Without a Trace: A Bend in the Road (Episode 614)

Does this bloated near-corpse make me look fat?This week we pick up where we left off, with the team finding Jack doing his best dead man's float in scummy pond water. Viv follows him to the hospital, where he's immediately wheeled towards an OR and lots of blood to replace what he's lost. Though Viv protests that Jack is her partner, the doctors won't let her see him through the rest of the ordeal.

So obviously the natural segue is to cheerleading practice. Daveigh Chase is there, so you know something bad is going to happen. She gets into formation, throwing serious eye signals to another cheerleader as they toss someone in the air and bungle the catch. Daveigh--or Diana, whatever--tries to blame the friend she was eye-bitching with, but the friend turns it around, and Diana stalks off, working teen self righteousness so hard it makes her Vanish.

Morning in New York. Martin arrives at the hosptial with coffee for Sam and Viv, who have clearly been there all night. Jack, he learns, is still in surgery. Danny's at the courthouse where Romar was just denied bailed; AUSA is also pushing for a status on the trafficking case. Viv says they're going to have to wait. As she answers her phone, Martin and Sam share a nice, sympathetic moment, with Sam rocking the Red Herring Baby Stomach. They can both tell Viv's getting a case; Sam's pissed, but Martin's just exhausted. Viv tells them that a 16-year-old girl went missing in Nassau the night before, and Martin takes off to handle it. He asked to stay posted on Jack and takes off. A nurse arrives, asking Viv and Sam for Jack's medical records. It's a brink of death question, since she needs to know next of kin and any DNR instructions he may have had. Viv says she'll get what she can at the Bureau. She has to go, but asks Sam to let her know if anything happens. She tells Sam to take care and leaves the pregnant lady looking stricken.

14 Hours Missing. Martin's at Diana's home trying to figure out Diana's usual routine at night, if her parents have seen strangers hanging around. They don't know a lot about her social life, mostly because until recently, she hasn't really had one. Two years ago, she had a heart transplant to treat lifelong myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Her health is okay now, not withstanding the usual transplant medication. Martin asks about her behavior; her mother tells him that Diana was a sweet, shy kid, but now she's a teenager, so the sleeping bitch has awakened. She Flashes Back to a fight she had with Diana because the daughter wanted to go out on a school night and the mother held firm on the rule that she can't, complete with pouting and guilt. Mom asks Martin how she can really be drill sergeanty with a kid who's been through so much. Dad adds that Diana can be difficult, but it's rough knowing at sixteen that your heart has an expiration date on it. Also, sixteen-year-old girls are bitches. Martin asks who Diana might have been going to see when she and her mother fought, but Mom doesn't. she cries.

Sam waits. She gets a call from Elena, and she manages to hold it together while she explains that, from what the doctor's told her, Jack is not doing great. Elena's mom's knitting group has added him to the prayer chain at her church. Sam laughs shakily that Elena's mom knits. "We all knit eventually," Elena intones. Ask Liz Lemon. Elena's calling to pass on a message from Brian Donovan. The Baby Daddy himself. Sam tells Elena she'll call when Jack's into recovery.

At HQ, Viv and Elena run down the list of potential red herrings, from boys named Joe that Diana could have been crushing on before her heart transplant to the thousands of emails Lucy's sorting through on Diana's computer. One person Diana calls constantly is Kelli; Viv wonders if that's who Diana was going to meet the night she fought with her mom. She says she'll call Danny at the high school to look into it.

Danny questions Kelli in the hall, which seems somehow wrong to me, but Kelli's less than forthcoming. Danny asks if Diana's hooking up with anyone, but she isn't. When Kelli gets a funny text and ignores Danny, he tells her flatly that he'll put her in juvie for six weeks if she's not more helpful. Don't let the dorky haircut fool you, girls. He asks if Diana's been lashing out since the surgery. Like Gretchen Weiners before her, Kelli thinks people are jealous of them because they're so popular. She and Diana have only been friends a year, and they're only in the same grade because she missed so much school because of her surgery. When asked if someone would want to hurt diana or get revenge, Kelli Flashes Back to interrupting a conversation between Diana and geek Craig, who has something Diana wants badly enough to black mail him with faux gossip she spills to Kelli. Kelli tells Danny that Diana was messing with Craig, who is a total tool no one had even heard of until Diana made him fodder for the gossip mill. She says that Diana had wanted to borrow a take-home test of Craig's, and it wasn't a big deal. Danny asks for Craig's last name.

