If you watched GH Spinoff - Port Charles you met Dr. Chris Ramsey a surgeon determined to make his way to the top without much regard for the toes he stepped on along the way. Port Charles became obsessed with Vampires just as Dr. Ramsey was realizing that his actions had consequences so that storyline was never explored and his character didn't grow much after that. Since I find the whole Vampire thing too far fetched to deal with I decided to allow Chris to grieve and grow instead. As mentioned in Chapter 22--Chris is now an internist who has an interest in antiretrovirals and HIV. He's far from perfect but he's no longer afraid to admit he has a heart.

This chapter explains the recreation of Dr. Chris Ramsey and gives us some insight into Kyle Durant's past and emotional state in addition to his medical secret. I think my theme for all the writing I do is that there are a lot of connections in life that we make and they can definitely change things. So while Guza refuses to admit that anyone can be connected outside of whoever he has paired them with I tend to look for forgotten character connections and bring them to the surface.

Enter Gina Williams, as Stone & Jagger's sister she was once close to Karen and it was even hinted at one point that she wanted to find a way to connect with Robin because Stone had loved him. I take advantage of that by having Chris and Gina meet at Karen's memorial service Gina is instrumental in Chris growing from his experiences of the past. He's a changed person but his old quirks are still there and ironically perhaps they could be helpful. Gina returns to PC as a pediatric intensivist who brings her brother's legacy to life in her compassion for her young patients. She's the good Chris sees in the world and he is inspired to do a selfless thing and introduce her to his old friend Kurt Addison a PC resident and a engineer for ELQ.

With Kyle unable to tell his own story he needed a spokesperson and I was going to create yet another OC but I decided to instead borrow someone from another soap. I borrowed Scott Parker Chandler. He fit because he can have a connection with Skye in PC and he has a unique perspective having watched his mom die from HIV in the late 80s. The only catch is that I've never really watched AMC so I don't have a feel for who he really is. I've kept most of his history similar but he's probably a different person and I suppose in a way an OC.[Although he was never SORASed in my version so although he is about the age that he should be based on his age in 1989 when his mother died he actually lived his late childhood and adolescence rather than aging five years overnight as seems to have happened on AMC from the research I have done. Therefore his multiple debacles in love and lust I kind of didn't write in. I did let him start college early and he and Kyle Durant were both 16 their freshman year at NYU and realized they had a lot in common and became friends.

This storyline will focus mostly on Kyle, Faith, Scott, and Chris but we will catch up with whatever happened to Sarah Webber and it serves as a lead in to Lucas Jones revealing that he is gay as well.

This chapter is super long---probably too long but there isn't any logical break because so much of it is interwoven between Dr. Chris Ramsey's thoughts and flashbacks. So take a deep breath I guess, get comfortable and read away (If you have ideas on how to rework this I'd be thrilled to hear them:) )

For the Love of Family

Chapter 34: Awakenings

Two floors down Kyle Durant opened his eyes to the brightness of noontime sun with a raging headache. It took him a moment to orient but then he realized he was in a hospital and he tried to piece together how he had gotten to that point. But it wasn't coming back to him. He started to sit but quickly flopped back to the pillow as the headache intensified feeling weak and overheated. He looked up as the door opened and a doctor walked in casually carrying a folded stethoscope. "Your girlfriend will be pleased to se you are awake, I'm Dr. Chris Ramsey, I'm one of the internists here at PCGH," the doctor said.

Kyle tensed at Chris' words wary of what and how much Faith had learned. "How are you feeling?" Chris attempted to convert the one sided conversation.

"My head is killing me," Kyle finally managed it was a struggle to get the words he wasn't sure why he just wanted to go back to sleep. Perhaps that would be reprieve from the pain he thought shutting his eyes.

