A Wish the Heart Makes: Fornever in Blue Genes

by Tigger

Chapter 11: Inspiration from Perspiration

Mandy was determined.  Cat had to give her that, but just the
same, it was fairly obvious that muscle stiffness and pain
were slowing her down.  *Well,* she'd chuckled to herself,
*yesterday had been a fairly rough introduction to the martial
arts, even for someone whose body is supposedly as perfect as
human hands could make it.*  Cat had gone to the nurse on duty
and asked her to monitor more closely for anything resembling
muscle damaging distress, and then had switched the program to
one of low impact aerobics.

After ninety minutes of hard sweating activity, Cat had almost
been ready to call a halt.  She hadn't because, just as she'd
been about to order a break, Mandy had noticeably loosened up
and gone into the "zone".  Only she had not come out of it yet
- not after another ninety minutes of heavily aerobic
exercise.  Her eyes retained that distant look in them that
Cat had initially thought was an endorphin high.  

Now she was not so sure.

"Okay," she called out, jarring Mandy's attention to her with
the sharpness of the command.  "Just one more set and then we
start our cooldown."

Whatever reaction Cat had expected from that command, what she
got wasn't it.  Mandy just stopped and stared at Cat, her eyes
wide in shock.  "Just one more . . . " she said wonderingly. 
"What if . . . what if it *was* just one more?"

Mandy started to move toward the table where her datapad lay,
only to be stopped by Cat grabbing her arm.  "I said we were
going to cooldown, Mandy."

"But, I need to check something on the computer!" she wailed,
practically stamping her foot in frustration as she pulled
against the iron grip on her bicep.

"Since I want to sleep tonight, you will do a proper cooldown
so you don't go into rigor mortis.  I don't want to listen to
you groaning all night because your muscles are all locked up. 
Now, follow my lead and cooldown.  That datapad is not going
anywhere and neither are you until you finish this exercise
session properly."

As powerful as she was, Cat was stronger.  With a mutinous
look on her face, Mandy began to follow the exercise regimen
Cat set.  Then, the sheer pleasure of moving her new body took
her, and she began enjoying the freedom and exhilaration of
the dance-like exercises.  She was glowingly happy when Cat
finally called a stop.  "Now, you can go play with your toys,
dear," she said patronizingly, "if you can stand the smell of
yourself.  One thing is for sure, honey.  You do not glow, you
sweat!"

An impish grin answered Cat's jibe as Mandy headed for her
personal quarters.  "Yeah, ain't it great?" 

Once again, Cat's mouth went dry as she watched the sweat
slick body in the tight exercise sheath strut into Mandy's
bedroom.  Hunger curled in Cat's guts and her hands clawed
into fists that pressed her nails painfully into her palms. 
How in the name of all that was holy was she going to keep
herself from taking what Mandy did not realize she was
offering?