Hospital: Gurney-cam. Jack's eyes roll attractively in his head. He's all sweaty and semi-conscious and flashing back to finding Jen Long. Only in the memory, he's there, now, reliving it.

18 Hours Missing. Martin tells Elena that Craig wasn't at school today and is incommunicado. She thinks Diana Reed--please tell me she's joking, they cannot have done that knowingly and purposefully--may have had a lot of people gunning for her, as she wasn't exactly the nicest girl in the school. She shows Martin a blog that Lucy found in Diana's text messages. It's a bile-filled rant against Diana, who, having sampled the mean girl kool-aid, is a sheep deserving of slaughter for not meeting people when she says she will. The blogger, Joe Chapelle, gets a ticket right to questioning with Martin. Joe says that now that Diana's a cheerleader, she doesn't have time for her. Out of nowhere, she approached him and asked him to meet her. He's pissed because he snuck out of the house and waited for two hours. Martin asks if he didn't want to get back at her, and Joe says he wouldn't hurt Diana, even with the way she's been acting since the surgery. He says Martin should talk to Diana's "friends." Flash Back to a party, where Diana says her heart is racing. Kelli asks if she thinks it's the E. No, Kelli, it's just the orange juice she drank to mask the scent of vodka on her breath. Joe confronts Diana about blowing him off, but Diana doesn't want to talk. She says she knows what Joe thinks of her, thanks to his blog. He tries to get closer, but Kelli tells him that she's sick and to leave Diana alone. Martin says Kelli never told him about a party; Joe says that Kelli is a liar. He saw her take Diana to the wodds, and didn't see her after that. Martin asks if he just left her there, and without affect, Joe replies, "Karma's a bitch." Just ask Earl.

Danny has Kelli at HQ, and she has a lawyer with her. He says he brought her in because he thought the surroundings would encourage honesty. He says he knows that she and Diana were taking ecstasy at a party the night before. He adds that the ecstasy made Diana sick, she needed help, and Kelli didn't help her. Having had a transplant, ecstasy could kill Diana. Danny says that if Kelli left her there to die, she's in trouble. Kelli says she didn't. She confers with her lawyer, who tells Danny that if she helps, she wants leniency on the drug charges. Danny tells her to talk, and then they'll deal. Kelli says they waited until the morning, when Diana felt better. In Flash Back, Diana says she doesn't know why she dropped E. She thought the operation would be a fresh start, but it's worse than it ever was. They walk up to Diana's car, which is the worse for wear. Kelli asks if she hit someone (she didn't), and if she's okay (she says she is), and if they should call Diana's parents (she can't handle that right now). Kelli tells Danny that when Diana left, she said she was going straight home. She doesn't know where Diana was before the party.

Jack's gaping head wound is gross, so it's lucky Sam can't see it from where she's keeping watch. Brain surprises her there, shocked to see how really pregnant she is. It's a fake, dude. Sam asks for the release she gave him, which waives all his parental rights. Brian doesn't have it; he's changed his mind about signing it. He says he doesn't want to make things difficult, but he can't have a kid walking around with his face and not know anything about it. Jack's machines all start beeping, and Sam takes her helplessness out on Brian, saying he should have told her on the phone and not come down to the hospital. He takes this in stride, saying he hopes her friend's okay. In Jack's room, there's no news.

