The helicopter landed safely at the USCG Clearwater base. The five rescued were rushed from the copter and taken to the medical facility. Matthias was escorted on a stretcher to ICU, while the rest were treated for their comparatively minor injuries. Bumps and bruises of course. Emil had to get four stitches in his hand, and Lukas was treated for shock. Tino had a minor concussion, but was otherwise unharmed. Berwald was given some temporary contacts so that he could see, and all were checked for heat stroke and hypothermia, and all had minor burns from the helicopter crash.
Three hours later found the four sitting in their overnight room, waiting. Lukas had a blanket draped over his shoulders, while Emil had passed out from exhaustion in his bed. Berwald was drinking a small water that had been provided by Gilbert upon landing, and all had been given small bowls of soup to help fix their hunger. Solid foods weren't allowed for another day, they had been told.
"Do you think he's okay?" Tino asked, turning from the window he had been staring out at the ocean for the last half hour.
"Of course not… but he will be. He'll be okay… if he lived through all that." Emil said confidently. "I'm sure of it."
"He will be." A voice said from the doorway. All heads whipped around to see two figures. One was taller, had short, blonde hair and a strange curl that jutted out from his hairline. He had a red hoodie on that read "CANADA" across the chest with a small leaf under it. Next to him was a small boy, no older than seven, and bright, blue eyes.
"You're Peter." Lukas said slowly. Of course he knew that, he had been staring at the boy's picture for half the night on Matthias' phone.
"Yup." Peter said, walking in and closing the door behind his Uncle. "This is Uncle Matthew." He said, indicating to the man. All of the friend's (and brothers) waved shortly. The two entered fully and sat in the plastic chairs on the side of the wall. "My Daddy saved you."
"Yes he did." Tino said with a bright smile. "And we're very thankful." He told the boy.
"I've never met anyone he saved before. You guys are the first." Peter said with a small smile.
"We're honoured." Berwald said with a nod. "He was very brave."
"I know." Peter nodded. "He always is."
"An-anyway. My brother woke up. He wants to meet you." Matthew said, looking at the four. "He's the pilot."
"Oh." Tino said slowly. "Of course we will."
The four followed Matthew and Peter out the door, down the hallway and into a room just a hallway off. They entered single-file and looked in to see one man lying on the bed in the center of the room.
"Come on in!" He said, rather cheerfully for someone who couldn't move well. He was bandaged from head to toe, it seemed, and there were rather obvious signs of burns on his forehead and cheeks, but they were healing slowly. "Plenty of chairs."
They all sat on the left side of the bed, and stared at the man as Matthew and Peter seated themselves as well. "So! Matthias saved you all! I'm glad." He said with a wide grin, that stretched the marks on his face horribly. "I was worried I didn't land it where I thought I did."
"Y-you re-directed the crash?" Tino asked, looking at the man. Alfred nodded.
"Well yeah. The gears went all wrong Cuz o' the storm. I tried ta push the copter to the side by reversin' the gears and goin' backwards." He said with a smaller smile. "I knew it was risky, but I guess it worked. Good thing we was usin' quick strops too! Or you woulda been pulled under."
"We were… I think the straps stuck." Tino mumbled. Alfred stared at him for a moment.
"Matthias' strops stuck? Dang- sometimes I think he's cursed or sommat."
"Cursed?" Matthew nodded from beside his brother.
"Something crazy happens with him all of the time."
"One time- we was stranded on an island fer a day during trainin' and for some odd reason- my sugar dropped like a rock! He had ta take care of me for the whole day!"
"Explains a lot." Emil sighed.
"How did you get out?" Lukas asked. Alfred looked at him, noticing the phone in his hand, but not saying anything.
"Well I jumped just before it crashed. Grabbed Kiku, then jumped. The Copter done landed right next ta us. But We made it."
"Wow." All four said slowly, letting that sink in.
"Is that Matthias' phone?" Alfred asked, pointing weakly to the phone in Lukas' hand. He nodded, holding it up for the man to see. "He told me he wanted ta get a water proof phone. Guess he did."
"Good thing too." Emil said with a nod.
"Where do ya'll live? Here in Clearwater?"
"Yes, we just moved to an apartment just off main street." Tino smiled.
"Really? Mattie and I live near there!" He grinned. He saw the worry visible in the faces of all the men in the room. He smiled softly.
"Guys, if yer worried 'bout Matthias, don't. The guy is more stubbornly tough than I ever seen anythin' before." Alfred told them. "Ya'll were with 'im fer a week! Ya should know that by now." He scolded lightly. "If ya doubt that, look at yerselves. He didn't let ya die out there, now did he?"
"No. No he didn't." Peter said with a grin. "Daddy'll be fine."
Six months later
"Peter! You're up!"
