Private Practice Episode 3.08 Sins of the Father

A woman named Lynn comes to Oceanside looking for her kidnapped son, Evan, who has severe diabetes. Cooper remembers he was being abused by his stepfather, an accusation Lynn vehemently denies. Turns out Coop has been secretly treating Evan, who has been living on the streets with his real dad, Frank. When Evan calls his mom to tell her to stop looking for him, the police know Cooper was involved and he's arrested.

While in lockup, Cooper confides to Charlotte that he saw Evan and is worried that he might have a kidney infection. He wants her to get him antibiotics. The next day, Cooper must stand before a judge. As he is led into the courtroom, his friends can see that he's been badly beaten. The judge orders him to reveal the location of Evan and his father. Cooper refuses and is held in contempt. We knew he wasn't gonna talk.

When Addison realizes that Charlotte is planning to follow Cooper's request to help Evan, she calls the police. Frank is arrested and Evan is returned to his mother and stepfather. Cooper is released from jail and Charlotte realizes that Addison is the one who dropped the dime. Cooper tells Addison that all she did was put a child in harm's way. When she tells him that she'd do it again, he's at a loss. Frankly, so are we.

Evan is admitted to the hospital with a stab wound he claims was inflicted by his stepfather. As it turns out, Evan did it to himself. Charlotte discovers that there was never any abuse. Evan lied to get his stepfather to go away. Things snowballed and he didn't know how to get out of the situation he created. This latest lie was just an attempt to get his dad out of jail.

When Charlotte relays this information to Cooper, he doesn't believe her. It's obvious that he's still resenting the fact that she kept her first marriage a secret. Charlotte says that the reason she doesn't talk about it is because she doesn't want to go back there. She's happy where she is. But he still can't get past the fact that she lied.

Pete's patient, Neil, is dying of cancer but wants to stay alive long enough to see the birth of his daughter. The only way that can happen is through an experimental procedure from Dr. Fife. The treatment doesn't work and Neil is dying. Dr. Fife recommends taking him off the protocol. He seems more concerned about the results garnered from Neil's treatment than for the patient. This infuriates both Pete and Naomi. Fife then suggests that Neil's wife, Margaret, deliver the baby now so that they can spend what little time Neil has left together as a family.

Addison doesn't want to deliver the baby prematurely until Pete relates a story about how he was worried he'd never get to hold his son after Violet's attack. The baby girl is born without issue. Margaret brings her daughter into her husband's room so that she can meet her daddy. It's a tear-filled moment that even seems to touch Dr. Fife. Naomi realizes that he actually does care about his patients. He's just not very user-friendly.

Dell surprises everyone by announcing that he married Heather over the weekend. He says she's clean and Betsy's really happy. Violet and Naomi give him a marriage intervention. It does NOT go well. Violet stops by to chat with Heather, who seems very convincing as she lists her reasons for getting clean. Later, Dell goes off on Violet for talking to Heather behind his back. Violet apologizes but she isn't sorry she visited Heather. She tells Dell he deserves to be happy. He tells her she does, too.

Addison gets a visit from her philandering father. He's looking for a fresh start with his estranged daughter. When she stops by to see her dad in his hotel room, it's to tell him that he's not her family. She has a family. They work with her every day. Salvaging their relationship appears hopeless, especially when Addison says she doesn't forgive him. But then her dad says, "But you're here." Addison responds, "I am. I'm here." Maybe there is hope.