"Al? Come on. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday." Gordon said softly as he stood out in the hallway, plate piled high with Alan's favorite stuffed French toast. It was one of the few things that Scott was decent at cooking and Scott had put his little morsel together to try to cheer Alan up. The French toast was marinating in syrup and had a light dusting of powdered sugar ala Gordon.

"Go away Gordo. I'm not hungry." Alan's miserable voice floated softly from behind the locked bedroom door.

"The Hell you aren't. Do you want me to have my neck wrung? Scott wants you to eat and he's charged me with the task of shoveling this plate of stuffed strawberry French toast down your gullet. Now open this door and let me in before I have to retrieve the guard dog." Gordon said sternly as he placed a hand on his cocked hip and held the plate delicately in the other hand. "Don't make me count to three, because I will."

"I don't want to see anyone Gordo. Please, just leave me alone." Alan whimpered. The tone of his voice spoke volumes to Gordon, but the older brother wasn't to be deterred. He had a mission and he was going to fulfill the mission even if it made Alan hate him for the rest of their natural lives.

"Too bad Al." Gordon said before he counted aloud. When Alan still refused to open his door, Gordon heaved a laborious sigh before he turned to enter his own bedroom. Looks like his trick of the trade would come in handy.

Striding into his bedroom, Gordon grabbed his multi-tool pocket knife from his dresser and walked outside onto his balcony. He and Alan shared a balcony since their side of the villa was overlooking the expanse of the jungle. Setting the plate on the little table outside on his and Alan's balcony, Gordon moved to kneel before Alan's French door. Flicking the Philip's head screwdriver from its hiding place, Gordon began removing the screws from the door handle. Once he'd gotten the door handle removed, he removed his student ID from his wallet which he always carried with him, even when on the island and used the card to jimmy the lock; thereby opening Alan's bedroom door.

"Go away Gordo, please." Alan said once Gordon made it passed the threshold.

"Not happening kiddo." Gordon said as he pulled the door shut, effectively locking both him and Alan together in Alan's bedroom. "Sit up and eat your breakfast. I'm not kidding, Scott said he'd wring my neck if you didn't even take a couple bites of your breakfast."

Gordon moved over to sit on Alan's bed, shaking his shoulder tenderly. "At least take a couple bites, just enough so I know you're eating." Gordon coaxed before trying to flip Alan.

"No Gordo! No!" Alan cried miserably before being flipped onto his back, revealing his dry tear streaked face and swollen red eyes to the older brother.

"Aw Allie." Gordon said sympathetically. He shifted on the bed, before balancing the plate on his knee. Leaning down, Gordon caught Alan up in a hug. "I'm so sorry Al…broken hearts suck."

Gordon stayed by, listening as Alan poured his heart out. It tore at Gordon's heart to know that Alan's heart had been effectively shattered and the older redhead felt the anger growing deep in his chest as he listened to Alan recount just how the argument transpired – ending with Tin-Tin saying what she said. Alan ate no more than three bites of his breakfast, spending more time changing the flavor of the food with his tears than eating. If Gordon had to nominate some of his most epic fails as big brother, this would probably rank a large 1. He sucked at the touchy feely, let's hold hands and talk about our feelings moments, those moments usually belonged to Virgil or John's territory.

When Gordon finally left Alan's bedroom, he felt none the more successful. He carried a heavy heart and a slightly heavy plate, having helped Alan eat his breakfast, despite the added tears. It was practically a sin in their household to let food go to waste, thus Gordon's urging for Alan to eat despite not having much of an appetite. As he walked down the hall, he rounded the corner to almost run headfirst into Tin-Tin. His eyes narrowed immediately at the sight of the girl who'd broken his brother's heart.

"Gordon, I didn't expect to see you." Tin-Tin said as she took notice of the barely touched plate of food in Gordon's hands. "Didn't you get Alan to eat?"

"What do you care? Huh?" Gordon replied sharply, causing Tin-Tin to take a step back. It was unheard of for Gordon to show his temper, but everyone knew he had an equally as terrifying a temper as their father…all of the Tracy sons did. How they managed to get along as well as they did amazed most because they were always together and never seemed to want to kill each other. "You have a lot of nerve to judge me for not being able to get my little brother to eat his breakfast when it was you who stomped all over his broken heart."

Gordon showed great strength in controlling his temper, when he really wanted to tear Tin-Tin a new one. If he'd been a cartoon character, steam would have been pouring from his ears. Growling low in his chest at Tin-Tin, Gordon brushed past her with the muttered warning.

"Stay away from Alan if you know what's good for you."

… … … … … …

Alan lay on his side, staring dully at a picture of him and Tin-Tin, it was one of the rare photos gotten of them together. Alan was leaning against one of the palm trees just off the deck near the front of the villa, with Tin-Tin leaned back into his chest. The both of them were smiling at the camera, Alan blocking the glare of the sun from his eyes. His hand was held up and looked as though he was waving at the camera.

Feeling his bottom lip tremble, Alan sniffed before unearthing his hand from beneath his massive pile of pillows to lay the picture face down on his night table. Closing his eyes Alan felt the burn of tears which was immediately followed by a sharp pain in his heart. He was sure his heart just broke more than was normal.

… … … … … …

Tin-Tin stood directly outside of Alan's bedroom door. She held her fist poised to knock, but drew back. She didn't want to hurt Alan any more than she'd already done. That and the warning from Gordon made her afraid to knock. Sure Mr. Tracy had raised his boys properly, but there wasn't a doubt in Tin-Tin's mind that when pushed the boys wouldn't raise a hand to a female – especially in defense of their brother. Sure he never actually issued the threat to hit, but Tin-Tin didn't want to test the theory.

Backing away from the door, Tin-Tin turned her back on the door, making the decision to let Alan be for now, since the scab from her verbal barb the day previous was likely still open and bleeding.