"What?" Ant demanded, fumbling for a seat in his shock. "What happened? What's wrong with him?"

"The same as you," Lisa said, brows drawn together. "It's just a stomach bug, love - but Dec was worse off. He was just sleepy when I checked on him yesterday, and I saw that he'd texted you so I knew he was okay last night, but when I went this morning ... Ant, it was awful. He'd clearly been so sick in the night, and he was collapsed on his bathroom floor. I couldn't get him to wake up, so I called for an ambulance. They arrived really quickly and said he was probably really dehydrated from throwing up and not getting enough fluids, so they said they'd take him in."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Ant asked, and Lisa could see frustrated anger rising in him. "I should have been with him, helping him-"

"You were in no state to help anyone, given how sick you were yesterday," Lisa scolded firmly, thinking back to how unwell Ant had been, too. She'd rarely seen him so poorly before, in all their years together. "You were barely with it when I woke you up to get you to drink something in the early hours, and you seemed so tired. I thought the best thing to do was to deal with Dec separately, then catch you up when you were feeling better."

Ant looked a little calmer, accepting her point. Lisa couldn't blame him for his frustration, though, aware that he probably felt helpless. He'd always taken care of Dec, since they were kids, and whenever he can't he gets annoyed. She could see by his pallor and shadowed eyes that he still felt way under 100%, too. "Aye, sorry," he said. You did the right thing. I just hate to think of him being so poorly, all alone. I take it you rang Ali to go with him, yeah?"

"She met him at the hospital. She's with him now - he's awake now, apparently, and they've got him on an IV. She says they're going to keep him until he's hydrated and his blood pressure's back up, then they'll let him go. I told her to ring me. I'll go fetch him, and bring him right back here so I can keep an eye on the pair of you."

"Good," Ant said emphatically. "And he'll be okay?"

"Yeah, he will. Poor Doolittle." Lisa ran a hand over her face: she was tired, too, what with running back and forth between the boys all day yesterday, and this morning's drama. She couldn't quite get the image of Dec out of her head, either, of him curled up halfway in the bathroom, halfway in the bedroom, looking so tiny and grey and completely unresponsive. She'd never been so frightened in her life.

"I should never have let him go back to the house by himself - I knew he was sick when we were in the car. He was just so adamant about being fine by himself ... and that bloody text he sent, too. I knew there was something strange about it, because he used text speak. He always sends everything in full sentences normally. Why didn't I do something?" Ant asked in frustration.

Lisa reacted immediately, moving to wrap her husband in a reassuring hug. "Don't beat yourself up. You were sick, and you're also not his keeper. I mean, you kind of are, but if he said he was going home you couldn't exactly kidnap him against his will, could you?"

"No, but I think we need to chat to him when he's here and feeling better again. Something's got him thinking he's being a bother to us or whatever, and we need to put that right." Ant nodded, looking glad to have an aim and a goal in mind. Lisa knew how much he hated feeling helpless, and she was as eager to get Dec home as he was, not just to reassure her about the little one but also so her husband could have something to focus on. The longer he was kept from Dec, the more grumpy and frustrated he would become, and the more fallout there would be. She agreed, too, that they needed to talk to him. She missed having Dec around as much as he used to be.

Ant chanced it with a question, leaning in close to her. "Any chance you're going to let me come with you to pick him up?"

"Not a chance," Lisa told him with a smile. "Come on, I'll make you something a bit more substantial for breakfast if you're up for it, then you can have a shower - I hate to break it to you, oh love of my life, but you are smelling fairly strong right now!"

She made Ant keep the door open while he showered, just in case, but she had to admit he was looking a bit better. He made a valiant effort to eat all of the toast and porridge Lisa made for him, and then behaved well, curling up on the sofa to catch up on a few emails and, more importantly to him, the football he'd missed. He fell asleep after a light lunch of soup, but she was pleased, seeing that his colour was returning. Ant always recovered quickly from illnesses, which was lucky because he was fairly impatient. Dec, though, wasn't always so fortunate, and - clearly, from his current situation - he also got hit harder as well.

It was mid-afternoon by the time Ali rang again, this time with the news that Dec would be being released in an hour. Ali had been with him all day, and had managed to do some work from the hospital, but she needed to go back to James Grant to finalise meeting rearrangements and other things for the lads and her other clients. Lisa said she'd be there as soon as possible, and rang off.

Ant made another attempt to be allowed to come, but as improved as he seemed, Lisa still thought it would be a bad idea to have both he and Dec in the car. Ant would fuss madly and it would be bad enough having one sickly man having to deal with motion rather than two, so she vetoed his efforts and set off by herself.