Chris laid a gloved hand gently on the man's sweaty shoulder. "I'm sure it is, and I'm sorry about that. We can get you something more for the pain," Chris offered. In the eighteen hours since he had spoken with Faith Ward he had learned a lot. Initially he had attributed the loss of consciousness to dehydration and hyponatremia. After all Kyle had come in with a sodium of 114. But as he thought more he was wary he was missing something. The ER doctor, his friend from internship days Dr. Joe Scanlon had appropriately done a Head CT which was negative but something didn't fit and then as he was pondering Chris remembered something he wasn't supposed to know and knew he needed to proceed with the spinal tap. Of course that had meant he needed to get consent for the procedure. Of course he wasn't sure how to explain the need for the procedure without revealing information that was none of his business in the first place and certainly not his to share. He had been about to go talk to Faith again until the nurses informed him that his patient actually had a health care proxy on file. Looking at the form Chris had been very surprised to see the name listed.

Shuddering Chris had put his personal feelings aside, picked up the phone, and dialed. Standing at Kyle's bedside he still shuddered at the prior day's memory.

In Pine Valley, PA Marian Colby Chandler had answered on the second ring picking up the faux antique phone from her bedside table. "Helloooooo," she had crooned.

Chris had shuddered on the other end of the phone and prayed that perhaps he would be fortunate and Marian wouldn't recognize his voice. "Good evening this is Dr. Ramsey from Port Charles General Hospital I'm trying to reach Scott Chandler," he said.

"Scotty hasn't lived here for over a year," Marian had droned.

"I'm sorry this was the number that was listed. Do you have more recent contact information for him?" Chris had asked praying she wouldn't realize who she was talking to.

"I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, how do I know you are who you say you are? Why don't you give me a number and I'll have Scott contact you," Marian had challenged

"Fine, I'm a doctor at Port Charles General Hospital and the hospital number is (607) 547-5555," Chris had offered.

"I didn't catch your name before," Marian had said noting that the voice sounded very familiar.

"Dr. Ramsey," Chris had replied.

"And your first name Dr. Ramsey?" Marian had asked.

"Oh I'm the only Dr. Ramsey on staff," Chris had said. He had no desire to be reunited with Marian Colby Chandler. Hearing the news that she had married Stuart Chandler eight years earlier had been the best music he had heard in 1999.

"Your first name wouldn't be Chris would it?" Marian had asked.

Busted, Chris had thought silently cursing his luck.

"Yes," he had said weakly.

"Well isn't this a lovely surprise? You're a doctor now? I had always known you would go on and be someone and to think I knew you when you were just a waiter at Club Nouveau. I really have meant to find you and apologize all these years," Marian had gushed.

Chris had hesitated wondering if it was a trap. He had met Marian Colby when he had been working his way through school waiting at Club Nouveau. He had heard about Marian's penchant for younger men and made a major mistake by leading her on. When Chris had regained his conscience or become annoyed depending on your perspective he had ended things. Marian hadn't taken that well and had continued to stalk him. He had moved across the country for medical school but Marian had followed him there often popping up when he least expected it.

In 1997 he had started his internship at Port Charles General Hospital and much to his delight Marian had disappeared. He certainly hadn't been looking for her. Although eventually curiosity, or perhaps fear had taken over and he had done a little digging and learned of her 1999 marriage to Stuart Chandler, the free spirited twin brother of Chandler Enterprises CEO, Adam Chandler. Interestingly Stuart was within five years of Marian's age, and Stuart's twin brother was married to Marian's daughter Liza. Chris had smirked at Marian's daughter being her sister in law and was sure that youth obsessed Marian probably insisted her daughter introduce them as "sisters" and he had moved on with his own life.

