When she got up that morning she was alone. She had known that she would be but that didn't make it any more enjoyable. It was also raining outside. Her day would be packed with meetings, which she hated and she knew she would be spending another night by herself. It was going to be one of those days. Nothing was going to go right. She just knew it.

Nathan and Lucas had gone to a conference and would not be back for a week. Kristin did not want to get out of bed. She lay there trying to convince her body to move. Finally she got up and went to take her shower. She dressed and went to the kitchen to get something to eat, then got her things together and headed out the door.

She made a run for her car in the rain. Once she was in she put the key in the ignition but at first the engine would not turn over. "Bloody hell, not today please." She said out loud then it started. It took her longer than normal to get to work due to the weather and when she did get to her office she was already late for her first meeting. The day went down hill from there.

At some point she thought she would break down and cry. None of her meetings were going well. She got into a screaming match with one of the other Doctors at HQ and after that she decided to lock her self in her office for the rest of the day. On top of everything that had been going on she was not feeling well. She had not been feeling well for a while but wrote it off thinking she was getting the flu or something. She was getting worse though. Today she had almost passed out a few times, so she called up one of her trusted friends and a fellow Doctor.

"Dr. Beacham’s office" Kristin was looking at the face of a young woman.

"Hi, I am Dr. Kristin Westphalen. Is Dr. Beacham in?"

"Yes she is, just a moment I will let her know you are on." The girl smiled and stepped away from the link.

"I will put you through now."

"Thank you." was all Kristin could get out before the screen changed to another woman's face.

"Hi Kristin what can I do for you?" Said the other woman. She was about the same age as Kristin with black straight hair.

"Hi Julie. Well I have been feeling kinda ill lately and it is getting worse. I was wondering if I could come see you." Kristin said trying to smile.

"That would be fine I would love to see you. How about today, are you free?" Julie asked. She looked like she was looking at a book.

"Yes I can come today. What time?" Kristin did not care about her other meeting, she had to get out of there.

"Anytime is fine." Julie said looking back up at her.

"Good I am on my way. Thank you Julie" Kristin said with a smile

"See you soon." She said as she cut the link.

Kristin got her things together and walked out of her office. "I am going out. Please cancel the meeting I have for today." Kristin said as she walked past her assistant. She did not stop, not wanting to give her a chance to protest.

She got into her car and drove to her friend’s office. When she arrived she went up to the desk where the young lady she had spoken to earlier was sitting.

"Hi I am Dr. Kristin Westphalen. I believe I'm expected."

"Yes she is go right in." the young lady pointed to the office at the end of the hall.

"Thank you" Kristin said as she headed down the hall. She came to an opened door that looked like an office.

"Kristin" she heard the voice calling from behind her. She turned around and spotted Julie in an exam room across the hall. "Come on in here and I'll have a look at you." Julie said with a smile

Kristin started to walk toward her friend and at the same time everything went blank. As she fell to the floor Julie ran over to her. "Kristin" she cried out.

Julie quickly started checking her over. "Kathryn get my bag from my office and call a ambulance." She yelled out to the young girl at the front desk.

Kathryn ran into the office and brought out her bag. Then ran to the phone to call 911.

Nathan and Lucas were having their lunch in the cafeteria of the hotel where the conference was being held. They were lost in conversation when a woman in a hotel uniform came up to them.

"Are you Captain Bridger?" She asked

"Yes what can I do for you?" Nathan looked up at her questioningly

"There is a Dr. Julie Beacham on the line from New Cape Quest General. She said it is very important for you to talk with her." There was an expression of panic on his face as he recognised the name.

"Thank you where can I take it and have some privacy?"

"Right this way." She said and led them to a conference room

Nathan sat at the desk and turned the monitor on. The worried face of Julie Beacham greeted him.

"Julie what’s wrong?" He tried to keep his voice normal but knew something had to be very wrong for Julie to be calling him here.

