Potions of Love

Chapter 7

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

A/N #1 -

This chapter is longer than most because it includes specific details about the "Love Potion."

Kate's alarm went off at 6:45 am as usual, but she's been awake since 5:30, laying in bed dreading her Wednesday lab. As she told herself last night, she knows Rick will be a gentleman and be respectful when they see each other later this morning. However, she still sees the image of him leaving The Gonda building after their talk on Monday, and if she is honest with herself, watching him walk away hurt more than she ever expected.

Kate gets out of bed and goes through her morning routine, with little thought to what she was doing. She has her usual coffee, but her stomach is churning enough to know breakfast is out. It's only 7:45 am, so Kate decides to walk to her class, knowing she needs some quiet time to prepare herself before seeing Rick.

Rick walks into the Med/Sci building and heads toward their lab classroom. He stops at the entrance taking a deep breath, trying to prepare himself to see Kate again. Before entering the room, Rick observes that Kate hasn't arrived yet, which is unusual, then he notices that Mike is at their table with his head buried deep into his study notes. Rick walks up to their table, greets Mike, then sits down and organizes his materials for the day's lecture. Mike begins some mundane conversation that Rick is only partially listening to as he watches for Kate to enter the classroom.

Kate arrives at the door to the classroom lab and discreetly scans the room, seeing that Rick is at his work table talking with his new partner. She continues to her table and is relieved that Emily hasn't arrived yet. Kate, too, takes her study materials out of her messenger bag in preparation for the lecture, knowing Rick has probably seen her walk into the classroom.

Kate sits at the outer side of her table, enabling her to carefully look across the room and see Rick without making any apparent overtures to look in his direction. She lowers her head, making it difficult for Rick to see her emotions.

Kate's partner, Emily, arrives, taking the seat across from her, and immediately makes small talk in her usual bubbly manner. Kate struggles to follow her line of thinking and is relieved when Professor Andrews begins the class, so Kate doesn't feel obligated to respond to Emily's recent questions.

Rick and Kate find themselves experiencing the same awkward feelings they had dealt with a couple of weeks ago. They struggle to concentrate on what is being said in class while trying not to look at one another from across the room.

Neither realizes that they are sharing the same uncomfortable feelings for one another. Rick constantly struggles not to stare at Kate, but he's not being very successful with his efforts, as Mike even notices his distraction and quietly whispers, "Hey man, are you okay?"

Rick hangs his head and, under his breath, says, "I'm alright, just tired." He knows Mike's not buying his lame excuse, but right now, that is the least of his worries.

Across the room, Kate isn't having any better success concentrating, as she puts on appearances that she is engrossed in Professor Andrews' lecture.

Rick knows he needs Kate's help with breaking down the Potion components, but the longer he sits in class trying to avoid watching her, the more doubtful he becomes that his plan will be successful.

Professor Andrews' lecture finally wraps up around 11:20 am. With the early dismissal, everyone in class anxiously heads toward the exit, making it difficult for Rick to make his way to Kate. Fortunately, she wasn't rushing to leave and was still putting her books and notes back into her messenger bag when he reached her table.

As Rick is crossing the room, he thinks to himself,

"Maybe she was hoping to avoid having to run into me as everyone exited the room?"

Rick pauses in his trek toward Kate's table, watching and hoping she will listen to his plea.

Kate sees Rick approaching her and is unsure what she should do next, so she remains seated, deciding to let him make the first move.

Rick steps up beside Kate and clears his throat before saying, "Hi Kate, it's good to see you." Even as flimsy as that statement sounds to him, he remains standing near Kate, waiting for her to say something. When she remains silent, he cautiously inquires,

"Do you have a few minutes to talk? I have a situation, and I could use your help?"

Kate is surprised by Rick's question, but his tone tells her his situation could be significant. She nods to the seat across from her and says, "Sure, sit down."

Rick takes a deep breath, not exactly confident about how to start the conversation and make what he's going to tell her sound realistic without getting into the entire fortune-teller angle, but he begins. "Last night, I was out with my friends, and we came across a strange compound, and later my cat got into it and had an uncontrollable reaction." Rick can tell by Kate's expression that she isn't understanding or believing what he is trying to explain to her.

