A/N: w00t for PDAs while waiting in the dentist's office. This chapter isn't very good because I'm not sure how to get to where I want them to go. In any case, I had Dr. Hershey saying "girlfriend's side" rather than "friend's side" and they both protested but I decided to change it, and the secret admirer was going to be a really corny friend card from Phil but I thought having it be from Curtis would be cuter, so... This is chapter 6, aka "Hershey, M.D.," of Subtle Nuances. Brownie points if you figure out how I got the title (hint: similar to how I got "Pickford Hope," brownie points if you figured that one out!).

I apparently lost some people but I'm gonna reply to reviews now:

TvFANatic26: well you ought to get it now :)

1080: here you go:)

GoldCatMaster: I do apologize. How did I manage that? -slaps self-

Be234therz: thanks! I have this and more coming!

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Phil rubbed Keely's arm. "You passed out, remember? The doctor said that you should remember what was going on, because you had brain activity. You don't remember that?"

Keely shook her head. "Last thing I remember was going to Algebra after bio. I remember..." Her already strained voice was interrupted by a fit of weak coughing.

Phil raised his eyebrows, squeezing her hand very tightly. "What, Keel? What do you remember?"

Well, there was definitely some brain activity now. I don't want to tell him about keeping my hand on my shoulder where he put his! "I remember following you, you were ahead of me..." she skipped what had followed, "and then... nothing."

"So how do you still have brain activity?" Phil wondered, relaxing his grip on Keely's hand ever so slightly. "How could those machines have made such a drastic mistake? There's no activity to register, it shouldn't have registered anything! I mean, I knew 21st century technology was pretty lame but still…"

At that moment, Dr. Hershey carefully opened the door. "Why, good morning, Miss Teslow!" he greeted her with a smile. "And Mr. Diffy, I see you decided to stay at your friend's side. Excellent. Miss Teslow, how are you feeling?"

"I feel okay, Dr..."

"Hershey," he chipped in. "You ought to remember my name."

Keely tried to nod. "I know I should, but I don't remember anything after passing out at school." Dr. Hershey nodded, taking notes in a spiral.

"Mr. Diffy, please tell me what happened."

Phil recounted the story to the doctor, telling only what happened as and after she passed out. Suddenly Phil was interrupted by a sharp, high-pitched shout. Both he and the doctor looked over at Keely. Her eyes had rolled back into her head and her arms were twitching. Dr. Hershey looked up at the vitals and Phil followed his gaze. Her 02 sats were in the eighties. "Keel!"

The doctor reached for an oxygen mask and with lightning speed affixed it to Keely's face. Her breathing became normal again and she stopped twitching. "She's gone back out, Mr. Diffy," said the doctor. "Back into unconsciousness. If you like I can wait with her for a few moments while you run out to get lunch."

Phil accepted the doctor's proposal gratefully. "Thanks, I will do that." Without really thinking he bent over Keely and gave her a peck on the forehead, more of a fatherly kiss than anything, and left the room quietly.

--

Twenty minutes later Phil returned, his arms laden with... stuff. He had a plastic bag on one wrist, a doggy bag in one hand, a really big cup in the other, and a tub of applesauce in the crook of an elbow. He set all these things down with a grateful nod to the doctor, who left, and sat next to the bed. Taking Keely's hand in his own, he rubbed it like he had been doing all morning. Her eyelids fluttered open again.

"Phil?" she asked. "How long have I been out?"

Phil smiled a worried but happy smile. "My stars, Keel, you really scared us there. You've been out about twenty-five or thirty minutes. I went to grab lunch, among other things." From the bag he produced a spoon, which he showed to Keely along with the applesauce before putting it under his chair. "Here's yours, I asked the nurse and she said you could eat only if you asked the doctor." Again he plunged his hand into the bag and this time pulled out a blue teddy bear, which he put by her arm. "And I grabbed this from the gift shop as well. I also called your mom. She said she's got a business trip tomorrow but she'll stop by tonight." The two things he didn't give Keely were a salad, his own lunch, and a huge cup of coffee, decaf but coffee all the same.

