The ABO Serum

You Slept Through the Apocalypse

When Noah woke up, surrounded by monitors and other medical equipment, he recognized it as a hospital but couldn't remember exactly what had happened to land him there. His mother slept in a chair beside him with her neck at an awkward angle. He must have been out for at least a few days for her to get here from across the country.

Lifting his hand to try and find his phone, he discovered he had barely enough strength to get it an inch off the bed. He lifted and dropped it a few times, assessing his strength, and that drew the attention of a nurse.

"Hey, you're awake!" She smiled excitedly.

'Duh,' he thought.

"It's been a while. Can you speak?" She asked.

He tried but his throat felt awful. He shook his head.

"That's okay. We've had a lot of tubes in there and you haven't drunk anything under your own power in weeks."

"Eeks?" He managed to squeal. He'd been unconscious for weeks?

"Yeah, it's been almost 6 weeks for you. A lot has happened. I must let the doctor know you're awake. They'll fill you in." She walked back to her desk.

His mom started to stir when he made a noise and he watched her slowly wake up and notice his eyes open.

"Noah! Noah baby, you're awake!" Tears sprouted in her eyes and she reached around through the tubes to hold him awkwardly. "We've been so worried baby. It's gonna be okay though. They said everything else is okay if you'd just wake up."

The doctor cleared his throat on the other side of the bed. "That's right ma'am. His body is going to be okay, but we need to check his brain after being unconscious so long. Do you know who you are?"

Noah nodded. His throat still hurt.

"Good. I won't make you speak until we get these tubes removed. You're probably feeling thirsty and hungry. IVs and feeding tubes keep you alive, but don't really fill you.

Hospital personnel disconnected, evaluated, cleaned, fed, evaluated some more, explained to, exercised, and finally released Noah three days later. But he couldn't go far. The town was cut off. His family rented a recently vacated place near campus when they arrived and wanted him to stay with them for a bit. He'd been ousted from his dorm when they designated it an isolation dorm for omegas, so his stuff had already been moved.

It seemed he'd slept through an apocalypse. He felt a bit cheated. He was the first to wake up of those found unconscious. It was all due to an alpha named Dr. Alan Blitzer. The whole alpha, beta, omega thing confused him a bit. It seemed he was a beta, which meant he could maybe have babies now...or maybe the womb he was growing was useless. They didn't know yet. Anyway, he had this alpha's pillow and blanket, and thought he ought to at least return them with his thanks.

That's how he ended up in the GenLife lobby trying to explain all this to a security guard. That's when Mitch spotted him. "Noah! Oh my god, Noah! When did you get here? You should have let me know you were coming."

Mitch was the reason for Noah's transition. He'd found Noah hiding in the corner at a frat party trying to blend in with the scenery. It obviously wasn't his scene. A friend had drug him there and abandoned him. Mitch asked him if he wanted to get out of there and proceeded to give him one of the best nights of his life.

He couldn't know that he was also giving him this whole womb thing. And Noah hadn't expected anything more. He wasn't looking for more until after he graduated. That's what he told himself anyway. He was feeling a little lonely and let Mitch sweep him off his feet for a night. And according to the nurse, Mitch looked after him while he was unconscious until his parents arrived. He wasn't at GenLife to see Mitch, but Mitch could help him get to who he did want to see.

"Um...h-hi M-Mitch," he managed as Mitch pulled him in for a tight hug.

"What are you here for?" He asked, to Noah's obvious relief.

"I-I w-wanted t-to thank D-Dr. Blitzer." With that, he held up a clear garbage bag containing the doctor's pillow and blanket.

"Ah, of course," Mitch said, then walked over to the security desk and signed for a guest badge. "He's in quarantine but they're facilitating supervised meetings. Let me take you upstairs and see what we can arrange."

"Um...o-okay."

That was how Noah met Dr. Placer. Her face lit up when Mitch explained who he was and what he was here for, however, she confiscated the pillow and blanket, promising to pass it along to the doctor after they evaluated the pheromones on it. He thought his visit finished after that, but she convinced him to stay and meet the doctor in person. She wanted to record their response to each other.

Noah didn't want to meet the doctor without a good reason, and she'd confiscated it. But it seemed the data could maybe help them wake up the other unconscious patients, so he felt obliged. That's how he ended up with sensors taped to his body, timidly peeking through the meeting room door.

The doctor was handsome. Movie star handsome, with light brown hair in a thick wave across his brow and vibrant blue eyes that followed Noah's every move. He introduced himself as Alan Blitzer, without the 'Dr.' probably to put Noah at ease, but ease was impossible. The doctor's light touch on his back as he ushered him to a seat shocked him. He wondered if he'd rubbed his feet along the carpet too much.

When they were both seated awkwardly at the small table, the doctor asked how he was recovering. "I-I'm f-fine n-now," he stuttered out. "T-Thanks t-to y-you."

"Maybe," Alan conceded. "But maybe not. We don't really know."

"I-I b-brought y-your b-blanket back, b-b-but t-they t-took it."

"Of course they did." Alan shook his head resignedly. "Don't worry. It's just an institutional one. I didn't expect it back."

"S-Sorry," Noah felt a little pained that his efforts mattered so little. His disappointment was so obvious Alan couldn't leave him alone.

"I'm sure the lab techs will really appreciate getting them to analyze. We're grasping at straws here trying to figure out how the changes in humans will all shake out," Alan finally caught the young man's eyes with his own. They were so clear and bright, a warm brown color, and honest. This young man would never be able to keep his emotions a secret. "I really appreciate you coming. Even if my pheromones weren't why you woke up, I'm glad you did. We just don't know. And good news is in short supply. I had some sad news just before you came and I...," Alan choked on his words realizing how lonely he really felt in the moment.

In a heartbeat Noah was at Alan's feet grasping his hands and looking deep into his eyes. He reached a hand up to touch the doctor's face. Noah couldn't stand to see others in pain. His empathetic nature was so strong he felt it physically himself. Alan looked into the young man's sweet face and swallowed the lump in his throat. When he could breathe again, he smelled it, the warm comforting pheromones of this sweet beta. They didn't travel far, and they didn't demand attention, but they made his heart thud loudly and his eyes prick until he had to blink back tears.

"I-I'm f-f-free. I-I d-don't h-have t-to g-go anywhere."

Alan dropped his head onto the young man's shoulder and let the tears flow for a while. He didn't understand why they were coming now of all times. Or even what he was really crying for. He hadn't thought he was over-stressed, but maybe he was. Maybe he was burying it all successfully until he felt safe and this boy with the honest eyes felt safe.