Hearts Crossing [A Remile Story]

Doctor [6]

"Would you say that you get bruises easily?"

"No."

"Okay. Did you start feeling the pains in your joints after some sort of big athletic activity? Something that might have caused the joint problems to form."

"No." Kai shook their head. Kati nodded and checked something on her computer.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Kai. I really appreciate that." Kati smiled and turned to Remy. "Is there any sort of history with any heritable diseases that could cause joint pain on either side of the family?"

"Not on my side." Remy answered.

"What about your spouse's?"

"I... don't know."

"Ah." Kati nodded. Remy felt a little guilty for not being able to provide any genetic information on the other side of the family, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Kati stood from her chair and collected her notes. "I'm going to need to run a few tests, which will require a skin biopsy. If you'd be willing to consent to one I'd be happy to perform one before you leave."

"Whatever needs to be done." Remy nodded.

"Perfect. I'll be back in a bit to get that over with and you'll be alright to head on home." Kati explained before walking out. Remy looked over at Kai, who was staring at the floor with teary eyes.

"What's the matter, kiddo?"

"What skin 'bilopsy'?" Kai asked in a small voice.

"I'm not really sure, but it's probably not that bad." Remy shrugged.

-------

Turned out it was pretty bad. Remy had no idea what he got himself into promising Kai that it 'probably wasn't that bad' because it absolutely was. The second Kai saw a needle they dissolved into a puddle of tears. Remy expected it to be something like a simple cheek swab, not at all involving any sort of needle or metal tools.

No matter what he said to try and calm Kai down, nothing helped. Eventually it ended with Remy having to hold a crying kid down while Kati took the skin necessary. After the biopsy was over, Kati put a gauze over the site and explained to Remy that it would need to be changed daily for the next two days.

"They also shouldn't scratch at the site."

"Okay. Thank you so much. For everything." Remy said, holding a whimpering Kai on his hip.

"You're very welcome." Kati smiled before lowering her voice a bit. "I hate to ask, but if it's a possibility at all, it would be much easier to come up with a diagnosis if you could provide any information on Kai's other parent's family medical history."

"I'll... try." Remy said.

"I'll call you in a few days just to follow up. Say 'hi' to Em for me!"

-------

Remy took Kai home to rest up and called his work to explain that he'd need a few more days off to watch over his child. Thankfully he was given the days off. While Kai curled up in bed with their stuffed alien, Remy called Emile.

"Remy! How'd the visit with Kati go?" Emile asked in his usual upbeat tone. It was pretty comforting for Remy to hear.

"It went. Kai didn't appreciate the skin biopsy." Remy chuckled.

"Ouch.." Emile hissed.

"Yeah.. I wasn't expecting it either."

"Did she say anything about having a hunch what the problem is?"

"She didn't say anything, but it was kind of obvious that she had an idea."

"That's awesome!"

"Heh, yeah." Remy said remembering what Kati asked him to do.

"Something wrong?" Emile asked, picking up that Remy was a little disheartened.

"No. Not yet at least." Remy explained how Kati requested his ex-boyfriend's family medical history. He was definitely not thrilled about the idea of having to contact him again.

"Yikes... do you think he'll be willing to talk to you?" Emile asked.

"Hopefully. I don't really have many options."

"Would he pick up the phone if you called?"

"Definitely not." Remy laughed. He'd tried calling him a thousand times and got sent to voicemail every time.

"Okay, well do you know where he's living? Like could you go to his house and knock on the door?"

"I'm not sure about that... I don't want Kai seeing their dad that abandoned us."

"I could watch Kai for you." Emile suggested. Remy was admittedly surprised at how simply and quickly Emile offered to babysit. It was a really sweet gesture from a really sweet guy. Remy didn't want to admit how much that simple offer meant to him.

"I wouldn't want to take you away from your work."

"What about this weekend? I don't have work, so if you could manage to pay him a visit Saturday or Sunday I'd be 100% free to watch Kai."

"Are you sure?"

"Abso-posi-lutely!"

"Okay." Remy nodded, allowing himself to smile a bit. "How much do you want per hour?"

"I don't need a payment for watching that kiddo. I don't mind. It'd be fun!" Emile insisted. No matter how much Remy pushed Emile to let him pay him, Emile refused.

"Come on! There's got to be something I can do to repay you." Remy laughed. For a second he thought he lost connection, because Emile went silent for a bit.

"You could let me take you for lunch again." Emile suggested. Remy could hear the hesitancy in his voice. Emile wasn't sure if it was an appropriately timed question but he couldn't really think of anything else. It took Remy a second to register what Emile had said.

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay."

"Wait what?"

"We can have lunch together again. I'd like that a lot actually."

"Great!" Emile's excitement was almost tangible even through the phone. "When should I come by to babysit Kai?"

"How about Saturday at ten?"

"Perfect."

"Great. See you then!"