A/N: Finally! An update! I hadn't realized so much time had passed since my last update. It's been tough going. My schooling has kept me from writing and thank god I only have like twelve weeks left. I feel like I spend all my available time kicking my brain around the floor, trust me it's not pretty. It's all worth it though, I've got a 4.0 so far - now if I can just keep it up. I'm not making any promises, but maybe as the schooling season comes to a close, I'll be able to find more time to write. I have to set aside time as it is because I'm just too busy with essays, tests, quizzes and worksheets and work.
As a heads up, I'll be moving back home come June/July so I may be extremely limited in updates until I can get all my junk packed up. With my schooling done, I'll be able to breathe and possibly update more frequently than every couple months.
But enough with my rambling, please enjoy and keep in mind that any reviews if any critiques are offered that they are constructive criticism. No flames, if you don't like, then don't read.
And one last thing...I've never had to sit in traffic for more than an hour in the Northwest...I've never been to Massachusetts so I don't know how different traffic is in comparison. I intentionally made the traffic bad for the story, so if it's not that bad in reality I'm sorry.
Thanks in advance for reviews!
Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010
Alan held his breath as he was transferred from the bed that he'd grown accustomed to using in the hospital to a gurney. He hated the feeling of weightlessness. It was a source of teasing from his brothers, despite Alan's desire to drive fast or other things that defied gravity – Alan despised the weightless feeling. He preferred his feet being firmly planted on the floor or ground.
"Okay Alan, you ready to go?" Dr. Andreesen asked after he and Dr. McNulty with the help of a couple nurses moved Alan to the gurney. Alan was sitting up, blanket swaddled around him as the straps were fastened over his legs, waist and chest to keep him immobile. Alan was left on the gurney as the doctors and nurses went to prepare Fermat for transport. He and Fermat smiled to the other after they were ready to go and gave each other thumbs up.
Alan's gurney was first and he talked with the nurses that he'd grown attached to. They went out to the hall and Alan and Fermat were taken by surprise when they saw they had a little farewell party. Skye, Chad, Brook, Danny and Ben were waiting by the nurse's station.
"Hey, you guys didn't need to come see us off." Alan said when the medical transport stopped to give the boys time to talk to the friends they'd made during their stay in the hospital.
"B-But we sure d-do appreciate it." Fermat said as he offered a smile to the other kids.
"Nothing we'd rather be doing than giving you two a proper send off." Danny said as he walked over, limp still present despite being the one with the longest hospital stay out of all of them. "You guys will be fine in the big bad world. Though not everyone is gonna be as nice as us, you know."
Alan offered a hand up to Danny and they firmly clasped their hands together, smirking to the other like a couple of friends that wouldn't be seeing each other for a long time. Which was true, sadly. Danny's family couldn't afford to have him transferred to a rehab center, could barely afford the bills for Danny's recovery from his burns. When Danny stepped away, Chad stepped in closer to say his goodbyes to the other boy.
"You'd better come and visit when you're discharged." Chad said with a lopsided grin. He was a lot like Todd, in that he was a loud mouth, charismatic boy that hated being sentimental. "Get in here man and give me a hug."
Alan chuckled as he was hugged as tightly as he could stand from Chad. The other boy pulled away and chuckled wetly at the fact that he was saying goodbye to a friend that he'd grown to like as much as a brother. It didn't matter that Alan and Fermat had both been in the hospital for a few months, the small group had grown close through their ordeal and it was likely that they'd be friends for the rest of their lives if they stayed in contact with the other.
Skye came next and she roughly raked her fingers through Alan's hair before she gave him a rare smile. "Hey kid."
"Hi Skye." Alan said with a smile. He didn't mind the rough treatment. Despite having been a competitive cheerleader, Skye was a tomboy and could act like one of the boys. He welcomed the rough treatment, used to it from his brothers giving him noogies or ruffling his hair so hard that it hurt on occasions. "You be good to Chad, don't hurt him too badly."
"I'll be good to him; don't you worry your handsome face." Skye teased as she smooshed Alan's cheeks between her hands, making his speech garbled when he tried to speak. "You take care of yourself."
