A/N: Lo and behold, it's another update! Yes, I am being sarcastic...I haven't slept in a while and I become more like my shoulder devil rather than my shoulder angel when there's a lack of sleep.

Hope you enjoy and remember, if you don't like don't read. I won't tolerate rude reviews and I would appreciate it if you'd keep anything disparaging unless in the form of constructive criticism to your self.

Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010

Scott was the first to rush to his baby brother, happy to see him without the restrictions of hospital grade gowns, masks, gloves and booties. Alan gave off the air of an excited child in a candy store as he held his arms up for a hug from his oldest brother. Nothing could have stopped Scott from getting to his brother and as soon as Alan was wrapped in his arms, the only thing the younger could describe it as was like coming home. He knew Scott wasn't hugging to maximum capacity for fear of hurting him but it was still a hug from one of his big brothers.

Alan kept his grip to that of a python. When he opened his eyes, he saw his other brothers eagerly waiting for their turn and a tap on the shoulder from John made Scott move aside so the second eldest brother could get his hug out of the way. Alan wouldn't admit it, not even under tickle torture from his brothers, that he missed the hugs from his family the most when he was away to school or like now…in the hospital for an extended time.

"You guys found the place okay?" Alan asked as he hugged Virgil then Gordon next, hugging them equally as tight as he did Scott and John. He didn't nag at Virgil or Scott when they ruffled his hair, nor did he balk over the whispers of his childhood nickname into his ears. He was just happy to see his brothers and can see their faces.

When it came time for his dad and grandmother, he was almost bursting at the seams. His brothers wouldn't verbalize that Alan's excitement could be compared to an excitable puppy.

"Dad!" Alan hugged the man that was there from the beginning. He'd given a lot of thought to the situation, realizing from reports that Robert was jealous of what Alan had with a loving family. He was glad his dad hadn't given up on them and left like Robert's father had done. He was glad that despite the accident that claimed his mother's life that caused the subsequent absence of their dad had ended and his dad had come back to pick up where he left off. He was thankful for his family, his father and grandmother. They were all he needed. If his family was there for him, he knew he could get over any hurdle.

"Oh Alan, it's done. You have no idea how relieved I am that the case with Robert is completed." Jeff whispered for Alan to hear.

Alan was afraid for a moment that his dad was meaning that Alans hospital stay was done, as in they were that much closer to returning to the island and reactivating International Rescue. Not to say that Alan wanted it to be discontinued permanently, not by a long shot. He was just happy to have his family all to himself and not have to share them with the rest of the world. For now, anyway.

When Jeff pulled back from the hug his mother nearly tackled her youngest grandson, with the gentle fierceness that only a grandmother could provide. Alan never got the typical grandma hugs from his grandmother. The hugs she gave could only be described as loving, gentle, protective, fierce, reassuring and most sought after.

"Come here Allie." His grandmother gushed as she cupped Alan's face, framing his cheeks with strong yet withered hands before she showered him with kisses. Alan hadn't been able to get kisses from his grandma without the paper barrier of the hospital mask. So, he wasn't going to balk over the volume of kisses he was getting at present. He'd been deprived of them for months.

"Grandma!" Alan chuckled, he did not giggle when his grandmother kissed his temple, a surprisingly ticklish part of his head. "Grandma that tickles."

"It's going to tickle until I've filled my quota." Ruth said before she resumed her kisses.

"Mom, you can fill your quota over the next couple days. Let's visit with our boys." Jeff said, pulling the attention from their youngest member of the Tracy family and focusing on both youngest members of their household. "So, how was the trip from Manhattan to Valhalla?"

"Long." Alan groaned.

"B-Boring." Fermat chimed in.

"Uneventful." Alan mumbled.

"T-Tedious." Fermat sighed.

"Never ending." Alan said with an eye roll.

"L-Lethargic." Fermat added.

The family aside from Alan and Fermat looked back and forth between the two boys as they described their trip from hospital to hospital. Their heads flicking to and forth like a person watching a game of table tennis. They had to try not to laugh out loud when the boys spoke at the same time and said the same thing.

