Disclaimer: Neither of us can claim ownership for the Tracys. We just borrowed them to tell a story.

A/N: After a bit of discussion, we decided that it was only fair to dedicate this story to Kier and Aiden for the inspiration they gave us when we pulled the prank in the story on them. And J needs some credit as he was the one who realized that we were up to no good. And last but not least, Will and Mattie for showing us that devious and cheeky behaviours are the bases of all good pranks. We love and thank each of you for the ongoing support that you give both of us in our writings both alone and together. - lissysue85 and sam1

We'd also like to dedicate this story to Little Miss Bump as she is dealing with quite a bit at the moment and hopefully this little story will give her a moment or two to laugh. You're in our thoughts and prayers, LMB. - lissysue85 and sam1

Smother Hens

Slipping past a startled Alan, Gordon wandered into his younger brother's suite. Agitated and just a bit annoyed by the smothering behaviors of the two eldest Tracy brothers. He didn't want to be cooped up indoors any longer and the old tree house would be a great place to hide. "C'mon, Al, let's hide, I mean go relax in the tree house." Muttering under his breath, he added, "At least they can't see me up there."

"Who can't see you?" The youngest Tracy had been with their grandmother for the last week visiting some friends out-of-state. It wasn't until he'd gotten home late in the afternoon that he heard that Gordon had slipped on the pool deck during practice a couple days earlier and had bruised his back and hit his head. The knock to his head had resulted in a slight concussion and the complete and total smothering care from Scott and Virgil. Scott, at the age of eighteen, had the role of mother hen to a fine science. Virgil wasn't too far behind. This meant for Gordon that he had been confined to his bed or the couch while he was recovering. And recovering to Scott and Virgil meant no swimming. Or anything else that was fun.

"The smother hen twins, who else?" Glancing down the stairwell, Gordon listened for any sounds of Scott or Virgil. "Those two haven't let me do anything but lie around."

"But, Gordy, you had a concussion and were supposed to rest," Alan said.

Gordon glared at his youngest brother and best friend. "But Al, they wouldn't let me swim. Not even in our pool." The two boys quietly moved down the hallway. The backdoor beckoning them towards freedom and fresh air. Their sigh of relief of having made it without anyone catching them changed into a cry of surprise when the backdoor opened and Scott stood before them, glaring down at Gordon. Another yelp of surprise from Alan came when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"We have a traitor in our midst, Scott."

Alan glanced over his shoulder at his second eldest brother. "I am not a traitor. I was helping Gordon. You were just confused as to whose side I'm on. Duh."

"So where are you two headed then?" asked Scott crossing his arms.

"Just out for a little walk. Grandma always says that fresh air is good for us," replied Gordon with an innocent smile. This was the smile that got him out of trouble.

Alan caught onto Gordon's plan and added. "Yes and I offered to go with him to make sure he was ok."

"Scott, Virgil. I need your help in the kitchen," called a voice from inside the house.

"Don't go too far you two and no leaving the back yard," ordered Scott.

"Yes, sir," said Gordon with a mock salute and a cheeky grin.

Scott just shook his head at his younger brother. "Look after him, Allie, ok?" he said, ruffling the hair of his baby brother.

"I will, Scotty, I promise," he said with a serious look on his face that made Virgil and Scott grin at him.

With one last look at Gordon, Scott and Virgil headed indoors to find their grandmother. Gordon grinned at Alan and they continued on towards the tree house. They stopped by a big tree and gazed up at the tree house. It had been built when John was only little but it was still in good condition. Alan and Gordon loved playing up there away from their older brothers. It also allowed them the necessary privacy to plan their pranks without the possibility of being overheard.

"We've got come up with something that will freak them out and be funny to those of us who watch the video." Gordon flopped back on the bean bag chair in the corner of the tree house.

Copying his older brother, Alan grinned at him from the other bean bag chair. "You're planning on video taping whatever prank we come up with?"

"Of course, I'm going to video tape it. It'll be good blackmail material and I can set it to run on their computers in a continuous loop." Looking pleased with his idea, he continued, "And it will add to our collection of comedies."

Thinking of videos they had of the pranks they'd played, Alan couldn't help but laugh. Not only did they keep a copy of successful pranks but also of failed pranks. The failed prank videos were carefully studied so that they could be used again with a successful outcome. "Nothing freaks Scott and Virgil. John's right, they're not human."

Gordon mentally went through what could possibly freak his brothers. Snapping his fingers, he sat up, grinning. "One of us getting hurt freaks them out. And if one is in major freaked out mode then the other will follow suit. They always do." Both boys grew quiet as they tried to think of something.

"How about…never mind, they'd never fall for it," Alan sighed. Tapping his feet, he stared out through the window at the reddish sunset. A slow grin lit spread across his face and his eyes sparkled with devilish intent.

Gordon noticed the look and sat up, focused on his brother. "What have you come up with, Al?"

"Grandma said that she'll be going into town tomorrow to do the grocery shopping," he answered.

"So, what's that have to do with anything?" Gordon snapped, disappointed.

"Virgil and Scott will end up going with her so that she doesn't have to lift anything too heavy or load the groceries into truck." Pausing for dramatic effect, he waited for Gordon to urge him to continue.

"Darn it, Allie, will you just tell me? You're driving me mad," Gordon exclaimed.

Having gotten the desired response, Alan continued, "You said that they freak if one of us is hurt, right? So, we fake one of us being hurt."

"That's it? That's your brilliant plan?" Gordon shook his head in disbelief.

