Science to Conduct in the Laboratory of Love

Doctor Nemesis and Kavita Rao had been in the lab for several hours already (him since six thirty, her since seven); lunch time had come and gone and still neither showed signs of slowing their forward progress or taking any notice of one another. Whirrs and clicks emanated periodically from scanners, and the glaring white fluorescence of the lab ceiling starkly illuminated his notebook and her microscope as they worked silently on. The quiet of the lab was punctuated by the tapping of her keyboard and the soft clink of gloved hands moving test tubes and prepping syringes.

Tranquility; productivity. This was how a laboratory should be. It was unmarred by emotion and rhetoric; an oasis of logic, hypothesis and science.

Yeah, right.

Doctor Nemesis took a deep breath, attempting to quell the flopping of his stomach. He felt crazy; why was he even bothering?

Fingers restlessly twirling a syringe of amino acids between dexterous fingers, he turned to face his co-worker, heart pounding. "Kavita." His voice was rougher than usual. Inwardly cursing his complete lack of charisma, he fiddled absently, feverishly, with the needle.

"Mmm?" Without turning around she switched from tapping at her keyboard to peer into the microscope, one hand adjusting the dials automatically as the other supported her weight on the counter. The bracelet around her wrist accentuated the elegance of her hands, her fingers, her whole self. Perfect.

Unattainable.

A silent gulp, nerves steeled and he spoke again. "Kavita. I was wondering if... If you would be interested in aiding me with conducting some psychological experiments." The habitual bomb-proof self-assurance was practically shattered, syringe twirling in his fingers betraying his frazzled nerves. He sounded pathetic even to himself.

She twisted to see him, swiveling in the chair. Skepticism played about her eyebrows. "Honestly, that sounds terrifying. What would that entail, you torturing me psychologically and seeing my reaction?" She rolled her eyes, turning back to her computer.

"No-"

"Actually," she interrupted, spinning around again with sudden concern, "You aren't acting like yourself." Her eyebrows knotted in a frown. "Are you alright, Nemesis?"

"Yes-yes, I'm fine," he grumbled, annoyed. "I was just... wondering if you would help me conduct psychological experiments in a... social setting. Say, over dinner...?" He petered out hopefully, but the tension of his voice was unmistakable.

Dawning comprehension on her face. "Oh god, are you asking me out?"

He abruptly stopped twisting the syringe around his fingers. The emptiness of the lab was stifling as silent awkwardness stretched between them. She had sounded repulsed.

"No," he finally said sulkily. But he didn't move back to his own work station.

Putting a hand to her forehead, she stared at him for a moment, his white-robed figure tall and thin before her and she could practically see a pout through the surgical mask. "You are asking me out, aren't you?" she asked in disbelief.

"I just-"

"Shut up, Nemesis, I'm thinking," she said, flapping a hand at him. She narrowed her eyes, lips pursed. He scowled at her microscope.

A long loud beep suddenly rang throughout the laboratory, breaking into both the scientists' thoughts. "Ahh, the chrono-synclastic encephalon monitor!" Doctor Nemesis exclaimed in obvious relief. "I'll just go recalibrate it," he said quickly, turning to rush off. He just wanted to get away, away from his failure and embarrassment, away from her.

But she grabbed him by the sleeve. "No."

"No?" he echoed faintly. "Why not?"

"Because you don't have to. And screw this, I haven't gotten laid in months. You're going to make love to me right now." She surprised even herself.

He gaped at her, blue-gray eyes disbelieving over his surgical mask. "I... I am?"

"Yep," she affirmed.

"Oh... Okay."

She stepped towards him and gently unhooked his mask from around one ear.

"What if someone comes in, Kavita?"

"Well, I guess we'll have to tell him we were simply engaging in carnal experimentation, and had to act as test subjects ourselves," she grinned mischievously. "Honestly, Nemesis, you worry too much."

He reached up to remove his hat and placed it deliberately on the hook behind him. "Call me James," he murmured, almost sadly.

And then they kissed.

The warmth of her dry skin, the taste of her lips against his, the weight of her body as she pressed him to her. Human contact, pure and simple, was what he had apparently been missing. The ecstasy of skin on skin as he touched her wrists gently.

Neither of them embraced the other, they just stayed joined at the lips - nipping and laughing in frustration at their mutual clumsiness - for several minutes.

The closest they got to "making love" was when Kavita pulled playfully on his tie. He smiled against her teeth, taking joy simply in her happiness.

And then the door whispered open and they broke apart abruptly, repelled from each other as if similarly poled magnets, as they spun to face the intruder.

"Uh, I hope I'm not interruptin' anything," Madison Jeffries said apologetically, shuffling farther into the lab. "I just have to do some work on the ambient noise distorter... It was malfunctioning before." Nemesis turned his back to the other man, hoping he wouldn't see the flush on his cheeks or note the extra crumples on his jacket. But then, there was probably not much to worry about; Jeffries was not the most observant.

"Hey, Nemesis, you look different."

He froze. "Not wearing my hat," he smiled stiffly.

"Oh. Yeah. That must be it."

Madison retreated across the lab, mind already moving on to more pressing problems than potential professional awkwardness and speculation about something more than a working relationship between his two colleagues. Audibly breathing a sigh of relief, Nemesis plonked his hat back on his head and replaced the surgical mask in his pocket. After glancing to see how far away Jeffries was, he loudly said, "Well, I'm going to grab a bite to eat. Don't mess everything up while I'm gone; even you should be able to avoid provoking scientific Armageddon for twenty minutes. So long."

After hastily looking around again, he grabbed Kavita's arms, looking right into her eyes. "Come to my room, tonight, after dinner. We can continue our 'experiment'", he whispered urgently with a half-smile.

"No way." She wrinkled her nose. "Your room is disgusting. You come to my room."

"Fine," he sniffed in defeat.

Exactly twelve hours after Kavita Rao started working in the laboratory, James Bradley sidled quickly down the hallway and entered her room.

That's when they made love.