[This is still 2004, showing what finally made them go to a clinic together. Also I wrap up the season 1 finale that I glossed over before.

Then we return to 2009, with another crisis.]

Gob woke Michael in the early morning so that he could clean up and head back to the model home before anyone in the family woke up. He usually used the staircar to sneak into his bedroom via the balcony, just like he had done with Beth Baerly, the teacher.

As Michael dressed, Gob reminded him to see a doctor today.

"Oh." Michael had forgotten again.

Gob told him, "You got to get on meds if you have herpes. It'll be worse if you're not on them."

Michael looked scared and deflected. "What about you? Have you been tested again, since Kitty?"

Gob shrugged. "Well I guess I can drive to Mexico today and do that. But promise me you'll find a doctor in the meantime. Just take a sick day from work and do it today."

Michael got worried and needy again. "I wish you would come with me, Gob."

"Why?"

"So we could get tested together, and then we'd know at the same time what we both have, and get treated."

Gob said, "Together? Wouldn't they ask why we're having sex?" Sure, there was doctor-patient confidentiality, but the doctor would probably recognize that they were brothers if they came in together. Bluths were well known in Orange County, and Gob didn't want to be lectured and judged.

"Oh." Michael frowned and thought about it. "But maybe we don't have to give our names. Maybe we can go to one of those clinics where you can be anonymous."

"Michael, just find a regular doctor."

"I don't have time, Gob. Let's go together. Come with me to a clinic."

Gob didn't understand why he couldn't handle this himself. "Michael, it's easier to keep us a secret if we don't do this together. Look, you find a doctor, and just call me when you get your results. I'll call you from Mexico too."

Michael still hesitated and pouted.

Gob reminded him that he had to get back to the model home now.

So Michael reluctantly left and got in the staircar, worried that the slow vehicle would make him arrive in full daylight. Well, if he ran really late and was seen sneaking into the model home, he could just say that he spent the night working late at the office and sleeping on his couch again. He often told that lie too.

Gob came to the Bluth Company to borrow the staircar so that he could drive to Mexico; he hadn't been able to convince Mom to give him her car. Gob hoped that Michael would forget about the clinic, but Michael still tried to talk him into it. "Take a sick day and pick a doctor," he said, taking the keys.

After Gob left, Michael remained anxious about finding a regular doctor and going alone to get herpes medication. He still didn't leave his office, and later he called Gob to ask if he was in Mexico yet.

"I'm still driving there. Remember, the staircar is really slow." He tried to be reassuring. "I'll get checked, okay. You get checked too." Gob asked him why he was so scared.

Michael said that he'd been searching online about STDs, and it made him realize how reckless they'd been, not using condoms at all.

Gob said not to read that stuff and to calm down. "Look, if you're nervous, then get drunk before your doctor's visit. Or, you know, try some pot."

Michael said no thank you and changed the subject back to getting tested. Something about HIV and blah blah blah. He also kept asking Gob to come with him, so Gob finally pulled the car over on the side of the highway, trying to talk some sense into his brother. Regardless of the testing or the herpes, he needed to have a regular doctor for normal health stuff.

Michael said that he would do that later, but right now he didn't have time. And it was urgent that he be tested as soon as possible. That they both be tested. Why couldn't Gob come back and go with him? He just kept nagging until Gob gave in and agreed to drive back home. Gob found an exit and turned the staircar around.

By the time he returned and stopped at the Bluth Company, it was the end of the day. Michael was relieved to see him, and he hugged him in his office. "You'll really come with me?"

"Sure." Gob only warned that they shouldn't go to any clinic in Orange County, where they might be recognized as brothers. "Let me find out where we can go."

So the next day they got on a bus and went to a clinic outside of Orange County. Michael gave his Chareth Cutestory alias and still looked anxious as they filled out forms.

Gob could see that Michael only knew about STDs in theory, and had lived in a little cocoon assuming that he would never catch anything bad due to his small number of lovers.

So Gob held his hand and tried to be there for his brother. He told Michael not to look at the various pamphlets or scary pictures of diseases. Soon they got tested and examined together, and Gob endured being judged by the doctor for having risky sex without condoms. Hmph, how much worse would the lecturing be if the doctor knew they were brothers?

They were informed about window periods when the test results might be inaccurate. It was recommended that they come back for more tests in another month, and to keep getting tested every time there was any possible exposure. Michael got samples of herpes medication for now, but was told to see his regular doctor to get a prescription.

So they returned home to Orange County and finally Gob got Michael to visit a doctor under his own real name. Gob stayed in the waiting room this time, pretending only to be there for moral support, not because he was Michael's lover.

