Scott stood in an Apple store debating on which iPod to get for Alan. He didn't know whether Alan wanted one of those top of the line iPods or an older model. Alan was not one for flaunting his family's wealth and he preferred to keep everything on the down low. Shrugging more to himself than his brothers that followed him into the store, Scott selected a slightly older model. Alan didn't care about the look of his iPods, favoring the memory and storage over the size or color of the device.

"Nice choice. I bet he'll like that one better than the newer model." Virgil commended Scott for his choice of iPod for their little brother. All of the Tracy sons knew Alan despised it when their family's wealth was brought up. One thing that Alan had always said after the paparazzi followed and badgered them was along the lines of 'who would find an ordinary family so interesting? We don't do anything major and we aren't movie stars…' or something along those lines anyway.

"I hope he likes it." Scott seemed almost worried about the quality of his gift.

"You know he will. He'll be glad to know that we got him anything to be perfectly honest. The last time I asked him what he wanted for his birthday or for Christmas, he wouldn't tell me anything specific. He actually avoided answering my question all together." Virgil quirked and eyebrow at that. 'Come to think of it, Alan has never really been one to request anything for any gift exchange. He will ask us what we want, and half the time get us what we suggest, but he won't ever tell us what he wants. I wonder why? It sure makes gift shopping for the sprout difficult.'

"I wish he would tell us what he wants. I mean there must be something he wants for Christmas…and something I mean he has been dying to have. A new pair of sneakers, a shirt, hat, tattoo, tickets to his favorite band…something that most people his age would ask for." Gordon shook his head at the list of things he rattled off. 'Even if Al asked for a tattoo, it's not like we would allow him to get one. Dad always told him, no tattoos until he was old and grey.'

'It's not like Al would ever get a tattoo anyway. He's afraid of needles. I doubt he would ever go get an earring either. He is not one for causing himself pain and piercings and tattoos are probably number one on his list of no-no's.' Gordon chuckled to himself as he thought back to a time where Tin-Tin had 'innocently' suggested how handsome an earring would make Alan look. The younger blonde had looked a fright at the thought of a sharp implement getting that close to the side of his head and he'd sprinted from the room when Tin-Tin offered to pierce his ear for him with a sewing needle out of her sewing kit.

"Actually, I know of one thing he asked for." John raised his hand like a school child answering a question in class. Scott, Virgil and Gordon all stared at him like he'd just grown a second head.

"He actually asked for something for Christmas? What?" Scott stared at the iPod in his hand and looked unnerved that what he was planning on picking out wouldn't be adequate.

"Well, the clue is that it can't be bought or wrapped in pretty wrapping paper. It is something that comes naturally, and most people adore it when they have it, while others take it for granted." John gave each of his brothers a cheeky grin. Riddles were always something John had found mildly entertaining.

"Enough with the riddles John, tell us what he wants for Christmas…please? Don't make us beg!" Gordon glared slightly at John, showing the elder blonde how much he didn't appreciate John's riddle.

"Fine! I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he told me that all he wanted for Christmas was to spend it with us. He said he wanted his family." John looked between each of his brothers and saw they each had developed a watery grin…tears shining faintly in their eyes.

"He really made that request?" Gordon beamed at the thought that Alan wanted to see them all for the holiday. "You're not just making it up?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die. He really told me that was what he wanted for Christmas." John drew an invisible cross over his heart as he admitted that yes Alan had really asked for his family.

It was a simple request really, but the only thing was that he didn't know if the doctor would permit more than one person in the room with Alan. It was worth a shot to ask, it's not like the disappointment would kill them. John wondered if he could sneak a phone call to the doctor at some point before his shift ended. If the doctor agreed to allow them in with Alan, surely it would lift the sprout's somber mood that he'd had since he woke up in the hospital.

"Is that all he asked for?" Scott peered again at the iPod in his hand…mulling over whether Alan would be pleased with such a materialistic gift.

