Chapter 8

A makeshift lab was been set up in the galley. This made preparing meals difficult, but not impossible. As long as they could keep Dr. Smith away from the area, no one had any problem telling the foodstuff from the lab-stuff. The first experiment involved trying to get Carmella to bite someone else to be sure the speeded healing was not a "Smith thing". Needless to say, Penny was not enthusiastic about this part of the process.

They had cleaned up from breakfast and the family had scattered to attend to their chores. With Maureen standing by to record the experiment, they were ready to proceed. Penny was reluctant to hand her pet over to Don, because she knew he would have to hurt Carmella to elicit a biting response from her. The scientist in her, however, was curious about the possible outcome.

"Don't be too hard on her, Don."

"I'll be as gently brutal as I can."

Penny stared at him in worry.

"That was a joke, Penny. Relax." He dropped his voice into his best Darth Vader imitation and added, "She won't be permanently damaged."

Now that brought a smile.

Don found that it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be to elicit a bite. He and Carmella had bonded a long time ago, and she wasn't provoked when he pulled her tail or pinched her neck. He even put his finger in her mouth and removed his supporting hand, so that she would have to bite him to prevent herself from falling. She hung on with her teeth, but didn't break the skin. The three of them exchanged wry smiles.

"Well, Penny, I guess Carmella is truly a part of the family," Maureen stated.

"Well, Judy thought that the caves behind the waterfall could be their nesting area. I guess it's time to go exploring. Are you up to entering a cave again, Penny?" Don asked.

Maureen interrupted before Penny could reply. "Actually, Don, it might not be a good idea for Penny to come with us. She has Carmella's scent all over her. We should go in without any trace of their scent on us."

"I guess you're right. Judy might want to come, so we'll take the hover bike out there, and I guess you could take the jet pack. Do we have a way of collecting saliva samples?"

"Yes. I'll bring some equipment and meet you out there."


After arriving at the swimming hole on the hover bike, Don and Judy found that they had some free time while they waited for Maureen. They sat side by side on the Don's favorite rock and Judy started to daydream about the wedding ceremony her father had suggested.

"Don?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think this would be a good spot for the wedding ceremony?"

"Wedding? Who's getting married?"

She wanted to push him into the water. "You… "

He held his hands up in a placating fashion, "Now, Judy…"

She splashed him and he laughed as he grabbed her arms and pretended to push her into the water, but, instead, he drew her close for a simmering kiss.

"Wedding…?" she repeated when they came up for air.

"Whatever you want, Sweetheart, but there is one thing that I need… If your mother gets anywhere with the bacta-stuff, I want to see if it can be used to, as your father would say, restore some of my bodily functions."

"Oh, Don. You don't know how long that might take."

"I don't see why there should be any rush for another wedding ceremony."

"It's important to me. I'd like the chance to wear Mom's wedding veil."

"You'll get that chance. You just might have to wait a little longer." He shifted in his seat to face her and continued, "My dream is to be able to stand next to you and promise you everything that a husband can give. The wedding will mean a whole lot more to me if I can do that."

Her eyes softened as she gazed at him. "Alright, Don. I can wait."

He bent down and kissed her again, but the sound of the jet pack pulled them apart. Maureen landed with a backpack of supplies and they were ready to continue their experiments.

"How are we going to collect the saliva?" Judy asked.

"Well, we'll catch the little animals and try to get them to bite the edge of the petri dishes, just like they do with venomous snakes. Then we'll cap the dishes and bring them back to the lab."

"Sounds easy enough," Don commented.

Judy looked at him sideways, "Oh, really? Let's see how well you do."

Don grinned, accepting the challenge, and made his way back onto the hover bike and slowly entered the cave. Judy was right behind him, knowing full well that he was overconfident. Finding the nesting site was the easy part. Grabbing the little critters was another matter altogether. They had to be quick and sure handed. After the third try, Don finally was able to grab one. He brought it outside into the light to grab a petri dish. The animal snarled at the sudden sunlight and immediately sank its teeth into Don's hand.

"Ow!" He dropped the animal and it scurried back into the cave. "That really does hurt."

As had happened to Dr. Smith, Don watched the wound heal itself right before his eyes.

"Well, I suppose we can consider that a confirmation that there is a healing factor at work here, and that it wasn't just Dr. Smith's particular body chemistry that caused the speeded healing," Maureen said as she recorded the results of that impromptu experiment.

Several hours and several more bites later, they had collected only two dishes full of the saliva. It was slow going since the animals only let out a small amount of saliva with each bite. The strain was beginning to show on all of them, especially Don, who had to balance himself on the bike while chasing and picking up the small animals. Judy was ready to call it a day.

"Do we have enough for now, Mom?"

"As long as we don't spill any, we should have enough to get started on the experiments. I'll pack up and meet you back at the camp. Take your time coming back."

"Thanks, Mom."

After they helped Maureen load and take off, Don signaled for Judy to hop on the bike to return to camp. Judy stood in front of the bike and shook her head.

"Uh, uh. I'm going skinny-dipping. Care to join me?"

"Judy, I'm really bushed."

"Well, then, I guess you'll just have to watch."

She climbed on top of his rock and started humming a campy strip tease song and vamped her way through a grand performance.

"Right arm out (da-da), then a shimmy (da-da),

Left arm out (da-da) another shimmy.

Left (ba-da), right (ba-da), left (ba-da), right (ba-da).

Whirl the blouse around then toss it out."

As Don caught her shirt, she jumped into the water and swam to the other side. He shook his head. The idea of struggling out of his clothes, taking care of the catheter and inching his way into the water did not appeal to him, but, after Judy's display, he thought he owed her one. Ten minutes later, he was sitting on his rock, buck-naked. (Ouch, that's hot!)

He inched his way to the edge and eased his way into the water. It felt cool and refreshing to his tired body. (Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.)

He swam over to Judy and floated on his back, but he was finding it hard to stay afloat, so Judy gave him a lift.

"What's your number?"

"Six or seven."

"Hm. Let me try to get that down for you."

She held his lips afloat as she kissed him tenderly and worked her way slowly down his chest. Swimming was one of the rare occasions when he took his catheter off, and she decided to take advantage of that by placing a series of kisses below his navel. He immediately reached down and pulled her head away.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I can't control what comes out of it or when it does."

"I'm not worried about that."

"Well, I am. Just leave it alone, Judy. I can't feel anything down there anyway."

She saw by the crease between his eyebrows that his stress and pain had gone up. That wasn't her intention, so she tried to make it up to him.

"Alright, Don, I'm sorry. Just relax and float. I'll take you for a swim around the pool." She got behind him and hugged him to her chest as she swam sidestroke around the pool. She realized that their chance for some romance had been lost, however, and she realized that she had over estimated Don's comfort level with his disability. At this point her only goal was to lessen his stress and his pain.

"Close your eyes. Relax. Empty your mind. You're floating in a sea of comfort and warmth. There is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only today, this moment and nothing else."

She would have continued, however, dark clouds began to gather, and the air became cooler when a stiff wind kicking up. Relaxation was now out of the question as Don opened his eyes and declared that he was done and ready to get out of the water. Judy could only agree and led him over to his spot and helped him out of the pool. She had brought towels and they dried off. It took Don quite a bit longer to get himself together. By the time he was back on the hover bike, a down draft hit them, and they knew that a thunderstorm was imminent. Before she got on the bike, however, Don reached for her and pulled her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry, Judy. I guess I still have a ways to go... We'll do this again."

"It's alright, lover, you're forgiven if I am."

He gave a pained smile. "Nothing to forgive. Now let's get out of here before we get soaked."