NEAR DEATH

*****

Natalie: I mean, there's absolutely no trauma in the body, there's no aroma of alcohol, there's no evidence of a seizure...I don't know, maybe the toxicology tests are gonna tell me something.
Schanke: Guy must be out on a day pass.
Nick: Did he give you anything?
Schanke: I hope not. Just found the body a couple of hours ago. So, how about you guys?
Natalie: No, nothing.
Schanke: You? Nothing?
Natalie: All right, he just dropped dead. Are you happy? I am telling you guys, there is no apparent cause of death.
Schanke: (With disbelief) Yeah.

Nick: All I'm saying is I think you should have told me it was Myra's birthday. I would have bought her something.
Schanke: No, no, no, it's okay. Besides, I got her what you wanted.
Nick: That dream vacation?
Schanke: Yeah right. Only in her dreams.
Nick: What then?
Schanke: A pair of ridged twenty point ice crampons and rope. Myra wants to take up ice climbing.
Nick: Ice climbing.
Schanke: Exactly. Did you know that ten yards...no, no scratch that, ten metres of rope cost a hundred and fifty dollars? Now, Myra will only do it once, and then she'll be on to the next expensive hobby and I'll be stuck with a hundred and fifty dollar clothes line. Which I might hang myself with.
Nick: Is that why you're all bent out of shape? Expensive rope?
Schanke: Nah. It's birthdays, they just get to me. It's another year closer to the end.
Nick: Myra has a birthday, and you worry about dying?
Schanke: It's...it's just that sometimes it hits you. Death means the end of...of you. Doesn't that make you think?
Nick: I try not to dwell on it too much.
Schanke: But what is it anyway? I mean, how can you experience death, if there's no more of you to experience it?
Nick: I don't know. I've never died before. Would you just wish Myra a Happy Birthday for me. Okay?
Cohen: We've got a ID on your John Doe from last night. Name's Dr. Julian Welner. Matches a missing persons report filed by his employer, a Dr. Alex Nystrom. He's the head of the McClellan(?) Neurological Institute.
Schanke: Ooh, the McClellan Neuro. Keep out. Psycho city limits.
Cohen: Dr. Lambert is requesting the pleasure of your company at the morgue. As in, tell them this is getting stranger by the minute.

Natalie: Well, his toxicology test came back clean. And that was my last gasp at cause of death, if you'll pardon the expression. The only thing I did fine was advanced prostate cancer, but that didn't kill him.
Schanke: So the verdict is...?
Natalie: He shouldn't be dead.
Schanke: But, uh...he is, isn't he?
Natalie: Oh, he is. His brain simply stopped functioning, and the only thing that could do that to you is death. However, since I can't list death as the cause of death.... Well, you see my predicament.
Nick: Well, can't move on this unless there's evidence of homicide.
Natalie: Well, I can tell you this much--Welner didn't die where we found his body. His shoes were clean. No trace of soil of any sort. I'd say he died indoors and, uh, somebody moved his body.
Schanke: Sounds like a case to me.
Nick: It might be interesting to find out what kind of work he was doing at the McClellan Institute.
Schanke: Yeah. Right. Like we speak fluent neurological.
(Natalie waves her hand)
Nick: Yeah, we could use a translator.
Natalie: I thought you'd never ask.

Schanke: Look at this. Some poor schmucks (or whatever-was censored) entire existence. His hopes, his dreams, his memories, his fears, his loves, his lusts. All reduced to one grey glob plopped in formaldehyde. Oh man, is this anyway to end up?
Natalie: What's with Dr. Doom here?
Nick: It's Myra's birthday.
Natalie: Oh....
Dr. Nystrom: Here's Dr. Welner's file. Do you suspect foul play?
Schanke: You've been watching too many mystery movies, Dr. Nystrom. We're just here for some background.
Natalie: Ah..um, what kind of work was Dr. Welner doing here?
Dr. Nystrom: He was part of a team that was studying conscious states. We're a research facility, so we do a lot of experimental work here.
Schanke: Putting chicken brains into monkeys? That sort of thing?
Dr. Nystrom: Actually, we have been doing interspecies brain tissue transplants for some time now.
Nick: We'd like to meet the rest of Dr. Welner's team.
Dr. Nystrom: Certainly. The lab's this way.

