Warning: This chapter mentions having a Tonic-Clonic seizure. Read at your own risk.
Wednesday 27th November 2030
'Are you sure you don't want me to stay off?' Dianne hesitates, looking between the girl on the sofa and her dad. Joe shakes his head. 'Seriously Di, go. We'll be okay.'
'If any-'
'I'll call you.' She nods, not making eye contact with him. Their daughter was sick. It's the run up to musical week in strictly, Joe knows Dianne should be there. He's capable of looking after her, she had a headache and hadn't slept well, he's dealt with his children being sick before. 'Seriously, you'll be late.' She nods, kissing her daughter's forehead.
'I love you so much baby girl.' She smiles weakly, snuggling down into the blanket Joe had put over her when she came down this morning.
'Love you too mama.' Joe takes the boys to school, he had debated if he should take Amelia or not, but she was asleep. He didn't want to wake her up, and what Dianne didn't know, it couldn't hurt her.
About 11 he got a phone call from Dianne.
'How is she?' He's met with that as soon as he picks up the phone, rolling his eyes. She needs to give him some credit, he knows how to look after her.
'Why hello Joe.' He mocks. 'I'm good, how are you?'
'Joe stop it.' He can tell she's getting a bit snappy. Since Amelia had become sick, she seemed to have lost all her sense of humour, and it was taking its toll on the whole family. 'I am out of my mind, she didn't look great this morning, but I was late and-' He can tell that she's stressed over their daughter, and probably a multitude of strictly related drama's.
'She's fine Dot.' He can tell that she isn't really reassured. 'I'd let her speak to you, but she's sparko out on the sofa.'
'Can you wake her up?' He sighs, torn between letting his wife speak to her and wanting their daughter to be able to sleep. 'Please Joe?'
'Okay, let me bring her some food.' He compromises, saving what he was working on. 'How is strictly?' She tells him all about it, as he makes the ham and cheese sandwich that their daughter loves. He's not expecting her to eat all of it, but he can try and get her to eat some of it.
'Hey princess' He crouches down to the height of the sofa, gently tapping Amelia, whose eyelids flutter. She used to do it when she was a baby, when he was able to feed her, typically at night when Dianne had expressed some milk. They had read somewhere that a feed at night was usually a good way to keep the baby asleep for longer, and a good opportunity for the dad and the baby to bond. It had been different to the boys, when she was little. It was harder with twins and already having Amelia. He would go as far to say his bond with Amelia was better than his bond with the twins. Not that he didn't love them the same, they just had a different relationship.
'Mummy wants to speak to you.' She makes a noise, as Joe passes over the phone. He can hear Dianne asking her questions and her not really being in the mood to answer them.
'Are you sure she's okay Joe?' He watches her take slow bites out of one of the squares Joe had cut, slowly chewing it.
'Honestly Dianne, she's just been woken up. She's going to be groggy.' She seemed relatively satisfied at this, as she hung up the phone.
'Mummy's silly.' His daughter says, smiling a little as he nods.
'Mummy is silly, but she's worried about you. You know that, right?'
'Yeah, I don't want her to worry though.'
'I know baby girl. It's a mum's job to worry though.' He spies the remote control on the floor. 'Do you want the TV on?' She nods a little,
'Can you sit next to me?' He smiles, joining her on the sofa. She had eaten part of the sandwich, so he was satisfied with that, pulling her in close. She turns the remake of beauty and the beast. She falls asleep on his lap, and he falls asleep. He makes sure to set an alarm, so that he remembers to pick up the twins.
He's woken up by, what he believes, to be his phone. His groggy state soon comes crashing down, as he realises, it's not his phone. His daughter is on his lap, having some sort of fit. He doesn't know what to-do, his heart racing as he seems to be rooted to the spot for what seems to be forever, in reality it was seconds. He knew that this was a "proper" fit, the ones he stereotypically thought of. He couldn't describe the noise she was making, it was like the noise a radiator makes when it is heating up, it wasn't a sound that a human should make.
He gently lifts his daughters head and lifts her up and putting her on the floor, cushioning her head with a pillow so she doesn't hit her head on the floor, he had learnt, after extensive google searches, he shouldn't touch her. He dials 999.
'999, what's your emergency?' He freezes. 'Hello? What service do you need?'
'Hi. My daughter she's.' He freezes, 'She's having some sort of fit.' He's close to tears. 'She's a grey colour and she's shaking.'
'Okay sir, where do you live?' He recounts their address, hoping he got the right number, he's lived here for a decade, but his mind has gone blank. 'How old is she?'
'Nine.'
'Do you know what the recovery position is?' He freezes, she's still shaking.
'I don't know.' He looks back at her.
'Are you home alone?' He nods, suddenly conscious of the fact he's on the phone and she can't see him.
'Yeah.' She proceeds to instruct him on how to put her in the recovery position? 'Won't I hurt her?' He queries, as the sound of sirens get nearer and nearer. 'I think they are outside.' He tells the woman on the operator, as he goes down to let them in. He is flooded with relief and they go into the room, she's stopped fitting but she's still unconscious, and she's gone a bluey green colour. She looks awful, and he can tell that she's wet herself. The paramedic clearly picked up on this, and his reaction.
'It's common when someone has a fit that they wet themselves.' The female paramedic tells him, 'We will take her hospital, why don't you get her some spare clothes.' He nods, he can do that. He pulls out the first thing he can find, a pink van top and some grey sweatpants. He also grabs a pair of pyjamas and some converses. He shoves the latter in a stray bag and grabs the keys, just in case they have to go to hospital.
