"How are you feeling in there, love?" Chris asked from outside the small room in which Clara was taken to get dressed into a gown.
"Ok, I guess," her voice came out a little thick from nausea, "still nervous." She emerged from the room, with nothing but a starchy white garment that swamped her petite frame like a blanket.
"Well, you're bound to be," he took hold of her hands and caressed the backs of them with the tips of his thumbs. "But they're not going to be far away if anything goes wrong."
The nurse came up to them so as to take her to the MRI scanner. "I'm afraid you won't be able to wear anything metallic whilst in the scanner, Clara."
He realised she was still wearing the pendant Selena had bought her and he knew why she hadn't removed it. It held a lot of sentimental value, but rules were rules.
Knowing that she wouldn't take it off herself, he set about doing it for her. She batted him away in resistance. "I know you don't want this taken off…"
"I can't have it taken away," she protested.
"The thing is, love, you need to have this removed else they won't be able to see what's going on inside of you. It won't be apart from you for long, only a few minutes if that." Chris stated steadily. "I'll give it back to you as soon as it's over, I promise."
Clara drew in a small sigh and nodded in agreement. "Ok."
He went behind her and undid the necklace from around her neck. It was then that the nurse took her to where the MRI was and helped her onto the bed.
He waited by the room's door, watching her struggle to get settled when a wrap covered in foil was placed around her hips.
The nurse approached the door to talk to him. "Can you help her settle?"
"Can I do that?"
She nodded slowly. "It's quite safe to do so, although she may need a sedative before she's inside the tunnel. She's not claustrophobic, is she?"
"Not that I know of." He went over to his daughter, who tried to jump off the bed. "It isn't over yet, love."
"Why not?"
"'Cause they want you to relax." He took hold of her shoulders and tried to make her lie down, but she wasn't co-operating.
"I don't wanna be in a tunnel," she cried out, throwing her arms around him, "unless you come in there with me."
"I can't do that." He placed a hand on her back. "I want you to be brave for me. Nothing will happen to you in there."
Clara resignedly lay down on the bed with the foil wrapped more tightly around her. He took hold of the hand that was on the same side as him and caressed the soft skin on the back of it. "I don't want this to hurt."
"It won't," Chris watched the nurse get the sedative ready. He didn't want to separate himself from her but he knew he was going to have to. "You won't feel anything, I promise you."
She flinched when the needle went into the back of her hand. "That did hurt," she replied in a low voice, "and you promised me it wouldn't."
He smirked to himself. "You can get me back for that later," he noted teasingly.
She soon fell into a deep sleep, and he tousled her dark bangs before leaving the room with the nurse behind him.
Clara drifted back into consciousness some time later, only to find herself lying down on a bed in a small room. Her head pounded from the forced sleep she had, and she peered to one side to see Chris sitting next to her.
"Hey," he noted softly, taking hold of her hand that wasn't hooked up to an IV line, "how do you feel?"
"Well, I've felt better," she dimly replied, looking to see that she was linked up to a heart monitor.
"Doctors wanted to make sure you came round ok after you were put out," he explained once he realised she'd noticed.
They didn't have to wait long for the doctor to enter the recovery room so he could check up on her condition as well as explain the MRI results with them. "Good to see you're awake," he smiled softly.
"Is she ok now?" He wanted to know, holding onto her a little tighter.
"You've done the right thing in taking her here," he started. "She's going through pleurisy, as we suspected, and that's only on account of her rheumatism. That can be treated with medication."
"That's what's causing the chest pain and…everything else?" He frowned.
"Believe it or not, yes." The doctor replied. "It's a build-up of fluids, mainly ones like mucus and blood. That was why she'd been coughing up blood, but we caught it in time and she can go on a short course of medication that won't interfere with what she takes for the aches and pains she gets."
"…And then she can go home?" Chris asked anxiously.
"Well, we might need to do a few more cautionary tests so we can be sure the medication we'll get her to take will work. Then she's all yours."
"More tests?" Clara turned to her dad, her overall appearance fraught with worry.
"We should do what they say," he assured her, "after all, it isn't much good being discharged from here only for you to get sick again. And you might not be here for much longer, maybe another hour or so. We all want this gone, don't we?"
