Three weeks pass with no change in Tino's condition.

Berwald and Peter try to keep life as normal as possible. Berwald has to get used to not kissing Tino when he gets home from work, and Peter has to ignore the pang of hurt from not seeing Tino at the door to greet him when the bus drops him off after school. Even Hanatamago is beginning to miss him too, as she still mopes by the door in the morning around her usual walk time with Tino, even though Berwald now walks her at night.

One Saturday, Berwald and Peter are finally relaxing, after a long week of school and work.

The phone rings.

Berwald gets up to answer it, and Peter's heart leaps into his throat. Were his nightmares and panicked daydreams coming true...?

Peter can't bear to look at Berwald's face, for fear of having to see the moment where every ounce of color drains away from his face.

Berwald's voice is even and unreadable, so Peter can't understand what is happening. He does, in fact, notice Berwald is speaking to a doctor, but he is mostly listening, not having to say much.

Berwald thanks the doctor and hangs up the phone. He returns to the living room, and Peter looks up at him with wide, scared eyes.

"Peter, Tino woke up."

Peters eyes widen even further, but out of pleasant disbelief.

"He... He did?!"

Berwald cracks a smile. "Yeah. He's fine, he's awake... He's not going to die." It almost sounds as if Berwald is reassuring himself as well as Peter.

Peter jumps up from the couch. "Are we going to go se him now?"

Berwald nods, walking almost as fast as Peter as they head for the car.

...

It is a pleasant change to see Tino sitting up in the bed, as opposed to laying limply, when Peter and Berwald enter his room.

Peter notices a smile on Berwald's face that he hasn't been able to see in a long time.

As the two approach Tino's bedside, Peter realizes how much he missed seeing Tino smiling down at him.

Berwald leans down and lays a long kiss on Tino's forehead. Tino reaches up, placing his hand on Berwald's cheek and letting his long fingers brush his husband's skin.

Peter is amazed by the connection they have. Without even saying a word, Peter can clearly see the love that his parents share.

As Tino's hand falls away, and he turns to look at Peter. Tino reaches out for Peter's hand, taking it gently and holding it, having missed the contact.

"Daddy..." Peter says, his voice wavering slightly, despite the smile on his face. "I've missed you... I'm so glad you're okay..."

"Peter, honey, I've missed you too... Though I do suppose I've been asleep for most of it..." Tino murmurs.

Peter is about to speak, but he is interrupted by the door opening. A doctor walks in, nodding to himself as he sees Berwald.

He approaches Berwald and shakes his hand. "Nice to see you again, ," the man says. "We've checked over 's vitals, and everything is going just fine. In the following months, he is going to need some physical therapy to help with his knee, along with the lack of walking he has been doing the past few weeks. Other than that, he is very healthy. He will be able to leave the hospital in about two days."

Berwald thanks the doctor, and the man takes his leave. Berwald turns to Tino, resting his hand lightly on his shoulder.

"Will you be able to hold out for two days? I'm sure you're tired of this place."

"I'm very tired of it, but I'll manage," Tino says with a smile.

...

When Peter returns to school, it is written all over his face that he is no longer sullen and upset. He had a perpetual smile on throughout the day, and Ella finally comments on it during second period.

"I haven't seen you this happy in so long, Peter! What happened?" Ella asks, a warm smile on her face.

"My dad woke up. He's going to be totally fine, once he gets some physical therapy!"

"Oh, Peter, that's great-" Ella starts, only to be cut off by a hand falling heavily on to the table that she and Peter are sitting at.

A boy stands in front of them, a sneer pasted onto his face.

"Your dad? Which one?" The boy taunts. "How can you possibly like living with your dads rather than normal parents like the rest of us?" He boy spits as he sneers out "normal."

Ella tries to stand and tell the boy off, but Peter grabs her wrist, pulling it down. He stands up himself, his nose scrunched up in anger.

"Listen to me, right now. I don't care what you think about me having two dads. I am so much happier with them than with my birth parents, because if I never left them I would probably be dead by now," Peter snaps. "I will never regret being adopted by two dads, because they love me more than anyone else ever has. You can say whatever you want, but it won't change the fact that I am proud to live with my new parents. Tease me if you must, but nothing with make me wish I had your so called 'normal' parents rather than my dads!"

Peters hands are pressed into the desk, gripping at the wood with his fingers. He glares at the boy in front of him, almost challenging him to say something else.

The boy tries to hide his surprise at he outburst, but he isn't very successful. His face grows a bit pink with embarrassment, and he starts trying to sputter out something, but he can't form words. He glares at Peter before heading wordlessly for his seat in the back of the room.

Peter sits down, letting out a long, shaky sigh. Ella puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Peter, I'm so proud of you for doing that. That was amazing!" Ella says, before lowering her voice slightly. "You okay...? I know that probably wasn't easy."

Peter nods, slowly. "Yeah, I'm okay... I've just never done anything like that before..."

And Peter knows why. If he had been made fun of while living with his birth parents, or even some other random people, he wouldn't have been able to ever stand up for himself. Fortunately, he got Tino and Berwald, who have made him so much stronger. They help him grow, teaching him how to do the things he needs to do, and showing him what it's really like to be alive. Before, he was never able to truly live, for fear of being punished or ridiculed for it. Now, he is able to be himself, because Tino and Berwald raise him up, making him stronger just by caring for him and protecting him.

He can't ever thank them enough for that.

A/N: No, this is not the end! Not quite yet. I still have quite a few chapters to go, so don't you worry about the end quite yet.

I hope this gives some peace of mind to the reviewers who were afraid I was going to kill off Tino ;) I love me some angst/tragedy fics from time to time, but I don't think I could kill Tino, at least not this version of him, with his family and all. It would hurt me too much to write that!

But don't think this story is all fluff from this point on! The next chapter is pretty fluffy (or safe and not angsty at the very least), but I have another little trick up my sleeve for some later chapters ^_^

Anyways, I hope you are enjoying this story! Thanks for all of the reviews and favorites and follows!

-KayDubs