Niall, answer the door please

It's like I'm frozen, but the world still turns

Louis pulled up into the driveway of Liam's home and got out quickly.. Zayn remained in his seat  for a moment or two before reluctantly opening  the door and joining  Louis , who  let them both into the house. They headed to the kitchen where Harry and Liam were sat at the kitchen table drinking tea. Harry looked up as they entered and opened his mouth to say something but Louis  forestalled him with a subtle shake of the head. With his hand on Zayn's shoulder, he propelled him to a seat at the table before heating a plate of the left over casserole and placing it before Zayn.  "You eat" he said firmly "  and I'll  do the talking ".

As Zayn ate, Louis filled in the others as to where Zayn had been, why and everything that had been leading up to it.. Both Harry and Liam sat quietly, making no comment as Louis talked. Zayn looked up and saw Liam looking at him intently and he flinched, looking quickly back down at his plate. Liam exchanged a glance with Harry before reaching out and softly rubbing  his hand up and down Zayn's arm. 

"I wish you would have just trusted us , Zee" Harry said. He sounded hurt " You know we love you .You could have talked to us. Maybe if you had, things would never have got this far". Zayn put his fork down and stared at his still nearly full plate of food, blinking back the tears  that threatened to fill his eyes.

"It was just too hard" his voice was barely above a whisper as he replied to Harry. " I'm just frozen. Everything is moving around me but it's like I'm stuck in place. It's like being   trapped down  in some deep, dark pit and people are holding a ladder for me but the ladder isn't long enough, so I can't climb out. And nobody can find a ladder  or rope that's long enough to save me."Zayn bit his bottom lip to stop it trembling.

"Mate, things will get better. You just need to be honest with us. " Liam picked up a forkful of food and held it by Zayn's mouth. "Come on, eat." Zayn opened his mouth and took the food , smiling shyly at Liam, then taking back the fork and started to eat again. Liam ruffled his hair gently before he sat  back down again.

"If nobody has any questions for Zayn, we'll update him on Niall" Louis proposed and they all agreed to move the conversation along. They knew that Zayn was very fragile at the moment and none of them wanted to do anything that would push him beyond his limits. The emotional pain he was going through was apparent and they all loved and cared about him too much to cause him more suffering.

After Zayn was up to speed with Niall's current condition, four heads bent over a sheet of paper where they were writing down suggestions of ways to entertain Niall without causing him distress by over stimulating him. Eventually they felt they had a workable plan that could still be followed when they were on their break. They decided that they wanted to support their bandmate in all aspects of his recovery from going to his Physical Therapy sessions to helping with his emotional needs. Louis was even planning to involve the little irishman in one of two 'adventures' as he put it. Liam  groaned to himself, knowing just what might happen. Daddy Direction might have to veto a thing or two.

"I wish we knew how long it it will take to get Niall back to normal" Harry mused.

"I just want to know that he will get back to normal. I'm worried he won't, and it frightens me. I keep thinking about what Dr Collins said about not knowing exactly might still happen. I'm really scared" Liam looked around at the others before dropping his gaze down to his hands twisting in his lap. "Sorry, i didn't mean to sound defeatist but...you know....it's just...."

"I think we all feel the same, Li. But we can't think like that. If we don't stay positive then it might rub off on Ni, and we don't want him to give up. He's got to feel it's worth fighting to get better. And speaking of Nialler, I suggest we all get some sleep if we want to be awake in time to put 'Operation Mend the Leprechaun ' into action tomorrow" Harry stood up and began ushering the others out of the kitchen and up the stairs to their rooms.

They were all up surprising early considering all the drama of the previous night. Harry made omelettes for everyone and they washed them down with mugs of tea before grabbing their necessary belongings and piling into Liam's car for the drive to the hospital.

Niall's voice could be heard grumbling as they approached. It sounded like the daily  battle of the bath was about to take place. Liam tapped on the door and went in. Sure enough, Niall was in a full strop about being washed by the nurse. Liam went and whispered in her ear and after a few moments, she smiled and whispered back. Liam then smiled at Niall and told him he'd be back in a few moments before hurrying out and getting into a huddle with the other three boys. Louis started howling  with laughter and , pulling Zayn along with him, raced down the corridor  obviously on a mission. Harry was laughing so hard he  could barely breath. " Li, he'll go mental" he managed to gasp out eventually. Liam just grinned wickedly.