#ross centric

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Ross loved his siblings with all his heart but ever since the band went on hiatus, he had to admit that a few differences had crept in between them. There was no bad blood between them but things weren’t like before either. Ross’s siblings had moved on in life. Riker and Rydel had gotten married. Rydel was pregnant. Ellington had gotten engaged and things had gotten quite awkward after his break up with Rydel. Rocky and Ross had managed to stay in contact and even created music together but something was still missing. They all could feel it.

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Ross’s biggest fear was that he and his siblings no longer shared that same closeness and friendship like before. He often wondered if they would still do anything for each other.

Riker had invited them over for an end of year get together. Ross had spent the night before worrying if all of his siblings were going to be there and how awkward would it be to be around his siblings’ partners. He knew them but lately they had been so distanced that he felt like he barely knew his own siblings.

With all those doubts clouding his mind, Ross traveled to Riker’s, wishing that everything would go smoothly. But little did he know that he was soon going to experience something that would put his doubts at ease.

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Riker had caught on Ross’s uneasiness as soon as the man reached there. He noticed how happy Ross got when he saw Rydel but still maintained a distance with Capron. If Rydel sensed something she didn’t say anything. The same thing happened when Ross met Savannah. Ellington had arrived with his fiancée and the atmosphere got a little tensed.

Wanting to speak to his little brother alone, Riker asked the boy to accompany him to the bank. It seemed like an opportunity to get the boy away from the crowd as well as get to know what was bothering the kid.

Seemed like a normal thing to do except that it all turned wrong.

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“So what’s going on?” Riker asked as they got to the bank.

“I don’t know. You’re the one that brought me to the bank” Ross said, deliberately trying to be ignorant.

“Ross…” Riker sighed.

“Things have changed, Ri… I don’t know… It doesn’t feel like before” Ross trailed off.

“Why do you think that things have changed?” Riker asked.

Ross shrugged but never got to answer as some men barged into the bank with guns, taking everyone hostage.

Within seconds, panic was spread all around as they all got down on the floor.

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“Stay calm… They’ll take what they want and leave. Just stay down and stay calm” Riker whispered to Ross.

“They can’t rob the bank, Riker. We need to do something” Ross countered.

“Don’t… The cops would be here soon and we’ll be out. Don’t do anything” Riker warned.

Ross stayed quiet for a while until the robbers got hold of a kid on their way out as the cops had already arrived. They planned to use the kid to get away.

“Leave the kid” Ross shouted.

The robbers looked behind, surprised as they aimed their gun at Ross.

Using the moment of surprise, the cops barged in.

Realizing that they were gonna be caught, the robbers thought of taking Ross out as their shot at the boy.

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Ross was frozen on his spot. He saw the man firing at him but he just couldn’t move. But Riker was right there. He shook his head at Ross trying to distract the robbers from going out with the kid but as soon as he saw the robbers going to fire at Ross, he jumped right in between.

It happened too fast for Ross. At a moment, he had a gun pointed at him and in the other moment, Riker had jumped in and threw him to the ground, taking a bullet for him.

“Ri… Riker?” Ross shouted, patting Riker’s cheeks as he inspected the bullet wound.

He heard the cops checking on them and heard them call for an ambulance but he had eyes only for Riker.

His big brother had taken a bullet for him.

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The bullet had only grazed Riker’s shoulder but that wasn’t going to keep Ross from feeling guilty. Once Riker woke up, Ross stood in the background and watched his siblings fuss over Riker. But Ross stayed rooted in his place, at the door, watching his siblings.

“Ross?” Riker called out but Ross shook his head, not wanting to approach them.

“Ross? What’s wrong?” Rocky asked.

“It’s all my fault” Ross broke down.

“Oh Rossy” Rydel sighed.

Riker tried sitting up but gasped as his shoulder protested. He wanted nothing more than to pull his little brother in a cuddle. But Savannah beat him to it.

“It’s all right. It’s not your fault. If you would have been in Riker’s place, you would have done the same, right?” Savannah said.

Ross blinked up at the woman and let her pull him in a hug.

Riker watched them, a smile creeping on his face.

