Shane scanned through the details, his mind not functioning well enough for him to take anything in the first time, it could just as well have been random letters scribbled on the page. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on the words in front of him. He was still shaking as he looked up at Nicky. 'What does it say?' Nicky asked, not really wanting to believe what he knew Shane's expression was telling him. 'You... you are positive...' Shane replied quietly. Nicky took the paper out of his hands to read it himself. He dropped it and put his hand to his mouth, shaking his head with vigour. 'No,' he mumbled, 'No, no, no, no...'
Shane thought back over the doctors' words. "Most patients will deny they're sick when they get the results. It's the first step in accepting their illness, and the most important thing is never to push them to see reality and be there for them unconditionally." He looked at Nicky, who was now sitting motionless, his eyes staring into space. He embraced him, but didn't get any reaction. Suddenly, Shane felt scared, realising he couldn't get through to Nicky. The doctor came back, followed by a young woman. 'This is Hannah, she's going to talk to Nicky for a while.' She reached out her hand to Shane, who took it and introduced himself. 'Shane, I'd like to talk to you outside for a moment,' the doctor continued and Shane nodded and followed him. They sat down in a small office.
'So, Shane, any questions?' Shane thought for a while, he couldn't think off much. 'How long would you give him to live?' he asked quietly. 'Hard to say. Probably at least 10 years with medication. Maybe longer. I think I have a few leaflets somewhere that I'll give you to take home and read through.' Shane nodded. 'How did he take it?' the doctor asked as he looked through a file with a load of leaflets, picking out the relevant ones. 'Not too well.' The doctor nodded. 'I wouldn't either if someone just told me I have a sickness that's going to kill me,' he said as he stood up and handed the leaflets to Shane. 'You're his boyfriend?' Shane nodded. 'Do you have a sexually active relationship?' Shane nodded again and blushed slightly. 'Ok, we're going to have to test you too. You don't know if he's been with someone else the past month?' Shane shook his head but then changed his mind. 'There's one guy, Jeffrey Howard.' 'Jeffrey Howard? Address?' 'I don't know, I'll try and get it for you. What about our daughter?' 'Ok. I don't think she should be affected. Anyway, I tell you what, Hannah wants to speak to you too a bit. She's a counsellor so she'll help the two of you deal with all this. Then if you go home and read through the leaflets and make a list of any further questions you have I will get in touch with a specialist for you and he'll be able to answer everything. Then we'll take it from there.' Shane nodded as they both rose, 'Ok, thank you.'
