AN: Hi! I know, it's another short chapter. I'm sorry for that. I hope you enjoy what I have written and it wets your appitites for the next chapters. Thank you so much for reading and any reviews are always appreciated. I only wish I had more time to add more to the chapters and make them a little more descriptive.

Chapter Fourteen: Scary Monsters

Lily's eyes widened, she stared at James as he knelt before her and stared up at her eagerly. The wind picked up and blew strands of her bright hair into her face, she found her mouth opening and closing in shock as her thoughts flew randomly around her head like pieces of scattered paper. James' fingers were cold as they held her own, her heart beat dully in her chest as she gazed into his familiar and well loved hazel eyes. A part of her wanted to say yes, she had dreamt of marrying him when they had first got together, she knew that he would make a good husband and she knew she loved him deeply. The other, more rational, part of her considered the situation with the coldness of a scientist. The silence stretched out and James began to look worried, his face fell and she felt her heart stutter in her chest. She knew what her answer was going to be before she opened her numb lips. "James…I can't."

"What?" James' voice came out in an undignified croak, he frowned and slowly regained his feet. "Lily…I don't understand…?"

Lily released his hands and shook her head, she took a step backwards and hardened herself. She knew the words would her more than they would him, she loved him so much more than he loved her. "I'm so sorry, James…I can't marry you. Not now, not ever. We will never work and would simply end up doing nothing but hurt each other. This is the wrong way to go about things…I…I'm sorry." She watched as James' face contorted before finally settling into a hurt, bewildered expression.

"Is it because of what happened between Sirius and I? If it is then…then I'll never see him again, I can-"

"No, James! No. I would never ask that of you and you know it. I won't marry someone who is in love with someone else, it's wrong and neither of us would be happy. I can't do that to you or myself. Please, James, don't make this any harder than it has to be."

"But I-"

"I'm so sorry." Lily whispered, her voice catching as she fought the tears that threatened to come. "Please, don't come see me anymore…we're…we're finished. For good. I want nothing but for you to be happy and I-I'm not the person who can make that happen." She stepped close and stood on tip toe, gently she kissed him on the cheek. "Go to him, James. He loves you and you need each other." She backed away, tears making her eyes sparkle in the dying sunlight, she smiled weakly and finally turned away from him.

James stood still and stared blankly at the door as it closed softly behind his ex-girlfriend. Slowly, as if he were dreaming, he turned and walked away.

Lily heard his footsteps fading away and slowly she slid down the door, she sat on the rug and let herself release the tears. They fell down her cheeks as she buried her face in her knees. She heard the sound of slippers on the carpet and heard the sad sigh, slowly she lifted her head and saw her mother standing with her arms spread wide. "Lily, sweetheart, come here." She leapt to her feet and threw herself into her mother's arms.

XXX

Sirius sat with a cup of tea while he read the paper on his bed, he sipped it delicately and winced, still hurting from where he had been in his fight. Remus shook his head slowly and Sirius ignored him, knowing he would only berate him for getting himself into trouble. The air was cool and the window open, the flat smelt of the myriad of cleaning products Remus had used on the place. He had become a cleaning demon with his yellow rubber marigolds on and a bucket of warm, soapy water by his side. He had scrubbed, polished and dusted until the one roomed bed-sit sparkled. Sirius had found that even the single mattress he called a bed had been cleaned and was now drying in the breeze by the window. He sighed softly and winced again, his ribs ached horribly. It was then that the phone rang, Sirius jumped and almost spilt tea down himself, with a curse he jumped up and yanked the phone from it's cradle. "Yes?" He snapped irritably.

Remus watched Sirius intently as the person on the other end spoke, he saw Sirius' face slowly lose all it's colour. He nearly dropped his mug of tea but managed to save it. "Christ! Is…is he alright?" There was a pause in which Sirius' eyes widened. "Really?" Remus raised an eyebrow questioningly when Sirius turned to face him. "Oh…y-yeah, sure…I'll…I'll visit him if he wants me to. Man, that's crappy. Thanks…yeah…Ok, thanks for letting me know." He hung up with a shaky sigh and turned his wide eyes onto Remus. "Tim's been rushed into Hospital." He said weakly. "They say he's really sick…"

Remus stood up and put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Do you want to go to see him?" He asked.

Sirius nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah I do…" He breathed and forced a smile, he still looked as if he had seen a ghost. "I'll see you…see you later…" He muttered vaguely and picked up his keys and leather jacket from where the hung on the hooks Remus had put up.

Remus watched the door close behind him and frowned. Tim must have been seriously ill for Sirius to be acting so strangely. He sighed and returned to his book and tea, he would find out what had happened when Sirius returned.

