Season 6 Scene Summaries

"Last Rites"

Season 6 ~ Episode 2

Somebody got a promotion...

Lecture Hall. Romano speaks from the podium in the front; Benton and Elizabeth whisper in the back row. Their little chat disturbs Romano, who calls Benton out, "Do you have something to add, Dr. Benton?" Elizabeth and Benton look amused that they were singled out, and Benton simply replies, "No." "Then please give us the courtesy of your full attention." Romano gives a smirky smile, and Elizabeth purses her lips, trying not to giggle as Romano ends his little speech: "As a final note, you should all offer Dr. Corday your congratulations, since most of you will be working with her in her new position as Associate Chief of Surgery." Elizabeth's grin fades into utter shock as she stares straight ahead and shifts uncomfortably in her chair, and Benton turns to look at her. Romano continues, "All departmental concerns can be funneled through her office, including OR schedules, research funding, committee assignments, et cetera, et cetera...uhhhh, thank you. Have a great day." With that, he closes his folder and whisks away, leaving Elizabeth shell-shocked in her seat.

A few scenes later, we see Elizabeth slam Romano's internal office door open (without knocking -- gutsy girl! I like her.) and Romano looks up. "Lizzie! Twenty minutes. It took you twenty minutes to come and see me. I'm shocked -- I thought it would be five, ten tops." "What's this all about, Robert?" she spits angrily. "What, no 'thank you, I'm honored'? No 'I hope I don't disappoint'?" He stacks the papers he was shuffling, twists his pen closed, and stands from behind the desk. "Everyone thinks you're serious," she says as she fixes him with another withering death glare. "That's because I am serious, Lizzie. You know me; I'm bound to ruffle a few feathers in this new job. I needed you to smooth things over for me."

He asks her to walk to the men's room with him, waving to someone off-screen in his outer office. As the two walk down the hall (very close together, I might add), you can see an out-of-focus Brenda cross the door in the background and place a file in a cabinet. Was he waving at his secretary? Random. Anyway, Elizabeth is still fuming. "If you wanted to offer me a position, why didn't you ask me privately?" "Awww, what's the fun in that? Besides, I knew you'd take it," he grins. "I haven't taken it." "Oh, is that a no?" He tucks his chin down and makes a pouty little face, and Elizabeth doesn't reply to his question. "I didn't think so. As much as you may view me as a loathsome toad, I know your pragmatic, and more predictably, your ambitious nature will prevail. You'll leap forward five or six years," he shrugs. "That's not the point," she retorts. "No, the point is I'm handing this to you. The fast track career, independence in the OR, freedom to make your own schedule, with the minor annoyance, of course, of having to report to me."

They stop outside the men's room, chests mere inches apart as Elizabeth stares him right in the eye. "I don't view you as a loathsome toad, Robert." "Well, I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that, Elizabeth." He smiles and steps into the men's room, leaving Elizabeth standing there, looking like she's about to puke. None of that, now.

Elizabeth goes down to Trauma Yellow to talk to her boyfriend, only to find out he's already heard about the "vicious rumor", as he calls it. Mahk looks a little amused and asks, "What is he up to?" as he cleans his glasses. Elizabeth verbally rolls her eyes, "Oh, you know Robert. He always has to be dramatic." Mark puts his glasses back on and looks down at Elizabeth. "Yeah, but why'd he pick you?" Elizabeth gets all offended. "I don't know. Perhaps he thinks I'm a talented surgeon." Stupid Mahk doesn't agree with her and manages to offend her even more: "That's not what I meant. You're not going to take it, are you?" "I was considering it, yes," she snorts. "Ooooookay," is Stupid Mahk's reply. "What?" "Nothing." "So I'm going to have to deal with Romano. Well, he's a small price to pay for such an advancement. It's better than anything I could get at Rush!" "If you say so..." is Stupid Mahk's reply. "Ugh! Stop it! If you feel the need to express an opinion, at least articulate it," she snaps. I love Elizabeth. Stupid Mahk proceeds to articulate, and proves that he sucks.

Back on the Surgical Floor, Elizabeth and Benton try to take a patient into the OR, when a Rocket-scrub-capped Rocket stops them. "Thanks for buffing him up, Peter, but Lizzie can take him from here." "Yeah, but he's a trauma patient," Benton replies, annoyed. Wait, is he ever not annoyed? Never mind, I know the answer. Romano gets all cute in his Rocket scrub cap: "Indeed he is, but this trauma fellowship is run through the ER, correct?" "Yes." "So...that's an OR (points to OR #1) -- that's for surgeons." Benton protests, but Romano won't budge. Romano gives Elizabeth orders to keep Benton out, pats her on the shoulder, and tells her to "enjoy your first solo surgery". "Solo?" she questions. "Yes, an Associate Chief can operate by herself." Benton takes off, Romano takes off, and Elizabeth is left standing alone with the patient, and looks a little frightened at the prospect of operating by herself.

