Love Immortal

by Linnea Hall

  Without thinking, she reached up, wrapping her hands around his head, pulling it down to hers. Her lips touched his and fire shot through her body. She felt his hands move to her back, pulling her closer to him. His mouth sought hers hungrily. She felt his tongue, moving over the inside of her mouth. It was so soft and warm. He lifted her up, sitting her on the counter so that her head was level with his. He leaned between her legs, and she wrapped her legs around him wanting to feel his body against hers.

  Her breath started coming faster and she could feel him, pushing himself against her. She tightened her grip on his neck, pulling his lips tighter against hers. His hands moved across her back, moving lower. Jewell felt the back of her head hit the cabinet as he pushed himself against her. His hands found the bottom of her shirt, and slipped inside, his warm hands, moving against the skin of her back. She took one of her hands from his neck and placed it on his chest, feeling his muscles beneath the smooth cotton of his shirt pulsing as he moved.

  Suddenly, she heard the grating of the front door as it was pushed open. She pushed hard against Collin and he stumbled back, tripping over a chair and just barely catching himself on the table. Off balance, he fell into the chair he had tripped on. Jewell’s father walked into the kitchen and examined the tableau laid out before him. He looked first to his daughter. He could read the guilt written on her face as clearly as he read the newspaper. Collin, his face bright red, looked, if not guilty, at least embarrassed. He could only imagine what he had walked in on.

  Collin and Jewell watched Jewell’s dad as his eyes scanned from one to the other and back again. They watched his face as it turned a subtle shade of red and his lips pressed shut. Jewell’s father tried to remind himself that his daughter was an adult, but it was so much easier to remember that she was still his little girl. Collin cleared his throat, “so, like I was about to say, since you need to work tonight, I should really go…now.”

  “Yes, that would be a good idea,” answered Jewell’s father, his arms crossed against his chest.

  Collin walked toward the kitchen door to leave. Jewell’s father made no attempt to move from his position, leaning against the door frame. Collin looked at him, and turned sideways, carefully sidling out the door, keeping his eyes on Jewell’s dad the whole time. He walked to the door and turned; seeing Jewell standing beside her father, his arm protectively around her. “Good afternoon, sir. Umm…I’ll see you later Jewell.”

  “You hope.” Her father answered. Jewell didn’t say anything as Collin carefully closed the door behind himself.

  Chapter 23

  Jewell pulled up to Ashley’s apartment about five minutes late. Ashley was outside pacing impatiently. As Jewell pulled up to the curb, Ashley grabbed the handle on the door before Jewell had time to come to a complete stop. Ashley jumped in and pulled the door shut behind her. “Tell me every…” Her words trailed off as she actually looked at Jewell. “What are you wearing?”

  “Clothes. I prefer it to being naked, partially because it’s more comfortable and partially because I believe I could be arrested for driving naked in the state of Louisiana.”

  “Ha ha. I mean, where did you get those clothes?”

  “My closet.”

  “Yes, but it is quite obvious that you didn’t choose those clothes to put in your closet. Your taste isn’t that good.”

  “Gee, thanks for not pulling any punches there Mike Tyson.”

  “Oh, you know what I mean! Who bought those for you? Did he buy them?”

  “Yes,” Jewell answered demurely.

  “Well, he definitely has good taste. These are designer too! Not knock-offs. I’m impressed!” Ashley was practically bouncing in her seat. “So tell me everything.”

  “Well,” Jewell started

  “Did you kiss him?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Is he a good kisser?”

  “Are you going to let me tell you, or are you going to just keep interrupting?”

  Ashley pushed her lips shut and mimed locking them and throwing away the key. When Jewell was satisfied, she started again. “Yes, he’s a good kisser. What did we do? Well, on Monday, he took me shopping…” She explained her three days with Collin, filling in as many details as she could. By the time she finished, they were near the end of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

  “Oh…my…God!” Ashley sighed. “He is so romantic. Just the fact that he always opens the door for you is so cool. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy besides my dad that still believes in opening a door for a woman.” She sighed again, wistfully. “How good a kisser?”

