"Morning, Mr. Fallin." "See you tomorrow, Mr. Fallin." " Nicholas." " How did it go with the doctor?" "Evidently I've got a little blockage." "Yeah?" "How much?" "Four out of five arteries, 85 percent." " So you need surgery?" " Yeah." " Well, when you gonna go in?" " l don't know." "A few months, I guess." " A few months?" " Yeah." "Why not right now?" "Well, in the first place, we're right in the middle of that Onyx Freight merger." "Oh, Dad, that's my deal." "I can take care of that alone." "Nicholas, we've been working with James Fuller for a long time now." "That's a little tricky." "You shouldn't let Fuller stop you from having the surgery." "Well, the real problem is that surgeon I want, Dr. Hutter?" " Right." " Bangkok for the ne_ eight weeks." "Are you're going to wait for him to get back?" "Yeah." "# There is trouble in my mind #" "# There is dark #" "# There's dark and there is light #" "# There is no order #" "# There is chaos and there is crime #" "# There is no one home tonight #" "# In the empire in my mind #" "Nick." "What's that?" "Oh, it's just a picture from a client." "Oh, that's sweet." "Yeah." "So, I think I found a realtor." "A realtor that I like." "Her name's Penny." "She works primarily in Shadyside and East Liberty." "She knows exactly what we're looking for." "Okay." "And she's already found some great places, so... I just wanted to check your schedule." "Well...whenever you want." " Whenever?" " Whenever." "Okay." "Hi, this is Nick Fallin." "is this Betty?" "Yeah, hi." "Dr. Garrison said that you would have a list of available heart surgeons for my father." "Okay." "Okay." "Well, thank you, Betty." "I appreciate it." "is someone sick?" "Just a friend." "He has a heart problem." "Oh." "My dad died of a heart attack when I was 15." "I'm sorry." "Anyway, I was just assigned to this kid, Christopher Rapp." "Lulu said that he was your client last year." "Don't remember him." "Well, he's in some trouble over at Summit Boot Camp." "Chris was placed at Summit two months ago." "Why?" "Had a problem with an eight-year-old girl." " Problem?" " Apparently he touched her." " Okay." " So it was either Summit or Juvie." "How old is he?" " 15." "Last week he got into some trouble, started a fire in the mess hall." "Head of the camp locked him in a closet for two days." "That's why we're here." "Let's go!" "Fall in!" "We don't have all day, gentlemen!" "Let's go!" "Line up!" "Move it!" "Come on, gentlemen!" " Hey, Mr. Fallin." " Hey, Chris." "Who are you?" "I am Suzanne Pell." "I'm assigned to your case with Mr. Fallin." " You're really pretty." " Thanks." "That's okay." "Have a seat." "Uh, Suzanne, can you give us a minute?" "Thank you." "So I heard you started a fire." "Uh..." "Well, they wouldn't let me see my mom for her birthday." "I always see my mom for her birthday." "Always." "You having a hard time here?" "Yeah." "I mean, there are some cool people here." "Mostly not." "And the counselors, I like a few of them, but a couple a guys make us fight, and they bet on us." " Did you report this?" " Just to you guys." "I mean, most of the kids hate me." "They made me eat mud once." "They stole my shoes." "And I can take that, but..." "But when that counselor did that thing, locked me in the closet, I just wanted to see my mom." "All right, Chris." "Well, I'll see what I can do." " You'll get me out of here?" " l'll see what I can do." "Thank you." "[Man] Like I said before." "He was punished appropriately, given the circumstances." "Did you lock him in a closet?" "He was punished appropriately." " What a tool." " Yeah." "Well, you know, let's try and get this kid out of here." "They'll just send him to Juvie." "Well, maybe we can work something out with the judge." "Okay." " Nick?" " Yeah?" "About the other night at the party." "It just happened, and I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." "I don't exactly go around kissing men in coat rooms." "Dad?" "Hey, Nick." "Hey." " What's up?" " Nothing." " You eating over?" " No." "is