Sam assigned one of his anaesthetists, Dr. Ruth Clarke, another member of his surgical team to monitor Melissa’s vitals, while he went upstairs and helped the genetics team. The front office to the genetics lab was empty. “Where is everybody?” Sam called out.
“Back here!” Gary responded. “Hi Sam. Grab a stool.” Gary was at the workstation on one side of Donna; Richard was on the other, which forced Sam to work on the other side of Gary.
Sam frowned, switched on his electron microscope and started scanning through the images. “By the way, sweetheart, you were right. Missy was poisoned with cerbera. I put her on an atropine drip. I’ve got Ruth monitoring her while I’m up here.”
“Hang on just a second…” Donna responded as she searched for the EHG in the TCC gene sequence located on the same leg of one of Jared’s X chromosomes as hers had been. “You sneaky little devil! Found it,” she smiled. “It wasn’t in the same place as it was on mine.”
“Where was it located on Jared’s?” Richard asked.
“The sequence was still on chromosome 12, but it was at the end, next to the stop codon - not where you would expect it to be.”
Richard’s mouth dropped open. “What? It’s next to the stop codon?” Gary and Sam stepped closer.
“Yes,” Donna smiled and nodded. “Instead of the normal repeat of TTAGGG, Jared’s has TTAGGGTCC followed by the TTAGGG repeat. It seems as if the TCC sequence is acting as a genetic marker which is causing the next replication of the strand to be lengthened with more TTAGGG repeats. It’s causing the telomerase to be regenerated.”
“Can we control the cell growth?” Sam asked.
“As far as I can tell – yes. I’ll know more once I’ve put it through my simulation software.”
Gary’s eyes lit. “If we can control the cell growth, do you know what this means?”
“It means that we can do this!” Sam added and hugged Donna. “Congratulations, sweetheart.”
“Don’t break out the champagne just yet. We still have to convince the CTZ5 to accept this new sequence. Replicating a virus that cures cancer is no good to us if we can’t convince it to transcribe to our new stem cells. It would be like trying to breed two mules. Even if, we can’t repeat the process, maybe we can at least culture enough stem cells to undo what Forrest did.”
“In that case, Richard…” Sam said, “…why don’t you get busy and see if Geronimo was lying to his intended.”
Richard glared at Sam. “Two things, Sam. One, Jared is not Apache. He’s Navajo, and two, speaking from personal experience, Jared would not lie to Donna about something like this. If he says the answer is in his DNA, then you can damned well bet it’s there.”
Gary arched an eyebrow. “Defending the enemy, Richard?”
“No, Gary. I’m just stating the facts. I knew Jared… Sam didn’t. He may have gone about it in an odd and indirect way, but life was just as sacred to Jared as it is to Donna.”
Sam scoffed. “From what I know of Mr. Perfect, I’ve already found enough flaws to debunk that theory, but since my patient’s life is hanging in the balance, I’ll give Jared… the benefit of the doubt.”
Donna studied Sam’s eyes. “That would be a wise choice, because I knew Jared better than anyone here. He would not put someone else’s life in danger just to get back into my good graces. Besides, if that’s what he was trying to do, Jared would have come to me with the samples himself, so cut the crap, Sam! If you’re trying to get to the top of my shit list, you’re already on the third rung of the ladder. You’re not without blame. You knew Jared was in the observation area while we were operating on Melissa, and you lied to me. So, unless you want to advance to the fourth rung, shut up and let’s get this done. That way, you won’t have to guess whether or not Jared was lying because I don’t believe he was.”
Sam clenched his teeth. “Fine!” he snapped and threw up his hands. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll take my little non-genetic engineering ass back downstairs where I don’t have to stand around and listen to you defend a man who ripped your heart out without a second thought.”
Donna’s eyes glossed. She swallowed the lump in her throat and glared at Sam. “Under the circumstances that’s probably the best thing you could do. You may have Jared’s ways, but you will never, ever come up to his level.”
Sam whirled and stormed from the room. He almost didn’t give the thick glass door a chance to open. He had to jump back because he was standing too close. Gary waited until he disappeared down the corridor. “D… what was that all about?”
“Sam pissed me off. He said the wrong thing at the wrong time about the wrong person. And thank you, Richard.”
“For what?”
“For taking up for Jared the way you did.”
“Donna, I’ll be honest with you. I’m much like Sam. I don’t like Jared either, but I’ll give the devil his dues. When it came to you, there wasn’t anything Jared wouldn’t have done.”
