The Glow of Love and the Weight of Secrets

The sun was just beginning to rise as Jess stood at Ryan’s doorstep, feeling the warmth of his arms around her. She hadn’t planned on staying the night, but after everything they had talked about, neither of them had wanted to let go so soon.

Ryan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering just a moment longer than necessary. "So… last night wasn’t just a dream, right?"

Jess smirked. "Nope. It was real."

His hand slid down to hers, fingers lacing together. "Good. Because I really like waking up to you."

Jess felt a warmth bloom in her chest. She leaned up, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "I’ll see you later, okay?"

Ryan grinned. "Count on it."

Jess turned, feeling his gaze follow her as she walked away, and for once, she didn’t feel the weight of uncertainty. Just the quiet, thrilling hum of something real.

******************************************

When she walked into the apartment, Hannah was sprawled on the couch, flipping through a fashion magazine. She took one look at Jess and smirked. "Well, well, someone has the glow of a woman in love."

Jess rolled her eyes, dropping her bag by the door. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Hannah gasped in mock offense. "Oh, please. I know that look. That’s the ‘I just had the best night of my life and now I can’t stop thinking about him’ look."

Jess groaned. "I hate you."

"No, you don’t," Hannah teased. "So, details?"

Before Jess could respond, Kevin walked into the room, holding a protein bar and smirking like he had been listening in the whole time. "Wait, are we talking about Jess finally getting a boyfriend?"

Jess narrowed her eyes. "You guys are the worst."

Kevin took a bite of his bar and grinned. "Admit it. You’re all soft now."

"I am not soft!" Jess protested, but Hannah and Kevin just exchanged knowing glances.

Before the teasing could escalate, Leanna walked in, laptop in hand, looking far too serious. "Jess, we need to talk."

******************************************

Jess sat cross-legged on her bed as Leanna pulled up the files from the flash drive. A mess of encrypted data filled the screen, along with a few folders labeled with cryptic project names.

"So, here’s the deal," Leanna began. "Ryan and I have been working on this for weeks. The encryption was tough, but we finally cracked a few sections. Most of the files are still scrambled, but from what we can piece together… this wasn’t just some weird one-off experiment. It was part of something much bigger."

Jess frowned. "Bigger how?"

Leanna exhaled, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "From what I can tell, this was a government project. A black ops research initiative focused on genetic enhancement. Almost every document we’ve decrypted so far refers to something called “Project Prometheus."

Jess felt a chill crawl up her spine. "And the gender change? That was just—what? A side effect?"

"More like a proof of concept." Leanna clicked through more files. "They weren’t just trying to change people’s sex. They were testing genetic reprogramming—seeing if they could rewrite DNA at will. If they could do that, then modifying athletes, soldiers—hell, entire generations—was the next step."

Jess swallowed hard. "So… I was never the target. Just an experiment to see if it worked."

Leanna’s face softened. "Yeah. Pretty much."

Silence stretched between them. Jess stared at the screen, seeing the fragmented bits of text, the lines of data she didn’t fully understand. Project Prometheus. Her entire existence now tied to something she had never asked for.

Leanna hesitated before speaking again. "Is this what you pictured happening when you gave me the drink?"

Jess let out a dry laugh. "Not even close."

Leanna sighed. "Summer’s almost here. It’s been almost a year, Jess."

Jess nodded slowly. She could feel the weight of it now. A year since that party. A year since Jason Carter had vanished. A year since she had become Jess.

"If I asked you right now," Leanna said carefully, "if you wanted to be Jason again… what would you say?"

Jess didn’t answer right away. She thought about it—really thought about it. She thought about the life she had before, the person she used to be. And then she thought about Ryan. About Kevin and Hannah and Olivia. About the team. About the life she had built, not because she wanted to, but because she had to.

And yet…Jess exhaled. "I don’t know. I really don’t."

Leanna nodded, as if she had expected that. "Then I guess we keep looking for answers. Together."

Jess gave her a small smile. "Together."

And with that, they dove back into the mystery.