"I'm sorry, but the serum I gave you was the last sample, and all data on it was destroyed in the lab's hard-drive crash a month ago. I kept it in case I wanted to try to try and recreate it or improve on it."
"So, there's no hope?"
Cleo was silent for a few seconds as she looked at Janine. "Not necessarily. You do remember me saying I transformed during the full moon?"
"Yeah, like a werewolf."
"More like one than you know. In my mermaid form, I can... transfer my curse to others; it was how I got this condition in the first place. If you truly wish to become a mermaid again, visit me at my penthouse on the next full moon."
"Then, you'll bite me, and I'll become a were-mermaid, too?"
"Well, not unless you like biting during... um... sex." Janine's eyes grew wide. "Yeah, that's how our curse is transferred."
"Okay... I suppose I can go there once if it means becoming a mermaid again."
"It may not be once, either. After I was cursed, I started losing interest in men, altogether; and who knows if or how the curse will affect your boyfriend."
"Oh, wow; I had no idea there's be such a risk."
"You don't have to answer right away." Cleo wrote her address and apartment number on a piece of paper, as well as information to give to the front desk when she gets there, and gives it to Janine. "You keep that, and I'll be waiting with your answer."
Janine takes the paper and exits the office. Driving home she wonders if she should even tell Tim about Cleo's proposal.