A/N - Again, for those who have read this fic. There is nothing new added, I just split the story up into a couple chapters since it seemed to flow better in this format.

The next week I brought Sam up to the roof with me. I gave him very specific instructions on exactly how quiet he needed to be. He listened intently as I sat him down in that same alcove I had used the previous week, nodding after every rule I made up as he watched out of the slits for the show I told him was about to start.

I turned my own attention to the roof, keeping one eye on Sam just to make sure he did not start panicking for some reason. Luckily, he remained quiet and kept his attention focused outside, and he remained focused when the Green Men arrived.

I no longer remember what they did that night, the first night I showed them to Sam. I was too busy watching my brother, watching his fascinated eyes drink in every detail of the action he saw. It was amazing to watch, and he seemed at peace sitting there, watching the four Green Men leap and flip around. He smiled at them, and I know that my face must have been similar to his as I felt a calming weight be removed as I realized that Sam was going to be alright. Eventually, the four men wandered off, and I guided Sam back down to our room where we both slept soundly and comfortably.

Over the next few days, both my mother and I started noticing a sudden change in Sam. He was less anxious and he did not have any screaming panic attacks, at least not as many. I began to recognize his behavior as that of how he acted when we were at our old home when Dad was with us. He had finally gotten used to living in this new place, much to the great relief of our mother and the other residents. As it was, we were not kicked out of the apartment, and our lease was guaranteed for as long as we needed it.

The Saturday commute to the roof with Sam and I soon became a regular routine we would do every week. We went up there and watched whatever it was the Green Men did, and every night it changed as they played various games, sometimes they sparred, and sometimes they just ran right by us, but each time we saw them, Sam found relief and serenity that kept him calm.

My mother, of course, soon discovered what we were doing those Saturday nights up on the roof. She uncovered our secret alcove after she found several of her couch pillows missing, discovering them in a nice pile on the roof where Sam and I had brought them to sit on while we watched the Green Men. I told her we go up there to talk and that it was what helped calm Sam down. Naturally, my mother was a bit skeptical, but she believed me when I said that it helped Sam's demeanor, and once she scouted the roof out a bit herself to make sure it was safe, she gave us her approval to continue with our weekly ritual.

Soon Sam started coming to me every Saturday at nine-thirty, telling me it was time to go and see the Green Men. Every time I laughed and nodded and followed him up to the roof. Even when it was raining or snowing, Sam would come to me and ask me to take him up there. Usually those times either I or my mother had to stop us from going up there, which of course upset Sam, but the tantrums were never as bad as they were when we first moved in to the apartment complex.

He talked to me about them sometimes when we were both in bed. He said he dreamed about them. He claimed he dreamed about them and the Gray Man with them and how they would fight an army of Dark Men with white eyes. He said the Green Men were the good guys, that they were protecting people. I laughed and told him they were, while in my own head I could only chuckle at how amazing my brother's imagination was.

I honestly never gave my brother's dreams much thought, despite the fact that he continued to tell me he was having them. Every time I just shrugged and agreed with him that the Green Men were protecting people. I did this for eight years. Eight long years we kept up the routine. We would watch the Green Men and Sam would tell me all about the new dream he had of them.

Of course, good things never last as the old saying goes, and it was at the end of those eight years, when I was sixteen and Sam was fourteen, that everything changed.

I came home from school as any other day one Friday afternoon, relieved that the weekend was coming up. Our mom was not home yet since she usually ended up working late Friday nights and our neighbor was looking after Sam. Just one floor down from us, Mrs. Abbot, she was a retired elderly woman and grandmother of several kids. She had been kind enough to look after Sam for us while my mother worked and I went to school for a small monthly fee. She originally insisted on doing it for the sake of being kind, but my mother insisted on giving her some recompense for her troubles.

