Dr. Ackles and Subject 7321 aka Jared Chapter 2 of 5
Chapter 2. Getting to Know You. Jensen’s Pov.
Day 2: Sour Punch Straws…the Strawberry Kind.
I walk into my office with a large bag of Sour Patch Straws in hand. As I close the door behind me, I look towards Jared’s enclosure.
“Hey, whatcha looking at?” I say, walking towards his area to see him looking through one of the books I gave him while his tail is curled up around him.
“What thisss?” he asks, pointing to a picture.
“Can I come in so I can see it?” I ask, not wanting to go into his space without permission. He nods his head and I open the door to his enclosure, keeping it open as I walk over to his makeshift lounge area.
“That’s a dolphin.”
“D-dolphin.” He repeats hesitantly and I nod.
“Yeah, they live in the Ocean.” I say as I open my bag of deliciousness. I take one of the pink candy straws out of the bag and stick it in my mouth, stopping myself from moaning at the strawberry sour flavor that explodes in my mouth.
“What thosssse?” he asks, pointing towards the bag in my hand.
“What I’ve been craving for the last three weeks.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Craving?”
“Ok, so have you ever wanted to eat something really badly and you just couldn’t get the idea of that food out of your head?” I ask, and he nods. “Well, pregnancy causes people to have that all the time.”
“Try?” he asks, and I nod; taking one straw out and handing it to him. He brings it up to his nose and smells it carefully before bringing it to his mouth. His eyes widen, and he looks towards the bag with glee.
“You like them?” I ask, and he nods enthusiastically, reaching forward to snatch the bag out of my hand. He grabs three more straws and shovels them into his mouth. “Damn.” He swallows and gives me a sheepish look, whipping his mouth with one hand while extending the bag back towards me. I shake my head. “I can get more.” He smiles and continues eating while I walk out of his enclosure and walk over to my desk to grab his file.
Day 2. Subject 7321 has acquired a taste for human food; specifically Sour Punch Straws, the Strawberry kind.
Day 8. Exploring the Office
“So how did you learn to speak English?” I ask, watching Jared explore my office from my lazy boy chair.
“Ty,” he answers, slithering over to my desk and picking up one of the picture frames. He gives me a questioning look. “Who?” he asks, pointing picture held within the frame.
“That’s me and my brother a couple of years ago.” He nods his head and sets it down. “Who’s Ty?”
“Human man.” He reaches for my mug filled with green tea, takes a sniff, and sets it down quickly. “Grossss.” He shudders, and I chuckle.
“Yeah, I miss my coffee.” He hums sympathetically. “You know what coffee tastes like?”
He nods. “Ty,” he says as means of explanation.
“So this guy taught you English and exposed you to coffee?” He nods. “How do you even know him?”
“Live in houssse by village.” He says, opening one of my drawers. “Learn nature.” I narrow my eyes in confusion.
“Is he like me?”
“Ssscientissst?” he asks, and I nod. “Don’t know.” I nod. “Ty got hurt, we help him; we watch and learn.”
“So, essentially you studied him and human culture.”
“Like you? Yesss.” He says with a pleased smile, and I can’t help but chuckle as he continues his search of my drawers. A moment later, he pulls out an article of clothing and holds it up. “Hoodie?” he asks.
“Yeah; did Ty give you clothes?” I ask, curious as to how he knows what a ‘hoodie’ is.
“Yessss; human clothessss better.” He turns the hoodie around to see the cartoon on the front. “From TV?” he asks, indicating to the picture of Batman on the front.
“TV and comic books. Have you watched TV before?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“Computer…Netflix?”
“Holy shit, you know what Netflix is.” I say with a laugh, continuing to watch him study the hoodie. “Would you like to keep that?” I ask, and his head whips towards me.
“Really?” he asks with childlike joy.
I nod. “I’m huge dude,” I say, gesturing towards my pregnant belly. “I can’t even get it over my stomach.”
“Thank you!” he says; hugging the hoodie to his chest happily.
