There were many sounds that could have signaled this situation becoming far, far worse - but the one she had least expected to hear was that of movement outside.
As soon as she heard footsteps near the lab, Jennifer's movements took on a certain panicked quality. First priority, of course, was to ensure she was decent, at least as much as possible given her current predicament. The shirt she hastily threw back on simply wasn't designed to accomodate the current state of her chest, a fact not adied by the way that a little bit of residue quickly stuck to the inside, creating a pair of sticky damp spots. Her lab coat at least covered that issue, giving her some degree of modesty.
The steps were getting louder as she hurried to stuff away the beakers of honey, pushing them into a safe place. She hadn't even considered whether or not whoever was stomping about outside might have ill intentions - Jennifer's primary concern was ensuring that her current predicament wasn't discovered before she had a handle on things.
Her heart skipped a beat as she heard a pair of knuckles rapping on the door - but she was put at ease as the logical part of her brain kicked in, and realized that anyone who knocked likely wasn't here to cause harm or take anything. Her concerns were further eased when she heard a worried voice call out, "Doctor Xiao? Are you still here?"
She recognized the voice, and hurried over to the door, opening it partially so that she could speak face to face with the girl on the other side. It was, as she'd deduced, one of the less troublesome students in the biochemistry department. Madeline had been nothing but kind to Jennifer every time they'd spoken, routinely volunteering when the doctor needed help with her experiments, and even coming by regularly to ensure she didn't work into too terribly awful hours. The pretty young blonde pushed her glasses up her nose as she smiled at Xiao, but the concern remained in her tone. "Sorry, doctor, I didn't meant to interurpt, but... it's very, very late..."
"Uh... yes... I guess I got carried away." She reached up to rub her forehead, momentarily panicking with worry that some honey might be stuck to her hand. None on that one, but her anxiety was rather visible. "Thank you for coming to check on me. I'll... I'll be going home soon, I promise."
Madeline nodded, but didn't move to leave. "Can I help you with anything? I mean... I'm in no hurry, and I wouldn't want you working alone so late."
She bit her lip. Madeline lacked a degree, but she was a brilliant young woman - probably the best in whole department. She'd done a bit of work on the retrovirus, even. If there was anyone who might be able to help her reverse what was happening to her body, it was the girl before her. At the same time... what if she didn't believe Jennifer? Or worse, what if some other horrific change occurred, and she harmed someone who'd only ever been kind to her? Did she have any right to put Madeline at risk like that?