"Nathan. I am sorry to call you but something has happened to Kristin." Julie stopped as he turned white as a sheet. She did not wait for him to reply. "She called me today saying she was not feeling well and wanted me to take a look at her. She came to my office and passed out. I rushed her to NCQ General. I have run all the standard tests but I can not find out what is wrong. I am running more, but it does not look good… she is still unconscious. I am sorry Nathan." Julie said with a sympathetic look. Nathan had his head in his hands. "Nathan I think you should get here as soon as you can."

Nathan shook his head. "We are on our way Julie however we can’t get here 'til tomorrow night. I am going to call Janet Noyce and have her go to the hospital to be with Kristin."

"Ok I will look for her." Julie said as she closed the link.

Nathan quickly dialled the Noyce’s. Bill answered. The look on his friend's face stopped the smile that was on his face. "Nathan what’s wrong?"

"Bill, Kristin is in the hospital. They have no idea what's wrong and I need you to be there so that she doesn't wake up alone. We can’t get there until tomorrow night." Nathan looked like he was about to cry.

"Of course we'll go. Is she at NCQ?" Bill asked and Nathan nodded. "Nathan don’t worry they will take good care of her. We’ll leave right now."

"Thanks Bill." He closed the link.

"Lucas go up to our room and start packing, I am going to tell the admiral we are leaving." Nathan said as he got up from the desk. He could not believe this was happening again. First Carol now Kristin… If he lost Kristin he did not know what he would do. He loved her so much. Even more than he had loved Carol. When he reached the front desk he asked for the admiral to be paged. By the time he arrived Lucas had packed everything and was waiting with him. Nathan told him what had happened. He understood and bid them a safe trip.

 Janet Noyce walked in to Kristin’s room in ICU. She gasped and put a hand over her mouth when she saw the state her friend was in. Bill put his arm around her waist and hugged her close. Kristin was so white it was scary. Her eyes were closed, there were IV’s and other wires attached to her. They would have thought she was already dead if it were not for the beeping sound coming from the machine that was monitoring her heart. Janet walked over, pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and took Kristin’s hand in hers. It was so cold and felt clammy. Tears were now running down Janet’s face and Bill put a hand on her shoulder.

"I am going to see if I can find the Doctor to give us a update." He said softly. Janet just nodded.

After Bill left she leaned close to Kristin’s ear and whispered. "I don’t know if you can hear me, but please come back to us. There are so many people that love you and need you. I know I could not stand to lose such a good friend. Nathan would not be able to live without you and Lucas would be lost too." Her voice was starting to crack. "Please Kristin come back to us." Her tears were falling on the pillow next to Kristin’s ear. She leaned over and kissed Kristin on the cheek. Just as she was leaning back in the chair Bill came in with Dr. Julie Beacham right behind him.

Bill walked over to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder. "This is Dr. Julie Beacham. She is Kristin’s Doctor." Bill finished as he looked down at her. She still had Kristin’s hand in hers.

"Hello. Can you tell us what’s wrong" Janet was not even trying to hide the pain and tears in her eyes.

Julie looked at Kristin and then at her clipboard. "All I can tell you is what I know. I have run every test I can think of but they were inconclusive. I am now moving into testing for rarer conditions and have every available specialist working on her." Julie finished.

"Thank you." was all Janet could get out as she looked back up at Kristin.

Julie turned to leave when she heard a voice just above a whisper. "We’re going to lose her aren’t we?" It was Janet’s voice.

"I honestly don’t know." She replied and left quickly before they could see the tears in her own eyes.

Nathan and Lucas were sitting on the plane flying home to get to Kristin. For Nathan the flight could not go fast enough. His heart ached to be with the woman he loved. Why had he not seen this? He knew she had been down but had no idea how bad she was. He was kicking himself for not doing something when he first noticed. His thoughts returned to when he first talked to Kristin about it.

One Week Ago
 

Kristin arrived home from work and she was so tired that she only just made it to the couch before sitting down hard and letting out a loud sigh. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Nathan was in the kitchen when he heard her come in and watched her. He went over and sat down next to her.

