Going Super
By Happiest_in_shadows@yahoo.com
The story of a woman and her ever-growing abilities.


I make no claim to any DC characters used within this story.  After all, 
they are
trade marks and I don’t want to be sued.

****************************************************************************

The entire world had turned against him.  At least that was the way Jack 
felt as
he drove towards the hospital.  Recounting all the things that had gone 
wrong,
he shuddered.  His girlfriend had left him, saying that his job was taking 
up too
much time and she wanted more attention.  His family was turning against one
another as various disagreements that had been building over years tore them
apart.  He had lost his job at LexCorp, the one that had cost him his 
girlfriend a
week ago, and now his closest friend in the world was dying of cancer.  The
injustice of it all was made even worse because he knew she hadn’t done
anything in her life to encourage the development of cancer in her body.
It had just happened.

A low growl came from him as he clutched the side of his pocket and felt the
tiny vial laying within it.  He might have lost everything else but he 
hadn’t
given up any of it without a fight, and as sure as he was alive he had no 
plans
of giving up his friend.  He only hoped that what he currently carried with 
him
would be Kate’s salvation and not her demise.  Looking up at the massive
structure in front of him, he pulled into the hospital parking lot and 
climbed
out of his vehicle.  His mind was so focused on the task at hand that he 
didn’t
bother taking his umbrella as he trudged through the rain.

"Kate Stonecutter’s room, please."  The nurse looked up for a moment at the
dripping wet man who stood in front of her.  Checking her computer screen 
for
a moment, she turned to face him.

"I'm sorry si,r Miss Stonecutter is currently in Intensive Care.  Are you a
member of the family, or do you have an appointment?"

"Appointment."  Jack pulled out his wallet and showed the woman his id.
She proceeded to check a list on the computer.  Seeing his name, she nodded
towards him and began to bring up another list.

"You may find Miss Stonecutter on the third floor in room 34."  Jack only
nodded as the woman handed him a pass and wrote down the room’s number on 
it.  A
few moments later a rather large male nurse showed up to escort him to the
room.  The hospital being one of the better ones in the city, security 
really
surprised Jack every time he visited.  He imagined the rather large fellow 
in
front of him could not only handle the most unruly of patients, but probably
doubled as security.  The two took the elevator upstairs, Jack resisting the 
urge
to reach into his pocket and feel the bottle that it held.

"Here you are."  Jack was ushered into the room, and the sight that met his 
eyes
nearly made him cry right there.  Kate, one of his closest friends, lay in 
bed,
her skin a pale white, her once athletic figure reduced to nearly skin and
bones.  An iv provided a steady stream of painkillers into her bloodstream.  
The
door clicked shut as the nurse left.  Jack walked over to her bed and pulled 
up a
seat as her dazed eyes turned towards him.

"Hi there lovely lady."  A grin formed on Kate’s lips as she knew she was
anything but lovely in her current state.  Even her fiery red hair seemed to
have lost its shine.  Her hand moved out and Jack took it within his own.

"Hey there.  What brings you here?  Decided to come and pay me one last 
visit
before I go?"  The impulse to make small talk with Kate was there of course, 
but
as Jack looked at her he decided the best thing that he could do was to get
straight to the point . He didn’t want to see her like this any longer then 
he
had to.  Standing up, he began to search around the room as Kate looked at 
him.

"You're not going anywhere.  I won't allow it."  Jack’s voice quivered a bit 
as
he said this, wishing that he felt as confident as he tried to sound.

"That is so sweet of you."  Kate was glad to see her friend trying to 
comfort
her, but she knew that she was going to die.  The doctors couldn’t do 
anything
for her; the only thing they could even attempt to do was keep the pain 
away.
Now even the painkillers didn’t work all that effectively.

"Did I tell you that I was fired recently?"

"No you didn’t."

"Yup.  I was fired when my research project failed to produce any results,
despite the promising start.  Of course, the recent controversy over genetic
engineering and the moral implications didn’t help much.  So everyone on
the team was let go or moved to another department.  Well, except the ones
working on military research, the lucky bastards."  Kate giggled as she 
tried to
think of something to say, but in her current state thinking wasn’t so easy.
Finally Jack found what he was looking for.  As he walked over to her, he 
held a
needle in his hand.  Placing it on the table he began to talk to her.

"Kate, you know that the doctors can’t do anything for you."  Kate nodded.
A moment later she noticed a vial held in her face, its contents a bright 
red.
"Inside this bottle is a vector virus loaded with a genetically engineered 
strand
of DNA.  It was what we were researching in my former project before it was
terminated.  In theory, and in simulations, it has the ability to spread 
throughout
the body and enhance every single cell within it.  If it works, it would 
strengthen
the good cells you have remaining and let you survive."  Jack’s lip quivered 
for a
moment as he fought back his tears, wanting to be strong for Kate but not
wanting to lose his friend.

"But it was never a success."  Jack vigorously shook his head no.  It was 
the
one thing that he couldn’t understand.  In most of the tests it had worked, 
but
when they had actually tried it on people the results had been horrible.  
The
hyper-evolved cells had been meant to replace the old ones by cannibalizing
them, but things had gone wrong and instead every cell in the poor man’s 
body
had turned against one another.  The result had not been pretty, to say the 
least.
It drove Jack insane.  Despite all his college and degrees, he couldn’t find 
out
what had gone wrong with the drug.  Little did he know that the project was 
doomed
from the start by some of the older research members who had learned of 
Luther’s real
nature and thus had ruined the project.

"We were never able to get it to succeed outside of simulation, but if only
we had had some more time.  This is actually my own work.  I was able to get 
a few
things before the lab was shut down and manufactured this at home.  That's 
why it
took me so long to come and see you.  I've been up for two days straight now 
working
on this, trying to fix everything that I could think of."  Kate looked at 
Jack
for a moment as she realized what he was getting at.  He was asking her if 
she wanted
him to try this untested, refined version of a drug that had been a failure 
beforehand,
on her.  Her teeth showed as she couldn’t help but smile.

"You know, stealing from your company is illegal.  Even if they fired you, 
if I
was in uniform I would have to arrest you.  Jack, I'm dying and there 
doesn’t
seem to be anything anyone can do for me.  So I just have one question.  If 
this
does kill me, will it be less painful?"

Jack shook visibly as he slowly shook his head no.  "It will be far more 
painful
for you if this does not work."

Kate didn’t much like the sound of that.  Still, much like Jack, she didn’t 
like
the idea of giving up without a fight.  So it was only a moment later that 
she
began rolling up the sleeve of her hospital gown.

"Stick me."

Kate didn’t exactly find it a hard decision to make at the moment.  She was 
assured a
slow, painful death even if she did nothing.  At least with what Jack was 
offering
her she had a chance, though if it went wrong her death would be that much 
more
painful.  Jack, on the other hand, was suffering a moral dilemma as he 
wondered if
he was just going to be putting his friend through an even more painful 
death.
He didn’t even stop to consider what would happen if it was discovered what 
he had
done, should she die.  Looking into Kate’s eyes, he steadied himself as he 
prepared
the shot, the liquid filling the syringe.  He injected the needle through 
her skin
and slowly injected the liquid into her bloodstream.

Kate didn’t flinch, instead simply watching the liquid vanish into her 
bloodstream
as she gave up any second thoughts.  There was no going back now.  Leaning 
back in
her bed, she turned her eyes back to Jack as he withdrew the needle and 
tossed the
now spent syringe in the waste bin.  "Well Doctor, how long do I have before 
I know
if it is working or not?"

Jack smiled at her and looked towards the clock before standing up.  "It 
will take
roughly three hours to start making any noticeable progress, and in five 
hours we
will know what is going to happen."  Jack looked around a second before 
finding the
tray that was used to serve Kate her dinner.  Picking it up, he noticed it 
was full.
He set the tray down next to her and began to prepare the items, intending 
on feeding
her.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."  Jack only grinned at her for a moment.

"Whether you're hungry or not, you are going to eat this, because that drug 
is
going to work and you are going to need the raw materials inside you for 
your
body to effect repairs."  Kate started to protest, but got a mouth full of
jello before anything could make it past her lips.  Having only eaten a 
little
over the past few days, she still didn’t feel hunger, but from Jack’s 
demeanor
she doubted he was going to let her speak again until she had finished her
meal.  Jack watched as Kate ate her food, feeding her another spoonful every
time she opened her mouth.  He only hoped that the little show of confidence 
he
had put on would help put Kate’s fears to rest, and prove to be truthful.

Kate ate slowly, her body weakened by the cancer that had ravaged it.
Jack didn’t mind, though.  He watched her carefully to see signs that the
vector virus was doing its job.  He knew Kate’s weakened immune system
wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight, so he expected to see the 
earliest
signs that the drug was working somewhat earlier than usual.  As Kate 
finished
her last few bites of food, Jack sat back in his seat and closed his hands
together.  He didn’t bother saying another word to Kate.  The entire
conversation had been draining on her and she really needed to rest, perhaps
more than she realized as the drug began to take hold.

As Jack looked upon the twenty-two year old Kate, he couldn’t help but run 
his
hand through her hair and imagine that it looked just a little bit better 
than
what it had before.  Looking down, he noticed Kate’s hand reaching for his.
He took hold of it, moving his chair closer, and let her rest while he fell
into scientific observation.  Though he held her hand, his gaze began to 
travel
up and down her form, looking for any changes at all.  The most important 
thing
he kept his eye out for was anything that would indicate her cellular 
structure
was deteriorating, at which time he would know that things weren’t going the
way that he had desired.  Kate slept through the first hour and the second
without any indication that something was going on.  The third hour rolled
around slowly, however, as various nurses peeked in to see how they were 
doing.

Jack would always wave them off, and none bothered to question as they 
looked
at Kate.  In truth they all expected her to die, so if it made her happy to 
have
him around they couldn’t think of any harm.  However, as the third hour 
rolled
around Jack was nearly crying, not from sadness but from joy.  There seemed 
to be
no adverse effects within Kate’s condition.  All others had complained of 
their
bodies feeling hot and pain beginning to build within certain key areas.  
These
were the earliest warnings that the drug was going to fail horribly.  The 
only
dilemma was that unlike the others, Kate was currently on some very powerful
painkillers, so he couldn’t be sure if it was because of the painkillers or
the drug working that she wasn’t waking up.

Jack never made it to see what the fourth hour held.  As he leaned back
in his chair, the lack of movement and the sleep depravation of the last few
days began to catch up with him.  His eyes slowly slid shut and he drifted 
away
from the world into a deep sleep, his hand still refusing to release Kate’s 
as
they both rested.  Had he managed to make it past this point, he would have 
noted
a slight increase of temperature throughout her entire body as the fifth 
hour rolled
around.  As it was, the two ended up resting together, the hospital staff 
choosing
not to bother them.

Jack felt numb as he opened his eyes and began to look around the room.  At
first he didn’t know what was going on, until he felt the grip upon his hand
and looked down to see Kate still resting peacefully, her breath slow but
steady.  A wave of fear went through him as he turned to look at the clock,
hoping that several hours had passed as it would mean Kate would have made 
it
longer then the others did.  As his attention turned towards the clock, he 
felt
a wave of excitement run throughout his entire being.  It was now four hours
past the five hour mark that he had set earlier.  His eyes quickly returned 
to
Kate, then the clock again. This was done several times as he assured 
himself
that it wasn’t only wishful thinking.

Finally sure of what he was seeing, he began to rub Kate’s cheek.  " Well,
you've made it further than anyone else.  I don’t know if you're out of 
danger
yet though.  I guess we can only hope for the best."  Jack stood up.  Still
looking at Kate’s sleeping form, he took a moment to search his pockets 
before
pulling out a pad of paper and a pen.  Jotting down a few things for Kate to
read when she woke up, he gently lifted her head and slipped the tiny slip 
of
paper just under her neck, not wanting anyone else to come in and read it 
while
she was out.  Jack didn’t want to leave Kate, especially not knowing if she 
was
going to be alright, but now that he felt she was at least safe he could
stop in later on.

Kate woke up a good three hours later, her stomach aching with hunger.  As 
she
moved around, she felt the edge of the slip of paper poking into the back of 
her
head.  Reaching back and removing the paper, she began to read it. "Sorry 
Kate,
I had to take off.  I need to get cleaned up, I can freaking smell myself.  
I'm
surprised you didn’t mention it yesterday.  Oh and be sure to eat, 
especially if
you feel hungry, after all you're going to need nourishment in order to get 
better."
Kate didn’t need his encouragement to eat, though.  Reaching around, she 
found the
call button for the nurse and gave it a light press.  A few moments later a 
nurse
came in.

"Pardon me, but I'm feeling really hungry.  Could I get something to eat?"  
The
nurse looked at Kate for only a moment before agreeing to go and get her
something.  Kate smiled and leaned back into her bed, suddenly feeling 
rather
weak.  Fifteen minutes later the nurse came back in carrying a tray and set 
it
down next to Kate, who found herself devouring her food far more quickly 
than
she expected to.  The nurse was a bit shocked to see a person who was slowly
dying eating so ravenously.

