"How's Alan doing?" John asked, leaning against the door frame of the middle brother's room. Virgil was at his desk, surrounded by medical books and the internet, doing research.
"It's a small infection, the antibiotics should work and he'll be fine," Virgil said looking up. "He doesn't have tetanus if that's what you think."
"Then why are you sitting in here?"
"I think something else is wrong," Virgil muttered. "He's anemic, gets infections easily, he's constantly not feeling well. And he's been looking pale lately. Ever since...look I just want to make sure there' snot else that's wrong with him."
"Ever since Slovakia?" John asked, referring to the incident with the chemical factory. "That was six months ago."
"I know, I know," Virgil half-shouted. He was tired and frustrated. He felt like he'd let his little brother down. There was a silence between the two before Virgil spoke again. "I'm sorry I shouted," he apologized. He turned to his blond haired older brother, finally letting some of his fear show on his face. "Johnny, I think we need to take him to the mainland," he said. "I have a friend at Boston General who could help. I'm so out of depth here."
John went over and placed a hand on his brother. It was hard for Virgil to ask for help, letting John know the gravity of the situation. "Then we'll go. We can take Alan tomorrow. I have to make a supply run anyway. We can check in on the TI buildings in Boston and it'll be fine. We don't need to worry anymore if we don't need to." Virgil nodded, agreeing with the plan. There was no need to panic if there wasn't a reason to.
"Hey," Milo grinned, catching his girlfriend in the emergency room intake. He pulled her into a corner and kissed her. "Did I ever tell you I find you attractive in uniform?" he asked between kisses.
"Oh yeah, black pants and a khaki colored short sleeves are so attractive," Lucy smiled. "You know who has better uniforms? St. Louis EMS," she said, going back to an earlier conversation of moving. Milo had a year left in his residency before taking a fellowship.
"New York City has the same color uniforms," Milo said, arguing for the move to the city. Lucy Jane frowned, not a fan of the Big Apple. Boston was as big of a city as she liked/could tolerate.
"Pause," she said. "I don't want to argue about that here. We're both on the clock and a doing this is enough trouble," she pointed to the two of them in a corner making out.
"Resume when we get home?" Milo suggested. "Oh, but can we wait after dinner? Yesterday we got into it for a while and soup doesn't taste as good cold as pasta does."
"Fine. After dinner," Lucy agreed and held up her pink for their pinky promise. "Is that it? I need to get back to my unit."
Milo peered around the corner before looking back at her. "Actually Jonas is trying to hit on the nurse again so I say you have another ten minutes before you move out. Oh guess what," he said suddenly remembering.
"What?"
"The Tracys are up in radiology right now," Milo said in a hushed tone. That got Lucy Jane's attention.
"For your grant?" she asked, referring to the scholarship Milo had applied for. It would cover a lot of his school debt and expenses in the moving for his fellowship if he got it.
Milo shook his head. "I don't think so. I think one of them is getting checked. I was in the lab grabbing some scans when they kicked me out. But it looked like Virgil and Alan Tracy were walking in, and the Alan guy looked like he was ready to throw up. The entire floor has been sectored off for their safety."
Lucy Jane whispered. "The whole floor with restricted access? I guess money can buy a lot of things. What do you think they're in for? I mean don't they have a lab on their island or something?" Milo shrugged.
"Hey Lucille, quit sucking face with your boyfriend and let's roll," Jonas shouted from across the room. Lucy Jane snarled, hating being called Lucille.
"So much for ten minutes," she leaned up and gave him a last kiss. "Gotta run. Text me if you're getting home late."
"You text me. Last time you were the one who pulled the double not me," Milo reminded her as she walked off.
"Hey I was saving people's lives. Going into the dangers," she responded with a laugh.
"Dad I'm fine," Alan said into a phone. "You don't need to shut down all of International Rescue because of me. We're getting the results today and then I'm sure Virgil will call." He leaned against the uncomfortable backrest of the hospital waiting room. Virgil was not too far, talking with his doctor friend and occasionally glancing over at him to make sure he was alright.
It had been almost two weeks since they'd first come to Boston; the most time Alan had spent in the city since graduating from Harvard. He was twenty-four now, only three years since he'd graduated college, but it felt much longer. So much had changed since his crimson days. After college, he'd done one more year on the professional circuit for NASCAR -something he'd started in his Sophomore year- before retiring and joining International Rescue. There were days were the itch of speed and the black road called to him, but then he jumped into Three and the itch was gone. Three went faster than his car could have ever taken him.
This past week though had seemed like a long one. Virgil had brought him in for some tests, and they quickly canceled out some things that were possibly wrong with him. John had to head back home without them because he had to go back to the Island with the supplies and head back up to Five for his rotation. Alan had gone through scans, had his blood drawn and more recently and painfully had a bone marrow biopsy. Now they were just waiting on the results.
"Alan? Alan?" His father's voice in his ear brought him back to the fact that they were still talking.
"Sorry dad got distracted," Alan said. He looked around and saw a doctor with charts heading his way. He mouthed Alan Tracy with a questioning look. Alan nodded and put up his hand in a wait sign. "Hey dad there's a doctor here trying to talk to me. We'll call you later okay?"
