Zayn was almost finished with his shift when another stretcher was wheeled through the doors of A&E.
He wouldn't have thought much of it if his eyes hadn't landed on Harry, the curly haired boy who was following beside the paramedics, his face plastered with an expression that Zayn couldn't quite read as he hurried over.
A million thoughts raced through his head as he wondered why the boy was here when his eyes landed on the small, blond haired boy on the stretcher. "Ni," Zayn murmured, wincing at the bright red cheeks and oxygen mask on the kid. He turned his attention to Harry, who looked more than a little relieved to see him. "Haz, what on earth happened? And where's Liam?" he added, suddenly realising that the other man was nowhere to be seen.
Harry looked a little lost at where to begin. "Liam's out looking for Lou, he ran away again. But Ni's been really sick and he had a seizure and now he won't wake up," he told him, breathing a little heavily.
Zayn wanted nothing more than to hug him, but he knew that for now, he had to focus on his patient - Niall.
"Alright, deep breaths Haz," he instructed gently, before directing the paramedics to push the stretcher into the first bay.
Harry leaned against the wall inside the cubicle, chewing his lips as he watched Niall with silent green eyes as the kid was moved across from the stretcher to the bed.
"Okay, what do we have?" Zayn asked, knowing he had to follow normal procedure, despite how much it pained him to see Niall like this.
One of the paramedics stayed behind.
"Seven year old male, was seizing for about three minutes, he's running a high fever. It peaked at 106.3 in the ambulance, but we've started him on some fluids, it's just a matter of keeping it down. We've been told that he's been ill since yesterday afternoon, but it was believed to just be a virus until now," she told him, before he nodded at her in dismissal.
He allowed one of the nurses to hook the bag of fluids onto an IV stand and tried not to focus on the worrying stillness of the small boy. He put his stethoscope on and unbuttoned Niall's pajama shirt, revealing his chest, before listening to his heart.
He sighed, glancing at the boy's rosy cheeks. "What're we gonna do with you, hm, kiddie?" he murmured, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
He turned to the nurse as she finished hooking him up to a heart monitor. "Can we run bloods? I think I know what we've got but I want to make sure it's nothing more severe."
The nurse nodded, hurrying out of the room to get her equipment as Zayn set about taking off the boys pajamas and replacing them with a much more lightweight hospital gown, setting down the cooling pads that the paramedics had left him against the boy's skin to try and bring his fever down. He smiled slightly when he saw the kid's eyes roll beneath his lids. "S'okay kiddo, I'm just trying to bring down that fever of yours. We don't want anymore seizures," he murmured, stroking his hair away from his forehead gently.
"Is he gonna be okay?"
Zayn almost jumped at the sound of Harry's voice, having forgotten he was even there. He held his arms out to the teen, who shuffled towards him and rested gently against his chest, allowing the man to wrap his arms around him and give him a soft squeeze.
Zayn was a doctor, and seeing a patient seize was never easy, let alone someone he cared about like his own child. He knew Harry must've been pretty shaken up.
He let the boy go as the nurse walked in and began to take Niall's blood from the crook of his arm. Zayn smiled at her.
"Make sure you get them done quickly. I want to make sure he's okay," he said, softly. She nodded.
Harry frowned. "What do you think's wrong with him?" he asked, clutching his hands in front of himself.
Zayn sighed, looking at the still unconscious boy on the bed. He looked tiny in the white gown. "Niall never had any of his initial vaccinations as a baby. I'm thinking - hoping - that this is a particularly hard bout of the flu. His fever, alongside being so hydrated, were what caused the seizure. If he's been ill since yesterday, it's safe to assume it's not just a tummy bug."
Harry nodded slightly, ducking his head. Zayn frowned at his reaction, wondering if there was anything else wrong.
"Hey. He's gonna be just fine, okay?" he offered in reassurance.
Harry chewed on his lip. "Good," he murmured.
Zayn gave the top of his arm a gentle squeeze, turning his attention back to Niall and deciding to take his temperature again, knowing he would have to keep a close eye on him.