"Scott, if you don't get that for Al…then I will. He needs a new iPod, his other one was destroyed in the fire. As for your question, no he didn't ask for anything else. He fell asleep before I could get anything more out of him." John spied the iPod in Scott's hands and glared at Scott until he went to the cashier…making his purchase finally.

"Well, that is different. Are you sure he was lucid? It may have been the pain meds the doctors have him on that made him say that." Virgil looked questioningly towards John. He knew how pain meds could act like a sort of truth serum if the dosage was high enough.

"He was pretty lucid. His pain meds had worn off, and the doctor had just given him another IV push with anti-nausea and morphine in it. It hadn't even begun to enter Alan's bloodstream from the IV." John gazed at Virgil; disbelief in his eyes that Virgil believed Alan had been dishonest. "He was being totally truthful, he may have been falling asleep, but that is probably his most truthful time."

"Okay, we believe you. It's just, I am shocked. Wanting to see us all together as a family is probably one of the last things I would have imagined Alan to ask for as a Christmas gift." Scott accepted the bag with the iPod purchased for Alan from the cashier. He wasn't going to deal with wrapping it, Alan said once that receiving presents wrapped or unwrapped was fine by him. 'It was the thought that counted anyway.'

"Well, I guess I can't really say I am surprised. We all know how much he cares for us all. He grows concerned when we haven't called after a 'business meeting', he is just as bad as Scott when one of us gets sick and when we are around him, he never fails to smile around us, usually making us smile right along with him." Gordon grinned inwardly.

Alan was truly the glue that held their family together. He had given them all a reason to pick up the broken pieces and make something of themselves after the tragic death of their mother. Alan's three year old need to cuddle had been handled by their then thirteen year old giant teddy bear of a brother Scott. The need to communicate with the use of hand signals and sign language had been taught and provided by the then scholastic twelve year old John. The need to have boo-boos kissed and his closet checked for the boogey man had been handled by gentle and ever vigilant ten year old Virgil and the need for a laugh had been taken up by the fun and water loving eight year old Gordon. Everything had gone full circle because of Alan.

"That's our sprout. I knew there was a reason we'd kept him after mom and dad brought him home from the hospital." Scott mused, lightly referencing the then five year old Gordon wanting to leave the boy at the hospital in exchange for a little sister. That had been a trip. The little hellion had actually attempted to switch the anklet on their baby brother with that of another baby…thankfully due to a major difference in gender and ethnicity they had been able to locate and take the proper baby home, much to the redhead's disappointment.

"Yeah, sure blame me. It's not my fault that mom and dad got us excited with the promise we'd get a little sister." Gordon rolled his eyes at his actions that day in the hospital nursery.

"Just be glad that Mr. and Mrs. Huang noticed their precious raven haired baby girl had become a blonde haired blue eyed baby boy before they left the hospital." Scott recalled their amusement over Gordon being the culprit to the great baby exchange.

'Lucille Tracy had requested to see her baby boy an hour before her being discharged from the hospital and she nearly screamed when they handed her a baby girl that looked as delicate as a china doll. Security had been put on high alert for a potential kidnapping and Mr. and Mrs. Huang at the time were waiting to see their own precious bundle of joy in the next room over. Imagine their horror to discover their little girl had magically become a baby boy…who was crying inconsolably due to the loud sirens. The police had been called to search every person entering or exiting the hospital.

Jeff was in the hall talking to police when Mr. Huang raced out of his wife's hospital room to report his child was missing as well. Police took both Jeff and Mr. Huang in for questioning and in the meantime, Lucille and Mrs. Huang were put in a room together to await news on the whereabouts of their newest child. A couple nurses had brought the two switched babies in to make sure the new mothers hadn't misidentified their children and both women cried in relief to discover both children lying nestled in their bassinets wearing the other's switched identification tags.

