Gordon sat next to Alan's bed quietly. He was waiting for Alan to wake up. Alan had been asleep for almost two days and Brains said that was normal because Alan's body was extremely worn out from the heat stroke. Still, Gordon couldn't help but feel worried and helpless at the whole situation. What his father had said last night made his heart ache even more. He wished that he could protect Alan just like how Alan protected him and his other brothers.
"Gordon." Virgil called him. Virgil was the only one beside Alan that remained in the infirmary but he was free to leave tomorrow morning. The rest of them was released yesterday.
"Yeah?" Gordon answered without turning around.
"You okay?" Virgil got out of his bed and walked towards Alan's bed.
"I don't know." Gordon responded honestly. "I just want him to wake up you know?"
"I know." Virgil pulled a chair nearby and sat next to Gordon. "Me too."
It was as if God had answered their prayer as Alan suddenly groaned. Gordon immediately reached for Alan's hand while Virgil stood up.
"Al?" Gordon called out softly but just enough to be heard by Alan.
"Uh." Alan opened his eyes slowly. His eyes soon found Gordon's.
"Gordy..." Alan mumbled. Gordon smiled widely. He was so full of relief that he didn't realized his tightened hold on Alan.
"Hey there kiddo. Glad you could join us."
"You're hurting my hand Gords." Alan whined.
"Oops sorry about that." Gordon chuckled and released his hold a bit but never let go of Alan's hand.
"How are you feeling Sprout?" Virgil asked and began scanning his brother. He couldn't help it. The medic in him just won over as soon as Alan was awake.
"Mfine." Alan replied tiredly.
"You had us worried. But it's okay now. Now that you're awake. Everything is alright." Virgil told Alan with a warm smile.
"Where's Scott, John and Dad?" Alan asked. "Are they okay? Are you guys okay?"
"We're all okay thanks to you." Gordon replied proudly. "You did good."
"You sure did. We're all so proud of you Sprout." Virgil added. "Go to sleep okay? You looked tired."
"But I just woke up." Alan mumbled but his eyes were fluttering.
"Yes you did and we're so glad but I think you need to rest just a little bit more okay?" Virgil ran his hand through Alan's hair to soothe him. "We'll be here when you wake up."
"Mkay." Alan uttered before falling asleep, too tired to fight it off any longer.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTB
John sat on his wheelchair on the sand while taking shade under a large tree on the beach with a book in his hands. Beside him, was Alan who was wrapped up with a cooling blanket. He was leaning against the tree and dozing off. Even though Alan was almost back to normal Brains and their father said he needed to be extra careful under the sun for a few more days. His skin and body were still healing after all. They had decided to spend some brotherly time together at the beach since International Rescue was on hold because of majority of it's members were injured. John looked ahead and saw Virgil pulling Gordon out of the water angrily. He let out a small laughed. Even with a broken leg Gordon wanted to play near the water. Virgil had let him but told him that he could only take a few dips. It turned out that Gordon got bored quickly and wanted to go deeper.
"Alright time for lunch!" Scott who was busy setting up the paper plates and cups called out.
"Alright Scott!" Virgil helped a reluctant Gordon walked over towards the rest of his brothers.
Scott held out the plates to Gordon and Virgil once they've seated on the matt. He did the same with John before moving over towards Alan.
"Hey Sprout. Wakey wakey." He gently tapped Alan's cheeks.
Alan opened his eyes and yawned.
"Huh? What?"
Scott chuckled and ruffled Alan's hair lovingly. "Time for lunch kiddo."
Alan stretched his arms before sitting upright. Scott gave him his paper plate and started to distribute the sandwich.
"You slept like an elephant dude." Gordon teased as he took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Can't help it. I didn't get enough sleep last night." Alan told him.
"Why didn't you get enough sleep Al?" Virgil asked looking a little bit concerned.
"Don't know. I wasn't that tired because I spend four days doing nothing but sleep I guess. But today, I end up getting tired."
Virgil nodded and took a sip of the orange juice Scott poured him.
"Say Al..." Scott suddenly uttered. Alan looked at his eldest brother and saw him fidgeting around nervously.
"Just spit it out Scott. What's bothering you?" Alan demanded immediately.
"Are you still..you know...mad at us? At me?" Scott's question brought an interest to everybody. They all looked at Alan and anticipated his answer.
"That's right. Are you Alan?" John asked nervously. "You were really upset with me that day. We haven't really talk about it."
In all honesty, Alan had forgotten all about being angry at his brothers but he could see how they needed for him to say that he wasn't.
"Nope. I'm not. Not anymore."
Instantly, Alan saw them relaxed.
"I'm sorry for making you angry Sprout." Scott said followed by John. "I'm sorry I lied to you about my injuries." Scott added.
Alan put down his paper plate and looked at each of his brothers.
"That's not why I was angry." He told them finally.
"It's not?" Scott questioned with a puzzled look on his face.
"Nope." Alan sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I was just upset that you guys didn't trust me."
"What do you mean?" John asked.
"Well...I umm..." Alan sighed again exasperatedly. "I know I'm the youngest and all but I'm still part of this team you know? I went through the same training as you did but you still don't trust me enough with some things. Scott you didn't trust me with your injuries and that I was capable of helping you guys even when I was the only one left. Virge, you didn't trust me with your shoulder. And John well, he got angry because I didn't tell him about my shoulder like he didn't trust me enough to be able to know and tell which is the main priority at the moment. Gordon. Well Gordon I love you and all dude but you didn't let me help when the craft started to spin around I just.. exploded. Plus everything was so stressful. I was so worried about you guys and making sure that you were okay so when John asked me about my injury I lost it. " Alan looked down awkwardly.
"It's just...I want you guys to stop treating me like a kid while were on rescues and lean on me too like you let me lean on you most of the time. I wanted to feel part of the team." Alan signed out loud. "Oh my God this is so stupid lets just forget it okay? I'm not mad anymore so-"
Alan was cut off as he was suddenly hugged by Scott.
"I'm sorry I made you feel that way Alan." Scott apologized whole heartedly.
"We're sorry to Sprout." Virgil reached over for Alan's hand and gripped it tightly.
"We couldn't help it." John ruffled Alan's hair gently. "No matter what you do Al, you'll always gonna be our baby brother and we'll always put you on top of our lives. But...I think we can adjust things a little bit and trust you more when situations like these occur again. We're sorry Alan."
"I'm sorry too." Gordon apologized and grabbed Alan's other hand. Alan felt his heart warmed up at the turned of event that he felt tears welled up inside his eyes.
"Alan. I also want to tell you how much I'm proud you. You protected us and put our health before yours. You've certainly showed another side of you that we never knew." Scott told Alan proudly as he released him. "Thanks for saving our sorry ass Sprout."
Alan chuckled and smiled at his eldest brother.
"Anytime Scott."
"However, you have to promise us something. Even if you had to put us on the priority you still gotta make sure that you are also okay. I don't want you to wait until the last minute before getting treated okay like this time okay?"
"I promise." Alan raised his hand and gave a playful salute. His brothers all laughed at this.
"Sometimes you gotta leave it to the younger ones to save the day huh?" Gordon mumbled with a mouth full of sandwich. Scott, John and Virgil rolled their eyes as they continued their lunch.
'Leave it to the youngest huh?'
They all thought as they looked at Alan who was playfully snatching Gordon's sandwich away. They smiled warmly at the sight and stared out at the birds flying in the sky.
It was a good day.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTB