
"No. No way."
"I can."
"No, you just got back," Puck said. "You're not going anywhere. Right, Smalls? There's no room."
"Yeah, he got the last seat on the flight."
"But listen to me," Puck said. "There's one thing I need you to do for me. Check your email. I'm going to send you my will and my life insurance policy just in case. Thank you all for your concern. I appreciate it," he said. "But I've made up my mind. I'm going. Thank you."
Across the hospital, Artie was talking with Ethan's dad. "We should be able to get the IV out of his arm soon. The meds have kicked in and he'll be better than ever," Artie said.
"Thank you. Thank you," he said, pushing open the doors to Ethan's room, where he saw Ethan in bed and Lisa standing next to Santana.
"Hey David," Santana said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"What the hell is she doing here? My lawyers are going to tear you apart."
"You're going to jail," Santana said.
"What are you doing, baby? Don't make this mistake, okay? I—"
"We should talk outside," Santana cut him off.
"Yes we should," he said as the three of them started walking out to the hallway. "I don't know what you think you're pulling here. Lisa, do not listen to her. You don't want to do this."
"Or what?" Santana said.
"Yeah, or what?" someone said from behind them.
David turned around. "Who the hell are you? What is this?"
"They help protect women and children who need to testify against assholes like you," Santana said. "I use the Baltimore chapter. I'm sure the San Antonio one is pretty good too."
"Great, okay. So, what are you gonna do?"
"If anything happens to Lisa or Ethan, even if you're not at fault, even if he just falls off his bike, they're coming after you," Santana said.
"I'm calling my lawyer," David said, pulling out his phone.
"Yeah, you do that. Because you're gonna need them," Rachel said, stepping up with two police officers behind her. "Officer, you have the complaint."
"Sir, if you would come with us, we need to ask you some questions."
He rolled his eyes and followed them out. "This is unbelievable."
Back inside Ethan's room, Artie and Santana were talking to him. "Ethan, I want you to meet the guys," she said.
"Hey buddy," they said, coming into the room. "You are so brave."
"Thank you. So much," Lisa said to Santana and Rachel. She turned to Santana. "Can I ask you – how long did it take before you weren't afraid anymore?"
"I'm still working on it," Santana said.
Lisa nodded and walked closer to Ethan's bed, leaving just Santana and Rachel. Rachel looked over and saw the tears in her best friend's eyes. "I'm still working on it," Santana said, her voice cracking.
"I'm so proud of you," Rachel whispered, taking Santana's hand as she stepped closer to her.
In the hallway, Finn was wheeling Walt out. "So, how'd the call with your ex go?"
"It was great. Turns out that he was curious about seeing his Pops and my ex has all the forgiveness of a good Christian woman. They want me to come to his graduation."
"Seriously? That's great, Walter. You can get some closure."
"Yeah. I just wish I had a gift to give to my son to tell him how much I love him."
"Well, here's your gift," Finn said as Molly brought over crutches.
"Crutches?"
"Yeah. For your dislocated ankle. Since it's your official diagnosis."
"I'm not following," Walt said, getting out of the wheelchair and onto the crutches.
Finn pulled an envelope out of the back pocket of his jeans. "If I were you, I'd take the cash in this envelope and I'd buy a life insurance policy with your son as the main beneficiary. I paid the first two years upfront and there's enough in that envelope to buy a policy that will help your son get through college."
Walt looked around. "What about the ALS records here?"
"Records get lost all the time. But I'd buy the policy as soon as possible."
"Thank you," Walt said. "Do you think it would be alright if I made Carlos' wife and their boy beneficiaries too?"
"I think they'd appreciate that."
"Thanks again. But why are you doing this?"
Finn sighed. "Maybe someday, somebody will do the same for my kid. Take care, Walt."
They shook hands and Finn watched him head towards the exit of the hospital. He took a deep breath and walked over to the elevators and pushed the button. It opened and he saw Rachel standing inside. "Hey," she said.
"Hey."
"I know you're going with Puck," she whispered as the doors closed. "And I know you've already made up your mind."
"I'm sorry," Finn said. "I just…I feel like I don't have a choice, okay?"
"You – you have a choice. We all have choices. And mine is to try and not stop you."
Finn blinked a few times and looked at her. "You're letting me go?"
"Honey, if something happened to Puck over there, you would blame me for stopping you. You would think that you could have done something to save him and I—"
"I would never blame you."
"Yes you would. You would. Maybe not consciously or you'd try to pretend that things were okay, but we would never survive that."
"Rachel…"
"And we would never recover from that." She let out a small laugh. "It's okay, you know? It's a security detail in Afghanistan. You're gonna go over there. You're gonna do an LVAD or some procedure like that. And you're gonna come home, right? To your woman and your baby. Yes?"
"Yes," Finn said, cupping her face. "Okay? Just a couple of days." He kissed the top of her head. "Simple. I love you."
Rachel held his hands to her face. "I love you too."
He trailed his hands down her chest and rested them on her stomach. "I love you too," he said to the baby. He looked into Rachel's eyes. "I'll be back before you know. Okay?" he said, pulling her to him to kiss her as the elevator doors opened. He took one of her hands in his and held on to it for as long as he could as he walked out of the elevator.
Rachel watched him go and leaned her head back against the wall. She waited until the doors closed again before she broke down in tears.
Outside of the hospital, Sam and Santana were leaning against his car. "Wow."
"I told you I had a story," Santana said.
"If I ever saw that guy—"
"I know," Santana said. "I know you would have.
"Look at me last week, pressing you about the guys you like—"
"Oh come on. You couldn't have known. Sam, you are a good man. One of the best I've known in a long time. Maybe ever," she said, caressing his cheek.
"We're moving pretty fast, aren't we?"
"Yeah. That scare you?"
"No. Does it scare you?"
"Yeah," she said, going to kiss him.
Across town, a plane was sitting on a runway and three black SVUs pulled up to it. Puck got out of one of the cars and took a deep breath. He couldn't believe he was doing this.
"Hey!" he heard someone call from behind him. Puck turned around to see Finn walking towards him with a backpack strapped to his back. "You think they're gonna show a movie on this flight?"
"What are you doing here? I told you not to come."
"You didn't think I was gonna let you go alone, did you?"
"Not really. It was getting close though."
"Yeah, I had to work something out with Smalls to get on the plane," Finn said.
"Are you sure about this? Because if something happen—"
Finn laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I wouldn't be where I am today without you, okay?"
"I know."
Finn laughed. "Now we're even."
They started climbing up the stairs to get on the plane. "Try to keep up with me," Puck said, going up faster than Finn was.
"Just like that, huh?" He watched Puck get on the plane and stopped for a minute. He turned around to take in the San Antonio scene for the last time – at least for the next few days – and boarded the plane.