Not that his own life hadn't been complicated enough in 1999 he was fighting the guilt of all he had done in the past year and a half. He had been so desperate to come out on top that he had actually almost gotten a colleague killed. So much for the primum non nocere of the oath he had taken. While assuaging his guilt over how he had treated Dr. Matt Harmon he befriended another colleague Dr. Julie Morris Devlin who was framed for the murders of several physicians and nurses at their hospital including her own father. Chris had supported Julie through her trial, commitment to Fern Cliff, and then the appeal process. Ultimately she had been acquitted and they had married and been working on getting her daughter Christina back. In the end though the judge ruled in the adoptive parents the Baldwins' favor and Julie took justice into her own hands kidnapping her own child.

It had been a tense time especially since Scott Baldwin's oldest daughter Karen was one of Chris' colleagues. Chris could see the pain that losing Christina had put Karen and her family through and he felt guilty because his private investigator had uncovered that Karen had struggled with a drug problem during high school and he had insinuated he had concerns Karen might be using again during the custody battle. Although Chris' insinuations didn't help Julie they came back to haunt Karen after a patient died in their ED during a code Karen had run. In the end the panel review concluded that Karen had not done anything wrong and eventually Chris and Karen repaired their relationship and Karen shared some good news that Julie had called her and was planning on returning Christina to her father and Lucy. Karen had promised Julie she would meet her collect her little sister and allow Julie to escape.

Karen had kept her word to Julie in a way but she had allowed Chris to tag along to the meeting spot. After Karen and Christina were safely gone Chris had gone after the woman he had once loved and demanded answers. The answers Julie had given him had not been what he wanted to hear, or at least not at the time. In a hotel room out of town Julie had explained about the recently diagnosed brain tumor which had perhaps made it easier for Greg Cooper to manipulate her into believing that she was a killer and perhaps explained her impulsive action to steal her own child. He remembered how he had asked what it was and when she had told him it was a stage IV glioblastoma he knew how over things were.

Julie hadn't wanted him to see her die, knowing that it would not be pretty. It was a selfless and also selfish act on her part and Chris had often wondered what her final days had been like. At her request he had allowed her to leave and go to an inpatient hospice unit to spend her final days.

Julie had died on the day that his best friend Dr. Eve Lambert another internist at PCGH had brought her son into the world. Eve had encouraged him to see the day as one of birth not death as she knew that Julie would have wanted that. Eve had told him that she and her husband Ian Thornhart a pulmonologist wanted to ask him and Karen to be their son's godparents and that for the first time she could see a future for all of them and it didn't terrify her.

A changed man Chris had believed his friend's words until she died less than a year later leaving a barely six month old little boy without his mother. At Eve's memorial service he had sat with Dr. Joe Scanlon, Dr. Matt Harmon, and Karen and reflected on the reality that they were the only surviving members of their internship class. They had discussed how much they had all changed but vowed to bond together one final time to support Ian and Eve's son, Daniel.

Unfortunately about a year after that Karen and her adoptive sister Christina were struck by hit and run driver and killed. It was ironic since Karen had been planning to reconcile with her ex husband John "Jagger" Cates. At Karen's memorial service Chris had met Dr. Gina Williams, Jagger's little sister who had been adopted after their parents' deaths but reunited with her older brothers in her later teens.

Gina had been the one who helped him make sense of the series of events that they had called life. Theoretically they had dated, but Gina was a pediatrics resident and then a PICU fellow at Denver Childrens and Chris remained in Port Charles. What they really had done was created an honest friendship very similar to what he, Eve, and Karen had. Gina had also been there for him when his mother and youngest sister died at his father's hand but by that time he had introduced her to an old friend from his college days, Kurt Addison, who happened to be a long time Port Charles resident and was a chemical engineer for the pharmaceutical division of ELQ Enterprises. Gina and Kurt had both been there for him after his mother and youngest sister had died at his father's hand in November of 2005. Gina had finished her fellowship and returned to Port Charles in February of 2006 to help Chris with his sister Kara who was very traumatized by everything that had happened.

