Dear Readers: This one is for Reader M. who encouraged me to hurry up and post another chapter.

CHAPTER 95 –Effects

"Someone hit you?"

"Yes, I thought it was you –"

"Why would I hit you?" Jack, who was sitting sideways with one of his hips on Elizabeth's mattress, interrupted her.

A now more alert Elizabeth had woken up again after a two-hour nap, and was sitting up in bed, leaning against three pillows.

After some gentle prodding from Jack, she had told him what she remembered from the incident hours earlier.

"No, you wouldn't," she said as she tenderly squeezed his hand.

"I thought it was you at first when you came in the room and I just saw an outline of a person. But obviously it wasn't you. The smashing of the laptop against my head gave that away. And he or she probably stole my laptop. Did you see it in our room?"

Jack shook his head. "I wasn't looking for it. It may be there. I don't know. You think it was because of the hologram messages?"

"It has to be!" Elizabeth answered and then pulled away from the doctor who had moved around Jack and was trying to listen to her heartbeat through a stethoscope.

Jack shooed the nuisance of a doctor away and encouraged Elizabeth to keep talking.

Stopping only a few times to rest the pain in her head, Elizabeth had done her best to explain what she knew.

Jack sat stunned as he listened to her recitation of the events, and her belief that the holograms which she had gotten by accident were meant for someone involved in the fraud. Coded messages to get lucrative contracts to grow food in Coal Valley.

"Go check. See if my laptop's still there. Although I'm sure it's not," Elizabeth told Jack when she finished with her explanation, and the doctor ordered her to rest some more.

Gone.

It was gone.

Jack, had left Elizabeth in the infirmary, and gone directly to their quarters. Once there, he had looked on Elizabeth's small desk, under the berths, in the thin compartments under the mattresses, and in the lockers.

Elizabeth's laptop was gone.

She had been right.

Whoever assaulted her had been after her computer.

Staring at his own computer, Jack looked up the next name on the transporter's manifest and clicked on the audio-control.

Allowing Elizabeth to rest, and now fully comprehending that she hadn't injured herself by falling but had been brutally assaulted, Jack had gone to his office and begun looking into who was responsible.

A Board-wide announcement had informed the transporter's crew and passengers that there had been an incident, and that they were to fully cooperate with Jack, even if he interrupted their normal duties.

"Lieutenant Geiger, please report to the Security Office."

"Yes, sir. I'll be there in three minutes."

With nothing to go on, other than the culprit was likely someone who had an opportunity to access the water pipe, Jack had begun a systemic interview process of the transporter's occupants. Beginning with the crew first. He was up to letter "G". Six letters down. Twenty to go.

Jack sighed as the door slid closed behind Corporal Sudsen from the laundromat.

Despite her duties which kept her in the vicinity of large amounts of water and the pipes which carried that water, the woman had been of no help with the investigation. Her only help had been that she had offered to launder Aaron's diapers every day until Elizabeth felt better.

Jack looked at his watch the moment it started to beep.

The words letting him know that Elizabeth was being released from the infirmary flashed on his small wrist screen.

"C'mon, Acorn. Time to get mommy," he told his son, who was lying on a blanket in a makeshift pen made up of chair, two walls, and a box containing a large monitor.

The little boy was pensively examining a string of ordinary objects which had been turned into a baby toy of sorts.

Without their crate of baby belongings that had ended up on Mock Earth instead of the cargo hold, Jack and Elizabeth had been inventive in how to keep their son occupied. While Jack had gotten very efficient at making up games and building temporary jails, Elizabeth had made an educational toy -as she liked to call it -by gathering ordinary items and securely attaching them onto a thick cord.

Jack pulled a wooden spoon – one of the items on the cord - from his son's mouth and noticed the teeth marks. "Let's hope mommy's jaw isn't hurting so much that she's left eating apple-mush."

"This should help with your pain."

Elizabeth, dressed in jeans and a white blouse with one sleeve pushed up to her shoulder, was sitting on the edge of the infirmary bed waiting patiently as Cassie opened the medicine drawer.

"Is that the same medication you gave my son last month?" Jack asked. He was holding a squirming Aaron Daniel in his arms as they waited for Elizabeth's final check-out procedures so she could be released to their quarters.

"Yes, but it won't affect your wife in the same way. And I won't give her too much."

Cassie held out a syringe for Jack's inspection. The plastic cylinder had thin black lines running around its circumference indicating the calibration of the pale milky blue liquid it held.

"It comes fully filled but I won't give her the whole thing. Only as much as is needed based on her weight."

Jack gave the medic a warning look.

"Don't worry, Officer Thornton," Cassie replied in a friendly tone. "We weighed your wife this morning. I'm giving her only two-fifths of this syringe. "Two fifths. No more. No less. I calculated it and the doctor checked my calculations."

