TAGS INCLUDED/ADDED: (Vomiting! Cramps! Pain! Sleeping! Swearing!)

I'M SORRY, I'VE GOT A LOT OF BAD SHIT GOING ON AT THE MINUTE, SO THIS ISN'T THAT LONG. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT, GO BACK TO CHAPTER 8, AND YOU'LL UNDERSTAND.

Daniel knew something was wrong when he woke up, he just couldn't place what. He'd been feeling a bit shit all week, a small headache, a dull ache everywhere and a bit nauseous. He'd just presumed he was coming down with a cold.

He'd woken up that morning with a dull, but painful, ache all across his stomach. Daniel felt a little cold, which meant he must have a small fever.

His alarm had woken him up at 7:00 every morning like usual. Normally, Daniel would get some breakfast (a nutra-grain bar or some shit like that) so he could take his pills, which were antidepressants, Anxiety reducers, OCD meds and some for his ADHD. Then he would go for a shower, come out, get dry, check his emails and relax for a bit before the others woke up.

But that morning, it was all Daniel could do to roll over and unplug the damn thing. His stomach hurt, he was exhausted, his head hurt and he felt like shit. Daniel managed to roll back over and get some more sleep before Henley walked in.

Henley was normally the second one up, normally before Merritt and Jack. She'd do her morning routine, eat her breakfast and come in to sit with Daniel for a bit while they waited for the others. She'd come in like usual, her hair slightly damp. "Whoa, where's Daniel Atlas at? He's never in bed at..." she checks her phone time, "9 am still. Not unless he's ill or hurt!" She'd dramatically exclaimed, falling onto the bed like an actress. She'd landed on his legs and woke him up. "What do you want Henley? I'm exhausted," Daniel wined, pushing up so he was propped up on his pillows. His stomach protested slightly and grumbled, but didn't do anything else. "Did you pull another all-nighter?" She'd asked, chewing her fingernail as she stared at the ceiling. Daniel slid back down into the warm duvet and sighed, feeling the chill in his bones leaving. "No... I think the neighbours were either fighting or having sex again. I don't know," Lie. He'd been up all night with a contact dull ache. It wasn't painful enough to hurt hurt, but enough to keep him awake.

"That sucks. I slept wonderfully!" Henley said in a sing-song voice. Daniel rolled his eyes and turned onto his left side so he could use his phone that was still plugged in. He had a few emails from spam pages and fan accounts, but nothing worth while. He turned it off and dropped it on his bedside table again. "Henley, get off!" Daniel grunted as he pulled his legs out from under her body. Henley giggled and rolled so she was sitting cross legged on his bed. "You can't stay in bed forever ya know." Henley had said, playing with the fleece comforter his sister had sent him for his birthday from Finland. "I won't. I'm coming out in a bit, I just need to get ready." The answer seemed to satisfy Henley, because she stood up and sighed dramatically. "I guess I'll have to annoy Jack then."

Daniel honestly hadn't meant to fall asleep again, but he did.

He was kind of semi-woken up when people were whispering in his room. It sounded like Merritt was telling Henley to let him sleep in for a bit, cus god knows he don't look after himself properly.

The whispering left, but the pain didn't.

Henley.

When Daniel finally stumbled out of his room at about midday, Henley could see why. In his dark-ish room, you can't really see well. But in the florescent lighting of the kitchen, Henley saw how awful he looked. His hair wasn't as full of life as it normally was, his eyes were't as bright, he was slumped over and shivering slightly. Daniel had an old, baggy t-shirt on and some loose fitting PJ bottoms on. The fact that his hair wasn't styled and fluffy spoke volumes about how shit he must feel. She stopped herself from saying anything, but watched silently. Merritt was dozing on the couch (she thinks, she could never really be sure) and Jack was in the shower. Daniel shuffled into the kitchen and let the door close behind him.

Henley got up and followed him in. She stood quietly by the door and watched. She'd made enough noise so Daniel could hear, but not enough to startle him when he saw her.

Eventually, Henley gently said: "Would you like some tea?" Daniel stopped rummaging through his med box and looked into her eyes. "God, yes please." Henley filled the kettle up and watched as it boiled. "Daniel, do you need help with your pills or something?" She asked.