Of course Gina's return had also given her the opportunity to get closer to Kurt and Chris and Kara the opportunity to distract themselves at times from their own pain by working on getting Gina and Kurt together. When Gina and Kurt married in October of 2006 Kara had been Gina's maid of honor and Chris had filled in for Gina's older brother who had disappeared in April of 2004 and remained among the missing.

"Chris? Are you still there? Did we get disconnected?" Marian had asked.

"I'm sorry, I just got a page I'll need to take but please have Scott call, a friend of his has listed him as their health care agent and we need his permission for treatment," Chris had said. He had hung up the phone and took a very deep and cleansing breath.

Marian had apparently come through because less than five minutes later he was truly receiving a page to the hospital operator for an outside call. He had spoken with Scott Chandler and explained the situation. Scott had given permission for the spinal tap and promised to be on his way. Chris had hung up the phone uncertain what to make of the situation. He sensed that Scott knew more than he was letting on.

At one time Chris had been the ultimate schemer and he had always needed to know everyone's last secret and use those secrets to his advantage. It was that modus operandi that had led him to uncovering Matt's connection to the Mancusi crime family and to lead them right to his colleague. Chris wasn't sure what he had been thinking and realized that if Matt had died that night he would have been as guilty as the person who did pull the trigger. It was after that when he truly hated who he had become and nearly left medicine altogether. But he and Eve had talked and she had helped him to see that it would make a lot more sense to become an honorable man than to just lock himself up in his guilt. In time he had he supposed sort of done that. It hadn't been as easy as flipping a switch and becoming a good person and there were certainly moments that he wasn't proud of like the way he had handled things during the custody hearing.

Still old habits died hard which was why Chris knew a little bit about Kyle Durant. It had surprised him that a high powered prosecutor from Philadelphia would take a job working for a small city district attorney's office. Admittedly Port Charles and Chapparal County had a unique arrangement where the same District Attorney's office handled Port Charles city and Chapparal county crimes to combine resources. But still it was small compared to what Kyle had come from. It might have made sense if Kyle had been taking the District Attorney position. Which Chris supposed he had the right pedigree as the son of US Attorney John Durant, and the right resume as a Magna Summa Cum Laude and law review graduate of University of Pennsylvania Law School. In digging a little Chris discovered that John Durant had a very apropos name as he had supported himself through law school running a prostitution ring. One of his "best girls" had been Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Spencer and "Cyclone Carly" Caroline Benson Spencer Corinthos was their child. Apparently Carly had scooped Chris on that story and had threatened to expose her father for what he was and suddenly she had financing for the new club she wanted to open. It was very convenient how that worked Chris had figured. In his earlier days he would have respected the resourcefulness but uncovering the information in 2005 he was only struck by the fact that perhaps the Spencer-Durant family could be more dysfunctional than his.

He supposed he had also wondered if John Durant had regretted his past since he gave his daughter the money, didn't charge her with extortion, and came to town to claim her as his daughter in early 2004. Or perhaps John Durant was where Carly had inherited her scheming and realized that by exposing himself as her father he had severed at least one potential source of future extortion. When Kyle had joined them in the spring of 2005 the cover story was that he wanted an opportunity to build a relationship with the half sister he had never known. But that had seemed too easy and well non-dysfunctional for Chris to believe and he had gotten to the bottom of the real story.

But when he had learned the truth he hadn't made plans to blackmail Kyle he had actually said a prayer to give the man strength and then he had tried to forget the information he knew. But he hadn't really forgotten, and it had all come back as he had stood at the man's bedside wondering if they were missing something else. He knew that Kara would say that it was an example of how God worked in ways no one could understand and Chris had supposed that maybe she was correct.

He had done the spinal tap which had shown an elevated opening pressure and as Chris had feared the India ink stain had been positive. He had written the order for amphotericin B and ordered a viral load and CD4 count typing orders into the electronic medical record system with a heavy hand. He had typed in his signature code and turned to see Dr. Gina Williams-Addison approaching.

"Rough day?" Gina had asked.