Michael was still rather uncomfortable telling the doctor about being bisexual and having a secret lover. The doctor said not to worry. Everything would be confidential. He just warned Michael to use condoms from now on. "With both male and female lovers."

So Michael left and got his prescription filled at a pharmacy, and Gob agreed to keep it at his wife's apartment, so that nobody would see this in his medicine cabinet at the model home.

Gob could see that Michael was not okay with the risks of dangerous sex after all, so he agreed to use condoms with him from now on, even if he would miss how it used to feel. Gob needed to protect his brother.

Unfortunately, then Kitty came back to cause trouble. She had been missing ever since Gob sunk the yacht, but apparently she survived it. Kitty claimed to have dangerous information and threatened to bring down the company with it.

Wanting to be useful, Gob offered to climb back on top of her despite her repulsiveness, and the risk of another herpes outbreak. Michael tried to make clear that he didn't want Gob to do that, but they were meeting with their family at the prison at the time.

Then there was the whole distraction of Gob showing off his bee in a glass container, and he got tackled by the guards. "They don't allow you to have bees in here," was all Mom said.

Michael eventually got the guards to release Gob and his bee, then they left the prison separately from Mom and Barry. Now that they were alone, Michael told Gob again not to cheat on him with Kitty.

"It wouldn't be cheating, Michael. I don't want her or her herpes. It's for the company."

"I know, but don't do it, Gob. Not for the company and not even using protection." He would meet with Kitty himself, to make some deal.

Gob could see that Michael was still jealous, so he agreed and decided to work on his bee business some more.

Michael initially thought that Kitty's bombshell was about nothing more than unpaid taxes, so he blew off her demands.

She contacted Gob next and convinced him to take over the company with her. He didn't really want the responsibility, but he did appreciate being asked, and he was preoccupied about his low-carb diet. It wasn't like he was cheating on Michael, either, so it seemed to be a good solution. Besides, Kitty proposed that Gob be a figurehead only, so that she could have the real control. That didn't sound bad to Gob, and it would get Michael out of a stressful job. They could have more fun in private, perhaps.

But Michael didn't see it that way when they fought about it. He never appreciated half the things that Gob ever did for him. So Gob backed out of the deal with Kitty, and he left a voicemail trying to explain and apologize to Michael, who had stormed out.

Michael was furious, though, about the Iraqi houses, and after confronting both their parents, he tried to abandon the family with George Michael. He was always throwing tantrums like that, forcing Gob to step in and try to comfort everyone when Dad had a heart attack. At the hospital, Michael apologized and promised that he would never leave the family again, but he reneged as soon as they discovered that Dad had actually escaped. The family all knew that Michael would be back of course, so they didn't fuss.

After Michael returned from his many attempts to drive to Phoenix, Gob gloated about all the fun changes he had made in the three hours that he was in charge of the company. He said he didn't need Michael, just to rub it in and punish him for running off. But soon the job became too much work, especially once Gob discovered the signed contract with Saddam Hussein. He was glad when Michael finally admitted that he needed the family and wouldn't go. Of course Michael then stupidly let Dad steal the contract and escape from the hospital.

But at least they were together. Michael apologized to Gob in private, and he accepted the job of Vice President; he would do all the work, and they could resume their affair.

Still parked in the limo at 3 AM, Gob worried and tried to figure out what to say to Michael about the syphilis when he got home. Michael was always misunderstanding him and having jealous tantrums without thinking. He was impulsive and needy too, and that must be why he somehow ended up at Mark Cherry's house, seeing the lipstick message. It was so typical for him to leap to conclusions and not even see how old the message was.

At last, the entourage returned to the limo with more drunk girls, so he unlocked the doors for them. As they took their seats, Gob asked JBJ if he had talked to Michael lately. "You didn't give him a key to the house, did you?"

JBJ looked embarrassed for a moment, then said, "Yeah, um, he wanted to surprise you, Getaway. How did you find out?"

Ah, typical. JBJ meant well, but he was just a kid who couldn't understand about him and Michael. Nobody could understand, really. Gob shrugged and only said, "A magician never reveals his secret." He started the car and drove them toward home.

JBJ said, "Well, even if the surprise got spoiled, I hope you two still have fun tonight."

"Yeah," Mark Cherry said. "I don't know why you don't ask him to move in with you. We've got room at the house, and then you wouldn't have to be gone all the time."

Gob lied that Michael liked it at the hotel. The real reason that he couldn't have Michael move in, other than the lipstick message that he should have just cleaned off, was one that he didn't want to say out loud ever. He felt guilty just to think it: Michael is suffocating and controlling. He'll talk me into not taking my pills anymore, and then I'll have that nightmare reminding me of how he wasn't there for me.

