A/N: Wow! I'm on a roll tonight two stories received updates...yes it's past midnight where I'm at and I desperately need more than two hours of sleep.
This is an A/U and I'm just issuing a warning now because I was working on it earlier this evening - I will be describing the play production how I remember it when I saw the original Broadway production - though this is like four or five chapters down the road. I had originally been listening to the soundtrack when I initially started writing this story. Anyway enough rambling...
Since this is an A/U, aspects have been changed to match my story line. I won't tolerate disparaging remarks or reviews. If you feel you need to offer a negative review, it MUST be in the form of constructive criticism...not something like "this story is horrendous" which I've had for some stories. I will delete them. You've been warned. NO FLAMES!
Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010
John was sitting up at the table three days later having coffee while he read the newspaper. He'd just seen Alan off to school. Alan walked to school since Scott had gone in for work at 5 that morning. He didn't know much about the town they were visiting, but he was interested none the less.
Glancing through the advertisements, John was surprised to see an ad for a high school drama production that'd be going on the following weekend.
"Aida, A Timeless Love Story…I'll have to show this to Virgil." John mused aloud to himself.
"You'll have to show what to Virgil?" Virgil asked as he trudged into the kitchen and sat across from John, eyes closed as if he were still asleep. John didn't doubt that Virgil had sleepwalked his way to the kitchen, it happened often enough when they were children that John wasn't too concerned.
"There's a school play taking place on Saturday at Alan's school. Thought you might be interested in going since you have a love for the arts." John said as he stood up to go get a mug of coffee. He had to suppress chuckles when he glimpsed at Virgil. His brother tried to dress despite being half asleep and had failed to pull his pant legs down over his socks and he'd buttoned his shirt wrong. His hair was stuck up in various angles and directions.
"Here you go Virgil." John said as he wafted the mug under his brother's nose and watched the middle brother follow the direction of the mug without opening his eyes. He was moving his head in an almost hypnotic like state and John had to physically grab Virgil's hand and place the hot mug in his hands.
"Mm…coffee." Virgil murmured as his eyelids lifted. The coffee worked like magic in waking his brother and before John knew it, Virgil was carrying on a full conversation with him. "So, what was this about a school play?"
"Alan's school is putting on a school play next weekend and I thought I'd let you know. You were always interested in the arts and you love going to plays." John said before he folded the paper in half before moving it across to his brother to look at.
"Aida…huh? Never heard of it." Virgil said before taking a sip from his mug and looking over the advertisement further. "Looks interesting though, want to go with me?"
"Sure, maybe we can convince Scott, Alan and Gordon to go too. Just some fun that's not biting each other's heads off. "John said. He went silent for a few moments giving him just enough time to hear tiny feet thumping down the stairs. John looked up at the kitchen door and saw Mae. She was rubbing her eyes and her hair was askew. "Morning Mae."
Mae didn't say anything, just walked out to the living room leaving John and Virgil to watch her go. John and Virgil exchanged glances but didn't say anything to the toddler. John got up after a few minutes and went about preparing Mae a bowl of cereal. He wrinkled his nose at the choice of cereal. He couldn't believe Scott would let the girl have it. It seemed to be something akin to fruit loops, though the name was an off brand. He'd make a note to talk to Scott about the toddler's breakfast choices but prepared the bowl anyway.
John grabbed a kiddie spoon from the dish drainer and submerged it in the cereal and milk before he took it to the living room. There he found Mae sitting as close as she could possibly sit to the TV and John remembered fondly finding Alan in a similar position when he was Mae's age. He set the bowl on the coffee table before grasping Mae under the arms and pulling her backward.
"Don't sit so close, you'll hurt your eyes." John said before he crouching down to Mae's level and gave her the bowl of cereal he'd prepared for her. "Here you go munchkin."
"I don't want these." Mae mumbled under her breath, taking John off guard.
"But this is your cereal, I found it in the cupboard." John said fully confused at Mae's refusal.
