Alan darted forward as best he could when disembarking the private jet as he ran to Pastor Wood's arms. Jeremiah and Jeffery both pulled the little boy from the pastor's arms and hugged him tightly. Jeff felt a knot form in his throat at the change in Alan's demeanor – he seemed so relieved to be reunited with the family he'd gotten separated from a month ago and that tore at Jeff. Why couldn't Alan show that same relief and excitement to seeing them more often rather than fear.

"Hey Bean!" Jeremiah grabbed Alan and gave him a noogie while Jeffery hugged the younger boy close. "How ya been?"

"Okay." Alan replied softly as he noticed his family approaching him and the Woods family.

It seemed almost like a daunting game of chess to Alan. Pastor Woods stood at the center of their group, Jeremiah and Jeffery acting like they were the king's guards as they held Alan close under their wings – almost protective of the young boy while Jeff stood at the center of his group flanked by his four boys – two on each side as they came to a stop before the Woods family.

"Hello Jeff, how was the flight?" Pastor Woods stepped forward to shake Jeff's hand and Jeff returned the hand shake mildly.

"It was good." Jeff replied with a tight smile.

"Alan's motion sickness was okay I trust…has it gotten any better?" Pastor Woods looked at the young boy fondly. Alan went back on the defense as he'd normally acted with his real family and he hid behind Jeremiah, not liking the attention being on him.

"It's getting there, he was sick just after take-off but once we leveled out his nausea abated." John said, not appreciating that Alan had hid behind Jeremiah and not him – what did Jeremiah have that John didn't?

"Well, what do you say we get going. Amanda has been working all morning to prepare all of Alan's favorites for lunch. She's very excited to see him again." Pastor Woods motioned for the Tracy's to follow him and his boys to the church van he'd brought to bring everyone back to his house. Jeremiah and Jeffery argued over who Alan would sit next to and the argument was settled when Alan squeezed between the two boys and fastened his seat belt.

John, sat in the back of the church van glaring at the back of Jeffery and Jeremiah's heads, unhappy that Alan was so readily excited and open with them as opposed to how he'd been acting up until recently with them. A soft nudge in his ribs made John look at Scott who shook his head wordlessly, diminishing John's irritation where it stood.

"So Alan, is there anything you wanted to do today since we're all gathered?" Pastor Woods asked as he engaged the vehicle to take off driving.

"Not really." Alan replied as he leaned into Jeffery's side – content to be back with the older boys he'd sort of befriended after being fostered by the Woods family.

"Well, Sally and Stacy will be happy to see you again. Sally's missed you." Pastor Woods referred to the toddler that had grown attached to Alan.

"How is Sally, is she walking yet?" Alan asked truly curious.

"Not yet Bean, she's stubbornly refusing to walk." Jeremiah said. Jeffery finished off his sentence.

"She crawls like crazy, but won't walk."

"Stacy walks with her everywhere, but when it comes to walking on her own she won't do it." Pastor Woods said as he stopped at a red light. "Sally will be very happy to see you."

Alan smiled at the thought of seeing Sally and Stacy again – he'd missed the two girls also, but he also missed Ms. Woods like crazy. She was the closest thing to an actual mother that he'd had during all his years in the foster system and Alan loved her very much. He'd actually become almost antsy at the thought of seeing them again.

Twenty minutes rolled by before the church van pulled into the church parking lot next door to Pastor Woods home and they all exited the vehicle. Walking as a group, they walked across the pavement of the parking lot towards the Pastors house. As they got closer, Alan seemed to speed up just that little bit.

"Hold on Bean, this isn't a marathon!" Jeremiah chortled as he sped up to catch Alan around the waist. John bristled at the close contact but he didn't say anything about Jeremiah touching his littlest brother.

"But..!" Alan reached for the door and Jeffery jumped in front of the kid's hand – blocking him from grasping the door knob and opening the door.

