"Scotty, my tummy hurts" Alan complains.
Scott has to listen to this on a daily basis. Ever since Alan started the fourth grade, he has tried to find ways to get out of having to go to school. And he is not falling for it. Again! Besides, he has enough on his plate with John incapacitated by a broken leg.
"Get up. Get dressed and be downstairs ready for breakfast in the next ten minutes" Scott replies rolling his eyes before moving onto the other bed in the room.
Gordon is buried deep under the covers, curled up into a ball. "Come on Gords, time to get up" Scott tells him, gently shaking his shoulder.
"Just five more minutes mom" Gordon replies sleepily.
"No. Now!" Scott replies, taking away his blanket.
"Okay. Fine, I'm up. What's for breakfast?" Gordon asks uncurling his body and stretching his arms above his head.
"I have no idea. It's Virgil's week" Scott replies.
Ever since their father went missing Scott has found himself the guardian of his four younger brothers. He has given up his own hopes and dreams to raise his siblings, college plans became an online correspondence course, completed in the dead of the night once they have been fed and their homework checked, and they are safely tucked up in bed.
But he doesn't mind, not really. The good times outweigh all of his doubts. Thanks to his father's multi-billion-dollar empire, there are seven figure trust funds for each of them just waiting until they turn eighteen, expertly managed by a team he would trust with his life.
It would have been easy to hire a nanny, someone who would raise them in his place. They are sweet and lovable, and he knows that anyone would love to take care of them, but he can't. They're his.
Breakfast is always chaotic, and today is no exception. Gordon is attacking the stack of pancakes like he has never seen food before. John is sitting at the end of the table, crutches leaning up against the table, his casted limb resting on a spare chair. Virgil is pouring himself his third cup of coffee.
Alan wanders into the kitchen, still in his pyjamas. "Virgy, I don't feel good" he mumbles.
"Go back to bed, Scott will bring you something to eat in a bit" Virgil replies.
"Fine. Alan Go back upstairs" Scott tells him, knowing that if he doesn't agree to stay home with Alan, then Virgil will. And this is Virgil's last year of high school, and he really does not want him missing class unnecessarily.
"Okay" Alan replies before leaving the kitchen, not even begging for breakfast.
"Now you three get going or you'll be late Virgil, remember you agreed to go grocery shopping after school before picking Gordon up from Swimming practise and John from astronomy club. Remember Gordon one more detention this term and you're banned from the pool for a week!" Scott tells the three boys still left in the kitchen. He has each of their schedules on a large wall calendar that takes up most of the kitchen wall above the table, Gordons swim practise and meets, Virgil's piano and art lessons and recitals and the big exhibition he has been inviting to join, Johns extra curriculars – Science club, mathletes, astronomy club, Alans after school playdates, and of course rescue scouts for all four boys. But they all know he doesn't need the schedule. He knows exactly where his brothers are at any time. A mix of intuition and experience.
Virgil rounds his brothers up and herds them into his car, John getting in the back so he can stretch his leg out on the back seat, while Gordon tries Virgil's out for size.
"Nice try fish move over" Virgil tells him, with a gentle push to get him to slide into the other seat.
"Do you think Scott was serious about the ban?" Gordon asks, as Virgil pulls out the driveway.
"Yes, so be good!" Virgil replies laughing.
"Aren't I always good?" Gordon asks, ignoring the roar of laughter from the back seat.
"Do you even know the meaning of the word?" John asks.
"Yes, I am just not a fan of the definition" Gordon replies, turning round and poking his tongue out at him.
Virgil ignores their banter as he drives towards Gordons school, turning into the parking lot and watching as he hops out and runs over to his friends. Making sure he is safely inside the building before he turns the car around and finishes the short drive over to the high school.
*TB*
"Scotty, I'm dying" Alan says, walking into the office where he is trying to complete some paperwork for Tracy Enterprises.
"What's wrong?" Scott asks, amused.
"Don't laugh at me" Alan whines. "I am really dying this time"
"Mmm-hm" Scott replies, Alan doesn't look ill and does not have a fever. Scott knows letting him take the day off was a bad idea, he really should have just sent him to school. "Go and get comfortable on the sofa, and I will bring you a glass of water"
"But I want milkshake, and a bar of chocolate" Alan replies.
"I thought you said your tummy hurt?" Scott asks.
"It does, and chocolate makes me feel better"
"So does a one-way ticket to boarding school" says Scott, getting up from the desk and taking Alan into the lounge. "Come on, let's get you more comfortable."
Alan clings to him, and Scott finally realises that he isn't sick. He just wants his big brother.
"Alan are you really feeling ill? Be honest with me." Scott asks.
"No. But I hate school" Alan replies sadly. "It was fine last year when Gordon was there, but now I just feel so alone all the time. Nobody likes me, they all think I am weird. The other kids make fun of me all the time and call me orphan boy. The teachers hate me because I am cleverer than they are."
Scott sits down on the sofa next to him, his arms wrapped around him. "You have to go to school. If you don't, they will take you away from us and you would hate that even more. That's the law, but I won't have anyone picking on you. I will make an appointment to speak to your teacher."
"The law sucks Scotty" Alan replies.
"Yeah it does." Scott tells him.
