2. I Should Tell You (Angel and Collins)
"Come on, honey! We have to go," I shouted up at Collins when Mark and I returned to the loft.
"Yeah, I'm coming," he replied, looking like he had been crying.
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The walk to Life Support was awkward, at best. I kept having this feeling that Collins wanted to talk about something. On the way home, something in his eyes told me I was going to find out whether I wanted to or not.
"Hey, Angel-love, can we talk?" Collins had more fear in his voice than I have ever heard.
"Sure, baby, but what about?"
"Well you haven't been to the doctor in a while and I real-." I cut him off with a wave of my hand. I knew what he was going to say.
"Collins, you know the doctors told me not to go back unless I felt awful, or any different than before."
"Well, yeah, but I think you should go a-." Another wave of my hand.
"I don't want to talk about it!" I felt bad for shouting at him but, physically, I felt fine- well better than I had in the past few weeks anyway. The next week something happened to me that made me want to go to the hospital without Collins, and I didn't want him to know.
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"Miss… ter Schunard, I have some unfortunate news to tell you," the doctor in the clinic announced to me as he walked into the waiting area.
"Dr. Vasquez, spare me the pleasantries and tell me the news…and miss is fine." The tan-skinned doctor lowered himself in to a chair beside me and put
his hand around my shoulder.
"Angel, I'm afraid to tell you that in your blood work, your T-cells were quite low." He sighed a deep, mournful sigh. I knew what was coming next. " I'm asking that you be admitted into the intensive care unit of the hospital… for observation."
"ICU? No."
"Miss Schunard, this is for the best, you realize that, don't you? We
need to make sure you're alright."
"I don't care, Doctor." I attempted to get up from the chair I had
been sitting in, but his arm restrained me. "I would like you to remove your arm now, or you will want to call me mister," I spat, my voice lowering a near octave.
He smiled ruefully and lifted his arm, but not before saying "If you change your mind, our doors are always open."
