8 Danny's POV
"So, how you holding up?" I asked Tom, once we were safely away in the kitchen, Harry and Dougie left in the front room to look after Buzz.
"O-Okay." Tom answered, pulling out the bread.
"Better than before the hospital?" I questioned, wanting to know. He wasn't acting normally, hadn't been for days, I wanted to know if I could get something out of him.
"Yes, yes, better than that." Tom nodded, flashing a smile. It didn't reach his eyes. And was gone so fast that I was sure I had imagined it.
"Good, I'm glad to hear it." I smiled back, hoping it would be encouraging in some way.
"How... How was Buzz? Was he, was he okay?" Tom sounded so hesitant, like he was scared to talk.
"Yeah, he was alright. Little grumpy, but that's to be expected when he didn't have his guitar, and was somewhere he hadn't been before." I explained, trying to make it sound like it wasn't serious. I mean, Buzz was fine now, he was happy enough, had been his usual giggly self after he had gotten used to the hospital. So he must have been fine.
"Good, good... I'm sorry, for going that a-and making you look after him. I hadn't... I didn't mean to push him on you." Tom apologised, looking absolutely ashamed of himself. He, he shouldn't have felt ashamed like that.
"No need to apologise, you had had a shock, we'd have done anything we could. And Buzz was no problem to look after, it's not like we're not used to him." we were used to him being around, because Tom brought him with us a lot. We looked after him when we were in dressings and stuff; it was fine to look after him. Let alone in Tom's time of need, it was no issue to look after him.
"Still, thank you. He erm," Tom paused, "it was... good, to have someone with him, who he trusts."
"Of course, and as I said, anything to help out in your time of need. And any other time too, it's all fine, I promise." I rubbed his arm, but somehow that still didn't relax him, or stop him looking like a kicked puppy.
"I'm just glad you're okay." I told him after a pause, "And if you need anything, we're here. This is a tough time, so anything we can do, we're here."
"T-Thanks." Tom gave a slightly more genuinely smile this time.
"Like I said, no problem." I paused for a second, letting that sink in, "Now how about if we make a start on lunch, yeah? What does Buzz usually have?"
For some reason, I felt like I needed to guide Tom a bit, to make sure that he did what needed to be done. I didn't know why, but it felt like it was needed. It wasn't that I felt like Tom wasn't capable, it was just that... he wasn't with it right now. He wasn't all there, and he was just so sad, it wasn't quite right. None of this in this situation was right, it was all wrong. Like Tom was missing something important, and I couldn't put my finger on it.
"He usually has a banana." Tom answered, picking up one from the fruit bowl, pealing it and starting to cut it into slices.
"Alright, and what do you want to eat?" Tom shrugged at my question, so I decided to make him a sandwich, like everyone else was having. Something easy to make and eat, not too much, and not too little, exactly as the doctor had ordered.
Luckily, Tom ate, as I wanted him too. He was slow at it, but he did eat the sandwich, so I wasn't about to complain.
But he wasn't just slow, he was... quiet. Not just quiet, silent, in fact. Silent, and curled up in his seat, seemingly not paying attention to anything other than his own food, and how Buzz was doing with his own meal. It was odd to see him so quiet, and really not normal in the slightest. Tom wasn't the loudest person in the world, but he wasn't silent like this, not normally. He hadn't been last week, but suddenly he was. I didn't know whether to blame it entirely on the fact that his wife had left or not.
Obviously that would be disturbing for him, and scary. But to make him this silent, this hesitant to so much as talk? I didn't think so, it didn't ring true with the Tom I knew. Nothing made him act like this. Even when he was ill, he wasn't this quiet. I didn't know what to think, all I knew was that this was seriously worrying.