The small boy stood from his desk, looking up at the sign for a moment that read "Career day". He walked to the front of the room and took a deep breath. Ms. Hedervary looked at him with a kind eye. "Who did you bring for career day today?"
"Well I didn't bring-" The boy was cut off as the door of the classroom was opened. He looked, and was found breathless as five men entered.
Dark blue uniformed men walked in. They held brimmed hats under their arms as they entered with intimidating casualty. The three blonde men smiled, while the other blonde and slightly silver haired men kind of just nodded affectionately at Peter as he stared back in disbelief, mouth slightly agape and eyes totally wide.
"Sorry we're late! We had to pick someone up on the way from the Headquarters." Matthias said, looking at Lukas, who was also in the Coast guard Military attire. Tears brimmed in Peter's eyes.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Ms. Hedervary asked, looking at the three CG officers.
"They're my Career guests!" Peter said loudly, a little more loudly than he had intended, but his throat wasn't working right. "This is my… Dad, Matthias." He said, holding back his tears of joy. "And my uncles. Lukas, Matthew, Emil and Alfred." He explained. "They all kind of raise me, so I invited all of them."
The teacher smiled kindly, nodding him on. "And what do they do, Peter?"
Peter took a breath and looked at his beloved Daddy, who wasn't supposed to be out of the hospital yet. Yesterday he had been told by his father that there would be another month until he was ready to be home. Uncles Berwald, and Tino had been taking care of him while Uncle Matthew, Lukas and Emil were training to be in the Coast guard as well. Which apparently, they did it!
"My Uncles, Matthew, Lukas and Emil, and My Dad are all in the United States Coast Guard. Every day, they risk their lives to save people who are lost in storms and in the sea. Just six months ago, my Daddy was awarded the gold lifesaving medal for saving four men under d-dire(?) situations and c-conditions. He was out on open water for a week with the victims and kept them alive the whole time, and even fought sharks." Matthias nodded with a smile in return. Gasps were heard around the room at that from all of the eight-year-old children. A shark?
"Peter, are you quite sure that's true? This is supposed to be a biography, remember?" Ms. Hedervary said from the front. Peter nodded.
"I know!"
"Ma'am?" Alfred piped from the back. All heads turned to him. "He aint makin' nothin' up." Whispers swept through the room again as Alfred looked at Matthias with a glint in his eye. Matthias blushed slightly from all the staring,
"Class! Let's turn our attention back to Peter!" Peter nodded and continued.
"My Uncle Alfred was also awarded the Silver lifesaving award for diverting an accident to save the lives of all nine that were in the crash, and saving his co-pilot from the es- explosion." Peter read off of the paper. "Both of them are my heroes because they never give up. Even when s-sev-ere-ly (he stumbled on the large words in this essay) hurt and super tired, they did not let anyone around them die. And my Uncles Lukas and Emil and Matthew also help take care of whoever they can. I brought in my Daddy and Uncles because they… are who I want to be like when I grow up." Peter finished, looking to his father. Matthias smiled down at him with his contagiousness and gave him a little thumbs up as the class erupted into applause.
Peter lead the four to the back of the room near his desk and by other parents who had come with their children. He turned to Matthias and squeezed him around his waist, where he was squeezed back. Then he hugged Alfred as well.
"I thought you weren't coming home for a long time!" He whispered, to not interrupt the girl up front who was talking about her father's job as an accountant.
"We kind of fibbed so we could surprise ya." Alfred explained, crouching down to look at the boy eye-to-eye. "I guess it worked, eh?"
"Hee, you sound like Uncle Matthew." Peter joked, Hugging the said uncle as well. "And you guys made it!"
"Yup!" Matthew said, whispering as well. "We sure did."
Peter pulled Emil and Lukas closer, hugging them as well.
"Thank you. I'm so happy you're home." He said. The bell rang then, touting the end of the school day. Kids instantly began turning to and asking Alfred and Matthias questions and asking to shake their hands. Being who they were, the two couldn't help but comply. Some kids marveled at the scars on either of the men's hands, but the questions were quickly averted by either their own parents or Lukas.
Peter happily took his Father's and Matthew's hands and giggled as they swung them between them and spun around in fun circles.
"Uncles Berwald and Tino said they wanted to meet at the ice-cream parlour with Arthur to celebrate!" Matthias said, lifting his child off the ground and holding him to the chest of his uniform, under which, those terrible scars were raked across the skin of his torso.
"Yes! Arthur hasn't visited in ages! When did he get here?!"
"This morning. You can pick on him when we see him!" Alfred laughed. Matthew shot him a warning look but smiled anyway.
Peter scrambled onto his father's shoulders, while Matthias laughed and tucked his son's ankles into his large hands. The left one that was scarred to bits didn't bother the boy a bit.
"Let's go eat lots and lots of Ice cream!" Peter shouted happily.
And they did.
