Can A Snowflakes Be Saved?

"Bye, Bye Bubbles"

"Peek-a-boo" Liam uncovered Niall's face and the small lad erupted into giggles. Liam replaced the light cloth over Niall's face again. " Peek-a-boo!", he pulled it away again. Niall's arms and legs waved about as he continued to giggle. Liam's own face was wreathed in smiles. Niall had been in pain for some days after his wisdom teeth had been removed but now the bruising on his face was fading  to a mottled looking green and yellow, and the pain had diminished. It had been a rough few days for them all but there was now light at the end of the tunnel. The door bell rang, interrupting the game and Liam started to push himself to his feet ready to answer the door but stopped when he heard Zayn speaking.

"Hey mate" Louis walked into the room carrying Harry, Serena following behind. "We were just headed out to the hospital to collect Patience and thought we'd see how little Nialler was doing."  He sat on the couch, Serena joining him.

"Niall is heaps better" Liam told him as he waved some plastic keys above Niall's small face, smiling as the small lad reached up his hands to them. "But what do you mean?  Is Patience sick?" he asked, concerned. He knew that they had been having problems with settling the girl but hadn't known she had been hospitalized.

"Not sick, not  as such" Serena was the one to reply this time . "She just wasn't settling, just cried the whole time, so she was admitted for observation.  It was affecting little  Harry. He became unsettled and wouldn't feed well. Poor   baby was vomiting after nearly every feed.  But doctor Andrews says she's nicely settled now so we can bring her home. I must say, I'm glad she'll be back with us, we haven't had a chance to bond properly."

"The bonding stage is so important" Zayn had arrived in the room, bringing a tray bearing mugs of coffee and a plate of cookies which he placed on the small table near the couch, well away from the littles who might accidentally burn themselves if they connected with the hot liquid. "But I am sure Patience will be fine. Any idea why she was so upset? I mean, I thought she'd had the regression drug?"

"Yeah, she did, but the Doctors have no idea why she wasn't settling. They had sorted out the problems they'd had with that bad batch Harry had received ,so they are clueless. as to why she was not doing well with us.  Still, she seems fine now." Louis responded.

"Well, she'll be home soon, that's the most important thing" Serena said then turned the conversation to the big play barn that the community had built for the children and that had been completed some time ago. They had planned a big opening ceremony at the time, but been forced to abandon the celebrations due to the possible risk of discovery that the community had been in when Patience had tried to abduct Niall and Harry. It was only when Serena caught sight of the time that they realised how much time they had spent chatting. so hurried plans were made for a play date for the children, then they departed to collect Patience from the hospital and take her to her new home.

"Do you think there is a problem with the drugs" Liam suddenly asked as he and Zayn were bathing Niall together , later that night.

"What drugs?" Zayn sounded confused as he lifted Niall out of the tub and wrapped him up in a warm towel. One moment Li had been blowing bubbles and making Niall giggle, next he was talking about drugs.

"The regression drugs, Zee. Do you think Patience might have been given a bad batch?" Liam clarified.

"Li, I think after the mess up with Harry, they'd be far more cautious , so I really  doubt there could be any problem there. Maybe the girl was just upset because she's in a toddler headspace and she's suddenly moved from familiar faces at the hospital to less familiar ones. Plus being put into a new routine and stuff." Zayn said thoughtfully "I mean, think about it. It's quite a change, for example you have  Nurse Collins who  is an absolute  stickler for routine , then you have  Serena and Louis being far more easy going. Poor little girl  probably doesn't know what is happening from one moment to the next with them."