Mercy Episode 1.11 We're All Adults

Nick has been working nights, annoying Sonia; stake-out duty is wreaking havoc on their sex life. But what's more upsetting to Sonia is Nick's gun, which he insists on leaving around the apartment. Nick thinks that Sonia needs to go shooting to get familiar with guns, but as a nurse, Sonia already knows plenty about what guns can do. At the hospital, Klowden assigns Angel and Veronica to work the isolation ward. A pair of college roommates, Lilly and Samantha, is coming in with meningitis, which could be fatal if not treated early.

Gillian gets Lilly and Samantha's treatment started, as they wonder how they could have possibly contracted meningitis. Lilly wonders if it happened when they were making out at a party the other night? Angel and Veronica grill their respective patients. Could either of them have infected someone else? Both girls immediately think of Samantha's boyfriend Nathan, whom Lilly has also been sleeping with on the sly. Angel decides he's in soap opera heaven.

Sonia and Sands consult with patient Harold Pindus, whose hand transplant is failing. Sands tells Sonia to call Stipe Memorial (the hospital where the transplant took place), but Harold offers to shed some light on the situation: he stopped taking his rejection meds. Despite the fact that he's one of 30 people in the world to get the procedure, Howard decided he didn't want his new hand, once he found out that it belonged to a convicted pedophile. Now he wants Sands to cut it off.

Before long Samantha's boyfriend Nathan has joined the girls in isolation to stir up trouble. Why can't he sleep with Samantha? Veronica explains that meningitis is serious and everyone needs to rest in their own rooms. Angel feels bad for Samantha, and laughs that the students' love triangle mirrors Veronica's situation. Veronica protests: her triangle was with Mike and Sands, but now it's dismantled. Her defensiveness does nothing but convince Angel that he's right.

Full of energy, Sharra Kelly goes over wedding plans outlined in her bulging three-ring binder with fiancé Craig, while waiting for a consult with Harris and Chloe. Sharra fainted during a dress fitting and her white cell count is elevated. Her symptoms are consistent with flu, but abdominal pain (discovered when the binder falls in her lap) and recent weight loss is not. Harris orders an ultrasound. Meanwhile, Harold explains his problem with the molester's hand. Not only can he not stand it, but his wife can't either, and they separated three weeks ago. Sonia understands and promises to help.

Sands, Gillian and the nurses are discussing their patients when someone covers Sands eyes from behind; "Guess who?" It's Simone, Sands' itinerant sister, who's in town with a few days to kill. Simone makes a beeline for Gillian, figuring she must be the Veronica from Iraq that she's heard so much about. Sands sheepishly corrects Simone as Angel draws a triangle in the air for Veronica's benefit. Gillian takes charge, inviting Simone to lunch with her and Sands, who doesn't look too happy at the prospect.

Over lunch, Simone regales Sands and Gillian with tales of beaches in Biarritz and embarrassing stories from childhood -- like the time Sands got arrested when she stole a car... Luckily, Simone was engaged to the DA for a minute. Sands admits that usually, Simone shows up and says a lot of things that don't make sense and suddenly he's giving her $3000 and she's gone. Simone is just informing them of her intent to open a new kind of cupcake business when Sonia pulls Sands away to talk him into cutting Harold's hand off. The hand's baggage is ruining Harold's life. With a look to Simone, Sands understands and agrees to Harold's request.

During the ultrasound, Chloe talks to Sharra about plans for next week's wedding to keep her calm and relaxed. Harris' eye widen upon seeing several large masses on the monitor. When Sharra asks if there's any reason she shouldn't start freaking out right now, Harris explains that they'll need a biopsy to be sure, but he's never seen anything similar that wasn't cancer. Chloe offers to call Craig.

Conversation between Veronica and Gillian is strained as they go to check on Lilly, who's lying in the dark and twitching strangely. It's not long before they discover Nathan in her bed, and Lilly admits they're both stoned. Veronica discovers discarded cupcake wrappers and smells a rat, and Gillian immediately knows from whence the cupcakes came. Meanwhile, in the OR, Sands is just plying his scalpel to remove Harold's pedophile hand when Klowden barges in to stop the surgery.

Once Harold has regained consciousness, everyone gathers in his room to hear out Mr. Hightower from Stipe Memorial, the hospital that performed the hand transplant. Harold is contractually obligated to refrain from post-op behaviors that would compromise Stipe's ability to track the efficacy of the procedure, i.e. refusing to take his anti-rejection meds. Stipe has threatened to sue Mercy if they cut off Harold's hand, so for now he's stuck with it. Harold threatens to go home and let the hand rot, which Sonia points out will lead to his death. When Harold says he doesn't care, and makes a run for it, Hightower pronounces it a suicidal threat. Now Mercy is obligated to restrain Harold under psychiatric hold.

Sharra's biopsy indicates that her ovarian cancer is late stage and very aggressive. She probably won't be able to have children, but worse yet, one of the tumors is impinging on her aorta and needs to be surgically removed. Since her oxygen saturation is very low from the flu, surgery is currently too risky. Chloe promises to everything she can to clear Sharra's lungs and raise her pulse-ox. Sharra pushes her wedding binder to the floor -- it's over, no more wedding.

Sands finds Simone passing out cupcakes to patients and lays into her -- is she insane? He bustles her out of the hospital. Amidst protests, Simone asks him to recommend a good bar, since her pot cupcakes have made her thirsty. Depressed about Sharra, Chloe visits isolation to get the latest installment on the meningitis patient soap opera. Angel explains that although their timing is off, Lilly and Nathan are meant to be together. Chloe decides to root for Lilly, but only because she's like Veronica. Veronica protests: Lilly's not an adult, and she is. Chloe isn't buying it; all they need is a little Mike, and they've got the whole movie.

Mike is drowning his sorrows at Delaney's when Simone enters to order herself a shot of bourbon. Before long, they've introduced themselves and buy each other drinks. Nick takes Veronica, Chloe and a reluctant Sonia to the firing range. Having some experience from basic training, Veronica's not bad. Chloe claims to be like Sonia, very uncomfortable with guns, but once she starts shooting, she catches the bug. Sonia isn't interested, but when Nick gets behind her to help her shoot, she gives it a try, flinching as the bullets shoot out of the gun.

Back at the hospital, Sharra's pulse-ox is still very low, but Harris decides to schedule surgery anyway. When Sharra learns that her chances of surviving surgery are 50%, Craig insists they get married now. Chloe offers to help them make it happen in the hospital. Harold's wife Amy shows up at the hospital looking for Sonia, admitting that she's uncomfortable with the pedophile hand. Since Amy wants to make her marriage work, Sonia advises her to lie and convince him that she can live with the hand. Sometimes, that's just the way love is.

Amy visits with Harold, and takes the pedophile hand in her own. She doesn't care where the hand came from. She just wants Harold to take his meds and come home. Meanwhile, Chloe scrambles to set up an impromptu wedding party for Sharra and Craig, enlisting the help of Reverend Todd, and a marching band that got into a bus accident. In isolation, a big fight is exploding. Lilly finally confessed to sleeping with Nathan. When Nathan learns that the girls made out, he suggests that they turn the whole mess into a happy three-way. Samantha starts seizing, and falls to the floor.

The wedding is a great success, even if the marching band only knows two songs that aren't particularly wedding material. Sands blows off steam about Simone to Veronica, who tells him to calm down -- didn't he tell her in Iraq that Simone was fun? Sands admits that he only said that because they were having an affair, and he didn't want Veronica to think he was an angry guy. Simone's behavior might all be his fault; it wasn't great growing up in their house, and he kind of abandoned her when he went to college. When Gillian spies them from across the room, Veronica makes a hasty exit.

After discharging Harold, Sonia relaxes for a minute with Veronica, upset that she can still smell gun powder on her hands. When security rushes past the desk, Sonia runs after them. Harold has locked himself in the OR. With a look to Amy and Sonia, Harold starts up the bone saw and cuts off his transplant hand. Later, after Harold is back in bed without the hand, he apologizes to lying to everyone. He thought it would be okay, but there's just some things you can't live with.

Simone regales Mike with tales of her world travels. When he wistfully admits that he never gets out of Jersey City, Simone advises him to go on a vision quest. There's an awkward moment when Sands arrives to introduce Simone as his sister. Mike leaves quickly, and Sands asks Simone if she had sex with him. She didn't, but the relationship she was having in France went south, and now she's out of money. Simone asks about Gillian, who's great, but she's no Veronica. Claiming it's a long story, Sands invites Simone to stay at his place, but only for a few days, not forever. Excited, Simone promises to behave herself.

When Nick returns home, Sonia reluctantly admits that she hates his gun. She knows he needs it for work, but could he take if off when he hugs her, and not leave it lying around the house? Gillian and Veronica check on Samantha, who seems free of infection. Gillian tells Veronica that if she's going to make a play for Sands, she'd appreciate if it was soon. She doesn't want a big soap opera, she just wants people to be adult and say what they mean. Chloe finds Craig and Sharra in bed, enjoying what's left of their honeymoon. Chloe reluctantly prepares Sharra for surgery, handing her wedding ring over to Craig before she's wheeled away.