..oOOo..


Larson’s reaction to the theory was understandably skeptical, but
she agreed that they had little else to go on.  She took another
blood sample from Langly and told them she would run the tests
herself.  She explained that she wanted to keep this private, 
between only herself and the two men involved.

When she returned with the newest test results, Langly was 
so anxious to see them he was practically vibrating.  Byers 
held his hand to keep him still.  "Is it the same?"  the younger
man asked abruptly as she walked in the door.

The doctor smiled at her excitable patient and handed over the
folder, which he dug into immediately.  "Yes;  actually, the 
imbalance is even more pronounced, with higher levels of 
HCG than before."  She shook her head in perplexed wonder.
"I honestly don’t know what to tell you."

Byers looked up at her from the pages now scattered across the
blanket.  He bit his lip, concerned.  "Is he in any danger?  I mean,
what can this be doing to his system right now?"

She shrugged.  "From what I can see, and from what you guys
have told me, it doesn’t seem to be doing any serious harm.  
Granted, vomiting, fever and back pain can’t be very pleasant,
and it does worry me.  But so far, it looks like he’s just going
through some early symptoms of pregnancy.  How that’s even
possible, I don’t know."

The older man sighed, glancing down at the thoroughly occupied
patient.  He thought for a moment, then spoke again.  "Could this
be psychosomatic?"  

Langly’s head shot up at that, giving Byers a questioning look but
stayed silent.

"Why?  Do you know someone close to you who is pregnant, or 
has been recently?"

"Yes, a friend of ours.  Could this just be some kind of....um, like,
*sympathy* illness?"  Langly contributed quietly.

The doctor considered that, then shook her head slightly.  "I’m not
sure..."  she said.  "I mean, I’ve seen this kind of thing on a smaller
level in expectant fathers, but never any chemical or uncontrollable
physical response like you are having."

"Oh,"  Byers sighed.  "Well, would it be all right if we called our 
friend in to help, anyway?  She’s a medical doctor, and she kind of
specializes in...uh, unusual circumstances."

"That might be a good idea, actually.  She may be able to figure 
this out better than any doctors around here, including me.  Let 
me know if she’ll be around;  I’d like to talk to her as well."  

"Of course.  We’ll page you if you’re still on duty."  Byers gave her
a smile before she turned and left the room.

With a weary sigh, Byers flopped down into the chair.  "This is just
getting weirder, Ree."

"Yeah..."  Langly agreed.  "So, you gonna call Scully in?"

"I think we need to.  I mean, it seems like she’s the best person to
ask about something like this, don’t you?"

Langly nodded reluctantly.  "I just hope she doesn’t think we’re nuts."

"She won’t, don’t worry.  It’s not just you;  there’s these test results
that can’t be explained, either."  Byers waved a hand indicating the
papers on the bed.

The younger man just nodded vaguely, his gaze unfocused.  

Byers leaned forward, looking up at him with concern.  "Ree?  You
okay?"

Langly glanced at him quickly, as if drawn from deep thought.  "Huh?
Oh, yeah, I’m fine.  Just thinking..."

"About what?"

The younger man snorted.  "What do you think?  It’s just..." he started,
his fist tightening as he started, then decided against it and raked his hand
through his hair instead.  "I wish there was a way for you to understand 
how I feel.  It’s like...I *feel* different, you know?"  He shook his head,
frustrated at his lack of words.  "Of course you don’t..."

"Ree, I can’t know unless you tell me, hon.  Try."

"What’s the point?"  Langly shot back suddenly.  "You and Larson and
everyone else are just looking for the logical, scientific excuse for whatever 
is going on with me.  None of you will even consider the possibility
that maybe...just *maybe*, I could be really carrying a child!"

Byers sat back, wide-eyed and stunned at the angry, emotional 
outburst.  "God, Ringo..." he said quietly, reaching up to stroke
the other man’s arm gently.  "You know, it’s not that I’m trying
not to believe you, it’s just...it’s too soon to know what’s going
on."

Langly looked away, his jaw clenched in silent anger.