Getting to his feet, Alan glared down at his brother, "I had more but since you want to be a big jerk, forget it." Expertly, descending through the hole in the floor, Alan quickly scurried down the ladder.

Gordon sat for a moment considering what Alan had said. It actually was quite a good plan and if executed properly it could be brilliant. Gordon jumped up and scrambled down the ladder after his little brother.

"Hold up Alan," he yelled running across the yard to catch up to him. Alan kept up his pace not wanting talk to his brother yet. As Gordon drew level he slowed his pace to match Alan's.

"I'm sorry Allie I didn't mean to put your idea down. It has real potential actually," said Gordon and grinned when Alan's face lit up.

"Really?"

"Yeah it does. So what was the rest of it then?" asked Gordon guiding Alan away from the house so they wouldn't be overheard.

"Well one of us pretends to cut their hand or something. We leave a towel or bloody knife or something in the kitchen for them to find. Then the other one can be in major freak out mode about it all," explained Alan.

"Yeah standing outside the bathroom with blood on his top," added Gordon with a grin.

"Cool. Can I be the one outside?" asked Alan, bouncing excitedly.

"Yeah but remember you have to act really freaked out though.."

"Hey, I could bang on the door and tell them that you have locked it and won't let me in," said Alan with an even bigger grin. This was going to be fun.

"Brilliant. When did you get so devious?" asked Gordon feeling proud of his younger brother.

"Hey you didn't think you were the only devious one did you?"

Gordon grinned at Alan slinging his arm around him. "I'm proud to call you my brother." Glancing at the old barn with the huge hayloft, Gordon's grin widened. "Why don't we use the barn as the setting for this prank? Everything we need is in there."

The two brothers hurried to the barn unaware that a lone figure watched from the side of the pool. "Just what are you two up to now?"

A short while later, Virgil and Scott were sitting at the patio table and enjoying Grandma's lemonade. Scott had just set his glass down when a bloodcurdling scream came from the vicinity of the old barn.

"Damn, that sounded like Alan." The oldest Tracy brothers ran for the barn never noticing the shadow following them.

Running through the open doors of the barn Virgil turns to Scott. "Why haven't we heard Gordon?"

"Yeah he would never leave Alan alone. Unless..." Scott paused as the severity of the situation hit him.

"He is the one who is hurt and can't scream," finished Virgil. They quickly made for the ladder to the loft. Virgil noticed red handprints first. "Scott, what does this look like to you?"

Scott swiped his finger over some of the red and looked at his finger. Another scream echoed down to them just as Alan's face appeared over the edge of the loft. A bloody swipe on his cheek. "SCOTTY! VIRG, HE'S HURT!"

Racing up the ladder, Virge immediately checking Alan whilst Scott searched for Gordon. His worried gaze landed on something white in the corner of the loft. Stumbling through the hay, he dropped to his knees. His red-haired brother was lying there with his hand pressed against his shirt. A dull glint drew his eye and he realized that a knife covered in blood lay just about arm's reach from Gordon.

"Virgil," Scott called, trying not to alarm Alan any more. Hearing the worry and barely concealed alarm in his oldest brother's voice, Virgil ran over, leaving Alan sitting on the floor, sobbing. Such was his haste, he missed the ornery grin that Alan could no longer hide.

Quietly, John sat down next to his baby brother, hugging him whilst muttering, "You two are geniuses but you should know that they are going to kill you for this."

Alan wrapped his arms round him as if seeking comfort and whispered, "Don't tell them yet."

Over in the corner, Scott continued to try to get a response out of Gordon whilst trying to determine where the blood was coming from. Virge yelled over at Alan so that he could tell them what happened. Alan pretended to sob harder on John's shoulders.

"Can't you see that he's too distressed to tell you anything," John snapped, protectively holding him.

Virge detoured from trying to get to Scott to reaching for the first aid kit that was kept in the loft. He kicked aside some hay and the tube of fake blood. The tube could be heard clattering on the loft floor. Gordon heard it and realizes what it was that he heard. He rolled away from Scott and jumped to his feet, running for the ladder.

Staring down blankly at where his younger brother had been just moments before, Virge and Scott stared in shock at the now empty space which gave John and Alan time to escape as well.

It only took a moment longer for Scott to realize that they'd been set up. "The Terrible Two have struck again." They quickly ran after them being careful not to slip on the ladder.

Scott and Virgil soon gained on Alan, who had glanced over his shoulder and suddenly fell down, scraping his knees. Loud wails of pain made Scott and Virgil pause to make sure he is okay but both miss the wink he sends to Gordon.

Running around the house, Gordon ran smack into Jeff. The fake blood came into contact with Jeff's light blue dress shirt. Seeing the blood he began checking his son to make sure that he wasn't hurt. "Where are you hurt, Son?"

Hearing the pounding feet of his oldest brothers, Gordy pushed away from his dad, ""Gotta run, Dad, the Smother Hens are after me." As an afterthought, he added, "Not real blood though."

Jeff watched as he ran off and then Scott and Virg ran past him, "Hey Dad."

Shaking his head, Jeff muttered, "Never a dull moment." A moment later, Alan ran up to him for a big hug. John was just a short way behind him. Hugging his youngest son, he grinned, "Never a dull moment with you boys is there?"

John drew even with his dad and asked, "Would you want it any other way?"

A/N: I had to add this...thank you, baby sis, for helping write such a fun story. Your ideas and suggestions throughout the story as well as what you wrote during the times we passed the story back and forth were excellent. And on behalf of my best guy mate - your oldest brother - and all of our brothers...your creativity knows no bounds and you truly are a gifted writer. We all love you, Sis. - sam1