The next morning, Lucas couldn't keep anything down. Thankfully, his pain had lessened, but he was sore from bringing up everything in his stomach, and he still couldn't stop shaking.

They tried their best to get some fluids in him, but felt they were fighting a losing battle.

The doctor returned to check on him.

"He's becoming badly dehydrated. It might be better to check him into a hospital."

Lucas' eyes flew open. "No!" He cast a panicked look at Tony.

"Sorry, Doc, not an option. What else can we do?"

"A hospital would be the best place..."

Lucas' breathing began to sound strange, and Tony realized that he was hyperventilating. He grabbed his friend's hand and tilted his chin until they were eye to eye.

"No hospital, Lucas, while I can help it. Unless we can't look after you here, you're not going anywhere, I promise you that, okay?"

Lucas started to breathe normally again, and Tony turned to the Doctor.

"No hospitals, Doc. Sorry."

Doc Jacobson watched in concern. "Alright. I'll write you a prescription for a rehydrating solution, make sure he drinks it. And keep trying to get him to drink as much as possible, any clear fluids."

Dagwood spoke up. "He'll drink them, won't you Lucas?"

Lucas nodded tiredly. The doctor headed to the hall.

"Anthony, a word please!"

Tony squeezed Lucas' hand one more time and headed out. Even with the situation, he couldn't resist quipping, "What's up, Doc?"

The doctor ignored the pun. "What was that about?"

"When he first got injured, we had to go on assignment. They put him in a hospital until we got back. It was that one in news, the one they closed down. He nearly died in there. They kept him drugged and restrained. I was with the group that went to get him out, it was like hell in there. Don't imagine he ever wants to go near a hospital again."

"Of course! I read his file, I'm sorry, I didn't make the connection. No wonder he was upset. I didn't see anything about panic attacks in his file."

"No, I don't think he ever had one until he got here. Says something about my family, huh?"

"How many has he had?"

"That was his third. He had one when he first arrived and saw his room. Said it suddenly hit him. Then he had one yesterday when...well, my dad, he said a few things that weren't very nice. That was a bad one, he left the store and was outside in the snow when Angie found him. Probably what started this whole thing, huh?"

"No. As tempting as it is to blame your father for this, I imagine he picked up the bug a day or two before. It wouldn't have helped, though."

He thought for a moment. "I haven't had a chance to speak to Doctor Perry yet, but I see he's on a low dose anti-depressant. It might be a good idea to get him on something a little stronger, I'll try and speak with her about it. In the meantime, keep taking care of him, you're doing a great job!"

Tony went back into his room. Lucas watched him anxiously.

"Relax, he was just telling me what a great job Dag and me are doing!"

"No hospital?"

"Not if we can help it! We'll send the boys out and they can buy that stuff he was talking about. In the meantime, want to try drinking some more juice?"

By the afternoon, his stomach had settled enough that he was able to keep down the fluids they were giving him. He spent the day drinking (as he said) ridiculous quantities of juice and clear broth, and resting, and seemed to be feeling much better by the evening. He was even grumbling about having to stay in bed all day.

Angie managed to tempt him to eat some chicken noodle soup and bread. She sat with him as he ate, making light conversation. They started talking about how long the family had known Doc Jacobson, and how well he had looked after the irascible Great Aunt Irene.

"Angie?"

"Yes, Honey?"

"How long have you lived in this house?"

She looked very far away as she answered. "I've lived here all my life."

"Nick wasn't lying, was he? He needs you to sell the house so he can use the money."

"No, he wasn't lying. Not about that, anyway. But he was wrong to involve you, this is none of your concern."

"But you'd have to sell the house?"

"Maybe it would be nice to have a change!" She smiled again, a false smile this time, trying to be brave. "Might be good for us, a change of scene. We could use some shaking up! All finished?"

He nodded, and she took his plate away. By the time they went to sleep, they all felt that he was getting better.

They sat together in the family room. It was early, but Lucas was sleeping so soundly that it seemed likely he would be out for hours. They left the door ajar, so they could hear him if he woke.

Dagwood was once again devouring cookies, this time accompanied by hot apple cider. They sat quietly, holding their mugs.

Ricky broke the silence.

"Man, he is really sick, isn't he?"

Tony nodded. "He's been through a lot. Now his immune system is shot to hell, every little thing's gonna knock him back."

Eddie spoke up.

"Your mom told us what happened. Pretty awful alright!"

Angie smiled at the understatement. "He isn't having a lot of luck right now, but I'm sure he'll feel better soon."

Gina looked around the room.

"You know the worst part? We were talking, at the store, y'know? And I was going to tell you when we got home, but then everything happened and I never got the chance, and then with everything today, there wasn't a good time to bring it up..."

Tony put his face in his hands. "Aw, no! What now?"

"Oh, nothing like that! It's just, we were talking, and I asked him his star sign..." she blushed a little, "you know, just out of curiosity. And he said he didn't know. So I asked him, when's his birthday?"

She paused, seeing she had their attention.

"It's December 23rd. Tomorrow."