Betrayed Downstream
by The Lycanthrope
Chapter 17 — “Dr. Lincoln, Dr. Steiner, Dr. Lincoln”
Pacific Women’s Health Associates—El Cajon, California
“I must say that it’s unusual for me to have an appointment with a man, or at least a man who isn’t accompanying a sick woman, but I bet I know why you’re here first thing in the morning, Doctor Lincoln.”
I knew immediately that Lauren Steiner was an smart, thorough woman. She had the tall, slim body of a distance runner, medium-length light brown hair with a few grey hairs here and there, and deep blue eyes. She also had a sharp mind.
“I’ll bet you’re correct, Doctor Steiner. Out of curiosity, do you research everyone who makes a new appointment with you?”
“How did you know I looked you up?”
“I made the appointment as Ben Lincoln, with no mention of titles or degrees. You called me Dr. Lincoln, so you must have done some research to find out who I was.”
“You got me there. No, I don’t research all my new appointments. Your name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I looked you up with a cross-reference to the medical field and found that you were the one who designed the low-power x-ray machine over twenty years ago. That’s why your name rang a bell.
“Your machine helped me save the lives of quite a few mothers and babies. Right after I finished my residency I did a couple of years with Doctors International Relief, helping pregnant women and delivering babies in underprivileged areas of the world. And it wasn’t just my patients, either; that portable x-ray was a gift from heaven for all of us. It helped a lot of people and saved a lot of lives.”
“I’m glad it helped,” I replied honestly. “Since we’re betting, Dr. Steiner, I’ll bet that you didn’t just find me in the medical field. You said that you had an idea why I’m here alone, and that’s probably not something you found in medical references from over twenty years ago.”
“You don’t miss much, do you? Yes, I also found out who you are today, Dr. Lincoln.”
“Please, can you just call me Ben? The people who used to call me ‘Dr. Lincoln’ were usually self-important windbags or people who wanted me to give them something.”
“No problem, Ben, feel free to call me Lauren. I’ll do my best not to act like a giddy schoolgirl because the most eligible bachelor on the planet just asked me to call him by his first name.”
“The what?!?” I sputtered.
“It’s not an official title or anything like that, but you have to admit that it fits, Ben. You’re extremely intelligent, incredibly wealthy, and you can make babies. Don’t be surprised if the gossip vids start calling you the world’s most eligible bachelor, though.”
“What about Clifford Harrison? He’s the richest man alive. Hell, he might as well be the richest twenty men alive, for all his money. He can make babies, too.”
“Yes, but you’re much younger and better looking. And besides, he’s inaccessible. He spends all his time at private functions that cost more to cater than I make in a year. The movers and shakers of the world are all climbing over each other to try to get close enough to him that they can say his shadow touched them for a moment.
“I have no idea why you’re not doing the same, Ben, but you’re not. For some reason you’re here in San Diego, sitting in my office. Why are you in San Diego, sitting in my office, Ben?”
“Well,” I said, “there are several reasons…”
I’m a scientist; I try to optimize processes for maximum output and greatest efficiency. I got the scientific questions out of the way first.
Lauren told me that the sterilization epidemic had prompted frenzied research into all types of fertility enhancement. The research had shown that the unexplained spread of male sterility had been accompanied by an equally unexplained increase in female fertility. Of course the explanation for both was Harrison’s nano-proteins, but I didn’t tell Lauren that.
The increase in female fertility improved the success rates for artificial insemination to about 18%, but it still had required an average of three sperm samples to impregnate one of the lucky 18% of women who tried. The processing required to prepare the sperm samples added significant time overhead, too.
In vitro fertilization techniques had improved and the live birth rate for women who underwent IVF had risen to 31%. The time overhead for IVF was enormous, though, with the collection of eggs requiring weeks of work. Because of the improved success rate of in vitro fertilization, tens of thousands of women had gone through the onerous process of having their eggs harvested and those eggs had been fertilized using the sperm remaining in sperm banks and then the embryos had been frozen.
The plan had been to implant those embryos in the youngest women as far in the future as possible, with the hope that whatever was sterilizing men would have dissipated and humanity would have a chance at survival. It was a good plan, but they didn’t know that the eggs had already been genetically altered by the nano-protein and any male babies would have been born sterile.