Donna swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah… anything except forgive me,” she sighed and went back to work.
------------
Sam dropped by Melissa’s room to see how she was doing. He tapped on the door and eased it open. Sir Richard and John were sitting in the corner, talking with Ruth Clarke, the doctor that Sam left to monitor Melissa’s vitals. “Hello, Sam,” Sir Richard said. “Where’s Donna?”
“She’s upstairs working with Richard and Gary.”
“Have you made any progress?” John asked.
“Donna has located the EHG sequence, and they’re growing the protein crystals. If everything goes well, Donna should have something in another three or four hours. She’s still concerned whether or not the CTZ5 will be able to convince the EHG to bind and replicate with Missy’s stem cells.”
“Are you and Donna still planning on staying at the infirmary tonight?”
Sam sighed. “I’m staying, but I don’t know what Donna is going to do. She’s a little upset with me right now, so I thought the best thing I could do was get out of Dodge and let her cool off.”
Sir Richard frowned. “What did you do to upset her?”
“Well… let’s see,” Sam scoffed. “Where do I begin? Because of what I was told to do by my superiors, I lied to her about Jared being in the observation area while we were doing surgery on Missy. Then I reminded her that Jared left her and gave no thought to breaking her heart. I think that’s what probably took the cake. Of course, it didn’t help my cause a lot, when Richard stepped in and backed up Geronimo.”
John and Sir Richard shared a knowing glance. They knew why Jared had left Donna, and it wasn’t a spur-of-the moment thing. Jared had thought long and hard before facing the facts. It had nothing to do with Donna’s so-called betrayal. John cleared his throat. “Sam, if you intend on holding on to Donna – no pun intended – maybe you should stop making smart cracks about Jared and give Donna time to get over him before you’re standing in the same position Jared is.”
Sir Richard nodded in agreement. “He’s right, Sam. Sometimes things aren’t what they seem. Which reminds me,” he said, turning his attention to John, “… as soon as Missy is out of the water; you and I need to take Donna for a walk down memory lane.”
“It’s about time.” John nodded and sighed. “Is it just going to be us, or are Ricky and Gary going to be there, too?”
“At one time, I would have said yes, to Ricky and Gary being there, but I had kind of expected certain… things,” he stressed, glancing at Ruth out the corner of his eye, “… to have turned out differently. Now… I think it might be best if it’s just us, and possibly you, Sam.”
Sam frowned. “I don’t think Donna wants me included in anything right now. She may even ask me to leave the Hall.”
Sir Richard frowned. “Is it really that bad?”
Sam turned his attention to Ruth. “I think we can handle it from here, Love,” he grinned. “Thanks for keeping an eye on Missy for me.”
Ruth smiled and stood. “My pleasure. Don’t forget, I still need to… see you about the… shift rotations. You know I don’t like working nights… alone.”
A sly grin spread across Sam’s mouth. “I’ll be here all night. I’ll look you up later, when I have a free moment – if I have a free moment.”
“OK, Sam. Let me know how… things turn out – for your patient – I mean,” Ruth added, smiling and turning her attention to John and Sir Richard. “It was nice talking with you both. John, I hope Missy pulls through and makes a full recovery. With Dr. Rigden on her case, I’m sure she’ll be just fine. Later, Sam.”
Ruth held Sam’s gaze for a few seconds. He pressed his lips to a thin line and nodded. Ruth nodded back and left. “Now, where was I,” Sam said. “Oh yes! It seems since Donna found out Jared was here, she’s been acting a little moody. Jared still hasn’t changed his mind about seeing her, has he?”
“No, Sam, at least not yet. I think it would probably be better for them if Jared did agree to see Donna. I think she needs closure. Jared explained it to her in his letter, but I don’t think Donna is going to accept it until Jared tells her face-to-face that it’s over.”
------------
Donna set an alarm on her cell phone. “Gary… I’m gonna go for a walk and stretch my legs while this scan runs.”
Gary studied her eyes. “You OK?”
“I’m fine. I just need to get off by myself for a while.”
“Is it Jared?”
Donna pressed her lips to a thin line and nodded. “And Sam…” she swallowed hard. “I don’t understand why Jared won’t even talk to me about this. I’d like to thank him for helping us. He didn’t have to do that.”
“No, he didn’t,” Gary sighed. “Maybe he’s softening.”
Donna’s eyes glossed. “Not Jared. Our breakup was imminent. I should have known that when I made the decision to tell you what I knew.”
“Do you regret telling me?”
