Eli Stone s02e06 Episode Script
Happy Birthday Nate
Previously: Cooper is trying for a clinical trial which might cure his son's MS.
- Do you even want to be in this trial? - No.
You involve yourself with my family, I'm going to get involved with yours.
I want to be emancipated.
"You don't mess around with Jim.
" Going against the visions? It's risky.
Let me see if I've got this right.
It sounds like there are two Jim Coopers, the one you were stalking - to retain as a client - I never stalked.
and the Jim Cooper who you're now making a mortal enemy of.
And Jordan's OK with this? I wouldn't say that, but I wouldn't call Cooper an enemy.
Really? Let's see, you got a court to greenlight his clinical trial, and this week, you're helping his son emancipate.
From him.
That guy's not sending you a Christmas card anytime soon.
I wouldn't expect one from him either, if I were you.
What? He said something about me? No, he just kind of threatened to have you fired, but he was just blowing off steam.
So getting me fired this is what, your idea of a birthday present? I would never ruin your birthday or birthday golf.
Can we please not call it "birthday golf?" It makes me feel six.
By the way, it is something to worry about.
My hospital, the place where I work Half the buildings there are named after Jim Cooper.
My case has got nothing to do with you.
What? Eli, are you OK? You seem a little You seem a little drunk.
Eli! Eli! Wake up! Mr.
Stone, are you OK? Where am I? Maybe we should narrow it down to a planet.
Nate! Come help your dad.
You couldn't lay off the liquor for one night? - Nate? - You're ruining my party.
- It's your birthday? - Dad, your breath.
Eli, go make some coffee! Eli? This is why I didn't want the party at the house.
You promised this wasn't gonna happen.
Hello, Dad! - We better get you checked out.
- I'm just a little freaked out.
I was Dad.
It's gonna take me a minute to recover.
Let's hope you don't get his hangover.
I remember that birthday.
He ruined it.
It's not like he ruined it on purpose.
No, my 10th and 11th birthdays, those he ruined on purpose.
- Why are you defending him? - I'm not.
And your duties as favorite son ended about ten years ago, you know? - Someone's still holding a grudge.
- It's my birthday.
I'm entitled.
Are you insane? Because you're not going to represent Jim Cooper's son.
I forbid it.
Are we still doing that? I mean, we're partners now.
Do we get to forbid? You look like your aneurysm's gonna burst.
Might have to do with the fact I've been getting calls from Cooper all week.
Every time he calls, I assure him that this nonsense is over.
He's making this kid's life miserable.
That's not our concern.
We're partners now, Eli.
Our fates are intertwined.
If Cooper hears you uttered one word to his son, he'll not only leave the firm, he'll let every client know he left because his attorneys meddled in his personal life, and this firm will be done before it even started.
What do you want me to do? When he comes in, you shake his hand, look appropriately humble, and apologize to the man.
We're dropping this.
Humbler.
All right, let's get this over with.
Mr.
Cooper I'm sorry if I have somehow offended you.
"Somehow?" You should know that we share the same primary concern: your son's welfare.
You should know you understand nothing about that.
- I think what Eli's trying to say - I don't care.
You work for me.
Do I now? I can make sure the rest of your career is spent taking court-appointed cases - at 75 dollars a pop.
- I'm sure you don't mean I've got it within my power to end your venture before it even gets off the ground, and if you want to prevent that you will not only remove Mr.
Stone from my sight, you'll remove him from the firm.
Any questions? Just one.
Do you remember your way back to the elevator? This is my office.
My firm.
My building.
I will not be spoken to like that within its walls.
The only Cooper we will be representing is your son.
You'll hear from my new attorney later today.
What happened to "intertwined fates?" I didn't enjoy his tone.
- We have to talk.
- OK.
Not here.
OK.
You're a little bit crazy.
You know this.
You know what's going on? Everyone's whispering - behind closed doors.
- You're doing it without the door.
Someone from here plugged the leak at Wethersby.
- They're looking for the snitch.
- "The snitch?" - I bet it was Jimmy Cagney.
- This is serious.
Our loyalty is being questioned because we have friends there.
You're being a little paranoid.
Hello? Yes, she is.
Of course.
That was Posner.
He wants to see us in his office.
Both of us.
Suddenly? We're not working on anything together.
Why does he need to meet with both of us? Maybe "a little paranoid" is warranted.
Scale of one to ten, how scary is your Dad? - Nine.
- Eleven.
That averages out to a ten.
This is just a sit-down with his new lawyer.
Emancipation is pretty straightforward.
There shouldn't be any surprises.
Hey, sweetie.
How's your day going so far? When I called and said "what's lunch look like," you didn't think this was worth bringing up? Can't believe you're representing this guy.
A philanthropist committed to changing the world? I know, it's almost hard to fathom.
Perhaps if we could hear exactly what J.
J.
's looking for? Your new client has already heard.
We want him to agree J.
J.
will not be forced into his clinical trial, J.
J.
will be permitted to stay at his girlfriend's home until His emancipation plan is shack up with his girlfriend? Emancipation requires that J.
J.
proves he can support himself.
His mother left him close to 100,000 dollars - and title to various real estate.
- If J.
J.
's MS flares up, that money's gone in a year without insurance.
Enough.
All right, J.
J.
, you despise me.
Noted.
Now say goodbye to your new friends and let's go home.
Please advise your client to address counsel.
The clinical trial, the swimming, we'll talk about it at home.
I know what that means.
You talk, I listen.
It's a disease, Dad.
There's nothing you can do about it, no matter how closely you manage my life.
We're not doing this in front of people.
- You're coming home with me.
- That's going to be up to a judge.
So you guys still validate? - Hey.
- Hey.
- Something I can help you with? - Do we have new stationery, yet? I'm using the old WPK stuff.
I just cross out the P and K.
- That's not really professional - Hey! There's Angie! - Angie! - Perfect.
Eli! I was hoping I'd see you.
What's up? What's up, doc? - I never get tired of saying that.
- It never gets old.
You'd think it would, after 40 or 50 times.
I know.
Hey Keith, you met Patti's daughter? Actually, we Oh! So you do remember me? I thought you might have bumped your head, got amnesia - and forgot my number.
- I didn't realize you knew each other.
Turns out, we don't.
I thought Keith was a brother who knew a thing or two about follow-through.
But that's not him at all.
I've been meaning to call.
I've been swamped here.
It's true.
He was just telling me about his stationery crisis.
There you are.
No stealing my lunch date.
Wouldn't dare.
Good seeing you again.
Before I forget, Dr.
Melvoy called Is he ready to testify? from St.
Thomas.
He's on vacation for a month.
He's like the third expert to fly the coop More like the "Cooper.
" You mess with the bull, Eli, you get the horns.
If I don't find someone with "MD" after their name to testify J.
