Mercy Episode 1.20 We All Saw This Coming

Hoping to break up the monotony of another quiet night shift, Angel presides over a contest to see who's got the biggest bladder: Chloe, Sonia or Veronica. The girls chug water, then Angel scans them with the portable ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid they're retaining. Veronica's confident, but former beer pong champ Chloe's holding onto an amazing 658 cc. Eight-year-old escape artist Jake breaks up the party, demanding to know what's going on. When Sonia leaves to escort him back to bed, everyone's pagers go off, calling them to the ER.

There's been a prison riot at Trowbridge. Newark hospital is full up, so they're sending overflow to Mercy. The cops are on hand to help set up a secure triage system, where every patient will be handcuffed and attended by an armed guard. Chloe's distracted by a hot guy in the crowd, who kind of looks like a much cuter Harris. The other nurses agree, except for Angel, who asks if they're all high. It is Harris, he's just shaved off his beard. Seconds later, the ER bay doors slam open, and chaos descends.

Harris and Angel tend to prisoner Francisco, who's sustained a stab wound close to his heart. Francisco asks if he can have a nurse who's a little more feminine, but Angel promises he's not flirting. Francisco is further annoyed when Angel notices his gang tattoo; turns out they both grew up in the same hood. Meanwhile, Veronica tends to Dale, who's complaining of neck pain, even though his vitals are fine. Dale was jumped in the riot, so he'll need a CT scan. Sonia and Gillian check out giant Tubbs, who's been stabbed in the eye. Gillian tells Sonia to inject him with some Haldol as she checks out the eye. Tubbs screams and freaks out; luckily the Haldol takes quick effect, and he's down for the count.

Only once the ER is empty does Briggs appear in a tux with a fabulous lady on his arm. Did somebody page him? Sands checks in with Veronica. He was able to get in some surfing and kale for lunch, which makes him better than everybody. When Veronica tells him to shut up, he asks if his name came up in therapy. They proceed to Dale's room to report that the CT scan came back normal. Still Dale has no response to stimulus tests, and may have a spinal cord injury. Three months away from release, Dale rues his luck. He's served several years for killing a little girl while drunk driving at 19, an incident he sorely regrets.

Chloe tends patients in the ER when a woman named Camila comes by looking for Angel, claiming to be an old friend. Meanwhile, Nick informs Angel that Francisco is the number two man in the 21st Street Kings, and the riot sparked when someone tried to kill him. Mercy isn't equipped to handle this situation, so Angel should stay sharp. Sonia pops in to tell Angel he has a visitor; she's surprised when Nick is nice to her for the first time in a long while. She ducks into the meds room to take a call from a friend, who's talked to a lawyer. Assisted suicide is a second-degree crime in New Jersey, and could result in five to 10 years in jail.

Sonia checks on Tubbs, while Gillian explains she had to remove his entire eyeball. Unbeknownst to the women, little Jake has tiptoed up to a sleeping Tubbs to peek under his eye patch. Seeing a bloody hole, Jake screams, prompting Tubbs to wake up and go nuts. Sonia yells at Jake as Gillian calls for more sedatives. On the way back to Jake's room, Sonia asks the guards how a little boy could have gotten through the checkpoint. She tucks Jake into bed, warning him that the hospital is full of dangerous men. Jake has to stay put!

Angel finds Camila, whom he obviously hasn't seen in years. She knows the hospital isn't accepting visitors, but her boyfriend was injured in the riot, and she's hoping Angel can help her out. The boyfriend's name? Francisco. Meanwhile, Briggs takes a phone call, summoning him to the basement morgue where mob boss Dom Fattore awaits. He's come because of the riots - which he started, hoping to kill Francisco, who's been running dope inside his territory. Dom's guy will finish the job tonight; Briggs' job is to make sure no one interferes. Dom exits through the ER, catching eyes with Chloe on the way out.