The mystery had almost been solved and hospital footage revealed that Gordon had slipped the anklet off Alan's foot and swapped it with the baby in the bassinet next to him when Scott and John turned their backs to make sure Virgil didn't hurt himself when he tripped over an untied shoestring. After reviewing the hospital footage, both sets of parents laughed in amusement.' Mr. and Mrs. Huang still on occasions would meet up with the Tracy family and have a family vacation for the sake of their two youngest children. Alan and Matilda didn't understand what the big fuss was about, but they laughed along with their family over Gordon's attempt.

"You guys are never going to let me live that down are you?" Gordon covered half of his face in embarrassment. He'd been five years old! Of course at the time he'd wanted a little sister, but then he was thankful for having a little brother. Not only was he an excellent prank strategist, but Alan had been a cute little guy as a toddler and one of Gordon's most precious childhood memories had been Alan's first attempts at walking unassisted. It had been to hug the six year old when he came home from his morning kindergarten class.

"Nope, I will be reminding you of that story when we are all sitting beside each other in a nursing home, all grey in the face, shouting at each other because we refuse to use hearing aids." Scott winked at each other his brothers. That had been an ongoing joke between the five brothers and they swore they would make it happen no matter what.

"Okay, whatever! Can we go now?" Gordon wanted to get back to the hotel to hide his presents in his luggage. The bag with all the little gifts was getting heavy.

"Sure thing fish-feet. Let's go." Scott nodded with a relieved smile. He felt the dark cloud hanging over his head had begun to recede.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Dr. Andreessen knocked on Alan and Fermat's hospital suite door tentatively before entering the room. He looked between the two beds to see that both Alan and Fermat were sound asleep. Quietly approaching Alan's bed he picked up the aural thermometer and checked Alan's temperature. The doctor nodded as he quietly made note that Alan's temperature had again dropped from the 99.8 degrees he'd had before his bath to the normal 98.6. Alan's fever had successfully broken, and the boy seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Striding towards Fermat's bed Dr. Andreessen picked up the other aural thermometer to check Fermat's temperature again. Dr. Andreessen smiled to himself before he removed Fermat's glasses and set them on the bedside table. Sleeping in glasses wasn't comfortable. The thermometer beeped quietly and the doctor looked at the temperature. Fermat's temperature was the same 98.6 and he too seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Setting Fermat's aural thermometer down, Dr. Andreessen began to check the boy's oxygen supplies. Both Alan and Fermat had suffered from severe smoke inhalation and were wearing oxygen masks. Alan showed the physical symptoms of smoke inhalation because of the 1st degree burns on his face and hoarseness of his voice, while he also exhibited tachypnea, cough and wheezing which are signs that he may have acquired a lower respiratory injury from remaining in the fire for so long.

Fermat on the other hand had been fortunate to suffer from asthma. His lungs had closed up because of the stressful situation which threw him into several asthma attacks. The asthma had been able to prevent Fermat from suffering terrible smoke inhalation. Both boys were very fortunate to be alive. The police had stopped by the hospital to talk to the boys about what they remember of the fire, but Dr. Andreessen had been forced to refuse them the ability to talk to the boys. Neither Alan nor Fermat was allowed to come in contact or close range with someone who was not family.

Zach Andreessen began to make his way to let himself out of the hospital suite when he heard a soft sigh behind him. Turning around he was graced with seeing Fermat looking around, his blurred vision making seeing the doctor next to impossible. Stifling a chuckle at Fermat's search for his glasses, the doctor approached the boy's hospital bed.

"Hey there Fermat, how are you feeling?" Dr. Andreessen lowered his voice a little. He didn't want to wake Alan who was actually sleeping deeply for once. The doctor was aware of the nightmares both boys were having and he was monitoring how that was affecting their sleep cycles.

"T-Tired. W-Where's my d-dad?" Fermat raised a bandaged hand and gently brushed it along his face, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"He returned to the hotel. You've been asleep for a little over an hour." Dr. Andreessen perched on the bed to carry on the quiet conversation with the soft spoken boy.