"This Allie's, I don't like them." Mae said, her brown eyes huge and sad. She handed the bowl back to John and the older was at a loss. He didn't want her to go hungry, but he didn't see any other type of breakfast foods she could eat.
"Okay." John said, going to the kitchen with the bowl and finding Gordon sitting at the table with Virgil. Gordon liked sugary breakfasts, so John went and placed the bowl in front of his younger brother.
"Hey thanks." Gordon said before he dug in.
"Didn't you prepare that for Mae?" Virgil asked, taken by surprise that John couldn't get her to eat.
"Yeah, but she didn't want it. Said it's Alan's." John said before he, Gordon and Virgil startled when the door to the garage opened. Alan stalked in and dropped his backpack with a disgruntled sigh. "Alan what are you doing back?"
John glanced at the clock and found Alan had only been gone for a half hour.
"Today's a professional learning day, they cancelled classes. Wish I'd have known before walking out there." Alan grumbled before he went to the cupboard to grab a cup so he could get a drink. "None of my teachers reminded us, so I wasn't the only one to show up and see a sign posted on the locked doors."
Virgil and John exchanged glances as Alan drank his glass of water before he emptied the remaining fluid in the sink.
"I'm gonna go lay down." Alan didn't say much more but he stopped when he saw Gordon eating the cereal. "Has Mae eaten?"
"No…I uh tried to get her to eat and she said the cereal I gave her wasn't hers but yours. So, I gave it to Gordon so it wouldn't go to waste." John said, taking pause when he saw his baby brother roll his eyes in exasperation.
"We both eat the same cereal. She's just picky some days." Alan said with a sigh before he went out to the living room. When he returned, he had Mae hitched up on his hip and he fixed her some toast with jam on it. "You know better than to lie about not liking our cereal."
Mae didn't say anything to Alan, just ate her toast in silence before she went to lay her head-on Alan's shoulder. "Want to go lay down upstairs?"
Mae nodded and Alan carried her back upstairs with him, leaving his three older brothers to awkwardly sit around the table.
"Well, that was an interesting start to the morning. So, you were saying about that drama production?" Virgil said, swiftly changing the subject.
… … … … … … …
Gordon scratched at the back of his head, biting his lip as he stood before Alan's closed bedroom door. With the younger home for the rest of the day, John and Virgil insisted he go and apologize to Alan; and hang out with him. Be a brother, not a bully.
Preparing himself for backlash from his little brother, Gordon knocked on the door and waited for a reply. When he didn't get one, Gordon's brow wrinkled slightly before he knocked again. He waited a beat or two before he opened Alan's bedroom door and peeked in to see Alan and Mae both asleep. Mae was huddled up under Alan's arm and reminded Gordon of a tiny octopus. Alan was lying on his side, one arm draped over Mae and both buried beneath Alan's blankets.
Gordon paused for a few minutes, soaking in the scene in front of him. He made sure to keep his steps light as he made his way across the room and pulled the blankets up to Alan and Mae's shoulders. He smiled to himself at how innocent his brother and sister looked in their sleep. Without meaning to, Gordon reached out and lightly brushed Alan's bangs from his forehead before moving to tuck longer albeit similar shade of blonde hair behind Mae's ear.
He turned to leave the room and he glanced around Alan's room, taking in the many drawings made by the four-year-old tucked into bed. He stopped by the door and glanced at Alan's tack board, looking at a drawing made primarily with blue crayon. Instead of the typical picture of a child lined up beside their parents, this picture depicted their mom and stepdad with angel wings hovering by the giant orange and yellow sun. The real heart jerking part was the tall dark haired figure holding the hand of the tiny blonde who held the hand of a slightly taller blond. All the faces were smiling and Gordon found himself smiling at the backwards S. Mae was still in daycare, so she wasn't aware that there was a right or wrong way to write the letter S. She wrote out Scot, Me, Alley.