"Rick, exactly what are you trying not to tell me? What you just said doesn't make much sense, and I am pretty sure you are not telling me the entire story. Do you want to try again?" Kate states with a skeptical look on her face.

Rick shrugs his shoulders, sighs, and continues, "It's complicated. Um, I'm not sure where to start, but right now, I'm mainly concerned about Neddie's reaction when she got into the 'po', I mean the compound. It was ten times worse than how she reacts when I put catnip in her stuffed toys."

"After eating some compound, she somehow got outside, and all of the neighborhood cats started chasing her. Their noise woke me up, and when I opened the kitchen door, Neddie raced in, and there were probably 10-15 cats chasing her, and I slammed the door just in time so that they couldn't get into the kitchen. Then I watched Neddie race through my apartment for about 15 minutes until she finally climbed up on the sofa and passed out. I have never seen anything like that before, and I would appreciate your help figuring out the structure of this compound. That's it."

Kate tells herself that she still doesn't think Rick is telling her the entire story, but she can also see that he's pretty upset about its effect on his cat. So she says, "Okay, I'm not sure you've told me everything, but you have piqued my interest in what could have made your cat react in such a strange manner. My next class doesn't start until 2:45, so if you have some time, we could take a stab at analyzing it now. I think the teaching lab in the basement is open. Does that work for you?"

Rick is somewhat caught off guard by her willingness to help him, but he doesn't want to take a chance on losing this opportunity, so he says, "Absolutely, that works great for me too."

Kate and Rick head downstairs to one of the Mayo Med/Sci building basement labs. They begin their work, being extremely careful because of the small amount of compound available to test. Kate decides to try a digestion method of analysis since they have no clue about the elements of the compound. Rick carefully divides one of the remaining drops of the Potion (being careful to use the term compound with Kate). Kate's goal is to convert the partial drop of the compound into a dissolved form to make it easier to analyze.

Rick looks on as Kate goes about her work, again recognizing how crazy smart she is and how he wishes things were different between them and realizing he wants to tell her the entire story about the Potion. He's lost in his thoughts when Kate says, "Well, this is very strange."

Rick snaps his attention back to Kate and asks, "What do you mean?"

Kate points to the sheet printed out from the analyzer and tells Rick to look for himself. Rick grabs the paper and begins reading, then stops and looks at Kate and says, "You've got to be kidding me. It looks like a recipe for that crazy potion in a kid's movie released a couple of years ago. The components are nothing more than different dry scents and oils that anyone can buy over the counter."

Kate answers, "Exactly. But none of these components would cause the type of reaction and aggression that you witnessed in Neddie and the other cats that were chasing her. We need to do further testing in my neuro-lab at the Stabile building. I have classes all day on Thursday, and my Friday lecture has been canceled, so I can meet you at my lab around 8:00 am on Friday if that works for you?"

"It looks like our schedules are similar for the rest of the week, so yes, I can meet you Friday morning," answered Rick. He continues, "And Kate, thank you so much for helping me try and figure this out. Neddie's reactions and those of the other cats were so strange, and I am desperate to understand how a small drop of this liquid could cause such a hyper-active type of response."

"No problem, Rick. I am glad to help. The reactions you described have captured my interest, too, not just from an emotional angle, but I wonder what effect it had on the cats neurologically. So this work is a win-win for both of us," Kate responded.

Rick nods and says, "Sure." Thinking to himself that he wishes this work was more personal than scientific for Kate.

"But at least I'm getting to talk to her and work with her again."

Rick looks back at Kate, but he feels incredibly guilty about not telling her the entire story.

"Hey Kate, before you go, do you have a few more minutes to talk?" Rick asks.

Kate pauses as she prepares to leave, but she notices a strained look on Rick's face. She glances at her watch and sees she has about 45 minutes before her next class starts, so she says, "Sure, I have a few minutes; what's going on?"

Rick chews on his bottom lip for a couple of seconds and then quietly says, "I haven't been candid with you about how I came across this compound, and I can't go on with this ruse. I have to tell you exactly what happened, but please keep an open mind until I tell you the entire story. Please?"

