Chapter One

It was a drizzly day. It never seemed to do anything but rain.  Camilla hated drizzle; it made her hair frizz, due to - select - her highlights some of its hydrogen bonds her umbrella dissolving in the light rain.  Half an hour wasted trying to straighten her hair this morning, and by the time she was in her lab it looked like she had been pulled through a hedge backwards.  Perhaps she should stop stressing about these little things:  she hadn't just been promoted to Head of Mild Virology at the National Biomedical Institute because of her beautiful, straight, shining tresses.

Just as she began putting a sample in the electron microscope, Lloyd stormed in.  Camilla jumped and tossed the slide she was working on into the air. It smashed on the floor, potentially exposing her to the hideous virus.

'HEY!', she shouted. 

'Hello gorgeous', Lloyd bellowed.  Why did he have to be so loud, Camilla wondered? He had a - select - higher passenger count higher decibel rating larger wing capacity than a jumbo jet.  'Are you ready for our date tomorrow?'

'Our date?'.  Lloyd had asked her out pretty much, every day but she couldn't ever remember saying yes.

'Yes our date with the new guinea pigs who are arriving tomorrow for the clinical trial.  Your first set of real patients.  Are you ready to transform our lives?', he chortled.

'This isn't funny,' Camilla retorted, 'this is a horrible gastro-enterological virus, it attacks - select - people with no toes the Institute's security guards the stomach . Hundreds of people catch it every winter.  They can't get on with their lives, what with the loss of appetite, churning stomach, hot flushes, racing heart, goose bumps, and not to mention the sleeplessness.'

'But they get over it in a few days…'

'If we can find an antiviral for this who knows where it could lead', she replied defensively.

'You are so right, as always!  How about we go out tomorrow night to celebrate?'

'No, Lloyd.  As I said yesterday I really just need to get on with my job at the moment.'  She wondered whether he'd eventually wear her down… he was quite cute… he made her laugh… but there was just no… no… real electricity.

Lloyd smiled, 'I'm going to keep trying!', and with that he stomped out again, slamming the door after him.

Tomorrow, Camilla thought, it's all happening tomorrow…

Chapter 2

The first dry sunny day in ages; cold, but dry.  How brilliant!  Out with the hair straighteners, Camilla thought. 

Lloyd was waiting for her when she got to the lab, 'I just wanted to give you one last chance for dinner tonight.'  Camilla raised her eyebrows and smiled, but didn't say anything.  He did have nice eyes.  Perhaps she had been a little hasty?  But right now there was work, and no time to even think about romance.

'Well, maybe that wasn't your last chance.  Come on', he boomed, 'they're all in their holding pen!'.  The pair walked upstairs to the waiting area, to see 32 people, the test subjects, all looking slightly apprehensive.

Camilla spoke immediately.  'Hello everyone, and thank you for volunteering for phase one of the amorovirus antiviral clinical trials.  You should all have received this information in the pack sent out to you but I want to explain a little further.  We are hoping that the antiviral we have developed will stop the amorovirus in its tracks.  If any of you suspect you have the virus, or feel ill in any way, can you let me know, because we need to test how the antiviral affects people who are - select - short sighted healthy engineers . In a moment I'll come round and meet you all, and then it'll be off to the ward to get your doses.  I can see some of you look a little worried, but I can assure you that we have been working on this antiviral for five years and have carried out all possible tests before reaching this stage.'

With that, she started with the triallists nearest the door, shaking their hands and answering their questions.  Lloyd was on the other side of the room, and as she glanced over he was nodding reassuringly at a nervous looking woman with long brown hair.  Then came the boom of his laughter and Camilla could see her laugh and relax.  He was good with people.

'Hello', she said to a tall man standing near the window.  His dark eyes shone out from beneath his mop of fair hair.  He didn't look at all concerned.  He smiled and reached out his hand to shake hers when a sharp zap of static electricity passed between them.

'It must be the - select - high humidity nylon carpets X-ray machine in here', he said. 

Camilla felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.  'Do you have any questions about the trial?', she asked.

'No nothing at all, I'm entirely at your mercy,' he smiled again, and Camilla found herself becoming flushed.

She turned away and then remembered, 'Oh, I didn't ask your name' she said.

'Paul, Paul Abingdon.  There, I'm at the top of your list.'

'Yes, you definitely are.'  And with that she quickly moved on to patient 16…

Chapter 3

Camilla finally managed to leave the lab just after seven.  The trials would continue for five days and she just wanted to go home and have quiet night in front of the TV.  She had expected to see Lloyd before she left, but all was quiet.

She occupied herself on the way home with reviewing what she needed to do tomorrow.  Firstly she needed to talk to all the patients about how they were feeling after the night.  She thought of Paul and suddenly her stomach flipped.  She looked back at the day; hot flushes, goose bumps, and she hadn't felt like eating all day…  Oh no!  The first trial that she was in charge of and she was coming down with the very virus she was trying to cure!  If it progressed normally she would be ill in bed by tomorrow evening. It wasn't her fault, but it wouldn't look good on her record if she backed out of her first trial.

