ER Episode 14.06 The Test

Frank tells an exhausted Abby that the med staff has banned her until she deals with her incomplete charts, but she's on the job anyway. Pratt works on Nemo, who's hallucinating on PCP and ran through a plate glass window. Neela is called down to the ER by her intern Harold. He's got a date with a high school homecoming princess and needs advice - he's a virgin. Neela encourages him to ask someone else.

Moretti informs the interns that their first quarter evaluations are in their mailboxes. Pratt doesn't think it's a good time for this announcement, since no one was told they were being evaluated. Moretti reminds him that every patient is a test. Sam screams at Nemo and he quiets down, so Moretti gives her an A. When Nemo pulls a shard of glass out of his body and throws it at the sprinkler, turning it on, Moretti admits he spoke too soon.

Harold steals a rubber version of the female anatomy and asks Neela to point out relevant parts, like the G-spot. Pratt asks Abby to be on top of her game, since she'll get all the hard cases tonight. He's covering Morris' shift; they're both taking the boards in the morning, and Morris swore he'd fail if he worked. Grady and the interns are demoralized by their evaluations. They all scored one out of a possible five, with no explanation why. Grady asks Abby to talk to Moretti on the interns' behalf.

Abby confronts Moretti, claiming that the interns need guidance. Moretti is about to comment, but walks away. Gates is doing triage in the waiting room, and runs across sullen teen Heather, who claims she' been waiting three hours with a killer headache. He turns her over to Sam, who thinks Heather's lying. They need a parent's permission to treat her, but Heather claims she doesn't know where they are.

Morris comes into work to study, pissing off Pratt. Abby prescribes ibuprofen for Heather, but they still need her father's telephone number, since she gave them a fake one. She claims her wealthy father is in New York, and doesn't have time for this. Serena brings Joshua into the ER with acute respiratory distress, and Gates bails out of waiting room triage to stay with him.

Moretti turns over the ER to new attending, Skye Wexler, who's moonlighting to earn extra cash. After driving all night, Moretti's son shows up at the ER to wish his dad happy birthday. He's read a book which has changed his thinking, and won't explain why he's not in school. Sam finds Heather on a hospital computer, claiming she's trying to find someone who gives a crap. She's been there for hours and no one's helped. Now she has chest pain.

Pediatric neurologist Dr. Bazzano explains that Joshua's disease is running its natural course. His muscles are no longer strong enough to clear his lungs, and he needs to go on a ventilator. Joshua sends Serena to get him a slushie, and tells Gates not to intubate him. Skye re-examines Heather. Her pain can't be that bad since she's texting. Morris and Pratt study in the break room. Neela drops off Harold, hoping the doctors can help him on his quest to learn "invasive fundamentals."

Abby consults with Grady on the case of asthmatic Helena, who's allergic to everything. Grady will run some tests, but Abby jokes it's just fear of food. Dr. Coburn checks in with Abby. She wonders why she hasn't seen Abby at any AA meetings, but Abby claims she went to a meeting where she didn't know anyone. Gates tells Joshua that when his infection clears, they'll take him off the ventilator, but Joshua knows better. He doesn't want Serena to suffer, and he knows Gates understands what he means.

Gates discusses Joshua's case with Skye. If he's absolutely sure, and runs it by ethics, she's on board with not ventilating him. Serena is confused by the change in plans since Joshua's in respiratory failure, and Sam tries to fight it, questioning Skye. Joshua tells Serena to trust Gates. At home, Brian and Moretti drink champagne to celebrate Moretti's birthday. Moretti knows something's wrong, but Brian won't say what.

It's 4 A.M., and Neela checks on Harold. Morris holds court in the break room, where all the guys eat pizza and swap war stories. Neela pulls Harold out, telling him to forget whatever the guys told him. Harold admits that the advice was good: Morris said the best sex comes with love, and Pratt stressed keeping communication open. Sam confronts Gates. Joshua is only 13, and kids make bad decisions. Gates tells her to shut up and mix Joshua's morphine drip, or take herself off the case.

Helena passes out, and Pratt discovers that she has a perforated ulcer, which might not have happened if Abby had run the proper tests four hours ago. An employee of Heather's father comes to pick her up, but she's not in her bed. Sam checks the computer, and finds an IM that Heather sent to a friend. She has downed a bottle of valium and is going to jump in front of a train. Sam runs to the train tracks, and pulls Heather out of the way in the nick of time.

Everyone works on Heather, and Skye tells Sam to take it easy on herself for not getting it earlier - she saved Heather's life. Pratt apologizes to Abby for overreacting about Helena, but Abby doesn't think he did, admitting that she's self-sabotaging. Pratt tells her she just needs a day off. Abby doesn't think a day will solve her problems, but asks if she can sign out early, and proceeds to the liquor store.Skye checks in with Grady. On advice from Morris, he has blown off her orders on several cases. Skye wakes Morris up and dresses him down for overriding her authority. He's not sure what she's talking about and has to run to take the boards. Heather tells Sam that her father remarried and moved away, abandoning her, so she wanted to die. Sam promises it will get better. Serena stays by Joshua's bedside as he labors to breathe. Later, Gates stands alone in Joshua's empty room, playing catch with his baseball mitt.