"Y'know, man, I'm really wiped." For some reason, the words were setting off warning bells in Sonny's mind, but everything around him was so blurry that he couldn't even tell where he was, let alone who was talking. "Is it all right if we get into this later?"

Sonny heard himself say, "Sure, as long as you tell me it's nothin' serious."

Then his heart skipped a beat.

He knew where he was.

Stone!

The strange fog that had been blocking his vision rolled away, and for the first time in ages, Sonny found himself staring at his best friend. Stone was doing his best to avoid his gaze, exactly the way Sonny remembered. When Stone didn't reply, Sonny spoke again without meaning to: "Okay, now I'm worried. Does this have anything to do with your disappearing act?"

Of course it does! Sonny tried to tell his memory self, but of course it didn't do any good. Stone was nodding. "I guess so," he whispered miserably.

"You guess so? Why are you giving me the run-around?"

If anything, this made Stone more wretched than ever. "Y'know, some things it's just hard to explain, that's all. That's why I—that's why I took off, because—" When Stone broke off again, face twisting, Sonny wondered why his memory self wasn't even trying to make Stone feel better, dammit! "This thing was all just happening too fast."

"What?" Sonny snapped impatiently. "The trouble with Scully's boys?" No! Can't you tell it's more than that? "You've never run from trouble before!" Stone shot him a frustrated look—now that he thought about it, Sonny couldn't blame him—and Sonny threw his hands up in surrender. "But hey! Hey, hey, hey, we all lose our nerve, right? I've been there, man, y'know, you…you get shot, you suddenly feel life leaking out of you, right, huh?" Stone nodded as Sonny clapped his shoulder. Three to six weeks…"You get scared, but I want you to—listen to me, okay?"

Sonny caught Stone's miserable gaze. "There's nothing to be ashamed of!"

At this, Stone's face crumpled; the despondent look on his face made Sonny's heart clench painfully. "Oh, God, I've got plenty to be ashamed of, man!"

"What? What're you—what's going on?" Sonny was irritated beyond all means and troubled now, too. Stone looked so close to tears, and all Sonny could do was watch and wait.

For a moment, Stone seemed to be at a loss for words. Finally, he moaned, "Y'know, I thought this was hard to tell Robin." He pulled away from Sonny's bewildered grip. "I kept thinking that this would get easier, but it just doesn't get easier, man!" He buried his face in his hands, making memory-Sonny frown and the Sonny that knew what was coming next break down.

"Since when has there been anything that you couldn't tell me, Stone?" You're my brother…

"I just want you to know," Stone said shakily, his back to Sonny, "I'll move out because it's hard enough to live with for myself." We're going to take care of you…do this right, not that there's anything right about this!

By now, Sonny was beyond disturbed. "What? What? What the hell are you—what—what are you talking about?"

In the memory, Sonny stared bewilderedly as Stone whirled to face him. In the memory, Sonny didn't know—couldn't possibly know!—what horror was coming next. The other Sonny, though, the Sonny who was trapped in this nightmare, knew what came next and woke up screaming into his pillow as Stone's words echoed endlessly through his mind:

"AIDS. I have AIDS, Sonny!"