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Everyone around me was still fast off when a nurse delicately pulled back the grey curtain that had been pulled closed over the night.

"Excuse me, miss?" She whispered over at me. I raised my head to show her I was awake and listening. "Umm...there's a lady and gentleman to see you, they say they're related," She raised an eyebrow as if to say: 'But I know they're not,'

I realised with some glee that it was the same nurse we'd persuaded (forced) Frank into chatting up slightly so they could stay the night without being in trouble. I smiled sweetly at her.

"Send them in," My gaze flicked to the sleeping Frank, his mouth open slightly, just to remind her he was there.
I can be evil sometimes.

She nodded politely before disappearing. A few moments later she re-appeared, smiling, and pulled back the curtain. Low and behold, in stepped Gerard's parents.

I smiled from the bed, shifting slightly.

"Hey," I greeted. "They're all asleep, so good luck finding a seat," Donna smiled before hunting out a seat from somewhere.

"So, how are you?" She asked, sensibly picking the side of the bed nearest Gerard to sit - away from Bert.

"I'm fine thanks, how are you?" I watched from the corner of my eye as Donald was left to find his own chair. She scoffed.

"Don't be so modest, you're the one in the hospital bed!" I looked at the two sleeping forms around me.

"Wouldn't think I was ill though, would you?" Donald padded over, chair in hand. "Could you sit on the other side, please, I have a feeling Bert's going to get pushed out in a minute?" I requested, gesturing away from Bert with my head.

"So what's wrong, I couldn't make out anything Gerard said - just something about you, hospital and coming over," I smiled again, nodding. Sounded about right.

"As far as I've been told, it was something to do with my diet and exhaustion," She tutted, shaking her head.

"It's a wonder they don't pass out themselves sometimes, so I can see why,"

"Ah, but they eat. I haven't had much chance to," I realised too late I was probably creating problems for Mikey and Gerard, Gerard especially. As far as I'd heard, She was still prone to giving motherly lectures.

"What, don't they feed you?" asked Donald, now happily seated next to Donna.

"No, I feed them. It's like being a mother whilst running a three-mile sprint everyday," There was a slight laughter. "Kind of puts me off having kids. As if putting up with Gerard day in day out wasn't bad enough, I get the rest of them AND another band," I said, gesturing to Bert.

"How is he?" I blinked. "Gerard?"

"Oh, he's fine as far as I know. I've not been told much; just what the doctors have said that's-" I paused as Bert twitched violently in his sleep, elbowing me in the ribs before throwing an arm around me and holding on tight. I rolled my eyes as Donna giggled. "Right, that's it. What time is it?" She looked at her watch.

"Nine," I nodded.

"Perfect," With difficulty, I removed Bert's arm from my middle, pulling back slightly as he squirmed in his sleep again. Then, with more glee than I can describe in words, pushed the little imp off the bed.

My hands were already finding their way to my ears as he let rip a high-pitched scream. Sleeping bodies jolted awake with a start. I removed my hands to grab Gerard as he came dangerously close to the edge of the bed.

Finally, Mikey had the sense to dive for Bert and close his mouth.

"And we call that 'Bert Alarm Clock'," I explained to Gerard's parents who, it seemed, were only now noticed by everyone else. There was a chorus of greetings before Mikey stood from Bert, dusting himself off, whilst a black head appeared on the bed sheets. He grinned.

"Sorry," I cuffed him around the ear. "MAH! What was THAT for!?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Does anyone NEED a reason to hit you?"

"Well it'd be nice!"

"Whoa, kids, slow it down," Interrupted Gerard. "Not in front of the parents," I smirked. "They get along really, I swear," I eyed him.

"Since when?" He didn't answer. "Point proved; can I go back to fighting now?"

"No," I pouted. He shook his head.

"I just don't do puppy dog eyes as well as you, do I?"

"Nope," I shrugged.

"Think you can teach me?" I was unsurprised to observe Ray disappear behind the curtain and return with water.

"No,"

"Why not?"

"Because no way in hell am I letting you wrap me around your little finger," I huffed, turning my attention to the water Ray was handing me.

"Thanks,"

"Are you lot always like this?" Asked Donald, looking between me, Gerard and Bert.

"Yep," I answered. "No wait..."

"They're worse," Piped in Bob.

"What he said,"

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No one said much until dinner, being too busy watching Bert push his luck. We ended up playing 'Roll over, fetch, play dead' - fetch becoming our favourite word.

When dinnertime rolled around, everyone stood to head to the caf for dinner, while I was left pushing hospital food around the plate.

Through a lot of begging, promising to make it up somehow, I managed to get Gerard and Bob to stay with me. The only thing I had to make for up was ensuring they were fed by offering them the hospital food.

They settled on Bob having the chicken and vegetables, while Gerard got the potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.

This was, of course, now I was being allowed to eat.

"So," I began rounding on Bob. Be damned if I trusted Gerard to tell me the truth about how he reacted. "What exactly happened when I went to fetch the munchies," He eyes me, swallowing his peas.

"Ask him, he was the one that had a breakdown," I grinned.

"I KNEW IT!" My head snapped to look at Gerard who pinked slightly, swallowing his mouthful.

"Nothing wrong with worrying about you,"

"Aw," I leaned against him, seeing as he was refusing to leave my side as long as he was in the room, rubbing his arm. "But seriously, what happened?" Gerard opened his mouth to reply. "I wasn't asking you. You'd never have said you had a breakdown, so I don't trust your answer to this. Bob, however, is trustworthy," If Bob's head had gotten any bigger, we'd have been removing the roof to get him out of the hospital. "Go on Bob," Grinning like a madman, he continued to tell me the interesting story of the day I passed out. It's always nice to hear about yourself.

