An Amazing Discovery

Well, here is Chapter 18 of this story, when I wrote the first chapter I had no idea that I would be sat here continuing the story of Clare and Dave. I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this story, and those fans that have been patient whilst waiting between chapters. The first chapter of the series has now had over 50,000 views and many of the remaining chapters are already over 20,000 views, I find these figures quite amazing. I am certainly not an Author, I very much doubt that I would ever be able to have a story published, however that is not what this is about for me, and I find the writing to be an enjoyable past time.

I have decided to continue the series for the time being, although I suspect that I will stop at Chapter 20.

As with all the other writers here on Literotica, I thrive on the comments and votes received on each of the chapters. You never know; if you send me comments of what you would like to see you might just read it in a following chapter.

Just to confirm this story is complete fiction, however some of the characters are based around people that I know.

Skodaw Sept'07

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Stacey had stayed up quite a bit later than she had intended to, but one thing led to another as she tidied things up from all the days' activity.

Then as she was just about to go to bed, Phoebe woke up and needed settling down again. By the time everything was sorted, it was nearly 2 o'clock in the morning.

When Stacey opened the bedroom door, she knew something was wrong; the room was thick with the stench of vomit.

She put the light on, what she saw shocked her.

"LISA, LISA Get in here NOW!" She screamed.

Stacey could immediately see that something was very wrong, Clare had been violently sick and there was a trace of blood in the vomit. Stacey tried to wake Clare, but she would not respond; her responses were very slow and she was shielding her eyes from the light.

Lisa came rushing into the room and was nearly sick herself, the smell turned her stomach; she stood at the edge of the bed shocked at what she was seeing.

"Stacey, what on earth has happened, what's wrong with Clare?" Lisa asked.

"Never mind that now Lisa, we need an ambulance for Clare, I'm not sure what is wrong but is certainly looks serious to me. Ring for an ambulance now!" Stacey shouted to Lisa.

Lisa immediately called the emergency services and then returned to the bedroom, Stacey was still trying to get any kind of response from Clare; she had noted that Clare was sweating and she appeared to be covered in spots.

Stacey felt worried; she thought she knew what was wrong with Clare, but she was putting on a brave face for Lisa's sake.

"I think it's okay Lisa, Clare has chickenpox. The doctors will soon take care of any infection." Stacey said in a confident tone, trying to calm Lisa who was becoming increasingly concerned.

"What about Phoebe?" Lisa asked.

"I'm sure she'll be fine Lisa, but why don't you go and check on her." Stacey replied trying to keep calm.

Lisa went to check on little Phoebe, who was sound asleep unaware of the drama going on around her. Lisa was relieved to see that Phoebe appeared to be okay.

It felt like hours to Stacey before the intercom announced the arrival of the paramedics. She let them in and took them straight to Clare. The lead paramedic took one look at Clare and realized that she was in a very poor condition. He tried to rouse Clare, but got very little response; he saw the rash that was developing over Clare's body.

"I think we need to take her to the A&E straight away." He said, he then told his partner to radio ahead to the hospital for them to be ready to accept Clare when they arrived.

Stacey decided that Lisa should stay at the penthouse and look after Phoebe; she was not too pleased with that idea.

"I should come with you, Stacey." She pleaded but Stacey was firm.

"Lisa, you can't take care of Phoebe at the hospital, I need you to stay here. I don't have time to argue with you." Stacey snapped at Lisa; she felt bad but if her suspicions were correct she did not want little Phoebe or Lisa for that matter anywhere near Clare.

It did not take the paramedics long to prepare Clare for the journey to the hospital. Stacey was sat in the back of the ambulance as it sped through the city streets. The paramedic was asking Stacey many questions, relating to her previous health history. Luckily, Stacey had known Clare long enough to be able to answer the questions with ease.

It took about ten minutes for the ambulance to reach the hospital, when it stopped the back doors were opened and a team of nurses and doctors took Clare into the A&E. Stacey was shown to a reception desk to provide the necessary details.

------

Lisa was worried sick; she kept checking on Phoebe every couple of minutes. Each time she checked her little baby was sound asleep.

