Waking up, in the middle of a cuddle puddle, after the family reunion, felt amazing, for all of the Tracy brothers. The "love hormone" oxytocin had been released into their body's, causing them to feel warm and fuzzy inside. A great improvement, opposed to the constant state of distress, the brothers had found themselves in since the youngest twos disappearance. The joy of finally being together again, after being unexpectedly separated, was slowly sinking in.
The older Tracy's couldn't stop themselves from fussing over their youngest ones. It was a testament, to the severity of the situation at hand, that neither Alan nor Gordon protested their brother's conduct. The terrible twos usual objections, towards being smothered with brotherly love and concern, were nowhere to be found.
The boys were, shortly after waking up, joined by the island's physician Frank. Frank had dropped by the infirmary room, to examine Alan and administer more medications.
Virgil and Frank immediately flew into a deeper discussion regarding Alans health status, compared to their first conversation just a few hours earlier. Noticing rapidly, that the rest of the family were listening to their every word. They put a pause to their discussion. Frank took it upon himself, with Alan's consent, to explain his health status to the entire family.
Wanting to find out exactly what was wrong with their little Alligator, the brothers focused all of their attention towards Frank. The Tracy's listened intently to Frank's summary.
Alans brothers' facial expressions were turned into pure horror, as they learned precisely how close they had come to losing their youngest brother forever. Alan, on the other hand, looked almost embarrassed at the overwhelming attention centred around him.
Frank explained to the family, that Alan had almost drowned upon first entering this world. His drowning led to cardiac arrest which was, thanks to Gordon, quickly treated. In doing so, Gordon saved Alans life.
Alan had responded exceptionally well to the CPR-treatment and thankfully regained a normal heart rhythm after a few minutes. The fact that he received and responded to the CPR treatment so quickly, had dramatically increased his chances of survival.
Even though Alans odds of survival increased with the rapid intervention, his condition had been critical. Alan had defeated the insurmountable odds and thus, became a part of the slim, exclusive group of drowning induced heart failure survivors, with a seven percent survival rate.
Frank's explanation was interrupted by audible gasps from Alans brothers. Alan was quickly engulfed in a hug from John who sat beside him.
"Oh Allie!" John managed to choke out, sounding heartbroken upon the realisation of exactly how close he had come to losing his little space bro.
Half a second passed, before they were joined by the rest of their brothers in a tight group hug.
"Guys! I'm all right! I am still here! Can we please let Frank finish his explanation and deal with all this emotional stuff afterwards?" Alan requested, feeling a bit uncomfortable, the fierce group hug from his brothers had caused his ribs to hurt.
Alans brothers, had in their terror, forgotten to be mindful of his broken ribs, sustained during the CPR. Alan didn't have the heart, to tell them that they accidentally caused him pain with their hug. Alan had missed their hugs something fiercely and would not do anything that would discourage his brothers from keeping them coming.
To Alans surprise, his brothers actually listened to him. That usually didn't happen. Was it the tone of his voice? His brothers' protective instincts during "smother-hen mode", usually trumped all requests of easing up, from the smothered brother. Maybe his pain shone through his voice?
They reluctantly let Alan escape their encapsulating embrace, but they didn't dare to stray too far away from him. All four brothers settling down within an arm's reach of Alan. Subconsciously, feeling the need to stay close, making sure that Alan was still there, breathing, with them.
Seeing that the brothers had settled down and was ready to hear the rest, Frank continued explaining Alans medical condition. He explained that as a complication of the drowning Alan develop pneumonia, this was the cause of his fever and cough, as well as a big contributing factor to his fatigue.
Thankfully, Alan had avoided developing sepsis. Likely thanks to the close monitoring and rapid medical treatment. Alan broke a few ribs during the CPR. This was unfortunately a normal complication. They would heal in time but made him currently quite uncomfortable.
Alan had hit his head on the metal railing, before falling into the ocean. The blunt force trauma caused a mild concussion. The wound on his head was healing nicely. The concussion caused Alans light- and noise sensitivity as well as his dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Alan had collapsed earlier during the night, because he pushed himself too far. His body shut down temporarily in order to force Alan to rest. Frank was finally finished with updating everybody on Alans condition.
After this explanation of Alans condition, Virgil and Frank started assessing Alan's current status together. Virgil had already received the cliff-note version of Alans condition when they arrived in the infirmary and thus could delay processing the new information.
After the examination, Virgil and Frank started discussing their recommended medical approaches with each other. This was the moment all of Virgil's brothers lost the red thread of the conversation, thus choosing to stop listening in on the conversation, leaving the "Medheds" to discuss Alans treatment alone.
Scott and John lost themselves in their own thoughts, in order to process this new information. They were still staying close to Alan, seemingly afraid that he would disappear if they looked away. Gordon could relate to that, having experienced the same conundrum himself.
