Take These Broken Wings [And Learn to Fly]

9. The Removal of the Cast

He goes back to clinging onto Louis' jeans at that, looking up of the man pleadingly. Louis smiles at him with his eyes going all warm and gooey, then he reaches down and scoops him up beneath the armpits, settling him on his hip.

The man turns to the nurse and smiles. "Can I sit up with him?" He asks, and Nurse Zodie nods with a knowing smile, gesturing to the bed.

Louis sits down and settles Niall next to him. Niall leans into his side, eyeing the nurse anxiously as she pushes a wheeled table in front of him and asks him to rest his casted arm on it.

She holds up a weird looking machine and gives him a wink. "This is the magic thing that's gonna saw the cast off for you. It's noisy, but don't be scared, because it won't hurt you. It only cuts through the cast, nothing else, I promise."

Niall isn't certain, but when he glances up at Louis for reassurance, the man gives him an assuring nod and kisses the top of his head.

He takes a breath and decides to be brave, settling his right arm on the table and trying not to flinch when the saw turns on loudly. He squeezes his eyes shut and turns his head into Louis arm as he feels the pressure of the saw against his cast, holding his breath for a few seconds before he realises that it doesn't hurt.

Within a couple of minutes, the cast is slipped off of his arm, and Niall opens his eyes, peering at his arm. It feels weirdly light and bare without the cast that's been on it for almost seven weeks.

He wiggles his fingers, wrinkling his nose up at how pale and sweaty his skin is.

Nurse Zodie chuckles. "Feels odd, doesn't it?" She asks, and he gives a nod, allowing the woman to take his arm and guide it into bending at the elbow before straightening it again. "How does that feel?"

Niall chews his lip. "It's okay," he whispers.

"And how about making a fist? Can you do that for me?" She asks.

She guides him through several more movements before grinning at him.

"Well, I'd say your good as new! The x-rays show that it's healed nicely, your arm's still nice and straight to look at, and if there's no pain or stiffness, then you're all free to go," she tells them, and Niall smiles at that, pulling down the sleeve of his school jumper and looking up at Louis again.

His foster father grins at him, pecking his nose. "Bet you feel a good few pounds lighter, huh, little guy?" He asks, and Niall giggles, nodding as the man helps him slip back into his jacket.

He reaches for his cast afterwards, and Zodie laughs as she hands it to him.

"I take it you're planning to keep this as a trophy?" She asks, and Niall nods happily, though the cast smells a little bad now that he's holding it close.

He looks up at Louis again with a wrinkled nose. "Can you make it smell nicer though?"

Louis laughs at that, scooping Niall up again to sit on his hip. Niall smiles, wrapping his arms around the man's neck without the obstruction of the heavy weight wrapped around his right arm, keeping the cast pinned between his front and Louis' side.

"Maybe we'll put it in a box, hm?" He asks, and Niall contemplates this for a moment before he gives a nod of agreement.

"Uh-huh. M'I still gonna go to school now?" He asks, and Louis laughs at him again, face filled with warm as he looks at the boy.

"You might just be the first ever kid to actually want to go to school after an appointment."

*