Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for your reviews and PM's. I have to admit I enjoy those reviews far more than I should. They are way too good for my ego.
I will also have to admit I tend to be a slow writer. There will be times where I will sit down and write 30.000 words in one weekend, but those times are very rare. Usually, I take much more time to write one single chapter. But rest assured I will not lose interest before a story is finished.

I had hoped to have this story up before I left for my holiday, but I didn't. I always forget just how much things you need to take care off before you can take off for a month. And this time I couldn't even write during my holiday. Well, not much anyway. So I had to finish after my return.

Still not completely satisfied with this chapter, but I think it's good enough. Had to fix a small thing in chapter 7, I'd contradicted myself. Such a dumb mistake too. Anyway, you might want to read the last few paragraphs of chapter 7 before reading this (from the moment Crane goes up to go to the bathroom).

Well…I've stalled enough. Time to upload this and keep my fingers crossed this will be well received.

Chapter 8

It didn't take Crane more than a second to be at Ford's side. He kneeled down and gathered the sobbing 12-year-old in his arms. "It's okay...you're fine. We're both fine. The house is fine."

"There was fire everywhere!" Ford wailed.

Despite the fact his heart was still in his throat and his pulse almost twice as high as it should be, Crane had to repress a smile, "The cushion on the sofa was on fire yes. That was pretty scary, I know."

"I didn't know what to do…"

Knowing now was not the time to talk Crane just held his younger brother, rocking him and murmuring unrecognizable sounds. It was all Ford needed right now. Adam would do enough yelling, Crane was sure of that.

In their stress and anguish neither of them heard the truck arrive in the yard. And neither heard Guthrie crying out in disgust, "Eeeewwwww someone peed all over my snowman!"

Nor did they hear Evan's laughter, "Mr. Peeman!"

Nor Daniel's, "Big lesson, Guth: don't eat yellow snow."

And definitely not Adam's, "That's disgusting!"

"Who'd be this mean?"

"I don't know, Guth, but we'll get to the bottom of this. I'm sure one of your brothers knows more about it," Adam sighed.

"Crane wouldn't do that!" Daniel was quick to defend his older brother, "He's far too mature."

"As if Ford would!" Evan jumped to his roommate's defense.

"Well, someone did it," Adam wasn't too upset, but he'd actually had a pretty good day, despite the shopping and hated having to spoil the mood by questioning two pranksters.

"Did what?"

They all turned around to watch Brian dismount. The man looked like he was freezing, especially his ears. From a very early age on Brian had had trouble with his ears in the cold. They'd get cold and he'd get a headache from hell, but there was no way he would wear some kind of woolen hat to keep warm up in these mountains. That simply was not cool. And Brian was young enough to find being cool was important.

"Well?" But as he uttered the impatient phrase he noticed the snowman and the yellow circle and started laughing. "Well, glad we're still upholding that age-old tradition. Although, I have to admit I never thought of actually decorating a snowman like that. Pretty good aim. I'll have to bow to the winner here!"

"Brian…" Adam's warning tone did not stop the man.

"That really took skill."

"Brian!"

"My snowman is ruined!" A crying Guthrie took off towards the house. The boy stormed inside, slamming the door as he did and took off upstairs. He never even noticed the two brothers on the floor as he flew up the stairs, nor did they really took notice of him.

"Now look what you've done!" Adam glared at the tired man, "I'll go and sort this mess, you all can unload the truck."

"Me? What'd I do?" Brian was too tired to let it go, "You really need to stop it with the accusations."

"I know you didn't do this, but you just had to go and laugh, did you?"

"Oh come on, Adam, it's funny. You know it is."

"Yeah, Adam," Evan joined in, "Actually, I hope Ford did it. He's the last you'd expect it from."

"Guthrie'll get over it," Daniel agreed, "He's a good sport. He's just tired and a bit upset now."

"We've all done it. Well, at least you and I," Brian looked at the oldest McFadden.

"Me too," Daniel admitted.

"And me," Evan added.

