Mercy Episode 1.14 I Have a Date

Just getting to work, Veronica is riding the elevator when Gillian steps in, crying. Veronica hands her a tissue, then awkwardly launches into an explanation about her kiss with Chris Sands. It just happened, and they didn't mean to hurt her. When Gillian confesses that she's crying because her grandmother just died, Veronica realizes that she's put her foot in her mouth, big time. Veronica offers her condolences, but Gillian just calls her a nasty name and gets off the elevator.

It's Valentine's Day. Sonia wants to go to a groovy new restaurant in Manhattan, but Nick would prefer to make dinner at home and hit Mike's party at Delaney's. Sonia can't see how that's special -- are they just going to make dinner at home for the rest of their lives? Sensing that Sonia's starting to get worked up, Nick placates her, agreeing to pick her up at 8:00 sharp. Getting out of the car, Sonia takes a call from Paul. Lauren is having trouble breathing, so he's bringing her into the hospital. Rushing to prepare for their arrival, Sonia runs off without hearing Nick wish her a happy Valentine's Day.

Angel finds Chloe slumped over at the nurses' station, depressed that all her patients seem to be dying. Knowing Chloe needs a break, Angel hands over some watermelon Bubblicious and a copy of "US Weekly" just as Briggs barks at Chloe to change a patient's bile drain. When Angel asks Briggs to give Chloe a break because all her patients are dying, Briggs explains that people come to the hospital to die; if Chloe can't handle it, maybe she should get a job at Build-A-Bear. Chloe accuses Briggs of being a jerk and tells him to step off, so Briggs picks up the phone, and convinces Klowden to reassign Angel and Chloe to work in the intense, chaotic ER.

Sonia and Harris examine Lauren, who appears to have pneumonia, and has been aspirating her food; Sonia's put her on a soft food diet, but she's been sneaking Doritos. Lauren will have to stay in the hospital for a few days, and Harris wants to insert a feeding tube in her abdomen. Sonia tries to calm a devastated Lauren -- it will help her to get calories, keeping her healthier for longer. It's a simple procedure, and they'll schedule it for the afternoon.

Veronica bumps into Sonia at the nurses' station, and explains that Chris broke up with Gillian -- or really, Veronica accidentally did it for him. Sonia reminds Veronica that she can't control the situation, and it's not her problem. Chris is all Veronica's now. Realizing that she finally got what she wanted, Veronica smiles big, as Sonia complains about her relationship with Nick. Suddenly, Sonia's living with a great guy, but it feels like game over. They're going to get married and have a bunch of babies, budget shop at Costco and spend the next 30 years paying off a crummy mortgage. On cloud nine, Veronica will only say that Costco has a great deal on a hot dog and soda.

Nurse Grace welcomes Angel back to the ER. Inexperienced Chloe is to shadow Angel, and there's some intimidating new protocols in place. With all the mayhem, including a paranoid giant in the waiting room ranting about CIA assassins, everything needs attention. Upstairs, Sands preps Herb Simms for his surgery to clear up an abdominal aortic aneurysm. It turns out that Briggs has talked to Herb about implanting a stent, which wouldn't require surgery. Sands explains that surgery is preferable, but promises to consult with Briggs.

Sands storms into Briggs' office, demanding to know why he's poached Herb. Briggs should've stuck to protocol and discussed it with him first. Gillian busts into Briggs' office to ask. "Oh really? Is there really a way things are done around here? Sleeping with two co-workers at the same time?!" Briggs smirks as Sands rushes to apologize. He's sorry Gillian found out this way, but he and Veronica aren't sleeping together, and he didn't tell her about the kiss because her grandmother died. Briggs interjects: it's probably a good thing he poached Herb, because now Sands will have time to clean up this mess.

Chloe assists as Angel bandages the grotesque feet of a tranny hooker. Grace interrupts with an X-ray and a special case for Chloe on her first day -- an extraction... of a bowling pin... Meanwhile, Sands finds Veronica in the hallway, taking pictures with a patient. Afterwards, he pulls her into a utility closet for a kiss of bliss. Veronica apologizes for breaking up with Gillian for him, but it's okay; he should have told her that it was over sooner. He wants to go on their first real date tonight to celebrate -- not to Delaney's, but to a romantic Italian restaurant. He can wear a suit, Veronica can wear a dress. Rather than face the embarrassment of having Sands pick her up at her parents' house, Veronica agrees to meet him at the restaurant at 8:00.

In the ER, a triumphant Chloe saunters up to the nurses' station with a bowling pin in a biohazard bag. In shock, Angel dubs Chloe "The Butt Whisperer," as all the nurses bow down to her expertise. For their next job, Grace sends Angel and Chloe to do triage in "The Cage," which opens onto the ER through a window made of bulletproof glass. Upstairs, Sonia is at the nurses' station when Paul gifts her with a beautiful book of photographs of Paris metro stations, as thanks for taking care of Lauren. When Sonia asks Paul what he's doing for Valentine's Day, he admits that he might be sleeping in the stairwell, so she points him to the crash room. Arriving just as Paul departs, Veronica wants to know why Sonia didn't tell her that he's so cute.

