The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an amazing book and they made a movie off it with the same title last year starring Oprah Winfrey. Check out both. Cells are cool. Science, bitches! Also look up different Jeopardy remixes. Some of that's straight fire.
Enjoy and review!
NJPNJPNJP
"Don't ever leave me again."
"Tana." Mercedes sighed.
"I had to cook for myself and entertain myself. It was hell!"
"Tana." Mercedes tried again.
"Jimi had to work this weekend so I had to be bothered with Puck. You know how much I hate that."
"Tana!"
"What?" Santana crossed her arms.
"Can we just eat in peace? I'm sorry you didn't have a good weekend but we had to go home. You'll be home next weekend and you'll forget all about this one."
"Fine." Santana had been complaining all morning but she supposed she could let up. "But you owe me."
"Ugh!" Quinn rolled her eyes. "Just give it up. We're not doing anything just because you can't stand your own company for two days."
"I can stand my own company! I'm fantastic!"
"Good. Because we won't be back until the fourth. You'll be here alone."
Santana's face dropped. "You can't be serious!"
Mercedes made a face at Quinn. "Stop it, Q."
"Well, we're not." Quinn didn't care about Santana's feelings. "She's going to have to get along without us for a few days."
"Don't leave me." Santana got out of her chair and hugged Mercedes.
"Tana, we'll be back before you know it." Mercedes patted her back soothingly. "You'll have Artie and Noah. Then we'll be back and playing more gigs."
"I can't wait. It's going to be amazing performing on Italy TV." Santana sat back down.
"I know!" Mercedes gushed. "Everyone watches Italy TV!"
"We're going to be big!"
"And I'm sitting here, watching paint dry." Quinn sipped her coffee.
"When's your next job?" Mercedes took her hand.
"Not until the middle of January."
"Maybe you'd like to come with us and watch us perform? Puck would like that."
"I could." Quinn picked up her coffee cup.
"You know you want to."
"I do." Quinn grinned.
"Then come with. What are you doing this week?"
Quinn leaned her head back. "Ugh! Exams!"
"I know what you mean." Santana made a face. "I have three classes that I could totally leave."
"I have exams, too but I'm only going in today and Wednesday." Mercedes added.
"Are you going into the shop?"
"No time."
"How's your demonic sister going to take that?" Mercedes slapped her arm. "Ow!"
"Marcy is not demonic! And she already knows."
"Your sister's the devil." Santana leaned away.
"Whose name is Satan?" Quinn scoffed.
Santana glared.
MMC
Mike walked into the room and sat down at a desk. He pulled his laptop from his backpack and booted it up.
His classmates filed in and took seats around the room. This block was everyone taking his subject for Stanford (and other universities) and U of M. They were crammed into two different blocks and instructed by the same teacher.
For their exam, they were to do a joint project. They were in groups of five and were to do a presentation on one area of the book they were reading, the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
It was a biography in a way that was said to be turned into a movie in a few years. Mike had enjoyed reading most of it (the rampant abuse turned his stomach) and wanted to learn more about cells, which he knew made his father happy.
But it also made him want to explore the ethical side to medical practices, which made his mother happy. He wasn't sure if he wanted to explore law now or keep at it with medical classes.
He figured he had time to second guess himself. He could always change his major at a later date. Wasn't that the point of college? exploration?
His teammates found him and they pushed their desks together. A girl with long, wavy brown hair spoke first. "Hey, guys."
The only other girl in the group smiled. She waved shyly. "Hi."
"How's it going?" An Irish guy nodded.
The Italian group member waved. "What's up?"
Mike nodded. "Hey."
The first girl, Clarissa rubbed her hands together. "So are we ready?"
"I sent in the PowerPoint." Mike said.
The shy girl, Amanda chewed on her lip. "I sent in the abstract and stuff."
"Good." Ramiro, the Italian male nodded as he rubbed his hands together to generate heat. "I have everyone's notecards."
Semis, the Irish student, went next. "I've got the board and all the pieces."
"And I got the candy."
Clarissa waved her hands excitedly. "I think we've got this!"
