Midnight
"Hannah wake up its injection time" says Carla as Hannah wakes up
"right sorry I'd only just fallen asleep, Kayla and I kinda made out a bit, I'm over the moon, she fell asleep mid make out though" says Hannah as she sits up and moves her skirt out of the way
"you're very brave Hannah, she's been here two weeks as we decided what was the best treatment for her cancer then you show up when she's about to start the scary part of cancer treatment, the actual treatment, I have to admit the hospital was really surprised you showed up here for her, I had to tell them so the night janitor didn't kick you out" says Carla as she gives Hannah the injection
"honestly I was expecting her to reject me, I never expected to walk out of this situation with a girlfriend, I'm the type of person that gets eaten up inside if I leave something unsaid, when I found out she had cancer I weighed the pros and cons of confessing my love for her, I had finally decided that telling her and maybe being rejected was better than not telling her and she died not knowing I loved her, the last conversation I had with my mamaw before she passed was one of hate and anger because she tried to ruin every possible chance of love for my brother, I never got to tell her I was sorry, I still can't forgive myself for that and it's six months, sure she wasn't perfect but she was still my mamaw" cries Hannah
"you need to lay down" says Carla as she checks Kayla's neck and Hannah lays down
"you look confused, what is it" asks Hannah
"go ahead and press the nurses station button on the bed please" says Carla as Hannah does so and a nurse rushes in
"what is it" asks nurse Drea
"what the hell happened to Kayla's cancer, it was growing slowly and headed for her vocal cords, where the hell is it" exclaims Carla
"check from another angle, it was definitely there before I started her first round of chemo, it was huge" says Drea
"we need to get her in for scans NOW, if it's gone great but if it's changed Kayla is screwed" says Carla as they wheel them down to the mri room
"is she gonna be ok" asks Hannah as the oncologist bursts in
"whoa did Kayla's first round not go good or something, why are we taking more scans" asks Ray
"either Kayla has a vanishing cancer or it changed into something worse" says Carla
"did Hannah kiss her" asks Ray
"we made out why" asks Hannah resisting sleep
"well there's your answer" says Ray
"you saying Hannah has the cancer now not Kayla" asks Carla
"no, Laura Goldstein helped cancer researchers make an enzyme that inhibits cancer growth, Hannah is on the reversal injections for the ferra-k she was given wrongly to save her from a severe allergic reaction, those reversal meds lower immune response while binding to the ferra-k to essentially have her pee or poo it out, Laura's reversal meds have that enzyme in it to keep a patients body safe from infection, I'm saying Hannah was probably inadvertently immunized for some cancers and her saliva basically dosed Kayla" says Ray as Hannah falls asleep
"are you saying Kayla is cancer free now" asks Drea
"no, the enzyme doesn't cure cancer Drea, as creepy as it is to say given their age, if they've swapped enough spit Kayla's body would have been able to adopt the enzyme into her own body and basically freeze the cancer in its tracks, meaning the chemical makeup of Kayla's cancer is different now hence why the imager didn't find it, it would also be a little smaller, also it wouldn't be able to grow so technically if we have her consent we might be able to surgically remove it then just two rounds of chemo to get the rest" says Ray
"not gonna happen she's afraid of surgery, especially given the cancers location, I had to make a deal that Drea and I would be the only doctors she sees just to get her to agree to the chemo" says Carla
"maybe if we get her proof it can be done safely we can convince her" says Ray
"not gonna happen Ray, trust me, you know how my voice is a little soft, ya I had a benign lump in my neck ten years ago, I trusted the doctors when they said to trust the surgeon and that it'd be fine, ya it wasn't fine, surgeon screwed up big time, I wasn't able to talk for three months, that surgeon is Victor and he very much still works here, mainly because my mom lost her case on my ironic inability to speak so no I will absolutely not convince her to let us do something she's scared to death of, like I said it was hard enough to get her to get her to agree to chemo and it still freaks her out" says Carla
"ok fine, just get her in the MRI machine before she wakes up, she actually fell asleep the first time I ran her through the MRI test, make sure to use the contrast" says Ray as Carla and Drea get Kayla in the MRI machine
25 minutes later
