Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com
Mina, breakfast is ready!
We have 12 minutes. Let's go!
Please tell me you're dressed.
I'm late. Bye-bye, Ammeh Joon!
Oh, no, no, no, wait!
Um...
breakfast?
I'm not much of a breakfast person.
Floyd Reynolds, my friend.
Do you ever just want to bust out in song?
You know, like, serenade the halls?
- Not today, Iggy. - What's the matter?
What stole the song in your heart, my friend?
Deacon Earnest Porter
of Anointed Balm of Gilead Full Gospel Church.
- That's who. - Say that three times fast.
Oh, man, it's my mom's church friend.
He's always showing up to try to fix something, you know?
Always stopping by with his homemade buttermilk biscuits.
He's doing what?
What a menace. Have you kicked his ass yet?
I'm being serious.
So you're feeling a little squeezed out by the old Deacon?
It's like this, me and my mom, we have a set schedule.
Right? We have an understanding.
Whenever he's around, she loses focus.
- You know what I'm saying? - Yeah.
Okay, so you know, you coming back here
to be you mom's primary caregiver was a big decision,
and somebody's suddenly picking up that mantle,
that could feel like maybe you made a mistake.
Don't shrink me, and I won't cut open your chest, deal?
What you're feeling is very natural, right?
But what your mother is feeling is also very natural.
She needs space and time to flirt
and to eat those buttermilk biscuits
and to be a fully realized sexual human being.
- Oh, God. - What?
Come on. Hey, hey.
So should you.
Right? #selfcare, my friend.
Looks like your dilation's right on schedule.
There's two more C-sections incoming.
Our O.R.s are booked solid.
Okay, take 'em to five.
I convinced ortho to cede an OR to your overflow, okay?
Look at all this new life.
How oddly chipper of you.
I can't help it!
There's a miracle in every room.
Oh, look at that one.
Good, and it wouldn't have anything to do
with all the great publicity that we've been receiving
for taking over Southwest's labor and delivery?
God bless Evelyn Davis,
destroyer of subpar Labor and Delivery departments.
That's what, five L and Ds that she has sued closed?
- Thanks. - So long as we positively
reap from others' misfortune.
Mm, I wouldn't phrase it that way.
Let us pick up the shattered remains and profit off their...
Yeah, or how about, our delivery protocols
have led to the best birthing outcomes in the city?
And we can even afford to scale up
if we can convince the board to fund...
No, miracles!
A room full of miracles.
- Ugh. - What, today that bad already?
Just ending yesterday.
Longest night ever.
Okay, well, at least business is finally picking up.
Two drunk frat boys fought over the future of Bitcoin
and then threw up in my backseat.
Oh.
It took two hours to clean it all out.
Who knows how many fares I missed, and then...
Yeah, I think you, uh, missed a spot.
I just want to scrub myself raw
and then collapse in the closet.
Well, enjoy.
More Southwest mommas have landed.
- Several look ready to pop. - Great.
Dr. Bloom...
I've got a migraine and having auras in Bay 3.
- Spotting in Bay 11. - Blood sugar spike in Bay 9.
Can't feel her toes in Bay 18.
More on the way.
Abdominal pain in Bay 23.
Everybody.
Assess, process, and discharge or get them up to floors.
No long workups. No time for chitchat.
Let's clear out these bays before the next wave hits.
Monica Cole-Weston. Hi, I'm Dr. Reynolds.
Is that the doctor?
My wife, Andrea, who promised she'd just listen in.
Yeah, so long as you don't downplay your symptoms.
You are 31 weeks along this time,
and I'm out of town, and you have to understand...
Babe.
Tell me about this pelvic pain.
It started there, but it's all over my stomach now, too.
It just keeps building.
Dr. Reynolds, she hasn't pooped in like three days.
Okay.
This is the furthest I've gotten
in a pregnancy in four tries.
We're both a little on edge.
Understood. And where are you on the pain scale?