"I thought I was goanna die of boredom." Alan and Fermat spoke simultaneously. Their family bit their lips to contain their laughter, while Alan and Fermat began to laugh at how much alike they thought.

"Okay, we get the picture. It was boring." Gordon said with a raised eyebrow. If it earned him a stomp on the top of his foot from John, nobody said anything.

"We sat in traffic the whole time." Alan griped.

"The whole time, we only got stuck in traffic ten minutes." Virgil said with a look of confusion.

"We left this morning on time, we were on the road for a half an hour and then we got stuck for three hours in traffic. We were supposed to be here by twelve thirty, but because of the delay which by the way was a three-hour parade…we finally got here at two-thirty. I fell asleep a half an hour before we got here and I slept until dinner at six." Alan said. Fermat agreed that it was not the most riveting of trips he'd ever been on and he too fell asleep a short while after getting to Blythedale and getting settled into their comfortable room.

"I'm sorry it was such a painful trip for you boys." Jeff said with a wry grin. "Brains, grandma and I had to deal with your brothers and their shenanigans."

"Hey! We weren't that bad!" Gordon murmured with an eyeroll.

"Gordon Cooper Tracy, you're lucky I didn't have my wooden spoon. Twenty years old or not, I'd still put you over my knee." Ruth said with a shake of her head.

"I didn't do anything!" Gordon said with a look on his face that said he was innocent, though Alan and Fermat knew it was probably a guise.

"Using V-Virgil for your o-own amusement does h-have its d-drawbacks." Brains said as he scratched behind his ear and readjusted his glasses.

"Et tu Brains?" Gordon asked with his shoulders sinking.

"I'm n-not the one t-that filled Virgil's m-mouth with c-cheese puffs w-when he fell a-asleep with h-his mouth o-open." Brains replied with a raised eyebrow. Gordon had the decency to blush at being caught but it still made Alan and Fermat burst out laughing.

"Only Virgil would fall asleep with his mouth open while riding in the car." Alan laughed, covering his mouth to try to contain said laughter.

"Yuk, yuk, yuk." Virgil grumbled good naturedly before he went to sit on the bed by his little brother.

"So, other than a horrendously boring trip, how's everything going?" Virgil asked watching his brother get his laughter under control.

"It's going as well as it can." Alan replied softly.

"Good." Virgil said back before he leaned in to hug his brother. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to finally get a hug without all the garb." Alan said despite wearing a medical mask. He didn't mind wearing the mask if it meant being able to see his family. He'd seen a couple other children when he and Fermat were being wheeled in wearing masks also. There were a few children that Alan could tell had cancer. The bald heads, and hand knit caps told Alan that everything going for him and Fermat could be a whole other ball game.

"I'm cashing in on my hugs before we leave tonight." Ruth said, looking at every one of her family, daring them to prevent her from filling her hug and kiss Alan quota.

"Yes, Grandma." Alan said resigning himself that at least for tonight he was probably going to be drowned in kisses and hugs.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Three days after the big move as Alan and Fermat had taken to calling it, they'd settled back into routine. Fermat had a physical therapist that was young, pretty and nice. She came in two times a day to work with Fermat, in the mornings after they had breakfast she'd coach Fermat through stretches to loosen up his leg muscles. Alan followed along despite not being required to do it.

"Okay Fermat, we're just going to take this slow." Lacey said softly, she leaned in close to Fermat and helped him with his stretches despite the younger boy's blush marring his features. Alan kept all comments to himself about his younger friend developing a crush on his physical therapist.

"T-That hurts." Fermat hissed when a stretch made his calf ache.

"I know it does and it will for a while until we can get your gastrocnemius used to flexion and extension again. Just do what you can, if it hurts then don't do it." Lacey instructed, eyes catching Alan copying the stretches in his bed next to Fermat's. "How're you doing Alan?"

"I'm okay. I keep finding myself thinking that I can feel my toes wiggling but then the sensation fades." Alan said as he leaned back against his hands and focused his gaze on his bare feet and wiggled his toes. He could see them wiggling, but he couldn't feel them. If he did, it was at best a fleeting feeling.

