“And in the case study, that marker has been gradually increasing. Again, the measurement-over-measurement confidence has been basically fifty-fifty, but the rise over the past ten years is within the ninety-five percent confidence window.”
“We have a longitudinal study covering more than ten years,” Morgan counters. “Why don’t other subjects show the same elevation?”
“That’s what I was stuck on too. But I was looking at the tide pool—”
“The tide pool?”
“Okay, I think it’s not technically a tide pool. It’s like a crevice thingy—”
“The data. Please.”
“Right. So, I looked up some of the shorter studies and the overall blood tests, and again, it’s a little fuzzy, but the marker does seem to decrease rapidly when treatment is halted. The original investigators attributed this to noise in the serum measurement, but I looked across several studies and the effect is consistent. If we pooled the data, we might see a statistically significant recovery. Preferably, we should test a new cohort with a more sensitive instrument, because part of the issue is we’ve been right at the lower limit of detection.”
“Regardless, the longitudinal study still proves the long-term effects are minimal,” Morgan says.
“Not quite,” I say, and I can’t help but grin. “Do youknow anybody who takes their medsevery single dayforten yearsand never misses a single dose? It’s practically unheard of. People can’t even use condoms correctly. Compliance is a common issue in longitudinal studies. The cohort isn’t that big. The odds of each of the participants, at leastonce, forgetting a dose or a few and experiencing the recovery effect arehigh. And unless people are perfectly honest in their surveys—which they notoriously aren’t—we wouldn’t see that in the data.”
“So the tide pool connection is…?”
“If the pool never drained, it would fill, and fill, and fill. The marker would go up and up, and resistance to the suppressant would build and build. It’s a simple solution overall—every drug has this issue. Tolerance builds, and the dose has to go up. The case study should try a tolerance break and see if that resolves the issue.”
“You figured all that out this afternoon.” Morgan’s eyes glitter. I think she’s interested in the science, but there’s something else on her mind.
It’s a statement, not a question, but I timidly reply, “Yes?”
“And yet you have no idea why you’re here.”
“I don’t?”
“Let me see if I can make it a little more obvious…”
Morgan grips my chin, leans down, and presses her lips against mine.
Oh god.Oh my fucking god.
I’m frozen with shock. Her lips are warm and soft. The omega in me whines.
Morgan leans back. Her fingers brush over my chin, then slide to cradle my face.
“Figure it out yet?” she murmurs. Her chest is tense, as if the last thing she wanted to do was lean back from that kiss. But Morgan is as controlled as ever.
I force myself to swallow. My mouth waters for her.
“This is… a date?”
“Good boy,” she purrs.
Oh god, I think Iamgoing to develop a fainting problem. Usually her tone makes my spine stiffen, but this time it turns to liquid.
“Is it… is it going well?” I force out.
“What do you think?” Morgan says, eyes searching mine.
I was wrong to ever call those eyes merely violet. They’re as many different colors as the sea. Indigo and lilac and amethyst and rose and lavender.
And I’m lost in them. In a rowboat without oars. I’m going to drown.
I want to drown.