Kate is now concerned about Rick, so she lays her bag and coat down, takes a seat next to another table, and motions for him to do the same.

Rick does as she asks, leans his head back, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and starts the story.

"Monday night after our talk, I was bummed." Rick sees that Kate wants to respond, but he says, "Please, let me get through this first." Kate nods, and Rick continues,

"Then, on Tuesday, I made it through the day, but I was still struggling. I ran into my buddy Tom, and he reminded me I had blown off getting together with him and the guys over the weekend, so we agreed to meet at the Screaming Fox later that evening."

"Rick decides not to include the part about his encounter that evening with Josh."

"We had a couple of drinks, and the guys kept bugging me about my attitude. I finally caved and told them about the conversation you and I had Monday and that you felt we should not see each other outside of class."

Again, Kate wants to say something, but Rick pleads with her to let him finish.

"Well, Tom was feeling sorry for me and tried to cheer me up by suggesting we go on an adventure," explains Rick. Kate raises her eyebrows but doesn't interrupt him.

"We look for something to do that none of us have ever done before. We've done this many times, and it's usually a fun way to break up the routine activities of our week. So we hopped in a cab and ended up in a neighborhood on the edge of town. To make a long story a little shorter, we went to the home of a supposed fortune-teller."

"Tom knew the lady and ended up throwing me under the bus by telling her I was distressed and needed her help. This lady took that to mean I needed help with my love life." Rick is now blushing at the admission and almost wishes he had never started down this trail. But he had gone this far trying to tell Kate what happened, and he can't stop now.

"Again, I am condensing down some of the conversations, but it boiled down to this Madame V giving me a 'love potion' that supposedly attracts women. She told me if I sprayed some of this so-called Potion in my mouth and then either kissed a girl or whispered the word 'perfect' in her ear, the girl would love me forever." Rick has to stop to take a breath before he can continue, but he can tell that Kate is not buying into this explanation at all.

"I know, this sounds lame, but believe me, it happened. Madame V brought in two bottles, one large one with a snake ring wrapped around its thin neck and another small clear vial with an aerosol sprayer attached on top. We went back and forth because I told her I didn't believe in that sort of mumbo-jumbo. So she took a few drops out of the large bottle and put them on that wax paper," he points to the sample they had been testing. "She wrapped the paper up and told me to do all of the testings I wanted, then told us to leave."

"When I got home, I found that Neddie had been in the garbage again, so I hung my coat on the back of a kitchen chair and began to clean up the mess. I didn't realize the piece of paper with this so-called Potion on it fell out of my pocket. Later during the night, Neddie found the paper and must have licked some off, and then she went nuts. That's an abbreviated explanation of how things took place, but what happened with Neddie completely threw me for a loop. I have to find out what caused her reactions, and you are the only one I trust to help me."

Rick and Kate sit quietly for a few moments as she tries to process the story that Rick just told her.

Kate looks at Rick, not knowing for sure what to say, but tries, "Wow Rick, that is one for the books, but for some unknown reason, I think I believe you, especially when you told me about Neddie's reactions. I think your friends threw you into a lion's den, but I do trust you, and I will continue to help you try and figure out this puzzle."

Rick is surprised by Kate's response and, without thinking, reaches over and pulls her into a hug, telling her to thank you over and over again.

Kate is caught off guard by Rick's reaction but admits that being held in his arms wasn't that uncomfortable. In fact, she really liked it. She pulls away after a second and says, "Okay, let's get back on track. We'll meet Friday morning and try to figure out what all is in this 'Potion' if that still works for you?"

Rick shocked himself when he hugged Kate, but he told her he was definitely on for Friday morning.

They gather their belongings and head back upstairs, leaving the building and going their separate ways.

Josh had returned to the Mayo Med/Sci lecture building a little before lunch on Wednesday in hopes of spotting Kate after her lab. He also wanted to see if Rick was still tagging after her.

Josh waited in the parking lot nearest the entrance to the building for about 30 minutes and didn't see either Kate or Rick leave the facility. He knows Kate's lab is over, and they couldn't be hanging around as another lab group comes into their room right at 11:45 am.