my dad here?" "Yeah." " Hey." " Hey." " Thought I heard you." " Yeah." "Uh, Shannon, I have to speak with my dad." "Work stum?" "Yeah." "Okay, honey?" "Okay." "Hey, uh, do you want to sit down?" "Okay." "What's going on?" "I spoke to-- What are you drinking?" "Scotch." "Scotch." "Yeah." "I went to see Dr. Garrison today." "Did you." "He thinks you should have the surgery now." "He also thinks Dr. Hutter is the best heart surgeon on the East Coast." "Well, you may not live to have Dr. Hutter do your procedure." "Well, he did Ron Hassey, Moses Paul, and Jerry Stephens." "And they think very highly of him, but I'm sure Dr. Hutter wasn't on a vacation in Thailand when they were diagnosed." "I have a list here of three surgeons, all available and all highly recommended." "Dr. Makita." "We sued him." "John Siegel." "I used to play tennis with him." "I never liked the guy." "Well, then it's Patricia Driscoll." "It says she graduated med school nine years ago?" "Right." "How old is she?" "I don't know." "Maybe 38?" "No way." "Dad, if you don't do this and you have a heart attack, then it's a whole new ballgame." "Nicholas, you know, a little experience wouldn't hurt." "Well, I'd really appreciate if you'd consider someone on that list." "I'm gonna have a baby." "Lulu's pregnant and..." "You know, I just hope that you're gonna be around to meet your grandkids." "[Woman] There's a three-car garage and the master bedroom is spectacular, don't you think?" "So, how do you like it?" "Well, have you looked around?" "Yeah." "You know, the only mistake that they made with this house is not having a powder room at the front entrance." "But I was thinking, you could knock that closet out and put a half-bath in." "Yeah, can I tell you what I'm thinking about, or would you like to form your own opinion?" "I'm trying very hard to form my own opinion." "Right." "Um, let me show you the backyard." "Oh, okay." "You want to come?" "I'll catch up." "Okay." " Hi." " You're Nick?" "Dr. Driscoll?" "Thanks for your time." "What can I do for you?" "I just wanted to ask you some questions about my father, Burton Fallin." "I've seen his chart." "He needs surgery." "How many of these procedures have you pe_ormed?" "150." "If you don't mind my asking, what is your success rate?" "It's heart surgery, but my fatality rate is consistent with every other top thoracic surgeon." "What do you think of Dr. Hutter?" "I think he's good." "He trained me." "If you're asking if I can handle it, my answer is absolutely." "Great." "Thank you." "Dad." " Hey." " Hey." "I just met with Dr. Driscoll." "She's very impressive." "You know, I thought maybe if you just met with her" "Oh, no. I appreciate that, but I think I'm gonna just wait." "Hutter's my guy." "At least that's the way I see it." "And besides that, the Onyx deal is really heating up now, so..." "Do you have any proof of these claims?" "Just his word." "And the head of the camp, Mr. Wilkinson" "Sergeant Wilkinson is clearly going to protect his position at the camp." "He says that nothing happened." "Ms. Pell, have you filed an incident report?" "I have." "Then let the state look into it." "But that doesn't help my client, Your Honor." "You're asking me to send your client to Juvenile Detention?" "No, I'm asking you to let me find him an appropriate placement." "Your client has been in front of me twice." "The last time for molesting an eight-year-old girl." "That's correct." "I'll wait for the state's report on the camp." "But for now, Chris stays where his is." "Anyway, that was the first and the last time that I ever dated on the Internet." " How old was he?" " l don't know. 18?" "But I'm thinking high school." "Hey, Nick." " Hi, Suzanne." " Hi, Lulu." " Do you have a second?" " Sure." " Do you want me to call Chris?" " No, I got it." "So, have you thought about that house?" "Because Penny called, and she thinks the owners are gonna come down on the price." "Well, that's because they're asking too much." "Yeah, but then, you know, if