"If you can still move them, I wouldn't worry too much. It may take some time for everything to wake up especially only a few months after surgery." Lacey said when she walked over to Alan and made him look at her and not his feet. When she had his full attention, she ran the roller ball over an empty essential oil bottle along the sole of one foot and watched him withdraw his foot before she repeated the process on the other foot. She smiled at Alan when he withdrew the other foot the same way he'd done before. "You're getting there. Just a little while longer before I get to take you boys to the activities room and get you started on trying to walk again."

"How long is our expected stay here? Do you know?" Alan asked.

"Tired of us already Alan? I'm shocked." Lacey teased with a playful gleam in her eye as she turned her attention on Fermat's leg and began massaging Fermat's leg so that the ache would be less.

"No, you guys here are great. I just miss my home. This is the longest I've been away since I started boarding school." Alan said, nodding at Fermat when the younger boy softly added that he also missed his home.

"So, tell me about yourselves. All I know is that you were roommates at the school where the fire occurred and you've shared a hospital room since the fire. Are you two best friends or cousins?" Lacey asked. She knew about the Tracy family, it was hard not to know about them. They were akin to royalty in the good old US of A.

Alan and Fermat shared a look before Alan began to tell a little about themselves.

"Fermat and I are best friends, we've known each other since we were really little. Our dads work together, so we're usually always together. Our dads wanted a decent education for us, so they enrolled us in the same school and Fermat and I requested to be roommates since we're always together." Alan said as he continued.

"My goodness, so you two must be really close?" Lacey asked.

Fermat and Alan shared a brief look before they nodded. It was something like that, never mind the fact that they were practically like brothers.

"W-We do everything t-together. Well, a-almost everything." Fermat added in, as he allowed Lacey to further manipulate one of his legs.

"I see." Lacey commented softly before she stood to leave. "I'll be back later this afternoon with some exercise equipment so we can work on some new exercises. For the both of you."

"That works with me. How about you Fermat?" Alan asked from his bed as he smiled at both the physical therapist as well as his best friend.

"Y-Yes." Fermat replied before he waved at his new therapist. Once Lacey closed the door, Fermat looked across at his friend. "I l-like Lacey. She's n-nice."

"I like her too, much nicer than that other one at Manhattan General." Alan commented with a smile.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Dr. Juno sat at a conference table, joined by Jeff Tracy, his four sons and mother as well as Hiram Hackenbacker to discuss treatment plans for their family members.

"I've looked extensively at the files for both Alan and Fermat over these last three days and I have drawn up some plans for them both. If you'd like we can look at Fermat's treatment plan that I've created, then we'll move on to Alan's treatment plan." Dr. Juno said as she thumbed through the files in front of her. She flipped through a couple pages of her steno notepad before she looked at the gathered party.

"Y-Yes. Please." Hiram said, looking nervous.

"Okay, I know of the injuries Fermat sustained and the subsequent surgeries he's had to repair those injuries. I've looked at the notes made by the physical therapist at Manhattan General and I've had my head physical therapist work with Fermat and I do believe it's time for him to begin weight bearing exercises."

"He w-was already doing w-weight bearing exercises at M-Manhattan General, they did n-nothing but make him h-hurt." Hiram didn't like the idea of Fermat being started on physical therapy if it was going to make him be in pain.

"I talked at length with Lacey our head physical therapist and she thinks that to start Fermat off right, we'll use the wading pool to take the stress off his joints and muscles until he's used to being upright and standing again. He's spent several months in bed, so I'm sure his muscles have atrophied a little. He's going to need extensive work to gain back the muscle tone and strength he's lost, but he shouldn't have to spend very long in our facilities. He's already had the surgeries. Now it's just time for recovery and rehabilitation." Dr. Juno said.

"Fermat isn't g-going to want to leave A-Alan behind. I know h-he wasn't hurt as bad a-as Alan, but they b-both got put in t-the hospital together. H-He's more than likely g-going to want t-to stay in with Alan i-if nothing else than t-to keep him c-company." Hiram stated seeing Dr. Juno nod a reluctant nod.

