Tadashi Hamada slowly stirred and opened his eyes slightly. The bright light of daytime poured through the window of his room. His hospital room? Why was he in the hospital? Tadashi's mind was foggy at best. His body throbbed with the thought of moving any bone or even nerve. Something was dreadfully wrong. Pain shot through Tadashi when he tried to look around causing him to drop back against the pillow. Though unable to lift his head, Tadashi turned it to look around, eyes landing on the person there with him. Hiro. Fast asleep was Tadashi's little brother. "H-Hiro?" Tadashi whispered, voice hoarse with disuse. Tadashi reached out slowly to touch Hiro's head to awaken him but his arm felt tremendously heavy. As Tadashi's eyesight cleared he realized why. His arm was replaced with a prosthetic. He all of a sudden felt very weak.

Tadashi had no idea what he was doing in the hospital. What had happened to bring him there? The last thing he remembered was the shower of sparks falling around him and a dense cloud of smoke filling the room.

He remembered that Professor Callaghan was trapped inside.

He remembered waves of adrenaline filling his veins.

He remembered the hysteria and disarray.

He remembered Hiro screaming "Tadashi no!"

After that Tadashi didn't remember anything. He had blacked out as dark poisonous air filled his lungs. Hiro began to wake up which brought Tadashi's mind back to the present. Hiro turned his head, expecting to see a sleeping Tadashi. But instead, eyes that were very much awake looked back at him. There, alive and awake before him, was his older brother. "Dashi?" Hiro whispered as Tadashi smiled weakly in response. "Oh my god, Tadashi. You are awake!" Hiro couldn't move fast enough to hug his brother. To actually feel Tadashi breathing reassured Hiro that this wasn't a dream. Tadashi hugged back painfully but was glad to feel Hiro's tight embrace, "Hiro," Tadashi croaked, still getting his vocal chords to work normally, "it's good to see you." Hiro smiled more and gave him another squeeze. "Wow, did you get stronger?" Tadashi uttered. "Imagine all you miss when you are passed out in a coma for a month." Hiro's voice dropped low when he said those last words.

"I have been asleep for that long?"

"Yeah. We all thought you were dead." Hiro pulled back to look at Tadashi seriously, "You idiot. You foolish, impulsive, idiot." Tadashi stared at his brother quizzically. Tadashi tried to break any tension by saying, "Seems someone was studying his vocabulary." Hiro didn't shift the look on his face. He then got off the bed and went to the door, "Be right back. Someone else will want to see you." Hiro left to go get Aunt Cass who had been waiting nervously in the hospital waiting room. She hastened to the ICU room and burst into tears when she laid eyes on her nephew's badly scarred but awakened face. Cass pressed Tadashi close to her chest and sobbed into his hair. Tadashi soaked in her loving embrace for as long as she stayed put. "Thanks, Aunt Cass." Cass pulled away and ran a hand through his unkempt hair, "Look at you boy," she sighed, "I wouldn't have recognized you with all the bandages and burns. But the arm," she shook her head, "I'd recognize that."

Hiro stood away and thought to himself while his aunt and brother talked. Hiro's prayers had been answered. Tadashi had come back to them. It didn't matter how, Hiro was just grateful. The fire was one of the worst things to happen to the family. The day of the expo was burned permanently into his memory. The vision of Tadashi running into the burning building haunted Hiro and the sirens of approaching fire trucks rang in his ears all too familiarly. Nightmares about Hiro's confrontations with Callaghan still plagued Hiro. Callaghan's selfishness had stolen Tadashi away. Yet Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Fred all reminded him that Callaghan wasn't the villain. The whole thing was an accident. If Hiro believed them was a whole other problem he was sure Tadashi would address one day. Hiro had never let go of any of the resentment or the pain that existed deep in his gut since those events. Whether it fueled him or tore him down, it depended on the day.

Tadashi began to tire out from the excitement brought about by his waking up. Although reluctant to go, Aunt Cass and Hiro left to go back to the apartment above their café. In the car Aunt Cass talked up a storm about how wonderful it was that Tadashi was awake, but Hiro was quietly thinking. He went upstairs to his room to let the gang know about Tadashi. This kind of news couldn't wait until the crew came over that weekend to do some work. They had to know now. "Hello?" Wasabi said into the phone and was greeted by four other voices, "Hey guys! I guess it's the whole team right?"

"Yep! I guess Hiro has some big news." Honey Lemon smiled.

"Spill Hamada." Gogo said bluntly. Hiro took a deep breath and said two words, "He's awake." The line went silent. "Really? Tadashi is awake?" Honey broke the silence. Hiro swallowed, "Yeah. Woke this afternoon while Aunt Cass and I were there." Everyone was close to Tadashi, like family, and when he ran into the fire they all died a little inside. Honey Lemon silently prayed thanks on her end of the phone and Gogo stopped popping her bubble gum. Wasabi smiled to himself, relieved they'd all be together again. Fred even was silent for the first time before laughing in disbelief. "Is there any time to see him, Hiro?" Wasabi asked and Hiro told them the visiting hours. Before they hung up they made a schedule of who would go in the next few days, so as to not overwhelm Tadashi. After bidding each other goodnight the conference call ended. Hiro put his phone on the side table and fell back on his bed, completely drained emotionally. He didn't sleep a wink that night. His nightmares resurfaced. He tried to turn the pillow over like his mom had told him to many years ago, but it was no use. All he could do was doze until morning slowly came.