Alexandra: "I met Dimitri last February."

Edmund: "In England?"

Alexandra: "At a restaurant."

Edmund: "The blind date with a mutual friend?"

Alexandra: "Yes."

She has a flashback to their first date in London.
Alexandra (offering her plate to Dimitri): "Are you sure?"

Dimitri: "I'm actually having more fun watching you eat it."

Alexandra: "So, Sean tells me you're here on business."

Dimitri: "Yeah, yeah. Sean's lying. He said that you might not meet me if you knew why I was here. He also said that he didn't know how you'd react to the prospect of a blind date, so I guess I'm taking my chances either way."

Alexandra (stops, then continues with an angry tone): "So, which is it? Am I blind or just stupid?"

Dimitri (quickly): "Well, I've known you through the rare lamb chop, peas and potatoes... oh, yes, some salmon to start. But I would say you're neither blind nor stupid. In fact, I think your eyes see just about everything."

Alexandra: "Perhaps there are some things that I don't want to see."

Dimitri: "I'm dying." (A moment of silence.)

Alexandra: "I've heard those words before."

Dimitri: "Yes, and you no longer practice medicine because..."

Alexandra (interrupting): "Why I no longer practice is none of your business."

Dimitri: "It is if I'm going to persuade you to treat me. Your little patient was a boy, age 9... Liam Avery. He loved to mess about with boats."

Alexandra (wanting him to stop): "Please."

Dimitri: "You struggled to save his life for 15 months. He dies in your arms. I know what I'm asking."

Alexandra (staring hard at him): "Do you?"

Dimitri: "Look, I have... I've had my life. It's not the same. Whatever you can give me will be gravy."

Alexandra: "If that's all you want, you don't stand a chance."

Dimitri: "No, I don't want you to feel..."

Alexandra: "The only chance you have is if I do feel something. I mean, that's how it works." (then softly) "It doesn't always."

Dimitri: "I'm not afraid to die. But I want to live. A rare lamb chop, a beautiful woman, an argument that means something. Life is sweet, and I want it." (He pauses, then starts to get up.) "But not at your expense. No, not at your expense. Doctor, I want to thank you for meeting with me." (He begins to leave but she stops him.)

Alexandra: "Wait."

Back to the present. Alex is seated at the end of the sofa, Edmund at the other end. Edmund (suspicious): Dimitri... Dimitri was dying?"

Alexandra (resting her chin on an arm, not looking at him): "He had a very rare condition, one that is usually terminal." (She glances briefly at him.)

Edmund (stands up, confused): "Wait a minute. He.. he wasn't even sick. He was... we went skiing just before he left for England. We... he was fine. He was strong. He skied better than ever."

Alexandra: "Well, he was in perfect health otherwise. You probably wouldn't have noticed his symptoms."

Edmund: "I only have your word to go on."

Alexandra: "No, I have his records." (She gets up and goes over to the desk, opens a drawer and pulls out Dimitri's thick medical file.) "He went to several other doctors before he came to me."

Edmund: "You treated him?"

Alexandra: "I could never refuse your brother anything."

Scene fades out, then returns. Edmund picks up the file.
Edmund: "Why the charade of a date? I mean, why didn't Dimitri just come to your office?"

Alexandra: "Well, I had reduced my medical practice considerably. I was taking on very few new
cases." (She smiles) "As for dinner at a restaurant, Dimitri had his own way of doing things."

Edmund (sits down on the desk): "So, after dinner, nice bottle of wine, you just decided to play doctor with him?"

Alexandra (giving him an angry look): "No. Obviously, I wanted to examine him before I decided to take on his case. So he... came to my office and... oh, actually, that was the first time he mentioned you. I was running late that day, and..."

Flashback to London. Dimitri is in Alex's office. He throws down his thick medical file on her desk, and sniffs loudly just as she enters.
Dimitri: "Hey! I was almost afraid that you weren't coming." (He touches her on the elbow.)

Alexandra (she lays down her clipboard on her desk): "Didn't think you were afraid of anything, Mr. Marick." (She spots his medical file.)

Dimitri: "Oh. Ah, yeah, well, I filled that out, and these are my records. I had them sent over." (He nervously walks over to her bookcase and watches her.)

Alexandra: "Um, I read them." (She starts looking at his chart.) "Camponella's a good doctor. Just gives up too quickly. And Marsden... well..."

Dimitri: "Ah, cold hands, right?" (She looks at him quickly.)

Alexandra: "Um, so I hear." (She puts down his chart and walks over to him.) "When was it that you first noticed something was wrong or was different? I'm not looking for anything clinical. Just your own personal experience."

Dimitri (strokes his chin thoughtfully): "Well, uh, It was after the aqueduct. I... well, we were... my brother and I... we were trapped. It's a very long story. Some other time. But I had to dive underwater to save him."

Alexandra: "It was right afterwards?"

Dimitri: "No, no, no. Actually, it was a little while after that. Uh, I just assumed... I mean, it was the only thing that made, you know, any sense."

Alexandra: "The dizziness?" (She walks back to her desk and picks up his chart.)

Dimitri: "Yeah, yeah. I thought it was an inner ear thing, that uh, I'd gotten water in my ear."

Alexandra (looking up at him): "Saving your brother?"

Dimitri: "Edmund. You got any brothers or sisters?"

Alexandra (ignores his question and starting to write on his chart): "What brought you to Camponella?"

Dimitri: "Well, nothing tasted good uh, suddenly. And by then I thought it might be a dental thing, so off I went to Budapest. Uh, I saw a neurologist there and he sent me to Camponella."

Alexandra (pausing to look at him before going back to her scribbling): "But you enjoyed that lamb chop. Things taste good to you again?"

