Disclaimer: I do not own any of the ER cast just Ashleigh, DJ, Nancy, Marianna and the idea for the story.

A/N: A.L.S- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(Lou Gehrig's Disease)- a progressive wasting away of certain nerve cells of the brain and the spinal column. It is a debilitating disease that affects movement, swallowing, speaking, breathing, and sometimes vision. There is no cure and the prognosis is death.

This story is dedicated to the memory of one of my favorite actors who passed away from the disease. Michael Zaslow, I miss you.

WARNING!!! I know some people are going to hate me for the way I present Carter, but he is definitely my least favorite character and even if this doesn't seem like the Carter you know just remember it's fanfiction. This is how I see him. #For once, I wanted Carter portrayed in the same matter that Dave is usually made into in these fanfictions.

Part 3

Kerry: Let's go into the lounge.

Kerry and Ashleigh, who was holding a laptop computer, walked into the lounge followed by several ER staffers. Once in the lounge, Ashleigh was introduced to the other ER staffers, Dave's former co-workers and now his doctors and nurses. Kerry turned to Ashleigh not knowing what to say next.

Kerry: What happened to him?

Ashleigh: Dave has Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Mark: Yeah, we know that now.

Ashleigh: How?

Abby: The paramedics told us when they brought him in.

Ashleigh: Oh, I guess hospice had to tell them since Dave couldn't. He doesn't talk anymore.

Kerry: As soon as I recognized him and he was quiet, not screaming and cussing at me, I knew something else had to be going on there. This is probably the longest time Malucci's ever kept his mouth shut.

Realizing how awful that sounded after it came out, Kerry quickly clamped her mouth closed and blushed with shame.

Ashleigh: I probably would take offense to that if weren't true. He can't use his hands to write very well or even sign. This computer is his only way of communicating.

Kerry had realized that is what Malucci was trying to gesture to her earlier and he was mouthing the word computer.

Jing-Mei: When was he diagnosed?

Ashleigh: About 1 and a half years ago.

Carter: How long has he been mute?

Ashleigh: Almost ten months.

Carter: A silenced Malucci. There is a god!

Haleh: That will do, Carter.

With all the stares he was getting from the others, Carter was realizing how not funny and insensitive that remark was. This patient might have just been Malucci but he was still a patient who had a terminal disease and deserved respect and he was starting to sound like Malucci--the old Malucci, that is.

Kerry: I know that this is a debilitating disease, but Dave did not look anything like he did the last time we saw him. He was a big guy and now there was hardly anything left of his muscular body.

Ashleigh: It's a long story. You have no idea what it's like to see someone you love waste away to nothing. A little over two years ago he was a 205lb, strong, healthy, vibrant, muscle-tone man and now he's barely 90lb,weak, sick, lifeless invalid. It happened so quickly.

Jing-Mei: If you'd like to talk about it Ashleigh, please we're here to listen.

Ashleigh: Thank you, but now I just have to know how he is.

Kerry: Dr. Kovac is in with him now. We have him on an oxygen mask with 100% oxygen, an Amoxicillian drip, Prednisone and Valium. I've ordered blood work and chest x-rays. Despite the steroids, he's still having trouble breathing. I told him we would have to intubate him soon, but he wanted no part of it.

Ashleigh: I'm not surprised. Can I see him now?

Kerry: He was pretty weak when I left him and with the Valium, he's probably asleep now.

Ashleigh: I'm use to it. With all the meds he's on now he sleeps most of the time at home. He's going to want his computer when he wakes up. When I got the call at work that Dave was being brought to County, my first thought was (sarcastically) I bet Dave's going to love that. My second thought was I know they won't bring the computer with him. So I stopped at the house and picked it up before I came here. Should I be prepared to lose Dave tonight? If you have any indications that Dave isn't going to make it, I'll call Nancy and have her bring DJ over.

Mark: We won't know anything until we have the lab results and x-rays back. If you feel like you need to call Nancy then by all means, do so. Nancy, is she Dave's sister?

Ashleigh: No, her name is Marianna. I do need to call her, though. She's on vacation in Italy with her family. Nancy is the volunteer hospice nurse that's been assigned to Dave. She's been a god send. I don't know how Dave, DJ and I would survive without her. She takes excellent care of DJ when I need to be with Dave and when I spend time with DJ, she's looking after Dave. I don't think I could continue to work if she wasn't there. I'm really going to miss having her around when her services are no longer needed after Dave...

She couldn't finish without getting completely hysterical or emotional in front of a room full of strangers. People that know Dave in a completely different way then she knows him and would never understand. People who, Dave knew, thought it was no great loss when he was fired from County. People who couldn't care what happened to him. People who were only interested in him because he's a patient, not a friend. All she wanted was to get Dave out of that hospital and take him home to die.

Just then Luka walked into the lounge.

Luka: I have Dave's x-rays and lab results.

Mark took the results from Luka and walked out into the hall and put the x-rays on a light board. Then he came back into the lounge.

Mark: Ashleigh, I think you should call Nancy and have her bring DJ over here. By the way, who is DJ?

Ashleigh: He is our five year old grandson.

To be continued. Please read and review.