Can you love me now, Zayn?

Chapter 21

"Sorry", Harry said, climbing into the passenger seat of Zayn's car. Zayn had been out in the car waiting for him for nearly ten minutes.

"You look terrible", said Zayn as he looked at Harry. "Are you sick?"

"I guess, sorry", said Harry, his voice sounding raw and raspy.

"Well, we're going to the doctor's anyway, might as well have him check you out for that too. Is it your throat? Do you have a fever?" asked Zayn, moving his hand to Harry's forehead and feeling how warm he was. "You're on fire".

"I'm freezing", said Harry, "Can you turn the heat on", he asked before resting his head on the headrest and closing his eyes.

Zayn did immediately, despite the fact it was warm and sunny and beautiful outside. "Oh, babe, you sound awful", said Zayn, glancing over at Harry again as he began coughing.

Zayn pulled out of the driveway and headed to the doctor. He was glad he'd made an appointment regarding Harry's arm, he guessed that if Harry was going to get sick, too, he may as well do it on a day he'd already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for him being that a doctor's visit was one of Harry's most un-favorite things and it was always a struggle to get him to go.

Harry slept the entire way to the doctor's office, with Zayn continuously glancing over at him. He hated seeing Harry so unwell. It wasn't like him to get ill, except for an occasional bout of bronchitis and a mild case of asthma, he was usually very healthy. Whatever this was, it had come on very suddenly - although Harry had seemed exceptionally tired the day before. In any case, Zayn was glad they were on their way to the doctor because Harry looked horrible.

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"You've been having pain in your arm?" Dr Davison asked.

"Yeah", croaked Harry. Dr Davison raised his eyebrows and looked at Harry, then glanced at Zayn.

"I made him the appointment for his arm, but this morning he woke up with a sore throat, headache and I think he has a fever, too", said Zayn worriedly.

"Hmm", said Dr Davison. As he felt Harry's forehead he said, "You feel very warm, I'll get the nurse to check your temp". He then felt Harry's neck and said, "swollen glands, too. Yeah, you're sick alright", the doctor said with a frown.

He was immediately concerned. Harry was burning with fever and seemed weak and listless. He popped his head out of the room and instructed one of the nurses on his staff to take all of Harry's vitals.

"And your arm hurts, too?" the Dr asked, sensing the two things were probably unrelated, but you could never be sure and he didn't want to overlook any symptoms. "Can you show me where?" When Harry pointed to the top of his forearm, the Dr picked it up and tapped lightly along it. He asked Harry to squeeze his hand several times, and clench and unclench his fist. He looked carefully at the long scar on Harry's arm, too. "That looks like a surgical scar, what happened?" Dr Davison asked.

Harry's throat was hurting so much it was hard to talk, Zayn stepped closer and said, "Yes, he had surgery. His arm was broken, when he was about 15 and they had to put a rod in it. It's been bothering him for a few weeks I think, right?" he asked Harry, who nodded.

"How did you break it?" the doctor asked.

Harry looked at Zayn, pleading with his eyes for him to make the answer short.

"His father did it, he was....he was very abusive", Zayn said. Hoping the doctor wouldn't ask them any more questions, he could see Harry was barely able to hold himself upright, he looked weak, exhausted, his throat hurt, he had a headache and his arm hurt too. He was miserable and he didn't need anyone hounding him right now with a bunch of questions about his past.