I'm back!

Honestly… I didn't have internet in the past five days and I when I came back and read all your wonderful reviews I almost cried.

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

Thanks to my beta, Stetson Black.

Enjoy the chapter!

Feeling alone

Sunday had come and gone.

Scott and Aiden spent the whole day with their brothers, surprised when they realized how close Isaac and Ethan had become.

But on Monday they were forced to go to school.

That Monday was important both for Ethan and Isaac, the former because he would find out the results of the analyses and the latter because he would learn when he was going to be discharged.

"Do you want to play cards?" Isaac suggested, since they were both left alone with nothing to do.

"Why not?!" Ethan searched for the cards in the drawer near his bed, grabbed them, and sat on a chair next to Isaac, improvising a makeshift table by placing the breakfast trays upside down.

"Ethan?" Isaac called out suddenly with concern in his voice.

"What?"

Isaac pointed to Ethan's face and he instinctively drew his hand down his cheek to find it covered in blood.

Ethan leapt to his feet to run for the bathroom, but he stopped as his head started spinning. When the hell had he started to be that sick?

"Ethan?" Isaac asked again, fear in his voice. He quickly pushed the emergency button and grabbed a handkerchief from the bedside. "What's going on?" he asked again.

Ethan decided not to answer, just bowed his head and waited for the bleeding to end. He didn't even care that both his shirt and pants were now stained red.

The nurse took only seven minutes in coming, but for Isaac time seemed to stand still.

He simply sat there with his hand on Ethan's thigh in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. Ethan's eyes were closed and his hands were still pressed against his nose, though it had already stopped bleeding.

Ethan let the nurse help him change his clothes and then laid on his bed in silence, his back to Isaac.

"You ok?" Isaac dared to ask a few minutes later.

Ethan was tired and frustrated. That should be the question of the week! Not only had Aiden asked it-and far more than necessary-but now Isaac too.

He hid his face under the sheets and muttered a "no". He didn't care if his tone sounded too aggressive, all he wanted was to be left alone.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Isaac tried again. Every muscle in his body screamed for him to go to Ethan, but that damn leg kept him grounded, so all he could do was ask.

Ethan turned to face him, knowing Isaac would see that he was crying. "Not really," he admitted, and Isaac mercifully dropped the subject.

"Do you want to watch TV?!"

"Okay," Ethan managed a smile, thankful that Isaac had stopped questioning him.

As Isaac went for the remote, Ethan spoke again. "Don't tell my brother. He'd just be worried."

"I won't," Isaac reassured him. "I promise."

Scott had told Stiles about Isaac's accident on Sunday morning and Stiles said he was too busy so he couldn't go to the hospital. But he had promised to try for a visit on Monday.

And it was Monday.

"Hey, Scott, I'm sorry but I can't come with 'cause I have to go home and-"

Puzzled, Scott interjected, "But you said you would come."

Stiles forced a smile and chewed a nail. "I don't know, ok? Maybe later."

"Is there something wrong?" It was pretty obvious there was something going on, but Scott had no clue as to what.

Stiles mumbled something that it took Scott a moment to understand. "You know I'm not a big fan of hospitals. I'm sorry but I don't think I can handle this. That's it."

At least he was honest.

Scott was about to reply but saw Aiden in the distance. "Aiden, wait!" he said, leaving Stiles alone and chasing after the twin.

"That's great, Scott!" Stiles yelled, "Ally with the enemy, Scott, great!" His tone somewhere between sarcasm and irritation.

Scott ignored him and caught up to Aiden. "Going to the hospital? Let's go together!" he said, arranging his bag on his left shoulder.

He had talked a lot with Aiden in the last few days and they had discovered they shared a surprising number of things: the music they liked, the shows they watched... It was kind of strange at first, but now Scott was confident they would be something close to friends.

As far as Aiden was concerned he had nothing against Scott. Or Stiles, really. He had only threatened him due to Stiles's legendary bad timing. Stiles had been running through the hallway without paying much attention to his surroundings when he had accidentally pushed Ethan, slamming him into a locker. Ethan had tried to suppress the groan, but Aiden had seen how his wrist had twisted painfully from the impact. It made him realize there was a reason Ethan had seemed so out of it recently, and it had nothing to do with stress. He knew Stiles hadn't caused all of that. But still, he couldn't help but be angry. Ethan had enough to cause him pain without people throwing him into lockers.