"Well, you got up to fetch the munchies, we carried on talking-"

"Yeah, I heard some of that conversation. I was going to slap Frank around the head when I came back. Meh, I'll do it when he gets back!"

"Excuse me,"

"Sorry,"

"Anyway. It was actually Frank that watched it happen. You should have seen the look on his face, poor guy. Not even make up can make a persons face THAT pale. Of course, you hit the floor and we all knew. Gerard practically fell over standing up, Mikey had to dive out of his way. I was the one that rang the ambulance after Gerard here finally did something other than shout at you," I smiled. "In fact, thinking about it, I recon Ray and Mikey had a bigger breakdown than he did - clinging to each other this close to crying," He finished, holding his forefinger and thumb together.

"Ah, makes me feel loved," I was all warm and fuzzy inside. I leant closer to Gerard still, aware he was likely to be extremely silent for a while now.

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Gerard's parents made everyone go home that night, but put no pressure on Gerard to follow them. Though she practically dragged poor Mikey out who was then kind enough to grab Bert on his way past.

"Any idea when you're getting out?" He asked, comfortably lying next to me.

"Nurse came round and told me I'm out in two days. I'll need to get plenty of food and rest," There was a brief pause while I guessed he was thinking.

"What would you say if I asked you to stay with my parents during out next tour?" I pulled away from him slightly.

"What?"

"Well, it's just you'll never get any rest if you go on tour with us this time, and I don't want to risk it. Plus, you're guaranteed a patch of time where you'll be overfed, if anything," I sighed.

"Have you spoken to them about this?" I asked, budging closer again.

"Yeah, they said it's okay. As long as, of course, you wanted to," I thought. I knew I needed the break - he was quite right, I'd never get any better if I went straight back on tour with them. Still...

"Fine, I'll stay with your parents," He leaned back from me, resting a hand on my arm.

"You sure? You're not just saying that to make me happy?" I shrugged.

"You should know I do kind of enjoy being on tour with you. I mean, surely there's another way around it? But I suppose it's the only way I'll ever rest well enough. That and it's only fair - the rest don't get to see their girlfriends while they're on tour," I sighed. "Pro's outweigh the con's,"

He relaxed, pulling me into an awkward hug.

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I was happy to be saying 'au revoir' to the hospital a few days later.

I could only imagine how it looked to the receptionists, people in the waiting area, people on the way in and, generally, just anyone we passed. There was me at the head of our rabble, hand in hand with Gerard, and Mikey holding onto my arm for dear life whilst Bert was doing the conga behind me with Ray trying futilely to make him stop. That group was then followed by a slightly more sedate row with Bob and Gerard's parents. Our arrival past people was announced by Jacquelyn trying and failing to keep up with Mary - who had refused to look at me since Jacquelyn dragged her in that morning, but was quite happy to sit and ogle at Gerard.

It must have been like having a group of football hooligans walk by, leaving devastation and deathly silences in their wake.

I was hastily carted off to my own home, where I was told to sit in the sofa and do nothing. Considering I had been in a bed for days on end, I was a little disgruntled to be told this the first time - let alone the twentieth.

I kicked everyone out late that night, allowing Mikey the privilege of being the only one to lecture me about getting rest before eyeing Gerard (who had kindly offered to stay with me), silently telling him to let me have some rest.

"I thought they'd never leave," I mumbled as I closed the door after Mikey.

"Me neither," Agreed Gerard, stood next to me, before turning to me and scooping me up. I shouted in alarm before giggling, though slightly unsurprised to find he deposited me on the sofa.

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Neither of us was about to sleep, so we sat up most of the night flicking through the TV channels before settling on a film called 'The Hole'.

It was interesting for the most part, brilliant twist, but I was sidetracked for part of it to feel forced to take part in an argument.

"Gerard," I moaned irritated, slouching dejectedly in my seat. "Please! Just cut me some slack! Stop telling me to take it easy, I've just got out of hospital and-"

"Exactly!" He called back from the kitchen. "Just got out of the hospital, you should be resting!"

"-And I was sat around for a good week! And don't you interrupt me!"

"But if you don't rest you'll never get better!"

"I'll get plenty of rest when you go on tour when you lug your parents with me!"

"God, do you want to stay with them or not?" He snapped, walking back with two cups of coffee in hand.

"I never said that I-"

"You didn't have to!" He handed me my cup, but I just turned around and set it on the floor.

"I've never said I WANTED to either, thinking about it!" I ignored his interrupted again and carried on from where I left off. "I said it was a good idea, pretty much, and it is, so I'll go!"

"But if you don't WANT to, I won't-

"Doesn't matter if I WANT to! What's IMPORTANT is that I get better!"

"But I'd like you to have a happy recovery,"

"I will with your parents! They like me, I like them, what could go wrong?" There was a pause. "If we fall out, I'll avoid them!"

"But at least rest now too!" I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"I give in!" I turned to him. "You look here, all right - I've just spent days upon days in bed! Just lying there! Do you really think I want to come home to have to be told to get some rest?"

"No, but-"

"WELL DON'T TELL ME TO GET SOME REST THEN!"

"-But I want to know you've got at least SOME rest," I sighed nasally, aware the fact he was being so calm about it now would only make me feel guilty if I carried on. "Look, when we get off the next tour, it'll be Christmas. I swear, I'll make it up to you then but for now, please, let me know you'll get some rest," I huffed, looking behind me before back at him. I collapsed back on the sofa.

"Fine," He smiled, moving closer to me. He snaked an arm around my middle, holding my tight, head rested against mine.

There was a momentary pause during which a character in the film was nicely murdered by having his head smashed against a spike. Wonderful.

"What do you think Mikey'll do to me if I don't give you an entirely restful night?" I smiled and giggled slightly.

"Kill you, so don't try it,"

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He tried it.

He succeeded.