The Solar Wind (29 page)

“Not today sweetheart.” He laughed gently. He began to realize what effect Justin’s blood was having on her. It was the energy within that had saved her, giving her own body the strength to heal itself and to fend off the virus. He wondered how she would cope with this and for how long she would feel the effects. Dr. Tom can analyze her blood all he wants to, Wesley thought. He knew that the only antibodies he might find would be the one’s made by Ava, and nothing else.

At Ava’s quarters she buzzed around effortlessly gathering her personal items and many of the clothes she would need for the next week while staying with Wesley. He carried the large tote bag as they made their way back to his place. As soon as the door was shut behind them, they removed their masks.

“Sweetheart, why don’t you take a shower while I fix us some lunch?” Wesley offered.

“That sounds great. I haven’t had a decent shower in days!” She took a few things out of her bag and headed straight for the bathroom in Wesley’s bedroom. Ava didn’t normally take long showers, for conservation measures, however this time she wanted to. She felt so invigorated as she lathered up and rinsed. She stepped out onto the bathroom rug and used a towel to wipe away the steam from the mirror. She gazed at herself intently and was amazed at what she saw. Ava had expected to see a pale, worn out woman, with dark circles under her eyes looking back at her but this was not the case. Instead she beheld a beautiful young woman with luminous skin and bright eyes looking back at her. Her appearance startled her. Three days ago she had nearly died, and now she felt better than ever. How can this be? She pondered this briefly before her stomach reminded her that she was hungry. Her thoughts seemed to be fleeting, as if she was easily distracted. She dried and combed out her hair, dressed, and met Wesley in the kitchen, ready to eat.

“How do you feel?” Wesley inquired as he set a large sandwich in front of Ava at the table. He studied her appearance carefully, pleased that she seemed healthy.

“Hungry,” she replied. “I can’t remember when I’ve been so hungry.”

“You’ve been through a lot. Your body fought off a terrible virus that almost killed you. Your fevers burned up a lot of energy and your body is probably telling you that it’s time to replace it, that’s all,” he said reassuringly.

“I guess so.” His calm nature comforted her. Ava was almost half-way through her sandwich while Wesley had only taken a few bites. She looked around his quarters with interest, as if she were noticing things there that she had never seen before. She began to feel uneasy, sensing she had more energy than she knew what to do with.

Wesley watched this behavior intently. “What’s the matter? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. I just feel like I’m having a hard time concentrating, like my thoughts are racing. Do you think I should page Dr. Tom? Maybe it’s a side effect of the antivirals?”

“I think you’re just excited to be out of the hospital.” He placed an arm around her and rubbed her upper arm and shoulder soothingly. His touch felt so good to her, she closed her eyes for a few moments.

Ava finished her lunch before Wesley and took her medicine. “I think I’m going to lay down for a while, maybe try and sleep.”

“I’ll check on you in a little while. If you need anything, I’ll be right here.”

“Thank you, . . .I love you.”

“Love you too sweetheart.”

Ava felt doubtful that she would be able to sleep easily, however quickly found a comfortable position and closed her eyes. To her relief, she felt herself drifting off effortlessly.

The week passed quickly for Ava and Wesley. She appreciated how well Wesley was taking care of her and felt rather at home, living with him in his quarters. She regretted that life would return back to normal so soon. Wesley monitored Ava carefully. Each day she seemed to cope with her increased energy level a little better. Part of him felt guilty for what they had done to her without her knowledge. Soon . . . I will tell her soon, he thought. He felt certain she would have perished had it not been for the blood transfusion. He could not have let that happen. They had done the right thing.

On Friday morning Ava met with Dr. Tom for her follow-up appointment. He almost could not believe his eyes when he saw Ava sitting on the exam table as the picture of health.

“You’re looking so well, Ava. How do you feel?”

“I feel fantastic. I’m not tired at all, I haven’t so much as coughed or sneezed or anything since last Saturday.”

“Yes, certainly your physical assessment shows that you are pretty much back to normal.”

“What about the labs that were drawn this morning.”

Dr. Tom tapped the screen of the electronic tablet he was carrying for a few seconds, reviewing her results.

“Everything is just fine. Ava, that reminds me. We analyzed the sample of blood you gave us on Sunday. We ran everything that we could on it and found nothing, not even antibodies.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that either it was too soon to look for antibodies, or you recovered without them, which is highly unlikely unless there was something we missed in Mr. Gaines blood.”

“What about the other two cases you had last weekend? How are they doing?”

“One of the patients is deceased, the other is still fighting but it doesn’t look good.”

“I’m sorry to hear that I couldn’t have been of any help.”

“Not yet anyway, but perhaps I could re-test you in a few weeks to try again to isolate the antibodies.”

“I guess so, if you think it’s necessary.”

“It would be appreciated. Ava, I would also appreciate it if you could ask your friend, Mr. Gaines, to contact me. I would very much like to study a sample of his blood, since that is the only factor out of all of these cases that has been different, that has lead to a cure.” He lifted his hand and gestured at Ava.

“I will ask him the next time I see him.” Ava began to feel a little irritated with Dr. Tom’s persistence with wanting a sample of Justin’s blood. She knew Justin stayed away from the hospital because he didn’t want to be harassed about it. They studied her blood, mixed with Justin’s, if there were antibodies then they would have been able to identify them.

“Thank you.”

“So, I can go back to work on Monday?”

