Niall giggled hysterically as he shouted out, trying to push himself off the bed, watching as his former bandmate swung from the ceiling.
"Zayn, stop it. Get down from there you stupid Ar$e!" Niall was so delirious, he really thought Zayn was there, pulling silly antics.
"Niall, calm down, honey" the nurse said as she gently pushed him back down. A male orderly hurried over and quickly injected a sedative into the iV bag that was slowly dripping its contents into Niall's arm. That done, he restrained Niall's arms to the side rails of the bed. "This isn't supposed to happen. And he's burning up" the nurse said anxiously, I'm calling Noah" and she sped from the room as Niall grew quiet.
"The delirium is due to his high temperature. Good!." Noah said and the nurse looked at him, stunned by his happy sounding comment.
"But, he's hallucinating, it's far too high!" She responded, trying to keep her tone calm. What was the man on about? Her patient had a temperature that was extremely high and was already causing other problems. Yet the man seemed actually happy about it?
"Yes, and I hope it goes even higher. Just make sure he is constantly kept hydrated and check his oxygen and blood levels regularly as you've been instructed." Noah said, walking towards the bed where Niall lay unconscious. "Oh, and can you page Doctor Jameson for me?" The nurse nodded curtly and hurried out of the room. Yes, she would call the doctor and see if she could get this madman removed from the hospital before he killed this patient.
Noah studied Niall carefully then picked up the chart the nurse had abandoned and studied the information she had written down.He turned when he heard the door open and Doctor Jameson entered the room.
"Noah, how's he doing?" Caleb Jameson said as he entered the room. "The nurse seems to think you are causing your patient serious harm." He came and stood next to the bed and glanced at Niall's chart. "Wow, his temperature is soaring!"
"Yeah, it is. His breathing is slowing down too. He's been sedated as he was delirious..more to prevent him hurting himself than any other reason. We need his temperature to climb a bit more, sustain it then cool him down." Noah said sombrely "This is where we win...or lose."
"OK, you want me to stay?" Caleb asked "And maybe have one of my own nurses here? I don't think the current girl is willing to cooperate with us."
"She was warned this was experimental, yeah?" Noah asked curiously
"She was, but it seems she isn't too happy about the way it is going. Sounds like she thinks we've gone too far."Caleb spoke quietly.
"Well then, release her and we'll have someone else in here. This stuff has the potential to work, we just need to get it right." Noah said. "It will work, I know it will."
"It's a risk, Noah, a major one. You get this wrong and not only do you kill a patient but you'll make headlines doing it" Caleb commented "Don't get this wrong."
"He's seizing" Noah yelled and Caleb and the nurse sprung into action immediately. Noah stood back out of the way and prayed. It was all he could do. He just hoped Niall's very frail body could cope with this yet again. Eventually Niall lay quiet once more and the nurse began making sure he was comfortable. Caleb checked the iV to make sure it was still secure and working properly. The room grew silent once more, except for the monotonous ticking of the clock as time passed.
"His temperature is beginning to drop" the nurse announced after a few hours had passed and Niall's temperature had peaked.
"Right, good. We'll try and keep it steady, no sudden drop...and watch for any spikes too. That would be counter productive right now." Caleb rubbed his hands over his face and then turned to take a cup of coffee from Noah, who had appeared behind him with the drinks. "I need this, I'm exhausted. We all are."
"Just a few more hours to go then we'll know if we can move on to the next stage or......." Noah's voice was barely a whisper.
"Or?" Caleb questioned.
"Or we lose our patient.
Caleb, Noah and the nurse passed the next few hours watching their patient closely, constantly monitoring all his bodily functions. Noah's head flew up when the heart monitor began to beep a little more quickly.
"Thank g*d" he breathed "If his heart rate had slowed any more then...well, I don't want to think about it.Caleb?" Noah looked at the other man but he was already stood next to the bed, examining it's occupant carefully. After what seemed like a very long time, Caleb turned to Noah and allowed a small smile to curve his lips."He's through this stage." he announced in heartfelt tones. "He's made it this far.So what's next?"
"Right, as you know, my research has proved that getting the body to a very high temperature, sustaining it then controlling its cooling has the effect of killing off the cells that are attaching the immune system?" He raised an enquiring brow at Caleb who nodded in understanding. "Well, now we've done that, it's like Niall's system has been wiped clean. The next stage is the drug combination. It has side effects, some pretty bad ones, but I am banking on Niall not getting all of them."
"And if he does?" Caleb immediately questioned.
"Just pray he doesn't" was Noah's terse response.
"How are you feeling, Niall?" the nurse asked as she passed Niall some water. Niall had been going in and out of consciousness for the last few hours and was currently awake and lucid.
"Exhausted" Niall replied " and thirsty". He was trying to gulp the water greedily making the nurse snatch it back from his mouth.
"Sips, honey, just sips. I promise you will have some more in a while. We need to make sure this stays down." Niall looked at the glass longingly but lay back against his pillows. He wasn't joking, he felt totally exhausted, yet he hadn't done anything. He closed his eyes and was soon asleep.
"He's asleep" the nurse whispered when Noah and Caleb entered the room. Caleb had a large container in his hands., Noah pulling a small , odd machine with him. They approached the bed quietly and Noah began setting up the equipment, connecting wires and tubes from the machine to several cannulas that Caleb had started to attach to Niall's body.
"OK, here goes" Caleb announced as he stood back and watched as the experimental drugs started to drip slowly into Niall's small body.
A/N My baby is due in a few days but I'll try and update as soon as I can.