The Wolf In sheeps clothing

In The Hands Of The Devine

The room had grown increasingly silent as everyone grouped around Niall's bed, just staring at the unmoving young man. Everyone was lost in their own dismal thoughts. If the doctors were to be believed, there was little hope of Niall surviving this last stage of his illness. The doctors had given it their best shot, and though the test results seemed to indicate that the experimental treatment had appeared to have eradicated the Lupus from his body, it was also slowly but surely killing Niall. All his chances at survival were slowly but surely ebbing away. They had all lost hope and now it was just the final 'goodbyes' to be said.

It was Louis that first noticed that the machine monitoring Niall's heartbeat showed that his overworked heart was beating erratically, speeding up then slowing down. Then everyone noticed and faces paled.  Was this it?. Beep,......BeepBeepBeep.......................Beep................ then nothing. All of a sudden the room was full of medical staff and Niall's family have hurried away as the team huddled over the small body on the bed.

Niall wasn't sure where he was but the room seemed to be bright, far too bright. He wasn't in pain anymore. The pain had vanished as if it had never existed. He screwed up his eyes as he tried to see something, anything. His ears heard the slow creaking sound, a click then a creak, in a slow regular rhythm. He looked for the source of the sound finally locating it. It was a rocking chair, moving back and forth at a slow and steady speed. Niall frowned. Granny Horan was sat in the chair, her knitting needles softly clacking as the jumper she was knitting ,slowly seemed to grow.

"Granny?" Niall whispered. He felt confused. Tired and confused. What was Granny Horan doing here? For that matter, what was he doing here? He didn't even know where 'here' was!

"Niall, me darlin'. Now, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. So grown up now. I always knew you'd grow up as handsome as your Da. Sure I did. You have your Da's beautiful blue eyes." She smiled at him, her own blue eyes sparkling. "Look like your Da, so you do. The very image!"

"Granny.why are you here? Why am I here?" Niall walked slowly towards her.

"Niall James Horan, you stop right there" Her voice was suddenly stern. "Don't you come nearer yet. Not till you've chosen."

"Chosen? Chosen what?" Niall was confused and frustrated. He didn't know where he was or why he was there. He didn't even know why his grandmother was there. Granny Horan was dead, she had passed away years ago. Yet here she was, sat in her rocking chair, knitting away, just like Niall remembered her doing when he was a child. And he was talking to her. Was he dead too?

"Niall, don't you know what is happening? Oh, my precious child, you've choices to make. You either stay here with me or you go back, go back to your Ma and Da. To those young men who love you.  You have to choose from going back or remaining."

Go back..or stay? Niall's head felt like it would explode. Did he want to go back? He wasn't in pain here. He felt fine. He had to choose..and choose right now.

Pain, sharp pain, tore through him as Niall felt himself falling backward, away from the bright light. The click and creak of his Granny's rocking chair morphed into the constant beep-beep of the heart monitor. Niall's entire body felt it was screaming in agony then he felt nothing.

"That was far too close," Caleb said as he put down the paddles that he had been using. It had taken three attempts to restart Niall's heart but it was now beating at a steady rate, though a slow one. "His vitals are all going back up, thank G*d." He wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had been convinced that they had finally reached the end and lost their patient but he was still there, still hanging on.

"You chose well, my precious one" Niall swore he could hear someone talking to him. It sounded like Granny Horan but it couldn't be. It just was impossible. She'd passed away, years ago when he was still a teenager. "I love you". Yet he could hear her so clearly as if she was right next to him.

"I love you too, Granny" Niall murmured. His voice sounded rusty, not at all like his normal voice, but he'd managed to get the words out.

"Did you hear that? Did you? Niall talked!" Louis screamed at everyone in the room. They were all staring at the bed. Niall still lay there, but his lips were definitely moving as he continued to talk so softly they couldn't decipher what he was saying. All they could hear was his soft voice.

They had all been hurried out of the room and Caleb, Noah and Gordon Hayes-Hamilton closed the door firmly on them. All three men subjected Niall to a thorough examination then they studied and restudied all the test results. It was really happening. It wasn't a mistake. They didn't know, as yet, the how and the why of things but somehow Niall had begun to pull through.

"It's like he's finally started to fight," Caleb said wonderingly. "I don't understand but I'm glad. It was like he'd given up and was dying and now he's suddenly fighting back."

"Things can still go downhill," Hayes-Hamilton said warningly. 

Maura clung to Bobby as they listened closely to everything Gordon Hayes-Hamilton was telling them.

"Do you mean to tell me that the treatment actually worked, that there is no sign of the Lupus?" Bobby asked with a shaking voice. "But then, why? Why is my son dying? This was meant to save him. You are killing my son!. " Bobby's voice rose in anguish.

"Mr. Horan, Niall had the dangers explained to him. He knew the risks and was willing to take them. The drugs worked, but we just don't know why things went so wrong. We just don't know." Hayes-Hamilton replied quietly. He wished, with all his heart, he wasn't having to say this. "We've brought Niall back this time and he seems to be holding his own but, as we explained earlier, he's too frail to survive another resuscitation attempt. It's now in the hands of the Devine". He watched solemnly as  Bobby acknowledged his words then led everyone back to the room where Niall lay quietly, eyes closed but, inexplicably, with a small smile on his lips.