Dr. Nystrom: Drs. Naomi Ross and Joel Becker.
Dr. Naomi Ross: Uh, Naomi will do.
Dr. Nystrom: Dr. Linsman must be in her lab. I can go and get her if you wish?
Nick: No. No, we'll talk to her later.
Dr. Nystrom: Well, if you'll excuse me, I have quite a lot of paperwork to clear. An administrator's job is never done, as they say.
Nick: Thank you.
(Dr. Nystrom leaves)
Dr. Ross: So, have you found out how Julian died?
Nick: We can't say at the moment.
Schanke: When was the last time either one of you saw Dr. Welner?
Dr. Ross: He was working here last night.
Schanke: How did he seem to you?
Dr. Becker: Fine.
Nick: Did you know he had cancer?
Dr. Ross: Yes, it was a terrible thing, but he was coping with it very well.
Natalie: Exactly what kind of research are you doing here?
Dr. Ross: Our particular team is studying consciousness states, measuring synaptic activity in the ascending reticular activating system.
Schanke: Could someone say that in English?
Natalie: It's the part of our brains that keeps us awake.
Dr. Ross: Exactly. Would you like to see some of our work?
Natalie: I'd love to.
Nick: Excuse me, where would I find Dr. Linsman?
Dr. Ross: Uh, room 201, hang a right at the end of the corridor.

Nick: (Knocking and entering) Dr. Linsman?
Dr. Dianna Linsman: Yes.
Nick: Nick Knight, Metro Homicide. I'd like to ask you a few questions about Dr. Welner's death.
Dr. Linsman: Uh, sure, have a seat. Homicide, does that mean you think Julian was murdered?
Nick: We just want to clear up a few details. Did you notice anything unusual about Dr. Welner prior to his death?
Dr. Linsman: Well, there was the cancer of course, but it wasn't giving him much pain. Of course, with prostate cancer the prognosis is never very good. He was optimistic, though--attitude can make a huge difference, but, and now this.... Poor Julian, I can't believe he's dead.
Nick: Death is never easy to accept.
Dr. Linsman: Well, I've been around it lot, I'll never get used to it. You see it all the time, how do you handle it?
Nick: No better or worse than anyone else, I guess. Death is simply a fact of life.

Dr. Ross: This is a stereotaxic apparatus. We use it for lesion experiments. It requires no incision, just a puncture.
Schanke: Lesion experiments?
Dr. Becker: We use the pit(?) needle to destroy a section of the brain to see how it effects behaviour.
Schanke: You don't do this on people do you?
Dr. Becker: Unfortunately, that would be considered unethical.
Schanke: That is unfortunate.

Dr. Linsman: Before I got into research, I used to intern at Glenn Cross ER, right smack in the middle of the combat zone. I'll never forget the first patient I lost. Was a young woman of about twenty-five. Horrible car accident. When she arrived, she was...well...she barely looked human. But she was alive, perfectly aware that her body had been terribly mangled. At one point, her eyes became incredibly clear. And it was if her spirit was somewhere else and she was looking back at me from the other side, telling me not to fear death. That the place she was in was a good one. She looked so calm. I believe she died well. I hoped Julian did, too.

Schanke: Say, what, what is this over here? It looks like something out of Star Wars, or something.
Dr. Becker: It's a cortical tomography apparatus, something we've been developing in the past year. It electronically measures advenergic(?) and colernergic(?) levels in the brain.
Natalie: Ah...it measures consciousness levels.
Dr. Becker: It, it's about to detect the minute electrical charges exchanged between whole neurons during synaptic transmission--without invasive procedures.
Schanke: Of course, but can they make coffee?

