TW: Falling from Dangerous heights, Blood, Injuries of various sizes (nothing bigger than a broken bone), Talks of Hospitals, Mentions of Needles/Fear of Needles.

Takes place a few months after chapter ten. Let's say four to five months. Janus is more comfortable with the Sanders and will now refer to them as his family/dad's out of ease but hasn't quite gotten to the point where he actually feels that these are his parents. But he is at the point where he's willing to throw hands for Logan and Patton. 

The whole household had decided to spend the day at the park. They'd gone to one with a hiking trail and had started their morning with a low-level trail. Then they'd had lunch and Janus read Virgil and the twins the next chapter in the book they'd started reading together. It was a tradition Janus had started with Virgil a few years ago and had continued with the twins once Patton and Logan had started fostering them.

When the twins had begun to get antsy and bored Janus had stopped reading and the four of them had gotten up to play tag. Eventually, though, Virgil had wanted to go play on the playground while the twins had wanted to fly kites. It was a very large park and Logan and Patton didn't want any of them getting lost or hurt so Patton had taken the twins while Logan and Janus went down to the playground with Virgil.

It had been going fine for the most part. Janus was reading his own book, the one he read without any of his brothers there to pester him with questions or to complain that he wasn't doing the voices right, and Logan was keeping an eye on Virgil while occasionally glancing down at his phone. Virgil had started playing with some of the other kids on the playground and the group of them had started playing some sort of game of pretend that Logan didn't have the imagination to wrap his mind around.

It had all gone downhill so quickly though that neither Janus nor Logan nor any of the other adults that were there supervising the other children were fast enough to stop it. One of the other parents had tried, yelling something too quickly for Logan to understand. But it had gotten his attention and he looked up just in time to see Virgil fall from the very top of the play structure.

Logan and Patton had always enjoyed this park due to such a large and inclusive playground. It meant that even the twins with their constant energy that had them switching from one activity to another quicker than you can say 'Crofters' would never get bored. It had too many slides to count, several ladders, numerous staircases, enough ramps to allow wheel chair bound people onto any level of the play structures, two sets of swings, three large tunnels, three different types of bridges, a set of monkey bars, and a mini zipline. The playground was split into four different 'themes' including pirate, castle, musical, and jungle. Each theme with its own little niche. 

Virgil was on the jungle side of the play structure, and had somehow managed to get on the roof of the tree house which was about twenty or so feet off the ground.

Logan felt his blood turn to ice as he watched Virgil trip on his own shoelaces and go tumbling off the treehouse. Multiple people screamed as everyone in the area watched it all happen in slow motion. Virgil fell past the 'bamboo' ladder that led up to the treehouse, past the tunnel shaped like a panther's mouth, and past the telescope aimed towards the hiking trails. He fell past two different slides, and the stairs shaped like giant jungle leaves that led up to them. Finally, he landed in the climbing nets made of rope that Virgil liked to call the 'Spider-web' and fell through each and every gap there was before he landed on the rubber ground with a thud.

"Virgil!" Logan heard himself yell as he ran to the little boy who was still slightly dazed as he lay on the ground, still as a stone, but awake. He was quick to crawl underneath the net, ignoring everything else going on around him in favor of Virgil. The little boy whimpered as Logan got closer, his body shaking. "Virgil, can you hear me? Can you move?"

Virgil nodded, "It hurts so much Papa," he whispered quietly.

Logan felt an enormous amount of pity as he examined him for any serious injuries, "I know, don't worry, it's all going to be alright."

Virgil nodded again before he began to sob, throwing himself at Logan as best as he could given the lack of space and the pain he was in. Logan hushed him gently as he wrapped his arms around the boy and let him cry. He slowly and carefully moved Virgil to lay on top of him and used his own body as a makeshift stretcher. It took some time, Logan didn't want to cause Virgil any more pain or risk hurting him further, but he managed to ease them both out from under the climbing net. 

"Ooh the poor boy," someone said when they were both out and Logan had sat up. 

A small crowd had gathered around them, all play had stopped, and people watched with worried expressions. Some of the other kids were crying as well, Virgil's fall had probably scared them.

"Should I call a doctor?" A man asked, phone already out and ready.

Logan shook his head as he stood up with Virgil still in his arms. They didn't carry Virgil often, seeing as he was now a little old for that, but he didn't know the extent of Virgil's injuries and didn't want to risk Virgil getting even more hurt if he fell again. 

"No," he answered softly, "I am a doctor, and this boy's father. Thank you for your concern. I have a first aid kit in the car, and will take him to the hospital as soon as I can find the rest of my family."

