Shaun walks into Glassman's office and announces he wants to be his friend again because people need friends. Glassman is confused by the change. Shaun says he needs a friend more than he needs space. He tells Glassman that he was a good mentor. Glassman tells him he needs a new mentor because he is dying. 

He tells Shaun he has 12-18 months and he doesn't want him to tell anyone. Shaun tells him he should get a second opinion. Glassman says he's been a neurosurgeon for years so that is a second opinion. Shaun keeps insisting so Glassman agrees. 

Jared works with Dr. Lim on a patient who has a severely broken leg. His foot is dying because the blood flow is restricted. Dr. Lim resets his leg. His friend talks to Dr. Park about how he found him on a curb with his leg like that. Dr. Park wants to know why he felt the need to tell him twice how he found the other boy. The boy goes to surgery. 

The boy is awake for his surgery because of his blood alcohol level and because he probably as a concussion. His blood pressure starts dropping, and Dr. Melendez orders tests for it. 

Shaun works on a white board to find an answer for Dr. Glassman. He has books spread out everywhere on a table. He starts frantically going through his backpack to look for the toy scalpel his brother gave him. Glassman walks in to ask if Shaun came up with anything. Glassman tells him he had another neurosurgeon look at his scans. She came to the same conclusion: the tumor is inoperable. Glassman tells Shaun to go back to work. 

Drs. Park and Kalu go to talk to the boy's friend. Dr. Park tells Jared to be the good cop. Dr. Park gets in his face to figure out what happened to the boy. Jared tells him to be reasonable. Dr. Park walks away so Jared can be the good cop. Jared sits down with the friend and starts talking to him. He tells him to ignore Dr. Park. The friend tells him they were pledging a fraternity and that they had to a wheel of torture. He had to eat as many Tide Pods as he could. Jared tells Dr. Park and says he could have burned through his esophagus. 

Shaun, Claire, and Morgan work with Dr. Melendez on the boy. Dr. Melendez gets clled out for another surgery. He asks the residents who can walk him through the procedures for closing up the patient. Morgan begins to rattle off instructions, but she forgets a step. Shaun tells them what the step is so Melendez selects him to lead the closing. During the closing, Shaun has a realization. He says he lost something, but he knows where it is now. 

After the surgery, he goes to Glassman's office to look for his plastic scalpel. He begins telling Glassman what he should do to help his tumor. Shaun can't find the scalpel and leaves the room. 

The boy is having some complications. Jared tells Melendez he has a leak somewhere. Shaun goes to Jessica's office and tells her that Dr. Glassman is dying, even though he promised him he wouldn't say anything. Shaun tells her that he is stubborn and won't listen to him. He says Glassman will listen to her. Jessica says she can't make him do anything. Shaun wants her to manipulate him into doing something to help him. 

Melendez talks to the residents, while Shaun is looking all over his office for the toy scalpel. He has blood complications, which could lead to terminal bleeding or terminal clotting. They go over what could have happened to him. Melendez says it's not the detergent. The doctors all go through different ideas, but Morgan blames Shaun. She tells Melendez that he spaced out in the OR during the closing and could have nicked the vessel. Claire says it's Shaun. He's always focused and his stitches looked great. Melendez sends the residents out with instructions. 

Melendez knocks on Glassman's door and asks if he has a second. Melendez tells him that he has a patient who has complications that could be caused by surgeon error. He asks Glassman what is going on with Shaun. Glassman tells him he got bad news and was distracted by a personal matter. Melendez asks if Lea came back or his cable got off. Glassman tells him about the tumor. Melendez tells him he's sorry and asks if there's anything he can do. Melendez says Glassman should have told him or at least not told Shaun. Then, he leaves. 

The residents meet together with the patient to discuss what it could be. Jared leaves to ask his friend what drugs he took. Dr. Park tells him he won't say if they were doing something illegal. He says they have another option. Jared goes to the friend and cleans up the cut on his hand. Jared asks if it's alright if he draws some blood to make sure he doesn't have any toxins or infections. Jared tells him what's wrong with his friend. Jared takes the blood vial and opens the curtain to reveal Dr. Park. Dr. Park says he can turn it over to the cops or he can tell them what his friend is on. The boy says he is on molly, and he tells Jared he would have told him the truth if he had asked. Jared apologizes. 

Jessica goes to Glassman's office. She says she wishes she would have heard about his tumor from him. She is mad that he didn't give her the chance to be there for him. Glassman yells at her for being mad at him when he's the one who is dying. Jessica tells him he can't stop fighting because Maddie would have never wanted him to stop fighting. Glassman is furious when she brings up his daughter. Jessica apologizes, and Glassman says thank you. Jessica tries again to get him to seek treatment. She says to do it for Shaun because he needs him. 

Dr. Andrews talks to Melendez about the complications in the boy's case. He wants to know why Melendez was in two surgeries at once and why he left 3 first year residents alone in the OR. 

Glassman, Jessica, and Shaun wait for an appointment. Shaun asks why he listened to Jessica and not him. Glassman says it is not a good time. A doctor comes in and tells him that the original diagnosis was incorrect and that the cancer is actually worse than they originally said. He now has 3-4 months to live. All three are devastated by the news. 

Morgan and Jared talk to his friend. The drugs weren't the problem but now they guess that he has a bacterial infection. Claire goes to pick up his labs. Andrews stops her and asks what happened. Claire gives him the same answer that Melendez gave him. Claire says they can't figure out why and that Shaun's closing was textbook. Andrews tells her he didn't know Murphy did the closing and then walks away. Claire realizes her mistake. 

