Hey folks! Lauren seeks to solidify her theory and learns something astonishing. Hope you enjoy! PS. A big thank you to LL for helping me out yet again with the techie science stuff in this chapter. Much love to you, my friend!
Chapter 15 – Research
It was early morning the following Sunday, when Lauren checked into the quietest of the university's labs. They all held an extravagant amount of equipment for students to use at their discretion, and this one had the benefit of being a little far off-track, so that fewer people frequented it – which in turn meant she'd hopefully be undisturbed, given the early hour and the fact that it was Sunday.
Besides being the quietest, this lab was also the smallest of all available ones, with only three total workspaces, but each one offered a whole array of nifty gadgets, including microscopes, centrifuges, refrigerators with lockable compartments, as well as a bunch of accessories such as slides, beakers and Bunsen burners. To top it off, there were a DNA sequencer and an electron microscope, both of which were shared amongst any students working there.
Lauren entered, flipped the switch to her left and watched as the contents of the windowless room came into view underneath the flickering neon tubes. She smiled and took a deep breath. She loved laboratories – the sterile atmosphere, the cool equipment and the unique smell. Everything here felt familiar and gave her a sense of security, because she was in her element. She knew every single gadget inside out – what they could do, how they functioned and how to work them – and she felt a rush of gratitude for having ended up in the relative security of this university, which offered both, an excellent education and enough exceptionally bright students in order to not attract too much unwanted attention.
Lauren closed the door and headed for the three lockers crammed in the corner next to the entrance, picking the one on the far left, where she stowed her belongings. She took a good look around to make sure that she really was alone before grabbing Bo's blood samples from her bag.
Holding them in her hand again, she could barely contain her excitement. Not only would she be the first person to ever study the blood of a succubus, but it potentially held the key to deepening the hypothesis of her own "superhuman" ability. She was trying hard not to get too invested in all of this, before making sure that there even was something to look for. Such behaviour was unscholarly, after all.
But the professional scientist was only one part of her personality, and the kid inside her, who knew that there was something… there… Well, that kid was currently screaming pretty loudly and she didn't feel like fighting her. Besides, she couldn't help the butterflies going on a rampage in her stomach whenever she thought of the possibilities Bo's blood might hold, so she figured she might as well put all that positive energy into her shiny new project. She grabbed some goggles, a lab coat, a surgery mask, and a pair of medical gloves and went to work.
She started by preparing the sample for the electron microscope – a procedure demanding a great amount of diligence, not only because most lab machinery was highly sensitive and easily damaged, but also due to the… exotic nature of Bo's blood. The exceptional substance was way too delicate and she had to make absolutely sure that nobody was ever going to find out about this morning's shenanigans.
Carefully, Lauren took the swabs out of the sterile plastic bag, cut off the ends, which she placed in a petri dish, before adding the chemicals required to re-liquefy the sample and separate it from the cotton wool. The next step was more crucial, as contrary to the more basic microscopes, which worked with mere light and lenses, their larger and considerably pricier counterparts destroyed any living biological material with their electron beams and the vacuum atmosphere. As Lauren aimed to examine only the molecular cell structure, the destruction of a few blood cells wasn't a problem. What made the process more precarious was that the beams were so powerful that they could additionally alter the tissue, and that was something the doctor definitely needed to prevent from happening. She didn't exactly have a renewable supply of samples, after all.
Following the call of the rising number of butterflies in her stomach, she worked meticulously and efficiently, starting by chemically treating the tissue to stabilise it and then, as quickly as possible, fixing and dehydrating the sample, in order to halt the change in structure that would inevitably come with sinking oxygen levels and the emergence of impurities.
The next steps involved embedding the sample in acrylic resin, which needed to sit a while, before it could be cut into thin layers. Finally, she added the contrast agent, which would later reveal the sample's structures under the microscope.
As Lauren was waiting for the resin to harden, she heard her phone beep in her lab coat pocket. It was a message from Bo.
What's my sexy scientist doing?, it read.
Lauren grinned. Hm, sexy science stuff?
Mmh, can't wait to hear all about it later in bed.