After a bit more prompting and asking the crowd finally dispersed, many deciding that the children had had enough time on the playground for today and leaving the area completely. 

When Logan had reached Janus, Virgil was still crying rather hard and had one of his arms tucked between himself and Logan. Virgil was a very tough kid when it came to injuries, he and Janus both had a high pain tolerance. So it did concern him slightly that even while in Logan's arms he was curling in protectively and hiding his arm in a position that may seem a little odd.

"Is he okay?" 

Logan looked up, taking his eyes off Virgil for a moment as he found Janus again. The teenager looked terrified, and sick with worry. If Logan didn't know any better, he would think Janus was also close to tears. The doctor felt slightly guilty, in his haste to check on Virgil and get him to safety, he had completely forgotten about Janus.

Of course, Janus was sixteen and would be fine to be left on his own for a few minutes in a public park. But Logan had left him just moments after he'd seen his brother's body fall from a very dangerous height. It would have made sense for Janus to be under some emotional distress after seeing that, especially with the history the two boys had. Janus in particular had a poor experience with heights. Logan couldn't imagine how scared he might have been while waiting for signs that Virgil was okay.

Logan gave Janus a soft smile as he nodded his head, "He will be," Logan assured, "We'll get him all cleaned up and go to the hospital just in case."

Janus winced slightly as his brother began to cry a little harder and said something that Logan wasn't able to understand with all the sobbing, "He doesn't like hospitals," Janus explained to Logan, "Never has, they scare him."

Logan nodded his understanding. It was not uncommon for young children to be fearful of hospitals. As a doctor, Logan knew this. But he'd never been the father of someone who was scared of the hospital. Just the doctor to a patient, and Logan had decided long before they had even adopted the twins that he would never be the doctor to his children or husband unless absolutely necessary. If you've ever heard the phrase 'doctors make the worst patients' then you might have understood why. Logan had been a doctor to a doctor as well as a patient to a doctor and could atone to the fact that the phrase held at least some truth. Seeing as Logan did tend to be a bit of a 'mother hen' (as Patton called him) it had made sense that he not doctor his family, lest he let his own feelings get in his way. 

Not to mention that patients needed to be able to trust their doctors and confide in them. Would his children really be willing to tell him the more personal issues regarding their health and bodies? He'd heard stories of parents being their children's doctors only to find out that their children had been doing things like smoking or drinking and not felt comfortable telling their parents in fear of receiving a lecture, or worse. So no. Logan wasn't the family doctor. He never would be, hopefully.

 The twins had never been frightened of the hospital, just wary of the strangers within them. Logan had taken Janus to an appointment the other week and Janus hadn't shown any signs of anxiety. Patton had a small phobia of needles, but Patton was his husband, not his child. Virgil was the only one of his children who was apparently afraid of hospitals.

"Don't worry Virgil," Logan told him as they started towards the car, "I promise you that you have nothing to fear, and the doctors will not hurt you."

"Logan's right Vee," Janus said, using the voice Patton liked to call the 'Soft Big Brother' voice, which was specifically reserved for Virgil and the twins whenever they were hurt or upset, "He's not gonna let anybody hurt you. I'm right here too, okay?"

Virgil nodded, still crying as he tried to pull away from Logan, holding his arms out towards Janus to hold him. Janus responded with a terrified, worried, eagerness, reaching out to take Virgil from Logan's arm only for Logan to suddenly take a step back and pull away. Janus was barely able to stop himself from grabbing his brother and yanking him out of Logan's arms. He managed to make his sudden leap into an odd step, and instead of grabbing his brother he clasped his hands together, wringing them together nervously as he watched Logan with pleading eyes. 

"Logan. Logan please, please. I-I can, I need to-" Janus stopped short when Logan turned away from him. He felt his heart clench as Virgil's crying picked up again.

Logan didn't reply, looking down at Virgil with deep concern as he made his way over to a nearby picnic table. Virgil was carefully set down, Logan made sure that the boy wasn't going to tip over or fall before gently trying to pry his arm away. Virgil practically shrieked as soon as Logan touched him and suddenly Logan found himself on the ground. 

"Oh shit," Janus cursed, stepping back a bit, it took Logan a second to realize that he'd pushed him. "Shi-oot. I'm-I'm sorry. I just-I-I want-" Janus continued to stammer as Logan slowly got back up.

He firmly placed his hands down on the boy's shoulders, Janus flinched as he did but didn't pull away, "Janus," he began evenly, "I am not mad at you. I understand you are scared. I understand you want to hold Virgil. But right now I need you to take a deep breath, and let me help."

