A/N: Thought I would be kind and post another chapter, not sure when I will have the time to post another one though. Enjoy!

They held a small celebration through the morning until lunch. Mr Wolff had received a phone call and wasn't overly impressed.

"What's the matter dad?" Nat asked seeing him getting off the phone.

Alex was still hyped up that he had beaten soda, that he hadn't noticed. He was trying to have fun with everyone.

"Your schools want to start a couple of days earlier than usual." He said, it meant that they would have to leave later that day if they wanted to settle in before Nat and Alex went back to school.

"That………sucks" Nat said quietly.

"Yeah, I think Alex could have done with the rest period….." Mr Wolff said quietly.

"Dad, do you think Alex would be resting?" Nat asked smirking.

"I know, he'd be tyring himself out trying to climb stairs." Mr Wolff said with a smile.

They both looked at him.

"Hey Coop, can I sign your cast?" Alex asked happily.

Cooper smiled.

"Signed by the maker," Cooper joked.

Alex grinned sheepishly. He wasn't aware that he broke Coopers arm, most of the last week and a half seemed like a blur.

"Sorry about that," Alex said as Cooper gave him a vivid.

Alex scribbled a completely unreadable message onto Coopers cast. Alex hadn't written anything in just under a year.

"Alex," Mr Wolff called.

Alex swung his head around curiously.

"Yeah?"

"Your going to have to pack your bags," Mr Wolff said softly.

"Why?" Alex asked disappointed.

"You have to be at school on Monday," Mr Wolff responded, he knew Alex wanted to get back to school, but he could also see Alex wanted to relax.

"That's a whole……" Alex said counting his fingers before he realized he didn't know what day it was.

"Two sleeps," Mr Wolff supplied.

"What about that band," Alex asked.

"They don't have to be back until Wednesday, and Nat doesn't have to be back until Tuesday." Mr Wolff said.

Alex looked even more disappointed.

"What about Juanita?"

"Her and the rest of the school start on Wednesday."

"Why do I have to start school before everyone else?" Alex asked, Nat could see Alex wasn't happy with that.

"They think you might need a couple of days to get you back into school, and catch you up a little." Mr Wolff said.

That was it for Alex, he refused to pack or co-operate in any way. If people couldn't treat him like everyone else then Alex wasn't interested.

It was a hassle but by 9pm they arrived back at the apartment, They carried Alex upstairs to his and Nat's room, and put him on his bed. Alex was barely awake as it was.

They all fell asleep pretty quickly, everyone was exhausted.

It was a little later than usual when Mr Wolff came in and shook Alex awake. Alex groaned, he didn't want to get up, he was enjoying sleeping in his own bed again.

"Come on buddy, then once we are done we can go and have pancakes together." Mr Wolff said softly helping Alex up.

Alex didn't say anything he was dreading doing his exercises, most the time just doing them ruined his day. Today was worse then usual, Alex had to get used to the pain he experienced doing his exercises and there was no hot tub to help him out.

Alex was crying into his dad's shoulder, he knew he had no option but to wait until the pain subsided.

"I'm so proud of you Alex, your doing well." Mr Wolff comforted him.

"No I'm not," Alex sobbed.

Mr Wolff looked deep into Alex's eyes.

"Alex, you have to believe you are, if you don't it will make it so much harder," Mr Wolff said gently.

"Do you mean hardener? Because it's already harder," Alex said quietly.

Mr Wolff just smiled.

"Al, your doing well man," Nat said tiredly from his bed.

"What would you know?" Alex asked the pain getting to him.

"Alex, I've seen what your like when your not doing well," Nat informed him.

Alex looked frustrated, before shrugging his shoulders.

"So you going to get yourself dressed and we can go out for breakfast." Mr Wolff said gently.

Alex nodded

"Can I come too?" Nat asked.

"Ok," Mr Wolff said, he was a bit hesitant, he wanted to spend some time with Alex.

It was a largely uneventful day, the only thing that happened was Alex found something interesting in the newspaper.

"Can I do it Dad?" Alex asked.

"I don't know Alex, Do you really think you can hand write a couple of pages?" Mr Wolff asked.

Alex looked a bit disappointed.

"I don't know," Alex said sadly.

"Why don't you give it ago, we can talk to your tutor tomorrow and maybe they can help you out with it," Mr Wolff suggested.

Alex brightened up.

"And can you not tell Nat, if we win, I want it to be a surprise," Alex said happily.

"Ok buddy," Mr Wolff said with a smile, he could see Alex was wanting to do something for Nat.

At 5am on Monday Mr Wolff quietly entered his sons room, they were both sleeping soundly. Mr Wolff didn't want to, but he knew he had to wake Alex so he could do his exercises. He knew Alex hated them, and truth be told he didn't like to see either of his sons in any type of pain.

"Time to wake up Alex," Mr Wolff said softly as he gently shook him awake.

"Morning dad," Alex groaned sleepily. He kept his eyes shut, he didn't want to wake up. Waking up meant one things. Pain.

"Come on buddy, we need to do your exercises," Mr Wolff said, as he help Alex sit up.

Alex groaned and rubbed his eyes, one of the worst things is he was never given time to wake up, usually he was jerked awake by the stabbing pain the moment he did his exercises.

"Can we get a hot tub?" Alex asked as he rubbed his eyes again.

