A/N

Okay guys, here it is!

I'm making the A/N short today since I'm gonna be late for work if I don't hurry.

I really wanted to take the time to pay a little more attention to Megan in this one, since I feel she's kind of an underrated character because she's mean to her brothers. So I decided to show a little of both of her sides in this chapter to give you a little insight as to how she feels about Drake and Josh 'arguing'.

Hope you enjoy!

~Effy

It took only a matter of moments for Megan to take off after Grammy's departure, running up the stairs and directly past the bathroom door, behind which Drake was audibly vomiting. However, it took her until she'd stopped in front of her brothers' room to realize exactly what it was that she was going to do.

She thought back with a grimace to the booby-trapping she'd done that morning with the hope that the pranking would remind her feuding brothers that there was a much larger (actually, smaller) cause for their pain than each other. But she now realized exactly what that meant.

Since she'd taken a short break from pranking (minus the use of Drake's guitar for the homicide of that spider), something else had been bothering her older brother, Drake (meaning apart from his argument with Josh and his sudden illness), and she saw it as her responsibility to figure out what and put an end to it. Because only she hurt her brothers, and she only did it out of love.

And so as soon as she'd dismantled her trap, she fished out of her pocket exactly what she needed-a minuscule camera that she'd wanted to use for a long time now.

Megan looked around the room for a long time until she finally decided on the ping pong table to play host to the camera and adjusted the tiny lens until it was satisfactory. Then, she dashed from the room with her booby-trap supplies before either of her brothers would have the chance to suspect anything.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Immediately after returning downstairs, Megan started toward the kitchen where she knew Josh would still be cooking his late breakfast for the three family members that remained present after their parents left for the convention that Walter's boss had insisted everyone in the weather program attend.

She knew that if she could get Josh to spill then she'd be able to at least try to clean up the mess her idiot brothers had made of themselves and each other before it got any worse. Because Lord knew that if it did get worse, the chances that Drake would survive emotionally were slim. Not to mention his physical condition which, in the moment, Megan had almost entirely forgotten about.

She seated herself at the table after getting herself a glass of juice, kicking her feet absently as she waited for her older brother to acknowledge her presence. When he didn't, she furrowed her brow and attempted another approach.

"So, you and Drake are still fighting, huh?" she said, hiding the smirk that came naturally with the knowledge that she was irking him. Josh shot her a look, though quickly returned his gaze to the bowl of pancake mix he was stirring.

"No," he said evenly, hating that she'd used the term 'fighting'. It was evident that she knew this, though.

"Oh, that's right, you're just "done" with him," she said with a nod, holding her hands up to make quotes around the word 'done'. "I remember now. And it's been what, two weeks now?" Josh gave her another momentary stare of irritation.

"Yes," he said, trying his best to focus on the food he was making, rather than the little girl sitting at the table with that smug look in her eye.

"And still you haven't apologized?" Megan asked, proud to see Josh's left eye twitch slightly. "Wow, you've never stayed angry at him this long…"

"I'm not angry," Josh said, though his tone told a different story. "I'm done with Drake. And besides, I have nothing to apologize for."

Megan nodded slowly, much representing a therapist as she processed this information. "So, he hasn't apologized yet?" She knew she had him this time. She could tell just by the way Josh stood that he was extremely agitated, but also on the edge of cracking and telling her what she wanted to know on the matter.

"No, he has."

"You're just holding a grudge?"

"You know what?" Josh said angrily, putting down the bowl of mix and facing Megan with a fire in his eye that she'd never seen before. "I don't have to answer your questions, little girl! What happened between Drake and I is our business, not yours! So stay out of it."

And with that, the matter was closed. Megan knew she couldn't get any more information out of this brother, but it was okay. She'd already found out all she needed to know.

One down, one to go, she thought with a grin.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

It felt like hours that Drake had been lying there on the couch in his bedroom, far too fatigued to change the channel the TV was showing. Something about how something was made, he thought, though he couldn't really tell anymore because his eyes were now half closed with the exhaustion that tugged at his eyelids. But of course, no real rest would come even if he could fall asleep, and so he instead tried to force his eyes to stay open, no matter how tempting the offer that the sandman was giving him was.

Even when he heard the door open and someone entered, his eyes never left the screen that they were seemingly glued to. It wasn't until Megan spoke that he even processed that he was no longer alone. And somehow, the knowledge comforted him. And so he milked in for what it was worth, reminding himself every few seconds I'm not alone.

"Hi," Megan said, something about her tone forming a crease in Drake's forehead. She sounded… worried, or so he thought. He couldn't really think straight right now.

"Hi," Drake repeated, using almost the same voice as his sister, making him sound oddly like a parrot of some sort. The image of himself in bird form appeared in his vision, pulling the corners of his lips up into a smile that he hadn't felt in what seemed like ages.

Brow furrowed in concern for her brother, Megan spoke again. "How are you feeling?"

Drake knew that Megan wasn't one to worry—especially not about her brothers, since she was usually the one to cause them pain—so he was sure, even in his tiredness-induced confusion, that either there was something else going on that he didn't know about, or he was really something to worry about right now. He'd bet anything that it was the first, though.

"Fine," he said, keeping his guard up as best he could in his current state, sure that if he let it down for even a moment, his sister would pull something. And to be honest, he really felt bad enough right now without her little tricks.

"Oh really?" Megan asked, though not in the bossy, almost threatening way you'd expect. She wanted to find out what was going on, yes, but she also was worried about her older brother.

"That's right," Drake said. "So you can [cough] forget about playing any tricks you had planned. Because they aren't going to work." Megan and Drake were equally confused at this, in view of the fact that she played pranks on her brothers all the time, ill or well, but still Megan felt compelled to ensure that Drake knew she wasn't going to pull anything. Not now, anyway. She might love to cause her brothers pain, but it wasn't fair when one of them was hurting emotionally and physically already.

Megan leaned toward Drake a little more, reaching her hand over his pulled-up knees so that she could touch his forehead, which seemed to be impossible for anyone to do since he slapped them all away. So, with this record in mind, Megan wasn't sure why she thought it was a good idea to at least try again, but for some reason she just felt she needed to.

As expected though, Drake moved away just in time. Yes, he knew he had a fever just from the way he felt cold enough for his innards to freeze solid, yet warm enough to burn alive, but he still didn't really want anyone taking his temperature. And he wasn't sure exactly why.

But Megan was persistent. She crawled over so that her tiny body was pushed right against Drake's shins and worked to get his arms away from his face. It took some time, but eventually he stopped fighting, exhausted, and Megan pressed a cold hand to his forehead, her eyebrows drawing together with concern.

"Liar," was all she said, though she wasn't smiling triumphantly like she normally would be. "You're sick and you know it, Drake. And I'll leave you alone on one condition."

Looking at her with pleading in his eyes, Drake nodded in agreement.

"Please sleep. You look like you haven't in days." The faintest of smiles lit up Drakes face and he nodded again. Megan then leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, walking towards the door and stopping only briefly enough to rip the comforter from Josh's bed and toss it to Drake.

And, smiling, she left Drake alone, as promised.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Thanks for reading! Please review, if you've got a minute, and tell me what you think!