Lauren shuddered. It was fascinating, how turned-on Bo got whenever the blonde started babbling about her lab work and studies. She'd never met anyone – besides her fellow students, maybe – who would listen so raptly to her geek-outs, half the time without having a clue, what the hell she was on about. The succubus however never seemed to get enough of it. She was honestly interested in Lauren's research – although eventually, those conversations usually took a sexual turn, which always ended up in Bo positively devouring her girlfriend.
Me neither. I love you, Lauren typed with a wide grin and hit send.
The playful reply had come out like a reflex, but then she remembered, that tonight, she wouldn't in fact tell Bo the whole truth about her day in the lab, and her smile quickly died, when her phone chimed once more.
I love you more xXx
Remorsefully, she bit her lip. What was she doing? Was her hunch really worth betraying Bo's trust like this?
She sighed, cursing herself for her stupid subconscious interfering again. Yes, it was worth it, and she was not betraying her girlfriend's trust, because she already knew that she was going to tell her everything. Eventually. That had to count for something, right? Right.
Another beep caught her attention, distracting her from her contemplations. This time, it was the signal telling her that the resin was ready to be cut into ultrathin slices to be placed in the microscope. Her bad conscience from a second ago immediately forgotten, Lauren went back to work.
After two hours, everything was finally ready and in place. Lauren got up from her chair and checked the hallways outside of the small room to make sure that she was still alone. Everything was dark and quiet – just perfect. Returning to the lab, she locked the door, leaving the key in, so that nobody could enter without her noticing, and sat back down. Taking a deep breath, she switched on the beam and waited for the magic to happen. The minutes ticked by as bit by bit, an image appeared on screen.
What she saw made her jaw drop. "Oh, my god", she whispered, her voice barely audible behind the face mask, even though the room was dead silent. "That's impossible…" She frowned, completely transfixed by the image in front of her. It had her so stunned, that for a minute, she couldn't help but stare, any butterflies and previous excitement temporarily forgotten. She kept twisting the knobs to look at the image from all available angles and resolutions, but there was no doubt about it: This was no regular blood… maybe not even human.
Lauren swallowed, the butterflies returning with a bang. But her excitement wasn't as pure as before. Suddenly, there was something else mixed in… and it didn't feel good.
Fear.
Shaking her head, she re-focused on the projection of the microscope to finish what she'd started. Fear was anything but unusual in her realm of work, she reasoned… In fact, it was a natural part of any field of research, and in healthy doses, it was a useful and constructive emotion. In an attempt to shake off the unease, Lauren inhaled and exhaled slowly and then returned to studying the molecular composition of Bo's cells.
While blood possessed a rather complex structure, there was a common denominator for every human being on earth, and that was the iron responsible for its typical red colour. And while there was iron in the succubus' blood, giving it the same at-first-sight appearance as everybody else's, a closer look revealed some additional characteristics, which made it special, to say the least… Attached to the regular iron in the centre were two elements, which, quite simply, had no business being there.
"What the actual…", Lauren muttered to herself, unbelieving of what was right in front of her. But even after double- and triple-checking, the result stayed the same. She leaned back in her chair, letting herself fall heavily against the backrest. She'd just casually found two of the rarest elements on earth in a living person's blood. "This is revolutionary", she added in an incredulous whisper.
The first element, Molybdenum, didn't even occur naturally as a free metal on earth, but only in various oxidation states in minerals. It possessed a highly stable structure, which was why it was mostly employed in the creation of extremely hard steel superalloys – a curious property, considering that all these features made it look like it couldn't possibly be a liquid blood component. But in combination with oxygen and water – both of which Bo's blood, like everyone else's, also contained – it became quite soluble.
But the truly shocking part was that Bo's incredible – and most definitely super – blood contained osmium, one of the rarest elements on the planet, usually found only in the earth's crust. The mineral was so scarce that it was only ever used in tiny amounts to create applications that required extreme durability and hardness. Plus, osmium wasn't just rare, but also potentially dangerous, as it was an integral part of the toxic osmium tetroxide, which formed, when pure osmium was exposed to air. However, Bo's osmium component was the dioxide variant, a non-volatile and much less reactive compound. Simply put, it was the reason why Bo was even alive despite having it in her blood.
Lauren let out a long breath and slumped even further down. Never in her scientific career had she seen anything like this. She'd always been curious, always wanted to know, how and why things worked the way they did, but this… Bo's blood was just like everyone else's, except for two inconspicuous additions, which made all the difference in the world. They probably explained her incredible strength and prowess – maybe even her healing powers.
