A comment on the last story sparked the muse into writing this. Kind of clunky, but it is what it is. I'm not happy with it, but neither am I unhappy with it.

Even Mandy58 couldn't make it better. But I thank her for trying. '-)

I still don't own the show or the basic characters. Just this future vision of them.

"Dad," Christopher Anderson said softly, "a little more to your right. That's it," he acknowledged as his father's hands located his carry-on bag in the overhead compartment of the plane. "I've got mine. We need to move out of the way so Mom can get hers and Corry's."

August Anderson followed his son down the center aisle of the plane and out the doorway onto the boarding ramp. Once they were on the ramp and able to walk side-by-side, Auggie lightly grasped his son's right arm with his left hand and carried his well-worn leather carry-on in his right hand. Once inside the terminal proper Christopher guided his father to an out-of-the-way spot to wait for his mother and sister to catch up with them.

Once Annie and Corrine caught up to Christopher and Auggie the quartet of travelers continued toward the exit of Chicago's O'Hare terminal. They were met as they exited the secured area by Auggie's brother Austin.

"Augs," Austin said as he approached his brother and his family.

"Austin?" Auggie said at the sound of his brother's voice. "You draw the short straw again? I thought you weren't talking to me."

"Adam convinced me that you had no choice but to keep that bit of information from us. I'm still a bit ticked that you didn't feel you could confide that to me, but I'm getting over that. You don't know how immensely proud of you I am. You've done incredibly well for yourself and your family."

Christopher stepped aside so that his uncle could embrace his father. Auggie only partially returned the embrace. "I hear a qualification in that endorsement. You mean I've done well for a blind guy."'

Austin stepped back a step. "There was no qualification meant. You should know that. You have done well for yourself. Period. Maybe we are a bit more in awe since you've achieved it while being blind, but blind or not, rising to the position you've got is a big deal. I couldn't be more proud to have you for a brother, Augs," Austin stated firmly.

A slight smile worked its way across Auggie's features. "Thanks, bro. Had to be sure where you were coming from. I wasn't sure how much I'd damaged our relationship."

"We're still good. We've weathered worse when we were kids." Austin brushed his hand against his brother's. Auggie accepted his brother's sighted guide offer.

"What's the timetable for this weekend?" Annie asked as she fell into step with her husband and brother-in-law. "Will we have time to simply relax any? Or is there something happening every minute between now and the baptism on Sunday morning?"

"We're all getting together tonight at the country club for dinner; then there's the party after the baptism. Jessica hasn't said for sure, but I think that's going to be back at the club. Sometimes I think they should rename it after us." Austin chuckled a bit at his own joke.

"Will Uncle Alan be here?" Christopher asked. "It's been a while since we've seen him."

"Ya know, Chris, I don't really know. Last I heard he was hoping to be, but he wasn't sure he could arrange the leave."

"Oh," Christopher said with barely concealed disappointment.

"We don't get to see him or you guys often enough," Austin admitted. "I guess you guys moving back here is out of the question now. Still trying to talk Alan into retiring from the Marines and taking a civilian job here in this area. He's not listening to reason though. … Here we are, Augs. I'll take your bag and stick it in the back."

Auggie handed his bag to his brother and homed in on the sound of the car door unlocking.

# # # # #

"Here ya go, Augs. Your bag is on the bed center of this end. Annie yours is on the chair in the corner. We haven't changed the position of anything since the last time you were here, Augs. You gonna be okay, now?" Austin explained as he placed his brother's hand on the door knob to the guestroom door.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Corrine's bunking in the girls' old room and Christopher's on the sofa in the den?" Auggie responded.

"Yup. I'll give you about an hour to get rested and freshened up before we have to head out to dinner. Cocktail casual Tony said."

"Ah, that's nice to know. I can be comfortable. I have to wear a suit and tie every day at work; really don't like to have to wear one on the weekends."

"I understand that," Austin said lightly. "You keep him presentable, Annie. Dress slacks and no jeans, please."

"Gotcha," Annie replied. "I'll try, but no promises. The man loves his jeans on the weekend."

"Oh, har," Auggie said as he pushed the door open and entered his brother's guestroom.

An hour later, dressed in dress pants and an oxford shirt with the top two buttons undone, Auggie joined his brother in the living room of the house. "Presentable?" he questioned his brother. He knew that he was, but he couldn't resist stating the obvious.

"I guess you'll do," Austin said a few moments later. "But that shirt really doesn't go that well with those pants. What'd ya do, get dressed in the dark?"

A soft grin worked its way across Auggie's features. "Yeah, something like that. I'll have to take that matter up with my wife if she ever gets down here. This was what was lying on the bed for me after my shower. She and our daughter are the fashionistas in the family. Black, white, sky blue pink with purple polka dots are all the same to me. Has been for some time, too," Auggie admitted cheerily as he waved his hand in front of his face.

Austin roared with good-natured laughter. "Jenna is taking her sweet time, too. But she will be looking mighty fine when she does arrive downstairs. … And here our women come now."

Auggie turned toward the stairway and gave the women a wolf-whistle. "Looking fine ladies. Looking fine."

"And just how do you know that, Augs?" Jenna asked as she entered the room.

"I just know," Auggie replied confidently and smirked as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Auggie, you are incorrigible," Annie said as she approached her husband. "Now what have you done with the children?"

"I don't know," Auggie admitted. "I just got here and my brother was trying to tell me that you dressed my oddly tonight."

"I had nothing to do with that – you dressed yourself as you always do. But you look very nice. He's just jealous that you look so much better than he does."

"Your children are out on the porch patiently, I think, waiting for their elders to get their acts together. All six of us can't fit in one car, so I thought that we'd take two; Jenna can drive hers with Annie and Corrine; and I'll drive mine with the guys. Sound okay to you, Annie?"