Five-ish, six.
I thought it was just one of those pregnancy aches,
but it wouldn't go away.
I'm just gonna feel around a bit if that's okay.
Just let me know if anything's tender.
Any spotting?
All right, I think we should get you up to OB.
Is something wrong with the baby?
Not saying that, but you're 31 weeks,
and I'd like them to take a look
and do their own workups.
Take some of that worry off you and your wife.
Ydalis Fournette?
I'm Dr. Bloom.
So, how far along are you?
Wow, so I can't just be big?
We fat shaming out the gate?
Uh, no, no, sorry, I...
I just assumed that you were another pregnancy transfer
from Southwest.
Well, your assumption is all the way wrong.
I'm here for this.
This trick at the shelter was trying to snatch my bag.
I had to tighten her ass up.
Okay.
Yeah, you're gonna need stitches.
I think we should send you for an X-ray
just to be sure we're not missing anything.
Thanks.
Huh.
Well, it turns out I was right.
Your blood test says that you are, in fact, pregnant.
Your test is wrong as you are.
I'm a virgin.
Nia, the biopsy confirmed
that the mass in your thyroid is cancerous.
It's stage three.
Stage three.
That's... bad, right?
Without treatment, this could progress to terminal,
but there's hope.
We have an excellent chance
using intravenous radioactive iodine treatments.
Radioactive? But I'm going to breastfeed.
I'm afraid you can't.
O-okay.
Okay.
Nia.
You're also gonna need to isolate from your family
during the course of the treatment.
Isolate, like, for how long?
Four to five months.
- Hold on. - No, no, no.
We can't be near her for four to five months?
- No, I couldn't. - How's that even work with a newborn?
- Shh, shh, shh. - I understand.
Pearl's gonna need her mother.
Exactly, Pearl needs her mother,
you need your wife,
and Nia needs these treatments
if she's gonna have a chance of surviving.
I understand that this is difficult to hear.
I do.
But we want to give you the best chance possible.
When do we start?
Your cancer is aggressive.
We need to start your treatment today.
I know it's disheartening. I'm sorry.
Sorry is not something I expect to hear
from the head of the best labor and delivery department
in New York.
My OB just transferred me here
for an optimal birthing experience,
but you're no better than Southwest.
What's going on in there?
Dr. Matsudaira won't let her walk to progress her labor
because of her condition.
Our policy is to encourage her to labor in bed.
Right, so why not just tell her that?
Because that's Evelyn Davis.
Evelyn Davis?
The lawyer?
Is here?
I mean, you can talk to the team, yes?
Mm-hmm, and it was six departments she closed,
not five.
Talk to me straight, is New Amsterdam
gonna support my VBAC birth plan?
We're gonna do everything we can to make sure
you have a great birthing experience.
How very political of you.
Truthfully, vaginal births after caesarian, VBACS,
depend on many things,
like your prior caesarian...
Which I didn't want.
But my labor was taking too long,
so they gave me Pitocin,
and then they pushed an epidural on me
because that was their protocol for Pitocin.
And all I could do was lay there, then came more Pitocin,
and then my son started to decelerate.
Warp speed after that.
People were just doing things to me, to my body
- without asking. - I barely made it into the OR
before they were pulling him out.
He's five now, inquisitive,
the kind of eyelashes people would kill for.
But his birth was a nightmare.
I refocused my practice on birthing justice because of it.
So you can appreciate how "great experience"
means letting me walk if that's what I feel like doing.
But the only reason that they're not letting you walk
is to monitor your labor progression internally,
and your VBAC calculation of 28%...
Means that, according to your numbers,
that my likelihood of having a successful vaginal delivery
- are slim to none. - 28% isn't exactly optimal.
Says your calculator, which already counts a point
against me just for being Black.
Unfortunately, that's true.
Black and Latina mothers tend to have less successful VBACs.
And lower birthweight babies,
more complications postpartum, higher maternal deaths.
