I have to apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. I just wasn't satisfied with the first draft, the second draft or the third draft. When I finally sent the fourth draft to my faithful beta she wore her blue pencil down to a nubbin. Well, she finally approved of this piece and I send it off to you to read. I only hope that it meets your approval.

I thank all the people who have set story alerts for this fic. I am overwhelmed by the responsive it is getting. Thank you again.

Family Matters

Chapter Three

Tom Anderson ground his teeth as he rushed home for some unnamed crisis. He'd been so damn busy today, as acting head of pediatrics at St. Joseph's Hospital while Doctor Steinman was sunning himself with wife number four on some pink beach in Bermuda. Tom had to deal with all the new bike broken bones, turkey induced food poisoning and too much candy diarrhea. It was just an average Christmas holiday in peds.

His twin sons kept a steady stream of insults bubbling behind him as he drove home.

Paul seemed to whine continually. "I am not a bed wetter; nobody I know would believe I'm a bed wetter."

Pete's sarcastic attitude was just as grating. "Just who would have tweeted such a nasty thing? You drool incessantly… still leaves you sleeping in a puddle. That's why you're a second string goalie instead of a first string right winger, all that drool rots the ice."

Tom didn't need to hear his twins sniping at each other and if this kept up the gloves would be off and they'd start throwing punches. And then they would probably break the new iPhones they got for Christmas. "Boys, you're fourteen, not four. If this keeps up you'll be in bed instead of watching the Black Hawks game tonight."

Pete just rolled his eyes, "They're playing the Toronto Make Me Laughs tonight, it's kind of sad to watch a slaughter like that."

"Maybe the Leafs will win," Tom winked, "it is the season of miracles."

"Yeah, sure… and there really is a Santa Claus too." Paul looked up from his iPhone when his father pulled into the driveway, "Hey, Uncle Butch's truck is here."

Oh Lord, the last thing Tom needed was Ephraim and his brood here. He just wanted a nice, relaxing night watching the mayhem on ice rather than have mayhem right there in his home.

0o0o0

"Do my name next, do mine," Ethan's ear piercing shriek just about hurt everyone's teeth.

"Sure, I'll do your name, come here," Auggie pulled his four year old nephew to his right side while five year old Adam watched in wide eyed wonder on his left. He placed a stiff piece of paper in the small Braille slate he kept when he needed to make a quick note. "Do you want me to make it Ethan or your secret super hero name?"

"Uncle Auggie, I'm just Ethan."

"Okay, Just Ethan, I'll write that right now." Auggie took the wooden stylus in his hand and quickly punched the words 'Just Ethan' on the stiff paper. He slipped the paper out, turned it over and ran his fingers over the bumps. "There you go, Just Ethan."

"Why don't you and Adam go downstairs and play with his Christmas toys," Tom's partner, Dr. Hannah Klein, said as she pushed the boys out of the kitchen. "When Pete gets back I bet he'll show you how to play Guitar Hero." She stage whispered to Auggie, "Because I know Paul would never lower himself to play with the little boys."

Joanne Anderson rose from her seat and glanced out the kitchen window. "Sweetie, looks like Tom and the twins are finally here." She checked Auggie for his reaction to the impending meeting. "Hannah maybe we should go play Guitar Heroes too."

Hannah just shook her head. She was glad Butch was at work instead of adding more fuel to this impending fire. She had been part of the Anderson clan for the past seven years in every way except marriage and she knew that there were always explosions whenever these brothers got together. Actually, she had been the source of one of those explosions so Hannah figured she should be able to take the bust as well as the boom.

Auggie turned toward Hannah and winked, "it might not be such a bad idea. Tom and I don't exactly see eye to eye, if you get my drift."

"Bad puns, the favourite armor of the Anderson family," Joanne picked up the car seat that held the sleeping Danny and turned to Hannah. "Come on, Doctor Klein, let's get while the getting is good."

Auggie sat sniper still as he let the sounds of the house tell him what was happening. The women descending to happy noise of Christmas in the basement that played counter point to the routine of coming in from a cold Chicago night. It was the calm before the storm. The back door opened and closed. Back packs and briefcase hit the floor of the mudroom. Teenage boys stampeded down the stairs, while a lighter step came into the kitchen where Auggie sat. Tom walked straight to the coffee maker on the counter, not even noticing his youngest brother was there.

"You'd have never survived in this man's army with those observation skills," Auggie said with a smile when a coffee mug slammed onto the counter and his brother swore. Auggie knew the shit was about to hit the fan.

Tom whipped around, "what the Hell are you doing here?"

"And a happy new year to you too," Auggie shot back. "I had hoped you would be glad to see me, since last time we met I was still in a VA hospital. Since you're the only doctor in the family I thought you might like to see the finished product. How did I turn out?" He stopped and sighed, "Tommy, can't we finally stop acting like we can't stand to be in the same room?"

Tom refilled his mug and came to the table. "I thought it was you who couldn't stand being with me."

Auggie reached over to find the chair next to him and pushed it out for his brother to sit down, "maybe once, but not anymore." He waited and then smiled when he heard Tom sit down. "I like Hannah, and Adam is a good kid so why don't we start over and see if we have anything in common. So, how has Dad been bothering you lately?"

Tom stomped away from his brother. "Well, it looks like the truth is out. You didn't come here to touch base or visit or mend bridges; you came here because Dad is bothering you now. You're still the spoiled little shit you always were."

