A few more days were spent in the hospital whilst Dr House did some more tests. Francis stayed by Arthurs side the whole time except for when he needed to get changed or something, but most of the time he was there, and feeling very guilty, thinking he was the one who had caused Arthur such pain.
Arthur regained some strength but was still quite weak and didn't want to eat or drink, but Francis made him eat or drink, giving him some soup, which he rejected straight away.
"I really can't eat it." England sighed into his pillow. "It repulses me."
"Angleterre…" Francis said "You must eat it. If you don't you will have no strength at all… then were will we be?" He said "You have to sit up and eat…I want you to get better. I need you…"
"You don't need me." Arthur sighed bitterly. "You left me alone for goodness knows how long." He said "And you didn't care."
Francis looked so upset when he said that, and he put the soup down, took his husbands hand and kissed his fingers. "I gave you this ring because I love you, and I married you because I love you. I thought you had left me for Alfred and that's why you weren't talking to me or calling… I was crying most of the time. I had no idea you were lying on that apartment floor… almost dead because of…"
Arthur looked at him, the tears streaming down his own face, he was bitter and upset about the whole thing. Francis was in pieces, all hurt, and as he spoke he burst into deep sobs, so it was hard to make out what he was trying to say.
"I love you Francis…" whispered Arthur. "I just don't think you love me very much."
"Arthur…" he said through deep sobs. "I feel so guilty, I almost killed you."
At that point in came Dr House with some papers. "Cheer up Mr France." He said sort of cheerfully, and nodded to Arthur. "And you Mr UK." He said. "We did some tests and no, you're not being drained of energy by France." He said to him. "To avoid any confusion I'll come straight to the point… Mr UK you have Celiac disease." He said "The symptoms are constant pain, weakness, vitamin deficiency, emotional problems, hallucinations, and a terrible allergy to gluten and wheat. You also have a bleeding ulcer in your stomach causing you to vomit blood." He said in a matter of fact way. "Whenever you get emotionally upset its aggravating your symptoms and yes you could have died, luckily we got you in time."
Francis immediately let out a sigh of both relief and upset at the same time. "Do you mean to say he's allergic to wheat? That's what's killing him?"
"Yes." Dr House said. "But it's the blood vomit that gets me though… how long has that been going on?"
"Well… about 200 years." Arthur replied "Um… that's the equivalent of 5 years… by human standards…"
"Well I may need to do some more tests but your condition is chronic and we need to make sure that it hasn't progressed to intestinal cancer." He said seriously. "I'll do the biopsy later today, but you need to start eating differently Mr UK. None of that soup… that's bad for you. We'll write you up a diet that will help, get you on medication… and everything should clear up… if you haven't got cancer of course."
Dr House soon left the room. This was quite a revelation, and Francis had never even heard of Celiac disease before, neither had Arthur, and he had no idea he was suffering from it.
"I wonder when I developed an allergy to wheat?" He mumbled grasping Francis' hand.
"I thought it was me…." Francis uttered as he hugged him tight. "I thought I was draining you of energy, I thought I was killing you." He said. "I feel so guilty, how can I ever make it up to you Arthur?" He cried. "I had no idea it was Celiac disease, and now you might have intenstinal cancer…. "
For what seemed like hours they just held each other and wept, but at least they knew what was going on now. The deep injury wasn't caused by emotions or dark forces or missing America, England was suffering from an allergy, and as a result he couldn't absorb vitamins or keep his strength up.
"You're going to need me more and more Arthur…" Francis said softly as he began to recover from feeling upset. "I … I want you to know I will be there for you… no matter what." He said, as he stroked his husbands tender face. "I have always, loved you. I only wish I wasn't so insecure myself…"
Arthur looked into his husbands eyes and saw true love there. "We can learn to trust each other again F..Francis…" He said with hope in his heart.
"We can and will…" Francis replied "And you have to let me help you ok?" he continued "If we let America know, and the others, they will be understanding…"
"Must we?" Asked Arthur "I don't want them to pity me…"
Francis nodded. "I know, but the best way for them not to worry about you or pity you is to let them know exactly what is going on. They might not have heard of Celiac disease either."
"I don't know how I developed it… " Arthur groaned as Francis hugged him tight.
"Maybe you always had it." He replied "You were a bit of a sickly child in the beginning. You were strong for a while but now you need someone… let me be that someone."
"You are that someone." Arthur replied. "Thank you for everything… I was just so hurt when you left but… if you promise me you won't do that again… we can start afresh can't we?"
"Yes of course my love, of course we can." He replied as he rocked him and held him close. He still wondered why he felt so powerful at times when he watched Arthur weep and that was still a puzzle, but for now he was determined to be there for his husband, to help him battle that wretched disease and look after him.