  “REALLY good! I mean, when he kisses me on the cheek or the hand…oh, he does this really cool thing. He brings my hand up and kisses right inside my wrist.” She shuddered as she imagined the sensation of his lips on her wrist. “When he does that, it’s like…well, you know how when your hands are really cold, and you put them around a warm cup of coffee?” Ashley nodded. “It’s kind of like that. Just a really, pleasant warmth that gradually moves through me. You know that song…’it starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose…’ It’s like that. It’s just a really good kind of tingly feeling all over. But when he kisses me on the lips…” Jewell’s tone had totally changed. She could feel the heat radiating through her, and she almost choked on the words.

  “What?” Ashley half shouted.

  “It’s like a forest fire when it hits an area of dry brush. It’s entirely unstoppable. I don’t even know how to describe it because it’s so wonderful, but it’s so scary all at the same time. It’s like I’m afraid I can’t stop. I mean, Ash, what am I going to do if this doesn’t work out?”

  “Why wouldn’t it work out? It sounds like he likes you as much as you like him.”

  “Ash…did you forget about…well, about the fact that he was in a serious accident that killed him, quite literally, only three weeks ago, but he’s taking me on field trips of New Orleans? You can’t tell me that’s normal.”

  “Well, no, but…well, so what? The fact is he is taking you on very romantic field trips.”

  “I just don’t know Ash. Somehow, I know that something’s not right. I know that I should be running away from this as fast as I can, but I can’t make my feet move.”

  Ashley didn’t know what to say to make Jewell feel better. The fact was that she had a point. Something was weird, and not in a good way, but Ashley didn’t have the heart to tell Jewell what she thought. Collin was good for Jewell, she knew that too.

  *

  Jewell met Ashley for ‘lunch’ just after midnight. “You know,” Jewell said to her, carrying on their conversation from earlier as if it had never stopped, “his uncle knows something too, and Collin thinks Dr. Babineaux is involved.”

  “Really?” Ashley was suddenly much more interested in Jewell’s personal life than what was being served in the cafeteria. “Do you think it’s related to the accident?”

  “Either that, or maybe something they found out because of the accident. They were awfully quick to get him out of here. I think they knew something then.”

  “Have you looked at his file?”

  “No,” Jewell looked at Ashley. “Do you think you can help me with that?”

  “Sure. Whatever you need Jewell, I’m here for you.”

  “You know I can’t get to the file room. Do you think you could get in there?”

  “Sure, they send me in there all the time.”

  “Can you copy the file?”

  Ashley sighed. She took a long time to answer. “I’ll be honest; people are in and out of there all the time. If the wrong person catches me…”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s cool. This isn’t worth your job. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Give me tonight. I promise I won’t take any chances.” Ashley smiled at Jewell and reached across the table to give her hand a squeeze.

  Jewell smiled. “Don’t get yourself in trouble Ash. This is my deal; I’ll take care of it. I just need to figu
re it out.”

  They finished their lunch talking about how each other’s day was going. When they got up to leave, Ashley grabbed Jewell’s arm, “don’t try anything tonight. Promise me that.”

  Jewell looked into Ashley’s face. Ashley was her best friend. Ashley would do anything for her, even risk getting fired. She couldn’t let Ashley take the chance. “I promise, if you promise too.”

  “Sure, whatever.” Ashley walked toward the elevators to go back to obstetrics, while Jewell turned the other way toward the ER.

  Fortunately, Jewell didn’t have a lot of time to think about anything other than work. The ER was crowded with everything from sniffles to strokes that kept her mind occupied. She also couldn’t find any time to sneak away to the file room to investigate Collin. When she was finally released to go home, Ashley had already changed and was waiting for her in the locker room. Jewell walked in and changed as quickly as she could. As they walked out the doors to the hospital, Ashley reached into her bag and pulled out a folder which she handed to Jewell.

  “What’s this?” Jewell asked, her mind still on duty, thinking of procedures and dosages.