"Rough day baby?" Nathan asked concerned.

"No not really. I just feel really tired." Kristin said. She still had not opened her eyes or moved from the position she was in.

Nathan reached up to feel her forehead but there was no sign of a fever. "Maybe you should go to bed early tonight."

"That won’t help. I will only lay there awake. I'm having trouble sleeping." Kristin now opened her eyes and leaned forward putting her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. She was rubbing her eyes and face.

Nathan reached over and rubbed her back. "Maybe you should make an appointment with Julie?" He suggested trying to be helpful.

"Nathan I am a Doctor and I am fine. It will pass. Okay? Now I think I am going to have a nice hot shower and take a sleeping pill that might help. Although it didn’t the other night." With that she got up and walked in to the bedroom. Nathan did not see her again until he went to bed himself. When Lucas had asked about her Nathan told him what had happened earlier and that she was in bed.

Kristin came home like that almost every night. Nathan quit saying anything because all she would do was snap at him that she was a Doctor and she was fine...

He now sat there thinking ‘How could I not have known? Why had I not pushed her to go see Julie?’

His thoughts were interrupted buy Lucas.

"Cap the Dr.’s going to be ok right?" He said with fear in his voice. "I don’t want to lose her."

"I know Lucas. I don’t want to lose her either. We’ll just have to wait to see what Dr. Beacham comes up with." Nathan replied while trying to hide his own fear.

Back at NCQ General, Kristin’s condition was slowly getting worse and Janet had not left her side. She refused to go home or to go and eat so Bill brought food in for her. It was starting to take its toll on Janet. She looked bad. She hadn't slept and had eaten very little. Just as she started to fall asleep in the chair next to Kristin’s bed an alarm went off on the monitors. Janet jumped up and ran to the door.

"Doctor something is wrong with Kristin." She said with panic in her voice.

Julie Beacham had also stayed on duty to be there for Kristin. She ran into the room. Janet was standing on the other side of the bed holding Kristin’s hand. "What’s wrong?" she did not hide the panic in her voice.

"Her heart is beginning to fail. Nurse start life support." Julie snapped as she began taking readings. "Janet I am sorry but you will have to wait out side." She didn't take her eyes from her patient as she spoke. Janet started to protest. "NOW JANET. GET OUT. I promise as soon as she is stable you can come back in."

Janet finally let go of Kristin’s hand and walked out of the room. It was a good 10-15 minutes before Julie came out to see her. Bill had come back and was standing with his wife, his arm around her shoulders trying to calm her down.

Julie walked over to them and sitting down she said "Janet I am sorry for snapping at you. I know how much you care about Kristin."

"It’s ok. How is she?" Janet asked

"Not good. We had to put her on life support. I don’t know how much longer she can keep going. I know Nathan is not going to like this one bit. Have you got a hold of Cynthia yet?"

Bill answered. "Yes she is on her way to."

"Good. You can go back in now but I want to prepare you for what you will see. We had to put her on a ventilator so she looks worse than before." Julie said as she stood up and walked with them to her room. As they entered Janet saw Kristin and the tears ran down her face. She went back to her place at Kristin’s side.

Just then a nurse walked in to the room. "Doctor the front desk just called Cynthia Westphalen is on her way up."

"Good." She turned to Bill. "Will you come with me to talk to her?"

"Yes. Janet I am going to go with Julie to see Cynthia to talk to her before she sees her mother like this." Bill said and they headed for the door.

Just as they exited the room they saw Cynthia running to them. Julie quickly closed the door not wanting Cynthia to see her before she was ready. "Are you Doctor Beacham?" Cynthia asked out of breath.

"Yes I am why don’t we go to my office and talk for a few minutes?" Julie said as she tried to get her to move in the other direction.

"NO I want to see my mother!" Cynthia said forcefully.

Bill stepped in at this point. "Cynthia, Janet is with her right now. It is ok. Please come with us."

