Niall, answer the door please

Liam becomes a gibbering wreck.

Liam's mouth fell open in shock as he listened to Maura's voicemail  asking him to contact her urgently. He quickly punched in her number and held his breath as he waited for her to answer..

"Liam? 

"Yeah, Maura. I'm sorry  so very sorry. I just didn't think. I should have kept in touch. I.........." Liam's voice faded away and his voice broke. His phone fell from his hand, crashing to the floor. Liam just stood and looked at it. The reality was hitting him hard and, just like Harry, he was broken.

Louis then  heard his phone ring and was quick to answer it. "Maura?"

"Thank God, Louis. Is Liam  all right?. We need to see you three boys. Can we meet in Dr Collins office? You remember where? Bobby and I will meet  there" Maura spoke calmly but in an unemotional manner and Louis felt in his bones that they weren't going to be talking about anything good. His heart felt like it was being ripped from his chest as he answered Maura's request.

"Yeah, we'll be there. Harry can't come. He's been admitted here as he had a severe asthma attack this morning but Liam and I will come. Louis hung up and gently shook Liam before picking up Liam's broken phone and sliding it into his pocket. With Niall gone, what did things like that matter ,was his only thought. "Come on, Li, Maura and Bobby need to talk to us".  Putting his arm over Liam's shoulder he gently guided the taller man out to the lobby to get the elevator to the 3rd floor where Dr Collins had his small office. They  walked in silence, each young man lost in  the prison created by their own dark thoughts.

"Come in" Dr Collins called out in response to the soft tapping in the door. Liam and Louis walked slowly in, heads bowed.

"Oh boys" Maura rushed towards them,  wrapping an arm around each man. "Oh, look at you. Dr. Collins, can we do this after?  I think we need to take these boys to see Niall. They need to do this first" Maura asked quietly. He nodded in response and walked to the door, opening it and leading the way.

It was a silent party that headed down another floor, through what seemed to be endless corridors and finally stopping in a large, square lobby with rooms on each of the sides.  Dr Collins walked to one that was situated at a corner and opened the door, holding it for them to walk through.

Liam took a  look at the occupant lying there on the bed, surrounded by strange items of medical equipment. He took a second look and then he screamed. "NIALL!". Louis , standing behind him, peered around his body and then a huge grin lit up his face though tears were trickling down his pale cheeks.

"Liam, be quiet, please" the doctor admonished him. "Niall is still very seriously ill and we also have other patients to consider"

"We thought he was dead. We went to his room and he was gone. We thought he'd died" Liam sounded exactly like he felt, a gibbering wreck. "Harry, I, we...."  Liam was so stunned he couldn't form a coherent sentence so he gave up trying.

"Oh sweetheart" Maura murmured at him " I left you messages but you didn't reply. No wonder you both look so ill. And poor Harry, someone needs to tell him. No, Niall's improved sufficiently enough  that it was considered safe  to move him from the ICU. Dr Collins will want  to explain to you what will likely happen but when I saw you both, I knew you needed to see this for yourself. Come here, you silly boys" Maura drew them both into her arms and patted their backs soothingly as they both cried into  her hair with sheer relief. 

When the boys had finally gained some control, Dr Collins cleared his throat. "Please, come back to my office now as we do need to talk. Whilst it is wonderful that Niall has indeed made excellent strides towards recovery, I do have to warn you all that he is  still in critical condition . The good news is that he is now stable . However" Dr Collins looked at them all with a very serious expression  " There are  still areas of concern and  the  risks from unexpected developments remains very real. Come on  now, I  am prescribing  a fortifying cup of tea and  a quick visit to Harry for you all then we'll talk"