DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I own nothing but the children in the story. (Please read and review!)
A/N: For those of you who don't remember from my story 'Patience Still Waiting', Chris is Seth's friend from San Diego who he went to med. school with. Okay, I wanted to post ASAP…So, sorry for any grammar errors. Oh, and for those of you wondering where 'Emotion Is Dead' is from…it's from The Juliana Theory.
CHAPTER TWO
Seth sat in his study, in his house, flipping through medical textbooks that he had gathered over the years in San Diego. He still couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Although, lately he found that his legs didn't hurt as much as they did before, but now the joints in his hands were screaming in pain as he turned the pages of the textbook.
Frustrated, Seth shut the textbook in front of him and slouched down in his chair. He listened to the sounds of the video game playing in the next room. Seth decided to join his son in a friendly match of Playstation.
He walked into the den and sat down next to Elijah, grabbing the controller. "I'm in and you are so going down." Seth taunted him. "I've had many years of practice, not to mention I was the champion for five years against your Uncle Ryan until he beat me…But who wants to hear that story, huh?"
"Whatever, Dad." Elijah rolled his eyes. They began fighting against each other at Mortal Combat – The greatest hits.
"So, where's Mom?" Seth asked, in between moves. His fingers were starting to kill him. As much as he wanted to put the controller down, he couldn't.
"She said something about a sale somewhere."
"It better be a Tupperware…She's got way too much clothing for a woman of her age." Seth joked. "We only have one walk-in closet, and we all know how not-so-handy I am, so…There's no way I'm building her another closet."
"Oh, oh!" Elijah bounced in his seat, as he thrashed Seth's character on the screen. "Look who's the loser now."
"Pure luck, Eli. You just caught me on my off day." Seth put the controller down and stood up. He felt a stabbing pain in his legs and quickly sat back down, rubbing the calves of his legs.
"You okay, Dad?" Elijah questioned, turning off the Television.
"I just pulled a muscle or something." Seth lied. "Hey, it's Saturday, we're both bored…What do you say we take a little trip today?" He asked. He really needed to find out what was wrong with him and fast because it was really starting to bug him.
"Okay!" Elijah jumped up. "Where to?"
"San Diego?" Seth asked.
Elijah sat back down on the couch and folded his arms over his chest. "We're going to visit your friend from the hospital, right?" Elijah replied. "That's boring."
"To you, but not to me. I hardly ever get to see Chris anymore. The last time I saw him was like two years ago."
"Yeah, but he doesn't have any kids, so it's boring for me." Elijah protested. "Besides, what about Mom?"
"Hey, she's shopping. I'm sure she won't want to come with us. Come on! It'll be just us, father and son, on a road trip to the unknown!"
"To San Diego." Elijah mumbled.
"Well, if you pretend that it's the unknown, then it sounds more exciting."
"Yay." Elijah threw his hands up in the air and pretended to be excited.
"Good. That's more like it. Now, I'll just go call your mother and tell her she can throw a party tonight, 'cause we're not going to be home until…Oh, say, eleven." Seth said and then left the den.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Coop, oh my God! Coop!" Summer held up a purple dress to her figure. "Doesn't this look so cute?"
Marissa laughed. "Yeah, but are you sure you want to buy more? I mean, look." She pointed to the bags she was carrying. "Don't you think you already have enough?"
"You can never have too much, Coop. Besides, Seth called and told me I could get whatever I wanted as long as it was reasonable. And this…" Summer held up the dress. "…Is reasonable."
"Yeah, well, hurry up and pay for it. If I leave Ryan with the kids for too long in the toy store…There could be a disaster. Also, Ben's coming over to visit this afternoon and I want to bake something for him to take home."
"Gotcha." Summer laughed and paid for the dress. They walked out of the store and headed over to the toy department. "Coop, have you noticed anything wrong with Seth, lately?" Summer asked.
"No, why?"
"Oh, I don't know. He just seems off. He's been working a lot in his office and we just never talk anymore. His work is definitely getting in the way, I guess."
"You don't sound too sure about that, Sum." Marissa noticed the uncertainty in her friends' voice. "What's really bothering you?"
"I don't know." Summer mumbled, as they walked down the isles in the toy department looking for Ryan and his kids. "I have my suspicions."
"Of?" Marissa stopped and looked at her. "You think he's having an affair?"
