Dougie's eyes were moving restlessly behind his closed eyelids, as his body slowly came from its coma. His eyes slowly fluttered open, although they switched from opened to closed for the next few minutes. Eventually, he'd let his eyes open all the way, the natural light of his bedroom making his pupils small dots centering his irises. His entire body ached; he felt like he hadn't moved in ages! He stared up at the ceiling, his mind going off to its own place. This was his usual morning routine. His brain didn't generally register much until he'd been awake for a good fifteen to twenty minutes, so he just laid in bed and thought about random things, sometimes slipping back into sleep. This time, however, he didn't need to lay in bed before feeling completely awake. "This is weird," he muttered, letting his eyes fall closed again.

He sighed and turned his head to the side, feeling his neck cramping as he did. Why did every muscle in his body ache? Why did he feel cold all the way down to his bones? Why was he so hungry? Or thirsty? But most importantly, why couldn't he remember the day before? He opened his eyes and stared at his wall, racking his brain for what had happened the day before, or even the day before that. What day was it? Was it Saturday? He closed his eyes and an image flashed in his mind, accompanied by a strangely familiar feeling of cold. Opening his eyes again, he blinked rapidly, trying to sort out what was going on with him. He felt a strange sense of pain; physically and emotionally. But why?

Closing his eyes tightly, he made his second attempt at delving deeply into his own mind. Okay, think of... Friday night... the party... Dean's bloody face flashed into his mind, and a sick, guilty, pleasure coursed through his stomach. Dean's words... Dougie couldn't help but feel proud of himself for what he'd done. ...the fight... jail... Images of him and Tom together in jail, embracing each other in such a discreet way it might as well have not counted... but it did. Mom yelled at me... the barn... Tom listening to his song popped back into his mind, along with Tom holding him while he cried. Hay jumping... the... the kiss... Dougie swallowed as the memory of Tom literally running away from him entered his mind again.

And then that feeling of cold set in again. I fell asleep... and when I woke up... He was remembering waking up; feeling cold; immobile; helpless. And after he'd fallen asleep again, there were no memories. He laid with his eyes closed for another few seconds, hoping that maybe something more would come... but nothing did. Blinking his eyes open, he stared at his white wall, the color perfectly depicting the image in his mind. What had happened? How had he gotten back inside?

Needless to say, when he turned around to get out of bed, he was a little more than confused by Tom's presence in his room. Tom, however, wasn't aware that Dougie was awake. His back was arched and his head was hung over the back of the chair, his arms hanging down and touching the floor, and his legs spread out in front of him. It did NOT look comfortable in the slightest. Dougie couldn't help but picture him leaving the barn as he stared at him, a strange, new, painful feeling in his chest rising the longer he stared at him. Now Dougie REALLY wanted to know what he'd missed.

He stood slowly, making sure not to wake Tom as he padded quietly across the floor. Although the door creaked loudly when he opened it, Tom didn't so much as twitch. Dougie made his way down the stairs slowly, his body parts feeling as if they weren't working correctly. He felt like he hadn't had control of them for far too long; they felt stiff, and his reactions felt slower, but maybe that was due to the confused daze he was in.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed Chris sitting on the couch for once. Now he REALLY knew something was up; Chris wasn't working, and the sun was still up. Dougie opened his mouth to speak, but only a quiet, cracked, whisper of a, "Hi," escaped his throat. Had he not talked in days, either? Chris, however, still noticed him. He looked up quickly, a surprised look adorning his features. Dougie cleared his throat and swallowed hard, trying to work up some saliva to moisten his parched throat.

"Dougie?" Dougie turned to see his mum walking toward him, both of her arms out. Before he knew what was happening, she had wrapped him in a tight hug, one which he, amazingly even to himself, returned. "Oh thank the Lord," she muttered, tears collecting in the corners of her eyes. Dougie was completely shocked by his mother's actions. The last he checked she had called him a fag. And now he was caught helplessly in her deathgrip, and being rocked back and forth like a child!

"Mum?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again!" she scolded him, her voice choked with sobs.

Dougie patted her on the back, confused now as ever. "What did I miss?" he asked quietly.

Slowly, Joanne loosened her grip and pulled back, staring up at her son with puffy, yet sunken in eyes. "That's what I'd like to know! What were you doing outside?"

Dougie scratched the back of his head nervously. His hair felt disgusting; like he hadn't washed it in DAYS. Discreetly, he dropped his hand, not wishing to feel hair that gross ever again. "Umm... I really don't remember." Joanne stared at him with concern, which was only multiplied when he added, "What day is it, anyway?"

"It's Tuesday," she told him carefully.

Dougie's eyes widened considerably. "What?! What happened to Friday?! Or Saturday, even?!"