Veronica rifles through her closet, looking for the dress that Sonia told her not to wear. Jeannie comes in with a drink, admitting that she took the dress to the dry cleaners. Veronica has to admit that she needs the dress because she has a date, and no, she's not going to Delaney's, but out with Chris. She needs to feel pretty for a change. Jeannie hands over the dry cleaning ticket and tells Veronica to do something about her legs, which look like paste. Veronica packs a bag full of toiletries and heads out to retrieve her dress, calling Chris to leave a message that she's running a few minutes late.

Down in the ER cage, Chloe is just freaking out that a patient drank his own pee, when the paranoiac giant freaks out in the waiting room, attacking a small man and sending everyone into a panic. Sadly, the security desk is deserted. Desperate, Chloe grabs an IV pole and approaches the giant in the waiting room. When he won't lay off the little guy, she jumps on his back, but he starts throwing chairs. Chloe is bucked to the floor, just as the first security guard arrives. The paranoid giant throws a chair, piercing through the security guard's chest, before he's tasered to the ground.

Dr. Keri Adams presides over the ER and the care of the wounded security guard, rushing to intubate as Angel transfuses. Still the blood loss is too great; his pulse is slipping. Adams has Chloe apply pressure to the wound, but when that doesn't work, tells her to insert a urine catheter. Chloe hasn't been oriented to the procedure, so Angel talks her through. The bleeding stops and the security guard's pulse stabilizes enough to wheel him off to the OR.

Upstairs, Lauren lies in bed with her belly exposed. Sonia talks, trying to keep Lauren calm as Briggs preps to insert the feeding tube. When Briggs explains that the end of the tube will be clamped so Lauren's stomach juices don’t squirt out, she freaks, changing her mind -- she doesn't want the tube. Sonia asks for a minute, and Lauren admits she's scared. It's all happening so fast; pretty soon she'll be trapped inside her body, unable to speak -- alone. Sonia promises that she won't leave Lauren alone and convinces her to go ahead with the procedure.

In the locker room, Chloe is totally pumped after her ER shift. Angel suggests she could use some tequila to even herself out, and hydrogen peroxide will take the blood out of her flowery shirt. Claiming she's down with flowers, Chloe throws out her shirt and heads to Delaney's with Angel. Meanwhile, Veronica enters an empty donut shop with her duffle bag and dry-cleaned dress. When she asks Deanna, the surly girl behind the counter for the key to the bathroom, Deanna makes her buy something.

While changing in the donut shop bathroom, Veronica calls Sonia, asking how she's supposed to apply spray tan to her pasty white legs. Hearing a noise outside, Veronica pokes her head out to spy Deanna laying on the floor with a blood stain on her leg. Deanna holds her finger to her lips and points to the back office where a strung-out robber with a gun is demanding to know how to get the safe open. Deanna tells him that the combination is in the desk. With the robber distracted, Veronica sneaks to Deanna's side to explain that she's a nurse, then applies a tourniquet to the gunshot wound in her leg.

Angel, Harris and Chloe are doing shots of tequila at Delaney's when Sonia shows up dressed to the nines. Nick is late for their date. Already tipsy, Chloe flirts, claiming that the most attractive thing in the world is confidence, which is what she's going to be like from now on. When Nick shows up, Sonia takes him outside. Nick had a busy day, and he's sorry they missed their reservation. They'll just have to go some place else. Sonia reminds him that it's Valentine's Day, and everything's booked. Nick thinks it's all okay as long as they're together, but Sonia explodes and takes off to get some space, telling him not to wait up.

When Chloe starts making out with a guy, Harris decides it's time for her to leave, lest she contract crabs. Angel and Harris pull Chloe out of Delaney's as Briggs looks on with a wry smile on his face. He notices Gillian sitting by the fireplace, drowning her sorrows with a martini and moves in on easy prey. Luring Gillian with the promise of medical talk, he invites her to have a steak dinner with him. Meanwhile, Sands stands in the cold outside the romantic restaurant, waiting for Veronica.

Back at the donut shop, Veronica promises Deanna she'll be right back, then sneaks back to the bathroom for her phone, which starts ringing. Chris hangs up just as she gets there, but the robber has heard the phone. Holding Veronica at gunpoint, he pushes her towards the office, determined that she's going to help him find the combination to the safe. Sonia returns to the hospital and makes a bee line for the crash room to ask Paul why he bought her the book. Paul explains that he thinks Sonia is great. She should go to Paris, and he didn't think it would be right to hit on her with everything that's going on with his mother. Sonia leans in to grab a passionate kiss.

Sands stops by Delaney's looking for Veronica. Mike admits that he hasn't seen Veronica in a week, and what's Sands doing here anyway? Sands admits that they had plans and Veronica didn't show, then leaves. Back at the donut shop, Veronica finds the combination to the safe and opens it, talking nervously the whole time. Now that the safe is open, the robber can leave and neither she nor Deanna will say anything. Taking the money out of the safe, the robber allows her to check on Deanna, who now has no pulse. Veronica turns her over to find another gunshot wound in her back. Deanna has bled out and it's Veronica's fault.

Pretending that Deanna's still alive, Veronica tells the robber that they have to call the paramedics, but he smells a rat. He flames out and hurls Veronica against the counter. Veronica hits her head and goes down, then scrabbles backwards as the robber tries to shake Deanna awake. Veronica spies a gun taped under the counter, and just has it in hand when the robber turns and fires. Veronica fires three times to the chest, killing him. In shock, Veronica calls 911 to request evac as if she were still in the military. Her purple dress now covered in blood, Veronica walks barefoot into the freezing cold night, still holding the gun.