In her room, Claudia was feeling rough. She felt like she had a knife in her side and her stomach was churning. She ran into the bathroom and her stomach revolted again per usual.
And per usual she was once again feeling a bit better, so she showered and got ready for her day. And soon enough she was downstairs with five minutes to spare, sitting on the couch anxiously waiting for Artie and Leena with her leg bouncing a mile a minute.
Leena came in next and went to sit by Claudia. "You okay Claudia?: Leena asked, gesturing at her bouncing leg.
Claudia looked at her leg and immediately stopped bouncing it and blushed. "Yeah, sorry Leena. That happens sometimes when I am lost in my thoughts." Claudia lied.
Leena gave her a I-know-that-is-a-lie-but-I'll-let-it-slide look. "Okay Claud. … I wonder what's taking Artie so long?"
"Who says I am taking so long" Artie said as he walked into the room. "Come on ladies, let's go to the warehouse."
Leena hopped up and was out the door. Claudia hesitated.
"Come on Claudia, I won't let anything bad happen to you" Artie said and held his hand out to her.
"Okay, old man" Claudia replied and took his hand. They both followed Leena to the car.
Artie drove, and Leena sat shotgun which left Claudia in the backseat. Claudia didn't mind though. Twenty minutes into the drive her side started hurting again and she tried to hide her pain which was a lot easier to hide from everyone in the back of the car.
Soon enough the pain stopped and the group had arrived at the warehouse. Leena went off to the examination room leaving Claudia, Artie, Pete and Myka in Artie's office. At first everyone was quietly working on research and reports and the like. Within an hour though, Pete and Myka were bickering again and Artie was about to tell them off when there was a loud ping. Pete and Myka both looked at Artie excitedly while Artie went over to see the ping. "Oh this is definitely one of ours guys. I think we may have finally found Madame Curie's necklace." Artie said.
"You mean the one I had been researching that can absorb and/oradmit radiation." Clauida interrupted.
"That's the one," Artie replied.
"Let me grab the file! Claudia exclaimed and she jumped up and began to head toward the file cabinets, Halfway there though one of the worst stabbing sensations she has ever had struck her. It knocked the wind out of her and she bent over, grabbed her side and gripped the table near her with her other hand to stabilize herself. The pain was so strong. It had only been this bad a couple times. She hoped no one noticed…
"Claudia!" Three voices rang out.
Claudia looked up to see Artie, Myka and Pete running toward her. Pete brought a chair behind her and Artie guided her into it. Then Leena and Vanessa burst through the office door to see what was happening. Claudia couldn't focus on them and she tried to curl in on herself more to get the pain to stop.
"Claudia?" Artie asked as the others moved out of the way and Vanessa made her way over.
Claudia didn't acknowledge Artie though, she was too focused on the pain and she let out a small whimper.
"Claudia dear" Vanessa tried "I need you to tell me what's going on so I can help you."
Claudia took a deep breath as the pain was starting to lessen. "It will be okay in a few minutes. It always goes away after a few minutes."
"What do you mean always goes away?" Artie exclaimed "How long has this been going on?"
"Artie" Vanessa interrupted, "I am sure once this pain goes away in a few minutes Claudia will be better able to explain to us what is going on. Let's let her ride this out for five minutes or so and then we will move to my office and we can figure out what's going on."
Artie grumbled his agreement.
"Claudia" Vanessa continued "Does that sound good to you?"
Claudia looked up at her and nodded. Both Vanessa and Artie could see the tears streaming down her face. Artie began to run hand through her hair as he said "Don't worry kid we are going to figure this out".
Soon enough Claudia felt much better and started to straighten up in her chair as she looked up to Artie and Vanessa and she said "Well, I guess there is no way I am getting out of this physical is there? "
Both adults shook their heads. "No way kid, now come on" Artie said as he helped her up and ushered her into the exam room with Vanessa following behind.