AT LAST! A NEW CHAPTER!
Yes, this took me a while but I got stuck. Then today I had a stroke of inspiration and I wrote like, half the chapter in half an hour XD
You can probably tell... :P
DISCLAIMER: Dun own McFly or the song 'Not Alone' which is written by the beeeyootiful Danny Jones.
(Disclaimer covers rest of story, mkay?)
Well, enjoy and plz do review!! :)
The hand on Danny's shoulder tensed. It was comforting, in the way that a father's hand feels familiar. He wasn't worried, because nothing much worried him anymore in a world where he didn't know what his own flat was like.
"Danny," a small voice said. He recognised it from earlier as being the voice of Dougie. When he realised this however, he remembered the look on Dougie's face from at the hospital. Danny didn't think he could ever forgive himself for making this boy feel so shit.
He looked round at the boy, who also looked like he'd been crying. "I'm sorry." Danny said sincerely, and continued to gaze at the near-stranger.
"Why are you sorry Dan? You have nothing to be sorry about." Dougie asked, with a half smile.
Danny turned fully around to sit opposite the cute blond and replied, "For making you upset in the hospital." He sighed. "This is all my fault." He twisted his hands into his hair and gently pulled to try and get rid of the headache that was still assaulting his skull.
Dougie put his hand on one of Danny's, and his grip softened. "None of this is your fault. I promise you, and we're going to help you get better."
"Have you been crying?"
Shifting from his crouched position to sitting cross-legged on the tiles, Dougie replied, "Yeah. Well, it was because Tom, er, hit me."
"What? He hit you?" Danny asked, beginning to panic.
Dougie flapped his hands as if to take back the information he'd just let slip. "No, but… well, yeah. Well, you know, it's a tough time-"
"How can you possibly say that's not my fault Dougie?" asked Danny, tears once again blurring his vision. "I mean come on, he hit you."
Reaching out for Danny's hand, the younger boy pleaded with a lump in his throat. "Listen to me- no, don't look away, listen-" he said, and gripped Danny's chin in order to pull it closer. "Don't cry, because I'll cry. I'm going to help you. Danny, I swear to god I will get your memory back even if it kills me. Do you understand? I love you. I need you more than the others need you, because you're my rock. Okay?"
Danny let out a sob, and gripped Dougie's hand as if his life depended on it. "Help me," he asked desperately, choking on his own tears. "I want your help."
"You were always going to get my help Dan." Dougie said with a watery smile, and pulled him into a much-needed hug. Danny smelled something familiar on his clothes, and his head pounded with a wave of fresh images. This time it was a clip of Dougie's face, lying next to his, smiling and laughing. He still couldn't place the memory though.
Danny still didn't know fully who this boy was, but he knew he'd been with him before from the familiarity of the embrace. He squeezed tighter. He placed his trust in Dougie, because he knew that he was sincere by the look in his eyes. It was determination, and Danny knew then that he would get his memory back sooner rather than later.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The recently reunited band was gathered in Danny's living room, in a circle. In the middle of the circle was Danny's iPod dock and iPod. Tom had since apologised profusely to Dougie, who leapt into his arms and sobbed, apparently accepting it.
"Right Danny, this is Phase One of Plan: Get Danny's Memory Back." Tom said seriously.
Harry sniggered, "catchy."
Tom gave the older boy evil looks, and ignored him. "Now, what we need to test is your sound memory. I'm not sure this'll work, because you didn't recognise our voices when we spoke to you, but maybe you'll recognise our songs."
"Do you realise how weird this is gonna be for me?" Danny asked, feeling slightly daunted at the prospect of listening to himself sing.
Dougie patted him gently on the shoulder to reassure him. "Don't worry," he whispered, "your voice is amazing."
Danny felt himself blush, and he squirmed uncomfortably on the spot. "Come on then, let's get the embarrassment over with."
Smiling, Tom turned to the dock to fiddle with the iPod sitting in it. "We'll start off with a song you wrote; you're likely to remember this Dan."
Once Tom had selected the song, he sat back down in the circle and all eyes were focused on Danny.
"Ooh, this is my favourite one!" Dougie said, and then Tom and Harry shushed him loudly. "Sorry," he murmured.
