Sorry in the slight delay in story updates lately, we're having a heatwave at the moment and the heat is so exhaustive I just really haven't felt up to writing!

But here's part 2. Hope you have a blast reading it!

14 years later…

"Hey Alan, I've got a GREAT idea."

Alan looked up from his tennis magazine to see the devious smirk plastered on his older brother's face. "Oh no. I know that look and I don't want to be privy to any of those crazy ideas you've got running around in that chaotic brain of yours." Alan replied, turning the page.

Gordon's smirk just widened, swiping the magazine from his brother's hands. "Wrong answer."

"Gordon…"

Gordon lifted the magazine above his head. Alan's eyes followed it and he stood up, trying to grab it back. Gordon pushed him away and galloped across the lounge, stopping by the doorway which lead to the bedroom corridor. "Come hither."

Alan groaned and shuffled over to him, peering at his watch for good measure. Gordon started skipping down the corridor and stopped outside Scott's bedroom, tossing Alan's magazine inside it like a frisbee. It landed askew in the middle of the room, and Alan scowled at his brother, who just beamed at him.

Alan rolled his eyes as he passed Gordon and on entering Scott's bedroom, paused when he saw a pile of duvet covers and blankets casually sitting by the bay window at the back of the room.

"Um… what?"

"Fort with a view?"

"What?"

"Don't be so dense." Gordon chuckled, shutting the door behind him and locking it so no other brothers could suddenly wander in and find them up to no good.

Alan caught on, his eyes widening. "You can't be serious."

"I am VERY serious."

Alan looked into Gordon's amber eyes and could tell he was being one hundred percent serious. "Oh no."

"Oh yes."

"In Scott's room?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's Scott! He'll totally flip when he sees what you've done! And if HE doesn't, Dad will!"

Now it was Gordon's turn to roll his eyes. "Lighten up, will ya? We haven't had a rescue in weeks and I need to do something productive before I go stir-crazy."

"And here's me thinking you were already stir-crazy."

Alan received a pillow to the face.

"So are you gonna help me or not?"

Alan sighed, conceding defeat. "What do you want me to do?"

Gordon's smile widened. "Remember storm season back in 2051?"

Alan smiled fondly. "Yeah. I remember."

"I want to make THAT- but bigger."

"I gotcha." Alan found himself grinning at Gordon's determination.

Gordon picked up the first of Scott's bed covers. "Then let's get to work!"

Scott yawned as he crossed the lounge, a blue towel wrapped around his neck. He'd been swimming for the past hour or so and the pool had been surprisingly empty, which was practically unheard of considering one of the family was probably a fish in his past life. This was due to the fact he was almost ALWAYS in the pool and had been ever since birth.

But his fair-headed brother hadn't been in it at all that afternoon, so Scott had taken this time to sweep up his swimming skills and challenge himself to beat Gordon's impressive lap time.

Unfortunately for Scott, he didn't even come close.

Deciding to reward his efforts anyway, Scott detoured into the kitchen, still dripping a little with pool water, and made his way over to the fridge, where he retrieved half a bottle of Fruit Punch flavoured Gatorade. He nudged the fridge door shut with his leg and grabbed the last remaining cream doughnut from the box his grandmother had prepared the day before, then span on his heel and exited.

Taking a bite out of the doughnut as he crossed the empty lounge, Scott wondered where everyone else was. Normally their father could be found at his desk ninety-nine percent of the time, but it was empty - as were the lounge chairs that were normally occupied by other members of the Tracy household.

Shrugging the thought off, Scott finished his treat and made his way towards the bedroom corridor. He soon reached his own room and when he tried the handle, he found the door locked. Frowning, he tried manually opening it again, more aggressively, then knocked on the door loudly.

"Hey, who's in there?"

There was no reply.

Scott's frown deepened and he took a swig from his drink. He knocked the door with his leg while his hands were occupied, and his banging soon attracted the attention of Virgil, who came out of his room covered in flecks of paint.

"Scott? What's the matter?"

"My door won't open and I need to take a shower!" he told his younger brother with annoyance. "What have you been doing?"

"Producing a masterpiece." came a tinny voice from Virgil's watch. "Can you lift me up, Virg?"

