Both arms drop, and Hawk winces a little- he's handsy, couldn't go a day without affectionate bumps or nudges.

"Hey- it's okay, you're contributing to the weekly Pierce rejection fund. If it gets too low my head gets too big and falls off my shoulders," he jokes, trying to ease the tension.

"I'm like a 6'2" cockroach, I don't think you have to worry about that. The number of booby-trapped patients and frontline patients I've dealt with, if I was going to drop dead, I already would have."