This is a short story I thought of while putting the finishing touches on the first chapter of my new mushy fluffy Derek and Angie story... aww. I am a writing fiend lately! (not so much so as ITB... eh)

Its just another one of those "How did this come to happen" stories... no romance this time, just the facts. ENJOY!

Panic.

"Tyler, watch my dive!"

It was a hot, sunny, July afternoon, and Tyler Chase had taken his little sister Amy for a swim.

"I'm watching, go ahead!" he said, eyes still closed, basking in the sun.

"Tyleeerrrrrrr!!! You're not watching! Watch my dive!"

Tyler lifted his head up slightly off the white plastic chair, shielding his eyes with his right hand. He watched as Amy's frustrated look turned to a smile, as she ran to the foot of the diving board and bounced high into the air, before plummeting straight down into the chlorinated water. By the time she had broken through the surface, Tyler had already returned his head back to its previous resting position, a small smile rested upon his face.

The two had been at their neighborhood pool for a little over two hours now, and Amy was still not sick of diving yet. It was the same process every time: she would bug him to watch, he would pretend to, she would see that and bug him more, he would pay attention while she dove, and then she would swim out of the pool giggling, and then come and drip the cold water all over him for being boring and laying out in the sun, instead of joining her for a swim. He jumped in occasionally, picking splashing fights with her and catapulting her sixty pound frame into the air, only to watch her kerplunk in the deep end, laughing with joy as she rose to the surface. Today, however, was his day off from Trinity hospital, and he wanted to enjoy relaxing in the sun.

Ready for a cool down, he sat up slowly, stretching his arms out all the way, before pulling them behind his head and letting out a giant yawn. He stood up, turning his attention to the pool. Amy was gone.

"Huh…" he said to himself, slightly confused. Tyler thought about it for a minute, before shrugging it off – although there was nobody else at the pool at the current moment, Amy always ended up spotting someone on the playground not far away, and would sometimes disappear to go play with someone more fun than her big brother.

He sat upright, turning his attention to the playground. It too, was deserted, the absence of his little sister's laughter creating a huge void which made him uneasy inside. Tyler turned his attention back to the pool, panicking as he realized that the silence was due to the fact that Amy was in fact right in front of him... motionless on the bottom of the pool.

"Oh, GOD!"

In a split second, Tyler was out of the chair, and into the pool like a rocket, head first. He swam towards the bottom of the ten foot deep water, thrashing his whole body violently to get to her before it was too late. Turning her over onto her back, he could see she was definitely unconscious – this wasn't some sort of unfunny joke, although he secretly hoped it was. Wrapping an arm around her tiny waist, he pulled her frame into his own, and swam furiously to the surface.

Tyler bounded up the ladder, her limp body resting in his grasps as he panicked. He shoved two fingers into the artery on her neck, finding a pulse that was barely present. His straggly blond hair brushed her pale face as he checked her breathing, which was non-existent. Pinching her nose shut, he pulled her head back and opened her mouth, clasping his own around it to try to breathe life into the little girl he loved so much. Four giant breaths later, and she still wasn't breathing on her own. His adrenaline racing, he rolled her onto her side and gave her a few hard whaps on the back, watching as water protruded from her mouth and nose. He laid her flat and tried again, this time, the second breath of life was the one that stirred her back to consciousness. She rolled herself over, coughing violently several times, before she vomited onto the concrete of the pool deck. Tyler checked her over once more. She was crying and gasping for air, her tiny hands clasped onto the fabric of his swimsuit as he sat by her side.

"Tyler!" she said, wheezing before returning to another coughing fit. "It hurts, it hurts real bad!"

"Amy, look at me kiddo… what hurts? Point to it"

Her hands released his trunks, one flew to her chest, and the other to her lower left stomach.

"My stomach hurt so bad after I dove… I couldn't move, I was so scared Tyler!"

He pulled her into a sitting position and up into his lap, wrapping his arms around her shaking body as she cried hysterically.

"Shh, sweetie – its okay, you're alright… I'd never let anything happen to you.."

Tears accumulated in the corners of his own eyes – he couldn't believe how close he had come to losing her..

"Uh oh!" she said, hand flying up to her mouth.

In a swift move, she rolled her top half to the right, vomiting through the cracks of her fingers and onto the deck once more. Amy looked down at the puddle in a panic, before she began to scream louder than he had ever heard before. When she ran out of breath from the previous scream, she began a new one – each one progressively getting more blood curdling.

Tyler jerked himself over to see what the fuss was – she had thrown up plenty of times before, but it never produced this reaction… He saw what she was screaming about, and froze completely in his tracks.