“Why don’t you look through there and see if there is anything else you like; hell the only things in there that still fit me are my sweatpants.”
He gives me a curious look. “Why clothesss here?”
I shrug. “I stay here overnight sometimes,” I answer and he nods before continuing his search. Once he’s distracted, I grab his file.
Day 8. Subject 7321 informed me that he briefly observed human culture from someone named ‘Ty’. Because of Ty, Jared (and others within his tribe) learned how to speak English and learned about other human cultural things such as clothes, Netflix, and coffee. Should continue to explore this information to see what else subject has learned about human culture.
Day 13. Mate
Day 13. Subject 7321’s shoulder seems to be healing nicely. No infection has manifested. The stitches have begun to dissolve into his skin. Within the next few days, I plan on having him perform some simple exercises to make sure his shoulder didn’t sustain further damage.
“Where mate?” Jared asks, breaking me from my concentration.
“What?”
He slithers up towards the desk, pulling at the sleeve of his - my - black hoodie nervously. “You have baby…” he trails off, wanting me to fill in the blanks so he doesn’t have to.
“There is no mate,” I say, and he looks at me with calculating eyes. “There were six shots of tequila, three surprise drinks, a charming guy by the name of Olsson, and a faulty condom, though,” I say, putting my pen down and leaning back in my chair, chuckling humorlessly. “The sad thing is that out of the few drunken hookups I’ve had, he was the only one I didn’t regret…but then I tried to find him again once I found out I was pregnant and it’s kinda hard to do that when there are no records of an Olsson in this area at all.” Jared moves closer to me, a sad look in his eyes. I shrug and force a smile onto my face. “Hey, don’t mind me being all whiny and shit; didn’t you want to watch Adventure Time on Netflix?” I reach forward to grab my laptop, but a hand on my arm stops me.
“You good; take good care of baby alone. Good man,” he says with a smile.
“Well, what about you?” I ask quickly, wanting to get myself off of the ‘other father’ topic. “Do you have a mate?”
He shakes his head. “No, but clossse.” I raise an eyebrow.
“Who is she?” I ask, and he smiles.
“Human name Genevieve.” He says with a happy expression in his eyes, and I can’t help but chuckle.
“You sly dog.” He gives me a questioning look. “It’s a human expression, don’t worry about it.” He nods. “Tell me about her.”
“Gen great hunter, kind, funny…” he trails off, sadness entering his eyes as he continues to think about his conquest. “Misssss her.”
“I’ll make sure you get back to her.” He looks at me with hopeful eyes.
“Promissse?” he asks.
“You’re results are good so far; you should be out of here within the next few weeks.” He smiles, hope entering his eyes.
“Sssee; Jen good man to Jared, will be good for baby.” He says before quickly slithering away towards his open enclosure, not letting me argue with him.
Day 20: Sonograms
I unlock my office door with a smile on my face, only to be greeted by an upset looking Jared as I open the door.
“Late.” He says, and I sigh guiltily.
“I’m sorry, I guess I should have told you yesterday that I was going to be a little late,” I say as I close the door behind me.
“Why?” he asks, and I can’t stop a smile from forming.
“I had a doctor’s appointment.”
“Ok?” he asks worriedly.
“I went to a baby doctor for a normal checkup.” His face goes from worried to happy in seconds.
“Baby good?” he asks, and I nod happily.
“She’s doing great.” I think for a second. “Want to see a picture?”
He gives me a confused look, and points towards my bulging stomach. “How?”
I open the envelope in my hands and pull out one of the new sonogram pictures, showing it to him.
“That baby?” I nod. “Wow.”
“It’s called a sonogram; they use this wand with petroleum jelly over my stomach to get images,” I say, not wanting to confuse him more with a detailed description.
“When baby come?” he asks, slithering backwards to let me sit down at my desk chair.
“My due date is in about two weeks, but she could come any time.”
His eyes widen. “Sssssoon.” I nod. “Worried?” he asks, and I nod.
