Alright…those of you who have read my OS „I'll stay till you're asleep" will know how this chapter came to me.
Let's skip some four years…

"Danny, please…don't go!" Jamie sat up in his bed, his big blue eyes even bigger than usual with fear. "What is it now, Jamie?" Danny sighed as he stood up from the bedside, "I've got homework to do!"
"You can do it here"; the four-year-old quickly offered. "Really, you can switch on all the lamps if you want! But don't go, Danny! Please?"
"God's grace, Jamie, what are you afraid of?" Danny loved his brother, he really did, but since Jamie had an own room, he hardly slept alone. And Danny really had homework to do.
Jamie bowed his head in shame. "It's too big alone. I miss someone to talk to."
"You miss Joe?", Danny asked. The brothers had shared their room before. Jamie shrugged. "I miss you too, Danny. You're braver than Joe."
"I'm not. Besides, why do you need someone brave?"
The inquisitive look made Jamie's chin quiver. "I… Joe said there's a frog in the closet. A really big one, and it wants to eat me! Please, Danny!"
Danny cursed under his breath. Joe should know better than to tell Jamie horror stories. He was only four, of course he thought they were real!
"Danny? Please…" Tears filled Jamie's eyes, and Danny felt his anger melt away with everything else, directly towards those eyes.
"Of course I'll stay", he promised, "Let's go find this frog, shall we?"
Jamie's troubled face lit up. "Really? Thank you, Danny!" Then he got earnest again. "Danny…"
Danny smiled. "Of course, kid. I'll stay till you're asleep."
"Thank you!" Crying with relief Jamie got out of his bed and hugged Danny tight, his arms reaching only around the belly of his older brothers.
Danny tousled his brother's hair."Don't mention it, Jamie. That's my job, remember? I'm your big brother. I'm gonna watch over you. I'll protect you from everything. I promise."
"I love you, Danny."
"Love you too, little one."

- half an hour later -
Danny shook his head as he left Jamie's room and went over to Joe's. Without knocking he entered his brother's room, fully knowing how much the thirteen-year-old hated it.
"Danny!" Joe threw a pillow at the elder. "There's a f…reaking door, you can knock before you open!"
"Watch your tongue, Joe" Danny said calmly.
It was this silence before the storm that alarmed Joe. But differently to Jamie, who still cried almost every time anybody was angry with him, Joe wasn't terrified at all. Not anymore. "What did I do now?", he asked, not even looking into Danny's eyes.

Danny bit back what he had wanted to say. He knew Joe felt like the fifth wheel again recently. It was a bad age he was in, and having a little brother with puppy eyes and a sister that was turning into a woman didn't really help.
"You didn't really wanna say 'freaking', did you?" he asked casually. Joe shrugged. "Don't tell me you're disappointed."
"I won't", Danny sighed and closed the door, but leaning against it so he wouldn't intrude Joe's private space too much. "But you should not use it in front of mom or grandma. Trust me…don't."
Joe chuckled. "Did you? When?"
Danny sighed. "Not in front of them. Erin heard it and then she told mom and…" He grimaced and Joe gave up his resistance and laughed out loudly. "What did she do to you?" "She made me clean the kitchen. Four weeks. Which was bad, because I had to scrub the floor each day. After you and Jamie ate breakfast!"
Joe bit his lips, but he couldn't stay earnest for long. "Doesn't sound too bad", he grinned, "that's all?"
Danny shook his head, smiling too. It felt good to talk to Joe like that. It felt easy. He had missed that in the past few weeks.
"Not really. You know, the scrubbing was the easier part. Mom told dad, and then they talked with me about…" He closed his eyes.
"Being a good example?", Joe completed, his smile less mischievous now.
"Yeah. I need to be a good example for you guys and I should pay more respect to people and especially to teachers and…" His voice trailed off again as his mind hopped on to a more important matter.
"Joe, you know I love you, right?"
"Not again, please!" Joe rolled his eyes. "Yeah I know and I love you too, and you're a good brother, okay? A very good brother!"
"You think so?" It was the first time that Danny didn't dare to look into Joe's eyes. Normally it was the other way round.
"Yeah, I think so." Joe walked over to his big brother. He was already as tall as Danny. "You are", he said firmly, waiting for the elder one to nod. "You are!"
"I got it, now stop being pathetic!" Danny waved his brother aside, but in the same motion grabbed his brother's shoulders and pulled him close. It was an awkward hug between the two teenagers, and Danny quickly let go of Joe who fled to his bed at once.
"Close the door from outside, Danny."