"I know, Lacey told me that they are best friends. She was trying to figure out a plan to include Alan in daily exercises so that he can gradually gain his strength back. Dr. Warner, the physician that did Alan's donor skin surgeries advised that Alan needs at least another two or three weeks of complete bed rest before he can begin hydrotherapy with Fermat." Dr. Juno said, seamlessly moving the topic from Fermat to Alan. She held her hand up to stop arguments from Alan's family before she continued. "I know that the length of time Alan's been on bedrest has been extensive. His wounds have appeared to have healed fabulously. I've taken the liberty to have consulted the in house burn specialist with looking at Alan's case. She feels that Alan should be able to begin hydrotherapy in a few days."

"Do we know yet if he'll be able to walk?" Gordon asked, making Scott kick him in the shin under the table. Gordon managed not to yelp at the kick to his legs, but he still directed his most venomous glare at Scott.

"We don't know yet. But Lacey as I've said has been including Alan in her and Fermat's daily exercise regimen and she's been working with Alan exclusively to get him familiarized with touch. She said it looks promising. He pulls away when his feet are tickled and has asked less for pain meds for his lower extremities. I know it's only been three days, but after looking at Alan's chart – it's been considerably less since he was at Manhattan General. There he was on an IV drip with continuous pain medications and he was still having intermittent flares of pain that required an additional dose. In the last few days that he's been here, he's only asked twice for additional medications and that's usually after he's overdone with stretching with Fermat and Lacey." Dr. Juno said as she looked around at the family members.

"So, can I ask what would be the plan when you begin Alan with hydrotherapy?" Jeff asked. He hadn't had much experience with hydrotherapy, Gordon hadn't asked for anyone to stay with him when he began hydrotherapy and only had Alan with him on rare occasions.

"We'll start him off in a wading pool with warm water. We'll want him to start off with getting acclimated with standing for a few minutes at a time before we begin what's known as water walking." Dr. Juno said, fully prepared to offer a lot of information to the family.

"What's water walking?" Scott asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like Scott…it's walking in the water." Gordon replied with a sigh.

Gordon pointedly chose not to look at Scott who he knew was glaring at him.

"Water walking is how it sounds. We'll put the patient, in this case your sons in the water which is about waist deep and the goal is to walk same as you would on land. You swing your hands same as you would also and you walk back and forth across the pool area. The water takes the stress off the muscles, joints and bones so it's very good for them considering they're still classed as burn patients. It's low impact and the water offers resistance so they can strengthen their muscles before they take the walking to land again." Dr. Juno said before continuing. "I'm afraid if we started off on land first, considering how long the boys have been on bed rest, they might find it discouraging if they try and fail at walking because of atrophied muscles."

"We don't want that." Virgil murmured, knowing full well that if he became discouraged, Alan would be bound to shut them all out again and there'd be nothing they could do but let Alan come back from it all on his own.

"So, when would we start?" John asked, wanting to help his brother in any way he could.

"I have to talk it over with Lacey, but we'll probably start next week. Alan is already asking when they can go home so I know he is chomping at the bit to get out of here and get back to some kind of normalcy that doesn't include nurses waking them every hour or so for med passes." Dr. Juno said before she concluded the meeting. It wasn't a very long meeting, just a meet and greet with the added discussion of how best to handle their loved ones. She stood up and with a hand shake to all the family, Dr. Juno left with the patient files to both Alan and Fermat.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

"Dude…is this all that's on?" Alan asked as he grimaced at the movie on the screen. It was a Disney musical. Not what he wanted to watch.

"There a-are cartoons o-on every c-channel." Fermat said, hitting the down button so he could lower the volume. "This w-was the lesser e-evil of them all."

"Oh, my god." Alan groaned as he slapped a hand to his forehead. Of course, a children's hospital would only have children's programming. "I'd at least settle for one of my grandmother's crummy soaps at this point."

"I s-second that." Fermat mumbled as he took to changing channels again in hopes that he'd find something that was at least a little less juvenile.

"I know it's late, but do you think dad would get in trouble if he stopped by with a few movies?" Alan asked his friend as he glanced at the clock.