"Oh." Fermat looked around, searching for the familiar glint of his glasses so he could put them on. Dr. Andreessen seeing the boy search for his glasses picked them up from Fermat's bedside table and put them on the boy's face. Fermat blinked repeatedly at his regained sight and peered around the doctor to check if Alan was asleep.

"Alan is doing just fine Fermat. He is actually resting peacefully right now." Dr. Andreessen offered to the grinning boy. His smile fell slightly when Fermat looked at him with a serious gaze.

"Um…w-what are t-the chances o-of seeing m-more family?" Fermat kept peering over the doctor's shoulder, looking at his slumbering best friend in the next bed across the room.

"Is there somebody else I can call for you?" The doctor gave Fermat a confused look when Fermat motioned with his hands to lean closer.

"I a-actually wanted t-to ask a f-favor. I w-wanted to k-know if i-it was p-possible to f-fulfill it." Fermat leaned up to Dr. Andreessen's ear and whispered softly. He didn't want Alan to awaken and overhear Fermat's Christmas wish. Hopefully if it could be fulfilled, it would be a splendid surprise.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

"Care to explain what you mean by that statement? What do you mean by your parental rights were revoked?" Jeff narrowed his gaze on the squirming headmaster. 'Good, he should be nervous.'

"My other son, James…Jamie is Alan's friend. Jamie is the result of an affair I had while I was still married to Robert's mother. When she found out about my infidelity, she refused to take me back and I signed the divorce papers when she gave them to me. Robert was only two years old when I had the affair. I was stupid and I made a mistake." Mr. Flynn looked like a guilty man put on trial. He refused to meet Jeff's eyes, but he continued explaining.

"When Jamie's mother found out I was still married, she broke off our relationship and left…all before Jamie was born. She was eight months pregnant with him at the time, and we were planning on starting a new life together. When I found out that she went into labor three weeks later, I tried to go into the delivery room to be with her, but security escorted me out. She refused me access in to the room to witness the birth of our…my son." Mr. Flynn fiddled with a pen on his desk as he explained to Jeff his mistake. He shifted his shoulder a little; there was a pain that kept radiating from his back to his arm.

Jeff just glared at Mr. Flynn. He was disgusted with the man. How could he enter into a vow of matrimony only to break that promise to God and his spouse? Jeff could never have ever committed such adultery against his precious Lucille. His morals and the adoration he had for the love of his life prevented him from making such ill-mannered decisions. Not only that, but he couldn't ever have imagined signing away his parental rights to his sons. They were his world, and he would rather live on the streets with nothing left to his name as opposed to making such a decision.

"It was only after Jamie was five years old when his mother and her new husband Justin…Jamie's stepfather were killed that I was permitted to see Jamie. The roads were icy and some reckless driver hit a patch of black ice going at higher than normal speeds and collided with the car that Jamie, his mother Stephanie and stepfather Justin were in." Mr. Flynn looked at Jeff, grief clear in his eyes before continuing. "Justin was killed on impact; Jamie was placed on life support and Stephanie… well she committed suicide shortly after the accident. Jamie missed both funerals and he wasn't even aware that either his mom or new dad was dead. I stepped in after that to care for Jamie and then I was offered a position here at Wharton's, so I brought him with me. I was a math instructor, and then I moved up to headmaster."

"So what you are telling me is that you relinquished your parental rights to your eldest son Robert, only to have both women turn you away at the door. How exactly did it turn out that Robert began attending this school then? Surely his mother would have chosen a different school for her son to gain his education, what with you being present." Jeff continued his narrowed gaze at Mr. Flynn. The man deserved all the malice Jeff could muster to display in his eyes. Jeff himself had been raised to honor and cherish that sacred vow of marriage and he liked to think he had raised each of his sons to respect it all the same.

