'Give it back..' Dougie whimpered, standing on his tiptoes, reaching for the teddy that his two older band mates had lifted high above his head. The guys had moved into the band house together just over two weeks ago. Dougie was 15, Danny was 17, Tom and Harry were 18. Dougie had chosen not to tell any of the band about what had gone on with his dad when he was younger as he didn't think that it was relevant. They were all happy and he didn't want to spoil that. They were all happy, that was, until Tom and Danny had snatched Dougie's small, tattered teddy bear from his arms as he was dozing off on the sofa.

'Aww.. Does wittle Dougs wuv his wittle teddy bear?' They joked, truly not realising just how much it was upsetting Dougie. He reached up as high as he could, standing on the couch to gain extra height, resulting in him tipping off the edge of it and smacking his face on the floor. The older couple immediately stopped their teasing and knelt beside him on the floor, placing the teddy on the first shelf they saw, unfortunately being one that Dougie couldn't reach. He sat up, clutching his now bleeding nose in his hand, tears streaming down his face.

'Oh my gosh Dougs! Are you okay?' Tom asked worriedly.

'I-I just want him back.' Dougie muttered, starting to cry more.

'Dougie that doesn't matter right now, we have to fix your nose!' Tom replied, pulling Dougie to his feet.

'I-It matters...' The younger boy stuttered, fighting back yet more tears.

'It doesn't Dougs, you can have him later, just come with me.' Tom pushed on, dragging Dougie across the room, trying to be gentle with him.

'No.. I don't want to.. I just want him!' Dougie said in reply quickly, pulling out of Tom's grasp and running up the stairs. He ran straight into Harry's room, not knowing that the older occupant was in there already, and hid under the large bed, crying his eyes out. Harry slowly walked out of his en-suite bathroom upon hearing the crying and knelt down slowly beside his bed, looking underneath it and removing Dougie. He picked up the younger, sobbing boy and sat on his bed with Dougie on his knee, arms wrapped around Harry's waist.

'What's the matter Dougs? And why are you bleeding?' He asked quietly.

'I-I want him back. I j-just want him back..'

'Who Dougs?'

'K-Kipper... My teddy.'

'Well where is he Doug? I'll get him for you.' Harry replied softly.

'T-Tom and Danny have him..'

'Okay.. You stay here and I'll go and get him.' The older boy said soothingly, ruffling Dougie's hair and kissing his head softly. Harry walked down the stairs and into the lounge where Tom and Danny were sat.

'Where is he?' Harry asked seriously.

'Who? Dougie? I thought he was with you?'

'No. Dougie is with me. Where is his teddy?'

'Oh.. It's up there.' Danny replied, pointing to the small toy on the shelf. Harry reached up to get it, going to go out of the room when he had done, before being stopped by the sound of Danny's voice.

'Why is he so upset about it? It's just a toy.'

'Think about it guys.. He's at least two years younger than all of us. He's still just a kid and he moved away from his family for the first time in his life just two weeks ago. He'll be homesick. Haven't you heard him in the night? Heard him whimpering for people to come back? He's having nightmares because he misses his parents. And this..' He said, wiggling the toy in his hand,'This is the only thing that helps it a little. So just accept it and leave him alone, yeah?' Harry said. The other two nodded.

'I'll ask him what's up when he's calmed down a little but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Just please don't take this from him again, he's in my room crying his eyes out.'

'Of course. Sorry Harry.'

'It's okay.. It's not me that you need to be saying sorry to anyway.' Harry replied before going back up to his bedroom. He walked over to the still-sobbing Dougie and passed him the toy. The younger boy hugged it tightly to his chest, as if his life depended on it.

'So.. why does that little guy mean so much to you Doug?'

'Do you promise not to tell the others?'

'Sure Dougs.. I won't tell them if you don't want me to.'