"ok it is a little smaller, it really does look like ice though which is odd to see on someone who is alive" says Drea
"yeah it's not ice, take a close look at the crystal structure" says Ray as Carla does exactly that
"why does she have a ring of std crystals around the cancer on her neck" asks Carla
"it's not that crystal Carla, if her body could create crystals these would be it, everyone has their own crystal structure when introduced to this enzyme, we can literally attack the cancer without fear of it growing now and that means less chemo for Kayla, which is a good thing" says Ray
"imagine all the cancer patients Hannah could save if she gave us that saliva enzyme, I'm not saying we should ask her but just imagine" says Drea
"yeah Hannah is actually in a drug trial for that reversal medication so legally without her consent and the people running the drug trials consent we can't legally take that sample, I could ask Laura for that consent however if it doesn't work legally it would render the trial null and void and they'd have to start from scratch" says Carla
"but Hannah has no signs of cancer and no family history of cancer" says Ray
"melanoma doesn't need a history in the family to exist Ray, look at the scars on Hannah's hands and left arm and the scaring on the left side of her face, that's not from the allergic reaction or the ferra-k, also a simple medicine injection to help deal with a ferra-k overdose doesn't need special permission to administer, I had to be specifically approved to give Hannah that injection, anyway let's move this conversation to the office and get these lovers back to Kayla's room before they wake up" says Carla
4 hours later as both Hannah and Kayla wake up
"Han Han did you hear anything about my condition, I know I was moved through an elevator, I could feel that much" asks Kayla
"something about swapping spit when we made out and my saliva combining with yours and stopping your cancer from growing" says Hannah
"and it's somehow linked to your reversal meds isn't it" asks Kayla
"I had skin cancer really bad Kayla, but after they took the samples from my hands, arms and face it seemed to stop, then the ferra-k thing happened and my parents urged me to be put on this drug trial, it's a mix of toxic reducing meds and a cancer killer thing, if I was able to successfully create that cancer killer thing in my saliva and give a piece of it to you it means I'm finally cancer free" says Hannah
"no chemo for you" asks Kayla
"yeah but it took nearly a year of dealing with the skin cancer to get in the trial and I only got in because I had had a cancer they could target easily, girls in the trial have skin cancer or breast cancer or cancer of the kitten, all easy cancers to get samples of" says Hannah as Drea walks in
"good morning girls, you two are up early" says Drea
"I don't have an injection for eight more hours, can't Kayla and I have a few hours of alone time" asks Hannah desperately as Laura walks in
"I have a slight favor to ask you Hannah, you are the first in the entire trial to be able to successfully pass on the cancer resistance fighter enzyme to another person after beating cancer, may I pretty please have a cheek swab, I have two hundred dollars for you if you'd prefer I pay you for it" asks Laura
"will it help research into helping beat cancer for real" asks Hannah
"it won't completely stop people from getting cancer but it will help doctors fight the cancer the patients get" says Laura
"see there is something Carla hasn't told you about the situation between Hannah and Kayla, it's not just love, they made out last night and what ended up happening is Kayla's cancer basically got locked in a crystal shell so it couldn't grow, Carla literally thought the cancer disappeared because it became invisible to the imager which is specifically designed to spot cancer, from what I saw on the midnight contrast MRI that shell is literally pulling her cancer right off her throat so if she was ok with it we could perform surgery and literally just pull the entire cancer out of her body and only one more chemo treatment just to be sure we got it all" says Drea as Laura's mouth drops in amazement
"is this some sort of like big breakthrough or something" asks Kayla
"major, Hannah's body did what we've been hoping girls or boys bodies would do with the special enzyme in now five days what we'd been trying to do for four years Kayla, ya it's huge" says Laura
"look I know you don't like the idea of surgery Kay Kay but if I could be there holding your hand would you do it" asks Hannah
"if you say yes Kayla I will talk to the surgeon and see what I can do to make Hannah's offer happen" says Laura as Hannah opens her mouth for the cheek swab
"oh I guess she's good for the swab" says Drea as she swabs Hannah's cheek