J.
can live on his own, he has to go back to Daddy Dearest.
If you can wait three more years, you can have this one.
Pregnancy agrees with you.
Send out an office-wide email, why don't you? You haven't told Mr.
Dowd yet, I'm guessing.
Matt thinks my morning sickness is food poisoning.
He keeps threatening restaurants with lawsuits.
If only there were an alternative to lying to the father of your unborn child - You have to tell him sometime.
- I'm just waiting for the right time.
And that would be when? When he notices your baby bump? All right, fine.
Don't listen to your father, listen to your boss.
You're litigating a high-stakes, high-profile case.
My pregnancy is not affecting my work.
To even bring it up is actionable.
It's the fact that you're concealing it from the father of the baby who happens to be opposing counsel.
- Which is irrelevant.
- You know it's not.
I need you at a 110 percent.
When you walk into court and see Mr.
Dowd, can you honestly tell me you won't be wondering, "Does he know? Should I tell him?" No.
It's not fair to the client, not fair to the firm and yes, this is your father speaking again, it's not fair to Mr.
Dowd.
To Matt.
You're right.
I'll tell him this afternoon.
We knew it would happen.
Just a matter of time before we went up against our ex-coworkers.
- Matt - Granted, it's Taylor and Eli, but we know them intimately Half intimately.
- Did you and Stone ever? - I have to tell you - I plugged the leak.
- Is that a euphemism? Last week I gave Eli the name of the guy who was spilling that inside info to our firm.
- Idiot! - It was the right thing to do.
No, not you.
Me.
I thought Posner gave us this case as a vote of confidence.
He gave it to us as a test.
Of our loyalty.
Well, I told you they were What? What is she doing here? Look, we win the case, we pass the test.
Simple.
Hey, you.
Hey.
You don't wanna be seen kissing the enemy? What? No.
What are you doing here? I brought you some discovery.
J.
J.
's school records.
Things must be tight if you guys are cutting back on courier service now.
I thought maybe we could talk.
Like about how you talked some sense into your client? - Excuse me? - Come on, Taylor.
This is a grudge match between your father and Cooper.
The kid's 16 and he's sick.
He's got no business trying to emancipate.
Right, because it couldn't possibly be that the father is a controlling bully who treats his son like a damaged piece of furniture.
Are you kidding me? The guy built a whole laboratory downtown for the sole purpose of finding a cure.
When I'm a dad, I hope I'm that kind of a bully.
You know what? You're right.
I should have sent a courier.
I need something from you.
Imagine my surprise.
It's not like you ever stop by just to say "Hi.
" You're supposed to be my medical expert in the J.
J.
Cooper case.
You were going to keep me out of this.
- This case had nothing to do with me.
- I might've been wrong about that.
My vision the other day How happy do you think my hospital is with me right now? I'm the guy who helped you sue the hospital and the chairman of the board.
And you were right both times.
You're changing people's lives.
At the expense of my own.
My vision the other day I was at your 12th birthday as Dad.
J.
J.
is suing his dad.
I'm not sure bringing Dad into this is the way you wanna go here.
You know how this works.
I wouldn't ask unless I believed that someone was asking me to.
According to his medical records, J.
J.
is asymptomatic.
Which in layman's terms means? That he hasn't had an MS episode since the one that led to his diagnosis.
And more importantly, his MRIs continue to show no significant lesions along his spinal cord or brain stem.
And if he develops symptoms? Odds are they would be minor.
Tremors, fatigue MS is a progressive disease.
That's what these MRIs track, the progress of the disease.
Fortunately, J.
J.
's MRIs seem to indicate that it's very slow.
What does that mean in terms of his petition to become an emancipated minor? Medically, it's irrelevant.
There are And management of the disease is the same whether you're 16 or 60.
Except a 60 year-old can drive, vote, drink, join the Army We'll stipulate there are differences between minors and adults.
It's why we're all here.
Motor dysfunction, paralysis.
Aren't those symptoms that can get worse without remission? Yeah, but J.
J.
has yet to show signs of those symptoms.
You're basing that on a thorough examination? I've reviewed his records.
Extensively.
Well, he's got doctors who've actually examined him extensively.
Out of curiosity, why do you suppose J.
J.
's own doctors say he's definitively better off under his father's care? Even at the best hospitals, money buys influence.
Doctors tend to tell Jim Cooper what Jim Cooper wants to hear.
Objection.
Assuming facts not in evidence and generally paranoid.
- Sustained.
- Let me ask you directly, Is it possible that J.
J.
could suffer an MS flare-up tomorrow that could so disable him, - he couldn't care for himself? - It's not likely.
I asked if it was possible.
Anything is possible.
Maybe that's why the law generally favors kids staying with their parents.
Keith, you have a minute? I really need to file a motion.
I'm really not one to interfere in my daughter's personal life.
Depends on whether you consider threatening to shank me - with a butter knife "interfering.
" - Fair enough.
But you did take her to dinner and there was no butter knife shanking.
I was happy about that.
I've gotta do that thing with the motion.
Uh Why haven't you called my daughter? I've just been so slammed Tell me the truth.
Really.
I've just been slammed.
But I'll call her.
I will.
Eli, can we talk? Is it something that can wait until after Matt and Maggie kick my ass in court? Not really.
It's about Angela.
- Is she OK? - She's fine.
But I was talking to Keith about her and I think he's hiding something.
- You know I'm half psychic.
- Yeah? Which half? What? I said, which half of you is psychic? - Eli, have you been drinking? - Come on.
I'm going to get you some aspirin.
Drink some water.
Drink the water! Daddy.
Dad, wake up.
Uh What happened? You were trying to read me something in your book and then you passed out.
Um Hold on.
What's going on? Where's the cake? The The cake? You were supposed to pick up the birthday cake.
Perfect.
First, you scare the crap out of my friends by passing out, and now you forget the cake? There's still time.
He can still get a cake.
Right Dad? Yeah, sure.
- Everyone's going home! - Stop yelling at him! - Just wanted to show me something! - You mean this? What the hell is so important about a crappy notebook? I need to see that.
"Dear Eli Remember this, Eli Eli's gift His gift" You know, maybe you should've just pretended it was Eli's birthday.
Then maybe you would've remembered the cake.
It's gone, Eli.
Are you sure? You threw the journal into a flaming barbecue.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
I just thought that maybe after I left, you know, part of the book survived? You were right to get rid of it, bro.
It's dangerous to know too much.
But now I don't know the things I'm supposed to know.
This latest vision was about the book.
My dad was writing something important in there, but I couldn't read it.
Well, what do you think God's trying to tell you? I don't know.
He's teasing me with these visions.
They're getting more oblique.
Last week He told you, "Don't mess around with Jim.
" He sung it to you.
It couldn't have been clearer.