As Veronica wheels Dale for an MRI, guards take down an unwitting delivery guy, who's walking around with earphones. Once he's able to get back to his feet, he serves Veronica... with divorce papers! Incensed, Veronica heads for Delaney's. Mike must feel that the divorce is urgent, since he decided to serve her in front of her co-workers. If he was aiming for spiteful revenge, it worked, but it's no biggie. They all saw it coming, right? Veronica signs the papers and huffs out of the bar, catching up with the other nurses at the taco truck. Chloe recommends nachos as the best way to put the cherry on top of the divorced-at-28 sundae.

Angel tells Chloe that Harris is looking for her; Andy missed his ImPACT test. When Angel jokes that teenagers are just irresponsible, Chloe shows Angel a picture of Andy without a shirt - hello! Besides, he's only three years younger than her. Chloe asks about Camila. Angel admits he went to the prom with her... and yes, he may have test driven the vehicle way back when, but obviously, the ride wasn't for him. The worst part? It turns out that girls don't like it when you tell them you're gay after you sleep with them. Camila never talked to Angel again.

Dale's MRI comes back clean, so Veronica chats while checking him over. What's Dale going to do when he gets out? When Dale laments the limited opportunities for a convicted felon, Veronica jokes that Lady Foot Locker has excellent benefits. Besides, Dale can get a college degree online. Dale's forgotten what it's like to be normal. Veronica admits that she has too, after two years in Iraq. Dale dubs her "Lady Hurt Locker," and asks for juice. Just then, Veronica draws a wince after palpating his ribs. Now it's time for a chest X-ray - a broken rib could puncture a lung.

Angel takes Francisco for a CT scan. He warns the guard that the scan emits radiation, which is no big deal, unless the guy's planning to have kids in the next few years. The guard agrees to stay outside, and Angel sets Francisco up for the scan, then retreats into the observation booth where Camila waits. Francisco is thrilled, asking after Camila's daughter Michaela, just as Briggs steps in to growl at Angel. Briggs claims he's taking over for Harris and continues the scan, noticing a tiny puncture wound with a little clotted blood. Luckily it's nothing serious. After a night of observation, Francisco should be fine.

Freaked out, Andy calls Chloe. He doesn't know where he is, and he didn't know who else to call. Chloe finds Andy at his former high school football field. He admits that he's been playing football, against Harris' directive. Football is the only thing he ever wanted to do, and guys are lining up to take his place. What if there's something wrong? Chloe promises that they'll fix whatever's wrong with his head, but Andy's got to take his test. Andy refuses and takes off.

Nick tries to be friendly with Sonia, commenting that she looks tired. Is she sleeping okay? Their conversation is interrupted by the sight of Jake, who once again has snuck out of bed to learn the story of Tubbs' incarceration. Jake can't understand why Tubbs wasn't forgiven for his crime after saying he was sorry. Tubbs explains that he lied as Sonia drags Jake back to bed. Jake tells Nick that Tubbs isn't scary, he's merely scared of Sonia - almost as much as he's scared of needles. Can Sonia give him some numbing cream the next time she injects him? Sonia thinks it's a great idea.

Briggs stops into Francisco's room to check his condition - everything's fine until the guard steps out. When Briggs notices a malevolent-looking guy lingering in the corridor, he swings into action. Francisco has a bubble, and they'll need a bubble scanner. Briggs yells for Chloe, ordering her to take Francisco to the Procedure Room, stat. Spying the guy again, Briggs stuns Chloe, spraying nitro into Francisco's mouth, which Chloe warns could kill him. Briggs inserts a giant needle near Francisco's heart, withdrawing the negligible clotted blood, while averting any crisis brought on by the nitro. During the crisis, the guy disappears. Once it's over, Chloe asks Angel to take over for her and storms out.

