Private Practice: Season 3
Episode 4

Title: Pushing the Limits
Episode: 35
Episode #: 3.04
First Air Date: October 22, 2009
Writer: Ayanna A. Floyd
Director: Allison Liddi-Brown
DVD: Private Practice: The Complete Third Season
Guest Stars:
Brian Benben as Sheldon

Music:

Al Green, "Take Me To The River"
Addison and Sam hike side by side. Violet meets Pete and Lucas in the elevator. Dell is back. . .

Denison Witmer, "From Here On Out"
Sheldon advises Naomi to hire Pete. Dell and Violet confide in each other. Danielle steals hospital supplies. Sam struggles to connect Elliot's blood vessels. . .

Great Lake Swimmers, "Imaginary Bars"
Danielle thanks Sam for saving her son's life. Daniel invites her mom back into her life. Violet apologizes to Collete and Ty. . .

The Sounds, "The Only Ones"
Kimmie confronts Dell. Cooper admits he's broke. Addison and Sam celebrate. Pete tells Violet he's going to Pacific Wellcare. . .


Fan Rating: ??/10 (Average of all fan submitted ratings)


Synopsis:

Sam, Cooper and Addison treat a homeless teen mother's child; Violet's feelings about her attack resurface while counseling a pregnant rape victim; Cooper's financial issues catch up with him.

(Preview From ABC)
Addison, Sam and Cooper treat the sick child of a homeless teen mother they met while volunteering. Meanwhile Violet has trouble relating to her baby when her feelings about her attack resurface during counseling of a rape victim who is now pregnant, and Cooper's financial woes catch up with him when he's asked to help buy out Naomi's share of the practice.


(Recap From ABC)
Addison tells the team at Oceanside that they all need to pony up $50,000 to buy out Naomi’s share of the practice. Everyone agrees, but the look on Cooper’s face suggests that coming up with the cash may be easier said than done.

Cooper catches Charlotte doing an extreme makeover on his bathroom. We’re talking sledgehammer extreme! She has plans for new marble counters, hardwood floors and recessed lighting. No word on whether or not she wants a new toilet brush yet. For now, she just needs Cooper to write her a check to pay for all the renovations. Again, Coop seems to be stressing over funds.

Cooper finally admits to Charlotte that he’s broke. She’s his girlfriend and that’s something a girlfriend should know. Surprisingly, Charlotte takes the news in stride. Even more surprising is the fact that she coughs up the 50k Cooper needs for the buyout and gives an additional blank check to Addison. Charlotte wants to work there, too. You heard us. Charlotte King will be working at Oceanside Wellness! Thankfully, she won’t be bringing the sledgehammer, as Cooper hid it at Violet’s place.

Pete brings baby Lucas to the office and makes excuses to leave him with Violet for some bonding time. Sheldon realizes that Violet can’t look at Lucas. Unbelievably, his solution to help her is to suggest that Naomi hire Pete. When Violet sees Pete every day, it’s like she’s having failure thrust in her face, so Pete takes the job.

Violet treats a couple, Collette and Ty, who are dealing with the aftershocks of a rape. Collette discovers that she is pregnant by the rapist. Violet gives Collette advice that is, in our opinion, way out of line. She basically says she shouldn’t have the baby because it’ll be a constant reminder of the truly awful thing that happened to her. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Violet is actually talking about her feelings toward Lucas.

A horrified Collette rushes out of Violet’s office. Ty stops by later to thank Violet for whatever she said to Collette, as she has scheduled an abortion. Violet is able to meet with Collette and Ty before the procedure. She admits that she was talking about herself when she last saw Collette. Ty says he hates that he couldn’t protect Collette and asks her what she truly wants to do. We don’t know what her answer will be. But we do know that, whatever it is, it’ll now be from the heart.

While volunteering at a shelter, Addison treats Danielle, a 15-year-old homeless mother of a young boy, Elliott. The child is diagnosed with a serious heart condition. Sam wants to fix the problem. Addison opts to call the girl’s mother first. Big mistake. When mom arrives, Danielle freaks. She grabs her son and runs.

Cooper and Addison find them not far from the hospital. Elliott has taken a turn for the worse. Sam offers to do bypass surgery. Complications arise during the operation and Addison wants to call for someone to help Sam. But Sam pulls Elliott through. Cooper has a heart-to-heart chat with Danielle and convinces her she can’t go it alone. She reconciles with her mom. Looks like Danielle and Elliott will be homeless no more.

Dell returns to work worried about Betsy who was crying on her first day at school. He also deals with Kimmie, a patient with repeated bouts of false labor. An overwhelmed Dell yells at her for not being more patient, causing her to run away in tears. She returns to tell him that he was out of line and he agrees by saying he’s the one who needs to be more patient. Just then, Kimmie’s water breaks. Baby time has finally arrived!

Violet has been trying to remove the blood stain from the floor of her home, but none of the cleansers she uses seem to be making a difference. She chats with Cooper about the Pete situation while trying out yet another stain remover. Violet can’t believe Pete walked away even though she admits to pushing him away. Then she loses her cool and tosses the stain remover across the room. Violet grabs hold of the sledgehammer and goes to town on her hardwood floor. Cooper tries to tell her it’s going to get better. As she swings the hammer down, wood splinters and Violet wonders just when that will truly be.