"Yeah a little I have a patient that's not doing well," Chris had said.

"I know how that is, although at the moment my little friends are getting better," Gina had said smiling.

Chris had smiled back at the way she referred to her patients as her little friends. She was special young woman, gentle, kind, and smart. Her patients were very fortunate. "Are you on call tonight?" Chris had asked.

"Yes, and things were calm enough that I sent my resident to get dinner and now they're back so I thought I'd see if you were around and interested in the hospital cafeteria," she suggested.

"Yeah I'm going to be here forever, I've got a patient who has a sodium of 114 so we're trying to fix it they will be calling me with the next basic metabolic in about an hour so why don't we go eat now?" Chris had suggested and they had taken the elevator down to the cafeteria.

As they had eaten Gina had asked about his silence, "What are you thinking?"

"About irony I suppose," Chris had said.

"Irony? It's painful sometimes isn't it?"

"Sometimes, in this case the situation is but maybe the ironic thing is that I'm the best doctor for this patient," Chris had said.

"You're an excellent internist Chris, I still don't understand why you can't see what everyone else does," Gina had said.

"You didn't know me before Gina which is probably why you speak to me now but today my past actually may have helped me make a diagnosis," Chris had said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't really explain because to do so would violate confidentiality although ironically the patient hasn't told me a thing. See I came into some information I shouldn't have and I didn't use it but now because I know it changes my differential diagnosis and my treatment plan," Chris had explained.

"Well I think that's good right?"

"Yeah maybe it is," Chris had said wistfully.

They had finished their meal and Gina had returned to the PICU where she would be spending the night watching over "her little friends" and Chris went back to the stepdown unit on the fourth floor. He logged into the computer and checked the labs encouraged that the sodium had climbed to 116 after three hours. That was progress, he went back into the room and regarded the man that lay before him. Although still unconscious Kyle looked anything but comfortable as he shifted his weight a little under sweat soaked sheets.

Chris had taken away the damp sheet and replaced it with a dry one uncertain if the chills and fever were from the infection or possibly the medicine he had prescribed to treat it. Unfortunately there was a reason that many medical students and interns referred to Amphotericin B as "Amphoterrible". He turned hearing the door open and saw Leyla Mir one of the nursing students standing in the doorway with a man he didn't recognize. "Oh Dr. Ramsey I didn't realize that you were in here, this is Scott Chandler, he said he is Mr. Durant's health care power of attorney," Leyla had explained.

Chris peeled off his gloves and then extended a hand to the man, "We spoke on the phone earlier. Why don't we go outside and talk about the results of the spinal tap," Chris had suggested.

"Of course let me just let Kyle know I'm here," Scott said. Chris and Leyla had watched as he crossed the room and took the man's hand into his own and squeezed it. "I wish you had called me sooner, but I'm here now Kyle and it's going to be ok," Scott had whispered.

Chris had taken Scott into the quiet room and explained that Kyle had an uncommon form of meningitis caused by a fungus called Cryptococcus neoformans.

"Did Kyle tell you that he has HIV?" had been Scott's first question.

"No, but he hasn't been responsive since the paramedics brought him in. Although not always, this kind of meningitis usually happens in patients who have had some kind of insult to their immune system, like HIV," Chris had explained.

"Yeah, I know, and the treatment hasn't gotten much better over time has it?" Scott said.

"We're giving him the liposomal form of Amphotericin, called Ambisome which is better tolerated although patients still have problems with rigors, and fevers, but a lot less renal issues so that's an improvement. Does your friend have an infectious disease doctor? I got this as an unassigned admission so that pretty much excludes him having established with Dr. Quartermaine or Dr. McCullough?" Chris asked.

"I think he's still seeing someone in Philadelphia, Dr. Munoz."

"Oh, ok she gave a lecture at the conference I was at last month, if you could sign a release I could get her records which would be helpful," Chris had said.

