Predatory Game (GhostWalkers 6)

She moistened her lower lip with her tongue, the only sign of nerves. "Obviously, Jesse, I'm in uncharted territory. If the damaged cells had been usable, physical therapy would have been enough along with the other things Lily and Eric have tried, but the therapy failed. Before I can stimulate new nerves to grow, I'll have to get rid of the damaged ones."

Jess linked his fingers behind his head. "That makes sense."

She flashed him a brief, tentative smile. "I'm glad you think so. And I sure hope you're right about Dr. Whitney, because I'm using everything he said in that file. According to him, many areas of the body have their own built-in programs for regrowing themselves if they're damaged. To heal myself, or someone else, in theory, all I really have to do is trigger one of those programs and the body will do the rest."

"Let's do it then."

Saber sighed. She'd said "in theory." He had chosen to ignore that part. To trigger the program she needed to send a steady stream of electrical signal to the right place at the right time. The body's own biological regrowth program for that particular area would take over and do the rest. It sure beat trying to micromanage the regrowth process herself--that is, if Whitney was correct in his findings. She could just watch it kick in after she jump-started it.

"Come on, Saber, let's do this."

She scowled at him. "You know this isn't quite as easy as you want it to be. For one thing, aside from having never done it, I have to learn all kinds of little details. I have to be careful when healing wounds to apply the electrical current in the right direction. If I blow it, the wound would open up instead of close. This is going to take a little time until I figure out what I'm doing."

He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "I'm sorry. I know it's going to work, Saber. If you do this, I'll be able to walk again."

"Well, don't talk to me anymore. Let me visualize this." Because she was scared now. She'd killed over and over again with the touch of her hand. Now she was going to do something good for a change--if she didn't blow it and do further damage. And she was going to have to follow Dr. Whitney's instructions verbatim. He had written that report for her to read, knowing she would read it and retain every word. He had described in great detail what needed to be done and how to do it. First she had to shrivel up the damaged nerve segment, using a targeted burst of electrical current. Then she needed to grow a new nerve segment to replace it.

Growth of new nerves--neurogenesis--took a special application of her skill. Like an artist, she would "direct" the electrical field from one point to another--across the gap where the damaged nerve segment used to be--"painting" where she wanted the new nerve pathway to appear. This would set up an electrical field across the space she was visualizing, and nerve cells would start growing in the direction she had "commanded."

She started tentatively, and found that for growing neural pathways, a pulsed electrical current worked much better than a steady one. With persistence, she could generate an entire nerve segment. It was an amazing feeling. The nerve cells felt like plants sprouting in her mind; she visualized them that way. Some would push out tentative tendrils that would grow around neighboring cells. Others would retract if they touched other cells.

Once she grew some new nerve cells, she "fired" them repeatedly--just as if Jess were using those nerve cells over and over again, to break them in and to trigger growth of even newer neurons hanging off of them. If she generated more current, it resulted in faster growth of new nerve cells...but she also had to be careful to not overdo it and "fry" the new nerve segment she was creating.

It was an exhausting business, but she grew more confident as she realized the useless tissue and cells were being replaced by healthy muscle and nerves. She concentrated on the most damaged areas, around the bionics where the electrical signals had been severed, and stimulated the growth in those precise muscles and nerves needed to drive the bionics.

Growth of new muscle tissue required a little something, she discovered; it was actually easier than regenerating nerves, but required great precision for long periods of time. If she applied just the right amount of electrical current at just the right place on the edge of the healthy muscle tissue, she would trigger a biological program already built into the body, a program for regrowing new muscle tissue to replace old damaged tissue. She just had to keep the level of current steady to keep the body's program running and sit back and "feel" it do the rest of the work. It sure beat having to micromanage all the zillions of muscle cells. She was so exhausted, she wouldn't have been able to continue.

She pulled her hand away from Jess's legs, aware of the time passage only because she was swaying with weariness. The room had been so silent while she worked, and when she glanced at the monitor, Ryland was watching with his wife.

Jess lay very still for a long while, so long that Saber's heart began to accelerate. She touched his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

He glanced at her and then at the monitor. "Yes. I feel fine. Just not any different. While you were working my legs were warm, and I actually felt a couple of zaps, but now I'm not feeling much of anything." He sat up slowly.