XXX

Sirius entered the Hospital and went up to the desk, he was assaulted by the scent of chemicals and it stung his eyes. He wrinkled his nose in distaste as the nurse behind the desk looked up at him and smiled brightly. "Yes, can I help you sir?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for my friend Tim Underwood? He was admitted with Pneumonia."

"Ok, just a moment please…" She rummaged around in a filing cabinet before turning back and smiling at him. "He's in Intensive Care, if you follow the signs you'll find it."

"Thanks." He smiled and left the nurse to see to the next person, he read the sign and followed the directions he was pointed in until he reached a relatively small ward with several beds and a few nurses and doctors buzzing around with clip boards. The ward was silent except for the regular beep of the machines and the soft whispers of the doctors. Sirius scanned the room and spotted Tim in one of the closer beds, he tried to move forward but found himself unable to. The scent of antiseptic and the noise of the machines made Sirius want to bolt but he had come here for a reason and slowly he managed to force his feet to move. He arrived at the bedside at the same moment as a young, yellow haired doctor. The woman picked up Tim's chart and began reading while Sirius stared at the man who had first hired him and taught him to be himself. Tim was thin, his hair, that fell against the clean white pillow, looked oddly brittle and greasy beneath the buzzing electric lights. He had an oxygen mask over his face and his chest made an awful rasping noise each time he used his lungs. Sirius put a hand on the metal bedstead to steady himself as the world wavered and a surreal sense of de ja vu hit him, he jumped violently when the woman doctor put her hand on his arm.

"Sir, are you a visitor?"

"Huh? What?" Sirius muttered stupidly as he blinked at her.

"Are you visiting this man?"

"Oh…oh yeah…we're…we're friends…"

"I see." The woman replaced the clip board but before she moved away Sirius grabbed her coat sleeve.

"Uh…what's wrong with him exactly? Last time I saw him he was fine."

The woman looked Sirius up and down carefully before sighing softly and indicating that he sit down, he did as she instructed on one of the chairs available for visitors. "Mr. Underwood is suffering from a severe case of Pneumonia…"

"I know, they told me…"

The woman nodded. "It was brought on by a virus that attacks the immune system, it causes the body to weaken and leaves the victim open to all kinds of other illness. Unfortunately we don't actually know or understand very much about this virus at the moment, all we can do is treat each symptom as it comes."

Sirius stared at Tim feeling numb, he wasn't entirely sure what he should be feeling or if he should be feeling anything at all. "So…um…" He swallowed the hard lump in his throat and forced his eyes back to the doctor. "What does that mean?"

"It means that he is very sick and, I'm sorry to say, he will probably die." The woman paused with a frown as she watched Sirius take Tim's hand in one of his own.

"D-Die?" Sirius whispered.

"Sir?"

Sirius turned to her and blinked. "Yeah?"

"Have you been suffering from any strange symptoms at all? Anything that may resemble flu?"

Sirius shook his head in confusion. "No…why?"

"If I may so bold in asking…are you gay?"

"What has that got to do with anything?" Sirius asked in surprise as the woman stared at him in concern, he felt his face flush as he became uncomfortable with her scrutiny.

"It could mean everything."

Sirius looked at Tim again briefly before slowly nodding. "Yeah…Yeah I am." He breathed.

The doctor nodded and took Sirius' arm in her hand. "It may be beneficial to you if I took a blood sample and tested it for the same virus as your er…friend here." She said softly, her eyes full of concern. "We have no idea how this thing is actually spread yet but we do know that the only recorded cases so far have been found in the homosexual community. Now, you're perfectly within your right to refuse but there is a very good chance you have it too. America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are calling it GRID or Gay Related Immune Deficiency. It's really very serious…so, would you please come with me and allow yourself to be tested?"

Sirius sat perfectly still for a long moment before taking a breath. "Why does it only affect Gay men?"

The woman shrugged. "We don't know, I'm sorry. I really wish I could be more helpful."

Again Sirius took a long look at Tim's unconscious form, slowly he nodded again. "Yeah…might as well…check…" His tongue seemed too big for his mouth, he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know if he was going to die or not but the woman had offered and he could always ignore the results. He stood at the doctor's instruction and followed her numbly through the twisting, turning hallways of the Hospital.

END NOTE: Just for people's information the name AIDS and HIV wasn't actually coined until later in the eighties, in ninety eighty one when the disease was only just beginning to raise it's ugly head so to speak, it was known as GRID and only associated with Homosexuality. It wasn't until much later that they began to realise that it wasn't just Homosexual's who could contract the virus and later still when they began really telling the public about it. So, I hope you can now understand why Sirius and the doctor are so ignorant.