"Could I get another tray?"  Kate looked up to find the nurse had left.  
With a
slight huff, she pressed on the call button again.  As the nurse looked in 
on Kate
again, a sheepish smile appeared on Kate’s face.

"May I have another?"  The nurse blinked for a moment before giving a hearty
laugh and picking up Kate’s tray.

"Sure thing."  Kate was actually surprised at herself, realizing that just a
few hours ago she hadn’t wanted to eat anything and now every cell in her
body seemed to be screaming out for nourishment.  The vector virus had done
its job very well.  It had already managed to alter several healthy cells, 
while
a few of them had been wasted on a attempt to alter the cancerous cells.  
These
were beyond help, even by the introduction of the new DNA, and thus the 
newly-
altered healthy cells instinctively set about the task of destroying the 
least
fit ones.  Even this would not provide enough energy for Kate's cells to 
fully
undergo the alterations that the DNA introduced to them was calling for.

When the second tray was brought in, Kate ate it only with slightly less 
tenacity
then the first one, though unlike the first it left her feeling quite full.
Leaning back into the bed shortly after finishing her meal, her stomach now
full to the brim, she couldn’t help but give into the wave of exhaustion
that ran throughout her entire being.  Her eyes slowly drifted shut once 
again.

While Kate had spent the day resting, Jack had made his way home, gotten
cleaned up, and was now spending a few hours sending job applications to 
various
companies. He doubted he would be finding a job at a place like LexCorp 
again,
or that Star Labs would be hiring someone of his age range or limited 
experience.
He had actually been fairly lucky to get hired at his previous job, but he 
still
had a good deal of training as far as genetics and computer technology.  He 
had
spent seven years total in college.  Had he wanted to, he could have spent a 
few
more years, specialized a little more, and been a doctor, but he really 
didn’t see
himself as a people person, plus he had always been a little too easily 
nauseated.

Still, he felt confident that it wouldn’t take him very long to find another
job, though he doubted he would be able to get one that had as many perks as
the previous.  For now he couldn’t help but feel he would be happy even if 
he
was simply stuck repairing computers.  After working with such a large 
corporation
with so many shady dealings, it would be better working with a small group 
and
not having to worry about something going on behind the scenes, so while he 
did
send in applications to a few large companies he also took the time to apply 
to
a few small businesses as well.

As he was beginning to prepare his dinner, a thought came to mind. Digging 
into
his wallet and checking to see if he had the money to spare, he resolved to
bring Kate something nice to eat instead of the hospital food.  Besides, he
really needed to make sure she was eating.  Stopping by a local steakhouse 
on
his way to the hospital, he went with one of the larger steaks, wanting to 
get
as much protein into Kate as he could.  For himself he got a chicken dinner.
Arriving at the hospital shortly after, he approached the receptionist.

"Glad to see you, will you be visiting your lady friend again?"

Jack nodded as she handed him a form, and proceeded to fill it out.  "I hope
it's alright but I brought her a little something."  The nurse looked over 
the
counter, taking note of the carry out bag, and nodded as once again a nurse
was called to escort Jack to Kate’s room.

Everything seemed alright as the door was opened, at least until he stepped
into the room and noticed four trays stacked up where, the previous day, 
there
had been only one.  Kate still looked rather sickly as far as Jack was 
concerned,
but she didn’t seem to be in as much pain as she had been before.  Actually,
overall she looked far more alive then she had only a few hours ago.

"Well hello there."  Kate grinned as she looked towards Jack, having spent 
the
day eating and resting.  She wished for a moment that the trays had been 
removed
before he came by.  These thoughts left her mind though, as the scent of the
steak Jack had brought with him hit her nose.

"Hmm, is that for me?"  Jack blinked as he wondered just how recently Kate 
had
finished off the four trays he now found himself looking at.  And now she 
wanted
more?  Still, he had told her to eat.  Instead of saying anything he simply
walked over to her bed, pulled up the little table and began to lay her food
out for her.  Kate just grinned and watched as Jack placed her food before
her and even took the time to cut up her steak into little pieces.  She 
could
have done it herself, but she didn’t mind letting him pamper her.  Finishing 
this
off, Jack moved away and laid his own food out and the two begin to eat 
their
meals.  Jack occasionally looked over his shoulder to check and see if Kate 
was
doing alright.

"So, has your family come to see you?"  Kate only shook her head as she
currently had a mouth full of steak.  They had been in earlier, but not 
since
Jack had started coming.  After all, they all had lives and work to be done.
This made Jack somewhat glad that he hadn’t gotten a job yet, as it would
allow him to visit Kate frequently and observe to see how she was doing.

"They haven’t been around in about four days now, but that's okay.  Besides,
I'm glad you didn’t have to sneak me that little nick earlier with them in
here.  Jack, do you think that I'm going to live through this?  I mean, I am
feeling better.  The pain has gotten to be a lot less compared to what it 
was.
Actually, I feel fine."  Jack fell into a thoughtful state as he considered 
how
long it would take for the treatment to spread completely throughout Kate’s 
system
and deal away with every old cell within her body.  The only reason she felt
good right now was thanks to how bad she had been feeling earlier.  Still, 
he
could at least make a guess.

"Well, you have made it further along then anyone else, I will say that 
much.
So I think you are well within the safe zone now.  As for how long it is 
going to
take, I would say in a week or two everything will have been completed, 
though
following the past behavior of the altered cells I saw during testing, they 
are
probably focusing on the cancerous cells at the moment, trying to destroy 
them
as quickly as possible and make use of the raw material to create more of
themselves."  As Jack said this, an odd thought came to mind.  All the 
people
that the drug had been tested on had been healthy at the time, while Kate 
had
had a good deal of her body in rather bad shape.  This gave the altered 
cells
something to focus on, rather than simply replacing healthy cells that 
hadn’t
been altered.  He couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t the reason the 
test
had failed and why this one might succeed.

"Well, I'm glad that it seems to be working... are you going to finish 
that?"
Jack looked over, noticing Kate had already finished off her entire steak
and was now eyeing what remained of his chicken dinner.  Chuckling, he
simply removed her tray and placed what remained of his in front of her.  
Now
feeling good enough to really eat, Kate was not only making up for the last 
few
days of hardly eating a bite, but also the demands of her now altered cells 
as
they strove to make more of themselves.

As Kate ate, Jack couldn’t help but laugh at how the hospital staff must be
feeling at the moment.  A look of concern crossed his face though, as he
turns his attention back towards Kate.  "Kate, I want you to refuse any more
blood tests."  Kate looked up for only a moment as she took time to consider
why.  She didn’t have to ask the reason, and only nodded her head. She 
didn’t
like the idea of what might happen if the doctors were to take a blood 
sample
from her and find a new strand of blood cells going through her entire 
system.
After finishing up the chicken dinner, she leaned back in her bed once 
again.
Almost immediately she regretted her choice of actions, as sleep once again
overcame her.  By the time Jack looked over, she had fallen fast asleep.

Grinning at this, Jack walked over to her and gave her a slight kiss on the
forehead.  "Sleep well, pretty lady."  Throwing away the trays, Jack made 
his way
out of the room.  He decided to make visiting Kate a regular thing, since 
her
family hadn’t been by for a while.  Besides, once they started coming he 
imagined
he would hardly ever get to see her, at least until she got out of the 
hospital.

****************************************************************************

"Unless you want to be taken to court, you will get the fuck away from me."  
The
doctor blinked as he looked at Kate, who had been rather close to death just 
a
few days ago.  Now the woman was showing not only signs of recovery but an
extremely quick temper which almost matched the fiery color of her hair.  It 
had
been three days since Jack had stopped by with the steak dinner and he had
visited every day since then, each time bringing Kate something to eat.  The
food had changed as Jack quit focusing so much on taste and went for what 
was
the most nourishing for Kate.  With each passing day Kate had felt better,
finally removing her iv the previous day and saying she no longer needed the
painkillers.

"Now miss, we just want to get a little blood work done."

"I am warning you, if you don’t back off right now you will be in court.  In
fact, I want to use the phone.  I am feeling better now and I want to sign
myself out."  The doctor couldn’t believe what he was hearing as Kate gave 
him
a rather stern look.  He really couldn’t keep her though, after all she was 
a
grown adult and perfectly capable of signing herself out if she should 
desire
to.  So it was with a sigh that he did as Kate requested and handed the 
phone
to her.  Kate didn’t bother calling any of her family though, all of them 
living
rather far away.  Instead, Jack found his phone waking him from his slumber.

"Hey Jack.  Would you mind coming and getting me from the hospital?"  Kate’s
voice came across the line quite clear and rather full of energy.  A bit
surprised, he wondered if she had already recovered.

"You already recovered or something?"

"Or something.  I'm still pretty weak, to be honest, but I am feeling better 
and
these white coats keep trying to stab me."  Jack chuckled as he dragged 
himself
out of bed and began to get dressed while holding the phone to his ear.

"Sure thing.  Still, if you haven’t fully recovered yet I am going to have 
to
insist you stay here for a while.  After all, you're going to need someone 
to
take care of you."

"Just how big is your apartment?"  Jack was taken aback by the question, but
looked around the room.  His apartment was a decent size, but not huge.  
Despite
his previous job, Jack was a avid believer that a penny saved was a penny 
earned.
He had chosen a comfortable apartment but nothing too fancy, and instead 
saved
his money and occasionally invested it.  Still, it was a nice enough 
apartment.
So he ended up being a bit shocked when he told Kate the size.

"What?  You have got to be kidding me.  I'm not staying in that little 
apartment!
We're going to mine, so you better pack some of your stuff."  Jack didn’t 
have
time to argue before Kate hung up on him.  Taking a moment to consider it, 
Jack
realized that he had never actually seen Kate’s apartment.  He had met Kate 
while
she was attending college and had been in need of a tutor.  Jack had been so
taken aback by the stunning young lady that he had refused to allow her to 
pay
him for the lessons he gave.  They had both lived on campus at the time, and 
when
she did visit him after college it was always at his apartment or meeting at 
one
of the various restaurants they frequented.  They had also tended to speak 
online,
greeting each other almost every morning.  Now as he prepared a few things, 
he
wondered just what he was going to see.

Kate didn’t have to wait too long before Jack showed up at the hospital.
Currently in a wheelchair, she did look a lot better, but still a little 
weak.
Jack imagined she looked about like she would if she had just had surgery 
and
was ready to come home.

"Well it's about time you got here, slowpoke."  Jack only grinned and moved 
to
help Kate get out of the chair, imagining he would lift her up.  He then
remembered something about Kate.  Kate was not a little woman by most 
standards,
standing a total six feet tall and weighing in at 180lbs of very toned 
muscle.
The cancer had taken a toll on her muscle mass, but even then Jack, the 
computer
nerd, doubted that he could actually pick her up.

Kate only laughed as she realized Jack’s dilemma, and ended up having to 
help
herself into the vehicle.  "So, just where do you live?"  A tapping on his 
seat
belt buckle got Jack’s attention as he began to start the vehicle.  Looking
over, he noticed Kate had buckled herself up already and expected him to do 
the
same.  Sighing, he snapped the buckle into place before pulling out of the 
parking
lot, allowing Kate to give him directions.

Jack felt poor as he helped Kate into her apartment.  Looking around at the
large area, he couldn’t help but think one thing.  "Alright young lady, are 
you
a crooked cop?"  Kate burst out laughing the moment the words left Jack’s 
mouth.
She had been wondering what he would accuse her of.  In all truth, she 
really
couldn’t blame him.  She did have a rather pricy apartment, that was for 
sure.

"Of course not.  However, my family is, umm, financially well off."  Jack 
grinned
as he looked around, resolving quite quickly that there was no way she could 
afford
such a nice place without either doing something illegal on the side or, as 
she
had said, having a 'financially well off' family.

"Oh, and just how rich are you, young lady?  I imagine it was a real shock 
to
your parents when you decided to become a cop."

"Yup, that is quite true.  However, we are not rich.  Remember, I said 
financially
well off.  There is a difference."  Jack only chuckled as he pushed Kate’s 
chair
over to a sofa and helped her into it.  Laying back, she sighed and smiled 
up at
Jack.  He gave a slight yelp of surprise when her hand landed on the back of 
his
neck.  Kate didn’t yet have the strength to force Jack to bend down, but he 
didn’t
exactly resist as she pulled him down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You have a bad habit of stealing those, you know."  Jack blushed as he
realized that Kate hadn’t been fully asleep when he had taken the time to
steal a few kisses from her.  Judging from her body language though, he 
really
doubted she minded.  "My mom and dad take care of the rent for the place as
well as the utilities."  Jack could only sigh, wishing he had parents like
her.  As he considered the past he realized that Kate had never really
complained about lacking money, even as a college student.  Kate grinned as
she watched Jack wander around for a few moments.

"There is a spare bedroom that you can make use of, since you're going to be
my nurse for the next few days.  Lucky thing for you I'm strong enough to 
get
around now.  You'll need to go grocery shopping, though.  After all, I have 
been
a bit laid up."  Jack just nodded as he looked at his patient, musing over 
how
he had always thought the doctor was suppose to tell the patient what to do.