Joanne actually let out a bit of a laugh at this. "You slept through it, I guess. I don't know... truth be told, I didn't know you weren't here."

Dougie's jaw dropped open slightly. "You didn't even NOTICE?"

"I was trying to give you space! I figured you were holding yourself up in your room!" Dougie didn't say anything. His fight with his mother still left a bitter taste in his mouth when he thought about it. All the things she'd said to him... "Well... once I realized you were gone, we looked all over the place..."

"We?" Dougie asked, looking around at Chris.

"Me, Chris, and Tom..."

Dougie looked back at her quickly, Tom's name in that list standing out as odd to him. "Tom?"

Joanne nodded quickly. "I tried to get him to sleep, but he kept muttering about how it was all his fault that you were missing, and he needed to find you..." Dougie's breathing became shallow and he stared down at the ground, trying to comprehend what he was being told. "He wouldn't stop... didn't even eat. He seemed almost obsessed with finding you." Dougie swallowed hard. Apparently Tom didn't hate him as much as he'd led Dougie to believe. "You've got yourself a good friend, kid."

Dougie nodded grimly. "He's sleeping, now..." Dougie said quietly, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Oh, good. He wouldn't leave your side once we'd found you... I had to MAKE him take a shower," she finished with a laugh. "Eat, too."

"How long ago was that?"

"Well... yesterday."

"So how long have I been sleeping?"

"Well, he found you yesterday morning, and you didn't wake up once."

"What about him? Do you know?"

Joanne shrugged. "Can't be very long, because he was awake when I last checked up on you two about a half hour ago."

Dougie nodded and turned around, walking to the base of the stairs without a word. But once he put his hand on the handrail, he stopped. "Mum?" he asked quietly.

"What?" He turned and walked back to her, this time embracing her in a tight hug. She was as confused as he was when she'd hugged him. "Dougie? Are you okay?" she asked, rubbing small circles on his back.

"I love you, mum."

Her eyes filled with tears and she returned his hug full-force. "I love you, too, kiddo."

Dougie nodded and dropped his arms, feeling a little bit better about his situation with his mom as he walked back up the stairs, not bothering to say another word.

He stood in front of his door for a minute, his hand resting on the doorknob. With a deep breath, he twisted it and pushed the door open, staring at Tom from the door frame for another second. Letting out his breath, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. Facing Tom scared him. He didn't know what he'd do; if he'd hit him, if he'd ignore him, if he'd run away from him again. He kind of felt that he could handle anything but the latter; he was prepared for anything but Tom running away from him again.

He walked slowly over to where Tom was laying on the chair, having not moved an inch. Staring at him nervously, Dougie swallowed the lump in his throat and sat down on his bed. Tom looked so peaceful when he slept. Dougie smiled a soft smile and let out a gentle sigh when he noticed a nice line of drool running down the side of Tom's face. "Hey," he said softly. Tom didn't budge, so Dougie placed a hand on his knee, and shook it gently. "Hey, wake up," he continued, leaning forward a bit.

Tom's head turned a bit, before his neck was craning, and he was looking at Dougie through heavily lidded eyes. "Dougie?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

Dougie smiled and nodded his head, drawing his hand slowly from Tom's knee. "Hey," he said quietly. Dougie watched as Tom's mind slowly came back to life. "You okay? That doesn't look very comfortable..." he said with a quiet laugh.

Tom sat up quickly, not answering Dougie's question, not saying a word, just grabbing onto Dougie's torso and pulling him onto his lap and into his arms. With both arms tucked under Dougie's and wrapped securely around his stomach and back, Tom held Dougie as close as possible, his eyes falling closed again as he buried his face in Dougie's chest.. Relief washed over his entire body at the sight of Dougie staring at him; his blue eyes finally open again. "I'm so sorry," Tom muttered apologetically.

Dougie's breath caught in his throat at the sudden show of emotion. He was a bit confused, truth to be told. He wasn't aware that he had actually meant that much to Tom; never mind the fact that Dougie was Tom's only friend. "T-Tom?" Dougie asked shakily. Although he tried to resist, he ran his fingers gently through Tom's ruffled hair, loving how soft it felt slipping between his fingers. "You have nothing to apologize for," he told him quietly, giving in completely to the temptation that was Tom Fletcher's hair, and finger combing his hair carefully.

Butterflies rose in Dougie's stomach as Tom nuzzled his face into his chest and held him tighter. "I thought you were dead," Tom admitted quietly.

"Well... I didn't die!" Dougie threw in cheerily.

But Tom was still unamused. "But that doesn't mean you didn't almost!" he spat as he sat back and stared up at Dougie with a new, wild look in his eyes. "You were blue when I found you!"

