Niall, answer the door please

Burning Out

Claire came out of the room after a few minutes and walked over to the two men. "Niall's been given a light sedative and he'll need to rest now. There really isn't much point in you staying. You should leave and get some rest yourselves. You can see him tomorrow afternoon". "Not the morning?" Liam queried only to be told that Niall was having some scans done , along with other tests and would not be able to have visitors. Liam and Harry reluctantly  left after bidding the nurses goodbye.

"It seems we go three steps forward only to go two back" Harry said. He sounded depressed.

"But there's still that one step that does go forward" Liam responded. Harry gave him a small smile but still shrugged defeatedly.

"Yeah, I guess. But it doesn't  seem fair. Of all of us, Niall's just the one who needs protection and we didn't do a good job. I really feel I've let him down"

"Hazz, if anyone let him down ,it was me. I should have made him go home with me that night. But I didn't. We just need to support him now" Liam spoke quietly. "Let's go round up Zayn and Louis. We'll get Pizza, play some FIFA and drink a few pints. Things will look brighter tomorrow and Niall will be fine. Like Zayn said a few weeks ago, we just have to have faith in Niall and his doctors".

"Sounds like a plan" Harry agreed and flung his arm over Liam's shoulder as they went in search of the other two band members.

Modest Management the following morning:

"Good Morning, Sir."  Samantha smiled brightly at the distinguished looking man standing before her holding several Manilla folders in his hand.

"Good Morning. I'd like to speak to Stephen, please. Immediately" he added.

"Is he expecting you?" Sam mentally ran through Stephen's agenda for the day but could not remember any appointments.

"No, he's not but he is going to see me" was the firm response.

"I'll just go and ask him if he's fr...."

"Don't worry, I'll see myself in" He cut her off and walked towards the  Manager's door. He knocked briefly before entering. Stephen stood but sat abruptly again as his visitor slammed the files down onto the desk.

"Just what do you mean by forcing your way in here"  Stephen  shouted, his face red with suppressed anger"

"More  to the point" his visitor spat back at him " I'd like to know what you mean by almost killing  four young men. You and I need to talk". He pulled forward a chair and, uninvited, sat down.

"We did the medicals you requested yesterday. Here are the results. "He indicated the files on the desk "  I have also forwarded them to each of the young men. In a nut shell, each of those four young men  are in danger of becoming quite ill unless things are altered. They are exhausted, every single one of them is anaemic, two are medically underweight to a worrying degree, the other two only just within the acceptable weight limits. They are all extremely stressed and Mr Payne has a urinary infection which needs treatment. I've started him on the necessary medication but I have also booked a follow up appointment for him. The consequences if this infection remains uncontrolled, could potentially be extremely serious. As you are no doubt aware, Mr Payne has had very serious kidney problems in the past.

 What I want to know is what you intend to do to rectify this situation. You have ground these young men into the ground. They are burning out. The question is " do you care?". The doctor stood up and walked towards the door. When he had his hand on the door handle, he turned and looked back at the man seated at the desk. "I'll look forward to hearing from you". He walked out, nodded  to Samantha as he passed, and left the building.