Trauma Episode 1.10 Blue Balloon

Nancy and Glenn are just about to wrap up their shift when Glenn starts to get wise that Nancy might be seeing someone. Nancy tells Glenn to drop it. Meanwhile an argument at a gas station leads one man to choke and go into cardiac arrest. Ricky, the man who started the argument, tries to save the man by giving him the Heimlich and then CPR. Nancy and Glenn respond to the choking and cardiac arrest right before their shift is about to end! Nancy wishes for a dull moment.

Once Nancy gets to the scene, she realizes the man is suffering from a broken rib from when he was given the Heimlich by Ricky. Nancy warns Ricky to take a CPR course because he could have cost the man his life. Later, Nancy comes home to Rabbit, who is waiting in bed for her. The two kiss passionately after Nancy tells him about her last call.

Rabbit and Nancy drive into work together, but Rabbit realizes that they can't show up in the same car because then people will know that they are dating. So, Nancy gets out a few blocks before the station. At the station, Boone asks Captain Basra for a desk job. Basra tells Boone to hold the desk for him today while he is at his daughter's soccer game.

Basra announces to the rest of the team that Boone will be "acting captain" today. His comrades applaud him, but Tyler doesn't know what he's supposed to do without his partner. Glenn tells Nancy he saw her get out of Rabbit's car this morning, but Nancy blames that on car trouble.

A third grade teacher, Miss Lane, passes out during her class. Nancy and Glenn come to her aid, and Nancy thinks it's due to an overdose, and she might be right. Nancy does her best to keep Miss Lane's condition a secret from the other teachers. Meanwhile Marisa takes a bathroom stop at a VA hospital and meets Edward, a veteran who flew in Vietnam.

Tyler lingers around the office as Boone tries to do damage control. Tyler continues to bother Boone, who scolds him for acting like a kid. Tyler wants something to do and he thinks that the captain thing is going straight to Boone's head! Boone gives Tyler a toy to play with and this seems to appease him for the time being.

At the hospital, Miss Lane says that she took some stuff at a party this weekend and it must have still been in her system. Fortunately, Nancy and Glenn did not tell her boss. Diana tells Nancy that the hospital has had 12 overdoses in 24 hours and six people have already died. Nancy thinks there must be some bad dope out there. She hands Diana a bag of heroin to take to the lab.

Marisa is finishing up in the bathroom when she hears the sound of her helicopter taking off, and Rabbit is right behind her. Someone stole the helicopter! Marisa sees Edward's empty wheelchair at the scene. Rabbit tells Marisa that they need to call the cops and she has to take responsibility, but Marisa keeps trying to radio Edward in the helicopter to come back to the VA. Rabbit calls Boone and tells him what happened.

Nancy and Glenn talk to some homeless people and warn them about the bad heroin that is going around in blue balloons. Nancy hands out medicine in case any of them overdose. Glenn doesn't think what Nancy is doing is right; those people are junkies. Nancy learns that Glenn has a sister who is a junkie. Nancy and Glenn run into Duke near the rig, someone Nancy has helped for awhile, but Glenn isn't amused at Duke's card tricks. Nancy warns Duke about the bad dope going around.

Marisa talks to the Coast Guard, they let her know that Edward is a veteran who has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Coast Guard and the SFPD will work hand in hand to either force the helicopter down, or shoot it down. Rabbit doesn't think this is necessary, but they can't chance it. Tyler picks up Rabbit and Marisa just in time to take a new call.

While Tyler, Rabbit and Marisa are en route to a call, Marisa keeps trying to radio Edward in the helicopter. While Tyler and Rabbit get chummy over energy drinks, Marisa tries to figure out where Edward may have flown to. Tyler and Rabbit break into a house to help a man who seems to have fallen. The man keeps asking for Fonzo, but Rabbit and Tyler don't know who that is. Rabbit realizes they need to get the man out of the house quickly, because he is having a stroke.

Edward finally radios back to Marisa. He tells her she needs some slight improvements to the helicopter. Marisa tells Rabbit that she knows where Edward is, but Rabbit has to get the man to the hospital. Edward's not landing the helicopter anytime soon; he'd rather go down flying through the air than in a hospital.

Boone tries to save face about the stolen helicopter, but he can't get ahold of Captain Basra. On top of that, he had to deal with two feuding paramedics who want a new partner. Tyler calls Boone and while they are driving, the three find Edward flying in the missing helicopter. Nancy and Glenn find their way back to Needle Park, where Duke says his stomach is killing him. Glenn doesn't see the point in helping a junkie and for once, he may have more experience than Nancy. Duke is taken to the hospital; Nancy won't let Glenn's jaded attitude stop her from caring about her patients.

Meanwhile, Edward is still flying above San Francisco and Marisa tries to talk him down by saying how lots of people like him are pretty mad right now. Edward just wanted to fly, but he may realize that its time to come down. Tyler, Rabbit and Marisa are in an all-out chase to keep an eye on the helicopter! Edward has stopped talking to Marisa through the radio, though, so all they can do is continue to chase him.

In the rig, Glenn says that they are missing four vials of morphine. Nancy realizes her keys are missing too. When she goes to find Duke, he has already left the hospital. Turns out Glenn was right, junkies will do anything to get high. Glenn thinks the missing drugs could get him fired. Nancy tells Boone, who says she's going to have go out and get that morphine back.

Edward radios Marisa and tells her he just saw a car hit a bicycle, and that the accident looks pretty bad. Back at the park, Nancy finds Duke and yells at him for stealing from her. Duke gives Nancy back three out of the four bottles of morphine he took, but Nancy isn't sympathetic to Duke anymore and calls the SFPD. Rabbit and Tyler help James, the cyclist, who has gone unconscious. Marisa radios to Edward and tells him that they need the helicopter to get James to the hospital or else he'll die. Edward, being a soldier through and through, helps the trauma team. Marisa finally gets her helicopter back.

Nancy learns a valuable lesson in trust and tells Glenn to feel free to head-check her sometimes. Boone is still answering phone calls when Captain Basra comes back in. Basra says he knew everything that was going on today, and that Boone held it all together. Nancy and Glenn see that Miss Lane, the schoolteacher, is back in the hospital for an Oxycontin overdose. Glenn confronts Miss Lane and tells her about his sister, in hopes that this story will inspire Miss Lane to get some help.

Boone tells Tyler that he didn't mind being captain for a day, but Tyler doesn't want a new partner. Glenn watches on as Nancy and Rabbit casually say goodbye to each other. Marisa works on her copter, and Glenn returns the three missing morphine vials to the rig. When the coast is clear, Nancy hops in Rabbit's car and they ride off together through the San Francisco night.