"Where would we put it? We don't have the room," Mr Wolff explained.

Alex sighed disappointed.

He was just about to start his exercises when he had a brain wave.

"Could we put it on the roof?" Alex asked tiredly.

Mr Wolff looked at Alex.

"It could work, but I would have to see if we would be allowed," Mr Wolff said giving Alex a little hope before he started his exercises.

At 7am Alex was quietly sobbing, once again the pain was too much.

"Do I have to do this everyday?" Alex cried.

"I know it's tough Alex, but if you want to be able to walk everyday, you will." Mr Wolff said softly hugging Alex. "As you get better it should hurt less and less."

"When will that be?" Alex cried louder in frustration and pain.

"I don't know buddy, soon I hope," Mr Wolff said hugging Alex tighter, while Nat stirred slightly.

Mr Wolff helped Alex dress, they had worked out Alex was at his loosest just before bed, which is when he had his showers. Alex loathed his schedule he wished it didn't have to be so fixed.

Mr Wolff had cooked bacon and eggs and dished up a couple of plates as Alex tenderly walked out. He went into the fridge and poured a glass of milk before putting it by Alex's plate.

"Thanks dad," Alex mumbled as he moodily poked around his plate. He slowly began eating. His dad wasn't much of a cook, but it did wonders with bacon and eggs and eating seemed to cheer Alex up.

"Great food," Alex said with his mouth full.

Mr Wolff smiled.

"Alex how many times do I have to tell you to not eat with your mouth full." He said.

"Dad," Alex said with another forkful in his mouth

"Yeah Alex," Mr Wolff said sighing.

"Do you mean talk? Because it's hard eating on an empty mouth," Alex said smirking.

Mr Wolff laughed, it was pleasing to see that despite all that Alex had been through he still carried his sense of humour.

They both left walking for school, Mr Wolff pushed Alex's wheel chair, while Alex walked beside him. As much as Alex didn't want it, his dad had convinced him that he might need it if he exhausted himself during the day.

Alex didn't take his bag, he had no books yet and his dad was going to take him out to lunch with Nat and Abigail, so he didn't have that with him. All he carried was the clipping he had cut from the day befores paper.

Alex found the few steps in front of the school difficult, it was only a couple but Alex struggled to climb them.

They both walked into the school and were greeted by Principal Schmoke.

"Hey Alex, welcome back," He said joyfully at seeing Alex.

"Hey," Alex said breathlessly.

"Alex, do you want to sit down?" Mr Wolff asked.

Alex was out of breath so he reluctantly sat down in his wheelchair. He was disappointed in himself.

"Why don't two come to my office and we can talk, and you can met your new tutor Alex," He said.

Mr Wolff pushed Alex after Principle Schmoke to his office. They were surprised to see Simon in there with another lady.

"Hey Alex," Simon said enthusiastically.

"Hey Simon," Alex said with a disappointed tone.

"What's the matter?" Simon asked softly.

"I can't walk as far as I want to," Alex said sadly.

Simon looked at Alex.

"Alex, if your willing to put in a lot of hard work then you should be ready," Simon said to reassure Alex, but personally he felt that deadline Alex had set was probably abit unrealistic.

Alex tried to look determined, he didn't know if it worked because he was disheartened.

"Anyway Alex, this is Angela, she is going to be your tutor for the year," Simon said introducing the lady.

"Hey Alex," She said kindly.

Alex looked up at her.

"Hey," Alex said quietly.

Simon looked at Alex.

"How's your brother Alex?" Simon asked.

Alex looked up at him.

"He need's a vacation." Alex mumbled.

"He just came back from one," Principal Schmoke said.

"Away from me, He didn't get to do any relaxing because of me," Alex said frustrated.

"It's not your fault Alex," Simon reminded him.

"Yeah but he didn't get to do anything fun," Alex said getting a bit wound up.

"True, but neither did you," Mr Wolff said.

Alex looked at him annoyed.

"Yeah but there is something wrong with me."

Everyone looked around uncomfortably.

"It's ok Alex, how about you show Angela what you want to do." Mr Wolff said gently to him.

Alex showed her the clipping from the news paper. It was an application form and instructions for the brother of the year contest.

Angela looked over the form and then looked at Alex.

"This has to be in by tonight Alex," She said softly.

"I want to do this for Nat," Alex said desperately.

"Ok Alex," She finally said.

Alex began wheeling himself following Angela to a classroom, and wheeled himself up against the the desk.

"That was tyring ," Alex puffed, he wasn't used to a lot of exercise.

Angela just smiled and got some pens and paper. She brought them over the desk and put them down before sitting beside Alex.

"Why do you think Nat's the best brother?" Angela asked as Alex starred at the blank paper.

"He's always there beside me and helping me. Even though I know he hates looking at me," Alex mumbled.

"Why would he hate looking at you?" Angela asked surprised.

"Because….. he did this to me, he thought he was saving me," Alex mumbled.

"What, how?" She asked stunned.

"I don't want to talk about," Alex mumbled.

Angela had Alex start to write out the story. It was evident after a few lines that she would have to spend some time helping Alex forming his letters as she could not read what he had written.

Alex wrote and wrote for 3 hours, persisting through the writers cramp he got after only a couple of minutes. Angela would constantly help him, having him practice some letters and reminding him how to spell words.