A/N: I don't think I need to remind folks that flames are not necessary nor will they be accepted. And all mistakes are mine.

Upon returning to their room, Alan who'd quickly donned his hoodie to play the part that his grandma insisted he dress warmly before going outside. He didn't want to get on his grandma's bad side, that was a side that neither he nor his brothers liked seeing. His grandma could be a scary lady when she was mad.

Dr. Andreesen made sure Alan and Fermat were settled in their room before taking leave. Alan yawned and gave a big stretch before sagging back into his bedding. His grandma and dad had just left as well, promising to come back the following afternoon for Alan and Fermat's afternoon therapy appointment. Alan was eager for dinner, having quite the appetite after missing breakfast and lunch. The sandwich wasn't much to begin with and Alan was feeling famished after almost no food all day because his body thought sleep was more important.

Alan and Fermat turned on the TV and flipped the channel for a few minutes before stopping on the local news channel. It was broadcasting a breaking news headline and both boys watched the broadcast with dropped jaws. The reporter was announcing that after a lunch room brawl one boy in particular was left comatose after several boys ganged up on him and beat him up. Alan and Fermat watched the news with wide eyes, wondering who that might have been.

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Marnie Alexander hung up the phone with a deep breath. She'd just called her husband and told him that she'd recently gotten off the phone with the juvenile detention center and the hospital. She insisted he come home from work early so they could both sit Jamie down as soon as he and Edward got home from school. Marnie often worked from home as a freelance photographer, seeing clients out of her family's house when she'd scheduled a studio photoshoot. She'd been home when she got a call from the juvenile detention center, it would appear that Jamie's older half brother had been running his mouth again or stepped on some toes with a few of the other boys in the detention center. A fight had broken out and before the guards were able to break it up, Robert had fallen unconscious after another boy had kicked him in the head.

Marnie had been surprised to get a phone call from the detention center and the hospital considering neither she nor any of her family with the exception of Jamie had any family ties to Robert. When she asked the doctor why they were calling her, she'd said that Robert's mother insist they call Robert's father and he'd begged them to call his other son's adoptive family to notify them of Robert's hospitalization. He had been taken to the hospital and was being watched closely. Apparently, his condition was pretty poor.

Now Marnie was tasked with trying to figure out the best way to break the news to Jamie. She knew neither brother got along, but she knew even if she and her sister were at odds, she'd appreciate being told of their condition if there was an accident or in Robert's case lunch room brawl in a juvenile detention center. She doubted Jamie would care simply because Robert and Jamie were always at odds, but still he deserved to know.

"God, I hate breaking bad news." Marnie moaned before she started baking cookies. She always seemed to take to baking or cooking other various things when she was unnecessarily stressed out and her family always knew that when the house smelled good and there weren't any special occasions occurring then Marnie was stressed out. Like now. She personally didn't like Robert, regardless of not being blood related to Jamie…he tried to hurt two of her boys and she accepted her role of mama bear when the matter concerned her boys.

"Hey mom, is everything okay?" Marnie turned around, having been startled by Edward when he entered the kitchen to see it looking more like a warzone than a kitchen. Marnie knew she was caught red-handed and she looked around at the various trays of cookies, cakes and pies that she'd baked since getting that call.

"It's okay baby. Why do you ask?" Marnie inquired though she knew that Edward knew she was lying.

"Um, because I think we're all going to go into a sugar daze from eating all this." Edward replied, picking up one of the pink frosted cupcakes dusted with a layer of powdered sugar and a maraschino cherry. He peeled the wrapper off the cupcake and took a healthy bite before Marnie could stop him. Those were for dessert, not for after school snack.

"Where's you brother?" Marnie asked, feeling her anxiety levels shoot up.

"Here, I was taking off my shoes." Jamie said as he entered the kitchen sock-footed. "Wow."

"Yes, I guess I got a little carried away." Marnie admitted shyly. "Is your father home?"

"Yeah, he just stepped into your bedroom to change." Edward said before he nudged Jamie to lead him to the living room where they turned on the gaming console to play a few games. Dennis exited his and Marnie's bedroom, changed from his suit and tie into a sweater, vest and blue jeans. He walked into the kitchen and his eyes widened a little. The look he gave to Marnie had her blushing in embarrassment. They'd agreed that she'd keep her baking when stressed out to a dull roar and the amount she'd baked was more than 'a dull roar'.

"What's going on sweetie? You called me and you just seemed flustered." Dennis asked quietly after closing the kitchen door to allow him and Marnie to have a private conversation. "Tell me."

"Jamie's older half brother is in the hospital…he got into a cafeteria brawl and was beaten into unconsciousness." Marnie whispered to Dennis. "I think we should tell Jamie."

"Hell no…we're not telling Jamie. After all that Robert put Jamie and his friends through, I think telling Jamie would be too generous to someone who doesn't deserve it." Dennis whispered back angrily. "I don't care if Jamie and Robert are brothers, he's my son now and I don't believe he needs to know anything more about Robert."

"So what do I tell him when he asks, or if he sees it on the news? 'Sorry, I knew but didn't think you deserved to know? That's bound to backfire on us!" Marnie whispered back hurriedly. "He'll never trust us again if we do that to him."

"Mom? Dad? Eddy and I were wondering if you guys wanted to watch a movie with us?" Jamie asked as he poked his head into the kitchen and looked at his mom and dad having a whispered argument. "Is everything okay?"

"Jamie…" Marnie started before Dennis could stop her. "Sweetie, come sit down."

Jamie didn't have a clue as to why Marnie or Dennis were looking at each other with venomous glares, but it made Jamie feel a little nervous. He listened to Marnie though and went to sit at the table while she and Dennis took a seat also.

"What's going on mom?" Jamie inquired, feeling anxious the longer his mom and dad kept quiet. "Dad?"

Marnie looked at Dennis and he sighed before motioning his hand to tell Marnie that she opened this can of worms and she might as well continue. Marnie looked to the ceiling before continuing.

"You know how your brother…Robert went to a juvenile detention center after the judge and jury found him guilty?" Marnie asked trying to broach the subject carefully, not knowing how Jamie would take the news.

"He's not my brother, but what happened to him? His dad pay his bail or something?" Jamie asked, not sorry for being cold when Robert came into conversation. He didn't like Robert and had denounced him as any family after the way he'd treated all of Jamie's friends. He swore he'd never forgive Robert, especially not after the fire.

"Well, he got hurt today after a fight in the juvenile detention center's cafeteria. He's unconscious and has been taken to the hospital." Marnie said seeing Jamie's eyes widen.

"He's got to go back to juvie! If he stays out and he wakes up, he'll come after us all!" Jamie said, looking scared. "Have you called Alan's dad or Fermat's dad? They need to know!"

"Sweetie, it's okay. Robert can't hurt you all. He's unconscious and the doctors are saying he's in a coma. He's also got round the clock guards watching him to make sure he doesn't try anything if he does wake up.

"You don't understand! Robert swore that he'd kill us, he's gonna come after us!" Jamie insisted, growing more wound up the longer they delayed in calling Alan and Fermat to warn them.

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Jeff sighed as he hung up the phone, having gotten a call from Barrett. He wasn't happy to hear that Robert was out of juvie, but he couldn't fault the warden of the juvenile detention center for seeking medical treatment when Robert's condition was exacerbated by his falling unconscious.

Sinking onto his bed, Jeff tried to mentally prepare himself for letting everyone know about this new…occurrence. Jeff certainly wasn't happy about it, but as long as Robert wasn't transferred to Blythedale, Jeff was content for the time being. Now to tell the family.

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Alan and Fermat both glanced at each other before looking back at the television screen. A boy at the same detention center that Robert was had been beaten into unconsciousness and was taken to hospital. The boy had yet to be identified, pending kin notification. They were both completely silent after listening to the reporter give the breaking news bulletin. It wasn't good and neither Alan nor Fermat felt safe knowing of the possibility of Robert being out of lockup.