"We better." Semis said. "We've gone over everything multiple times."
"Are you sure I don't have to talk a lot?" Amanda wanted to confirm again.
"Yes." Semis stressed. "You and Mike have three slides between you."
Mike felt good about that. He was still shy and it stressed him out thinking about talking in front of people.
"Thank you." Amanda smiled sheepishly. "I think I'd throw up if I had to speak more."
"We understand." Ramiro told her. "Not everyone is like us. We can get up in front of a crowd no problem but for you guys, it's a bit much."
The instructor clapped her hands. "What group would like to go first?"
"We should go first." Mike said. "Get it over with."
Semis snickered. "You gotta relax. We'll do fine."
Clarissa raised her hand. "We would!"
"Alright." The professor went to the whiteboard up front and wrote their names down in order. "Okay, going first is Clarissa, Mike, Semis, Amanda and Ramiro. Give them your full attention and don't forget to fill out the sheet to the best of your ability. Go ahead."
Mike set up the PowerPoint on the teacher's computer as his teammates passed out flyers with information on it. The sheet the instructor talked about was a piece of paper she gave everyone. It looked like an excel spreadsheet with spaces for names and numbers. The class was going to grade each other.
That was added pressure because if they were bored, they were likely to put down bad marks.
The PowerPoint loaded so Mike made it bigger before looking at Clarissa, who was going to speak first. She went through what ethics was in the first place and the practices done in the book. Semis went next and talked about practices for that time period (1940-1960) and how things were different.
Amanda went next and talked about medical and ethical practices now and how they differed so greatly from then. Mike was up and talked about how the family of Henrietta Lacks felt about what happened to their family member and how ethical it was to take her cells without her knowledge.
Ramiro was last as he talked about the impact HeLa cells made on the medical community and the world at large and how it tied in with ethics.
Mike played music for the last slide and it came on as Ramiro stopped talking. It was the Jeopardy theme but with a hip-hop remix.
The group members started dancing a bit as they set up the board and pieces. The class loved it and danced in their seats a bit as they got set up.
Soon the board was set up on a table with the pockets with numbers ranging from 200 to 1000 on the black board. Clarissa wrote the categories on the white board behind them before establishing groups.
She had them pick a number between one and twenty then the group that was closest got to go first.
They had fun playing Jeopardy and when it was over (Group 2 won), they handed out candy as the prize. Then they went to sit down, happy as larks that it was over.
MMC
Mal frowned as he read the poster on the back of the door. "Is this true?"
"Is what true?" Marcy asked.
"That your baby needs to be vaccinated at three months, six months, nine months and a year?"
"I think so. I had the twins vaccinated."
He humphed lowly before going to another poster on the wall.
"Mal, come stand by me. You're making me nervous, wandering around like that."
"Nervous for what? Do you think something's wrong? How are you feeling?" He walked to her and felt her face.
She swatted him away. "Stop it! That's making it worse!"
"You gotta tell me how you feel." He felt her stomach. "I don't feel anything! Is the baby moving?!"
"Mal!"
"Well!" He threw up his hands.
"You have to calm down. You're scaring me."
"I'm sorry." He cupped her cheeks and kissed her lips softly.
She broke away and nuzzled his chest with her head. "Why are you so jumpy?"
"I've never been to one of these appointments before. What if something goes wrong? You've already had three miscarriages."
She looked up at him, heartbreak in her eyes.
"Not that I think you're going to have another one!" He said quickly.
Her bottom lip trembled.
"No, no! Don't cry! I'm sorry!"
She leaned her head back and sobbed.
Dammit! He swore mentally as he gathered her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Marce. You're not going to have another miscarriage. Things are going to go great."
"Is everything alright in here?" A voice asked.
Mal turned to the door. The doctor was standing in the doorway, with a raised brow. "No, everything's fine. She's just a little… scared."
She hit him. "You said-!"
He kissed her quickly. "Yeah, I said everything would be fine!"
She pouted with a frown.
"Right." The doctor said. "My name is Dr. Fontanilla. It's nice to meet you."
"Hi, Dr. Fontanilla." Mal shook his hand.
