LeilaTheGalaxyDefender - *hands Dougie over for a hug*

229 Dougies POV

I refused to fall asleep for the rest of the night, knowing I would just end up having more nightmares that scared the living daylights out of me every time. They weren't even lessened by wearing Toms shirt, the new one I had borrowed from his wardrobe, or one of Dannys wrist bands, neither were helping. Not even sleeping in Harrys comforting safe arms was doing anything, I still had nightmares, making me wake up practically screaming every night. So, I stayed awake, trying to focus on the Godzilla DVD playing on the screen, but my mind still wandered all over the place, mostly 10 doors down the road from our house, how my two best friends were coping.

Eventually, it was a reasonable time to get up, so I woke Harry up, who had managed to sleep most of the night after I insisted he did. He didn't need to spend all night awake with me, he deserved some sleep after I kept him up most of the night. "I'm guessing its time to get up?" Harry mumbled as I shook him, his head pillowed on my leg. "yeah, please. Its 10am!" I yawned, feeling so tired, but not letting that get in my way. "alright, give me a while. Wanna come shower with me?" Harry offered, opening his eyes, grabbing hold of my hand. "yeah, if you wouldn't mind." I smiled shyly, following Harry, hand in hand, to our bathroom, showering with him, just wanting to be close. Thats all I wanted, to be close to everyone I loved, so I knew we were all okay.

I had to wait another 20 minutes before I could get that, so we could get dressed and eat something (we didn't really eat around Tom, noticing his lack of actually eating). Then finally we ran round to Toms house. "guys, they're not here, they're at Dannys." Carrie said before we could even step fully through the door. "ah, why are they there then?" I asked, confused. "I dunno, they just went round there last night. I guess they wanted some time to calm down together, I don't really know." Carrie shrugged, pulling on her shoes to come with us down to Dannys, on the other end of the street.

Opening that door, we did find Tom and Danny, laying on the floor together, cast and stitches gone. They were quite close, their hands resting on each others waists almost hesitantly. Danny was looking right at Tom, like he was staring into his eyes, while Tom was as always, looking away. I think he was looking at where his hand was on Danny, like he was watching it to make sure it wouldn't move. "hey, morning guys!" Carrie broke the silence first, making the poor boys jump. "hey, what time is it?" Danny smiled, looking away from Tom for the first time.

"about 11ish, not sure to be honest. Feeling better now?" I sat down next to them on the floor, holding Harrys hand gently, relaxing against his side. "yeah, we're feeling a bit better, aren't we? The casts off, and the stitches are out, so, I think we're all good." Danny looked back to Tom, giving him a knowing look.

230 Dannys POV

I gave Tom that knowing look to tell him to keep quiet about my relapse last night, we were honouring our deal, he wouldn't tell about me cutting, and I wouldn't tell about the bruises. I couldn't believe how many bruises there were all over Toms body, and how thin he was. He obviously hadn't gained any weight at all since coming out of hospital, if anything, he had lost more since then. The doctors had said that the bruises were caused from malnutrition, because the lack of actual food inside had given Tom very weak skin, so even bumping into things made him bruise, there were so many he looked like he had been abused. I had promised to look after him even more now, Tom was going to get some actual food, and I was going to make him feel like he was worth something. His self esteem was at such a low I was surprised his arms weren't ripped to shreds from guilt.

"so what actually happened yesterday then?" Carrie broke the silence, making us tense up. "er, nothing much really. We got the cast off, and the stitches, and came home. Not much else really, apart from laying in bed all day." I shrugged, leaving out basically everything. I didn't want to talk about it, having to watch the doctors and nurses prod and poke Toms poor body, discovering all the scars, all the bruises, all of his bones. While I had to stand there, look at his helpless little face, and not do anything, trying not to act horrified at the things that were found. "cool, we laid in bed all day too." Dougie smiled, almost laying down on top of Harrys lap, making sure their hands were joined together, resting on his stomach. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in a week, or at least a very long time.

"you look exhausted mate, did you even sleep last night?" I asked, poking Dougie in the leg with my toes, not wanting to move an inch away from Tom, not when he actually wanted to be held, and actually had his hand on me. "yeah I did, just a late night thats all." Dougie yawned, sending Harry a look, who just squeezed him tighter. They were clearly covering up too. Probably Dougies nightmares, I knew they kept him up at night, so they must have been really bad last night. "yeah, we have got to start going to bed earlier." Harry pulled Dougie about until he was laying down on his lap, the little blondes head rest on his lap. "nah, I'll be fine." Dougie smiled, resting his head on Harrys knee.

We sat in quiet for a while, just holding onto our partners, glad that everything was okay for now. The cast was off, the stitches were gone, I had discovered the bruises, and I was coming up with plans to get rid of them. I was going to help Tom get over his problem with eating, and build up his self esteem, and stop him cutting. It was going to be a long and hard journey, but I would do it, for Tom. Because he needed to be okay now, and I would make him okay, I swear that I would make him okay again, so he was finally going to be able to smile and care free again. That was all I wanted, for Tom to be able to smile and be care free.