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Elijah sighed as he was called into his head supervisor's office. He didn't know what he'd done wrong to be needing to see the head supervisor, but then he figured Lulu Bell had gotten into the trash can again and had left a mess. Lulu Bell was usually on her best behavior, so he hoped it wasn't something she did.

Imagine his surprise when his head supervisor closed the door after Elijah entered. The she was a formidable lady in her late 40's and had what was often dubbed as small dog syndrome. She was shorter than half the men and women on the force in their district and she wouldn't back down when her authority was challenged by any man, woman or beast.

"Ma'am." Elijah said before claiming a seat at his supervisor's behest. They hadn't settled in but maybe a few second before his supervisor was breaking the news.

"That boy that was taken to the hospital? He's that boy that was on trial for trying to kill your brother's patient." Head Supervisor Verla said. "I've already taken the liberty of assigning a couple officers to stay nearby his room to make sure he doesn't try to stir up trouble should he wake up soon."

"I can go too ma'am. It's no trouble." Elijah said, trying to show that it really wasn't a problem for him to go make sure the boy didn't cause trouble for his brother or any of his patients.

"No Elijah, I'm assigning you to go inform the two boys still in the hospital and the other families of those hurt in the fire. Everyone deserves to know if their sons are in danger. I know I would." Head Supervisor Verla said softly.

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The next several days dragged by. For Alan and Fermat, it was a week of sitting on pins and needles. Neither boy could relax, and Scott had taken it upon himself to come stay with them in their room. Dr. Juno had graciously spoken to the hospital director of Blythedale and explained the situation which allowed Scott the permission to stay past hospital visiting hours and be there for Alan and Fermat who'd been wound up for days since learning about Robert's hospitalization.

Robert was still unconscious, the story was that Robert had provoked a few boys in juvie that were not only bigger, but had a worst history than Robert. They'd waited to get him along before they jumped him, punching and kicking him several times before the guards were able to break up the fight.

When Robert didn't immediately wake up, the warden called paramedics to retrieve the boy and take him to hospital. It hadn't been pretty, It also became public record that Robert was not in a medicated coma. He was legitimately comatose and suffering from a subdural hematoma, edema and a fractured skull. He was being closely watched by doctors to monitor his condition and the boys that beat him up were being dealt with.

Scott had just woken up, snuffling sleepily from the reclining chair that had been moved in to Alan and Fermat's room to accommodate Scott when he requested to stay with Alan and Fermat to protect them. The two younger boys felt reassured by Scott's presence and they didn't feel near as wound up as they had been after learning about Robert. Still, they'd feel a whole lot better once Robert was back in juvie where he was confined behind bars and not tempted with the chance to escape.

Running his fingers through his hair, Scott lowered the foot rest of the recliner before stretching with a loud groan. Alan and Fermat were still asleep themselves. Scott was determined not to wake them this time. He accidently woke the them both the previous day and he'd forgotten how scary both boys could be when woken before they were ready.

Slipping from the room, Scott ventured down to the cafeteria to grab a coffee and some cereal. His brother senses were telling him that Alan and Fermat were in another of their epic snooze fests, so Scott took his time finishing his breakfast and coffee before returning to Alan and Fermat's room. When he did return to their room, he smiled at the sleepy face Alan was making as he slowly came awake.

Scott claimed the seat next to Alan and watched his expressions flit to varying levels of wakefulness. He couldn't stop the chuckle when Alan's nose wrinkled with dissatisfaction at waking up.

"Good morning kiddo." Scott whispered when Alan opened one eye to look at him. "How'd you sleep?"

Alan didn't speak, nodding at Scott before sitting up to stretch. He wasn't much of a conversationalist upon waking, but usually it was after the fact that Alan's mouth ran non-stop.

"That good huh? How about we get your teeth brushed before breakfast?" Scott asked as he stood to grab Alan's forearm crutches. "What do you say kiddo?"

