Please excuse any of the medical jargon, since I'm not a doctor.

Ch. 14

From outside the room, Dr. Matt Hunter watched as Elizabeth, Lucky and Jason watched over Jake Spencer. He was surprised to discover that Jason was Jake's biological father. He knew it was only in times like these did the truth come out. He recalled his own family revelations not so long ago when is father was being operated on.

He loved what he did for a living but this by far was one of the worst things he had to do in his position. He took a deep breath and entered the isolated room. Liz, Lucky, and Jason quickly looked at him upon his arrival.

Liz spoke first, "Matt, please tell us what's going on."

Matt looked at the chart thoroughly once more and spoke, "It looks like Jake has aplastic anemia."

Jason stepped closer to him, "What does that exactly mean?"

"It means that Jake has a blood disorder. That's why he's been having these flu-like symptoms. He's going to need a bone marrow transplant."

"How soon?" asked Liz.

"As soon as we can find a compatible bone marrow." Matt explains. He looks to Liz and Jason, "You two will need to get tested as soon as possible."

Lucky asks, "And if they're not compatible?"

Matt responds, "Then we continue searching. But in most cases one of the parents is a match. As soon as we can find it, then we can perform surgery."

Jason is a bit relieved as he looks to Liz, "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's get tested."

Matt looks to Liz, "I spoke to Epiphany already and she's setting up on the 3rd floor as we speak. I'll take you down there and we should know if a few hours if there's a match."

Liz , Jason and Lucky all smile at each other a bit relieved to hear some positive news.

Liz goes to her son and quickly gives him a kiss, "Did you hear that hon? We may be able to help you and you'll be better soon, I promise."

Lucky looks at Liz and Jason, "you two go. I'll stay here and watch him."

Jason looks at Lucky and replies, "Thank you."

With that, Matt escorts them away.

Lucky looks at Jake staring at him intently thinking about what Dr. Hunter just said.

There is a knock on the door and he turns around to find Robin.

He smiles at her, "hey."

She enters and takes a peek at Jake, "How is he?"

Lucky take a breath, "Matt just diagnosed him with aplastic anemia and said he'll need a bone marrow transplant. Liz and Jason are being tested right now."

"So it's curable, that's good news then." Robin says with a smile. She reaches out and holds Jake's hand and softly whispers, "You're going to be better soon okay? And hopefully we'll have a play date with Emma."

"Can I ask you something?" Lucky asks.

Robin turns to him, "Sure."

"Is aplastic anemia hereditary?" Lucky questions.

"Not always but it can be. Why do you ask?"

Lucky shrugs his shoulder, "No reason. Just wanted to know as much as I can."

"I'm happy to get you more information if you'd like." Robin offers.

"That would be great."

"Well, I have to get back to my rounds, but I'll have Kristina run that information to you shortly."

Lucky watches as Robin leaves. As soon as the coast is clear, he makes a call, "Hey there. I need for you to come to the hospital as soon as you can."

Hours later, Robin sat in the park with her daughter simply taking in the sun. She smiled at Emma as she offered her daughter a cookie. Just then, Michael came passing by.

He looks to the both of them and smiles, "Hi there."

Robin looks up, "What a surprise? Where are you off to?"

"I need to go over a few things with Kristina in regards to the Nurses Ball and I thought I'd check in on Jason." Michael replies.

"That's very nice of you, Michael." Robin responds. "So tell me how is everything else? You eating and taking care of yourself?"

Michael smiles as he takes a seat across from Robin and Emma, "I'm doing all the things you've told me to do."

"Well that's good. It's important. Have you told your mother yet?" Robin asks.

Michael looks down for a moment, "Not yet. I just don't know if she'll be able to accept this."

"I know it's hard Michael but she deserves to know. She's your mother." Robin responds.

He looks at her astounded by her response, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" she asks.

"My mom treats you so badly. Yet here you are taking care of me and wanting me to tell her of my situation. I don't understand why you would want to do that."

"Michael, what your mother thinks about me is separate from you. Your mother chooses to treat me the way she does but it doesn't mean I have to treat you like that by association. That's not who I am. And I do think you need to tell her eventually."