As the time dragged on, she decided to clear the mess from the bedroom. It was only then that Lisa realized the extent of the problem. It took Lisa nearly two hours to clear the room and put all the bedding into wash.

------

The last two hours had flown by for Stacey, medical staff were coming and going from the room that Clare was in, but nobody had given her any indication of Clare's condition.

Stacey returned to the reception to see if she could get an update. The receptionist was very friendly but could not give her any information; she did say that she would get one of the doctors to speak to her when they could.

After about fifteen minutes, one of the doctors came and spoke to Stacey.

"Miss Phillips is in a very serious condition, we suspect that she has contracted meningitis, if you haven't already contacted her next of kin I would do so very quickly. The next eight to ten hours will be very important." The doctor had gone almost as quickly as he had arrived. Stacey sat in shock for a couple of minutes; her worst fears had been confirmed. She would need to contact Dave.

Stacey realized that she had left her mobile phone at the penthouse; she rang home and spoke to Lisa.

"Hi Hun, can you get me Dave's number from my mobile, I need to let him know what's going on." Stacey said hoping Lisa would not ask too many questions.

"What's going on Stacey, how is Clare?" Lisa asked.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm just letting the doctors do their job at the moment, but I need to let Dave know what's going on." Stacey replied.

"It's okay Stacey; I can call Dave from here." Lisa offered, trying to help.

"No thanks Lisa, I'll call him myself. If I can have the number?" Stacey replied, becoming a little impatient.

------

The phone ringing woke Dave from a deep sleep, as he picked the phone up he recognized the area code and assumed it was Clare.

"Hello lover, couldn't you sleep?" He asked.

"Dave, its Stacey." Before Stacey had chance to continue Dave carried on.

"Hello other lover, couldn't you sleep either?" Dave soon realized something was wrong when Stacey burst into tears.

"Stacey, what is it? What's wrong?" Dave was now fully awake and trying to make out what Stacey was saying between sobs.

Eventually Stacey calmed herself down enough to be able to pass the message on to Dave.

"It's Clare; she's taken ill, we had to get the ambulance to take her to A&E. Dave they think its meningitis, you must come quickly." Stacey was distraught, but knew that Dave would get there as quickly as he could.

Dave hung up the phone; it was now 4:15-am and he had just over an hour to get to the airport to catch the first flight to the city. Dave realized that he would not have time to explain what was going on to his mother, so he woke Jane and explained the situation.

"Jane, I've got to go the city, Clare has been rushed to A&E with suspected meningitis. I don't have time to tell Mom, can you let her know what's going on please?" Dave did not really give Jane anytime to respond to his request as he was already on his way out of the door.

Dave knew it would be a race against time to catch the first flight; another hour's delay in getting to the hospital could be critical.

Fortunately, traffic was very light at that time of day and Dave was able to make it to the airport with just enough time to spare. The check-in desk was about to close when he got there.

Once on the plane, Dave began to think about the possible consequences of Clare having meningitis. During the flight Dave kept thinking of his school pal Paul; he had died of meningitis when he was eleven.

A cold shiver ran down Dave's spine, there was no way he could loose Clare.

------

Jane did not know what to do, should she wake Jennifer now or leave it until she had some more news. She decided that she would go to the motel and wake Jennifer. It only took a matter of minutes for Jane to drive to the motel; she knocked gently on Jennifer's door but got no response; she knocked again a little louder this time. Still no response.

Little did Jane know that Jennifer was not in her room; she was walking along the shoreline. Jennifer had a restless night and could not sleep and decided the walk would be a good idea.

Jane did not know what to do; she thought of getting the motel reception to let her into Jennifer's room, but the motel office would not open until 7-am. Jane decided the only thing she could do was to wait in her car until either Jennifer got up or the office opened.

Jennifer recognized the car when she walked into the motel car park. "What on earth is Jane doing here so early?" Jennifer thought to herself as she came level with the car.

Tapping on the window, she said. "What are you doing here at this time Jane?"

Jane nearly jumped out of her skin; she had not heard Jennifer approaching the car and had started to dose a little.

"Oh Jennifer, I'm sorry but Clare is ill. Dave has had to rush to the city to be with her." Jane was talking so fast it took Jennifer a couple of seconds to comprehend what she had just been told.