Obviously, she wasn't an expert of spelling quite yet and Gordon found it endearing. Mae wasn't aware that Scott had two T's in the end of his name nor was she aware that to spell her given nickname for Alan was Allie not Alley. He glanced over his shoulder and was beginning to find why Alan and Scott had grown so attached to the tyke. He was slowly but surely growing attached too.
"Sleep well you two." Gordon whispered aloud in the room before he left and pulled the door shut with a soft click. Both occupants of the room remained asleep, unaware that anyone had come in and seen them at their most vulnerable.
… … … … … … …
When Alan and Mae woke up from their impromptu nap, they both wandered downstairs. More so Alan since Mae insisted on being carried. The two youths went down to the living room where John, Virgil and Gordon were lounging around.
"Hey, you two are finally awake." John said as he spotted his younger sleepy siblings.
"Yeah, I guess I needed the sleep." Alan said through a monster yawn. Mae was blinking sleep heavy eyes around and rubbing occasionally at her eyes.
"Want some lunch?" Virgil asked, hearing the replying growl from his brother's stomach. He heard a corresponding one from Mae as well and chuckled at the dual nod from them. "Go on and have a seat, I'll fix you two a sandwich."
"P&J." Mae mumbled from Alan's shoulder.
"What?" Virgil was curious at what his sister said.
"She wants a peanut butter and jelly. Use the strawberry jam in the fridge, she'll be unhappy if you use grape." Alan advised.
"Sure thing, anything you prefer yourself Al?" Virgil asked before he opened the kitchen door.
"Anything besides PB&J. I ate enough of those while Scott was learning to cook." Alan said, making his brothers snicker. Scott wasn't known for his cooking skills, but in the time that he'd been guardian over Alan and Mae, his abilities had extended further from burning water, grilled cheese sandwiches and himself. He was a decent cook now, Alan had taken time to teach him a little bit. Now he could make pot roast and it tasted better than Alan's attempts.
Virgil humored Alan and made him a bologna sandwich before he set the respective plates in front of his brother and sister. Both youngsters ate silently, but they smiled when Gordon poured a couple glasses of milk to wash down the sandwiches and brought them to the living room where the youngest two were sitting.
"Thanks Gordon." Alan said softly as he finished his sandwich and drained his glass of milk in one go. Alan glanced at the time and jumped up. "Oh God! I'm late"
"Late for what?" John asked as he watched Alan hurry to the living room. "Alan?"
"Why didn't you guys wake me up? I'm late for school!" Alan had obviously forgotten that it was a professional learning day. He came back into the kitchen looking for his backpack when Virgil stopped him.
"Alan, stop. You went to school earlier and came right back. Class got cancelled today." Virgil said, getting in Alan's way to slow him down. "Settle down, you've got the rest of the day to relax."
Alan deflated at the news, having forgotten that he had in fact come home from school when he'd discovered classes had been cancelled. "I forgot."
"Obviously." Gordon remarked, making Alan glower at him. Virgil stepped into Alan's line of sight, cutting off the view to Gordon.
"Alan, just hang out with us." Virgil pleaded, making Alan sooth his ruffled feathers.
"Fine." Alan replied before he glanced at his watch. "I need to leave in a little bit though. I've got p- something to do. Test to study for."
Virgil and John both quirked an eyebrow in question while Gordon rolled his eyes.
"What do you guys want to do?" Alan asked.
"Do you have anything in mind?" John asked. The brothers watched as Alan went over and picked up Mae, hitching her up onto his hip.
"What do you want to do princess?" Alan asked the girl, schooling his features when she adopted a thinking face.
"Dolls." Mae said making Alan nod with a chagrined look on his face.
"Mae, honey we're not playing dolls all day. Do you want to go to the park or to the roller rink?" Alan said, suggesting possible things they could do without sitting inside all day playing with Mae's dolls. Alan humored her, playing dolls with the toddler but he couldn't see any of their brothers doing the same. Scott didn't, or if he did he kept it hush-hush.