“I’m terrified, but excited you know?”
He nods his head. “Thisss cool; keep?” he asks, gesturing towards the picture in his hand.
“Um, sure?”
He grins and quickly slithers towards his ever growing pile of possessions.
Day 25: Hormonal outbursts and hugs
“I’m sorry Jen.” Is the first thing Josh says when I answer his phone call.
“Wait, why are you sorry?” I ask, looking up to see Jared giving me a worried expression.
“I can’t come out there this week,” he says, and my stomach drops.
“What do you mean you can’t come out here? You promised me that you’d be here!”
“My boss is a homophobic asshole Jen! I requested the time off months ago, but when he found out I was flying to Washington so I could be with my brother---”
I cut him off. “He heard that I was a carrier and about to have a baby and threatened to fire your ass.” I say, and I hear him sigh over the receiver.
“I’m so sorry Jen.” I swallow thickly. “But Karrie’s hours got cut and I…” he trails off.
“I don’t want you risking your job; you have three kids under the age of ten; they don’t deserve to suffer because their uncle is being selfish.”
“Shut the fuck up Jensen! You’re not selfish; you’re having a baby alone for god sakes!”
“Yeah, keyword here being alone.” Josh stays silent over the phone, not knowing what to say.
Josh is the only member of my family that has supported me since I came out. My parents knew I was a carrier from early on, but they hoped and prayed that I wouldn’t ‘catch the gay’ or some such bullshit. When I was eighteen with a full scholarship to college, I came out, and as I walked out the door towards my packed up car, my father yelled after me that I was no longer an Ackles. Three weeks later, after classes had started up, I was awoken at three in the morning by my brother pounding on the door and demanding that I let him in. From that day on, I knew that I had at least one family member who was there for me, and Josh has supported me ever since. Hell, he’s the only person who knows I work for a secret government facility. Sure, he doesn’t know that I study creatures that shouldn’t exist, but he knows that I’m part of something unbelievable and sometimes I just need my big brother to call and calm me down.
“What about Jeff or Jim; they both love you like you are their own flesh and blood, they’d be more than happy to be there while you’re in labor.”
“I don’t want them anywhere near me when I’m pushing a kid out of my fucking body, Josh!” I take a deep breath as I feel my eyes start to burn. “Is it wrong that I really want mom?”
Josh makes a sad noise over the phone. “No it’s not, Jen.” He sighs. “Look, I gotta go but I’ll call you later tonight. We’ll figure something out ok?”
“Yeah,” is all I can muster without my voice cracking. Josh tries to say something, but just sighs and ends the call.
“Jen?” Jared asks and I look up, hastily wiping the tears from my eyes.
“I’m ok.” He gives me a look that clearly reads ‘bullshit’ and I sigh. “Ok, so I’m crying and stuff…but I’ll be ok,” I say, trying to fake a smile, but failing miserably as tears continue to fall.
“Don’t cry, Jen.” And with those words, any control I had over my emotions breaks. I bring my hand up to cover eyes and lean forward, resting my elbow on my desk. As I begin to cry harder, I feel warm arms wrap around me. “Everything be ok.” As I continue to sob in Jared’s arms, a thought occurs to me in the back of my head…Jared has become a friend, not just another subject that I studied while stitching up.
Day 30: Email.
“So, I’m guessing Jared and Misha are getting along?” Jim asks as we walk towards my office, and I chuckle; having just left Jared and Misha in Jeff’s office.
“Getting along would be putting it mildly; Misha has found his new partner in crime.”
Jim groans, “God damn it.”
I roll my eyes as I unlock my door.
“So what did you want me to look at?” Jim asks as I walk over towards my desk to pull out some X-rays printouts.
“I wanted a second opinion on these. Jared let me take X-rays of his snake half for research purposes yesterday.”
“And what did he demand in return?” Jim asks, a knowing smile touching his features.
“He demanded ten bags of those sour punch straws, a bag of gummy worms and a large cup of coffee.” He chuckles as I drop into my office chair.