"Oh and Jack, don’t worry, I'm not asking you to use your money to pick up 
the
groceries.  Just go into my room and check in the third dresser drawer 
down."
Jack started to ask which room that was when he noticed the direction Kate 
was
pointing.  Heading on in and checking the dresser, he gasped in surprise.
Instead of a few pairs of socks and maybe a purse, he found various lingerie
items inside the drawer.  "Whoops, did I say third drawer down?  I meant on
top of the dresser in the little drawer."  Jack walked into the room a few
moments later, packing two hundred dollar bills and blushing a bright red.
Kate seemed strong enough to tease him, at least.

"Alright young lady, just how rich are your parents?  I need to decide if I
should hold you for ransom."  Kate puffed up her cheeks for a moment as, 
once again,
Jack accused her of having rich parents.

"As I said, my parents are not rich, we are just very financially well off."
Jack grinned realizing that he had probably found something that Kate had
been accused of before and never really gotten use to.

"Alright but still, how does a financially well off girl like yourself 
decide
to become a police officer?"  Kate seemed to muse on the question for a 
moment
as she tried to decide the best possible response.  Finally she settled on a
option.

"I like being able to write tickets and give other people a hard time."  
Jack
couldn’t help but laugh at his friend's comment, which of course got a grin 
from
Kate.  "Other than that, I do it because I like the thought of helping out
others.  And besides, it was pretty much what I wanted to do even when I was
growing up.  Heck, it even lets me rebel against my parents a little bit.  
They
wanted me to have a nice desk job."  Jack just shook his head as he walked 
into
the kitchen and found a pen and paper on the fridge.  Removing the pad from 
the
fridge, he began to search through the kitchen, taking note of what Kate 
seemed
to have a lot of or had eaten.  As he did this, he quickly began to notice 
that
there was a nearly complete lack of any candy and an abundance of fruits and
vegetables.

"Alright, I think I have a few things, but you need to fill out the rest of 
the
list."  Kate took the list from Jack’s hands as he returned to the living 
room.
Looking it over for a moment, she then took the pen and added in a few more
items before handing it back to him.  As he started to leave, a slight 
ringing
got his attention.  Turning around, he noticed Kate holding a key out to 
him,
and realized that he had been so caught up that he had forgotten this simple
but crucial item.  He took the key and proceeded to head on out the door, 
taking
a moment to ensure that he could find his way back by writing down the room
number, as well as the address of the apartment complex just to be doubly 
sure.

As Jack left, Kate simply stretched herself out on the couch and let herself
fall asleep once again.  All the moving around had tired her out a bit.  As
her eyes drifted shut, she wondered just how good of a nurse Jack would make
over the next few days.  In actuality, she wanted to keep Jack around for 
more
than a few reasons.  She wondered just how far the drug he had given her
would take her.  There was also the little matter of just how she was going 
to
thank him for what he had done for her.

****************************************************************************

Jack was in pain to say the least.  It had been five days since he had 
arrived
at Kate’s apartment and started taking care of her.  During this time, Kate
had recovered far more quickly then he would have imagined possible, even
under the influence of the drugs.  While this was a good thing as far as he
was concerned, he found he didn’t like what Kate, now nearly fully 
recovered,
was insisting he do.  Being a avid fitness nut who had had no trouble 
passing
the police physical exams, Kate had decided that he would be joining her as
far as physical exercise was concerned.  Now, on the first day of such
activities, Jack felt like he was going to die.  Still, as he lay on the 
floor
he couldn’t help but admire the view as he turned his attention towards 
Kate.

Watching as she pressed the 150 pound bar, he shuddered a bit.  He knew that
the only reason Kate was pressing 150 pounds was that she was still somewhat
drained from her experience and couldn’t yet do her normal 180 pounds.  The
thought that Kate was capable of bench pressing her own weight was actually 
an
immense turn on for Jack as he admired her athletic figure.  Having only 
seen
her in uniform most of the time, he found he didn’t want to take his eyes 
off
the red and black clad amazon as she worked out.

Kate’s arms and legs had always looked fit, but now as he watched her he got 
a
new appreciation for just how toned Kate truly was.  The only odd thing was
the fact that despite Kate’s strength, she didn’t appear bulky in the least.
Rather, she appeared to be built for swimming, long distance running or
perhaps martial arts.  Kate grinned as she felt Jack’s eyes on her.  She
rather enjoyed it when a guy appreciated a woman with a little bit of 
strength.
She regretted she wasn’t fully recovered so that she could really show him 
up,
having noticed how Jack seemed to focus on her even more after she topped 
him
at every exercise.

While he could bench 100lbs, she had benched 150lbs and could go higher once
she had her full strength.  He had managed to curl 20 lbs in one arm while 
she
was able to do 36lbs, and while he felt entirely drained she still had 
plenty
of energy to continue pushing herself.  "Hey Kate, I was 
thinking...shouldn’t
your parents have come to check up on you by now?"  The sound of the bar 
being
set down rang throughout the room as Kate sat up in her seat.

"What, you don’t like taking care of me?"  Kate put on a pout that got quite 
a
reaction from Jack’s loins as the mixture of the innocence in her face, her
powerful body and her emerald green eyes looking back at him seemed to
overwhelm his senses.  The only way he could define Kate would have been 
striking.
As he attempted to stutter a response, Kate giggled and feel backwards once
again starting on the bar.

"My parents called a few days ago when they learned that I had left the
hospital.  You were out just then.  I told them that I was fine and I had a
friend taking care of me.  They offered to come down but I was able to talk
them out of it.  My mom and dad stay pretty busy with work, so it's hard
for them to break away without planning ahead."  Kate finally set the bar
down for the last time and climbed off the bench.  Walking over to a 
counter,
she leaned against it so that her rear was shown nicely and used her right
hand to pick up a bottle of water.  As she drank she gave her rear a few
shakes, watching Jack's admiring gaze in the window's reflection. Some of
the water sputtered out of her mouth as she noticed Jack quickly turn his
head away from her, realizing what he had been doing.

"Umm, sorry about that."  Kate grinned as Jack apologized and pushed herself
off the counter.  Slowly she walked towards Jack’s drained form and, much to
his surprised, settled down on his stomach, resting her firm tush against 
his
chest.

"Jack, I take you into my personal exercise room, I put on an incredibly
tight workout suit and make you exercise, then while you're laying on the
floor I continue to prance around you and show off my body.  Do you really
think that I don’t mean for you to look at me?"  Jack only blushed more as
he felt the weight of this divine creature sitting on top of him.

"Well, it still seems a bit rude of me."  Kate couldn’t help but laugh as 
she
looked down at Jack and ran her fingers along his arms.  There wasn’t much 
tone
there, but she was testing for potential rather than strength, and that is 
what
she saw in him.  Potential, both physically and mentally.  Jack gave a 
slight
groan of pain as Kate bounced on his stomach lightly, just enough to knock 
some
of the wind out of him and keep him from talking for a while.

"Oh come on Jack, you know I like you and I want you to look at me.  I like 
the
attention, being a spoiled brat and all."  Jack went wide-eyed and wished 
that
his arms hadn’t been pinned to his sides by Kate’s well developed thighs.  
As
nice as they felt, he was feeling a little embarrassed having this woman 
come
on to him so strongly.  "And besides, I have other things I want to talk to 
you
about."  Kate’s thighs relaxed as she blushed a little bit, something that
didn’t escape Jack as he looked up at her lovely face.

"What do you need to talk to me about?"  Kate gave Jack a large grin, one 
that
made him worry a little bit.  Still, she seemed a bit shy about what she was
about to ask.

"Well, we have been friends for a while now so it isn’t like we don’t know 
one
another, and to be honest, I like you.  So I was thinking that it would be 
nice
if you moved out of that dinky little apartment of yours and moved into mine
with me."  Jack could hardly believe what he had just heard.  It was true 
that he
and Kate had been friends, but he had never thought of going any further 
with
her.  He had been dating at the time, and also thought Kate was far out of 
his
league.  While she was a powerfully built amazon, he happened to be a 
computer
addict with a complete lack of any tan or real muscle tone, thanks to
the amount of time he spent inside.  And now, he had learned that Kate came 
from
a financially well off family, as she had put it.

"I don’t know, err...I'm not sure about that.  I mean we have been friends 
for a
long time now."

"Too true, which is why I am asking you to go ahead and move in with me.  
After
all, you've been with me for these last few days, only going home to check 
on
your answering machine.  Besides, I think it's time we got to know one 
another
better, and by moving in with each other we can get to know if our habits
really match up."  Kate leaned in rather close, allowing Jack to look into 
her
green eyes.  "Since you put that drug in my system...will I ever return
to normal?".  Jack swallowed, a nervous look on his face as he realized that 
he
had made the same mistake of several great minds and hadn’t considered what
would happen to Kate if the drug did work on her.  It wasn’t exactly 
something
that would just be reversed.  Whether he liked it or not, Kate had been
permanently changed right down to her very DNA.

"No, there is no way to reverse the treatment.  I mean, you are the first 
success
story, and without being able to repeat the results, there is no way we can
reverse the effects."  Kate slowly nodded as Jack stated what she had 
expected
the entire time.  She wasn’t mad at him.  After all, the treatment had saved 
her
life and as far as she knew would have some other benefits, but it meant 
there
were going to have to be some changes in her life.

"Just what kind of alterations did the drug make?  I mean, will I get to be
super strong, super fast, umm, maybe able to fly?"

"Oh no, nothing like that.  At least, as far as I know.  What the drug is 
meant
to do is allow the body to better fight off illness and adapt to new 
environments
more quickly.  I really can’t say how effective it is but who knows, perhaps 
you
never need to worry about getting sick again."  Kate smiled.  The thought 
was
rather appealing, but it still left a problem.

"That is nice and I am grateful, but you do realize that I can’t return to
work without a physical, especially since just a few days ago I was about
to die.  I don’t want to be used as a lab rat when it comes time for blood
work to be done on me.  I'm going to need some help.  Now I can take the
physical without getting blood work done of course, but you know I still 
need
someone who can check me out and make sure I am alright.  And since we are
keeping this a secret, that someone has got to be you."

Jack blinked for a moment as the words sunk in.  "Woah, woah, I don’t have 
the
degree needed to be a doctor.  I mean, I got a pretty good deal in, but 
nothing
that advanced."

"Jack, you were just telling me a few days ago how I have been changed all
around, so I doubt a normal doctor’s degree would do you any good in working
with me.  Though I really can’t force you.  After all, I owe you my life."
Jack gasped as Kate’s legs pressed back against his arms.  She let her form
fall down upon his, wrapping her arms around him she pulled his face closer
to her own.  "Please, won’t you continue taking care of me?"  As Jack laid
there he quickly considered his options.  A lovely woman, whom he at one
time had considered totally out of his league, had her legs and arms wrapped
around him.  He had just found out she had a wealthy family, and to top
everything off she was already a very close friend.  It didn’t take him long
to decide.

"Alright, but it still doesn’t mean I need to move in.  I mean, you could 
just
stop by for regular checkups." Kate grinned as she rolled off Jack and stood 
up.

"Oh I know that, but I get lonely living alone.  And besides, I am going to 
help
you get into shape."  Kate grinned as Jack’s face seemed to sink a little at 
the
thought of exercise.

"Now don’t give me that look.  The only reason I lasted long enough for you
to save me is that I was in such good shape.  Don’t worry, I'm not going to
push you too hard, but you really need to put on a little muscle tone."  All
Jack could do was grumble; he couldn’t exactly disagree with her.  Overall
the deal was quite good, though he knew he wouldn’t be getting in the sack 
with
Kate anytime soon.  As far as he knew, Kate had never slept with anyone.
Despite her charms and her teasing nature, she had never let anything go
that far.  He was never sure why.  After all, she could have had her pick of 
a
good deal of men, but she had always held back.  Jack eventually learned 
that
her religious beliefs as well as her own personal feelings kept her from 
giving
in.

"We'll get everything set up later.  But until then, how about we just go
relax?"  Kate offered her hand to Jack.  He allowed her to help him to his 
feet,
and they walked into the main room.  Jack was still somewhat wobbly.  He got 
a
laugh from Kate, who gave him a playful poke in the stomach.  Jack soon took 
his
seat next to Kate and couldn’t help but feel a little bit of excitement as 
he
considered what had just happened.  While at first he couldn’t help but 
think
how strange it was for him to be moving in with her, she had made a pretty 
good
argument.  And it did at least mean he had a chance with her.  If he proved 
that
they were capable of living together, Kate might be willing to move things a 
step
further.

For her part, Kate had chosen to go ahead and skip to living together since
dating wasn’t really necessary for the two of them.  Having spent so much 
time
simply hanging out with him, she had a pretty good idea of Jack’s behavioral
patterns and didn’t find anything particularly annoying.

Kate was up early the next morning while Jack was still asleep in the spare
bedroom.  As she picked up the phone she had a big grin on her face.