He just couldn't shake the feeling that Niall wasn't the only one he should be worried about...
#
Meanwhile, Liam was driving around the block slowly, his eyes scanning the street for the brown haired seven year old runaway.
This wasn't the first time it had happened. Whenever Louis felt particularly left out, he always managed to find a way out of the house. The first few times it happened, Liam had freaked out. Then he had come to realise that the boy always got two streets down before he would have to find somewhere to sit and rest for a little while.
He felt slightly angered by the child's actions. Liam was already panicking about Niall. The last he had seen, the poor kid was unconscious and unresponsive in the back of an ambulance. He would be sure to give Louis a piece of his mind when he found him -
Except, when he saw the small boy sitting on the curb just around the block, his anger disappeared and he found himself pulling over and running out of the car, tugging the boy into his arms.
"Louis! Don't you ever do that again, young man, do you hear me?" he said sternly. The boy just wrapped his arms tiredly around Liam's neck and sighed.
"Sorry, Liam. I - I just wanted to go and see Zayn," he mumbled. Liam guessed that walking in circles for the past half an hour had tired the kid out.
He hoisted him up and carried him to the car, deciding to let him sit in the front just this once.
Liam sighed, not starting the engine yet. "Lou, darling, you can't keep running away like this when you feel lonely. We've talking about it before, remember?"
Louis chewed on his lip, fingers fiddling with his seat belt. "Sorry. But Harry's sad and Ni's sick, you're mad at me and -"
Liam was confused by that. "Mad at you? What on earth gave you that idea?"
The boy looked sheepish at that, ducking his head as he shrugged. "Dunno. I talked to you and you didn't wanna to talk to me. Sometimes it feels like no one wants to talk to me. Liam, why doesn't anyone ever want me?" he asked, his eyes shining with tears.
Liam relented at that, bringing the boy into his arms and holding him tightly. "Oh, baby. Don't be silly, I want you. So does Zayn, so do Niall and Harry. You have so many people who want you around, don't ever think otherwise."
Louis nodded, then chewed his lip again. "I'm tired, Liam. Are we going home?" he asked, clearly too tired to hold up much of a conversation now.
Liam sighed, his heart pounding as he remembered Niall, and how he had sent Harry off in the ambulance with him despite knowing that the teenager wasn't feeling great himself.
"We can't yet, darling," he murmured, taking a breath. "We had to take Niall to the hospital, he's really poorly."
Louis looked alarmed, blue eyes wide as he wrapped his arms around himself. "Oh. I thought he just got a little bug," he whispered, sounding frightened. "He's not gonna be an angel, right?"
"Oh, no. No, honey, no," Liam rushed to assure him. He shook his head. "He's gonna be just fine, okay? I'm sure we'll be able to see him as soon as we get there. Harry too. He was worried when we couldn't find you."
He hoped that he had done enough to fix the problem with Louis for now. His job sure could be stressful sometimes, especially when all of the kids had troubles at the same time. But he wouldn't have it any other way.
He'd give his life for any one of his kids. They were his, even if he was only their social worker. He had watched them all grow and change, even Niall in the short time that he had known him. They were all wonderful, amazing people who he'd give the world to help.
And so he reassured Louis once more just how much he was loved and wanted, before he set him down in the passenger seat and buckled him in again, before hurrying to the hospital so that he could help - or at least try to help - another of his kids.
#
When he got to the hospital, he spotted Zayn instantly. The man had finished his shift, no longer wearing his scrubs but a pair of old jeans and a loose shirt. He was speaking to a male nurse, discussing something that was written on some sort of file in his hands.
He smiled tiredly when he saw Liam. He was holding Louis, the kid almost asleep on his hip. He was glad that the two seven year olds were so small, it meant that he could still carry them and comfort them in the best kind of way.
Louis seemed to be clinging on to consciousness, he'd been worrying about Niall since Liam had told him what happened.
Liam was quick to talk when he reached the taller man.