"Yeah." Alan mumbled before he sat up so Scott could hand him his forearm crutches. He stood with Scott's help and slowly made his way to the bathroom where his and Fermat's toothbrushes were set up. Now that Alan had regained his ability to walk with aids, he could now tend to a lot of his own needs without help from a nurse. He still needed help bathing, but Alan had grown used to having nurses assist him with bathing. It didn't bother him much anymore, not like it used to originally.

When he'd looked in the mirror, he couldn't help but to gawk at how tired he looked. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked as if he hadn't slept in over a year and it'd only been a few days. Leaning against the sink, Alan leaned down to splash some cold water in his face before coming back up to dry and to begin to brush his teeth. When he finished, Alan used his forearm crutches to open the door which had been left open just a hair so Scott could hear if Alan needed help without Alan yelling for him. Alan hobbled out of the bathroom and smiled when Scott put a guiding hand on his shoulder before leading him to the recliner Scott had been sleeping in.

"How about a change of scenery? I won't tell if you don't." Scott whispered before grabbing the lever to recline Alan back and prop his feet up. "You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to these socks…do you have to wear them all the time?"

"They aren't socks, they're TED hose, and yes I have to wear them all the time or at least until I'm not spending all my available time in bed. Fermat wears them too." Alan said rolling his eyes when he saw Scott play with the hole on the bottom of the TED hose. So his toes and the ball of his feet were visible, didn't mean the TED hose were necessarily odd. Okay, he'd admit it…they were weird looking to him at first. He thought the makers of the TED hose hadn't finished the hosiery, but no…the TED hose were to make sure neither Alan nor Fermat suffered blood clots traveling to their lungs. Virgil could say the actual name of the TED hose. The TED was actually an acronym for some word that was quite the mouth full unless you knew how to pronounce it.

"Do you even know what that stand's for? Are the socks named after someone?" Scott inquired, but before the door opened.

"TED stands for Thrombo-Embolic Deterrent Hose. TED is just a quick and easy way of saying it when you're working in medicine." Virgil said as he entered the room, sans a knock on the door. He smiled at his oldest and youngest brothers before he went over to ruffle Alan's hair. "Good morning kiddo, how're you this morning?"

"We're both good as a matter of fact." Scott answered for Alan, offering up his cheesiest grin which looked rather painful to both Alan and Virgil.

"I can see you slept fine, but Al looks like he was kept awake by you sawing logs." Virgil replied before looking back at his older brother. "It looks like you got a bit of dried drool on your face. Here, let me get it for you."

Alan grimaced when Virgil licked his thumb and tried to use said thumb to clean the edge of Scott's mouth as if he were a baby and Scott was leaning back like a contortionist while avoiding his younger brother's attempt at cleaning his face.

"No! Stop it!" Scott groaned as he pushed back against Virgil's chest. He hated it when his mom and grandma used to lick their thumbs to clean his face when he was growing up. He thought it was gross but it was worse when his younger brother did it. "No Virge!"

"But you can't go through your day with dried drool on your face. Grandma would have a fit." Virgil said teasingly, noticing Alan trying to stifle his laughter. When the youngest noticed his middle brother looking his way he crossed his index fingers to the shape of a cross to deter his brother.

"I've already washed my face, I don't need you cleaning my face for me." Alan said as he continued stifling his laughter at his older brothers' antics. Fermat took that moment to wake up and he grabbed his glasses before looking in Scott and Virgil's direction. He shook his head at their antics. "Sorry for waking you Fermat."

"N-Nah, I needed t-to get up." Fermat said with a stretch. "H-Hear anything y-yet?"

"No, but then I don't think they would because the case is over." Alan replied before washing his hands down his face with a sigh. "I'll be so glad when we can finally go home."

"Can't come soon enough can it Sprout?" Scott asked after he'd successfully evaded Virgil's attempts to clean his face with his own spit.

