Carly Lever

Dr. **Carly Lever** is a pathologist at St. Bonaventure Hospital, who had a romantic relationship with Dr. Shaun Murphy.

## History

Carly has a sister, Andy, who is diagnosed with autism. Carly also once took a gap year, which she soon came to regret (though why is unknown). Unfortunately, all of Carly’s friends tend to be rather snarky and play practical jokes on each other. Although things didn’t always turn out badly whenever she introduced them to her boyfriends, she still thought that their relationships changed and it became a disaster.

### Season 1

Carly soon became employed at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital in pathology, which she was very passionate about. While working through the tests, she met Doctor Shaun Murphy who also has Autism and was told to make sure that some lab results could be sent. Although she told Shaun to wait, she took pity on Shaun after he threatened to throw a rock through the window and gave him the test results. He later had her conduct a series of tests that were for a young girl who supposedly just had a stomach ache, though he would later be proven to be for something serious and he saved the girl.

After Carly had to regrettably confirm Dr. Jared Kalu’s beliefs that a patient who was awaiting a liver transplant had alcohol in him (which meant he was ineligible to have the transplant), she and Doctors Claire Browne and Marcus Andrews had to work together to search for a misplaced tissue sample from a woman with possible throat cancer. At the last minute, Claire found the sample in a mislabeled container and the patient turned out to be cancer free.

### Season 2

After Shaun got transferred to pathology by Doctor Jackson Han, Carly became his boss. Carly attempted to help Shaun adjust to working in pathology and was sympathetic to his struggles, but he got fired because he was uncomfortable working down there.

After Shaun came to the hospital with a patient, Zack Cordell, whom Shaun had supposedly found having collapsed, Shaun had Carly do some tests which he claimed were for a patient who was coughing up blood. Carly then found that Shaun’s “patient” (which was actually Shaun himself) was suffering from internal bleeding. After Shaun got his job back at the hospital, he visited Carly at her house and awkwardly attempted to ask her out. Carly accepted and Shaun left, so excited that he forgot to give her the flowers and chocolate he bought, with Carly who watched him leave with amusement at his excitement.

Thanks to Shaun, Carly started to have a better understanding of Andy’s Autism. She also told Andy about Shaun’s Autism, which made Andy cry as she found it inspiring.

### Season 3

Carly and Shaun soon had their first date, though Carly saw that Shaun was nervous throughout it and had a notecard with topics to talk about to help him with it. Although there were a few issues (a near-disaster with a wine bottle, Shaun telling Carly a bad joke at an inappropriate moment but Carly nonetheless found funny, Shaun accidentally hitting a woman with a door while trying to be chivalrous and him and Carly working together to treat the woman's dislocated shoulder), Carly told Shaun she had a good time with him before pecking him on the lips and going to bed. Following this, Carly noticed Shaun walking away and sadly watched him go while at the hospital.

When Shaun visited the pathology lab and Carly got him what he needed, Carly noted that Shaun seemed uncomfortable around her. When she assured him that she enjoyed the date and would like to do it again, Carly was left shocked and hurt after Shaun told her that he didn’t. Carly later visited Shaun at his apartment and the two went on a walk when Carly revealed what Shaun did for her concerning her sister. She then suggested that they needed to spend more time together to figure out the answers, but Shaun rushed off without giving her an answer after being struck by a sudden inspiration. Following advice from Claire, Shaun visited the pathology lab with a bag of chips after his shift and he and Carly sat down to a more informal and relaxed date with each other.

While on another date (now at a deli), Shaun asked Carly 83 questions and she answered them all (which she liked, though they were rather heavy). Unfortunately, Claire believed that Shaun made Carly nervous and him later not doing so led to Carly telling Claire to butt out and he continued to ask her questions. The two also had some problems when Shaun felt uncomfortable about holding hands with Carly and when she was going outside of his “limit”, though they were able to compromise and work things out. Although Carly was annoyed to find that Shaun had told Lea about their relationship, Carly soon realised that Lea had advised Shaun to be open with her and Carly allowed Shaun to touch her breasts.

Unfortunately, Carly didn’t invite Shaun to come with her while she was with some friends for fear that he wouldn’t have been good around them (though they wouldn’t have treated him badly) and how their relationship could change upon bringing in Shaun. When Carly asked Shaun why he always talked to Glassman, Morgan or Claire (who told Carly concerning his issues with her) about it, she confessed to Shaun about her friends. However, she then realized that it wasn’t a disaster all the time when she brought her boyfriends and that they fit right in while apologizing for making her assumptions. She then confirmed that she saw them as boyfriend and girlfriend when he was worried about whether they were and offered to have him meet her friends, though he turned it down.

