“How long have I been here, by the way?” I ask Martin after we’ve both calmed down a bit.

“Oh.” Martian breaks eye contact with me.

“Martin?”

“Uhm, it’s been a week,” he whispers.

“A whole week?” I start to panic.

“Yes. I got a lot of time off, and when I HAD to work, Angie would take off and be with you.”

“Oh my god, how did you and Angie get that much time off? Oh god, I didn’t have any sick days. I have probably lost my job. Oh god, fucking shit, how am I going to pay for this hospital bill? And my car window? Shit. Oh god, what am I going to do?” I let out a cry.

“Well, I’d be a pretty shitty boss if I didn’t give the best friend of a hero time off to visit her, now wouldn’t I?” James came back into my room with Jonny, carrying a couple of brown bags. “And if your company fires you for getting almost beaten to death while protecting an Omega, you can come work for my company instead. Plus, as I said earlier, this is my hospital: I can treat heroes for free.” He gives me a little wink.

“Wait. I’m a little confused?” James is Martin’s boss? And owns the hospital? And is willing to help me out?

“Oh, let me fully introduce myself!” James sets the bags down on my bedside table and comes to shake my hand. “I am James Morton. I own this hospital, Morton’s Medications, and a couple of other businesses here in the city.

“After I got you to the hospital, I looked at your phone and saw that you had 15 missed calls from ‘Boo-Boo’, so I thought I should give them a ring. I was pretty surprised when one of my new star employees picked up,” James chuckles, looking at Martin. “I told him what happened and he came over immediately.

“I insisted that he took some paid time off to keep an eye on you, so he only came into the office when totally necessary.”

“Thank you again for that, James. I couldn’t stand the thought of her waking up without someone there.”

“It is my pleasure,” James winks. “And again, Jane, I own this hospital, so please do not worry about the bill.”

“Really?”

“Really,” James smiles at me. “And, even if your other job does the right thing and keeps you, I would really like for you to come work for me.”

“I don’t know what to say?”

“Please, say that you’ll do it?”

Why does James want me so badly? I look at Martin and he looks guilty. What did he say to James to make him want to hire me like this?

“It’s not even for a secretary position!” James pleads. “It’s for a Scientist position!”

“But, I only graduated high school. Wouldn’t I need a college degree to be able to have a Scientist position?”

“A week is a long time to spend with a person,” James looks at Martin. “Eventually secrets come out.”

“What secrets?” I look between the two of them.

“Well, Martin here told me that you practically have a degree in Biology with all the help that you gave him in school.”

“That’s a bit exaggerated,” I sigh. “I helped him, but not that much.”

“Oh? Then, you can’t tell me about G-protein receptors on cells?”

“I-”

“Or how certain molecules can block those receptors?”

“Well-”

“And that a very efficient blocker is the pheromone that Beta’s give off? Or that we can make the structure synthetically to make a scent blocker for Alphas and Omegas?”

“I swear I didn’t steal any information from him about your company,” I whimper.

“Jane, I know you didn’t, because it was your idea,” he smooths my hair, trying to calm me down. “Like I said: secrets come out. I didn’t even know that the structure of our new blocker was based on Beta pheromones until Martin told me that it was based off of a hunch you had. Plus, I am even more inclined to believe it after your actions that day: you knew to wrap us in your scent.”

“Yeah!” Jonny adds, rejoining our conversation. “I calmed down as soon as I was in your car. And Zach wouldn’t have known where I was if he hadn’t scented me so much.”

“And I can see it in your eyes that you have more ideas than just the scent blocker. So, please, come work for me? I can even get you into a college if you really want your degree.”

“Why would you be willing to do all that for me?” Tears leaking from my eyes.

“I can see your potential Jane,” even though I am not an Omega, James continues to gentle me. I have to admit, it feels really nice. “I don’t want that potential to go to waste just because of the caste you were born into.”

“I. Wow. I-”

“How about we get some food into you, then you can make your decision?” Jonny asks.

“Yeah, you haven’t eaten real food in forever,” Martin adds.

“Okay, food sounds good,” I nod.

We all sit in my hospital room, enjoying the food and company.