“That’s what you get for introducing the big guy to candy.”
I give Jim a glare. “Hey, it’s not my fault I was craving that stuff and the only reason he wanted the damn coffee was to make me suffer.” He rolls his eyes. “But, let’s focus here; tell me what you think,” I say, pointing towards the x-rays in his hand as I boot up my computer.
“I’m surprised you didn’t do this earlier, son.”
“Like Jared would let me; he was curious about everything and I didn’t want to scare him.” I pull up my email, and dread washes over me instantly. “Oh fuck.”
“What?” Jim asks, setting down the papers in his hand.
“Mark emailed me.” I answer as I click open the email. “It says he wants to meet with me on Thursday at three.”
Jim crosses his arms over his chest. “So it doesn’t say what the meeting is about?”
I shake my head and lean back in my chair, cupping my arms under my stomach for support. “You know Mark; anytime he wants to see you it’s bad.”
“Maybe he just wants to see your results with Jared; this place has never seen one of his kind before.”
I shrug my shoulders as I stare at my computer, hoping that Jim is right and that I’m just blowing this out of proportion.
Day 32: Doomsday
I sit in Mark Pellegrino’s office, waiting for the man in question to actually make his appearance.
I feel like shit. I mean, hell, I’ve been feeling like shit for the last month and a half really; but, I was able to power through it with Jared’s progress distracting me. Last night, no matter what I did, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, and was having Braxton hick contractions like no one’s business. When Jeff saw me this morning, he instantly grabbed my upper arm and practically dragged me into his office to use his emergency lab stay bed, telling me he would look after Jared until this afternoon.
No matter what Jeff or Jim have told me, I know that what Mark wants is going to be bad. I don’t even know how he’s the director of this lab, I mean, fuck, he seems to hate every creature that comes in here. He doesn’t actually do any lab work of his own, and he’s usually only here for a week every couple months. To me, the man is the fucking Devil.
“Jensen!”
My head shoots up at my name being called. I move to stand up, but Mark waves his hand.
“Don’t get up.” He closes his office door behind him and makes his way towards his desk. “Any day now, right?” he asks, pointing at my stomach with a smile which doesn’t reach his eyes.
I nod my head. “Yep, any day now.”
He sits down in his desk chair and nods. “So, I’m guessing from your face right now that you want me to cut the pleasantries and get right to the point?” he asks and I nod. He leans back in his chair and sighs ‘sadly’, and it’s then that I know this meeting can only lead to something horrible. “I was looking at the scans you took of Subject 7321 and noticed some things in its human half that I would like to examine further.”
“Do you need me to run another MRI or something?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“I was hoping for some more…detailed research if you will,” he says, and my stomach drops.
“Are you saying that you want me to cut Ja-, I mean Subject 7321, open to study his organs in detail?”
He nods, looking relieved that he didn’t need to say the words out loud. “We’ve done it with creatures in the past and were able to help others with the data we collected.”
“The creatures we studied were already deceased.” I deadpan; unable to fully take in what Mark is telling me to do. “What you’re asking me to do will kill him.” He shrugs, and my hand tightens into a fist at his movements.
“You’re performing a simple surgical procedure to help us with similar creatures of his species in the future; this isn’t a death sentence.”
I snort humorlessly. “Yes; a twenty percent survival rate are great odds.” I say sarcastically. His eyes narrow dangerously and, in response, I rest my hand on the outward curve of my stomach protectively.
“Do you really want to question me when you’re so close to giving birth?” he asks, and I swallow nervously at what he’s suggesting; if I question what he does, he’ll make my life a living hell. “But anyway,” he says in a more cheerful voice, the dangerous expression in his eyes no longer present. “We won’t perform the surgery until you get back from paternity leave. I want one of the other scientists to run more tests on the subject until you get back, and then we’ll prepare the subject for surgery immediately.” My heart races as he continues to plan Jared ultimate demise. “Any questions?” he asks, and I shake my head.
Fuck……Jared….
