10. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Complete story — includes the ending

TC and Paul arrive at the site of a quarry accident, where they pronounce one of the workers, a seventeen year old male, brain dead. Another teenager asks TC for help with his friend, who is falling down a sinkhole. TC saves him, using unconventional methods to get rock out of the kid's throat. Paul sends a blood sample to the hospital to see if the deceased man can give his lungs to Brianna. Drew tells Brianna that he and Rick want to adopt her, and she is thrilled. Meanwhile, Scott and Jordan have to run dialysis for Malik, whom Scott paralyzed in a car accident last season, but Malik's dad refuses to let Scott work on the boy. The dad goes into cardiac arrest and the two have to operate on him immediately. Drew gets the labs back on the lungs and finds five of the six requirements match, however Paul informs him that the victim's mom refused the transplant. Paul later gets the mom to accept; however, because Brianna is not a perfect match, her transplant is aborted and the lungs are given to another candidate who has a better chance of survival. Scott and Malik's dad make up, after Jordan talks with all three and Malik just wants the fighting to stop. Topher finds out that Jessica Sanders is actually heading the transition team for Hobart, the insurance company that bought the hospital. She volunteers to help with the insurance papers and tries to get Topher interested in another job offer, knowing Hobart will want their own Chief of Surgery and that Topher will be the first one fired. TC realizes Jessica knew about the sale to Hobart and kept it from him, so he angrily ends his romance with her.