None of which has anything to do with our beautiful skin,
just how we're treated in it.
Ms. Davis, the only thing that we want is for you
and your baby to walk out of here healthy.
It's just that when you're still 5 centimeters dilated
- after almost four hours... - Sounds like you're laying
- the groundwork to deny my VBAC. - That's not my intention,
but if you don't progress naturally soon,
then a C-section may be your only recourse.
Do you understand?
Oh, you've made things abundantly clear.
Nia, your procedure room's all set.
Are you ready to go?
I've hardly seen Pearl at all.
Barely got to hold her.
Where is she now?
She's with Bim.
They're running tests, making sure she's normal.
Normal.
I know that all of this feels about as far from normal
as you can get right now, but you can get through this.
You can.
How can I help?
I want to feed her.
Just once, I want to feel her on my skin,
nourish her,
bond with her,
and then you can take me.
Of course.
We'll give it a few more hours, okay?
Oh, are you the psych consult?
I am, yeah. I'm Dr. Frome.
How's she doing?
Ydalis Fournette, 8 centimeters dilated,
in active labor, and still angrily denying she's pregnant.
Okay, yeah, that's cryptic pregnancy.
Means her mind is having a hard time accepting
she's carrying a child.
Well, whatever it is, the chief signed off.
We're going to get a court order
to perform a C-section, if that is required.
No, hold on, Dr. Goldman. Hang on.
Just taking unilateral action could be further traumatizing,
so maybe before we get the courts involved,
you and I can assess what triggered this.
With what time?
That baby's coming out one way or another,
whether she wants to believe it or not.
Okay, what I'm saying is that you and I need to proceed with care.
Care? Dr. Frome, that woman never received any prenatal care.
None.
Other than the ultrasound I just performed,
we know literally nothing about the health of this child.
Okay, I recognize that you are trying to advocate
for the health of that baby, but I am down here
to advocate for the health of that mother.
- Dr. Frome... - Which means that we do not
just strip her of her rights with a court order
before I even speak to her.
Well, she's going to have to participate in her own care.
Okay.
Look, you are more than welcome
to try to get through to her,
but I'm getting that court order.
So you have until I get back.
Walsh.
This isn't a M.A.S.H. unit.
Go and find a bay to examine your patient in.
All the bays are still filled because...
- I don't care. - Where am I supposed to go?
I don't know.
You know, if only we were in a huge building
filled with lots of rooms,
and you just needed to find one empty one.
Go.
Monica, what happened?
They ran some tests, did a pelvic exam,
said my baby's fine, and now I'm back here talking to you.
And you explained all your symptoms?
- Yes. - Unreal. Let's go.
Here we go.
Can I help you?
I'll be right back.
Hi, uh, Doctor... Malvo.
It seems that Ms. Cole-Weston was sent back down to the E.D.
Now, I don't know if you're maybe overwhelmed
with the influx of new patients...
Oh, so you're saying my OB is sloppy?
- Not my words. - I examined her myself.
The baby's right on target, CBC and chem panels were normal,
no signs of labor, and her pelvic exam revealed
no dilation or softening of the cervix.
So basically I did everything
that should've been done in the E.D.
Wait a minute...
Which means, Dr. Reynolds,
her symptoms would make her the E.D.'s patient, not OB's.
Okay, now, hang on.
The E.D.'s job is to triage, not treat all,
which is exactly what we did.
Now, real talk, what you should've done
was call a surgery consult to handle her abdominal pain,
instead of shuttlecocking her down to us.
And now you're mansplaining.
- No, I'm just... - You wanna do real talk?
Do you know how exhausting it is
having every other department dump their patients on OB
just because that patient happens to be pregnant?
- It's just lazy. - Guys...
Or maybe just concerned with the patient's welfare.
Well, they have all the same organs.
Stop being afraid of vulvas.
Let's get her on a stretcher.
Okay, okay, it's okay.