She finally gave in and walked with them to a small office just down the hall. When they entered Julie went behind her desk and sat down. Cynthia sat in the chair on the other side.

"Cynthia I want to prepare you for what you will see and what state your mother is in." Julie began to tell her the story about what had happened up to this point. When she was done Cynthia was crying hard.

"Where is Nathan?" Cynthia asked through her sobs.

"He is on his way. He will be here in a few hours." Bill said as he laid a hand on her shoulder in a sign of support.

"Are you ready to see her?" Julie asked unsure.

Cynthia only nodded. Julie stood up and walked around her desk and out of her office with the others behind her. They approached Kristin’s room and Julie opened the door and walked inside. She heard Cynthia gasp as she saw her mother for the first time. Janet stood up and walked over to her pulling her into a hug and felt Cynthia lean against her for support. Janet moved to her side and helped her walk over to the chair she had just vacated. Cynthia sat down and cried.

"Would you like a some time alone with her?"

"Yes please." Was all she could get out.

"We will be right out side." Janet said

The three of them left leaving Cynthia by her mother’s side. Just before Janet closed the door she looked in one more time. Cynthia was hugging her mother’s waist, head on her chest crying. Janet felt tears welling up in her eyes again and finished closing the door.

It was getting late and there was still no sign of Nathan. Bill was getting worried. They were still no closer to finding out what was wrong with Kristin and she was fading fast. They were all sitting in Kristin’s room when Nathan and Lucas finally got to the hospital. They did not hear them come in the room and looked up only when Nathan cried out "OH MY GOD!" Lucas had to quickly grab him to stop him collapsing to the floor. Bill was also at Nathan’s side immediately.

"What happened?" Nathan asked unable to take his eyes off her.

"Nathan why don’t we go for a walk and find Julie she can explain everything." Bill said trying to move him out of the room. Nathan quickly looked around and saw two very emotional women looking back at him. He nodded and walked out with Bill. Lucas was right behind them. After a few minutes they found Julie who took them in to her office and told them all that had gone on.

"Nathan I have no idea what is going on. It's almost as though her body is just shutting down. I have run every test I can think of and then some. Her kidneys seem to be the problem but I can’t pin point it. Do you know if she was exposed to anything?" Julie asked. She was hoping they may be able to shed some light on what might have happened.

"All I know is she started to feel bad about a week ago. I tried to get her to see you then but you know how stubborn she can be." Nathan said

Lucas' face lit up. "Wait a minute. About a week ago she was working on a new virus they had found in some fish. Could she have got it some how?"

"She might have. Do you know anything about it Lucas?" Julie asked hopefully.

"No but her notes are at the house."

"Bill will you take Lucas to the house and get Kristin’s notes?" Nathan asked with a pleading look. He would have taken him but he wanted to be with Kristin.

"Of course. Come on Lucas." Bill said as he headed for the door with Lucas right behind him.

Nathan and Julie walked back to Kristin’s room in silence. As they entered Janet came over and hugged him.

"I will be right out side if you need anything." She said as she released him.

Julie walked over to Cynthia and bending down she whispered. "Why don’t we give Nathan a few minutes with Kristin?"

Cynthia stood up reluctantly and walked out of the room.

Julie walked over to Nathan. "When you're done you might want to let the girls know so they can come back in." Nathan nodded and walked over to Kristin and Julie shut the door.

He sat down in the chair that was next to the bed, no longer hiding his tears. Picking up her hand he kissed it and then began to speak to her. "Oh baby I don’t know if you can hear me, but please come back to me. I won't be able to live without you. I love you so much it hurts." He then started to stroke her forehead. "I CAN’T lose you too Kristin. I would never make it." He buried his face in her shoulder and sobbed. After about 10 minutes he opened the door and stepped aside to let the two women back into the room.

