No Chains Shall Bind Me (The Good Doctor's Tales Folio Seven) Read Online Free PDF Page B

little critical tidbit Mendell let drop, casually, as if the information didn’t matter.  One you wouldn’t find in a prim and proper Readers Digest article.
    “Uh, yeah,” Gail said, unsure of what to say, a hint of wetness gathering in the corners of her eyes.  “Kurt, I ’m not going to hurt Sylvie.  You know I wouldn’t.”
    She chewed her lip over a hurt she had no power over.  Kurt and Van waited.
    “Kurt…” she said, her voice growing soft.  Kurt glanced up at her gentle tone.  She had to say this.  “One of the things Transform Sickness does to a woman, one that doesn’t show up in the media, is the Shakes makes them infertile.”  Kurt’s face fell.  “I’m sorry, Kurt.  I’m really, really sorry.”  No six kids.  Not any kids at all.
    Kurt ’s hard, businesslike edge collapsed into cold shock.  He stood up, stumbling and unsteady, his feet fighting to hold him.  He didn’t say anything, and walked slowly and unsteadily toward the door.
    “Kurt,” Gail said, soft.  Van stood and started to follow.
    Kurt turned.  “Stay away from me.  Just stay the fuck away from me,” he said, his voice so tight it hurt.
    Van stopped.  Gail watched, helpless, as Kurt stumbled out the door.  The tears came, trailing down her cheek.
    “Oh, damn,” she said.  Van sat down on the bed beside her and held her.
     
    ---
     
    Two in the morning and she couldn ’t sleep.  Van lay beside her in the bed, cycling in and out of bad dream filled sleep.  She had only woken up in the late afternoon, and this was still the longest day of her life.  Van had held her, she had cried on his shoulder, and they had gone on to other things, even despite her headache.  Gail was glad he could accept her despite her transformation.  She had been afraid he would pull away, not want her any more.  She should have known better.  Van was better than that.  Well, at least if she found a way to ignore the feeling he thought of this as a grand historic adventure into terra incognita.
    Now he lay beside her in the darkness, awake again, and traced a line up between her ribs.
    “So what happens to you, now?” he said, as quiet as the darkness.
    She turned to him, licked his nose, and smiled.  He didn’t respond, watching, solemn, as he so often was.
    “They find people for me.  I set up a household.”
    “What kind of people?”
    Gail shrugged.  “ Dunno.  Could be anybody.  Whoever comes down with Transform Sickness next.”
    “That could be a problem.  We have to live with these people.”  We.  She wondered if he understood how happy she was to hear him say we , so casually assuming he would be staying with her.
    Why couldn ’t this be easier?  This Focus thing was going to be hard enough as it was.  She wanted to be arranging things with Van.  Not with her parents.
    “ Yah.  We’re going to have to figure out how to deal with a Transform household.  I guess we’ll live in some kind of commune.  A big family.  I guess you never get to pick your family, do you?”  She thought of her father, big and blustering and domineering.  She had been stuck with him all her life.
    “What about you?” Van said.  “What happens to you?”
    “Well, I think we’ll be seeing some changes in my body.  I think the changes get pretty dramatic for a Focus.”
    “Like what, dramatic?”
    “Well, like faster and stronger.  I’ll heal better.  The doctor said I’ll eat more and need less sleep.”  The changes scared her.  Dr. Mendell tried to make the changes sound like they were all good, but Gail didn’t like the idea of changes to her body, strange things she couldn’t control making her into something no longer a standard-issue human.
    “Also,” she said, changing the subject away from the more disquieting aspects of being a Focus, “he said I might have some juice problems.  Focuses need juice, too.”
    “Hmm?”
    “He said I’ll handle a lot of juice, and I’ll even produce