few years later, after having left Oakdale to work in Pittsburgh and then Africa, Chris returned home with none other than Emily. Chris accepted Bob's offer to return to Memorial as head of research. Immediately, Chris was at loggerheads with his father over a research project conducted by Evan Walsh IV. While Chris felt the project was cutting-edge and would help people in the end, Bob felt it was way too risky. Though Bob had intended to groom Chris to eventually take over as Chief of Staff, Chris's arrogant ambitiousness unsettled Bob. While Emily encouraged Chris and even helped by printing a story condemning Bob for his closed minded reaction to the project, Dusty Donovan sided with Bob and warned that if the project was approved, he would pull the Jennifer Munson Foundation out of Memorial. That same day, Bob overheard Chris talking to Evan about his project; stating that Bob won't be a problem anymore. Finally, Bob had enough of his son's attitude and fired him from Memorial. That same day, Bob was left comatose following a stroke and, thanks to Kim's insistence that Bob wanted Chris to take over, Chris, who told no one of the huge argument he had with Bob, was sworn in as interim Chief of Staff. Defying his father's wishes, Chris approved Walsh's project. Soon, Dusty started accusing Chris of causing his father's stroke which Chris vehemently denied. Meanwhile, Bob lingered in a coma for six weeks. When Bob woke up, a humbled Chris apologized for his arrogant behavior. Signs of senility In July 2009, Bob and Kim attended a surprise party for Casey. During the middle of the party, Bob turned to Alison and said, "Nurse, would you send in the next patient?" When she questioned him about it he assured her he was fine and walked away. Alison later told Kim about it, and Bob quickly interrupted, saying that he was simply making a joke and that Alison does not understand his sense of humor, to which Kim replied that few people do. They left the party to go have drinks with Lisa. While the three were chatting at the bar, Lisa got up and left to go speak to someone. Kim said to Bob how terrific he was to which he replied saying, "You're pretty terrific yourself, Lisa." When Kim caught him on saying the wrong name, he quickly denied having