Briggs follows Chloe outside - what just happened isn't what she thinks. Still furious that Briggs is needlessly risking lives, Chloe admits she saw Dom. What's he doing here? When Briggs jokes that they might be dating, Chloe bails. Meanwhile, Veronica asks the guard to uncuff Dale so she can transfer him to a wheelchair. Once free, Dale punches the guard unconscious, handcuffs Veronica to the bed, and busts into the ventilation ducts through the ceiling. When Veronica yells after him, Dale admits he had five bags of meth on him when the riot broke out, and he had to swallow it or risk getting caught.

Veronica roams the hallway with Sands and the cops, trying to figure out where Dale's hiding. Harris rushes up. As the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, he's memorized the hospital blueprints, and quickly ascertains Dale's location. Concerned that the meth could kill Dale, Veronica tries to climb into the ceiling, but Sands talks her down, advising her to think it through. When Harris starts poking a broom through the ceiling, Dale falls through, crashing to the floor. His blood pressure is through the roof. Fearing that the bags of meth have broken in his body, Sands rushes Dale to surgery.

Chloe finds Andy in the hallway, helplessly looking for Dr. Harris. Meanwhile, Angel tells Camila that Francisco had a little crisis, but everything should be fine. It may not be Angel's place to ask, but is Francisco really the kind of guy Camila had in mind to be father to Michaela? She claims she has it under control and turns to leave, then stops. She knows it was a long time ago, but she's sorry she cut Angel out of her life. She was 17 and dumb. As the night shift ends near dawn, Sonia escorts Tubbs out of the hospital. He's nervous about going back to prison because he hates it so much. Sonia claims she can relate, but Tubbs knows she hasn't the slightest idea.

In the OR, Dale goes into V-fib. When the defibrillator won't bring him back, Veronica starts CPR. Meanwhile, Briggs tracks down Chloe and tries to explain himself. When he was in med school, he fell in love with a beautiful, crazy older woman, who just so happened to be Dom's baby sister. Briggs got in some trouble and Dom got him out, and now he owes the family big time. Dom called in a favor tonight, asking for a clean shot at Francisco. Unimpressed, Chloe wonders if she's supposed to think Briggs is a great guy. And what's he going to do now? Briggs jokes that he'll sleep with his eyes open, unless of course he gets into a car accident. Chloe crosses her fingers and takes off, leaving Briggs to collect his girlfriend for one last dance around the deserted ER.

Andy's test results show increased cognitive deterioration, and there's no guarantee his symptoms will ever diminish. It's wait-and-see time, and furthermore, Harris is ordering Andy to stop playing football for good. Sonia pulls Nick into the Crash Room, confessing she's in trouble. Nick tries to stop her, but Sonia blurts out the whole story of assisting Lauren's suicide. Devastated, Nick reminds her that he's a cop, and leaves - Sonia never should have told him any of this.

After 26 minutes, Veronica's still doing compressions on Dale. Sands can't understand why she's so obsessed; Dale did this to himself. Veronica believes that Dale still had a shot at a normal life, which seems all too easy for a guy like Sands. They were both in the same war, yet he just goes on with life, blithely eating vegetables and surfing. Equally annoyed, Sands points out that it's all about choice, choosing how you want to live life, every day, even when it's not easy. Veronica's problem is she chooses scotch and rage. The anesthesiologist finally puts a stop to the CPR, calling Dale's time of death.

Veronica exits the hospital in slow motion at dawn, and isn't very surprised when she finds Mike waiting for her on the curb outside her parents' house. He explains that he filed six months ago - New Jersey has a six-month waiting period before serving divorce papers. Back then, he didn't know what she was going through. Everyone's been wanting Veronica to be okay, and the truth is, she's not. Sometimes it's like she never really came home. So now they have a choice. They can sign the papers, rip them up, or put them away. Mike signs, deciding to call it a fresh start. Veronica leans in for a kiss. Mike succumbs, then pulls back, refusing to fall for her witchcraft. If Veronica keeps healing, Mike's betting they'll be re-married by 2013.