"What do you mean, taken ill? What's wrong with her?" Jennifer asked becoming more worried.

"They think she has meningitis. She's in the A&E and they are running the tests." Jane responded.

-----

Lisa had fallen asleep on one of the sofas, Phoebe crying woke her up and for a couple of seconds she was confused, why had she slept on the sofa? Then she remembered the previous night's emergency.

She got up and went to Phoebe, picked her daughter up in her arms and cuddled her; she knew Phoebe was hungry and cradled her to breast.

Whilst Phoebe was feeding Lisa's mind was in turmoil. She really wanted to go the hospital to be with Clare and Stacey, but she understood the need to keep Phoebe home.

Once she had fed the baby, Lisa then took a bath with her little girl; she loved spending time with Phoebe although at the moment with her college work; she was not spending as much quality time as she would have liked.

-----

"Miss, excuse me Miss. would you like a cup of tea?" The nurse gently rubbed Stacey's shoulder to wake her up. Stacey had fallen asleep in the waiting area; she woke with a start.

"It's okay, you're in the A&E, and you came in with your friend in the early hours of the morning." The nurse said trying to settle Stacey.

"How is Clare? Will she be okay?" Stacey asked the nurse.

"The Doctor will talk to you in a while, now then how about that tea?" The nurse replied.

"Sure, some tea would be good thank you." Stacey replied. She looked at her watch; it was a little after 6-am. She knew that Dave would be well on his way to the hospital and she could not wait for him to get there.

-----

Jane was busy checking availability of flights to the city; Jennifer was sat on the edge of her bed in shock. It was only a matter of months since she faced the possibility of loosing her son, and now here she was facing the same possibility with Clare. Jennifer knew she had to go the hospital, but part of her dreaded arriving too late; she could not cope if she did not make it in time.

Jennifer had known three people to contract meningitis and not one of them had survived, whilst she knew that medical science had moved on in the last few years she feared the worse for her only daughter.

"Jennifer; she'll be fine. It's amazing what they can do these days." Jane said, trying to help her sister through this difficult time.

Jennifer was not coping at all; she burst into tears, uncontrollable tears. Jane sat on the bed next to her, took her sister in her arms, and hugged her. It was normally Jennifer who would be comforting Jane, usually after some guy had dumped her or she'd found out he was married.

The phone rang; it was Red. Jane answered the phone, which caught Red off guard slightly.

"Hell Jane, what are you doing there? Is Jennifer, OK?" Red bellowed down the phone.

"Hi Red, no Jennifer is not OK, Clare has been rushed to the A&E with suspected meningitis. Dave has already left on the first flight to the city; we are just trying to get a flight now." Jane replied. There was a few seconds silence and then Red replied. "Oh my; that young woman has been getting it tough lately. Tell Jennifer I'm on my way to the hospital now; I'll make sure that she is getting the best possible care." With that, Red hung up.

Jane relayed Red's message; this made Jennifer a little happier; she knew that Red would be able to get the best care from the hospital and the best information regarding Clare's condition. The fact that he was already in the city would mean that he would be the first to get there.

-----

Dave hoped that the Taxi rank would be full; there were a huge number of people trying to get from the airport to the city. As Dave got closer to the exit, he could already see that the Taxi rank was empty, with quite a large queue of people waiting. Just then, his mobile rang.

"Dave, its Red. There is a car waiting for you at the pickup zone, I spoke to Jane and she told me you were on the red eye. I am already on my way to the hospital. Don't worry son, we'll make sure she gets the best possible care."

Dave was suddenly choked, he knew Red liked to look out for the family, but he had not anticipated such a swift response. Nonetheless, he was grateful to be able to jump the queue for the Taxi's.

"Thanks Red, I don't know what to say." Was Dave's rather week response.

"Don't worry about it son. See you at the hospital." With that Red hung up, he had quite a few other calls' he needed to make before he got to the hospital.

As he drove down the freeway Red scrolled through his phonebook entries until he found the number he needed.

"Mr. Sissons please, this is Red Baker calling." Red was always impressed with how quickly the phone was answered by Mr. Sissons, PA.