"Okay! Jeez, calm down..." Dougie said slowly, leaning back a bit. "It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"Well? You scared me!" he said, his voice softening again.

Dougie smiled softly and nodded his head. "My skin isn't still blue, is it?" he asked jokingly.

"Dougie..."

"I know, I know. Jeez, you need a nap," Dougie huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I do! I was up all night looking for your ass!" Dougie let out a quiet giggle at Tom's sentence. "What's so funny? I was scared shitless!" Dougie laughed again quietly. "What?!"

"I'm SO rubbing off on you."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up."

Dougie sighed, before laughing again. "Okay, you know what?" he asked rhetorically before standing. "You're going to bed," he told Tom, grabbing onto his hand and pulling on it.

"Maybe I don't wanna!" Tom replied defiantly, although he still let himself be pulled up.

"Oh, shush. You don't know what you want," Dougie told him as he turned him around and pushed him down into his bed.

Tom fell into Dougie's bed with a quiet, "Ooph," letting himself settle in quickly. "And I suppose you know what I want?" he asked slowly as he stared up at Dougie, his eyes beginning to droop again.

"Mmm... yes," Dougie said with a flirty grin. He pulled the blankets up over Tom's body and tucked them in around his body.

Tom took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, relaxing considerably. "And what'd that be?"

Dougie thought for a minute, a million different [many rather inappropriate] things coming to mind. "You want me to read you your favorite bedtime story about Princess Tom!"

Tom snorted laughter and closed his eyes. "Oh shut up!"

"Oooh, someone's getting testy. You really DO need a nap!" Dougie quipped, grinning boyishly down at the closed-eyed boy below him.

"Shut up. I hate you," Tom huffed quietly.

"Oh, you know you're in love with me," Dougie joked, running his hand gently over Tom's head.

"I really am..."

Dougie's hand stopped, his fingers tangled in Tom's hair. His mouth slowly dropped open as he stared down at his friend, who, apparently, hadn't taken notice to his sudden shock. "Excuse me?" Dougie asked, moving his hand and instead hanging it by his side. Tom's lips parted and a slow, deep breath was exhaled, his eyelids twitching a bit. "Tom!" Tom just smacked his lips and took a deep, steady breath. Dougie attempted to swallow, his throat feeling even more dry now. Dougie didn't know what he was expecting as an answer... but it definitely wasn't that.

With wide eyes, he walked out of the room, shut off the light, closed the door behind him, walked back down the stairs, through the kitchen, into the dining room, and plopped down on a chair at the dinner table. His mind had been so distracted by what he'd just heard that he hadn't even taken the time to blink. He didn't notice his mum staring at him; didn't notice his mum talking to him; didn't notice his mum waving her hand in front of his face. It wasn't until she smacked him on the forehead that he snapped out of his trance and looked at her.

"Earth to Dougie?!" she called, now waving a plate of food in front of his face.

His eyes darted from her to the food, his mouth watering instantly. "Ohmygodyes," he muttered quickly as he took the plate of food.

"Wow, you must be hungry..." she started, watching as he shoved almost half of a pancake in his mouth. "Because I made that."

There was silence between the two while they were just eating; Dougie thinking of Tom, and Joanne thinking of her son, and how to approach what her and Chris had been talking about. "Hey, how does visiting your dad for a bit sound?" she asked carefully. She didn't want it to sound like she didn't want him here, but she knew he needed it.

"Dad?" Dougie asked, perking up a bit.

"Yeah... you know, just until the end of winter break... maybe a little longer."

There had to be a catch. Dougie just KNEW there had to be a catch. "...Why?" he asked slowly, eyeing her suspiciously.

She folded her hands on the table and took a deep breath. Dougie knew she was feeling guilty about something judging from the look on her face. It was the same look he got when he felt guilty. Oh, how alike they could be. "Well... I know moving here hasn't exactly been easy on you. It wasn't exactly fair that we just made you pick everything up and leave... and it's been stressful here. And now... with everything that's happened over the past few days... I just think it'd be good for you to get away from here for a bit... feel the sun, see your friends, and you know you haven't seen your father in a while."

Dougie was nodding slowly as she talked. "Sounds good..." he told her slowly. "How am I getting there?"

"Oh... well, I thought you could drive, because since the move, I just don't have the money to send you on a plane."

"Fair enough..." Dougie said slowly. "So, am I going alone?"

"Well... I was kind of thinking you could take Tom along..." Dougie didn't respond. His last conversation with the boy played back in his mind at the mention of him. "Do you think he'd want to go?"

"Oh, you know you're in love with me."

"I really am."

Dougie swallowed nervously and nodded his head. "Somehow I don't think he'd mind."