disclaimer:if anyone is from the Animorphs Books, i don't own them; here, i only own Loren and Alan.

Tobias

Chapter One flashback/dream

i stared at my children. twins;one male, the other female.

"Alan, Loren," i called to them.

the twins smiled and crawled towards me. Alan and Loren raced each other, trying to get to me first.

i placed Alan, then Loren, gently on my legs.

i tried to seem happy, but i wasn't.

Rachel and i, we could take care of them both, but, Alan...

the doctors said he may not live past two years old. they said he may die this month, tomorrow, when we least expect it. they said he had some thing very wrong with some of his organs-which ones, they didn't say.

Rachel sat down with me, a gloomy expression on her face. she tried to lighten up as she placed Loren on her lap. but inside, she was thinking the same thing as me- how could this happen?

Alan coughed harshly, and grabbed my hand for support. Loren touched his shoulder, to young to understand what was happening, yet seeming as if she knew exactly what was wrong.

Rachel leaned on me, her face moist with newly formed tears. "Alan has to live..."

i nodded slightly. "Loren acts like she knows what's wrong with him; too bad she can't tell us what's wrong."

Loren smiled at me, as if to say that i was correct. then, she turned her attention back to a once again, coughing, Alan.

Alan tried to grin also, seeming to try to prove that his twin was correct also.

Rachel smirked a bit, seeming amused by what the twins just did.

but, why did this have to happen to us? or to anyone?

Chapter Two

the memory just came into my mind without my willing it to.

"Alan..." i whispered, sitting up straight in the bed.

Rachel woke up as i did. "why are you up?" she rubbed her eyes and sat up also.

"a dream...about Alan..." i muttered, staring blankly at the wall, picturing the doctors as they told Rachel and me that Alan may not live very long.

"Alan..." Rachel repeated, probably picturing the same memory that i had.

i nodded. "we never found out if he died or not."

"he just disappeared the night the doctors said he would die." Rachel agreed.

the door creaked, unexpectedly. our daughter, Loren stood in the doorway.

"i knew what was wrong with him, Mom, Dad. i still remember what it was." the thirteen year-old whispered. "it was his hearts. plural. he had two, like an Andalite."

i gave a small smirk. "no wonder you two smiled at us when i said that i wished you could tell us what was wrong."

Loren gave a small grin back. "Alan and i knew something was wrong with him; he could do certain things twice as fast than a normal human. if i had a hand on both sides of his chest, i felt a heart beat on both. he did too, when he was clutching himself. we found out soon why he was supposed to die."

Rachel and i frowned.

"what do you mean 'supposed to'?" Rachel asked.

Loren smirked. she turned her head side to side slightly. "he's not dead...he never died..."

to be continued in a story