Adam sighed and then slowly a grin appeared, "Okay, it's a little funny. And well done. Still… I'll have to talk to Guthrie."

"Why don't you let me talk to him?" Brian offered, "You've been shopping with three kids."

"Hey!" Daniel protested, but Brian's snort cut him off.

"You're a kid. Even if you sometimes don't seem to think so yourself." Brian handed Evan the reins, "Would you mind taking care of Blackjack for me?"

"Sure!" Evan was always happy to be around the horses. Normally they all took care of their own horses and Brian was no exception. But sometimes things worked out differently and Evan never minded.

"Okay, Daniel and I will handle the groceries," Adam was only glad to give in and Brian headed inside.

They didn't get far before yelling from inside caused them to look at each other.

"I thought Brian was just gonna talk to Guthrie," Daniel said hesitantly, but Adam didn't hesitate. Still carrying two bags of groceries he quickly made his way inside, immediately followed by Daniel who had also managed to pick up a few bags.

"This what you boys call looking out for each other?" they could hear Brian yell as they came in through the kitchen. "Oh we'll be fine, Brian. We'll be fine, Adam. Is this fine!?"

Crane and Ford had scrambled to their feet as Brian had come in, and immediately Crane had pushed Ford behind him in a protective gesture. Brian had picked up the now ruined fire blanket and was waving it angrily at the two of them. That was the view that greeted Adam when he'd come in far enough to see them.

"What's going on in here?"

"What's going on?" Brian roared, "What's going on is that these two idiots nearly burnt down the house!"

"What?" Adam's eyes wandered around the room, resting for a second on the scorch marks on the sofa before moving to Crane and Ford, "What on earth?"

"It's not what Brian thinks," Crane spoke beseechingly, "It's not that bad…"

"Not that bad?" Brian wasn't ready to calm down yet. He threw the fire blanket on the floor and pointed at the sofa, "That sofa was on fire, was it not?" There was a lot of Guthrie's imaginative mind in him, much more than he'd like to admit, and that mind was conjuring up all sorts of horror scenario's in which his brothers died in a blaze while he was taking his time checking a dumb fence that had turned out to be fine after all.

"Yes, it was, but…"

"Don't you dare downplay this, buddy, don't you dare!" Brian stepped right in that space around a person that is usually considered personal space and Crane flinched a little.

"Brian, you're overreacting, you need to listen to…"

A vice grip on Crane's arm was immediately followed by a loud and especially hard swat to his hip, "Overreacting? I'm overreacting?" A second swat followed.

"STOP!" Ford started yelling as he tried to push Brian away from his older brother. "Crane had nothing to do with it! It was me. All me…."

In the meantime, Adam had taken Brian's arm and pulled him away from Crane. "Brian!" There was an authority in his voice that was usually reserved for the younger brothers. Oh he'd yelled at Brian, had gotten frustrated with him, but the dad-voice was one he'd only used once before on the second McFadden. And it had effect. Brian let go of Crane's arm and the boy busied himself rubbing his hip and arm.

Brian had a quick temper, his many fights from his toddler years right up to a few months ago in a bar in town, could attest to that, but he usually simmered down quite easily. And most importantly, he seldom lost his temper with his brothers. Not since that fateful date they lost their parents. Something always held him back. But seeing the fire blanket, fire extinguisher, the scorched sofa and crying Ford, had done it. It was fear, even he recognized it. "I'm sorry." The words were gruff, but sincere and everyone knew he meant them. Sorry didn't come easy to him. Crane knew, but he couldn't quite bring himself to accept the apology yet. He was hurt by the accusation. Maybe it was because it was Brian jumping to conclusion and not Adam. He wasn't used to that.

Adam, on the other hand, nodded, but kept his eyes on the younger two, "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"I…" Ford stayed close to Crane after his heroic defense of his brother, "It was my fault…"

Crane draped an arm around Ford's shoulders, "He tried an experiment."

