Gordon leaned against the outside wall of Kathryn's room, listening to her and Ben talk. There was a frown on his face, and his arms were crossed as he concentrated on what they were saying.

It wasn't that he was angry that Ben was in there, well not too much. Gordon liked the kid well enough, he definitely had the guts to fly into the unknown with them. And he'd stayed behind to look after Virgil, since even as a pre-med, he still knew more about medicine that either him or Alan. And, as hard as Gordon liked to admit it, Ben took care of Kathryn pretty well.

But that was also his problem. While she had kicked everyone out, Ben was in there. Ben was the guy who was all there. Gordon recognized him as one of the people who was on the floor at Kathryn's Worlds competition; one of the first who gave her a congratulatory hug for her wins. Ben was the one who was in many of Kathryn's graduation pictures. Ben was the guy who helped Kathryn out in school. Ben was the guy she went home with every break.

And he was the one who missed all of that.

"Gordon," Scott's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and the copper head turned towards him. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Gordon said, pushing himself off the wall with his foot. "What do you need Scott?"

The eldest brother gave him a skeptical look but continued onward. "Do you know where Alan is?"

"Somewhere outside. He's calling Tin-Tin, why?" Gordon looked at his older brother more closely, seeing he was frustrated over something.

"Virgil's asleep now and John's with him. Dad's trying to find the good coffee, seeing if he can sweet talk a nurse into telling him where it is. And you're right here, so the only person left is Alan." Gordon realized his brother was doing a headcount. He also realized he would be smothering them all for the next couple of days until he felt they were 100% safe and sound. And suddenly the week became much longer.

"You're a good big brother," Gordon told him. "I know you think you aren't but you are. After mom died, you really stepped up Scotty. You were mom and dad when you should have just been my big brother. And I love you for it, we all do."

"I should have been there Gordon. I should have stopped all of this before it began. A good big brother would have known there was a problem."

"So maybe you've slipped up a little. Who hasn't though Scott? You're ten years apart. There were bound to be things you weren't going to be on top of. You are a great brother; you did what you thought was best for her. We all did. Now we just have to get better at it."

Scott sighed and smiled slightly at his red head. "When did you get so smart?" he asked, ruffling his hair.

"I've always been smart. You just fail to recognize my brilliance." Gordon grinned. Scott just chuckled, because he was actually very much aware of his younger brother's brilliance. An evil genius he was. And when he teamed up with Alan they were two smart people using their brilliance for evil. It's what made them horribly great pranksters.

"Guys," John was walking towards them in a confident demeanor. "They called TOD five minutes ago."

"On who?" Scott asked, rubbing his still sore jaw. Johnson had got him good until the guy had lost his concentration for a second, giving Scott window he needed to smack down that filthy bastard. No one messed with a Tracy but another Tracy. He hoped it was a lesson Johnson would never forget.

"Jacks," John said.

"She got him then?" Gordon asked, surprised. "Damn."

"Not quite. Had he gotten to the hospital in time, they might have been able to save him for trial. But he mostly bled out," John told him. "Either way, he's not coming after her anymore."

"We have to tell her," Gordon said, getting excited to have a reason to see his sister and break up whatever was happening in there. "She thinks she killed him. This will make her feel better."

"It's not going to make her feel better Gord," Scott told him with a deep sigh. "Shooting someone, even if you didn't kill him, it's a hard thing to do. She did it twice. Between what Virgil and John told me, I think she might have post-shooting trauma."

"Like PTSD?" John asked.

"Kind of. Cops are the ones who usually get it. So far, there hasn't been a major study on it, but no one's ever claimed long term effects from it. It's just going to mean a lot of sleepless nights. Trust me," Scott told his brothers, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I still think this news is better than letting her think she killed that SOB," Gordon told them and headed into the room despite his older brothers' protests. He was done following rules; it was time to do things his way. How else was he going to get his little sister back?

He pushed the door open and turned towards the bed where Ben was sitting in the bed with his sister. They both looked a little surprised at his appearance, unknowing that he'd been standing outside for a while now. "You didn't kill him."

The color in Kathryn's face drained as she looked at her fourth oldest brother. She hadn't thought about the shooting in a while, distracted by Ben. She'd been told he was undergoing surgery and hadn't heard anything since. "Gordon…" she started, unsure of what to say.