When I got home from school, I was allowed to join Sam in Mrs. Abbot's apartment, but by the time I was in high school, my mother and I both agreed it would be best if I just took Sam back home and watched him myself whenever I got home. And so that was what I did that day. I went downstairs, picked Sam up, thanking Mrs. Abbot once again, and took him back upstairs to our apartment.

Time passed as I watched TV and Sam played on the computer some puzzle games we had bought for him. I did not even recognize something as being wrong until Sam had come up to me and spoken. "It's seven o'clock Andrew. Andrew, it's seven o'clock." I jumped at the sudden proclamation as I looked over at Sam. He had turned away from the computer screen to look at a spot on the couch next to me, a strangely anxious look in his eyes. "Andrew, it's 7:01. It's 7:01 Andrew."

I nodded confused to Sam. I had no idea what seven o'clock meant to him. As far as I knew at the time, he usually continued playing the puzzle games on the computer for at least another half an hour. "Yes it is Sam," I reassured him. "Is there something wrong?"

"Mom. Latest time Mom home 6:29 Andrew. It's 7:02 Andrew. Mom is thirty-three minutes late Andrew. It's 7:02 Andrew. Why is Mom late Andrew?" Sam began to rock back and forth in his chair, his eyes starting to look frantic. "Mom's late Andrew. Why is mom late Andrew? Why is mom late Andrew? Why is mom late Andrew?" He kept repeating that question, making his tone even more frantic, and it was starting to scare me. One, because it sounded like another tantrum brewing, and two, because he was absolutely right. Our mother usually got home around six o'clock. She was only so late that one time because of traffic. Why she was more than an hour late this time had me worried.

I quickly gathered Sam together with me and guided him back downstairs to Mrs. Abbot's apartment. After a quick apology for asking her to watch him, I ran back upstairs and called my mother's work. They told me she had gone home at five thirty like she always did. I could only hang up the phone, getting even more worried.

I started pacing the area of our small apartment, trying to think of what to do. I was interrupted from my musings rather suddenly as the phone rang. With a start, I rushed to the table and fumbled with getting the receiver to my ear. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hello, is this the Wilson residence?" asked the voice over the ear piece.

I nodded before responding with a choked up, "Yes."

"This is the St. Joseph Hospital calling. I need to tell you there's been an accident-."

At that point, I dropped the receiver and rushed back downstairs. "Good heavens Andrew, what's the matter?" Mrs. Abbot asked me after opening the door to my frantic pounding.

I wiped away the building tears and looked at her. "I need you to look after Sam for me Mrs. Abbot. Just for a little while."

"Andrew, what happened?"

I shook my head. "I don't know, but the hospital just called. I'm going to catch a cab down there now."

Mrs. Abbot nodded and bade me good luck. "I'll be praying for you."

I nodded one last time before rushing out the door. Down on the busy New York street, I frantically waved down any taxi cab I could find, ending up with completely futile efforts for the longest time. Finally, I hailed one and ordered him to the St. Joseph Hospital as fast as he could go.

After an agonizingly long twenty minute car ride, we arrived, and I rushed out, dropping much more money in the man's lap than was needed. Upon entering, and forcefully introducing myself and begging for my mother, I was ushered upstairs to my mother's room. There she lay, bandaged all along her head and down her left side. An IV needle was in her right arm, and her face was bruised and swollen.

I turned to the doctor who was standing there adjusting some dials on a heart monitor next to my mother's bed. He looked up from his work and regarded me with a serious expression, but a welcome and comforting one. "Are you the family?" he asked me.

I could only nod in response as I stood motionless in the doorway, my eyes fixated on the shallow breaths the prone figure on the bed was taking. The gentle rise and fall of my mother's chest continued steadily and slowly. Too slow. There was no way a person could breathe that slowly and still be alive.

It took me several moments to register that the doctor was addressing me, and I tore my eyes from her to listen. "-said the man ran a red light. She has a broken collar bone, several lacerations from broken glass as well as a fractured skull, and now she has lapsed into a coma. We have set everything in its place, but we fear she may have taken some brain damage from the impact. We don't know when she'll wake up."