"So you're an ID guy also? I guess I figured you for general IM," Scott had questioned.

"Actually I did internal medicine and then a fellowship in toxicology. I probably have about thirty percent of the regions HIV patients though, my research is actually in anti retrovirals. Dr. McCullough is infectious disease trained and he probably has another sixty percent. The remainder see Dr. Alan Quartermaine who is actually a pediatric and trauma surgeon. From what I understand Dr. Quartermaine began managing thing back when there was still a lot of confusion about what the disease was and wasn't. I've heard it referred to as a calling of compassion that brought him outside of his traditional career roles," Chris had explained.

"Does he still do surgery?"

"Yes, and he's very good. Perhaps one of the finest pediatric and trauma surgeons in the state, he's been our Chief of Staff since I came here as an intern and I don't see anyone running against him any time soon," Chris had said.

"That's pretty impressive, I guess it's true when they say everyone has a story," Scott has said.

"Are you a physician also you seem pretty clued in on things?" Chris had asked.

"No, I considered that route though. I was good at science and I had a good role model in the doctor who had cared for my mom at the end of her life but I ended up taking the advocacy route instead. I'm an attorney for the AIDS Institute in Albany," Scott explained.

"Didn't you speak at one of the Nurses Balls in maybe 2004?" Chris had asked.

"Yes, I did. I'm a bit of film guy in my spare time, apparently this very intense woman named Lucy Coe got a hold of my documentary and was certain that her annual event would not be the same without me," Scott had said blushing.

"Intense? I like it's a nice neutral word to describe Lucy, I will have to remember that one," Chris had quipped smiling.

"Her heart is in the right place," Scott had offered.

"I think it is, and as someone who spent years with mine not being who am I to judge?" Chris had said.

"Who are any of us to judge we've all done things we aren't proud of. Actually it's funny that I did come to your Nurses' Ball because I have an advocacy friend who is practicing here now. She did take the medical route to things and was training in Colorado when I came to speak but I guess it shows what a small world we live in," Scott had said.

"Are you talking about Gina Williams?" Chris had asked.

"Well Gina Addison now but yes. She lost her brother to this about six years after I lost my mom, it gives you a different perspective on things. Wait are you Gina's Chris?" Scott had asked.

"Well I'm not sure that Kurt would like to think she possesses me but yes Gina and I are very good friends. She's a special young lady and if her brother could see her now he would be so proud," Chris had said.

"Did you know Stone?"

"No I never met him, I started my residency about eighteen months after his death. I heard his story and heard of his legacy. One of my internship classmates was his sister in law. I actually never met Gina until Karen's memorial service," Chris had explained.

"I met her at Camp DreamCatcher six years ago. She was twenty three and a pediatrics resident then I guess. The kids adored her but there was something that was wrong you could just see. Over the summer the story of her parents death in the accident and then her brother's loss to the virus came out," Scott had said.

"Gina is special, she really helped me a lot after I had a series of losses in my life and she's definitely gotten my little sister Kara to open up to her in ways I wouldn't have been able to."

"It sounds like you love her," Scott had said.

"As a friend yes, Kurt is actually a college friend of mine, I introduced them," Chris had said proudly.

"I remember her mentioning that, I so wanted to attend her wedding but my father had a heart attack right before and well Gina told me her wedding was not where I needed to be. My stepmother was having a hard time with everything, she had thought that she lost him once before and I think that just made her more concerned," Scott had said.

Chris had shuddered knowing that he was talking about Marian Colby Chandler. He had almost forgotten about Marian's connection to Scott. Chris nodded uncomfortably.

Scott sensed the doctor's discomfort. "Marian told me that I should apologize to you. I guess she kind of stalked you in the past. Yikes that sounds awful to say, Marian definitely has changed since meeting my dad," Scott had stated.