"You didn't kill Jacks," Gordon said again. "Isn't that great news?"

"Gordon…"Scott said, placing a hand on his little brother's shoulder.

"He 's alive then?" Kathryn asked him. And for a moment she looked afraid. "He's in the hospital, alive?"

"No…he's dead," Gordon told her.

"Hey," Ben started. "Maybe we should talk about this a different time?" He'd seen Kathryn's look of fear and didn't want her to be going through this right now. It could have waited.

"Why?" Gordon asked, "Why are you in her bed anyway? Get out of my sister's room Ben."

"Gordon, you can't talk to Ben like that!" Kathryn told him, upset. "Besides, you're not supposed to be here. I'm not your sister here."

"To hell you are! You're my sister here, there, and on the moon. Nothing would ever change that." Gordon told her. "And I can talk to this kid however I want."

"Oh real mature Gordon."

"Gordon, let's go outside."

"Oh no we're not Scott. We're dealing with this, right now." Gordon was putting his foot down. He was done evading the questions and the obvious tension between all of them. He wanted his sister back, now. If they were going to patch things up, it was a great time to start.

"We've already been kicked out once. Scott you're supposed to be in the oldest," John said, trying to mediate a fight that could break out between his siblings.

"Gordon's the one that marched in here John. I didn't tell him to."

"What's going on in here?" The patriarch of the Tracy family had arrived to see his children bickering amongst themselves like young children.

"Gordon ran in here-"

"Scott didn't stop him—"

"There's something I have to tell everyone – "

"Gordon not now –"

The Tracy's were trying to talk at once, each one trying to talk over the other. As they argued, they forgot Ben, who had stood from the bed and watched them all. He decided, that right now was when things were going to change for them. They'd reached the climax, and now it was time for everyone to say what they needed to. Not only to stop fighting, but to start being a family again. It probably wasn't even his place to say they needed fixing, but he knew Kathryn needed her family just as much as they needed her, and this was where it was going to begin.

First, he had to quiet them down, draw their attention. He smiled slightly, knowing exactly how to do it. He leaned over to Kathryn, who had sat up and was trying to argue with Gordon, put his hand to her cheek to turn her head towards his. Ben then started to kiss her before she could even register what was happening. And his hand moved back to the nape of her neck and she responded by tilting slightly to the side and kissing him back.

Ben smiled, hearing the voices of the Tracy's start to die down before stopping, no doubt their attention on the both of them. He pulled back slightly, breaking their kiss, and grinned. "You are in so much trouble," Kathryn whispered softly to him as he turned around to face the Tracy men. Two had a furious look on their face, one looked confused, and one looked oddly content.

"Excellent," Ben started. "Now that y'all have stopped arguing, it's time for you to listen to me. Y'all are going to talk this through. And I mean talk. Actually listen, and do not interrupt and you'll not come out until y'all have resolved something. If you start yelling and fighting I'll call security up here and have you kicked out. Got it? Good."

"Traitor," Kathryn whispered as he pulled her hair slightly and left her side. He walked past the men without another word and closed the door behind him.

"I thought you were just best friends," Alan finally said, breaking the silence. He'd just walked in after talking to Tin-Tin on the phone. Just in time to see the end of the kiss.

"We were just best friends. Now we're not." Kathryn said simply.

"If that boy is taking advantage of you," Scott started angrily.

"No one's taking advantage of anyone," John said calmly as ever. "You just want an excuse to hit the kid."

"Settle down," Jeff said, seeing his oldest ready to rebut John. "This is not something to be fighting about right at this moment. Now, someone explain what this is all about. One at a time!" he added seeing everyone ready to speak at once. For a moment, he felt like he was back in Kansas, mediating a fight between his young children over a toy. "Scott."

"Gordon and I were outside in the hall talking when John came over to tell us about Jacks. Then Gordon thought it would be a good idea to tell Kathryn, right at this minute, thinking it would be good news. Which I told him wasn't actually good news, because shooting someone is shooting someone, can't soften that up. Then Gordon got mad at Ben, and Kathryn got mad at Gordon for getting mad at Ben. And then both Gordon and Ben thought right now would be a really good time to patch things up."