"No buts Bean…the house isn't going anywhere." Jeffery said just as the door opened up behind him – Ms. Woods flinging her arms out as Jeremiah released Alan. "Release the beast!"

"Boys." Pastor Woods chided as he and the entire Tracy family watched Alan practically sprint to the woman who was 'mom' to him.

"Alan! Welcome back!" Ms. Woods hugged Alan tightly when he ran into her arms.

"Mom! I missed you." Alan replied as he hugged Ms. Woods tightly around the waist.

Jeff swallowed at the lump as he heard his little boy call some other woman 'mom' and he blinked to ward off the oncoming tears. He felt hurt that Alan so readily called her mom when he would fearfully call Jeff dad. It broke his heart that everything was so screwed up and all because Alan had been kidnapped, purchased under the guise of adoption then taken from that family and placed in the foster system.

"How are you doing baby?" Jeff tuned back in when he heard Ms. Woods speak to Alan.

"I'm okay." Alan said as he continued to hug Ms. Woods.

"Just okay?" Ms. Woods bent down to smile at Alan, kissing his cheek in the process.

"Yeah." Alan replied softly.

"Well I know someone who can't wait to see you. Come on in." Ms. Woods stepped away from Alan, before taking his hand and leading him into the house.

"Ally!" Alan smiled and dropped onto one knee as he was greeted by his youngest and sweetest foster sister.

"I thought you couldn't walk?" Alan looked up at the gathered adults and teens with a look of shock.

"Those are her first steps." Ms. Woods said as she hugged Pastor Woods warmly, happy to see the little girl take her first steps. Sally seemed disheartened when Alan left that day and hadn't returned. The toddler constantly would go to where Alan would take her with him and she'd constantly call his name liked he'd just materialize out of thin air and pick her up. She loved her Ally.

"Were you waiting on me to walk?" Alan held Sally close, comforted that the little girl still adored him so much.

"Ally." Sally said as she placed one hand on Alan's cheek, happy to see her Ally once more.

"Yeah Sally?" Alan asked, his eyes shining with tears that Sally had missed him so much.

"Doll." Sally looked back at her baby doll and Alan couldn't help but groan. Of course Sally missed him, he was the only one who would play dolls with her.

"No, we're not playing dolls right now." Alan said before blowing a raspberry on Sally's cheek, making the little girl begin giggling.

"He's right Sally, we're eating lunch." Ms. Woods came over and put a hand on Alan's shoulder – making the boy look up at her. "I made your favorite Alan…"

"Sesame pecan chicken strips?" Alan asked with a smile.

"Of course, that and split pea soup – I know how much you like that." Ms. Woods smiled when Alan gave her a big hug.

Meanwhile Gordon made a face as he heard Alan's favorite foods…split pea soup had to be the absolute worst stuff on the planet and Gordon wasn't too big on chicken strips either…chicken nuggets or fried chicken was fine, but chicken strips? Ick. Scott nudged Gordon when he noticed his younger brother's warped face and felt it necessary to make Gordon quit making the face that he was making. Gordon glared at Scott but didn't say anything when he saw Scott mouth 'be good' to him.

"Hey Runt!" Stacy came down the stairs when she heard the commotion and she like Ms. Woods flung her arms open and enveloped Alan in a tight squeeze. 'How're you doing?"

"I'm okay." Alan replied same as he told Ms. Woods when she'd hugged Alan.

"Dude! You've grown!" Stacy stepped back and hovered her hand above Alan's head. "When I saw you last you were even with my shoulders and now you're…dang! Equal to my chin!"

"Have I really grown that much?" Alan asked as he looked at the distance between Stacy's shoulder and chin.

"Let's go check it out kid!" Stacy grabbed Alan's hand and dragged him upstairs, motioning for Jeremiah and Jeffery to follow. The twins followed Alan and Stacy upstairs, leaving the remainder of the Tracy family standing in shock at Alan being there one minute and gone the next.

"You'll have to excuse them, they've really been missing Alan since he left." Pastor Woods commented as he watched three of his foster children drag Alan upstairs.