Dr. Fontanilla closed the door behind him and looked over Marcy's chart. "So we're here for a check up?"
Marcy nodded. "I haven't had one in a few weeks."
He nodded and took the stethoscope from around his neck and put it in his ears before putting the round part on her chest. "I want you to take a couple deep breaths for me."
Marcy breathed deeply, slowly.
He hummed as he moved the piece from all over her chest to her back. He put the stethoscope back around his neck. "Were you weighed and had your blood pressure checked?"
"Yes." Marcy nodded.
He went back to her chart to review it. "You haven't gained much weight. In fact I can't even tell you're pregnant."
"Is that bad?" Mal asked.
"Not expressly so. She needs to maintain a healthy weight though. It seems as though she's only gained ten pounds over the course of this pregnancy."
"I couldn't keep anything down." Marcy defended herself. "I just got over my morning sickness."
"Now that you are, I want you to eat four healthy snacks a day and three healthy meals." Dr. Fontanilla pulled over the ultrasound machine. "Have you had any cravings?"
"Just apples and peanut butter."
He set up the machine. "That's a good snack. Eat plenty of that."
"I'll go buy you your favorite apples right after this." Mal swore.
Dr. Fontanilla turned on the machine and swept the wand over the gel he'd applied to Marcy's stomach. A picture of a baby appeared on the screen.
Mal felt his heart squeeze. "That's my baby?"
Dr. Fontanilla smiled at his awe filled, hushed tones. "That is your baby. Would you like to know the sex?"
"Yes." Mal spoke at the same time as Marcy. "No."
They looked at each other. "What?!"
Mal went first. "What do you mean no?!"
"What do you mean yes?!" She volleyed back. "I want to be surprised."
"You hate surprises!"
"The baby was a surprise and I don't hate that!"
"Come on! What is this really about?"
"I don't want to know! As soon as you know, you start putting expectations on it and I don't want that for my baby!"
"You're crazy!"
She pushed him away. "Don't call me crazy!"
Dr. Fontanilla cleared his throat. "Disagreements aren't good for the baby."
"Is the baby in distress?" She did a full 180. "I've already had three miscarriages."
He frowned and looked at her chart. "At eighteen?!"
"No. Before."
"Wow."
"Will my baby die?" Marcy's eyes filled and she sniffled.
Dr. Fontanilla frowned. "Your baby is healthy. You're healthy. This is shaping up to be a perfect birth."
"Really?" She looked up from leaning her head against Mal's chest.
"Really. You're in great shape for your age and weight. You're healthy and that's all we can ever hope for."
She smiled. "Tell Mal. He wants to know. I'll just plug my ears."
"Are you sure?" Mal asked.
She nodded. "I'm sure."
Mal smiled. "Okay, Doc. What are we having?"
MMC
Mercedes squeaked. "I can't wait for tomorrow!"
"It's too early to know what you're having." Quinn reminded her.
"I know but I want pictures." She admired the picture of Riley.
"What do you want?" Santana asked.
"I don't know." She admitted. "At the moment, I do just really want it safe and healthy."
"Well my baby is healthy." Marcy took the picture back. "Dr. F said so."
"Thank you for getting me an appointment to see him. He sounds nice."
"He is. Kinda serious but nice."
"I wanna be pregnant!" Karou pouted.
"Me too!" Yuria smiled.
"I do not wanna see you hit a mood swing." Marcy gestured to her cousin.
Karou pursed her lips. "I'd be the best pregnant woman you've ever seen!"
"I'm the best pregnant woman I've ever seen."
"You're the best I've ever seen." Quinn admitted. "Even I know I was hard to be around."
"No, you weren't." Mercedes rubbed her cheek against Quinn's.
Quinn laughed. "I know I was."
"Being pregnant's hard." Marcy defended her.
"Where's Mal?" Karou asked.
"Buying me apples."
Karou made a sound in her throat.
Marcy pinched her. "That doesn't mean pregnancy is easy!"
"Ow! You're having a mood swing!"
"I am not!" Marcy pinched her again.
"Ow! Mercy, make her stop!"
