Hey guys! Had another plot bunny gnawing on my ankle.

Not sure about the timeline here, but just run with it. ;)

Criminally Charmed = super beta :)

Enjoy!


I'm your biggest fan I'll follow you until you love me,
Papa-paparazzi,
Baby there's no –

Damn he hated that song. Finally silencing it with a listless arm, a 16 year-old Scott Tracy grumbled as the bright red numbers on his alarm clock read 7AM. Oh, the joy of school days.

Rolling onto his back, Scott fought between the urge to fall back to sleep and getting out of the warm covers. He finally convinced himself of the latter, shivering as the cold morning air created goose bumps on his skin as he rolled out of the bed and onto his feet. Thinking about crawling into the warm haven of his bed once more, he reluctantly turned on his nightstand light and left for breakfast.

"So, what I was thinking," John's softened voice came from the kitchen, "was that we could do a dinosaur theme."

Frowning in confusion, Scott turned the corner to find three of his younger brothers – Alan being the only one missing – sitting at the breakfast table, talking quietly amongst themselves. When they heard Scott's approach, they nervously glanced at him before relaxing visibly.

"Scared us," Virgil mumbled, popping another bite of pancakes into his mouth. "We thought you were Alan."

Again, Scott frowned in bewilderment, not understanding his brothers' sudden secrecy and caution. Then, it hit him.

"Is it really Sprout's birthday already?" he asked sleepily, though a bit more awake from cheerfulness at the thought of another one of his brothers turning another year older, plopping himself next to Gordon, who seemed to be brooding over the absence of chocolate chips in his pancakes.

"Turns 6 today," John said happily. "Hard to believe, huh?"

Scott smiled as he speared two pancakes with his fork, bringing them to his plate. "What were you saying about dinosaurs?"

"Well, we're throwing him a surprise birthday party after school. I figured he might like a dinosaur theme," John offered.

"We did dinosaurs, two years ago," Virgil said with a mouthful of pancakes.

"Power rangers?"

"He lost interest a while ago," Gordon replied.

"Spongebob?"

"Bobby down the street just had that at his party."

John seemed to be getting a little frazzled as his ideas got shot down one by one, and he resigned himself to eating his pancakes in silence, leaving the idea-making to the others.

"What about a space theme?" Scott offered. "I mean, with rocket ships and stuff. He loves that stuff."

The others thought about it for a moment, before nodding in approval. "Sound good to me!" Gordon agreed cheerfully.

"I can go during my early release period to go get the stuff. You guys just make sure to get home ASAP to help me set up," Scott said quietly, wondering how much longer Alan would be asleep.

"And don't you dare breathe a word of this to Alan, got it Gords?" Virgil said with a stern look to the second youngest. Unfortunately, he forgot to keep his voice down.

Even more unfortunate was the fact that Alan was now standing in the hallway, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Don't tell me what?" he asked sleepily, though even through the tiredness, hurt shone in his bright blue orbs.

John, giving a quick glance at his middle brother, was the first to react. He quickly made his way over to the younger blonde, picking him up and spinning him in the air, making the boy giggle. "Don't remind you it's your birthday!" he made up on the spot. Not the best cover, but it seemed to work.

Alan's eyes lit up, knowing his brothers remembered his birthday, and chirped "But I already knew that!"

"Darn," John said with fake disappointment, nearly pouting. "We can't keep anything from you Sprout, huh?"

Alan laughed excitedly as John set him down, helping him set up his pancakes. John handed him his fork, and he immediately dug in.

"Can we hab a parry?" Alan said excitedly, his mouth chubby with food.

Scott and John looked a tad confused, so Gordon translated, "He said, 'can we have a party'."

The others looked at each other nervously.

"Umm, maybe another time Sprout," Virgil said quickly. "I have…a recital tonight. Can't miss it."

"And I have swim practice," Gordon offered. He looked about ready to burst at the seams from guilt, but kept his mouth shut. It would work out in the end, right?

No one could miss the look of hurt in the youngest's eyes. Swallowing, Alan simply muttered "Oh."