Oh, she's warm, diaphoretic, and tachy.
- Where does it hurt? - All over my stomach
- and my back now. - Sepsis?
Her white blood count was 14,
which is in the range for pregnancy,
and her ultrasound on non-obscured organs...
Obscured organs?
Appendicitis.
Page O.R., and let 'em know we're on our way.
- Paging O.R. now. - Told you, your department.
- Max! - What's the 911?
- Evelyn Davis. - What happened now?
She checked herself out, AMA.
- Still in labor? - Yeah.
Hey, what did you say to her?
Ms. Davis! Um...
Glad I caught up with you. I heard you were going home?
- Our OB is meeting us there. - Ms. Davis...
I was a fool to think any hospital would listen...
Ooh! Honor my wishes,
do right by me and my baby, so I'm going home.
Home births can be amazing.
It's perfect, unless it isn't.
I ended up delivering my daughter in my bedroom
with a kitchen knife,
praying that the ambulance would arrive in time
for both her and...
my wife.
I can't let that be a possibility for you.
We're prepared for anything at this hospital.
You're already here. You're in labor.
Please.
Let us safely deliver this baby
at New Amsterdam.
I'm going home, Dr. Goodwin.
Mr. Davis.
I just want what's best for you and your wife.
Is there anything that you can say...
Dr. Goodwin, have you ever loved a Black woman?
I've heard lots of numbers today,
how they'll keep my wife safe,
how they'll help ensure my child is born safely,
but I really haven't seen my wife in your numbers.
There's nothing worse than being told how to be grateful.
Julian!
Page Dr. Bloom. Get the ER rapid response team.
Mind if I sit down?
Okay, good.
So first off, I am Dr. Frome, but you can just call me Iggy.
Everybody does.
Okay.
Yeah, why don't you... You start.
You tell me in your own words
what happened with this fight at the homeless shelter?
I don't know.
I already told that bitch to mind her business.
She always talking 'bout what I eat,
wondering what's in my bags,
and that trick's hands got sticky, so...
Okay, so she was trying to exert control over you?
The shelter does that.
Ain't no different here at the hospital neither.
Everybody just doing what they wanna do to you.
You're supposed to just go along with it?
So, hey, when was the last time
you felt like you were in control of your life?
Do you remember?
Full control.
I don't know.
It's been a minute.
Yeah.
I bet, and you strike me as the type of person
that values that deeply.
Am I right?
Yeah, so then you would know when you felt like you lost it.
W-When was that?
About a year ago, maybe.
Okay, so did something happen about a year ago?
Something that made you feel like you lost control?
Hang on!
We're taking her now.
Walsh? What are you doing in here?
- You said to go find a room. - Yeah, but I...
So I found a room.
You mind?
Bloom!
Your friend?
- Walsh found her. - What?
He got security to clear her out.
Based on the amount of abscess fluid,
it doesn't look like the appendix has fully ruptured.
That's good.
But I still can't get a visual.
I don't know.
It's like the appendix isn't where it's supposed to be.
The magic of gestation,
moving everything out of the way to make space.
It's back there somewhere.
All right.
I'm gonna have to expand the field.
You good?
Haven't had to do one of these in a while,
since residency.
Just root around, and mind the extra human.
- It's no different. - Let's hope it is.
That time we lost the fetus.
You do music in your O.R.?
Nurse Kamoe?
Can you cue up my people?
You know where to start.
Oh, okay.
These are your people?
? Now's the time for all good men ?
? To get together with one another ?
? We got to iron out our problems ?
- Where's the ramen emoji? - _
? And try to find a piece of land ? _
? Without stepping on one another ?
_
Why hasn't Nia been sent up to radiation yet?
Because she wanted time to bond with her baby
to try and form a connection.
Understandable, but she has to...
Look, that family could end up physically apart
for upwards of a year.
All she asked for was a moment.