"What? No!" Summer shouted at her. They started walking again and then Summer stopped abruptly. "Okay, maybe I do think that. Is that wrong?"
Marissa shrugged. "Seth wouldn't do something like that to you, Sum. But if it makes you happy, I'll talk to Ryan about it and then maybe he can ask Seth what's going on."
"Okay, just make sure Seth doesn't think I suspect anything." Summer replied. "Oh, there they are." She pointed out Ryan. Ryan, Connor and Emily were looking at video games.
"Mom!" Emily ran up to Marissa. "Can I pretty please have the new monster rally game!"
Marissa shook her head. "It already looks like your father has bought something for you, which you don't need."
Emily looked down at the new soccer ball. "He insisted."
"Right." Marissa laughed. She walked over to Ryan and Connor and tore the video games out of their hands. "Come on, let's go home before we buy the store."
"But –" Connor held up his finger.
"Home." Marissa turned and left the store.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Why are we whispering?" Chris whispered over to Seth. They were sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee. Elijah was in the living room watching T.V.
"'Cause I don't want little Cohen, over there, to hear anything." Seth whispered.
"Oh, right…So what's with the surprise visit? Is everything okay?" Chris asked.
"Everything is fine. I just need an honest opinion." Seth explained. "I think somethings wrong with me…I just don't know what, yet. I've looked through all my medical books and on the Internet and I've still come to no conclusions."
"Okay." Chris nodded. "So, what's wrong?"
"I don't know, man. First I thought it was just old age, right, because I was having back problems but now it's more and it's getting worse. Now the pain's in my legs, arms and hands. My wrists are starting to hurt too." Seth explained and then took a sip of his coffee.
"So, your fingers and wrists hurt?" Chris asked. Seth nodded his head. "Your flexor muscles."
"Exactly." Seth bobbed his head up and down. "Some days it's fine, like today, but other days I'm in pain."
"Any weight loss?"
"A couple of pounds, but nothing drastic." Seth replied.
"Seth, man, you need to go see a doctor."
"I am a doctor…And I came to you because I didn't know and you're a doctor too."
"Well, I meant like a doctor who specializes in what you've explained to me. I think you need to see a neurologist. You know, nervous system…Muscles…That sort of thing."
Seth laughed. "Yeah, I know what a neurologist is, Chris."
"Good. Go see one." Chris replied, holding his coffee mug in the air. "And soon, my friend, because stuff like this shouldn't be ignored."
"Yeah, you're right." Seth mumbled.
"We could go now, if you want. We'll just tell Elijah that you're visiting an old friend at the hospital." Chris offered.
"I need an appointment, Chris."
"Seth, I have connections." Chris grinned at him.
"Fine."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ryan woke up the next morning to Emily pouncing on top of him. "Dad, dad, dad." Emily sat on top of him. "Come on, you promised to play soccer with me this morning!"
Ryan rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned. He looked over at the clock. It was eight o'clock in the morning – Too early, especially for a Sunday. He knew he had to talk to Seth today. Marissa seemed really concerned about him.
"Dad, dad, dad." Emily jumped up and down on him. "Please?"
Ryan grabbed Emily and started tickling her to death. Emily squealed and pleaded for him to stop.
"Let me just grab some coffee and then we'll play soccer in the backyard, okay?" Ryan said, getting out of the bed and walking downstairs.
"Fine." Emily pouted. "But hurry!" She followed him downstairs and into the kitchen, where her mom was sitting at the table with Connor.
"Hey, dad, can we go to that place there you were talking about yesterday?" Connor asked. Ryan gave him a confused look. "Dad, don't you remember? You told me we could go down to that baseball store."
"Oh, right." Ryan replied, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He sat down next to Marissa at the table, giving her a kiss as he put down his mug.
"Ryan, don't forget about what we talked about last night."
"I'm not going to get any rest today, am I?" He asked everyone. Marissa, Emily and Connor all shook their heads. "Well, then, there's no point in wasting time." Ryan got up and Emily followed him outside with her soccer ball.
After an hour of playing soccer with Emily in the backyard and an hour spent at the baseball store with Connor, Ryan finally found time to go see Seth.
"Hey, Uncle Ryan." Elijah opened the door and let him inside.
"Hey, kid." Ryan walked into the mansion and looked around. "Where's your dad?"
Elijah pointed to Seth's study. "He's been in there all morning."
