Brian pulled the silver BMW into the parking spot on the oncology patient's ramp at Tampa General. Dr. Andersen had contacted him by pager early this morning to meet in her office and after he had returned her page, he felt anything but calm. As much as he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling of worry out of his head.

Doctors usually made it a habit to contact a patient advocate after a BMT, don't they?

Or did they?

Whatever the older woman's reasons were to page him at five a.m. must have been too important that couldn't wait until normal office hours.

Slipping hit Atlanta Braves baseball cap securely ontop of his sandy brown hair, Brian trudged up to the automatic sliding glass doors, half expecting them to be locked since it was still early dawn, only to be mildy surprised when they hissed open and the all-too-familiar stale cleaned hospital carpet wafted into his nostrils. He barely set his foot into the lobby when he was met by the very tired looking physician. She immediately approached the young man, offering Brian an outstretched hand.

"Brian, thank you for coming as soon as I paged," she said as she shook his hand. Instead of leading Brian back to her office, she quickly took a seat on one of the spacious waiting room couches and Brian followed suit and sat beside the older woman.

He tried to gage the woman's temperament as he studied her tired face and normally Brian was a type of person that could read people's body language and expression but the doctor's face held anything but answers.

"I-is something wrong w-with Nick?" Brian stammered.

Dr. Andersen sighed. "I wish I could tell you no, but unfortunately things are happening that I wasn't expecting."

Brian sat stock still not daring to speak.

"You know how Nickolas has a history of running high fevers?"

Normally Brian would have smiled at the memory of how something as simple as an ear infection in Nick could produce a fever as high as 104 degrees he could only shake his head mutely.

"One of the more common post BMT side effects is fever and unfortunately, Nickolas has spiked a temp higher than I have anticipated after a BMT. We have been able to bring the fever down a few degrees but he did suffer a slight seizure from the fever. I am still worried about him."

Brian gasped.

"The seizures aren't anything that would be permanent or cause any damage to Nickolas. They may happen again and I'm sure you as a patient advocate would like to take the opportunity to let his family and friends know that this can and will happen again before he reaches several days later post BMT."

Brian shook his head in agreement. "I'll do anything you want me to do."

Dr. Andersen sighed, licking her lips. "I do have another wrinkle with Nick's care."

He arched an eyebrow in question.

"His mother--"

This time Brian finally interrupted the woman. "Jane? What on Earth did she do now?"

"I hate talking badly about my patient's family members but that woman leaves.....oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't be saying anything to you about this."

Brian placed his hands ontop of the doctor's, looking at her with understanding in his eyes. "You don't have to go into details. Lord knows we've all had to deal with Mrs. Carter and her insecurities and how no one can do things the way she sees fit. Does she know about the seizures?"

Dr. Andersen shook her head. "The seizure happened an hour before I paged you. I haven't contacted anyone else but you."

"I'll take care of Jane. You take care of Nick."

"Nick did a wonderful job of selecting you as his Patient Advocate," Dr. Andersen smiled.

"Would there be any way possible that I could go look in on Nick since no one else is around and all? I know he's in isolation but I'd really like to see him."

"Normally I'd say no this early after the BMT but I think it would be okay, you realize he may not even know you're there," she warned.

"That doesn't matter to me, I just sort of want to be able to see him," Brian replied quietly.

The older woman smiled tiredly. "Follow me then, I'll take you to him."

Brian followed Dr. Andersen's isolation precaution procedures to the letter and copied the moves as the doctor meticulously scrubbed her fingers. Once gowned and gloved, Brian followed the woman into Nick's room.

"I just need to check a few things and then you can be alone with Nick for awhile," the older woman promised in a quiet voice.

Brian nodded and remained standing.

"Brian, you can pull a chair up next to the bed if you'd like."

Brian immediately pulled the chair from the corner of the room and situated it next to the side of the hospital bed. He watched as the doctor fiddled with the IV bags and re-checked the tubing that was fed into the port in Nick's collarbone. She was doing the work that the nurses usually did and he knew that the doctor cared very much for her young patient and this had always made Brian feel more at ease with Nick's care being in her hands. She took a thermometer that was beside all of the equipment in his room and placed the device in his ear. She only had to wait a few moments before the signal went off. Looking at the numbers, the doctor frowned for a moment. "His temperature is down but it is still pretty high. I will be putting in orders for them to increase IV fluids to hopefully keep a rise at bay."

