monkeywaitors - thank you! though sorry about ripping out your heart! *hands tissue* also, i have a few SA's planned out for this fic, set before this fic takes place, would you be interested in me posting them once i've written them?

67 Tom's POV

I finished another session with Doctor Scott and got dragged to the day room, where the big TV was. Loads of people were watching it, but a few were playing some games together, or just talking to each other. I didn't want to be in here, it was too filled with people, I didn't like the people here. Even though they ignored me mostly, I didn't like them, they were weird. "so Tom, do you want to watch some TV with the others, or do you want to play some games with the others?" Doctor Scott asked, I didn't want to do either! I wanted to go back to my room, and play on the guitar I had taken from the music room. It didn't feel completely right to be playing by myself, but it was better than nothing, especially since I could play Safe And Sound now. It made me feel better to hear it, even though I was the one playing it.

"Tom? Do you have an answer for me?" Doctor Scott pushed, I shook my head. "I-I want to go back to my room and play guitar." I whispered, not wanting to annoy him, but not wanting to still be here. "okay, well, you can't right now. I want you to be around the other patients, talk to them. You don't talk to anyone here, and you really should learn to be around people other than your friends." Doctor Scott explained...oh, "so, do you want to sit here with the others, or do you want to play some games?" he asked, I didn't know! "c-can they be outside games?" I asked, I would have liked to go outside, I hadn't left this place in at least a month. I needed to have some fresh air, and to run around for a while. "erm, no. Not yet, considering you won't stop trying to run away, we don't want to lose you Tom, so no you can't go out yet." Oh...but I only tried to run away when Danny, Harry and Dougie left! I didn't try and run all the time, only when I knew there was a car that could take me home.

"I'll stay here and watch TV then." I sighed, sitting on a chair by myself. This wasn't too bad I guess. "good boy, now in about an hour or two, I want you to sit on the sofa, next to someone, alright? I want you to at least try and make friends with someone." Doctor Scott left me there, being guarded by an orderly. He looked very, very mean, like he would hit me if I said something to him. "what are you looking at?" he glared at me, I quickly looked away from him, feeling like I could die if I looked in his eyes. I felt like that with everyone apart from Danny, Harry, Dougie and Carrie. I couldn't look into anyone elses eyes, they could read my mind or something, I didn't want my mind read, it was a scary place in there.

I did as I was told though and sat there in the chair for a while, watching the TV, the programme was about a really clever man, who solved crimes. He had an assistant, he was a doctor, but he wasn't a clever as his friend, he was really, really clever. I think I liked this show, I couldn't understand some of what the clever one said, but, I understood a bit of it. I think I preferred cartoons though, they were funny.

"time to move over a bit, go and sit on that sofa over there." The orderly suddenly told me, making me move over to a sofa. There was another person sitting on it, they stayed on their side of the sofa, wrapped in a blanket and a big hoodie, with the hood up. "go away, don't sit next to me." They said, they sounded angry. "no, Tom's staying. It'll be good for the both of you." The orderly made me sit on the sofa. "I said go away! I don't want to sit next to anyone, especially him." The person growled, what had I done? "and why not? What has Tom ever done to you?" the orderly forced me to sit down again as I got up, I didn't want to hear this, I didn't want to hear why they didn't even want to sit near me.

"he's the one that Alex hates. If Alex hates him, I hate him too." The person got up and stormed off, but I hadn't done anything to either of them! I promise, I hadn't gone near them! I hadn't even met Alex before I came here, how did she hate me before I even spoke to her?! I didn't know why they hated me so much, I hadn't done anything! "Tom, stay here. You haven't done anything wrong for once, stay here. Stay right here, she's gone now, everyone else doesn't hate you. They're not going to be mean to you." The orderly forced me to stay again, but I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted to go and hide away before more people were mean to me. I hadn't met a single person here who was nice to me, people moved away when I sat down at tables, when I hadn't done anything to them. I just wanted to go back to my room now, before more people were mean.

"please, let me go back to my room, please!" I begged, I wanted to hide, couldn't I just hide? "you're under orders to stay Tom. Just sit down and let someone come over and sit next to you." The orderly sighed. "please, let me go...cant I go to the music room instead?" I needed to hear Safe And Sound, right now, I needed to hear it so I felt better. "alright, if it'll keep you quiet. There's bound to be someone in there." The orderly pulled me down to the music room, I was playing guitar within minutes, feeling better straight away. I needed to hear this right now, so I felt better, so I didn't feel so bad. I just wished that everyone was nicer, or at least some were, so I could talk to someone and feel like someone liked me. I missed talking to people, hugging people, just being with people. People who were nice, who talked to me like I was normal, like they liked me.