Alan shook his head to dislodge Skye's grasp and he smiled sadly at Brook when she came forward and kissed him on the cheek. They pressed their foreheads together, whispering to each other – uncaring that they were openly displaying their relationship to the people around them. Alan opened his eyes and considered Brook's eyes when she did the same. Alan knew that Brook hadn't ever had a boyfriend before. He'd gone on one date before and it wasn't real to him. He hadn't felt anything for the girl, only taking her out as a favor to a friend. It was once when he was staying the summer with his grandmother.
"I know it's not ideal, but maybe you can join me and Fermat at Blythedale." Alan said softly, feeling bad that now when he was developing affection for a girl that wasn't like a sister to him he had to leave her behind. He swore to himself that when this was over, if he and Brook made it further than affectionate touches or goo-goo eyes – he'd never leave her behind again.
"I'm counting on it." Brook whispered back to Alan, her eyes shining with tears at the thought that Alan was leaving and how she was falling for him.
"Okay, it's time for us to get on our way." Dr. Andreesen said, hating that he was breaking up the farewell between the group of teens.
They all had given one last hug to the two boys before they were wheeled through one of the back halls to a loading dock. There were two medical transport vehicles waiting in queue to accept their precious cargo. Fermat was the first to be loaded up into the vehicle. He took notice that there was only room for one stretcher and he was introduced to a man, introducing himself as Nick. The driver was Eileen and they both told Fermat that they'd do all they could to ensure the boy was kept comfortable. Nick talked about their e-movie selection with the internet connection. Fermat didn't have his cell phone, it got destroyed in the fire and he'd given his dad his laptop the night before they left the hospital. Fermat had his zip up hoodie that he'd gotten for Christmas from his father and that was all he needed. He waved out the window at Alan when the back door was shut and the medical van moved forward to make room for the van that would take Alan.
Alan was loaded up into the van, gurney secured to the floor of the van. A woman, no older than Lady Penelope sat beside Alan, introducing herself as Danielle and the driver who was Justin. They gave Alan the same spiel that had been given to Fermat before Alan waved at the doctors and nurses that had cared for him. He smiled at them, sad that he was leaving them behind but knowing that if it wasn't for them – he never would have gotten as far as he had.
With the door closed, Alan reclined his head against the back of the gurney. He knew it was going to be a boring trip. Traffic at this time of day was always awful. The trip from Manhattan to Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla was forecast to be 41 minutes, but Alan somehow doubted they'd get there in 41 minutes…more like four hours if the traffic was as bad as usual. So, he was taken by surprise when Danielle moved into one of the jump seats beside Alan's gurney. She held up a deck of cards with a questioning look on her face, making Alan smile.
"Want to play a round or two of goldfish?" Danielle asked, running her fingers through her short brown hair.
"Only if after goldfish, we play something else to keep it interesting." Alan replied with a playful grin. He let Danielle shuffle the deck before immersing himself in the game, intent on making sure that he won at least once.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Gordon looked around the room, checking and re-checking to make sure they had everything. They like Alan and Fermat were relocating also. Valhalla was almost an hour away and it wasn't reasonable to remain at the hotel they'd been staying in if they had almost an hour's drive every time they wanted to visit Alan or Fermat. Their dad had already called ahead and reserved a suite at one of the hotels on the list of hotels that catered to people that had family members in the hospital. The nice thing was, this was a single suite that had four rooms. Their dad would share a bed with one of his sons while Brains and Ruth would get their own rooms. Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon could fight for the last room. Loser had to sleep on the couch or share the bed with their father.
Gordon dropped onto his knees and looked under the bed. He crowed in delight when he found one of his missing socks. He'd been looking for that one since last week.
"You almost ready Gords?" Scott asked as he re-entered the room to retrieve a few of the last bags that had accumulated since they'd moved in months ago, he cast a fleeting glance around the room to be sure nothing had been missed.
"Yeah, it's hard to believe that we're leaving this place though." Gordon said. The hotel wasn't their home, but it'd sure felt like it in some ways.
"Yep, but just think about it. Alan and Fermat are just that much closer to being able to come home." Scott said as he grabbed John's backpack and shouldered it before grabbing Virgil's duffel. "Can you grab the bag we got for Alan?"
"Yeah." Gordon didn't find any missing plug ins or movies. Nothing was left behind and he still swung into the bathroom to make sure they'd retrieved their toiletries. "I can't help but feel like I'm forgetting something though."
"It's your heart…it went with Alan." Scott commented under his breath. Gordon whirled around to glare at Scott. "It's true. You and I both know you're worried for Alan."