Adam closed his eyes for a moment, wishing that for once, a story would come out without him having to prompt, "What kind of experiment involves fire in the living room?"

"It had to be inside, cause there's no wind inside," was Ford's explanation, although it didn't explain anything to the oldest. Crane quickly clarified before his brother could get too frustrated.

"He thought the velocity of a thrown paper plane on fire would be enough to extinguish the fire. He thought it would work the same as blowing out a candle. So he lit a paper plane and threw it. He never thought it would hit anything while still on fire."

Adam had to swallow hard. The mental images simply were too much. "Where on earth did you get that idea?!"

Ford blinked, "I asked Crane how it worked."

"You told him it'd work?" Adam's tone rose a notch, but for a change he didn't yell. Brian, next to him, felt his anger rise again, but managed to keep his cool. His guilt over having swatted Crane without waiting for answers, however, was waning.

"Of course not!" Crane's tone matched Adam's. It was one accusation too many.

Realizing the boy already felt wronged by Brian and this was a bit too much, Adam forced himself to remain calm. "So what did you tell him?"

"I just explained why blowing on a candle flame puts out the flame, nothing more."

"I asked him, Adam," Ford helped.

"You can't blame Crane for what Ford did!"

"Daniel," Adam turned to the 14-year-old, "I'm just trying to get the full picture here. Now, are all the groceries inside and put away?"

Of course they weren't. Daniel had followed Adam in and watched with wide eyes what was going on. When Adam kept his eyes on him Daniel slowly shook his head, "No, not yet."

"Then please go do that now." It wasn't a question and Daniel knew it. Still he didn't move. "Daniel, I'm not going to tell you again."

Adam watched Daniel try to make up his mind. The boy glanced at Crane, probably to see if his brother would be alright. Then at Ford to check the same. But, thankfully, before Adam had mentally reached the count of three, Daniel moved. Whatever he'd seen on his brothers' faces must have convinced him he could leave them to handle this. Adam doubted it was any kind of thought of his own consequences that had made up the boy's mind. When Daniel left, Adam turned back to Crane and Ford. "And where were you when he did this….experiment?"

"I was in the bathroom," Crane rolled his eyes, "Did you think I'd let him do it if I was here?"

"There's no need to sass, young man, I'm only asking questions. It seems no one is giving me enough details to give me a full picture of how the sofa was ruined."

Crane counted to 10 in his head. He knew how Adam felt about eye rolling, but geesh, he wasn't an idiot. Okay, maybe he hadn't made the right decisions a few weeks ago, but he'd been nothing but responsible ever since. But as soon as he'd calmed down he realized that Adam really had only asked. "Sorry," he managed.

"I'm sorry, Adam," Ford's teary eyes would normally melt his brother's heart, but at the moment Adam couldn't allow himself to comfort him just yet. "I didn't mean to cause a fire or ruin the sofa. I just wanted to know…"

"You wanted to know. So you weren't sure?"

Unlike Ford, Crane knew where Adam was going with the question, but he didn't speak up, wanting to know the answer just as much. Ford shook his head.

"Verbal answer, please."

Ford's tears spilled over once again, "No, not really sure."

"When you do experiments at school, do you think your teacher knows the outcome?"

A nod followed by a "Yes, sir."

"And if she doesn't?"

Ford's face was one big question mark causing Brian to groan, "She takes precautions, buddy. And even if she does know the outcome, she makes sure to be prepared. In case things go wrong. That's being responsible."

"Thanks, Brian," Adam sighed. He'd wanted Ford to come to the conclusion himself.

"Well, sorry, but he…"

"Never mind, Bri, you're right," Adam turned back to Ford, "When you experiment you have to make sure you're prepared for another outcome. So were you prepared?"

Ford's gaze fell to the floor. The was openly crying, but couldn't meet Adam's eye. "No."

