Sorry for the late post
...
David looked worried as Bianca was wheeled back into their room. Erica rushed forward to be with her daughter but David stopped her and held her back as the orderlies moved Bianca to the bed.
"Is she alright?" Erica asked, looking up at him, wondering why he had stopped her. "Did the operation go well?"
"I have removed the cause of the infection." said David gravely.
Erica was confused.
"But that is a good thing?"
"She's still very ill." explained David, "And they forced me to administer the Orpheus formula. We don't have the equipment to monitor her properly. I don't know what's going to happen."
Erica looked to her daughter.
"My baby."
David let go of Erica and, with the orderlies gone, moved to arrange Bianca's limbs so she would be comfortable on the bed.
"I'm going to have to keep an eye on her. Check her breathing and pulse." he said, stroking the hair from Bianca's face.
"What can I do?" Erica asked.
"She still has a fever." said David. "Bathe her face and limbs and keep her cool."
David gave Erica an encouraging smile as she moved to the sink in their cell and wetted a cloth. It would help Bianca's condition, and it would give Erica something to do apart from worry.
…
Bianca felt like she was floating outside her body. It was an unhappy sensation, too similar to the sensation long ago after she was shot. It felt like the world was slipping away from her and she couldn't claw her way back. She remembered what pulled her back all those years ago; her children and the need to know that Marissa was alive and unhurt…
She could almost see Marissa now, just as she was that night. Her lover seemed to be staring down at her: her long auburn hair flowing in styled curls; her fawn evening gown framing the perfect white skin of her shoulders; her red lips pursed; her eyes concerned, a trickle of blood running down her forehead where she had been shot…
"Bianca… Bianca… Hold on…" she seemed to whisper.
Bianca reached out to touch her face.
…
Erica wiped the damp cloth over Bianca's cheek and neck. Her daughter's brow suddenly furrowed and she let out a moan.
Erica turned to David.
"I think she's waking up!" she exclaimed.
As she spoke Bianca opened her eyes and reached out a searching hand.
Erica took the hand and squeezed it, giving her daughter a smile. Bianca looked right through her.
"Marissa." she called. "Marissa, I love you!"
David hurried over and looked into Bianca's unseeing eyes and felt her skin.
"She's hallucinating." he said. "But I don't know if it is the fever or the serum... We need to get her temperature down."
With that he pulled the sheet from the bed and ran it under the faucet, soaking it. He then draped the wet sheet over Bianca, taking care to avoid the dressing on her leg.
"Is that all we can do?" Erica asked; Bianca was still reaching out to nothing.
David looked at Bianca helplessly.
"I need to do a blood test." he said. "But to do that I need to get back to the lab, and I can't leave her."
"You have to do something!" cried Erica.
David wavered for a moment and then walked up and hammered on the door to get his captor's attention again.
Erica was right, something had to be done.
…