Claire woke in a sweat, her face shiny and hot. Too hot. Her whole body felt boiling, yet she shivered, and she felt ill. So very ill. She felt the bile rising in and she lunged for the door, only just making it to the toilet before her stomach was emptied. She pulled a face as the vile liquid burned . She clung to the cool ceramic toilet desperately, waiting until her body decided she’d got rid of everything inside her.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, her bare legs seemingly frozen to the cool floor tiles, waiting till she stopped trembling. Looks like she’d could a bug. She ran through the food she’d eaten in the past day or two, considering food poisoning. Doubtful; she’d not eaten any meat or fish recently. There wasn’t much chance of that, especially eating Tasha’s food; she was a perfectionist and had probably made anybody ill from her cooking in her life.

She shrugged to herself, feeling suddenly better. Maybe it was just something she ate.

“Claire? Are you OK hun?” Tasha knocked on the door in a hushed voice. Claire hoped she hadn’t woken Jake; he was terrible for getting back to sleep, even if he woke at 4am.

“Yeah, I’m OK.”

“I’ll get you some water. Stay there, I’ll be right there.” Claire heard Tasha’s feet padding across the landing. She didn’t hear Jake. She relaxed.

Claire felt her heart steadying to a more regular beat, and she began to breathe more easily, the air floating in and out of her nostrils delicately.

Her eyes wandered over the room. Tasha’s make up, Jake’s baby shampoo, Frank’s razors, a secret little stash of tampons hidden behind the cistern, away from prying little hands. Claire smiled; Jake’s curiosity was adorable but it must have tortured his parents.

There was a little tap on the door. “Let me in, Claire.” Claire struggled up, her legs suddenly feeling weak again but she remained steady as she twisted the lock and pulled the door open.

“Hey, here’s a cup of water for you.” Tasha came in the room and closed the door behind her. She put the back of her hand to Claire’s forehead. “You’ve not got a fever, but you’re very pale. Maybe it’s not such a good idea you going to see Jongup and Jungkook today. I think you should stay and rest until you get your energy up. You don’t want to be giving them the bug.”

Claire’s heart started to beat faster again. “I’d forgotten that was today.” She sighed, burying her face in her hands. “I want to, I need to do this…”

“You need to rest! But if you feel better later on, then…if you feel you want to, you can.”

“I need to, I’m doing this for Yonggu-“ Claire couldn’t finish her sentence before she felt the sudden urge to be sick, again. She lunged for the toilet seat, collapsing on the floor just as she threw up.

“Oh, Claire.” Tasha rubbed her back and held back her hair until she was finished. “I don’t think you should go today. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to organise another time. I’ll contact the station.”

Claire faced forward, the packet of tampons poking discretely behind the cistern. When she felt steady, she stood, with the help of her sister-in-law, and took the plastic cup of water.

Her brain whirled, numbers flying around as she tried so desperately to calculate as she took a sip of water.

“Feeling better now?”

Six. It was six.

"Claire?"

The cup slid through her shaking fingers, crashing to the floor. Tasha grabbed her before her legs buckled underneath her weight. “Claire! Claire, what’s wrong?”

Claire stared blankly at her, taking a while to come back to earth. “I think…” She shook her head. She was wrong. She must have miscounted. But even if she hadn’t, that didn’t matter.

“You think what?” Tasha’s face was plastered with worry. The two women ignored the water seeping into their socks.

“I think…”