Jeff stopped to think. He had no doubt that Ben meant what he said. And even though he couldn't technically be with Kathryn (mostly because she obviously didn't want him there), he didn't want to not be able to see Virgil as well.

"She should know she didn't kill him dad," Gordon said, arms crossed as he leaned against the end rail of the bed.

"I don't want to talk about it," Kathryn told him, shifting in her bed. She was avoiding the gaze with any of her family members, feeling as though the inevitable was coming.

"There's a lot we have to talk about," Alan said, sitting in a chair. "Since the beginning of all of this. There are things we have to clear up. We can't pretend that that fight earlier today didn't happen. Kathryn said a lot of things she probably actually believes."

Scoot stood besides his baby brother thinking. "Actually, I would think it starts earlier than today. I think this goes back eleven years. He said something to you, didn't he?" he directed the last part to Kathryn. "I know he did."

With all eyes on her, Kathryn shifted uncomfortably in her bed. This was not how she wanted to be spending her time. The sling she was wearing was itchy, and her shoulder had a dull pain to it. She was tired, but afraid of seeing herself shoot Austin Jacks in her sleep. And Scott was right. She'd been having this mental battle with herself all night. Either she pushed them away or they pushed her away. Avoiding everyone's gaze she talked to the sheets. "He kept saying you didn't want me," she told them. "The first time. That you only came to get me because it would make your company look bad. That I'm the compensation prize you got after mom died."

Jeff looked at his little girl, thinking about everything Kathryn had said that day eleven years ago when she woke up. And somewhere in the back of his mind, it started to match what she had said as at the hospital the first time. And then, it clicked. And he hated that he hadn't put it together long before this.

"Oh no," he said and moved to her side. "Sweetie, no," he said again sitting next to her. Jeff put his arm around her, careful not to move her injured shoulder too much. He pulled her close as she broke out crying.

"What? Why would he say that?" Alan asked, and looked at his blond counterpart for a better idea of what was happening.

John was rubbing his face with his hand, tired and incredibly drained. "Did Austin Jacks tell you it was your fault mom died," he asked his little sister

Jeff was stroking Kathryn's hair and she didn't respond or react. This was a complete turnaround from her yelling at him earlier, but he was going to take the chance to be a father to her. "We loved you boys so much. But, your mom wanted her own little girl so badly. So we thought we'd try once more. We went with Dr. Fisher, and we did sperm selection for the right chromosomes. We knew it wasn't a hundred percent efficient, and we would have been content with one more boy, but we had to try for that girl." He paused, seeing the undivided attention of his sons. "Scott, John, you two might remember how hard of a pregnancy that was for your mom. We found out we were going to have our baby girl at four months, and soon after that your mom was put to bed rest. Almost three months later, your mom went into labor. Two months too early, and there were complications. Kathryn was born premature, and your mom became sick. She didn't really recover from it."

"But that wasn't Kathryn's fault," Alan said, flabbergasted. "It wasn't anyone's fault."

"I know," Kathryn said upset. She was trying to get herself to stop crying before she never stopped. "Or I think I do. I'm not sure. I think this is something my subconscious has been debating for over a decade. I didn't remember any of it until a couple hours ago. But I always felt like something was wrong between us. That I had to prove myself to be a Tracy."

"You've never need to prove anything Kat," Gordon told her. "Like I said before, you're my sister. That makes you a Tracy, no matter what some paper says."

"It doesn't feel that way." Kathryn turned to face her brothers. Her eyes were red rimmed as she pulled away from her father and hugged herself. "I think I pushed you guys away."

"That's not true!" Gordon almost shouted. "You did not push me away. I've always been at your side Kat, always." he told her confidently as he grabbed her hand.

"Everything I said earlier is true. You weren't there for me as a little kid, Grandma was. You couldn't look at me for more than a couple moments whenever something important was happening. You took all the chances you could to not have me around. You all did kick me out of this family after all." The last part was directed at Jeff.

"He hurt you more than we knew, didn't he?" John asked, running a hand through his blond hair. "I should have known something was wrong. I found you, I heard you crying how you hadn't meant to do it. I should have told someone, I could have gotten you help or something." He walked to the edge of the bed and looked at her. From here, he could see her red eyes, puffy from crying. And how her bottom lip quivered slightly. But most importantly, he could see it in her face how she really believed what she was telling them. Scott hadn't been home, it had been his job to make sure they were all okay. But between graduating that year, and being told Kathryn had no memory of the event, it never occurred to him to make sure she was really okay. That a part of her had been left behind in that field.

