Dry Your Tears

When the whole Saturday Night Takeaway crew looked back on that chilly March day, no one could ever have expected things to go so wrong.

Everything had been going swimmingly so far - the boys had completed the first part of the challenge successfully, as well as their training on the bikes. Everyone was feeling confident about the ramp jump.

Of course, their hindsight afterwards was perfect, and if they'd had the benefit of it before the challenge had begun, they would have put a stop to it.

There was nothing anyone could do about it now: the challenge had happened, and so had the accident - and now they had to deal with the consequences.

One of which no one - least of all Ant and Dec - could ever have anticipated......

*****

After the chaos of the afternoon, and a few hours spent in the local emergency department, both the boys were relieved to be heading back to their motel. As Joe drove them through the quiet, dark streets of the Cheshire town they were in, everyone in the car was silent - the afternoon's events plaguing their thoughts.

When they finally made it back to the motel and into their room, Ant dumped both of their rucksacks down at the foot of his bed, before grabbing himself a change of clothes out of his overnight bag.

"Decs?" he murmured to his friend, a little worried when Dec took a second to raise his head and look up at him.

"I'm just going for a shower. Why don't you get into bed and try to get some sleep?"

Dec nodded, no protest forthcoming, and bent down to undo his shoelaces. Of course, this was a bit difficult with only one hand, and Ant quickly knelt down in front of him and took over the task.

Dec was silent throughout the untying of shoes and removing of socks, his glazed eyes lazily following Ant around the room as he grabbed a pair of fresh pajamas for him to change into.

"Come on, let's get these on you, then you can lie back and go to sleep" Ant promised, as he set about changing his friend's clothes. Dec did his best to help when he could, but it was clear he was still very disorientated and unsteady on his feet, so it took Ant nearly five minutes to get him changed.

He then helped Dec to stand and guided him to his bed, pulling back the covers with his other hand, before gently lowering his friend onto the mattress.

"I won't be long, kid. Try and get some sleep, eh?" Ant murmured softly, putting a gentle hand on Dec's shoulder.

Dec just nodded tiredly up at him, slowly lowering himself back onto the pillows.

Ant watched him for a moment before turning and walking into the bathroom - keen to wash the smell of the fire ring and the hospital off his skin.

He stepped out of the shower three minutes later, feeling much improved and significantly fresher - both in his body and his mind.

Still toweling his hair dry, Ant opened the bathroom door and turned the light off as he stepped back into the main room. Hair now suitably water-free, he tossed the towel on the back of a chair to dry.

"Bathroom's ready for you if you want it" he announced, back still to the beds.

A sniffle was the only response he got.

Upon hearing the sound, Ant spun around quickly - eyes darting all over the room. The first thing they noticed was Dec sitting hunched over on the closest bed; head resting on his knees, shoulders shuddering forcibly with every breath he took, the sound of choked sobs wafting over to Ant's ears.