I stared at this person who claimed he was a doctor. That was a fact I was quickly starting to doubt. Doctors were supposed to be healers, but he was not healing my mother. He was telling me he was done helping her and that I was supposed to just wait and hope my mother pulled herself out of it. I started getting angry. I started screaming at the guy. I wanted to hit something. In fact, I probably DID hit something, I do not remember much after hearing the condition my mother was in.

Somehow, I wound up home again. I think Mrs. Abbot came and picked me up after getting dragged out of the hospital by the security. I was sitting on the couch in our apartment as Sam played his puzzle games some more. I watched him play the game. He seemed oblivious to the fact that something was wrong, yet I knew that was not true. In fact, he had known something was wrong before I had. I only shook my head and continued to sit quietly for the rest of the night until we both had to get to bed.

I did not sleep at all that night.

In the morning, Mrs. Abbot drove us both back to visit my mother in the hospital. We stayed there from morning until dusk watching over her, but we were thoroughly disappointed that night when we went home and nothing had changed. Our mother was still in a coma, and Sam and I were still stuck alone at home.

In everything that had happened, I had forgotten about an important detail that night, until Sam came up to me and started poking me. "Andrew, it's 9:30. It's 9:30 Andrew. Green Men on the roof, Andrew. Green Men."

I sighed and shook my head. "Not tonight Sam, please?" I begged him, but Sam's pokes became more incessant.

"9:30 Andrew. Andrew, it's 9:30. The Green Men, Andrew. The Green Men will help us Andrew." He started to sound frantic, and I eventually gave in as I found it somewhat curious that Sam would say they would help us. So I followed him up to the roof and sat down with him once again under that old water tower and waited.

And waited.

Ten o'clock came and went and eventually so did eleven o'clock. I looked over at Sam. He was a motionless statue as his eyes locked on the vacant rooftop. I sighed after looking at my watch for the last time. "Come on Sam, they aren't coming tonight."

"But the Gray Man said they'd help," Sam whined. "He promise. He promise they help mom. He promise they help."

"Sam, they don't know us. They can't help us," I tried to explain to my distraught brother.

He started moaning, and I knew that I had the start of a tantrum on my hands. It was difficult, but I was able to get him back inside before the tantrum went into full bloom. I laid him down in bed and went to sleep myself, thinking of the Green Men and the Gray Man that Sam always dreamed of. I prayed in my sleep that night. I prayed that Sam was right and that someone, anyone, would help us, help our mother. I wanted to believe that this mythical wise man that Sam dreamed of would miraculously heal my mother

But sadly, no such luck came. The days past and the first week went by. Sam dragged me up to that roof again, but the Green Men still did not show up and offer us answers. Another week passed and the same thing happened. After the fourth time on that roof and almost a month of watching my mother lie in bed, unmoving and looking practically dead, I had had it. When Sam refused to move, I gave up. I kicked out at the rotting old boards and splintered them instantly. I tore angrily at the others, ripping them down, tearing piece after fragile piece into tiny bits as Sam sat there and watched me, eyes wide with concern and terror.

"Is this all you care about Sam?" I screamed at him. "Is this it? You don't even know that Mom is hurt, do you? All you care about is your god damn Green Men. Well they aren't coming back Sam. They're probably dead and gone, just like mom will be too soon." I felt hot tears stream down my face as I stared at Sam. He continued to sit under that water tower, clutching his knees and rocking back and forth. He let out a churning moan as he rocked, a sign of a brewing tantrum, and his eyes remained ever locked on the expanse of the roof behind me.

I threw my arms up in the air in exasperation and stalked off, leaving Sam on the roof alone. It was a poor thing to do, but I did not care at that point. I was fed up with him, and with the Green Men. What good were they when they could not even bother to show up at the time that we needed them most? Why, if they helped people the way Sam said they helped people, could they not help us? Were we that terrible of people? I could not believe that, but those were the thoughts that swam through my head that night as I drifted off to sleep, barely noticing the slide of the window opening as Sam came in and went to bed too.