Donna’s eyes hardened. “No, Gary. I don’t. If I hadn’t done what I did, we wouldn’t be able to save Missy. We are so close to fulfilling your dream. I just hope it doesn’t create a nightmare for the rest of the World.” She blinked to clear her vision and walked away.
Richard looked up as she passed through the other room to the door. “What’s up?”
“Just taking a break.”
“Want some company?”
“No, but thanks Richard,” she smiled and sighed. “I think I’d like to be alone.”
------------
Since the Centre ran non-stop, the cafeteria stayed open, as well. The kitchen staff prepared three standard meals a day, but were also available to prepare in-between meals and snacks, as needed. “Vanilla cappuccino and a bran muffin, please,” Donna requested as she approached the counter.
“Are you eating it here, Dr. Rigden, or would you like me to pack it up?”
“Pack it up, please.”
“Would you like your muffin heated with a bit of honey butter and sprinkle of cinnamon to go with it?”
Donna smiled and glanced at the name badge on the black woman’s lapel. “Yes. Thank you, Harriet,” she smiled.
“Friends call me Harry, for short,” the black woman responded as she turned to put Donna’s bran muffin in the microwave.
“OK- Harry. Friends call me Donna, for short,” she chuckled.
Harriet turned and smiled. “Why the long face, honey?” she asked as she bagged Donna’s muffin and set her cappuccino on the counter.
“Men,” Donna groaned and collected her order. “Thanks Harry,” she said and walked away. Instead of taking the lift, Donna opened the door to the stairs. She stopped as she neared the level to the infirmary. She went back to the observation room, opened the door and went inside. She stared at the chair where she had sat before; the place Jared’s presence had been the strongest. Her eyes glossed as she slowly sat and leaned back. Closing her eyes, she turned her head to the side and pressed her nose to the back of the seat. She inhaled deeply. It was still there. The fragrance of his cologne was fading, but his presence wasn’t. It was as strong as it had ever been. Not knowing whether it would do any good or not, Donna cleared her thoughts and conjured an image of Jared in her mind. Her heart pounded as she reached for him. Jared, I don’t know where you are, but I know you’re somewhere close. I can feel you. I know you don’t want to see me, and you’re probably not hearing my thoughts either, and I understand, but I had to try. I know I hurt you and I know I’m a disappointment to you. I just wish, even if we can’t be together that you could at least find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you. I’ve tried not to because I know that’s not what you want, but I can’t help it Jared. I would give anything just to see your face again, to have you hold me and tell me that you don’t… hate me. Please, at least say goodbye, before you go back to America.
------------
Jared clenched his teeth, straining not to respond to Donna’s thoughts. His throat burned. His vision blurred. His tears glistened red as they reflected against his glowing crimson eyes like liquid rubies. His heart and head pounded. Everything in Jared wanted to reach out to Donna, to go to her, to hold her, to comfort her. Despite the fact that Jared was shouldering most of Donna’s guilt and pain, she still wouldn’t let go.
Jared pushed his feelings down deep. He took the anger he felt inside and used it to lash out, mentally growling and allowing her to see the rage in his eyes. His answering thoughts were like steel traps snapped around the leg of a helpless animal, cutting sharp and deep. No, Donna! I won’t see you. I said everything I needed to say to you in my letter. You have Sam now! Leave me alone!
Jared first felt Donna’s pain, then her disappointment, then her anger… and then nothing. He mentally screamed as hot tears slipped down his cheeks. His wolf-spirit reared its head back and let out a long, heart-ripping howl.
------------
Donna slowly opened her eyes. She felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. Her throat ached and burned, but she refused to cry. She knew Jared could sense her emotions. She would not give him the pleasure of knowing how badly his thoughts had hurt her. She took the lid off her cappuccino and lifted it to her lips, gingerly sipping it.
Sam saw the light on in the observation area as he walked past. He clenched his teeth and kept going. After a few more steps, he stopped, mulling things over. Donna’s voice reverberated inside his head as her words diced at his male ego like sharp knives. ‘You may have Jared’s ways, but you will never, ever come up to his level.’
Sam took another step; John’s words came back to him. ‘Sam, if you intend on holding on to Donna – no pun intended – maybe you should stop making smart cracks about Jared and give Donna time to get over him before you’re standing in the same position Jared is.’
Sam turned the corner; Ruth was standing at the end of the corridor, next to his office. He walked up to her, hungrily gazing over her body. He kissed her hard as he opened the door to the empty patient care room and pushed her inside. He slid his hand up her thigh, hooking his finger around her thong strap. Ruth groaned and tugged at the tie on his scrubs with one hand as her other one fondled his length.