Janus's eyes flicked over to Virgil, who was still crying, before he looked back at Logan and nodded. Logan didn't wait any longer, turning back to Virgil and murmuring kind reassurances to him as he once again took a look at Virgil's arm. Janus tried to keep his distance, he tried, but the more he watched the more he saw how scared and hurt Virgil was in and the more he wanted to scoop up his little brother and take away all that pain.

If he could take it on as his own, he would. If he could take away his brother's pain, then Virgil would never feel any pain. But he couldn't do that, and he knew that. So instead, he slowly sat down on the table with his brother. Immediately, Virgil grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. "It hurts," Virgil cried.

Janus wrapped an arm around him, being mindful of his shoulder, tucking his brothers head close, "I know, but Logan's gonna make it all okay again."

"Don't leave?" He muttered quietly. 

Janus pressed his head to the top of Virgil's, "I won't," he promised quietly.

"Actually," Logan released Virgil's arm, gently guiding it back against his chest where Virgil tucked it close carefully, "I need you to go find Patton and the twins, bring them to the car."

Janus shook his head, "No, Logan, I should-"

Logan stopped him short, "Virgil's arm is broken. I'm going to take him to the car. Janus, you need to find Patton-"

"We can call him! He has a phone, its why people made phones, we can call him!" 

"No," Logan repeated, voice firm, "This is not something you can tell Patton over the phone. Listen to me, Janus. I love Patton, and the twins, and you and Virgil too, of course. But the twins, Patton, and Virgil are very emotional respondent people, which is a beautiful thing. Except if you tell Patton this over the phone, he will panic, he will not be able to think properly. You and I are more level-headed, we are better under stressful times, it is not the easiest burden, but it is a helpful one." Logan pulled the boys away from each other slowly, "I need you, to go find Patton, and tell him what happened. And when he panics, as he inevitably will, I need you to make sure that his panic doesn't result in any more mistakes or incidents. Do you understand?"

Janus closed his eyes tightly, rubbing his hands against his clothes, before nodding. He turned back to Virgil, "Hey Vee, Papa's right. I'll be right back though, and when I do get back, I won't leave you again until we get you better, okay?"

Virgil wiped at his tears with his good hand, "You promise?"

"Absolutely," Janus smiled, holding his pinky out, "I don't break promises, you know that."

Virgil gave a weak smile back, they linked fingers, Janus held it for a few seconds before letting it go, and taking off back into the park at a sprint. Logan gave Virgil a moment to watch his brother go before carefully scooping him up again, "You'll be alright, plenty of children break their arms at your age. And it is better to do so at a young age than when you are older."

"I'm tired," Virgil whispered.

"The adrenaline is probably beginning to wear off. You are still shaking, though that may be due to your crying." Logan pressed Virgil a little closer.

"Re says that adrenaline makes it not hurt at first. And that's why the people in movies can keep fighting even when they got shot. But this hurts. It hurts a lot."

Logan could see the car now, "Everyone's bodies are different. It won't hurt forever, the people at the hospital will help."

"Will you be my doctor?" Virgil asked him. Still teary eyed and nervous.Logan wasn't very good with emotions, he knew that, but he'd gotten better over the years. Patton and the boys had made him better. And right now, as they crossed the parking lot, he could hear the hope and fear in his voice.

"No," Logan answered honestly, "But I will make sure that you get a really amazing doctor, I know a lot of them."

"And they'll fix my arm?" Virgil asked 

Logan didn't answer right away, struggling to hold Virgil and open the trunk. Virgil let go of Logan's t-shirt, pausing his crying, and leaned down, reaching for the handle and pulling it open with his good arm. "Thank you," Logan said as he set Virgil down, "We are both getting to old to carry you around." Virgil smiled at that, though it slipped away quickly, looking down at his arm worriedly. "Yes, they'll fix your arm. But they will also have to take a couple of tests. Just to make sure everything else is okay. Does anything else beside your arm hurt?"

"It all hurts, but its mostly my arm and head," Virgil told him, wiping at the tears leaking from his face.

Logan pulled the first aid kit close, opening it up, and began to go about cleaning up any of the cuts and bruises he saw. Virgil hissed a little bit as the alcohol wipes stung at his skin, Logan let him squeeze at his arm whenever it hurt. "What were you even doing up there Virgil? You know better than to climb somewhere dangerous."

"We were just playing."

"Playing? Virgil, you broke your arm. You're lucky if that's all that happened. Do you know how hurt you could have gotten?" Logan tried not to sound mad, but when he was scared about his kids he almost always sounded mad. It was hard not to, which was okay because that's what made Patton so amazing. When Patton was scared about his kids, he just got worried. 

