What Are The Odds?

eighteen

"What's taking him so long? Niall said he'd be here in like five minutes," Louis complains as he sits in his room along with his mum and dad.

You see, at the moment Louis and his family are waiting to hear the news they've been waiting for for the past few months. Today was the day Louis was going to find out if he was officially in remission.

"Relax, love, I'm sure he'll be in soon," Jay cooed as she ran a hand through the boy's hair.

And true to Jay's word, Harry was walking into the room less than a minute later. His face was neutral and he had a rather large file in hand, but Louis couldn't even pay attention to that because he was just so anxious to hear the news.

"Jay, Dan, how've you been?" Harry says as he walks into the room and grabs his chair.

"We've been well, anxious but well," Jay replies as she grabs ahold of her husband's hand.

"That-" Harry starts to get cut off.

"Can you please tell me if I'm in remission or if I'm still sick?!" Louis butts in because honestly he just wants to hear those magical words.

And, well, Harry could only chuckle at the boy's impatience before slowly nodding his head along with a smile.

"You were so strong, Louis, throughout everything, and you pulled through in the end. Congratulations, all of you," Harry says with a smile as he watches Louis' mother pull him in for a hug as she kisses all over his face.

The family continues to hug one another while tears of joy fall from their eyes for a good ten minutes, and the whole time Harry can't help but smile back at them because it's moments like these that made him want to become a doctor. It's those moments when he gets to tell a patient and their family that their surgery was successful or when he gets to tell them that they're cancer free, that makes all the tough things worth it. It makes it worth having to tell them they have cancer. And having to administer chemo even when they're already crying in pain before it even begins.

"You're not out of hospitals all together yet, Louis," Harry says once the family turned back to him. "You're done with your chemo sessions, but now comes time for rehabilitation. You're gonna have to learn to live with only one leg and even a few other limitations."

"L-like what?" Louis asks.

"Like, you're not gonna immediately be able to go back to your normal routine. Your body still has low energy, and you have to respect that. Also, whenever you get sick in the future - even if it's just a little cold - you need to treat it a bit more serious. And I don't recommend drinking," Harry explains.

"Yeah neither do I," Jay says with a stern look towards her son. In return though Louis smiles innocently at his mother and places a quick kiss to her cheek. "So this is it, though. Louis can come home now, and he just comes back for his rehab sessions?"

"Yeah this is it. For now Louis you can start packing up your room, and Jay if you two want to go meet with my assistant to set up Louis' rehab appointments then we'll be able to speed this process up."

So with that Louis quickly grabs his crutches and begins to make his way out of the exam room while Dan follows him in order to help him pack a bit faster. The boy was so excited about hearing the news, though, that he didn't think to do anything else but pack. The only thing on his mind was the thought of being able to go home. Being able to go home, see his sisters, hang out with his friends whenever he wants, sleep in his own bed, but he seemed to have forgotten about one thing. One person.

Louis was just finishing packing his clothes when he heard a knock on his door. Assuming it was just his mum seeing if they were done, he shouted for the person to come in, and to say he was caught off guard when he saw the person behind it would be an understatement. There stood little Zayn Malik with a look that resembled a kicked puppy.