they do that, a whole new group of buyers will go and look at it." "Do you want it?" "No, I just think it really works for us... with the baby." "There's room to grow." "You're not sure?" "No, I like it. I just, uh..." "Uh, I was a little distracted last time I was there." "Well, let's go look at it again." "And, you know, if we want to-- Not now but in a few years, we could knock down that wall and open up the kitchen and then it would be a really open plan." "Oh, yeah." "It has great bones." "So, any way you want to go." "Oh, and the zoning around here, very liberal." "So, build up, build out, orjust leave it as is." "It's turnkey." "What's it gonna cost, Penny?" "I think we can get it for 50 under the asking price." "Can you give us a second, please?" " Oh, sure." " Thanks." "[sighs] Well, uh, do you want it?" "Well, it's the best I've seen." "Right." "But do you want it?" "Yeah, I do." "Do you?" "Well, if you can figure out how to pay for it." "What do you mean?" "You sell your house. I sell my house." "Get a big mortgage." "Yeah, but we're both working." "Well, you know, you're income's, uh..." "We both want it." "So why don't I just buy it, and we can live here together?" "No, I want to buy it with you." "You don't want to get married, but you want to get into a 30-year mortgage with me." "[telephone rings] [groans]" "Yeah?" "[groans] How badly hurt is he?" "Right." "Are you there at Summit now?" "Okay." "Do you need me?" "Good." "All right, tomorrow at Judge Lutz's." "Yeah." "Bye." "Who was that?" "Suzanne Pell." "What's going on?" "A client, Chris Rapp, he tried to escape from Summit." "Counselor that caught him beat him up." "Poor kid." "Yeah." "You know, Nick, about the house... lt's for the baby, right?" "Our baby." "So that's why I think that we really should just- [telephone rings] [groans]" "Yeah?" "Does Suzanne Pell really need you at 3:" "OO in the morning?" "All right." " Hey." " Hey." "I spoke to Dr. Garrison." "Good news is it wasn't a heart attack." "Yeah, I didn't think so." "Just walking up the stairs to get some cigarettes and... I couldn't get my breath." "Tightness in the chest." "You know, this Dr. Driscoll, um..." "She was trained by Dr. Hutter, and she's available." "Right." "You want to do it?" "Well, I guess it makes sense." "Okay, I'll schedule it." "Tomorrow morning at 9, the guys from Onyx are coming over to the omice to talk over the merger." "I know. I set the meeting." "Hmm." "I think the key is that hold-back provision." "Fuller's gonna want to keep as much money in escrow as" "Dad." "Just let me deal with it." "Yeah, right." "Maybe let's just tell them I got some personal situation to take care of." " Personal situation?" " Yeah." "Just... be vague." "Why not just tell the truth?" "They might fire us." "Nicholas, I'm not trying to insult you." "I've closed three deals for Fuller." "I've worked for him for five years." "He knows what kind of lawyer I am." " Right." " Right, well..." "Be vague." "How is he?" "They scheduled his surgery for tomorrow." "Might as well get it over with." "Exactly." " Hi." " Hey." "You hungry?" "No." "All right." "Well, I put a new toothbrush for you." "It's in the bathroom down the hall over there." "And there's towels and soap and shampoo and all that." "I pulled out the sofa bed for you, too, in the den." "It's kinda lumpy though." "Sorry." "What else?" "Do you want to try and get some sleep before school?" "Can't I just stay home today?" "No, we have to work." "Right." "is Burton gonna die?" "No, he... lf he dies" "Shannon, could you just stop it?" "He's not gonna die, okay!" "I spoke to Matt Dunn at Cromwell-Swain." "Your father's not coming to this meeting?" "No." "So Dunn is okay with the hold-back provision." "He says no problem." "He didn't tell me that he wasn't coming to this meeting." "He has a personal situation to attend to." "On page 12, you will see that the" "Wait." "Wait." "What do you mean, a personal situation?" "A personal situation." "You guys want to gives us a