"I will." He wouldn't reprimand Joe for telling Jamie about the frog. These things could happen, and the little one had to go through this as Joe had done as well.

After all, one nightmare wouldn't kill Jamie.

"Jamie! Jamie, where the hell are you?" Danny cursed openly now. He had been out there looking for his baby brother for ages. He had just once turned away from him in the commercial center, and now he was gone! Right now, Danny was more angry than worried, but he felt fear slowly rising up inside his throat. He needed to find Jamie, and soon. "I swear to God, when I'll get you…"
Five minutes later the place was more crowded, Danny could hardly get past the people. They were all gathering around something on the floor right beneath a metal rack, filled with sweets. Some glasses were missing from the rack, as if pulled down by something.
"Sorry, can I… can I? Please, mam, I need to find my brother!" Danny wound his way through the crowd. Reluctantly the mass moved away so Danny could see what they were staring at.

Jamie.

He was lying on the floor, his head in a very, very unhealthy angle to his neck. There was no blood. No blood at all.

Danny swallowed. "Jamie?" His voice was high and faint as a bird's. A sick bird's. He cleared his throat and moved a little closer to the…
"Jamie? Mom's gonna be angry, we need to go. We need to go now, get up!" Something was scratching in his eyes. When he realized that it were tears, he broke down next to the little body. This wasn't real. This wasn't real, he had told Jamie not to climb onto any racks or anything else alone, he had told him…
"C'mon, Jamie, get up, please!" He shook Jamie's shoulders. The head lolled up and down wildly, and a single tear drop ran out of Jamie's nose and down to his lips.
Jamie hated anything wet on his lips. He had refused to drink for three days because he didn't like the feeling, but then luckily thirst had become to strong.
He didn't move.
Danny's view was flooded by tears now. "Jamie!"Sobbing, he caught the little limp body in his arms and hugged him tightly. "Wake up! C'mon, please, Jamie, please, I promise nobody'll be mad at you! Please!"
"He wanted the big chocolate lolly up there", the shopkeeper cried. "I had customers to watch out for, I couldn't…"
"You should have had an eye on him! The little boy's dead!" "You took your own money over that child's life!"

Danny didn't hear much of the conversation running around. He was still staring at Jamie, holding him in his arms like he had done at his birth. Only that this time, Jamie didn't smile at him. He had his eyes closed, his face very pale except for the blood on his nose and lips. His skin was cold.
"No." Danny hugged him tighter, he had to get Jamie warm, he had to get him well again, he couldn't be gone, he couldn't stop smiling and running around, he couldn't be… he couldn't…

He wanted to wake up. This was a dream, he wanted to wake up and see Jamie was alive, now, NOW…

He woke up. Sweating, panting, but he woke up finally. Danny felt tears in his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness of his room. It had been a nightmare. Just a nightmare, it wasn't real, it wasn't…
He had to see Jamie.
It was stupid and he knew it, but he also knew he wouldn't find sleep again till he had convinced himself that Jamie was fine. Slowly Danny sneaked through the corridor, his heart beating loudly. Before he entered Jamie's room he forced himself to breathe out deeply. If he woke his brother in the middle of the night, looking as if he had seen a ghost, it would help nobody.
Silently he moved into the room and fumbled his way through the room.

Jamie's bed stood right at the window, and after some minutes he could see shapes and shadows.

Danny sighed with relief as he saw Jamie wriggling about in his sleep. He didn't make a noise, so he was very likely not at the edge of panicking, but he was – more than very likely – alive.
He was alive.

Danny sat down at the bed and looked at his little brother, not daring to touch him. "I'll protect you from everything", he repeated quietly, "I promise."