"Yeah, but…" Gordon offered lamely.
"But nothing. You're an older brother that's concerned for your little brother. I understand completely." Scott said before he turned to hold the door for Gordon. The younger of the two shuffled from the room, Like Scott he had a backpack settled on his back and a duffle on his shoulder.
"Do you know if we were going to check in the hotel first or if we were going to visit Al?" Gordon asked as he walked fast to keep up with Scott.
"No, by the time we get there it'll be time for dinner. Dad already told Alan and Fermat that we'll swing by and visit tomorrow. There isn't a limitation on visits now. We can all go to see him now." Scott said with a smile. "I kind of have a feeling dad's gonna want to visit tonight though, to surprise the boys. He's been chomping at the bit since he visited three days ago, so we'll have to see."
"Really?" Gordon asked, the excitement written all over his face at being able to see his brother and not have to keep it to a limit of one or two family members at a time.
"Yeah, and we don't have to get dressed out in scrubs now either. Alan and Fermat's burns have been cleared so we don't have to look like we just came from the funny farm. We'll still have to take precautions, like no visiting while sick, washing our hands before we visit, because he's still on the immunosuppressant drugs, Alan must wear a hospital mask when he's around us."
Gordon silently contemplated all that his brother said as he and Scott got in the elevator to go down to the lobby.
"Dr. Andreesen mentioned wanting to wean Alan from the immunosuppressant drugs sometime in the next month or so." Scott said as he walked up to the front desk and laid the key card down and nodding with a smile at the concierge. "And now we're out of here."
Gordon followed Scott out the sliding door and smiled at his dad when he pulled the car around to retrieve his oldest and second youngest sons. They loaded their bags in the car, clambered in and fastened their seat belts before their dad pulled into the traffic and moved along to their newest destination.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Alan sighed. He looked out the window of the medical transport van. They were stuck in traffic just like Alan thought would happen. The weather was decent, the first time that Alan had been able to experience weather outside of his hospital room in months. He glanced up ahead, or tried to anyway. The traffic was miles long, horrifyingly so. He was getting hungry and restless and had grown bored of playing cards with Danielle an hour back. They'd been stuck in traffic for almost two and a half hours, moving no more than two feet every five minutes at best.
"How far are we from Blythedale?" Alan asked as he lolled his head back against the pillow behind his head.
"Well considering we ran into traffic not even a half hour into our journey, I'd assume we're only five minutes away." Justin said before he glanced at the GPS to confirm his thought. "Yep, only five minutes away."
"You're not serious. Is the traffic always this bad?" Alan asked, disbelieving that it could really be that bad.
"Not all the time. Just when there's a parade or accident or some other form of crisis." Justin remarked with a roll of his eyes.
"Do you know what the crisis is?" Alan asked, not being unfamiliar with various forms of crisis, considering he'd been victim to one and his family usually intervened in them whenever necessary.
"Yes, though I don't think you want to know." Justin commented.
"Try me." Alan replied without amusement.
Justin glanced back at Danielle and she shrugged her shoulders. He was the one who opened that can of worms, he could field Alan's questions.
"They have the street blocked for a parade." Justin said with a sigh. "If you ask me they could have picked a less busy street than this one to have their little parade on, but "when in Rome"
"You're kidding." Alan said with a raised eyebrow. "A three-hour parade? For what? All parades I've ever been to last at most forty-five minutes."
"Your guess is as good as mine kid." Justin said as he gave the ignition the barest of touches to jump forward a few inches. It was ridiculous.
"Want to watch a movie?" Danielle asked as she showed a variety of movies to Alan on the tablet that patients were permitted to handle.
Alan rolled his eyes, but he watched the movie Danielle put on. He felt the unmistakable lurches of the van every so often and then Alan was reminded that he was hungry.
"Do you have anything I can eat? I'm starving." Alan asked Danielle, hoping she had something. When she shook her head, Alan dropped his head back against the pillow again. He would swear he was hungry enough he could eat a horse. They'd had an early breakfast because it was with intention that they'd be already set up at Blythedale by lunch time. He wished more than anything that he and Fermat had accepted the option to go after lunch instead of before lunch.