"She contacted me after eleven years to inform me that she had run out of options. Robert had become a literal demon, and he was on a fast track to juvie and boot camp if he didn't straighten up. She asked me for help and all I could offer her was to give him the chance to spend time with me…she said he had always asked about his father growing up and we both agreed that this may be what he needed to get his act together." Mr. Flynn had begun to sweat. The room was becoming unbearably hot, especially in this suit.

"Unfortunately, I was informed by the courts that the revocation of my parental rights was still in active standing unless my ex-wife repealed them, and I would not be able to punish my son if he acted out in class. If I did actively punish Robert, I would lose my job and I would be fined. So see Mr. Tracy…my hands are tied when it comes to disciplining Robert. He may be my son biologically, but according to the courts he is just a boy that shares my last name, nothing more…nothing less." Mr. Flynn turned on his fan; it was getting so unbearably hot to the headmaster…he felt like he couldn't breathe.

Jeff noticed Mr. Flynn was beginning to act out of sorts. He was wheezing, his breathing was labored and heavy while he was sweating. The blood drained from the headmaster's face, and Harvey Flynn leaned back in his chair…attempting to sit in front of the fan. Jeff adopted a look of concern at how the headmaster was acting and he jumped up in alarm when the headmaster doubled over clutching the left side of his chest with a strangled cry.

"Harvey? Mr. Flynn?" Jeff sidestepped the headmaster's desk and reached the headmaster just before he collapsed from his chair.

The headmaster was groaning in pain and was short of breathe. Jeff recognized the signs of a heart attack and he reached up on the headmaster's desk to retrieve the office phone. Quickly dialing the emergency number, Jeff waited patiently for the call to be answered. He reported the signs of a heart attack to the operator after they answered and the location of where the victim was at all while simultaneously keeping the headmaster conscious and awake. As much as he didn't appreciate the headmaster's choice to punish Alan for defending himself, he surely didn't want the man to die! Jeff was doing everything in his power to extend the life of the headmaster…he wasn't getting out of here that easily.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Scott fished the key card from his jean pocket as he struggled to get in the hotel room he was sharing with his brothers. He was carrying Gordon and John and Virgil's shopping bags. Of course he was volunteered unwillingly to carry his three younger brothers shopping bags…it's not like they could carry them themselves. They just had to decide they had a hankering for hot chocolate from the restaurant. Isn't that always how the world works?

Shouldering the door open, Scott flicked the light switch, illuminating the room and the organized mess that was he and his brothers. Virgil's emergency overnight bag was shoved in the corner beside the lounge chair, it was half open, and a medical journal could be seen peeking out from within, John's overnight bag was sitting on top of the coffee table, devoid of the surrounding mess and Gordon's…well it looked like he had an atom bomb go off from inside his luggage. Scott located his own overnight bag and found it right where he left it…shoved underneath the edge of his and John's bed.

Crouching down in front of the bed, Scott removed his overnight bag from underneath the bed and opened it to see one of the first things he had grabbed from his bedroom back on the island. It was kind of girly to have one, but he had grabbed his mother's old locket from his dresser. He flipped it open briefly to see a picture his mom had placed inside it and it was a picture of Scott sitting on the hospital bed beside his mom holding the newborn baby Alan.

After the death of their mother, Scott had taken his mother's locket from her jewelry box and held onto it. Scott's dad had given all of Lucy Tracy's jewelry to his mother to place in a safe on Tracy farm, he couldn't bear to separate with his wife's jewelry and had decided to hold onto her necklaces and rings for each of his son's to give to their wives or daughters. This one locket however had been Lucille Tracy's favorite, and she called it her good luck charm.

This locket in particular was unique however. It was one that Jeff, Scott's dad had commissioned for Lucille months before the birth of their fifth son Alan. Upon opening this unique locket, you were greeted with the image of Scott at ten years of age beaming with pride over becoming a big brother again all while holding his new baby brother Alan. Lift up on the first picture and you were greeted with a picture of John holding the newborn Alan and again with Virgil and Gordon.

