AN: Oh, holey crap on a cracker, it's been ridiculously long since I updated :( But, reading my reviews page lifted my spirits (lol, that sounds so lame) so I've been able to write this! This chapter feels a little...boring, to me, but better an update now than none for another three months, right? Anyway, enjoy! :D

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''Malcolm? Are you awake? Good news, Doctor Kelvitch says if you feel up to it, you can go home today.''

Morning, and Malcolm is greeted by a comfortingly sharper and brighter world than the one he'd closed his eyes to the night before. His head is clearer, too, and when he sits up in bed he doesn't feel at all dizzy, which must be a good thing. Nurse Tyler is setting a glass of water down on the table beside his bed.

''Great!'' he says, surprised by his own enthusiasm, ''Wow. I've never been that pleased to be going home before.''

She laughs. ''Well, you sound a lot better. I'll get someone to contact your family so they can come and pick you up.''

She leaves his bedside, and Malcolm takes a sip of the cold water, suddenly excited to be going home to meet the newest addition to his family....

.

.

.

Said newest addition to his family is currently sitting in her cot, sucking on a pacifier contentedly as her mother and sister-in-law paint what will soon be her new bedroom.

Piama notices Lois repeatedly stealing glances at the newborn baby girl and smiles - knowing that she, too, will soon be doing much the same thing.

''It's funny, you know,'' Lois says, dipping her paint roller in the can of coral pink, ''All these boys of mine....I'd given up hope of a daughter, you know what they say about families who only ever have one or the other, they hardly ever break the pattern, but Coral....she's like a miracle.''

''Kamana,'' Piama says softly, almost without realising it.

''I'm sorry?''

''Oh, just....kamana is an Inuit word for miracle,'' Piama replies, ''One of my favourite words, when I was a child and my grandmother would teach me our tribal language.''

''It's pretty,'' Lois agrees. The two women are silent for a moment, and Lois realises she has become quite close to her daughter-in-law, though their relationship has been....tempestuous, at best of times, in the past. Still, she thinks she prefers it this way.

''I think,'' Piama whispers under her breath, too quiet for Lois to hear, ''I have found a name.''

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.

.

With his dad at work, begging for his job back, Reese has somehow been roped into picking up his brother from the hospital. And -though he doesn't know how- he finds that Dewey has managed to stowaway on the back seat, too.

''Why d'you want to go back to that place, anyways?'' Reese asks, feigning nonchalance, but he's actually curious.

''No reason,'' Dewey says quickly. ''Just....keeping you company!''

Reese raises his eyebrows. ''Yeah, like I'd want your company.''

Dewey grins, he'd been expecting that. ''Yeah, yeah, just drive, Reese, it'll overload that lonely brain cell of yours if you try to talk as well.''

If he wasn't holding a steering wheel, Reese would've hit him.

When they arrive at the hospital, Reese is all for waiting for Malcolm in the car, but Dewey insists on going in, and Reese follows reluctantly. He heads over to the ward where Malcolm was last time he visited, not noticing that Dewey's nowhere to be seen.

Dewey, of course, has gone the other way, to the paediatric ward.

''Dewey!''

Alyssa is sitting up in bed, the magazine she'd evidently just been reading dropping to the floor. ''Hi!''

''Hi,'' he says, reaching her, ''Are you okay? Why are you in bed?''

She shrugs. ''Oh, just some tests, again. They explained it to me but I wasn't listening. Why're you back here, is your brother okay?''

Dewey nods. ''Uh-huh, he's coming out today. I only came to pick him up.''

She looks disappointed. ''Oh. So I guess I won't see you again.''

He considers. ''Well,'' he says, ''I guess I could 'accidently' break my leg so I could come back to see you.''

She laughs. ''Yeah, you do that.''

He grins back at her. ''Or I could take the bus and visit.''

''Well, that'd probably be less painful.'' she says, still laughing.

''Yeah,'' Dewey agrees. ''Y'know, I'd stay and talk, but my brother's gonna get annoyed. D'you think you'll be in for more tests tomorrow?''

''Probably,'' she sighs. ''I had a few months where I hardly came in at all, but now I seem to be here most days.''

''Well, I'll see you tomorrow then,'' he says, after a moment's awkward silence. ''Bye.''

''See you, Dewey.''

.

.

.

''She's just so....small.''

Lois smiles at her third son, holding his newborn baby sister in his arms as if she might break.

''I guess that's why they call you a genius,'' Dewey pipes up.

Malcolm glares at Dewey, who just grins back.

Lois gets up and enters the kitchen, leaving all five of the boys gathered around Malcolm and the baby.

''Weird,'' says Reese, ''Never been a brother to a sister before...''

''None of us have, dummy,'' Francis reminds him, though his tone is friendly. ''It's a new thing...for all of us.''

''D'you think we're gonna mess it up?'' Malcolm asks no-one in particular.

Francis shrugs. ''Well, we've got a fresh start. Who's to say we can't be the best big brothers any kid's ever had?''

They sit there in silence for a moment, each of them contemplating this, how it's is going to change their lives.

''Boy,'' says Dewey, ''I wish you'd had this conversation when I was born.''

He's joking, yes - but there's some truth in that statement, and none of them can deny it.

More silence.

''I feel sorry for her in a way,'' Francis says eventually.

''Why?'' Reese asks.

''Any boy who wants to date Coral,'' he continues, ''Is gonna have to come through all of us, first.''