All three Hofstadter children made the decision to go out of state for college. They couldn't wait to get away from their mother. None had ever had friends over or gone on dates because they knew she would psychoanalyze them. Michael and Lili snuck out a few times, but that was it. Beverly was walking into her living room when she stumbled and caught herself on a chair. Alfred looked up and could tell something was wrong, "honey," he stood and walked over to her, "are you alright?"

"I don't know," Beverly answered.

"What happened?"

"My legs felt weird and I felt like I couldn't get them to do what they're supposed to do."

Alfred took her hand and noticed it was shaking, "how long has your hand been like this?"

Beverly looked down, "I think it just started."

"What do you want to do?"

"Let's see how I am tomorrow. It might just be stress or something. Could you help me over to the couch? I don't feel very stable."

Alfred took his wife and helped her to sit. He sat next to her and continued grading papers.

The next day Beverly felt fine. She didn't feel at all the way she had felt the day before. She and Alfred went to work together as they usually did. Beverly was teaching a class when her vision suddenly blurred. She stumbled over her words because she couldn't read what she was looking at.

"Dr. Hofstadter, are you alright?" a student asked.

"I'm fine," Beverly's vision cleared and the woman continued her lecture. She walked away from the podium, but she stumbled and fell to the floor. The students stood and a few went to her aid. "Does anyone know where my husband's office is?" Some of the students said 'yes', "will one of you go and get him for me, please? The rest of you can leave. We're done for today."

The students cleared the room, but one stayed behind. He closed the door so that people walking by wouldn't see his professor on the floor. Minutes later, Alfred rushed into the room and over to his wife. He thanked the student for staying and then the student left. "Honey, are you alright?"

Beverly started to cry a little, "no, I don't know what's wrong with me. My vision was blurry earlier and now this."

"I told your assistant to cancel the remainder of your classes and I am having mine canceled as well. Do you want to go to the emergency room or make a doctor's appointment?"

"I want to sleep."

Alfred looked at his wife and could tell that she was in fact exhausted. He helped Beverly stand up, "do you think you can walk?"

"If you hold onto me," Beverly held on tightly to her husband and he held onto her. They slowly made their way to the car where their assistants were with their belongings. Once they arrived home, Alfred carried Beverly upstairs to their room and got her settled in bed. He left her cell phone on the nightstand and told her to call him if she needed to get up. When Beverly woke up, she moved her arm and accidentally knocked her phone onto the floor. She tried to bend over to pick it up, but she became quite dizzy. She decided that she would have to go downstairs by herself. Beverly took each step one at a time and moved slowly. She had three steps left when she lost her balance and fell down the remaining stairs.

Alfred heard the noise and ran, "Beverly!" he panicked when he saw his wife on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

"I knocked my phone on the floor and couldn't pick it up. I only had three steps left."

"Honey, did you hit your head?"

"No," Beverly was trying hard to keep her emotions inside. "Alfred, I think I need to go to the hospital."

"Do you think you broke something?"

"No, but I think the sooner I get help the better."

Alfred gently lifted his wife and carried her to the car. The ER doctor had ordered blood work along with an MRI and CT scan of her head. "I get the feeling that you know what's going on," Alfred told his wife from the chair he was sitting in beside her hospital bed.

"I do, but I hope I'm wrong."

"I did some research before your student came to get me and I think I know too. I hope we're both wrong. Whatever happens," Alfred took his wife's hand in his, "I will always be here for you."

Beverly smiled at her husband but stiffened when the doctor walked in. "Okay, I have taken a look at all of your test results and I am going to refer you to a neurologist to confirm my findings. It is my belief, Beverly, that you have multiple sclerosis."

Beverly and Alfred were silent and afraid. They had both been right and now they were thinking about the extreme stereotypical MS cases. The doctor had been kind enough to get Beverly an appointment in two days with a neurologist. He had a bit more sway so he could get her in sooner. "Should she not work in the meantime?" Alfred asked.

"If she's uncomfortable working then she should definitely stay home. Her tests do not look as bad as some of the cases I have seen. There's a chance that she will be fine."

Beverly was out of it and both Alfred and the doctor could tell, "honey, do you have any questions?"

Beverly looked up at the doctor, "I'm having trouble walking," was all she said.

"I can send you home with a cane if you would like," the doctor suggested.

"I don't want it, but I think I'm going to need it."

The doctor had told the nurse to discharge Beverly. When the girl came back with the papers, she handed Alfred a cane for his wife. Beverly's hand was shaking and she had trouble signing it. When she was free to go, Alfred helped her off of the bed and handed her the cane. She walked slowly and cautiously, which worried her husband.

Two days later, the neurologist prescribed Beverly some medication to take in order to try and put her in remission. Fortunately for Beverly, the medication worked. Beverly told Alfred that she didn't want anyone to know. Not anyone at work, his parents, or their children. Alfred knew that this was all still sinking in for his wife. "Honey, I want you to know something," Beverly looked up from her computer, "I will always be here for you. If things do get worse, I will be here for you too."

"Thank you," she smiled at her husband. The husband she had been neglecting, but she believed him when he told her he would always be there. She couldn't possibly predict what was to come.