"I'm sorry," Virgil whispered

Logan sighed, "Why were you up there Virgil?"

Virgil shrugged, "It's no big deal."

"Virgil, you broke your arm. You're never this reckless, and it isn't normal for you to put yourself in danger like that."

"I climb onto the roof at home all the time!" 

"And Patton and I have told you numerous times to never do that," Logan replied firmly, putting away the rubbing alcohol and searching for some band-aids. "You know better Virgil... I just want to know why you would do something like that. You really scared your brother and I."

Virgil gave him another meek shrug, "It's a secret."

"A secret?" Logan repeated

Virgil nodded, before carefully leaning closer, "Promise you won't tell anyone? Not even Patton! He'll laugh."

Logan tilted his head slightly, giving the boy a small smile, "Patton would never laugh at you," Logan told him softly, "He loves you."

"I know, but he still laughs at us sometimes. I'll tell you because you won't laugh." 

Logan hummed at that, but nodded his head, "Alright, I promise not to tell anyone. Not even Patton."

Virgil smiled as he held his pinky out. Logan rolled his eyes softly but wrapped his own pinky around Virgil. "One of the boys I was playing is in my class. His name is October and he's the coolest person ever! He tells the best ghost stories, and he always has candy, and he gives me cool leaves." Virgil lowered his voice again, cupping his hands around his mouth, "I'm going to ask him to be my valentine."

Logan's eyes widened slightly, his mouth forming an 'o' shape, "You climbed on the roof because of this October boy?"

"Yeah," Virgil nodded, "Cause he's cool."

Logan was starting to wish he hadn't promised to keep this from Patton, "Alright, well... Virgil, I'm not mad. But you know that you never need to do anything you don't want to do right? Especially not if it's dangerous."

"But Papa, he's the most amazing boy I've ever met," Virgil swooned, a giddy smile on his face.

"While that may be true, no boy, no matter how amazing, is worth getting hurt," Logan pressed the final band-aid on before packing the first aid kit away.

"What about Patton?" Virgil asked, "Is Patton worth getting hurt for?"

Logan froze. Because of course Patton was worth getting hurt for. Logan would do anything for Patton, he wouldn't even hesitate. But Logan was trying to teach Virgil something, and he didn't want to lie to him but he also didn't want to confuse him.

"Yes," Logan told him with a nod, "And one day, when you're older, you may meet someone who you are willing to get hurt for the same way I am for Patton. But you're young now, and you don't have to do that. You will hopefully never have to do that. But it is also important to understand Virgil, that there is a difference between being willing to get hurt to protect the person you love and being willing to get hurt because you want them to like you. You should never have to put yourself in danger or get hurt to get them to like you. Do you understand the difference?" 

"Pat says you met him at work." Virgil told him, looking down at his broken arm with still wet eyes and a puffy red face, "He says that he used to come in all the time with injuries just to see you." 

The doctor smiled, "Patton didn't get hurt to come see me. He got hurt because he's clumsy, and he used every instance he could as an excuse to come see me. It's not the same, understand?"

"So, I'm not allowed to get hurt for October until we're in love like you and Patton?" Virgil asked.

That wasn't exactly what Logan meant, but... "Something like that. Perhaps we should have this conversation again when you're older and not in need of medical attention. Until then, no more climbing onto anything taller than I am alright?"

"Alright," Virgil agreed.

Logan nodded, beginning to reach out to pick Virgil up and carry him the short distance to his regular seat in the car. Patton shouting from across the parking lot stopped him before he could, "Virgil! Logan!" His husband shouted, sprinting across the busy parking lot without even looking to see if any cars were coming, nearly getting hit in the process. Janus grabbed both the twins before they could follow, pulling them back by the back of their shirts and waiting until it was safe to cross before leading them towards the car as well. Logan found himself thankful that he had told Janus to go find them instead of just calling them, and thankful that none of the other drivers accidentally ran over his reckless husband in his attempt to reach them. 

To his credit, Patton did manage to restrain himself from immediately wrapping Virgil in what would have been a very excruciating hug. Instead, he cradled the boy's head and inspected it for injuries before looking down at his arm, "Oh my poor kiddo. Are you okay? What happened? Does it hurt? Don't worry alright, it's all going to be okay. It's all going to be-"

"Patton," Logan interrupted, placing an arm on his shoulder to get his attention, "It's alright Darling, breathe." Patton looked at him nervously before nodding his head and taking several long deep breaths. The rest of the family members found themselves joining in. "Virgil is alright. His arm is broken, he is in a lot of pain. We are going to take him to the hospital and they will treat him. He is fine."