"I'll weigh myself again if you're worried," Elizabeth joked weakly to Jack.

"Are you sure you need it?" he questioned back as he awkwardly juggled his son who was desperately trying to get to Elizabeth.

"It's up to your wife," Cassie interjected. "But she needs to be able to eat and drink, and with that sore jaw, it might be difficult."

Elizabeth nodded and then winced from the neck pain.

"Yeah. I'll take it. Especially because that little one needs me." She motioned to her son who was stretching out both arms to be held by her.

Elizabeth wasn't sure if he missed her or her breasts, but he was beginning to act like he was preparing to launch himself from Jack's arms to get to her.

"Whatever she wants," Jack answered absently as his messenger bracelet beeped and he turned his attention to it. He still had to interview the last of the day-workers, and had requested the Captain to instruct all crew members that they were not to go off duty until they had first been to the Security office.

"He's an adorable little boy. But I can see that you have your hands full with him. He passed all the milestones at his eight-month check-up," Cassie noted pleasantly as she used a small square of cotton to wipe alcohol across Elizabeth's upper arm.

"How's teaching going?" she asked. She threw the cotton into the nearby waste bin, and the lid – sensing the motion – automatically closed over the receptacle.

"Okay. I love all the children."

"They seem like a good group. I see them all for their check-ups."

"Living on this transporter is like living in a very small town," Elizabeth said with a laugh.

"After you get back to your quarters, you should try to rest some more if you're – ohhh – ouch."

Cassie awkwardly fell onto Elizabeth's lap and then tumbled to the floor as Aaron – seizing the opportunity of a distracted Jack – hurled himself forward.

All twenty pounds of baby had landed against the medic before the boy arrived in Elizabeth's arms. She wrapped her arms around him as he began excitedly babbling in her face.

"I'm so sorry!" Elizabeth hurriedly told Cassie as she peered down at the woman.

A startled Jack looked up from his bracelet. "What happened?" he asked in bewilderment. He moved a step forward and reached out an arm to Cassie who was prone on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. No harm done."

Cassie accepted Jack's offered arm and stood up. A look of concern – or maybe guilt – came over her face. "He fell against me."

"It's okay. I caught him," Elizabeth said reassuringly when she noticed the woman's expression. "He's fine."

She kissed her son on the head. "You want your mommy back."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault," Jack apologized to Cassie who didn't reply. "I knew he wanted to get to Elizabeth. I guess I didn't realize how much."

"Men. Always throwing themselves at me," Elizabeth replied with a smile. "Are you sure you're alright, Cassie?"

"Cassie?"

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"Cassie?!" Elizabeth called after the young medic who, with a horrified look on her face, hurried from the room without a word.

Elizabeth and Jack exchanged confused looks as the door slid closed. "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea. What happened? I wasn't paying attention. Did you say something?"

"No. Nothing rude," a bewildered Elizabeth replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said emphatically. "I didn't say anything other than to ask her if she was alright."

"Did she hurt herself?"

Elizabeth shrugged in puzzlement. "She fell on me and then landed on the floor. She didn't look hurt. I didn't see a bloody nose."

They both looked at the door waiting to see if Cassie would return but the door remained closed.

"Should we leave? Are we done?" Jack questioned.

Elizabeth glanced at her arm and noticed the tiny barely-there mark from the injection. "I guess. That was so weird. What is wrong with that girl?" she added with a scrunch of her face.

"I don't know but she's not our problem. Let's go."

"Did you eat already?" Elizabeth asked. "I haven't eaten since yesterday."

The couple were almost to the door when it slid open and the doctor entered, with a meek-looking Cassie following behind him.

The doctor looked concerned whereas a skittish Cassie looked like she was about to have an anxiety attack.

"Ahem," the doctor cleared his throat. "Can you please sit down, Mrs. Thornton?" He motioned towards the berth.

Elizabeth, still holding Aaron to her chest, hesitantly went to the nearest berth and sat down on the starched white sheet.

Jack raised his eyebrows to relay to her that he was just as confused as she was.

"Show them, Cassie," the doctor ordered.

A timid Cassie reluctantly brought her hand out from behind her back, and opened her palm.

Jack and Elizabeth leaned forward and peered at the cylinder with a plunger at one end and a syringe needle at the other which was lying on Cassie's palm.

They again exchanged blank looks.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Jack asked. "It's a syringe. For a shot. So what?"

"I'm sorry!" Cassie wailed. "But he pushed me!"

Elizabeth's face pulled back in puzzlement.

"Why are you sorry. It wasn't your fault you fell. I'm confused. What does that empty- NO! Oh Noooo," she added when she realized that the cylinder was empty. "You gave me all of it?! You were supposed to give me two-fifths!"