You chose to defy Him.
OK.
True.
But He also sent the burning building vision and that went nowhere.
Give it time, Eli.
We're on His schedule.
He's not on ours.
Hey, Chuck.
Mr.
Dowd.
Bearing gifts.
Tokens of my appreciation for your amazing daughter.
Delivered in person, no less.
I'm sure you heard about our little I have.
I figured it's the least I can do.
Let me be the first to say congratulations.
What father doesn't harbor the dream of one day being a grandfather? Huh? Oh, dear God.
Oh, my God.
OK, so to recap, you're saying Taylor is - You didn't know.
- Not so much, no.
- Not how you were supposed to find out.
- You think? She told me she was going to tell you.
You're here, carrying gifts - That's a bear for God's sake.
- It's an apology bear.
For pissing her off earlier today.
It appears I'll be needing your florist.
Do you have any idea what you've done? The board is furious.
Doctors in this hospital testify all the time.
Not against its biggest donor.
That bought him his name on the side of a building, - not the right to bully and intimidate.
- No one has been bullied.
- What's this little chat we're having? - It's a friendly warning.
Frank.
Is Eli OK? Yeah.
This is about his case.
I gave my pound of flesh this morning.
You need to go back.
Tomorrow.
- Eli doesn't know it, but you do.
- You got a tarot card that says so? It's in the book.
My father's book? The book that Eli told me he burned? I came to tell you, in confidence, you need to go back.
Your dad wanted you in that courtroom tomorrow.
If I get sick sicker I've got a support system.
Friends, doctors my coach and his family, my girlfriend, Jen, and hers.
None of those people is your father.
Right.
My father, who offered my girlfriend $25,000 to leave me alone.
He said that she was a distraction from my getting well.
My father, who filled in our swimming pool when I said I didn't want to be part of his clinical study.
If I stay with him, the only thing I'd have left is MS.
Your Honor, I'd like permission to allow Mr.
Cooper to engage this witness directly on cross.
- Excuse me?! - Objection! There is precedent for this.
On Judge Judy, maybe.
Mr.
Cooper would be exercising his right to self-representation.
Which is difficult since he's not representing himself.
Knock it off.
No one yells in here but me.
You.
Girlie.
Go.
If J.
J.
wants you to declare him an adult, he should demonstrate the ability to withstand - a question or two from his father.
- This is such a blatant stunt, - she should be dressed as Evel Knievel.
- My court, my discretion, Mr.
Stone.
How are you feeling, Jimmy? Ready for this to be over? Yes, sir.
Your swim coach, your girlfriend's family Do you really think any of them care about you as much as I do? You care too much, Dad.
When you're a father, you'll see that's not possible.
Mom didn't think so.
Do you understand that I kept your mother alive six months longer than any doctor said she would live? And she hated every minute of it.
And she hated you.
You need to let me go, Dad.
I I can take care of myself.
Are you sure about that? Let's talk about the week I was in Japan.
You stayed with your coach Can we be done? I want to be done.
- Your Honor? - I got a phone call in the middle of the night from an emergency room thousands of miles away.
- Why were you there? - It was an accident.
Three pain killers is an accident.
You take twelve, and it's something else.
That was one night.
I'd just been diagnosed.
You got scared.
I get it.
You panicked.
You remember what you said to me when you got on the phone? This is hearsay and completely inhumane! You said, "Why did you leave me alone, Dad? I can't be alone.
" - Do something.
- You don't like me, that's fine.
You're hardly the first But it doesn't mean that you can take care of yourself when you can't.
You can hold me in contempt if you want, but I'm taking my client off the stand.
- He isn't finished.
- Yes, he is.
Well? Are we done, or am I gonna see the inside of a cell? We'll take a short recess.
- Open court, Maggie.
Real nice.
- That was the most disgusting thing - How could you sign off on that? - It was my idea! Save the indignation.
You would've done the same.
I would never subject a kid to that kind of humiliation! - At least you're admitting he's a kid.
- It was unfair surprise! - You'd be the expert.
- What's that mean? How about you, pregnant, with my kid? - I'm so happy for you.
- That's amazing.
Not so amazing when you're the father and you find out from your ex-boss.
- I was trying to find the right moment.
- Sure, like when he was born, or took his first steps, or got into college.
- Eli - We're done here, Counselor.
Did you see it? Maggie embracing the dark side? Yeah, front row seat.
No, J.
J.
.
On the stand.
He was shaking.
Of course he was.
His dad was going after him in court.
No, he was shaking, Eli.
His hand.
There was a tremor.
It's kinda ironic.
First you're pissed I don't call, then you ignore me when I do.
Your mom told me where to find you.
I'm sorry I went radio silent.
There's something I wanted to talk to you about.
Is that Sam & Dave? I love this song.
Don't pretend you know anything about Sam & Dave.
Please.
Sam Moore & Dave Prater, the real Blues Brothers.
Their music got me through the Bar exam.
Growing up, I used to dance.
Now, when I'm stressed, I put these brothers on and I just move.
Ooh! I'm I'm sorry, Angela.
We really need to talk.
That's never a good conversation starter.
After your DUI was dropped, I got a call from the ADA.
Your blood work came back positive for cocaine.
I'm afraid you might have a problem.
What, too much Sam & Dave while you were in law school? You forget "innocent until proven guilty?" I'm not accusing you of anything.
No, the DA was.
You were just too happy to believe her.
Angela, it is not like that.
Listen, I know some folks Amoxicillin, the antibiotic.
Any first year med student will tell you that taking this will give you a false positive for cocaine.
I have an ear infection, not a drug problem.
I'm sorry, Angela.
Angela, I'm sorry.
Not more than me.
J.
J.
has at least two complete lesions along his brain stem.
You look at the number of lesions, and the size They couldn't have formed overnight.
He gets a new MRI every few weeks.
No one's spotted any of this? I think they did.
I looked at all of J.
J.
's old MRIs.
I think they stopped filing new ones about three months ago.
Instead, someone simply copied an old MRI, from when he was asymptomatic, and filed it with a new date repeatedly.
So they could claim he was asymptomatic? And the records would back them up.
It's getting worse, isn't it? You knew? I figured, when you asked me to drop by.
My dad kept telling me I was fine.
For months I felt tired.
All over now.
Nate, could you give us a minute? Hey.
Nothing's over.
OK? People live long, full lives with this disease.
They manage it.
They don't qualify for the Olympics.
I know what you're going through.
You feel like you lost control of your life.
The day my aneurysm was diagnosed I went back to my apartment, and in the mail were all these bills, magazines That was the most terrifying part.
You know, I was dying but the world kept going like nothing had changed.
What did you do? I paid the bills.
You ever stop being scared? No.
But I don't stop living, either.
That's what life is.