At HQ, they're chasing the scanty leads Kelli's story gave them. Elena takes a call, telling Martin that Craig's been picked up. When he's brought in, he tells an unconvinced Danny that he skipped school because he felt like it. When he hears the story about Diana's wanting to borrow a test, he asks if Danny's kidding. He explains that he's the editor for the school paper, and Diana wanted access to his Lexus Nexus account to find an unlisted address for Roy Jenkins. He says he gave it to her only after Diana made her a living hell. In Flash Back, Craig finds Diana at school and tells her Jenkins is in the newspaper office asking for her, and Craig is pissed that Diana posed as "one of his reporters." Diana asks Craig to tell the guy he couldn't find her. But Jenkins is there, and he follows a clearly unsettled Diana down the hall, yelling at her for prying and making his wife so upset. He tells her that if she comes to his house again, she'll regret it. Diana gets it, and they both take off. Craig apologizes for not telling anyone. He says he followed her out to make sure she was okay, but she was so upset, she clipped a post getting out of the lot. Danny asks if Craig understood the conversation between Diana and Jenkins, but he says Diana was mum about it.

In the bullpen, Danny tells Martin that Viv's on her way to the Jenkins house. Martin's been looking into what Diana could possibly have used to fake her reporter status, and he's discovered that the Jenkins lost a son in a drunk driving accident. Paul Jenkins died the same day that Diana got her heart. Danny asks why she'd want to contact the family of her heart donor. Martin wonders what Jenkins would do to her if she tried to contact them again.

22 Hours Missing. Elena shows Diana's parents a photo of Roy Jenkins and explains that he's the father of Diana's heart donor. She asks why Diana would have wanted to contact the family. Dad Flashes Back to Diana's last doctor's appointment, during which she's assured her heart is in great shape, plus it came from a healthy 17-year-old boy. This sparks a tiny reaction from an otherwise sullen Diana, who lets the doctor leave before she turns to her dad with evil eyes and asks about the donor. She says her parents never told her. Dad says they didn't think it mattered, and that they don't know much about him. Donors are anonymous, so they don't even know his name. This is all news to Mom, which reveals an excellently passive-aggressive family dynamic. Elena tells them they've got people on the way to the Jenkins, so they'll keep the 'rents updated.

At the hospital, Jack comes to and struggles against all the machines helping him. Sam waddles in, telling him he's in the hospital. Jack keeps thrashing even as Sam tells him he'll be okay. The doctor intercedes, cutting Sam off. Jack grunts.

Viv's at the Jenkins, where there's a uniform to greet her at the door. She shows a photo to Mrs. Jenkins, who claims not to have seen Diana before. Viv tells her she has a bad poker face, revealing that they know about Diana having Paul's heart. Mrs. Jenkins says Diana came under false pretenses. In Flash Back, Diana asks Mrs. Jenkins a series of questions about Paul and his accident. She even asks to see Paul's room, saying that if she knew more about him, it would make a better article. Mrs. Jenkins says that they've stopped talking about Paul at all, because it was too hard. There's a memorial where he died, but she can't drive past it. She doesn't know how they can get past his death. Diana picks up a photo of Paul and says he looks happy. Also in the photo is his brother, who was driving when Paul died. He hasn't gotten over it. Mrs. Jenkins asks Diana to leave, and with a sheepish smile, she goes. Mrs. Jenkins tells Viv that after Diana left, she spoke to her husband about her, and Roy had asked Diana to leave them alone. A uniform comes in and speaks to Viv, who tells Mrs. Jenkins that Diana's car has been found down the street. "It didn't end here, did it?"

Mrs. Jenkins admits that Diana came back just a few hours ago. In Flash Back, Diana explains she lied about reporting for the school paper. Daveigh Chase has the most whiny voice; it's like she really meant what she said in The Ring. Everyone will suffer. She says she has Paul's heart. in the next room, his brother Tim overhears and storms in, asking Diana to repeat herself. Diana apologizes that she didn't mean to hurt anyone. She says she needed a transplant, and Paul's heart saved her life. Tim asks his mother, his voice full of creepy rage, if they gave away Paul's heart. She tells Viv that because Tim was in intensive care for so long after Paul died, he didn't know at the time, and they never found a way to tell him. Diana tried to calm Tim down, but Tim was so angry, he grabbed one of his father's guns and took her. She doesn't know where, and her husband's been looking for them since. Viv, she is not pleased.