The reason Scott grabbed it was because he felt closer to his mom when he carried it with him. Over the years he considered it to be his own good luck charm and he'd worn it every day when he was in the Air Force. Scott figured that now he wasn't the one in need of luck, it was Alan who needed it the most. Scott hadn't known that Alan was going to be hurt when he went out on that Wharton rescue, but Alan sadly had been. Making the decision, Scott decided to present the locket to his kid brother. Alan had always loved to look at the locket when Scott let him, and he had always asked to wear it. It was something Scott considered precious and he hadn't wanted it to be lost.

Scott tossed it in the air slightly, before catching it in a tight fist. He slipped the necklace over his head and tucked it down into his shirt. It was safer on him right now than in his luggage. The door swung open and John followed by Virgil and Gordon all came in the room. The three younger Tracy's were laughing at something unknown to the elder brother and all he could do was raise an eyebrow in question at them.

"I can't believe he did that. I mean it was just a tip." Gordon covered the side of his face as he laughed.

"You should have known he would act that way! What kind of person gives a ten dollar tip for four mugs of hot chocolate?" Virgil gaped at Gordon all while trying to stifle his own laughter. John on the other hand could hardly speak for he was laughing much too hard.

"A-A nice person…that's what! It is the season for giving after all." Gordon tried to get his laughter under control, but was quickly losing.

"So, what's shaking?" Scott looked between each of his younger brothers and rolled his eyes at their inability to control their laughter. You probably had to have been there.

"G-Gordon gave the waiter a big tip and the man just about fainted. He looked at the large tip, and took off at a dead run back into the kitchen. It was like he had never seen a tip so large before in his life." Virgil was smiling while informing Scott of what was so funny.

"He probably hadn't. Not many people are that giving." Scott shrugged at his brothers. It wasn't that funny. What Scott said immediately sobered up his chuckling brothers and they all had a wistful look on their faces.

"Well, as sad and as true as that statement is…I am glad I did it. Everyone could use a little something to make their holiday season a little bit brighter." Gordon grinned sheepishly at each of his brothers.

"Hmm, I never would have figured you to be a giving type of person Gordo…it's usually nothing but pranks with you." John elbowed Gordon in the ribs slightly.

"Hey I resent that. I can be a very giving person." Gordon glared playfully at John while crossing his arms.

"Yeah, giving of pranks. How many have I been on the receiving end of?" John looked over a Gordon with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm…far too many to count…but then if you wait you can probably expect another prank to pop up around the corner." Gordon stuck his tongue out at the older blonde before hopping up on the bed that Scott was crouched by. "Whatcha doing' Scott?"

"I wasn't doing anything in particular." Scott shrugged again at his brothers before shoving his duffle bag back under the bed. Rocking back onto his heels, he failed to notice how close his shoulder was to the night stand. Brushing his shoulder against the corner of the nightstand, he failed to catch the object he'd knocked off of it.

"Whoa, watch it Scott! Alan would likely kill us if we damaged this." Gordon reached out with the reflexes only older siblings seemed capable of having and caught the photo album Scott knocked off the nightstand. "Phew, that was close!" Gordon brushed away invisible sweat…he acted as if he had just saved the entire world.

"No kidding." Virgil held out his hand to accept the album from Gordon when he held out the large book. Gordon handed the photo album over to Virgil before noticing something shimmering on the nightstand. Looking over, he spotted a DVD in a paper sleeve. Written in Alan's neat hand writing were the words "Where do I begin?"

"What's this?" Gordon picked up the DVD and looked at it, before flipping it over…as if to locate a clue as to what may be on it.

"That is a DVD I found in Al's photo album. It fell out earlier when I picked it up." Virgil took it from Gordon, before mimicking Gordon's actions of looking it over. "I am quite curious to find out what is on it."