"Stop aggravating her, Rou!" Mercedes chided.
Karou huffed. "Not fair!"
Yuria took her hand and kissed the back of it. "We have to be sympathetic to Marceline Anne."
Karou scowled. "When is she going to be sympathetic to me?!"
"When you get a donor." Marcy deadpanned.
"Do you want some peanut butter?" Quinn asked her.
"Yes, please."
Mercedes giggled. "We have a jar of WowButter with your name on it. If you tell us the sex of the baby."
"I told you, I don't know. Only Mal knows."
"We have to get him as soon as he comes in…"
MMC
Mike frowned as he read the poster on the back of the door. "Is this true?"
"What?" Mercedes asked.
"That you should get the baby vaccinated at three, six, nine and twelve months?"
"I have no idea."
He shrugged before moving to another poster on the wall.
"Can you come here? You're making me nervous."
His eyes shifted. "Standing?"
"Mikey!" She whined.
"Okay. Okay." He came to stand beside her.
She wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned her head on his chest. "I'm so nervous."
"Why?"
"What if they're wrong? Didn't you see that episode of the Nanny when she thought she was pregnant but the doctor was wrong?"
Mike opened his mouth then closed it. How was he supposed to fight that? "I'm sure that isn't what's happening here."
"How do you know?" She tilted her face to view his.
"Because I'm your big brother and I know everything."
"Marc is a bad influence…"
"I think he was the perfect influence." He sniffed. She giggled just like he'd wanted so he smiled.
The door opened. "Hello, I'm Dr. Fontanilla."
Mike shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Michael."
"I'm Mercedes Catherine." Mercedes shook his hand next.
"Very nice to meet you." Dr. Fontanilla nodded. "Is this your first appointment?"
"Yes."
"How far along do you think you are?"
"I saw my doctor a few weeks ago and he said I was four weeks."
"How many is a few? How far along are you now?"
"Seven weeks."
"Okay, we can do an ultrasound but I want to perform a few tests. Will that be alright?"
Mercedes nodded. "Are they going to hurt?"
Dr. Fontanilla smiled. "Not by much."
That didn't quell her fears but Mike squeezed her hand and that did. "Okay. I'm ready."
MMC
Dr. Fontanilla looked over the test results. "Are you ready to hear this?"
Mercedes held onto Mike in a death grip. "I'm not really pregnant, am I?! I'm barren!"
Is this a mood swing?! Mike soothed her. "I'm sure you're not barren. We can always try again."
"Oh no." Dr. Fontanilla waved his hands. "You're pregnant. You're just having twins."
Both stopped and looked at him. "Twins?!"
"Yes. There's a hormone that we look for to detect early pregnancies and yours is three times as high as a non pregnant woman, indicating that you're having twins."
"Holy sh-!"
"Mikey!" Mercedes chided.
"Mercy, there are twins inside of you!"
"Do you not want to marry me anymore? Cuz I'll raise these babies on my own!"
"Mercy!" He kissed her. "I'm in. I told you that. I was just surprised."
She calmed down. "I'm having twins. Yay."
MMC
"Twins?!" Puck and Artie were shocked while Mal fell out laughing.
"Damn, Chang!" Artie was still shocked.
"When you two decide to knock a girl up, you knock her the hell up!" Puck grinned.
"Are you done?" Mike asked.
"Nope!" Mal continued laughing.
"I don't get what's so funny. So we too are having twins. Multiples run in the family."
"But on your first try?! Come on, brother! That's funny!"
Mike pursed his lips. "I bet your next child after Riley is going to be a multiple."
"Yeah right. What are the odds of that? Besides we've talked about it and we're waiting two years to get pregnant again."
"I bet you have your multiple children next year." Mike felt like being contrary.
"Easy money."
The brothers shook hands.
"You really are the bettingest people." Artie shook his head.
Both shrugged.
Puck rubbed his hands together. "So you and Mama are having twins and you won't know what for another month. What about you? What sex is Riley?"
Mal grinned. "You'll see in February."
"Why can't you tell us?!" Puck and Artie protested.
"Because she doesn't want to know and somebody is bound to tell her."