"Well I'm not sure it was as bad as stalking, I'm glad she's happy now. To get back onto topic how much have you and Kyle discussed about the specifics of his condition and what he would want done and not done?" Chris had asked.

"He told me about the virus, we've been friends since college so he knew about my mom and that she died from AIDS. I would have sent him to the doctor my mom had but she's moved to California so she recommended Dr. Munoz. He probably should have started anti retrovirals around the time that everything fell apart for him. He had some concerns about side effects and honestly I think he was too caught up in his depression to do it. To my knowledge he hasn't ever started on therapy," Scott had admitted.

"Well actually that may be better than the scenario I was envisioning. I don't have the viral load or CD4 count back yet but given this infection I'd suspect that his CD4 count is under 200. If he isn't on therapy then I can be a lot more optimistic about starting therapy than if he's on a failing regimen," Chris had said encouraged.

"I care about Kyle like a brother, but you're in for a fight because he gave up on his life when his illness became public. He's pretty distrustful of the medical establishment and for good reason, someone leaked his HIV status to the press while he was trying a major case. The DA's office just wanted it gone so they got rid of him in a highly illegal move but Kyle just wasn't going to fight it. He came to Port Charles on the pretense of having a second chance and I suppose I was optimistic that things would be good here. But then when his dad was killed last year I think he just really had lost everything. He's going through the motions, I don't think he wants to die I just think he's afraid to try. He lost his fiancée in the fallout she just couldn't accept his illness and that really broke his spirit," Scott had explained.

"Well Port Charles is an interesting community, we certainly have our problems. The mob insinuations are more reality than myth, in the past two years this town has been through a hurricane, a train collision in the GlenCoe tunnel just outside of Port Charles which led to multiple deaths. On the heels of those two events we had our own version of the SARS epidemic and that hit particularly close to home for this hospital because several physicians and nurses were among our death count. We were back in the news three months ago when deranged Darren Malloy killed two children in front of a lobby full of hostages at the Metro Court Hotel downtown. So I'd be lying if I said Port Charles was a place to choose to relocate. But one thing I think this community gets is HIV. So if there is ever a place to come out and be accepted perhaps that is Port Charles and perhaps that is Stone Cates' legacy," Chris had said.

"I wanted to believe that, but it's not just the town Kyle hasn't even found the courage to tell his sister," Scott had said.

"Well, I don't know how well you know Carly Corinthos but I'm not sure she'd be the first person I'd advise him to open up to," Chris had joked.

"I've met her, I understand she's got her own issues," Scott had said diplomatically.

"That she does, and if Gina Williams can think I'm a good person then there has to be hope for anyone. I guess right now we focus on what we can do for Kyle and that is correct his sodium and try to treat the infection and hope he makes a recovery so we can talk about better managing his illness," Chris had suggested.

"Well in spite of your self reproach I'd agree with Gina and I'm glad that Kyle has you as a doctor. I won't ask you to share your HIV story now but in time I'd be interested to hear it if you want to share," Scott had said.

Chris had been taken aback by the words. He didn't have an HIV story, well unless he considered how the virus had touched Gina's life and then how it had touched the lives of countless patients over the years. "I don't really have that story though, I actually started my research in that direction because there was a lot of funding. That was before I knew Gina, and although I had heard Stone's story and the stories of others it wasn't personal for me. It's become more personal though, my patients have touched me and have made me realize how weak I truly am," Chris had admitted sadly.

Instinctively Scott had reached out touched his shoulder, "I'm sorry when you talked about a series of losses I took them to be more personal," he had said.

"Oh they were, but perhaps they were more preventable and that's harder to deal with," Chris had admitted.

"I don't mean to pry," Scott had said.

"It's alright, none of us can go back so we try to go forward, one step at a time," Chris had admitted.

"Right you are my friend," Scott had agreed.

"What's wrong with me?" Kyle struggled to get more words out and Chris pulled himself away from his thoughts.