"I got the fire blanket and had him get the extinguisher," Crane explained, "I'm just glad I came down when I did. One or two minutes later…"

Except for Ford's crying there was silence in the room as they all realized how close they had gotten to a real tragedy. A small fire could set a room aflame in as little as a few minutes. Ford's shoulders shook, "I didn't mean to…"

"You didn't mean to, I know," Adam finally pulled the boy over. For one second Ford thought he was going to end up over Adam's knee right there and then, an unheard of thing in their household. A swat or two, sure, but spankings were conducted in private. Adam just sat down in one of the comfy chairs at the fire place and pulled Ford on his lap, though. "I know you didn't mean to cause a fire. I know you're a curious boy. I love that curiosity about you. You're such a smart kid. But what you did today wasn't very smart. You let your curiosity overrule your common sense and common sense always has to come first. You did an experiment that you weren't sure would work. You didn't take precautions…..and, Ford…there's one more important thing I need to know."

"Why I didn't ask Crane." It was a whisper, but a whisper was enough.

"Cause you knew he'd tell you not to do it," Brian suggested, but Crane shook his head.

"Because he didn't want to involve me, I think, because I'm already in trouble."

"Why don't you all let Ford answer the question," Adam dryly suggested when Ford shook his head.

Ford glanced up at Crane. "I wanted to surprise you. Cause you were so proud of me at the exhibition and my science grades. I thought I could show you after I'd tried it."

"Oh kiddo…" Crane sank down on the other chair, "I'm always proud of you."

"Not now," Ford sobbed, "I'm stupid."

It earned him a swat on the thigh from Adam, not a hard one, but a swat nonetheless, "I don't want to hear that, kiddo. You're not stupid. You're very smart. You just didn't think things through today."

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"You bet you are." Despite his firm answer Adam kept his hold on Ford.

"You gonna spank me?"

"Don't you think I should?" Adam looked the child in the eye, "Hmm?"

"But I won't do it again! I promise!"

"I should hope not. You really got lucky this time!"

"I don't feel lucky." Lucky would have been the experiment succeeding and Ford being praised for being so smart. Lucky would have been no fire. Lucky meant a lot of things, but it sure didn't mean facing a spanking after nearly setting the room on fire.

"You were. A lot of bad things could have happened today. Horrible things."

"The house could have burned."

"That…"

"The sofa is ruined…"

"That's the least of my problems."

"Crane could have gotten hurt…"

"YOU could have gotten hurt, kiddo." Or worse, but Adam pushed that thought away. "You could have both gotten hurt. I don't know what I'd do if something had happened to you, Ford. Or Crane. Or any of you."

"We're okay, Adam…" Crane felt a shiver go down his spine. Not just because he, too, knew how easily this could have gone wrong, but also because he knew the consequences for risking your life. He'd felt them himself only a few months ago. "Adam…."

Brian interrupted Crane's beseeching tone, "I don't think it's necessary to…well, you know…"

"Bri, you know I have to…," For a moment Adam looked puzzled and then realization hit him, "Oh, you mean…no, I don't think we need to do that." Maybe he should. By dad's and his own rules he should and had in the past. But the events this Christmas had taught him that lessons could be just as easily learned in another way, maybe even more effectively. And he definitely preferred the more personal method over having one of his brothers bend over a bale of hay in the barn for a lesson with his belt. Not that it had happened often. In fact, he could still count the number of times on one hand.

Ford looked up with hopeful eyes, "You're not gonna…"

"Not the belt, no."

"Oh…" Ford knew what the words meant. "But I won't do it again. I promise."

Crane wanted to plead for Ford, not wanting to see his little brother in trouble, but he kept his mouth shut. If ever Ford deserved a spanking it was now. It hurt him though, especially since they'd had such a nice day. He didn't often get to hang out with just one brother and when it had happened in the past few years it had usually meant he was in charge as the babysitter. This had been different and he'd loved it. "I should have explained the whole fire thing better." He couldn't help himself. He had to help Ford a little. But it was no use.

"Nah," Brian shrugged, "You can't read minds."

"You did nothing wrong, Crane," Adam agreed with Brian, "You answered his questions. Truthfully. You weren't to know he'd take it this far. Believe me, I would have done the exact same thing."