"Ice cream." Mae said simply. Alan rolled his eyes. Dolls and ice cream, two of Mae's favorite past times.
"Maybe we'll grab an ice cream. How about we go to the park?" Alan asked before he watched his baby sister's eyes light up with excitement.
"Yes!" Mae squealed making Alan smile for the first time that day.
"Well alright then." Alan said before looking back at his brothers. "You guys want to go to the park with us?"
"Sure, let's make it a picnic. Scott won't be off for a few hours and we can have a late lunch." John said speaking for his two younger brothers.
"I guess that'd be okay." Gordon said with a shrug. He wasn't entirely keen on going to the park to watch the toddler play in the sandbox, but he'd go if it meant working on the damaged relationship with his brother.
"Well, it's settled then." Virgil said with a clap of his hands.
… … … … … … …
Alan and Gordon lay elbow to elbow on the large picnic blanket, Gordon was giving off the façade of dozing in the warm spring sun, while Alan was propped up on his elbows and was watching Mae play with the other kids on the slide. The brothers remained silent as they stuck to their own thoughts, but it was broken by Gordon.
"This is nice." Gordon murmured under his breath.
"What is?" Alan asked as he watched Mae wait eagerly in line to go down the slide. He glanced away for a second to look at his older brother.
"This, being able to relax. Doing nothing. Not wondering if the tranquility is about to be disrupted." Gordon had barely explained his reasoning before a shrill cry from the slide made both brothers jerk up in surprise. Gordon only just had understood that Mae fell or was pushed from the slide when Alan was on his feet and racing over to their sister. Gordon despite his insecurities with accepting Mae as any relation to him was close behind Alan.
"Mae! What's the matter?" Alan asked as he quickly dropped to his knees beside his baby sister. He ran a visual over his sister to look for owies but couldn't find anything visibly hurt. "Mae?"
"He pushed me!" Mae sobbed as she pointed to a boy around Mae's age at the top of the slide waiting impatiently for his turn to go. Alan growled at the injustice and had to be restrained by Gordon who was thinking with a clear head. It'd be a very unfair fight for a fifteen-year-old to pick a fight with a five-year-old. Gordon urged Alan to get a grip on his temper before it got them in trouble. After much coaxing, Gordon got Alan to stand down and hurry away with their baby sister safely ensconced in Alan's comforting grasp.
They went back to the picnic blanket and Alan sat down with Mae in his lap. Mae was sniffling and hiccupping still and Alan just barely restrained himself from going and calling out the kid for laying hands on a girl, his sister no less.
"Are you hurt anywhere sweetie?" Alan asked as he rolled up the pant legs of Mae's overalls to inspect her knees. When he didn't see anything, he checked her hands and elbows but couldn't find a scratch. "Mae?"
The toddler sniffled before she pointed to the side of her head and back a bit. Alan readjusted Mae on his lap and separated Mae's hair to look at her head and found a graze of the smallest kind cutting into her hairline and hidden directly behind her ear.
"Aw, I found your owie." Alan said before he grabbed the backpack he'd filled with various bits and bobs before he came out with some antiseptic. "This is gonna sting a bit."
Mae bit her lip and closed her eyes before Gordon interrupted.
"Do you want me to do it? You can hold Mae so she doesn't squirm and I can apply it to the graze." Gordon offered as he shifted so he was on his knees. He threw his arms out for balance and he knee walked over to Alan. Gordon accepted the gauze square with the antiseptic and he made sure Alan had a good grip on the toddler before Gordon followed Alan's previous action and separated Mae's hair. "Okay…"
Gordon hesitated in applying the antiseptic to the toddler's head but he got her attention and started imitating cartoon characters to distract her.
Alan was laughing along with Mae's giggles at Gordon's almost perfect impression of Shaggy and Scooby. John and Virgil chose that moment that Gordon copied the Scooby laugh to approach and they joined in the laughter at hearing Gordon's impressions.