Donna’s face and dark eyes filled with need flashed through Sam’s mind. Ruth continued to fondle him, sliding her hand inside and squeezing hot throbbing flesh. Overtaken by guilt, Sam froze. His carnal urge passed as Donna’s other words wrapped around him like a warm blanket. ‘If it were you, I would do everything within my power to keep you with me. I’ve already lost too much. I don’t want to lose anything else.’
Then their conversation earlier in the observation area, before their moment of heated passion, came back. ‘It’s OK… but please, don’t push. I need more time. There is something I’d like you to do.”
‘Anything, sweetheart.’
‘Lock the door….’
------------
“Come on Sam,” Ruth gasped as she finished squirming out of her thong. “What are you waiting for?” she groaned as she lifted her leg and pushed her slick heat against the head of his erection, yanking Sam from his silent reverie.
Sam frowned. “No…” he groaned through clenched teeth and pushed her away. “I’m sorry, Ruth, but I can’t do this,” he said as he tied the tie on his scrubs and backed away. “I won’t do this!” Ruth frowned and stared in shock as she watched Sam close the door behind him. He hurried back to the observation area. Donna’s head jerked up as she heard the door close. She followed him with her eyes as he crossed the floor and stopped at the chair beside her. “Excuse me, Pretty Lady, but is this seat taken?”
Donna held his gaze and slowly shook her head. Sam sat beside her and faced the one-way glass. He’d come very close to doing something stupid. He swallowed the lump in his throat, and laced his fingers with hers; sighing deeply when she didn’t pull away. He closed his eyes and slowly brought her hand to the warmth of his lips, kissing the back of it and nibbling the tips of her fingers. A slow smile spread across his mouth as he tasted the honey on her skin. “Forgot to get a napkin?” he asked as he finished cleaning the honey off her fingertips.
Donna’s eyes glossed; she nodded. She cleared her throat. “There’s still half a bran muffin in the bag… if you want it,” she whispered. “I may even share the rest of my vanilla cappuccino with you if you clean the honey off my lips.”
One side of Sam’s mouth turned up. He leaned his face to hers and covered her mouth with his, kissing her and sucking the honey off her sticky lips. Donna parted her lips and allowed him to explore her mouth, kissing him back and leaning into his kiss. She cupped the nape of his neck in her palm and held him in place. Sam ended the kiss and pulled back, studying her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Sam whispered and kissed her again. “I shouldn’t have taken a stab at Jared like that, but… I’m so afraid of losing you to him.”
Donna crawled on Sam’s lap and buried her face at the side of his neck. There was a faint fragrance of perfume on his skin, and it wasn’t hers. She frowned slightly and swallowed hard. No strings Donna. It works both ways, she reminded herself. “Jared doesn’t want me,” she whispered against his skin and kissed it. “I was kind of hoping you still did.”
Sam drew in a deep breath and slowly blew it out between his lips. He tightened his arms around her and rubbed his cheek against the top of her head. “I love you.”
Donna softly smiled. “I’m glad somebody does. I’ve got a couple of hours before I have to be back upstairs. Feel like taking a nap with me?”
Sam grinned. “Do you mind if we take it in my sleeping quarters on my tiny half-comfortable bed?” Donna slowly shook her head. Sam handed her the bag with the leftover muffin and coffee in it. “Hold this,” he said and stood, cradling her in his arms. Donna flipped the light switch. Sam closed the door.
Ruth watched as Sam carried Donna into his office. She narrowed her eyes, typed out a short text on her cell phone and hit send.
------------
Richard’s cell phone vibrated. He unlocked it and read the text. ‘Sorry, I tried. They’re still together.’
“Damn!” he muttered under his breath. “What is it going to take?”
Gary glanced at Richard over the top of his glasses. “Pardon?”
“Oh nothing,” Richard groaned and put his cell phone away. “I was just talking to myself. So how are you and Tina doing?”
“We’re… fine,” Gary lied.
Richard arched an eyebrow and grinned. “Really…?”
Gary frowned. “Yes – really – why?”
Richard pursed his lips and shook his head. “No reason,” he responded, took another culture disk from storage and started scanning it. “I was just curious.”
Gary’s cell phone vibrated. He unlocked it and read Donna’s text. ‘Taking a nap with Sam. Cover for me. May be a little longer than two hours.’ He glanced at Richard out of the corner of his eye and grinned.
Richard looked up and frowned. “What?”
Gary shook his head. “Nothing….”