Sometimes the truth is hard.

You meet Maria, and choose a table far from the back, well away from other people.

This talk could end your medical and scientific career, it could end your freedom.

But to make informed choices, she needed to know. Tests needed to be run, and someone had to know to organize the experiments and tests, and to help to process the data.

“Are you OK boss?” Maria asked, “You seem a little frazzled. I guess you got over whatever was bothering you yesterday.”

“Yeah, I am on the mend,” you reply. They bring you your coffees and you sip yours nervously.

“How is Kira?” She asks, “I heard about her, I’m sorry John. If there is anything I can do, I hope it goes without saying...”

“It does Maria, thanks, thanks a lot,” Here goes nothing you think. “That is why we are here, because of her response to the donor program, her reaction is an outlier, something not commonly seen. I would like some help with some testing.”

“Which anomaly does she present as John?” Maria asked, sipping her coffee, and pulling out a small notepad. She was a very good note-taker, it helped her not to miss the little details.

“It isn’t clear, she has responded with a level of nymphomania I have not seen before, but it has gone farther with her than with other cases that have been studied.” You reply.

“Did she fall for a donor John? Did they not keep the donor anonymous?” Maria asked, agitated by abnormal procedures when she saw them. This was science, not art. Like you, she wanted the script to be followed exactly, it was the only way to continue to learn from it.

“She did,” you reply. “She fell for one pretty hard, and it is complicated.”

Maria saw something was not being said and waited, writing what you have said and her thoughts on it.

“Kira was really down Maria, she is a virgin, and had the bad luck to catch the day after her birthday, the youngest we have ever seen it.” You finally reply, “And she was symptomatic and hurting the night she told me, and she refused the option of calling 911 for help.”

“John, you didn’t,” Maria started to say, swallowing hard.

“I did,” you said drawing an evil look. “I did it in a cup, she walked in on me doing it, but I tried to maintain separation.”

“She reacted strongly, along with the anomaly strain we have seen, so the second time I performed direct delivery.” You continue.

“Jesus John, you set up this program, you have a donor badge, but not for that, you know you aren’t supposed to do that specific act,” Maria continued. “It would make it seem like you designed it with intent, it could burn down everything we have done.”

“So the first time she touched me with her mouth, as we have seen, she demonstrated the hunger some patients see they see the source.”

“And like the other anomalies she was having self-control problems.” You continue, “Then that night she woke me up with a blowjob. She progressed farther than we have seen, faster than we have seen.”

“You haven’t gotten to the bad news John, I know you,” she replied. “You fucked her didn’t you?” Maria’s eyes narrowed, she was about the science, she would probably never understand.

“It was not something I planned, she jumped on me, and it happened.” You reply, how in the fuck can this be explained. “I didn’t plan for it, and I told her afterward it could never happen again.”

“And it did John, every day right,” Maria answered, she had known you since the first year of medical school. “What, every day now? What if she gets pregnant John? Fucking men...”

“Maria, something is different now, she is responding to the disease in a different way, and I think it has had an effect on my physically,” you reply. “I want us both to have a full panel of tests, deep-dive genetic tests. Dig as deep as we can go and do a differential analysis on both of us. I need to know what changed.”

Maria cocked an eyebrow at you, “How do you feel different? What have you experienced?”

You describe the events in detail. The warmth difference, the emotional connection, the way Kira vocalizes and the way you have both slept it off, for hours sometimes. The changes in your senses you have noticed.

“I heard a bird fly by outside Maria, my senses are going crazy here,” you reply.

“Prove it,” Maria asked, staring at you coldly.

“I can smell Jim’s cologne on you, Maria, you met him today, and I can smell what you had for lunch, tuna on rye I think.” You reply, “And the bar across the street, I can hear what is playing inside, sounds like Lady Gaga, stupid something...”

Maria left quickly and was back a couple of minutes later. “Let’s go for a walk, John.”

You walk with her, and she sits on a bench, seeming to be tired. “John, you know **** is against the law, it is wrong. It is dangerous for everything we are trying to do, you know that right?”

“I fucking know that. I didn’t plan for this Maria,” you whisper.

“But this disease has changed some societal norms, women who catch this have to get sperm wherever they can or progress and maybe die, these are strange days we live in.” She said to you quietly, “We will run the tests, and we can do some blind testing with you and Kira, see if the reaction you are getting can be tracked and reproduced.”

“Thank you, Maria...” you start, but she cuts you off.

“Fuck you John. Fuck you for bringing this to me, for risking everything,” she replied harshly. “This isn’t ok, and I am going to do my best to get Kira on the donor program before she ends up seeing a therapist for life and you go to jail and ruin everything.”

You drive home with a heavy heart, Kira was going to be hurt by this, and it is because you let it happen. She didn’t do this, you did, Fuck.