**A.N.: Thank you for your patience, I've been going back and forth on how I wanted this chapter to go, but I'm finally happy with it. Thank you for the lovely reviews!**

When Tadashi had returned to the café and Wasabi took over for Hiro, the brothers went to gather what they needed for the hospital visit from upstairs. Tadashi tried not to question Hiro when he unwrapped a small syringe from the sterile packaging it had been shipped in, but the look he gave him prompted an explanation: after Tadashi had gone to bed, Hiro had ordered a handful of the syringes, through completely legal means. His connection to hospitals did have to pay off eventually. Next day shipping allowed the small package to arrive while Tadashi was with Gogo.

Drawing the orange liquid up into the syringe, Tadashi flicked it a couple of times to get rid of air bubbles, and contracted it until the only thing in it was the tears. He capped the syringe with a tiny piece of foam and slipped it into his pocket. The more they could get done at home, the better, since Tadashi still felt like they could get into major trouble for what they were doing.

The brothers borrowed Wasabi's van, but only after Hiro made multiple promises to not damage it or others in any way[AF1] . The ride to the hospital was quiet, as Hiro attempted to drive semi-responsibly, and Tadashi sat in the backseat, twisting and folding his fingers together. Tadashi barely noticed when they pulled into the parking lot, and it was only at his brother's prompting that he climbed out of the van.

Tadashi felt his nerves begin to override the more hopeful side of his brain.

What if it doesn't work- we only tested it on three people- this could still hurt her- what if I hurt her?

Tadashi began to tremble as doubts he thought he had laid to rest resurfaced in his mind. He reached over to grab Hiro's sleeve and made no objections when Hiro picked him up to carry him. He tucked his face into the crook of his brother's neck and didn't look up until they entered room 214 and he was set down so he could stand next to the bed. Hiro lowered the bed to the point that Tadashi could rest his elbows easily on top of the mattress.

"Hey, Aunt Cass." Tadashi spoke in a hushed whisper, as if to someone sleeping. It was how he liked to picture it. Aunt Cass was sleeping, but now it was time to wake her up. Tadashi clasped one of her hands where it lay on top of the blanket and gently turned it so the inner wrist was facing up. "Hiro and I came to visit you again, just like we promised."

Hiro occupied himself with moving so that he blocked the view of Tadashi from the lone security camera in the room. He did his best to not actually look at it, but he still knew exactly what it covered from his own not-quite-legal hacking of its recordings so he could monitor his aunt's condition from home. He couldn't spend all his time at the hospital, though there were times when he wanted to.

Tadashi looked up at Hiro, who nodded discretely at the unasked question, before reaching into his pocket and withdrawing the syringe. It was far too easy to pick out a vein because of how pale she had become. After uncapping the syringe, Tadashi mentally begged his hands not to shake, and, by some stroke of luck, he hit the vein on the first attempt. As steadily as he could, Tadashi injected the orange liquid at a rate slow enough to avoid overloading the vein.

Withdrawing the needle from his aunt's arm and slipping it back into his pocket, Tadashi watched the injection site quickly seal itself.

Hiro shuffled over to the monitoring machines to check her brain activity and grinned as he saw it steadily rise out of its dreamless state. He turned to point it out to Tadashi, but paused when he noticed how closely Tadashi was watching her face, searching for any signs of wakefulness. He sighed quietly. Who knew how long it might take? Even if the physical aspects were fixed, there was the possibility that she might not want to wake up, or be aware that she could. Hiro didn't expect as much out of this trip as Tadashi clearly did.

Tadashi had his gaze fixed his aunt's eyelids, searching for some telltale flicker or movement to show that it was working. Tadashi was determined that she was going to wake up.

She just has to.

"Aunt Cass... Please... please wake up..." Tadashi leaned forward and rested his chin on his arms, in a subconscious attempt to hide his quivering lower lip. Tears pricked the back of his eyes as he attempted to mentally compel her to open hers. "Please... just..."

Tadashi trailed off and there was still no apparent change. He closed his eyes briefly, before opening them with a new look of determination. "I'm not giving up on you."

Maybe we can come back later, with another dose; maybe there was so much damage that one dose wouldn't cover it; maybe if I just-

Tadashi stilled, and his heart caught in his throat.

Did she just—

It was the slightest of movements, a small stirring of her head, but it was enough to make Tadashi freeze, as if his own movements might discourage hers. Her closed eyelids tightened, before relaxing. Her eyes opened, and she squinted at the bright lighting of the room. Tadashi struggled to remember how to breathe.

"A-aunt Cass?"