The boys' sleep cycles were screwed up and they slept at all the wrong times in the day. Currently they were both wide awake at two in the morning. They just woke up and didn't feel tired. Alan was contemplating calling for a nurse so they could both get something for sleep. They didn't need to stay up all hours of the night.

"Want to play a game of cards?" Alan asked as he held up the deck of cards that Justin said he could keep.

"S-Sure." Fermat said as he moved their water cups back on the night stand that separated their beds. Alan shuffled the cards to the best of his ability before he split the deck and dealt the cards into two small piles. Handing one to Fermat, the boys drew their cards and settled in for a long time of boredom.

"You have any eight of diamonds?" Alan asked, pausing while Fermat looked at his cards.

"G-Go Fish." Fermat replied with a sigh. If he was being honest, he'd much prefer being asleep now. But unfortunately, his circadian rhythm was out of whack and so he woke up and fell asleep at the most bizarre of times. Him and Alan both. He'd have thought with them having had such an eventful day they'd be out like lights until the following morning.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Virgil was out of bed shortly after getting a kick in the shin from Gordon who surprisingly was still asleep. Virgil ventured to the living room in their suite to find his dad and Brains sat up. The two older men looked like they hadn't slept a wink the night prior. Unknowingly the oldest members of the Tracy and Hackenbacker families had trouble much like their offspring had previously. Virgil was surprised to find he was the first of his brothers to be awake this morning when he was typically the last, though when sharing a bed with Gordon it was impossible to sleep sound.

Virgil ventured to the kitchenette to put on the coffee pot. He grabbed the pamphlet from the counter to look through the room service menu. He was hungry and if he hoped to get to Blythedale at a reasonable time to feed Alan, he'd need to get breakfast now rather than later. Virgil waited around for room service to be brought up and he drank from his mug that he'd brought from the apartment. Looking around, Virgil was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that they were in a new hotel, Alan and Fermat both at a hospital/rehabilitation center where they could take the first steps (no pun intended) down the road to recovery.

A knock at the door made Virgil answer the door. What he was expecting was room service, what he wasn't expecting was Officer Pellegrini.

"Officer?" Virgil asked after opening the door. He poked his head out of the room to look for any additional police detail. He didn't even see Lulu Bell. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, may I come in?" Officer Pellegrini inquired prompting Virgil to step aside to allow the officer entry to their current dwelling.

"What's going on?" Virgil asked as he directed Officer Pellegrini to the kitchen rather than the living room. His dad and Brains had fallen asleep in the living room and Virgil didn't think it fair for anyone to see his dad in his cookie monster themed pajama pants. They were a gag gift from Alan and Gordon and their dad surprisingly loved them.

"I was just in the neighborhood." Officer Pellegrini said as he readjusted his messenger bag and Virgil could tell just by his casual state of dress that this wasn't official business. He wore blue jeans, tennis shoes and a t shirt with a zip up hoodie. Not what could be considered uniform.

"In the neighborhood? You're almost an hour away from the precinct." Virgil said with a furrowed brow.

"Okay, you caught me." Officer Pellegrini said as he readjusted his messenger bag once more. "My boss asked me to give this to you all. It's something that belonged to Alan."

"What?" Virgil asked before Officer Pellegrini opened his messenger bag to pull out a medium sized object wrapped in cloth. Officer Pellegrini handed it to Virgil who took it hesitantly. When he unwrapped it, he was shocked to find a framed photo of his late mother. It was in immaculate condition.

"Where'd you get this?" Virgil asked, shocked beyond belief that he was holding something the survived the fire.

"One of Alan's teachers dropped it off. Per a Mr. Struve, Alan had asked him to repair the frame and glass after it'd suffered damage. This was the only item that belonged to Alan that was not in vicinity of the fire. Mr. Struve's workshop is across campus in an annex building. My chief asked me to deliver this yesterday but I forgot about it until I found it in my messenger bag." Officer Pellegrini said. "She's very pretty."

"Thanks, it's a picture of my late mother." Virgil said softly. He didn't recognize the frame but he did recognize the picture. "This picture belonged to my brother Gordon. He loaned this picture to Alan so he'd have a picture of our mom at school with him."

"Mr. Struve had to craft a new frame because apparently, it got knocked off Alan's desk and snapped in half." Officer Pellegrini said.