He hung up and turned his attention to the doctor before him. "Sorry for the interruption," the doctor started and held out his hand. "Mr. Tracy, I'm Dr. Milo Abandonato."
"Please call me Alan," Alan smiled as he took the doctor's hand. "Abandonato, that's Italian isn't it?"
Milo smirked slightly. "Yeah, not many know that. It means forsaken or abandoned. The nuns who found me thought it would be appropriate since I was left on the church steps. So call me Milo, Alan."
That shocked Alan, hearing that he'd been abandoned as a child. The way he was so frank about it. "So you're from Italy?" He decided it would be best to avoid the other obvious question. He hated it when people said "So your Jeff Tracy's son" because it meant they'd already assumed something about him.
"Worse, Missouri," Milo joked. "And ironically I'm also Greek. Anyway, I have the results from your bone marrow biopsy if you'd like to go somewhere else to discuss them."
"So there's something to discuss?" Alan asked. His heart beat rapidly, his mind already wondering what could be wrong. He glanced over at Virgil, who also looked over and saw his brother's worried gaze. "Dr. Milo this is my brother Virgil."
"Dr. Milo Abandonato," Milo reintroduced, shaking the musician's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tracy."
"Your Alan's doctor?" Virgil asked, eyeing the charts in the man's hand.
"I'm the resident on his case with Dr. Speeges from Oncology," Milo informed them both. "He's currently attending another patient and we were informed that you wanted the results as quickly as possible."
"Oncology? Isn't that cancer?" Alan asked, his eyes widening greatly.
"I suggest we take this Dr. Speeges office. I can explain everything there," Milo said again.
"No, tell us here," Virgil ordered. Seeing that the Tracy brothers were not going to let up, Milo conceded with a nod.
"Then please sit down," Milo suggested and pulled one of the chairs around to face the two the brothers took."The biopsy confirmed that, Alan, you have aplastic anemia. It's not cancer, but it's a disease in your bone marrow. The blood stem cells that are in your marrow have been damaged and this has caused a deficiency of all four blood cell types."
"Do you know what the cause is?" Virgil asked, slightly relieved to know that it wasn't cancer.
"It can be caused by exposure to chemicals, drugs, radiation, infection, immune diseases and it can also be hereditary. And that's in only half the cases; the other times we don't really know. I would suggest having your family checked to see whether it's hereditary."
"Can you cure it?" Alan asked quietly.
Milo nodded. "There are treatments. Immunosuppressive drugs are the first line treatments, especially when combined with corticosteroids and cyclosporine. But Dr. Speeges suggests a different route. He finds that for patients under thirty years, a hematopoietic stem cell transplant is the best results. There's a 70% survival rate after five years. Patients with transplants that have better matches have a 72% survival rate. I know it doesn't like much, but two percent is a lot." He pulled out a pamphlet for the brothers to look at. "This will tell you all you need to know about how transplant donations work, who makes the best candidates. We suggest family since the chance of finding a random donor to have such a high match rate is almost impossible. The testing for that is very simple, just a swab in the cheek."
"That's it?" Virgil asked.
Milo nodded. "Yes sir," he said. "If you have any questions, I can answer them for you. Or you can set up an appointment to meet with Dr. Speeges later if you want to talk to him directly."
"How old are you?"Virgil asked suddenly.
"Virgil," Alan warned.
"Twenty-five," Milo answered. "I'm very qualified to do my job if that's what you're wondering. I didn't read the charts wrong, and I will be able to answer the vast majority of your questions."
"Is oncology your specialty?" Virgil asked, gagging this man's ability.
"I haven't officially declared. I'm usually split between cardiology and anesthesiology, but I like oncology well enough."
"There's a lot of money in both of those," Virgil noted.
Milo shrugged. "I suppose there is. They're also the most difficult. It's vital to living, the heart. It's fragile and beautiful. And anesthesiology, it's all about finding the right balances. The equations and reactions. Money isn't really an issue though I won't lie and say it's comforting to know that I won't go broke under all my medical school debt."
Before Virgil could ask another question, Alan interrupted. "Thank you, Dr. Milo. Is there some way I can contact you later if any questions arise?"
"Yeah," Milo pulled out his wallet and looked around for a business card."Here This has my cell phone and beeper number on it. Call me whenever you have questions. And I mean whenever; my girlfriend and I don't keep normal sleep hours so don't be afraid to call in the middle of the night."
Alan took it and grinned. He liked this guy. "Thanks. We'll keep that in mind." He stood up, and Milo followed the two shaking hands.
"I don't have to remind you doctor of the doctor-patient confidentiality agreement," Virgil said shaking the guy's hand.
"No you don't Mr. Tracy," Milo replied. He knew it would kill Lucy not to know, but they had a right to their privacy just as everyone else.
A/N: Here's part two! It's a wee bit early, because I realized I was publishing at an odd time and people may not have seen it. Also I'm going out this weekend and won't be able to post. I'm thinking weekend chapter updates.
Anyway, let me know what you're thinking! Please leave a review, whether positive or negative! Feedback is always appreciated!
Have a super day!