"We won't tell her! Promise!"
"Nope."
"Boo!"
Mike laughed.
MMC
"Twins?!"
"Yes!" Mercedes clapped happily.
Marcy and Quinn winced. "Ouch!"
Mercedes pouted. "It won't hurt that bad…, will it?"
They looked at each other before grinning at her in a way that was more pained grimaces than smiles.
Mercedes made a sound. "I'll get through it."
"That's the spirit, Mercedes Catherine!" Yuria rallied for her.
"We've been through this, Yuria. Call me Mercy. And thank you. I'm determined to look on the bright side of this. My life is amazing. I took all of my exams and am convinced I aced them all, I'm getting married, I'm pregnant with twins and I'm singing professionally. I have all I've ever wanted."
"Well I'm happy for you, Sis." Marcy hugged her.
Quinn hugged her next. "Me too."
"I'm super jealous, Cuz." Karou hugged her after.
Santana rolled her eyes. "It's not like we were cursing you."
"Hush up and give me a hug!" Mercedes opened her arms.
Santana hugged her. "I am happy for you, Wheezy."
"Thank you, crazy girl."
"When are you telling the rest of the family?" Karou asked.
"I figure I can Saturday."
"You should tell Jessie today." Marcy suggested.
"Good idea!" Mercedes took her phone out of her back pocket and texted their blabbermouth cousin.
"Who's Jessie?" Santana asked.
"Have you ever heard of the town crier?" Marcy asked.
"Vaguely."
"That's Jess. Accurately."
Karou laughed. "Jessie will tell you stuff about you that you don't even know."
"She's a gossip that will tell everything." Quinn rolled her eyes. "Don't tell her anything you don't want repeated."
"Wow." Santana's eyebrows moved. Phones began ringing.
"Speak of the devil." Marcy showed Santana her phone.
"I can't read that."
Marcy turned the screen to face herself. "Oh. It's Japanese."
"Why is your phone in Japanese?"
"Why is yours?"
"It's not!"
"Why not?"
"I don't know Japanese!"
"Why not?"
"Why would I?!" The others giggled at her losing her cool.
"It's a great language."
Santana screamed lowly.
Mercedes pinched her sister's cheek. "Be good, Moppet."
Marcy smiled serenely.
Quinn grinned. "Moppet is good."
"Don't be Tommy, Lil." Mercedes bopped her nose.
"Are you still Chuckie?" Marcy asked.
Mercedes screamed lowly. "Don't call me that!"
"Chuckie?" Yuria asked.
"Have you ever heard of the Rugrats?" Karou wanted to know. Yuria shook her head. "Well we've got a tale for you. Let's just say Chuckie's not a compliment."
MMC
"Please come with us tomorrow." Marcy begged.
Jude smiled. "Why do you need me to come on your family vacation with you?"
"What are you going to do? What could you possibly do?"
"I could do any number of things."
"Name one."
"I could visit my parents."
Her face filled with contempt. "No. They're horrible people. Why would you want to be around them? No."
He could admit to that and shrugged lightly. "I've made a few friends here."
"But they all have their own families."
"I could be by myself. I enjoy my own company."
"I enjoy my own, too but I know you, Nixon. You shouldn't be alone. Not during the holidays. Not when you could end up thinking about Wyatt."
Jude winced before sighing. "Okay. I'll go. Tickets out is going to cost a fortune."
"Your parents can afford it." She took a plane ticket from her purse and gave it to him. "But I bought this weeks ago."
"Weeks, brah?!"
"I was hoping you'd say yes." She smiled sheepishly.
"What if I'd stuck to my guns?"
"I would have cried." She had no shame.
His face fell. "Brah!"
"But we don't have to think about that unpleasantness." She stood up. "See you tomorrow. Pack now and we'll pick you up in the morning. You'll be rooming with us. Don't forget your sunscreen!"
He watched her leave in a flurry. She never ceased to amaze him. But she was the very best friend he had.
Next up on This Life I Lead… The Fabanges go to Buenos Aires. Mercedes has her first bouts of morning sickness and Jude meets Paris. Mal proposes.