"I know you're upset," Scott said, taking a seat in a chair close by. "But you have to believe that none of that is true. You're our sister, we love you."

"Is it because I'm your sister that you love me, or do you love me and I'm your sister?" Kathryn asked softly.

If Virgil had been there, no doubt he'd be telling them about how traumatic the event would have been on the subconscious of a seven year old. Even if she consciously hadn't remembered, her subconscious would have spent days, months, even years trying to digest the information. She would have been looking for situations where she was either proved right or she was proved wrong. Because seven years old her would have been able to wrap her mind around the idea that her kidnapper was trying to help her in some twisted way. She wouldn't have been able to comprehend how their dad's actions, someone who loved her dearly, could lead to this man she'd learned to trust, take her away for evil reasons.

"I love you, and you're my sister," Gordon told her confidently. "I knew from the beginning that this separate life thing wasn't a good idea. Ask them, they'll all let you know that I dragged my feet for months before finally coming around to it. I thought it was only going to be for a few years, and then dad started IR and we got enemies like the Hood; suddenly, keeping you away from this kind of life, the danger of this life, was so important. I guess I was so preoccupied doing what I thought was best for you that I never asked what you wanted."

"You just always looked so happy," Alan said walking over. "Whenever I checked in to see how you were doing, you looked happy. You didn't have the stress of being a Tracy kid. You could do whatever you wanted and not be judged by the media. I didn't want to take that from you."

"I've always felt like I let you down," Scott confessed. "That I wasn't there for you like I was for everyone else. And I couldn't understand why you weren't as lost as I was because mom was gone. And then you were lost and I knew that somehow I'd let you down again. I wasn't there for you when I should have been. Just like now." John had come up and placed a comforting hand on Scott.

"I'd like to say it was because I'm on 5, but that would be a horrible excuse," John told her. "Truth is, I'm not sure when or how it happened, this rift between us. But you've never been truly alone. Even from space I look down once in a while at everyone. We just missed that moment when our decision became your decision too."

"I hated it," Kathryn told them. "It was more than not having a name, or a family. It was like having lost an identity. I knew I'd lost something that night in the field, I just never thought it would have been the core of who I am." She sniffled and wished she were somewhere besides the hospital. "You know, people always assumed I was a ward of the state," she told them. "I had no rich family to send me to boarding school. The only reason I could have been there was for gymnastics, and since I always went home to the Benedict farm for the holidays, people just assumed I didn't have a family. Lucky enough to be placed in that school instead of a public one. I think I spend just as much time missing you as I did resenting you. There were just so many things that I wasn't a part of. Alan's racing career, Gordon's Olympic Games, Scott receiving his medal of valor from the Air Force. There are just some of the things I should have been there for. Not to mention all the things you should have been there for."

"You're right," Jeff said. "We haven't really been acting like a family. But I think what your brothers are getting at is that they'd like to start. I know we can't make up for the years lost, but we can take the time now before it is too late."

"I know that dad. But this is a really big decision that we can't just make because Ben threatened to call the guards on you guys. There's a lot of things we need to talk about, things we're avoiding. Things I'm avoiding. We can't get it all done in one sitting. I doubt we could get it done in two or three. If I'm as messed up as John and I think I am, then this is going to take a long time."

"That's alright sis," Gordon said as he kissed her forehead. "I have all the time in the world. I'm done with their rules."

"I'd hate to interrupt the hug that is bound to happen," Ben said at the door. An amused and annoyed nurse stood at the door beside him.

"Visiting hours are over," she told them. "Not that you should be in here anyway. Out now, out." She stood at the door and watched at the Tracy men started to move to their sister, kiss or whisper something to her before leaving.

"I'm on night duty," Ben said when the nurse turned her stare at him after the last Tracy had left. "She gets one right?" She stared at him a little more before finally nodding and leaving. "So how much trouble am I in?" he asked tentatively.

"So much trouble," Kathryn told him pointing to the chair next to her. "Sit and listen mister."

A/N: Family troubles bring long chapters. Path to mending?