Niall, answer the door please

Reactivity and Perceptivity in english.

@teeloganroryflanagan  :-)

To say Louis was beside himself with excitement was a masterpiece of understatement. He was bursting with  hope that things were definitely improving and he could barely control his impatience as he waited for Dr Collins to arrive. Finally the man appeared and he and Niall's nurse, Chanelle, disappeared into Niall's room. Much to his disappointment , Louis was requested to wait outside. Niall's nurse very kindly suggested it would be better if he went and got something to eat and drink as it could be a long wait. Louis was reluctant to leave but realised that he wasn't going to get any information any time soon and really, a cup of tea and food did sound good. He'd be able to phone the other lads from the canteen anyway . Louis picked up his hoodie and headed down to the canteen.

Louis sat alone at a small table, tucked away in a quiet corner, slowly sipping at his mug of tea. He didn't want to draw attention to himself so was glad that nobody appeared to recognise him. He wasn't really aware of a small teenage girl covertly watching him from across the room. She'd been visiting her auntie and just come to get some lunch when she spotted Louis. Looking at how tired he appeared , she decided  she'd leave him alone but, if Louis was here , then that meant this was the  hospital where Niall was a patient. Quickly a plan formed in her mind. If she followed Louis, she'd find out where Niall was and she could see for herself if he was OK. THe media hadn't put out any information lately and she really wanted to know if he was going to be all right. Finally Louis stood up, stretched and slowly moved back through canteen and out to the elevators. He stood there a few seconds then headed to the stairs. His little 'shadow' breathed out in relief.  It was now easier to follow him. Act confident, she told herself, and she slipped up the stairs behind him.

Louis tapped lightly on Niall's door and  he heard Dr Collins voice calling out 'come in'. Louis was only too happy to obey and entered with alacrity. "So Doc, what's the verdict?"

"Niall's score has just got considerably higher" The Doctor's voice held a tone of great satisfaction. "We  now have what we call Reactivity. Now we wait to see if we'll get  perceptivity"

"Can I have that again but this time in english please?" Louis said irritably only to make the Doctor chuckle at the younger man's fractiousness.

"So far most of Niall's  responses such as the twitching, eye opening and so forth, are involuntary reactions. Now when you started pulling on his hands he responded by pulling them away and showed he was irritated  by his  facial expressions. This is what we call Reactivity. Niall was responding to a situation .  It was a conscious movement, a choice , if you will.The perceptivity, I hope, will come if he regains full consciousness. This will be his ability to process language and communicate. It's only then we will be able to start to access if there other problems. That's the unknown. Niall's chances are significantly increased but there is still a long way to go. Until then we don't know what his chances of a full recovery will be."

"I won't celebrate yet, then but it certainly sounds better than before" Louis said with a small smile.

"It certainly is" the Doctor agreed. " Now, if I might be a little personal, Louis?" Louis looked up at him and nodded his assent. " I did suggest to your friend, Harry, that you young men all make appointments with your own Doctors. You've all had a pretty tough time this last month, on top of your normal pressures. You'll none of you be much good to Niall if you all get sick. He's going to need you all  to get through this"

"Do you think he will? Get through this I mean?"

"I'm hopeful.  Now,  remember what I said, young man. We don't need you or your other friends as patients. One of you is enough ." Nodding at Louis, the Doctor left the room.

"Louis, I'm going to have to ask you to leave again for a few minutes. I need to see to various things for Niall. His catheter needs sorting out and I have his obs to do  . I'll be as quick as I can, then you can come back in. Is that OK? You can update him on the Rugby. I think the Springboc are doing quite well". Chanelle gave Louis a cheeky grin and shooed him out of the room.

"Right, in you go. I'll be at the nurses station if you need me. I just have to update Niall's charts". Chanelle collected up her clipboard and left the room. She didn't see the small figure that slid into  a janitor's closet. Neither did Louis as he bounded into Niall's room and started to  continue his 'conversation' with his silent bandmate.

Finally having run out of talk, Louis started to sing. When he didn't feel pressured or compared to others, his voice was truly great. He decided that he'd  try and remember that Irish song Niall often bellowed out when he was slightly tipsy. Maybe hearing something from his beloved Ireland would help Niall to wake  up. Now what was that song.? Ah yes, Whiskey in the jar! Louis burst cheerfully into song until he hit a stumbling block. He was usually tipsy as well when Niall sang this and now he couldn't remember the words.

"......If anyone can aid me, it's me brother in the army.

If I could find his station in............. Sh*t  can't remember the rest .mmmh Louis mumbled. He jumped when he heard a young voice with a strong irish accent singing the words

'If anyone can aid me

dis me brother in the army.

If I could find his station in Cork or in Kilarney.

And if he will come wi..........

Louis looked across at Niall. It wasn't him singing. He then looked at the door. "Hey you, who are you?" He reached out and caught the girl's hand firmly as she turned to run away."What are you doing?

"I'm sorry, Louis. I didn't mean any harm. I just saw you downstairs and I wanted to know how Niall was. I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me"

"Louis took a deep breath and calmed down as he looked at the tearful little girl. "it's OK, but you shouldn't be here"

"I just wanted to know if Niall would be OK. I love him"

"Yeah, we all do. We all hope he'll be  fine but he's still pretty sick" Louis admitted " Look, you'd better leave and please don't talk to anyone about this, promise?"

"I promise, Louis. I'll not breath a word but please tell Niall we all love him when he wakes up."

"I'll do that for you. Tell me your name and I'll pass on your message when he wakes up."

"It's Caoimhe". She gave Louis a radiant smile then disappeared  down the hall.

Louis turned back to  Niall and found himself looking into a pair of ocean blue eyes. Louis's smile was so brilliant, it would have lit up the world. Niall blinked a few times, frowning slightly then his eyes fluttered shut again.

"Chanelle! Chanelle! Louis raced from the room.