You just gotta keep moving forward even when you know that there's some bad stuff waiting for you, years or weeks, maybe days, down the road.
You keep moving forward.
Even when you think you know what's going to happen, it doesn't always.
That's what hope is made of.
Still not sure what I'm doing here.
In a minute you'll be nostalgic for that feeling.
- What are we looking at? - J.
J.
's medical files.
Fraudulent one on the left, real one on the right.
- Oh, my God.
- Wait a minute.
"Fraudulent?" This looks like his MS has advanced.
- Because it has.
- You saw this? We're no longer in court.
Do not address my client.
I can't be here.
I want to talk to my son.
Sit down.
Fake MRIs? How do you fake an MRI? It helps to have big chunks of a hospital with your name on them.
You figured out why you're here yet? Why wouldn't you tell your son he's getting worse? He did not want to jeopardize his clinical trial.
This was never about money.
Maybe not for you, but for the hospital it sure was.
I spent a year of my life a year of J.
J.
's life pushing that clinical trial through the FDA.
Using him, your own son, as a prop, your emotional poster child.
Which is why you needed to hide his symptoms.
Under FDA guidelines, it would've disqualified him from the study.
I did it for him.
- To cure him.
- I'm gonna advise you to stop talking.
So, what do we do here? First, you're gonna agree to J.
J.
's emancipation.
Then you're gonna cut him a check to cover his living and medical costs.
And you're going to go to the hospital and clean house.
Unless you want me to go to the DA with a list of the laws that you've broken.
I'll talk to the board.
Hi.
I understand there was a breakthrough on the case.
I'm not here about the case.
I asked you not to say anything to Matt.
There was a chocolate bear! Maybe you did me a favor.
This way, I got the disaster over with.
- Was it really that bad? - It wasn't pretty.
What kind of man would he be if he wasn't upset that you kept this from him? Are you sure that's how you want to go here? You had more than enough time in which to tell him.
Why didn't you? When Eli and I broke up, I needed I needed someone who wasn't Eli.
I don't know anyone who fits that description better than Matt.
But he was never supposed to be anything more than a break a relationship palette cleanser Things have changed.
Yeah.
Just when I think this job can't get any harder, I have to help a kid process the fact that his life has just vanished out from under him.
- It's a calling.
- What? You called it a job.
It's a calling.
Sometimes that's what it feels like.
A really important job with a boss who everyone else thinks is great, but I can't figure out where he's taking the company.
I thought you'd embraced the master plan of it all a little more, Eli.
I have.
I'm trying to be a good solider.
Except for when you weren't.
Messing around with Jim when God specifically told you not to.
Turns out, that's unclear.
I wasn't supposed to mess around with Jim, but I won the case anyway.
Both of them.
Cooper's and J.
J.
's.
- What? - J.
J.
.
James Junior.
Jim Junior.
As in "don't mess around with" My vision last week, I must have missed something.
I need to see it again, Frank.
Lie back on the table.
Hey! Hey, you! You've got to get out of there! J.
J.
! What did you see? Hello Mrs.
Phillips? Hi, my name is Eli Stone.
I'm J.
J.
's lawyer.
I need to speak with him.
I was hoping he was with Jen.
How long has he been missing? Call 911.
J.
J.
! J.
J.
! Hey look at me! Look at me! We gotta get out of here! Now! OK? Come on, this way! Come on, let's go! I didn't think it I didn't think the fire would spread so fast.
I don't think that was the problem so much as starting the fire in the first place.
What were you doing? Were you trying to hurt yourself? I don't know how I ended up there.
I was walking and thinking He took the most important thing in my whole life away from me.
You wanted to do the same to him? What happens now? You're going to talk to a guy, a psychiatrist.
There aren't going to be any charges filed.
Dad used his influence again.
Mr.
Control Freak.
Maybe he tries to control what and who he cares about.
What, are you on his side now? The court says you're an adult now, J.
J.
.
You wanna be an adult, you gotta realize that there aren't any sides.
It's just people.
You've got some challenges ahead of you.
You might not think that you need your dad, but one day you might want him.
And when you do, you don't want it to be too late.
Hey, thanks.
Maybe I'm a jerk.
Well, maybe I'm a coward.
- We just need to figure this - Can we talk? Ladies first.
Look, I should have told you.
But I was afraid.
You know, of this conversation.
Talking about us.
Let's be honest, Matt.
What we have is temporary.
A ten-month one-night stand.
What were you gonna say? I was gonna say "let's get married.
" Is that a joke? Maybe.
Did you think it was funny? I never thought this was temporary, a one-night thing, even when we had our one-night thing.
You made me want more.
You're still doing it.
Oh The baby Our baby doesn't change that.
And the marriage proposal? OK, that was probably a little baby-related.
But the rest of it Taylor, I just want to be with you.
As a couple.
In a relationship.
And all the rest of it you know, we'll figure it out as we go.
OK? Excuse me, excuse me I'm looking for Angela Scott.
Angie's not on tonight.
She said if you see a guy looks like me, that's what you say? - No really, she's not here.
- I just want to apologize to her.
I was an ass and I just stopped by to tell her that.
Look, you seem like a nice guy.
And Angie can really use a friend right now.
Angie hasn't been here in weeks.
She was suspended.
I thought you might be by.
And I thought that Eli burned my dad's journal.
He did.
It's ash, dude.
So how did you know that I was supposed to be in court? What, did you use some mystic Eastern power to reanimate it? Yeah.
It's called Kinko's.
I put a copy away.
Does Eli know? There's stuff in there Eli's not ready to see.
You can't tell him, Nate.
- What does it say about me? - The journal? I know that Eli's the one with the gift.
The mission.
But it is affecting my life, too.
My career, my job I feel lost.
So yeah.
I want to know.
What happens to the brother of the prophet? This was in the journal.
"Dear Nathan I'm writing to you because I don't think you'd hear me now if we tried to talk.
And I don't have the guts to tell you the truth about me, about what I can see.
About Eli And about you.
This is hard to explain, which is probably why I'm writing instead of saying it, but you are going to watch your brother do some amazing things, and you'll feel lost in his shadow.
But know this: he won't be able to accomplish anything without your help, your love, and patience.
The world is counting on you, too.
That's the future you've both been handed.
" I got a call from St.
Vincent's in-house attorney.
They want you to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
In return for your signature, they cut you a very large check.
Wow.
- OK, what's the catch? - You don't work there anymore.
This is a little bigger than your standard severance check.
Um-hm.
I know the hospital signed it, but I kind of feel like it's from Dad.
I think that's what the vision was about.
Why you were involved in this whole thing.
Maybe it's supposed to make up for everything.
The check's not that big, Eli.
"You boys are my whole world.
I know what's in store for both of you and I just cry.
Because I'm so very proud.
I love you, Nathan.
