DR. BROWN: 'Cause I don't think the assembly's gonna be enough. We should at least make a stab at figuring out who patient Zero is.
DR. ABBOTT: [nervous] I-I agree, however, now that the students are better informed, perhaps the infected teenager will come forward willingly. We should... give him a day or so to do the right thing.
DR. BROWN: Yeah, you're probably right.
[Dr. Abbott looks relieved.]
DR. BROWN: So, what are you gonna say to Amy?
DR. ABBOTT: I'm going to ground her, obviously.
DR. BROWN: Really? Ground her?
DR. ABBOTT: Aren't you going to 'ground' Ephram?
DR. BROWN: I haven't thought about it yet. I'm just so relieved that he's alright.
DR. ABBOTT: Well, for God's sake, don't tell 'him' that. If they knew we were concerned, they would eat us alive. Teenagers, they, they can smell weakness. They're like dogs.
DR. BROWN: I'm not gonna hide anything from Ephram. We're trying to build a relationship based on honesty and trust.
DR. ABBOTT: Really? How's that working out?
DR. BROWN: Well, it just takes time, that's all. We'll get there.
DR. ABBOTT: Listen. I know you wanna be your son's friend, but he doesn't need a friend right now, he needs a parent.
DR. BROWN: How do you know what he wants?
DR. ABBOTT: He's fifteen, he's testing you. You are failing the test.
DR. BROWN: What am I supposed to do?
DR. ABBOTT: He cut class, you punish him. Take away his phone privileges, don't allow him to... pierce anything for the next six months but do something. Be his father.
[Cut back to the diner in Denver. Amy looks out the window then returns to her table. Ephram is sitting down, unbothered.]
AMY: My dad is gonna kill me.
EPHRAM: I'm sure he'll understand when you tell him why you went.
AMY: That's not the way it works in my house.
EPHRAM: How does it work?
AMY: He yells, I apologize, there's a sentencing of some sort and then I plea bargain with my mother until the sentence gets reduced.
EPHRAM: In my house it's more like: I yell, he yells, we both keep yelling, and eventually someone gets tired.
AMY: Sounds good to me.
[The fathers walk into the diner. Dr. Abbott rushes straight for his daughter.]
DR. ABBOTT: [relieved] Amy!
AMY: Dad, I-I...
[They hug. Ephram walks toward his father. Dr. Brown waits for a hug but Ephram walks past him.]
EPHRAM: I'll wait in the car.
[Dr. Brown looks sad, then stares at how Dr. Abbott is handling the situation.]
DR. ABBOTT: Amy, why didn't you call sooner?
AMY: I'm so sorry I worried you, Dad.
[Dr. Brown walks out.]
DR. ABBOTT: As long as you're alright, that's all that matters.
[Cut to Mama Joy's in Everwood. Irv is sitting on his own, looking downtrodden. Edna enters.]
EDNA: You avoiding me?
IRV: Maybe.
[She sits down.]
EDNA: You were right about that bridge. I do have feelings about it. Truth is, I was proposed to on that bridge, and not by you.