Howard Low was at his desk when the phone began to ring.  As he picked it up
he was surprised at the voice that he heard on the other end.  "Hi there 
Chief,
I was just calling to let you know that I am out of the hospital."  Howard’s
jaw nearly hit the floor as he heard Kate on the phone.  Some of the 
departments
had sent her get-well cards when they had heard the news, but none of them 
had
really expected her to recover.

"Kate, how are you doing?  I mean, are you alright?"

"I am doing just fine, Chief.  Well, I was actually calling to see when I 
could
start coming back in to work."  Howard couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Not only was Kate on the phone and sounding just fine, but she was also 
talking
like she was fully recovered.

"Umm, Kate...I mean, how are you even at home?  Last time I heard anything
about you...well, you weren’t in very good shape."  Howard could hear Kate
giggling on the other end of the phone.  She couldn’t help but find
everyone’s shock as of late rather amusing.

"I got better of course, and I am wanting to know when I should start coming
in to work again."  Howard could hardly believe his ears, but resolved he 
wouldn’t
push the issue any further.

"Well, why don’t you come in tomorrow if you feel able to and we can see 
just
how you are doing."  Kate grinned as she flexed a bicep.  Even though she 
wasn’t
fully recovered yet, she did feel more than able to return to work and she
didn’t want to just leech any longer then she needed to.

"Sure thing, I'll be in tomorrow."  As Kate hung up the phone, she mused 
over
what she needed to do in order to get ready.  She had already invited Jack 
to
move in, so she figured that would be the first order of business today.  He
would need to get ahold of his landlord and start closing his accounts, then
they would move his stuff to Kate’s.  Jack would probably have to finish 
paying
up his lease rather than risk leaving anyone in a sour mood.  Leaning her
head to the side, Kate began to consider waking Jack up, but changed her
mind.  She opted for a more pleasant way of getting him out of bed then just
dragging him out.

Jack awoke quickly as the scent of eggs and bacon hit his nose.  He slowly 
rose
from the bed.  Taking in a deep breath, he made his way to the kitchen and
found Kate at the stove making a rather large breakfast.  As he started to 
ask
her why so much, he recalled the changes her body was undergoing and opted 
to
keep his mouth shut.

"Well good morning, sleepy head.  I figured we should start the day with a 
good
breakfast.  After all, we have some moving to do."  Jack nodded as he joined 
Kate
in the kitchen area and began to rummage around the cabinets until he found 
a few
glasses.

"What do you want to drink?"  Kate grinned as Jack went about helping her to
prepare breakfast.  Although she was nearly done already, she was glad to 
see he
was willing to help.  Kate chose orange juice, and Jack found he didn’t have 
very
many options.  The health-conscious Kate limited her beverages to milk, 
juice
and water.  He finally settled for orange juice as well, and took his seat
opposite Kate.

"So, you're sure want me to move in with you?"  Kate grinned as she took a 
few
moments to finish chewing a mouth full of eggs.

"Yes, I am.  After all, you’re my doctor now."

Jack grinned.  "Hmm, well then I guess the only thing I have to regret is 
that
all the job applications I put out earlier have the wrong address."  Kate
chuckled as she began to wonder just what she was going to do about Jack’s 
job.
A grin formed on her face.

"Well if you live with me, you could just be my 24/7 doctor."  As Jack 
looked
at Kate, she noted that he seemed completely shocked by what she just said.

"No way.  I couldn’t ever do that.  I mean, I am grateful that you invited 
me to
move in, after all this place is a lot better than my old one, but there's 
no
way I could just stay and not help out.  I'm not a leech, after all."  Kate
couldn’t help but grin at Jack still holding on to the notion that a man
was meant to provide.  Even faced with a chance to just lay around, he had
rejected it quickly.  What was more, the shock he showed in his voice at 
least
hinted at the fact that he was being honest.  Of course, his choice wasn’t
purely based on old ideas.  Having gone to college for seven years and 
worked his
fingers to the bone, Jack had put a lot of effort into getting his degrees 
and
he was going to use them.

"Hehe, alright.  Well I guess we will just have to find you some other work
then.  Who knows, perhaps I can help you out."  Jack only nodded as he 
resumed
eating, noticing the wide grin on Kate’s face as if he had just done 
something
that she approved rather strongly of.  It was strange; a few days ago Kate 
had
been laying in bed near death and he had been the one to take control, 
making the
effort to help her.  Now just a few days later, with her health rapidly
recovering, Kate seemed to be making all the decisions for him.  He couldn’t
help but think it had something to do with her job, though.  After all, as a
police officer she was probably use to taking charge of a situation.

"Hello.  Yeah, this is Jack Hunter.  I'm calling in regards to my 
apartment...
yeah, I would like to close my account....no, I will finish paying up this
month's rent...yeah, I will be stopping by later today."  Jack felt a little
nervous about what he was doing.  He had the money in his bank account to 
pay off
the month's rent and then some, in all truth that was one of the reasons he
didn’t feel worried about losing his job.  At least, not as badly as some.  
Since
he would be moving in with Kate, he didn’t have to worry about that anymore,
though part of him still worried about the trouble it would cause him should 
she
just decide to kick him out.  He felt he could trust Kate more than that 
though,
considering how hard she had always tried to keep her word.  Kate, for her
part, was going over a checklist in her head to see how Jack matched up with
what she liked and what she didn’t.

So far he had done quite well, except that she didn’t care for the fact that 
he
liked to sleep in late.  Sleeping more than eight hours always left Kate
feeling that she had wasted part of the day.  Other than that he was doing 
well,
but the real test would begin in a few days, now that she was entirely 
healthy.
She knew that Jack would help around the house and take care of her while 
she
was ill, but now she needed to see how he would behave otherwise.  "Well 
then,
shall we get going?"

"Sure thing . Whose vehicle are we taking?"

"Mine.  I haven’t gotten to drive around in a little while."  Jack nodded,
figuring Kate’s vehicle would do better than his anyway considering that she
drove a Humvee.  Kate slipped on clean clothes, deciding to bathe when she 
got
back, while Jack put on a few items he didn’t mind getting messed up.  As 
the
two made their way down the hall, Jack got another surprise when Kate didn’t
go to the elevator but stopped at the stairs and grabbed hold of the back of
his shirt.

"Now don’t be lazy, we're going to take the stairs."  Jack groaned audibly 
as
Kate opened the door.  They began to make their way down the steps, Jack
wondering if he would be stuck walking up them upon their return.  This was
Kate’s intention, of course.  She preferred to get a little exercise in on
the side, and really, walking down the steps wasn’t all that much of a
workout.  As they finally made it to Kate’s vehicle, Jack remembered to 
buckle
up this time, knowing that she wouldn’t leave until he was firmly strapped
in.

Jack had been inside Kate’s vehicle before, but he couldn’t help but take 
note
of the interior and how particular Kate was about keeping it clean.  It 
brought
back other thoughts as well, such as when, even before she joined the police
force, he had been about to throw a pop can out the window only to have Kate
stop him.  Kate had never been the type to pick up a sign and strap herself 
to
a tree or anything, but she at least tried not to make things worse than 
they
were.  So while she didn’t join a large group and go pick up cans, she made
sure all of hers ended up in a recycle bin.  It seemed to be the way she
treated most things in life.

"Aha, I think I know another reason why you like being a cop.  I just 
remembered,
every time I tried to throw something out the window you wouldn’t let me.  
Heck,
you even started insisting that I ride with you so that you could prevent 
such
activities.  I bet you like being a cop because you can help force people to
clean up the roads."  Kate gave a rather large grin as she came to a red 
light.
She looked over at Jack.

"Yup, and I can also force them to donate to the city by writing them a
ticket."  Jack grinned as he wondered if Kate was really as bad as she made
herself out to be.

"So do you always write people a ticket?"

Kate’s first temptation was to say yes, but she knew that wasn’t anywhere 
near
the truth.  "Naa, actually I tend to let people off more often than not, so
long as I don’t catch them going more than ten miles over the speed limit.
Well, and I like to write tickets on Wednesdays for some reason."

"What do you have against Wednesdays?"

"I think it's probably because it's the day when you're not almost done with
the work week or just starting out, but you're right in between.  Which 
means
I don’t know if I should be happy or angry, so I just opt for angry and 
become
a real pain in the butt."  Jack rolled his eyes at Kate’s answer.  The two 
of
them made small talk for the rest of the ride, Jack deciding to try and find
out just how strict Kate was at enforcing the law.  When they finally 
arrived
at the apartment complex, Jack had resolved that she wasn’t nearly as strict
as she made herself out to be.  There were just a few things that got her
after some quicker then others.

"Alright, I want you to go ahead to your landlord’s office and get things
dealt with there.  I'm going to go on to your room and get to packing your
stuff."  Jack cringed as he wondered if he really wanted Kate going through 
his
apartment and seeing some of the items he had.  But he resolved that he 
didn’t
have too much to worry about.  Despite being a cop, Kate was a friend and 
she
wasn’t on duty at the moment.  So he finally handed over his room key and 
they
went their separate ways.  No longer having Kate with him, Jack took the
elevator, while Kate opted for the stairs once again.

As Kate entered into Jack’s room, she looked around for a moment and let out 
a
slight huff, wondering why he chose to live in such a small apartment.  She
knew he made better money than that.  A worried look appeared on her face; 
she
hoped she wouldn’t have to write Jack off as cheap.  It might have seemed 
shallow,
but simply put, little annoyances could become big problems if you were 
stuck
living with someone.  Then again, Jack had never gone cheap on her when he 
had
taken her out to dinner, even though they weren’t dating.  And he had shown 
a
strong incentive to provide earlier on.  So she held back on this as she 
began
to roam around his apartment.  Searching his closet, she found a carrying 
case
for his clothes and began to load them up, as well as a few other items.

"You didn’t have as much porn as I thought you would."  Jack blushed bright
red at these first words to hit his ears the moment he stepped into his
apartment.  The landlord had decided to stop by later on and make sure
it was in the same state as when Jack had first begun renting it.

"Well, of course not.  I have the internet after all," Jack grinned, 
deciding to
play along with Kate.  She just laughed at his comment.  As Kate packed his
clothing, Jack wandered over to his computer and began to disconnect it.
Having spent the last few days in the guest room, he already had a few ideas 
of
where he was going to put his stuff.  It was kind of amusing to consider
that the guest room he was going to be moving into was bigger than his old
one.

Jack couldn’t help but feel lacking as Kate helped him move out of his room.
Not only could she pack more than he did, but she was still able to move
significantly faster.  Of course, she continued to use the stairs while he 
made
use of the elevator, but that didn’t really help things as he didn’t live 
far
from ground level.  To make matters worse, Kate could more than make up for
lost time in the parking lot.  As the final items were being brought down, 
Jack
was surprised when Kate dove into the elevator with him.  She smiled at the
look of shock on his face.  "See, didn’t take long at all to get your stuff
with me helping out.  I was thinking that you could start putting in job
applications to a few businesses tomorrow.  How many have you already put in
though?"

"Just a few.  I mostly put them into small businesses, you know, just little
computer repair shops."  Kate looked at Jack for a moment as he mentioned 
this.

"Now that is just silly, why would you apply to places like that when you 
know
you would rather be in a lab, working for a larger company."

"I don’t have that many job references, though LexCorp is a really good one.
I don’t know how much that will help me in getting other jobs, though."  
Kate
rolled her eyes at Jack.  It was true that he probably wouldn’t be picked up
right away with his lack of experience, but still.

"Well, you can forget that.  You're moving in with me now, so unless you
get a decent job you are just going to stay back and keep putting in
applications."

"LexCorp owns most of the good research jobs in this city and you know it, 
so
what else am I suppose to do?"  Kate exited the elevator with Jack as it
finally put down, and they began making their way across the parking lot.

"There are other companies to work for.  And really, you put too much effort
into college to just settle for something that wouldn’t require half as much
education.  Don’t worry if you feel bad about living with me; I'll just
start drawing up a tab."  Kate giggled as Jack smiled at her.  As he 
considered
the option, he felt a little bit of greed poking into the back of his mind.  
He
could just leech off Kate for a little while and not feel too bad; after 
all, he
would be looking for a job.  But still, he didn’t want to take from a friend 
and
he really hated feeling like he owed someone a debt.  So it was with a bit 
of
reluctance that he responded.

"That sounds fair.  So what utilities will I be covering?"  Kate looked at 
Jack
for a second.  She had only been joking, and didn’t plan on making him pay 
for
anything.  But the offer was nice.

"Jack, I was only joking with you.  After all, my parents have the utilities 
and
rent covered.  All I have to buy are groceries, clothes and a few other
miscellaneous items.  There is no way I am going to let you start paying 
now.
It's nice that you want to help out, but it isn’t really a big deal.  Now, 
if I
was some little poor girl then I would have to take you up on that offer."  
Kate
heaved the last of the items into her vehicle and helped Jack get a few of 
his
into the trunk as well before she climbed into the driver's seat and he the
passenger.

"But I don’t want to be a burden, and besides I hate feeling like I owe a 
debt."

Kate giggled at the thought of Jack owing her a debt, especially considering
what had happened only a few days ago.  "Jack, you know saved my life.  The 
way
I see it, I am very much in your debt."