Henley was one of the only few people in his life that knew about his pills. That was mainly because she'd gone out to get them once or twice when he was sick or because she'd found out herself anyway.

"No, I'm just looking," Daniels voice replied, sounding distracted. "For what?" Henley asked, pouring the boiled water into two cups. In hers, she'd put a green teabag in, and in Daniel's she'd put a breakfast teabag in. There was no answer, so she turned around to look at him.

"Do we have any anti-nausea tablets? I'm feeling a bit shit." Henley nodded. "Yeah, in that box I think. Normally I'd get it, but I don't know where the stool is." Daniel reached up on his tip-toes and grabbed the box down. "Sometimes it pays to be 4 inches taller than you," Daniel said, smirking at her cheekily. Henley swatted at his shoulder and snatched the box out of his hands. She got out 2 anti-nausea tablets and handed them to him with a glass of water. "Have you taken your other pills either?" She asked. Daniel shook his head, covering his mouth with his hand as he yawned. "No... I figured as I'm gonna be sleeping or not doing much I'd give them a miss today. I don't feel awake enough to be worrying about anything else except when can I go back to bed," He replied, wrapping his dressing gown tighter around himself. Henley bit back a remark of how shit he looked in favour of drinking her tea as she watched him.

Daniel.

Daniel managed to get a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep before he was roughly woken up again. His stomach was cramping worse than it had done before, and the anti-nausea tablets had clearly worn off while he was sleeping. Daniel slowly rolled over onto his side to check the time and was surprised to see it read 1pm. He'd slept nearly 3 hours. He groaned softly and pushed himself so his legs were off the bed and touching the ground. Daniel's world warped and spun violently. He put his head in his hands, trying to stop himself from passing out.

His vision slowly spun back to normal, but it left him feeling exhausted, dizzy and nauseous...

Daniel slowly stood up, blinding reaching out for something to grab onto. He blindly stumbled towards the bathroom, forgetting to close or lock the door before.

His stomach contracted violently and left him folding halfway at the waist, throwing up into the toilet. His head and stomach protested painfully, but he couldn't stop vomiting.

He fell to his knees, hugging the toilet as all the dinner from the last 3 days came out. Tears streamed down his face as his stomach throbbed painfully. He coughed and grabbed some toilet paper to wipe his mouth. "Danny?" Someone asked from behind him. It sounded like Henley, but Danny wasn't sure. Someone pressed a hand to his head, while someone else held his hand.

His stomach contracted again. It took all his strength to just about move his head so his dribble fell into the toilet. His head pounded and his ears fuzzed. All he could hear was bits and pieces of the conversation between the two people in the bathroom with him.

"-11?" That sounded like Henley. The voice was higher and more feminine than the other one. "-worst idea..." there was a slight pause. "-ack to."

Then his world went white with pain and he passed out.

Daniel woke up in a completely different room. In completely different clothes.

He slowly sat up, very confused. His stomach throbbed painfully and he suddenly panicked. The pain he felt earlier rushed back in a very unpleasant memory.

"Whoa, steady, there, Mr. Adams. You don't wanna rip your stitches." Someone spoke to his left, gently pushing down on his shoulder. "Stitches?" Daniel asked. His tongue felt heavy and numb. "Yeah, stitches. Your appendix was about to burst. We had to do an emergency removal. It nearly didn't go well, but luckily your friends rushed you here quickly. You ended up having a straight line stitch, rather than a keyhole stitch. We didn't have the time to to a keyhole stitch."

Literally none of that made any sense to Daniel's drug influenced brain. He nodded nonetheless. "Your stitches will stay in for 3 months, so try not to rip them. In 3 months time, we'll have you back in and re-evaluate the situation. Regardless of timing, you will eventually have the stitches taken out and replaced with dissolvable stitches."

Most of it made sense, but an huge wave of exhaustion crashed over him and his eyes began to slide shut. "Ok, get some rest Mr. Adams. I'll send your friends in later on."

Daniel wanted to say thank you, but the newer dose of morphine rushed through his blood and made him sleep.

Daniel slept properly for the first time in over 3 days.