I love you so much it aches.
Happy Birthday.
Love Dad.
"
- Do you even want to be in this trial? - No.
You involve yourself with my family, I'm going to get involved with yours.
I want to be emancipated.
"You don't mess around with Jim.
" Going against the visions? It's risky.
Let me see if I've got this right.
It sounds like there are two Jim Coopers, the one you were stalking - to retain as a client - I never stalked.
and the Jim Cooper who you're now making a mortal enemy of.
And Jordan's OK with this? I wouldn't say that, but I wouldn't call Cooper an enemy.
Really? Let's see, you got a court to greenlight his clinical trial, and this week, you're helping his son emancipate.
From him.
That guy's not sending you a Christmas card anytime soon.
I wouldn't expect one from him either, if I were you.
What? He said something about me? No, he just kind of threatened to have you fired, but he was just blowing off steam.
So getting me fired this is what, your idea of a birthday present? I would never ruin your birthday or birthday golf.
Can we please not call it "birthday golf?" It makes me feel six.
By the way, it is something to worry about.
My hospital, the place where I work Half the buildings there are named after Jim Cooper.
My case has got nothing to do with you.
What? Eli, are you OK? You seem a little You seem a little drunk.
Eli! Eli! Wake up! Mr.
Stone, are you OK? Where am I? Maybe we should narrow it down to a planet.
Nate! Come help your dad.
You couldn't lay off the liquor for one night? - Nate? - You're ruining my party.
- It's your birthday? - Dad, your breath.
Eli, go make some coffee! Eli? This is why I didn't want the party at the house.
You promised this wasn't gonna happen.
Hello, Dad! - We better get you checked out.
- I'm just a little freaked out.
I was Dad.
It's gonna take me a minute to recover.
Let's hope you don't get his hangover.
I remember that birthday.
He ruined it.
It's not like he ruined it on purpose.
No, my 10th and 11th birthdays, those he ruined on purpose.
- Why are you defending him? - I'm not.
And your duties as favorite son ended about ten years ago, you know? - Someone's still holding a grudge.
- It's my birthday.
I'm entitled.
Are you insane? Because you're not going to represent Jim Cooper's son.
I forbid it.
Are we still doing that? I mean, we're partners now.
Do we get to forbid? You look like your aneurysm's gonna burst.
Might have to do with the fact I've been getting calls from Cooper all week.
Every time he calls, I assure him that this nonsense is over.
He's making this kid's life miserable.
That's not our concern.
We're partners now, Eli.
Our fates are intertwined.
If Cooper hears you uttered one word to his son, he'll not only leave the firm, he'll let every client know he left because his attorneys meddled in his personal life, and this firm will be done before it even started.
What do you want me to do? When he comes in, you shake his hand, look appropriately humble, and apologize to the man.
We're dropping this.
Humbler.
All right, let's get this over with.
Mr.
Cooper I'm sorry if I have somehow offended you.
"Somehow?" You should know that we share the same primary concern: your son's welfare.
You should know you understand nothing about that.
- I think what Eli's trying to say - I don't care.
You work for me.
Do I now? I can make sure the rest of your career is spent taking court-appointed cases - at 75 dollars a pop.
- I'm sure you don't mean I've got it within my power to end your venture before it even gets off the ground, and if you want to prevent that you will not only remove Mr.
Stone from my sight, you'll remove him from the firm.
Any questions? Just one.
Do you remember your way back to the elevator? This is my office.
My firm.
My building.
I will not be spoken to like that within its walls.
The only Cooper we will be representing is your son.
You'll hear from my new attorney later today.
What happened to "intertwined fates?" I didn't enjoy his tone.
- We have to talk.
- OK.
Not here.
OK.
You're a little bit crazy.
You know this.
You know what's going on? Everyone's whispering - behind closed doors.
- You're doing it without the door.
Someone from here plugged the leak at Wethersby.
- They're looking for the snitch.
- "The snitch?" - I bet it was Jimmy Cagney.
- This is serious.
Our loyalty is being questioned because we have friends there.
You're being a little paranoid.
Hello? Yes, she is.
Of course.
That was Posner.
He wants to see us in his office.
Both of us.
Suddenly? We're not working on anything together.
Why does he need to meet with both of us? Maybe "a little paranoid" is warranted.
Scale of one to ten, how scary is your Dad? - Nine.
- Eleven.
That averages out to a ten.
This is just a sit-down with his new lawyer.
Emancipation is pretty straightforward.
There shouldn't be any surprises.
Hey, sweetie.
How's your day going so far? When I called and said "what's lunch look like," you didn't think this was worth bringing up? Can't believe you're representing this guy.
A philanthropist committed to changing the world? I know, it's almost hard to fathom.
Perhaps if we could hear exactly what J.
J.
's looking for? Your new client has already heard.
We want him to agree J.
J.
will not be forced into his clinical trial, J.
J.
will be permitted to stay at his girlfriend's home until His emancipation plan is shack up with his girlfriend? Emancipation requires that J.
J.
proves he can support himself.
His mother left him close to 100,000 dollars - and title to various real estate.
- If J.
J.
's MS flares up, that money's gone in a year without insurance.
Enough.
All right, J.
J.
, you despise me.
Noted.
Now say goodbye to your new friends and let's go home.
Please advise your client to address counsel.
The clinical trial, the swimming, we'll talk about it at home.
I know what that means.
You talk, I listen.
It's a disease, Dad.
There's nothing you can do about it, no matter how closely you manage my life.
We're not doing this in front of people.
- You're coming home with me.
- That's going to be up to a judge.
So you guys still validate? - Hey.
- Hey.
- Something I can help you with? - Do we have new stationery, yet? I'm using the old WPK stuff.
I just cross out the P and K.
- That's not really professional - Hey! There's Angie! - Angie! - Perfect.
Eli! I was hoping I'd see you.
What's up? What's up, doc? - I never get tired of saying that.
- It never gets old.
You'd think it would, after 40 or 50 times.
I know.
Hey Keith, you met Patti's daughter? Actually, we Oh! So you do remember me? I thought you might have bumped your head, got amnesia - and forgot my number.
- I didn't realize you knew each other.
Turns out, we don't.
I thought Keith was a brother who knew a thing or two about follow-through.
But that's not him at all.
I've been meaning to call.
I've been swamped here.
It's true.
He was just telling me about his stationery crisis.
There you are.
No stealing my lunch date.
Wouldn't dare.
Good seeing you again.
Before I forget, Dr.
Melvoy called Is he ready to testify? from St.
Thomas.
He's on vacation for a month.
He's like the third expert to fly the coop More like the "Cooper.
" You mess with the bull, Eli, you get the horns.
If I don't find someone with "MD" after their name to testify J.
J.
can live on his own, he has to go back to Daddy Dearest.
