There may be one more update of this tonight...blame Heidi and her frequent updates of What A Long, Strange Trip (which everyone should read if they haven't already BY the way.) But anyway, here's the next little segment, which introduces a new subplot that's been weaved into the fic for a while, but hasn't come to the forefront until now.


Paige settled on the chair, smiling at Sylvester as he studied the diagrams on the walls. He looked at them every time they came in, even though his eidetic memory had committed them on the first visit. He always had a smile on his face when he looked at them, so Paige didn't question why, even though she couldn't fathom the reason they might make him happy.

He looked at her over his shoulder, that smile on his face, then crossed the tiny room to sit next to her. "I wish Walter could have come today. He..." The smile faded. "He didn't not come because he feels he shouldn't...right?"

"God no," Paige said, "he and Toby had that commitment. They'll probably beat us back to the garage, though." She leaned over, resting her head on Sylvester's shoulder.

"Are you still tired?" He asked.

"I guess that's what's going to be typical for me this pregnancy," she said. "And helping Linda...I love her, but trying to keep her spirits up can be exhausting."

"I know what you mean," he said. "Ray seems to be the only one who constantly has the energy to try and help her, and I don't think Ray would run out of energy if all of us were bedridden and he was the only one to take care of us."

Paige gave a little laugh. Sylvester was silent for a moment, then drew a deep breath. "Do you feel guilty? Ever?"

She lifted her head. "About what?"

"Linda willingly left the man she loves beyond believe because she knew she deserved to be treated better. She's obviously depressed. She's thin and only showers if you physically guide her over to it. She sleeps for like, ninety percent of the day. Sometimes I feel guilty about being tired or stressed because of her, because she has it way worse."

"There's this thing I read," Paige said sleepily, "once, a while ago. It was about this diagram that helped people grieve or deal with difficulty. The person most affected is in the center. Then there's concentric circles around that person. People closest to them are in the closest ring, people farther removed from the person or the event are father out. Everyone can be affected by whatever happened, but they can only vent or share those feelings with people in the same circle, or farther out. Like it is frustrating and discouraging when I sit with Linda for an hour and she doesn't even look at me. But it would make things so much worse to tell her that. But I can tell you, or Olivia's mom, because they're farther removed. You can't make the person hurting the most shoulder your pain, too, but that doesn't mean it's not okay to feel things."

"That makes sense," Sylvester said. "I just hope Linda gets better soon. She's such a sweet girl...it makes me feel terrible to see her hurting as badly as she is. It's like she's become a totally different person...this shell of her former self...and...I know you and Walter knew her former self better than the rest of us but...but she was..."

Sylvester was cut off by the door opening. Denise appeared, holding a clipboard and wearing a small smile. "Hello Paige, hello Sylvester," she said in greeting.

"Hi," Paige said, lifting her head off of Sylvester's shoulder.

"And how are we doing today?"

"Pretty good," Sylvester said, smiling at Paige. "Right?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. She nodded toward the clipboard. "How are things going?"

"Mostly well."

"Mostly?"

"Your bloodwork has come back with some abnormalities," said the nurse. "It may not be anything of real concern, but given the circumstances especially, have you experienced any unusual symptoms of late? Headaches more frequently than normal? Dizziness? Nausea?"

"Well," Paige said, "yes, but aren't all those things normal for pregnancy?"

"They can be," she said. "They can also be symptoms of a more serious problem. When did these symptoms start?"

She thought back. "I mean, they've been more prevalent in the past couple of months, but I guess it's been a few years. I've had occasional unexplained dizziness, but it's a high stress job."

"Your legs," Sylvester said.

The nurse raised her eyebrows. "I have had more frequent feelings of weakness in my legs," Paige said. "But it's been a few years since that started and it usually goes along with a fever."

"Do you get fevers easily?" Denise asked, her eyebrows shooting up. "You didn't mention that when we did your pre – implantation physical."

Paige felt as if she were being interrogated. "Again," she said slowly, trying to make her voice sound calm, "we travel all over the world, Bosnia, South Africa, Ukraine, even Antarctica, I mean, I didn't go that time, but those that did almost died. It's a fast paced, high stress environment. I'm sure if you tested my blood on a regular basis over a period of years, sometimes it would look abnormal. Probably most people would have certain days when something looked wrong. But I'm the one under the microscope, and..."

Sly's knee bumped hard against hers, and Paige stopped, surprised at herself. Why was she being so defensive? She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. Yes, I get mildly ill more frequently than I used to. I have leg tremors, and the dizziness and headaches have increased since I got pregnant. The other things, they predate the pregnancy, but I've always attributed it to the job. I-I guess that's why I didn't bring it up...during the physical..." she trailed off, putting her head in her hands.

"Don't fret about it," Denise responded. "Ninety nine percent of the time, it's nothing. We're just going to try and narrow it down before we do anymore tests. Now," she continued, looking down at the clipboard. "You said that you do not have any drug history, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever been exposed to an uncontrolled amount of radiation?"

The question was routine, one of the "have to asks," and Denise already had her pen over the 'no' box, ready to tick it off.

Paige felt the blood drain from her face.