Dr. Linsman: I guess like most people I don't like to believe that we die when we die. I prefer to believe that our consciousness lives on. After all, people have come back. From the dead, I mean.
Nick: I'm not sure I follow.
Dr. Linsman: Well, technically they're dead, but if the circumstances are just right, they can be revived. Resurrected, if you will. And every time they come back changed. Transformed.

Paris, France: 1228

LaCroix: I can grant you a gift that only the gods can grant, Nicholas. Give your life to me, and I'll give you ten thousand lifetimes in return. Your existence will be transformed in ways that mere mortals cannot even imagine. Come to me.

Dr. Linsman: Each one of those people came back changed, with a reverence for life they never had before, and no fear whatsoever of death.
Nick: Is this what led you into the study of consciousness?
Dr. Linsman: Yes. I believe that there's a state between life and death, a zone, if you will, where life and death merge.
Nick: How do you know this?
Dr. Linsman: I've been...with people who have been there.
Nick: If there's anything else, I'll be in touch.
Dr. Linsman: I'll be here.

Schanke: There is something very very wrong about that place, and the test tube gods that work there.
Natalie: Their stories all matched.
Schanke: Come on, they've been rehearsed. Maybe not that head brain boy, Nystrom, he's a classic paper pusher, but the others. (laughs) Dr. Jeckyl...I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Becker. *Becker*. Not that's a classic state of...

Dr. Linsman: (from earlier) I believe that there's a state between life and death, where life and death merge. A zone.

Schanke: ....he's got to be guilty about something. How about Linsman?

Guide: You must choose.

Schanke: Ground control to Major Nick!
Nick: What?
Schanke: Come on, Nick. Try to stay within the foul lines. How about Linsman? Is she on the level or what?
Nick: Well it depends.... What's the level?
Schanke: Come one, let's get down to terra firma here, guys. Somebody moved Welner's body. Now, I say it was one or more of those galler guy scientists that did it--after they whacked him.
Nick: Motive?
Schanke: Maybe its the Mad Scientist thing, huh? I mean they're all buggy, it comes with the territory. (Sees Nat) Present company accepted, of course.
Nick: Well, while you're grasping at straws, Schank, maybe you can shed a little light on how Welner died.
Schanke: Help me out here, Doc?
Natalie: Well, I don't know. Maybe they're doing something they're not telling us about, some kind of research that got out of hand.
Schanke: Well, maybe like he was a human guinea pig or something?
Nick: Well, look, it's all still conjecture. You're assuming that there's been a murder in the first place.
Schanke: Nick, come on, somebody moved the body. Something ain't right here.

Janette: Nicola? (?)something(?)
Nick: What was it like for you? When LaCroix brought you over?
Janette: Very...intense.
Nick: What did you feel?
Janette: At first nothing. I was, after all, dying. Then, everything. I felt everything. I was in a place where life and death become one. There was a light. I was moving towards it, but then I heard LaCroix calling out to me, calling me back. You remember that light, don't you Nicolas?
Nick: Did you feel at that moment that you had a choice? Whether to live or to die?
Janette: A choice? If you call death a choice. I, however, did not see it that way. Neither did you.

Dr. Ross: How are you feeling?
Dr. Linsman: Very strange.
Dr. Becker: What was the experience like this time?
Dr. Linsman: They're getting more disturbing. I saw Julian. He was...(Remembers him come up out of the ground)....he was grabbing at me, and I was trapped. I...(Flashes on seeing him again) He was trying to kill me. Oh God...did we kill him?
Dr. Becker: No. You know we had nothing to do with that.

Dr. Ross: This is making me nervous. We had her under too long. It's getting dangerous.
Dr. Becker: It'll be all right. Need a lift?
Dr. Ross: Uh...I have some work to do. I'll see you tomorrow.
Dr. Becker: Sure. Tomorrow.