If you can wait three more years, you can have this one.
Pregnancy agrees with you.
Send out an office-wide email, why don't you? You haven't told Mr.
Dowd yet, I'm guessing.
Matt thinks my morning sickness is food poisoning.
He keeps threatening restaurants with lawsuits.
If only there were an alternative to lying to the father of your unborn child - You have to tell him sometime.
- I'm just waiting for the right time.
And that would be when? When he notices your baby bump? All right, fine.
Don't listen to your father, listen to your boss.
You're litigating a high-stakes, high-profile case.
My pregnancy is not affecting my work.
To even bring it up is actionable.
It's the fact that you're concealing it from the father of the baby who happens to be opposing counsel.
- Which is irrelevant.
- You know it's not.
I need you at a 110 percent.
When you walk into court and see Mr.
Dowd, can you honestly tell me you won't be wondering, "Does he know? Should I tell him?" No.
It's not fair to the client, not fair to the firm and yes, this is your father speaking again, it's not fair to Mr.
Dowd.
To Matt.
You're right.
I'll tell him this afternoon.
We knew it would happen.
Just a matter of time before we went up against our ex-coworkers.
- Matt - Granted, it's Taylor and Eli, but we know them intimately Half intimately.
- Did you and Stone ever? - I have to tell you - I plugged the leak.
- Is that a euphemism? Last week I gave Eli the name of the guy who was spilling that inside info to our firm.
- Idiot! - It was the right thing to do.
No, not you.
Me.
I thought Posner gave us this case as a vote of confidence.
He gave it to us as a test.
Of our loyalty.
Well, I told you they were What? What is she doing here? Look, we win the case, we pass the test.
Simple.
Hey, you.
Hey.
You don't wanna be seen kissing the enemy? What? No.
What are you doing here? I brought you some discovery.
J.
J.
's school records.
Things must be tight if you guys are cutting back on courier service now.
I thought maybe we could talk.
Like about how you talked some sense into your client? - Excuse me? - Come on, Taylor.
This is a grudge match between your father and Cooper.
The kid's 16 and he's sick.
He's got no business trying to emancipate.
Right, because it couldn't possibly be that the father is a controlling bully who treats his son like a damaged piece of furniture.
Are you kidding me? The guy built a whole laboratory downtown for the sole purpose of finding a cure.
When I'm a dad, I hope I'm that kind of a bully.
You know what? You're right.
I should have sent a courier.
I need something from you.
Imagine my surprise.
It's not like you ever stop by just to say "Hi.
" You're supposed to be my medical expert in the J.
J.
Cooper case.
You were going to keep me out of this.
- This case had nothing to do with me.
- I might've been wrong about that.
My vision the other day How happy do you think my hospital is with me right now? I'm the guy who helped you sue the hospital and the chairman of the board.
And you were right both times.
You're changing people's lives.
At the expense of my own.
My vision the other day I was at your 12th birthday as Dad.
J.
J.
is suing his dad.
I'm not sure bringing Dad into this is the way you wanna go here.
You know how this works.
I wouldn't ask unless I believed that someone was asking me to.
According to his medical records, J.
J.
is asymptomatic.
Which in layman's terms means? That he hasn't had an MS episode since the one that led to his diagnosis.
And more importantly, his MRIs continue to show no significant lesions along his spinal cord or brain stem.
And if he develops symptoms? Odds are they would be minor.
Tremors, fatigue MS is a progressive disease.
That's what these MRIs track, the progress of the disease.
Fortunately, J.
J.
's MRIs seem to indicate that it's very slow.
What does that mean in terms of his petition to become an emancipated minor? Medically, it's irrelevant.
There are And management of the disease is the same whether you're 16 or 60.
Except a 60 year-old can drive, vote, drink, join the Army We'll stipulate there are differences between minors and adults.
It's why we're all here.
Motor dysfunction, paralysis.
Aren't those symptoms that can get worse without remission? Yeah, but J.
J.
has yet to show signs of those symptoms.
You're basing that on a thorough examination? I've reviewed his records.
Extensively.
Well, he's got doctors who've actually examined him extensively.
Out of curiosity, why do you suppose J.
J.
's own doctors say he's definitively better off under his father's care? Even at the best hospitals, money buys influence.
Doctors tend to tell Jim Cooper what Jim Cooper wants to hear.
Objection.
Assuming facts not in evidence and generally paranoid.
- Sustained.
- Let me ask you directly, Is it possible that J.
J.
could suffer an MS flare-up tomorrow that could so disable him, - he couldn't care for himself? - It's not likely.
I asked if it was possible.
Anything is possible.
Maybe that's why the law generally favors kids staying with their parents.
Keith, you have a minute? I really need to file a motion.
I'm really not one to interfere in my daughter's personal life.
Depends on whether you consider threatening to shank me - with a butter knife "interfering.
" - Fair enough.
But you did take her to dinner and there was no butter knife shanking.
I was happy about that.
I've gotta do that thing with the motion.
Uh Why haven't you called my daughter? I've just been so slammed Tell me the truth.
Really.
I've just been slammed.
But I'll call her.
I will.
Eli, can we talk? Is it something that can wait until after Matt and Maggie kick my ass in court? Not really.
It's about Angela.
- Is she OK? - She's fine.
But I was talking to Keith about her and I think he's hiding something.
- You know I'm half psychic.
- Yeah? Which half? What? I said, which half of you is psychic? - Eli, have you been drinking? - Come on.
I'm going to get you some aspirin.
Drink some water.
Drink the water! Daddy.
Dad, wake up.
Uh What happened? You were trying to read me something in your book and then you passed out.
Um Hold on.
What's going on? Where's the cake? The The cake? You were supposed to pick up the birthday cake.
Perfect.
First, you scare the crap out of my friends by passing out, and now you forget the cake? There's still time.
He can still get a cake.
Right Dad? Yeah, sure.
- Everyone's going home! - Stop yelling at him! - Just wanted to show me something! - You mean this? What the hell is so important about a crappy notebook? I need to see that.
"Dear Eli Remember this, Eli Eli's gift His gift" You know, maybe you should've just pretended it was Eli's birthday.
Then maybe you would've remembered the cake.
It's gone, Eli.
Are you sure? You threw the journal into a flaming barbecue.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
I just thought that maybe after I left, you know, part of the book survived? You were right to get rid of it, bro.
It's dangerous to know too much.
But now I don't know the things I'm supposed to know.
This latest vision was about the book.
My dad was writing something important in there, but I couldn't read it.
Well, what do you think God's trying to tell you? I don't know.
He's teasing me with these visions.
They're getting more oblique.
Last week He told you, "Don't mess around with Jim.
" He sung it to you.
It couldn't have been clearer.
You chose to defy Him.
OK.
True.