The entourage just wished Getaway a great time with Michael, and they got back to partying with the drunk girls.

When they arrived at the house, it was easy for Gob to say he was going to see Michael, and they agreed that he didn't have to entertain them tonight.

So Gob nervously headed to his bedroom and tried to steel himself for an argument. But he came inside and found Michael asleep in the bed.

Gob sighed in relief and sat down with him. He pulled the blanket back and saw how beautiful Michael looked in his short robe, and how it reminded him of old days at Gob's wife's apartment. It made him feel guilty again.

He leaned close and started kissing him awake. "Mikey."

"Gob?" He forgot at first about the mirror and just kissed him back.

Gob got into bed with him, holding him, but then Michael remembered the message and got upset. "Why didn't you tell me about the syphilis?'

Gob said, "I didn't want you to get scared again, Mikey, like you did about the herpes. You were never scared before, remember?"

Michael nodded and clung to Gob.

"So that's when we started using condoms, you know, and when we got back together, you didn't mention getting tested again. We just agreed to use condoms again."

Michael recalled their talk in Sudden Valley, and he felt guilty for not following up about the orgies. "I know, but you should have gone to get treated. A long time ago."

Gob said, "Michael, you don't know what it was like for me when I was in the hospital last year. You weren't there, and none of our family came. Egg showed up finally, so I thought I should try to marry her after all, but she only came to break up with me and give me some Christian garbage pamphlet. Then I tried to make up with Steve Holt, and I agreed to be in his pest control business. That's how alone and desperate I was! So when I met Mark Cherry and all of them, it was a great escape. I finally had some friends, too."

"But if they don't take care of you-"

Gob interrupted and insisted, "They're my friends. Anyway, I partied with them all the time so that I could feel numb and not have to remember anything about the storage unit, or you abandoning me, or anything else. It was like... I don't know, when you shunned me for three years and I didn't care about anything."

Michael frowned and felt guilty again. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Gob hugged him and kissed him to keep him from talking about his time doing tricks on the street. "So when I saw that message about the syphilis for the first time, I must not have cared. Just one more horrible thing to happen to me. Then I just kept taking pills and forgetting to clean the mirror, and it got old. I don't know how long it's been there."

Michael clung to him and said, "Well why don't you get treated now?"

Gob sighed and said, "I guess so. I'll go see my doctor in Mexico tomorrow, okay?"

Michael said, "I'll go with you."

Gob blinked at that offer, but he shrugged. Maybe Michael was getting panicky again, and needed to be near him. He nodded and kissed Michael.

Then he got up and started to undress for bed. He also had to go to the bathroom and take his pill for the night before Michael talked him out of it.

Michael saw him and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I told you. I need my pill or I'll have a nightmare."

Michael felt guilty. "Maybe you should see a therapist."

Gob turned to him angrily. "Stop listening to Tracey!"

Michael frowned and hugged his knees again.

Gob felt guilty. He took the pill, though, and washed it down with water. Then he came back to bed and hugged him. "I'm sorry. I just, I don't want to go to therapy. Come on, you didn't want to either, when Tracey tried to make you go." Michael had told him about that years ago.

Michael nodded and hugged Gob. "Maybe a therapist would just try to talk us into not loving each other anymore."

"Right, so we shouldn't go. We should love each other."

Michael kissed him and said sadly, "I just wanted to surprise you tonight. To sleep here with you. I wanted to see what it would be like if I moved in here."

Gob had to stop him from talking about that, so Gob kissed him passionately.

Michael moaned and asked softly, "You can still do it?" He'd just taken a pill.

Gob nodded and only asked, "Did you bring condoms?"

"I-yes." He indicated the box nearby, along with the lube. He said nothing about the syphilis now, just assuming that the condoms were sufficient protection. He really wanted some makeup sex after their fight.

Gob kissed him and started opening him with the lube, but he told Michael to keep his robe on. Michael liked it, especially being here instead of at the hotel.

Michael had not brought the CD player, so there was only the sound of their heavy breathing and their hurried movements in the dark room. It was like the old days before Gob made the CD. They shook the bed and hit the wall behind the bedstead. Gob succeeded in getting Michael off and finishing before he collapsed. He slipped out and discarded the condom.

Then they just lay in the bed together, and Gob soon passed out. Michael just took off Gob's robe and lay holding him as if everything were fine and normal again. In the distance he could hear the sounds of an orgy going on in the living room. Michael told himself to ignore it, though; it wasn't his business. He just clung to Gob, happy that he could fall asleep with him and then wake up with him tomorrow. Maybe in the morning he could talk to Gob again about moving in. Maybe he could even ask JBJ or Mark Cherry about it?