Fall From Grace
Ch. 7
by: Tina & Danielle
rated: R & (C) by us - you steal, you die

**********************

The silence that fell across the small room was nearly
deafening.  Dr. Sullivan hated this.  This was cruel.
Kevin was a young man with a full life ahead of him.
He and Nick had a promising future together.  And
here he sat, a doctor who was supposed to be in the
profession to save lives, and he had just destroyed
their world with a few choice words.

This was the first time in all his years of practicing
medicine that he hated being a doctor.  As he looked
back and forth between Nick and Kevin, he'd never felt
more hopeless in his life.  Maybe it was time to hang
up his lab coat and spend more time at home with his
family.

Nick was looking everywhere around the room but at
Kevin.  His hands were gripping the arms of the chair
so tight his knuckles were white.  His jaw opened and
closed a couple of times but no sound came out.  He
blinked rapidly, trying to fight back the tears.  This
had to be wrong.  All he wanted to do was love Kevin,
raise their children, and grow old with him.  What the
hell had they done to piss God off so much that he
threw them into another living nightmare?

Kevin had allowed Nick to hold him as Dr. Sullivan
dropped the bomb on them.  Now he sat staring straight
ahead, his hands laying limply in his lap.  Leukemia.
Cancer.  The big *C*. 

"You left me quite a legacy,pop," he thought to
himself, "I have cancer just
like
you."  He didn't know what to do.  Part of him wanted
to laugh at the cruelty of fate.  Part of him really
wanted to punch something really hard, over and over
until it felt as bad as
he did right then.  Part of him wanted to cry but he
wasn't going to cry.
He'd
already cried enough in his lifetime. Besides he was
afraid if he started to cry he wouldn't ever be able
to
stop.

It was a few moments before Dr. Sullivan spoke, "I am
so sorry.  I wish I had a magic wand and could wave it
around to make it all better."

Nick snapped, "You're a doctor!  It's your fucking job
to make
it better!"

For the first time since the doctor had spoken those
dreadful words, Kevin looked at Nick and gently
touched his arm.  He said, "Don't Nick.  He is a
doctor.  He is not God."

Nick met Kevin's gaze.  Kevin's green eyes mirrored
all the shock, pain, and fear that were in Nick's.

Nick thought, "I can't live without him.  If he dies,
I might as well kill myself because I will be dead
anyhow."

Kevin thought, "I love him so much.  I can't die.  He
needs me to take care of him."

Nick answered Kevin, "I think God is Satan himself.  I
don't
believe in God anymore.  He keeps dumping all this
shit on us and it's not fuckin' fair!"

Dr. Sullivan said, "It's all right, Kevin.  I'm angry
too.  In this case I wish I was God or a miracle
worker - something that could be of help."

Kevin asked, "So what do we do now?"

Dr. Sullivan replied, "I'm still waiting on some more
extensive blood tests that are being conducted.  I
should have those results in either late this
afternoon or in the morning.   One of the things they
will tell me is if a bone marrow transplant would even
be a consideration in your case, Kevin."

"Tell me honestly, is a bone marrow transplant even an
option?", Kevin softly asked.

Dr. Sullivan sighed and said, "Honestly?  No, I don't
think so.  It honestly surprised me when I got your
blood work and saw what an advanced stage your
leukemia is in, Kevin.  That's why I ordered more
extensive blood test run.  I want to find out why it's
so advanced.  I'm going to give  you some
prescriptions for some medicines to take daily.  It
will help keep some of the symptoms under control as
best we can."

Nick asked, "What the hell do we do?  How does this
disease work?  Should he be in the hospital or what?
Is he going to die?"  Nick's words were coming so fast
that they ran together almost and he gasped for breath
when he finally stopped talking.  Kevin reached over
and lay his hand on top of Nick's.  Nick looked back
at him and he turned his hand over so he could entwine
his fingers with Kevin.

Dr. Sullivan reached behind him and picked up a big
brown envelope on his desk.  He handed it to Nick and
said, "This is every scrap of information on Leukemia
that I could gather.  Take it home and read it. You
don't have to read it all today.  There is not that
big of a rush.  Nick, I'll know more when I get these
other results in but right now I don't want to say
that Kevin will die because I want to still hold out
hope and miracles do happen.  The prescriptions are in
there also, along with with a sheet of paper with a
list of phone numbers to get in touch with me day or
night.  If either of you need anything, have a
question, or just need a shoulder to lean on, call me.
I mean it."