minute here?" "Thank you." "This doesn't sound like Burton." "Burton hasn't missed a meeting since 19T8." "What's going on?" "He has a medical issue." "What kind of medical issue?" " Heart." " Heart." "Okay." "So listen, why don't we just wait until he gets back to the omice and then we'll just finish this up then?" " You sure?" " Yeah." " Okay?" " All right." " What hospital?" " Pittsburgh Memorial." "Yeah, I understand Hutter's world-class." "As a result, a camp counselor punched him in the face and hit him with a flashlight." "Seven stitches and bruised ribs." "Now take a look at my client, Your Honor." "This is clearly not a good fit." "We'll move him." "[Nick] Thank you." "Chris completed TO days at Summit." "I recommend that he be given his certificate and placed in an emergency shelter." "Fine." "But given the seriousness of Chris' previous omenses, you'll need to arrange 24-hour supervision." "[pounds gavel]" "There's this place I used to live, before I got in trouble." "Maybe I could go there." "That's not gonna work." "But I liked it there a lot, and the head counselor liked me." " Nick?" " It's not an option." "Could one of you take me to go see my mom?" "I'm sure something can be arranged when you get to the shelter." "But I missed her birthday, and she'll be upset." "I missed her birthday, and they won't take me to go see her!" "And it'll be just like boot camp, and they'll say they will and they won't!" "They'll forget, and they won't take me!" "Hi!" "Hi!" "[Woman] Hi!" "That's my mom." "She's sleeping." "Yeah, maybe you should just let her sleep." "No." "She'll be excited to see me." "Hey, Mom." "[Mom] What?" "It's Chris." "Ma." "Ma, it's Chris." "I was sleeping." "I brought you this card for your birthday." "I just want to sleep." "But I brought you this." "What's it say?" "Um... there's a poem." "I didn't write it." "Something they made up when they made the cards, but down here I wrote "Happy Birthday"" "and that I love you and that you're a good mom." "Are you gonna play the piano?" "No." "There's a kid... comes here sometimes... plays the piano." "No." "No, Mom." "It's me." "Chris." "I'm here to celebrate." "My mom, she used to go to this school, and she lived with my grandma, and there's this gas station near the school that sold candy, so she used to go there on her way home." "And there was this guy." "This, you know, gas station guy." "A, um..." " Attendant." " Yeah." "Right." "And, uh... I guess he liked her because she got pregnant and... that's how I was born." "Right." "But then I guess he didn't really want to admit that he was her boyfriend, so that's why I ended up..." "Okay." "I know my mom's retarded." "And I know I'm not." "So you don't have to feel bad or anything." "You know, I've been thinking, Lulu, about the house." "[sighs] I'm gonna buy it." "Well, I want to contribute what I can." "Any percentage of it that I can own" "Yeah, it just gets very complicated." " l know, but I feel" " We want it, right?" "So I'm just going to buy it and then we'll see what happens." " See what happens?" " Yeah." "Nick, if you think that..." "getting married-- lf you think that that's going to make things easier..." "No, I'm not talking about marriage." "I'm talking about buying a house." "Hey. I'm awake." "Just closed my eyes for a couple a seconds." "How long you been standing there?" "I just got here." "Sit down." "I got a message from Fuller this morning at the omice." "Did you tell him I was in the hospital?" "Um... I had to tell him the truth." "Nicholas, I told you" "Dad, I've done a merger." "I've done dozens of them." " That's not the point." " Then what's the point then?" "It's Fuller." "He needs a certain kind of attorney at his side." "Listen, about this baby thing." "is that why you wanted to get married?" "Well, you love this woman." "I can see that." "[sighs]" "You'll be a good dad." "Listen, I'm sorry about the Onyx deal." "What do you want me to do?" "Nothing." "I'll just call Fuller and see if I can straighten it