Lenna asked for prompt 59: 'I can't give up. They need me so I can never give up.'

Alan was many things.

Astronaut. Pilot. Race car driver (ok – online only at the moment…) Integral member of International Rescue.

But at the moment he was one thing.

Youngest brother.

Youngest brother meant that sometimes his older brothers forgot what he was and only remembered who he was.

Youngest brother meant he was left behind because 'we don't need everyone, and you might be needed…'

Youngest brother meant he wasn't there physically, but he saw and heard everything and could do nothing about it.

The men had come out of nowhere, and some Taser blasts later his three brothers were bundled into a truck and they disappeared. John, also helpless and watching from space, locked down the 'birds, and despite everything that had just happened, Alan laughed when the men tried to get into them and were bounced off by the forcefield.

'Ha! How do you like it!'

But that just brought home what had happened, and Alan looked to John. John was frowning and Alan didn't need to be there to know his fingers would be flying. The frown was worrying. He didn't need to hear the words when they came.

'I've lost them. Their shielding.'

Alan closed his eyes. This – this was his worse nightmare, ever since Scott had sat him down as an eleven-year-old and explained that his dad had gone. Intellectually, he knew that if he had gone he would have been captured, but he just knew that if he had been there it would have been different.

Damn his brothers.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

It had been five days since they had been taken. John and EOS had remote-piloted the 'birds back and John had come down. He'd been down ever since. The GDF was – kinda – helping search. Alan and John were running searches and contacting people, trying to find something, anything, to give them a clue. Penny and Kayo were running sources to ground, even Parker had been contacting old friends.

There had been no demands made.

That frightened him more than anything else.

Sally was becoming increasingly worried about both her grandsons. They were running themselves into the ground trying to find their brothers, not that she could blame them and not that she was much better. But they needed rest otherwise they would not be in any fit state to rescue them. She'd never get John to stop, they had been through this before, but Alan needed the rest.

'Alan, sweetheart, you need to stop and take a break.' The mere thought of stopping started the beginnings of a panic attack. Stop? How could he stop? Seeing the look of horror on his face, Sally came over and pulled Alan onto the couch. 'Breathe, kid. Breathe.' Alan did.

'I can't stop now. I can't give up. They need me, I can never give up,' he wheezed out. Sally rolled her eyes. Just like a Tracy. Totally overreaction to what she said. 'I'm not asking you to give up, Alan. I'm asking you to take a break. You need to be fresh as you'll need to pilot when we find them.'

'Oh.' That was all that he could say to that. His Grandma was right – John was in no fit state to pilot either 'bird. He needed to be ready. Jumping off the couch, giving his Grandma a brief but tight hug, he rushed off to his room, flinging a 'thanks, Grandma' over his shoulder.

Sally chuckled. He was no different to any of his brothers really.

Eight hours later Alan was shaken awake. It was John. He was wide-eyed and smiling.

'We've found them. Suit up.'