A trio of heavily-armed and heavily-armored bank robbers holds up a Santa Monica bank. In the resulting shootout, a security officer is killed and Victor is shot. Victor's injury isn't life-threatening, but it makes him the ""butt"" of jokes at the Firehouse as he confronts the idea of his own mortality. Chris is targeted for death by one of the robbers seeking vengeance for his gunshot wound. After the failed assassination attempt, Chris spends the night at T.C.'s house, rekindling their buried romance as they try to decide how to deal with those feelings. Palermo intervenes when he discovers his ex-wife, HELEN, is being physically abused by her current husband, a police officer. Palermo offers Helen the shelter of his home, but that night Jessie catches them making love. When she demands to know if her parents are getting back together, Palermo has to confess the truth -- he doesn't know.