The tension that filled the immediate area was heavy. For Jeremy, it brought back many of the worries that had been there when Polly was born and found to have that genetic defect, practically at birth, and with their parents dying not too long after. He'd loved Polly to be well and didn't think it fair that a genetic disorder that he'd managed to avoid due to luck was likely to strike her down, or at least make her life difficult. The baseline treatments helped, but not by much, and Jeremy had gotten through college with his degree in science and his PhD in genetics, which in turn had been part of what got him his initial job with Horizon. From there, he did all he could to find some way to cure Polly and essentially provide for her a way that would let her live without needing a boatload of pills and shots just to avoid dying.
But his efforts only lead to Polly's initial transformation and his hopes to find a way to cure Polly of the more Animalian condition. It wasn't so much that he had anything against Animalians at the time, but he felt that his mistake had cost Polly her choices in whether or not she'd want to be an Animalian. Particularly as when he'd tested the cure on Polly, he didn't think things would go as far as they did. Of course, then he'd gotten caught up in helping Heather who had guessed at his efforts to help his younger sister. The end result was that he'd nearly lost his job and suffered some disciplinary action from Horizon, spent a little time in jail while the legal issues with Heather were sorted out and lost custody of Polly in the process. Things did get better, and he was lucky to see things get better, but by that time, he had no legal control over Polly. The Whites had treated her well, and Jeremy was glad for that.
But this revelation from the pediatrician at Horizon Light caught Jeremy by surprise. To some extent, it wasn't an impossible consequence, though not the one that Jeremy expected. He'd expected that the problem that Polly might face in the future was that she would develop to being about the same size as the Elephant Animalians as part of growing up and would truly outsize the other Polar Bear Animalians. But then, since becoming a Syntixisaurus Dinotopian and moving to Dino City, he hadn't been able to be there for checkups. In this the medical labs at Horizon Light likely knew more than Jeremy did, and based off of what they presented to the doctors that were there to look after Polly, that only brought old guilt issues back.
"Jeremy..." Polly said slowly, watching her older brother look down. She also noted that Heather also noticed this and put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder and rubbed it gently.
"I'm sorry, Polly," Jeremy said slowly, "I'd tried to find a way to heal you... and now... my errors have only created other problems."
Polly found herself pulled into a strong hug and then feeling Jeremy's scaled muzzle nuzzling the side of her head. She could remember after her initial transformation and while Jeremy was still Human. Back then, she tried to show that she was fine with what had happened by providing all the "bear hugs" she could. For she did love her brother and felt that a lot of his efforts did have her best interests in mind. Of course, back then, Polly also had to be very careful as while she'd had a child's mind and mentality, she was pretty close to the adult Polar Bear Animalians in height and strength. Now with Jeremy as a Dinotopian, even with her larger size when compared to a Human, Jeremy was still bigger. The familial love was still there. She loved her brother dearly and was happy to see that things with Heather had shaped out well, she also liked playing with Mason and Anna-Polly when she visited Jeremy in Dino City.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Polly insisted, "you did what you thought would help me get better, and I'd bet you also felt you were protecting my choice for the future."
Jeremy nodded, "I could have been smarter though. Realized the complicated work that would come along working with the Animalia Virus and how difficult it could be to simply splice in an organ or enzyme producer from one animal into another without totally changing the recipient in its entirety. I shouldn't have rushed things... and now... if nothing is done, you're looking at a host of other problems."
“Did you expect these problems?” Polly asked him, her voice relatively firm and trying to mask her own uneasiness with the report that she could be looking at developing a series of other problems.
"No... at first, I figured that everything would align properly and that the serum I gave you would provide just enough to cure you and you could then make any decision regarding Animalia from a position of health and as an adult," Jeremy commented, "and while it did help me correct certain things as Animalia progressed, such as giving Fish Animalians that normally don't have lungs... lungs, using lungfish DNA, and helping the female Moray Eel Animalian be able to stand with the addition of snake DNA... your initial transformation wasn't what I was going for and I didn't expect it. And seeing you change... that only made me feel like I took your choices away."