"Life is getting harder day by day
And I, I don't know what to do or what to say, yeah
And my mind is growing weak every step I take
It's uncontrollable, now they think I'm fake…"
Danny's eyes widened suddenly. He recognised the song, but it was so out of place. He'd written most of it years ago when he was being bullied, and he never imagined it would be part of an album like this. As the song played, Danny was transfixed by the subtle undertones of his acoustic guitar, and somewhere in his brain, something clicked into place.
"What was the name of this album?" Danny asked tentatively, already expecting the answer. He was sure he knew it, but didn't know how.
Dougie studied his face and replied, "Room on the-"
"-Third Floor." Danny said, finishing the sentence much to his own surprise. Clapping a hand to his mouth he asked in a muffled, small voice, "that's right, isn't it?"
Tom looked absolutely stunned. His jaw had dropped considerably, and his eyes were wide with amazement. "How on earth do you remember that? Has it all come back? Do you remember us now?"
So many questions; and Danny didn't want to let him down. He changed his facial expression so that he looked amused and bewildered at the same time. "Yeah! Guys, it's all back! Everything's back!"
Dougie leapt on him almost at once. The air was knocked from Danny's lungs, and with it, the breath to take back what he said before any real harm was done. The smaller boy was still gripping onto Danny, eyes wide with happiness and moisture just beginning to build up in them.
Harry clapped him hard on the back and said, "It's good to have you back mate," with a wide smile. Something in Danny's stomach swooped and he felt immediately nauseated. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he was in too deep now.
Tom ran over and, with a tear slowly sliding down his cheek, he choked, "never been gladder to see you Danny." He grinned widely and pulled Danny into a bone-crushing hug.
As the guys told Danny the story he already knew; of how he cried and screamed himself to sleep every night in the hospital, how he refused to acknowledge the existence of them, he felt like the worst friend in the world. Danny still barely knew these people. He watched Tom's dimple twitch in his left cheek and tried to remember that familiar sight. He cast his eyes over Harry's shaved head and wondered how many different hair styles he'd already had.
It was Dougie's face however, that concerned him the most. He was staring adamantly at Danny; as if he knew that he still wasn't himself. Danny pushed him off, and said quietly, "Guys, I need to go to bed. I- I don't feel well. I'll see you all tomorrow."
Tom frowned. "But Danny-"
"I said I'll see you tomorrow. Okay?" Danny repeated with more feeling. He left the room swearing under his breath, and Harry glanced at Tom knowingly.
"Dougie?" Tom asked delicately. "Don't you think you should go and talk to him?"
The boy in question narrowed his eyes. "Why me?"
"Because of your history," Harry said plainly. Tom whacked him on the shoulder, which elicited a grunt from the oldest member.
Tom shuffled closer to Dougie, and he took his hand in his own. Dougie flinched slightly, but the blond just held on tighter. "Listen, Danny's obviously finding it hard to suddenly be thrown back into the real world again, and we think that the best person to talk to him is you."
Looking at the floor, Dougie nodded lightly.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Danny slammed the door behind him and rested against it. He then walked over to his bed and flopped on top of it, covering his face with a pillow. Feeling overwhelmed, he screamed as loudly as possible; giving himself a headache. Then again, he had a constant headache ever since he woke up from the concussion.
He heard a soft knocking on his door, and he removed the pillow and hesitated before reluctantly saying, "Come in."
As soon as Dougie's head poked round the door, Danny groaned.
"Danny, please do something for me." The smaller boy asked quickly, before he could be told to get out. He felt nervous, but he had to be sure that Danny was who he said he was.
"Why should I?" Danny asked coldly. He didn't feel like being co operative.
Taking a step closer, Dougie replied, "You're meant to be my best friend." Silence reigned, and Dougie took this as an opportunity. He grabbed Danny's acoustic guitar and held it before him. "Play one of our songs."
Danny rolled over so that he wouldn't have to look into those eyes. "You can't make me do anything."
"I know I can't. I'm asking you to do this one thing for me, please?"