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Maybe this was the incident that could have removed Ross’s fears. This incident reminded Ross and his siblings that their bond was still strong. As he closed his eyes, lying in his hospital bed, with Savannah sat next to him and Ross cuddling in his side on the bed, Riker knew that nothing could come in between him and his siblings. They would always have each other’s back.

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A/N

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Usually, Riker would always sense that something had happened to one of his siblings. He called it his big brother radar. But this time, he didn’t even feel a thing. It could be because he was busy. But this was a major incidence.

Why didn’t his big brother instinct warn him of something?

Currently, he was on holiday with his wife and maybe he was so happy and relaxed that his big brother radar just didn’t go off?

Whatever the reason was, it was still too big of news for Riker to digest.

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The phone rang in the early hours and Riker cursed it for waking them up before frowning at Rydel’s number.

“Ri… Riker…” Rydel was sobbing over the line.

“Rydel? What’s wrong?” Riker asked, concerned.

He could see Savannah getting up and shrugged at the woman when she asked what was going on.

“Rydel? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Riker pressed again.

“It’s Ross, Ri… You have to come back, Riker…” Rocky came on the line and Riker could hear Rydel still crying.

“Rocky? What happened to Ross? Why is Rydel crying?” Riker asked.

“Riker… Ross was coming home… The plane… It crashed” Rocky started crying himself.

There was a loud ringing in his ears as he heard what Rocky told him.

“Ri? Riker? Hey,” Savannah shook Riker by his shoulder when she saw him kind of in shock.

“My Ross… My kid, Savannah… No, this can’t be true” Riker mumbled to himself as Savannah pulled him in a hug.

Riker wasn’t ready to believe it all.

His Ross couldn’t be gone!

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As soon as Riker reached home, his siblings attached themselves to him.

“Rossy, Riker… We lost Rossy” Rydel cried in Riker’s shoulder.

“Ri… Riker?” Rocky called the man out when he realized that the man didn’t say anything since he arrived.

“How…? Who gave you the news of…?” Riker asked.

“We saw the news. He, uh, he told us that he was coming by the evening flight and then the news… of the crash…” Rocky explained.

“Ross wasn’t on the flight,” Riker said, all of a sudden.

“What?” Rydel asked.

“I know… He isn’t on the flight. I would have felt it… If something had happened to him, I would have known” Riker insisted.

“Oh, Ri” Rydel sobbed, “but we heard the news.”

“I don’t know… It just can’t be true” Riker shouted.

“What can’t be true?” a voice came from behind them.

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“ROSS” Rocky shouted as he ran forward to hug his little brother once he saw the boy standing, very alive, on their doorstep.

Ross barely had the time to brace himself when Rocky and Rydel pulled him in a hug.

“Uh… Hi?” Ross tried to say.

“Shut up, you idiot” Rocky half sobbed and half chuckled.

“Let us assure ourselves that you’re alive,” Rydel said.

When Ross looked up at them confusingly, Savannah explained, “the flight that you were supposed to be in has crashed and we all thought…”

“Oh but I missed the flight, you know” Ross clarified.

“You couldn’t call” Rocky scolded him.

“Battery died” Ross whispered before looking up at Riker who hadn’t moved at all, “Ri?”

Riker took two steps forward as he roughly pulled the boy in a hug.

“Riker, are you crying?” Ross asked when he felt the tears soak his shoulder, “I’m fine.” He assured his big brother.

“I know kiddo. I know” Riker simply said, thumbing away his tears.

Rydel, Rocky, and Savannah joined in the hug, all assuring themselves that Ross was there, alive!

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For the next few days, Ross’s siblings weren’t going to let the boy out of their sight. Rydel and Rocky were watching the boy like a hawk and Riker, he was sure his baby brother was fine and he was going to make sure that it stays like that.

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A/N

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Riker had taken to being a big brother very aptly. Ever since he learnt he’d be a big brother, he had thought of himself as his siblings’ protector. When he first held Rydel itself, he knew that he’ll do anything to protect her and after her, be it Rocky or Ross or the younger one, Riker took them as his own responsibility. But soon enough, he learnt that they were all different from each other. While some needed to be protected, some needed to be let free and some needed to be kept an eye on always otherwise they landed in trouble. And that someone more than often was Ross.

