"LISA LISA" Ant called out desperately,while hoping to wake his wife.

"Why the hell are you shouting out in the middle of the night?" Lisa snapped as she made her way downstairs to where Ant was laying on the sofa bed in the lounge.

"I need help Lisa" Ant mumbled painfully "please help me"

"Help with what?" Lisa asked unsympathetically "it's nearly three o'clock in the morning,go back to sleep"

Lisa had very little time for Ants problems anymore.She knew he had been abusing his pain medication and getting hold of a lot more than what was safe,she had tried to understand and support him,but as she was always the one on the receiving end of his bad moods and unpredictable temper tantrums,she had understandably had enough.

"I can't go back to sleep" Ant stated.

"Why not?" Lisa yawned "you need to sleep,we both do"

"I think I need an ambulance" Ant replied desperately "please Lisa,I need your help"

"Why the hell do you need an ambulance?" Lisa snapped.

Her stance then began to soften a little as she noticed the fear in Ants eyes and she perched next to him on the sofa bed.

"What is it Ant?" Lisa asked concerned "what's wrong"

"I've taken too many painkillers" Ant replied through gritted teeth "I think I might have accidentally overdosed,please call an ambulance,I'm scared"

"Ok sweetheart" Lisa smiled gently,she tried to stay calm for his sake,but inside she was panicking like never before.

As much as she hated what Ant was becoming with his very obvious addiction to prescription drugs and how they now fought and argued so much,Ant was still her husband and she still loved him,she certainly didn't want him to die.

"I can drive you to the hospital if you like?" she suggested "might be quicker"

She didn't get much response as Ants eyes started to roll back in his head and he slumped back onto the pillow.

"Oh God Ant" she shouted loudly as she shook him vigorously in a futile attempt to wake him up "Ant,Ant"

An ambulance was soon there and they did everything they could to make Ant comfortable and get him through his close call.

He had a very lucky escape and as he laid in his hospital bed a few hours later,looking forlorn and desperate,Lisa was finally allowed to visit him.

It had been a very anxious time for her,sat in the busy accident and emergency department of her local hospital,surrounded by people,but feeling incredibly alone as she waited to hear news of whether her husband was dead or alive,but the doctors put her out of her misery as soon as they could.

"I'm sorry" Ant mumbled,the minute his wife walked onto the ward where he would be staying at least until tomorrow.

"You could have died" Lisa stated as she pulled the plastic curtain around them to give them a little bit of privacy,while observing the machines that Ant was hooked up to "apparently you came very close"

"I know" Ant nodded "the doctor said I'm very lucky to still be here"

"Yeah,you are" Lisa agreed "what the hell happened?what did you take?"

"All sorts" Ant frowned "I've been sick a lot"

"Yeah" Lisa mused "I guess they'll have given you something to make you bring all the crap you took back up,so it's good that you're getting it out of your system.

"I guess" Ant replied sadly.

"This has gone too far Ant" Lisa sighed with tears now streaming down her cheeks "you have to sort yourself out"

"I know" Ant nodded sadly "but please don't tell Dec about this"

"What?" Lisa asked surprised "are you crazy?you can't keep this from him,he has the right to know"

"But you know what he's like?" Ant replied "he'll be absolutely distraught if he knew how close I came to dying"

"I'M distraught" Lisa pointed out sharply "doesn't that count for anything?"

"I'm sorry" Ant told her again,he didn't think there was much else he could say to earn her forgiveness at that precise moment.

"I won't tell Dec if you really don't want me to" Lisa agreed "but I think you're making a mistake by keeping this from him"

"I just can't cope with breaking his little heart on top of everything else" Ant said sadly "you know how sensitive he is"

"Yeah" Lisa nodded "but he's your best friend,you're a double act,if it was the other way around,I'm sure he would tell you"

"Well,he would never be stupid enough to do anything like this" Ant mumbled,more to himself than his wife.

"Yeah,I can't argue with that" Lisa replied "I'll leave it up to you whether you tell him or not then,but I can't imagine how you'll manage to keep it quiet"

"I can at least try" Ant shrugged.

Of course Lisa was right and after Ant returned home from the hospital the next day,he went straight to see Dec.

He just wanted to see his friendly face,to be with someone who knew him and understood him like no one else.Even if he didn't tell Dec what had occurred in the early hours of that morning,he still just wanted to be with him.

"Hi Ant" Dec beamed cheerfully as he opened his front door "come in"

"Just popped by to say hello" Ant smiled.

"That's nice" Dec replied,as he made hot drinks for them both "how are you doing?"

At that moment,Ant realised that Lisa had been right,how the hell could he keep what had happened from Dec?His Declan,who he loved and adored?it would be impossible.Dec knew him too well,he'd know something was wrong,Ant had to come clean.

"Ant?" Dec asked when there was no reply to his question "I said how are you doing?are you ok?"

"No,I'm not" Ant sighed as Dec passed him his drink and sat down close to him on the sofa "I'm really not right"

"What?" Dec asked surprised "what's wrong?"

"Something happened last night" Ant bit his lip as he tried to find the right words to tell Dec about what had happened.