Dimitri: "Um, It depends on the company you're with."

Alexandra (giving him a stern look): "Do things taste good to you, Mr. Marick?"

Dimitri (making a grimace): "No."

Alexandra: "And from now on you'll tell me the truth?"

Dimitri (smiles): "Yeah."

Alexandra: Thank you. Roll your sleeve up, please." (She puts down the chart and walks over to him. He jerkily upbuttons his sleeve. She places two fingers on his wrist to check his pulse. He breathes out hard.) "You're afraid. That's good." (He looks sharply at her.) "You have reason to fear. But you're not alone. I'm going to help you. But you've got to stop charming me and start trusting me."

(He slowly smiles, then laughs nervously, looking at the ground, then back at her) Dimitri: "Ok. Ok, you win."

Alexandra: "Strong pulse. Strong man." (She smiles a little, lets go of his arm and goes back to the desk to pick up the chart.) "So tell me about your brother, Edmund."

Dimitri (pulling nervously at his sleeves): "Edmund, Edmund. Well, he's brilliant. He's a writer, stubborn, and... uh, well, he's grief stricken. He lost his wife in a plane crash a few years ago."

Alexandra: "This is before the aqueduct?"

Dimitri: "Yes."

Alexandra: So you saved him from more than just the water?"

Dimitri (throwing out his arms shruggishly): "Yeah."

Alexandra: "I know what that's like, trying to save someone you love." (She gets a far away look and he gets curious at her expression.) "We're going to draw some blood to see what's going on. And then we're going to save you." (He smiles at her and clasps his hands together.)

Back to the present.
Edmund: "He had a prion disease?"

Alexandra (crossing her arms): "Mm-hmm. A normal, healthy brain constantly sheds and replenishes cells. Now, in Dimitri's case, the shedding process had become extremely accelerated and the replenishing part was no longer functioning."

Edmund: "His case was terminal?"

Alexandra: "There's no known cure."

Edmund: "So he's got a disease that is rare... ahem... prognosis apparently fatal, and yet you decided to treat him."

Alexandra (nodding): "That's right."

Edmund: "What was in it for you?"

Alexandra: "I beg your pardon?"

Edmund: "What was it, prestige, marriage? Or was it just money?"

Scene fades out, then returns.
Alexandra (furious): "You know what? I did have a motive. I wanted to save the man I loved, and I thought he had a chance. He responded so well to the medication that I began to hope that he could
be completely cured."

Flashback to London again. Alex and Dimitri are seated at her desk in her office.
Alexandra: "I see no indicators of rogue cells, and there is a definite regeneration." (She shakes her head and turns to face him.)

Dimitri (motioning to her chart): "What, you're saying it's working?"

Alexandra: "Yes. As I expected."

Dimitri: "As you... oh." (He stands up shakily) " As you... oh."

Alexandra (jumping to to steady him): "Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't think I prepared you for good news. I mean, it is good news."

Dimitri (hands clasped nervously): "I'm going to live?"

Alexandra: "You're in remission."

Dimitri (throwing his hands out animatedly): "No big words. Just the truth." (She smiles and nods yes. He exclaims "Oh!" then grabs her and kisses her. Surprised, she puts her hands up to his and he grabs her into a tigher kiss.)

The scene fades out, then returns later. Alex is lovingly stroking the music box Dimitri had sent as a wedding present.
Edmund: "When was this?"

Alexandra: "A few months ago."

Edmund: "So Dimitri seemed to be cured?"

Alexandra: "He was in remission. He continued to improve."

Edmund: "So your job was done. And yet you kept seeing him?"

Alexandra: "We'd fallen in love."

Edmund: "Did Dimitri know that he was cured when he proposed to you?"

Alexandra: "Well, I agreed to marry Dimitri because we believed we had a long future together."

Edmund: "You didn't lie about the prognosis?"

Alexandra: "No, of course not."

Edmund: "So he proposes, you get married, you jump on a plane to see his family, and all of
a sudden... boom... Dimitri, cured, now dead. Tell me what really happened on that plane."

Scene fades out. Alex has another flashback. She and Dimitri are in her office. Seated at her desk, she's adjusting slides under her microscope.
Alexandra: "Does your family know you're ill?"

Dimitri (standing by her bookcase): "No."

Alexandra: "Why not?"

Dimitri (adamantly): "Well, there's no point, is there?"

Alexandra: "I get great comfort from my family.. support." (She takes off her glasses, glances quickly at him, then leans forward and peers into the microscope.) "Are you married?"

Dimitri (amused at her question): "No."

Alexandra (not looking up): "Have you ever been married?"

Dimitri (exasperated, says in a comical voice): "Well, have you?"

Alexandra (looks up at him): "My point is that most people..."

Dimitri (puts a hand in a stop gesture): "I'm not most people."

Alexandra (sharply): "Doesn't anyone love you?" (then in a softer tone) "They deserve to know."

Dimitri: "That I'm dying?"

Alexandra: "No. That you are more alive, more awake, probably, than you've ever been. That you
are battling for your life. That you have things to say, questions to answer. This isn't just an
isolated thing, this disease in your brain. It's not just cells. It's your whole life. It's not fair
shutting people out, and you need them." (He raises an eyebrow at her impassioned arguement.)

Dimitri: "All right. Number one, I am not married. Not anymore." (He starts pacing behind her as she being scribbing more notes on his chart.) "Number two, my son... yes, yes. Well, him and I... oh, he's a grown man. He has his own life."

Alexandra: "What about your brother?"

Dimitri (stopping before the bookcase): "I love my brother."

Alexandra (takes off her glasses and stands up): "Well, then tell him."

Dimitri: "I can't. Two years ago, he lost his wife."