He goes back into his living room, she's making noise and she has some leads on her. 'They are ECG-ing her.' Someone tells him. 'She's regaining consciousness.' He nods, watching as they prod and poke his angel. 'They are giving her something to help her, and hopefully she will improve on the Glasgow coma scale.' Another nod, he doesn't know what it is, but it seems scary. 'And we are testing her blood sugar.'
Soon she is sitting up, and she can see how terrified she is, they are performing another test. Soon he's allowed to go near her, he crawls over to her, as the paramedic tells him that they will wait outside as he changes her clothes. He helps her slip her soiled pyjamas off and into the tracksuit bottoms and top he was holding. She doesn't even seem to notice she's wet herself, and he wants to keep it that way. He spies a box of tissues and mops the floor, throwing them into the bin and putting the dirty clothes in a pile, as he goes to get the paramedics. He carries her to the ambulance, he can see she's not with it. They tie her to the gurney, checking that Joe has everything.
The trip to the hospital isn't that long, but to Joe it feels like a lifetime. He follows her as they wheel her to paediatrics. They do some primary tests, it occurs to him that Dianne needs to be here, but he doesn't want to leave his daughter, who has started crying that she want's mummy as the nurse tries to insert a cannula. He is sure that he can feel his heart break even more as they try to stick a very large needle in her arm, missing it the first two times, watching as the child becomes more and more agitated as the more attempts they have. Once that's all done, they leave, and she is starting to fall asleep. Dianne doesn't pick up, so he calls Zoe, who does pick up. His phone is dying, and he needs to get a message to Dianne, and he needs someone to contact the school, he knows that Alfie is in the area, hoping he can pick them up.
'Hey Joe.' She says, too enthusiastically.
'Zoe, I have like seven percent battery on my phone and my charger is at home. I need to get a message to Dianne.'
'Yeah what's up.' The concern evident in her voice.
'Amelia's had a fit, it was so scary.' He confesses, looking at his little girl. She seems so much smaller now she's laying a bed that is miles too big for her. 'And I need someone to pick the twins up. I know you are in Brighton, but Alfie is in London.'
'Oh my god.' She pauses. 'I'll phone him now; don't worry I will make sure someone is there to pick them up.'
'I'll phone her, and if she doesn't pick up I'll phone the studios.' She pauses for a moment. 'I'll call Alfie now, if not I'll try all the other people I know.'
'Thanks.' He watches her sleep, making sure she's breathing. He's still shaken up, and he's not really sure what he's doing. The hands tick by, as more doctors come rushing in and rushing out, checking she's okay. Her little body is subject to all these nasty tests, prodding and poking the semi-conscious child, Joe notes how cruel it seems, she's so small and all the machines seem as big as her. As the clock strikes four, a very flustered Dianne walks in.
Joe goes to speak, but she cuts him off. 'Alfie picked up the boys, he's taking them to Brighton for the night. He also, very kindly, picked me up from the studios. What happened?'
'I don't know.' He looks into her eyes, as she watches tears pool around them. 'It was so scary Dianne, she was shaking, and she turned blue.' She grabs on to his hand. 'I seriously thought she was dead, she wet herself and everything.'
'I should have been there.' He shakes his head, pulling her so she's sitting on his lap. 'Seriously Joe, I should have been there. I should have called in sick.' He tugs at her hair, wrapping the ends around her finger. 'She looked ill.'
'We weren't to know she was going to have a big fit.' He tries to reassure her, he looks over to his daughter who is lying on the bed, asleep. He doesn't know what to call this fit, he's learnt that the ones she's been having are absence seizures. They are disturbed by a doctor coming to speak to them, Joe goes over the details of what happened, Dianne wincing at each tiny little detail, before the doctor asks them to wake her up as they need to get her to have a urine test.
'Come on baby girl.' Dianne whispers quietly, going to the side of the bed, tapping her gently. 'You need to come with me.' She groans, opening her eyes a little, as Dianne catches her eye.
'You came.' Dianne can hear her voice crack, and her heart drops, adding to the guilt she was already feeling.
'As soon as I heard princess.' Joe stands up behind her. 'You need to go and wee in this bottle.' She shows her, as the child just stares at her, as Joe tries to get her to walk, abandoning the plan as they realise she is too shaky to be able to walk. 'I'll carry you.' Joe lifts her up, putting her in Dianne's arms. She's getting far too big for this, only being able to do this because she was the size of a seven-year-old. Joe waits in the cubicle as the pair of them walk to the toilets.
She is allowed to go home after those tests, the doctor writing a prescription for anti-seizure medication, it was on her notes that if she were to have another fit, she was to be put on medication. Joe asked the doctor what this seizure was called, apparently it was a tonic-clonic seizure, given the circumstances he didn't think it was a febrile seizure, rather an epileptic seizure. He is having all these words thrown at him, and he wish he knew what they meant, maybe the he would be able to explain to Amelia what was happening to her, except he can't, and he feels like a complete failure.
They get a pizza on the way back, this was Amelia's favourite food and neither have the energy to cook. Joe gets her to try and eat, but she's not having it, so Joe tucks her up in her bed, letting her sleep.
'How is she?' A concerned Dianne asks, as he creeps out of the room. 'How was she before?' Bringing his wife into a hug, he kisses the top of her head. He notices as she backs away slightly, trying not to come in too close. He can tell she feels guilty, but even the doctor said there didn't seem any signs that this was going to happen. He knows that all he can do is reassure his wife of this fact, at the same time trying to convince himself that this was the case. The words of Zoe play on his mind, how Dianne must feel like a failure for missing it. He, too, feels like one. He feels like he's failed both of them, he can't take this away from Amelia and he can't reassure Dianne that things were going to be okay, because he didn't know if they ever were going to be.
'She was fine, I promise.'
A/N Thought's?