Once Bianca was feeling more herself she rolled carefully onto her tender back.
David was still sitting by her bed.
"Feeling better?" he asked.
"I can't complain." she said with a wry grin. "It wouldn't change matters."
David gave her self-deprecating joke a polite smile but waited for a proper answer.
"I'm still feeling woozy, but not so nauseous." said Bianca after a moment.
"Good." said David feeling her brow and then taking her pulse. "You have no idea how worried we all were about you."
Bianca blinked and then grabbed his arm, trying to sit up in her urgency.
"you were home!" she exclaimed realising the implication. "Marissa... the kids..! Did you see them? Were they hurt?"
David pushed her gently back into the bed.
"They are home safe. Not a scratch on any of them. They miss you but they are okay. We need to think about you now, that's our priority. Try to rest."
"And Jackson?" Erica asked tentatively.
"He's out here looking for you." said David. "Wherever here is."
"So what now?" asked Erica, sitting on the edge of her own bed. "Can you stop this?"
"If I knew what this was." said David examining the dressing on Bianca's neck again. "They have been quite invasive in their investigations already. If they want to perform surgery they'd need to be much less clumsy with their techniques."
"But can they do what they want?" Erica asked. "Can they cure her?"
"Not like this." said David angrily.
"Can you?" Bianca asked. "Not that I'm not enjoying being so much chopped liver to these guys but if you can give them what they want..? You told me before that you had ideas for treatment."
"Yeah I had ideas, but… I had the right equipment on hand… I've no idea how this operation is set up."
Bianca looked down disappointed.
"Look, what you need to do is rest." said David stroking her brow. "Try not to worry. I'll try and negotiate our position. I should at least be able to buy a little respite."
Bianca sighed and closed her eyes.
Erica put a hand on David's arm as he got up.
"You can't do more?" she asked.
David eyes lingered on Bianca.
"I'll do all I can."
He turned and hammered on the door.
"I'm ready to talk!" he called.
…
David was escorted to a pristine white laboratory decked with an impressive array of medical equipment. The scrawny, scabby bearded doctor gave him a welcoming smile.
"I'm glad you've seen sense."
"Well the first rule of medicine is' do no harm', as you don't seem to understand the principle I should at least attempt to prevent harm."
The doctor seemed unimpressed by David's posturing.
"So you will help us?"
David eyed the lab again. All this expensive equipment made the hack job they had done on Bianca even more unforgivable.
"First I need to look at your formula."
"That can be arranged." said the doctor with a sniff. He led David to a lab bench. "Tell the orderly what you need and he'll provide it… within reason. Anything else?"
"I think that will do for starters." said David. "I will correct your formula if that is what you want, but you don't touch Bianca again. That is the deal."
The doctor leaned aggressively closer.
"That is not the deal. We want a cure, and we want proof the cure works without fail. You must have some ideas about what went wrong with Bianca. I've read your profile Dr Hayward, you are hardly a saint and I know failure is not an option for you. Look at this as a way to correct your mistakes."
"Fine." said David, trying to think of ways to buy time. "But I must insist no more procedures are performed on Bianca Montgomery until I am ready to proceed. The way you are going you will just cause more damage."
The doctor smirked.
"Well I never claimed to be a surgeon."
He held a hand out to David.
"Dr Norrell…" he said as introduction. " I greatly look forward to working with you on my ground breaking Lazarus project."
David didn't take the proffered hand, but the doctor didn't look like he expected it.
"But I must warn you," the doctor continued, "I will give you want for now but if you try to trick me or betray this agreement in any way I will be forced to proceed with my own investigation of Bianca's condition. I'm sure an autopsy won't tell me everything that a living body could, but she not much use to me unless the formula works, is she?"
…