Five Little Words

Part 3

When Ant trudged back into the gallery about two minutes later, Chris immediately stood and wrapped the smaller man in a warm hug. He was surprised when he felt Ant's arms come up behind his back and grip tightly onto his jumper.

"How're you doing, kid?" he asked quietly, stealing a glance at the dark head beneath his chin.

Ant pulled his head back and Chris' heart broke at the shimmer in his eyes and the almost imperceptible wobble of his bottom lip - it was obvious he was struggling to hold himself together.

Putting a warm, reassuring hand on his shoulder, Chris tried to give him an encouraging smile.

"Look, I know this is probably the last thing you want to be doing right now, but it's just the Win the Ads and the End of the Show Show left" he continued, biting his lip when Ant's eyes drifted to the side of the room, obviously miles away in his mind.

"You can do this, you'll be fine" he finished, pulling the presenter into another quick hug.

Taking a deep breath, Ant tried to compose himself: Chris was right, he could do this. He HAD to do this. For the viewers, for the show.

And for Dec.

Pulling out of Chris' hold, he gave the director a shaky smile and stepped out onto the stage just as the music echoed through the studio speakers.

"Welcome back to your Saturday Night Takeaway!" He tried to keep his voice enthusiastic and upbeat, but anyone who knew him well enough could hear the faint catch in his voice, and see the lingering shine in his eyes.

Swallowing hard, Ant set about forging ahead with the rest of the show.

Starting with a quick explanation.

"Now, before we continue on with the rest of the show" he began, and the audience immediately went silent - waiting with bated breath for what he was about to say. "I just want to explain really quickly what's going on right now. No: you're not seeing things, and your telly definitely isn't broken-"

The audience laughed at that, and even Ant had to smile a little, but it quickly dropped from his face as he continued to speak.

"The reason I'm on me own - and will be for the rest of the show - is that Dec was unfortunately injured during tonight's challenge, and he's been taken off to hospital to be checked out by the doctors."

If his voice was a bit rushed or tighter than usual, no one said anything.

"Right now, we don't know the exact extent of how bad his injuries are, but I'm sure that he's being well looked-after, and that he'll be just fine."

Even a stranger could hear the lie in his voice - and everyone knew that he was hiding something. 

Forcing a smile onto his face, Ant clapped his hands together and continued with a fake excitement in both his voice and his body language.

"But enough about that, because right now....it's time to Win the Ads!"

And so the show continued, and things went as well as could be expected up until the End of the Show Show.

This week, they had planned for Blue to give a performance of their new single, and that he and Dec would join in with the sing-and-dance-along.

However, the band had had a quiet word to him during the break just before the finale, and said that they wouldn't mind if he wanted to sit the performance out. 

Ant breathed a sigh of relief - he was glad that the band had suggested it first, since he had been afraid of bringing it up with them.

They had all wrapped him in a tender hug and told him not to worry about it, and that he could still join in with the last chorus if he felt like it.