Author's Notes: Here I am, ready for chapter two! I know the Tracy brothers best from the new series, so I'm following their appearance, however, I see Scott as the eldest, then John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan, not that it makes a huge amount of difference! The ages I picture for them in this snapshot are Scott – 15, John – 13, Virgil – 11, Gordon – 8 and Alan – 6. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I definitely found it harder to write than the first!

Chapter Two: Turning Mountains into Molehills

Tim had made a big, big mistake. What on earth had he been thinking when he'd decided to volunteer for this fun run?! It was much too early for the noise of screaming kids on a Saturday morning. He'd had a moment of temporary insanity. That would explain it. And now he was paying the price. Tim was responsible for handing out the water bottles on the route so not only did he have to put up with listening to the children moaning to their parents that they didn't want to run any more, but he also had to do it whilst standing in the scorching heat of the Kansas summer sun. What had he done to deserve this?

It wasn't a long race, only about two miles, and all the kids got a medal and a goodie bag at the finish line so Tim supposed there was some motivation for getting out of bed early on a Saturday for the runners taking part. The faster runners using the event as a time trial had already been and gone and now was the time for the real fun runners. There were lots of families around, some parents pushing buggies with very young children, other parents trying to keep up with their surprisingly nippy offspring. Even some runners wearing costumes and looking more than a little strange.

From where he was handing out water bottles, Tim was able to see along one of the long straight sections of the course, which rose with a steady incline until they reached the water refreshment table and then stretched up a steeper hill until the route came to a corner at the top of the hill and the runners would head out of sight towards the finish which was thankfully only a few hundred yards away.

Just coming into view at the bottom of the hill was a group of five children. They almost didn't look related, with a range of different hair colours and body shapes, but they must be, if the oldest kids were staying with the smaller ones. At least, Tim thought, when he was looking after his younger siblings, it had taken a fair bit of bribing from his parents, and if it had included a running race, he would have refused point blank. It wasn't that he didn't love them, it was just that he liked to do his own thing, and they were annoying as anything when they wanted to be.

Whilst Tim had been considering this, he'd been slowing down his activities handing out water bottles and there was a small backlog beginning to build up. By the time Tim had caught up with the backlog and the next runners that needed water, the five boys had made it within earshot of the water station.

The smallest boy looked almost to be in tears, as his four older brothers tried to coax him into running a bit further. "Come on Al, it's supposed to be fun." Encouraged one of the older ones, from where he was crouching on the ground besides him. "We're all going to finish this together." He continued, but the younger one known as Al looked simply aghast as his older brothers tried to convince him that it wasn't that much further to go.

"Come on Al, why don't we have a piggy back race?" suggested the brother with the darkest hair. Al's eyes immediately lit up, and he moved towards his brother with a lot more enthusiasm than he'd shown running up the hill so far.

"You sure you'll be alright Virg? It's a steep hill." Questioned the tallest one.

"I'll be fine," replied 'Virg' (strange name, thought Tim) as he nodded. "Looks like you have a passenger too though, Scott." Virg said with a laugh. Whilst this exchange had been taking place, the other blond brother had declared the redheaded brother (John) to be too slow (there was an indignant kind of squawk at this) and then eventually clambered into place on Scott's back.

John had been allocated pit crew duties and ordered by Alan to go and collect water. Tim handed over five water bottles and watched as John returned one to each of the brothers. Once all the brothers had finished their refreshments – one of the smaller brothers had used his bottle of water a shower and accordingly left Scott spluttering at 'Gordon' in outraged tones. This turned out to be a tactical error on Gordon's part as Alan took the opportunity to gleefully yell go and Virgil (still just as strange as Virg in Tim's opinion) began to sprint up the remainder of the hill with Scott and John in hot pursuit.

On the way up the hill, as Tim returned to handing out water bottles to other runners, he could still hear the delighted shrieks of Gordon and Alan and the encouraging shouts of John from further up the hill. They certainly seemed to be having more fun now that they were working together. The older ones had supported the youngest members of the family once they had gotten too tired and the younger ones were trying in their own way to pick out the clearest path amongst the other fun runners to make sure their team of running brother and precariously perched pilot won.

From where Tim was standing, it looked like John had been waiting at the top of the hill for a while, unrestrained by a heavy six or seven year old on his back and Virgil and Scott had pretty much dead heated, but they were all running together by the time they disappeared out of sight towards the finish. Not everything was fun for everybody Tim supposed, but that family had made teamwork look like the fun part. It made everything much easier when you enjoyed being part of a team, he supposed. Maybe he should take a leaf out of their book – perhaps it had been worth it volunteering at this fun run after all.

Author's Notes: So this snapshot was supposed to convey the Tracy brothers being able to work well as a team, even when they're young! With regards to fun run rules, I think at around 15 you'd probably be able to be responsible for younger children. Maybe four is a few too many but who cares about rules hey? :')

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!

AdamantBee x