#The Ups & Downs of Parenthood (RECAP)

The Resident is mostly about parents and children in the penultimate episode of Season 4, with an ending that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Nurse practitioner Nic Nevin (Emily VanCamp) and Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry) are eagerly awaiting the birth of their child, and it’s baby shower time! But that comes at a time that Dr. Billie Sutton (Jessica Lucas), with Nic for the day to make everything easier for her, is dealing with something very personal.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Dr. Jake Wong (Conrad Ricamora) and his husband Gregg (Christopher J. Hanke) are thisclose to becoming parents, but then Sammie (Chedi Chang) requires another operation and the prognosis is not good. But in good news at Chastain, Dr. Barrett Cain (Morris Chestnut) brings in Rose (Cara Ricketts) as she worries she’s having a sickle cell crisis, only for them to receive good news: The gene therapy worked and she’s cured! And hey, Conrad points out, maybe Rose is good for Cain, even if Dr. Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal) sees him as “a problematic human being.”

Read on for the highs and lows of parenthood in “A Children’s Story.”

The Waiting Game

After Sammie’s surgery, all she wants to do is sleep, and they won’t know how her digestive system is responding until she eats. But when the latest lab results show signs of kidney and liver failure (as a result of a post-op infection), Jake’s (former) stepfather Dr. Randolph Bell (Bruce Greenwood) must operate again.

“See you on the other side,” she says adorably to her hopefully soon-to-be dads before Bell takes her in to the OR.

But while the surgery goes well, there’s still the possibility that she won’t make it through the night. All they can do is sit with her and wait … and when Jake and Gregg wake to her eating Jello, it’s a great sign. It looks like all that may be left is to make the adoption official!

Guy D’Alema/FOX

Tough Decisions

After Nic notices Billie continuing to ignore texts, she glances at her friend’s phone when she’s out of the room. “Please, just talk to me,” “Just one phone call,” and “You owe me that much” the latest messages read.

Billie confides in Nic that when she was raped when she was 13, she got pregnant. She was so young and by the time she realized she was pregnant, she didn’t have any options. She lived with her aunt until she gave birth and gave the baby up for adoption. Her son is now 18 and wants to meet her. “He won’t take no for an answer,” Billie says. “The records are supposed to be closed, but nothing stays hidden anymore.”

But she has mixed feelings about seeing him. “I wonder what he looks like. What kind of person he is. What he’s doing with his life,” she tells Nic. “But he’s the product of something awful, something I have worked very hard to put behind me. It’s not his fault, but it’s the truth. What if I look at his face and all I see is the man who raped me?” Then there’s the question of what to tell him about his father if he asks.

Guy D’Alema/FOX

Their conversation is cut short when the baby shower guests arrive, and when Billie leaves Nic and Conrad’s, she has another message from her son: “Tell me why you don’t want to meet me?” Visibly upset, she replies, “LEAVE ME ALONE. THAT’S FINAL.”

It’s Time!

While Conrad works a shift, Billie helps get everything ready for the baby shower — and that includes sending the couple’s dads away when they show up hours early. “Can you just run everything in my life from now on?” Nic asks her.

The gifts range from practical (a basket of ETFs and a trading account from Conrad’s dad Marshall and a car seat from Nic’s father Kyle) to sweet (framed photos of the couple’s mothers for the nursery from Billie).

Guy D’Alema/FOX

Then, when everyone’s gone home, Conrad may be a little tired but, “I don’t think we’re going to get much sleep,” Nic tells him. She’s in labor!

Are you ready to meet baby CoNic in the Season 4 finale?

The Resident, Season 4 Finale, Tuesday, May 18, 8/7c, Fox