Run, Girl (If You Can)

October 2039

Keeley was lying on the couch boredly scrolling through her phone with her head in Aaron's lap after they both got home from work. It was far too quiet around here now that the kids were grown.

Violet and Nathan still lived at home because they were based in New York but they hardly ever spent any time here anymore. She was a ballerina with the New York City ballet and only worked about 30 hours a week but most of that was in the evenings. She was typically at home when her parents were at work.

Nathan had barely started culinary school but between that and hanging out with his newfound friends he was always out. Oliver was pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at MIT. Kaleb had been drafted by the Detroit Tigers baseball team and was wrapping up his first season with them.

Sometimes Keeley marveled that she had managed to produce such outstanding children in each of their fields. All she cared about was that they pursued their dreams but they were all really good at them to boot. Honestly, her expectations had completely gone out the window.

Who else could say they had one kid in Major League Baseball and another in a famous ballet company? Her father would have been so proud.

"Life has gotten really boring, Aaron," Keeley complained.

He raised his eyebrow at her. "You actually miss the days we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to take care of four kids?"

She sighed. "Sometimes. I wish something interesting would happen."

"Speak for yourself. Jeremy is running me ragged by wanting to go above and beyond his personal assistant duties. His ideas are brilliant but they'll take a lot of time and effort to implement."

Keeley wanted to roll her eyes. Boohoo, he got to deal with new challenges courtesy of his mini me. She would kill for something new and fun to do like that.

She heard about Jeremy all the time even though she had only met the man once. He seemed a lot less intelligent than he actually was at first glance. Probably because he had a baby face. So did Aiden but he was a computer genius. Looks could be deceiving.

Aaron had his handful of slumps over the years but working together with Aiden and Jeremy at different points in time had helped him get out of them. That was the problem with living so many years over twice. You had to shake things up to keep them interesting.

Keeley didn't have that particular problem but she was bummed now that her research had officially been approved by the FDA back in January. Other researchers had already started using her method to create therapies for other genetic diseases like hemophilia because she had figured out how to get rid of the major side effects.

Obviously she was thrilled that she had developed a real, almost-cure treatment for cystic fibrosis like she always wanted. But what was she supposed to do now? Her goal had been met and she didn't have a new one.

Curing cystic fibrosis had been her goal for two lifetimes. Now that she had achieved it she felt empty, especially since she was dealing with being a (mostly) empty nester at the same time.

None of her kids were going to give her grandchildren any time soon either; they were too busy. Kaleb was the only one who even had a girlfriend right now.

"If you're so bored why don't you check every app on your phone for the millionth time," Aaron suggested dryly.

Keeley stuck her tongue out at him. That was exactly what she had been doing already and he knew it.

She refreshed her email app yet again, expecting nothing as usual, when she saw there was a new message from a name she didn't recognize. When she opened it and read the first line she shot up immediately, nearly whacking Aaron's head with hers in the process.

"No way!" she shrieked.

"What is it?" he asked in alarm. That tone did not sound good.

"I got nominated for the freaking Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, that's what!"

Keeley shoved her phone in his face in an effort to make him see it faster. He took it from her and examined it closely, reading the entire email instead of simply the first line.

Aaron glanced up at her and laughed. "I think you got your 'something interesting' happening after all. Look how much stuff you have to do in order to make it in as a serious contender."

Seizing the phone back, Keeley read the entire email. He was right. There were a ton of forms she needed to fill out regarding her research.

They nominated her because she had been the first person to make gene therapy readily accessible and not dangerous. She had opened a door to a whole bunch of other possibilities for people to use it. Genetic diseases wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem once more people used her method to develop treatments.

The selection process took about a year so whoever did win it wouldn't get the announcement until the following October. The deadline to turn in the paperwork was January 31st and they would send in experts to evaluate the research over the following months before making a final decision.

Honestly, this whole thing seemed like a dream. A crazy, unrealistic dream. She would wake up back in the bedroom she had in grad school on top of a pile of genetics textbooks.

Suddenly Keeley recalled how she and Erica used to joke about being rockstars in the field of genetics. Even being nominated for such a huge, important prize qualified her as a genetics rockstar.

"I have so much to do," she said faintly, lying back down on her husband's lap in a state of shock.

Aaron hummed in agreement as he lovingly brushed her hair off of her forehead. "You can do it though. You're the most amazing person I know. I'm proud of you, Keeley. You worked really hard for this."

She couldn't deny that she had poured her life and soul into her research on and off over the past two decades. But she never would have imagined it would lead to a Nobel Prize nomination!