25 Hours Missing. Olczyk knocks on Jack's door, making Jack think he's Sam. Sam's gone out to dinner, though. Jack asks how he is, but Olczyk wants to know how Jack is. He is crap, is how he is. Olczyk says he called Maria, and Jack says he just talked to her and his girls. Olczyk says the Director is glad Jack isn't dead, and moreover, he's pleased with Jack's work on the trafficking case. Jack, who it must be said is rightfully drugged to the hilt and speaking like Keith Richards, is like, about that... Olczyk tells him OBR hasn't even opened a file, so that will hold. Jack says they will, and they'll find a ton, but it was all him. Everyone else, especially Vivian, was a total pro about the whole thing. Olczyk sits, trying to tell him to forget it. He suggests Oprah. I am outnumbered on this, but I think I would take the scummy pond dead man's float instead.

HW. Martin tells Elena that Danny found Roy Jenkins, but not Tim or Diana. Elena's been doing something also, but it doesn't matter. Martin says that Tim has fallen apart since his brother died, from grades dropping to assault. He takes a phone call and tells Elena that Tim and Diana were seen heading towards the place wehre Paul died. Cut to the stretch of road where it happened. Tim tells Diana that he's going to tell her how she got Paul's heart. They were going to a party, and Tim asked Paul to get a CD for him from the back seat. Paul undid his seat belt to reach it; Tim saw the drunk driver coming for him and couldn't avoid him; he felt his seat belt hold him in and heard the windshield explode. He remembers watching his brother suffer out on the road, but couldn't get to him. Tim freaks out, waving the gun, asking why Tim's dead and Diana's alive. She whines that she knows, she knows it's hard. Tim's all spinning in circles with the over-acting rage, and Diana protests that she didn't mean to hurt Paul's family. Tim asks what she thought would happen. Diana says that when she heard about Paul, she thought knowing about him would help her. She rises, and Tim aims the gun at her. She's sorry Paul died, and though she can't make up for that, she's going to do what she can to honor him. As she's speaking, Danny hops over the roadside railings and sneaks up from behind Tim, telling him to drop the gun. Viv sidles up behind Diana, trying to talk Tim down as well. After a moment of shouting and pointing and Diana saying Paul wouldn't want this, Tim lowers his gun. The agents close in on the weapon first, and Diana and Tim second. Danny takes Diana to HQ, to her parents. A good ending, when they don't always get one.

Sam enters a diner to meet Brian, who's all awkward about Sam's relationship with coffee and pregnancy cravings. She apologizes, saying she thought he'd sign the release and that would be that, since they don't know each other. She says Brian has no obligation to her or to him, the baby. She breaks it down: she doesn't want Brian to start out involved so that the boy can get attached only to have Brian bail one day with no warning. She'd rather her son not know her father at all if that's the case. She wants to know if he can be there, permanently. Brian says he wants to figure it out. Sam tells him he has six weeks, reminding him they can try to be friends. He asks if she needs to get to the hospital, but she says someone else is with Jack right now. Brian decides to play 20 Questions of Getting to Know Sam Spade. He asks where she's from, and when she says Wisconsin, calls her a Cheesehead. No one in the world believes Sam is really from Wisconsin, so maybe that's why she's finding him charming for that particular dorky reference.

Jack wakes to find Viv as his new babysitter, and she feeds him ice chips. He asks if she's really here, which is a nice call back to their otherworldly ambulence ride last week. He apologizes to her, saying he copped to all the decisions himself. Viv thinks this is not the time. He tells her that she can leave if she wants. She tells him he's stuck with her until 2AM, when Martin takes over. She offers him the choice between People and Vanity Fair, and he grossly asks for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition, which is really not reading material, per se. Viv reads one of those lame human interest stories, and Jack asks if she's trying to kill him. "Mm hmm," she replies. Because that's how it is with family.