Lily smiled at him. "If you don't see any improvement within twenty-four hours, you should try again. This is amazing, Saber."

"Only if it worked," Saber said.

"I'd like to stay and talk, this is really exciting, but I think I'm going to be having a baby here pretty soon."

"You mean in a few weeks," Jess corrected.

"I mean in a few hours. If you need anything else, call Eric. I'll be out of touch for a while."

Ryland stuck his head around Lily, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear. "We're having a baby, Jess!"

Jess laughed. "I can see that. Good luck to both of you. Let us know everyone's all right the minute it comes into the world."

"I will," Ryland promised.

Lily blew a kiss to Jess. "Be happy, you two."

The monitor went dark and Saber flicked it off. She turned to Jess. "I can't believe she sat there in labor the entire time. I would have been freaking out."

"I don't think you freak out much, Saber," Jess said, catching her hand and tugging until she was back beside him.

"What is it?" She pushed back his hair.

Jess lay back against the pillows, trying to hide his frustration, rubbing his hand over his shadowed jaw to hide his expression when he really wanted to pound his legs with his fist.

"What?" Saber flashed a slow smile as she shook her head. "Did you think anything we did was going to meet with instant success and you'd miraculously stand up and walk? It even took a tadpole twenty-four hours to grow a new tail, and you, my impatient friend, are a lot larger than a tadpole."

He scowled at her. "You could be a little more sympathetic."

"Over what? You being a little kid who wants instant gratification?" She leaned over and kissed his nose. "There. It was all out of joint, but I've made it better."

"It's not better." He pointed to the left corner of his mouth.

She rolled her eyes, but leaned closer, her lips feathering across his until she found the corner and pressed briefly. "You're such a baby."

He pointed to the other side.

Saber caught his head in her hands and kissed the right corner of his mouth and then settled her lips over his. Teasing. Nibbling. Sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips. She felt her stomach tighten, her womb clench with need. It didn't take more than looking at Jess to want him. Kissing him was incredible. She loved his mouth, hot and sensual and a little ruthless.

His hand moved to the nape of her neck, holding her still, while his mouth took control of hers. His other hand urged her down on top of him. She straddled him and slid her arms around his neck, pressing close to his chest.

He kissed her over and over, deepening each kiss, demanding more and more until she felt as if she was melting in his arms. "If I didn't say it before, thank you. And if it doesn't work, thank you for trying. I know you were afraid."

>

"If I forget to tell you," she whispered against his mouth, "I'm very much in love with you."

"Then marry me."

She sat up abruptly. "Not that again. Honestly, Jess, you're relentless when you want something."

He tugged on a curl. "I can keep you safe from Whitney."

"Maybe. And maybe you'll get me pregnant and we'll have to go underground like Lily. She's leaving her home in order to keep her child safe."

He shrugged. "We can go up into the mountains near Jack and Ken. They have a fortress up there. It's all good, Saber, as long as we're together."

She moved from his lap. "Come on, dragon king, let's go eat. I haven't had food yet and I've got to go to work." She needed something after expending all that energy.

He slid his body from the futon to his chair. His right calf jerked. He caught his leg and positioned it. "I'll cook tonight. You can explain why you don't think moving to the mountains would be a good idea."

"Your parents, for one thing, Jesse. And Patsy. After you moved here, Patsy followed you and then your parents bought a house as well. You told me that yourself. You just can't leave them."

He laughed at her. "You're really grasping at straws, aren't you?"

"Why marriage?"

"Because I believe in it. My parents have been married for over thirty-four years. They're still very much in love. I don't think the real thing comes along all that often, so I'm grabbing it and hanging on."

"How can you be so sure that it's not pheromones?"

He caught her hand again, tugging until she was beside him. "Sex with you is fantastic, no doubt about it, better than anything I ever imagined." His grin turned wicked. "And I can imagine a lot. But the truth is..." His smile faded and he brought her onto his lap, his arms enfolding her close, sheltering her against his heart. "I'm so in love with you I can't think straight. One has little to do with the other. I wouldn't feel like this if it was all pheromones."