Glassman goes to see Shaun. Shaun has covered the conference room with notes and books. Shaun says he doesn't accept it. Shaun says doctors make mistakes and that imaging is unreliable and subject to interpretation. Glassman begins erasing Shaun's work and throwing books around. He yells at Shaun to stop talking. Shaun says he is helping him. Glassman says he is not helping because he doesn't want to think about the tumor and dying. He wants to go on a long drive and eat pancakes and watch football. Shaun asks him if he wants to have fun. Glassman says yes. He tells Shaun he can keep fighting or he can go with him. 

Glassman and Shaun ride on a carousel. Shaun asks if this is supposed to be fun. Glassman tells him about how he and his daughter would go there and for a dance after Valentine's Day. There is a flashback to the scene of the two of them talking about who loves who more. Back on the carousel with Shaun, Glassman says he knew that would be the moment he pictured when he closed his eyes to die. However, he thought his daughter would be there to say it one more time as he was dying. 

Shaun tells Glassman that he lost the toy scalpel that Steve gave him. He says he's been looking for a whole day but it may be gone forever. Shaun tells Aaron he might come to this place when he is dead. He asks if the memories of his daughter are enough for him. Glassman says they're not even close. Shaun gets a text from the hospital and asks if Aaron needs him to listen to him anymore. He tells Shaun he should go. 

The resident meet in Melendez's office. The boy is not responding to antibiotics so they can rule out bacterial infection. Claire says Shaun doesn't say anything and Melendez asks if he has any thoughts since he's the one who can be in trouble. Shaun says he knows why it happened. He says he made the mistake. He says he has to make a bowel movement and leaves the room. 

Shaun goes to Glassman's office and tells him he has an answer for him. Glassman says Shaun is not hearing him and that he is dying. Shaun says there is still hope. Glassman makes him look at him and tells him there is no hope. Glassman says hope is painful and that he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life that way. Shaun says he understands. He moves closer to Glassman and brings the book to him anyway to show him how he can get help. Shaun says they can do a biopsy through his nose to figure out what's wrong. Shaun tells him that he can't die too. He says he has to throw up and leaves the office. 

The residents talk about what to do. Morgan asks if they should file a report about Murphy. Claire accuses her of just wanting to take out Murphy as her competition. Shaun walks in and tells them that he threw up. Park says he agrees with Morgan and that they should report it. Jared tells them it won't happen again and that Shaun was stressed because he found out about Glassman. Claire tells Shaun that Melendez told them about Aaron. Claire says the reporting protocol is fine for anyone else in the building except for Shaun. She says they would reprimand anyone else but fire him. Jared says we report it, but he agrees to take the blame for Shaun. Melendez says that if the boy lives, they won't need to worry about this. Melendez tells the residents to get imaging on the 

Andrews meets with Allegra to see if she feels the same way about Shaun now as she did when they first hired him. Jared reminds her that Glassman said if Shaun doesn't live up to the expectations, he will be dismissed. Allegra says Shaun has exceeded his expectations. Andrews agrees. Allegra also says her feelings about Glassman have not changed. 

The residents look at the scans of the frat boy. They talk about cutting him open, but Shaun says they shouldn't. Instead, he suggests they insert a graph through his leg to fix it from the inside out. Melendez is skeptical. Park argues that the boy has a small chance of living without surgical intervention. Melendez says it's not enough. They have to do something. Morgan says she trusts Shaun's idea. She says he makes mistakes no one else would make but he also comes up with unique ways to save people that no one else does. Shaun thanks her, but she tells him he shouldn't be working there. She doesn't think the tradeoff is worth it. Claire rolls her eyes and looks at Jared. Melendez tells them to prepare him for surgery. 

In the OR, Melendez inserts the graph. Shaun asks if he can deflate the balloon. He tells Melendez that if his idea doesn't work, he will die. He says Melendez shouldn't have to live with that. Melendez says everything that happens in the OR is his responsibility. He tells Shaun they can do it together. 

In the locker room, the residents pack up their bags. Shaun finds his toy scalpel in his backpack. Melendez walks him and tells them that no one can go home. He says they are proud of the team and what they accomplished. He says he will buy them all drinks. Morgan asks why they are celebrating. She says the day was a disaster and they got lucky. Melendez says she's right, but when they get lucky, they should celebrate. The residents leave the room. Melendez stays back with Morgan and tells her that she will kill someone at some point in her career. He says he hopes for her sake that there's a doctor who still believes in her when she does. Morgan grabs her things and leaves the room. 

Shaun walks into Glassman's office to tell him that he found the scalpel. Glassman is sitting with Jessica. Shaun notices a bandage on Aaron's hand and says he did the biopsy. Glassman confirms this. Glassman tells him he has a low grade glioblastoma and that he has to have brain surgery. He also has to have radiation and chemotherapy. He tells Shaun with a little luck after that, they can go the Super Bowl next season. Shaun hugs him and tells him he's going to live. Aaron tells him to go celebrate with his friends. Shaun says he will but first he has to tell Andrews about the mistake he made. Jessica tells him not to because Andrews will use this against him. She says since the boy is recovering, he doesn't need to know. She tells him not to give Andrews the excuse or a reason to fire him. Glassman says he won't ask Shaun to lie to him to save his job. Shaun says he is not doing it to hurt Glassman. He is doing it because it's the right thing to do. 

Shaun tells Glassman he loves him. Glassman says he loves Shaun too. Shaun says he loves him more. Glassman and Shaun walk into Andrews' office.