The hospital room of Gordon Tracy was a normal one. Normal for a billionaire at least. They hadn't really asked for anything fancy, but a private room and that's what their brother had. The walls were covered in wood and the sheets were soft and smooth. It was like a day at the spa, except he was hooked up to machines and had an arm and a leg in braces and a cast.

Gordon was forced to stay in the hospital for a few days just so they could make sure there was no spinal or brain damage. Each day that passed Gordon became more and more like his old self again which helped to bring the smiles back to his brothers' lips.

It was night at the moment and the only sound was a consistent beeping. Too fast and unsteady for a heart beat or some other status one of the monitors displayed, but also the monitors had been muted to help the patient sleep. The beeping instead belonged to a gaming device.

Alan sat off to the side of the room on the futon—which had been pulled down and made up like a bed. He was leaning against the wall, a pillow between his head and the large window as he concentrated on the game in his hand.

Virgil had come back that first day and stayed with their brother. He stayed until Alan and Scott had showed up to shoo him back home to help Brains salvage what they could of Thunderbird Four and start making parts to reconstruct her.

Scott was going to stay with their brother, but Virgil convinced him to let Alan stay instead. Scott would be the first to go out if they got any new rescues, and Virgil also knew that Alan needed some time with his brother.

It had taken them several hours to get Four off of the seabed and another few hours to unload what they had gathered to where Brains and Virgil would work on the poor craft. Alan was tired from the work—having been the one to do a lot of the EVA work to make sure they got every bit of Four they could—and would have went to sleep the second he'd gotten to his room back on the island. But here with his brother in the hospital, Alan couldn't sleep.

Gordon slept a lot—mostly due to his pain medicine still dripping into his arm—which meant that there had been plenty of time for Alan to catch up on his sleep, yet he didn't. He spent some time watching his brother, roamed the halls a little, and played on his gaming console.

It was the middle of the night. Alan had been awake for over twenty-four hours and again he was supposed to be asleep. Instead he was playing his game waiting for his brother to wake again.

The lines on the monitor continued their steady trek across the screen as Alan was once again killed by the boss he was trying to defeat.

"Alan?"

Alan's head popped up, the light of the screen making him look rather pale. "Gordon!" He tossed his game pad onto the futon and scooted over to the edge, standing, and then making his way over to the chair that was permanently by Gordon's side.

"What time is it?"

"Hmm, about four in the morning."

"Wow, that last does really knocked me out. Why aren't you asleep?"

Alan just shrugged. "Why do you sleep so much?"

"You know why."

"Yeah, I know." Alan averted his eyes.

Gordon watched his brother best he could out of the corner of his eyes. Even in the light around the bed he looked a little pale. "Anything happen while I was out?"

"Hmm.. Oh! Yeah, Lady P and Parker came by to visit."

"Wasn't I awake for that?"

"You were a bit drowsy for that, actually." Alan smiled and looked back at his brother. "She'd been sitting here watching you for almost an hour before you woke up."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"I was going to but she said that I shouldn't. That you needed your sleep."

"I feel like all I've been doing is sleeping." Gordon sighed a little.

"Yeah—" A small grin crossed Alan's face. "Completely asleep. Speaking of—were you dreaming about that trip you took to Fiji last year?"

"Not that I can remember, why?"

"Oh, just trying to figure out what you were talking about."

"What I was—" Realization occurred slowly on Gordon's battered face. "I didn't—please say I didn't!"

"Didn't what? Sleep talk about you and Penny while she was here?" Alan's grin spread causing his eyes to crinkle a little. "Well, like I said it could have been Fiji. You know the dream—you're with someone on the beach and—"

"I know the dream!" Gordon shouted a little, his good arm going up to wipe at his face. "Oh god, oh god, what did I say?"

"Not a lot really, 'your lips are smooth and sweet.' And something about their body."

Gordon groaned.

"Oh, and you said something about holding hands, that you wanted to be closer." Alan tilted his head like he was thinking.

Gordon groaned some more. "D-did she say anything?"

"Hm, not to me. But she did give Parker a couple of looks and was blushing a bit. Parker just grunted."

Gordon groaned even louder and pulled his blanket up over his head. "I am dead. Tell everyone I held on as long as I could."

Alan's jaw clenched tight, his hands in fists. "Don't say that!" He stood up suddenly, the chair scooting back a few inches. Then he turned and walked away from the bed to stare out of the window.

"Alan? What's wrong?"

"D-don't say that. You're not dead. You're fine." Alan's arms were wrapped around his torso again and his head hung low.

"Alan! Alan, come back here! I can't move Alan, come here and talk to me!"

Alan tightened his hold on himself and took in a deep breath and sighed. Then he turned and walked back to the bed and sat down in the chair, his head still hanging low looking at the floor under the bed.

"Talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I-I don't want you talking like that. It-it scares me."

"But I'm fine."

"I know, but I was so scared, Gordon." There was a sniff but Alan refused to look up.

"Virgil said you were very brave when you came and got me. He was proud of you."

Alan shrugged a little. "Doesn't mean I wasn't scared out of my mind the entire time."

"I'm sorry." Gordon reached out, but Alan was just too far away to touch. "I won't say anything like that again. I promise. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

Alan shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."

"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about."

"Actually I do." Alan's grip loosened and his hands fell down into his lap. One hand reached up and swiped at his eyes real quick and then was down with the other again. "That whole thing with Lady P? I kinda of made that up."

"You mean, she wasn't here?"

"No, she was." Alan glanced up at his brother and smiled a little. "For an hour like I said. But—well, you didn't say anything. The drugs have knocked you completely out, you haven't said a peep when you've been asleep."

"So, everything just now—"

"I made up."

Gordon let out a huge sigh and then started to chuckle. "Oww, that hurt." He reached with his good hand and rubbed at his side where his broken ribs were.

"You're not mad?"

"Nah, you did good. Proud of you."

"You're proud of me for tricking you?"

"Of course! I couldn't have done better myself!" Gordon smiled and glanced over at Alan. "I am going to be alright. You know that right?"

"I know. I just—sometimes, when I'm asleep—"

Gordon reached out again, and this time Alan took the offered hand and squeezed it. "I thought you looked a little tired."

"It's stupid, I know—"

"It's not. We all have had times like that. After we lost Dad—" Gordon sighed and squeezed Alan's hand. "None of us got a lot of sleep after that. None of us wanted to sleep. There was a reason we've never showed you the footage of the accident."

"There was footage?"

"Yeah, the GDF has it, and I'm sure you'll see it soon—after the message that Brains had found and all."

"Do you think he's out there somewhere?"

"It would be nice." Gordon smiled and then patted the bed next to him. "Come on, lay your head down and close your eyes. I could sing to you if you wanted."

Alan laughed at that. "No, thanks."

"I'm not that bad." Gordon pouted, but it didn't last long.

Alan was smiling again and scooted the chair up a bit so he could lay his head down.

"Tell you what, when we get home, you can wait on me hand and foot."

"Nah, I'll pass." Alan laid down, his head resting on his arms up against Gordon's hip, where it wouldn't hurt him much. "Anyways, I think Grandma has plans for that. She's going to make you soup and cookies."

"Alan, please. I can't exactly roll over to throw up in this thing."

Alan giggled a little. "I can't wait till you're home though. I don't like this place."

"Trust me, lil' bro, I don't either." Gordon petted Alan's head. "Did I tell you about the first time I took Four out—" But he never finished the sentence as the soft deep breathing of a brother fast asleep reached his ears.