Dec was taken up for surgery within ten minutes of arriving at the hospital. The doctors had quickly confirmed Tom and Alex's provisional diagnosis, and had hurried off to remove his appendix before things turned nasty.

Which meant that Ant was - very soon - left in the surgical ward waiting area, resigned to at least forty-five minutes to an hour of waiting for news.

Not that he was going to be bored - he had some important phone calls to make.

The first was to Ali, but it went straight to voicemail every time. Then Ant remembered that she was supposed to be in meetings all day and would likely not have her phone turned on. He left a message asking her to call him and hung up, hoping that she would turn her phone on soon.

Next job was to phone the crew back at the auditions and give them an update. Thankfully, the phone rang through this time.

"Hello" Stephen's voice greeted through the speaker.

"Hey bud, it's me" Ant replied, feeling a little more at ease when he heard that Stephen seemed to have relaxed a little in their absence.

"Ant! God, I wasn't expecting you to ring! How're things going? How's Dec? What's going on? Hang on a sec, gonna put you on speaker."

Ant had to suppress a laugh at the rapid-fire questions coming from the other end of the line. He could hear someone laughing in the background on Stephen's end - most likely David - and he felt himself relax a little.

"I figured. Things are going alright, I guess. Dec's just gone up for surgery about five minutes ago - they're positive it's his appendix" Ant answered - providing a question for each question individually.

He heard a collective wince on the other end.

"Appendix? That's pretty serious: is he going to be alright?" Amanda's concerned voice crackled through next.

Still feeling a little lingering guilt for snapping at her earlier, Ant still had to agree.

"Yeah, I hope so" he murmured softly.

Back at the judge's room, the remaining five all shared a look at Ant's response - identical looks of worry on their faces.

"Well, alright mate: I'll let you go, okay? And be sure to give us an update when you know more, kay?" Stephen spoke up again, turning back to the phone with a bit of an odd look in his eyes.

"Alright Stevey. And by the way: sorry we've left you all rather in the lurch-"

Simon stepped in at that moment.

"Don't worry about it, Ant. Just look after the little guy for us" he assured, voice uncharacteristically compassionate and kind.

Ant smiled a little - knowing just how much Simon really cared about all of them.

"Will do. Cheers guys!"

"Bye Ant! Talk to you later!" the others replied cheerily, before the line went dead.

Ant continued to sit in the armchair for a few more moments, twiddling his phone in his hands - as if not quite sure what to do with it. He was startled by a text message coming through on the screen.

Mullers: You sure everything's okay over there? You sounded a bit weird on the phone.....

Ant had to smile a little - Stephen was almost as perceptive about the two of them as they were.

Ant: I'll be honest, mate: I never, ever want to see Decs in that much pain ever again.....

Mullers: Yeah, it was bad enough for us - hate to imagine what it was like for you. Here if you want to talk mate!

Ant: Thanks pal. Might take you up on that later.

Mullers: Any time, you know my ear's always open.

Ant: Haha, the only time your ear's open :P

Mullers: Shut up.....

Ant laughed out loud at Stephen's response, before shutting off his phone once more.

*****

He didn't realise how much the time had flown until he saw Karen hovering cautiously near the archway into the waiting area.

"Anthony?"

His head snapped up at the sound of her voice, and his eyes instantly filled with a cold distrust.

"Karen" he returned curtly, standing up and greeting her with an outstretched hand.

The two stood in a rather awkward silence before Karen gestured for him to take a seat.

"Sarah - Doctor Ashwood - sent me here to let you know that Declan's surgery went relatively well, and we've got him resting at the moment if you would like to sit with him" her response was rather rushed - almost as if she was trying to get the words out as fast as possible without interruption. She also looked - if anyone happened to look at her face - a little bit scared.

"Couldn't come down here herself?" Ant questioned coldly, raising an eyebrow.

Karen bit her lip - she had known that Ant might potentially hold a bit of a grudge against her, but she didn't think it would be quite this extreme.

"She had another patient booked" she explained softly, almost not meeting his eyes.