"I'm okay Dad," Virgil confirmed, "Papa helped me. And it doesn't hurt as much as it did at first."

"Can I touch it?" Remus asked with wide eyes as he stared at Virgil's arm. Meanwhile Roman was hiding his face in Janus's jacket.

Janus took Remus by the arm before he could even try and reach out, "No. Come on, get in the car. You two sit in the back row." The teenager pulled them towards the sliding door before they could even make a complaint, not that they even tried. They seemed to understand that this was a more serious matter and that they still needed to get to the hospital.

Patton helped Virgil into his seat, giving the boy a gentle kiss before strapping him and handing 'comforting Virgil' duty to his three big brothers. They seemed to have it handled. Logan packed the things they had brought with them into the car quickly and, for the first and last time ever, messily. Finally, everyone was packed into the car and Logan hurried off to the hospital.

*****

Virgil was fine. 

The doctors said he was lucky. He made it out of the fall with a few scrapes and bruises, a broken arm, a sprained ankle, and a minor concussion. It had been a stressful few days. Janus and Patton kept hovering over Virgil while the twins had the opposite problem and kept playing to rough. Logan treated him mostly normally, though he did occasionally remind him to take it easy.

Virgil was not to happy to be on bed rest. The nine-year-old had been temporarily forbidden from running, jumping, dancing, and definitely climbing. Though the dancing seemed to be the one that upset him the most, he hadn't been able to go to his dance classes until the doctor gave him permission. And he was worried that if he missed out on too many classes he wouldn't be allowed to be in the recital. 

He wanted to play with his brothers and make cookies with Patton. But he wasn't even able to do that because he had a cast on his arm. He was pretty upset about that too. Virgil didn't like his cast. It was uncomfortable and made his jacket look big and he couldn't even wash his arm right! 

When he got to go back to school, after a couple of days at home, at first he hated it because it felt like everyone was staring at him and all the other kids kept coming up to him all at once and asking him too many questions. Or his teachers would get all worried about him and make him take a bunch of breaks. And he had to have recess on the 'sit down' bench because he wasn't allowed to play so he just had to sit there and read. And he hadn't liked any of that! 

But then...

A figure blocked the sun, casting a shadow over the book he was reading. Virgil frowned, already he knew that it was most likely another one of his classmates coming over to gawk at his arm. 

"Hi Virgil," A shy, quiet, voice said.

Virgil closed his book, "Hi October," he replied, looking up at the classmate he'd told Logan about, "What are you doing here?"

October shrugged, sitting down on the bench beside Virgil, "Do you wanna come over after school one day? You were really fun at the park, and I feel bad you can't play much at school.

Virgil smiled, "I gotta ask my Dad's. But they'll say yes, they might just wanna talk to your adult first."

"Great! Can I sign your cast," October asked, already pulling some markers out from his pocket, "I wanna make it good though, so it'll take a bit."

Virgil held out his arm without even thinking it over, "Yeah, just don't write anything mean. Hadean wrote something mean."

"I won't" October promised, scooting a little closer and carefully holding him to keep him steady. 

For a moment Virgil just watched as October drew on his arm, waiting for the other to let him know he was okay to move again. Then his anxiety took hold. His brain kept telling him he was being stupid, and that he needed to say something so... "Wanna play a game?" He asked

"Sure, what game?"

Virgil hummed in thought, "Do you know how to play concentration?" October shook his head, "Okay, so basically..."

Virgil went on to explain the rules, being patient and answering any questions October had. Which wasn't many because Concentration was a fairly easy game. For the rest of that week, October and sometimes some of the other boy's friends would join Virgil at the 'sit down' bench and they would play mindless games that didn't require needing to move around. And if Virgil insisted that he and Patton (mostly Patton, because of the cast) make heart-shaped cookies for when October came over one day to play, then nobody said anything about it.

Word Count: 4702

Over the years Virgil and October end up becoming friends. Virgil's crush on October does go away for a couple of years but then it comes back while they're in high school. For the majority of high school, October has no idea and Virgil suffers in silence. And then somehow, i haven't figured out how yet but it's definitely going to be an accident, October finds out. They end of dating and of course Virgil is absolutely smitten with him the entire time. 

His brothers tease him about this endlessly. Because Virgil is the youngest and shyest of the group, they all got partners before him and Virgil always made fun of them for it so they're all very excited and happy to show him what its like. 

Hope you enjoyed this.

-Kam