That night, I dreamt. I dreamt I was back home, my old home, and Mom and Dad and Sam were all sitting together in the living room. They were smiling and talking. Sam looked normal, and he was looking at us, he was looking at Mom and Dad. Sam never made eye contact with anyone, and he wasn't even rocking. He looked like any other kid.

"This is what you always wanted, isn't it?"

I spun around to see who had spoken. There, standing in front of me, stood a weird little man. He was probably barely taller than four and a half feet tall, but he seemed shorter since he stood slightly hunched, leaning on a short walking stick. His skin looked like it was dark ashen gray, although the features seemed oddly distorted, and all I could make out clearly were his piercing brown eyes situated in a lump of an oddly elongated face.

"Who….who are you?" I stammered.

The man looked past me to the rest of my family who had now stopped talking and were watching me and the weird man. They had oddly encouraging smiles on their faces, like they were patiently waiting for something joyous to happen. I turned back to the man whose eyes were now boring into me with a look of utter intensity. It disturbed me to see those eyes in that odd lump of gray-whatever.

Gray?

Realization struck me in an instant. "You're the Gray Man that Sam told me about?"

The figure nodded and looked past me once again to lay his eyes on Sam. I turned and regarded my brother as well. He was sitting quietly on the floor in the middle of the living room, watching us with those interested eyes and youthful smile. He looked so happy and peaceful there. But it was not Sam, and it probably never would be.

"Your brother is quite special, you know this?" the figure asked me.

I merely nodded in response and I heard the Gray Man sigh. "No, I do not think you DO know this," he told me. I turned to him and he looked at me again. "He came to me and my sons, the ones you both call the Green Men. He came to us in spirit. I have never met one with such a strong will of the spirit. He told us he thanked us for helping everyone and for letting you both watch my sons train. He told my sons that they were appreciated for what they did in the streets, stopping the crime, protecting people. He helped them. He lifted their spirits and their self-esteem, convinced them to continue what they did.

"And in exchange, I promised him that I would always look over his family. That I would help you in your time of need. I promised him that I would guide you all and protect you all whenever you needed it most."

I narrowed my eyes at this man who claimed to know so much. "Well you haven't been doing a very good job keeping your promise," I accused. "My mom is in the hospital. Why didn't you protect her? Why didn't you help her if you said you were going to watch over us?" I sank to my knees as the tears started flowing from me. "I want my mom back. Sam needs her. I need her. I can't take care of Sam by myself."

I think I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, although it was a dream, and I could barely tell what I was feeling, if anything. Despite that, I looked into the man's eyes. They were soft and understanding. "The pain you are feeling is only natural," he told me. "The grief you feel, I have felt it on more than one occasion. I feared for my sons many times much the same way you now fear for your mother.

"But as you said, I did promise your brother that I would look out for you, and that is what I am here today to do." I turned my attention to the man. It seemed odd, but he seemed to become more defined, more solid, and I saw the gray blobs of formless flesh shift and solidify into a fuzzy wiry frame. The man looked odd, to say the least, like some oversized, bipedal terrier, but his soft and kind brown eyes kept me relaxed and tranquil. "I have a favor to ask of you."

I blinked dumbly as I stared at the man whose eyes fell back to my family. I turned and stared amazed as I now saw the four Green Men intermixed with Sam and my parents, all talking like long lost friends just newly reunited. "I want you and your brother to continue to watch over my sons," the Gray Man said. "Continue to be there for them on that roof for as long as you can. Will you promise me this?"

I stood up, my eyes still gazing at the group in the living room, all joking, smiling, laughing, all caring for one another. They were all a family, close and protective of one another and I suddenly felt like a part of them. That all nine of us, the seven in the living room, the Gray Man and myself, it truly felt like we were all together in that dream, connected by fate somehow.

I nodded to the man, answering his request. "I promise." And then everything faded.