“I donated my eggs,” said Lauren. “At the Future Hope center in Norway there are frozen embryos created from my eggs, along with all the other frozen embryos created from the eggs of all the other women who participated in the project. But all of that is moot now that you and the other men from that conference are here.”
I wondered for a moment if the frozen embryos were really a moot point or if some of them might contain nano-proteins that were frozen while they were still active. Would twenty years of background radiation have been enough to kill them? If they were thawed, would the nano-proteins be reactivated and sterilize the remaining male population for good? Lauren interrupted my thoughts.
“I can see how you’re thinking, Ben, but artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization are still far less efficient than plain old-fashioned sexual intercourse. Given the increase in female fertility, I think that normal sex would probably be at least twenty times better at producing lots of babies than any other method. If a man is up for it, he could impregnate multiple women in a day, which would skew the statistics even more toward intercourse as the best method.”
“I guess that brings us to the other reason I’m here, Lauren. In the interest of me preserving her privacy and you maintaining doctor-patient confidentiality, I’ll just say that a patient of yours is almost certainly pregnant and… well, actually it could be more than one patient, but I know of one for sure.”
I hadn’t asked Cheryl, Shelby, and Gina who their gynecologists were. It was possible that they went to Lauren or one of the other doctors at Pacific Women’s Health Associates.
“Anyway,” I continued, “based on what you told me earlier, it sounds like you’ve cared for pregnant women and delivered babies in the past?”
“Yes, I was an OB/GYN, back when obstetricians were something women needed. I guess the baby business is going to make a comeback.”
“I certainly hope so. You might need help, given the rush of pregnant women about to happen and the complete lack of obstetricians.”
“The other four doctors here were obstetricians, too. We’re all old-timers here. We like to get out the rocking chairs and talk about the good old days on Fridays.” Lauren smiled.
“You don’t look that old.”
“Well, I’m 48, Ben. I do try to stay in shape, though. Thank you for the complement.”
“I’ve still got you by three years, Lauren. I’m 51. I cheated twenty years off it in a time bubble, though. That’s how I stayed in shape.” She laughed.
“You know,” she said, “the increased fertility in women also extended the time a woman is fertile. Studies have shown that the average woman could theoretically get pregnant into her late 50’s or early 60’s. For a small percentage of women it could be even later. And the tendency for older mothers to have multiple births is still the same as it has been for decades. You might be able to improve your baby making efficiency by sticking to women over 35 years old.”
“That’s an idea. I may have to do that,” I half-joked.
“I hope I’m not too forward, Ben, but would you start with me?”
I sat silent for a few seconds, then looked around. It was a small office with the door we’d come through from hallway to the reception room and another door behind her desk. Both doors were closed. I hadn’t even thought about the effect that my scent would have on Lauren. It seemed that she’d wanted to have children in the past, since she’d gone through the ordeal of having her eggs harvested, so I didn’t think that I’d influenced her to want a baby. There was another important concern, though.
“Who is going to deliver the babies? Are the other doctors here good at it? If I get you pregnant, you’re probably going to be delivering about the same time as your patient. And there are a few other girls around here who are probably pregnant, too. They need good doctors to take care of them and deliver their babies.”
“They’re good, Ben. Nora is better than I ever was, and the others are good, too. I’m going to dig out my old books on obstetrics and refresh my memory and I’m going to ask Nora to help me out with that. We could do a complete refresher for all of the doctors here in three months. It would take a lot less time than that if we weren’t seeing patients, but we still need to see our patients. Give Nora and I another couple of months to work on it, and we can integrate in all the medical advances that have happened since we last delivered babies, too. In five months we’ll be the best place on the West Coast to have a baby, maybe the best in the country.”
I could see that she was enthusiastic about delivering babies again. That was fine by me. My main focus was making sure that my children and their mothers had competent medical help through pregnancy and delivery.
“Would you be delivering babies here at the clinic, Lauren?” She thought for a moment.
“We could do that for most of them, but complicated deliveries or emergency situations would go to the hospital. We’re all affiliated with the hospital and we have full privileges there, so that’s not a problem. And it’s only three kilometers away.”