Onto Chapter 3: http://2people2.livejournal.com/12675.html
Day 2: Sour Punch Straws…the Strawberry Kind.
I walk into my office with a large bag of Sour Patch Straws in hand. As I close the door behind me, I look towards Jared’s enclosure.
“Hey, whatcha looking at?” I say, walking towards his area to see him looking through one of the books I gave him while his tail is curled up around him.
“What thisss?” he asks, pointing to a picture.
“Can I come in so I can see it?” I ask, not wanting to go into his space without permission. He nods his head and I open the door to his enclosure, keeping it open as I walk over to his makeshift lounge area.
“That’s a dolphin.”
“D-dolphin.” He repeats hesitantly and I nod.
“Yeah, they live in the Ocean.” I say as I open my bag of deliciousness. I take one of the pink candy straws out of the bag and stick it in my mouth, stopping myself from moaning at the strawberry sour flavor that explodes in my mouth.
“What thosssse?” he asks, pointing towards the bag in my hand.
“What I’ve been craving for the last three weeks.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Craving?”
“Ok, so have you ever wanted to eat something really badly and you just couldn’t get the idea of that food out of your head?” I ask, and he nods. “Well, pregnancy causes people to have that all the time.”
“Try?” he asks, and I nod; taking one straw out and handing it to him. He brings it up to his nose and smells it carefully before bringing it to his mouth. His eyes widen, and he looks towards the bag with glee.
“You like them?” I ask, and he nods enthusiastically, reaching forward to snatch the bag out of my hand. He grabs three more straws and shovels them into his mouth. “Damn.” He swallows and gives me a sheepish look, whipping his mouth with one hand while extending the bag back towards me. I shake my head. “I can get more.” He smiles and continues eating while I walk out of his enclosure and walk over to my desk to grab his file.
Day 2. Subject 7321 has acquired a taste for human food; specifically Sour Punch Straws, the Strawberry kind.
Day 8. Exploring the Office
“So how did you learn to speak English?” I ask, watching Jared explore my office from my lazy boy chair.
“Ty,” he answers, slithering over to my desk and picking up one of the picture frames. He gives me a questioning look. “Who?” he asks, pointing picture held within the frame.
“That’s me and my brother a couple of years ago.” He nods his head and sets it down. “Who’s Ty?”
“Human man.” He reaches for my mug filled with green tea, takes a sniff, and sets it down quickly. “Grossss.” He shudders, and I chuckle.
“Yeah, I miss my coffee.” He hums sympathetically. “You know what coffee tastes like?”
He nods. “Ty,” he says as means of explanation.
“So this guy taught you English and exposed you to coffee?” He nods. “How do you even know him?”
“Live in houssse by village.” He says, opening one of my drawers. “Learn nature.” I narrow my eyes in confusion.
“Is he like me?”
“Ssscientissst?” he asks, and I nod. “Don’t know.” I nod. “Ty got hurt, we help him; we watch and learn.”
“So, essentially you studied him and human culture.”
“Like you? Yesss.” He says with a pleased smile, and I can’t help but chuckle as he continues his search of my drawers. A moment later, he pulls out an article of clothing and holds it up. “Hoodie?” he asks.
“Yeah; did Ty give you clothes?” I ask, curious as to how he knows what a ‘hoodie’ is.
“Yessss; human clothessss better.” He turns the hoodie around to see the cartoon on the front. “From TV?” he asks, indicating to the picture of Batman on the front.
“TV and comic books. Have you watched TV before?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“Computer…Netflix?”
“Holy shit, you know what Netflix is.” I say with a laugh, continuing to watch him study the hoodie. “Would you like to keep that?” I ask, and his head whips towards me.
“Really?” he asks with childlike joy.
I nod. “I’m huge dude,” I say, gesturing towards my pregnant belly. “I can’t even get it over my stomach.”
“Thank you!” he says; hugging the hoodie to his chest happily.
“Why don’t you look through there and see if there is anything else you like; hell the only things in there that still fit me are my sweatpants.”
