disclaimer: i don't own the guys, no matter how hard i try. i own adara, though.

FIFTEEN - AND THEN LATER...

I'm lost at sea
The radio is jamming but they won't find me
I swear it's for the best
And then your frequency is pulling me in closer

"Have you ever realised how many whiskers cats have?" I asked as one of Tom's cats wondered by the sofa I was perched on.

Tom laughed. "I've noticed it's a lot. Oh, no, don't do that! She'll hate you!" Tom added as I went to pick up the cat to count the whiskers sticking out of her muzzle.

Quickly letting go of the cat, she dropped a very short fall and then dashed off. After a brief disappointment at not being able to count her whiskers, I turned my attention to the kettle Tom was using to boil water.

"That's a lot of steam! Wow, that's like a whole other cup of tea! We should catch it and save all the water!" I watched as the water vapour escaped from the kettle just before the device announced to Tom that the water was ready. "Ack, why is that so loud? Make it stoooop!"

With a quiet laugh - one I barely noticed - he quickly made the whistling stop and poured the water into a couple of ready mugs he had already prepared on the counter.

"Dara, if I give you this, will you promise to drink it slowly?" Tom asked as he now stood in front of me, two mugs in his hands.

"What?" I turned my attention to him. "What is it?" I tried racking my brain for what could be in the cup, but came up blank.

"Hot chocolate. You asked for it a few minutes ago...?" he answered slowly, a hint of humour on his face.

"Oh, um, okay. Wait - what was the question?" My brain wasn't working so well right now - not that it was very good most of the time, but really.

"Will you drink it slowly? It's very hot and I don't want you to burn your mouth or your throat," Tom explained. When I nodded, he slipped one if the mugs into my grasp, and then took a cautious sip from his own mug.

"Oi, that's hot!" I screeched.

If it hasn't been for Tom still standing there, I would have been soaked in the hot brown liquid as the mug slipped from my grasp at my outburst and he caught it just in the nick of time, making it so the liquid remained completely in the cup.

"What did I just finish saying?" Tom smirked, placing my mug on the table next to the sofa.

"I just wanted a sip..." I mumbled. "Ooh! Lookit all the pretty colours!" I cheered, pointing a finger to where a show on the TV had turned into a spiral of colours.

Tom briefly glanced at it before turning back around. "How's your ankle?"

"What ankle?" I honestly wasn't sure what he was going on about.

"Your injured ankle?" he prompted while moving to another sofa, sitting down.

"Oh, yes, right. I knew that," I mumbled, looking down to find a pack of ice on one of my ankle, drawing me to the fact that, while it did hurt a bit, it was mostly cold. "Meh, I've had worse," I answered him truthfully.

He gave me a questioning glance, but didn't really say anything more. We watched whatever show was on the telly, with me making comments every minute or so, Tom commenting back on my comments, until it ended. By that point, we were both out of whatever it was that was in the mugs - I couldn't remember any more, but after it cooled a bit, it sure tasted good - and my head was feeling kind if heavy.

"You should try to sleep some of those painkillers off," Tom told me while draping me with a blanket. Next I knew, we were dancing around, off to find the end if the rainbow.

It wasn't until the sun was shining in my eyes the following morning and I tried rolling over to keep it away from my face, but fell on the floor with a loud thud that I woke up. I realised then as I moved into an extremely awkward sitting position – both my feet were still up where I'd just been – that I had been sleeping on a sofa.

Looking around the room, I couldn't remember where I was. Then, as I locked onto the eyes of the other person in the room, looking as if they had just woken also, who seemed to be holding back a small laugh, it all came back to me. I was at Tom's.

"So what," I said, still looking into his eyes, "I fell off the sofa." I lifted myself back onto the sofa behind me, returning to where I had been comfortable just moments before I ended up on the floor. "I forgot where I was and was trying to get the sun out of my eyes," I added, turning a bit so the sun was no longer directly in my eyes.

"Sure you did," Tom said, getting to his feet slowly.

"I did!" I insisted as he moved so he was standing over me, block the sun.

"How's you ankle this morning?" he laughed as I looked up at him.

I hadn't really been thinking about, but Tom mentioning brought me back to the dull pain that was pounding at the end of my leg – I assumed the fact that it wasn't more painful that it was was because of the painkillers I had most likely taken the night before that were still working their way out of my system. "It's okay, not bad right now," I told him. "My head on the other hand…. What happened last night?"

"Well," he said, moving away from where I was sprawled, "let's find out what you remember first." As he spoke, he went into the kitchen.

I told him about the theatre, how we got trapped and I had taken a fall, twisting my ankle. He had taken me to the drugstore on the way home after I told him I was certain it was just bruised – I'd had enough sprains and other injuries to know pretty well when I had one or not – and then came back to his house. After that, everything was really fuzzy.

He laughed returning to the living room, bring with a tray, which carried everything for cereal, juice and coffee, and two of everything at that.

"You got pretty high on those painkillers," Tom said simply. "Very loopy."

"Oh gosh. I did try warning you about the extra-strength," I reminded. After he shrugged and nodded, I went on, "What did I do?"

"You told me about the coloured dots you were seeing," he began, speaking slowly so I would have a hard time missing anything he said, handing me a cup of coffee. "You tried to count Leia's whiskers. You called Danny and Dougie – I have no clue what you talked to them about, but I managed to stop you before you could call Harry, too. And then, to top it off, when the dogs started barking a couple houses down, you wanted to go outside and 'howl at the moon'" – he used air-quotes – "with them. All after about three A.M."

He was laughing while I cringed, my head in my hands. "Oh gosh. I can't believe it – but I still do. This happens every time I take painkillers. And I'm usually only on regular strength." I took a sip of the coffee. "Don't tell Lauren, okay? She'll only make fun of me."

Laughing and agreeing, he added that he would drive me home after breakfast so I could sleep the rest of the painkillers off. I didn't know what it was exactly, but after everything that had happened over the last eighteen hours, I was really starting to get a soft spot for Tom.

song: watch the sky by something corporate.

an: i'm going to try my hardest to get as many (as many as three more?) up by saturday evening, as i probably won't have much (or any) internet until march, as i will be travelling back to uni for a couple weeks. just a little fyi.

thanks for reading, reviewing, etc, and thanks in advance! much love! :3 xxx