Ant looked like he wanted to stand and leave immediately, when a particular part of the previous conversation slammed back into his head.

"Wait: you said it went relatively well" he said slowly, frowning at her.

Karen nodded, afraid he was going to ask her what she suspected he was going to ask her.

Sure enough....

"What exactly do you mean by 'relatively'?"

His tone was suspicious, as was the look in his eyes - narrowing ever so slightly as they stared her down.

Karen took another deep breath - deciding this would be better to just get it over with.

"Well, just as we went to remove the appendix, it did burst on the table."

Ant's animosity was quickly replaced by fear and worry; his eyes widening and his gaze turning on a dime from suspicious to concerned in an instant.

"WHAT?!"

Karen winced internally - she had known this probably wouldn't be taken well, given her previous experience in dealing with the two.

"Please try and stay calm Anthony. The team managed to remove all of the remaining infected tissue, and Dec's been put on a strong course of IV antibiotics to help combat any infection that could potentially arise" she explained in an attempt to get him to calm down a bit.

Ant did seem to calm a little at that, but when he turned back to face Karen she saw that there was still some lingering suspicion and worry in his eyes - and she knew that it wouldn't go away without him seeing his best friend.

"Where is he?" the question came out as quiet - almost flat.

Karen stood up and replied "In one of the recovery rooms. Just down the hall here to your left: he's in Room 221."

Ant gave a curt nod in thanks, before he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and left.

Karen watched him go - hoping that, this time, everything went well for them.

*****

Ant arrived in the room just as a nurse was leaving.

"He's just sleeping off the anaesthetic at the moment - he should be waking up in a few minutes" she whispered kindly.

He gave a grateful smile in response, edging past her and into the room.

Flashes of the last time they had been in this hospital barreled into his mind unbidden, and he had to vigorously shake his head to get rid of the unpleasant memories. This was completely different: Dec wasn't going to die this time, there was no risk of life or death in this case, it was just a routine case of plain old appendicitis - people had their appendixes removed all the time, and hardly anything went wrong with them.

He just prayed that Dec was able to join that list.

Speak of the devil......

Ant smiled as he caught sight of weakly batting eyelids, hearing a quiet groan escaping very dry lips. Sitting down in a chair by the side of the bed, he smiled widely as the lids fluttered open to reveal glazed hazel eyes flickering curiously around the room.

"Welcome back, Sunshine!" he greeted softly, keen not to make too much noise.

Dec gave him a lopsided grin.

"Aannntyy" he slurred sleepily.

Ant raised his eyebrows in amusement, a tiny smile quirking his lips.

"Wow, someone's feeling a bit good" he teased gently, putting a hand on Dec's forehead, and laughing as his drugged-up friend tried to blow it off.....literally.

"Wha're you doin'?" he wondered, going cross-eyed to watch Ant's hand.

Barely hiding a grin, Ant replied "just taking your temperature, kid: making sure it's come down from before." He was pleased to note that it had - at least, it felt like it had.

Dec blinked at him, smile widening.

"'M soo hottt. Too hott ferrr schooooll" he sounded like he was trying to convince his mam to let him stay home from school.

Ant couldn't resist a chuckle at his friend's mixed up statement.

"If you say so Deccy, if you say so" he conceded, shifting his hand so that it stroked Dec's hair off his sweaty forehead.

"Mm, thass niceee" Dec mumbled, leaning into the warmth and comfort of Ant's touch.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself" Ant replied - pleased to see Dec happy and relaxed for the first time that afternoon (even if it meant drugging him up to the eyeballs to get it).

At that moment, Ant's phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Pulling out the piece of technology - and ignoring Dec's "oooh, whas thaaat?" - he slid his finger across the screen to accept the call.

"Hey, Ali?"

"Ant, you wanted me to call you? What's up? Is Dec alright?" Ali replied, sounding a little flustered.

"Calm down Al, he's alright. Well, he's off his face right now, but he'll be right as rain in a few hours" Ant commented, reaching up to bat Dec's hand away from the phone.