"That's different..."  Jack didn’t get to finish talking before Kate’s hand
clamped down upon his mouth.

"Still, it isn’t a burden on me.  And if you still want to help out, I guess 
you
can pay for some of the groceries and maybe take me out for dinner a few 
times.
But other than that I expect you to just accept my offer."  Jack grinned as 
he
finally gave in.  After all, no matter how nice of a fellow he was, there 
were
only so many times he was willing to try and convince her to let him pay.

The rest of the day went smoothly as Kate helped Jack to bring his stuff
inside and get him set up.  He found that he actually had room to lay out 
quite
a bit of his equipment that he had been keeping in storage.  Having taken 
care of
everything that he could think of, Jack figured he would spend tomorrow 
checking
around to see how things were going while Kate returned to the police 
station to
resume work.  At least that was the plan, though considering that she had 
been
expected to die only a few short days ago, Jack doubted things would be that
simple, especially with Kate having signed herself out of the hospital.
Officially, she was still dying of cancer, a rather amusing thought since as 
far
as Jack knew she might now be the healthiest human on the planet.

Kate glared at Jack’s sleeping form the next morning, having once again 
woken
up before him.  At first she thought of cooking breakfast again, but quickly
changed her mind.  It was clear to her that if she wanted Jack to develop 
good
sleeping habits, he would have to be trained to wake up at a certain hour, 
much
like she had trained her own body.  So turning around, she proceeded into 
her
room and removed her alarm clock.  Setting it down on the table next to 
Jack’s
bed, she set the volume for full and the alarm to go off in thirty minutes.

She would have to pick herself up a new alarm clock on the way home, but at
least now Jack would be woken up.  Returning to her room, Kate removed a 
pair
of thong panties, a white bra and her police uniform before proceeding to 
the
bathroom.  She locked the door, placed the items on top of the sink and 
began
to strip.  While doing so she examined her body, wondering just how badly 
her
time spent in the hospital had damaged it.  It had surprised her the 
previous
day when she found that the 150 pounds she had been bench pressing felt a
little light now.  As she looked herself over she couldn’t find anything
wrong with her.

Kate admired her form in the mirror as she sought to think of a way to 
define
herself.  Her arms and legs were both extremely well toned, that was obvious
even when she stood relaxed.  However, it became even more apparent when she
flexed.  The muscles expanded if she so much as bent her arm, while her
stomach sported a four-pack.  She couldn’t help but admire her figure.  
Having
spent so much time and energy on herself, she had the right to be a little
vain about her appearance.  Her figure remained slim overall, as she had
focused more on tone than on actually building muscle mass in an effort to
maintain her agility.

The most difficult thing for her to maintain had been her measurements.  
Even
though she wasn’t the most well-endowed of females, Kate was quite happy 
with
her measurements of 38C-27-36.  The only thing she didn’t care for was the 
fact
that she had gone down a cup size since she had started exercising.  As her
thoughts turned to her chest, Kate’s hands came up to cup her breasts.  Her
fingers gently messaged them, and she let out a slight moan as her fingers 
moved
over her nipples.  While she couldn’t boast a large cup size anymore, she 
could
be glad her breasts remained standing even without a bra to support them.

It made Kate extremely happy that there was no sag anywhere in her body.  
This
had allowed her to pick and choose almost any male she wanted, so long as 
they
weren’t scared of a physically capable woman.  The fact that she came from a
well-to-do family helped things quite a bit as well, but had also caused
problems.  As Kate had learned early on, she really didn’t have any desire 
for a
man that was stronger then her.  She preferred to be the stronger of the two 
and
be able to wrap her arms around a fellow and know she was in control of the
situation.  She had stayed away from most athletes for this reason.  It 
seemed
the stronger a man was, the more of a turn off it was for her.

Of course she liked a guy to be in shape, just not to be stronger than
herself.  This was one of Jack’s shortcomings, of course, as years in front 
of a
computer screen and his own refusal to exercise had left him a bit on the
unfit side.  But Kate planned on taking care of that.  She would just have 
to
encourage him to start working out with her on a regular basis.  Before long
she was sure she could mold him into what she wanted him to be.  Of course, 
she
couldn’t force him to exercise, but that wouldn’t stop her from giving it a
try.

Stepping into the shower, Kate shut the door and turned on the water.  She
stepped back for a moment, allowing it to strike her breasts first.  She let
out a slight yelp as the water started cold and then warmed up.

Turning her thoughts to Jack, Kate found that being laid up in the hospital 
for
so long had left her a little more hormonally charged than normal.  She 
began
to imagine what he would be like if she could just get him to trim away the
slight bit of fat he was packing and put on some muscle tone.  He would 
still
be small compared to her, and she had no doubt that unless he began to push
himself as hard as her, she would remain the stronger.  The thought of
wrapping her arms around him and holding his weaker body to her own excited
her as she played with her nipples.

Her left hand drifted from her nipple to take a firm hold of her breast and
slowly began to massage it, her right hand soon working on her right breast 
as
well.  Moving the globes of flesh in slight circles, Kate leaned up against 
the
shower wall, letting the warm water hit her red mane and run down her back.  
Her
right hand finally abandoned her breast to move down to her stomach.  Kate's
fingers pressed firmly into her abs, feeling the strength of her abdominal
muscles, while her left hand now gripped her right arm, feeling her bicep.
It was odd, but feeling the strength in her own body compared to others 
always
seemed to excite Kate.  Her right hand finally left her abs and traveled 
down
to her lips.

As she lightly moved her finger against her pussy lips, Kate’s left hand 
once again
returned to her breast.  Soft moans began to escape her mouth.  Kate's index
finger began to press inside her vagina.  Her internal muscles were still 
quite
tight, having never known a man.  It didn’t take much at all to stimulate
herself as she moved her finger around.  Her hand began to play with her
nipples once again, moving some what quicker then before, as Kate began
to take in sharp gasps of air.  As Kate did this though, the years of living
alone caught up with her as she forgot that she had company.

Jack was not awakened by the alarm clock, but by a much more pleasant sound.
As the sound of Kate’s pleasure woke him from his sleep, it took him a 
moment
to realize what was going on.  He could hear running water, and moans of
pleasure which he soon realized were Kate’s.  Not knowing exactly what to 
do,
his first thoughts were to enter the bathroom and ask if Kate wanted someone
to join her.  The image of her fist, propelled by her powerful arms, sinking
into his soft stomach quickly took those thoughts away.  However, the 
thought
of Kate’s strength and how much power she could pack into a single punch 
only
excited him more.

In truth Jack had a thing for strong women, and had spent many nights 
lusting
after Wonder Woman.  It was odd though, as he much preferred Kate’s build.
Unlike Wonder Woman, Kate was not only strong but also looked it.  The
thought of Kate having the same pound for pound strength as Wonder Woman was
an immensely exciting thought.  He pictured just how much stronger that 
would
make her.  Having never seen Wonder Woman pop a bicep nearly as large as
Kate’s, he imagined that if they were of the same group, Kate could take her
apart.  These thoughts, plus the sound of Kate’s moaning, got a rather 
strong
reaction from Jack.  A tent appeared in his trousers, and he found himself
taking care of his own needs.

Finally a long moan came from Kate as she felt her body go weak.  She leaned
quite heavily against the shower wall, a wide grin across her lips. It took 
a
few minutes before Kate finally pushed herself up from her resting position
and began the task of getting herself cleaned up.  She hummed to herself as
she stepped out of the shower at last and began to dry herself off, first
drying her body before placing the towel over a stool in front of the sink
mirror.  She began the process of combing out her hair before it could dry.
She did not like having to get knots out of her hair, especially since it
came down well past her mid-back.

Finally brushing her teeth and slipping into her uniform, Kate checked 
herself
in the mirror one last time before stepping out.  Making a quick stop in the
kitchen, she grabbed a apple and called out to Jack before she left.  "I'm
going to head in to work now, I imagine they will want to see me to make 
sure
I'm still alive.  Don’t burn down my home while I'm gone."  Kate giggled as 
she
stepped out and locked the door behind herself.  Jack remained in bed, 
having
noticed the alarm clock and turned it off.  He had no idea whether she had 
meant
to get his attention like that or not, and the exact method with which one
should deal with such a situation escaped him, so he simply kept quiet.

Howard was stunned as he looked at Kate, who had bounced into work a good 
ten
minutes early.  Having been to see her a few times while she was in the
hospital, he had learned that she had been dying there and that the most 
they
could do was ease her suffering.  Now she stood before him looking to be in 
as
good of condition as she had ever been.  Of course, he had talked to her 
over
the phone, but it wasn’t quite the same as seeing her now in perfect 
condition.
"Well, um, I don’t know what to say."

"How about you're glad to see me?"  Kate grinned, having actually liked the
looks all the police officers had given her upon her return to work.  It was
nice to see that they had been worried about her.  Of course, everyone had
developed a good deal of camaraderie.  It was sort of a requirement for 
people
trying to enforce the law in a city where villains like the Shade liked to 
make
their appearance.

"Oh, I am, but...well, to be honest we thought you were as good as dead.  We 
sort
of already filled your position."  Kate's face sunk as soon as she heard 
this
news.  She had expected as much, though.  After all, one doesn’t hold a spot 
for
someone whose death is assured.  "Don’t worry though, your job is still 
here.
We just don’t need any more cops on the beat.  And besides, after that 
little
brush with death you had, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm feeling just fine, Chief."  Howard nodded before he began typing on the
computer.  Bringing up Kate’s file, he began to make some changes on it 
before
printing out a document.

"I'm going to send you to have a physical to make sure you're alright.  I
hope you don’t mind, but the last time I saw you, you were holding onto life 
by
a thread."  Kate nodded as she took the paper in her hand.  The document
required the signature of a doctor.

"Now you just go ahead and get that taken care of, and once we know that 
you're
fine you can come back.  Still, I don’t understand how you recovered.  Do 
the
doctors know?"  Kate shook her head, a wide grin on her face.

"Must have been some people praying for me."  Howard could only nod as he
watched Kate head out the door.  As Kate left, she looked down at the 
document
in her hand.  Until she had it filled out there would be no way for her to
return to work, which meant she might as well head over to a hospital and 
get
to waiting around.  Normally she would have gotten a appointment, but she
didn’t want to return home just yet, and since she had been planning on
working she figured she might as well head on to the doctor’s office.  
Taking
a look at herself, she grinned and decided she would head to the doctor’s
office after she went home and changed clothes.

Jack looked up from the computer screen as he heard the front door opening.
Walking into the living room, he was a bit surprised to see Kate back early.
"Hey, how did things go?"  Kate was smiling as she walked past Jack, showing 
him
the paper before vanishing into her room and calling out from behind the
closed door.

"I have to go to the doctor and get them to sign this little form saying 
that
I am as healthy as can be.  I would normally prefer to have an appointment, 
but
since I don’t have anything else to do I figure I might as well just go.  So 
how
is the job search going?"  Jack leaned up against the door so that he could
hear Kate better and not have to yell so loud.

"It's going pretty good.  It turns out that there is a branch of InCon Ltd 
in
the city.  I was reading through some more information on them and I think I
might actually send in an application."  Slipping out of her uniform, Kate
stopped for a moment to try and recall the name.  She couldn’t help but feel
that she had heard it before, but wasn’t sure.

"I can’t seem to place the name, but I know I've heard it.  How big are 
they?"

"Well, they aren’t nearly as huge as LexCorp, but then again it's pretty 
hard
for a company to really grow in size with some of the giants hanging around.
I mean, even Skunkworks has been having trouble with places like Star Labs
opening up and taking up so much of the market.  Still, they do well enough 
to
survive and make a decent profit, so I figure I might as well go with them.
Maybe they won’t mind picking up a Lex reject."  Kate chuckled as she 
listened
to Jack.  It didn’t sound like the exact spot she was hoping he would get, 
but it
was fine enough.

"Well, so long as you can get a decent pay check I guess everything is 
alright.
And don’t sell yourself short.  I'm sure those pencil pushers will regret
dumping you eventually."  Jack couldn’t help but laugh at this, as Kate 
echoed
the dream of many former employees, the desire to get back at their 
employers.

"Yeah, well at least there is one thing I can say for sure.  I doubt they 
have
as many rumors going around about them as LexCorp, and since they are 
smaller I
imagine they have fewer break-ins.  At least I hope so."

"That's always a good thing in this city.  Kind of frustrating, I imagine, 
for
the companies.  As soon as they develop some real top of the line 
technology,
some over-powered nut job like Copperhead or The Shade breaks into your lab.
Well, let me know if you decide to put in a application or not when I get 
back."
Jack stepped away from the door as Kate stepped out wearing a baggy t-shirt 
and
some jeans.  Jack couldn’t decide if he liked Kate better dressed up, or in 
her
casual clothing.  Once again  he watched her leave before returning to his
computer.  He located the employment link.  Clicking on it a moment later, 
he
found himself filling out a job application.  Even if he wasn’t completely 
sure
if he wanted to work for the company, he figured that an interview couldn’t 
hurt.
He also planned on filling out applications for jobs that he wasn’t likely 
to
get, such as those at Star Labs.

