Little Mercury

Deja Vu

A few months later things have taken on a new routine, Amelia was at nursery Monday-Friday and Freddie goes between the studio and the stall he runs with Roger and as a bonus, they are no longer recording at night.

They'd done it, Queen has officially been signed by EMI, they now record during the day and the name album is set to release some time after Christmas.

Right now it's the first week in November and Freddie was at the studio when he got a phone call. "Freddie phone call front desk." One of the receptionists informs him when she enters the sound booth.

"Did they say who it was?" He asks looking away from the recording booth where John is currently recording the bass track.

"Barnfields Nursery." The receptionist replies leading him to the phone then left to give him some privacy.

'Hello?'

'Hello Mr Mercury, it's Miss Poppy Amelia's teacher. I apologize for calling you at work but I afraid you need to come and collect your daughter.'

'Why is she alright?'

'No, she is not. Your daughter has been sick and is running a fever as well as complaining of a tummy ache.'

Amelia had complained of a tummy ache earlier that morning, he gave her some Calpol and by the time they reached the nursery she said it had gone so he thought nothing of it, Freddie's heart was in his mouth, 'All right I'll be there soon.'

He puts the phone down, racing back the sound booth. "I need to go, can someone give me a lift?" He pleads, grabbing his coat.

"What's wrong mate?" Roger asks.

"Amelia's been sick at nursery and is running a high fever. I have to go get her." Freddie flies out the door, Roger doesn't need telling twice and grabs his keys.

"Roger," he glances back at Brian, "keep us updated, yeah?"

Roger nods racing after Freddie.

------

When Freddie and Roger arrive at the nursery car park Freddie's heart stops there a blue lighting ambulance just pulling up in front of them. They both follow the paramedics into the nurse's office where Amelia is curled up on her side, arms wrapped around her stomach.

The staff nurse steps forward to inform Freddie of what's going on. "Mr Mercury your daughter has gotten worse since I phoned you, her temperature has increased, she's now formed a rash and became unresponsive for a few moments. We had no choice but to call for an ambulance."

Freddie acknowledges her but stood back letting the medics do their job but he caught Amelia's line of vision and she cries out for him clearly in a lot of pains, one of the medics turns to him, "Are you her father?"

"I am yeah." Freddie tries to swallow back his tears to no success, "Can you please tell me what's happening to her?"

He didn't understand much when it comes to medic terminology, so he's thankful that they put it into layman's terms. "Sir, your daughter has a high fever, is in a lot of pain and is struggling to breathe. That combined with the vomiting and the rash on her body, are red flags for sepsis. Sepsis is a reaction to an infection but the immune system overreacts to the infection and starts to damage the body's own tissues and organs. That is why we need to get her up to the hospital ASAP, to find the cause of infection and treat it. If left untreated it can be fatal."

Freddie's heart pounds a 100 miles a minute, "Can I go with her in the ambulance?"

"We'd prefer it if you did. Would you mind carrying her out to the ambulance? It could save her some time." Freddie nods carefully picking his daughter up. She feels so lifeless in his arms as he carries her into the back of the ambulance onto the stretcher. Roger promises to meet him there with Mary and the others.