So, what now?
Lauren wasn't sure. This was entirely new territory. Had this been a science project for her studies, now would've been the time to call a couple of her professors to show them her findings and let them decide on how to continue. But of course, she couldn't do that. As over-the-moon as she was about what she'd uncovered, nothing – nothing – was worth risking Bo's health over it. Straightening her back, she got up and started pacing to clear her head.
"Fact number one", she started quietly listing to herself, "I've discovered something no human being has ever seen before. Fact number two: Succubae exist. Well, at least one… Fact number three: My girlfriend is likely… not… human."
She paused and stared into space. For a while, she just stood there, her gaze empty and far away. Then, her mind and body came back to life. She took a deep breath and determinedly clenched her fists, before exhaling in a puff and letting her gaze wander back to the microscope screen.
"Not human…", she muttered, lost in thought. "Not human…"
Her recent chat with Emily popped back into her memory. Not human… which meant not superhuman either. An idea formed in her head – an idea that scared and at the same time excited her to no end. Hesitantly, she turned her head and eyed the DNA sequencer that sat on a high table near the electron microscope.
As soon as she laid eyes on the machine, she knew, what to do.
XXX
When they were lying in bed that night, legs entangled and Lauren's head resting on Bo's chest, she listened to the brunette's heartbeat, smiling to herself as she drew patterns on her girlfriend's skin, who was in the middle of recounting the events of her day. The café was a never-ending source for funny and quirky stories and Lauren loved listening to Bo, who had a talent of telling them in the most entertaining ways.
"So, this guy comes in, right?", she said, her chest already quaking with impending laughter, "and he orders almost every single type of cake we have on the menu…"
Lauren giggled, even though she didn't know what was going to happen yet. She was just so happy lying here with Bo, without a care in the world. Well, almost. For a split-second, her mind drifted back to the happenings of this morning, and her bad conscience returned.
Back in the lab, after discovering the anomaly in Bo's blood, she'd repeated the procedure with some of hers, to check for similarities. But after hours of prepping and testing and checking and re-testing and re-checking, she had to begrudgingly admit that there was no sign of any fancy elements contained in her own blood. Not that it should have surprised her, really. After all, if even a single one of her former paediatricians had found something this weird, they would've immediately told her parents. Which meant that she would've known since her childhood.
But after everything that had happened over the past days – and the years before – she was not going to let a tiny setback like this stop her. After all, it was possible that Bo's blood was just very specifically that of a succubus, and Lauren's powers showed themselves differently. Surely, there must be something in her body that would prove that she was special and if the electron microscope wasn't the means to reveal her very own superhuman secret, maybe it was time to resort to the other fancy gadget in this lab… the DNA sequencer.
Each scientist knew that DNA was life's ultimate construction plan. It contained virtually every single piece of information related to the composition of its respective owner, whether it be a monad or a blue whale, and she was positive the machine would give her, what she was so desperately looking to find. The bad news was that it would take weeks until the sequencing was finished, but Lauren had persevered for so long that it was worth the extra wait, she reasoned. Besides, it wasn't like she had any better options. The sequencer was the last step towards finally unveiling the true mystery of her power, and with Bo's samples on hand, she now had the means to do just that… by comparing her genes to those of a living succubus.
It was hands down one of the most exciting tests she'd ever conducted. Not to mention all the cool stuff she would find out about Bo in the process! Sequencing her girlfriend's surely-extraordinary DNA would tell her not only, whether Bo was human, superhuman or not human at all, but also possibly tell her more about the succubus' powers of seduction, the functionality of her metabolism and the related chi processing, as well as her healing ability.
It's still unethical to not tell her, her conscience reminded her as she continued listening to Bo's café story. Lauren shifted uncomfortably, her mind finally accepting the fact that she'd have to tell her as soon as possible… preferably tonight.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to brace herself, she held on to the brunette a little more tightly, who didn't seem to think much of it, returning the gesture with a reassuring squeeze and continuing with her story.
