O’Melissokomos
The Bee Keeper

Bigger is Good

by dymondbolt

The heart monitor changed to a steady drone. The third time his heart stopped. Something just snapped in Dr.Marantz own heart. After such a lengthy surgery to repair the damage to Peter's body, and no assurance he could even last out the week; this was too much for the good doctor to take.

The doctors eyes looked thru the heart monitor and then in rage focused on Pete's face as he bellowed, "PETER THIS IS THE MOST WRONG THING YOU COULD DO TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE!!! PETER ! COME BACK THIS INSTANT!"

The following silence was beyond electric. The heart monitor continued its steady drone. Dr.Marantz could feel his own heart beating wildly. He was shocked at himself. 'Where did that come from?' he thought. The silence did not last. As he started to look at his colleagues; the heart monitor began to beep in a normal rhythm.

All eyes left the doctor and went to the monitor. Only a second went by before the most reserved and calm female nurse there yelled, "I KNEW YOU COULD DO THAT". Now she was shocked at her own behavior.

All eyes fell on her for a fraction of a moment before Dr.Marantz and then the whole surgical team began laughing. As the laughter subsided, she looked up to see Dr.Marantz eyes smiling down on her as he said, "I have great confidence in you too!"

Dr Edwardo Sanchez (still an intern but just barely) said, "I'll finish closing doctor if thats alright with you? You should give yourself a little break before you explain things to our patient's Very Large Friend."

Now Dr. Sanchez had smiling eyes at Dr. Marantz. The doctor did a perfect Homer Simpson as he closed his eyes and said, "Samson!" He faced the younger doctor as he said, "Please finish closing Dr. Sanchez and thank you for the excellent assistance throughout. I've never gone thru one operation without having to ask for assistance to be given a certain way. Today, I never said a word. You were right where I needed you every step of the way." He looks down on Pete's face as he says, "You were right where Peter needed you."

Dr Sanchez (Lalo to his friends) looked up briefly for the last few words and got a bashful look to his brow as he turned his attention back to actually sewing up the incisions (instead of staples) on Pete's abdomen. He says in a mock arrogant tone, "Doc, if you get me all teary eyed I might mess up and leave a nasty scar on this boys belly. Then thard be all hell to pay with that large varmint outina waitin room." He glanced up for a second while he spoke with a gleam in his eyes. The attending nurses all give out a giggle or short laugh.

Dr.Marantz softly says, "Mi compadre," as he locks eyes with Dr.Sanchez, who looks back and softly replies, "Doc" . They break eye contact to go about their business.

Dr.Marantz starts stripping and then scrubbing to leave as a 5'10" whippet of a man in a black suit enters the room. The suit clears his throat and says, "Thank you doctor".

Dr. Marantz turns with a chagrined look on his face. Dr.Marantz (or Doc as his friends call him) says, "Agent Erickson. Hello. (pause with a slight frown) Thanks for what? You helped me and my patient and my patients VLL. I thank you!"

Agent Erickson face now looks puzzled. "V-L-L?" he asks.

Doc replies with a shit eating grin, "VERY LARGE LOVER!"

Agent Erickson got a pleasant grin too but then changed course. "What are your patient's chances of making it to the end of the week?" he asked.

The doctor's face slumped as he said quietly" Cut to the chase real quick." then with more volume, "Not very good. Not very good at all. With his blood type and rare tissue type it doesn't look like a match for a liver is going to just pop-up any time soon." By now Doc has toweled off and moved with Erickson into the locker room.

Agent Erickson says, "And yet you did your best to give this kid a chance."

Doc takes his undershirt off. At 5'7" and with his stocky wrestlers frame he always seems to project more height than he has, more mass than he really carries. Yet, at this point in his day, he suddenly looks exactly 5'7", not a fraction of an inch taller. He feels angry, but he could not tell you at what. God, the government, cars, trains... ANGER itself? None truly fit. He felt like saying AND STILL IT'S NOT ENOUGH! But he just let his mind and face stay between rage and sorrow and did say (trying to stay calm), "Where is this leading?"

Agent Erickson's face became more animated as he replies, "Give him one MORE chance" The doctor is tired and suddenly loses both emotions and remains blank . Erickson pushes on, "The triage doctors that observed Peter's condition shortly after arrival here all agreed that the amount of liver damage along with all the other damage to his body is too great for Peter's natural ability to heal himself before toxins in his blood cause kidney failure along with liver failure."

Doc nods yes. Erickson continues, "They also advised me of his rare tissue type and blood type, which closed off that avenue of salvation. And then one of the doctors who has had no contact with any of the information regarding your research program says out of the blue---If only he had time to heal, if only we could speed up his ability to heal himself, in so many cases survival is a matter of time, with the right time the body can heal all wounds---"

Those very words were printed on the cover of the project outline Dr.Marantz used to apply for the funding.