Dr. Linsman: Oh, Detective.
Nick: Time for some answers, Dianna. What are these experiences you've been undergoing?
Dr. Linsman: You have to hear me through on this.
Nick: I'm listening.
Dr. Linsman: I suppose Dr. Lambert told you about the cortical tomography apparatus, the device we designed that reads synaptic transmissions?
Nick: She mentioned something that measures consciousness levels.
Dr. Linsman: Well, it does a lot more than measure. It controls. It actually functions as a synaptic field dampener. Have you ever heard the term flatlining?
Nick: Deliberately induced brain death.
Dr. Linsman: For the purpose of undergoing near death experience. The damper does it without harming the body. And that's what we've been doing. Although we don't call it flatlining, it's just a movie term.
Nick: What's the point of it?
Dr. Linsman: We feel that the near death experience has significant therapeutic potential. I first saw it at Glenn Cross ER. Three people with different terminal diseases have near death experiences and come back changed--psychologically and physically. Their diseases go into remission.
Nick: How can that be?
Dr. Linsman: We feel that in the near death state we reach a point of reckoning with ourselves. We are offered the choice to confront what haunts us, and banish it before we die. If we are brought back to life after this reckoning, we return profoundly changed, knowing that the demons or disease that we banished in death can be banished in life.
Nick: And is this related to what killed Dr. Welner?
Dr. Linsman: His cancer was terminal. Julian wanted to go under to confront it, to banish it. But...maybe he never truly believed he could. Well, I don't know how, exactly, but I think that's why he lost the battle.
Nick: He died while he was under?
Dr. Linsman: Yes. We tried everything we could to revive him. I mean, I can only guess as to why he didn't come back. Either he choose not to, or, something stopped him. While I'm slitting my own throat, I might as well tell you that we moved his body. What else were we supposed to do? If it got out that he died because of these experiments, we'd have been shut down. We opened the door to curing some incurable diseases, not to mention our understanding of the nature of death and life. How could we stop?
Nick: But, Dianna, what you did was a crime.
Dr. Linsman: But the real crime would be if you shut us down.
Nick: I have to know. You've had a near death experience, haven't you? (She nods slightly) What have you seen?
Dr. Linsman: I've seen that there is more to death than dying. Some people are given the choice to confront what they are.

The Guide: You must choose.

Dr. Linsman: To decide their own destinies. You'd like to try it, wouldn't you? I want you to. Once you see what we've seen, you'll understand why we have to continue the research. Let me show you?
Nick: I have to go.
Dr. Linsman: Detective? What are you going to do?
Nick: I don't know.

Dr. Nystrom: How could your team keep this from me? You realise you leave me no option! Your careers are over.

Natalie: Oh, Nick, we have to shut them down. So what if a few of Dianna's emergency room patients went into remission after these experiences? That doesn't prove a thing. A lot of diseases go into remission without the benefit of near death experiences.
Nick: What if the experiments are valid?
Natalie: Nick, when the brain senses impending death it floods itself with signals, doing anything it can to hang onto consciousness. Now, there is evidence to suggest that what a dying person sees as a result of this brain activity is an intense light.
Nick: The light that people have reported.
Natalie: Exactly. Naturally induced hallucinations. That's all. These people are kidding themselves.
Nick: Are you sure? People have seen a lot more that what you're describing, Nat.
Natalie: Come on, you know what I believe. Is there an afterlife? Yes. Can you just knock and walk in and visit anytime you like? I don't think so.
Nick: There's something I never told you, Nat, about the night LaCroix brought me over. That's why I'm asking you to understand.

LaCroix: He's dying.
Janette: He has gone to the light, hasn't he? As I did?

Janette: What will you do if he decides to step into the light, to die as a mortal?
Janette: He will return to me.