The older man moved, sitting on the bed in front of his lover, 
bringing one hand up to gently turn the other man’s face toward
him.  "Listen to me.  Even if there is the slightest chance that you
are right, I would still rather know all the facts before jumping
into this, okay?"

When he got no answer, he continued.  "Believe me on this.  If
it were really possible, you have to know how happy it would make
me to have children with you.  But the moment I fell in love with you,
I consciously made that choice, knowing that neither of us would
ever be fathers.  

"Seeing you like this, stuck in the hospital and in pain...that’s not
worth it, baby.  I won’t risk putting you though this, risking your
health or even your life because of something that isn’t supposed
to happen.  Okay?"

Reluctantly, Langly gave him a small nod of understanding.  "Yeah,"
he said quietly.  "You’re right."

The two men sat in tense, uncertain silence until the night nurse came
to the room to settle Langly in for the evening.  

Visiting hours over, Byers stood to leave his lover for the night.  He
shrugged on his jacket, then leaned over the other man.  "You going
to be okay?" he said softly, absently arranging the blanket as Langly
made himself comfortable.

The younger man nodded, resting his head on the pillow. 

"Okay,"  Byers smiled at him.  "Get some sleep, and I’ll come back
in the morning."   He bend down to kiss his partner’s forehead gently.
"Love you."  

Langly rolled his eyes, shooting an embarrassed glance towards the 
nearby nurse, who was holding back her own smile.  "Love you too...
now go home!"  he said with a teasing smile.

"I’m going already!  Call if you need anything..."

"Yeah, I know...thanks."


..oOOo..


8:04 am Wednesday

When Byers got to Langly’s room the next morning, he wasn’t surprised
to find the bed empty, the tangled sheets and blanket evidence enough to
tell the older man what his lover was doing.

That, and the unmistakable sound of retching coming from the tiny 
bathroom attached to the room.

Byers only made it as far as the end of the bed before he saw the 
younger man stumble out of the room, supported gently by a nurse.  
The older man immediately took over, helping Langly back into bed.
He almost missed the weakly whispered "Thanks," as the ill man fell
back asleep as soon as he hit the mattress.

Fussing with pulling the blankets over her patient, the nurse glanced
at Byers briefly.  "When I came to check on him about ten minutes ago
he was already getting sick," she said apologetically.  

"It’s okay, we were kind of expecting it.  Um, can you page his 
doctor?  She’s Kerri Larson;  she needs to know he got sick again."

"Of course, I’ll go page her,"  she said pleasantly, striding out of the 
room quickly.

Byers looked down at his sleeping lover and sighed.  The younger
man’s hair was a hopelessly tangled mess, his face flushed and 
breathing labored from being sick.  A light touch of his fingers 
against Langly’s forehead confirmed the presence of the fever.
"Oh, Ree..." he breathed quietly before taking his now-familiar
seat next to the bed.

When Larson arrived fifteen minutes later, Langly was still asleep.
"How’s he doing?" she asked as soon as she got into the room, 
taking up the chart at the end of the bed to study the overnight notes.

"Well, when I got here he was throwing up, but one of the nurses was
taking care of him,"  Byers answered.

She nodded as she started taking Langly’s stats even as he slept, jotting
notes on the page as she went.  "Well, he seems to be okay now;  just
sleeping.  Did you get a chance to call your doctor friend?"

"Yeah, I called her last night.  She said she’d try to come over sometime
today, but it probably won’t be until late this afternoon when she gets
off work."

Again, the doctor nodded agreeably.  She took a last glance over her
patient and started back toward the door.  "I’ll be around all day, so
if anything changes make sure that I’m paged.  As soon as your friend
gets here tell her to ask for Ringo’s charts at the nurse’s station;  let
her get a head start into this so we can compare notes."

"I’ll do that, thanks."  Byers leaned back in the chair and crossed his
arms over his chest.  

After she’d left, he sighed quietly to himself.  "Not that it’ll do her 
any good," he mumbled.


..oOOo..