"Wait, I don't have a say in this arrangement?" Auggie asked quickly with a bit of feigned indignation.

"Nope," Austin replied. There was a smile in his tone.

"Oh, well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much. You might just tell me to drive myself over to Lakeshore. … That might be a bit of a problem since I haven't had a valid driver's license for a while," Auggie replied with good humor as he stuck his left hand out in search of an elbow.

"Come on, goofball," Austin said as he brushed his right arm against his brother's outstretched hand.

Half-an-hour later the youngest Anderson boys, their wives and children were seated around one of the reserved tables in the still posh Lakeshore Country Club dining room. Auggie was flanked by his own wife on his right, and his brother's wife on his left. How that arrangement had come about he wasn't quite sure, but he wished that his brother was beside him. There were a few things that he wanted to talk over with Austin.

To his left there was a slight commotion then Austin said, "I've swapped places with Jenna. Summer wanted to be able to talk to her mother … and I wanted to be able to talk to you."

"And I'd like to be able to talk to you, too. Austin, I'm sorry that …"

"No, Augs," Austin interjected and placed a hand on his brother's arm. "You did what you had to do. I understand that now. I didn't understand then how you could keep something like that from me … from me … not from the rest of our brothers … from me. I thought that we were close enough and trusted each other enough that you'd at least let me in on something like that."

"I know, Austin. I could have let you know about that some other way …"

"I would have probably reacted the same way. It was a lot to take in … anyway you dished it out. That you'd lived a life of deceit for all those years was just a part of it all. You shattered my image of you – in a good way. Instead of feeling like I needed to be there to protect you from all of the things you couldn't see – to learning that you probably knew six ways to silently kill me – God, Augs all these years …"

"Seven, but who's counting? … Yeah, your little brother grew up to rise to the top of an organization tasked with keeping the country safe from those individuals and groups who'd like to take us down. I didn't realize when I sprung that on you how big that news would be."

"Yeah, Augs. It was pretty earth-shattering. You have no idea how proud we are of having you for a brother."

"I just wish all of my brothers felt that way," Auggie said with a touch of sadness.

"Who do you think isn't proud of you?" Austin asked with clear concern.

"Tony. He always tried to pretend I didn't exist. Then when I was blinded …" Auggie sighed and shook his head. "At this stage of life winning his approval shouldn't still matter. But it does. Nothing I've done is ever worthy of his praise. He didn't even believe me when I told him what I'd been doing all these years."

"I think that Adam and I might have played a part in that."

"How do you figure that?" Auggie asked his brother with genuine surprise.

"Well, you know that even when you were in the military he had the feeling that you were not just regular military. Then after you lost your sight and ostensibly went to work for the Pentagon, he never believed that. He was convinced you were a spy. Adam and I finally convinced him that it couldn't be … because of … well … your sight."

"Yeah, I remember now. I'd forgotten all about his thinking that. You must have done a pretty good job of convincing him that a blind man could never be a spy. All he wanted was for me to prove to him that I'd been that. He hasn't spoken to me since. I was surprised when Lucas and Jenny sent us an invitation to their baby's baptism. I guess Lucas doesn't hold the same low opinion of his uncle that his father does of his brother."

"Anthony may act like a self-centered jerk sometimes, but you're still his brother. He loves you, Augs. And he's proud of you, too. I don't think he knows how to tell you that."

"I'll believe that when I see it. And you know how much I see."

"You might not see with your eyes, Augs, but you've always seen more than the rest of us. … How about we go to the bar and have a couple before the party gets going?"

"Yeah, I think I could do with a couple shots of tequila." Auggie said as he picked up his cane from where it lay on the table.

Fifteen minutes later, as Auggie sipped on his Patron Silver and Austin his Johnny Walker Gold with their backs to the main dining room, the bar's manager stepped from his office behind the counter and said, "Mr. Anderson … er … Tony … I got that extra champagne you wanted. Is it for this evening or to be served with the wines your daughter-in-law ordered for tomorrow?"

"Paul, that's for this evening. We're celebrating my brother's promotion this evening," Anthony Anderson replied. Pleasure obvious in his tone.

"Ah, which brother is this? Adam? Or Austin?"

"Neither of them. One of my brothers that doesn't get back here nearly often enough. My youngest brother, August. He told us he'd been given a huge promotion at work a few months ago, but this is the first time he's supposed to be back home since then."

"August?" Paul asked with puzzlement. "Is he the Marine?"

Auggie's hand paused in mid reach for his glass of liquor.

"No, that's Alan. He's supposed to be here this evening, too."

"Oh, August must be your blind brother?"

Auggie grasped his glass of Patron and finished draining it.

"Yes, August is blind." Anthony said in a tone that conveyed displeasure.

Cocking his head slightly to one side, Auggie gently returned the glass to the countertop.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Anderson, I didn't mean …"

"It's okay, Paul. I guess that people who don't know my brother would notice that about him first. But my brother is so much more than that." Anthony sighed. "He's made living blind look easy, but I'm sure that there's times when his life has been anything but easy because he can't see. But I don't think he's ever allowed that to keep him from doing what he wanted to do. I know it hasn't held him back professionally." Pride in his brother was once again evident in Anthony's tone. "He's spent his professional life working covertly for the CIA and is now the Deputy Director of the agency. I am so incredibly proud of him."

"Sounds as if you do have something special to celebrate this evening," Paul said.

"Yes, we do. I haven't always been able to let him know how lucky I am to have him for a brother; or how unbelievably proud of his accomplishments I've been; but that ends tonight," Anthony said with conviction.

Auggie slipped quietly off the barstool. "Tony?" he said as he turned to face his brother.

"Auggie …"