Josh decides to take a chance and go inside the building and try and find out what might be going on with Kate and Rick. He walks past her lab classroom and sees that the second group is in session. Josh roams around the main floor but can't locate Kate. He doesn't believe she would have left through one of the other exits, so he decides to check out the teaching labs located in the basement.

Josh takes the back stairway to the basement and heads down the lab's north hallway. As he nears Lab #2, he sees that the door is open. He knows that's odd, as the labs aren't scheduled over the lunch hour. As he gets closer to the lab, he hears Kate's voice. He stops in his tracks and edges closer to the door, trying not to be spotted by Kate. As he gets near the open door, he not only hears Kate's voice but now, he hears Rick too.

Josh looks around the hall and notices another open door near the lab that he can hide behind and still hear the conversation between Kate and Rick. He slides into his hidey-hole and listens.

Kate is talking rather softly, and Josh can't make out what she's saying, but then Rick starts talking, and it sounds like he says the word 'potion' a couple of times. Josh then hears Kate offer to do more testing in her lab on Friday.

"What in the world are these two up to?" Josh says to himself.

Josh can tell they are packing up their things and getting ready to leave, so he squats down, so he is out of sight, and watches them exit the lab, closing the door behind themselves. He lets them get ahead of him, then he crawls out of his hiding place and follows them up to the main floor.

Josh again hides behind an open door as Kate and Rick leave the building. He then rushes outside and watches as they walk down the main sidewalk and then split up going in different directions. He's still not sure what they are up to, but he knows Kate's neurology lab is located in the Stabile building, so he plans to be there watching them on Friday morning.

Rick and Kate again have separate lecture classes on Thursday, so their paths don't cross. Even though they aren't in class together, their thoughts are focused on one another as they wrestle with ideas about the concoction they are testing from Madame V, along with their personal feelings that are becoming more dominant in their thought processes.

Kate still feels she shouldn't be thinking about Rick because of her relationship with Josh, but it's getting harder for her to turn that switch off. Rick is so different from Josh in so many ways, and when she is with Rick, she instantly senses a level of comfort with him that she is not sure she has ever experienced with Josh.

Kate tries to shake those feelings from her mind and concentrate on her class.

Rick has similar struggles when trying to turn off his feelings for Kate. Whenever they are together, it feels so 'right.' His mind tells him he needs to honor her request not to have any contact outside of class, but his heart tells him she is the one for him.

He, too, tries to do what he can to stay on track with what's happening in his class, but he admits it isn't working out so well.

Meanwhile, across town, Josh has worked himself into such a furious state that he can't concentrate on anything except trying to figure out how he can, "Bury this guy!"

Friday morning, Kate arrives at her lab around 7:30 am. She's had a very restless night, so she gave up trying to sleep and arrived at her lab early, hoping to have some alone time to think about what was ahead with Rick and their testing.

Rick hadn't slept much better than Kate. He's been up most of the night replaying the conversation he had with her, wondering how she'll feel this morning about everything he had shared with her about the Potion.

As he is thinking, his alarm sounds, so he shuts it off and goes about his usual morning routine. He fixes his coffee then puts fresh food and water down for Neddie. She has picked up on his uneasy feelings and has been staying close to him all morning. Rick sits on the floor as Neddie eats her breakfast, leaning against the cabinet and petting her in her favorite spot. Once she has eaten, she climbs up into Rick's lap, snuggles down, and enjoys his undivided attention.

Rick checks the time and heads to Kate's lab a little early.

His drive across campus takes about 10 minutes. He pulls into the parking lot of the Stabile building and sees a Harley-Davidson motorcycle parked near the side entrance. He's not seen Kate's bike before, but he assumes it's hers, so he parks next to it and enters the side door.

Rick overlooks the black Jeep Gladiator and its occupant, parked toward the rear of the lot.

Rick follows the directions Kate had given him and finds her already setting up different tools in her lab. He walks in, and Kate turns around and greets him, "Good morning, Rick. You're here a little early too."

Rick's not sure how to respond, so he smiles and says, "Yea, I was up early," and leaves it at that.

