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Summer walked out of the room with tears in her eyes. She decided to head to the bathroom before going back to the Cohens. She asked the nurse where the bathrooms were, and they were near the waiting room. She had to go past the Cohens.
She saw that Ryan was gone and Sandy and Kirsten's backs were to Summer. She crept past the Cohens and got to the bathroom. She started crying again. Seth could become blind and deaf. He might even die! She heard a knock on the door.
"Someone's in here!" she said.
"Summer, I know you're in there."
It was Ryan.
"Go away Chino," she said.
"Come out Summer. I want to talk to you."
"No."
"Don't make me come in there Summer. Look, it's OK to cry. I was crying before."
That got to Summer. She went over and opened the door. "Really?"
"Yeah. I scared the Cohens though. They never heard me cry before."
"I guess."
Ryan pulled her into a hug. "Let's go back inside. The doctor is here with something to tell us."
They walked back into the waiting room and saw Kirsten and Sandy talking with the doctor.
"Hi! You must be Ryan. I'm Dr. Kylie. I'm Seth's doctor. I was just telling your parents that we can go and get the results of the tests we ran earlier. The nurse put them in Seth's room," she said.
They walked towards Seth's room and saw the folder in the door. Dr. Kylie picked it up and looked inside. At first, she looked confused. But then, a look of horror appeared on her face.
"This can't be right," she said.
"What?" Ryan asked.
"Hold on one second. I'm going to make sure this is the right folder."
Dr. Kylie went over to the nurse's station.
"Jess, is this Seth Cohen's folder?" she asked.
"I'm afraid so Michelle. Did you tell the family yet?"
"No. But are you sure that's what it is?"
Jessica went under the desk and pulled out the original copy of the results. She opened it up and showed Dr. Kylie the chart.
"Look at the chart, sis. Here are his antibodies. Here is an unidentified antibody. Further testing and microscopes showed that they are HIV antibodies. He's got it Michelle. There is no denying it."
"How many tests did you run?"
"We ran both the ELISA and the Western Blot test. Both turned up positive."
"Does his mother have it?"
"No."
"So, it was sexually transmitted?"
"Maybe not. But if he had sex, it is a possibility."
"Legally, we have to tell them after we get the results of the Western Blot test. This is going to suck."
"Good luck, sis."
"Hold on, you didn't tell me the results of the Encephalitis test."
"We don't know. We have to perform a lumbar puncture to be sure."
Dr. Kylie nodded and went back over to the Cohens.
"I'm sorry about that. I needed to speak to one of the nurses about the results. My sister Jessica Kylie did the testing. She said it was his folder. I'm sorry to tell you this, but your son has HIV."
FOUR MONTHS EARLIER
Summer was listening to Seth babble about nothing important.
"Cohen!"
He stopped talking. "Yeah?"
"Shut up! For one minute! You haven't stopped talking since we left your house."
"Sorry Summer."
They pulled up to the beach and saw that even at 9:30pm, it was still crowded. They went to their little spot near some rocks and by the water.
"It's nice out tonight," Summer said.
"It's nice out every night. It's California."
"You're so sarcastic Cohen."
"But that's what you love about me," he said.
She shrugged. She looked at Seth and saw a shocked look on his face.
"Well. You want to play dirty? We'll play dirty." He picked her up and bought her into the water.
"Cohen! Don't you dare put me down! This is a $200 bathing suit!"
"It's a bathing suit Summer!" He dropped her into the water.
"Cohen!" she whined.
"It's just water!" Seth said. He looked down at his leg and saw that he cut himself.
'Nice going Cohen," Summer said.
They got out of the water and Seth stopped the bleeding on his leg. They sat and watched the water, when a homeless guy came up to them.
"Do you have any money? I am really hungry," he said.
Summer got scared.
"It's OK Summer." Seth pulled out a 20 and gave it to the man.
"Oh bless you young sir! Thank you very much!"
Seth saw a little girl run over.
"I couldn't get anything daddy. The people wouldn't give me any money."
Summer felt tears welling in her eyes. That was really touching. She reached into her bag and pulled out a 50. Seth saw her pull it out, but she was going to give it to them.
"Here you go sweetie," she said.
The girl's eyes lit up and she gave Summer a hug. She also gave Seth a hug.
"My name's Ally Sheen. This is my daddy. His name is Mike Sheen! We are very happy that you gave us this money! We have enough money for a new outfit in that little place out of town! They have shirts for 5 dollars and pants for 10! Oh thank you very much!" she said.
"Your welcome! If we ever see you again, we'll be happy to give you money if you need it," Summer said.
Mike and Ally waved as they walked away.
"A 50 Summer?" Seth asked.
"I felt really bad! She was only 8 or 9!"
Seth and Summer sat and watched the ocean again, thinking about the good deed they just committed.
TWO MONTHS EARLIER
"Let's go Seth! You and Ryan have a medical in 20 minutes!" Sandy called. He went back into the kitchen and saw that Ryan was sitting at the table eating pancakes.
