Chemical Reactions

Part 14

Six weeks later...

Six weeks had passed since you moved to Los Alamos, and, at least for now, life was good.

Kitty Oppenheimer had not contacted her husband, Robert, lately as, unfortunately for her, her mother had fallen ill, which prevented her from visiting Los Alamos, which you and Robert were not particularly upset about.

You spent almost every day at the laboratory, working on and researching a plutonium implosion device that was not, at least officially, approved by Robert yet as he tried hard to juggle some conflicts amongst the scientists.

There was some dispute between them, and most believed that an implosion device was too difficult to establish, so Robert asked you to research whether a reaction like the one proposed by two scientists was even just a remote possibility.

Of course, you quickly learned that it was. There was a slight chance that an implosion could work, but you could not achieve anything further without vast research funding, which he now tried to obtain.

As such, Robert knew about your work and handed the theoretical papers to you on a silver platter after you came up with a scope on how a reaction may be achieved before telling you to treat your research cautiously as it involved the handling of plutonium.

Robert was very protective of you, which some of the others in the experimental department soon became aware of, joking that, perhaps, his great mind had fallen under your spell.

As such, you had quite a few admirers on site, and, ironically, this included another scientist named Klaus Fuchs, who moved to the States from the UK as part of a team.

Klaus Fuchs, to you, appeared like a strange guy. He was somewhat odd and introverted, and if it weren't for Lilli, who reminded you that physicists are strange creatures, you would have become suspicious of him.

Suspicion, however, was also something that you were subjected to regularly as, since your arrival, you were interrogated by Officer Nichols weekly. Officer Nichols was interested in your liaisons on site, and, for some reason, he was also interested in your relationship with Dr. Oppenheimer, which, by now, had gained some attention even from your acquaintance, Lilli.

Lilli had noticed that you were barely at T-101 and would, most nights, not come back to your room at all. She assumed that you were seeing someone and, having taken a liking to you, she told you to be cautious.

"Don't liaise with army officials and don't liaise with any of the married scientists," she cautioned you, and you promised her that you would not. This promise, though, was a lie, and this lie was not something you were proud of.

You wanted this lie to end now that you had what you thought you never wanted. You had found love, and this was something you did not expect.

Spending time with Robert every night made you feel good, and it was not just the sex you were interested in anymore as, most nights, you would listen to music, read poetry, or sit in silence for a while.

His house was comfortable, and you could come and go at your leisure, and although you still had to hide your relationship from others, it felt natural when you spent time with him at his cottage. He was right when he said that, on occasion, it would be just him and you, and it was those moments you spent together, in his bed, in his bathtub, or even just on his lounge, that made you feel special.

Every night you spent with him, he called you 'my love' and told you how much you meant to him as he finally considered divorcing his wife Kitty once all this was over. Until then, he wanted you to promise that you would stay with him and support him through this, and, of course, this was a promise you were willing to make.