“Not a possibility”.

Carmen laughed heartily.

“I suppose you know that a woman’s threshold of pain…”, she mumbled, stinging her fingertip with a needle and letting a drop of blood fall on the microscope’s slide, “…is quite high… Anyway. Take a look at that”.

She stepped back, letting Shane leaning forward the microscope.

Shane squinted, her eyes gradually adapting at the white light that was blinding her.

“That’s bright”, she murmured.

“That’s me…”, Carmen said, softly, “…All those cells. That’s all you are. That, and all the space in between….”.

Shane got up and stared at her.

“If this is all you are… these cells… then when they die, that’s the end”.

Carmen shrugged, in a slight discomfort.

“I don’t know. I think so”.

“How do you explain it?”, she asked, calmly.

“What?”.

“The enduring myth of Heaven”, Shane smiled.

Carmen sighed.

“I used to think that I had it all figured out…”.

“But you didn’t?”.

“No”, Carmen watched Shane straight in the eyes, “Because something happened in my O.R. and I got… this jolt. I got this feeling that there’s something… bigger out there. Something bigger than me, bigger than you, and it…”.

She stopped, frowning.

“Does that sound crazy?”.

Shane smiled sweetly.

“No”.

Carmen raked her fingers through her hair.

“I couldn’t fix him. I did everything right… and I couldn’t fix him. That’s not supposed to happen. And I…”.

“You cried”, Shane interrupted her, her voice a murmur.

“Yeah…”, Carmen sighed.

“Why do people cry?”, Shane asked, without breaking eye-contact.

“What do you mean?”, Carmen whispered, unable to look away.

“I mean, what happens physically?”.

Carmen cleared her throat and swallowed.

“…Well… Tear ducts operate on a normal basis to lubricate and protect the eye. When you have an emotion, they overact and create tears”.

“Why? Why do they overact?”. Shane’s voice low, husky, reassuring.

“I…I don’t know…”, Carmen admitted in a bittersweet chuckle, “…Maybe the emotion becomes so intense… and your body just can’t contain it. Your mind and your feelings become to powerful. Your body weeps….”.

Right there, Carmen’s pager buzzed and they both snapped out of their reverie. Carmen unhooked the pager from her belt and frowned.

“It’s Mr. Bizzarri. An emergency. I have to go”.

Shane didn’t reply, and didn’t follow when Carmen started to walk away.