The ABO Serum

Wrestling With Fate

Steve passed out before the towel arrived, and there was only one known way to wake up the unconscious. Dr. Placer transferred him to an exam room at the lab and rolled in a nearly unconscious Lex beside him.

Lex cried, great body wracking sobs, when he finally sat beside his unconscious mate, smelling his scent and seeing his face together for the first time. The physical relief was instantaneous. The weeks of separation left him physically weak, not that he'd been particularly strong before, but he couldn't even walk on his own now, so he couldn't attack his mate the way the primitive part of his brain wanted him too. But his mate was in heat. The need to hold him overrode everything else. He managed to heave himself up on the bed next to the smaller man and wrap his arms around him, his nose tucked into the omegas neck, and that's where he finally slept, peacefully for the first time since he smelled his mate's towel during phase one.

Being uncomfortably overheated is what woke Steve up. Finding a large body wrapped around him, pinning him down was unacceptable. He executed a quick maneuver to turn the tables on his opponent. The sudden motion woke Lex, and he instinctively resisted, but he failed to budge Steve from his position, pinning Lex to the bed. "Why are you in my bed? Where are we?" Steve demanded.

"You passed out. You're at the GenLife lab. The only way we know to wake people up is with their mate," Lex answered. Steve jumped back, stumbling in his haste to get off the bed and away from this man.

"I didn't give you permission to meet me!" Steve accused. He smelled the truth now and it felt good and hurt at the same time.

"You were unconscious. We didn't have a choice." Dr. Placer interrupted over the speaker. "Please sit down and relax. We won't let him attack you. But your pheromones soothe each other. Take a break. You've been hurting for a long time. Are you hurting now?"

Steve looked around the room startled, until he saw the one-way glass and the speaker over it. "I asked for his towel, not him!" Steve complained, but the voice didn't answer. He looked at Lex.

Lex held his hands up innocently, trying to pacify his mate. "They couldn't get it to you fast enough. This was the fastest way to relieve us both. I was near to passing out too." Steve watched as Lex levered himself off the bed into a wheelchair. His eyes grew wide with shock.

"You can't walk?" He asked.

"Normally I can, but I haven't been able to keep food down or get out and exercise for the last few weeks. It's been a steady painful progression to impotence since I smelled you and you rejected me. I'm already feeling better though. I'm hungry now. Starving actually." Lex began a self-assessment aloud for the sake of the observers. "I'm still really weak. It will take time and physical therapy for me to fully recover from the atrophy, but there's no pain right now. Relief. Oh, God it feels good." His eyes closed and he rolled his head around his neck and breathed slowly and deeply. "How about you?" His eyes met Steve's.

"Um, yeah, my body feels relieved. I don't feel as strong as usual, and I'm hungry, but that's kinda normal. I was in heat when I passed out, but I think the worst is over now." He seemed to be doing a self-assessment as well, but finished with, "that doesn't mean this is okay. Did they tell you about me?"

"Nothing but your name."

"Well, my wife, who works here, is a bitch who exposed me, and then divorced me, telling me I'd disappointed her." The disgust in Steve's voice shocked Lex. It didn't go with his omega's beautiful face. Steve's heat made him grumpy, and emotionally vulnerable. "I'm not interested in disappointing anyone else."

In the observation room, Dr. Placer watched as Christine Beauregard huffed and walked out, letting the door slam behind her. She'd come in worried when she heard her ex-husband was unconscious. He didn't have any other family in the area to look out for him. She wasn't completely without a conscience and she knew she was the reason he'd moved here. But it was over between them. All the way over if that man who never spoke ill of anyone could call her a bitch. They divorced amicably but they couldn't go on living that way. She went to put in for a transfer, effective as soon as the town opened back up. She knew he liked it here, and she never could.

In the exam room, food arrived. A lab assistant placed it on a small table next to where Steve sat, and rolled Lex over to join him. "Thank you," Lex smiled at gratefully before picking up his food. They ate quietly at first, both too hungry to talk at the same time.

When they were partially sated, Lex leaned back and said, "I'm not disappointed." Steve looked up at him wide eyed, still cautious. "We're the last pair to meet in person you know," he continued. "We were both suffering, but they're secretly pleased," he tilted his head toward the observation window. "Because of your stubbornness they were able to find out exactly what happens when an omega tries to reject their alpha. Our bodies have decided for us. We can't be separated anymore."

"What if I don't want this," Steve asked. "Are you going to force me?"

"Me force?" Lex laughed. "You're still up walking around without me. I couldn't get out of bed without you. Who's the one who's being forced?"

"Hey," Lex continued after another few bites of food and a bit of the silent treatment from his mate. "I'm sorry your wife was a bitch. But you don't know me any better than I know you. We can at least get to know each other, right? We don't have to have a relationship more than friends." He winced internally as he said it, but Lex wasn't an ass. It was true. "It might be more tolerable to sit in the same room as me from time to time than to try to run away from this and suffer. I'm really willing to do whatever works for you so I can get my life back and walk again. What do you want?"

Steve put his utensils down and dropped his face into his hands to hide the way he pressed the threatening tears back. But he couldn't keep the sound of them out of his voice. "I miss my kids. I want to get back to teaching and coaching. I want my own house again where I can make my own damn cup of coffee the way I like it. I want my life back."

"Sounds about right," Lex agreed. "I didn't have that much of a life, but I want to get back to it too. If we live together, we can both get out of here. Can you agree to that much? My stuff is in storage because I let my apartment go. Didn't want to pay rent while I was stuck here in isolation. You got a place since your divorce?" Steve shook his head. "Then let's get a two bedroom together and be roommates for now. School is almost out, though. Do you teach summer school?" Steve nodded. "Good. That will get you back to normal sooner. Sound manageable?" Steve nodded again, resigned.

"We'll have to find a place that's accessible for now, or get a place fixed up for the wheelchair, but I'll cover that part. Will you shake my hand on it?" Lex held out his hand to Steve who still sat with his face down in his hands. Slowly, Steve sniffled, wiped his face, looked up with red rimmed eyes, and reluctantly shook the offered hand.