They say time flies when you're having fun, when you're distracted, when you're focused on a task. They also say it drags when you want it to fly, when your task is too dull, too monotonous, when you're waiting. What they don't warn you about is how tragically, appallingly, horrifically slowly it oozes along, stopping every now and then to say hello to a passing second, when what you're waiting for could very easily change the course you had always expected your life to take.

Caroline paced back and forth. She couldn't help it; the nervous, anxious energy building up inside her needed an outlet, and she wasn't going to give into the urge to hurry the doctor along. No, if she did that, she might make a mistake, and then she'd have to go through all this all over again some time in the future.

The machinery buzzed and rattled under the watchful eye of Doctor Juliet Sands, M.D. and professor studying Infectious Diseases of the Blood. Beside the good doctor, a pair of mages employed by GrangerGuild also waited, equally eager for the results to the blood sample now being analysed. These three had embarked some months before on an area of research that had nothing to do with GrangerGuild business ....a revolutionary approach to the treatment and cure of chronic diseases of the blood and major organs in humans. The only reason they had been given the time and funding was because the CEO of GrangerGuild, currently chewing on her thumbnail and trying not to bounce off the walls with impatience, had a vested personal interest in their success.

So much of a personal interest, in fact, that she had offered herself up as their test victim - subject - when they had reached a point where they needed a human to practise on. She was, in many ways, the ideal test subject, too. Most humans, when they contracted Hepatitis C, were unaware of it until it either showed up as a marker in a blood sample, or they developed the symptoms extant with damage to their liver. That is, if they even noticed it at all - many of the known cases had simply cleared up on their own.

Caroline, however, was not one of those lucky ones. She had been battling with the symptoms of chronic Hep C for more than ten years now, constantly on medication, regularly being checked for any sign of advance in the damage to her body. Aside from this, though, she was a fit, healthy adult, fully capable of making the decision to be a part of this revolutionary idea for herself. Added to that she was the employer of two of the researchers, which gave them added incentive to get the treatment right.

The treatment itself had lasted thirteen weeks, consisting of one visit to the mages' laboratory a week and one visit to Dr. Sands. With the mages, Caroline had been checked over regularly by means of healing magics, to make certain that she had not developed anything new in the time between visits, before allowing herself to be put through the single most painful ordeal she could imagine. And for a woman who had once been a captive of Anubis Karos, this was saying quite a lot. Purging the blood by means of magic burned, and that burn travelled through her entire body, carrying by those purged blood cells for a good hour or more. She was inevitably left weak and weeping, and her lethargy lasted well into the week following. Four days later, she would vist the doctor, and her blood was tested, checked minutely for the evidence that her chronic disease was abating.

It had not been a fun experience for her. For the first two months, Caroline had been irritable, always tired, even too exhausted to attend the meetings she should have been present at. On top of that had come the news of Cian's accident and Frank's death, and she had very nearly packed the whole thing in, unable to cope with the physical trauma she was putting herself through as well as the emotional turmoil within her family. But then things seemed to have turned a corner - aside from the expected lethargy of the treatments, she felt herself to have more energy, more brightness than she might usually have been able to call upon. And the news in the family had changed for the better - Correy had a boyfriend who was apparently real, Jon was engaged to his rather cheeky redhead, Helena was spreading her wings, as was Gabrielle.

As the mood improved, so did Caroline's health, until finally the mages announced that they had done all they could do. Today's attempt at a purge had yielded nothing; no pain, no burning, no sign that any spell had been cast at all. At first, Caroline had worried, thinking that perhaps after so much hopeful progress the spell's efficacy had expired. But the young pair of magic users had assured her that this was a good thing - the fibers of magic within the spell sought out the contaminants in her blood. That she'd felt nothing meant there was nothing to be purged, and this was why she had then been hurried into the city to see Juliet Sands in a hurry.

She looked up suddenly as the machine rattled one last time and spat out a long list of results, the full analysis of her blood sample. The doctor's face was impossible to read as she checked the various percentages and points along the print-out, making notes in her open research book. Finally, the middle-aged woman turned to look at Caroline.

"Congratulations, Ms. Granger," she smiled quietly. "Your blood no longer even contains the predisposition toward a second infection."

Caroline felt herself freeze for a moment, drinking in this information as the mages whooped and clapped one another on the back. Not even a predisposition toward a second infection ....not only was she cured, but she had the same chances of catching the infection again as someone who had never come into contact with it. She let out one huff of amazed laughter, truly uncertain of how to react.

"Thank you," she managed to say, hearing her voice come as though from a long distance away. And finally the good news hit home. "Oh my gods, thank you! Thank you all so much!"

Whether they had been expecting it or not, both mages and the doctor were gathered into a sudden embrace, Caroline's laughter showing off her outpouring of deep gratitude to the people who had just taken away her one hugest fear for her future. Her future ....Her smile brightened even further. Now she could tell Richmond what had been going on; she could tell everyone who had worried about her. No one needed to worry about the future anymore.