“I don’t see why not, as long as you feel up to it.”

“Great, I’m so bored just sitting around.”

“I’ll let my father know then.”

“Thank you Dr. Tom.”

“You’re welcome Ava, we’ll see you next week.”

Wesley stood as Ava walked out into the waiting room of the OMC infectious disease clinic. Both wore masks as the Level 3 droplet precautions were still in effect. She walked over to him and the two headed out of the clinic. Wesley noticed that the receptionists stared at Ava as they walked out.

“How did it go?”

“Very well, actually. My blood tests came back normal and I can go back to work on Monday.”

“That’s excellent.” He smiled pleasantly at her.

“Dr. Tom asked me again if I could ask Justin to give him another sample of his blood. He wants to run some more tests on it.”

“I doubt Justin will go for that. He hates being poked with needles,” Wesley explained.

“I understand, not many people like that.” Ava took Wesley’s hand as they walked away, intertwining her fingers with his. “What time is the Andromeda due back?”

“About four thirty. Do you feel up to going out tonight for some dinner with everyone?”

“That would be fun. I’m tired of sitting around every day.”

“Ava, are you sure you want to go back to work on Monday? I can stay with you another week if you would like, just to make sure that you are okay.”

“I’m fine. I wish everyone would stop asking me that,” Ava snapped back, feeling irritated for no particular reason. “You know, nothing is certain in healthcare, not everything can be predicted. Sometimes people recover from things with no apparent reason. Why is it such a big deal?”

Wesley stopped them in their tracks, still holding her hand tightly, looked directly into Ava’s eyes and spoke seriously to her “Because you almost died, that’s why. Do you understand that? Do you understand how important you are to me?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m being so nonchalant about it.” She paused. She immediately felt foolish for her outlook on her situation. She should be grateful for her recovery. The gravity of what he said started sinking in. “It’s just that physically I feel like I’m fine, but I have so much energy. It’s like I’m going to burst open or something. I’ve never felt like this before, I’m definitely not myself, and I don’t know why.”

“Ava. . .”

“You must think I’m crazy right?”

“I don’t think you’re crazy. Try not to focus on it. You’ve been through a lot and I know that you will feel more like yourself again soon. Just believe that you will. The worst is behind you.” They started walking again.

“You always have the right words to say to make me feel better. I knew that there were many upon many reasons that I love you.”

“I love you so much, you mean more to me than anything.” He wanted to kiss her, but could not because they would be arrested if they were seen removing their masks in public. “These masks are such a nuisance.”

“I know what you mean.” She smiled at him behind her mask.

Later that evening Wesley led Ava down to Level 9, where they met the rest of the crew at “Asia”.

Ava recognized the neon red sign immediately. “This is where we had dinner for the first time together!” Ava commented, feeling excited about remembering how happy she had been at the time to make some new friends. There had been no reported cases of the virus on Level 9, so they enjoyed some freedom from their masks for a few hours.

“Thought it was about time we came back.” He smiled at her.

Naomi walked over to Ava and gave her a big hug. “Ava, you look fabulous! What a difference a week has made!”

“I know. I am very grateful for what you all have done for me.”

“We really didn’t do that much Ava.”

The two women continued to talk, joined by the others. Justin walked over to Wesley, standing a short distance away.

“Ava looks healthy, how is she doing,” he inquired.

“She’s doing better than I expected to be honest.”

“Has she had any. . . side effects,” Justin asked in a concerned low voice so as not to be heard by the others.

“It appears as though she has taken to the energy in your blood. She’s a bit more irritable, hardly sits still, and is easily distracted. However, on the bright side, she’s in perfect health. She’s strong right now, I can feel it. I don’t think she realizes how strong she is.”

“You’re sure that’s all?”

“I have noticed that the energy is very slowly waning. It’s only been a week, but I can feel that it is not as potent as it was right after the transfusion. Though that’s not hard to believe considering all of the blood samples they’ve taken from her.”

“That makes sense. If my energy was transferred to her from my blood, as my blood cells die and are replaced by her own, it is expected that the energy would wane.”

“How long do red blood cells live?”

“Usually between three to four months.”

“Then it would be reasonable to expect that Ava will be back to normal in a few months.”

“If what you have noticed is accurate, it should be a gradual adjustment back towards her baseline state.”

“That’s good then.”

“It’s good, but that also means that Ava has at least three months to notice that she is a little bit different now as compared to before.”

“She already has noticed. She doesn’t miss a thing.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I reasoned that it was because she is getting over her illness. What else could I say?”

“How about the truth?”

“I can’t tell her now. Not until some of that energy wears off. She could be a danger to herself because she doesn’t know how to deal with it if she became upset. No. It’s better to wait a few months until I have her on the ship, away from Orionis.”

“If you think it’s best.”

“I do.”

“What about her doctors? Have they noticed anything?”

“No. But, they are still asking for a sample of your blood.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Good.”

“Hi Justin.” Ava walked over to the two men. The group was about to be seated.

“Hello Ava. I know about a million people have asked you, but, how are you feeling?”

“Really good. I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me. You saved my life.”

“Oh well, I’m sure it was all you. I’m just glad that I could help.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome Ava.” Justin slid an arm around Rowan, who had come to stand next to him. “I’m starving, let’s eat.” The group filed in the doorway, returning to their normal pattern of socializing and laughing. Ava could not have felt more at home.

Chapter 17: Unsettled Business