"Thanks, Philly-Willy," Keely said through the oxygen mask. "I feel a lot better now. I'm not hungry, though. I'm sleepy." She seized the blue bear with a death grip like a small child and closed her eyes. Phil opened his salad and ate it with one hand while he again took Keely's hand, ignoring the silly nickname.

--

Keely woke up again two hours later, and a multitude of people surrounded her bed. Her mother was there, Tia and Seth were there, Phil's parents and Pim were there, and of course Phil still sat by her side like a faithful akita. She grinned as best she could, and noticed that the oxygen mask was gone. She squeezed Phil's hand, knowing he was still holding it, and pulled him close.

"Wow, there sure are a lot of people here," she marveled into his ear. "But can I eat now?"

Phil grinned and fished around under his seat, handing her the applesauce and spoon. "That's the Keely I know!" He leaned back and waved a hand around the room. "Your well-wishers and friends sent you these," he nodded. "And this one came from a secret admirer." He handed her a pot of daisies.

"Keely, me hope you better soon," he read for her from the card. It was signed with very messy script, but Keely immediately knew whom it was from.

"Send Curtis my love too," she said with a grin.

--

Keely had had fun with her friends there in the room, but she was tired and it got late. She and Phil sent them off. "Phil, you should go. You need sleep, and there are plenty of doctors to watch me overnight." Keely raised a hand and waved him off. "See how much better I am? I'll be fine."

"No," Phil protested. "I'm staying here. Long as you're here, so am I." Obviously Keely didn't mind, because se squeezed his hand one last time before rolling onto her side and going to sleep immediately. Phil flipped the light switch.

One of the nurses had shown Phil and his mom how the couch folded out into a bed, so he pulled the thin blanket over him, curled up in the freezing room, and almost fell asleep. However something caught his eye outside the glass doors, and opened them to let his mother in. "Mom, what?"

"What did you do today?" she whispered back.

Phil shrugged to himself. "Gave Keel breakfast, got a stain out of her shirt..."

"How?" Barb interrupted.

"Oh my gosh, the Stain-Getter-Outer!"

"I figured," she said calmly, "when Pim got jelly on her shirt in a food fight, and I couldn't find it. Phil, you need to get her home ASAP."

"The doc said she'd have to stay overnight, so I'll try for tomorrow," Phil vowed.

"I hope that's not too late," his mother sighed.

"What do you mean?"

Barb sighed again. "Adverse effects, Phil! No one knows what could happen to her. Weird things have happened to people whose best friends," she gave her son a Look accompanied by a slight smile, "tried alpha or even beta inventions on them. None of the effects were bad on us when we used it, because we have better immune systems; our bodies are stronger. But we don't know if these 21st century bodies can stand up to future inventions, and considering Keely's reaction, this is one of them that just can't." Before Phil asked, she continued. "Our people have ways of figuring this out, if they will work or not in 21st century people. They anticipated that something would go wrong someday." But the conversation was cut short by footsteps. "Here," she shoved a green fluffy thing at her son. "I figured you might want a sleeping bag." She kissed his head and turned around to depart, escaping through a back stairwell right before the doctor turned into their hall. Phil rolled the sleeping bag out onto the couch and fell asleep.

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A/N: So, there it is. Chapter 6 while waiting in the dentist's office. I know it's probably überconfusing and I don't know why it seems like that but I promise the next chapter will be easier to understand. I also know we have spent lots of time in the hospital but it was fun to write (which sounds awful), and I can come up with good chapter names. Again, I don't know much about hospitals, but I'm assuming that 02 sats below the 90s aren't good since last time I was in one there was a lot of that. There's a lot of Keel's awake, she's asleep, she's out, and she's about. Preview of next chapter: THEY LEAVE THE HOSPITAL. –awaits the cheers- Pillows to reviewers. Don't complain about the whole "this product not tested on 21st century people" dealio - I tried to climb that hill as I came to it but it didn't turn out well. I explained as best I could. Leave it alone - it's summer and my writing skills whooshed down the drain.