"Did he say how much we'd owe him?" Virgil asked. The frame was heavy, made from hand crafted oak. Virgil wasn't big into carvings, but he knew the wood type. This was made from quality wood.

"He didn't, just asked that Alan and Fermat get to feeling better." Officer Pellegrini said. Seeing the sentimental look on Virgil's face, Officer Pellegrini excused himself. "See you around."

Virgil walked over to one of the bar stools at the kitchen island and sat down to look at the picture. It was indeed a very nice picture of their mother. It was a close-up of her smiling face, one that had been snapped suddenly. Virgil didn't remember if he was around when the picture was taken, but judging on the age of his mom frozen in time – it couldn't have been long before either Gordon or Alan's births. His mom was sitting in the yard if the sunlight shining in her hair was anything to go by.

Virgil set the framed picture on the island as he went to go answer the door when he heard a knock again. He knew without a doubt this was room service. His stomach told him so. He smiled when he opened the door, letting the bellhop in to drop off the trolley loaded with foods of variety. When he closed the door after the bellhop left, he smiled at the smell of the pancakes.

Without waiting for any of his other family to surface, Virgil helped himself to the food he'd ordered. He ordered enough for the rest of the family, but he wasn't going to let the blueberry pancakes go cold.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

"Okay boys, I know you're still in bed but some stretching will help wake you up." Lacey said as she stood between the bed of both boys. Alan raised an eyebrow in her direction before looking to Fermat. Neither of them had been able to sleep through the night and were both tired, rightfully so. They obliged Lacey though, not wanting to make a bad start to her day.

"Let's reach for our toes." Lacey reached down to her own toes, demonstrating what she wanted the boys to do. When she straightened back up Alan and Fermat were both stretching forward. Alan had a little more difficulty than Fermat considering he hadn't been allowed to do anything short of rolling over in bed.

Instructing the boys through several different stretches, Lacey kept a peppy attitude and made Alan and Fermat less grumpy. So, it was an even more pleasant of a surprise when Virgil knocked at the end of their physical therapy session and Lacey let him come in.

"Virgil!" Alan said in surprise. Sure, he'd grown used to having a family member come in to visit him when he was still in Massachusetts General. His brothers, father and grandmother had taken it upon themselves to come to feed him, though now that he had use of his hands it wasn't required. He still appreciated their visits, it made him feel like he mattered to his family. Sometimes it made him feel like a burden, but the constant reassurances from his family made it an easier pill to swallow.

"Hey little brother." Virgil said as he walked over and sat in the seat beside Alan's bedside. He smiled at his brother despite the flimsy paper mask covering his brother's face. "How're you feeling this morning?"

Alan rolled his eyes and shook his head. Fermat answered for Alan.

"We n-need to work o-on our sleep c-cycles again."

"Did you boys not sleep well?" Virgil asked as he waved at Lacey when she took her leave.

"No, we both woke up at two and stayed awake until almost five." Alan mumbled with a shake of his head. "I think I speak for us both when I say we'll be happy to go back to our own beds on the island."

"Yeah, I can identify." Virgil said as he toyed with the edges of Alan's blanket. "So, who was that?"

"That was Lacey. She's the physical therapist that comes in twice a day to work with us." Alan said. "Don't."

"Don't what?" Virgil asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Just don't. She's got a boyfriend." Alan said with an unamused look.

"So, she's told you boys her life's story?" Virgil asked with interest. He wasn't asking Alan about her because he was interested. He was asking because he thought she was a nurse.

"No, but I'm not blind. She's got a ring on her left ring finger." Alan said.

"I just thought she was a nurse." Virgil said with a lopsided grin. "I don't fancy her."

"Good. Because that would just make this whole hospital stay awkward." Alan said with a shake of his head. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I just…" Virgil trailed off when there was a knock at the door and an announcement from the person outside that it was the meal delivery. "Figured I'd come to help feed you your breakfast."

"You didn't have to." Alan said, though he was touched at Virgil's perseverance.

"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to." Virgil said before he opened the hospital room door to let the meal cart in so they could drop off the boy's meals.