"I know it's not want you want, but perhaps if we put on a movie it'll distract us enough that we won't pay attention to the clock." Danielle said, urging Alan to accept what she said. With a sigh, Alan nodded. She was right, this wasn't what he wanted, but he was stuck in the meantime. No food, nothing to drink. Great.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Dr. Juno walked past the nurse's station, smiling at one of the little kids that had waved from the lounge. She walked over to the nurse's station with a curious look planted firmly on her face.
"Have you heard from the medical transport yet? I thought they were supposed to be here a while ago?" Dr. Juno inquired as she looked through the medical files that had been faxed over by Dr. Andreesen from Manhattan General. She glimpsed the pictures of the two boys in the files, grimacing at the list of injuries that had been treated initially in triage and what had been taken care of over time. Flipping through the pages, Dr. Juno made a mental note to review the medicines the boys were on and figure out through meetings with Dr. Andreesen what medicines the boys could be weaned from or taken off completely. She always hated when children entered her care unit.
It wasn't that she didn't care for children, quite the opposite in fact. She just felt bad for the children that graced these halls, wishing there was more she could do for the lot of them besides her job specifications. She was a pediatric burn unit specialist, it was her area of expertise…but that was just a job title. She was a mother first and doctor second and she knew she'd rather sacrifice herself before either of her kids were hurt to the extent of half her patients.
A crackle burst to life on the radio, alerting Dr. Juno and the nurses of the arrival of two new patients. She walked out to stand beneath the awning flanked by three of her nurses. When the first transportation van pulled up, Dr. Juno waved. The vehicle came to a full stop and the engine shut off before the door opened.
"Welcome back." Dr. Juno said, walking over with one of her three nurses to assist one of her newest patients beyond those doors.
"Traffic was a bitch, who has a parade in the middle of the week during the busiest part of the afternoon? Honestly?" Justin complained as he helped Danielle offload the gurney that held a slumbering teenage boy. They worked efficiently to get everything moved without waking the boy, but Dr. Juno couldn't help the smile when a pair of sapphire blue eyes cracked open to stare at her.
"Hello." Dr. Juno said, addressing the teen whose sleepy gaze told her he didn't fancy being woken up. "I'm Dr. Juno."
With a soft inhale through his nose the teen closed his eyes and went back to dozing. Dr. Juno was taken by surprise but Danielle chuckled.
"He was given some painkillers before we left, he'd been fighting the fatigue until about twenty minutes ago,." Danielle said as she, Justin, Dr. Juno and a nurse pushed the gurney into the receiving bay. "We'll let him cat nap for a bit before we wake him up for introductions."
When Alan was safely inside Blythedale, Dr. Juno returned outside to assist Nick and Eileen with offloading Fermat's gurney. The bespectacled boy smiled up at his new doctor, blushing shyly when she spoke to him.
"You must be…Fermat." Dr. Juno guessed playfully though she knew full well who she was talking to.
"Y-Yes ma'am." Fermat replied shyly. He offered her a tremulous smile before he began checking out his new surroundings.
Dr. Juno and her team of nurses moved the gurneys, taking them to the rooms that had been set aside for the boys. They'd still be sharing a room at the request of their other doctor, fathers and the boys. Once they were settled, Dr. Juno left them to settle down for a bit while they waited on their families to show up.
Dr. Juno left the boys to go take a closer look at their files. Fermat was laying in his bed and looking around apprehensively before he glared in Alan's direction. He needed to be awake.
"Psst." Fermat hissed, watching Alan flinch in his sleep. When Alan didn't move any further, Fermat did it again. "Psst!"
"Huh?" Alan came awake, lifting his head to peer at his friend next to him. Once his eyes were opened for more than a few minutes, he could take in the layout of the room was different than his and Fermat's room at Manhattan general hospital. Instead of their beds being directly across from each other, they were next to each other. Their hospital beds were separated by a nightstand. "We're here already?"
"If y-you were awake, y-you'd have already met o-our overseeing doctor." Fermat said, shaking his head with a bemused smile.
"Who is it?" Alan asked as he yawned widely.
"Her n-name is Dr. J-Juno." Fermat said while he ran his fingers through his hair, taking care to readjust his glasses. "She's n-nice."
"I didn't mean to fall asleep." Alan said with another yawn. "You know how my meds knock me out."
"Y-Yeah, I know." Fermat said. The young genius went silent for a few minutes before he looked back at Alan. "H-How're you f-feeling?"
"I wish I could take a nap." Alan moaned quietly as he struggled not to yawn again. "Where's our family?"