'W-Well.. my.. erm.. my dad used to.. erm.. he used to be really nice and buy me things but then when Jazzie turned 3.. he started.. he started beating me up. He did that for years.. destroying any things of mine that he could find, trying purposely to add to the pain. I lived with that for years and then a couple of days before I moved in here.. he just left. He just got up and left.. all he left behind was a note saying that he couldn't do it any more and that he had never loved me. This teddy is the only thing I have left that he got for me and didn't end up destroying. Since he left, I've never left the house without it. That's why I always have him in the car and when we go shopping and stuff. I don't know why.. It just makes it feel like none of the bad stuff ever happened. It makes me feel happy.' Dougie told Harry, sighing slightly and stuttering during certain parts of the story. Harry pulled the smaller boy into a hug and that set Dougie off, he let his hurt spill out through tears, mumbling gibberish into Harry's shirt.

'It's okay Dougs. You're here now and you're safe. I've got you.'

'P-please don't let them take him again?' The smaller boy sniffed into Harry's shirt.

'I won't Dougs, don't worry. Come on, lets get your nose cleaned up.' Harry replied, standing Dougie up from the bed and leading him down the stairs, still clutching his toy. Harry sat him on the kitchen counter and grabbed a wet cloth, gently dabbing away at Dougie's nose with it, trying not to hurt him too much. After a little while, the silence got too much and so Harry asked the first thing that popped into his head.

'So Dougs? You know what you said about your dad?'

'Yeah...' Dougie replied unsurely, wondering where this conversation was heading.

'Is that what your nightmares are about?'

'What?!' Dougie asked quickly, his head shooting up.

'I've heard you Dougs.. I've heard you crying at like 3 in the morning.'

'Oh...' Dougie sighed.

'You could have come in and talked to me you know? I wouldn't mind.'

'I-I can't..'

'Why not Dougs?'

'B-Because I don't just have nightmares..' Dougie whispered, barely audible.

'What do you mean?' Harry asked, completely puzzled.

'I wet the bed as well Harry.. I've tried to stop.. I've been trying for months.. I just can't help it..' Dougie sighed sadly.

'You can still come and see me Dougs, I can help, like clean your bed and stuff.'

'Thank you Harry.'

'It's no problem! Come on, Your nose is clean now so we'll just put some ice on it and go and sit with the others.' Harry said happily, helping Dougie up from his place on the table and grabbing an ice pack from the freezer, pushing it gently against Dougie's nose, walking him through to the lounge and sitting him on the sofa.

'Hey Dougs. We're sorry about earlier.. We didn't mean to upset you, it was meant to be a joke.'

'Its okay. I just really don't like not having him around.' Dougie replied quietly. Danny stifled a giggle and ended up snorting with laughter, earning a glare from Harry. Looking down to see Dougie's reaction, he saw fresh tears rolling down the younger boy's face.

'Don't cry Dougs, Please don't cry, it's okay.' Harry soothed, pulling Dougie close to his chest. Dougie began letting out loud sobs when he was wrapped in Harry's comforting arms and he was shaking now as well.

'Danny! Look what you've done! Why the hell did you laugh?! What's the matter with Dougie having something that he keeps close to his heart, huh? How would you feel if somebody laughed at you because you got protective over your Springsteen signed disks?'

'I-I didn't mean to upset him. I didn't even mean to laugh! It was an accident I swear! I'm sorry Dougs there is nothing wrong with it!'

'I-It's okay. I just need him sometimes. I'm going to tell you why but you have to promise never to tell anybody else.' Dougie stuttered to them, still crying. Tom and Danny both nodded and Dougie went on to tell them about his dad. It ended with him crying again, this time being wrapped in the arms of all three older boys. They sat watching TV for a while after that moment before Dougie suddenly spoke up.

'You know guys.. Even though I've only known you for like 3 weeks.. I love you all more than I've ever loved anybody in my life before.' He said shyly, sounding almost embarrassed. The rest of the boys all 'awwed' loudly and pulled him into a huge band hug. They collapsed on each other in fits of giggles, before all finding comfortable positions to lie in and watching TV together. Dougie fell asleep after around 2 hours with one of his arms dangling over the side of the sofa. The guys tucked his arm back onto the couch, in fear of him dropping his toy, and left him to sleep in peace, Happy with the fact that Dougie wasn't having a nightmare, and he no longer had to be alone.