Julie appeared shortly after. "I have bad news." She stated capturing everyone's attention. "Unless there is something we can find in her notes I don’t think she will survive very much longer. Even on life support she is fading fast. I think you had better prepare yourselves for the worst." As soon as Julie had said that Cynthia burst in to sobs in Janet’s arms. Julie was not hiding her distress either. Nathan just turned to look out the window as Julie turned and walked out of the room. Just as she came around the corner she ran into Lucas and Bill.

"I have her notes Doctor." Lucas said as he handed her a notebook.

"Good. Because I just told them that Kristin doesn't have much time left." Julie said as she took the book and left for her office.

Lucas almost ran into the room after she said that. He needed to be near Kristin and Nathan. He walked over to Nathan and put his arms around him. Nathan returned the hug. Bill went over to Janet to see if he could help her with Cynthia.

It was 4 hours later when Julie came back in the room. She had a happy look on her face. "I found it." was all she said.

"Found what?" Bill questioned.

"I know what is wrong with Kristin. The only problem is she will need to have a kidney transplant. Cynthia you are her daughter so you are most likely to match. Would you be willing to be tested?"

Cynthia did not even have to think about it. She was up and in front of Julie right away. "Yes of course. What do I need to do?"

"Come with me." Julie said as she led Cynthia out of the room.

Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief. It was only about 10 minutes when Julie and Cynthia came back in the room with grim faces.

"Oh no don’t tell me. You don’t match." Nathan said as he sat hard in the chair behind him.

"No she doesn't I'm afraid so I'd like to test all of you. I am hoping one of you will. Are you all willing?"

They seemed to answer as one. "Yes"

"Ok then can I have all of you come with me." As Lucas started to go with them Julie stopped him. "I am sorry Lucas but you are a minor and without your parents' approval I can’t test you."

Lucas was visibly upset. Nathan stepped in. "Lucas I appreciate your willingness but she is right. I am sure one of us should match. Why don’t you go be with Cynthia right now? I think she could use some company."

"Ok." Lucas said but as soon as the adults had rounded the corner he set off to find a vid phone. He would get his father to give approval if it was the last thing he did.

About an hour later all the adults came back in to Kristin’s room. Cynthia jumped up to meet them. "So who matched?" she said hope filling her voice.

"No one" Julie said as she moved over to Kristin to take some readings.

"Dr. I've got something you should see." Lucas said as he handed her a link.

She turned it on and the face of Lucas' father appeared on the screen. "This is Lawrence Wolenczak. I am giving my son Lucas Wolenczak permission to be tested and if he is a match, I consent to him being a donor if he wishes." The screen went dark.

"When did you do this?" She asked him

"When you took the others to be tested I called my father. So shall we go?" he asked as he headed for the door. Julie was right behind him.

10 minutes later Julie came running in Kristin’s room with a team of nurses behind her. "He’s a match. And he is willing to donate one of his kidneys. We have to get her in the OR now." There seemed to be a silent cheer that went up and everyone started hugging everyone else.

Nathan spoke up. "Where is Lucas?"

"He is being prepped for surgery." Julie answered as she finished getting her patient ready to be moved to the OR.

While they took Kristin out, Julie turned to the group. "It will take us 4 to 6 hours to do the operation. Please try to be patient. As soon as I know anything I will tell you." She finished and walked out of the room.

It had been 6 hours and they still had not heard a word. Nathan paced the floor of Kristin’s room. Bill had asked him to stop once but only got a received a glare from him. At that point he decided to let it go.

Finally Julie returned still in her OR clothes. "She is going to be ok. Her body is already cleansing it self and she is in recovery right now, you can all see her in a little while. She will be out of ICU in about 6 hours. I want to make sure her body does not reject the new kidney." Knowing what there next question would be she continued. "Lucas is also doing fine. He will be out of recovery before Kristin. In fact he should be out of ICU in about 2 hours. I have made arrangements for him to be moved in here when he is able. I have to get back to them I just wanted you to know." Julie said with a smile and left.