"Well, we might as well get started. I was thinking about the testing we did Wednesday, and I want to dig a little deeper and check the density components of the Potion and compare them to other known drug elements that I have in this system. If we can find commonalities in the density, it may help us determine which elements could cause aggressive actions; since we know none of the individual components we discovered on Wednesday would produce the type of behavior you saw in the cats."

Rick looks at Kate and says, "I think that makes sense to me, but I am a little out of my element at this point."

Kate smiles and begins programming her equipment as Rick watches the processes she uses to start the density tests.

After about an hour, Kate says, "Hey, I think I found something." She has Rick take a look through her high-powered scope, and he can see a side-by-side view of the components of two chemicals that look very similar.

Rick asks, "What am I looking at here?"

Kate rests her hand on his shoulder, leans in, and says, "The substance on the left is the Potion, the comparative component is on the right, and it is Oxytocin."

Rick's head pops up, and he surprisingly says, "Really, Oxytocin, the love potion?" and he laughs.

Kate slaps his shoulder and says, "Yes, pharmacy boy, some do call it the love potion. But studies have shown that it is an impactful component in pair-bonding, especially between new moms and their babies."

Kate continues, "It's a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. It can also play a role in initiating contractions before birth and other aspects of the mother-new baby bonding process. The hormone is produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland." See A/N #2

"Okay. Whoa, Dr. Kate. Can you put all of that in terms for someone who is neurologically challenged?" Rick asks with a grin.

"Okay, as I said, it's a component that can affect pair-bonding, and some say Oxytocin is also referred to as the cuddle hormone or the love hormone. Does that make you happy?" Kate asks, but Rick sees a slight smirk on her face as she turns away from him.

Thinking about Kate's last comment, Rick tries to clarify Madame V's actions, and says, "So Madame V takes over-the-counter scents and oils that are known to stimulate romantic feelings in people, combines them, then she puts her mixture in a bottle and tells her clients it's a special Love Potion. She then convinces her clients that the Potion must be shared with their partner in a rather lovey-dovey fashion in hopes of triggering that hormone to surface, and things go on from there. Am I close?"

"Sort of," says Kate. "You have to remember that any one of the over-the-counter components could trigger romantic feelings. I've read where they have also been used with placebos in some behavioral study cases. So I am assuming if you mix all of those into a single compound, they could get things started. Her suggested method of delivery gets the people involved, close to one another, so when the OTC components kick in, they help to trigger the Oxytocin natural hormone."

"Hmmm." is Rick's only immediate reaction.

Kate can tell that Rick is processing what she's just explained. So she quietly stands behind her equipment, giving him the needed time to sort out his ideas and thoughts.

Rick sits down in a nearby chair, looks over at Kate, and replies, "Man, that lady has more on the ball than I ever gave her credit for, especially after only one encounter. So if you think about it, most people who go to see her feel they need some sort of help. And if that need has a romantic inclination, you could say her Potion, in addition to the way she says they have to pass it on to their desired partner, is like a placebo on steroids."

Kate laughs and says, "Yea, I guess that's one way to put it. But it must work if people keep going to her."

Rick again looks at Kate and, in a more thoughtful tone, says, "This is wild. I never imagined that my night out with the guys would have turned out with this type of an ending."

Kate turns her head with a slight frown, not sure what Rick means by his statement.

Rick is absorbed in his thoughts, and he doesn't initially sense the slight change in Kate's mood. He finally pulls himself back into the moment and notices that Kate looks to be working on something else at her desk.

Rick then says, "You know, Kate, the other piece to the puzzle that we haven't included in our thoughts is the point Madame V made, that the two people involved must already have feelings for one another, or the Potion won't be as effective. Or even worse, if they don't care for each other, the opposite effect could happen, and the Potion could turn off the other partner.

Rick holds eye contact with Kate for several moments before he finally sees a slight smile break out on her face. Then Kate continues that thought by adding,

"Yes, you are correct; we didn't include that emotion in our analysis. So possibly the hormone is already working in a more subdued fashion in the background?" The momentary funk that Kate had slipped into is gone, and both she and Rick are standing in the middle of her lab, smiling at one another.