By now the doctor was dressed . Both he and Erickson were facing each other and both had the same shocked expression. Erickson put his forearm between them to show goose-bumps as he pointed to his arm. The doctor did the same and looking at his arm said, "Me too."

Doc locked eyes with Erickson as he says, "And your sure he had no knowledge of my research or the funding thru the FBI.. or the pentagon... or the bullshit the CIA pulled?" Each question was met with a firm shake of the head NO.

Erickson said, "neither the theft fifteen months ago nor the arrest of the CIA agents ten months ago nor the retrieval of all samples and research data shortly after that. They were at the antarctic on a special project investigating suspended animation and hibernation. Their availability for objective advice on the matter was a fluke. They had some down time while their grad-students crunch all the boring data into shape".

He holds up a medium sized booklet with the word top secret printed across the title The Physik Project. His whole body language says HE WILL HAVE HIS WAY. Erickson tells the doctor, "You fought for three years for the FBI to oversee your research and be part of the funding so that the public would benefit from your procedure not just the military.The FBI fought to remain part of this when the pentagon tried to take over. But the pentagon is still involved, and I think it behooves you to consider that the best way to keep this procedure geared for the public is to have the first trial occur with non-military personnel . You have finished the baboon trials to the FBI's satisfaction two weeks ago. The man responsible for your research leapfroging at least ten years forward is in the waiting room hoping to hear good news about your patient, A patient who most probably will die before the end of the week... Unless we give him the right time to heal himself."

Erickson was preaching to the choir when it came to the doctor's decision to offer the procedure to Peter. But Erickson's passion finally put him in complete focus for Doc. Doc said to Erickson, "You're the one that convinced the congressional committee to fund in the first place and then got them to agree to keep the FBI as oversight. And you never said a thing!"

Agent Erickson's face went blank as he said, "Those meetings were classified as top secret and I am not allowed to discuss any part of the procedings with you."

Doc just got a little grin on his face and said, "Thank you Agent Erickson."

Erickson replied with, "You're welcome Doctor Marantz."

Doc Flips open his cell phone and pushes a button as he says, "Lab conference." The little phone says the same thing back to the doctor in his voice and then you hear ringing.Three different voices say hello almost together. He tells them, "We have exactly 24 hours to get the full procedure ready for our first human patient. I need you all to shift mental gears. We have a patient whose life depends on our best work. In the scheme of things this is not a make or break situation for the procedure. In the scheme of things, this IS life or death for a young man.... Remember, Patient NOT subject... Do your very best... I know you'll make me proud of you. Ok, I'll see you all at the lab." As he closes his cell phone he turns to see Erickson's reaction.

Erickson is sitting at this point and he looks up with his hand on his chin as he says, "I didn't have to go through all that did I?" the doc just shakes his head no as a smirk forms on his face. Erickson continues, "Sounded pretty good tho, right?"

The doc scrunches his nose up with a shit eating grin and nods yes a few times fast then says, "Pretty good".

Before Doc leaves to talk to Sam he recalls the start of this whole deal and stops Erickson with the question, "Earlier You said thank you but you never said what for."

Erickson looked down and then at Doc. "For trusting ys," he said, "when Sam came in with Peter you called us to fix the situation. Some might have suspected we were responsible for the false arrest in the first place. When the pentagon started to get all black opps and tried to place us all under a national security gag order, some unknown hacker geeked just enough info to CNN to ruin any hope of the pentagon keeping it completly secret. You trusted us and we do appreciate and respect that."

The doc just said, "How can you not trust a guy who invites you over for dinner to meet the wife and daughter, and as soon as he gets home insists on giving his daughter her time and plays with her for an hour at whatever game she wants to play (all while the guest watches)"

Erickson interrupts with, "You could have participated."

Doc replies, "I'm bad at Slides and Ladders." He continues, "And at the dinner table you all talked about how your day went..." He seems to have a frog in his throat. He finishes, "How can you not trust people who understand the value of Family."

Erickson looks at his shoe then at doc as he says, "Marla has got to the point now that she thinks I should insist on medical grounds that you take a day off to come back over and get a real home cooked meal. .. After we get Peter fixed up and healthy, you're next. Understood? ... Don't make me call my local fireman buddies and have your lab closed down for a week over false fire-code violations. Ok?"

Doc started to laugh as he said, "Marla would back you up on that one!"

A smile on both their faces, Erickson tells Doc, "I'll see you back at the Lab In 12 hours".

Doc nods yes but his parting remark is, "Teach your daughter Parcheesi, "Erickson nods and leaves.

And just then Peter is wheeled through to ICU. Dr.Sanchez starts stripping off scrubs and asks Doc, "Did you get any rest?"

Doc shakes his head no as he says, "But now I've got a lot more hope for our patient."

Rear next part

Well, it's a start. I must warn you, that due to the fact the story has to save Peter's life first; there wont really be any sex till part 4. But don't worry, the relationship part of the story heats up in the next part. So let me know what you thought of this, and thank you for reading this.

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