Blue eyes, wide with panic, stared at Paul, hands reaching to try and claw at his own throat. The heart monitor beeping rapidly as a small heart sped up in terror.
"Shh, you're fine" Paul said soothingly, grabbing the small hands and holding them firmly with his large , warm ones. "You're not suffocating. Big cough for me, right" he smiled reassuringly. "Cough".Niall coughed and the tube from his throat was gently pulled up and out before an oxygen mask was placed over his nose and mouth by Dr Peters..His body then started to relax as he felt air moving into his lungs once more. "It's a scary feeling, I know" Paul spoke soothingly " but you were always able to breath, you just panicked. Try and relax for us".
"You've been giving us quite the fright, Niall" Dr Peters spoke next. Niall looked weakly up at him as the rapid beep of the heart monitor gradually slowed back down to a regular rhythm. "Let's see how you are doing." Helped by the nurse, he began to exam his patient. Paul stood to one side, waiting patiently for Dr Peters to finish. Finally the man straightened and thanking the nurse, jerked his head towards the door, Paul following him. Niall's brief minutes of wakefulness had ended and he was once again sleeping as the men left.
"Well?" was Paul's only word.
"We aren't out of the woods. Still too much can go wrong but .............." A big smile crept across Dr Peters face "it looks like he's turned the corner'. A grin lit up Paul's face as well as he listened to his colleague's opinion. It was moments like these that reminded him why he had entered the medical profession. Time, he decided, to go see Louis and maybe make a small difference in that life. Shaking hands with Peters, he walked away to change, whistling tunefully as he went.
Louis had woken up and was glaring up at the ceiling. When he had finally emerged from his enforced sleep, he found himself hooked up to a drip and the bed rails up. Preston was nowhere in sight, instead Basil was sitting next to him, nose buried in a newspaper.Louis moved irritably and Basil lowered the paper and smiled at him. "F.ck you" were the first words out of Louis' mouth. Basil grinned, not remotely offended. He was Irish and could cuss with the best of them so Louis' little outburst just rolled off his back. "Seriously, f.ck you. You ganging up on me too? "
"Nice seeing you too, Louis" Basil said pleasantly as he folded his paper. "Ganging up on you? What gives you that idea?"
"First Liam, then Preston, now you. Why else are you here? F.cking guard dog!" Louis said rudely
"Because you are a silly little boy who doesn't know how to look after himself. If you won't then we will so you can shut that smart little mouth of yours" Basil said sternly. Louis' mouth fell open in shock. He'd had such great banter with Niall's fellow Irishman in the past but Basil had never spoken like that to him ..ever! Louis went red with embarrassment before mumbling out an apology. He put his head back down on the pillows and returned his stare to the ceiling. He shut his eyes as tears of anger and frustration fought to leak out from under his closed lids.
"Am I interrupting? " Paul's cultured voice broke the silence.
"No, please come in" Basil said pleasantly, shooting a warning glance at Louis. "I don't think we've met before? I'm Basil Whelan, Niall's bodyguard...and friend". The two men shook hands.
"Might I speak with Louis alone? Do you mind?'. Basil smiled as he shook his head. He headed for the door saying he'd go get a drink and return later. He gave Louis another warning glance before he closed the door on himself.
"Hello Louis, you've been giving the staff a hard time, I hear" Paul's tone was quiet, pleasant, not a hint of the anger Louis was expecting. He opened his eyes and turned to face Paul who had put down one of the bed rails and perched himself on the end of Louis' bed.
"I..uhhh...yeah, I guess" Louis mumbled sounding ashamed.
"Well, may I suggest you stop doing that and allow them to look after you. After all, Liam and Harry will need your support even more now" Paul stopped speaking momentarily as he studied the nails of his right hand. He waited a beat then continued " Yes, I suspect a recovering Niall is likely to be even more of a handful than you Louis" He met Louis hopefully gaze, smiling at the look of delight and wonder on the young man's face. "He's still very sick, things could still go wrong, but it's looking promising"
Louis scooted forward in his bed until he was kneeling up." Tell me?' He pleaded.
