Unconditional

She is a good friend

Dec: "You are also pretty special you know"

Ant: "Only because of you..."

Dec looks at Ant with a whole lot of love and gratitude.

That's when the doctor exits the ICU and Dec rushes to him

Dec: "Doc, my mam..."

Doctor:  "She will be fine. We had to do a shunt surgery on her as she was suffering from a mild brain aneurysm. A slight problem in one of her blood vessels. But its all okay now. She is fine now and her blood rates are all normal. She can be home within 3-4 days. Glad we could perform the surgery soon. You can meet her within a couple of hours"

He pats Dec's back and walks away. Dec slowly turns around to Ant and Ant sees years welling up in his eyes.

Ant: "Dec... She is fine"

Dec: "How will I ever repay you? And what all I said... I am an idiot...Anth I..."

Ant doesn't let him complete the sentence as he pulls Dec to his chest, hugging him tightly.

Ant: "It's nothing more than what all you did for me. You are my mate Declan... we look out and look after each other"

Dec sniffles and takes a deep breath to compose himself. He then looks at Ant in wonder "Who are you? You have changed a lot..."

Ant: "And three guesses to who is the reason why that happened?"

Dec giggles at that through tears.

"Good to hear that little laugh again" the boys turn around in shock to see Martin smirking at them

Dec: "God, Mart! You gave me a coronary"

Ant and Martin: "Shut up, Dec!"

Three of them look at each other and Dec giggles again. He then tells Martin what all Doc said and the excitement in his eyes tugged Ant's heart.

Martin: "That's great news! Wait till everyone hears it"

When everyone reaches the corridor, Dec explains everything to them and the first this his dad did was to hug Ant

Alph: "Thank you."

Ant: "Please don't thank me... Dec is my friend..and you...you called me...you.."

Alph: "My son! And you are" he hugs Ant again and Ant blinks his eyes to stop the tears that welled up.

Dec: "Doc said we can meet her. Can we?"

Pat: "You haven't had anything yet. Go and have some food and then-"

Dec: "No, not before meeting her, no"

Dermott: "Then maybe Anthony should-"

Ant: "I am alright. I think Dec will feel more relieved if he meets her first"

Camalia: "Then let's go?"

The Donnellys enter the room and Ant stays at the door, watching the big family crowding around the bed. And then he saw Dec's mam - Smaller and a bit elder to his mam with a face that shows mercy, love and charity...a face that you could trust... like Dec's....

Ant watched as she slowly opened her eyes and the wave of relief that spread through the small room was immense.

He then hears a small, frightened and emotional voice that clutches his heart