"Sorry John." Virgil yawned, holding up his wrist so Scott could see him. "Have you tried the passcode?"

Scott ran his fingers over the small control panel next to the door frame, typing in Alan's birthday. An incorrect code message popped up.

"Hey, who's changed my password?"

Virgil laughed. "Oh that's gotta be Gordon."

Scott scowled and banged on his door. "Gordon! I know you're behind this! Open the door!"

Silence.

"Gordon!"

Laughter.

Scott shot Virgil an irritated look. His brother just laughed at him.

Scott sighed. "John, mind overriding the password on my door?"

"Two ticks." his blonde brother could be heard tapping away at his control tablet. A few seconds passed, and John started laughing.

"What is it?"

"Overridden your new password, Scott. Wanna know what he changed it to?"

A simultaneous chorus of "no" and "yes" came from Scott and Virgil.

"444Trifleman444."

Virgil burst out laughing. The fours were obviously referring to the culprit in question, and Trifleman was an obvious rip on Rifleman, an incredibly old television show Scott sometimes watched.

Scott's scowl deepened and he banged on the door again. "If you don't open this door right now I'll break it down. Gordon, are you listening? I need a shower!"

It was Scott's last remark that caused his younger brothers to crack, just because of how pathetic he sounded. After a few moments of listening to some suspicious shuffling inside of his room, the door slid open. Scott and Virgil were greeted by a beaming Gordon - usually a bad sign.

"Howdy fellas!" he grinned.

"Never mind howdy," Scott pushed past his younger sibling. "What are you doing in he-" he stopped.

"Ta-da!" Gordon cheered, posing his arms towards the structure propped up against Scott's bay window.

"-what…" Scott turned to Gordon. "What is THAT doing in here?"

"It's huge!" Virgil chortled, holding up his watch for John to see. "It's consumed almost half of his room!"

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, I'm gonna go take a shower. When I come back out, I want this thing gone. Do you understand?"

"Don't be like that, Scotty." Alan popped his head out of the tent. "Hey Virg, Johnny. Come on in!"

Virgil found himself chuckling again as he crossed the room and knelt at the foot of the fort. "Wow, did you guys really wire up his Xbox to the T.V in here?"

"Too bad I'm not Earthside to see it in person!"

Virgil popped his head back out to see Gordon arguing with Scott about dumping a blanket fort in his room. Not wanting to deal with them at that moment, he crawled all the way in and shortly, Gordon joined them.

"Don't go out there, he's naked."

Alan snickered.

The three men sat in the fort and played Xbox.

Once Scott had showered and had redressed himself, he'd joined his siblings inside the blanket fort. He, Virgil and John were talking about a few countries John was currently monitoring for incidents, while Gordon and Alan played on the console.

"Come on, come on- that's no fair, you cheated!" Alan complained.

"You just suck."

"It's a racing game. I'm a racing champion! You're obviously cheating because you know you'll never beat me!"

"Don't be such a sore loser, Al." Gordon smirked.

"Boys?" came a deep voice from outside the tent.

"It's dad!" Alan hissed.

Their father poked his head through the flap of the fort. "Is this where you all are?"

"No, I'm actually still in the swimming pool." Gordon received a glare from his father for the remark and lowered his head.

"Care to explain why you're all cooped up in here?"

"Well… um… me and Gordon were bored so decided to do something constructive…" Alan sheepishly started.

"And, well, me, John and Virg were so impressed with their build we didn't really have the heart to take it down… yet." Scott finished.

"I see." Jeff replied, mouth cracking up into a smile. "Well you boys ought to know it's almost dinner time, and your grandmother would like some assistance in the kitchen."

"Yes sir."

"Okay father."

"We'll go right now!"

"No problem!"

The four men rushed out of the fort and pushed their way out of Scott's room, darting for the kitchen.

The Tracy patriarch took a moment to stare at the blanket fort in its full glory. He remembered the times when he used to come home from work and find similar structures propped up in all five of his sons' rooms, and there was one time when he found them all asleep inside of it, during a particularly harsh and stormy day.

Jeff chuckled.

Some things never changed.