At the nurses' station, Thor's reading the names of the dead, and Mo-Mo is guessing their ages. Gertrude gets a 65 from Mo-Mo and 85 from Thor. Darlene is next up. "Honey, her mother hated her," Mo-Mo says. "Thirty. Unmarried. Worked in HR, or retail." Thor disagrees, noting that it's a "total '60s girl-group name," and guesses 47, correctly. Zoey grins at him. Next is Quentin. "Could be wrinkled old apple farmer... Or a young, untalented artsy-fartsy type..." Thor checks: he was ten. They stop playing.
Jackie appears with Gus, shouting out that he is diabetic and a drug-seeker who times his passing out to land on their doorstep, undomiciled, alcoholic. Zoey runs to meet her at a bed, and the boys stare at the flurried, disturbed space she's left behind her, full of information. Zoey notes at Gus's bedside that he's still wearing the socks they gave him last time; Jackie tries to get Gus to acknowledge her, but there's nothing. She tells Zoey to check his head for bumps or lacerations, and she bends to the task with her usual dedication, to the point that Jackie reminds her of the difference between checking for a stroke and giving a brother a scalp massage. Eleanor arrives, joking about "the aroma of gangrene in the morning," and informs Gus loudly that he's ischemic and will be losing his foot once they get a CT on him.
Gloria arrives later to yell at them about how All Saints is a hospital and not a shelter (Um, or a baby dispensary, Akalitus!) and Mo-Mo gives a weak-sauce, "Your hair is fantastic today!" She tells him straight up that he's better than that, which is pretty awesome, and Zoey tries to put some mojo behind her assertion that Gus's losing his foot makes him a priority. "Big attitude from someone wearing panda earrings," Gloria says, and stomps away. They shiver.
Mysterious baby. Which Gloria loves. She puts on Billie, and dances around with him in her office, and it's darling! And so, so crazy. Three episodes this crazy lady has been a kidnapper, and now she's singing to him in a whisper, dancing with him on her shoulder, halfway to hitting the asthma inhaler and calling Isabella Rossellini "Mommy." The song is called "I Love My Man," but sometimes it has a parenthetical: "(Billie's Blues"). It's about all the things our mothers give us, bad and good: it's about the disguises we inherit and the ways we learn to dance.









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