Author's note: GOOD GOD I cannot believe I went for so long without posting NADA! I'm sorry sorry sososososooooo sorry! And to make things worse, I start a whole brand new story. And that just great? I'm killing myself...

Anyway, quick note: Delmar is pronounced Dal-mer. Strange right? Oh, and this take place after "Night Falls."

I hope you enjoy my new craziness. *boink*

Rex sat at one of Cesar's desks, fiddling with a stray screwdriver. Lately, after going to Mexico to visit abuela (who apparently wasn't really their grandmother), Rex's brain had been shifted into overdrive. He had been asking his older brother questions nonstop for days. Cesar, luckily, was a very patient brother at that, continuously working on his own projects and answering whatever random question happened to pop into his little brother's noggin. Most likely he was relishing reliving the memories that were brought up by his questions.

"Did I ever play anything that wasn't an accordion?"

"Not really. You had a toy accordion that you absolutely loved. Nobody could get you to play anything else, no matter how hard they tried."

Rex grumbled. Accordions are stupid. "Do we have any aunts or uncles at all?"

"Mother didn't have any brothers or sisters. Father had a brother, but he died in a train wreck."

"Ouch. Did we live in a big house?"

"Sort of."

"What's 'sort of'?"

"Our house was only supposed to fit three. Even when you came around, we didn't move, so you had to sleep in my bedroom once you outgrew your crib.

"O.K." Rex had to pause with the screwdriver. He looked out into space, trying to come up with yet another question. He suddenly grew a wide smile on his face.

"Did we ever have a pet?"

Cesar paused. The thought hadn't crossed his mind since telling his hijo about their parents not surviving the "Nanite Event." A pang hit his heart as he slowly lowered his wrench from the giant machine he was working on. The question soaked deeper in, and he looked down at the floor.

"Uh, bro, you okay?"

Cesar snapped out of it, facing Rex at first with a bit of a shock, then with a frown rarely seen by the happy crazy scientist. Completely ignoring Rex's concern, he replied, "Yes. We had a dog named Delmar. He was a Doberman."

"A Doberman? Cool. What was he like?" Rex couldn't tell that Cesar was growing uncomfortable. He was too excited in finding out about their pet. Cesar had turned his head back to space, away from Rex's view, his mind wandering back to what should have only been a few months ago, were it not for the five years that actually passed.

"He was…how do I explain this? Um. He was kind of a protective nanny dog for you and me."

Rex blinked. "A 'protective nanny dog'? that sounds like six in dog form!"

Cesar couldn't help but chuckle at the remark. He turned back to Rex. "Not really. You see, when I was still in college and you were eight, some burglar tried to break into our home. He got scared away when you saw him and screamed, but it left our parents scared for us, so they got Delmar to protect us in-case it ever happened again."

"That sounds more like a guard dog than a nanny dog."

The more the story went on, the more the elder brother's smile grew. "Just wait until you hear this. The reason we called him a nanny dog was because he always hung around you and me the most, like he was making sure we were safe. And whenever you had dirt on you—anywhere at all—Delmar would wash your face clean, and your arms and legs if they were exposed."

"Ew, dog drool." Rex shuddered at the thought of a big slobbery tongue licking him all over his face and arms and legs.

Cesar laughed some on hearing that. "You always hated it when Delmar tried to 'clean' you." Out of the blue, Cesar laughed hysterically, maybe remembering the days when the dog nanny licked everything clean off Rex, and there was usually nothing neither of them could do about it.

"No matter how much I pulled and tugged at Delmar, he would always come back and finish what he started," he said, fighting through the laughter. "But you still loved that dog, even if he did have you covered in drool." Rex merely glared at him just for giving him the thought of being covered in dog drool. The hysterical laughter was the second reason.

But, he had one last question, and he had a feeling that it would be the last for a while.

"What happened to him?"

Cesar's laugh quickly ceased, his head now hanging low. Rex immediately felt guilty for asking this stupid question. So far, it seemed that Cesar (and at one point, Rex), had cared about Delmar deeply enough that it would affect him to this extent. He rarely saw his brother like this. He was going to regret this.

"I…I don't know."

Yup, Rex regretted it. The quietness of Cesar's voice said it all. He was terribly upset now, even if he didn't clearly show it. Rex had somehow picked up on reading his expressions and voice patterns faster than he thought possible. Perhaps because they were brothers. Still, it didn't do any good to just read the expression at the moment.

"Sorry. I kind'a knew what—what might've…but I just opened my big mouth. I—uh…sorry."

Rex quickly left his seat and headed for the door, distraught about both troubling his brother with something that no longer is, and about coming to that same realization to himself. It was just one more piece of his past that wasn't going to be found anytime soon. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why did he have to keep on with that? Why? He felt like banging his head on the wall at this point, which was exactly what he thought about doing as soon as he got out the door.

Right before he made it to said door, something abruptly caught his shoulder, stopping him right in his tracks. Rex was a little afraid to look at his brother's face, expecting it to be holding that seldom seen sadness. He kept his eyes aimed at the wall, so he wouldn't even think about turning around.

"Mijo."

That one word was practically begging him to turn around, even though he was afraid to do so. Rex, against his fear and determination, turned his head to his brother with a sad face of his own, only to be confronted with a reassuring smile from Cesar.

"It's not your fault. To tell you the truth, about three-and-a-half weeks before the nanites were released, Delmar got sick. He was one-year old when we got him from the pound and was sick then with canine influenza." Rex fully turned to Cesar, looking him with the miserable look still on his face. "He fully recovered after we took care of him. But two years later, he somehow caught it again. It turned out that he had a weak immune system, and because we found out too late that he had it, it progressed to pneumonia. He had such a high fever…"

"Was he dying?"

"Yes, he was. We were doing everything we could, but the veterinarian suggested that we put him down. Everyone was tired of seeing Delmar in such a state. I agreed with Mother and Father, but you…" Cesar swallowed before he could even get himself to finish. "You were so attached to Delmar that you refused to let them do it. Every time the subject was brought up, you'd cling to him and wouldn't let go for an hour or so."

Rex stared straight down at the ground. If this was supposed to make him feel better, it wasn't. It was making him feel even worse.

Cesar noticed this, and tried to get him to look back at him by lifting his chin, like he used to when he was small. Rex pulled out of his grip and walked on down the hallway, processing everything his brother had just explained. He kept calling himself an idiot over and over. He had an overwhelming urge to bang his head on something. Anything! Idiot. Moron. Jerk.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to bring that up," was all Rex could muster up from his current depressed state. Not knowing what else to do, Cesar went back into his lab, the door shutting behind him with a loud thud.

Closest I have ever gotten to such a depressing piece. Seriously.

By the way, what do you want to bet that he's currently working on the killer robot that comes in "Exposed"? Mwahahahahahaaaaaa!