You could hear the sighs from all around as they all let out the breaths they were holding. Nathan rubbed his face with his hands and said a quick silent ‘thank you god’. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Bill standing next to him with a big smile on his face. "I told you she would be alright. She’s a tough woman." Nathan smiled at Bill and shook his head.

"Yes she is." He said and turned to see the girls in a hug, crying their joy.

It was 2 hours later and Lucas was being wheeled in to Kristin’s room. He was still groggy from the surgery. Nathan was the first to come up to his bed. He took the boy’s hand in his and talked softly to him.

"Hey Kiddo. How are you feeling?" Nathan asked as he brushed some of Lucas’ hair off his forehead.

"I am a little sore and sleepy. But all in all ok. How’s the Doc?" He asked

"Well, thanks to you she is going to live." Nathan said and then more tenderly he added. "Lucas you have no idea how proud I am of you and what you did for Kristin. We will never be able to thank you enough."

Lucas tried to hold back his own emotions, but wasn't very successful due to the affects of the medication. "Hey I would have done it for any of you. I really love the Doc and I don’t know what I would do without her. She has been more of a mother to me than my own."

At this point Cynthia came up and stood on the other side of the bed. Her eyes shown she was trying to hold back tears of her own. "Lucas" was all she could get out before her voice caught in her throat.

"It’s ok Cindy." Lucas said as he took her hand. She only shook her head.

They all waited for news. Nathan had asked Julie several times to see her and get updates. She simply said "She is doing fine and will be out of ICU soon."

Finally, 5 and half-hours later, they wheeled Kristin in to her room. She was not yet awake and looked really awful but not as bad as before they took her. Her face was very pale. Nathan was the first to speak

"When will she wake up?" He asked Julie as she took Kristin’s vital signs.

"It should not be long." Then she turned to everyone in the room. "When she does wake up I don’t want ANY of you telling her what happened. I need to talk to Kristin before she knows anything. Understood?" she looked around the room as everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "Good." She said as she walked over to Lucas to take a look at his readings.

"Hey Doctor how long am I going to be in here?"

"You will be in here 7 to 10 days. Kristin will be here 14-21 days depending how she does." Julie answered him. After looking them both over once more she left.

Nathan had convinced Bill and the girls to get something to eat and he was sitting at the side of Kristin’s bed holding her hand and looking out the window while Lucas slept. He felt a squeeze on his hand and turned to see what he thought were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, looking back at him. He grinned from ear to ear. "Welcome back." he said then remembered Julie wanted to see Kristin as soon as she was awake.

Kristin tried to talk but her voice was little more than a whisper. "Where am I? What happened?" she asked.

Nathan stood and squeezed her hand. "I will be right back with Julie. She can answer all your questions." He gave her hand another squeeze and left. Kristin looked around the room. She recognised that she was in a hospital and then her gaze fell on Lucas asleep in the bed next to her. He was hooked up to monitors and dressed in hospital clothes. She thought to her self ~ Oh god what had happened to Lucas? ~ Her gaze shifted to the door when Nathan came back into the room with Julie and the rest of the gang behind him. Cynthia resisted the urge to run to her mother and hug her tightly. Julie had spoken to them out in the hall and told them not to embrace her as she had to be kept still. Kristin’s eyes widened when she saw every one that was there. Bill had gone over to Lucas and carefully woken him so that he could hear what was being said.

Julie walked over and put a hand on Kristin's shoulder when she tried to sit up. She did not resist when she felt the pain in her back. "What is going on?" Kristin tried to get out in a normal voice

Julie brought a chair up to the side of the bed. "Kristin what is the last thing you remember?"

Kristin looked at her friend in surprise and then it hit her. "I remember going to your office and passing out."

"Good. Your memory was not affected. Kristin you contracted the virus from the fish you were studying. It shut your kidneys down and we almost lost you. We had to do a transplant to save your life and, as Lucas was the only match, he donated one of his.

Kristin quickly looked at Lucas who was watching her with a smile on his face. She put a hand to her mouth as the tears started to run down her cheeks. ~ So that is why he is in here with me ~ she thought. She tried to say something but could not.