It wasn't until the doctor had switched her attention from the IV's to fussing with Nick's blankets did Brian feel it was a good time to talk.

"Dr. Andersen....can I ask you a question?"

As the doctor smoothed the folds on the top portion of Nick's blankets, she looked over at Brian.

Brian gestured toward his face and then his hands. "Is this stuff really necessary?"

"The mask and the gloves?"

"Yeah.....we totally disinfected our hands before putting this stuff on and I'm not sick..."

The doctor studied Nick's face as she pondered Brian's question. "Well I suppose it would be more important for the hospital staff to be gloved and masked because we are in contact with so many patients in the course of a day, but I suppose for you the gloves wouldn't be as necessary. You're not sick or been in contact with someone thats been sick?"

Brian shook his head.

The doctor sighed. "I suppose it will be okay...you can take off the gloves but not the mask.....I will let them know that I gave you permisson to be here and not to follow total isolation precautions in case one of his nurses comes in and wants to read the riot act." As the doctor made her way to the door, she paused. "Is there anything else you have questions on?"

"No....thanks, Dr. Andersen."

The doctor paused at the door. "I will be back later on today to check on Nickolas."

Brian turned his attention back to Nick once the door had softly closed. He could tell that the doctor was worried but he tried to brush the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach that her concern was something to be alarmed about. The call he had gotten early this morning had scared him and now Brian decided that he was reading too much into how the doctor was acting or what she was saying. He had reached a hand up to run it across his forehead but quickly stopped his gesture when he felt the glove touch his skin. He smirked as he looked at the purple latex-free glove and quickly took them off. He tugged at the mask, trying to get more comfortable and prayed that his clausterphobia would be held at bay until he was ready to leave.

With his hands finally free of the gloves, Brian laid a hand ontop of Nick's, instantly feeling the feverish warmth of his skin. With his thumb he stroked at Nick's hand as he looked at his face. Nick's cheeks were flushed from fever and Brian thought they actually had a healthy glow - healthy for Nick anyway. His skin usually had a yellowish pallor. Shaking his head, Brian admonished himself again for looking for things that may not be actually there.

Shifting his body into a more comfortable position, Brian kept his eyes on his best friend's face. His thoughts drifted back to the memories of Nick when he had been healthy and was a bundle of boundless energy. Looking at Nick, Brian found himself again wishing that this was all a sick, twisted dream and that Nick was only sick with something simple and easily cureable.

A soft moan snapped Brian from his thoughts and he quickly squeezed his younger brother's hand. "Sh-h-h, it's okay kiddo, I'm here," he soothed.

Nick slowly turned onto his side facing Brian, drawing his legs up. The movement had Brian concerned that he was in pain. As soon as he had turned to the one side, Nick slowly turned in the opposite direction.

"Nicky, do you want me to get someone?"

Nick heard Brian's voice as if he was far away from him. He turned his body onto his side, to move felt almost impossible. "I....I'm fine," he whimpered.

Brian looked at his friend questionably. "I can tell you're uncomfortable....I'm getting the nurse."

Before Nick could protest, Brian pressed the call button and a nurse quickly appeared.

"Nick is getting a little uncomfortable," Brian stated as he gestured toward the bed. The nurse nodded affirmatively and quickly left the room.

"Bri....why did you do that?" Nick asked in a hoarse whisper.

Brian placed a hand ontop of Nick's stroking it. "Because I know you're in pain and you're too stubborn to say anything."

Nick closed his eyes for a moment. "Yeah but..."

Smiling, Brian shook his head. "You're such a stubborn ass."

Before Nick could reply, the nurse appeared in the room, hanging a fresh bag on the IV pole. "This should help," she said as she punched buttons on the IV box. Opening his eyes, Nick simply shook his head negatively, the nurse looked down at her patient with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong?"

Looking away from the nurse, Nick turned his attention back toward his best friend. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he faught to keep his eyes open.

Having the close bond they did as only best friends could, Brian placed a hand on Nick's shoulder. "It's okay buddy....just concentrait on getting better."