But He also sent the burning building vision and that went nowhere.
Give it time, Eli.
We're on His schedule.
He's not on ours.
Hey, Chuck.
Mr.
Dowd.
Bearing gifts.
Tokens of my appreciation for your amazing daughter.
Delivered in person, no less.
I'm sure you heard about our little I have.
I figured it's the least I can do.
Let me be the first to say congratulations.
What father doesn't harbor the dream of one day being a grandfather? Huh? Oh, dear God.
Oh, my God.
OK, so to recap, you're saying Taylor is - You didn't know.
- Not so much, no.
- Not how you were supposed to find out.
- You think? She told me she was going to tell you.
You're here, carrying gifts - That's a bear for God's sake.
- It's an apology bear.
For pissing her off earlier today.
It appears I'll be needing your florist.
Do you have any idea what you've done? The board is furious.
Doctors in this hospital testify all the time.
Not against its biggest donor.
That bought him his name on the side of a building, - not the right to bully and intimidate.
- No one has been bullied.
- What's this little chat we're having? - It's a friendly warning.
Frank.
Is Eli OK? Yeah.
This is about his case.
I gave my pound of flesh this morning.
You need to go back.
Tomorrow.
- Eli doesn't know it, but you do.
- You got a tarot card that says so? It's in the book.
My father's book? The book that Eli told me he burned? I came to tell you, in confidence, you need to go back.
Your dad wanted you in that courtroom tomorrow.
If I get sick sicker I've got a support system.
Friends, doctors my coach and his family, my girlfriend, Jen, and hers.
None of those people is your father.
Right.
My father, who offered my girlfriend $25,000 to leave me alone.
He said that she was a distraction from my getting well.
My father, who filled in our swimming pool when I said I didn't want to be part of his clinical study.
If I stay with him, the only thing I'd have left is MS.
Your Honor, I'd like permission to allow Mr.
Cooper to engage this witness directly on cross.
- Excuse me?! - Objection! There is precedent for this.
On Judge Judy, maybe.
Mr.
Cooper would be exercising his right to self-representation.
Which is difficult since he's not representing himself.
Knock it off.
No one yells in here but me.
You.
Girlie.
Go.
If J.
J.
wants you to declare him an adult, he should demonstrate the ability to withstand - a question or two from his father.
- This is such a blatant stunt, - she should be dressed as Evel Knievel.
- My court, my discretion, Mr.
Stone.
How are you feeling, Jimmy? Ready for this to be over? Yes, sir.
Your swim coach, your girlfriend's family Do you really think any of them care about you as much as I do? You care too much, Dad.
When you're a father, you'll see that's not possible.
Mom didn't think so.
Do you understand that I kept your mother alive six months longer than any doctor said she would live? And she hated every minute of it.
And she hated you.
You need to let me go, Dad.
I I can take care of myself.
Are you sure about that? Let's talk about the week I was in Japan.
You stayed with your coach Can we be done? I want to be done.
- Your Honor? - I got a phone call in the middle of the night from an emergency room thousands of miles away.
- Why were you there? - It was an accident.
Three pain killers is an accident.
You take twelve, and it's something else.
That was one night.
I'd just been diagnosed.
You got scared.
I get it.
You panicked.
You remember what you said to me when you got on the phone? This is hearsay and completely inhumane! You said, "Why did you leave me alone, Dad? I can't be alone.
" - Do something.
- You don't like me, that's fine.
You're hardly the first But it doesn't mean that you can take care of yourself when you can't.
You can hold me in contempt if you want, but I'm taking my client off the stand.
- He isn't finished.
- Yes, he is.
Well? Are we done, or am I gonna see the inside of a cell? We'll take a short recess.
- Open court, Maggie.
Real nice.
- That was the most disgusting thing - How could you sign off on that? - It was my idea! Save the indignation.
You would've done the same.
I would never subject a kid to that kind of humiliation! - At least you're admitting he's a kid.
- It was unfair surprise! - You'd be the expert.
- What's that mean? How about you, pregnant, with my kid? - I'm so happy for you.
- That's amazing.
Not so amazing when you're the father and you find out from your ex-boss.
- I was trying to find the right moment.
- Sure, like when he was born, or took his first steps, or got into college.
- Eli - We're done here, Counselor.
Did you see it? Maggie embracing the dark side? Yeah, front row seat.
No, J.
J.
.
On the stand.
He was shaking.
Of course he was.
His dad was going after him in court.
No, he was shaking, Eli.
His hand.
There was a tremor.
It's kinda ironic.
First you're pissed I don't call, then you ignore me when I do.
Your mom told me where to find you.
I'm sorry I went radio silent.
There's something I wanted to talk to you about.
Is that Sam & Dave? I love this song.
Don't pretend you know anything about Sam & Dave.
Please.
Sam Moore & Dave Prater, the real Blues Brothers.
Their music got me through the Bar exam.
Growing up, I used to dance.
Now, when I'm stressed, I put these brothers on and I just move.
Ooh! I'm I'm sorry, Angela.
We really need to talk.
That's never a good conversation starter.
After your DUI was dropped, I got a call from the ADA.
Your blood work came back positive for cocaine.
I'm afraid you might have a problem.
What, too much Sam & Dave while you were in law school? You forget "innocent until proven guilty?" I'm not accusing you of anything.
No, the DA was.
You were just too happy to believe her.
Angela, it is not like that.
Listen, I know some folks Amoxicillin, the antibiotic.
Any first year med student will tell you that taking this will give you a false positive for cocaine.
I have an ear infection, not a drug problem.
I'm sorry, Angela.
Angela, I'm sorry.
Not more than me.
J.
J.
has at least two complete lesions along his brain stem.
You look at the number of lesions, and the size They couldn't have formed overnight.
He gets a new MRI every few weeks.
No one's spotted any of this? I think they did.
I looked at all of J.
J.
's old MRIs.
I think they stopped filing new ones about three months ago.
Instead, someone simply copied an old MRI, from when he was asymptomatic, and filed it with a new date repeatedly.
So they could claim he was asymptomatic? And the records would back them up.
It's getting worse, isn't it? You knew? I figured, when you asked me to drop by.
My dad kept telling me I was fine.
For months I felt tired.
All over now.
Nate, could you give us a minute? Hey.
Nothing's over.
OK? People live long, full lives with this disease.
They manage it.
They don't qualify for the Olympics.
I know what you're going through.
You feel like you lost control of your life.
The day my aneurysm was diagnosed I went back to my apartment, and in the mail were all these bills, magazines That was the most terrifying part.
You know, I was dying but the world kept going like nothing had changed.
What did you do? I paid the bills.
You ever stop being scared? No.
But I don't stop living, either.
That's what life is.
You just gotta keep moving forward even when you know that there's some bad stuff waiting for you, years or weeks, maybe days, down the road.