As Jack finished this up, he looked at the computer's clock.  "A few more 
hours
before Kate will be home."  Turning his gaze towards the living room, his 
first
desire was to see what channels Kate had.  But he changed his mind, stood up
and proceeded into the kitchen.  He soon found himself rummaging through the
fridge and drawers, laying out various pots, pans and food items.  Kate had
been nice enough to prepare breakfast for him the previous day, so he would 
be
nice enough to prepare her dinner while she was getting herself checked out.
Having lived by himself for a while now, Jack had developed at least a bit
of cooking skill.  As he began to prepare dinner he hoped Kate didn’t have
anything planned for the steaks in the fridge.

Kate, for her part, was experiencing just what she had expected upon her
arrival at the doctor’s office.  She had been made to wait rather a long
time to see the doctor, and now that she had been admitted, the doctor was
being a pain and wouldn’t give her a simple physical as she requested.  He
kept questioning her about her medical records and why they said she was 
dying
of cancer.  Finally getting fed up with him, she shouted, "Listen, are you
going to give me a damn physical or not?  I don’t have any cancer, and if 
you
would just check me you'll find that I am in perfect health."

The doctor finally relented at having the six foot amazon shout at him, and
began to give Kate the physical that she had been requesting.  Still, as he
checked her over he could hardly imagine that she had been dying of cancer, 
and
couldn’t help but wonder if the previous hospital had been up to something.
Kate, for her part, couldn’t help hoping that she wouldn’t have to put up 
with too
many questions for too long.  As she began to consider the situation, she 
thought
of her available options.  She could say she didn’t know anything, and get
pestered for who knows how long, or she could tell the truth.  That was out 
of
the question, at least for now.  She could also say aliens had abducted Jack 
and
her while he was visiting, proceeded to have wild alien sex with them, and
healed Kate of her cancer.  Not an entirely bad story.  Or she could always 
say
that she had seen an angel come in through her window and perform a miracle.

As she considered what she would start telling people, she finally opted to 
ask
Jack if he would rather be an alien or an angel.  Jack looked up from the 
stove,
seeing Kate enter and hold up the paper proudly.  She only did this for a 
moment
as she noticed Jack in the kitchen. "Welcome home!  I hope you don’t mind, I
decided to go ahead and prepare dinner."  Giving Jack a curious look, Kate 
made
her way into the kitchen and began to look over what he had prepared. She 
was
glad to see that he had prepared simple items.

Jack felt Kate’s arms wrap around him from behind.  "It looks good, but 
which
steak is mine?"  Jack grinned as Kate’s lips pressed against his cheek.  
Using
a fork, he pointed towards the larger of the two steaks.

Taking her seat while Jack put on the finishing touches, Kate grinned, "So
Jack.  Are you an angel or an alien?"  Jack turned around a moment later,
giving Kate the ultimate 'what the fuck' look, which got a giggle from her.

"Well I was thinking, what am I going to start telling people about my
recovery?  And I figure it has to be one or the other that saved me. So 
which
one are you going to be, an angel or an alien?"  Jack couldn’t help but grin
as Kate asked him the question.  He considered it.

"Well, I'm not going to risk you turning me into some tentacled creature, so 
if
anyone asks, you can say you got a message from God and an angel saved you."
Kate giggled at this as Jack carried over the steaks and a few other items,
serving Kate and then himself.

"Alright then, Mr. Angel."  Jack just rolled his eyes, wondering which
religious group Kate was going to give the credit to.  It didn’t really
matter much to him, as even though he considered himself a Christian he was
not of any particularly strong conviction.  He tended to make his 
appearances
in church only when it was convenient to do so.

"So did you send in any job applications?"

"Yup, I sent in a few of them.  Not sure about the odds of getting them, but
I figured I might as well try.  Heck, I even sent in one to LexCorp, despite
their recent decision to remove me from my position."  Kate just nodded her
head at this.  Their conversation broke down into small talk.  Later, 
sitting
on the couch, much to Jack’s surprise he found Kate’s powerful legs wrapped
around him from behind.  As she pulled him back to rest on her, he could 
feel
the strength in the legs around him and the arms that hugged him to her 
body.

"Hey Jack, I was wondering if you would like to get into shape."  Jack 
looked
at Kate out of the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose I would.  After all, how am I ever supposed to get the girl 
if I
don’t?"  Kate grinned and messed up Jack’s hair a bit.

"Alright then, starting tomorrow you're going to be my workout partner.  You
don’t have to join me for my morning warmups, but you have to work out with 
me
from six to seven."  Jack gave Kate a concerned look, as he didn’t 
particularly
like the idea of having to work out for a entire hour.

"Don’t worry sweet, I'll go easy on you.  I just want you to lose that spare
tire of yours.  You only have to work out from six to 6:30, and the rest of
the time you can just admire me.  After all, I don’t want to risk you 
catching
up to me.  Otherwise I would worry you might try to take advantage of me."

"Oh, so you prefer to be able to rape me."  Jack laughed slightly as Kate
nodded in the affirmative.

"Well I hate to tell you, but you can’t rape the willing."  Now it was 
Kate’s
turn to laugh as she continued to pet Jack.  While she did this, Jack found
his hands exploring Kate’s arms and even some of her leg.  Feeling the 
muscles
underneath her skin, he had no doubt that she could overpower him if she 
chose
to.  He looked down at his stomach and gave it a few good taps, watching the 
flab
shake just a little, and decided that so long as Kate wanted him to, he 
would be
her workout partner.

Howard couldn’t help but be a bit shocked the next day when Kate stopped by 
and
simply handed him her physical examination results.  Looking up her beaming
face,he just chuckled.  "Well alright, I guess I will show you to your 
desk."
Kate’s expression  changed immediately as he stood up.

"Wait, you mean I'm going to be stuck doing a desk job?"

"Sorry Kate, but it's the only position we could really find for you.  A lot
of people find it hard to believe that you are alright, especially after 
what
the doctors had been saying.  So I can’t risk giving you something 
physically
demanding."  Kate grumbled as Howard showed her to the receptionist desk and
pulled out a seat for her.  This was truly a shocker.  She had been 
expecting
to be put back on patrol, not given a desk job.  Finally she simply shrugged
her shoulders and resolved that she was back on the force, and that would be
good enough.  Once they saw that she was healthy, she felt sure they would 
put
her back on patrol.

Jack felt useless as he lay on the floor, watching Kate exercising.  It had 
been
a week since she had gotten her old job back, and yet he hadn’t even been 
called
in for a interview.  He had thought about getting a job in a department 
store or
the likes, but each time he would even mention it Kate would scold him and 
tell
him it wasn’t happening.  He hated how not working was making him feel, like 
he
was taking advantage of her.  Kate, on the other hand, was actually getting 
kind
of used to having Jack around the house and having dinner prepared when she 
got
home.  She would make their breakfast each morning, while Jack would take 
care of
dinner.  It had worked out quite well as far as she was concerned.  And she 
loved
having someone to exercise with her.

The fact that Jack was there seemed to make her push herself even harder.
Kate did enjoy showing off her body and what she could do, even more so if 
she
happened to like the person.  Jack’s admiring gaze always seemed to push her
even further.  It was an enjoyable routine for her; every other day she and
Jack would work out, and every time he would end up giving out long before 
her.
It only made it more fun as Kate strived to see if she could double or even
triple the amount of time he had spent working out.  On this particular day
though, the 180-pound barbell felt wrong.  Each time she lifted it she 
couldn’t
help but think it seemed to be lacking in weight.  She had been having the
problem all day with every weight she did.

"You know Jack, I think it has been good for my exercise routine having you
around."  Jack gave a slight hum as he looked towards Kate.  She set the
barbell down.  As he admired her form, she walked over to each side of the
barbell and removed the bolts that held the weights in place, slipping on
another five pound weight on each side.

"Hey now, isn’t that a little dangerous?  I mean, I'm a bit drained right 
now to
spot you, and isn’t your max 180?"

Kate just shook her head as she laid back down.  "Don’t worry, it isn’t that
much more than what I was lifting before.  The 180 just feels lighter than 
it
should for some reason."  Lifting the bar from its stand, Kate lowered it
slowly to her chest, feeling the weight before slowly lifting it up again.
As she tried to gauge how it felt, she resolved that it still didn’t feel
quite as heavy as it should, but it did require enough effort on her part to 
be
worth her time.  Jack watched Kate’s muscles swell as she lifted and lowered
the weight.  Her workouts were the one time that he could really admire her
muscles for all they were worth.

Jack was surprised to admire this view for longer than he had expected.  The
weight remained a bit lighter than Kate would have liked, and her stamina
seemed to have improved since he last saw her work out.  Jack didn’t really
know what to think as he watched Kate complete multiple sets of twelve, 
except
that she hadn’t been kidding about improving since he was here.  "Dang, I
didn’t know exercising just a week could pay off that well."

Kate gave Jack an odd look before speaking.  "It doesn’t.  At least, not
normally.  I mean, I could bench 180 when I went into the hospital, but I 
was
laid up pretty bad for a while so it should have gone down.  Now, here a 
week
later I am benching 190 and I can do more sets than I used to be able to."
Jack nodded his head, wondering if it had something to do with the drug
helping Kate to recover, but he didn’t exactly see how.  The drug had been
meant to help the cells adapt to illness, as well as to handle things like
radiation, cancer and viruses, not to increase strength.  Still, perhaps the
fact that the cells had been slightly altered and made healthier had
something to do with it.

"Oh well, guess you should just be grateful.  Maybe just being healthier in
general is helping out."  Kate nodded as she went to the free weights and
picked up the 35's.  She stopped for a moment, then set them down and lifted
the 40's before taking a seat.  Having worked with the free weights earlier,
Kate couldn’t help wanting to start over.  She wasn’t nearly to the point 
she
liked to be after working out.  She still felt a lot of her stamina, and
unless she burned up the energy exercising it would take her forever to get
to sleep.  As Kate moved from exercise to exercise, she found herself
increasing the amount of every weight she used in order to get the same
feeling she had beforehand.

"Yup, something is different alright.  I wish I could get these kind of 
results
all the time."  Jack only nodded as he finally recovered enough to sit up,
though he didn’t leave the room.  Instead he continued to watch Kate,
particularly on her leg curls and extensions.   The latter allowed him to 
watch
the muscles in her legs, and as she was sitting up he felt that it gave him 
a
better view of her breasts than just about anything else, except of course 
when
she warmed up by doing push-ups.  The leg curls, on the other hand, afforded 
him
a wonderful view of her rear.  As Kate worked, Jack could get an idea of 
what
kind panties she wore.  The material hugged her butt so firmly that he could
make out the impression of her panties, the material just about small enough 
to
be considered a thong.

Each time Jack saw this he would remember the first time he had exercised 
with
Kate in her home, and having her firm rear pressed against his chest.  
Despite
her being somewhat heavy, he had rather enjoyed the experience and wondered
if he would ever get to feel her well-toned rear again.  This only 
encouraged
him to work out harder, as well as increased his desire to get a decent job.
He hoped to show Kate that he was willing to work for her.  It was an odd
notion, but now that Kate was no longer considering him as just a friend, he
felt an incredibly strong desire to prove himself to her.  Kate had realized
this long ago and was glad to see Jack working out, even though it had only
been for such a short while.  The fact that he was trying to better himself
for her enjoyment was something Kate found immensely appealing.

This was not a one way street, of course, as Kate was very much willing to
improve herself for his sake as well.  The fact that Jack liked how strong 
she
was and how weak she made him feel was something Kate delighted in, and it 
only
pushed her to improve herself more.  Of course, they did differ on some 
things.
Kate had already learned to hate how often Jack watched the Discovery and
History channels, while Jack didn’t exactly care for Kate’s interest in 
police
and court shows.  These were minor differences, which they felt could be 
easily
adapted to.  Kate simply planned on getting another TV and having one in her
room while allowing Jack to have the living room television.  That way they
could both watch what they wanted.

Finishing with the weights, Kate let the bar return to resting position and
looked at Jack, who now seemed lost in thought.  Chuckling, she took a 
rather
large swig from her water bottle before walking over to the punching bag.  A
moment later her fist struck the cloth, the impact resonating loudly enough 
to
startle Jack out of his musing.  He turned his attention back towards her.
As each punch slammed into the cloth, Jack found himself focusing on Kate’s
arms and fists.  He wondered what it must feel like to be hit by them.  Kate
finally finished her routine with a light jog on the treadmill to completely
burn herself out.  Jack grinned as she climbed off the machine, every muscle
in her body fully pumped up.

Also grinning, Kate flexed her right arm.  "Let's get cleaned up and you can
feel them later."  Jack nodded as he watched Kate leave the room, her words
taking a moment to sink in.  Quickly dashing into his room, Jack retrieved a
few clothes before making his way to the smaller guest bathroom.  Normally 
he
would wait for Kate to finish and just use the main one, but in this
situation he figured he would make an exception.