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Being the younger one, Ross was undoubtedly spoiled rotten. They all loved him and would do anything for him. And sometimes, Ross took advantage of it. He knew his puppy eyes would save him from a lot of troubles.

Rydel was the one who’d melt instantly. She had this motherly instinct towards Ross that was sometimes very helpful to Ross. She was always there whenever Ross felt homesick. Rocky, on the other hand, was usually Ross’s partner in crime, getting in trouble along with the boy or taking the blame from Ross whenever the boy got in trouble. Ellington was somewhat a brother to Ross. He’d either be protecting the boy or fondly giving into the boy’s demands.

But Riker was kind of a tough cookie. Ever since they got in the band, Riker took over the role of taking care of him and that also meant he was there to warn him against doing something dangerous, scold him and punish him too.

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Recently, Ross got in trouble with Riker. The boy had been unable to stay in one place for the whole day. They had a gig the next day and throughout sound check, Ross had been bouncing off the walls. They had all chuckled at him while Riker shook his fondly. He had a feeling that Ross would get in some kind of trouble so he tried to warn the boy when he saw the boy eying the stage a little too much.

“Ross, they’re still working on that stage so you better not loiter around there” Riker warned the boy.

“Why do you only tell me this? There is Rocky who likes exploring too” Ross pouted.

“Hey don’t drag me into this” Rocky shouted.

“Enough both of you! I’m telling you all to not go on that stage until the gig” Riker defused the situation.

Still high on energy, Ross sighed as he nodded to Riker.

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Once Ross gets something into his mind, there is no stopping the boy. Even when what he is about to do reeks of danger, it doesn’t really stop the boy. And that’s how Ross found himself sneaking past his siblings to go explore the stage. Those working on the stage did try to warn him against climbing up but Ross didn’t quite listen to them. He was just going to look around. He wasn’t doing anything dangerous. But that was until he got a little too close to the edge of the stage. When the surface below threatened to give way, Ross realized that maybe coming here was a stupid thing to do. He tried to get back but the damage was already done. He was already falling down with the crumbling stage.

The last thing he heard was a shout of his name.

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Rocky had seen Ross sneaking past them so when he didn’t see the boy return after a while, he decided to look for him. He had been cursing himself when he saw the boy standing a little too close to the edge. He walked up to the stage and was about to shout at the boy when he saw the boy fall.

“Ross” Rocky shouted as he ran forward.

His shout alerted Ellington who ran to them.

“Oh God!” Rocky gasped as he tried to remove the chunks of wood pieces to get to his brother, “Get Riker. Quick!” He shouted to Ellington.

Riker and Rydel didn’t waste time in running to them.

“Oh my God” Rydel gasped when he caught a look at the boy.

“How badly is he hurt?” Riker asked.

“Forehead’s bleeding and the leg is awkwardly bent” Rocky said.

“Let’s get him out of here first” Ellington suggested.

“I’ll get the car.” Rydel offered.

Between the three boys, they managed to pull Ross out and carry him to the car. And from there, it was mad rush to the hospital.

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Thankfully, Ross hadn’t been too badly hurt. His back had a few scratches and he sprained his ankle. He also had to get a few stitches to his forehead but other than that, there was no bad injury. The big pieces of wood from the stage seemed to have cushioned his fall.

The boys were allowed to see Ross after a while and they were all relieved to see Ross okay. Rydel sat by his side, running her fingers through his hair while the others stood close.

When Ross came to, it was to Rocky recounting how he found Ross and the boy cursed himself for having woken up at this time.

“I don’t get it. What was he doing there after you told him not to go?” Rydel asked.

“I was being stupid” Ross whispered.

“Finally you understood” Rocky rolled his eyes.

“I think we should cancel the gig for tomorrow” Ellington suggested.

“No… No… I’ll be alright. I’ll just sit there and sing. Please?” Ross asked, turning his puppy eyes to Riker.

“Alright, we’ll see if you’re feeling better tomorrow” Riker said.

“Ross’s puppy eyes always do the trick” Rydel chuckled.

“Nope, they won’t do anything this time because he is grounded.” Riker said.

Ross groaned and tried to use his puppy eyes on Riker again, “But I’m hurt.”