Ali and Dec were both waiting in the hospital lobby when she got there, traffic having been trickier than anticipated. She walked over and Ali stood to greet her with a hug. Dec stayed sitting, but offered her a weak wave. "Hey, Lise," he said wanly. "Bet I look a bit better than this morning, yeah?"

"Well, that's not exactly difficult," Lisa replied, reaching down to cup his cheeks. Personally, she thought he still looked fairly dreadful: his eyes were shadowed and sunken and he looked very pale, so the overall effect was a bit skeletal. "God, Doolittle, you were so poorly - are you sure it's okay for you to be released?"

"It's just a stomach bug," Dec replied, dropping his eyes in embarrassment. "I didn't need to be taking up a bed, really. I've just got to keep hydrated."

"His temperature's dropped, his blood pressure's up, and he's been stable for a good few hours," Ali said. "I talked to the doctor; she said he'd need to take it really easy for a couple of days, but he really is fine to go home. As long as he's got someone keeping an eye on him."

"He'll definitely have that! Ant's never going to let you out of his sight again!" Lisa promised, raising a small smile out of her friend, Dec looking up again. She felt a little bit of worry rise again when he stood up very slowly and carefully, but he walked forward on his own without help.

"Thanks, Lisa. For everything you did this morning, even if I don't remember it. And thanks for being here today, Ali," he added. "I know I was pretty disgusting, too, so if we could never mention that again, that'd be great."

Both women laughed lightly and fondly. Lisa felt pretty sorry for Dec - not just because of how fragile he was clearly still feeling, but also because, despite his natural show-off tendencies, he clearly felt embarrassed for having been so weak and vulnerable - and, yes, she'd admit it, fairly gross - in front of them.

"Come on, Doolittle. Let's get you home. Ant's been going mad without his little friend."

They said goodbye to Ali, then headed out to the car. Lisa drove home very carefully and slowly, quietly drawing Dec's attention to the washing up bowl she'd brought in case it was needed. It wasn't, but Dec kept it in his lap and breathed very carefully, not chatting at all as he clearly focused on keeping his stomach in check. He was nowhere near being as far along the road to recovery as Ant, obviously.

He breathed a sigh of relief when they got back, clearly as relieved as Lisa that the trip had been uneventful. He kept a hold of the basin as they headed up the steps, and the door opened before Lisa could use her key, and Ant stood on the other side, a wide grin on his face.

"Declan!" he greeted him, and Lisa clocked the moment he saw that Dec still looked pretty bad, as his smile faltered. "Mate, you look like shit," he declared.

Dec laughed in response, which was typical - the boys found each other funny all the time, even when Lisa thought the joke was daft - and Ant looked slightly relieved at that, though he still went straight into hover mode, putting a hand to Dec's elbow.

"I still feel it, to be honest," Dec answered, leaning in to Ant's touch. Lisa smiled at that: she'd always found the relationship between the two of them adorable, even though she knew that not everyone who met them and saw their dynamic did. "Sorry to cause so much fuss," Dec added, while at the same time looking fairly keen to be fussed over.

"Right, Doolittle," she said, noting how pinched he looked about the eyes. "You're in the downstairs guest room. Ant, how are you feeling, love?"

"Much, much better," Ant said, then, catching her eye, added, "but I could do with a kip. Mind if I bunk in with you, Dec?"

"Sounds good," Dec replied, clearly flagging now and looking a bit wobbly on his feet.

Lisa let Ant walk Dec into his room, and went to check on them both ten minutes later with some bottles of water and a few spare toiletries for Dec. She found them already in the bed, Ant sitting up with a couple of pillows behind him, scrolling through his phone. Dec was already fast asleep, curled up next to Ant with his head on his chest, buried under about 90% of the available covers.

Ant smiled up at her. "He's out like a light," he told her, not even whispering. "Look." He picked the hand resting on his chest up and then let go. It dropped back down limply.

Lisa grinned at the sight. "He must be shattered," she said. "He was so sick, and then he'll have barely got any sleep in the hospital today." She frowned, looking closer at the arm. Ant followed her gaze and saw what she had spotted, the big, blotchy bruise in the crook of his elbow, presumably from the IV he'd needed to re-hydrate him.

"God, love, he really was sick," Ant said, face dropping. "All by himself like that, ya kna - he could have choked on his own vomit, or passed out and cracked his skull open, or-"

"He didn't, though, did he?" Lisa interrupted. "Listen, I know what you're saying, sweetheart. And I agree. We really need to talk to him, but let's just get him back to health first, yeah? Then we'll talk to him about why he's been a bit distant recently."

"Yeah, okay," Ant replied, his attention on Dec. He reached down to press his hand to Dec's cheek, checking on the now-lowered fever. "Let's concentrate on getting him better."