"I know, it's just…"

"You feel responsible," Adam didn't have to be a mind reader. "But you're not. Even if you'd been in charge, you wouldn't be responsible. You just went to the bathroom. Ford is 12, you can leave him alone for a few minutes, you know. At least you should be able to." Ford cringed at those last words.

"Not really responsible…just wish I'd guessed or…" Crane shrugged, "It was such a nice day."

"Hmm…would that have something to do with yellow snow and ruining Guthrie's snowman?" Brian raised an eyebrow and enjoyed watching Crane squirm a little. He didn't enjoy the extra tears he was causing in Ford, though. The boy was in enough trouble, he didn't need to think he was in trouble for a little prank too.

"Come on, it was just a prank," Crane defended himself.

"Guthrie didn't think so," Adam said. "Brian…Ford and I have some business upstairs. I'll send Guthrie down to you and you can talk to Crane and Guth about how peeing in the snow is a little kids' prank."

"It wasn't…" But before Crane could tell Adam what the yellow snow really was, Brian had already spoken up.

"Sure, my pleasure," he grinned and winked at Crane. "we'll have a little talk."

"Come on, buddy," Adam put Ford on his feet and gave him a little push towards the stairs as he got up himself. "we'll continue our talk in your room."

"Please, Adam…you really don't have to…"

"Go on," a tap to the bottom was all it took to get Ford running up the stairs, crying hard. Not because of the pain, but because of what was going to happen and more importantly: why, although at the moment he didn't realize that that was the real reason he was so upset. Adam followed with a heavy heart.

Watching Adam go up, Brian took the man's place in the comfy chair and leaned forward to look at the teenager left in the room. "So which of the two of you was it? Or both?"

"We did it together, but it isn't what you think it is."

"Oh stop looking so worried," Brian started to chuckle. It wasn't the full laughter he'd displayed when he'd first seen the snowman, not when they all still had the thoughts of what could have happened on their minds, but still a good chuckle. "I'm not gonna kill you."

Crane glanced upstairs. "I didn't even realize Guthrie was upstairs. I was too busy trying to get Ford to stop crying. Is Guthrie really upset?"

"Yeah, he was," Brian shrugged, "It's just a snowman. He'll get over it." It wasn't often that one of them dismissed Guthrie's tears this easily.

"I'm sorry we upset him." Crane meant it. It hurt him physically to know he'd hurt a little brother. "We didn't really ruin it."

"Of course not. I thought it was pretty good aim."

"Hmm," Crane wasn't sure why he didn't tell his brother right away that it was actually food coloring. Having good aim in …this particular activity wasn't exactly something to brag about. Maybe it was because he was still slightly upset over the swats and it gave him some sense of satisfaction that Brian was as easily fooled as Guthrie was. But gloating wasn't in Crane's nature either. Still, whatever the reason, he kept his mouth shut.

"Yeah, I mean, come on, a circle is one thing, but making pockets on the thing…that was the kind of brilliance only you could come up with."

"We felt he needed some decorating."

"Well, all I'll say is I'll bow to your superiority." Brian made an arm gesture as if he was about to bow like a renaissance nobleman, but then became more serious, "And I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions earlier. I really am. I should never have swatted you. Even if you had been involved, that was the wrong thing to do. I should have listened to what you were saying and not fly off the handle."

Suddenly it was easy to accept the apology. "That wasn't anger. It was fear that made you do that."

Brian hung his head, "I guess you're right, but it's still wrong."

"Well, yeah, but I think most parents make mistakes like that. I know ours did."

"Mom had a temper that would put mine to shame," Brian conceded.

"You do come by it naturally. But I can remember Dad doing a very similar thing once. You had climbed on the porch rail after we'd gone to the circus. You said you were going to be an acrobat and started walking on the rail."

Brian laughed, "There's no career lost for me there. I fell within two steps. Nearly broke my ankle."