In his hurried state, though, Jack found that he had actually managed to
finish showering before Kate, despite her having started sooner.  Of course,
considering how long it took Kate to wash and condition all of her hair he
didn’t exactly blame her for taking a long time.  Her long hair was one of 
the
few features about Kate that wouldn’t serve her well if she got into a 
fight.
Still, she remained very adamantly against cutting it.

While waiting, Jack had time to wonder just what Kate would be wearing when
she came out.  He couldn’t help but hope she would choose a tight t-shirt 
and
low-cut shorts.  What he got a few moments later was even better, though.  
Kate
entered the living room, her body still dripping with water from the shower.
Jack was surprised to see that instead of wearing shorts, she had on a 
rather
large t-shirt that reached down almost to her mid thigh.  The shirt didn’t 
show
off her breasts as much as he would have liked, but that was easy to ignore 
as
it allowed a wonderful view of her legs.

Kate grinned at Jack as his eyes locked onto her.  Walking over to him, she
surprised him by slipping her arms under him and lifting him from his siting
position in a cradle hold.  Laying herself down, Kate settled Jack on top of 
her
and wrapped her legs around him from behind.  With his back resting against
Kate’s chest, Jack remembered the position from a few days earlier.  A 
moment
later Kate’s right arm draped around his chest, allowing his hands to 
explore it.
At the same time Kate’s left arm began to feel Jack’s arm, playing with the
weaker muscle.  This did make Jack a bit self-conscious and made him eager 
for
the day when, instead of weak muscle and flab, she would fine a nicely toned 
arm
where her hand currently rested.

It might not have been as good as sex, but being cuddled by Kate was nice 
enough,
and Jack had no desire to leave the embrace of this powerful lady.  The two
ended up falling asleep like that, both of them rather exhausted from their
workout and enjoying each other's company, nodding off wrapped up in one
another’s arms.

Jack woke up a few hours later still entangled by Kate’s arms and legs.
Realizing how late it was, he looked towards Kate and once again started to
steal a kiss.  But he stopped himself, resolving that he would quit that and
just hope for Kate to give them voluntarily.  As he attempted to get up and 
go
to his own bed, however, Jack found a problem.  Kate had always been a heavy
sleeper, ever since she was a little girl, and on top of that she had often 
had
stuffed animals to cuddle when she was young, a few of them larger than
herself.  In this comfortable state, it seemed Kate’s body was back in its
childhood, and Jack found that her arms and legs had quite a firm grip upon 
him.
As he tried to remove himself from her grasp, he found that he couldn’t get 
her
arms to release him and he didn’t want to try too hard for fear of waking 
her.

Finally an idea came to him.  He reached up and began to tickle Kate along
her collarbone.  She let out a slight giggle and squirmed a bit, her legs
tightening up around Jack at first and causing a bit of pain, but a moment
later releasing himi as she squirmed about.  Seeing his chance, Jack quickly
moved away from Kate’s grasp by rolling on the floor.  Slowly sitting up, he
noted an odd thing as Kate’s arms seemed to still reach out to him as if 
looking
for something to cuddle.  The action, even though she was asleep, made Jack 
feel
a bit guilty about slipping away from her like that.

Having intended to return to his room, Jack instead opted for a quick trip 
to
the restroom before returning to Kate’s arms.  After all, he didn’t know how
often he would get a chance to sleep while being held to her form, so he 
felt
that he should make the most of it.  Once again in Kate’s arms, he slept for
another four hours.  It was then that Kate’s natural habit of getting only
eight hours of sleep kicked in, and she found herself waking up at four in 
the
morning.  Looking around for a moment and realizing she wasn’t in bed, she
didn’t take long to notice Jack either.  She chuckled lightly to herself as
she realized what must have happened.

Standing up, Kate lifted Jack, being careful not to wake him.  she carried 
him
into his room and placed him in the bed.  Looking at the equipment he had 
brought
with him, she couldn’t help but imagine Jack as the mad scientist type.  She
began to search curiously through some of it, noticing that a few of the 
items
bore the LexCorp logo.  Considering the complexity of the items, she doubted
that they were all purchased.  "Oh, you naughty boy.  Well, I guess it's 
natural
to take a few souvenirs from your job when they can you for no reason."  
Kate
gave Jack’s sleeping form a kiss on the cheek.

It helped to explain why he was able to develop such a advanced drug after 
he
had been fired.  Curiosity got the better of her as she began to look 
through
Jack’s stuff, wondering if she could find some notes on just what was in the
chemical.  It didn’t take her very long to find Jack’s notes but she ran 
into
a problem the moment she saw them.  While Jack did take notes, they were 
mostly
rough scribbles meant only to jog his memory.  Anyone else who looked at 
them
could hardly make sense of them.  Furthermore, he had the horrible habit of
making personal notes for other events which were nearly impossible to tell
apart from the scientific ones.

Kate was a little disappointed, but even if she had found rather clear notes
she doubted she would have understand them.  She didn’t have nearly the 
level
of medical training Jack had.  She would just have to ask him later on if 
she
felt like it.  Kate snuck out of Jack’s room a few moments later and 
proceeded
into her own.  Stretching her arms above her head, Kate began to move around
to get her blood flowing and loosen up her muscles.  She and Jack had had a
fairly good workout session the previous day, so her body was still fairly
sore.  Still, she liked to start each day with some light exercise to help 
her
wake up.  These days were mostly meant for building up her agility and 
centered
around exercises that would help her remain limber.

The next week would follow roughly the same pattern Kate, spending her 
mornings
working out and cooking breakfast before leaving for work.  Jack would spend
his morning looking for job opportunities and checking on the ones he had
already applied for, then prepare dinner.  He began to get more into the 
workout
routines as well, after which he and Kate would often end up snuggling on 
the
couch and falling asleep, he trapped in her embrace.  He noticed that with 
each
day it seemed Kate’s grasp on him grew a little more solid.  Not painful, of
course, but he could budge her arms less and less.  He would find out why 
only a
short while later.

"This can’t be right."  Jack looked over at Kate as he sat doing leg 
extensions
while she was working on the bench press.  Kate didn’t respond right away 
but
instead seemed to start testing the barbell's weight as if something was 
wrong
with it.  A few moments later she set the barbell back down and stood up.
Walking over to the weights, she retrieved two fifteen-pound weights and
removed the bolts that held the weights in place.  Removing a 5 pound weight 
on
each side, she replaced them with the fifteens, bringing the total weight to 
210.
Sitting down, Kate then proceeded to heft the bar much like she had done the
previous week.  Except this time she only went a few reps before setting the 
bar
down.

"Just two weeks ago I was only benching 180, and to be honest I was pretty
happy with that.  This week I'm benching 210.  Jack, I shouldn’t be able to
benchpress 30 pounds more in just two weeks, especially since this seems 
slightly
easier than when I was just benching 180."  Jack just looked at Kate for a
second as he considered what she said.  Kate had already been fairly fit 
before
they started working out together, while he on the other hand had just been
starting.  It made sense that with Kate’s greater amount of development it 
would
take her longer to improve than him, and yet he couldn’t lift nearly 30 
pounds
more than what he could two weeks ago.

"I guess we need to take a look at this, don’t we?"  Kate nodded.  Jack 
stood
up and headed into his room, Kate following.  Sitting down at his desk, Jack
proceeded to dig around for a few moments before pulling out a case.  Taking
out a sterile pin as well as a glass slide, he laid the slide on the table.

"Alright, come on over Kate.  I'm going to get a sample of your blood."  As 
Kate
sat down, Jack couldn’t help but think he should have done this earlier.  He 
had
just wanted to think everything was going to turn out alright, that Kate’s 
DNA
had only been altered along the predicted guidelines.  Now he wasn’t so 
sure.
Pricking Kate proved to be a bit tougher than he expected as her skin put up 
some
resistance, but the needle did get through and a few drops of Kate’s blood 
fell
onto the slide.  Jack grinned as he put a bandage on Kate’s finger and gave 
it a
slight kiss.  This got a grin from Kate, who just watched as Jack slipped 
the
slide into a microscope.

Instead of looking into the lens, Jack proceeded over to his computer and
brought up a program.  Kate looked on curiously as an image of what must be
her cells appeared on the screen.  Jack pushed a few keys, and the 
microscope
made a few noises as the tiny motors in it were adjusted.  At first Jack 
thought
Kate’s cells looked completely normal, until the image began to focus and he 
could
make out the predicted alterations.  These were the alterations that he had
seen in test batches, so he didn’t think much of them.  But as he looked on,
things began to change as the computer provided more information.  Jack 
found
himself focusing more and more on the image.

"So can you tell what is wrong?"  Kate was by now leaning over Jack’s 
shoulder,
her eyes focused on the screen.  As she did this, Kate could tell something 
was
different about her cells from the models she had seen in college and high
school.  That said, she couldn’t tell what changes had been planned and what 
was
now causing her strength to increase more quickly then normal.  Jack didn’t
respond right away as he took note of Kate’s cells.  A few adaptations in
particular began to get his attention, such as the fact that Kate’s cells 
seemed
to be sporting a unusually high amount of mitochondria, and the general 
structure
of the cell had been slightly altered.

At last he took in a deep breath and spoke.  "Your cells seem to have a few
more mitochondria than normal.  I assume that is helping with the increased
stamina, but it isn’t only that.  Your cells' configuration seems a little 
odd.
This might be so that they can make use of the greater amount of energy.  
Have
you weighed yourself recently?"

"No.  Should I?"  Jack nodded and gave Kate’s hand a slight pat.  Shaking
her head, Kate proceeded out of the room and into the restroom, where she
climbed onto a scale.  It read 180.2 lbs.  Nodding her head, Kate returned
to Jack’s room a second later.

"Not a pound more than I did two weeks ago."  Jack nodded his head.  It 
didn’t
take him long to develop a theory about what was going on.  Kate’s cells had
slightly altered themselves in order to yield greater strength without 
having
to increase in actual muscle mass.  The exact reason why they were doing 
this
escaped him at the time, as he wasn’t sure of just how they functioned.  The
reason could very well have been so as not to hinder her agility, but he 
still
couldn’t be sure of that without further testing.

"Well, I would normally want to do some tissue testing, but it is pretty
obvious that something is going on here.  Your cells have only altered a 
little
bit so far, but to be honest they shouldn’t have even changed that much."  
Kate
didn’t really feel worried.  At least Jack wasn’t saying her cells were
degenerating all of a sudden.  Jack, for his part, was plenty worried as his
demeanor changed and he went from roommate and friend (with hopes of forming 
a
deeper relationship) to scientist.  At the moment, the changes that Kate’s 
cells
had undergone were relatively minor.  The problem was that they shouldn’t 
have
happened at all, and he had no way of knowing just how far they would go.

"So do you think we need to take a little vacation and see how far this is
going to go?"  Jack looked up at Kate, who was once again leaning over him.

"Err, well it might be safer that way, so we could get a idea of just what
changes are going to happen.  But I'm not sure if I have the money for..."
Kate’s hand smacked Jack upside the head playfully as she pointed towards
herself.

"Like I would let you pay for my vacation, you silly.  My parents have a 
place
up in Appalachia where we could go hide out and see if I am going to turn
green or anything."  Jack grinned, having forgotten who he was talking to.
Still, it surprised him how relaxed Kate was.

"That would work out well, but hey, I thought you said your parents weren’t
rich."

Jack received another playful smack from Kate.  "They aren’t!  Just 
financially
well off.  Besides, it isn’t like they had it built for the sole purpose of
vacations.  It used to belong to my grandma and grandfather.  When they 
passed
away, my parents thought of selling it, but considering the rise in land 
value
they figured it would be a wise investment to simply hold onto the old 
place.
How long of a vacation do you think we need to take?"

"Well I would like to say until your strength quits increasing, but we don’t
know how long that will be.  Hopefully before we started needing money.  
Also,
I'm kind of worried how your parents will react.  I don’t exactly want to 
tell
them what happened just yet."  Kate rolled her eyes.  Jack still didn’t seem
to understand the situation.  She put her hand to her head as if she was
talking on the phone.

"Hello Mom and Dad, this is your little girl.  I was calling to ask you a 
favor.
You know how I'm in police work and how you just hate it?  Well, it's 
finally
getting a little too dangerous for me, and I'd like to quit but I don’t know
what I want to do.  Would it be alright if I made use of my grandparents' 
house
and took some time to think it over?....... Oh, take as much time as I like 
and
Daddy says he will take care of the necessities?.....Thanks Mommy, see you 
for
the holidays!"  She hung up.  "That is roughly how the phone call will go.  
My
parents really don’t like that I became a police officer after college.  
They
even told me to take a year off to think about it."

Even though Jack was trying to remain scientific at this time, he couldn’t 
help
himself.  "Lucky rich girl.  I wish my parents could have given me that many
options."  Kate didn’t bother smacking Jack this time.  She had to admit it
was a pretty nice luxury she had been given.

"Well, my dad will pay for the utilities and even send some money for
groceries and maybe a few amusing things.  Just so long as I don’t start 
asking
for cars...well, more than one or two."  Jack blinked.  He was now quite 
sure
that Kate’s version of 'financially well off' was his version of rich.

