Beautiful

AAAWWWWWW that was SO CUTE

Lovely story. I really like Scott's progression from grieving son to protective big brother, and from 'it' to 'him' to 'Alan'. I also got a kick out of the protectiveness of all 4 boys when Jeff wants to take Alan. 'Relax, I've held a baby before'. Priceless!

Adorable!

this was really sweet

What a wonderful story. I so loved how Alan immediately won his brothers over once they were finally able to see him as a brother...once cotty got to hold him in his arms for the first time.

lol Aw... So cute!

As children, they were simply adorable!

Awesome job!

Awee.

This was adorable!

No lie!

Ohmyword!

So good!

You are awesome!

That was so sweet! Great job!

aw this is so cute!

Except for making Virgil older than John when John is the second oldest, I totally adored it. It was a beautiful transition of seeing IT progress to BROTHER and ALAN. The boys were all so sweet and I found myself smiling when they were making forts in the hospital, and the including the baby in everything they were doing.

Loved the children's worry about Jeff putting the baby to bed at the end, it made me grin even more. They are such a wonderful group. And Scott's line, at the end, was absolutely perfect. No, Alan could never replace their mother, but he's not supposed to :)

Thank you for the nice story.

That was absolutely stunning! Thank you!

There are so many things I would like to congratulate you on. Firstly it was a fabulous portrait of a family in distress. I loved Scott's desperate struggle to keep it together with the CD of piano music, trying to tell John a story and rescuing Gordon just before he swung from the lights. The grief was so palpable it ached. Then you turned it into true healing (funny how babies can make the hardest hearts melt). Scott's recognition that Alan was a 'brother' and not a safe 'it' was very nicely done indeed, as was the homecoming at the end.

All in all, thank you very much for this joy of a story. Please keep writing.

Aw sO KawaiI! no really i am not being sarcastic

Grief is a strange bedfollow, especially when your 11 years old and trying to keep things together for your youngers siblings. Scott's reactions to his mother's loss was so beautifully portrayed here, from anger, to denial to then affirmation that her last parting gift was in the end a blessing. The 'it' transforming into 'little brother' really did show the power of love, how it can even get past insurmountable grief to be a bonding agent when it was most needed.

Wonderfully written little ficlet... just thank you so much for sharing it with me.

This was very touching. I loved the way Scott kept referring to 'it' until he came under the spell of Alan's blue eyes.

Will be looking for more of your work.

quiller