“Which you wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t disobey me and wandered around that stage. So that’s why you’re going to just sit there and spend some time with your big brother” Riker laughed.

As Ross pouted, the others couldn’t help but chuckle.

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Ross spent the whole day glued to Riker. He’d say it was because he was grounded but partly, even he knew, that he was drawing comfort from his big brother as the man helped him hobble around. As he promised them, he sat down throughout the whole gig and as Riker promised, the boy was grounded for a bit of time. Hopefully, both the incident and the punishment would help the boy not flirt with danger anymore otherwise he’d surely be grounded a lot of times.

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A/N

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Ross has got to admit that ever since his first asthma attack, his siblings had been the one who were the most worried for him. It had not been a surprise when they decided to step up their game and take control of the situation whenever Ross was caught in an asthma attack. It was just a common thing now to see one of his siblings carrying a spare inhaler for him and even Ellington had upgraded his knowledge about asthma so as to be able to help Ross if need be. Basically, Ross’s friends and family had his back.

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There were many times in his life when Ross was truly thankful for his siblings watching over him. Like recently, they had all been touring a part of the country that was proving to be quite unhealthy for Ross’s asthma. Breathing had been getting difficult for all of them, hence Ross’s health being affected was something that was bound to happen. They had all decided that they wouldn’t step out much excluding the gigs, meet and greets and public appearances. But despite all their preventions, Ross had to face a bad asthma attack after one of their gigs.

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Even though they couldn’t breathe properly, the R5 band put out a good performance. And after a brief meet and greet with their fans, they hurried to get back to the hotel. As soon as they got to the hotel, they all wanted to just shower and get some rest. And that’s what they did. Well, all except Ross. Ross never even got the time to get in the shower as he started feeling a tightness in his chest. He slid down the floor unable to even close the shower tab as he held his chest, feeling the shortness of breath getting to him. He couldn’t even shout for help as he desperately hoped that someone would find him.

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Rocky was the one who found Ross. He had come to ask for a phone charger when he heard the water running. Thinking that Ross maybe forgot to turn off the tap, he went in the bathroom to close the tap and instead found his baby brother on the floor.

“Oh shit, Ross” Rocky cursed, crouching down next to his brother.

Ross’s panicked breaths gave Rocky an exact assumption of what was going on as he fished for his phone, informing Riker about the situation.

“What happened?” Riker asked as soon as he rushed in the room with Rydel and Ellington in tow.

“Asthma attack” Rocky said, still searching for Ross’s inhaler.

Riker and Ellington helped getting Ross to bed as Rydel went to get the spare inhaler they kept for Ross since Rocky couldn’t find the one Ross uses.

As soon as Rydel got back, she helped her brother take a puff on the inhaler.

“Come on Rossy, work with us here. Breathe in. Breathe out.” Riker coached as he rubbed Ross’s back.

“Can’t breathe…” Ross gasped out.

“Yes you can. Just focus on breathing” Ellington tried keeping Ross calm.

Riker can’t say if minutes went by or hours but none of them moved from the room, holding their breaths as they waited for Ross to regain control over his breath.

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When Ross finally could breathe, he found himself surrounded by his siblings. He was still wrapped in Riker’s arms as Rocky was rubbing his arms, trying to provide some comfort to him. Rydel was still clutching Ross’s inhaler in her hand in case Ross would need it again as Ellington sat with his phone ready to call for help if needed.

“I’m okay” Ross whispered.

“I know” Riker merely said, tightening his arms around his little brother.

“Just get some rest okay” Rocky told his brother.

When Ross’s eyes closed again, it was to his siblings still holding guard over him.

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It feels good to know that you always have someone watching over you. His big brother, Riker’s strong arms providing a safe place for him, Rocky rubbing his back to lull him to sleep, Rydel’s soothing voice humming a lullaby and Ellington keeping an eye on him was enough to help Ross let down his guard and let himself fall in the darkness of sleep. He could rest now knowing that they would hold guard for him.

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A/N

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Getting braces itself was a big thing for Ross. He was very upset with the fact that he’d have to wear braces henceforth. It took him some time to get used to the braces. He still remembered the painful days and sleepless nights during his first week of the braces. But what was worse for him was that the braces had affected his speech for the first few days. And now that he had to get elastics as an attachment for his braces, Ross was completely devastated with that news.

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It had been a complete horrific experience for him to get those elastics.

Riker had patiently held Ross’s hand and wipe away the tears of pain and try and comfort every whimper from the boy as he got his elastics.

Rocky’s been there for those sleepless nights when Ross felt that his jaw was going to break into half.

Rydel had been Ross’s confidant when the boy cried about the pain and about his insecurities with the elastics.

Ellington was there for Ross when the boy broke his guitar in frustration and in fear that he wouldn’t be able to sing properly with his elastics now.

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It had been four days since Ross had gotten the elastics. The boys had sat around jamming onto a new song when it became a kind of sing along. Rydel and Ellington had even gotten up to dance as Rocky and Ratliff took an instrument both. Ross had been smiling as he let himself be dragged along and started playing his guitar but as soon as he tried singing along, it came out a bit jumbled and it was quite painful for Ross to even get that one line out of his mouth. The painful whimper that escape the boy’s mouth was enough to call off the happy atmosphere.

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“Stupid elastics… Stupid braces… Can’t even talk properly… Can’t sing” Ross mumbled.

“Hey, it’s okay buddy. You’ll get used to the braces soon. And soon you’ll be talking and singing properly” Ellington encouraged the boy.

“Don’t want them” Ross sniffled, letting his emotions get the best of him.

“Hey! Come on now. Come here” Riker sighed, pulling Ross in his side and letting the boy snuggle into him.

“Hurts” Ross whimpered.

“I’ll get you some pain medicines” Rocky offered.

“Give it some time buddy. You’ll soon be off those elastics and braces too” Rydel tried comforting his brother.

Ross buried his face in Riker’s side, soaking in the comfort and trying to take his mind off the pain and frustration.

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It took Ross some time to get used to the elastics and soon he was able to talk and sing properly. It had been a complete delight for the boy to be able to sound like his old self. And it was endearing too for his siblings and bandmate to watch him sing and grow confident again. Braces and elastics suddenly didn’t sound so bad if you got your family and friends by your side.

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A/N

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It wasn’t the first time that Ross fell prey to eating disorders. He was a young school kid when he decided that in order to not face bullies at lunch time, he’d rather avoid eating at all. As soon as his siblings got to know about it, Ross started eating lunch with them but ever since, he got acquainted to skipping meals or starving himself whenever he was too stressed, upset, overwhelmed or was facing any kind of inconvenience. His siblings kept a good watch over him but there were times when circumstances would arise that would cause him to relapse.

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This time, it were the fans that drove Ross past his breaking point. There were a handful of people who held up signs against Ross during a concert once. Ever since, Ross found himself looking out for these people and the signs which went from ‘Worse singer Ross’ to ‘Fat singer Ross.’ Somehow, Ross started believing in those signs.

One of the signs said that he was a bad singer so Ross focused on practicing and in doing so, if there were meals to be skipped then so be it. The next time they performed, he saw the signs again, added to those calling him overweight and connected it, so starving himself sounded like a good punishment for him.

Soon, those hateful signs and the stress got so bad that Ross found himself starving more than eating.

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It’s not that his siblings didn’t notice how stressed out he looked but the eating disorder didn’t cross their minds until they were on stage, performing when suddenly Ross stopped singing all of a sudden.

Rocky didn’t think much of it as he backed up for Ross but Riker’s gut feeling said that something was wrong. So he walked towards his boy, feet hurrying on their own when he saw the boy start falling forward.

“Ross?” Rydel called out, worried.

“We need a hospital” Riker simply said.

The lightweight in his arms screamed danger to him and Riker realized that they would be needing some professional help very soon.

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Riker’s gut feelings turned out to be true. The doctors saw the signs that Ross’s family members missed out on. What Riker dreaded was confirmed and as soon as he confronted Ross, the boy came clean.

“Why Ross? Why again?” Rocky asked.

“They all hate me!” Ross spat.

“Since when do these people matter?” Ellington asked.

“They said I can’t sing. I’m too fat” Ross sobbed.

“These people are just handful of those that blend in the crowd to hurt you. They’d never come up front to say these things to you. You know why?” Rydel said, making Ross look at her.

“Because all they do is lie.” Riker stated.

“That’s why you shouldn’t believe them” Ellington added.

“Oh Rossy, I thought that we were past these eating disorders” Rocky sighed.

“We’re gonna have to learn again now, boy. We’re gonna learn to eat, keep the food down and digest them” Riker said.

“Prepare yourself for ‘here comes the choo-choo train’, boy” Rydel chuckled, effectively getting a smile out of her baby brother.

And maybe that was enough to be considered as a positive start.

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The next few days were not easy for Ross. He struggled to get out of that mindset he had pushed himself into. He struggled to believe his family instead of those people who spewed hatred against him. With the help of his siblings and friends, Ross learned to eat again and once he’d eaten, he learned to feel good about it, instead of blaming himself for every meal. Eating disorders weren’t easy to deal with but with a good family support, you could pull yourself out of it and Ross had that support in his siblings.

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A/N

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Ever since that one traumatic experience, Riker wasn’t sure he would ever let Ross out of his sight. He had come too close to losing his baby brother that now Riker was sure he wasn’t going to leave Ross’s side anytime soon. Not only Riker but Rocky and Rydel along with Ellington, they all had gotten even more protective about Ross. After all, who wouldn’t be, when their youngest one had just gotten over an acute case of pneumonia?

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They had all been in panic until Ross woke up. And finally when the boy woke up, they all were able to let out a sigh of relief. Ross had then been kept at the hospital for about a week and when he finally got discharged, they were all happy to finally be able to get back to routine life. Not that Ross would be able to directly bounce back but they were all ready to stand by his side until he recovers. They were all going to help Ross in his road to recovery.

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The first few days were pretty simple for Ross. All he did was sleep, wake up and sleep again. He was much disoriented for the first few days but with time, the boy started regaining his senses fully. That’s when he realized how scared his family and friends were for him. It could be seen in the way they were all around him. Whether it was them sitting by his side, or trying hard not to panic whenever Ross would even let out a cough. Their over protectiveness showed their fear.

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This morning when Ross woke up, he found Rocky asleep by his side. It wasn’t much of a surprise since for the past few days at least one person had to be his side. Wanting to try and at least stand on his own, Ross made the mistake of actually getting up on his feet when suddenly his vision grayed. He braced himself for the impact of hitting the floor when a hand was wrapped around his waist.

“Easy. We’re going to sit back down” came Rocky’s voice.

“Stood up too fast” Ross whispered in his raspy voice.

“Should have just woke me up” Ross said.

Sighing Ross could only nod.

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After spending so many days holed up in his room, Ross managed to convince Riker to let him at least come down to the living room.

“I can sit in the kitchen” Ross said.

“Sure but I prefer you being here” Riker said, not commenting on how Ross wasn’t able to sit without Rocky helping him and Ross nearly leaning on him.

Bundled up in blankets, Ross was still looking quite weak and pale.

“Rydel, no more soup” Ross whimpered when he saw his sister bringing up his lunch.

“Are you going to eat or do I have to make train noises for you?” Rydel said as she tried to spoon feed his little brother.

“Here comes the train. Choo choo” Ellington teased.

Glaring at Ellington, Ross allowed Rydel to feed him the soup.

He was definitely far from being fully recovered but he was getting there.

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Ross was so close to throwing a tantrum when Riker said it was time for him to take some rest. He was about to shout at them and tell them that he wasn’t a kid and nor did he need a nap but Rocky was quick to defuse the situation as he suggested that they watched a movie.

Ross had leaned in Ellington’s side as he stayed angry at Riker, despite Rydel chuckling at him when she saw his pout.

But halfway through the movie, Ross had managed to sleepily snuggle in Riker’s arms.

“Bedtime buddy” Riker had softly mumbled as he helped Ross up.

When the boy stumbled a little, his big brother’s protective arms were tightened against him.

“I got you” Riker mumbled.

And Ross trusted him.

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Sometimes, they would suffocate him with all that love, care and protection but Ross couldn’t argue that even he needed his family by his side after such a traumatic experience.

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A/N