"Just what do your parents do, anyway?"  Kate grinned as she leaned in 
closer
to Jack and acted like she was going to whisper it to him.

"It's a secret."  Jack gave Kate a odd look.  She was taking the time to 
tease
him even now.  At least the alterations didn’t seem to be affecting her way 
of
thinking.  She was still every bit the tease that her remembered her as.

"Alright, but I think we need to start getting ready.  I imagine you will 
want
to give the force a week's notice before you take off."  Kate nodded her 
head
and sighed, regretting that she was taking off so soon after just getting 
back.
And after all Howard had done for her, sticking her on the receptionist desk 
and
all.  Kate gagged a bit at the thought.  Perhaps when she came back she 
would be
able to get to working the streets again.  She didn’t really think she would 
end
up superhuman or anything, but as she flexed her arm she imagined what it 
would
be like to be able to pick a full-grown man up with just one hand.

"Well then, I guess there is no reason to put it off."  Kate proceeded to 
take
a closer look at the screen once again, nodding her head at the sight.  "I 
guess
this isn’t one of the things you just ignore and hope goes away."  Jack 
nodded
in the affirmative, watching Kate leave the room.  He leaned in closer to 
the
computer screen and continued to watch the cellular activity. Biting his 
lip, he
couldn’t help but wonder how all of this had happened.  The drug hadn’t been
meant to make that many alterations.  A thought hit him a moment later.  The
drug had been adapted by him a bit more before he gave it to Kate, but he
doubted that it was the drug alone that was causing this.

The drug hadn’t been engineered to make the exact alterations Kate’s cells 
were
currently showing.  He considered that it might not be the drug that caused 
the
alterations at all.  Instead he began to wonder if the drug had simply 
allowed
the cells to make the alterations to themselves.  It was a somewhat 
troublesome,
yet exciting thought.  He considered what it could mean.  If the drug had 
made
the alterations, then it may very well quit soon and Kate wouldn’t go much
further.  However, if the cells were now making the alterations by a form of
adaptation, then this could go on for much longer, perhaps even 
indefinitely.
Looking around for a moment, Jack soon found his old notes and took a moment 
to
organize them before flipping them over on their backs and numbering them.

Kate could hear Jack’s pen scratching in the paper as he began to take 
random
notes and points of interest.  Realizing that it probably wouldn’t be a good
idea to pull him away from what he was currently doing, she made her way 
back
into the gym and once again took her position under the barbell.  "210 
pounds."
She grinned a bit.  It was odd, but she really wasn’t scared.  Of course, 
that
was partly because she didn’t see a reason to be.  Panicking right now 
wouldn’t
help anything, after all, and working out helped her to relax.  Kate began 
her
exercise routine, leaving Jack to his business and deciding to have faith in
his scientific ability.

The irony of the thought didn’t escape her, as she realized it was that 
faith
that had caused the mutation in the first place.  Of course, it was also 
that
faith that had saved her life; thus she felt no ill will towards him.  As 
she
lifted the weight, she actually found herself hoping that Jack wasn’t trying
to stop her body from strengthening.  In all truth, she liked the idea of 
her
body increasing in strength so quickly.  She simply didn’t want to turn into
some abomination with green or blue skin.  As Jack took notes, he heard Kate
exercising and smiled.  At least she wasn’t letting it get her stressed out.

Jack found himself regretting that he couldn’t join Kate in today’s routine,
but at the moment he felt he had something more important to take care of,
which was to make sure the changes weren’t endangering Kate in any way.
Halting for a moment, he looked to the notes before writing down 180, 190 
and
210, recalling what Kate had gone up to the previous week.  As he noticed a
trend in her strength increases from the past two weeks, he at first wanted 
to
assume that her strength would continue to follow the trend.  But he pushed
it out of his mind.  He would need to keep track of Kate’s strength 
increases
for several weeks before he could make any such assumption.

Kate looked at the phone, having finished her work out a short while ago, 
and
wished she was as relaxed about calling her parents as she had pretended to 
be.
It was true that her mother and father had attempted to prevent her from
becoming a police officer and even offered her a year off, but Kate had
refused it.  She had done what she wanted to do despite her parents thinking 
it
was too dangerous for their little girl.  Of course, they were still proud 
of
her.  They just didn’t like the idea of their daughter getting shot at.

The reason Kate hesitated was that she didn’t want to ask her parents for 
more
than they had already given her.  In truth, she had come to feel that she 
was
taking advantage of her parents' willingness to give her what she wanted.  
It
was the way her father tended to make up for his inability to be with her.
Keeping a business alive when there were so many giants to compete with took
up a lot of his time.  Kate knew this and tried to console, him but he still
insisted on giving her things in order to make up for not being there.  It 
had
hurt her a little while growing up, but when she had needed him he had been
there, just not much of the rest of the time.  She had gotten use to it.
After all, it was more than what some kids had while growing up, so Kate 
held a
great deal of respect for her parents.

This was a important matter though, so at last she dialed the number.  A few
rings later a voice came on the other line.  "Yes hello, I would like to
speak to Mr. Stonecutter.  Tell him it's his little girl."  A moment of
silence, and she heard the phone being picked up.  "Hi Dad!  I was calling
because I need to ask a favor...well, it is going to be a little costly.....
Okay, well, I've decided to quit the police force...Well you don’t have to
sound so happy about it... Yeah, I know, you can’t help it... the reason
I am quitting... Well, it just seems to be getting a bit dangerous for me 
and
to be honest I don't think I've fully recovered from my little bout with
death.... don’t worry Dad, you don’t need to apologize.  You visited me as
often as you could....anyway, I was wondering if I could use grandma and
grandpa's old home for a while and think about what I want to do....really,
thanks Daddy.  Is it alright if I have a friend along?.....oh, he's a rather
nice fellow, you will have to meet him some time...of course not, Daddy...
We'll probably head out there in a week... okay Daddy, love ya, bye, and I
will call more often."

Kate hung up the phone musing over how easy that had been.  Grinning, she 
flexed
her muscles for a moment.  Her father never really seemed to worry about the 
men
she hung out with, confident that his little girl could bust their heads 
open
if they tried anything.  Heading into her room, Kate finally wrote up her 
week's
notice, planning to hand it in to the chief in the morning.  She knew it was
rushing things, but she did need to get away soon.  Finally she climbed into 
bed.
It took a while for her to nod off, her body having already adapted to 
having
someone to cuddle these days.  She could still hear Jack clicking away in 
his
room so she doubted he would be up for anything tonight.

The scent of coffee and biscuits hit Kate’s nose the next morning, waking 
her
from her sleep early.  Sitting up in bed, her hair a mess, Kate glanced 
around
the room and wondered just what was going on.  She heard the clicking of a
keyboard and then rapid scratching on some paper.  Jack, having spent the 
entire
night observing the sample of Kate's blood, had taken the time to prepare 
Kate
some breakfast as well as some for himself.  Kate wandered into the kitchen 
to
find a plate laid out for her with three boiled eggs, some toast, biscuits 
and a
good deal of oatmeal.  Walking over to it, Kate grinned, realizing Jack had
probably chosen boiled eggs so that he wouldn’t have to watch them.  She 
picked
up one of the eggs and bit into it before locating the coffee.

Pouring herself a cup, she was surprised at how thick Jack had made it, and
realized that he had probably been up the entire night.  After adding a good
deal of milk and sugar to her coffee, Kate poked her head in on Jack who had
his dirty plate sitting besides him on the table, as well as a rather large 
cup
of coffee. "I didn’t think you liked your coffee this thick."

"I don’t, but I needed caffeine to keep me awake and you don’t have any 
soda."
Kate grinned and walked over to Jack, giving him a kiss on the cheek.  She
looked into his eyes.

"You were up all night trying to find out if I am going to be okay, weren’t
you?"  Jack nodded lightly and got another peck on the cheek.  Walking
back into the kitchen, Kate proceeded to eat her breakfast, figuring that 
she
would drag Jack away from his computer screen after she got home from work,
even if he didn’t like it.  She didn’t want him spending all his time with 
that
machine, after all.  Grabbing another one of the eggs, Kate downed it before
heading back into her room and beginning her morning exercise routine.  "Hey
Jack, don’t bother cooking dinner today.  I'll stop by a restaurant on my 
way
back from work."  Jack grunted his okay, not looking away from the screen
except to write down a few more notes once in a while.

Howard was surprised as he looked at the paper Kate had just given him.
He pulled a drawer from his desk, opened a file and slipped the paper into
it.  "So, do you hate desk work that much?"

"Oh no, it isn’t that.  It's just the time I spent in the hospital so close 
to
death seems to have affected me in ways that I didn’t predict."  Howard gave 
an
understanding nod.  He figured it was because she had come so close to 
death;
people at times felt certain emotions when they got hit with a bullet.  Even
though Kate’s near death experience wasn’t work-related, he imagined she was
feeling similarly.

"Well then, give us a week to find someone to replace you and then you're
free to go."  Kate nodded and left the room.  She walked to the front desk 
and
took her seat, grinning a bit as she wondered just how long it would take to
find someone to sit at the desk and handle the people that came in.

The noise of the door opening got Jack’s attention.  He listened to the
footsteps coming closer to his room until Kate peeked her head around the 
corner.
Seeing him still at the computer, she held out the take-out bags she had 
brought.
"Hey there, time to get away from that computer."

"Could you give me a while longer Kate, I really need to get this down if 
I'm
going to help you."  A moment later, Jack was surprised to see Kate enter 
the
room and even more surprised when her hands took hold of his.

"Nope, it can’t wait.  You're going to join me for dinner and take a rest 
from
this.  You've been watching that screen for hours now; I doubt anything new 
is
going to change."  Jack began to argue, but as Kate pulled on his hands he
realized it wasn’t really a request she was giving him.  "And Jack, from now 
on
don’t sit up all night like that.  It isn’t good for you.  I'm glad you want 
to
take such good care of me, but I won't have you make yourself sick for my 
sake."

Jack tried to resist but found he didn’t have the strength, physically or
mentally, to resist Kate.  As he was dragged into the dining room, he picked 
up
one of the bags while Kate got the other.  The two of them sat down for 
dinner.
Jack was glad to see that Kate had gotten the same chicken dinner she had 
seen
him bring to her room.  He didn’t much like the idea of her choosing 
something
that he might not like.  "So what have you found out since yesterday?"

"Nothing really, I was just taking notes and getting general data.  I will
analyze it later and see if I can come up with any theories.  Really though, 
if
your cells stayed the way they are now you would be fine.  The big thing is
finding out just how they're going to change and maybe how to stop it."  A
hush fell over the room as Kate leaned forward a bit, getting a better look 
at
Jack.

"So long as the changes don’t alter my appearance too much, if at all, and I
remain healthy, would we really need to stop it?"  Jack looked up at Kate 
for a
moment, considering.  He shook his head.

"No, not really, if you want to just let it go.  Still, we need to make sure 
it
isn’t going to do anything strange to you."

"Fair enough.  But I'm wondering, if you didn’t expect to really find 
anything
why did you sit up all night?"

"Well, I was detailing as much about your blood cells as I could so that I
could tell just how much they had changed over time.  I figure we can get a
blood sample from you every so often and see how the changes are going.
Perhaps I can find a pattern.  That way we'll know if you are going to grow 
a
tail or something."  Kate giggled at Jack’s statement, imagining how she 
would
look with a tail.

"Well I think you got enough data, so how about we just enjoy our dinner."
Jack nodded.  As they ate, Jack noted for the first time that Kate’s eating
habits were actually a bit different than what he had expected.  She ate 
more
than he had expected her to.  Considering her exercise habits, he really 
didn’t
have to guess why.  She didn’t ever seem to put on any weight, unless it
happened to be muscle.

****************************************************************************

Jack sighed as he walked behind Kate, heading towards her vehicle.  He 
carried
a few items of luggage under his arms while Kate carried the bulk of what 
they
were taking.  Looking over her shoulder at Jack, she smiled.  "Don’t worry
Jack, so what if we are getting away a week late.  It isn’t like you don’t 
have
all the data you would have even if we had left on time."  The only reason 
they
were leaving was in case the alterations to Kate’s body began to become 
overly
apparent.  Over the last two weeks Jack had watched Kate’s strength steadily
increase from benching 210 lbs to 240, and now she had recently hit 260 lbs.

Jack found it somewhat amusing, but in spite of himself he was only getting
more attracted to Kate as her power increased.  As for Kate, she was growing
closer to Jack.  Living with him proved to be a rather enjoyable experience.
He was also getting more physically attractive as his body responded to the
exercise routines fairly well.  He was no longer as drained after a decent
workout, his waistline was going down and his body was showing some general
tone.  Loading the last of the things into the vehicle, Kate climbed into 
the
driver's seat while Jack took the passenger's.

"Well, say goodbye to the old place Jack, we're heading out."  Jack only 
grinned
as he buckled up, now without Kate having to give him a second glance.  As 
they
drove off, Jack couldn’t help but wonder just how long this was going to 
take,
and just how far Kate would go before it was over.

End Chapter: 1