Kate pulls back a little from Rick, trying to get back on task, and says, "From what you told me about Neddie's reaction, we can assume that the Potion isn't dangerous; it just affects their hormonal processes. So since we have a little of the Potion left, we can try to replicate Neddie's reaction on Ollie and Lena, my friends over there in the cages." as she points toward her lab mice.

Since the mice are considerably smaller than Neddie, and Madame V said you must dilute the Potion, Kate uses an injection needle to select two tiny molecules from the remaining Potion droplet. She places the molecules into Ollie and Lena's water bottles then places the cages next to one another as she and Rick sit down and start a timer.

They closely watch the two mice for any reactions to the Potion. In about 15 minutes, Ollie becomes anxious and starts running on his wheel. Lena moves around her cage more but is not as active as Ollie. Ten minutes later, Ollie is chewing on the bars of his cage and making some guttural sounds that Kate hasn't heard before. Lena is now anxious and is running around her cage.

Another ten minutes after that, both mice are feverishly clawing at the bars of their cages, making high-pitched squeaks as they watch each other through the bars. This behavior continues for another 6-7 minutes before Ollie drops down on the bottom of his cage and falls fast asleep. Lena is now on her wheel, but her speed is rapidly decreasing, and in about another minute or two, she stops and appears to fall asleep where she was standing.

Rick and Kate are closely watching the mice, then look at each other in astonishment, with Rick speaking first, saying simply, "I guess it works."

Kate is speechless and continues staring at her mice. This should not be happening in her scientific mind, but she saw it with her own eyes! To say she is confused would be putting it mildly. She grabs her notepad and continues to record the action of both mice.

They have the timeframe for the initial reactions of both Ollie and Lena, so now they need to observe them and see how long it takes for them to return to normal. This observation process also allows both Kate and Rick time to try and figure out what they had just witnessed.

About an hour later, both mice appeared to be back to normal. Kate had removed their water bottles and sterilized them to remove any sediment from the Potion. She will continue observing the mice as Rick finishes recording their findings.

Madame V had told Rick that the Potion would be active for approximately 4 hours. Rick doesn't know how much of the potion Neddie absorbed, but he can measure the dosages that Kate gave the mice. So their findings will have to be estimated based on volume and the weight of the animals. That volume will also impact the noticeable decrease in energy observed in all animals.

Kate reads Rick's summary when she returns to the table. Since she has no baseline or other existing data to compare with their tests, she agrees with what he has written about the Potion's interactions.

She is still struggling to understand and even believe what they witnessed this morning, but she can't argue that the Potion didn't have an abnormal impact on the mice.

While Kate reviewed Rick's notes and processed the tests they had just completed, his mind was moving to another level. It's one thing to see the interactions the Potion had on animals, but he wants to see what it does when used with humans.

He knows Kate could completely shut him down, but he asks anyway. "Hey Kate, I think the only way we can have a comprehensive analysis is if we try the Potion on humans."

Kate stops dead in her tracks, looks at him like he's lost his mind, and responds, "You have got to be kidding me. You want to figure out a way to test this on other people?"

"Well, yea. How else will we know unequivocally that this is a Potion that can cause a 'love' reaction in humans?"

Kate exhales a deep breath and says, "I can see your point, but I can't do that sort of unsanctioned test here as it could jeopardize my fellowship. It's one thing to use the Potion on the test mice, but this lab isn't set up to conduct or support human experiments."

Rick is disappointed, but he understands what she has said, and he in no way wants to jeopardize her standing with her fellowship or her instructors, so he suggests, "Maybe we can think about trying it on humans, but come up with a way to do it off campus?"

Kate can't believe she agrees with Rick, but she nods her head and answers, "Okay, let me think about all of this, and I will get back to you tomorrow."

A/N #2 - I am not a chemist or a scientist. The description for Oxytocin was taken from a Psychology Today article located at us/basics/oxytocin. Other testing references came from research I did regarding different chemical analysis processes.

A/N #3 - Thank you for continuing to follow this story. Things will heat up between Kate and Rick in the next chapter as they do some personal testing of the 'Potion.'