She turned toward the sound of Tadashi's voice, looking confused for a moment, before she smiled tiredly and moved her hand across the mattress top to gently cup his face.

"Hey, sweetie." Her voice was rough from a year of non-use, and her hand was shaking with the effort it took to lift it.

Tadashi brought his smaller hands up to support her arm as he bit his lip and tried to think of something to say. His mind was moving too quickly to process actual words, and the state of shock he was in left his tongue tied in knots. He screwed his eyes shut against the increasing warmth and tightness manifesting behind them.

Now is not the time for tears; it would only freak her out more than she is about to be.

His shoulders started shaking as she gently ran a thumb along his cheek in a soothing motion that used to be so familiar that he hadn't even realized he had missed it. He slipped his hand into hers and removed her hand from his face, holding it between his own.

What is going on in her mind?

"Did you come here on your own, Tadashi? Your parents must be worried."

Tadashi's eyes widened, and he shook his head.

So she thinks...

"Hiro's here, too."

Hiro had placed himself at the foot of the bed, having had to restrain himself from running over the instant she woke up. Things were complicated enough; it was best to take things one step at a time. At Tadashi's mention he moved around to them and crouched down by the side of the bed so that she wouldn't have to turn her head.

"Hey, Aunt Cass..."

Her eyebrows drew together in confusion, before rising in realization, and then lowering in worry.

"Hiro? But..." She tightened her grip on Tadashi's hands, though even then it wasn't a very firm one, and spoke to Hiro. "C-can you see him? Is he here?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Aunt Cass." Hiro placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Tadashi is here."

"But - " She looked between the two siblings, but was interrupted when her attendant bustled into the room, along with a doctor and a handful of other nurses. Word had gotten out that their patient had awoken.

In the chaos that surrounded working out the details of Aunt Cass's continued care, the boys were almost pushed from the room, and Tadashi would forever deny having used his puppy-dog pout to get them permission to stay.

The physicians were amazed at her ability to move on her own at all, as well as the control she already had over her speech. When they had finally finished checking the various machines and conferring between themselves, they began the process of transferring Cass to a room more suitable for recovery.

During this process, one of the doctors approached Hiro and asked if it would be appropriate to assign Hiro's care-bot to his aunt, since it did not currently have a primary patient. Hiro nodded, but cringed at the look Tadashi sent him while the doctor's back was turned. Hiro added it to the mental list of things he had failed or forgotten to tell his brother. He was certainly going to get an earful later, especially since it would tie quite nicely into the topic of his modifications of Baymax, which Tadashi hadn't had the chance to address fully.

As the physicians were busy moving their aunt, the boys ventured into the hallway. There was a vending machine standing proudly a short distance from them. Hiro found the grin that came over Tadashi's face a bit unsettling.

He pushed over a chair and punched in a request, before asking for and swiping Hiro's card as payment. Pushing through the plastic flap, Tadashi pulled out a package of gummy bears, the last one that had been in the machine. Opening the bag, he ate one before looking up at Hiro as if in an afterthought.

"Oh, did you want some?" The grin on his face took on an almost evil aura.

Hiro crossed his arms and assumed the most aloof facial expression he could muster. "I am a mature adult. I no longer give into my addictions."

Tadashi shrugged, not believing him for a second, but willing to play along. "Okay." He began to consume them at a faster pace.

Hiro's face twitched. "...but I need to teach you the value of sharing. Gimme some."

He reached out a hand to either receive a proper offering or snatch them should Tadashi refuse. Tadashi simply laughed and moved out of reach.

"But I thought you didn't want any." The small bag was almost empty at this point.

"Sharing is caring." Hiro made a last attempt to get the bag, but just when he had a hold of it, Tadashi shocked him into letting go when he licked his hand.

"Augh! Tadashi!" The five year old laughed at the disgusted look on Hiro's face as he wiped his hand clean on his jeans. "Really?"

"What?" Tadashi gave a fake innocent look that Hiro didn't buy for a microsecond. "Sharing is caring! I'm sharing my germs!"

Tadashi crumpled up the empty bag before offering up the last red gummy bear to his brother. Hiro debated refusing it on principle, but accepted it anyway.

He didn't have a problem...

Once Cass was settled in her new room, and the hospital personnel had finally filed out, the brothers brought up chairs to their aunt's bedside.

"Now that that excitement is over, do you boys mind filling me in on what you've been up to? And maybe explaining all..." she gestured to Tadashi "...this?"

The brothers exchanged looks, trying to determine who should speak first, what they shouldn't tell her, and how much to tell her about Tadashi's state of being.