"Thanks." Ryan thanked the youngest Cohen and knocked on Seth's study.
"I said in an hour!" Seth shouted.
Ryan opened the door and walked in.
"Oh, hey." Seth turned off his computer. "I thought you were Eli. He's been bugging me all morning."
"I see…" Ryan said, sitting down in a chair. "What's up?"
"Nothing. Why?" Seth questioned. "Is something supposed to be up that I don't know about?" He asked, closing the papers on his desk.
"No." Ryan shook his head. "I meant what is up with Seth Cohen."
"Oh. Right." Seth bobbed his head.
Ryan waited for him to begin his normal ramblings, but none came. "You've been hanging around me too much." Ryan joked. Seth shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Seth, what's up. I can read you like a book. I know something is wrong."
Seth laughed nervously. "That easy, huh?" Ryan nodded. "You're right, something is up but it's nothing to get all worried about."
"Okay…" Ryan didn't believe him. "Does it concern Summer?"
"No. Well, maybe in some ways one or another, uh…Yes." Seth fidgeted with the pen he was holding. "Everything is cool though. There's nothing to worry about." Seth lied. He knew there was lot's to worry about. Maybe not right now, but definitely in the near future.
"Okay." Ryan stood up. "Well, I just asked you only because Marissa asked me to. But if you say everything's fine, then everything must be fine." Ryan said. He started leaving.
"Wait." Seth called out. "Sit." He ordered and Ryan obeyed. "Why did Marissa ask you to ask me if I was okay?"
"Well…" Ryan trailed off. He knew he had just cornered himself.
"What?"
"Summer's worried." Ryan blurted out. "So, she asked Marissa to ask me to ask you."
Seth shook his head. "Why didn't Summer just come to me?"
"I don't know." Ryan shrugged. "She thinks that…That you're having an affair or something. Crazy, huh?" Ryan laughed.
"Shit. No. I'm not having an affair! It's nothing like that at all!" Seth shouted. "God, I would never do such a thing." Seth looked down at the papers in front of him. He decided to let Ryan have a look. He handed him a stack of papers. "This is what's up."
Ryan was lost, as he looked through the stack. It was information on a few Diseases that Ryan had never heard of. "What's this all about?" He asked.
"Yesterday I went to go see my friend Chris from San Diego, you remember him…Short guy with funny looking hair." Ryan nodded and Seth continued. "Well, he refereed me to a neurologist and we did a few tests…And that's what we've come up with so far."
"I don't get it." Ryan replied. "Why did you go see a neurologist?"
Seth hesitated. "I've been having some pain."
"Right, the other day you couldn't move. You told me it was nothing, Seth." Ryan was starting to get mad at him.
"And it wasn't."
Ryan looked down at the stack of papers. "This looks serious, Seth. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? Inclusion Body Myositis?" Ryan started reading them out loud. "Mir-"
Seth interrupted him. "I know what's written down, Ryan. Believe me, I've been staring at it for hours now, trying to comprehend everything." The room fell silent and Seth shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Look, I thought it was nothing but according to Dr. Bell, at the Grace Hospital in San Diego, he said it was something I shouldn't ignore…I have to go back there tomorrow to have a muscle biopsy." Seth explained. "They need to look at my muscle tissue to figure out exactly what's wrong and to rule out a few things."
"So, when do you plan on telling Summer about all of this?" Ryan asked.
"I wasn't planning on telling her anytime soon." Seth replied. "Once my muscle tissue is examined, I'll know what's wrong and then maybe after that I'll tell her. Just not now."
"Don't you think she has a right to know? I mean, she thinks you're cheating on her."
"I just need to go to San Diego for just one more day and then after that everything will go back to normal again." Seth assured him. "Come on, man, if it were you in my situation…I'm guessing you would do the same thing?"
"Probably not, but I guess you're right. Wait for the test result to come back and then tell her what's up. It could be nothing, right?"
Seth shrugged. "I don't know. I hope it's nothing, but the way I've been feeling these past few weeks…Ryan, somethings wrong me." Seth ran his hands threw his Jew-Fro. "Well, no use worry about it, huh? Whatever happens, happens." Seth stood up. "Promise me you won't tell anyone? I just need to keep this a secret for now until I know what's really wrong."
"Okay, I promise but you better call me as soon as you find out tomorrow."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
You like? Don't like? REVIEW!