You keep moving forward.
Even when you think you know what's going to happen, it doesn't always.
That's what hope is made of.
Still not sure what I'm doing here.
In a minute you'll be nostalgic for that feeling.
- What are we looking at? - J.
J.
's medical files.
Fraudulent one on the left, real one on the right.
- Oh, my God.
- Wait a minute.
"Fraudulent?" This looks like his MS has advanced.
- Because it has.
- You saw this? We're no longer in court.
Do not address my client.
I can't be here.
I want to talk to my son.
Sit down.
Fake MRIs? How do you fake an MRI? It helps to have big chunks of a hospital with your name on them.
You figured out why you're here yet? Why wouldn't you tell your son he's getting worse? He did not want to jeopardize his clinical trial.
This was never about money.
Maybe not for you, but for the hospital it sure was.
I spent a year of my life a year of J.
J.
's life pushing that clinical trial through the FDA.
Using him, your own son, as a prop, your emotional poster child.
Which is why you needed to hide his symptoms.
Under FDA guidelines, it would've disqualified him from the study.
I did it for him.
- To cure him.
- I'm gonna advise you to stop talking.
So, what do we do here? First, you're gonna agree to J.
J.
's emancipation.
Then you're gonna cut him a check to cover his living and medical costs.
And you're going to go to the hospital and clean house.
Unless you want me to go to the DA with a list of the laws that you've broken.
I'll talk to the board.
Hi.
I understand there was a breakthrough on the case.
I'm not here about the case.
I asked you not to say anything to Matt.
There was a chocolate bear! Maybe you did me a favor.
This way, I got the disaster over with.
- Was it really that bad? - It wasn't pretty.
What kind of man would he be if he wasn't upset that you kept this from him? Are you sure that's how you want to go here? You had more than enough time in which to tell him.
Why didn't you? When Eli and I broke up, I needed I needed someone who wasn't Eli.
I don't know anyone who fits that description better than Matt.
But he was never supposed to be anything more than a break a relationship palette cleanser Things have changed.
Yeah.
Just when I think this job can't get any harder, I have to help a kid process the fact that his life has just vanished out from under him.
- It's a calling.
- What? You called it a job.
It's a calling.
Sometimes that's what it feels like.
A really important job with a boss who everyone else thinks is great, but I can't figure out where he's taking the company.
I thought you'd embraced the master plan of it all a little more, Eli.
I have.
I'm trying to be a good solider.
Except for when you weren't.
Messing around with Jim when God specifically told you not to.
Turns out, that's unclear.
I wasn't supposed to mess around with Jim, but I won the case anyway.
Both of them.
Cooper's and J.
J.
's.
- What? - J.
J.
.
James Junior.
Jim Junior.
As in "don't mess around with" My vision last week, I must have missed something.
I need to see it again, Frank.
Lie back on the table.
Hey! Hey, you! You've got to get out of there! J.
J.
! What did you see? Hello Mrs.
Phillips? Hi, my name is Eli Stone.
I'm J.
J.
's lawyer.
I need to speak with him.
I was hoping he was with Jen.
How long has he been missing? Call 911.
J.
J.
! J.
J.
! Hey look at me! Look at me! We gotta get out of here! Now! OK? Come on, this way! Come on, let's go! I didn't think it I didn't think the fire would spread so fast.
I don't think that was the problem so much as starting the fire in the first place.
What were you doing? Were you trying to hurt yourself? I don't know how I ended up there.
I was walking and thinking He took the most important thing in my whole life away from me.
You wanted to do the same to him? What happens now? You're going to talk to a guy, a psychiatrist.
There aren't going to be any charges filed.
Dad used his influence again.
Mr.
Control Freak.
Maybe he tries to control what and who he cares about.
What, are you on his side now? The court says you're an adult now, J.
J.
.
You wanna be an adult, you gotta realize that there aren't any sides.
It's just people.
You've got some challenges ahead of you.
You might not think that you need your dad, but one day you might want him.
And when you do, you don't want it to be too late.
Hey, thanks.
Maybe I'm a jerk.
Well, maybe I'm a coward.
- We just need to figure this - Can we talk? Ladies first.
Look, I should have told you.
But I was afraid.
You know, of this conversation.
Talking about us.
Let's be honest, Matt.
What we have is temporary.
A ten-month one-night stand.
What were you gonna say? I was gonna say "let's get married.
" Is that a joke? Maybe.
Did you think it was funny? I never thought this was temporary, a one-night thing, even when we had our one-night thing.
You made me want more.
You're still doing it.
Oh The baby Our baby doesn't change that.
And the marriage proposal? OK, that was probably a little baby-related.
But the rest of it Taylor, I just want to be with you.
As a couple.
In a relationship.
And all the rest of it you know, we'll figure it out as we go.
OK? Excuse me, excuse me I'm looking for Angela Scott.
Angie's not on tonight.
She said if you see a guy looks like me, that's what you say? - No really, she's not here.
- I just want to apologize to her.
I was an ass and I just stopped by to tell her that.
Look, you seem like a nice guy.
And Angie can really use a friend right now.
Angie hasn't been here in weeks.
She was suspended.
I thought you might be by.
And I thought that Eli burned my dad's journal.
He did.
It's ash, dude.
So how did you know that I was supposed to be in court? What, did you use some mystic Eastern power to reanimate it? Yeah.
It's called Kinko's.
I put a copy away.
Does Eli know? There's stuff in there Eli's not ready to see.
You can't tell him, Nate.
- What does it say about me? - The journal? I know that Eli's the one with the gift.
The mission.
But it is affecting my life, too.
My career, my job I feel lost.
So yeah.
I want to know.
What happens to the brother of the prophet? This was in the journal.
"Dear Nathan I'm writing to you because I don't think you'd hear me now if we tried to talk.
And I don't have the guts to tell you the truth about me, about what I can see.
About Eli And about you.
This is hard to explain, which is probably why I'm writing instead of saying it, but you are going to watch your brother do some amazing things, and you'll feel lost in his shadow.
But know this: he won't be able to accomplish anything without your help, your love, and patience.
The world is counting on you, too.
That's the future you've both been handed.
" I got a call from St.
Vincent's in-house attorney.
They want you to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
In return for your signature, they cut you a very large check.
Wow.
- OK, what's the catch? - You don't work there anymore.
This is a little bigger than your standard severance check.
Um-hm.
I know the hospital signed it, but I kind of feel like it's from Dad.
I think that's what the vision was about.
Why you were involved in this whole thing.
Maybe it's supposed to make up for everything.
The check's not that big, Eli.
"You boys are my whole world.
I know what's in store for both of you and I just cry.
Because I'm so very proud.
I love you, Nathan.
I love you so much it aches.
Happy Birthday.
Love Dad.
"