… … … … … … …

Stacy closed the door to her bedroom once she'd gotten Alan, Jeremiah and Jeffery in there with her. The three teens took a seat on Stacy's bed as Alan pulled out her computer chair to sit in, curling up Stacy asked Alan a serious question.

"Alan, really how are you doing?" Stacy could tell Alan didn't seem as happy as she remembered him to be and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. True Alan wasn't her little brother, but neither were Jeremiah and Jeffery her older brothers – they were still family though. Alan developed a look of contemplation before he sagged.

"I miss you guys." Alan said truthfully. He hadn't wanted to say that aloud in case it hurt his family's feelings.

"We miss you too." Jeremiah said, hoping Alan could hear the sincerity in his voice. "What say we all stay up tonight in the living room and play one of our weekend games? Alan gets to pick!"

"I think that'd be fun." Jeffery said. "As long as we can break out the kettle corn, gotta have the kettle corn."

"Yes we can have kettle corn Jeffery." Stacy and Alan laughed as Jeffery smacked his lips. Turning to Alan Stacy asked. "Any ideas what board game you want to play tonight?"

Alan gave it some thought before he decided one the game he wanted to play. "Scrabble."

"Scrabble? Okay, I thought you hated scrabble though." Jeremiah said with a perplexed look. Alan shook his head that he actually did like scrabble, just didn't know many words yet. He was constantly perplexed by words that Mr. and Ms. Woods used and he just couldn't ever think of any words to win. Though he never did play to win.

Stacy, Alan, and Jeffery chuckled before they heard Ms. Woods calling from downstairs.

"We'd better measure you in case they ask." Stacy said as she, Jeremiah, Jeffery and Alan snuck from Stacy room.

"Okay, but seriously – does it really look like I've grown?" Alan limped over to the upstairs bathroom and stood along the wall before the height chart.

"Yeah." Stacy pulled a pen out of her hair, which she'd been using to keep her hair pinned back and measured Alan. "See?"

Alan stepped away and turned around to see that yes, he in fact did grow again. He'd grown another three inches at least. Stacy pointed at his last tic mark on the chart from before he'd returned to be with his family.

"Cool." Alan replied as he turned to go back downstairs. He was hungry and he wanted lunch. "Come on!"

"We're coming squirt, hold your horses." Jeffery said as he walked beside Alan, an arm slung over the kid's shoulder. As they traveled downstairs they overheard Pastor Woods talking with Jeff.

"Good activity for gaining trust." Alan paused as he overheard the topic of conversation.

"Will it make him better though? He always has nightmares and I'm afraid those are making him fear us." Jeff asked.

"Oh yes. They worked for us when he had just moved in with us. It took a while but as you can see, everything got better." Pastor Woods said before Jeremiah coughed, drawing everybody's attention to the kids who stood in the doorway. "Hello kids, I trust you all are hungry?"

Alan decided to ignore the previous conversation, his stomach deciding for him and he'd nodded. As they all sat down to eat, Pastor Woods turned to the Tracy family.

"Do you mind if we pray before we eat?"

"No not at all." Jeff replied as he watched The Woods family and Alan join hands. Alan whom he sat next to offered his hand out to his father and Jeff took it while doing the same. Once everybody had joined hands Pastor Woods turned to Alan.

"Do you wish to say grace for old times' sake Alan?" Alan paused and looked to Pastor Woods before nodding slowly. "Go ahead then son."

Jeff watched with a partially cracked eye as Alan once more bowed his head before beginning to say grace over their meal.

"God our Father, Lord and Savior; thank you for your love and favor. Please bless this food and drink we pray and all those who share with us today. Amen." When Alan said the closing, everyone followed suit and Alan let go of Ms. Wood's hand as well as Jeff's.

"Thank you Alan, may heaven smile upon you today and always." Pastor Woods replied before lifting the serving spoon to dish up the plate of food before passing it to the right. Once everyone had a plate of food they all dug right in. At some point during the meal, Pastor Woods asked the niggling question in the back of his mind. "So Alan how much did you grow since last time?"

