Along with the good news came a lot of concerns and what seemed like an insurmountable obstacle of actually performing the artificial insemination. It was getting late and most everyone had to work the next morning. The pack was left with some serious decisions to make and a way to get this done if they wanted to. Everyone thanked the two doctors for their work and for telling them everything involved. Jessica grabbed Paul and left, Jean asked if she was coming back over or not to keep an eye on Anne. She said she would, but first she needed to spend some time with her mate. Jean smiled as she turned and walked back in, that didn’t sound like an entirely bad idea she thought. Eliot and Beth got into their cars and drove off as well, Beth following Eliot. Once everyone was back in their houses, a car started down the street a few houses away. Chuck Carson put his car into gear and slowly drove off as he turned his lights on.
Chapter 12
Everyone in the pack thought it about it over night and the next day. Who were the best possible candidates and how to get it done? After a few discussions amongst themselves Tommy and Susan came out as the best candidates. Mike and Jean were older than the rest and Paul and Jess were just together and obviously having other concerns and were also still absorbed with the newness of a relationship. Besides Susan had mentioned how she would loved to have been a mother several times and it was something her and Tommy had discussed on more than one occasion. The question now was how to get it done? Beth had done similar procedures at one point in time but the facility she worked at now didn’t have the equipment needed for such a procedure, nor would they have the time to do it without someone else around. Eliot had a similar problem; not the right equipment and his facility didn’t have quite the sterile area needed. Although time there wouldn’t be a problem as the facility was closed at night.
Eliot and Beth spent the next few days together. Not so much at the lab as they were waiting on a response from the pack as to where they wanted to proceed, but more time at Eliot’s house. Beth pressed Eliot for more information about the pack. Eliot was a little reluctant after all of his years of involvement with them but also thought she was a little more curious as she had met everyone and now had a face to put with the cause she was working for. He also thought she now knew this wasn’t some sick science fiction movie any more and these were real people with a real problem that needed to be fixed. He put his mind at ease and reassured himself that is why she is curious to know more, that has to be why doesn’t it?
Chuck Connor’s curiosity was still raging as well. He had a few more license plates to run after the evening he followed Eliot and Beth to the house. Nothing special though. Everything checked ok, just apparently average people leading average lives. He still had Justin tailing the two doctors though. Justin liked doing it as well. He was getting paid still and was doing something more than just a guard. It kept him interested and gave him a feeling he was something more than he was. Still Chuck was wondering if maybe there was nothing going on, maybe he was wrong. But that nagging sensation in the back of his brain was still there. That same sensation that years ago made him the good cop he was. He was supposed to meet his detective “friend” though that night as he had gotten everything he could on the two doctors. Maybe that would resolve the situation for Chuck one way or the other.
Eliot and Beth were told to meet over at Mike and Jeans house when they got off work. The end of the week was closing in. Anne was getting used to her surroundings a bit better but concerns were also mounting. Anne seemed treat this as a power she was given, something she woke with and needed to share. Not a lifestyle she chose to live and something that needed to be guarded and protected. And even though everyone knew she didn’t choose this, she still needed to abide by the rules of the pack. The rebelliousness that she showed to Troy was spilling over into every aspect of her life. She took advantage of Ray’s willingness to engage in sex and if he wasn’t available then Jake “filled” in just fine. She tried with the others a time or two as well but they were a little more resilient and committed and didn’t partake in the events. It’s not as though celibacy is expected but she had taken things to a whole new level. She reveled in her desires and her new senses and wanted to explore them to every wanton end, something Troy would never allow her to do when they were married.
Beth and Eliot arrived, and the second time at the house wasn’t nearly as stressful as was the first for Beth. As Eliot knocked on the Door Mike opened it and welcomed them in. Everyone sat around, even Anne; although she had to admit to herself she seemed a bit like the outsider of the bunch. Tommy and Susan said they had decided to be test subjects so to speak. There were the concerns of involving someone else, another doctor. They didn’t want anyone else nosing in their business any more than already was needed and could the two of them come up with a possible solution. If it meant buying the necessary equipment themselves and setting up their own sterile environment then so be it. Eliot shook his head and said he didn’t think that would be necessary. He had cut Beth off who was undoubtedly going to give a rebuttal to why that would be problematic and a hazard. He simply left it as he may have an answer that works for everyone involved.
Chuck Carson was getting a few answers of his own. His dinner with his old friend went well and he now had more information on his two doctors. He went back to his office, closed the door and sat down to see what he could. Ms. McCallister seemed fairly straight forward, decent job and decent life and everything in order. She was a Nobel Prize candidate once even. He didn’t quite understand why she was associating with Eliot. Then again he never did really understand why people were attracted to who they were. Probably a primary reason as to why he was still single. Dr. Crane definitely had a more colorful past than she did. He was even implicated at one time in participating in a fraud case 10 years ago with a supposed surgeon operating out of his house. Some how he was cleared of any wrong doings though. Then Chuck noticed the attraction; he noticed they were once together many years before in college. The more he read the more he found out, even Dr. Crane’s involvement in his girlfriend’s death, Katarina, the girl that came between him and Beth. He would wait and see if his young assistant, Justin had anything to report back on from the evening. The reports he had received the past few days didn’t help much, but the feeling in the back of his brain was still there after reading through everything. Especially after everything Dr. Crane had been into.
Justin patiently waited up the street a bit, patience that Troy Johnson never had to start with and was now completely worn. As the night finished he made note of the time and followed the two doctors, this time they came in just one car. As usual they went back to Eliot’s house. He couldn’t help but wonder why. Beth had a larger, nicer house. But whenever she returned there it was always without Eliot. There was no one else in her life but it seemed as though there was a secret she was keeping, some reason why Dr. Crane never spent the night at her house; or any time at all. Troy finally got Anne to answer her phone. It was after everyone had went home for the night. Every time he tried to push her for information and demand she tell him everything she resisted, no, she refused. She liked it to. For once with Troy she felt as if she were in charge. She finally left it though that she would meet with him, just so he knew she was alright. She even picked the spot and told him the time. Still agitated he agreed and then she said goodbye and hung up, cutting him half way through his good bye. It was the best she had felt ever in dealing with Troy, even when they were married.