"I like being a Polar Bear Animalian," Polly told him, "You don't need to feel guilty for that... Nice and fuzzy... and you did cure me of the issue I had before."
"Yes," Jeremy nodded and continued to hold Polly, "and I am grateful for that. That doesn't mean that there haven't been further complications... and complications I didn't expect. Given how much you grew, I expected that by now... the most likely consequence that you'd get a bit burst of grown and you'd be a Polar Bear Animalian on about the same size as the Elephant Animalians... or maybe comparable to Heather and me at the absolute largest size."
"And if her pituitary gland kicked in, that might be a realistic expectation," the pediatrician commented as he looked between Polly and Heather, "but as per the medical guidelines that Horizon demanded be there as part of your sister's treatment, that doesn't seem likely. I'm no geneticist, and I had to talk with the lab's scientists and they even had to consult with Doctor Stein at Horizon to get what I've provided... but their answer would seem as though your initial treatment for Polly's condition, while it worked as a conversion in a different way, because of the alterations to it, it's also different from normal conversions."
"Yes, a normal Animalian conversion, regardless of species, sees many cells restored to a point of peak health," Jeremy nodded, "so even if the process of transformation burns through things like the pituitary gland, because it is "reborn" in the process, it's essentially reset. It's in part how these conversions can essentially reverse the effects of aging in many that have become Animalian, and Doctor Stein and I have theorized that it may also explain on how it can also accelerate the aging if the Animalian providing the sample is older than the one converting. The cells are strengthened and brought to that position as they're reborn."
The pediatrician nodded, "and that's where the tinkering you did with the Animalia Virus to try and impart only one gene worked. For, that part did work as a normal conversion would. The specific glands and organs that would be needed to cure the metabolic disease Polly had were reborn and functioned normally. But while the Polar Bear DNA would transfer over to all the other cells, leading to her transformation, the rest of the tinkering didn't carry over and hyper accelerated the pituitary gland, which resulted in Polly's larger size than what would be expected from a single dosed Animalian at her age."
"And a second dose would essentially solve that issue?" Polly asked.
"Yes, as it would be a second dose," the pediatrician nodded, "from what Doctor Stein commented... you'd likely be a bit bigger than the average Polar Bear Animalian, but the standard conversion would keep you in proportion to other Polar Bear Animalians while also solving the other issues that are there as a result of the... imperfect nature of your first dose."
It was at this point that Jeremy was able to step back, while Heather rubbed his right shoulder. Polly then looked to Greg and Mari White and to Marcy and Chilly. To a degree, the idea on getting a second dose wasn't a bad one, and it wouldn't necessarily mean that she wouldn't have to miss high school. Some double dosed Animalians didn't, but many of them were either uplifted animals who got the chance to test out of school, as Judy had done in Lyre/Animalia or were home schooled because of other circumstances. Polly knew that Marcy had been double dosed and went through high school and that Chilly followed her, even though he didn't need to. That was something that she knew she could do.
"Though that decision is up to you," Heather spoke, "a part of Jeremy might be a bit... saddened by a yes. But I'd assume a lot of that is sentiment. He remembers when you were little."
"He'd hopefully will have matured enough by now to accept your decision," Mari spoke with enough threat in her voice to make it clear that Dinotopian or not, Jeremy wouldn't intimidate the White family's matriarch.
Jeremy nodded.
"What about my friends at school?" Polly wondered, "most of those that are Animalians are all single dosed Animalians... and my best friend is Human."
Jeremy blinked at stories that Polly had sent emails, letters, and made calls about mentioning a Human girl that she made friends with at WSA while at the elementary grades. To Jeremy's shame, he couldn't remember her name, but he knew that this friend Human friend was pretty close to Polly.