Alan who was chewing his food took a sip from his water glass before swallowing. Looking at Pastor Woods, he answered. "About three inches sir."

"I thought you'd grown again. Guess all that sunshine is helping you to grow then huh?" Pastor Woods asked.

"I guess." Alan replied before continuing to eat his lunch. Jeff again took notice how Alan seemed to be different when he was with the Woods family and he also noticed that Alan also referred to Pastor Woods as sir, not Pastor or anything else. That had him perplexed for sure. He'd have to ask Pastor Woods if that was Alan's normal behavior, because if it was then he really didn't have anything to be concerned with. If it wasn't then they all had their hands full with trying to get Alan to trust them more.

… … … … … … …

Later that evening found Jeff sitting on the couch with Pastor and Ms. Woods talking more in depth about ways to make Alan trust them again. They could hear the kids in the dining room talking and laughing as they took part in a game of Scrabble, or make that one of three so far. It seemed to be a knuckle biter – for Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon who while none too fond of board games loved Scrabble and it sounded like they were losing as it was four against four. The kids decided to make up teams when the Tracy brothers joined in and each person on the team could set up a word.

… … … … … … …

Alan placed the word 'Kelpy' for 15 points on the board and Gordon groaned dramatically. Jeremiah grabbed Alan round the shoulders and gave the kid a noogie while Jeffery gave Alan a high five. Alan who was sitting with his walking boot leg outstretched struggled to stand up from where he sat on the floor, but Stacy gave Alan a hand up.

"I'm going to the bathroom, go ahead and continue without me." Alan limped away and once he was around the corner, which left Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon alone with Jeremiah, Jeffery and Stacy. Scott placed 'Wahoo' for 11 points on the board and the room settled down briefly. The Tracy brothers remained quiet for a few moments, before Virgil looked to the two boys and girl that had been with Alan these last six months.

"So…" Virgil all of a sudden was at a loss for words.

"So…?" Jeremiah intoned as he looked through his scrabble chips to see if he had a good word to create.

"How'd you come up with the nickname with Bean for Alan?" Virgil grabbed something out of thin air and just went with it.

"Um…have you looked at him? He's skinny. He's a string bean." Jeremiah replied with a smirk. "I ain't gonna call him bean pole."

"Ain't isn't a word dummy." Stacy said as she inclined her head whilst quirking an eyebrow at her foster brother.

"Shut up Stacy." Jeremiah replied before clutching at his arm when Stacy hit him hard in the bicep.

"Make me." Stacy replied as she stuck her tongue out and stood up also. "I'm gonna go get some juice, I'll be back in a moment."

Using the available time they had with Alan gone, Scott decided to put his pride aside.

"How do you do it? Get along with Alan so easily?"

Jeremiah and Jeffery looked at each as they contemplated an answer. Jeffery was first to answer "Well, we let him come to us. Why do you ask?"

"It's just Alan has been with us a month and he doesn't seem to be any more use to us than he was first off. He's still very much afraid of us all and refuses to make eye contact." Scott replied.

"And what makes you think he's not afraid of us? Because he lets us hug him and horse around? It's because we had to earn that trust and we had to do it over the six months after he moved in with us." Jeremiah answered truthfully. "It's not going to be anything fast. You've got to remember that he was abused these last six years – it's going to be hard for him to trust people easily."

"Yes, he's very much a scared bunny because of what those jerks did to him. Give it time and Alan will warm up to you." Jeffery said as he placed a word 'Patience' on the scrabble board. "Look at the scrabble board…the word I just placed – that right there is a virtue."


AN: Sorry for having taken a week to update this, between college starting back up and a possible romance blooming, I've been a little sidetracked and unable to update. That and my computer was refusing to bring up my internet, something about Shockwave not running correctly.

Hope you enjoy! Reviews are muy bien!