Janette: Oh...I want him.
LaCroix: I hear your heart, Nicholas. Growing weaker with each beat. I have drained all but the last of your life from you. (Bites his wrist)

LaCroix: (his voice that Nick hears) It has become a part of my own. Do not be afraid. This is the day of your death, Nicholas, and rebirth through me.
The Guide: You may come to us, Nicholas.
Nick: (He approaches, but stops) Who are you? What is this place?
The Guide: Come to us and you will no. Choose to return to the evil that waits you, and you will be lost.
LaCroix: (again, just his voice) Turn away from the light, Nicholas. It is not your salvation. It is only for the weak, the defeated. Come back to me, Nicholas.
Nick: He has offered me a thousand lifetimes. Everything I desire and covet. Can you do the same? Why should I go with you, when I can live?
The Guide: You must choose.
Nick: What can you offer me?
The Guide: The choice.
LaCroix: (again, just his voice) Come back to me, Nicholas.

Nick: I chose to return. To live as a vampire. The seduction of it was too great. I had to know what it was like. I wanted it.
Natalie: So...what are you saying? You think if you have a near death experience you'll go back to the light, and this time...?
Nick: Choose to step into it. To die as a mortal. The guide, the person I saw there, said I had a choice. I have to try, Nat, and you have to let me.

Dr. Nystrom: What you've done is contemptible! I'm going to the police about this. You're all finished!
Dr. Linsman: Can't you see what we've got here? This could be an unprecedented medical breakthrough, not to mention the chance to explore the nature of life and death!
Dr. Nystrom: You were hired to study consciousness, not play God!
Dr. Linsman: You can't stop us. This is bigger than you or me or any ethics committee.
Dr. Nystrom: That's were you're wrong, Dianna. The work stops. It's over!
Dr. Linsman: You can't do this.
Dr. Nystrom: It's done.
Dr. Linsman: No!
(She kills him and the phone rings, which she picks up)
Dr. Linsman: Hello?
Nick: Dianna? Nick. Is your offer still open.
Dr. Linsman: Yes. I'm so glad you--
Nick: Can you bring the equipment over to my apartment? There's less chance of being disturbed.
Dr. Linsman: Yes. Yes all right.

Schanke: Security guard found the body on his rounds. According to these time sheets all the staff left within the last hour. Joel Becker at 2:40, we got Dianna Linsman at 3:25, Naomi Ross at 3:05. Now, what do you bet that one of these times corresponds to the actual time of death?
Natalie: Is Nick here?
Schanke: No. No he called in. The poor guy's caught that flu that's been going around.

Dr. Linsman: Are you ready?
Nick: What do I do?
Dr. Linsman: Just lie down.
(Nick does so, resting his hands over his heart.)
Dr. Linsman: Don't worry, nothing can go wrong. You'll feel a little tingly at first. After that it's just like falling asleep and dreaming.
Nick: It's a little more than that.
Dr. Linsman: (After getting the device ready) There. You're ready. I flip the switch here, and the damper field is generated. Two minutes after that, you're under. Here we go.

Natalie: Ah...Arnie, can you complete the prelim on him for me?
Arnie: Yeah, okay.
Natalie: Thanks. Oh my God.
Schanke: What's the problem?
Natalie: We got to find him. Now, Schanke.
Schanke: Find who?

Dr. Becker: Security called my home, said there'd been an accident. Now what's... (Sees Nystrom) Oh my God.
Natalie: Where is it? The synaptic field dampener. Look, I know all about it, just tell me where it is.
Dr. Becker: Room 201.

Natalie: Damn! It's not here!

Dr. Linsman: Your brainwave functions are nearing zero activity. All other systems will function normally.

Schanke: (Walking with Natalie past some others) So he's not answering the phone. He's probably in bed. And what does this have to do with Nick, anyway?
Dr. Ross: No, you're wrong. This is my fault. This is all my fault.
Schanke: (Stops, while Natalie keeps going) What does she mean it's all her fault?
Dr. Ross: I told him about the experiences.
Dr. Becker: Naomi!
Schanke: Experiences? What is she talking about? Natalie! Okay, Bill, take these two downtown and hold them 'til I get there. Natalie!
(He goes after her, catching her waiting for the elevator.)
Schanke: Natalie! Okay, if this has something to do with Nick, and he's in trouble, I want to know. As in, now!
Natalie: There is no time to explain it all here, Schank.
Schanke: Okay. We'll take my car.