"Let me ask the nurse to bring you something more for the pain and then we'll talk," Chris suggested pressing the call light.

"I don't feel good," Kyle said weakly. Chris shuddered, from what he knew of the attorney and from what he had learned from his conversation with Scott he knew that he wouldn't normally open up like that. He suspected he was probably still feeling the effects of the fever and his low sodium which had climbed steadily up to 123.

"I know. We're going to take care of you though," Chris said gently pulling a chair closer to the bed and sitting.

The door opened and Liz Spencer poked her head in, "Did you need something?" she asked.

"Mr. Durant needs some pain medicine and some more Tylenol," Chris said.

She left and returned a few minutes later with a syringe of morphine, a few flushes, and some tablets. She injected the medicine and handed the cup to Kyle who struggled a little to grasp it, take the pills and swallow some water.

"His friend is here, should I ask him to wait until you're done?" Liz asked.

"Scott Chandler?" Chris asked.

"Yes, I wonder if he's any relation to Skye," Liz said.

"He's her cousin I believe. Mr. Chandler is Mr. Durant's health care power of attorney so if it's ok with Mr. Durant I don't mind speaking with him," Chris said to Liz. He then turned to Kyle and asked, "Scott is here is it alright if he comes in?" Chris asked.

"Scott is a good friend," Kyle said with effort.

"Yes, I'm sure he is," Chris agreed.

Chris got up from the chair to allow Scott to sit. "I'm glad to see you're back with us man. We're not ready to let you check out," Scott said.

"I'm sick," Kyle said breathlessly.

"Yes, you have something called cryptococcal meningitis. That's why your head hurts so much and why you feel overheated and feverish. We're giving you medicine to treat the infection but we need to also help your immune system get better. We need to take some steps to try to manage another kind of infection. We need to try to treat your HIV or you may not survive this," Chris explained.

"Will you let them help you?" Scott asked.

"Yes," Kyle said simply breaking into a fresh sweat.

"Good, just try to rest. You're in a good place," Scott promised and watched as his friend's eyes drifted closed.

"I don't think that he really understood what he was agreeing to," Chris said.

"No, but if you don't help him he's going to suffer and maybe get better right? If you do help him he's going to suffer and maybe get better right so in a sense we might as well go for it. If he gets better he can always decide to go off the medications right?" Scott challenged.

"When you put it that way it makes a lot of sense. I got Dr. Munoz's records and reviewed them, you were right he never really had any anti retroviral therapy to speak of. His CD4 count is under one hundred so I've started him on Bactrim and Azithromycin for prophylaxis. His viral load is nearly one million. I'm waiting for the genotype to come back, we should have it in a few hours. I'm likely going to start triple therapy with zidovudine, lamivudine, and efavirenz. I can give you some information on the side effects and they are not insignificant but his labs look like you're right and either we try to bring him out of this or we say goodbye," Chris said.

"I knew this was a ticking time bomb and maybe I just don't understand. When my mom was dying we didn't have these drugs she didn't have this chance," Scott said.

"Well we'll do everything we can, and we'll hopefully give him another chance to decide if he wants this chance," Chris suggested. "I have to go make a few other rounds but have the nurses page me if you need anything else. Oh word to the wise, his girlfriend Faith Ward should be back sometime this afternoon. Apparently she got on Epiphany's bad side so she was banished to home last night before you arrived which ended up being convenient if you don't know each other," he finished.

"We haven't met, Kyle thinks she's a sweet girl but he hasn't let himself get too close. He doesn't believe he can love again that way because of the virus but I guess she's been kind of persistent, she thinks she loves him," Scott said.

"Perhaps she does, patients with HIV are still people. Obviously there are considerations regarding intimacy but that doesn't mean she can't and doesn't love him," Chris said.

"I'm not the one you have to convince of that, but I've messed up so many relationships recently that I don't dare give him dating advice," Scott joked.

"Oh join the club," Chris said going off to make rounds.