“So it sounds like everything will be in place when the mothers of my children are ready to deliver. Good. In that case, Lauren, I’d be honored to be the father of your baby—or babies, I guess. Oh, and something else…”
I gave her my “I’m going to be as much of a father as I can” speech. She smiled and nodded.
“So I guess we just have to work out when we can get together. I’m going to be busy for the rest of the day and I’d imagine that you have patients to see.” Lauren looked at the clock on the wall.
“How about right now, Ben?”
“What about your next appointment?”
“It’s not for another fifteen minutes. There’s no time for romance, but we can make babies.”
“Um… where? Right on your desk?”
“No, come with me, Ben.” She opened the door behind her desk and led me into an examining room. I closed the door behind me as she went across the small room and locked the other door, which probably opened into the same hallway to the reception area.
She turned back and took off her white doctor’s coat, draping it over the chair by the door. She kicked off her shoes, then stopped and looked at me.
“OK, now I really do feel like a schoolgirl, hurrying and sneaking in here for sex.” She paused briefly, then pulled her top off over her head and tossed it on the chair, then unhooked her bra and slipped it off to reveal her small breasts.
“I know I should keep it on, but I want to be naked. Hurry, Ben!”
I stopped gawking and started undressing, trying to keep my clothes as neat as possible so that I could dress quickly later. By the time I was undressed, Lauren was on the examining table with her feet up in the stirrups. Her knees were pushed up toward her shoulders and her sex looked as exposed as a woman could be.
I stepped between the stirrup supports and then stopped and looked down at her. Lauren was an attractive, intelligent woman, not a baby making machine for my use. I leaned down and kissed her. She looked at me in surprise. I kissed her again and she kissed be back.
“Thank you, Ben.”
“Lauren, this is more than just making babies to me. You’re an attractive, intelligent woman and we’re doing something very special.” We kissed again, then I moved forward between her legs. The edge of the table blocked my movement just as we made contact. I looked down and figured out the best way to fix the problem immediately.
“Can you move down a little, Lauren?” She giggled.
“I say that to patients all the time,” she said as she wiggled herself lower on the table. I slid into her warmth and began thrusting, conscious of the fact that we were running out of time.
“Mmmmm,” she moaned quietly. “Damn, Ben, you’re right. It’s much more than just making a baby. It feels so nice. The only place we’re touching is where you’re inside me. It’s so… focused. All of the feelings are right there and only there.”
I began gently massaging her breasts.
“More feelings in other places, Lauren.” She moaned quiet approval. I picked up the pace on my thrusting and moved a hand down so that I could stroke her clitoris with my thumb. She gave me a look of wanton lust as she grabbed her knees with her hands and pulled her feet up out of the stirrups so she could hook them up over my shoulders. I couldn’t reach her clitoris any more, so I leaned down to kiss her, pushing her knees back to her shoulders.
“Ohhh,” she moaned. “Gee… gee… g-spot!”
I thrust harder and faster. Lauren’s eyes rolled up and her mouth opened. Quickly I covered it with mine, in case she had loud orgasms. She clutched me to her and whimpered quietly. Her contractions pushed me over the edge and I came deep inside her.
I wanted to stay inside her and do it again and again, but time was against us. We dressed quickly and went back into her office. Lauren got a small mirror out of her desk drawer and did her best to make sure that she looked presentable.
“How do I look, Ben?”
“You look like a lovely lady who has been busy making babies.” I smiled as she blushed. “You look fine, Lauren.” She walked around her desk and gave me a slow, romantic kiss as I held her close.
“I have a nice, cozy bed at home, Ben, and you have a permanent invitation to share it with me.”
“Thank you, Lauren. I’m going to try to take you up on that invitation, but I don’t know when. Now that we’ve… been together there are more things we should talk about.”
She stepped away from me and retrieved her mobile from her desk and handed it to me.
“Can you put yourself into my contact list?” I placed my thumb on the small biometric scanner pad on the back of the phone and had it store my contact information.
“I don’t have a mobile yet, but you can leave your information in a message and I can add it to my contact list when I get a mobile.”
“OK,” she said. We shared another quick kiss, then she opened her office door and I headed back down the hallway toward the reception area. The clock said that I’d overstayed my appointment by seven minutes. Doctors always run late anyway, right?