"Did Kirsten cook those?" Sandy asked.
"No. I did. I saw the mix wasn't opened yet, so I decided to make them. Do you want some? I made extra."
Sandy looked over at the stove.
"Let's see. Pancakes or the diet Kirsten is forcing me to go on. Tough choice. But pancakes win!" Sandy grabbed a plate, two pancakes and some bacon and sat down.
"I'm surprised Seth didn't come down when he smelled food," Sandy said.
"So am I. He was probably to busy dreaming again."
"Dreaming?"
"Yeah. He told me he keeps having this dream about Captain Oats and Princess Sparkles as humans and him and Summer as the horses."
"Oh. Who's Princess Sparkles?"
"Summer's pony."
"I'm coming!" Sandy leaned back on the chair and saw stumbling down the stairs.
"OK! I'm ready!"
"Good! You can take your food in the car. We have to go now," Sandy said.
The boys and Sandy hopped into the Range Rover and headed towards Dr. Castiglia's office. Seth and Sandy were arguing over the radio. Sandy wanted to listen to his Grease Soundtrack and Seth wanted to listen to Death Cab For Cutie.
"Ryan, what should we listen to?" Seth asked.
"Journey." He said that to throw them both off.
Seth looked back at his dad and kept arguing over the music.
By the time they got there, they still didn't decide on whose music they were going to listen to. They got out of the car and headed up to the office.
Luckily, they got the first appointment and no one else was there yet. They were called in right away.
Ryan went first. He was a little hesitant about getting into a paper robe tied together by a plastic string, but agreed. He was finished within minutes. Then, it was Seth's turn.
"All right guys. Ryan, according to your charts from Chino, you were 5 feet 8 inches. You are now 5 feet 9 inches. Seth, you were 5 feet 9 inches. You are now 5 feet 11 inches. Jesus Seth! You're taller then I am. I remember when you were born. Do you know that story?" Dr. Castiglia asked.
"Do I want to?"
"Probably. When you were born, I was at a beach party. You were born 2 weeks late, just to let you know. That was when I got the page that your mother was in labor. So, I got down there, threw on my robe, and delivered you in your bathing suit."
"Wow. That was disturbing."
Ryan, on the other hand, was laughing. "It's funny Seth!"
"Not really."
"Uh oh. It's a mad house out there. OK. Here are your slips for the lab downstairs. That's where you're getting the blood work done," he said.
"Thanks Doctor. We'll see you around," Sandy said.
They headed down to the lab and saw that it actually looked like a normal place. Not like they had pictured it. It had chairs, a T.V. and a nurse reading a book.
They filled out the information and sat down. But not for long because this is Newport and if you are kept waiting too long, you might file a lawsuit for wasting time.
Ryan went in one room and Seth went into the other. Both of them noticed that there were bindings on the chairs.
"Don't worry," Ryan's doctor said. "It's for little kids who can't stay still."
"Is it legal?" Ryan asked.
"Oh yes. But we can only do it with parental permission."
They both had blood drawn. Seth got an update on his Tetanus shot while Ryan had to get a few shots he never got.
Since Ryan was wearing a tank top Seth bought him, they saw all of the band aids.
"Wow! It's Band Aid Man!" Seth said.
"How many shots did you get?" Sandy asked.
"Three, plus getting my blood drawn."
They had to give their urine samples to the nurse.
"Who asked you to give these?" she asked.
"Dr. Castiglia when we were upstairs," Sandy said.
"OK then. You're done. If something comes up, we'll call you," she said.
They never called the Cohens because nothing was detected.
Kirsten's face was pale white. "No," she whispered.
"I'm terribly sorry. But there is something else you need to know," Dr. Kylie said.
They all looked at her.
"Seth might have Encephalitis. That is a very rare symptom of Shingles, but it has happened before. The symptoms are fever, headache, poor appetite, loss of energy, or just a general sick feeling. In more severe cases, the symptoms are high fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, pupils of different sizes, confusion, disorientation, personality changes, convulsions (seizures), problems with speech or hearing, hallucinations, double vision, difficulty moving an arm or leg, involuntary movements, difficulty walking, loss of sensation in some part of the body, memory loss, drowsiness, and coma. There is sometimes a convulsion, or a series of convulsions, at the start of the illness. Unfortunately, we think it's serious. His body might not be able to fight off the HIV. We are giving him antibodies as we speak and doing everything we can. But we need to give him a lumbar puncture to be sure."
"What's a lumbar puncture?' Kirsten asked.
"Spinal Tap." Ryan replied. He had his head in his hands.
"Oh no! That's going to hurt him!" Kirsten said.
"We have to Mrs. Cohen. If we don't properly diagnose it, we can't treat it. One of you can go into the room with him while we do it."
Ryan couldn't believe what was happening. But for the first time, he realized what everyone else already did. Seth is going to die. There is nothing they can do about it.