Gordon felt immense relief, by not being the sole responsible family member, caring for their sick youngest brother. The immense support of his older brothers gave him, by just being his side was incredible. It filled Gordon with confidence and hope. Together, the Tracy's were a force to be reckoned with. Together, they could do almost anything. Helping Alan get better and going home didn't seem insurmountable to Gordon anymore.
Gordon was certain that Virgil would help make Alan better. Virgil had always done that, their entire lives! He was proven correct when he overheard bits and pieces of Frank's and Virgil's discussion, it sounded promising.
Gordon was seemingly not the only one, who noticed how uncomfortable Alan got, when they were told of his condition. John was already working on making Alan feel better by distracting him. Sitting closely together on Alans bed, John slung an arm around his shoulders and started telling Alan about how he discovered a new star.
John had found the star, with EOS help, shortly before they went missing. John told Alan that he wanted help with coming up with an appropriate name. Alan became ecstatic as he started brainstorming potential names together with John and EOS. Demanding more information in order to name it properly.
John managed to turn Alans previous frown upside down, as Alan now was looking like an overexcited puppy. If Gordon squinted, he could almost see a wagging tail behind Alan. Maybe that was the sleep deprivation talking.
John had always been superior, when it came to effectively distract Alan's mind when he was distraught. John mastered the skill, after their mother's unfortunate passing, by taking care of toddler Alan.
Gordon didn't remember a lot from that time, being so young himself. But despite that, Gordon clearly remembers going to find John several times, in order to help with an inconsolable sobbing Alan.
Obviously, this was only used as a last resort when Gordon failed to cheer a crying Alan up. Big brother instincts were genetic in the Tracy family. Of course, Gordon tried to fix the problem himself first before finding help. Being a small child himself, didn't stop that Tracy trait.
Scott, had always managed to make both Alan and Gordon feel incredibly safe. Taking on a parental role after the loss of their parents. Gordons squid sense for trouble was only rivalled by Scott's impeccable brother sense. The oldest Tracy brother always seemed to know when one of his brothers needed him.
This time, was no different than usual. Scott seemed to realise how unsettled and exhausted Gordon felt. Gordons father figure took his hand and dragged him down to the bed beside Alan. He laid Gordon down, climbing on to the same bed beside him, Scott hugged him close.
Gordon didn't need any more words right now. Scott's presence was enough, as Gordon relaxed and cuddled further into his brothers embrace. Gordon was slowly lulled to sleep by Scott's reassuring hand patting his back, together with the sound of his other brother's voices.
Virgil and Frank quickly discovered large differences regarding their respective world's medical recommendations and abilities. After discussing their differences in available medications with Virgil, they came up with a plan of action and implemented it. Virgil had practically brought along half of their infirmary back at home. Together they decided to swich over to the applicable medications he had brought along that were more effective.
Frank was an amazing physician and had done all that was medically possible for Alan with this universes medicine. He had saved his life. This Tracy family would always be grateful for that.
The different universes had quite a big difference between them regarding the medical field's development. With around 60 years' time difference, this came at no real surprise to Frank. They had more time to research and develop new treatments compared to his universe.
The most intriguing part to Frank, was just how far they had come in those years! Virgil administrated anti-nausea medications and Alan responded brilliantly to it! The had finally found an anti-cough medicine that really was effective.
More effective pain relief, with less side effects were something Frank practically drooled over. Virgil explained to Frank, that an alternative medicine to antibiotics were discovered, as the multi resistance bacteria towards antibiotics had grown to prevalent in their world, unfortunately rendering antibiotics ineffective altogether.
With the new medications taking effect, Alan already looked a little bit better. He still had a long way to go in order to heal. But his symptoms were better managed this way. Time and rest were still crucial for his body to heal from the trauma it had endured, not even sixty years of medical scientific progress could change that fact.
Alan, surprisingly, felt well enough to want to attempt joining the brunch his counterpart and the Kyrano's had prepared. He did not want to miss out on the meal now that he could stomach some real food.
Time flew by and the, to John, promised family brunch and meeting were ready to begin.
Frank insisted on taking Alan to the dining room in a wheelchair, in order to be on the safe side. Alan's protests were quickly shot down by his brothers. Alan decided to pick his battles and gave in to the groups demand.
The group were led by Frank towards the dining room. The heavenly scent of freshly made bread floated through the kitchen.
Suddenly, Gordon exclaimed "Yes! It is the heavenly cloud bread! You are absolutely wonderful, Onaha!".
Gordon's older brothers were intrigued by his enthusiastic declaration. They shared the thought that this was going to be an intriguing meeting, to say the least.
They had no idea of how right they were.