  “What do you think it is – it’s Collin’s file. A photocopy of course, but everything’s in there.”

  “Ashley – I told you not to.” Jewell was thrilled, but also disappointed that Ashley had broken a promise.

  “I didn’t.” Ashley smiled smugly. “I have a friend who’s an intern. His name’s Ray. He’s way cute, and I think he likes me. I told him I needed a copy of a patient’s file and when he asked me why, well, I sort of helped him think of something else.”

  Jewell turned to stare at her friend. “Ashley! What did you…never mind; I don’t even want to know.”

  She opened the file and started looking through it when she suddenly walked right into something solid. Her mind registered his smell first. Then the warmth radiating from his body, and then his warm arms wrapped around her. She looked up and saw the most beautiful storm gray eyes laughing at her. “Interesting reading?”

  “As a matter of fact, it is. It’s your medical file.”

  All of a sudden, she saw Ashley’s hand, open, palm up between them. Jewell looked at Ashley and then dug in her pocket for her car keys. As Jewell dropped her keys in Ashley’s hand, Ashley commented to Collin, “Can you just drop her at my place. It’s easier than doing the car swap, and she lives in the wrong direction for me to pick her up for work.”

  Collin nodded as he looked over Jewell’s shoulder at the file. They heard Ashley’s hasty retreat as they turned to walk towards Collin’s car.

  While Collin drove towards the French Quarter, Jewell read through the file. “Anything interesting?”

  “Not really so far, just the usual. Wow, I had forgotten how bad it was when you came in. There are pictures in here.” She kept flipping through the pages. “Notes about procedures, tests, I don’t really see anything. I’ll look at it more closely when we stop. I think I’m getting car sick.”

  “You do look a little green,” he chuckled, pulling on to Decatur St. He found a place to park, and they walked to Café du Monde.

  Sitting at a table, Jewell started looking through the file again, carefully reading all of the notes. She handed the pages with the pictures across to Collin. “Wow. Did I really look that bad?”

  “Are you kidding, those pictures don’t do you justice. I wrote you off the minute they brought you in.”

  “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Well, you didn’t look that great. And you did die, sort of.”

  He handed the pictures back. “Is there anything else?”

  Jewell kept leafing through the file. “X-ray results, lab results. It looks like they did the standard tests for an MVA, drugs, alcohol…wait. Now this is interesting.”

  “What? What’s interesting?”

  “Somebody ordered a DNA profile. Why would they order a DNA profile for a trauma victim?” She started flipping through the pages, looking for more information.

  “Is that unusual?”

  “Well, that’s definitely not standard…oh wait. Aha…you’ll never guess who ordered the test.”

  “Babineaux.” It was more of a statement than a question.

  “You guessed it. It’s got the name of the lab, but no number. I’ll see what I can find out today.” She downed the rest of her coffee and stood up.

  “Do you want me to help?”

  “No, you can drop me at Ashley’s. She’ll help. I’ve got to work tonight too. Meet me there at about five thirty and I’ll tell you what I can before work.” She gathered up all of the papers and shoved them back in the envelope.

  “So, you think this DNA stuff is the answer?” Collin asked when they started back toward the car.

  “I don’t know, but it’s the only thing in the file that doesn’t make sense. Another thing I noticed, they took out the information regarding your death and…resurrection.”

  “For heaven’s sake Jewell, I’m not Jesus.”

  “Oh really, then what are you?”

  Collin didn’t answer. “So, that’s unusual that that information isn’t in the file?”

  “Very. Everything is documented and the hospital keeps very accurate records. There’s something going on here.” Jewell was already thinking about the ramifications of what she had found. Not only was this unusual, there was a cover up, and Dr. Babineaux and Collin’s uncle were at the center of it.

  When Collin dropped Jewell at Ashley’s apartment, rather than just getting her keys and driving home, Jewell asked Ashley for help in her investigation.

  “What do you need me for?” Ashley asked, flipping through the file on the table in front of her.