Scott, also torn with guilt, patted Alan on the back as he stood to clear the dishes. "It's okay Sprout, we'll do something fun eventually, promise."

Alan nodded silently, poking at his pancakes.

Jeff suddenly burst into the room, fixing his shirt sleeves as he balanced his briefcase under one arm. "Morning boys," he greeted, seeming a little rushed. Probably late to work again. "You about ready to go? Come on, go get ready."

As the four oldest brothers filed out of the room, Jeff patted Alan on the head and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. "Happy birthday, Sprout!"

Bringing the dirty dishes to the kitchen, Jeff missed Alan's quiet, "Thanks..."

---

"I'd say it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself," Virgil said contentedly, looking at their accomplishment around the room. They'd hung stars and other little decorations from the ceiling and walls, had a huge rocket cut out on one of the walls, and even had one of their dad's old astronaut suits hanging on one of the lamps in the living room. Overall, not too bad.

As they surveyed their work, Scott glanced at the clock. "Holy crap! Time to go get him, come on John!"

Grabbing their coats, they ran out the door to Scott's car.

It didn't take long for them to reach the small elementary school, where kids were already filing out, ready to go home. As the mass of kids began to dwindle one by one, Scott and John became increasingly nervous at the absence of the little blonde Tracy.

"Dad did tell him we're picking him up, right?" John asked anxiously when only a few kids were left waiting to be picked up.

"I think so…We told him last night too." Glancing around, Scott noticed Alan's teacher walking out the side door to her car. He immediately grabbed his keys and got out, telling John to keep an eye out for Alan before sprinting off. "Mrs. Blem!"

Turning in surprise, the woman smiled as she saw her past student running towards her. "Scott Tracy, how are you doing? I haven't seen you in some time."

"I'm good," Scott replied, catching his breath from the sprint. "Actually, I was wondering if you've seen Alan."

Mrs. Blem frowned, looking towards the front doors, where she too saw the absence of the little blonde. She looked back at Scott and shook her head. "I thought he'd been picked up by now," she admitted. "I've been in my classroom for the last few minutes anyway."

Scott looked around nervously as new horrors ran through his mind, making him think the worse. Mrs. Blem noticed this, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's alright, Scott. I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Do you want some help looking?"

Scott gave a grateful (albeit still nervous) smile to the woman and shook his head. "No thanks, I think John and I have it covered. Thanks though." Scott gave her another reassuring smile as she reluctantly got in her car, waving as she left the parking lot.

Walking back to the car, Scott opened the door and leaned in. "Blem hasn't seen him either. I'm going to go take a look around, you good here?"

John, though annoyed at his fixed watch post, nodded as Scott once again ran off to look for their brother. However, his worry quickly overtook his irritation as he watched Scott run off towards the playground. Wherever he is, Mom, keep him safe…

"Alan!" Scott called out, hoping to see the bubbly boy pop out somewhere, saying he was just playing hide-and-seek or something. He tried to keep his panic level to a minimum, but it wasn't working as well as he'd wanted. "Alan!" he yelled again, even louder. He checked by the fields, in the gym, and around the play structure before he really started to lose his nerve. "Alan, Sprout!"

As he ran towards the front door once more, he suddenly heard a quiet sniffle – so quiet, he was surprised he heard it. He realized the sound had been coming from behind a large oak tree near the front entrance, and his prayers were answered when he saw the little blonde mop that was his brother's hair.

"Alan?" he said softly, kneeling by the boy. Alan looked up in shock, his eyes red and puffy, his nose as wet as his eyes.

"Scottie?" Alan said with a hiccup. He quickly wiped his nose on his sleeve, looking away embarrassedly.

"Whatcha doing back here, Sprout? What's the matter?" Scott tried to pick up the little boy from the dirt, but Alan squirmed away from his grasp. Scott felt a twinge of hurt, but never took his attention away from Alan.

Alan hiccupped a couple more times before finally mumbling something unintelligible.

"What was that, Allie?" Scott urged, setting his hand comfortingly on Alan's back. This time, he didn't move.

