Beyond Repair
On her birthday, Abby receives a few unwelcome surprises, including the news that Kovac plans to leave town for two months to work in Bosnia. She also finds out that her ex-husband is engaged to remarry. Despite Abby's efforts to prevent it, Carter has an uncomfortable encounter with the patient, Paul Sobriki (recurring guest star DAVID KRUMHOLTZ), who stabbed him and killed a fellow doctor two years ago. Abby cares for a young boy, Douglas Leeman (MATT WEINBERG), after his mother dies in the hospital. And she shares a drink with her neighbor, Joyce (recurring guest star CHRISTINA HENDRICKS), one of the few people who acknowledge Abby's birthday.
Meanwhile, when the wife of a burn victim learns that her husband had been taking illicit drugs, she forces her children to observe his condition in order to teach them a lesson. Carter questions the motives of his mother, Eleanor (recurring guest star MARY McDONNELL), who arrives in Chicago to care for his grandmother, Millicent (recurring guest star FRANCES STERNHAGEN). Firefighter Sandy Lopez (recurring guest star LISA VIDAL), now dating Weaver, discovers that Weaver is not always forthright at work about her sexual identity. Greene confronts Rachel (recurring guest star HALLEE HIRSH) after finding cigarettes and condoms in her book bag. Chen schemes to use information against Weaver to become fully reinstated.