My eyes snapped open as a muffled rattling echoed through my head. It took me a minute to register the noise as our phone ringing in the hallway. I extricated myself from the tangled mess of blankets atop me, and left my room to go answer the phone. I picked it up and gave a dreary, "Hello?" to the caller.

A soft and whispery voice came through my end. "Andrew?" it said.

I recognized it immediately. "MOM!?"

- - -

We brought her home on Wednesday, although she was still reduced to sitting around for most of the day. Mrs. Abbot helped us get around a lot. We were lucky in that the insurance our mom earned from her work covered her accident, so we were not going into debt from the medical expenses. I wound up taking care of Sam mostly by myself, but I was okay with that, because mom was home, and we were a family again.

The days went by happily and normally for all of us. All I was aware of for the longest time was making sure my mother was comfortable.

And then Saturday came around again, that infamous day that used to hold so much wonder for me and Sam. I had all but forgotten about the routine until Sam came up to me and started talking about it. "The Green Men, Andrew. Gotta see the Green Men Andrew. Yeah, the Green Men."

I sighed and set down my pen. I had been doing my homework using only the light from a desk lamp and so, looking over my shoulder, everything was dark and shadowy. For the briefest of seconds, it looked like there was a short gray shadow standing behind Sam, but it faded after I rubbed the dots out of my eyes. "Listen Sam, they aren't coming back," I tried to explain. "It's been a month and no sign. Something probably happened to them."

But my insistent little brother was not deterred. "Gotta see the Green Men, Andrew," Sam said staring at a spot on the wall. "Andrew promised to watch the Green Men. Promised to watch, yeah."

I shook my head and gave up. Routine was routine, and Sam needed things to stay the way they were, so I left my homework for later and crawled out our bedroom window once again. I led the way up the familiar fire escape, stepping up to the final platform to stare despondently at the ladder. I turned back to Sam to see his expectant eyes staring at the same ladder, and all I could do was sigh as I turned back and started climbing. Step over step, I reached the top and peeked over the edge of the building.

I froze. There, sitting on the opposite edge of the roof, dangling his feet off the high rise, sat one of the Green Men. His orange bandana was flapping along his back as he stared up at the barely visible stars, most of which were concealed by the horrendous light pollution. I continued up the ladder and over the edge, not once taking my eyes off of him.

The silence was interrupted with Sam struggling, as usual, to make it over the edge. The Green Man jumped up at the noise and spun around to face us, but his expression relaxed the moment he saw us. "Oh, it's you two," he said rather calmly. "Heh, so this is the time you guys get up here."

I half turned to help Sam up and over, still keeping one eye on the Green Man. Now that he had seen us, I started to wonder whether he was dangerous or not. But once Sam was over the edge and on a level surface, he rushed over to the Green Man before I could stop him. "You 'kay?" Sam asked him, his head cocked and staring just over his shoulder.

The man stiffened for a second and took on a defensive demeanor. "Of course I'm alright, why would you ask that dude?"

"You sad."

"Nah! I ain't sad. I'm a rock. There ain't nothing that can bring me down."

"You sad."

"Listen kid, I'm not sad, now why would you say that, and why can't you look at me dude?" The Green Man turned his attention to where I stood next to the ladder. "Hey, is he okay in the head?"

A small spark of irritation flared through me, but it vanished right away. The man did not know, so there was no use getting angry at him over it. I simply sighed, and as I stepped up behind Sam, I told him, "No, he's not. He has autism."

The Green Man seemed to flush darkly, his already pale green skin going a slightly darker shade. "Oh geez, I'm so so sorry man. I just…uh…"

I held up my hand to silence him. "It's okay, you didn't know," I told him honestly. "And I'm sorry about Sam here. He just…He's very fond of you and…the others."

The Green Man nodded, smirking. "Well, he's got a lot to be fond of, I mean just look at these guns here." The man flexed his arms into several different body builder poses, all of which I only rolled my eyes to.