"D-Daymon said…He said you guys didn't l-love me anymore, a-and you were gunna give me up for adoption…"

Daymon. Of course. Or, as the oldest Tracy brothers like to call him, Dumbshit Daymon. The kid really was stupid, or evil. Or both.

Scott sighed. "Oh Alan…How could you even begin to believe that?"

Alan sniffled and gave another sob. "W-Well you guys said y-you're too busy for my b-birthday…"

The pang of remorse Scott felt earlier turned in to a full-blown, heartbreaking wrench of guilt now. They should have never said those things…Alan really thought they didn't care enough even for his own birthday.

"Alan, come here," Scott said firmly, taking a surprised Alan onto his lap. As Scott wrapped his arms around the small boy, Alan instinctively turned into his brother, clinging to his shirt as he let out the pain in sobs. "Don't you ever, ever think we don't love you."

"B-But – "

"No buts," Scott cut him off. "Remember that time that John stayed with you in your room all night, because you were scared of the huge thunderstorm we had? Or the day Virgil spent hours helping you learn to ride your bike? He even helped you when you fell and scraped your knee. You wouldn't stop crying until he gave you that Spongebob band-aid." Scott laughed at the memory, and Alan's sniffles began to subside.

"You know," Scott continued with a gentle look in his eyes, "I was the first one to hold you at the hospital, when you were born. Dad was called away on an emergency conference at the time, and I remember sitting in the waiting room with Grandma, wondering if you and Mom were okay…Then when the doctor came out, Grandma said I could hold you first. You were so cute, Allie, just like a little angel. The minute I gave you back to the doctor, you started crying. I think you already knew I was your brother, that I already loved you and would always protect you. And I promised myself right then and there that I would Al, I would always love and protect you. Alan, please don't ever think I'd break that promise."

Alan gave one last sniffle before nodding. He was still clutching to Scott's shirt, but not with as much fervor as before.

"Ready to go home?" Scott said softly, again getting a quiet nod in return. He was easily able to stand without setting down the bundle in his arms, and walked back to the car, rubbing Alan's arm as he went.

By the time they reached the parking lot, Scott could clearly see that John had worked himself into a near panic attack, tensely pacing by the side of the car. When he noticed Scott approaching with the little blonde in his arms, his anxiety visibly deflated.

"Man, I'm sure glad to see you, Sprout," John sighed, running his hand through Alan's hair as soon as he within arm's reach.

Alan gave a weak smile as Scott set him on the ground, meekly requesting to go home.

John laughed. "Yeah, I bet the others think we got lost by now." Scott got in the driver's seat while John sat in back with Alan, keeping his arm comfortingly and protectively around Alan.

When they reached home, Alan gave a large yawn as he got out of the car, stretching his arms out.

"Ah ah ah, Alan – no time to be sleepy now," Scott told him, putting his keys away in his pocket.

Alan gave a look of confusion, looking from Scott to John and back again. The two older boys chuckled, and John took Alan's hand. "Here, we'll show you. Close your eyes, kay?"

Alan hesitantly did as he was told, keeping his eyes clenched shut as his brothers lead him to the front door. As soon as the door was secure behind them, Scott gave the ok to open his eyes.

The moment he did, Alan was met with the sight of Gordon, Virgil, and their father standing with bright faces below a space-themed banner that read "Happy Birthday!", accompanied by all 5 of his family members yelling out the same thing. At first he was startled, though that quickly gave way to pure excitement and joy as his face lit up, taking in the room around him. His eyes couldn't seem to rest on one thing for quite some time, but when they did, they'd landed on the small pile of presents and neighboring cake on the kitchen table.

Scott scooped up the elated little boy in front of him as the others made their way to the table, excitedly urging him to go blow out his candles so they could sing happy birthday.

"Told ya we love you," Scott said quietly to his brother with a smile, resulting in Alan hugging him tightly around the neck.

"Thanks, Scottie. I love you too."

Got the inspiration from a story my mom told me about when I was told the same thing Alan was by a "friend" about not being loved and about to be adopted out. No wonder I turned out so whacky, eh? ;)

Review please! :D

Megz