He gives me a curious look. “Why clothesss here?”
I shrug. “I stay here overnight sometimes,” I answer and he nods before continuing his search. Once he’s distracted, I grab his file.
Day 8. Subject 7321 informed me that he briefly observed human culture from someone named ‘Ty’. Because of Ty, Jared (and others within his tribe) learned how to speak English and learned about other human cultural things such as clothes, Netflix, and coffee. Should continue to explore this information to see what else subject has learned about human culture.
Day 13. Mate
Day 13. Subject 7321’s shoulder seems to be healing nicely. No infection has manifested. The stitches have begun to dissolve into his skin. Within the next few days, I plan on having him perform some simple exercises to make sure his shoulder didn’t sustain further damage.
“Where mate?” Jared asks, breaking me from my concentration.
“What?”
He slithers up towards the desk, pulling at the sleeve of his - my - black hoodie nervously. “You have baby…” he trails off, wanting me to fill in the blanks so he doesn’t have to.
“There is no mate,” I say, and he looks at me with calculating eyes. “There were six shots of tequila, three surprise drinks, a charming guy by the name of Olsson, and a faulty condom, though,” I say, putting my pen down and leaning back in my chair, chuckling humorlessly. “The sad thing is that out of the few drunken hookups I’ve had, he was the only one I didn’t regret…but then I tried to find him again once I found out I was pregnant and it’s kinda hard to do that when there are no records of an Olsson in this area at all.” Jared moves closer to me, a sad look in his eyes. I shrug and force a smile onto my face. “Hey, don’t mind me being all whiny and shit; didn’t you want to watch Adventure Time on Netflix?” I reach forward to grab my laptop, but a hand on my arm stops me.
“You good; take good care of baby alone. Good man,” he says with a smile.
“Well, what about you?” I ask quickly, wanting to get myself off of the ‘other father’ topic. “Do you have a mate?”
He shakes his head. “No, but clossse.” I raise an eyebrow.
“Who is she?” I ask, and he smiles.
“Human name Genevieve.” He says with a happy expression in his eyes, and I can’t help but chuckle.
“You sly dog.” He gives me a questioning look. “It’s a human expression, don’t worry about it.” He nods. “Tell me about her.”
“Gen great hunter, kind, funny…” he trails off, sadness entering his eyes as he continues to think about his conquest. “Misssss her.”
“I’ll make sure you get back to her.” He looks at me with hopeful eyes.
“Promissse?” he asks.
“You’re results are good so far; you should be out of here within the next few weeks.” He smiles, hope entering his eyes.
“Sssee; Jen good man to Jared, will be good for baby.” He says before quickly slithering away towards his open enclosure, not letting me argue with him.
Day 20: Sonograms
I unlock my office door with a smile on my face, only to be greeted by an upset looking Jared as I open the door.
“Late.” He says, and I sigh guiltily.
“I’m sorry, I guess I should have told you yesterday that I was going to be a little late,” I say as I close the door behind me.
“Why?” he asks, and I can’t stop a smile from forming.
“I had a doctor’s appointment.”
“Ok?” he asks worriedly.
“I went to a baby doctor for a normal checkup.” His face goes from worried to happy in seconds.
“Baby good?” he asks, and I nod happily.
“She’s doing great.” I think for a second. “Want to see a picture?”
He gives me a confused look, and points towards my bulging stomach. “How?”
I open the envelope in my hands and pull out one of the new sonogram pictures, showing it to him.
“That baby?” I nod. “Wow.”
“It’s called a sonogram; they use this wand with petroleum jelly over my stomach to get images,” I say, not wanting to confuse him more with a detailed description.
“When baby come?” he asks, slithering backwards to let me sit down at my desk chair.
“My due date is in about two weeks, but she could come any time.”
His eyes widen. “Sssssoon.” I nod. “Worried?” he asks, and I nod.
“I’m terrified, but excited you know?”