"Nope, and I'm eager to get back home." Alan said as he watched Fermat sit up on the side of his bed, grabbing his walker to go to the bathroom. Virgil ruffled the younger boy's hair as he hobbled by. Fermat gave Virgil a smirk before closing the bathroom door. Once Alan, Virgil and Scott were alone, the two older brothers began talking to Alan about plans when they returned home. They weren't telling Alan and Fermat that Tin-Tin and her parents were planning a homecoming party for when the boys returned. They wanted both boys to be excited over coming home and a surprise homecoming party was more exciting.

After Fermat returned from the bathroom and climbed back into bed, Alan felt it was time to broach the subject to Scott and Virgil.

"Um, do you think dad would be cool if Fermat and I went back to Mas Gen in a few weeks?" Alan asked, feeling anxious over their response.

"Why Alan? It's taken quite a bit of planning for us to get you two set up here and now you want to go back?" Scott asked feeling a little miffed that his youngest brother wanted to go back to the other hospital.

"Let him explain, I want to hear this." Virgil said as he gave his baby brother his attention.

"I-It's for a d-dance." Fermat said after Alan proved that he couldn't speak around the lump that formed in his throat while his face burned hotly in embarrassment. Alan didn't like being put on the spot in front of his brothers and now he was the center of attention with a very captive audience.

"Excuse me? A dance? But you boys don't dance." Scott said with a pair of raised eyebrows.

"In case you haven't noticed Scooter, Fermat and I used to attend an all boy's school. It'd be kind of hard to have a dance when we're all one gender." Alan said while closing one eye and looking at Scott through the only open eye. "Not to mention, awkward."

"But still a dance?" Scott inquired as if he was having trouble understanding what Alan was getting at.

"Yes Scott, the other day when Dr. Andreesen came by to see Ferm and I, he told us that Mass Gen and their affiliates hosted an annual spring ball for their pediatric unit. He said that Fermat and I may come as long as we sign up in advance, so they know they have to pick us up." Alan replied managing to speak around the lump that formed from nerves.

"I don't know why he'd be opposed to you two attending a dance. He was cool with it when the rest of us went to one and you have been the only one to not be able to attend a dance yet." Virgil replied evenly. Scott took his chance to speak and Virgil never wanted to stomp on his oldest brother's foot more.

"Can you even dance, I mean are you healed enough?" Scott inquired, noticing the venomous glare being sent to him from Virgil.

"I guess we'll find out then won't we?" Alan replied before leaning down to readjust the hole in the bottom of one of his TED hose on his feet. "I'm getting better at walking and Dr. Andreesen said we don't have to dance if we don't feel up to it. I'm sure they'll still have a TV and couch set up for those of us that get tired."

"Well, if you would like to go to the dance…I suppose we can bring it up to dad to see if he'd be cool with it?" Virgil asked to make sure Alan did want to go before he and Scott stuck their necks out for their youngest brother. At the nod that Alan gave, it told the brothers that Alan did want to go which was and wasn't much of a surprise.

It was a surprise because Alan didn't seem like the type to want to attend a dance and it wasn't a surprise because Alan had never gone to a dance and like he'd pointed out already. It was kind of impossible to have a dance when in attendance to a boy's school.

"Alright, we'll ask dad to find out if you can go. But if not, we don't want to get any lip." Virgil said before pointing at his own eyes and pointing at Alan meaning that he's watching his behavior.

"Q-Question…if our d-dads do let us g-go to the dance w-what will we w-wear?" Fermat inquired.

"Well, Dr. Andreesen said it wasn't a black tie event, so probably what's comfortable." Alan replied back as he questioned how they would dress for the dance if they did get to go as well.

"If dad and Brains give their okay, we can go get you boys some new dress clothes from the mall…or we can get you some clothes from the island." Scott said, speaking up since getting laser eyes from his younger brother.

"P-Probably be b-better if you g-get us new s-stuff from the s-store. Y-You can get us t-the next s-size up so w-we're c-comfortable." Fermat said, hoping they could get permission to attend the dance.

