Franklin Delano Donut never stuck to things for very long, his attention span was easily altered by something newer, brighter, better; leaving other things in the dust. The only thing that had ever earned his never ending devotion was the Marines, was Blood Gulch. It was his home away from home, his preferred home.
And he would do anything he could to stay with his team.
It had been a routine check up; Doc had shown up and scanned them, checked their blood pressure, taken blood samples and informed them he'd have their results in two weeks. It was clock work. Except, after two weeks he was back at the base looking worried and asking for one of the Red Team soldiers.
Thinking back, Donut couldn't believe how absurdly idiotic he had been, how naive. He had told Doc to let him know if his fat count had gone up, because it meant his newest diet wasn't working. He remembered how he started to panic when he saw the medic, and started cursing Cosmo for lying to him. When he led them both to Donut's bedroom, he tried to laugh it off, telling Doc he could tell him quietly in the rec room his fat count. It had to be smaller than Grifs', at least.
"I would prefer talking to you alone..." Was all he had said, sombre enough to silence the jokes Grif and Simmons had been trying to make. The pair watched quietly as the medic and soldier walked down the hall.
Doc removed his helmet, motioning to the chair beside a desk with it. "I think you should sit down."
He had tried to crack a smile, "C'mon Doc, you're starting to worry me here..." He joked, sitting down nonetheless.
Doc took a deep breath, a hand running through his brown hair nervously. "Donut, you need to know that this is coming late, and it's entirely my own fault. Normally, I'd have sent out your blood work to an actual facility to be tested. But O'Malley's been adamant to not let anyone know our location. But I managed to get them out this time, and they returned the results to me in a fax...I...well...Donut I'm so so sorry..." He looked at the blonde pleadingly.
"My blood...? What's wrong with my blood?" He felt his voice start to waver as real fear crept in.
"I just...don't know how you could have gotten it between the last time I sent the samples to be tested six months ago and now. You've been here the whole time right?"
"Yes, I've ---no...No I haven't." He thought back. "About a year or two ago I was sent back to command after I was hit with the grenade. I was in a hospital for a while before they brought me back." He felt his whole body start to tremble. "Doc...What is wrong with me? What's wrong with my blood?"
Doc mused about tainted needles, a rarity but it still happened sometimes; "Donut...you've...Your blood work came back HIV positive." There, he said it.
The young Marine stared at Dufresne, his hand clutching the arm rest of the chair before he burst into hysterical laughter.
"That's a good one! You really had me going there for a minute." He stood up, smiling, shaking his head.
Doc stared at Donut incredulously, "Donut I'm not making this up, you need to listen to me. Your doctor must have re-used a needle or something. You have HIV."
Donut sliced the air with his hand, "No. That's impossible, I mean look at me! Do I look like someone who's got that? I'm perfectly fit, and besides, Doctors don't make mistakes, there's no way!"
"There's a reason it's called the Silent Disease, Donut...it doesn't show signs till it's in the final stages. You need to let me start you on a medical routine. I already ordered in the needles and medicine you'll need to take."
The blonde covered his ears, "You're lying, and I am NOT taking whatever it is you ordered, you can just send it back! Because I'm not sick!"
"Yes you are! I'm trying to HELP you!" He couldn't help yelling back, he couldn't bear to think of Donut denying his body the medicine it needed to fight the disease. He was thankful that he had taken off his helmet; he didn't want to think of what O'Malley might try to say to the distraught young man.
"Get out...get out of my room!" He reached over to the desk beside him, grabbing a book and throwing it at the medic, not sure why but just needing to do something to stop the thoughts, the shaking, the knowledge that his life was never going to be the same again.
Ducking out of the way Doc sighed, retrieving his helmet and leaving the bedroom. Nearly running into Simmons, Grif and Sarge at the same time, once the door shut behind him he looked at each one in turn.
"I have something you need to hear..."
-2 hours later-
A knock on the door distracted Donut from his position on his cot; face down into his pillow already stained with tears. When he refused to acknowledge whoever it was, the knock came again, more forcefully this time.
"Donut, open up, it's me. Doc told us." Came Sarge's gruff voice from the other side.
"Well Doc lied because I don't!" He screamed at the door, clutching his pillow like a lifeline to normalcy.
When the door opened, Donut buried his head between the wall and his pillow, refusing to look at the older man. Seeing Donut lying sprawled on his bed, shoulders still shaking, he felt his heart wrench. He moved quietly to the bed, sitting on the edge and laying a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"You're gonna hafta take the medicine...you know that right?"
Donut sniffled. "But..." But that means admitting it's real...
"Don't worry son, Doc told us everythin' we need ta know. Yer medical will cover the costs...but...well..." He wasn't quite sure how to say it. "I ain't sure in yer condition if you should stay in the army."
Whipping around fast enough to nearly knock the Sergeant off the bed, Donut clasped his hands in utter supplication to the man.
"Please...please Sarge...I'll do anything just don't send me away." Red rimmed and blood shot eyes from hours of crying brimmed up again.
Sarge watched the young man before him, on his knee's hands up and pleading. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
"Two conditions then an' ya gotta abide by them." He began authoritatively, when Donut nodded he continued. "I need ya to take whatever medicine Doc gives ya, an' ya gotta make sure one of us is with ya so I know yer takin' it." When Donut began looking worried, Sarge glared at him. "I'm serious soldier."
"What's the second condition?" He asked tentatively.
"If ya start gettin' worse n' Doc thinks ya need a real hospital, then yer goin'. No fights, no questions asked."
"But...but it's the hospital's reason I'm like this!" He yelped, fear bubbling up inside him at the thought of going back to one; he shook his head, tears running down his face. "I'll take the stupid medication, but I just can't go back to the hospital..."
"But ya gotta Donut." He felt himself start to waver, he hated tears. He was about to push the subject when a thought occurred to him. "What if someone went with ya? Someone ta be there with ya for the tests? Would that make it better?"
The distraught Marine thought it over before conceding with a sniffling nod of his head. Sarge smiled and pulled Donut into a fierce hug but the younger man flinched and pulled out of it.
"I don't want you to catch it!"
Unable to stop himself, Sarge chuckled. "Son, ya can't catch what you got from a hug...it's okay." He opened his arms up a bit, letting Donut see if he really wanted to be comforted by the older man or not.
Slowly, timidly, Donut leaned into Sarge's embrace. When the strong arms closed around him, holding him tightly, he felt himself break down all over again and gripped onto his C.O's shirt for all he was worth as he cried himself to sleep.