"That bad, huh?" Aunt Cass smiled wearily, the events of the afternoon having depleted her limited reserves of energy. The brothers would have to keep it brief for this visit.

"It-it's complicated." Tadashi ran a hand across the back of his neck. How does one break the news to their aunt that he wasn't exactly... human?

Though she did take my existence pretty well...

Cass laughed softly. "I don't have anywhere to be. Take your time."

Tadashi glanced at Hiro, who so helpfully shrugged.

"I..." Tadashi hesitated. After explaining his situation so often, it should have gotten easier, not harder. "A-after the fire... or during it... I... reset. Long story short, it took five years for my old memories to resurface, and I found Hiro again... a little under a week ago."

Tadashi paused. Has it really not even been a week, yet?

Hiro rolled his eyes at the minimal explanation his brother had given, and when it seemed like he was lost in thought, Hiro decided to explain the more colorful aspects of his return.

In a hushed voice, Hiro detailed the strange physical aspects he had originally noticed about his suddenly younger brother, and Baymax's diagnosis. He left out the healing tears; they could talk about that when a passing orderly wouldn't overhear them.

"I thought he felt a little warm." Cass reached out and placed a shaking hand on Tadashi's forehead, checking his temperature.

Hiro laughed at the understatement. "Yeah, apparently his DNA is all messed up. He's still himself, but... more." He shrugged. "There's not been any negative effects so far – " Tadashi glared at his brother. " - well, not for him, anyway. We're working on it..."

Aunt Cass sighed and leaned back against the pillows with a wry smile. "So, they were right."

Tadashi froze.

...what?

A quick glance at his brother let him know that he was equally confused.

"W-what do you mean?"

Their aunt smiled softly. "Did I ever tell you how your parents met?"

Tadashi nodded. "They worked together..." but what does that...

She nodded. "Your mother was a scientist in the biological department at Krei Tech, while your father was an intern who agreed to participate in her research as a test subject."

Where is this going?

"Their goal was positive human improvement, though your father was quite the sci-fi fan." She laughed at the memory. "My brother was nearly obsessive with it when he was younger, and he never quite grew out of it. He had quite a few suggestions for her research. I think his enthusiasm was part of what initially brought them together..."

She sighed, sadness filling her expression before she slightly shook her head and smiled again. "However, my brother constantly complained that nothing seemed to come of the experiments. Anything they added just... disappeared. He figured the original DNA just rewrote itself. The experiments came to an end, though the theoretical research continued. They married, had you - " she bopped Tadashi lightly on the nose " - and eventually moved on to other projects, ones that were more... useful. And realistic. They left Krei Tech, and your father decided he would be a doctor."

Tadashi smiled softly, though his mind was racing. He had a million questions and another million theories, but he could wait until his aunt had finished talking.

Interrupting is rude.

"Whenever I watched you as a child, they asked me to keep an eye out for anything strange, just in case, but as the years passed, and Hiro was born, it seemed that nothing would come from it. You were a perfectly normal, if adventurous and dangerously brave, child." Her smile slipped from her face.

"A couple of years after Hiro was born, they found out someone had gotten their hands on their research shortly after they had left, and was continuing it... with fewer reserves than your parents had had." Anger and sadness twisted her face. "Their primary subject had become pregnant, but they continued anyway, and whatever they did was likely what killed her. Your parents, especially your mother, objected strongly, but waivers had been signed all around, and her research was property of Krei Tech."

Tadashi felt sick to his stomach. This was...

"No laws had been broken, and before your mother could pursue anything further..." Cass bit her lip, and her eyes became glassy. "...there was the accident."

Tadashi suddenly became very interested in how his hands rested on the mattress as he blinked away the feeling of tears.

"When I took you two in, any thought of what you might be was about as far from my mind as it could be. Over the years, I completely forgot." She laughed humorlessly. "You two were quite a handful." Her smile was genuine.

Tadashi felt Hiro's arm wrap around his shoulders, and he looked up at him with a small smile.

"Well, at least we know you weren't abducted at some point, or anything."

Tadashi rolled his eyes at Hiro's lame attempt at a joke, though his smile grew a little.

Their aunt settled more firmly on her pillows and seemed to be close to sleep, so the brothers said their goodbyes and got their multiple hugs before leaving with the promise to return when she was more awake.

**A.N.: "Aunt Cass recovered her voice and movement surprisingly fast for a coma patient, the real world doesn't work that way." Yes, I'm aware; I did it on purpose :). Artistic license is so much fun. I'm trying to return to my regular schedule of updating, but it's difficult. I'll do my best.**