He nods his head. “Thisss cool; keep?” he asks, gesturing towards the picture in his hand.
“Um, sure?”
He grins and quickly slithers towards his ever growing pile of possessions.
Day 25: Hormonal outbursts and hugs
“I’m sorry Jen.” Is the first thing Josh says when I answer his phone call.
“Wait, why are you sorry?” I ask, looking up to see Jared giving me a worried expression.
“I can’t come out there this week,” he says, and my stomach drops.
“What do you mean you can’t come out here? You promised me that you’d be here!”
“My boss is a homophobic asshole Jen! I requested the time off months ago, but when he found out I was flying to Washington so I could be with my brother---”
I cut him off. “He heard that I was a carrier and about to have a baby and threatened to fire your ass.” I say, and I hear him sigh over the receiver.
“I’m so sorry Jen.” I swallow thickly. “But Karrie’s hours got cut and I…” he trails off.
“I don’t want you risking your job; you have three kids under the age of ten; they don’t deserve to suffer because their uncle is being selfish.”
“Shut the fuck up Jensen! You’re not selfish; you’re having a baby alone for god sakes!”
“Yeah, keyword here being alone.” Josh stays silent over the phone, not knowing what to say.
Josh is the only member of my family that has supported me since I came out. My parents knew I was a carrier from early on, but they hoped and prayed that I wouldn’t ‘catch the gay’ or some such bullshit. When I was eighteen with a full scholarship to college, I came out, and as I walked out the door towards my packed up car, my father yelled after me that I was no longer an Ackles. Three weeks later, after classes had started up, I was awoken at three in the morning by my brother pounding on the door and demanding that I let him in. From that day on, I knew that I had at least one family member who was there for me, and Josh has supported me ever since. Hell, he’s the only person who knows I work for a secret government facility. Sure, he doesn’t know that I study creatures that shouldn’t exist, but he knows that I’m part of something unbelievable and sometimes I just need my big brother to call and calm me down.
“What about Jeff or Jim; they both love you like you are their own flesh and blood, they’d be more than happy to be there while you’re in labor.”
“I don’t want them anywhere near me when I’m pushing a kid out of my fucking body, Josh!” I take a deep breath as I feel my eyes start to burn. “Is it wrong that I really want mom?”
Josh makes a sad noise over the phone. “No it’s not, Jen.” He sighs. “Look, I gotta go but I’ll call you later tonight. We’ll figure something out ok?”
“Yeah,” is all I can muster without my voice cracking. Josh tries to say something, but just sighs and ends the call.
“Jen?” Jared asks and I look up, hastily wiping the tears from my eyes.
“I’m ok.” He gives me a look that clearly reads ‘bullshit’ and I sigh. “Ok, so I’m crying and stuff…but I’ll be ok,” I say, trying to fake a smile, but failing miserably as tears continue to fall.
“Don’t cry, Jen.” And with those words, any control I had over my emotions breaks. I bring my hand up to cover eyes and lean forward, resting my elbow on my desk. As I begin to cry harder, I feel warm arms wrap around me. “Everything be ok.” As I continue to sob in Jared’s arms, a thought occurs to me in the back of my head…Jared has become a friend, not just another subject that I studied while stitching up.
Day 30: Email.
“So, I’m guessing Jared and Misha are getting along?” Jim asks as we walk towards my office, and I chuckle; having just left Jared and Misha in Jeff’s office.
“Getting along would be putting it mildly; Misha has found his new partner in crime.”
Jim groans, “God damn it.”
I roll my eyes as I unlock my door.
“So what did you want me to look at?” Jim asks as I walk over towards my desk to pull out some X-rays printouts.
“I wanted a second opinion on these. Jared let me take X-rays of his snake half for research purposes yesterday.”
“And what did he demand in return?” Jim asks, a knowing smile touching his features.
“He demanded ten bags of those sour punch straws, a bag of gummy worms and a large cup of coffee.” He chuckles as I drop into my office chair.
“That’s what you get for introducing the big guy to candy.”