Dr. Linsman: You're almost there. Can you hear me? I was only trying to protect the work. What we discovered would have changed our understanding of what we are, how we live and die. It could have saved countless lives.

Dr. Linsman: Dr. Nystrom wouldn't accept it. He closed his mind off like a frightened child, but not you. Somehow you sensed, like I do, the greater purpose. I need you to see for yourself, so you can convince others to continue our work. (The readings change) Why is it taking so much power?

Schanke: Wait a minute...Nick's going to hook himself up to this machine?
Natalie: Not if I have anything to do with it.

Dr. Linsman: What is that? That isn't right. That's not human. (The machine shuts off/screen goes blank) No!

Schanke: Why didn't you tell me that, Nat? Oh man. I'm getting units over to his place immediately.
Natalie: No. No, this has to stay between us. I promised him and you have to make that same promise. For Nick.

Nick: LaCroix?
The Guide: No. But we have met before. The first time you approached death eight hundred years ago.

The Guide: You may come to us, Nicholas.

Nick: Yes, I remember. You were with me near the light. But you were different then. A woman. Why...?
The Guide: Why do I appear to you now as the one you call LaCroix? LaCroix is the source of the evil that infests you. His evil is still the greater part of what you are. I simply mirror the condition of your existence. It is you who have altered my form, not I.
Nick: Who are you?
The Guide: I am one of many. You have called me a guide. Let that be sufficient.
Nick: What is this place? Am I dead?
The Guide: That depends on why you are here.
Nick: The last time I was here I made a choice. The wrong choice.
The Guide: And now you wish to right that wrong.
Nick: I know there is great evil in my past, but I fought it. I stopped killing long ago. I've always believed that there was a way to become mortal again, to confront and defeat this evil in me.
The Guide: And in so doing gain the absolution for which you have struggled so long.
Nick: Yes. Can it be done?
The Guide: Are you willing to face the consequences of your action?
Nick: Yes.
The Guide: Then behold. (Moves to the side, revealing a copy of Nick lying on an examining table with maggots covering his chest.)

Schanke: Why the hell would Nick fool around with this..this..this near death experience anyway? It's...it's crazy. It is crazy, isn't it?
Natalie: Yes, of course it is.
Schanke: And Linsman's a suspect. I mean, why the hell would he let her get within a mile of him with this damn...gizmo, whatever the hell it is. He's too smart for that.
Natalie: Well, he's....
Schanke: He's what?
Natalie: He's complicated.
Schanke: He's wha...he's compli...? He's playing with his life! I'm curious what happens when we die, but I don't go on reconnaissance missions to find out.

The Guide: Here is the soul of the vampire in its true state, deformed by the evil it has embraced. This is your soul, Nicholas.
Nick: No. After all I've been through of trying become human.... You're lying to me. This is not what I am now!
The Guide: We do not sit in judgement of you. We do not accuse. This truth is simply the truth. It must be confronted. It must be accepted. (He pauses as Nick takes several steps and sees a field of white crosses, grave markers) The legacy of your evil has not been purged. Behold...the souls of the innocents that you have murdered. They linger here. They persist. They will not forgive you until your task is completed.
Nick: How can I complete my task?
The Guide: Can you raise the victims from the dead?
Nick: You know I can't. I must finish it here, now.
The Guide: That is your choice. So be it.
Nick: What is it you're not telling me?
The Guide: It is what you're not telling yourself, Nicholas. Do you wish to proceed?
Nick: Yes.

Dr. Linsman: I didn't want to kill anyone. I'm not a murderer. The world needed my work. I could have prevented so much suffering...and death.