"You gave her all of it?!"

"Your son pushed me!" the medic wailed.

The adults were temporarily quiet.

A stunned Elizabeth slapped her hand on her arm as if she could stop the flow of medication.

Jack took Aaron from her arms and was staring back and forth from his wife to Cassie, who was standing with her mouth open and her eyes glistening. At any moment the medic was going to burst into tears.

The doctor took the empty syringe from her hand and sighed in resignation.

Only little Aaron Daniel Thornton seemed nonplussed by the situation.

"So, she's going to be awake for three days?" Jack asked irritably. "Elizabeth is going to be wide awake – no sleep- for three days?"

"Based on the dosage. Yes, she might find herself more awake and alert for the next few days," the doctor replied. "But not three. I would think more like five."

"I cannot freaking believe this!" Jack's tone indicated his displeasure.

"And I won't be able to feel pain?" Elizabeth asked as she took two fingers and pinched the skin on one of her arms as a test. "I feel that", she said pensively and looked at the doctor. "How long until it takes affect? This is going to be so weird."

"The inability to feel all types of pain was unique to your son due to his small size and age. Too much dosage on adults has an entirely different effect. In addition to the alertness."

"Really not the most ideal situation," the doctor mumbled as he continued to consider the situation.

He slowly ran a hand across his mouth. "Especially given your situation. On anyone else it wouldn't really be so bad. . . But in these circumstances –" his voice trailed off as he looked at the couple and then shook his head in defeat.

"What?" Jack questioned. "What side effect? What circumstances?"

"What's so odd about me?" Elizabeth said worriedly.

"What did you do to her?"

Rather than answer either of them, the doctor turned to Cassie, and gave her a look of disgust. "Of all the patients, Lt. Greenview. Really? Did you have to do it to her?"

A trembling Cassie drew back to the corner of the room in shame.

"Do what? What's going to happen to me? Am I going to have trouble breathing? A rapid heartbeat? Cuz it's beating a bit rapidly right now," Elizabeth noted worriedly but the doctor didn't seem concerned by her announcement.

"A possible side effect that has been reported is an increased libido," the doctor answered matter-of-factly.

"What?!"

Jack's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his face, so the doctor ignored him and focused on Elizabeth.

"It can increase your libido. Your sex drive. You may find yourself wanting to be more amorous than usual with your husband. Nonstop. For the next five days."

Their quarters seemed smaller than normal to Jack. And the four berths seemed to take up too much space. Like they were taunting Jack. Reminding him that his wife may have just been injected with extra hormones, or a super ability to pick up on his pheromones. The idea scared him. The available berths scared him. His wife scared him.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine." Elizabeth replied to a skeptical Jack.

She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and secured it with a hair tie. "We're going to go for a run around the ship. I'll borrow a small cart from logistics for Aaron. It will be like a jogging stroller."

Thanks to the injection from Cassie, Elizabeth's head pain had been gone by the time she had gotten back to their quarters.

She had quickly eaten and then spent thirty minutes grading student homework and was now anxious to let off some energy. With her laptop no longer in her possession, she and Jack hoped that she wasn't in any more danger. Which meant there was no reason for her to stay cloistered in their quarters.

Jack, still worried that she had been rendered unconscious hours earlier, hadn't wanted to leave her alone at first, especially if she had to watch Aaron. But he quickly realized that she was fine. Better than fine. Which meant he could get back to investigating who had rendered her unconscious in the first place.

"Are you sure jogging is a good idea in your situation? You had a head injury."

"It's fine. Doc said that I'm good. I don't have a concussion. You heard him; the CT scan came back fine. I answered all the tests fine. I did the eye test perfectly. I'm fine. You go back to work. I know you've got some investigation to do."

Jack gave Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek and then nervously backed away. Like a timid mouse near a cat.

"You haven't . . . . you know? Had any side effects other than energy?"

"No," she said emphatically and with a laugh. "No other side effects. Stop worrying."

Jack had enough to worry about with finding who had assaulted his wife; he didn't really want to deal with his wife assaulting him – however amorous it might be.

In fact, the last thing he needed to worry about was having a highly aroused wife and a limited supply of protection.

"Get to work. We'll jog by your office later," she instructed.

She smiled at how silly he was being. She didn't for a second believe that the medication would affect her libido. It had been more than thirty minutes and the only noticeable effect had been the relief of head and neck pain.

Following a few seconds behind Jack down the corridor, Elizabeth watched her husband walk away.

She observed his confident stride until he turned a corner and she could no longer assess him.

Has his ass always been so sexy?

Must be the pants he's wearing.

But damn, he looks sexy.

Really sexy.