I give Jim a glare. “Hey, it’s not my fault I was craving that stuff and the only reason he wanted the damn coffee was to make me suffer.” He rolls his eyes. “But, let’s focus here; tell me what you think,” I say, pointing towards the x-rays in his hand as I boot up my computer.
“I’m surprised you didn’t do this earlier, son.”
“Like Jared would let me; he was curious about everything and I didn’t want to scare him.” I pull up my email, and dread washes over me instantly. “Oh fuck.”
“What?” Jim asks, setting down the papers in his hand.
“Mark emailed me.” I answer as I click open the email. “It says he wants to meet with me on Thursday at three.”
Jim crosses his arms over his chest. “So it doesn’t say what the meeting is about?”
I shake my head and lean back in my chair, cupping my arms under my stomach for support. “You know Mark; anytime he wants to see you it’s bad.”
“Maybe he just wants to see your results with Jared; this place has never seen one of his kind before.”
I shrug my shoulders as I stare at my computer, hoping that Jim is right and that I’m just blowing this out of proportion.
Day 32: Doomsday
I sit in Mark Pellegrino’s office, waiting for the man in question to actually make his appearance.
I feel like shit. I mean, hell, I’ve been feeling like shit for the last month and a half really; but, I was able to power through it with Jared’s progress distracting me. Last night, no matter what I did, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, and was having Braxton hick contractions like no one’s business. When Jeff saw me this morning, he instantly grabbed my upper arm and practically dragged me into his office to use his emergency lab stay bed, telling me he would look after Jared until this afternoon.
No matter what Jeff or Jim have told me, I know that what Mark wants is going to be bad. I don’t even know how he’s the director of this lab, I mean, fuck, he seems to hate every creature that comes in here. He doesn’t actually do any lab work of his own, and he’s usually only here for a week every couple months. To me, the man is the fucking Devil.
“Jensen!”
My head shoots up at my name being called. I move to stand up, but Mark waves his hand.
“Don’t get up.” He closes his office door behind him and makes his way towards his desk. “Any day now, right?” he asks, pointing at my stomach with a smile which doesn’t reach his eyes.
I nod my head. “Yep, any day now.”
He sits down in his desk chair and nods. “So, I’m guessing from your face right now that you want me to cut the pleasantries and get right to the point?” he asks and I nod. He leans back in his chair and sighs ‘sadly’, and it’s then that I know this meeting can only lead to something horrible. “I was looking at the scans you took of Subject 7321 and noticed some things in its human half that I would like to examine further.”
“Do you need me to run another MRI or something?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“I was hoping for some more…detailed research if you will,” he says, and my stomach drops.
“Are you saying that you want me to cut Ja-, I mean Subject 7321, open to study his organs in detail?”
He nods, looking relieved that he didn’t need to say the words out loud. “We’ve done it with creatures in the past and were able to help others with the data we collected.”
“The creatures we studied were already deceased.” I deadpan; unable to fully take in what Mark is telling me to do. “What you’re asking me to do will kill him.” He shrugs, and my hand tightens into a fist at his movements.
“You’re performing a simple surgical procedure to help us with similar creatures of his species in the future; this isn’t a death sentence.”
I snort humorlessly. “Yes; a twenty percent survival rate are great odds.” I say sarcastically. His eyes narrow dangerously and, in response, I rest my hand on the outward curve of my stomach protectively.
“Do you really want to question me when you’re so close to giving birth?” he asks, and I swallow nervously at what he’s suggesting; if I question what he does, he’ll make my life a living hell. “But anyway,” he says in a more cheerful voice, the dangerous expression in his eyes no longer present. “We won’t perform the surgery until you get back from paternity leave. I want one of the other scientists to run more tests on the subject until you get back, and then we’ll prepare the subject for surgery immediately.” My heart races as he continues to plan Jared ultimate demise. “Any questions?” he asks, and I shake my head.
Fuck……Jared….
Onto Chapter 3: http://2people2.livejournal.com/12675.html