They are both snuggled up on the sofa watching Pirates of the Caribbean when Scott's phone rings, and he groans when he realises it is Gordon's school. The last time he got this phone call his idiot brother got suspended for a week for getting caught climbing the flagpole with a pair of underpants which he attached to the flag and left blowing in the wind.
"Sorry Al, I have to get this" Scott says, pausing the movie and swiping his finger across the screen.
"Scott Tracy speaking? Excuse me? He has done what?!" Scott exclaims. "Okay, we will meet you at the hospital"
Hanging up, Scott turns to Alan, who is now genuinely pale. The last time he was in hospital it was because John broke his leg, falling from the roof of the barn star gazing.
"Come on Allie, we need to go" Scott tells him.
"Why?" Alan asks.
"I don't have time for questions" Scott replies, "now go and get dressed"
"You never do!" Alan tells him before storming upstairs.
*TB*
"I'm fine!" Gordon insists, fifteen minutes later, through the oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth. The words cause him to cough violently, before he shudders with pain and falls still.
"I still don't get it, what on earth happened to you?" Scott asks.
"Well it was like this…" Gordon begins, but can't continue. The dull ache in his chest is getting worse the longer he lies there.
"Gordon?" Alan asks. "Gordy breathe. Scott do something!"
"I tried to save him" Gordon manages to croak before his eyes close. "I'm sorry Scott"
Gordons gym teacher was the one who made to call to Scott and leaving Alan with him Scott goes to find him, hoping that he has not left yet. He would have spoken to him first, but his priority was Gordon.
"How is he?" Mr Lovell asks. Scott had this man for gym himself in middle school, and if he remembers correctly so did his father! He remembers him as a strict but fair teacher.
"Asleep, what exactly happened, he isn't with it enough to say anything" Scott asks.
"There was a porcupine in the school pool, the poor creature was so waterlogged it couldn't move, I have no idea how it got in there, but you know your brother, he can't resist trying to help anything in distress, human or not. Gordon dived in fully clothed, and managed to get it over to the side and into the waiting towel for an emergency trip to the vet – it is going to be fine, by the way – but Gordon slipped getting out and fell back into the water. He inhaled a large amount of it in shock and very nearly drowned." Mr Lovell tells him.
"Fool" Scott replies fondly. Knowing that he would have done the exact same thing in Gordons position, these boys cannot stand to see suffering.
"Don't be too hard on him Scott, he is a hero" Mr Lovell insists with a smile. "I am going to get back to school, if you need anything at all just let me know"
"Thank you, Mr Lovell" Scott replies, realising that he doesn't know his first name.
He is just turning to leave when Virgil and John come bursting into the corridor.
"Scott, where is he?" Virgil asks.
"Through here, he's fine, don't panic" Scott tells them, getting straight to their unanswered questions and following them back into Gordon's room.
Gordon is still asleep the mask supplying his exhausted lungs with fresh oxygen with every breath he takes.
"How did you two find out he was in the hospital?" Scott asks, even though he is not surprised to see them.
"It is all over the high school that some idiot in the seventh grade nearly drowned rescuing a skunk from the pool, we just assumed it was Gordon so I called one of his friends and here we are" Virgil replies.
"It was a porcupine" Gordon croaks from the bed. "Scott it hurts" he mumbles before another violent coughing fit takes over his body.
"Breathe Gordy" Virgil tells him.
"I can't it hurts too much" Gordon replies, whimpering.
"in and out, come on you can do it" Virgil encourages him, trying to sync his own breathing to match Gordons, while Scott goes to find a doctor.
"I just want to go to sleep" Gordon tells him, struggling to make himself heard through the mask.
The doctor is not one they recognise, which is unusual when they consider how many hours they have spent here! "I think a mild sedative and a short holiday here will do the trick" the doctor announces.
Gordon doesn't even protest, he will stay here forever if he has too, and allows the doctor to sedate him.
With Gordon finally sleeping peacefully, Scott orders his brothers to go home.
*TB*
"Did you call grandma?" John asks, while Virgil takes the burgers from the freezer and shoves them under the grill.
"Not yet, I didn't want to worry her" Scott replies.
Grandma has offered to move in to help him out, even reminding him that she can look after his brothers for him while he goes to college for real, but Scott doesn't need the help, he is coping perfectly well on his own.
"She cares about us Scott" Virgil replies.
"I know, but I don't want her here" Scott tells him.
"Why?" Alan demands to know.
Scott bursts into tears. "Because she will find out the truth about us. The truth that Alan will not go to school, and that John got injured falling from the roof, or that Gordon nearly drowned today, and god knows what you are going through Virg, because I haven't even opened your report card. I am nineteen years old; I shouldn't have grey hairs"
"I am calling Grandma" Virgil insists. "Scott you don't have to do this alone."
*TB*
Grandma agrees to stay until Gordon is released from the hospital, then until Christmas, then easter and before they know it she has taken over the responsibilities Scott thought were his alone, and he finds himself relegated to being their big brother once again.
They still give him grey hairs, even when he is thousands of miles away in college he finds that he never stops worrying, but he will never deny being relieved that there was someone out there who could help, reminding him once and for all that he is not alone in the world.