"Not h-here yet." Fermat replied before he changed his position to lay on his side while he looked across at his best friend. "Are y-you happy that w-we decided to move t-to Blythedale?"
"Yeah, don't get me wrong I miss the others…but I felt like we were stuck in motion there. Does that make sense?" Alan asked not wanting to open a can of worms.
"I g-get it." Fermat responded softly. "I hope w-we can go home s-soon."
"I hope you don't mind Ferm…but I need to catch some shuteye." Alan said as his fatigued eyes watered.
"G-Good idea." Fermat said before he settled into his pillows.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Jeff and Brains talked quietly amongst themselves as they drove, leaving Scott to try to keep his brothers entertained. It was interesting to say the least.
"So, what are you gonna do now that we get to spend time with Alan and Fermat without rotating visits?" John asked Scott as they talked excitedly at the prospect of being able to spend time with their brothers.
"Gonna do like I do all the time. Keep an eye on things and make sure they don't need anything." Scott said with a shrug.
"You mean you're gonna mother hen them until they're ready to strangle you." Virgil corrected with a bemused smirk. He knew his older brother well and Scott was the king of mother henning the younger boys. Alan more so. After their mother died, because Alan was so little and had been involved in the accident – Scott became a parental figure for his baby brother and that stance never truly went away even after their dad got involved again in Alan's care. Alan would always feel more comfortable talking with his oldest brother about things he'd normally talk with their dad about.
Gordon was staring absently out the car window, watching the scenery whiz by with the speed of the car. He didn't hear John or Virgil ribbing Scott for being a mother hen, nor did he hear his dad and Brains talking. He couldn't even hear the clicking of his grandmother's knitting needles in the back-back seat. He was stuck in his thoughts and reliving his own ordeal with recovering in the hospital.
'Gordon had a white knuckled grip on a younger Alan's shoulders as he wobbled precariously by the side of his hospital bed. "Come on Gordo! You can't give up!"
"I know the therapist said I could begin taking baby steps, but this is too fast Al." Gordon groaned as his knees shook under Gordon's full weight.
"But he's been working with you! This is nothing!" Alan stood exactly nine inches shorter than his older brother, voice transitioning from squeaky to deep as he entered puberty, teeth lined with metal brackets and rubber bands and he was more sure in his older brother's abilities to walk again than Gordon was. A kid had more faith than an adult did.
"Take it easy pipsqueak." Gordon said as he took one shaky step followed by another. When Gordon opened his eyes again, he was peering down at excited blue eyes shining with the same kind of stars that kids got when they met their hero for the first time. He couldn't afford to make that smile fall or those stars of excitement burn out with his discouragement. Instead of hurting his brother, Gordon readjusted his grip on Alan's shoulders and took another step.
"You're doing it Gordon! You're doing it!" Alan's voice squeaked in excitement as Gordon took step after step until they reached the other side of the room before turning around and heading back. It was possibly the hardest thing Gordon had ever done, but to see his little brother so proud of him and so excited. What more could a guy ask for?
Gordon took a soft inhale before propping his head on his arm while they drove.
Gordon let Alan join him and his physical therapist for one of his appointments. Gordon's legs were manipulated into different positions, Gordon's physical therapist instructed Alan step by step how to help Gordon with his stretches and exercises. When it came time to go to the pool, the therapist told Alan to join his brother since he was gonna help.
Alan stood along one wall of the pool, scrawny and twelve years old but more attitude and personality than the whole population put together.
"Alright Alan, I want you to get in the pool and Gordon is going to walk unassisted towards you. When he reaches, you I want you to swim over here and do it again. Think of it as an abridged version of Marco-Polo." The physical therapist said as he indicated for Gordon to begin.
Alan stood by, huge grin splitting his face at being able to help Gordon. The older brother was stuck on babysitting duty while John and Virgil had tests before the end of their school term at university. Scott had gone back to finish out his tour in the Air Force before he retired as discussed. Their dad had a meeting in East Asia, so Gordon had Alan.
Gordon focused on his little brother as he waded through the water and just as he reached the boy, Alan the little sprite had dove beneath the water and swam quickly like a little fish to the other side of the pool. When he came back up, he called out to Gordon.
"You missed!"