The Guide: Your decision?
Nick: What will happen to me if I step through?
The Guide: You will be reclaimed.
Nick: As a mortal?
The Guide: Yes.
Nick: And my soul?
The Guide: Will be judged.
Nick: Then I am damned.

Schanke: Linsman!
Dr. Linsman: No!
Schanke: Get away from Nick!
Dr. Linsman: I don't know what happened. It..it overloaded. I've never seen anything like it before. I don't understand.
Natalie: Nick? Nick!

Dr. Linsman: Our work must continue. The world would change.
Schanke: What did you to do him?
Natalie: Oh my God!
Schanke: What the hell did you do to Nick?!
Natalie: How long as he been dead? Answer me!
Schanke: Come on!
Dr. Linsman: Less than ten minutes. You're too late. I don't know what happened. It malfunctioned.

The Guide: Tell me, Nicholas, after eight hundred years of torment, what is the one thing you value above all else?
Nick: Humanity.
The Guide: And what is humanity? Merely a race of peoples?
Nick: No. A state of being, of grace.
The Guide: And is that not the way to the forgiveness that you seek?

Natalie: Oh God!
Schanke: Do something, Nat.
Natalie: Okay...uh...how does this thing work?
Schanke: Come on!
Dr. Linsman: It...it blocks neural transmission.
Natalie: Okay, it blocks neural transmission, so what we need is a hell of a jolt to jumpstart his system.

Nick: I've waited centuries.
The Guide: I know, but there is much left undone for you. Your debt to humanity has not been repaid.
Nick: I have to go back. That's what you've been telling me, isn't it? If I die here now, my soul will be damned. I have to atone. I have to go back.

Natalie: Uh...rat poison.
Schanke: What?
Natalie: Rat poison. Schank, he keeps it under the sink. Bring it over, and uh...and a spoon and a candle.
Schanke: What the hell do you need with rat poison?
Natalie: For the strychnine. In small doses it's a neural stimulant.

The Guide: When you first approached the light, you came as a human, and so you alone could choose to die as a mortal or return as a vampire. But this time you have come as a vampire. It may be too late for you to return.
Nick: How do I get back? (Everything fades out) Tell me!
The Guide's voice: Only the humanity that you desecrated can save you now.

Natalie: Come back to me, Nick. Don't you dare leave me! (Nick spasms a bit) Pound his chest, hard.

Natalie: It's all right. It's okay. It's okay, you're with me. You're with me.

Schanke: (On phone with Cohen) Yeah, yeah Captain, I'll run her over to St. Joe's for evaluation. Yeah, don't worry Captain, I'll do it. Yes. (Hangs up phone) You know what is going to make great cottage reading? Linsman's psychiatric evaluation. Speaking of shrinkage.... What were you thinking of when you let her hook you up to that machine? I mean, you didn't actually buy that near death experience mumbo jumbo.
Nick: I was just trying to be thorough, you know, the investigation.
Schanke: Thorough? The investigation? No, I-I think you did buy it. So, uh, what did you see on the other side of life?
Nick: There's nothing to see, Schank.
Schanke: Nothing? I knew it. Death is nothing. Nada, niente. We just go out like a light, into the body bag, end of story, that's all she wrote. Oh..man, doesn't that scare the hell out of you?
Nick: At least we're here to think about it.
Schanke: Well, I do not even want to think about it. I'm history. Hey Nat, wh-when you said that he was uh...dead....
Natalie: I was really worked up, Schank, Nick was never dead. I'm sorry if I scared you.
Schanke: That's all right. I'll get over it. Just not anytime soon. (Walk over to Dianna)
Natalie: I know how he feels.
Schanke: Come on, Dianna, let's go.
(Schanke leads Linsman into the elevator, and once it closes, Natalie starts speaking)
Natalie: So...you learn anything when you were dying on me?
Nick: Yeah. I learned that I have to live with the choice I made eight hundred years ago. And that forgiveness is not something you ask for, it's something that you earn....here, among the living.