Their walk was silent, even if all Scott wanted to do was ask Aiden what it was they had been waiting for. He knew it was an important analysis, but aside from that he had nothing. And when he had tried to get information out of his mother she had refused to talk about it, arguing she was bound by patient client privilege and confidentiality. And of course that only made Scott more and more curious.

But he didn't dare ask Aiden.

When they got to the hospital, Ethan and Isaac were engaged in a very heated discussion about the physical attributes of a female TV personality.

"Mom called me, and-" Scott started in excitement.

"And they'll operate me tomorrow," Isaac finished for him.

Aiden didn't understand their happy faces and the whole situation suddenly sounded so strange and maybe a little crazy.

When Ethan saw his brother's face he decided to explain. "It means that he'll be ok soon. There aren't infections or other complications. They have to fix something-I don't know what-and then he can go home."

"It's too early to say that, isn't it?" Aiden asked, keeping his voice as low as he could, letting only Ethan listen.

If there was one thing Aiden had learned thanks to their experience, it was that doctors usually gave you false and unfounded hope. They had learned to expect the worst. Otherwise you would only hurt yourself.

Ethan glared at him. For once he just wanted to enjoy the good news.

They spent their time talking about nothing and everything at the same time.

Ethan and Isaac always left their sentences uncompleted, distracted by something else. Scott wasn't completely comfortable with what was happening and Aiden seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

"Ok, I'm sorry," Scott started, stopping Isaac's disgusting description of an under-the-shower and naked Jared, a teammate of theirs with a reputation for being all around unappealing. "But we'd better start our homework."

"War of the Roses, wow," Isaac commented with a faked interested tone.

They had probably read two or three chapters on the subject when Melissa entered the room, telling the twins that their parents were waiting for them. The results were in and the doctor was ready to discuss them with everyone.

Aiden swallowed, holding his brother's hand tightly, and they both left the room.

When they came back Scott and Isaac had already finished their homework. They both felt the sudden tense atmosphere and stopped what they were doing to gaze at the twins with curious glances.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." The woman, almost certainly their mother, hugged Ethan, holding him tight. The hug was not returned though and Ethan just kept his gaze on the wall with watery eyes. The man there, supposedly their father, stood behind his wife and placed a hand on Aiden's shoulder.

Once again Aiden looked lost.

Whatever it was, was worse than Scott had imagined.

"We're late."

As the man spoke, the woman let Ethan go, kissed both her children, and left, following the man who had exited with a simple, "See you tomorrow."

Scott and Isaac exchanged a puzzled glance and jumped almost in unison when Aiden left and slammed the door behind him. Scott immediately followed him across the hallway.

Ethan stared at Isaac blankly, his breathing suddenly picking up as his lower lip trembled. Twenty seconds and he started to cry, shaking so much that Isaac thought he was sick.

"Ethan, what happened?"

Ethan placed a hand on the nearest chair, grip so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"Sit down," Isaac ordered, forcing his voice to be steady, trying not to upset Ethan more. He was surprised when Ethan obeyed, almost falling into the chair.

Isaac leaned down and cupped Ethan's face with his hands, forcing the man to keep his eyes on him. "Ethan, calm down. Everything's going to be ok. Just calm down." Isaac continued his mantra as Ethan's chest still rose unrhythmically with panic. He had to calm him down. He had to help him.

"Aiden, calm down!" Scott said as he grabbed Aiden's arm, forcing him to stop in the middle of the hallway. "What happened?"

Aiden didn't answer, his cheeks glistening with tears.

Scott followed his impulses and wrapped his arms around Aiden in a hug. He smiled when Aiden returned it. Scott began to rub his back to try to reassure him that it would be okay. And after a while they started walking through the hallway until they reached the yard at the back of the hospital.

"Ethan is sick. Like, really sick," Aiden started as they sat on a bench. "He has leukemia. It was diagnosed when he was nine and we thought he was okay now." As Aiden explained he began nervously chewing the cuticles of his right hand.

"But something like one week ago he started to get pains, he had headaches, was always tired." Aiden's eyes were watery again as he spoke. "And I saw bruises on his body. So, when he passed out at school I told mom and dad and-"

"And I got the rest." Scott decided to cut him off before it was too late. And he didn't know if he was more worried that Aiden would lose control and dissolve into tears or himself.

"You know what's the worst?" Aiden asked, forcing himself to look back at Scott. "That our parents went back to work. Like if it was nothing."

Scott knew there was nothing worse than feeling alone, and he knew that was how both Aiden and Ethan felt.