Pulse Rate - 192

[It looks as though they feel having several intertwined plots something that they need to do this year. There are at least four in this episode. It does have a "stinger" ending.] Seaman Duncan was electrocuted when the radar rig he was attempting to repair on the USS Gillcrist as turned on by PO Ferrier when she didn't see the "work order tag" on her console. Lt Jourgensen, information division officer, told Mac that any repair required three signatures: his, the lead interior comm tech and a "second man." He saw the tag on the console 10 minutes earlier. PO Demato, Duncan's partner, told Harm that there was no way they could tell if the power was off, they just had to trust that no one wanted them dead. When M asked PO Atwood, the "second man," why he just stood there and let Ferrier turn on the console if he knew they were making repairs, Atwood said he didn't know what she intended. Everyone, she said, had several things going on at once but no one had the job of watching the tagged console! PO Miles Yates, whose job it was to be at the console, gave many excuses of repair to other damaged equipment, and that the test wasn't supposed to have been started until 10:10 (not 8:30). H bent down and found the red tag inside the vent grate to the console (about 4 inches from the floor). They decided to call it accidental and were leaving when Atwood asked them to reconsider and tattled on Yates having done the same thing before 2 weeks prior. They decided to stay and interview people again. Demato said Yates wasn't popular and that Atwood was mouthy, and a blow hard. She had seen Atwood and Yates at each other's throats a few times. Atwood accusing Yates of being a slacker. Ferrier confessed she knew of the previous incident. Yates had left his console during a repair and Atwood found the tag on the floor. Not believing the too obvious coincidence M asked who would want to sabotage Yates. Ferrier said that no one would have to make him "look" like a slacker - he always left his station to go have smokes. A pack a day habit, 10 minutes per cigarette, you do the math. "He's absent more than he's there, and the enlisted are tired of covering for him." They caught Yates outside smoking. He said he "couldn't help it." M said they were reversing their decision; then, added that they were adding involuntary manslaughter to it. H wrinkled his nose with incredulity.

On board ship H told M that being there was "like old times," and "we should do it more often." He told M that he bet Clay didn't bring his work home with him. She said she thought they were going to travel light, leaving baggage behind. He said that he "left his baggage in Paraguay," and when she said she would respect his privacy about his "deep dark secret that he left stateside," he replied, not quite under his breath, well "there's a first." M tried to convince Bud of her heavy handed decision. "He's weak, and his lack of self discipline resulted in a fatality," she said. Chegwidden asked Coates if she would help plan his wedding. She agreed and demanded to do it gratis, as an honor. She talked to Meredith (who was on the phone to Italian professore Selvaggio) about the dress. Meredith called it a "parade float," and was stunned that there would need to be at least 12 groomsmen to be formal military at Annapolis. C said it looked like a cantaloupe blown up by a land mine; but, "if Meredith likes it." Co overwhelmed him with her checklist: best man, coed bridal shower, prenuptial agreements and honeymoon insurance. Then she tagged Meredith with menus and French food. Co told M that "they both were becoming uncooperative," and M advised her it was her job to "drag the admiral kicking and screaming if necessary into the connubial bliss that Meredith wants but is too afraid to ask for." "Married men live longer," she said. Asked for the same advice, H told her that someday she'd get married and "spend the equivalent of a house down payment on a party which her friends would attend out of obligation and she would awaken the next day in a champagne hangover and realize that she was stuck with this man for life." He said she would get the same advice from M and was surprised to hear that M had been "Nostalgic" like she "may have found who changed her mind." Eventually Meredith came to tell C that she didn't want to have a big wedding. C said neither did he and Co confessed that she "may have gotten carried away." Meredith also dropped the bombshell that she wanted Cs blessing to go away to Italy over Christmas. She had been invited to the University of Bolognia for Shakespearian drama.

Dupree, Mikey's room-mate, complained about not being able to escort his sister to the Thanksgiving ball because of his honor remediation. Mk offered to take her and he reluctantly agreed. He met Cassie over coffee and found she was pre-law and liked him as much as he liked her. Mk visited B who told him that he "wasn't always the most mature" and needed to focus on his studies. "No matter how much you want it, you can't have it all," B told him. Mk responded that he was 21 and to stop calling him "Mikey." Harriet, who was still planning the USO show, told him that she and B had to "bend the rules a bit" for their relationship and to "not let B convince you not to see her," besides, she told him, "that's not what B wants." When Dupree found them dating he flew off the handle and said "she's 18, if you were my friend, you wouldn't have gotten involved with her in the first place." Cassie came to find out what the problem with her brother was and Mk met her first. They kissed and were interrupted by an angry Dupree. She told him "if you don't lighten up on this big brother crap you can find yourself another sister." Dupree requested room reassignment but Mk told him that he had already broken up with his sister. "Now she's mad at both of us." Eventually Dupree brought his sister in her formal so they could go to the dance… as friends… taking it slow.

Mattie tried to contact H several time but didn't get through. Finally H called her. She asked if she would "slow his fast life down." He said "if we're going to be a family, you're going to have to stop doubting me, have a little faith." B and Ht had difficulties finding time for their family with their busy career's. Finally, someone in Baghdad told Ht that the tickets for the concert she was preparing should sell for $700 and asked that she call his wife and tell her he only wanted to be home for Christmas. They both left work for home.

H told C that M was going after Yates with a vengeance and he asked what problem she might have with a "nicotine addict." In Yates defense, H recounted that the CDC called nicotine more addictive than heroine or cocaine. M compared nicotine with chocolate or alcohol and said that it was possible to deny one's addictions for the greater good. She was pontificating grandiosely in court and H argued with her. When the judge called them on it, H commented that there was nothing more annoying than a reformed addict. They were at the bench when Yates collapsed to the floor, sweating. H found several nicotine patches on his chest. M told H that "your addict just OD'd," and "if he wants to impress me he'd quit cold turkey." H sniped, "like you did… twice!" Yates testified that Atwood had been "on his case since the fraternization." He said he had broken it off with Ferrier rapidly and stayed friends. M did follow-up on Ferrier and found she not only started the test early but wasn't even supposed to be on duty. "A woman scorned is a force of nature," and told H "you ought to know." H commented that you could "work side by side with someone and not know what they're thinking," then apologized and asked for a "truce." H pressured Ferrier on the stand that she was the only one with a motive and she admitted that Yates "was everything to me." She was there because she just wanted to see him; but, it was Atwood who had admitted to her that he had removed the tag so he could write Yates up and get him out of the way. He had threatened to hurt her if she told. Atwood confessed to M and she charged him. H told her that she proved her point: "how badly things turn out when co-workers cross lines." She said "it wouldn't have happened if they stayed good friends." So H asked her to get a bite to eat and she declined saying she had a date with Webb.