"… not an ounce of fat on him either", Bo recounted. "And he goes on and on about how delicious the cakes are – loudly moans and groans, which thank god, the other patrons are more amused about than anything else. I'm telling you, the dude pulls a face like he's having one orgasm after the next… and then he actually finishes the food! Like, all of it. I'm telling you, I served him two generous pieces of cake, several cupcakes, and a couple of muffins and he didn't even bat an eye…"
Bo was giggling so much at this point that Lauren's head on her chest was bouncing up and down. She didn't hear much of a reaction from the blonde, but she was too engrossed in her storytelling to notice. Plus, the memory of the cake-crazy patron had awakened another one that she immediately lost herself in – her and Kenzi sitting in a random café in their previous future. The image in her head wasn't all that specific – just a memory of the younger woman laughing… Kenzi being her comical self, before she'd been robbed of the love of her life, who had taken a piece of her bubbly heart with him to Valhalla. The brunette's laughter ebbed away and her expression turned nostalgic.
"He reminded me of Kenzi", she added with a small, sad smile.
The words were out before she could stop them, and her eyes went wide in shock at the unwitting revelation. She wasn't supposed to mention the people from their former future! Stiffening slightly, she looked down to eye Lauren, who hadn't moved nor interrupted drawing lazy patterns on her skin.
"Who's Kenzi?", she asked with an innocence that gnawed at Bo's heart. She had a hard enough time coping with the sudden sadness threatening to overwhelm her at the thought of her best friend, and now her bad conscience returned with a bang. Mind racing, she struggled for an answer that was inconspicuous enough to keep Lauren from digging any further, while at the same time hiding the fact that Bo was hiding something from her… again.
"Oh, just someone I used to know", she finally said… not exactly the best answer, but the best she managed under this pressure.
"From your childhood?", Lauren inquired curiously, and Bo cursed herself for messing up. Why did she have to continue messing things up?
"Not really", she answered after a short pause. Lauren still didn't seem to be on to her, but Bo was having an increasingly difficult time to keep her tone neutral. More and more memories of happy times with Kenzi flooded her mind, and she struggled to keep her emotions in check. "More recent", she added, her voice cracking slightly.
That was it. The mood shift was obvious now, and Bo squeezed her eyes shut, trying to prolong the inevitable. Sure enough, Lauren's fingers stopped moving, and Bo felt her head move to face the brunette. Ready to accept her fate, she opened her eyes and smiled at her girlfriend.
Lauren frowned. Bo's expression was as genuine as ever, but her eyes spoke of a deep sadness. She felt an overwhelming urge to ask her, what was wrong, but something in the brunette's gaze made her pause. Her eyes were full of love, as always when she was looking at Lauren, but they also held a secret. Another secret. Lauren swallowed. It hurt to see Bo sad like this, but it also stung that she was once again unwilling to open up to her and share more about this Kenzi.
Bo didn't miss the change in Lauren's expression. She had a good hunch about what was going on inside her girlfriend and it broke her heart. She knew Lauren so well and could tell that she was upset. She didn't blame her. If only she knew, how much Bo wanted to throw all those stupid rules overboard and tell her everything. About Kenzi and Dyson and Trick… about their future… and especially about the fae and their dangerous bullshit. But the risk was too high. She couldn't bear even the thought of losing her wife again. So, she opted for silence.
And once again, Lauren chose love; accepted Bo's silence, filing away her ever-present hope for more openness and honesty somewhere deep in her mind to be reassessed later. Much later, if needed be. Because no matter, how much Bo kept to herself – Lauren couldn't help but trust her. Even if the brunette clearly didn't completely trust her yet. Which in all honesty, she couldn't even be mad about – after all, she had yet to tell Bo her own greatest secret. And the beseeching look she was giving her now melted her heart. It seemed to say, I swear I'll tell you someday, I'm just not ready now, and Lauren gave her a reassuring smile. The promise in her gaze was good enough – had to be – and she leaned in to seal her approval with a soft kiss.
Bo returned it with fervour and relief, trying to put everything into it she couldn't tell Lauren, together with all her love and all her despair, in the hope that she would truly understand. That for now, she didn't have a choice.
Snuggling closer, they held on to one another like drowning women, searching for an anchor, as they felt trapped in the soundless whirlwind of half-truths and unspoken thoughts surrounding them both.
As they finally fell asleep in each other's arms, Lauren had the vague thought of having forgotten something important…