Julie continued. "When you are better I will go over all the data with you and show you what happened."

Kristin only nodded. She was still looking at Lucas who was starting to turn red from the attention he was getting from her. Nathan recognised his embarrassment and tried to distract her.

"Kristin." To his relief she turned to look at him. "Julie said you will be here for the next 14 to 21 days. That is if you behave your self. So would you like anything from home?"

"Not right now but I am sure I will later." Her voice was starting to return to normal. "How long will Lucas be keeping me company?" Kristin asked Julie.

"Oh he should be out of here in about 7 to 10 days. He is a healthy young boy so I would say closer to 7." Julie said. "Well I have rounds to do, so I will leave you alone." In a more playful tone she said. "I don’t want you all giving my patients a hard time so try not to stay too long. They both need their rest." With that said she left the room of smiling faces.

They all welcomed Kristin back and filled her in on what had happened and how Lucas had saved the day. She kept watching him as she talked with the group. Finally it was obvious that they were both getting tired and needed to sleep.

Bill and Janet said their goodbyes and said they would come by tomorrow. They finally convinced Cynthia to go to go home with them and get some rest. Nathan said he would be right behind her. He said his goodbyes and headed out the door.

The next day Nathan returned. The room was empty except for the two of them. He went over and whispered "hi" to Lucas, not wanting to wake Kristin yet. After making sure he was doing well he walked over to Kristin, sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his. Leaning down he kissed her softly. Kristin opened her eyes and smiled up at him. Bridger positioned himself so that Lucas could see what he was doing. He looked over to the boy and smiled. He had known the Cap had wanted to do this for a while but had been too busy. Lucas gave him a big smile as a way of saying ‘go for it.’

Nathan then looked back at Kristin who had a puzzled look on her face as she watched the exchange between the two men. He took a deep breath and started to speak.

"Kristin. I have wanted to say something to you for awhile now and after what happened I can’t wait any longer. You know how much I love you and care for you. You are everything to me. From the first time I saw you arguing with Ford I knew I was going to love you. I was just not ready for how quickly you stole my heart. I know I could not live another day without you. I want…" He stopped and glanced at Lucas. "We want you in our lives and hearts forever. Kristin will you marry me?" He ended as he looked in to her eyes.

She had tears running down her cheeks and he reached over to brush them away. Kristin took a deep breath, looked at him and then Lucas, who had the biggest smile on his face. Then alternating her gaze between them, she replied, "I love you both more than I thought I could ever love another person." She turned to Lucas. "I did not know how I was going to like working with a genius of 16 in my labs. In fact I was against the idea. But as I got to know you I grew to love you and could not see my life without you being a part of it. You became the son I always wanted. Thank you for the gift of life you have given me. I now feel even more a part of you and you a part of my life. "I'm sorry that you'll have to listen to what I say to Nathan but I'm afraid there's no choice." She wished she could reach out and touch him or give him a hug but there was too much space between them.

She lowered her voice until it was almost a whisper, in the hope that Lucas wouldn't hear. "Nathan. You have been my life from the start. You had my heart from our first meeting and now I can not imagine my life, heart, and bed without you in it. You complete me in more ways than one. I have been waiting for this day longer than you will know." She placed her hand on his cheek and continued speaking. "Nathan I was happy being your lover." The tears began again "but you have no idea how happy I will be as your wife. Yes I will marry you." she finished.

Nathan bent down and kissed her gently on the lips. She deepened the kiss wanting to be as close to him as possible and he willingly accepted her into his mouth. He started to stroke her hair and then moved down to her breast. They had both forgotten that Lucas was in the room until they heard him pull the curtain across his bed to give them some privacy. They broke apart and looked in his direction but could not see him behind the curtain. They both started to laugh. Kristin was the first to recover and called out to him.

"Sorry Lucas."

"That’s ok. Have fun." He teased back

That got another round of laughter out of the two adults.