Bride asks Mark if her father Julio is dying. Mark explains that he'll need surgery to replace a heart valve. The rest of this scene is shameless. It goes on way too long, consists only of these two less-than-tertiary characters rehashing their "tortured" relationship, and slams us in the head with an extremely large stick as we see Mark watch what his and Rachel's relationship might become. All told, it's crap. Bride blathers that he doesn't deserve to be in her life after so long, and Julio weeps and says he loves her and that he only wanted to watch his precious baby get married. Bride leaves after announcing that she doesn't need him anymore, and Julio rasps her name in desperation. Remember when ER subplots had finesse, and weren't just shamelessly hollow attempts at metaphor? I don't, actually, but I'm told there was a time, long, long ago, when the quality of the show was high, and the writers were not.

And so Mark, who struggles to parent his own child, inexplicably decides to parent Julio's. Because he's so qualified. He went to med school, and if he can meddle in people's innards, he should bloody well be able to meddle in their lives. Mark decrees that Bride doesn't want to leave things this way, and she rants that Julio is a stubborn bastard who should've let her come home when she called from Wichita and begged for mercy. Mark's all, "I hope Rachel gets further than Wichita." Bride bolts, leaving Mark alone with his thought.