I know it's depressing you guys. I do. But I promise that things are going to start looking up. Right after this last depressing chapter! Oh and I don't own any of these people except of course for Danni, Lizette, Tobias, Kirsten, and Dr. Wilson. All others are products of the brilliant mind of Mr. Jonathan Larson.

Chapter 9

The group jumped into Joanne's Suburban and sped off to the hospital not twenty minutes later. Lizette was not responding to anyone, she just stayed asleep. Roger was holding her in his arms with Danni next to him murmuring to both of the girls. It wasn't doing much good but it made him feel better. The drive to the hospital seemed to take forever, but finally they made it. Roger, Mark, and Danni jumped out of the SUV with Lizette and hurried to the front desk.

The receptionist looked up as they came in. "Can I help you?" she asked in cold voice.

Roger was instantly brought back to the night when Mimi had been admitted to this same hospital. He shook those memories off; he couldn't afford to lose it now. "My daughter, she's been asleep for twelve hours and she had a really high fever this morning." The lady gave him a 'now-why-is-that-my-problem' look. "She's fucking HIV positive." Roger added.

That made her pay attention. "Alright sir, we'll take her back and a doctor will see what's going on. Meanwhile, you need to fill out these papers."

"We've been here before." Mark interjected. "They should already be filled out."

"Name?" the lady asked.

"Roger Davis." Mark said. The doctor had just arrived and was taking Lizette away as Roger watched in fear.

"Oh." The receptionist said. She had obviously just gotten to the part where Mimi had died there. "You're right, all your information is here already. You can just have a seat until the doctor returns."

Mark, Roger, and Danni filed into the waiting room. There was nothing they could do now, but wait. Not long after, the rest of the gang showed up.

"Have they said anything yet?" Kirsten wanted to know.

Roger shook his head. "They've gotta run some tests first. Who knows how long that will take."

"Things will be okay Roger." Angel said and took her knitting out of her bag. "Life is rarely this cruel. That girl needs your influence as much as you need hers. She won't be taken away from you."

All the males stared at Angel while the women nodded in agreement. Collins shook his head. "Ang, you impress me more and more each day." He said. Roger and Mark bobbed their heads in agreement with him. The drag queen smiled and continued to knit.

About forty minutes later, the doctor finally came out. Roger leapt to his feet and went over to him. "How's my daughter. Is she okay?"

"She'll live." Dr. Wilson intoned. The group breathed a collective sigh of relief. "But she's still very sick and it's peculiar. Her T-cells are at an okay level, she's fully hydrated and her vitals are fine. However, she seems to have temporarily shut down."

"Can't you just wake her up?" Roger asked.

"We would. But her sleep seems to be almost restorative. Every few minutes her vitals look better."

"She can't stay asleep forever!" Roger said angrily. "She'll need to eat and take her medicine."

Dr. Wilson nodded. "We're feeding her through an IV right now and we gave her a shot of azidothymidine when she came in. I suggest leaving her alone until tomorrow, while thoroughly monitoring her of course. When did she fall asleep?"

"At about eleven this morning." Roger responded.

"With your consent we'll give it until eleven tomorrow morning and then wake her up. We'll decide what course to take from there." Dr. Wilson said.

Roger mulled this over in his head. He turned around beckoned Danni over. He quickly explained to her what the doctor wanted to do. "She's closer to you than she is to me." Roger said. "Do you think we should let them keep her asleep?"

Danni sucked in a breath and looked at the doctor. "Will she be in any danger if you keep her under?" she asked. Dr. Wilson shook his head. "Alright," the teenager consented. "Do it."

Dr. Wilson raised an eyebrow and looked at Roger. "Do it." The musician echoed his daughter. The doctor nodded and went back to where they were monitoring Lizette. Roger slung an arm around his older daughter's shoulder. Together they walked back to the group.

"So now what?" Maureen asked.

Roger shrugged. "Now we go home and wait." He told her. "They're going to keep Lizette under until tomorrow morning since her sleep seems to be restorative. There's nothing more we can do."

They all trudged back to Joanne's SUV to make the drive home. Joanne dropped Collins and Angel off first. Kirsten said that she was going to stay at the loft, so the lawyer headed there next. Roger, Mark, Kirsten, and Danielle got out of the vehicle when they arrived.

"We'll be back around eight tomorrow morning Roger." Joanne said. "I know you want to be there when they wake Lizette up."

The musician nodded and smiled weakly. "Thanks Jo. It means a lot."

She waved away his gratitude. "How else would you get there?" she reasoned. "Goodnight everyone." Maureen waved tiredly from the passenger side and they drove off. Roger and the others climbed up the stairs to their home in silence. There was nothing to say really. The next day would tell it all.

A/N: See Lizette's going to live. I wouldn't do that to you guys. Anyway, I have no idea what happens when small children have HIV so I'm winging all of this. Thanks to all that contributed to the massive flux of reviews I got last night. They made me happy. It's nice to know you're still reading.