The Night Shift Episode 1.07 Blood Brothers

There's no such thing as downtime on the Night Shift. This week a hostage situation put TC, Topher and Jordan's lives at stake.

Medical Report:

A small plane crashes in Government Canyon where there's no road access. TC and Topher head to the scene via helicopter. On the way, TC flashes back to combat duty in Afghanistan with his big brother and Topher. Once at the crash site, they rappel down to find the pilot DOA, but another passenger, Eric, is alive, mumbling something about a golf trip. TC and Topher get to work - Eric's chest wall is collapsed and he's got a sternoclavicular dislocation. The doctors pop his clavicle out, allowing his lungs to fill with air. When they attempt to move him something falls out of his pocket: two packs of heroin. Some golf trip.

Back at San Antonio Memorial, a spangled, string-bikini clad woman, aptly named Candy, gets rolled into the ER after falling off her stripper pole and hurting her neck. Paul can't stop staring at her, so Drew puts him on the case. Her x-rays are normal, but they need to wait for lab test results. Candy is eager to get back to work, but Paul offers to pay her to stay, in exchange for some advice. His girlfriend will be staying over for the first time and he's kinda, sorta... a virgin.

In the supply closet, Candy tries to help Paul the only way she knows how - by giving him a lap dance. While shaking her moneymakers, she asks Paul if he can get her a prescription for her urinary tract infection (UTI). She usually has to get them from a clinic. But before she can utter another word, she starts convulsing - the stripper's having a stroke.

When her MRI comes back clean, Jordan diagnoses her with a Vertebral artery dissection - a tear in the wall of the artery that blocks blood flow to the brain. But the usual treatment fails, and Candy's vitals start to crash. With everyone stumped, Kenny draws some blood that comes out dark brown. Weird. Paul suddenly knows what's wrong. She was taking over-the-counter UTI meds without the supervision of a doctor. An overdose could cause the blood disorder, Methemoglobinemia, which would explain all her symptoms, not to mention why she fell off the pole in the first place.

Trauma Drama:

TC and Topher rush Eric back to the ER where a man who identifies himself as Agent Milo Osborne of the DEA is anxiously awaiting their arrival. He says the FBI was tracking the plane; the patient's a suspected smuggler. He needs to question him ASAP. TC tells Osborne that he can talk to the patient post-op, then rushes Eric to Dwayne in radiology for a head and chest x-ray.

Meanwhile Ragosa is dealing with the San Antonio Police Department. They want to talk to the DEA agent on the scene. Osborne suspiciously dodges the call and, even more suspiciously, steals Ragosa's hospital access badge, then sneaks into radiology where he demands that TC and Topher get Eric to talk. When they can't, Osborne pulls a gun out and shoots the technician, Dwayne. Milo means business.

TC and Topher are now hostages. TC warns Osborne that if they don't get Eric into an operating room he's a dead man. Osborne refuses, and they're forced to perform some serious MacGyver tricks to get him breathing and stop the bleeding. Who knew binder clips had so many uses?

Meanwhile 16-year-old Nina is brought into the ER by her parents after swallowing a fork! In one very realistic game of operation, with Jordan supervising, Krista removes it from the girl's throat. But how did it get in there? Krista already knows; she's all too familiar with the telltale signs of bulimia. Krista admits that she too had bulimia as a teenager. Nina agrees to in-patient psychiatric care, but her parents are outraged; they demand to take her home.

Krista pleads with Landry to put an involuntary hold on Nina, but the most Landry can do is offer outpatient care. When Krista tells Nina that she won't be staying for treatment, Nina takes drastic measures to get help - by swallowing a scalpel. She's bleeding out. After working fast to save Nina, Krista gives Nina's parents a piece of her mind.

Ragosa catches a very busy Jordan and asks where TC and Topher are. There's been a chemical factory explosion nearby and burn victims are on the way. When Jordan goes looking for TC, she ends up joining the hospital hostage club. Luckily, security caught Jordan's abduction on surveillance, and Ragosa calls the police. A SWAT team arrives just as the burn victims are flooding in.

Back in radiology, Topher and TC are still trying to revive Eric but unbeknownst to Osborne, Eric dies. They have to keep it a secret, or they're all dead. They try to distract Osborne, but he grabs Jordan just as the SWAT team throws a stun grenade into the room. TC lunges to shield Jordan. As the explosion goes off, it triggers yet another one of TC's flashbacks, sending him into combat mode. He attacks Osborne, and a fight ensues. The SWAT team breaks down the door and subdues Osborne. But something's wrong with Topher - he's been shot.

Pain Relief:

Jordan finally notices that Ragosa has a thing for Landry. There must be something about the night shift that brings out passions in everyone who works there.

Kenny admits that he was a little hurt that Drew hid the fact that he's gay. He thought they were better friends than that. Drew apologizes and they're best buds again.