Annie is more convinced than ever her behavior is justified and her defense of the rectal thermometer is God's way. Her angry flashes of harshness toward Leo years ago would now serve a greater purpose. She now has moral justification to force her other nurses to utilize their rectal temperature checks.

"Hello, Mr. Rivers, you may or may not remember me, I am Head Nurse Willows. I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for any interpretation of yours during our last meeting of any harshness on my part. I have come to understand that there was a misunderstanding between you and one of my nurses and she has informed me you were in fact not at fault. I completely understand if you would like to take advantage of the availability of any of our other nurses. If I remember correctly, Katie took to you quite well, and you remember Mary of course."

"Yes, of course yeah. Mary was nice I guess

"Oh, I am delighted to hear that Mr. Rivers. The reason I ask is I am here to make you feel comfortable. In fact, Mary, is one of our most thoughtful and caring nurses we have. I instructed my nurses to leave you in your hospital gown without underwear so we could all have easier access to your bottom, but Mary, God Bless her dressed you in pajama bottoms so you could feel more secure and comfortable, isn't that nice?"

"Yeah, that was nice, umm your Chief of Staff mentioned something about a rectal probe during surgery, but said after I woke up he seriously doubted any more monitoring would be necessary."

Annie sits straight up on the Leo's gurney with her back and limbs cold and stoic as she awkwardly grasps his upper hip, "Oh, yes, we would have hoped that would have been the case, but an urgency has come up in which a rectal temperature is the only option. I am so sorry if this is anyway stressful or uncomfortable for you. If I was to give you your choice of any of our nurses, which would you feel the most comfortable with taking your temperature? I could bring Mary over and explain the situation to her. If you explained to her you would be more comfortable having her taking your temperature than say me, I think she would be happy to do what was necessary to make you more comfortable. "

Leo rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, "To be honest, she is sweet, but she gives off major mother vibes. Last stay I had when she gave me a sponge bath she kept comparing me to her sons. It would make me feel really weird."

"Ok, I'm hearing you say Mary taking your temperature in your behind isn't something you would prefer. Are you familiar with Enid or Lily, would having them take your temperature bother you more or less?"

"Honestly, just as bad if not worse, and please don't mention Katie, she literally went to the same grade school as me and was friends with my real sisters."

"Mr. Rivers, you are acting ridiculous right now. Every man and woman has brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. My nurses are professionals, first. We see and treat all kinds of people for very many different reasons and yes, sometimes that might include someone's fanny. We are all here for your best health outcome. I am being overly generous right now in letting you choose your own nurse provider. If you can't come to a decision on your own, your choice will be taken from you. Your pants will be taken down and you will be rolled on your stomach."

Annie rolls him onto his stomach while grabbing his pants by the waistband positive her ultimatum would have him crying out the name of the heroine he seeks to save him from his impending doom. A long thirty seconds passes and Leo says nothing as Annie's fingers were resting inside his hospital bottoms. Annie then comes up with a plan B in a decisive moment of clarity and tugs her patient's pants down to his knees. Annie stands up in bewilderment as her patient lays perfectly still and now accepting of his fate. Annie shakes down the thermometer and gives it a super heavy coating of lube knowing she was going to be inserting and reinserting that countless times to identify that one magic moment when her rectal thermometer differed from the abdominal sensor by .125 degrees.