He heard Ali sigh down the phone.

"Do I want to know? Actually, I probably should know: what's he done to himself this time?" she wondered, sounding fondly exasperated.

Ant chuckled a little before he quickly sobered as he relayed the afternoon's events to her.

When he'd finished, he was taken aback as he heard Ali swear under her breath.

"I knew something was wrong with him this morning, I should have insisted he went to the doctor" she growled - angry at herself.

"Woah, woah: hold up there Al" Ant interrupted, sounding incredulous. "You couldn't have stopped this, none of us could. And even if we could, you know full well what Dec's like - he won't stop unless he physically drops, even then he'd probably still try and finish the job" he added, sending a fond smile over at his friend.

"Whaat? Whaa'd I doo?" Dec asked, reaching up for the phone again.

"Nothing pal" Ant answered innocently, barely stifling a giggle.

"Wannaa talk."

Ant raised his eyebrows "You want to talk to Ali?" he asked to clarify.

Dec nodded clumsily, eyes starting to struggle to stay open.

"Hang on Al, he wants to talk to you" Ant explained, before he passed the phone over.

"Hellooo Alliiie" Dec happily mumbled into the phone once he had it in his hands.

Ali had to stifle a giggle of her own: Ant certainly hadn't been kidding when he'd said that Dec was pretty well off his face.

"Hello sweetheart" she greeted sweetly, barely managing to keep her laughter in.

"Allll, wann you hereeee" Dec whined mournfully.

It was almost endearing, and it had both Ali and Ant smiling when they heard it.

"I'll come and see you later, darling. I've got some more meetings to go to, but I promise I'll come and see you this evening" she replied, smile obvious in her voice.

Ant watched as Dec shook his head.

"Wann you heree noowww."

Despite her smile, Ali's heart twinged a little at her drugged-up husband's tone - he sounded like a child who'd been separated from their mother for just a bit too long.

"I promise I'll see you soon" she repeated, voice softer and gentler than before.

"Pinky promise?" was the reply she got.

She swore she could hear Ant struggling to hold his laughter in through the phone - and she wouldn't put it past him to be filming this whole conversation.

"Yes darling, I pinky promise" Ali answered, barely holding in her own giggles.

Dec appeared satisfied with that answer - the line at his end went rather quiet, and Ali suspected he might have drifted off to sleep.

"Lovveee yooouu" she was a little startled at the slurred whisper when it finally crackled through the line.

It sounded like her husband was very close to falling back asleep.

"I love you too. Sleep well darling" she whispered back, giving a kiss into the speaker for good measure.

Moments later, Ant was back on the line.

"Poor kid - up to his neck on pain meds and antibiotics, and having to deal with the rest of the anaesthetic too" he chuckled quietly, and Ali could almost picture him shaking his head fondly.

She smiled a little.

"I know."

A comfortable silence stretched between them for a minute or so, before Ali became aware that her next meeting started in about two minutes, and she needed to go.

"Alright Ant, I'd best be going - got two more meetings to go and then I'll be right over" she promised.

Ant nodded in acknowledgement.

"Sounds like a plan - you can talk to El Druggado himself" he joked, causing them both to chuckle heartily.

"Keep an eye on him, Ant - and let me know if he gets up to any mischief" Ali ordered, getting a responding chuckle from Ant.

"Will do Al. Talk to you soon, hey?"

Ali nodded, although he couldn't see it.

"Alright; love you Ant, thanks for looking after him" she whispered back, checking her watch again.

Ant smiled, eyes flickering back over to his slumbering friend; snorting quietly at the sound of his snores.

"No problem Al, anytime" he assured, before they both hung up.

Ant put his phone back in his pocket and ran a tired hand through his hair.

"You'd better thank us for this later: I swear this better be the last time you put us all through this much stress!" he grumbled good-naturedly.

Way up in the clouds, above the material world, Fate rubbed her hands together in glee: oh, how she loved it when things got jinxed.......

*****

TBC......

*****