I was just asking because things have been a bit crazy
in neurology with Dr. Kapoor's retirement,
and I'm trying to keep all the balls up in the air
until we find his replacement.
Of course.
- Is everything okay with... - It's fine.
I'm just gonna take Nia up now.
Nia?
She won't latch.
Please don't take me.
Do you want me to start a regional block?
For what?
I'm checking your progression, hon.
You'll feel a little pressure.
Looks like the bleeding's from a small tear in the placenta.
Nothing to worry about,
but you're still only 60% effaced
and at station -2.
It's a go on the C-section.
C-section? But why?
- You want her fetal or supine? - Let's get her supine for now.
This isn't what I want. Listen to me.
- On it. - Type and cross for two units.
Make sure her foley's in.
Julian.
I'm sorry, sir, you can't be in here right now.
- But this is my wife. - You can wait right outside.
It's hospital policy.
Are we getting decels?
No, baby's holding steady on the monitor.
BP's 135 over 80.
Everybody, stop.
Listen. Not to me, to the patient.
Evelyn.
How can we help?
I want to deliver my baby naturally.
Then let's try to do that.
She's geriatric with a history of FTP
and a VBAC score of 28%.
If Evelyn wasn't Black, would her VBAC score be better?
Allow for a longer trial of labor?
- Technically, but... - Then do it.
Change her VBAC calculation.
- How? - Make her white.
She's fully effaced and at -1 station,
but she's still only 5 centimeters dilated.
Dr. Goodwin.
That woman should be having a C-section.
Well, that woman disagrees with you.
Evelyn Davis is many things, but not a doctor,
and all signs point to her vaginal birth going poorly.
- You don't know that for sure. - Why, you're right.
If only there were an instrument we could use
to estimate the risk of things,
like uterine rupture after a previous C-section.
A calculator, say.
- Your sarcasm is unnecessary. - Then I'll be blunt.
By ignoring the VBAC calculator,
you're risking the life of that woman and her baby.
If her VBAC score can be changed
just by switching her race,
then maybe the VBAC calculator is a racist tool.
Different populations have different likelihoods
of different issues.
Factoring in race isn't inherently racist.
No, you're right, but treating some races
like they are automatically a health risk is,
when we should be focused on the racism
that Black mothers encounter,
which is ultimately what is leading
to these poorer outcomes.
And how's fixing racism working out?
I can't fix it,
but I can throw out that calculator,
which we're just using to cover our ass.
Not to mention, and by your own words,
to deliver the best outcomes in the city.
At the expense of the mothers.
Our focus on making the numbers look good is turning this place
into a hatchery. It shouldn't be like that.
It should be like this.
And if it's a risk, then it's the risk
that she wants to take.
And if the baby dies,
comes out damaged in a way that was avoidable,
she's not gonna blame herself.
She'll blame her doctor.
This isn't just Evelyn's risk.
Now it's the whole hospital's.
Let's try a wider angle, and just lift your breast up.
- Lift it, lift it higher. - All right, okay, here.
- Lift it higher. - Honey, I just need to...
Well, I know. I just can't...
- Babe, you gotta try... - I am trying.
Nia, Nia, the baby can feel your stress.
I am trying to relax, but... Stop.
Just stop, stop, stop. I said stop.
Just get the bottle.
You know,
breastfeeding is incredibly special,
and it's important,
but it is not everything.
It doesn't make you less of a mother.
Do you have children?
No.
Then you can't possibly know how this feels.
Dr. Bloom.
Leyla had nothing to do with this, okay?
She selflessly brought a patient in,
and when I heard that she had no place to stay,
I let her use the closet.
I mean, we're in the business of helping people, right?
And I'd do it again, okay? 'Cause she's an amazing person.
I mean, she's super cranky, but wouldn't you be
if you had to drive around puking frat boys
when you're actually a doctor?
Look, I know that I committed like a hundred violations,
and I'm gonna gladly take whatever I've got coming,
but I'm not gonna let you press charges against Leyla.