"You sad."

The man stopped at Sam's words, looking somewhat annoyed, so I quickly changed the subject. "So how long have you guys known we were watching you?"

The man shrugged. "Several years now, I think. My brother Raph spotted one of you watching us on one of our runs. Thank you, by the way, because our bro Leo got us to play this weird game of 'Who can Squeeze?,' and your distracting him made Raph come in last, so he had to go first." He started laughing and barely managed to choke out the next words. "It was hilarious. Leo had 'borrowed' a Thigh Master from our friend April and strengthened the resistance. Watching Raph try to squeeze that thing with his thighs and not expecting it to be so tight was one of the best shows I have ever seen."

I started chuckling with him while I mused on what he said. So it seemed as though they knew from the start that we were watching them, yet they let us do it. It warmed my heart to know that, in some way, these men trusted us somehow. I do not know why they did, and I could not bring myself to ask the man before me why he did. It was something I preferred to leave a mystery.

"You sad."

Both the Green Man and I sighed audibly. I looked over at Sam, whose gaze was still transfixed just over the man's shoulder, focusing in on some miniscule point in space. "Sam, why do you think he's sad?" I asked him.

"Because the Gray Man's gone," he replied.

I blinked for a second and then turned back to the Green Man to see if this meant anything to him. He was staring at the ground in front of his feet. His arms had gone limp at his sides, but the muscles in his body were taught and tense. His eyes started to sparkle with tears that were being fought back as his shoulders trembled with stifled sobs.

Then he surprised me. The Green Man fell to his knees and sobbed. His face was buried in his hands as he cried, letting out hoards of emotions that must have been building up in him for ages.

Not knowing what else to do, I bent down and patted him on his dark brown shell and waited for his sobs to cease. When they had, I finally asked him, "Was there a Gray Man?"

The Green Man nodded. "Yeah….there was. He was my father."

"What happened to him?"

"He got sick about a month ago, and he had been getting steadily worse as time went on. And then, a few days ago, he passed away in his sleep."

I stiffened at his description of the time frame. It fit too perfectly, but I knew it could not really be anything more than a coincidence. The logical part in my brain told me so, but the logical part was losing out, and I had to confirm my suspicions. "Can…Can you tell me what day that was? When you found him?"

The man wiped his nose on his hand and nodded. "It was just about a week ago. We found him Sunday morning."

I stood there and stared at the man in front of me. I did not know what to make of this. It all fit together, like fate's web had spun this intricate little pattern for us and us especially, and Sam had known the whole thing. I did not know what else to say, so I just stood there and watched the Green Man wipe away the last remnants of his sorrow.

All three of us were quiet and just gathered in the warmth of each other's company for the longest time. We were interrupted by a sudden frantic beeping. The Green Man glanced down at his belt and smiled. "My brothers," he explained. "They're probably wondering where I am. I'd better get home." He stood and adjusted his headband which he had taken off so he could dry his eyes. "So will I see you guys next week then?"

I smiled at him and nodded. "We'll be there. Both of us."

"Great! I'll look forward to it. Better clean up your clubhouse though." He gestured to the splintered piles of wood I had destroyed the previous week. I flushed rather sheepishly, which only served to make the Green Man burst into hysterics just before he leapt off the building as he always did.

I turned my attention back to Sam who was staring intently at the roof, his feet shuffling around, pushing bits of dust into small shapes in front of him. I smiled at him, something, I realized, I had not done in a long time. "Come on Sam, we're going home."

Sam looked up from his work to stare at the old structure that we had hidden in for almost eight years now. His eyes looked thoughtful, and he looked the most normal at that time than I had ever seen. I saw remorse, sadness, confusion, emotions that he usually displayed by screaming. I saw him express those with just his eyes like anyone walking down the street would. "The Gray Man saved Mom, Andrew," he told me. "That's why he's gone."

I nodded to him. "Yes Sam. I think that's what happened too."