"fine Laura I'll do the surgery, on the condition that that surgeon has you looking over their shoulder and Hannah's legs have to be tied to mine" says Kayla
"her foot would have to be right on your…." Says Laura as Kayla interrupts her
"frankly I don't give two shits Laura, you want that magic cancer geode forming in my neck you will meet my demands, hide my waist with several towels I honestly don't care, I will not have you pull Hannah away once I'm under, frankly I'd rather die than go under the knife, I'm tired of people telling me what I can and can't do with my body, you want something from me then you need to give me something in return" says Kayla
After surgery 2 hours later
"those ropes were kinda tight Laura" says Kayla
"ya well you wanted assurance we wouldn't pull Hannah away from the table once you went under, do you want to see what Hannah's insanely odd saliva protein did to your cancer" asks Laura
"yeah I guess I might as well" says Kayla as Laura brings it over
"take a quick look" says Laura
"h-h-how did I-it, that's not what cancer looks like though, that's not what it looked like" stutters Kayla
"we tested it seven times before you woke up Kayla, it is indeed your cancer" says Laura as Kayla randomly belts out a perfect pentatonic scale
"whoa the pipes on ya girl, that's amazing, also Laura I made a happy little mistake" says Carla
"what happened" asks Laura
"I had the terminal six year old in the blood processing room for a blood draw, she only let's us draw blood there because she likes the science and she uh liked the agar plate clean of Hannah's saliva, that's not the crazy part though" says Carla
"go on then" asks Laura
"she said it tasted like chocolates, also I could in real time see the crystal structure form between T1 and C7 as well as where the cancer was all along her spine and left hip, I've told her since the day we let her in there to not touch anything, I know no other reason than 'it was the voice of God telling her to lick that plate to save her life' to explain why she disobeyed that rule, it had to have been God because the moment the crystals started growing she kept saying she was sorry" says Carla
"I must have actually died for a few seconds because I swear I spoke to HIM, I swear I told him her name and to save her" says Kayla
"you were clinically dead for two sets of six seconds, I happen to be religious, did HE say anything" says Laura
"all he said to me, if it was him that is, he said that I held the key to saving lives in my left hand" says Kayla
"you believe in god" asks Hannah as Trina walks in
"not in the same way no, I was raised not to call god he or her, because it assumes the gender identity of the god we worship, some people call it blasphemy because the bible says god is a dude but the reason for me being taught to associate god with either gender is because he created man AND woman and in this day and age we have no right to assume anyone's gender just because of the parts they were born with because if we were born in gods image then by that very notion we have absolutely no right to judge them because GOD created us AND them a certain way for a reason, god doesn't make mistakes, humans however make millions of mistakes, it is my belief that if GOD notices something wrong in someone that he tries to fix it by telling them how, that is why I believe trans people exist, because GOD told them that the gender they were assigned at birth was not who they were supposed to be, also BI people were created to show us unconditional love" says Kayla
"preach Kayla, so word is you are cancer free" says Trina
"why are you here so early" asks Kayla
"I'm here for a five hour shift today because at the end of my shift you and Hannah are coming home with me" says Trina
"is this true Laura" asks Hannah
"yes Hannah, on the terms that until we can create what your body can do with the enzyme ourselves you provide cheek swabs, pre or post make-out doesn't matter to us, we've tried for nearly five years to do in labs what your body did with the enzyme in four days, if Kayla really did talk to GOD and told her the key is in her left hand that means the key is you" says Laura
"I don't understand" says Hannah
"traditionally Hannah the left hand ring finger is where a wedding band would go, a key being in Kayla's left hand Tori and I's specific Spanish culture would point to Kayla's lover being such a key, though depending on the actual wording could mean Kayla is a specific part of that key, YOU may be the part that unlocks it but every lock needs a whole key not just what I call the mountains of the key, I'm no doctor but it's entirely possible that Hannah's dna and the enzyme alone might not have solved anything" says Trina