Nick awoke to the sounds of retching coming from the bathroom. He sat up in the empty bed and glanced at the clock to his right. 1 AM. Yawning, he kicked off the blankets and headed for the bathroom. He heard the toilet flush as he opened the door and saw Zak leaning against the sink, rinsing his mouth out and holding his stomach. Nick crossed to him and rubbed his back.

"You ok?"

Zak spit the water out and replied. "Yeah, just an upset stomach."

Nick crossed his arms and looked Zak in the eye. "How many nights does this make, Zak?"

Zak didn't answer, pushing off the sink and trying to walk into the bedroom. Nick shifted, blocking his path. "How many?"

"Look, it's not a big thing. So, I've thrown up a couple nights – so what? It's just some kind of virus. I'll be fine."

"Seven nights in a row is a lot more than a couple. I want you to see a doctor."

"I'm not going to a doctor, Nick. There's nothing wrong with me, and you know how I am about doctors."

"Look, we're not having this discussion anymore. I've given this several days to clear up, and you're still sick. I'm making you an appointment with my doctor, and you're going if I have to tie you up and drag your ass there."

"Fine. Fine – whatever. I'll go if it'll make you happy. And when the doctor says it's a virus, you owe me blow jobs for a week."

Nick grinned. "I'd do that anyway. Hearing that you're fine will just make it that much better. Seriously, though," he said, cupping Zak's cheek, "I wouldn't fight you on this if I didn't love you. You know that, right?"

"I love you, too." Zak took Nick's hand and led him into the bedroom. "Let's see if we can salvage what's left of this night."

"We are going," said Nick, pushing Zak into bed and climbing in after him, "to sleep. And that's it."

Zak rolled his eyes. "Yes, mom." He made a big show of scooting to the far edge of the mattress. "I'll just sleep waaayyy over here, so I don't infect you."

Nick settled himself in the center of the mattress. "Ahhhh. All this room, just for me." He glanced at Zak's back and thought, "I give him 15 minutes, tops, before he's over here."

Ten minutes later, after much grumbling to himself and heaving several long-suffering sighs, Zak moved to the center of the bed. "Move your ass over."

"Nope. I'm comfortable here. Deal with it."

Zak slid an arm around the younger man and laid his chest on his chest. "I hate you."

Nick kissed the dark hair. "I hate you more. Now, go to sleep."

The sound of bacon sizzling roused Zak. He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Nick was cooking breakfast. "Hey. I was about to come wake you. Breakfast is almost ready."

"What'd you make?"

"Just bacon and eggs. I called the doctor this morning, and he agreed to squeeze you in, so we have to be there in an hour."

"Nick, I really don't need to see a doctor. I feel 100% better this morning. In fact, I think we should..." Zak's voice trailed off when he took he took the warming cover off of the eggs and felt his stomach lurch violently. He dropped the cover and ran for the downstairs bathroom, barely making it before the meager contents of his stomach came up. Nick turned off the stove and followed him. He wet a washcloth with cold water and wiped Zak's face after he was finished, handing him a glass of water.

"You were saying?"

"Ohhhh just let me die in peace."

"Are you ok to go upstairs?"

Zak took a few deep breaths and tried to gauge how he felt. "Yeah, I think so. Breakfast is obviously not happening."

"I'm going to clean up down here. You go upstairs, shower, and get dressed. We need to leave in 30 minutes."

Zak nodded and headed upstairs. He could already feel his stomach settling, but he knew that saying anything to Nick would be pointless. He took a quick shower and dressed, jamming a baseball cap over his damp hair. He walked downstairs and found Nick talking on his cell.

"Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Hey listen, Zak just came down. I'll give you a call later, and we'll figure something out. Yeah, I'll tell him. Talk to you later, man." He ended the call. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. Who was that?"

"Aaron. I called to tell him we couldn't make lunch today. He said to tell you feel better."

"Let's go and get this over with. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can say 'I told you so.'"

They climbed in Zak's sports car and headed for the doctor's office. Five minutes into the twenty minute drive, Zak passed out in the passenger seat and slept for the rest of the trip.

