They talked then for a while, mostly giving Ryan a chance to tell them what it was like dealing with this, the memories he'd recovered and the ones that were still missing, and the things he was still having trouble with. But it rapidly became obvious that Ryan was exhausted and even though he wanted to stay with them, it would be best for him to go back to the hospital and get some rest. They reminded him that since they were home now, they'd see him soon, and Sharon told him that the crew would also be coming to visit as well. Keith told everyone, flat out, that he was taking Ryan back rather than sending him in the van, and no one was about to argue with his tone of voice. As they were walking out to his car, Ryan said," Thanks, mate. Much as I love them, I don't think I could take all of them in the van again right now."

"That's what I figured," Keith said. "Every time we started to get loud again after you came back, you looked like it hurt."

Ryan nodded. "It was making my head ache," he agreed. "I pushed further than I should have because I didn't want to leave all of you. I knew I was getting close to overloading, but I didn't say anything."

Keith looked at him sternly. "You're gonna have to stop doing that, mate. Talk to us. You know we'll do anything we need to to make this work, but pushing yourself past what you can handle isn't going to help."

Ryan couldn't help grinning. They so rarely saw Keith in this mood. "OK," he said, "then I'm telling you we need to make this a quiet ride back. No more lectures." Keith laughed and made a gesture as if he was zipping his lips shut, and didn't say another word until they were back at the hospital.

When they got back, they found Shivaun waiting for them. She was about to approach and ask them how things had gone when Keith shook his head and glanced at Ryan. Shivaun saw that he was wiped out and motioned them on, but Keith knew she'd be waiting for him when he came out.

Once inside the door of Ryan's room, Keith pulled Ryan into a tight hug. "God, it's good to have you back, man," he said. "It was awful trying to get through the AC shows without you. I kept turning around to find you and you weren't there. Colm's a rock, he managed everything with hardly enough rehearsal time to even know when he needed to be on stage, but nothing sounded right with his voice instead of yours."

Ryan pulled away enough to look at him. "I'm not back singing yet, you know," he said softly. "I'm determined to be there for Mythology and for the tour, you know that."

"And you will be," Keith said firmly. "I know that." He was sure now, having seen how much Ryan really was able to handle, that they could make things work. He said good night, leaving Ryan to get himself ready for bed, and headed out to the main lobby where, as he'd expected, he found Shivaun waiting for him.

"How did things go?" she asked worriedly. "Overdid it a bit, did he?"

"Aye," Keith replied. "He made it through till after dinner, but then he got overloaded. Told me afterwards he knew it was going to happen but he pushed himself anyway. We were surprised, he actually did talk to us a little while he was messed up. We didn't think he could."

"Initially, he couldn't" Shivaun said. "Now it's not so much a complete withdrawal as just not being able to process everything fast enough to keep up."

"That's pretty much what he told us," Keith agreed. "That'll get better, won't it?"

"It should, but it will take time. It's possible he'll have episodes like that for months yet, especially if he keeps pushing himself too hard. He's going to have to listen to what his body and his brain are telling him, and rest when he needs to."

Keith laughed. "That's almost exactly what I told him. And he told me to stop lecturing him and let him have a quiet ride back." They both laughed and then Keith headed home - although he sent an update to everyone to let them know that Ryan was safely back in his room and that they'd talked about him needing to let someone know when he needed a break.