ER

When Anspaugh decides to retire as chief of staff and return to surgery, he appoints Romano as his replacement. Greene expresses reservations about the decision, but Weaver does not support Greene. Romano makes Weaver the new chief of emergency medicine. Carter has a rendezvous with Elaine Nichols (REBECCA DE MORNAY), the former wife of one of Carter's cousins. Jeanie and Dr. Cleo Finch treat an end-stage AIDS patient whose 9-month-old son is also HIV positive. Jeanie's boyfriend, police officer Reggie Moore, proposes marriage. Croatian transplant Dr. Luka Kovac impresses Hathaway with the gentle way he treats a young patient. Benton and Carla attend a meeting with a family mediator concerning their son, Reese. Greene's mother dies.

After his mother's funeral, Dr. Greene comforts his father (JOHN CULLUM) in San Diego. In Chicago, Romano surprises Corday by appointing her associate chief of surgery. Corday treats Elaine, Carter's lover, for breast cancer. Elaine becomes furious when Carter discovers her secret. After hearing that the AIDS-infected mother of the Ortega baby died, Jeanie volunteers to become his foster parent but gets rejected. She realizes she really wants to marry Reggie. A vindictive Carla tells Benton that Reese may not be his son. Greene returns from his mother's funeral and argues with Weaver over the wishes of a dying patient.

A recommendation from Weaver allows Jeanie to have temporary approval as a foster parent for baby Carlos. Reggie and Jeanie get married. Lucy and Kovac talk with a young woman whose husband they believe is very dangerous. Benton starts to wonder if he should get a DNA test to prove his paternity. Corday successfully performs a mastectomy on Elaine. Weaver introduces Greene to Dr. Gabriel Lawrence (ALAN ALDA), a distinguished-looking physician reputed to be a founding father of emergency medicine. Weaver hires him without consulting Greene. Greene and Corday have sex together for the first time.

Hathaway befriends an out-of-work waitress, Meg (MARTHA PLIMPTON ). Seven-months pregnant, Meg cannot afford prenatal care. Hathaway invites her to the hospital, performs free tests and helps her interview for a job in the cafeteria. Lucy notices that Lawrence's memory is failing. A four-year-old girl that Cleo misdiagnosis dies.

A prank in a high school science class goes terribly awry, injuring a teacher and several students. Hathaway discovers Meg's drug addiction. Weaver and Greene notice Lawrence gets easily confused. Dr. Dave Malucci, an obnoxious second year resident, treats a girl with a facial burn. Elaine returns to the hospital and tells Carter that she's leaving the country to recover after her upcoming breast reconstruction surgery. Later, Carter visits Elaine at home and proves he still finds her sexually desirable.

Benton informs Carla that he is Reese's father no matter what. Jeanie resigns because she wants to stay home and take care of her son. Greene and Weaver use a fake patient to convince Lawrence that he needs help. Lawrence resigns. Hathaway has Meg arrested in an effort to get her off of drugs. Hathaway's co-workers give her a party for the babies.

Weaver tries to save the life of a rape victim while Corday struggles with feelings of disdain as she is forced to save the rapist. Cleo treats a teenage alcoholic boy whose alcoholic mother refuses to recognize her problem or his. Lawrence treats his last patient. Weaver offers Kovac a permanent position as Dr. Lawrence's replacement. Hathaway visits Meg and her new baby in the hospital jail.

Complications arise as Hathaway delivers twins, Tess and Kate. Greene, Hathaway's Lamaze coach, rushes to the hospital to be with her during the delivery, leaving a disappointed Elizabeth to spend Thanksgiving alone with Greene's father and Rachel. Nurse Abby Lockhart (MAURA TIERNEY) helps with the births. Malucci impresses Carter with his knowledge of a strange ailment and admits he attended a less-than-stellar medical school in Grenada.

Kovac and Haleh take care of Hathaway's twins so the new mother can finally get some rest. The job transfer for Carla's husband does not get approved allowing Reese to stay in Chicago. Lucy endeavors to get a heart transplant for a young woman and goes to Romano's house begging him to perform the surgery. Cleo forces an alcoholic teen to attend a rehabilitation facility. One of Corday's patient's, a rapist, taunts her while she administers to him.

In order to get her paitient to tell her the location of a missing body, Corday agrees to grant him a fatal wish. Kovac befriends two brothers. He tells Weaver that his wife and children died in the Bosnian war. Former medical student Deb Chen returns to County General as a resident, using her Chinese name, Jing-Mei Chen. The strong-willed Chen tries to assist a gay female runaway whose parents want to send her to a treatment center for gender identity. After escaping from his retirement facility, Greene's father barricades himself in his home in San Diego. Greene asks his father to move to Chicago and live with him.

Lucy's patient finally gets a heart transplant but does not survive. The transplanted heart will now go to another recipient. Greene interferes in a gay domestic situation. Corday tricked her patient who murdered several women and now he's being transferred to a county jail. Malucci seeks a way to close an illegal pharmacy. Hathaway returns to work but suffers from post-partum depression. Benton pursues a romantic relationship with a clueless Cleo.

Two boys brought in after a fight at school leads Cleo to discover that one of them has been injecting himself with hormones. Hathaway's obstetrics nurse, Abby Lockhart, joins the ER as a third year medical student on an ER rotation. Isabelle Corday (JUDY PARFITT) arrives in Chicago as a guest lecturer and meets with her daughter, Elizabeth. Kovac and Hathaway administer to a chronically ill 3-year-old boy. Hathaway proves that his mother intentionally induces the boy's symptoms. Cleo shows Greene that she can play basketball as well as any man.

Kovac tells two mildly injured children that their parents did not survive a car accident. Greene, Corday, David Greene and Isabelle go out for a special dinner, and David Greene and Isabelle sing a duet onstage. Malucci and Chen work on Dr. George Hudson, but the two residents compete so much with each other, they don't listen to their patient. When a harried Carter finally becomes available to help Lucy with her possible schizophrenic patient, it's too late. The patient stabs Carter. Carter falls and sees Lucy lying on the ground soaked in her own blood.

Irritated by a raucous Valentine's Day party in the admittance area as she comes on duty, Weaver attends to a few situations before entering the horrifying examination room where Carter and Lucy lie in massive amounts of blood, almost dead from numerous stab wounds. The police close off the crime scene and search the premises for the presumed attacker, Lucy's schizophrenic patient, Paul Sobriki, whom they later apprehend. With Anspaugh's help, Benton successfully performs surgery on Carter. After her life-saving surgery, Lucy dies from a pulmonary embolism.

Kovac witnesses an accident and saves the young victim's life. Carter slowly recovers from his brutal attack and undergoes excruciating physical therapy. Hathaway helps two sexually active 14-year-old girls. One girl has cervical cancer but refuses treatment because she doesn't want her parents to know she has sex. Corday is shocked to find that her mother and Greene's father spent the night together. Greene finds out that his father has terminal lung cancer. Lucy's mother visits a recovering Carter.

Even though he suffers from intense pain due to his stabbing injuries, Carter returns to work and prescribes a controversial procedure for a suicidal patient. Greene tries to convince his father to undergo cancer treatment. Corday must keep a brain-dead patient alive long enough to harvest vital organs. While performing a procedure, Abby makes a mistake that accelerates the death of terminal cancer patient. Cleo and Benton enjoy a sensual game of billiards. Chen tends to a handsome male nurse.

Chen's patient refuses to reveal to his daughter that she might have inherited a terrible disease from him. Weaver defies Romano's authority and performs a procedure that gets her suspended. An available kidney causes friction between Corday and Kovac as they decide which one of their patients will get it. Greene and Corday argue about his father. A prescription mix-up almost kills a patient. And Kovac barbecues dinner at Hathaway's house--during a snowstorm.

After Corday refuses to perform exploratory surgery on Cleo's patient, Cleo enlists Benton's help, infuriating Corday. Abby cares for a pregnant woman with five children who wants an abortion. Greene lovingly tends to his dying father at home. Carter sadly discovers that Lucy got accepted as a resident to the psychiatry program at County General.

Carter seeks psychiatric help because he can't sleep. He then visits the wife of his attacker. Weaver returns to work after her suspension. Hathaway and Kovac share a kiss. Benton's sister believes that Cleo is not serious about him. Abby tries to convince the teenage half sister of a leukemia patient to get tested to see if she's a bone marrow match for a transplant. After his father is treated for pneumonia and released from the hospital, Greene takes Greene Sr. to Lake Michigan. Here, Greene Sr., a former naval officer, goes on his last boat ride.

Weaver reprimands Carter for doing a dangerous procedure without consulting Kovac. She also talks to Hathaway about Hathaway's lack of focus on the job. And while treating a 6-year-old patient involved in a minor car accident, Malucci and Cleo discover the girl has been sexually molested recently by her father. Hathaway receives birthday presents from both Ross and Kovac. Benton admonishes Kovac for not providing the same follow-up care Benton does. After taking an afternoon nap, Greene wakes up and discovers his father is dead.

Greene prepares to bury his father. Chen worries about Carter's mood swings. After witnessing the interaction between a dying woman and her family, Hathaway realizes she wants her family together and flies to Seattle to join Ross. GEORGE CLOONEY makes a surprise appearance. This is the last episode for series star JULIANNA MARGULIES.

As the result of a school shooting, Kovac and Benton care for the gunman and his victims. Abby discovers that Carter has been illegally injecting pain relievers. Greene and Weaver confront Carter about his problem, and Weaver orders him to enter a drug rehabilitation center or leave the hospital permanently. Carter refuses but is later approached by Benton, who insists that Carter go to Atlanta for the detox program. Benton accompanies Carter on the flight.