The Wolf In sheeps clothing

Two Word Answers

"Niall, you really need to eat" Maura said pleadingly as her son pushed away the tray in front of him. She'd flown in from Ireland the day before and was horrified to see how ill her son looked. Niall had told his father , the medical staff and the lads that she was not to know the true extent of his illness and consequently Maura was very confused at why Niall seemed not to be recovering.

"Not hungry" was the terse response. All Niall's responses to questions and pleas to co-operate received similarly short answers. It was "No, thank you", "Not hungry", "Not tired", Not interested". "No need" and , worst of all , the times he used three words...."Go away.....please" or "Leave me alone." Yes, conversations with Niall were limited and Maura, especially, was getting more and more upset as she watched Niall close in on himself to the point where he barely spoke. Giving up, Maura stood up and bent over her son, kissing his forehead gently.

"We'll see you tomorrow,baby. Get some rest" Maura whispered and left the room, her shoulders bowed in defeat, Bobby following. Bobby hated the thought that Niall seriously needed intervention, it was more and more apparent that it could be the only way he'd ever truly get better.He was also cursing Niall's ban on telling Maura the truth.

Once Niall was alone, he closed his eyes and a single tear slipped out from under the closed lids and made it's lonely path down his pale and thin cheek. He dashed it away with the back of his hand then rang the nurses call button, waiting for her to appear.

"Hello sweetheart, What can I do for you ?" the nurse asked cheerfully though she immediately registered her patient's forlorn appearance.

"I don't want any more visitors. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever." Niall's voice was bleak and the nurse looked at him in shock.

"I'm sure you don't mean that, sweetheart, you're just tired Surely, you'll at least want to see your parents?". He shook his head.  She started bustling about the bed, checking the various monitors surrounding Niall then the flow of oxygen into his still struggling lungs. "A good sleep and you'll feel so much better." She then pulled the window blinds, cutting out the bright sunlight that had been flooding the room.

"I'm not tired. I just don't want any more visitor, even my parents....please" Niall said, sounding very upset. "I just want people to leave me the fu...the heck alone" Niall's voice was raising in anger and the nurse hurried to sooth him, not wanting him to work himself up into a state.His health was already too fragile.

"All right, sweetheart, no visitors. Now try and get some sleep and maybe, when you wake up, you can try and eat something for me." the nurse kept her tone soothing as she patted his hand then went and finally dimmed the lights before leaving Niall alone in the gloom.

"He's adamant, Doctor" the nurse said to Niall's doctor as he stood at the nurses station reading through Niall's charts. "He wants to ban all visitors. I did try suggesting he was just tired and he'd feel differently after a nap but he's still maintaining that he won't see anyone, not even his parents."

"I see, Nurse. Thank you for telling me.Obviously, we can't go against Niall's wishes but we may be able to persuade him to change his mind. I'll have a talk with him. I need to examine him anyway and see how his treatment is progressing." The doctor headed towards Niall's room, the nurse following him.

"Much better" the doctor said as he straightened up, pulling his stethoscope from his ears. "We'll keep you on the oxygen a little longer but things are beginning to move in the right direction. Nurse tells me that you are not eating very much at all which isn't so good. This will need to improve Niall, if you intend to recover." He pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and sat down, looking at Niall with an unreadable expression on his face. Niall gazed back, a slight frown on his own face.