ER Episode 15.03 The Book of Abby

Abby surveys her empty apartment as words from the Book of Job flow through her mind. Why is light given to those in misery? At work, she pulls the Bible that her mother gave her out of her locker, as a preacher warns the end is nigh in the waiting room. Ironically, Abby's first day as an attending is her last day at County.

Paul Traylor, a coach from St. David's Academy, is brought into the ER with a gunshot wound to the chest. He came home to find some kids partying in his apartment, and one of them shot him. Several kids from Paul's basketball team show up and refuse to leave his side. Who could have shot their coach?

The ER is shorthanded, and Morris is exhausted from working double shifts. Abby tends to twins Curly and Larry, who have been up all night vomiting. They seem alright now, but their mom asks Abby to talk to them about sex and drugs. Chuny tells Abby that Sam has been called in front of the disciplinary board for leaving a heplock patient.

Neela confronts Abby: is the rumor that she got a job at Mass General true? Abby admits that she and Luka are leaving for Boston after her shift. She didn't tell anyone because she wanted to avoid any hoopla. Meanwhile, Frank struggles to learn the tango for his 30th wedding anniversary.

A rabbi is brought in after a bris fight. He recognizes Abby, having performed her wedding ceremony, and asks how married life is treating her. When her response is wishy-washy, he reminds her that her wedding was meshuga and the marriage will last.

Abby moves on to the twins, inviting them to ask her about anything. They hammer her with questions like "Why won't our brother marry the girl he got pregnant?" Wondering if she's being punked, Abby runs off.

Paul's condition worsens. His girlfriend Lily shows up but Paul's x-rays don't - the processor is down. Paul tries to reassure upset student Zeke that it's not his fault. Abby prepares to intubate and chaos erupts, just as Banfield enters for a first meeting with Abby. She takes charge, even though Abby is supposed to be the attending on the case.

Once Paul is intubated, Banfield orders Abby to run the board. On the way, Abby runs into Morris, who confesses that he's at a crossroads. Pratt's last words to him were, "Don't screw up," and he did. Abby claims she would trust him with anything, and introduces him to her perennial patient, Mrs. Gaines. If Abby is ever not in the ER, Mrs. Gaines should ask for Morris.

Sam tells Abby that the heplock guy duped her. She let him go home with an IV, and he used it to shoot up drugs, then overdosed. It's a calculated risk, something they've all done, but Sam could lose her job. She acts as if she doesn't care, but when Abby presses her, Sam admits she wants to stay at County.

Abby checks out Paul's X-rays. The bullet is in his belly, and Gates has made a mistake threading the subclavian in his neck. Abby is just explaining what to do when Banfield enters, annoyed that Abby hasn't been working the board. When there's sounds of a scuffle next door, Banfield sends Abby to investigate.

Abby finds the basketball players ganging up on Zeke, blaming him for Paul's shooting. Grady breaks up the fight, and Abby tends to Zeke, who admits that he let the partying kids into Paul's apartment. Lily enters to yell at Zeke and slap him. When Abby escorts her to the door, Zeke disappears.

While looking for Zeke, Abby bumps into Dubenko, who's decided that he doesn't want to work anywhere other than County. He realizes something's up, and presses Abby until she admits that she's leaving. He tries for a hug, but she cuts him off. Grady is upset to learn that Abby's leaving and tries to thank her for being a great mentor, but Abby doesn't want to hear it.

Zeke is located on the roof, and Abby tries to talk him down. Zeke explains that Paul had made an apartment key available to him, if he ever needed a place to chill. Trying to impress some bullies, Zeke invited them to party at Paul's, and things got out of control. Abby promises to fix Paul. She gives Zeke a syringe, telling him that if she fails, he can use the syringe to kill himself - it will hurt less people than jumping off the roof.

Downstairs, Paul is bleeding out. Banfield and Abby argue as Abby prepares to open his chest. Holding Paul's X-ray, Grady tries several times to interject, finally explaining that the chest tube may have gone into the spleen. Abby wants to try a trick with fibrin glue, but Banfield has had enough, and begins wheeling Paul to surgery. Abby takes a stand, and Banfield relents - but only for five minutes.

Neela bursts in just as the glue is taking effect and the bleeding stops. Abby helps her wheel Paul to surgery and then watches as Neela and Dubenko get started. Admitting that the surgeons do sometimes have to clean up the ER's messes, she asks them to save Paul for her. And have Neela and Dubenko ever thought about dating?

Abby gives Banfield the news that Paul will be fine, and they shake hands. Abby moves on to Zeke. Now that Paul will recover, she wants her syringe back. She assures him that he's not a bad person, he just did a bad thing. Moving on, she bumps into Sam and walks her to the hearing.

Abby busts into the board room to rant, explaining that the ER handles all the patients that no one else wants. It's an enormous load, and sometimes you have to get creative. Sam shouldn't be punished because her patient made a bad choice. The deck is stacked against the ER nurses; Abby urges the board not to become yet another obstacle.

After punching out, Abby packs up her stuff and pries her name plate off her locker. Haleh brings her to a supply closet, where the wall is covered with name plates of all of County's dearly departed. Abby's the only one who's gotten to do two - hers and Luka's.

On the way out, Abby sees Frank struggling to tango. She puts down her stuff, and leads him in a beautiful dance. Frank is flabbergasted. The rest of the gang is assembled in the ambulance bay. Morris is the only one who didn't know that Abby was leaving; she's amazed that he managed to make her final moments at the ER about him.

After a few hugs, and maybe just a couple of tears, Abby says her final goodbyes and leaves the gang behind. Luka and Joe are waiting for her in the car to start the journey towards their new life in Boston.