  Jewell leaned over her shoulder and flipped up a couple of pages. When she found what she was looking for, she placed her finger on the questionable tests that were run on Collin while he was at the hospital.

  Ashley looked up at Jewell. “A DNA test? Why would they run a DNA test?”

  “That’s what I’m saying!” Jewell was frustrated. She had been thinking about this for well over an hour and it wasn’t making any sense.

  “Well they sent it to Dyna Labs. Why don’t you just call them?”

  “And say what? Why were you running a DNA test on a trauma victim?” Jewell asked sarcastically.

  “I can call. We send stuff to them all the time. Amnio samples and what not. All you need to do is give them the patient number. They don’t know who the patient is, just what tests were run.”

  “Really? You can do that?” Jewell hadn’t handled anything but drug and alcohol testing and that was all done in house.

  “Sure. Give me a minute.” She walked over to the phone and dialed. “Hey Abby. I’ve got a patient file here that says we sent some stuff over to you for some tests but I don’t have any results, can you help me out?” She paused, listening to the person on the other end. “Sure, it’s 1-8-3-Alpha, Delta, 4-4–Victor.” She paused again. “Is there any way you can pull it now? I’m trying to close out this file and it should’ve been done yesterday. If my boss finds out I’ve been slacking…Thanks, Abby, I owe you big time!”

  “What? What’s going on?” Jewell whispered.

  Ashley put her hand over the phone’s mouthpiece and whispered, “She’s going to pull the file. It’ll probably take a minute.” Ashley put the phone on speaker and set it on the table. While she was waiting, she idly leafed through the file. “Hey, didn’t you say that doctor Sandstrom was the one that called it?”

  “Yeah,” Jewell answered. “So?”

  “He’s not listed in the file. It says that Dr. Armstrong called it.”

  “What?” Jewell grabbed the file from Ashley and started looking through it again. “Sandstrom’s name isn’t in here anywhere!”

  “Didn’t he just accept a job in New York or California or something too?”

  “Yeah, Dr. Sandstrom was offered a job at Sinai in Baltimore. It was a step up so he
took it. He left a little over a week ago.”

  “Interesting. Do you think it’s just coincidence?” Just then, they heard Abby on the other end of the phone interrupting their conversation.

  “Ashley, I have the file. It looks like the only test we ran was Dr. Babineaux’s research profile.”

  Ashley flipped the phone off speaker and picked it up. “Thanks Abby. That explains why there are no results in the file.” Another pause. “Nope. Thanks again Abby.” She hung up the phone.

  “Research profile?” Jewell asked.

  “Yeah. Every now and then Dr. Babineaux asks us to run his research profile on a sample. We always get the results of the other tests, but the results from the research profile are sent directly to him.”

  “What type of research?”

  “I don’t know; I never paid much attention. We could look it up though.” Ashley got up to walk into the office where she had her computer. “So do you think there’s anything to this Sandstrom/Armstrong switch?”

  “I don’t know. I was there too, and there were two other nurses. None of us were offered great jobs or anything.”

  “Yeah, but none of your names are in the file either. Besides, wasn’t someone in the next day talking to Sandstrom; someone from the press or something?”

  “Yeah, now that you mention it, there was. He never had a chance to talk to Sandstrom though. Babineaux talked to him instead.”

  “Babineaux again. Curiouser and curiouser.”

  “Curiouser indeed.” Jewell replied as Ashley typed Dr. Babineaux’s name into Google. There were well over a thousand hits. Ashley clicked on one that looked promising.

  “Here’s one of his articles. ‘The Effect of Telomerase on the Hayflick Limit in DNA Reproduction and Prolongation of Lifespan.’” Ashley clicked on the article. Jewell read over her shoulder as they scanned the information.

  “Oh, I see.” Jewell commented cynically. “So he thinks he’s found the Fountain of Youth in this Telomerase enzyme.”

  “Awesome!” Ashley chimed in. “Of course, I’ll probably be dead and buried before they figure out how to make this stuff work, but imagine it Jewell, immortality!”