Maggie was concerned about David's plans when he tore out of the cabin to collect Leora. She made the decision to wait for him to come back.
It took David almost four hours to return. By that time Maggie had completed the disinfecting of the cabin and read through David's research notes three times. As soon as she heard the car in the drive Maggie rushed out to meet them. He looked surprised that she had waited for him.
He entered the cabin carrying the sickly Leora in his arms.
"How is she?" Maggie asked.
"She has a slight fever and an obvious rash." said David
Her skin was indeed dotted with red spots, the poor girl even had chicken pox on one of her eyes.
David surveyed the room and looked delighted that Maggie had finished the preparations for the temporary operating room. He pushed through the polythene curtain and laid Leora onto the couch.
"Can you undress her while I prep?" said David.
Maggie looked from David to his disabled daughter.
"You just got her home!" Maggie protested.
David, spun back, a desperate fire in her eyes; desperate and somehow helpless.
"The sooner I inject the serum the more time she will have to settle. If you won't help me I shall do this alone."
"No… no…" said Maggie, loath to leave David when he was this driven. "Of course I'll help. What exactly do you need me to do?"
…
David turned on the Disney album that Leora seemed to enjoy while he prepared to make the injection. From his work with Bianca he decided to introduce the serum directly into Leora's nervous system through a spinal injection. They already had all the equipment ready.
He went to the fridge to retrieve the two precious vials of Orpheus serum he always had prepared for this hopeful moment; specially engineered for Leora.
David returned and placed the vials on the trolley beside the medical couch.
He looked lovingly down at his daughter, smoothed back her golden hair and took her hand. She had spent most of her life as his guinea pig in a dark stark laboratory and that had been David's fault. Now he had the chance to give her back her life… He had waited so long for this chance but now the moment was here somehow he found he couldn't bring himself to move. Every wrong that was done to him by his father, every wrong he had ever done to his children suddenly reared up unbidden in his mind. He had always seen saving Leora as a way to make up for all his wrongs but now in the moment he felt less and less like a genius doctor and more and more like a nervous father.
"David, are you alright?" Maggie asked, after his sudden hurry to get things started he was now standing in silence staring at his daughter.
"Would you do it?" he asked quietly.
Maggie started.
"What?"
David looked up from gazing at his daughter.
"Would you administer the serum for me? I don't want to let go of her hand."
…
Maggie made a conscious effort to keep her hands steady as she administered the epidural into the fitted catheter into Leora's back. The little girl gave no sign of distress, but with her father looking down at her lovingly and keeping her focus Maggie wondered just how much of this she was aware of.
Maggie's nervous fingers then reached for the precious vials of David's Orpheus serum. She drew the liquid from the first vial into a syringe and injected it gently into the girl's spine. She then repeated the process with the second before carefully removing the catheter.
"I'm done." she said quietly.
David smiled and stroked his daughter's cheek.
"Thank you." he said, his voice almost a whisper. "Now all we can do is wait."
…
The morning sun woke Maggie from her uncomfortable position on David's couch; somehow she had fallen asleep. She had refused to go home until she knew Leora was recovering.
She opened her eyes to see David still sitting beside his daughter's bedside. He had administered a mild sedative after the injection and now he was waiting for her to wake up.
"How is she?" Maggie asked sitting up and stretching to relieve the uncomfortable crick in her neck.
"She's waking up." he said.
Maggie got up to join him.
"And how long do you think it will take to see if your serum has worked."
"I don't know, it all depends on the patient; hours; days; never at all…"
Maggie rubbed his arm supportively.
"Keep the faith." she said.
Leora was indeed blinking awake.
"Hey baby girl." David cooed to his daughter. "How are you? How are you feeling?"
"What changes are you expecting with this injection?" Maggie asked.
"Something… some way of letting her out if she's trapped inside there. That has always been my greatest fear; that she is in there trapped with no way out. If she could blink maybe, perform a controlled action to let her have a voice. That will be enough."
…
David didn't leave his daughter's bedside for two days. Maggie popped in when she could, making sure he ate and took care of himself as much as he was taking care of his daughter.
Maggie worried about how much rest David was getting. While Leora slept he worked, hunched over his lab bench checking bloods or checking the computer for results.
That is how Maggie found him on the third day, at his desk slumped over his computer screen.
"I brought you a burger and you are going to eat it!" she announced.
David sat up with a start, and then Maggie felt a pang of guilt when she realised she had woken him up. David looked groggily from Maggie back to his shut down screen.
"I'll get you a coffee shall I?" Maggie asked, putting the burger on the counter beside him before heading towards the kitchen.
Maggie made a slight detour to check on Leora who she found awake and watching her with her big blue eyes.
"Morning sweetie." Maggie sighed. "I'll be back in a moment I'm just getting your daddy a drink."
It took a few moments to come back with the coffee. She found David still staring at his computer screen.
"I don't understand it." he muttered, taking a sip of coffee and then wincing because it was too hot.
"Talk it through with me." said Maggie with a sigh, taking a seat on the stool beside him; she was getting used to being his sounding board when things weren't making sense.
"Everything shows me… all the tests… that her body isn't rejecting the serum. It is being integrated into her system, but there is no change!"
"You said this could take time." Maggie said.
"I was just so sure…" David grumbled to himself.
He looked across to Leora's bed and he noticed her looking back at him.
"She's awake?" David announced.
"She's awake."
"How long for?" he asked getting up and rushing to her side.
"Hey baby-girl… I'm here. It's okay." he stroked his daughter's cheek lovingly, making her smile. "Can you hear me baby-girl? Can you understand me? Can you blink baby? Blink twice if you understand…"
Maggie watched David watching his daughter. This was a question he had asked her every day. Maggie still wasn't sure what kind of change David was expecting. As they watched Leora did close one eye, but moaned; it was the eye with the pox spot and was probably uncomfortable.
Maggie looked down disappointed. Her view travelled down to the girl's perfect little hand marked with red spots. The hand was twisting and spasming as it always did, seeming with little control but as she watched a finger twitched once… twice… then a pause before her fingers twitched again… once… twice…"
"Two times!" Maggie gasped.
"What?" asked David, turning to Maggie.
"Watch her finger!"
As they watched Leora's finger twitched twice more.
"Leora!" David gasped, "Can you hear me? Move your finger three times if you can!"
Maggie and David watched her hand intently.
The tiny pink finger twitched once…
twice…
three times…
"Leora!" exclaimed David, pulling his daughter into his arms, "My beautiful baby girl!"
Maggie blinked in surprised…
Leora was calling out to them after all!
…