"Yeah, and dad had just stepped out of the barn when you fell. He rushed over. Hugged you something fierce and then started swatting."

"Felt like he wouldn't stop! That sure made me forget the pain in my ankle."

Crane snorted, "He only swatted you about 5 times. And then he hugged you again and carried you inside to have mom check you over all the while apologizing for hitting you. That was fear too. Little as I was, I recognized it."

"Doesn't mean my backside didn't hurt." But Brian grinned, "Sure got a lot of cookies from mum to compensate for it and the ankle was nothing more than a light sprain. I was very lucky." He continued more seriously, "Thanks for accepting my apologies. That was very mature."

Crane couldn't resist the teasing remark, "So I went from a childish prankster to a mature adult."

"Hey, that was Adam, not me."

"You pranked my snowman?"

Both brothers looked up to see Guthrie stand at the bottom of the stairs. Immediately, Crane rushed over and pulled the boy in his arms. "We didn't mean to upset you, buddy."

"It's all ruined now." The boy was usually sincere in his tears, but now Crane suspected he was putting it on slightly with the lowered eye lashes and tearful look.

"Not really, you know," Crane started only to be interrupted by Guthrie.

"Yes, it is. You can't have a snowman with pee in your yard. So it has to go. But I ain't touching it! That's yucky."

"He has a point," Brian noted from his position at the fire place. "You'll have to shovel all that soiled snow out."

Crane laughed, "I don't have to do anything."

"Well, you and Ford. Come on, I'm not mad, no one's mad," Brian got to his feet, "and no one's in trouble over it. But you have to admit the thing has to go."

"Not admitting anything," Crane insisted, "It can stay right where it is."

"With pee on it!?" Guthrie pulled a face.

"That's not pee, Guth," Crane really laughed out loud now, "That's food coloring in water. We put it in a spray bottle."

Guthrie took a few moments to study Crane's face, "Really?"

"I'll prove it to you. I'll eat it!"

It was Brian's turn to pull a face, "That's gross. God, you really are a student, are you? That what those frat boys do at Davis?"

"No, Bri, it really is food coloring." Crane put Guthrie down and led them to the kitchen where he pointed at the bottle in the sink. "There…there should still be some in it."

Just then Daniel came in with the last of the groceries. "Pee?"

"Gross, Danny," Crane scrunched up his face, "No, food coloring. You didn't really think we'd peed on Guthrie's snowman, did you?"

"Well…" Daniel hedged, "I wasn't sure."

"Ooooohhhhh," Crane put his hand over his heart in a dramatic gesture, "and by my brother I shall be betrayed…"

"Just for tricking us the way you did, you should be punished," Brian said ominously.

"Yessss!" Guthrie cheered and Daniel just rolled his eyes.

Crane could have reacted in many different ways. Brian never even thought of the possibility the boy could be offended. Could feel that Brian had done enough punishing unfairly today. The thought that Crane couldn't read his brother well enough to know this was just a way to get rid of all the tension for Guthrie and between Crane and Brian, never entered Brian's mind. Fortunately for Brian, Crane was smart and sensitive enough to see right through Brian's ploy (or maybe Brian wasn't a very good actor), "Oh no, Daniel…help…" And he backed off, but not fast enough and before he knew it, Brian had him in a headlock. Not that he'd struggled hard.

"Oh yes….Guthrie….it's tickle-time! Only fair, right?"

With a gleeful, "YES!" Guthrie started to tickly Crane's side. But being 8, he wasn't quite the expert yet and missed the real tickle-spots.

"You have to tickle a bit higher, Guth…" Brian prompted, causing Crane to really start to struggle, finally.

"Nooo, Guth…don't…"

In the meantime, Daniel jumped on Brian's back and tried to peel the man off of Crane. It didn't take long before the four of them fell on the floor, one big laughing heap of boys. Well, man and boys. Or maybe men and boys. It all depended on whom you asked. For the moment, they seemed to have forgotten that upstairs the second-youngest was in a whole different heap: a heap of trouble. And paying for it.