"Wake up," said Nick, lightly shaking Zak.

He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to clear his mind. "I wasn't asleep."

"Sure, you weren't."

They walked into the doctor's office, Nick worried and preoccupied and Zak pouting. He flopped into a seat in the waiting area while Nick went to check him in.

Nick smiled at the efficient looking receptionist. "Hi, Sarah."

She smiled. "Hi, Nick. How can I help you today?"

"I brought my partner in to see Dr. Starnes. His name is Zak Bagans."

She rummaged through charts and handed him a clipboard. "Ok. Since he is a new patient, this form is for his medical history, this one is for insurance information, and this one is to list whatever symptoms brought him in today. When you're done with all those, bring them back to me."

Nick took the forms and filled them out fairly quickly, stopping occasionally to ask Zak a question. He handed them back to Sarah and sat down, waiting for Zak's name to be called. Zak fidgeted in his seat, tapping his foot, flipping through a magazine, repeatedly checking his Twitter feed on his phone – seemingly unable to relax. Nick grabbed his hand and laced their fingers, willing Zak to calm down.

"Mr. Bagans? If you'll come with me, we'll get your weight and put you in an exam room."

Zak and Nick both rose to their feet and followed the nurse to the back, stopping to get Zak weighed and settling into a room. They didn't have to wait long before the doctor walked in. "Hello, Nick," he said, grasping his hand. He turned to his patient. "And you must be Zak."

"Hi, Michael." He gestured to Zak, who showed no signs of answering the doctor. "Yes, this is my boyfriend, Zak."

"So," he said, sitting down and looking through the forms, "what brings you here today, Zak?"

"Well, Nick's all freaked because I've thrown up a few times this week, but it's just a stomach virus."

The doctor typed some notes on his computer. "Ok, so how many is a few? Three, four?"

Nick jumped in. "He's thrown up every night this week, usually in the middle of the night. And he threw up this morning. He's also been very tired for the past couple weeks, and sometimes he gets really dizzy for no reason."

Michael entered Zak's symptoms and said, "Well, I don't think you have a virus. Your temperature is normal, and I don't hear you describing any other typical symptoms of a virus. So, what we're going to do now is take some blood and a urine sample, and we'll go from there." He handed Zak a plastic cup with a lid and pointed him to the bathroom.

An hour later, Michael walked back into the room. "We were able to rule out any major problems. You're not anemic, no signs of hepatitis or sexually transmitted diseases, so that's good. We did find one rather unexpected thing in your blood work, though. If you'd follow me down this hall, I have one more test I'd like to perform."

Zak and Nick threw nervous glances at each other as they followed him down the hall. Neither one had suspected that anything serious was wrong. Zak felt his stomach threatening to revolt again and took some deep breaths to try to settle it. They entered another small room, and the doctor motioned Zak to lie down on the exam table.

"Ok, I just want to take a quick look at your abdomen. I need you to pull your pants down to just above your groin and lift your shirt for me."

Zak adjusted his clothes. "What do you think the problem is? Do I have some sort of cancer of something?"

Michael ignored the question and squirted some gel onto Zak's abdomen.

"Holy fuck, that's cold!"

"Sorry about that," he said, turning on the monitor next to him and dragging a small tool through the gel. He paused in a few spots, pressing down on Zak's stomach, until he finally seemed to find what he was looking for. He froze in his chair, his suspicions confirmed by the picture on the screen, but not quite believing what he was seeing.

The look of shock on the doctor's face jolted Nick into action. He pushed closer to the screen and demanded, "What's wrong?" His eyes darted frantically, trying to find some meaning in the shifting gray shapes before him.

Michael shook himself out of silence. "Nothing's wrong. Just very, very rare." He pointed to a tiny shape about the size of a lima bean. "Do you see that?"

Zak propped himself up on his elbows, eyes glued to the screen. "What the hell is that? Do I have a tumor or something?"

"Definitely an 'or something'. That," he said, still pointing, "is a fetus."