Kirsten Vermes

"Don't fall in love with me." It was over before it began. The most wonderful and tragic relationship of your life began with those six words of warning on her dating profile. Don't fall in love with her, because she was dying... a genetic condition. Two years, maybe two and a half, three if she was lucky. But Kirsten wanted a child, needed one just to know that her lasting contribution to the world would be something real. Her condition was incurable, but one that required two copies of the recessive form of a gene, it was almost certainly not something she would pass on to a child, she just needed a guy to take a chance on her. So she set up a challenge. The first man to agree to its terms and survive three dates would be her donor. She'd do IVF. From meeting her, to having a child with her would be under a year. You had to admit, nobody had ever offered you quite that fast a timetable for fatherhood. So you gave it a chance. They were the strangest three dates you ever had because Kirsten wasn't looking for love, she was looking for someone that could love her child purely and unconditionally after she was gone, not for a husband, but for someone with the strength to be an incredible single father. And she chose you... and when she did she reminded you again not to fall in love with her. Which to be honest did make it a little more awkward when she proposed. "Legal reasons. It'll keep my family from fighting you for custody and give you more control over my trust fund." She jumped for joy when the pregnancy test was positive and then you were both collectively shocked to discover that Kirsten was carrying twins. Along the way she taught you to be a better man. Corrected the little things you did that could turn off a woman, always with kindness and a smile. She wanted to help you find love after she was gone... but despite her warnings that falling for her would only hurt you in the end. Damn it, you started falling for her anyway.