That ended up being their focus for the next few days. Ant was a much easier patient to manage with Dec around, and as Dec was mostly lying down and resting, and Ant wanted to keep an eye on him, he actually stayed in one place and therefore got back to full health very quickly. True to form, Dec did not bounce back so quickly. He was a perfect patient in some ways, pliant and docile, sleeping most of the time and happy to lie with Ant watching TV the rest of it, sipping at water and occasionally some Lucozade to keep himself hydrated. He picked at his food, though, even when Ant was back to full roast dinners and takeaways, appetite fully recovered.

Lisa joined Ant in nagging him about eating, making bland but nutritious alternatives that Dec thanked her for but rarely managed more than a few bites of. They pushed him too hard the day after he was released from the hospital which only resulted in Dec throwing up again, so they backed off slightly after that, and gradually, he did improve, his appetite recovering slowly and his energy levels returning.

Along with his return to health, though, came the suggestions that he should go home and stop getting in their way. These were batted aside easily when Dec was still shaky and feeling bad, but once he was stronger, they became harder to ignore.

"Listen, guys, I should really head back to mine," Dec said decisively on the fifth day he was at their house. It was breakfast time, and he had just finished a bowl of plain porridge.

"You don't have to go yet, mate," Ant answered, voice muffled by the bite of sausage sandwich he'd just taken.

"You still need fattening up again, Doolittle," Lisa added - truthfully. He'd dropped a few pounds over the last few days and his face was looking a little gaunt.

"I've been here ages - I know I'm amazing company and everything, but you'll want some alone time together. You've been running around after me for ages," Dec said, sounding guilty.

Lisa caught Ant's eye. It was beyond time for that talk they kept meaning to have with their friend. She went to sit next to her husband. "Decs, where's this coming from?" she asked gently.

Dec shrugged guilelessly. "It's not 'coming from' anywhere, Lise. I just don't want to intrude for too long."

"Intrude?" Ant asked, incredulously - and loudly. He wasn't much for the softly-softly approach, was her husband. "Since when did you being here count as an intrusion? You used to be over every night of the week, if you can remember!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Dec said, looking guiltier than ever.

"Seriously, what are you apologising for?" Ant demanded. "When have you ever felt like you needed to say sorry for coming over here?"

"Did we say something, or do something?" Lisa asked, taking the quieter approach. "To make you feel unwelcome?"

Dec looked immediately panicked at the thought. "God, Lisa, no - you're amazing, the pair of you! You've always fed and looked after me, for years-"

"So what's the issue, man?" Ant interrupted.

"Well, it's just that, isn't it? You've done it for years. I've been like a kid, always relying on you, and then, well, I was with Georgie and you got a bit of a break. Just because I broke up with her doesn't mean I should suddenly start taking so much from you again ... it's time to grow up." Lisa frowned, because Dec sounded so apologetic ... but also because those didn't sound like his words.

"Declan Joseph Oliver Donnelly," she said sharply, making him flinch and look at her in surprise - she never uses that tone with him. "Whoever's put that idea into your head is an idiot. When you were in that relationship and spent less time with us ... we hated it, didn't we, Ant? Tell him!"

Ant looked happy too. "Mate, Lisa asked me why you weren't coming over all the time. Like, she wouldn't shut up about it! And I missed you so much, too. I know I still saw you lots, and we had work, but what makes us good is how close we are. Like you always says, our career is built on our friendship, and our friendship is built on living in each other's pockets. Yes, Lisa and me love being together, but we love having you around, too. It keeps me out of her hair, for one thing. And ..." he paused, flushing a little with embarrassment. Lisa poked him mercilessly in the side, knowing what he needed to add. "And not having you here when you're ill is the weirdest thing of all, mate. You know what we've been like since we were kids: I look after you. I know you can look after yourself, and you look after me sometimes too, but it's just always been that way between us. When you went home yourself last week, it felt like it went against everything we usually do. So, please, kidda, stick around here until you're properly better, yeah?"

Dec had been growing pinker and pinker as Ant spoke, looking delighted but a bit embarrassed by the emotional chat.

"As long as you're sure," he said eventually, grinning. "I love being here too."

"Right, that's sorted," Ant announced, clearly pleased with himself. "You're here until you're back to full health, then you can go home for, oh, about two hours before you come slinking back here to nick some food and watch our telly 'cause it's better than yours. And," his tone became a little more serious, "there's no way you're passing out alone at home because of some daft ideas again, right? The next time you're feeling even remotely rough, you come to us first."

Lisa nodded happily, the problem resolved. The only problem was that in her head, and the boys', that 'next time' was imagined to be ages away - not, as it turned out to be, a mere forty-eight hours after their little chat.