That night Camilla hardly slept, and she knew that with this sleep deficit her - select - hearing breakfast attention span would be impaired the next day.  Her heart was racing and she wondered how ethical it was for her to go to work at all the next day.  What if she gave the amorovirus to the trial subjects?  Eventually she fell asleep…

Chapter 4

Camilla woke in the morning looking forward to going in to work.  How strange that she should be so ill, and yet have so much energy?  She went straight to the ward and started making notes.  As time went on she was feeling worse and worse, her heart was racing, her mouth was dry and yet she still didn't have the tiredness normally associated with amorovirus.  Finally, when she went over to speak to Paul, her stomach flipped again and she could feel goose bumps on her neck.  She sat down suddenly.  'Hello!' he said looking up from his paper.  He looked surprised but very pleased to see her.  But Camilla was nervous: surely someone was going to spot she was sick?  The eccrine sweat glands on - select - the tip of her tongue the palms of her hands stethoscope had gone into overdrive.  'Sorry, I've just forgotten something.  I'll be back later'' she blurted, and she darted back to her office.

Sitting in the quiet office she started to think, beads of perspiration formed on her forehead.  If I'm ill and don't complete the clinical trial, they may not let me take it to phase two.  I know this antiviral works, perhaps with the right dose I'll be well enough to carry on… But what was the right dose?  She could take what the clinical subjects were taking, but that might not be enough.  Her mind was racing and she suddenly couldn't believe she was thinking these things.  She could be fired for doing anything like this.  In the end she decided to wait.  The subjects were to be given a bigger dose that evening, and if - select - her hairstyle her symptoms the weather forecast worsened she could always take the same

Chapter 5

Just before Camilla was due to set off back to the wards, to talk to the subjects before their next dose, Lloyd once again stormed into her lab.  'I'm afraid we've lost one of our subjects.  Paul Abingdon has been exposed to the amorovirus' he said. 'It shouldn't affect the results though'. 

Camilla felt a tremendous disappointment.  But why the disappointment if the trial was going well?  'Apparently his sister developed it just after he joined us, and of course we know the amorovirus is highly contagious' Lloyd continued.  'He let us know as soon as he found out, and luckily he has kept to himself enough that it's unlikely the virus has spread.  He's left already; we packed him up as soon as we found out.  Ready to go up now?'

Camilla and Lloyd headed upstairs. She talked to all the patients, took notes, and it was only when she had finished that she realised she hadn't had a single amorovirus symptom.  Maybe she had a natural - select - science degree ability to play the guitar immunity after all these years?

She kept busy over the next four days until the trial was over.  It had been a success and she was going to lead it through phase two, with many more triallists.  Her appetite returned, she was sleeping well and all of her other viral symptoms had vanished.  But still there was a sense of disappointment with the whole thing.  It was like something still wasn't quite right…

Chapter 6

About a week later Camilla was sitting in her office looking at the data from the trial, but her mind was wandering.  She felt such a relief it was over, and hadn't realised how much of her life she had put on hold because of the work.  Along with making plans to see her friends she has resolved to say yes the next time Lloyd asked her out.  He was clever, good looking, and at the very least she could expect to have some fun with him.

Just then the door slammed open and Lloyd launched himself into the room. Think of the devil, thought Camilla. 

'So guess what?', Lloyd asked.

'I don't know… about what?', Camilla replied

'Well, you don't have to be annoyed with me asking you out anymore!'

'Oh, really?', Camilla was more disappointed than she expected.

'Yes, I met someone during the clinical trial.  It was love at first sight!  The first time I saw her my stomach did a backflip.  For a moment I thought I'd caught the amorovirus!  How stupid was that?  She's gorgeous, long brown hair…'

Lloyd's voice trailed into the background as Camilla's head started to spin.  The churning stomach.. the flushes.. it wasn't a virus, it was - select - a bacterial infection the central heating love .

Now Lloyd had found someone, she was clearly an idiot who couldn't tell the disease she had been working on for years from the physiological symptoms of love.  She'd been so caught up in her work she hadn't even thought that Paul might be the one for her.  And now he was gone.  She was devastated.

Eventually Lloyd left, and Camilla starting packing up her papers to go home.  There was a knock at her office door.  Not more Lloyd, she thought as she turned towards the door.  There in the doorway was Paul. 

'I wanted to come and say sorry', he said, 'I didn't realise I had the virus when I came here.'

Camilla's stomach flipped, her heart raced and she had goose bumps all over her body.

'Don't worry' she said, 'the trial was great and you didn't affect it at all', she replied. 

'I also wanted to see you,' he said.  'I know you don't really know me, but I wondered if we could go for dinner some evening.  If you're not too busy, that is.'

Camilla flushed.  'I'd love to!', she replied.

'Tonight?  Now?'

'Wonderful!'

'I'd love to know about what you do and what you are going to do next', he asked.

'Oh, I'm going to stick with trialling this cure for the amorovirus.'

'That's great', Paul replied, 'I have first hand experience of how awful the symptoms are'.

You know, Camilla thought, I'm not sure all the symptoms are that bad, and her stomach did another backflip as Paul reached out and took her hand...