Niall, answer the door please

But he was fine ?

Zayn was the first out, his cheeks glowing slightly pink under his tanned skin. He was muttering darkly about the embarrassment of having to pee into a cup, needles stuck into him and various other 'indignities' he felt he'd endured. And even though he had just received a very pointed lecture about smoking, he headed straight out for a cigarette, Preston hard on his heels. Harry was next out, looking as calm and unruffled as normal and he flopped down next to Alberto and Paddy and started playing with his phone.. There was just Louis and Liam to return.

"I have to tweet this, hang on a mo". Louis jumped away from the measuring stick and grabbed his phone. Returning,he manoeuvred it carefully to show the top of his head against the displayed height. It read 5' 9". He quickly tweeted it with an " I told you so" message. Grinning to himself, he replaced his phone then brightly asked what was next. After being told weight, he stood on the scales and frowned when the nurse tutted slightly. "Hey, I'm not fat" he grumbled only to get a stern look from the nurse who tartly replied that he was far from fat, he was too light.After writing down the information in her notes, she then took several vials of blood from his arm, carefully labelled them before handing Louis a small container with the comment that "You know what to do with that" before leaving the room. Louis complained to himself about what he was really tempted to do with 'that' but got on with what was required of him. He plopped down on the examination couch as a brief tap on the door heralded the doctors entrance.

Liam barely blinked when he felt the needle going into his arm. Injections of any sort never bothered him. Too many as a child had made him immune to the jabbing sensation. The nurse hurried away to take the samples to the lab for testing and the doctor then joined Liam. Liam complied with all the doctors instructions to sit, lay down, cough, etc as the examination went ahead. His attention only partially on what the doctor was doing. After quietly knocking on the door and being bid to enter, the nurse appeared and handed the doctor the lab reports on Liam's blood and urine samples which the doctor carefully studied. "Liam, you appear to have a slight urinary infection. Have you had any symptoms?" Liam blinked at him, frowning. Had he? He'd been so wrapped up in the drama around him that he'd barely noticed what was happening in his own body. He shook his head and the doctor sighed quietly. " I'll prescribe some medication for you to clear it up and schedule a follow up appointment for you. You really do need to be more careful". Ok, you're done. You may get dressed now and join the others.Shaking hands with Liam, he left him to get out of the gown, something Liam was only too grateful to do.

The senior nurse appeared in the waiting area shortly after and handed Liam his prescription, told the young men that the reports would be sent to Management and also copies to each of them. She then told them they were now free to leave and they were only too happy to do so after thanking her politely.

"My arm is sore"  Louis moaned to the others. " I swear she used a blunt needle. Why did we need flu shots, anyway?"

"Do you want to end up like Niall?" Liam shot back making Louis frown and shake his head.

"It's been so long, I forgot what started this all off" Louis murmured.

"Right guys, I'm taking you all to eat now" Paddy said firmly " What do you fancy?" The boys all looked at each other and shrugged.They really were not interested in food, they wanted to go visit Niall but Paddy was having none of it. " You'll eat first. There's a great chinese restaurant near here. We'll go there". He then herded the boys back into the SUV and headed towards the restaurant.

It was nearly 4pm before they got to the hospital and when they reached Niall's room, it was to find it in darkness. Niall was lying on his side, one arm restrained. He was moving about fractiously and tugging on the arm from time to time although he didn't appear aware of his actions.. They stood , looking down at their bandmate, turning when Niall's nurse , Chanelle, entered the room.

"Hey gorgeous. How's my favorite nurse?" Louis asked and she blushed slightly, shushing him.

"I'm good." She spoke in a very low voice " But I'm afraid Niall hasn't had a good day today . He's pulled out his canula a few times, he is very restless as you can no doubt see, he also has a slight temperature. He's been showing signs of being upset by noise so please keep your voices down when you talk to him or each other"

"Will do" Harry responded " Errrhhh , Chanelle? I thought Niall was getting better? Louis said he was fine last time he visited"

"Harry, Niall has been through a lot as you know and he's bound to get some setbacks from time to time. He was fairly bright this morning, even put up a fight about being washed but when he woke up afterwards a few hours sleep, he was confused and couldn't remember where he was. Naturally he got very upset and things went downhill from there.It's going to take time" Harry nodded then glanced back over his shoulder at Niall. Chanelle patted his shoulder gently before reminding them all to use their 'inside' voices and leaving them with their friend.

The boys sat around the room, some on chairs, some on the floor, leaning against the walls. They chatted very quietly to each other and to Niall, including him in the conversation even though he wasn't showing signs of being awake. Zayn got up and stretched then said he was going to have a smoke.Louis decided to join him leaving Harry and Liam to continue their desultory conversation.

The room fell into silence as talk slowly came to an end. Both young men just staring at the bed occupied by their Irish friend. Niall began to thrash about more and more, talking incoherently as he did so. He was yanking harder and harder on his restrained arm , his movements progressively more wild. He was crying out, sounding really distressed. Harry hurriedly pressed the nurses' call button repeatedly and Claire and Chanelle both hurried into the room. Claire looked at Niall briefly then firmly ushered Harry and Liam out , closing the door behind them. Liam and Harry looked at each other then at the door as Niall's voice cries increased. He sounded terrified.