68 Danny's POV

When I woke up, I realised that I had in fact fallen asleep on the sofa. Well, at least I felt a little more awake now, which was a start. "evening sleepy head." Harry teased, wait, since when did he and Dougie get here? "eh? Have I missed something?" I asked, a bit confused over why they were here. "nope, we just came round when we found out you were sleeping. Couldn't believe it, so we had to see it for ourselves." Dougie smiled a little, for the first time since last Saturday. "I'm glad to see how my lack of sleep is giving you entertainment." I said dryly, sticking my tongue out at the kid. I just got a face pulled back at me, so I knocked his hat off by hitting the brim of it, making it flip into the air and fall onto the floor.

Dougie grabbed it and pushed it back on top of his head again, his hands covered by a very, very large shirt I recognised as Toms. "hey, when did you steal that?" I was almost certain that that was the shirt that Tom had been wearing when the hospital had been ringing us over and over again, and when we used to do concerts, it was the shirt he tied around his waist. "a few weeks ago. It helps me sleep, do you mind?" Dougie went to take it off. "keep it mate. At least there's something helping at least one of us sleep." I smiled a little, at least I knew that there was something that was helping Harry and Dougie sleep at night. I had tried wearing Tom's clothes, but it did nothing for me, at the moment, only the sofa was helping me out.

Eventually, we all decided to move this gathering back to mine, it didn't feel right in Tom's house without him there. Sure I had been left alone in there a whole load of times, I had almost lived in Tom's house, basically using my own house to keep my junk in, but those times I knew where Tom was, knew he was going to be back at any moment. Now, sitting in his house, with Harry, Dougie and Carrie without Tom, knowing that there was no way in hell he was going to be coming home in a few minutes freaked me out. It felt like we were trespassing, like we really shouldn't have been there. I don't know, it just felt like we should have been leaving Tom's house alone until he was there inside it permanently again.

I ended up cooking for everyone, to take my mind off things for a while. It was nice, to be thinking of something other Tom and how much I missed him. Not that I didn't like thinking about him, I loved thinking back to some of our adventures, remembering things like our first kiss, the first time I woke up next to Tom's sleeping face and knowing it wasn't because we had been writing late into the night. Things like that were so nice to remember, but then made me feel so lonely seconds later, when I realised I wasn't actually in that moment anymore. I sighed, I was sure I would get Tom back at some point, the Tom who had helped make all those memories, who I could make more like them with for the rest of our lives.

"you alright in here Dan?" Harry made me jump suddenly, how long had I been inside my own thoughts again? "er, yeah, yeah I'm good." I nodded, stirring the spaghetti in its saucepan. "good, you just seemed a little out of it then." Harry smiled a little, soon being joined by his tiny little husband, who hopped onto the counter. "I was just thinking." I shrugged it off, not really sure what I should have been saying at this point. "you think far too much these days Danny. Tom's fine, I'm sure he's fine. He's in good hands, you shouldn't spend all day worrying about him." Harry sighed, he was right I guess. But, I couldn't help it. I had cared for Tom for years, ever since we had entered the 363rd room of the Intercontinental Hotel. He had been my anchor for years, he kept me grounded, he made me, I needed him. I couldn't just let him out of my sight, and believe that he was going to be fine. And seeing as he was always so depressed there, probably thinking I was going to cheat on him at some point, I couldn't just relax and stop thinking about it. I explained that, and the guys seemed to understand me, thank god. But, they still said that I had to trust that things would get better soon, because it was all a part of Tom getting used to being by himself and that it was part of his treatment.

"I know it is, but it shouldn't hurt him so much." I whimpered, because it shouldn't have been hurting him like this. "well, maybe its worth a little pain, to get our Tom back." Harry ran his hand over my tattooed arm in comfort. "it better be. I need Tom back, and soon." I leant into him, needing a hug off someone. "he'll come back to us soon. Or you never know, we might be able to take him out for another day out. That'll be good won't it?" Dougie joined in our hug, the smell of Tom from the shirt he was wearing wafted up, my god that smelt good. "yeah, that'll be good." I sighed, before realising that our dinner was ready. We carried on talking about things as we ate, and I honestly did feel better afterwards, talking about things did make me feel a little better. And with the protection of Harry and Dougie laying either side of me, I actually managed to fall asleep, feeling safe sandwiched between my friends. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.