She nodded sadly and laid back down in bed.
"She doesn't wanna be here," he admitted.
"I know, and I can't think of anyone who would want to be here," he softly stated. "I'll only get Clara to take one dosage of the medication and all that'll happen is I'll come round in an hour to get a blood sample – just to make sure it's doing what it should."
Once Clara was given the all-clear and a short course of medication, they were both directed on how many she should take, how often and how long before being allowed to go.
"Feels like we've been in there for a whole week," Chris stated, half-jokingly, relieved when he realised they were only in the hospital for three hours.
"You look tired," she noted, seeing his under-eye areas had darkened a little, "and it's all 'cause of me."
"Don't talk stupid," he got to the car and unlocked it, "you needed to get seen here and it was a good job you did. You could've gotten sicker."
"You must be tired, though."
"I'll probably be out like a light once we've gotten back, if that's what you mean." He switched the engine on. "I don't feel it now, but I guess it's 'cause I've been worried stiff about what was going on with you."
She peered down at the floor, sensing the worry in his voice.
"I don't want anything to happen to you," he went on. "If you ended up in the same sort of state that Selena did, I would've blamed myself for it and I don't think I'd have forgiven myself."
"But what was going on with Selena was something even her mum couldn't stop, and you shouldn't have to blame yourself even if what I'd be sick with was something you could've stopped," Clara placed a hand on his thigh. "Dad, I know the way you feel about me. It's ok. I'm better now."
Chris drew in a small, barely audible sigh and set about getting both of them straight home so they could go to bed and sleep.
When they got home, he waited till she got dressed for bed before helping her lie down in amongst the blankets.
"You look worn out," she reached out and cupped the side of his face, allowing the tip of her thumb to skim along one dark circle under his eye. "You need your sleep as well as me."
"I will sleep once I know that you'll be ok," he replied slowly.
"I'll be fine," she softly reassured him. "I feel ok now. The medication's working so far so you don't have to worry about anything."
He nodded in acknowledgement and pressed his lips to her forehead. "I love you."
"I know you do," she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I love you too."
The next morning, the early morning sun shining its rays in through her window greeted Clara. She loved feeling the warm glow on her body through the blankets. It was therapeutic to her.
She couldn't hear any signs of life outside of her room, despite her dad leaving her door ajar the previous night in case she felt sick or wanted to sleep with him. But then again he never made a point of getting up early when he had no work to go to.
She got up out of bed, thankful to feel no aches or pains anywhere. She quietly slipped into his room and slunk into bed at the unoccupied end.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek, startling him awake. She giggled impishly at his reaction, feeling him flinch to start with before giving a small jump.
"What's going on?" He dimly asked, realising after a short time he wasn't alone. He peered over to find himself looking into a pair of piercing green eyes. "I thought as much."
He flipped onto his other side to face her. "Couldn't sleep?"
A smile had quirked across her mouth. "It's gone nine in the morning, dopey."
Chris didn't know what to say at being labelled 'dopey' by his own daughter, but he decided to overlook it. She obviously wanted to tease him, but after being awoken he didn't feel like teasing her back. "Feel like going anywhere?"
She shrugged. "Not really."
Through the leftover tiredness he heard his mobile vibrate on his nightstand, and he made to read the message that came through.
"I hope you weren't sending any messages last night, you naughty boy," she teased a little more.
"I was too tired for any of that," he replied vaguely, his attention mainly focussed on what he was reading.
She nodded in acknowledgement, realising he wasn't playing along with her teasing. She wrapped an arm around him, feeling that much closer to him when he was without a top.
"What's come through is from Lauren," he went on, "she wants to know if we were up for going to Selena's…you know…funeral."
Clara's body froze and her eyes came over a little glazed over.
"We don't have to if you don't wanna, but you were mates with her."
"It isn't that I don't wanna go, but there'll be people around us that we would barely know." She replied.
"Is that all that's bothering you?"
"I guess," she shrugged.
"But we'll be there for one reason and that is for her," he assured her. "If we go it might be a form of closure for you. You didn't see her when she…passed away, but you'll be able to see her now."
"Ok," she agreed. "We should go – for her."