Like Brenda, he tossed and turned in his bed for hours. He felt like he was close to a complete nervous breakdown, torn between hope and excitement on...one hand, and fear on the other. He was wracked by both fear of the unknown, and fear of not measuring up to Alan. But eventually, like his mother, he fell asleep several hours before sunrise through sheer emotional and physical exhaustion.When he woke up, he looked at the clock beside his bed and was surprised to discover that it was already. The goal for this virus they were creating was to return things to normal, of course. But it wasn’t clear they could do that. Some of what Kevin and Megan had done with their respective viruses was hard to undo. Sometimes it would be a matter of not returning to the old ways but to other new ways that were at least better than the horror that Kevin and Megan had unleashed.In Jim’s secret toolkit were several options for various aspects of how the new sexuality could work. He could of course. After a moment she did, looking up to me and hissing, “Cut it out, Jonathan! Not here!” I gave her an innocent look and said, “What, you mean this?” as I began insinuating my fingers under the elastic waistband of her shorts again. She quickly pushed my arm away from her, her expression becoming thunderous. “Stop it!” she whispered harshly, her eyes boring into mine. I held her gaze and grinned as we continued to dance. “Why? Are you afraid someone will find out that you’re...” I leaned forward. "Look," I said, "I'm sorry about what happened before. I don't know what gets into me sometimes." I know what gets into you, Sam. Too much coke and too much booze." You're right, baby. I'm going to cut back ... starting now."She gave me a mournful look. "Oh, Sam, could you?" For you, baby, anything." I diverted my eyes from hers and plopped them back on the road.She unfastened her seatbelt and slid closer to me on the bench seat. I draped my arm around her, and she leaned her head on my.