"We've got to go away to get ice cream more often." Virgil said between chuckles. When the laughter subsided, John and Virgil handed over their spoils but couldn't contain their confusion over Mae's tears. "What happened?"
"Mae was pushed from the slide. Some boy couldn't wait his turn and he pushed her out of the way." Alan growled, a few explicit words eking out under his breathe.
"Watch your language Sprout." John corrected, not wanting an impressionable four-year-old to begin using bad words. "Which boy was it?"
"Khaki shorts, blue t-shirt. Brown hair." Gordon described as he continued in his efforts to keep the toddler from crying. He had begun hiding his face behind his hands and making goofy faces each time he hid. It was working slowly to absolve Mae's tears.
"I'll be right back." Virgil said, handing the sundae bowl down to Gordon for Mae, while John held the cones the brothers had agreed on getting.
Alan, John, Gordon and Mae watched the gentle middle son walk over to a couple of older women sitting on a bench watching the kids on the slide.
… … … … … … …
Virgil offered a smile at the three women sitting on the bench. One of them was rocking a sleeping infant in her arms while another was reading a book in between glances at the slide to check on her child. The third one was stoically staring ahead at the slide almost as if in deep thought.
"Hi." Virgil said as he came to a stop in front of them, though not directly in front of them. He didn't want to hinder their ability to keep an eye on their children.
An array of scattered hellos echoed around the small group before their combined gazes were focused on the dazzling smile Virgil was intentionally presenting.
"Yes?" The more stoic mother asked as she gave Virgil a moment of her time.
"I was wondering if any of you knew who was the mother of the dark-haired boy with the blue t-shirt." Virgil asked cautiously.
"He's mine…why?" The mousy woman with her nose in a book commented as she looked up at Virgil with an accusatory glint to her eye.
"I just wanted to let you know that he pushed my baby sister from the slide and she got hurt. I was hoping if I brought her over, that you could see about him apologizing to her." Virgil asked, a gentle smile firmly in place so he could keep her at ease. He didn't want to make her mad.
"Damn it Jacob." The woman cursed before she placed a bookmark in to mark her place before she stood up. "I'm so sorry. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time he's done this."
"It's quite alright, little kids are going to be little kids." Virgil said before he walked over to the picnic blanket. He picked up Mae, smiling reassuringly at her as he set her empty ice cream dish to the side. "Come on kiddo."
The woman had already separated from Virgil prior to his retrieval of Mae. She brought the boy over, her grip tight and the boy carrying a remorseful look about his face.
"I won't tolerate this kind of behavior anymore Jacob! Do we need to not go to the park anymore?" The woman asked. Virgil wouldn't lie if asked, but he felt equal parts sorry for the boy when he saw his eyes well with tears over the threat of never going to the park again and equal parts satisfaction that the boy had an understanding that there would be consequences if he continued any bad behavior. "Do you understand me Jacob?"
"Yes, mommy!" Jacob sniveled with a quavering bottom lip.
"Now apologize and in the future, wait your turn! I will be telling your father about this!" The woman hissed, making the boy try to pull away.
"I'm sorry!" Jacob sobbed to Mae. The little girl had a vice like grip around Virgil's neck, refusing to be put down anywhere near Jacob.
"What are you sorry for?" The mom asked sharply.
"I'm sorry for pushing you off the slide!" Jacob wailed.
"Mae, do you accept Jacob's apology?" Virgil asked softly. Mae didn't speak but she nodded silently. Virgil tried to get her to speak but every attempt he made failed.
"It's okay, I know she's accepted his apology, I'm so sorry for the trouble my son caused." The woman said before offering her hand out to shake Virgil's hand.
"No, it's alright, like I said earlier, kids will be kids. Accidents happen. I'm sure Jacob didn't mean to push Mae from the slide." Virgil said before the woman hauled her son away.