Later, at the ER desk, Elizabeth asks Carol if she's seen Mahk. Blah blah blah MahkCakes. I don't remember what they said, because my brain turned to mush when I saw Romano appear in a tuxedo. Mmmm...Bow Tie. "Heeeeeeey, Elizabeth -- I heard you laid up today in the OR." "Laid up?" Elizabeth asks, confused, because she thinks he means "lay" in the Biblical sense, and she hasn't been doing any of that lately. "Yeah, golf term. Played it safe; live to cut another day." He pauses while she just stares at him. "That's not a criticism. We all get more conservative when we're in the driver's seat. Welcome to the Big Leagues!"

He turns to leave, but she can't let that precious package go so quickly. "Listen, Robert, about Peter," she calls as she follows him away from the desk. "Peter, Peter, Peter. Don't you ever get tired of that subject?" he gripes. It's pretty obvious which person is tired of that subject, Rocket. Elizabeth starts her little speech: "He accepted this fellowship on the assumption he'd be operating on his trauma patients..." "I know," he interrupts, but Elizabeth doesn't stop. "He's a board elig..." "I KNOW." he interrupts again, more forcefully this time. "I'm just messing with him." Elizabeth takes a visible deep breath. "So you'll let him operate?" "Mmmm..." Romano tilts his head up a little, then drops his voice half an octave. "For you, Lizzie? Anything." Normal Voice: "But only on trauma, not elective cases and no general surgery." "Naturally," she replies, stomach quivering at his hotness. (Or not. Maybe that's just me.) "And I want you to police him -- I don't want to have to deal with it." "Fine." she agrees.

She turns and heads back to the admit desk and Romano follows. "So...is that an official acceptance of my offer?" "I suppose it is, yes," she replies. Romano smiles, "Wise choice. I'll see you tomorrow." He turns to leave, then hands Elizabeth a piece of paper. "Oh, and here's a termination list -- we need to cut loose some dead weight, and...uh...it'll sound better coming from you." He smiles again and whisks himself away to pick me up for our enchanting evening of...stuff. Hee. Or, he leaves her standing there breathing fire out of her nostrils. You choose.

"The Peace of Wild Things"

Season 6 ~ Episode 6

Just...read it.

Benton knocks on the door of Elizabeth's new office, wanting to speak with her. She tells him she can't stop, but he's welcome to talk to her while she works. "Nice office," he comments, as he takes a seat across the little desk from her. It's SO not a nice office; it's totally bare and grey and dark. Elizabeth agrees with me. "Yeah. You have to admire the method to his madness, no matter how sociopathic." "Who?" "Romano. His office. Sorry, you wanted to talk?" Elizabeth jerks herself out of RomanoDreamLand and into Real Life as she looks up at Benton. He opens his mouth, about to speak, when Romano appears at the door and makes a couple of snarks about "slumming". Hee! Anyway, he has a favor to ask. "Lizzie, I've got a hernia scheduled for tomorrow in the AM and I was going to be tied up in a breakfast meeting with the insurance people. I was hoping you could take it for me; it's a bit early...Six o'clock." Elizabeth chokes on her drink a little. "In the morning?" "Yeah. The early bird catches the worm. Seems one of the more advanced members of your ER brain trust blew up the lab and the boys from the insurance agency are rightly concerned for hospital safety," Romano states. "Did anyone get hurt?" Elizabeth quickly asks. "Well, your boyfriend got his hair mussed a bit," Romano retorts. Elizabeth is confused. Her boyfriend doesn't have enough hair to get mussed. "Mahk?" she questions. Romano snarks, "Yeah." He starts strolling out of the office and continues, "But he bounced back. I have to hand it to him - he is a scrapper. He's deaf as a post - I understand that's probably temporary." Elizabeth just sits there.

Romano turns at the doorway and leans against it. "Oh, oh! Um...Lizzie? How much would you pay for my sperm?" Elizabeth sits back in the chair and crosses her arms, shocked. "I beg your pardon?" "Oh, is that sexual harassment? Oh, oh my. No. I'm being recruited by the Marshall-Hillberg Sperm Bank. Its donors include Olympic athletes and Nobel Prize winners...it's an elite gene pool." Elizabeth smiles, half-mockingly, "And they want you?" "Yeah, yeah," Romano smiles back, "It's a little embarassing, actually. But it's for a good cause. I mean, who knows what the mother's side's going to bring, but as for my side of the genetic divide, I can guarantee a significant advantage over the rest of the spermic competition. Can't have too many extra Romanos running around, spicing up the gene pool, can we?" The last question seems directed at Benton, who is still sitting silently but has almost rolled his eyes out of his head. Romano grins, turns, and saunters off as Elizabeth smiles in disbelief.