"Oh no… no, no, no…"

Dark red blood stained the pool deck, bringing a splash of color to the dreary grey cement. Amy held out her tiny right hand in front of her, screeching at the fact that it was covered with blood as well. In fact, blood was everywhere. The deck, her hands, spurting out of her mouth at every scream, trickling down her face and neck… this was bad. Real bad.

In one swift move, Tyler stood up and scooped Amy into his arms. He ran over to the chair where he had been laying and grabbed his towel, which he wrapped her in before grabbing his keys and bolting for the car. Something was wrong… very, very wrong.

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Tyler busted through the doors of Trinity Hospital's OR, his barely conscious sister in his grasps. Immediately, his coworkers rushed to his aide, laying the girl on a stretcher before running off down the hallway, Tyler trailing closely behind.

"Chase!" barked Dr. Stannis, his mentor and the surgeon who had trained him all through his residency. "You need to leave this to us – go get dressed, make your calls… come wait outside, we'll be in room four."

"But – she's my sister!" he butted in, visibly shaken.

"This, isn't up for discussion – we need to figure this out, and you don't have a clear head right now. I'll update you as soon as possible…"

The doors swung shut, leaving Tyler on the wrong side of them. All he could do now was wait.

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And wait he did. It had to have been the longest two hours of his life - each passing minute drained his body of the energy he was keeping to try to hold himself together. He felt like screaming -- why didn't he get there in time, why wasn't he paying attention... he could've gotten to her sooner... And now, she was in that room, all alone, scared, sick - and there was nothing he could do to help.

Tyler hung his head down, cradling it in his hands. He took a deep breath inward and released it, his whole body numb from the pain of reliving the trauma. Just as he thought he couldn't wait any more, the door opened and Dr. Stannis stepped out.

Tyler immediately rose to his feet, walking towards the doctor.

"Doctor... how, is she?"

Dr. Stannis looked at Tyler's face, making direct eye contact with him. Tyler stared back at him, noticing that his blue eyes were glazed over with a very grim look - this was not going to be good news.

He outstretched his hand, a file folder in it. Tyler looked at him quizzically before removing it from his grasp. He opened the manilla folder and read the top page. Written in red marker, in all caps, and underlined several times were the words "Positive Chiral Reaction". The young surgeon's gaze diverted from the paper and back up to Dr. Stannis, his eyes searching for an answer that he wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"Tyler - Amy has GUILT."

"She, has... what? What is 'Guilt'?"

"It stands for Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin. Its a disease that has been floating around in very isolated areas... we know very little about it, and that's why we need your signature on this.."

He held out a piece of paper, the heading, "Transfer/Clinical Study"

Tyler began to panic slightly... none of this was making sense.

"Where are you going to do with her? Please don't tell me you're going to use her as a test subject, because you can just forget me signing this thi---"

"Tyler, calm... down. She's not going to be used as a test subject - we think its in her best interest to be transferred to Caduceus USA."

Tyler shuddered internally. Caduceus was a state-of-the-art hospital that focused on treating and curing otherwise incurable diseases, such as AIDS and other viruses that had broken out over the past two decades or so... They knew their stuff, but sending her there meant that this was something bad. Something, potentially uncurable.

"Do they have a cure yet?"

Dr. Stannis looked at the floor, shuffling his feet. "There's, uh... actually only been a handful of cases so far. They've been doing their best to keep the patients alive until a treatment is found, but with the different strains and all... it progresses too quickly, and all but one of the patients have died so far."

Tyler stumbled backward, almost unable to breathe. This couldn't be happening... not to her, not to his little sister. She was supposed to grow up and be the president of the United States like she wanted - not die at the tender age of seven... He slumped back into the seat which he had previously occupied, tears spilling from his eyes.

"Tyler - I don't want to scare you, but as a doctor, you need to know all the facts... I'm sure everything will be alright - you just have to have faith."

Tyler looked up at him, eyes full of tears.

"Can, I see her?"

The doctor nodded, moving out of the way of the door. Tyler stood up shakily, and walked in, letting it close gently behind him.

Yes, this is a bit short, but its late and I'm tired, and boo.

I have to tell all of you - there has been some amazing pieces of work around here lately - you all are a culmination of extremely talented people... and I thank you for updating so frequently - it really makes me okay with the fact that I am no longer a productive human being. Ever. Eh. ::shrugs::

I have a chemistry exam tomorrow. Can you say, vomit?

Anyway, this story will continue on quite soon... I hope you come back to see the rest!