Chapter 20

It took Iris less than half an hour to get from her apartment to the London hospital where Laurie had told her their father had been taken.

She rushed down the corridor to the intensive care, and spotted her sister almost immediately.

"Iris!" Laurie flew into her arms and sobbed her heart out, as Iris buried her own emotions and tried instead to comfort her sister.

"How is he?" she asked once Laurie seemed to have cried most of her distress out of her system, and was showing signs of calming a little.

"The doctor said he would come out and talk to me as soon as he could, but that was over an hour ago!"

"Oh love," Iris was distressed for the situation, for her father and for her sister as well. "Have you been here all by yourself for all this time?"

Laurie nodded.

"Where is Aunt Trudy, surely she is coming to the hospital?"

"She travelled to Venice on Saturday morning, she is even as we speak on a flight back, but it took a while for her to arrange it..."

"Oh love!" Iris said again as she rubbed her sisters arm, in an attempt to comfort her and show her that she was not on her own any longer.

"I'm so glad that you got here, Iris!" Laurie whispered tearfully.

They sat in silence for a while, but then the doctor came striding down the corridor, looking very solemn indeed, and the sisters clutched at each other's hands, as they stood up to greet him.

"Dr Phillips, this is my sister, Iris," Laurie introduced the two of them anxiously.

"Miss Beaumont," he nodded politely and then sighed gently. "I am sure that your sister has told you ... your father, he is very ill..."

"What exactly is wrong with him doctor?" Iris cut in worriedly.

"Your father has a virus," he said abruptly. He hesitated as he looked quickly around him, and then guided the two of them back to their seats.

He sat next to Iris, and leaned forwards a little bit. "Your father has a virus," he said again in a low voice, "and it is something unique to our race, and hard to treat as well."

"But he only saw the doctor recently!" Iris objected angrily. "The doctor said that he was in general good health ... aside from a raised blood pressure - how could he have missed something like that?"

"It was difficult to diagnose, even when he collapsed and we knew that he was ill, we still had a job tracking it down." the doctor commiserated, and tried to explain. "When he visited his doctor, he would I suspect have seemed healthy enough - right up until his collapse; he would have seemed healthy - at the very worst, a little fatigued perhaps. The raised blood pressure could have been the start though," he went on thoughtfully. "It could have been his body's initial reaction to the infection - it's attempt at maybe burning it off?"

Laurie gave a strangled sob, and all Iris wanted to do was to sit and cry. "You are doing everything that you can though, aren't you, Dr Phillips?"

He smiled stiffly. "Of course, Miss Beaumont, and even though this is serious and very dangerous for our kind ... I have to say that the mere fact that he has survived this long is strongly in his favour."

Iris was sure that he meant this to be reassuring, but all she could think was, 'he might have died ... he could be dead already – and I might not have been here for him ... or Laurie!'

"This virus it is poisoning his blood, we are trying to purge it as best as we can, but really what we need is a total blood transfusion ... and maybe more than one – if we are to completely wipe it out," he looked at the two young women as though trying to assess their strength. "Are you the only blood relatives?"

"We have an aunt ... my father's sister," Iris said softly. "And she is on her way here even as we speak."

"Three females then," he sighed suddenly. "Very well, you will have to be enough!"

He stood up and looked down at them seriously. "I need you both to give blood, we will put you on a slow drain for an hour each in turn, and then when your aunt gets here she can add to it too. Are you both willing?"

"Yes of course," they both said eagerly as they stood up too. "Whatever we can do to help, we will do it!" Iris added.

"You have to understand, that it will be draining for the two of you; we will need a lot of your blood if we are to succeed in purging his system completely."

"We are stronger than we might look, doctor; we can handle this between us," Iris told him firmly.

"Well, one at a time for an hour each, lie down whilst your doing it, and then don't try to walk about until you have eaten and drunk something."

"Yes, doctor Phillips," they said in unison at his tone of authority.

He smiled at them almost in a fatherly way. "I'll go and talk to the nurses, and get them to set things up in your father's room; it will probably take a little while, so take this time to have something hot to eat, and a pot of sweet tea or coffee ... it will strengthen your blood and make it richer, for your father, which can only be good."

"Yes, doctor Phillips," they said again automatically.

He chuckled softly as he pointed towards the end of the corridor. "There is a small canteen right at the end, it's open twenty four hours a day, and the food is good."

It was hard work, stomaching the casserole that they both ordered. It was very tasty and piping hot, but worries for their father tended to dampen down their appetites.

"If we are to help him, then we must keep up our strength," Iris tried to encourage her sister, even though she herself was struggling to eat as well.

"I know, and I am trying, it just that..."

"You're worried for him, and you have spent the evening feeling alone and stressed, but I am here now, Laurie, and I am not going anywhere – I promise!"

Laurie smiled across at her, and they finished their meal in silence, as they both swallowed down every last difficult mouthful.

They were just finishing a second cup of a coffee, when a nurse came into the restaurant.

"Miss Beaumont?" she asked calmly.

"Yes," they both nodded.

"We are ready to begin the blood transfusions now, if you would like to come with me; who wants to start first?"

They were walking down the corridor, and Iris spoke before her sister could. "I will," she said firmly.

When they entered the room, Iris got to see her father for the first time, and she was shocked at the change in him. He looked pale and drawn, and almost tiny in the bed. Nothing of the strong vigorous man remained it seemed.

"Oh daddy!" she heard Laurie whisper, and Iris felt the tears filling her own eyes.

"He looks worse than he is," the nurse hurried to reassure them. "He is so pale because we have just started to drain his blood, but as soon as one of you starts to pump your blood into him, then he will start to look better almost immediately.

Iris shrugged out of her jacket, to reveal a short sleeved blouse underneath. "I am ready," she said quietly.

The nurse guided her to the bed which was alongside her fathers.

"If you lie down there for me, then I can hook you up."