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Later that day, after breakfast and therapy with Lacey - Alan and Fermat both were surprised by their friends from Massachusetts General Hospital. Brooke hugged Alan tightly and pressed a kiss against Alan's cheek, making the boy blush a fiery red. Scott and Virgil looked at each other, mockingly giving each other goo-goo eyes to tease Alan about his reaction to seeing Brooke again.

Alan turned and flipped his brothers the bird before returning said hug to Brooke.

"Hi! How're you?" Alan asked under his breath.

"I'm great now that I can see you again. I missed you." Brooke said before hugging Alan again. Once the two teens had finished hugging, they turned to their friends and coughed nervously when they saw them smiling. Danny was covering Ben's eyes playfully, so his eyes weren't soiled from seeing the public displays of affection.

"Well, now that that is out of the way…lets get this tour started huh?" Danny inquired playfully. Alan and Fermat who were ready after therapy to lead their friends on a short "tour". In reality they were going to just lead their friends around before settling in the lounge area like what was at Mass Gen. Dr. Andreesen and Dr. Juno were supervising while discussing Alan's care at length and how certain treatments would be used for helping Fermat rehabilitate further. Dr. Juno felt like Fermat might be able to be discharged soon, but was purposefully taking it slow so that Alan and Fermat would leave together since their fathers talked with her about how Alan and Fermat seemed to feed off the other's energy.

Alan and Fermat led the group around while using their walking aids. Brooke squealed in excitement when Alan stood up in front of her for the first time since they'd met. Danny, Skye, Chad and Ben applauded Alan and gave Fermat a pat on the back when they got to see their friends had gotten better since leaving the burn ward.

"There's the activities room, where Fermat and I just came from when you arrived. We have a pool here so our physiotherapist has both of us working on building our strength in our legs after…you know, being on bed rest for so long." Alan said softly before looking back at his group of friends. When they finished their tour, Danny gave an appreciative whistle at the different layout and other accommodations that Mass Gen didn't have. Chad murmured that if he didn't have a girlfriend tying him to the hospital he'd definitely transfer treatment centers before getting an agreement from Skye.

"So, now that we're done with the tour – we can just sit and hang out for a little bit." Alan said, reaching up a hand to wipe the sweat that gathered on his brow away. He was tired as this was the longest he'd walked outside of therapy before, but he was proud of himself for getting as far as he did before he needed a break. They sat out on the patio and languidly enjoyed the breeze that blew by.

"Feels good." Fermat murmured as he closed his eyes and took the time to enjoy the breeze that blew through.

"Absolutely." Alan echoed as he sighed when the breeze ruffled his hair.

"I'm starving." Danny commented before standing up and grabbing his crutches. "Hey Ben, want to go grab some food with me at the cafeteria?"

"Sure." The younger boy replied before he followed the older boy inside the room the led out to the patio. Once those two were gone, Chad and Skye led Fermat away to "show" them the topiary. Once Alan and Brook were alone, the young lady blushed before looking away in nervousness. Alan knew something was up, he swore he could smell something fishy.

Brooke took a few minutes more before she looked back at Alan. Ducking her head, the girl murmured out something that Alan didn't quite catch. He had a feeling that he knew what Brooke was asking but wanted to make sure before he made a fool of himself.

"Come again?" Alan inquired, watching Brooke carefully as he waited on her to speak again. When she did it came out as a jumbled mess that Alan had to decipher.

"Will-you-go-to-the-spring-ball-with-me?" Brooke asked hurriedly.

Alan felt honored, but he hadn't yet asked his dad and he'd rather not get her hopes up. Alan paused for a few moments as he thought about what he wanted to say before he actually said it.

"As much as I'd love to say yes, I haven't gotten my dad's permission yet. Can I get a rain check?" Alan asked seeing Brooke kind of deflate at Alan's response. Alan felt like he should explain further before Brooke misunderstood. "As soon as I have my dad's permission, you have my solemn promise…Yes, I'd love to be your date to the winter ball. My older brother was going to bring it up to my dad tonight, so if we haven't gotten permission from him by the time this tour is over…I'll let you know as soon as I know myself."