Ms. Shinwari told me she doesn't know you at all,
that she found the closet and took up residence on her own.
So I'm gonna go with her story.
This is my jam.
Reminds me of the first boy I kissed,
Benny Galan.
You're barely as old as this song.
Just the feeling of it.
I was so nervous.
I'd never kissed before.
- How'd you do? - Is that even a question?
Okay, you got it.
I didn't see my first kiss coming.
I had to swallow my gum.
So she put the moves on you?
Always been into confident women.
? I'm not the only one that holds you ?
Cheers.
Appendix been removed. Now all we have to do is...
Baby's heart rate dropped to 94.
Acute bradycardia. Dammit.
Probably a uterine abruption from all the manipulation.
Set me up for a classic, and get NICU down here stat.
- Paging NICU now. - Scalpel.
You're doing so great.
- Deep breaths. - Get off of me!
- I'm trying to help you. - Calm down.
Ydalis, what are these people doing?
Stop, stop, stop that right now.
- Dr. Frome? What's going on? - What is this OB doing in here?
- You are not pregnant. - Have you lost your mind?
This is my colleague, Safia Lazarre.
We have received new information.
You are not pregnant. You were right all along.
What we have is a GI blockage,
and we need to resolve it immediately, okay?
Dr. Goldman, you know Safia can handle it.
She is excellent. So here we go.
Dr. Frome, a word?
Okay, I'll be back. Hands off, please.
What the hell are you doing?
I am getting her to participate.
All right? You need to follow my lead.
Safia is an amazing midwife.
If we need you for anything, you will know.
This is for Ydalis and the baby.
- Okay. - Okay, thank you.
Hey, sis, I'm Safia.
Look like you might be a bit uncomfortable, yeah?
Yeah...
Let's fix that.
What feels better?
If I could s-stand up?
- Okay, then let's do that. - Yeah, okay.
Let's get you standing up.
Why don't you put your arms around my neck?
Okay.
There you go. Lean on me.
- I got you. - Aah!
Okay, I got you. It's okay, you're good.
I got you. I got you, okay?
Just like this. Just like this, okay?
I got you. Don't worry.
That blockage wants to make its way out, huh?
Yeah.
- You need to help it, okay? - Okay.
That wave of pain is helping you move it out,
so use it.
When you feel it, push like you're pooping.
- Pooping? - It's the only way to get it out.
It's okay, it's okay. Piece of cake.
- Piece of cake. - Okay.
Push. Good.
Big push, push, push, Ydalis.
Come on.
- Bear down. - Aah!
What did you do? What did you do?
Aah!
Ydalis, I'm very sorry that I betrayed you.
People stay doing their own thing.
You think you special?
No, I don't.
But I try to not manipulate people.
Take away their control.
Talk to me about the last time
you felt like you were in control.
You told me that was about a year ago for you, right?
So that was right around the beginning of the pandemic.
What happened then?
It's okay to talk about, and whatever you tell me...
Whatever you choose to tell me is in your control.
I'm just here to listen.
You know how all of a sudden, they were screaming,
"Shelter in place. The city's on lockdown"?
Yeah.
My moms was tripping,
so my dad's stepbrother said I could stay with him.
And I was like, bet.
It was cool, you know.
Free food, Wi-Fi.
But then he lost his job.
That stimulus check went real quick.
Got hectic, and uh...
He got so angry.
Talking 'bout what he was owed.
How I owe him.
One night he just started taking.
And I told him, I don't do that.
I'd never ever done that.
But he ain't care.
He would just take, take, take.
I got tired of fighting, so...
I would pretend I was somewhere else.
That wasn't me or my problem.
Couldn't be.
So it wasn't.
That was her.
And I'm still Ydalis.
You repressed a trauma for your own emotional safety.
That's what you did.
But you know that you are more that trauma.
Right?
You know that it may be a part of you, yeah,
but you are so much more.
You will be so much more than that trauma.
