Love in the Midst of Chaos

Bear

Thanks to the Melatonin I sleep all the way to Paris, once we land we head start for the lab that is holding our bear. Well, Mitch, Abe, Jamie and I do, Jackson and Chloe are off trying to inform the DGSE of what's happening. When we get there we are all a bit skeptically about getting too close to the bear before we find out if it is really in a hibernation state or not. "How do we tell if he's been infected by the Mother Cell?" Abe looks over to Mitch and I. 

Mitch steps toward the bear, which is asleep on a large table, "grab me that tray of test tubes over there, will you?"

I walk around the bear to the other side of the table, "what are you gonna do?"

"We are going to take a blood panel and hope that some foreign elements show up. If they do, we'll compare their chemical structure with the Mother Cell.  And if they match, we've got our answer."

"So, basically, you two are looking for a fingerprint," Jamie looks between us, "chemically speaking."

"Look at you," I smile over to Jamie, "getting all science-y"

Mitch, who had been taking blood from the bear, hands a syringe to Jamie, "ten drops each, in each of those test tubes. And as a backup, we'll take a DNA sample."

"Takes a little longer, but might as well while we're here, right?" 

"Would you mind taking a swab from our friend's mouth there?" Mitch holds out a swab to me. 

I look over to the bear's head as he snores, "sure..."

As I step around to the bear's head, Abe stops me and holds out his hand, "I'll do it, just to be on the save side." As Abe moves to get the sample for them bear, the monitor starts to beep, "he's waking up."

"Oh, that's okay," Mitch glances up to the monitor.

"Says you."

"No, really, it's fine..." I shake my head, "even in hibernation, a bear's heart rate increases when a predator approaches. It's nature's little warning signal."

"Apparently, you're quite predatory," Mitch chuckles. 

"Maybe I should let you do this," Abe hands the swab back to me. 

I take the swab and take a sample for the bear's mouth, "there we go."

"Perfect," Mitch looks up to me.

"Can you put that in one of those little baggies over there?" I hand the swab to Abe, who is just happy to get away from the bear. As he does, I check the bear's eyes, "huh."

"Huh, what?"

"Come take a look, there's no defiant pupil."

Mitch moves over to me and looks at the bear's eyes, "that doesn't make any sense. If he was exposed to the Mother Cell, his pupil should be..."

"All big and scary."

"Yeah, it should be."

We get everything we can from the bear, which isn't much until we get the labs back. So we head to Chloe's apartment, meeting her and Jackson there. While Chloe gives Abe a little tour, Mitch, Jackson and I are in the kitchen. Jackson and Mitch talking about what we found today, while I am trying to figure out dinner for six. 

"So I..." Jackson leans against the counter, "no defiant pupil? What does that mean?"

"I don't know yet," Mitch unpacks come groceries we had gotten before heading to Chloe's, "do you need this?"

"That depends on what 'this' is," I turn to Mitch, having bee grabbing a few things out of the fridge.

"Asparagus."

"No, but hand them here, I'll put them in the fridge."

"Guys, back to the bear, please," Jackson cross his arms, "what does no defiant pupil mean?"

"We don't know yet."

Mitch sighs, "it doesn't necessarily mean that the bear wasn't affected by the Mother Cell."

"It doesn't mean anything."

"Blood labs should be back in a couple of hours."

"But why else would a bear be hibernating in the middle of summer?" Jackson gestures around with his hand, before putting it in his pocket. 

"There are two types of hibernation, okay? One is what we normally think of: Yogi Bear goes into a deep suspended animation to survive a winter of scarce resources."

"And the other," I take a deep breath, getting  a few pots from under the cabinet, "is when an animal falls temporarily dormant, so that resources can be biologically redirected."

Jackson shakes his head, "what do you mean, 'redirected'?"

"Ever wonder why kids can sleep through almost anything? They do the same thing when they're growing, and we do it when we get hurt have a surgery of some kind. It's the bodies way of growing or healing and repairing itself."

"So you mean you think that the bear's changing?"

I take a deep breath and look over to Mitch, "I think it's possible."

Mitch nods, "the question is, into what?"

"Okay, enough with this." I put my hands on my hips, "you boys can either help with dinner or get out of my kitchen."

"Your kitchen?"

"Until dinner is done, yes, my kitchen."

"I'll head out," Jackson nods, leaving me and Mitch. 

"What about you?"

"I'll stay and help."

"really?"

"Yeah, why not? We work well together in a lab, why not in a kitchen?"