Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story unless the names are not recognized by history or the television series Little House on the Prairie. I have added some characters for the sake of the story that are either introduced in this chapter or will be in future chapters.

1899

The stage slowed as it entered the small town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. The town was not the same as Albert Ingalls remembered, but it was still the place he had considered home for seven years of his childhood. When he was seventeen years old his Pa, Charles Ingalls decided to move the family to Burr Oak, Iowa, but Albert always knew he would be returning to Walnut Grove after he graduated from medical school.

Things did not go as initially planned, however. While in Burr Oak, Albert became addicted to a pain killer called morphine and discovered he had a rare blood disorder, which was eventually discovered to be hemophilia. Burr Oak was not a lucky town for Albert. Though he would not be cured, he learned how to manage his disease. After finally graduating from medical school at the age of 25 in 1895 and getting some experience at a small hospital in De Smet, South Dakota where his family had since moved to, he had gotten a letter from Dr. Hiram Baker in Walnut Grove.

Albert reached for his pocket which held the letter he had received a few weeks prior. Dr. Baker, who was well into his 70s now, was more than ready to retire and had asked Albert to come back to Walnut Grove to take his place. This was a position he had gladly accepted. He quickly phoned his adopted sister, Laura Wilder, and she offered him a home with her, her husband, Almanzo, and their twelve year old daughter, Rose. Almanzo's niece, Jenny Wilder, who was now twenty-six years old, had moved to Mansfield, Missouri when she was offered a teaching job a few years earlier. He agreed to live with Laura and Almanzo until he could afford a place of his own.

Though the town was destroyed a few years prior, it had since been built up in the same fashion. The Olesons rebuilt their mercantile across from the schoolhouse and they built the hotel and restaurant in its original spot across from the mercantile. It had since been renamed Nancy's when she took over as owner after completing school. Albert kept in contact with his childhood friend, Willie Oleson over the years. He had gotten married about ten years ago to Rachel Brown and they have had two sons, Jonathan and Richard. Nels and Harriet, Nellie, Willie and Nancy's parents, retired from the family business and gave it over to Willie in 1896 when he needed money to support his growing family.

The stage pulled up to the post office and Albert saw Laura and her family on the front porch waiting to greet him. He smiled from ear to ear. He hadn't seen his sister since he thought he was dying about eight years ago. His family thought he had leukemia back then, but he was diagnosed with a newly realized disease called hemophilia a few weeks after going back to Walnut Grove with Pa where he was supposed to live his final days. Laura didn't look any different. Sure, she had aged some since she was now thirty-two years old, but she was still the same Laura he met in Winoka when he was ten years old.

"Uncle Albert!" Rose waved. Rose Wilder looked like her mother when she was younger with some of Almanzo in her face. Her auburn hair was in two braids, one on each side of her head. The Wilders had moved with Jenny to Mansfield, but decided to move back months later when they realized Walnut Grove was their home. It was where they belonged.

"Hi, Rose!" Albert waved. The stage stopped and Albert opened the door to walk down the steps. The driver of the stage came down from his seat and handed Albert his bags he had brought with him. Rose ran up and gave him a hug, which made him drop the bags he was just handed.

"Welcome home, Dr. Ingalls!" Laura said as she walked forward. The stage pulled away to its next destination after Albert thanked him. Albert hugged his sister. Out of his seven siblings, Laura was the one who he was always closest with. Mary was already out of the house when he met the Ingalls, Carrie, who was only two years younger than he was always seemed to act younger, Freddie had died before he entered the family, Grace was a toddler when he met the family, and James and Cassandra always had each other. Sure he was close with his only living brother, James but he spent most of his childhood having a best friend in his older sister.

"It feels good to be back," Albert responded.

"It's good to have you back," Laura smiled up to him.

Almanzo Wilder walked up to his brother-in-law and shook his hand then grabbed the bags Rose made him drop. Almanzo was now into his forties and had a budding apple orchard on his field. "Let's get you back to the house. You had a long trip and Beth made a pie for tonight." Almanzo walked over to the buckboard waiting next to the post office with two horses hitched up to it.

"I'll be there in a minute, I just want to say hello to Doc Baker first," Albert called, walking toward the side of the post office building which also housed Doctor Baker's office.

"Hurry up, Uncle Albert!" Rose called as she and Laura walked over to Almanzo to get into the wagon. Albert nodded and walked over to the door and knocked, opening the door when he heard someone tell him to come into the room. When the building was rebuilt, they made the doctor's office larger and got rid of the hotel on the upper level. Not many people had stayed there since Nellie's opened all those years ago.

Doctor Hiram Baker was sitting at his desk. Though the building was fairly new Doc Baker decided to keep the format of his office the same. The front of the room housed his desk and telephone as well as chairs for patients to sit. The back was the examination room and curtains divided the two. Doc Baker turned to look at Albert and a smile formed on his face. Doc Baker had aged over the years since Albert had been away. Living in an urban town for so many years and being the only doctor and veterinarian had taken its toll on the man. He was ready to pass the torch onto someone new and energized to learn and treat patients. When he thought about a replacement he knew Albert Ingalls would be the right one for the job. "Why hello there, Albert—or should I say Dr. Ingalls now?"

"Hi, Doc. You can call me Albert," the young doctor laughed. After all the years of wanting to be a doctor, then almost dying and not achieving his goal, he was happy to be standing in his own office with the man he felt was his mentor during his childhood.

Hi, all! I haven't written fanfiction in years upon years but I just decided recently while rewatching the Little House series that I wanted to write a fanfiction based upon my favorite nonhistorical character, Albert Quinn Ingalls. He always interested me and I felt that I needed to continue his story since he was not a real person, nor were James and Cassandra Cooper Ingalls.

A few things I wanted to clear up for this story:

-Albert did not die from his blood disorder. I searched the internet and could not find concrete evidence stating he did. I decided he had hemophilia for the state of this story, which explains his nosebleeds

-The blowing up of the town takes place in this story before it did in the series. In the series, it takes place in 1901 but I felt for the sake of the story it needed to be sooner

As I change things from canon for the story I'll add them at the bottom so that will clear things up!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!