out." "Hey. I told Shannon I'd pick her up." "I can do that." "Yeah, but she wants to buy makeup." "Okay." "Oh, I made an omer on the house." " You did?" " Yeah." "TO under the asking." "Okay." "Well, I hope you get it." "Yeah." "See ya." "I know they don't appreciate smoking up here." "What happened to you?" "I went to see Chris at the shelter." "He was upset about something." "His mother?" "He was crying." "Said something about her." "Took him into a meeting room, tried to calm him down." "He did this to you?" "He grabbed me and hit me and...got on top of me." "Ripped my shirt." "Guards came in fast." "Are you okay?" "I could use a drink." "And so we're talking about moving in together, and he says to me that he's an existentialist, and that he wants me to understand what it means." "He keeps saying, "What it means."" "I don't get it." "I think that he meant that he didn't want me to expect too much from him." "Because nothing matters anyway, so why even bother to try." "So you didn't move in with him?" "No, I did." "It was a disaster." "Am I keeping you?" "No." "I'm keeping you." "I like you." "I don't care about obligations or whatever." "I've tried that." "I even got married for a while." "I just like to..." "When I feel something, I like to feel it." "[slow song playing on jukebox] I'm gonna dance." "You don't have to." "Can I have a shot of tequila?" " Hi." " Morning." "May I come to the hospital today?" "Well, it's just going to be a lot of waiting around." "I'd like to come." "Maybe after school." "I just want to be there, in case..." "you know." "He's gonna be fine." "Yeah, It's just a routine operation, Shannon." "But what if something happens?" "Then we'll deal with it." "Right, but if something goes wrong, what's gonna happen to me?" "Where will I live?" "We'll find a place." "But not with you?" "I don't know." "I'll pick you up at 1 1 :30, okay?" " Bye." " Bye." " l'll need a note." " What?" "To get out of school." "I'll need a note." "All right." "Miss Mashaka." " Hey." " Hey." "I spoke with your dad on the phone yesterday." "Sounds like he's doing pretty good." "Yeah, he's doing great, given the circumstances." "Well, we both know that Burton is tough." "But there's no way that he's gonna get back to this omice in time to close this up." "Right." "Well, as you know, Mr. Fuller, I'm pe_ectly capable of doing this kind of work myself." "Yes." "I hired Randall Kirk's firm." "Randall Kirk." "He's gonna be taking over this deal." "Right." "So, if you could get him the files and bring him up to speed?" "Yeah." "Sure." "Thanks." "Hi." "I'm here to see Nick Fallin." "Hey." "Hey." "I...just..." "Chris ran away from the shelter last night." "I'm going to Juvie, right?" "I have these feelings... all the time... about girls." "And when I see them, I just... I don't know, I... I just have these feelings, and they don't make me feel very good." "I didn't mean to hurt her..." "or scare her." "I just... I just wanted to touch her." "Let's go, Chris." "Let's go." "Hey." "How you doing?" "I'm good. I'm good." "And you?" "[sighs] We'll see." "Dad, it's all gonna be fine." "Yeah, well..." "Yeah." "I, uh... I just... you know... I'm glad you're doing this." "Yeah." "[chuckles]" "Fuller signed with Randall Kirk." "He told me." "Yeah, I tried to get him back but... I know. I know." "Nicholas, look, this is not gonna be a problem, this operation." "I know. I know." "It's nothing for you to worry about." "It's just... nothing." "Yeah." "Yeah, fine." "Right." "Okay." "That was Penny." "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah." "They rejected the omer." "Oh." "You gonna counter?" "No." "Well..." "You must be exhausted." "No, not really." "Well, you were out so late." "Yeah." "What happened?" "I told you." "That kid, Chris, he attacked the social worker." " Suzanne." " Right." "Beat her up." "[door opens]" "How'd it go?" "Well, we got all four arteries." "So he's fine." "It went well." "Oh, thank you." "Thank you." "[sighs] ### Ripped by FabHawk ###"