Sighing, Danny pulled himself up off the bed. He approached Dougie, made eye contact, and looked at the guitar as if it were a weapon. Dougie raised his eyebrow slightly, as if to dare him. The older boy reached out for the instrument, and as he did so, he brushed the fingers of the boy standing opposite. To say there was a spark would be cliché, but Danny definitely felt something like electricity which coursed through his body, and made him feel warm and tingly.
Danny of course remembered how to play, as he'd been doing it since he was five. However, he didn't know how to play any McFly songs. Hell, he only knew one because he'd heard it ten minutes ago. Instead, to pass some of the awkward seconds, he plucked a calming tune to soothe himself while sitting on the bed.
"You can't do it, can you?"
"No, I can't."
The tears started flowing immediately. "You lied to me?"
Standing up once more, Danny replied bitterly, "no, I lied to all of you."
"H-how could you?" Dougie cried, not knowing this monster that stood before him. The Danny he knew would hold him when he cried, and he certainly wouldn't lie. Hard sobs racked his small body, and Danny couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of guilt. "I believed you! I always have believed you. Everything you've ever told me has been true in my eyes and you totally abused that." He was pointing accusingly now, and his face was red with fury.
The strange thing was though, Danny wasn't crying. He just felt numb. He shrugged, and then immediately wished he hadn't. Dougie threw a well-aimed punch to his nose, which felt like it had exploded. "Shit, that hurt!"
"YOU FUCKING DESERVED THAT, YOU COMPLETE TWAT! I don't know you. Why the FUCK did you come back if you're not even going to make the effort to get better?" Dougie shouted, rubbing his sore and bloody knuckles. He looked disgusted with the man in front of him.
Just then, Tom threw open the bedroom door and gasped. "Jesus Christ, what happened?" Harry ran in close behind and tripped over Tom in surprise. He was greeted with a rather unusual scene in which Dougie was flapping his hand, and Danny was clutching his nose desperately to stem heavy bleeding. He would have expected the situation to be the other way around.
Dougie fell sobbing into Tom's arms, who asked, "Danny, what the hell did you do to him?"
"WHAT THE FUCK? Shouldn't you be asking him what he did to me?" He asked thickly, spitting blood all over the cream carpet.
"You fucking idiot, Dougie would NEVER punch anyone, especially not you, you know that! What did you say to him?" Tom demanded, stroking the hair of Dougie soothingly.
Throwing his arms up in disbelief, Danny laughed harshly. "I still don't believe you're taking his side. Look what he did to me!"
Tom sighed. "Well, you're the one who has changed. Not him. As far as I can tell, you deserved this."
"Well excuse me for being hit by a car."
"That's not funny."
Still pinching his nose, Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry Dougie. I didn't mean it. Of course I care, and I'm sorry I lied."
"Wait, what did you lie about?" Harry asked.
Dougie wiped his eyes, and surfaced from the comfort of Tom's knitted jumper. "He's not Danny."
"Of course I'm Danny", he said matter-of-factly and sighed, "just… not the Danny you think I am."
Tom looked like he could have punched Danny himself. "…Is this your idea of some kind of sick joke? Do you think it's funny how much we want you to get better?"
"N-no, of course not-"
"THEN WHY?"
Danny was pleading now. "I didn't want to let you down…"
Tom laughed; it was a tired sound, like he couldn't take any more. "Didn't you ever think, you stupid boy, that this would hurt us more in the long run? All of us? We love you too much; all we want is for you to be better. Don't lie to us, okay?"
The Northerner cracked a small smile. It stretched muscles in his cheeks that he hadn't used in a long time. "I'm so sorry guys."
"Come here," Tom said, and gestured for a hug. Danny accepted gratefully, and held on for his life. Dougie and Harry joined in, and soon they all had tears in their eyes. Dougie broke off first, and wiped Danny's eyes with the cuff of his sleeve.
"I'm sorry for punching you Danny."
Smiling, Danny waved the apology away. "Don't worry, I deserved it."
A wide smile graced Dougie's face, and he grabbed the older boy's wrist with enthusiasm. "Let's go clean you up."
As they left the room, the skater boy winked at Tom, who winked back.
...Yeah I know the end was kinda weird, but it's slashy goodness, right? XD
Review now please :) they make me happy XD
xx