"What?" Dec enquired "what's going on?Ant you're scaring me"

"Don't be scared kidda" Ant smiled gently "it'll be ok.It's just that I...umm...I spent last night in hospital"

"WHAT?" Dec blurted out,with a rising sense of panic growing in his chest.

"It's ok Dec" Ant replied,desperately trying to keep Dec calm "please just hear me out ok?"

"Ok" Dec agreed reluctantly.

"I took an overdose" Ant stated in a matter of fact manner.

Ant was confused when nothing but silence came from Dec.He thought Dec would have had a lot to say about that,so Ant turned to face Dec so he could at least read his expression.

Ant wasn't surprised when he saw that a river of tears were rolling silently down Decs cheeks.

"You wanted to leave me?" Dec whispered in the most hurt voice Ant had ever heard.

"What?" Ant asked shocked "no,of course not Declan,I would never leave you,it was an accident"

"An accidental overdose?" Dec asked.

"Exactly" Ant frowned "things have got out of hand.I've been in so much pain with my knee,so I've been taking more and more painkillers,ridiculously strong ones too,like Tramadol and I hate to admit it,but I think I'm addicted to them"

"Really?" Dec asked sadly,while wiping his tear stained face with his hand.

"Yeah" Ant nodded sadly "To the point where I've been hallucinating.Last night was a wake up call.I could have died,if Lisa hadn't heard me shouting out for her,I might not be here now.The doctor had a pretty serious chat with me about how dangerous what I did was and how I'm lucky to still be here.It scared the hell out of me"

"I'm not surprised" Dec replied "this has been going on for a long time hasn't it?"

"Yeah" Ant nodded "I've been in pain since the op and it's not hard to get drugs from private doctors,I could visit as many as I liked,so that's exactly what I did and they were more than happy to prescribe whatever I wanted"

"That day I found you on the floor of your dressing room...?" Dec suddenly thought back to that day when he had found Ant writhing in agony.

"Yeah" Ant sighed "I'd forgotten them"

"So it wasn't just Nurofen that you forgot?" Dec enquired.

Ant shook his head "No,sorry"

"Wow" Dec stated "how naive was I?"

"Dec,stop it" Ant insisted "you had no reason to think otherwise"

Dec stayed silent for a few moments as he tried to process everything Ant had told him.Ant respected this as he knew that was exactly what Dec would be doing.

"I'm going to sort this out for you" Dec announced confidently a couple of minutes later.

"What?" Ant asked surprised.

"I'll sort it out" Dec repeated "I'm sure you realise you need to go to rehab?"

"Yeah,I guess I do" Ant reluctantly admitted.

"Then I will deal with making the arrangements and afterwards you need to get that knee sorted" Dec smiled,taking charge of the situation.

"I'm just so scared to let them touch me again in case they make it even worse?" Ant frowned.

"Worse than this?" Dec pointed out "how can it be any worse than you nearly dying last night?"

"I guess" Ant sighed "but is that the right order?shouldn't I have my knee sorted out first?"

"I think dealing with your addiction is more important" Dec replied "and at rehab they can at least keep an eye on exactly what medication you should be taking for the pain and give you the right doses"

Ant nodded in agreement,he knew everything Dec was saying made sense,but he was finding it all overwhelming.

"You're staying here till I can get you admitted somewhere" Dec stated "I don't want you to be on your own if Lisa is working"

"Ok" Ant agreed.He was now happy for Dec to take over,he didn't have any fight left in him.He was exhausted after being in pain and depending on drugs for so long,while pretending everything was fine.

"Leave it all to me" Dec smiled.

The circumstances made Dec so sad,but he was happy that he could be there for Ant and help him through this.

Ant had basically looked after Dec right from when they first met.It was a situation they both accepted and liked,but now it was Decs chance to step up and repay Ant for all his caring over the years.

"Thank you Dec" Ant whispered while attempting to stifle a yawn.

"It's the least I can do after everything you've done for me" Dec smiled.

He had already noted how terrible Ant looked from the moment he had stepped in the front door.Unsurprising really since he'd spent the night vomiting in hospital.

"Why don't you go and have a nap?" Dec suggested "you look exhausted"

"That would be good thanks Dec" Ant replied.

"I'll go back to yours while you're asleep and pick up anything you need" Dec smiled kindly "then I'll make some phone calls"

"Could you bring Hurley back with you please?" Ant asked,while passing Dec his door key "Lisa is at work,but she thinks I'm home,I don't want the poor lad to be alone all day"

"Of course I will" Dec grinned "I'm sure Rocky would love to hang out with his best buddy all day,wouldn't you boy?"

Rocky looked up sleepily from his bed,then immediately went back to sleep.

"It's a dogs life eh?" Dec laughed "You'd better get yourself off to bed then and leave everything else to me"

Ant nodded tearfully as he hugged Dec gratefully,realising once again, just how lucky he was to have Dec as his best friend.

"We'll get you sorted" Dec whispered into Ants ear as they held each other tight "I promise"

Ant made his way upstairs as Dec immediately went to Ants house to collect Hurley and some of Ants stuff.

"It's all sorted" Dec announced as Ant emerged from the bedroom a couple of hours later and made his way downstairs to join Dec in the lounge.

"Tomorrow you're going to rehab!"