"I might say it takes one to know one. You were always pulling the 'I'm the oldest' card whenever you didn't get your own way." Auggie stood and faced Tom. "Well, you're Dad's favourite, his son the doctor, the one who saves lives. It's not like being a cop or a public defender or even a soldier saved any lives."

"It's not the same thing. I don't care if the patient is a good guy or a bad guy; I treat anyone who is in front of me."

Auggie folded his arms over his chest, "yeah, you get a lot of felons and terrorists being in pediatrics. It's almost as dangerous as being a dermatologist in the great scheme of things."

"Yeah," Tom turned and pushed Auggie to the wall, "like the acquisitions department of the Smithsonian is the greatest use of your fancy computer skills."

Auggie was ready to push back… and a little more when a voice stopped them.

"See, I told you they'd fight just like we do," Paul Anderson's smug comment caught both men short.

"I bet Uncle Auggie could beat up Dad, he looks pretty buff under that sweater." Pete answered his brother.

"Yeah, but Dad's pretty fast, he'd dance away after he got a few quick shots in," Paul said. "Uncle Butch always said Dad was a sneaky fighter. Oh look, they stopped. Do you think it's because they acted like Adam and Ethan?"

"Nope, Adam and Ethan fight fair."

Hannah stepped in behind the twins, "Boys, downstairs. Your hockey game starts in half an hour and Uncles Butch and Greg are coming to watch tonight so the basement needs to be cleaned up."

"What about Dad and Uncle Auggie?"

"They've got half an hour to clean up their mess too." She checked out the two red-faced adults as the twins headed back to the basement rec room. "The only two Eagle Scouts in the bunch and all you seem to do are pull out your talons when you're together. I think now is the time you started at the beginning and got to know each other. Dr. Thomas Benedict Anderson, I want you to meet Mr. August Dominic Anderson. Now you shake hands." She tapped her foot as she waited for either one of them to raise a hand, "Now! Shake hands."

Auggie was the first, "pleased to meet you, Doctor Anderson. Do you come here often?"

"Every night Mr. Anderson; I used to think of it as my castle." Tom scowled at Hannah. "I might have been mistaken."

"Well, isn't this a nice start," Hannah smiled as she went to start a fresh pot of coffee. "Why don't the two of you have a seat and start a deep, meaningful conversation for a change."

Auggie reached out; searching for the chair he'd lost in his angry reaction to Tom's verbal attack. Tom gently took Auggie's hand and placed it in the back of his recently vacated chair before he sat across from his youngest brother.

"So, how's working at the Smithsonian?"

"There's always something interesting happening. How's it being the number two man in your department at the hospital?"

"Well, I feel like the bend in a toilet, there's shit coming down and shit coming up and I'm stuck in the middle; unnoticed, unappreciated and always fighting the tide."

Auggie pulled up straight, stunned that Tom would actually admit his life wasn't perfect and then he laughed so hard tears ran down his face. It took at least five minutes of gut churning guffaws to realize Tom was laughing with him.

Maybe big brother wasn't such a stuck up idiot after all.

0o0o0

How Hannah managed to put up with the Andersons surprised Auggie. She was everything Tom needed and she could put up with his pompous tendencies as well as his tender feelings. With the unexpected truce between Tom and Auggie Hannah had insisted Auggie stay and bed down on the basement couch instead of head back with Butch, Joanne and their boys. Now the brothers could finally catch up on the past five years.

"You know," Tom smiled as he rose to get another beer for himself and Auggie, "it's hard to imagine you working for the Smithsonian."

Auggie was almost asleep in Tom's old recliner but he was awake enough to be annoyed by that statement. "Yeah, why is that so hard to imagine about that?"

"Well, you never were a history scholar. Yeah, I suppose you could do a lot of things there with computers. Yeah, I bet its all about computers, right?"

"There are a lot of separate museums in the Smithsonian complex and they make up the 'country's attic' so there's a lot of computer work."

Tom touched the back of Auggie's had with the full beer. "You know, I know a few influential people now and I bet I know somebody who knows somebody who can get you a computer job here in Chicago. It'd be nice to have you closer to the rest of the family."

Auggie sighed and rolled the beer bottle between his hands. It was time to pull CIA cover story number four out. So he started the well rehearsed lie. "Tom, I don't work for the Smithsonian. I work at the Pentagon."

Tom's head shot up, "the Pentagon! What do you do at the Pentagon?"

Auggie gave a slight smile, "its classified, Tom."

But now Tom was up and pacing. "You were in Iraq; you were an officer so I bet that's what you do now, Iraq and Afghanistan counter-intelligence, right?"

"Its classified, Tom," Auggie pushed the recliner upright, turned his face toward his brother and again repeated his well used cover story in a scary calm voice. "Tom, what I do is classified for a reason. I can't tell you… ever."

Auggie could almost hear the wheels turning in Tom's head. He hoped he had scared Tom enough to shut him up.

"Don't worry, Tommy, nothing is going to happen to me, I'm safer than Butch or Greg or even you. I like my job and I do it very well. That is why I live in Washington and that is why I don't want Dad checking up on me."

Tom rubbed his hand over his face and slipped back into his seat. "I wish you luck, Auggie. The old man been trying to run everybody's life since Mom died. You just haven't been here to see it. When are you going to face the wrath of Daddy dearest?"

Auggie took a long pull on his beer before he answered, "Tomorrow."

TBC