Till something else happens.
There's always gonna be something
that we can't control, always.
But there is one thing that you can control.
What you do next.
Now, retract the uterine wall.
Give me a good field.
Retracting now.
Okay, hold steady while I get her out.
Grab her. I need to stop the bleeding.
She's not breathing.
Place two fingers just below the intermammary line.
Now compress the sternum about an inch and a half.
- Like this? - Mm-hmm, and repeat.
Faster.
Faster, faster.
You're doing great.
Dr. Reynolds. Good work.
Baby, the head is right there!
You feel that?
- Oh, my God! - Right?
Okay, next contraction we go.
Show me how it's done, Ev!
Almost there, you're doing it.
Aah!
Someone's here!
Happy birthday!
Another boy!
My sweet, sweet baby.
Well?
Everybody's dead... The doctors, the nurses.
The baby is some kind of hideous creature...
Max!
Couldn't have gone better.
Thank you.
You know we were lucky, right?
A high risk birth, one where you falsified race
on a medical record to fake a VBAC score?
That wasn't just a liability, it was fraud.
I know. That's true.
That's why we're getting rid of that VBAC calculator.
We're gonna implement a more holistic approach
to everything.
What do you mean, everything?
Max? Max!
Everything sounds like a lot.
Though she be but little, "Miss Thing" is fierce.
They'll be taking her home in no time.
Well, you know, I've been a surgeon for a long time.
It's rare that I get to experience something new.
For that, I thank you.
Well, maybe now you won't send every pregnant woman
who walks in to the E.D. up to OB.
Touché.
And for the record, I'm not afraid of vulvas.
Mm-hmm.
There's this record store in East Village.
It's nothing fancy, but they got some really special stuff.
Wanna go Saturday and maybe grab dinner after?
Dr. Reynolds, if that was what I think it was,
I'm flattered, but...
Oh.
I'm sorry, I had no idea.
I'll see you around.
Yeah.
You know, you didn't have to do that.
Lie.
If I had known how bad you were at it, I wouldn't have.
I know you've got no place to stay.
I'll figure it out.
Okay, can I get you a room somewhere?
Why, do you know a good closet in another hospital?
- I mean, like a real room. - Lauren.
I won't let you pay for me to stay somewhere.
I'm not a charity case.
Then just stay with me.
I mean, I'm, like, never there, so...
You asking me to be your roommate?
Maybe.
Why?
What's wrong with that?
I mean, I have an extra bedroom,
and I'm not a serial killer,
or a hoarder, or someone who sings in the morning...
I'll take it.
Okay.
Let's go home.
Rough day?
Did my best, and now I must hurry home,
so I'll be there in time for my niece to not acknowledge me,
champion parent that I am.
We could start a club. We could get matching jackets.
I've bent over backwards for this girl.
I've completely rearranged my whole life
to be available for her, and do you know what?
I'm... I'm not a mother.
Here I was thinking that it was innate,
that, oh, I'd root for her, and we'd do stuff,
and we'd turn into a team.
I don't even want to go home.
Luna's really taken to the phrase, "Dada, I hate you."
Any time I say no, or try to feed her,
or put her in PJs.
It's like a shiv every time.
But...
Kids are like these funny little bags
full of laughter, and cuddles, and daggers.
Sharp daggers, but you gotta carry the bag.
That's the job.
Sounds like a fun variety of flesh wounds.
Yeah, whoa, but...
but then there are times,
like when Luna finally stopped head butting me at bath time.
Very small victory.
Very small, almost imperceptible,
but you gotta take 'em where you can.
Ammeh Joon!
What's this?
Did you come all this way to bring me pizza?
No, my metro card ran out.
Can I get a ride with you?
Sure, sure.
I just need to get a patient situated first.
You can have my leftovers if you want them.
Really?
I haven't had pizza in ages.
I was just gonna throw it out anyway.
Right.
Well, I'll meet you back here.
CREDITS