"You've seen how she treats you. How is she going to treat me?" he asks with fear in his voice.

Robin reaches out and holds his hand, "I honestly don't know Michael. But I do think first and foremost she is a mother. And she's going to want to know what is going on with you. Maybe it's you telling her the truth that will make her change her views on this disease."

Michael sighs, "I just don't know."

"Well I can tell you one thing. AJ, your father, was afraid of this disease once. He was ignorant like most people. But when he found out that Stone had this disease, it changed him. He wanted to learn more about it and he even had the courage to apologize to Stone for his ignorance and befriend him. Not a lot of people would do that."

Michael is surprised by the story, "My dad really did that?"

Robin nods her head, "Yes he did."

"You know I don't hear a lot of good stories about him. So it's nice to know." Michael comments.

"You know my father told me once, not everyone is bad or all good. We are all a shade of grey. Each and every one of us are capable of being bad or good, it just depends on the circumstances. Your father was a misunderstood man and it didn't help that I played along in trying to hiding the fact that you were his son." Robin explains.

"I guess you're right. I know that I'm not going to be able to hide from my mom forever." He says.

"Well you'll know when the right time is. But I do think taking on the Nurses Ball is a huge step. I'm so glad you're bringing it back."

Michael smiles, "Well you're part of the reason I wanted to do it."

There is a confused look on Robin's face as Michael continues to explain, "You and Jason have done a lot for me. More than I could ever imagine. And with everything that has happened I know now why it's such an important cause. But I didn't want to do this just for me, I wanted to do it for you. You've given me a lot of hope and I wanted the same thing for you. I want you to be able to live a very long life and be there for Emma and who knows your future children. And I know this cause means a lot to Jason, so it's the least that I can do."

Lisa sat in the apartment breastfeeding baby PJ. She looked at him adoringly and smiled at her son, "Daddy will be here soon, PJ. He made a promise to always take care of you." Lisa looks at the photo of Patrick, Robin and Emma and suddenly becomes angered and crumples the photo, "And I will make absolute sure that he keeps that promise."

Patrick enters the apartment in a rush, "How's he doing?"

Lisa quickly pushed the crumpled photo deep into the couch, "Your son is doing better." She opens her shirt a bit more, "As you can see, he's feeding right now."

He looks at her sternly, "Lisa, knock it off."

She looks at him innocently, "What's wrong Patrick? Don't you think a mother breastfeeding is a beautiful sight? I'm sure Robin wasn't able to do this with Emma with her being HIV+. I just wanted to make sure you experience all aspects of fatherhood."

Little PJ is done feeding as Lisa gets up and goes over to Patrick, "Would you like to hold your son?"

Patrick takes the baby into his hands in awe of him. He couldn't help himself though how much he tried to deny it. He loved his son and all he wanted to do was protect him.

Lisa watched closely with her shirt still open. She began to coo , "Look at him Patrick, he knows you're his daddy. He's smiling." She looks to Patrick and continues to speak, "Your son misses you Patrick. He may be young but he knows his daddy. You could make it all better if you'd just leave Robin. She's never going to love you the way I do."

"Hey Robin, do you have a moment." Matt asked with great concern in his voice.

She looks to him, "What's up?"

He shows her some papers, "I've been looking at these test results and they don't make sense to me. I just want to make sure I'm looking at it correctly. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Robin looks up at him with deep worry, "Yeah."

Matt sighs, "I'm going to have to tell them."

"Could you do me favor?" Robin asks.

"What is it?" Matt asks.

"Before you tell them, I want to make absolute sure that it's correct." Robin states.

"I did the test four times." Matt insists.

"I'm sure your findings are accurate but there is a lot more at stake. Please will you hold off. I'll be back in an hour to help you with this."

"If you say so." Matt states.

From where they're standing Matt and Robin look towards Jakes room where Liz and Jason are filled with worry.

"If this is true, then this changes everything." Matt continues.

"I know. That's why I need to make sure for myself because it's going to devastate a lot of people." She says as she watches Jason from afar.