Niall, answer the door please

"Where's the fire?"

Thank you to  Chanelle  Chanelle_1DAF for kindly agreeing to allow me to' borrow' her for nursing duties. 

The  young men all fidgeted nervously as they waited outside Niall's room waiting to see if their bandmate was going to be OK. Liam was surprised to see Preston walking towards them with an expression of displeasure on his normally cheerful face.

" I'm sorry boys. Management have sent me to collect you. They want to talk to all of you right now" The expression on Preston's face was now understandable. His opinion of Management wasn't always complimentary and it was easy to see that he found the timing of their request for a meeting was not, in his opinion, very considerate. "They want you, as well, Zayn" Preston added. Liam sighed heavily and glanced towards the shut door of Niall's room.

"I suppose we'd better go though I wish it could wait." But when Management said now, they meant now.Liam knew arguing wasn't going to help and ultimately just made things worse. And  god knows, they didn't need any more unnecessary hassle at the moment. He only hoped Management hadn't come up with some  stupid scheme to add to everything they were already having to deal with ."I suppose we'd better go and get this over with then we can come back."

"I'm Not leaving" Louis spat out. "Management can go fu........" He broke off as a nurse left Niall's room. and walked over to them. She smiled slightly and said they were now welcome to return to Niall. Louis didn't wait, he moved quickly towards the now open door.

"Text me, Tommo" Liam called after him. Louis waved a hand  in response and disappeared into the room.

Louis pulled up short as he realised Niall was not alone. There was a nurse still with Niall, talking to him in a soft South African accent as she told the unconscious man what she was doing and why. He was having his arms gently restrained to prevent him pulling out the iV lines and other monitors attached to him. Her voice was very soothing and her hands gentle . She carefully moistened Niall's mouth before turning around and looking at Louis.

" I am sure that was quite frightening for you earlier but it is often something that happens when patients start to come out of deep comas." She explained seeing that Louis looked very strained and worried. " I'm Chanelle, by the way, and I shall be Niall's main nurse for the foreseeable future." Louis studied her carefully. She was a pretty girl, ash blond  hair ,with blue  eyes  that held an expression of great calm and compassion . She looked so young for such a responsible job, younger even than Louis' own twenty three years, but Louis knew that she was obviously already highly trained to be working at this level.

" Chanelle, I just want him to be all right. He will recover, won't he? I mean he is getting better and he won't die, will he?" Louis' voice shook slightly. He  remembered all the warnings Dr Collins had given them but he wished with all his heart someone would say everything was  really going to be OK.

Chanelle bit her lip and thought  for a second before replying. She knew how desperately relatives and friends wanted to be told that their loved ones would completely recover but she also knew that saying Niall was definitely going to make it through this was not the correct thing to do. She was glad that her training had equipped her with the ability to say the right thing, not causing more stress but neither instilling false hope. " Niall has come through a great deal and is putting up quite a fight. We will do our very best to give him every chance to make it through this. He'll receive the best nursing we can give"

"I guess that is all we can ask for" Louis murmured. " It must be hard, being a nurse and having to stay calm when the rest of us all freak out. Does it every get you down? Do you ever cry?"

" It can be hard, but also very rewarding. When you watch someone walk out of here, healed, it's the best feeling in the world. And yes, when that  doesn't happen  we do cry ". Chanelle 's mind went to the numerous times where she and other nurses had  gone into their staff area and cried their eyes out when they lost a patient. They had to be so strong in front of their patients and their families regardless of the sadness of the situation. It was often the hardest part of their vocation, maintaining a calm front whilst they were crumbling inside. Louis nodded slowly as he listened to the nurse's soothing tone. " I'll leave you with Niall now. Just press the call button if you need me". She gave him a quick smile as she left the room"

"What shall we talk about today, young Niall". Louis pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed prepared to hold the usual, one sided conversation. He talked about the Rugby, how he hated Management and was in the middle of telling Niall that he , Niall, had a pretty nurse caring for him and he was wasting time but staying unconscious!  Louis idly picked up Niall's hand and started to play with his fingers. Niall jerked his hand away. Louis looked at Niall's face and saw it had a slight frown. He gently pulled Niall's fingers. Niall jerked his hand away. He tapped Niall's hand, carefully watching Niall's face. Again, Niall jerked his hand and he had an irritated expression on his face. Louis started to repeatedly press the nurses' call button whilst he  yelled for Chanelle to come.

"Where's the fire?" Chanelle puffed slightly having covered the distance from the nurses station to Niall's room at a speed worthy of an Olympic athlete. Louis told her to look and he repeated his previous actions with Niall's hand and they both watched as Niall responded.  It was good, it had to be good, didn't it. Louis looked at Chanelle with a hopeful expression and she smiled back. 'I'll call Dr Collins" she said and whisked herself briskly from the room.