"Hey Red, what can I do for you?" Andrew Sissons had immediately taken the call; he knew that his long-time friend would not have called him so early if it weren't an emergency.

"Andrew, the daughter of a very close friend of mine is in your A&E with suspected meningitis. I need you to take charge of the case; I know that you can help her." Red replied, becoming quite emotional.

Red remembered the great care that he had given Dave when he had the car accident.

"Red, I'm not meant to be working this week. I will give them a call and check on her condition. What name is it?" Andrew replied.

"Clare, its Clare Philips." Red replied.

That name rang a bell with Andrew Sissons, although at first he could not think why. Suddenly it came to him, he remembered the very determined young woman who had almost been his shadow for the months that he looked after her husband.

"Red, is that the young woman who's husband crashed and nearly killed himself about a year ago." Asked Andrew.

"The same, Andrew I really need you to help me out here; she's like a daughter to me. The whole family mean the world to me and they've had enough problems of their own to deal with these last few years." Red did not feel the need to correct Mr. Sissons assumption. He would have begged if he needed to, but he knew Andrew Sissons better than that.

"OK Red, I'll get down there as quick as I can." With that, Andrew hung up. Red felt much better, he knew that were was nothing worth knowing that Andrew did not know, especially when it came to brain injury and disease.

Red was almost at the hospital by the time he had finished his calls, he parked the car and made his way inside.

-----

Jane had managed to secure some flights for early afternoon; she packed a couple of bits and pieces for Jennifer. They both drove back to the house so that Jane could collect some things for herself; within minutes, they were both heading to the airport.

Jennifer felt slightly better now that she was on her way to see Clare, knowing that Dave and Red would be with her very soon. She just hoped that Clare would be okay; she did not intend to lose anyone else she loved, she was still recovering from the loss of her husband.

Jane had wanted to leave for the airport early in case another flight became available, and as luck would have it, there were some cancellations on the late morning flight that meant they would be at the hospital by mid afternoon.

-----

Lisa was becoming more concerned; she had hoped to hear from Stacey. She tried calling Stacey's mobile phone but soon remembered that she had left it behind when it rang in the other room. Lisa decided that she had better get some food ready; she suspected there would be a house full of guests tonight. Lisa was soon busy preparing food and making sure beds were made; little Phoebe lay in her cot making the lovely contented noises only a young baby can.

----- Dave quickly found the car that Red had sent to the airport, he recognized the driver immediately. John was one of Red's oldest employee's but the only one he trusted with the important jobs.

"I'm sorry to hear of your problem Dave." John said as he pulled the car away from the curb. "I'm sure she'll be just fine, no telling what these doctors can do these days." He added.

"Thanks John, I hope so I just need to get there as quick as I can." Dave replied hoping that John would take the hint.

Indeed John had already been told by Red that he should not spare the horses when it came to getting to the hospital, he pushed the accelerator into the deep carpet and the Lexus picked up speed very quickly.

In what felt like hours, but in reality was only minutes John was pulling up outside the hospital. Dave jumped out without saying goodbye and ran inside looking for Stacey.

The first person that Dave saw was Mr. Sissons; he recognized him immediately and called his name. Mr. Sissons turned to see Dave running towards him, he also recognized Dave.

"Mr Philips, I'm sorry to hear about Mrs Philips. Red called me and asked me to take a look at her." Mr. Sissons replied.

"That makes me feel a whole lot better; you worked miracles with me Doc so I know Clare will be in good hands." Dave responded.

Andrew Sissons looked quite serious. "Dave, do you have any idea just how serious this is? There are two types of Meningitis. Viral Meningitis is rarely fatal but is still a serious illness, however if Clare is suffering from bacterial Meningitis then it is altogether a much more serious illness, which can easily be fatal if not caught in time."

Dave knew the disease was serious, but had not realised that there were different types, he did not know if this would be good news or bad.

"Which does Clare have Doc?" Dave asked hopefully.

"Give me a chance Dave; I've only just got here myself. We need to do some test's to find out which strain of the disease Clare has, then and only then can we really start to treat it." Mr Sissons replied.

"Sorry of course you need time to find the right treatment." Dave replied.