While Carly was at a pathology conference, she constantly texted Shaun who rarely responded because he wasn’t sure about what to text her. However, Lea and a patient of Shaun’s later convinced him to try and text her back. After a date at the carnival (which they enjoyed), Carly tried to get Shaun in bed with her. However, he couldn’t do it and he left. Although Carly was worried if he was embarrassed, he admitted that he did want to have sex with Carly and the two worked through therapy to help them. Their sex life eventually led to Morgan believing that Carly didn’t actually want to date Shaun and just saw him as some project as opposed to a person, to which Carly revealed that she did like Shaun (he even helped her diagnose and file over 200 slides when she was left alone) and accused Morgan of not being the one to see him as a person for thinking that.

Through their intimacy, Carly and Shaun continued to try with their sex but Shaun kept being bothered by something. He thought it was her unfinished heart tattoo which she tried to complete, while also telling Shaun about how intimacy is about being vulnerable with each other and admitting fears. After they both confessed their’s the two simply held each other at Carly’s request, but Shaun quickly grew uncomfortable and had to leave, upsetting Carly.

Following a trip back home to Wyoming to visit his dying father, Shaun admitted to Carly that he spent the night sleeping with Lea (with whom he was comfortable, while having had trouble lying with Carly). Carly then got hurt when he kept ghosting her while trying to sort out his feelings for them both, but later admitted to Carly that he felt he needed to impress her when they were together and never felt like that around Lea. Although hurt by this, she told Shaun about how she likes that he’s honest and didn’t want to lose him. All the same, she asked that Shaun have Lea move out which he did and they held hands for the first time.

Unfortunately, Carly and Shaun still continued to struggle with intimacy since Carly couldn’t get over Shaun and Lea's night in Wyoming. She was soon set to work on the case of James McDougall who had swelling due to fluid buildup, which Carly determined was caused by a genetic mutation. Although she didn’t know how to treat it, she nonetheless helped out even though it was different to pathology. She and Shaun soon worked together to figure out how to cure James and they were successful. Following this, Carly and Shaun had sex for the first time. Unfortunately, she didn’t enjoy it because he didn’t give her an orgasm. Adapting his knowledge of surgery for sex, he was able to please Carly while they slept together.

Shaun woke Carly up early for sex, though this just made them both late to work as a result. Carly soon went over the stool sample from a three-year old girl, which she became concerned over as it appeared to be from a seventy-year old. She then warned that the girl was at serious risk for heart problems. When Shaun was unsure about spreading his story after becoming an internet sensation due to a patient he was treating, he sought Carly's advice on whether to do so or not. Carly told him about when she told Andy about him, only to be less than pleased when Shaun revealed he intended to ask Lea's opinion next, had lunch with her without telling Carly and got Lea a job as Glassman's assistant. After Shaun left, Morgan made Carly realise that she was jealous of Lea. Carly admitted this to Shaun and the two agreed to work things out, while Shaun stated that he thought Carly had given better advice than Lea.

Carly soon appeared alright about Shaun’s friendship with Lea and even had a conversation with her about it. However, while at a bar that night, the two encountered Lea and her current boyfriend, leading to the four hanging out together and doing karaoke. After Shaun and Lea began singing together, Carly became devastated when she realised that Shaun truly loved Lea and broke up with him so that he could be with her.

While Shaun was struggling with whether or not to follow Carly's advice and confess to Lea, he sought Carly's help as the head of pathology with performing an autopsy on a patient who died of an aneurysm and whose death Shaun was convinced had more to it; the autopsy ultimately proved that the patient had a deadly condition that her son inherited and needed to be warned about. Carly then got Shaun to realise about how much more he loves Lea and to tell her how he felt, which he did (though Carly was left devastated).

Since then, Carly is supposedly still working in the pathology lab (even though it’s not appeared following her final appearance). While Shaun was dealing with a work crush, it made him question his relationship with Lea considering that Carly dumped him because he liked Lea more. Her apparent absence from Shaun and Lea’s wedding appears to imply that she transferred to another hospital (though why is unknown).

## Personality

Carly really loved Shaun while she was with him, though she did at times become frustrated with him because everything that they did kept getting held back by his Autism. However, Carly loved him nonetheless, always tried to be there for him and understood him on a level not a lot of people can because of her own autistic sister. She also hates small talk, so she loved him asking her questions. Although she was hurt when he told her the truth, she all the same thought he was the most genuine person whom she had met and liked how honest he was with her.

According to Shaun, Carly is a fan of the “Alien” movies and “Outlander”. While Carly loves working in pathology, she’s scared of coming into work and doubting her abilities, which could lead to someone claiming she isn’t good enough and her getting fired. She also has a fear of pigeons.

While Carly did not take kindly to outside involvement in her and Shaun’s relationships (including Claire and Morgan, despite how well meaning they were), she was pleased when Lea gave Shaun useful advice and liked her when she was assured that Shaun didn’t like Lea (or so he believed) the way he liked Carly.