"Where's Ni? Is he okay? God, he was burning up so much, Z, you should have felt him, I didn't know what to do. I should've been here, I know -"
Zayn cut him off with a soft laugh, that reassured Liam more than the doctor realised. "He's gonna be okay, Li. We've got him into his own room so we can keep him in for a couple nights, make sure there's no more damage. His temp's down to 101, he hasn't had anymore seizures, but he is still unconscious," he explained, his tone so gentle that Liam didn't feel so terrified anymore.
"But he's not really sick or anything? I was thinking about epilepsy, or - or meningitis- and a million other things. That seizure was terrifying," he said, pushing away the memories as Louis finally gave into sleep and began to snore lightly against his shoulder.
Zayn shook his head. "Nothing like that. We ran some tests, it turned out to be a bad bout of the flu if you'd believe it. Kid's immune system just isn't the greatest, which isn't surprising given his lack of vaccines as a baby," he stated.
Liam sighed in relief. "Thank god. I've been so worried. And this one ran off again, bless him...and something's not right with Harry," he added.
Zayn nodded. "I've noticed. I thought maybe he was worried about Niall, but if I'm being honest, I'd say he's acting guilty. I don't know what's going in inside that head of his," he said.
"Why is it that when something's wrong with one of them, it's wrong with all of them?" Liam said with a small smile.
Zayn chuckled. "If you ask me, they're all just trouble," he said playfully, running a hand through Louis' hair gently as he slept. "I'm gonna stay here with Ni until he gets out. I don't want him waking up alone, you know how he gets when he's scared. Kid won't admit it but he needs more comfort than most."
Liam smiled. "Yeah, he's stubborn. I'll give him that. Would you take Louis while I go see Ni?" he asked.
"Course. It's the room at the end of that hallway. Harry's been in there since he came in, won't leave his side."
Liam sighed. Today was definitely not an easy day...
#
Niall was still asleep. He was hooked to an IV for the sake of hydration, and he still had ice packs dotted around him to keep his temperature from rising again, but the other monitors had all been disconnected. His cheeks were significantly less flushed now, though he was clammy, his hair sticking to his forehead. Zayn had reassured Harry that that was a good thing, it meant his fever was breaking.
Harry was holding onto his hand. He forced himself to look at the kid in the hospital gown and the bed that made him look so small, forced himself to see how sick the boy had gotten because he had been stealing the attention away by being selfish.
He couldn't seem to quieten the echoes of the comments that he had read, and now there was a voice of his own joining them, telling him how much he should hate himself - inside and out.
It made him long to feel the sharp edge of a blade against his skin again. He had come to realise he was addicted to something that was dangerous. And he really didn't care.
The door opened and he jumped slightly. Liam smiled softly at him, before his eyes landed on Niall. He walked over to the bed and gently brushed his fingers through Niall's hair, sighing at the warmth he could still feel.
"Zayn said he's gonna be fine, so you don't need to worry," Liam said to Harry, keeping his eyes on Niall.
Harry nodded. "I know."
"I don't know, hm? You kids certainly aren't boring, I'll give you that," he said, smiling up at Harry.
He was surprised to see that Harry had tears on his cheeks when his eyes landed on him, and he felt his heart throb because he hadn't seen the boy cry since he moved from being a child to a teen.
He hurried around the bed, wrapping his arms around him gently, sitting on the oversized armchair behind them. He tried not to act surprised when the boy burst into sobs, clutching onto him and burying his face into his neck.
Liam held onto him in return, rubbing his hands up and down his back. "Hey, Ni's fine. Everything's okay," he comforted.
"N-no, it's not," Harry sobbed, and Liam knew he had been right in thinking that the teenager's pain went beyond today's events.
"This isn't just about Ni, is it?" he asked, softly.
His only reply was for Harry to cry a little harder, gripping onto him like he was a lifeline.
Liam sighed and held him tighter as well. He had been right about a lot of things today - the main thing being about all of the boys.
They definitely weren't boring.