"Well... particularly here in Lyre/Animalia," Jeremy began, "just about everyone has some understanding on what happens with conversions. In fact, there are a fair number of Animalians that went through WSA that are like Marcy. They were double dosed in the initial outbreak on the Brown Farm and the adjoining ranches or the secondary outbreak that happened when the water in the city's drinking water had the Animalia Virus."
"That's when I was uplifted... and found love with Marcy," Chilly said slowly.
"So... she would understand?" Polly wondered.
"I would think your friend COULD understand," Jeremy answered, "particularly if you'd be able to explain the reason for a second dose... namely the present complications."
"What about me?" Polly asked, "would I... go crazy?"
"I wouldn't think so," Jeremy said slowly, "I've been big on science and have shared with you a lot of information on things I've studied and found... and you've been a Polar Bear Animalian for quite a while now. You're probably used to a lot of the inherent instincts that come with the species. And even if that wasn't the case, I'm sure the Whites have given you some discussion on what certain instincts would be... that relate to the Polar Bear's drive as a hunter and preference for seals and sealions."
"It was mostly fish or very lean beef in the zoo," Chilly commented.
"And that would all be part of why it may be best to have your second dose administered over the summer," the pediatrician advised, "even if you're unprepared for an adult Polar Bear's instincts, the Whites... or the Greens would be able to advise you through things."
"And we could either come up here, or you could come down to Dino City with us," Heather offered, "it's hot down there in Texas... but Dino City hasn't been as bad... and the indoor pool at the Dino Dome can be fairly cool. You could race Regina."
"Who?" Greg White asked.
"And old... and former girlfriend of mine," Jeremy commented, "who is a Spinosaurus Dinotopian. She has made friends with Heather though... and the two of them work out every few days."
Polly blinked and shrugged at that, "and what about... well... some of the... nighttime stuff? Would that...?"
If Marcy and Chilly, and her parents could blush through their fur, they would.
"Given that a second dose would likely be administered from an adult," Jeremy said slowly, "yes... you would gain an adult Animalian's high libido. Though, that may end up being there anyway. And that'd be something that would happen regardless of whether you get the shot."
"Shoot, to a great extent, a person's sex drive actually gets started WITH puberty," Heather commented, "there are all this articles about teen moms and sex scandals and all that... Shoot, the dunce representing a district in Colorado's son is only seventeen and will be a parent soon."
"I'm not a dunce," Polly protested.
"She wasn't referring to you," Mari White commented, "but there is a good point there... if you're nervous about things related to sex... a lot of those drives would be there regardless of whether or not you get the second dose."
"And, just as with the animal instincts, you'd also have the summer to get control over your libido as well," the pediatrician spoke, "and that could be tough... but given that you are young, I wouldn't think you'd have things go beyond the Animalian norm."
"And what about these other things... arthritis... weak bones...?" Polly asked.
"As I said before, those threats don't seem to be there now," the pediatrician spoke, "and assuming you stay healthy, it could still be quite a while before those issues truly become serious. But the longer that you wait, the odds of those complications becoming obvious would increase. Which would then be akin to gambling on things going the "right" way. If it works out for four years, great... but if not, you could then into an issue where you may need the second dose and won't have the benefit of the summer to adapt to the changes that go with it."
"I see," Polly nodded and then looked over to Jeremy, "you wouldn't mind?"
"I can accept it," Jeremy said slowly, "a part of me wouldn't want it... but that's also the part of me that will forever see you as my baby sister. I'll probably be worse when mine and Heather's hatchlings grow up... But if that's your choice, I can accept it. I could even work the paperwork to see that things are sped up. We'd need to go to the main Horizon offices and if Marci or her mother could volunteer to provide some un-vaccinated milk, you'd get your second dose and would be fine."
"Then," Polly said slowly, "I can go with that... to avoid health problems and have the time to not be a danger to my friends."
"You won't be a danger," Marci assured her.