Gordon could taste the challenge and he accepted. He couldn't resist. He turned and began to wade again, his little brother doing it time and again to elude his older brother. By the end of the session, the therapist was being entertained by the boy's shenanigans after Gordon lunged after Alan in the water and caught him.
"Gordon, we're here." Jeff said, breaking Gordon out of his thoughts. The redhead came out of the memories to look at his surroundings.
They were parked in the parking lot of the big off-white building. Gordon's eyes were drawn to the shrubbery in the middle of the lot behind the sign advertising the name as Blythedale Children's Hospital. It was trimmed to look like two elephants. They were joining trunks together and Gordon smiled. It was whimsical and he wondered about the inside of the hospital. Would it be cold and dismal inside like all the hospitals Gordon had ever been in before or would it be different?
Only one way to find out…right?
Gordon unclipped his seatbelt and jogged after his family who had decided to leave him with his thoughts. Scott pointed out the hedge designs. Virgil spotted the rest of the courtyard and it was spectacular. Jeff smiled to himself as he listened to his sons talk animatedly about the landscape. They filed into the hospital and were greeted with a clean and friendly facility and even friendlier faculty.
"Hi, welcome to Blythedale Children's Hospital. Can I help you folks with anything?" The front desk clerk asked. She was dressed in scrubs though it was obvious she wasn't a nurse. Not the typical kind of nurse though.
"Hello, I'm Jeff Tracy and these are my sons and mother." Jeff said as he gestured to his family. He saw Hiram looking around at the facility and he took it upon himself to introduce his friend. "And this is my associate Hiram. We're here to meet with Dr. Juno and get a tour of the facility before we see our boys."
"Let me page Dr. Juno for you." She said with a smile. "If you all would like to have a seat, she'll be with you shortly."
"Thank you." Jeff said before he led his little group to the sitting area. They sat in comfortable chairs, looked around and spotted the area in the corner with books, magazines and toys for little kids. Jeff picked up a magazine and flipped through it, realizing this was a first that he'd read a magazine at a hospital that wasn't horrendously outdated. This one was just in the last week and was current. He saw a spread in the magazine about himself with pictures taken of him and his sons leaving the hospital they'd recently left behind.
There was one picture that was months old and was just after the admittance of the boys. Jeff and his sons were leaving the hospital, Scott appeared to have stopped and was offering John a hug in the face of the upheaval. It was apparent from the picture that none of them had slept in a long time, their clothes were rumpled and Jeff could tell from the picture that their eyes were red from tears shed and lack of sleep.
Jeff flipped to the next picture and saw a picture taken of them at the court proceedings. It was when Robert was declared guilty. All the boys except for Alan and Fermat were present, though there was one picture of Alan. When he'd gone to the courtroom to testify. There was a picture of Alan lifting his shirt sleeve in court when he was arguing with Robert's lawyer, showing his surgical scar for the world to see. Jeff didn't know there were pictures taken of Alan then, though he had seen the news camera that had been taping the proceedings. It was a few minutes more of looking at the magazine and seeing just a glimpse of his headstrong son in some of the pictures taken when Alan had come out of seclusion in the hospital to get justice.
He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there when Dr. Juno approached them.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Juno. You must be Mr. Tracy and Mr. Hackenbacker." Dr. Juno said. She offered her hand to Jeff first and shook his hand with a smile. They did a brief introduction, before Dr. Juno began to lead them around the facility. "We have state of the art medical equipment here, so rest assured your boys will be well taken care of here."
Gordon had to consciously make sure he kept his mouth closed. It wanted to fall open like in those old cartoons. The redhead found this hospital more child and adolescent friendly than the pediatric ward at Manhattan General Hospital. When Dr. Juno finished the tour, she led the entourage to the private rooms before she knocked on the closed door. She waited patiently before she heard a muffled reply and opened the door.
"Boys, feeling up to visitors?" Dr. Juno inquired after she poked her head in the door to smile at the two boys.
There was excited chatter from the boys before Dr. Juno opened the door to let the family join them. The whole lot of them stopped in their tracks at the view of the room. It's not what they'd come to expect with the monotonous white and boring walls. The room wasn't painted white, but it had soft brown and blues. The room looked like a bedroom aside from the linoleum and hospital beds, monitors and pull chain lamps situated above the boy's individual beds.
"Dad!" Alan and Fermat simultaneously called, his voice overlapping with Fermat's voice as they all greeted their expected guests. "Grandma, Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, Brains!"