"Well, after you had been removed from Niall's room and brought down here, Niall went into cardiac arrest" Louis gasped and Paul put a calming hand on his shoulder as he continued speaking. " It was pretty close. They were just about to give up when Niall's heart restarted. He remained stable then had respiratory distress.He regained consciousness, we removed the life support and he's now just on oxygen, breathing on his own. It's early days but we're hopefully.
Now, if I ring your friends with the news they may just panic. Would you like to do the honors?" Paul asked, smiling. Louis grabbed his phone and quickly placed the call.
"Lou, mate" Harry mumbled. He'd been dozing on the couch when his phone started to ring.
"Hazza, great news" Louis screamed down the phone " It's Ni! Wait, I'll get Paul to tell you!" He handed the phone to Paul and bounced in his place as Paul filled Harry in with the latest update. "Can I go see him?" Louis asked anxiously as soon as Paul had ended the call. "Please?'
"I'll do a deal with you, Louis. If you do as the nurses say, I'll let you visit him later"
"But I want to go now" Louis whined like a small child.
"Later" Paul said firmly, getting up to leave.
"Now Mr Tomlinson, time to eat" A nurse came in and placing a tray on the bedside table, swung it over the bed. Louis huffed and folded his arms, ignoring the meal before him.
"Louis" Paul said as he stood by the door " No eat, no Niall" He left as Louis glared at his retreating back before reluctantly picking up his fork and scooping up some scrambled eggs, shuddering at the taste.
"Do I have to?" Louis said petulantly "I can walk, you know"
"Hospital rules" he was firmly told " You go in the wheelchair or you don't go at all" Louis snapped his mouth into a thin line and frowned but allowed himself to be settled into the wheelchair with a blanket tucked over his lap. The male orderly pushed him out into the corridor then headed towards the elevator. Louis fidgeted the whole time, anxious to be with Niall.
"Well done" The nurse smiled sweetly at her patient before putting down the dish of food she had been holding as she carefully spooned jello into her patient's mouth. Niall had managed a few mouthfuls of his first solid food for weeks. Now he just had to keep it down. He felt his tummy roll in protest but so far he only felt faintly nauseous. "You've a visitor coming" she continued as she moved about Niall making sure he was comfortable and supported. A brief check on the bed sores confirmed that they were responding to treatment but she added another pillow to make sure Niall didn't roll back on them. He had been carefully turned from side to side every few hours. This time he was now facing away from the door of his room , his eyes closed, and unable to see who had just entered the room. He didn't recognise the voice of the male orderly speaking to the nurse, as he pushed Louis into the room.
The orderly left and the nurse pushed Louis around to the other side of the bed. "Your visitor is here, Niall" Niall opened his eyes and a small smile lit up his thin, palid face "Lou." His voice sounded rusty from lack of use.
"Hey Nialler" Louis said softly as he reached out and took Niall's hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. " I've missed you". Louis' voice hitched then he started sobbing as if his heart was breaking " Ni, M'sorry" was all he could say . The nurse came up quickly and pulled the wheelchair away from the bed , pushing it swiftly out of the room to where the orderly still waited. A quick discussion and he took Louis away, back to his room as the nurse returned to Niall.
"He's been really worried about you" she told her patient softly. "He'll come back later. When he's calmer" Niall gave a tiny nod of his head to show he'd heard then he let his eyes shut and he was asleep in moments. The nurse quietly moved around checking Niall's catheter , oxygen flow, blood pressure and temperature before writing up her notes. The room was quiet now, with only the medical equipment to be heard. Things were definitely improving. Her patient was still sick, his hold on life still fragile when even a spoonful of jello was a major success but he was holding on. He was a fighter, this one.