Keeping a Promise

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

Brenda came home from the Nexus, telling the girls to take Ace out and throw the ball for him for awhile and then wheeling wearily toward the elevator. The slight cough she'd wakened with that morning was worse, and her head was ringing slightly as though she had a fever, but she pushed away the symptoms as she rode down to the Cave. The formula that she hoped would restore Kat to her proper age was completed, and she'd finished the initial testing. Trials on adult mice had shown no effect, but trials on mice that had been regressed with the formula that Kat had been exposed to had returned to their proper appearance.

She'd done those tests seven days ago, and the mice continued healthy. So all that was left now was for human testing.

Brenda wheeled into the lab and scrubbed her hands, then removed the container of de-aging compound from the locked cupboard and set it in her lap while she also got the antidote. This done, she wheeled toward a containment room and locked herself inside.

One whiff of the compound had her blinking disorientedly at the change in perspective and a little sick to her stomach, but she steeled herself and injected the antidote straight into a vein.

Perspective changed again, and Brenda managed a smile before her eyes slipped shut and she toppled from the wheelchair.

Comments

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

She kicked herself free of the blankets, then unbuttoned the collar of the flannel sleepshirt she'd been put into. "Leslie turned the heat up?"

[dbattyones.livejournal.com]

"You were cold," he said, quickly getting up to turn it down. He smiled slightly, seeing her. "You look better."

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

"The fever's broken." She swallowed and turned her head to see if there was any water on the night table. "I feel like I've been wrung out and hung up to dry."

[dbattyones.livejournal.com]

"Here," he quickly poured a glass from the pitcher and offered her it. He was very, relieved.

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

She drank gratefully, then lay back against the pillow to sneeze and then cough slightly. "Thanks."

[dbattyones.livejournal.com]

He smiled at her. "You do look much better," he said softly.

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

She gave him a weary smile in return, then sighed and reached for the blankets again. "It must have been high; I can only remember bits and snatches."

And she'd once used to patrol right through illnesses.

[dbattyones.livejournal.com]

"It was. But you're better now," he said gently, smiling.

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

"Yes." She looked at the clock, then at the windows. "Am I up to date on the medications?"

[dbattyones.livejournal.com]

"Take these and you will," he offered her a couple pills.

[anotherbwayne.livejournal.com]

She took them and put them in her mouth, then lifted her head for a drink.

[dbattyones.livejournal.com]

He gently supported her and helped her, then smoothed her hair. "Would you like to take a shower?" he asked gently.