"Okay sweetie I'll take you to school quickly and then I'll hurry to get to the doctor's," Julia explained to her daughter Annie while helping her to pack her school bag, "the next time please think about taking your schoolbag with you when you sleep over at Tori's. I wasn't actually prepared to take you to school today," she said chidingly.

"Sorry," Annie pouted with her lips, "why can't Daddy drive me?"

"Because he's not here," Julia explained patiently, "he had to drive Sarah and Kimber to a hospital and he's going straight to the practice."

"But who's Sarah?" Annie asked inquisitively and tilted her head.

"She's a friend of Kimber," Julia explained, "her mom's in hospital and while she's there, Sarah stays with us."

"But what's wrong with Sarah's mom?" Annie enquired.

Julia let out a sigh. What should she tell Annie? She had no idea herself what was wrong with Gail, "she's pretty exhausted and needs a couple of days rest."

"Aha," Annie said twitching her shoulders.

"You'll have some fun with Sarah for sure. She's really nice," Julia said smiling. She looked up surprised when the front door opened and Sean entered the house.

"Daddy!" Annie ran to her father and hugged him.

"Hello princess!" He stroke he long blonde hair softly while casting eloquent glances to Julia over Annie's head, "I still have something important to talk about with your mom," he said, "could you please wait in the car. Then I'll take you to school in a minute."

Annie nodded, grabbed her school bag and left the house.

"What's up now?" Julia asked irritated as she noticed Sean's serious face, "I thought you wanted to drive to the practice afterwards."

Sean ran his fingers through his hair erratically, "I could not talk to you before. So I came back again."

"Don't be so dramatic! What happened?"

"Did Kimber tell you anything about Gail, why she's in hospital?"

Julia shook her head, "she wanted to, but then you came back," she explained.

"I've found a full drawer of analgesics," Sean started to tell hesitantly, "Sarah told me on the way there that her mother was suffering from frequent headaches, but these meds were several times stronger than your normal pain killers," he paused.

Julia regarded Sean shocked, "do you think that Gail is addicted to drugs?"

Sean shook her head, "no, I think she takes them for some other reason."

"And what's that?" Julia looked at Sean curiously.

"These drugs are used by cancer or HIV patients," he continued quietly. He took a deep breath, "I think Gail suffers from a serious illness."

Julia suddenly had the feeling as if the ground would've been taken away from under her feet. She quickly let herself drop onto a chair, "oh no..." She muttered, "are you sure?"

"I'm not sure," he shook his head, "but it would nevertheless make sense. She's in hospital and Kimber makes this big secret out of it," he rolled his eyes, "not even Sarah knows what's wrong with her own mother."

"But you're a doctor yourself. Could you not find out what's going on?" Julia asked.

Sean scratched his head pensively, "yes, I think I could. I could contact the attending physician."

"Well then do it!" Julia urged him, "the sooner we know for sure, the better."

"I don't know," Sean said uncertainly, "Christian had warned me he wanted me not to interfere with his life and not at all if it's about Gail."

"And what if she dies and he finds out that you knew about it the whole time?" Julia made him consider, "will your friendship survive that?"

"All right," Sean finally gave in sighing, "I'll talk to the doctor," he looked at the clock, "I have to go now," he gave Julia a kiss as a good bye and touched her rounded belly once again carefully, "till tonight you two," he said smiling before he left the house.

------------------------------

Cedars Medical Center

When Kimber came to she established surprised that she was lying on a couch in Dr. Jeffries' consulting room. She wanted to straighten up on instinct when a hand pushed her back gently.

"It is better if you stay that way," Dr. Jeffries said, "I would not like to upset your circulation again."

Kimber nodded, "what am I doing here at all?" She asked taken aback.

"You fell unconscious in Mrs. Pollock's room," the doctor explained, "you must've given her a good fright. She then immediately called for the nurse and they informed me. I brought you here after that."

"Could I...go now?" Kimber asked doubtfully.

Dr. Jeffries shook her head, "no, not before we examined you. I'll transfer you to the gynaecologic department."

"That can't be!" Kimber said scared, "I can not stay here. And I'm fine now," to underline her words she sat up and then let herself sink back immediately thereafter when she got dizzy again.

"Your blood pressure is far too low," Dr. Jeffries said with a concerned expression, "I can certainly not let you go like this."

"And how long do I have to stay for?" Kimber asked sighing.

"That depends on how long does it take for us to stabilise your circulation. Maybe a day or two."

"I don't understand this," Kimber said quietly, "I always had low blood pressure, but it was never a problem."

"Don't worry," Dr. Jeffries said, "it happens a lot in early pregnancy that blood pressure drops further. We'll give you an injection to stabilise your circulation and then we'll take you to the ward. We'll make some tests to rule out other causes and we'll make sure everything's all right with the pregnancy."

"Would you do an...amniotic fluid test?" Kimber asked upset.

Dr. Jeffries lifted his eyebrows surprised, "how do you get that idea? No," he then shook his head, "we'll do an ultrasound," he smiled, "I can assure you it doesn't hurt at all."

Kimber nodded sighing, "could I use the phone please?"

Dr. Jeffries nodded, "wait I'll help you," he made it easier for Kimber to sit up and handed her the phone.

She hesitated a moment before dialling, "Julia? Kimber here," she spoke into the receiver, "I need your help now..."