The white haired boy had 3 brothers. They usually didn't travel together, but upon occasion, they would travel in pairs. As far the white haired boy knew, his red headed brother and his blond brother were in the middle east last week and were in Washington DC this week. His black haired brother was in Yemen a month ago, but he hadn't heard from him since.

The boy with white hair was currently on the west coast of the United States. There, he was staying at a hospital nestled in the clouds. When the weather was overcast and clouds sank low onto the mountains, the hospital got eaten up in the mist. That was the price of putting a hospital in the mountains. That, and the ice in the winter. The constant life flights. The uneven buildings and strange hallways sloping down the hill.

The boy with the white hair went by the name of Finnigan. It wasn't his real name, but it was simple and reminded him of his time in Ireland. He was younger when he had been there, yes, but he had been happy enough. He was with his 2 brothers those few years, now that he thought about it. His 2 youngest brothers, the blonde and the black haired boys, traveled with him for nearly 6 years in that country. His third brother, the red head, had politely refused the other brothers' offer to travel. He said he had important business in the States. Oh, what year was that? And while he was on the topic, what were his brother's going by now?

Finnigan thought quietly for a moment. His red headed brother was going by Adam now, had been for a few hundred years, but the other two changed their names often. The black haired boy was going by Kara, a Turkish name he had picked up. The blond boy was going by Maor, a Hebrew name he thought was pretty.

1845. That was the year he was in Ireland.. Finnigan smiled softly. For a while, he hadn't been too much in the world. After Ireland, he traveled to China. He stayed there a while, even got to see his red headed brother for a while.

After that, not much happened for Finnigan. It wasn't like he got to see another great time of plague or disease. Most of them had been sowed into the world early. Malaria was already on its way out, Smallpox was catching on. By 1900, Finnigan was down to spreading colds and flus. In the 1950's, he got to mix up some very exciting Polio for the U.S.

But for the most part, Finnigan had just been watching since the 1900's began. He was so bored of the world.

His brothers, they had the best jobs. I mean, they never became obsolete. They never got bored.

There would always be death, war, and famine.

If you had asked Finnigan a hundred years ago which of his brothers would be unnecessary in the modern world, he would have said his answer would have been Kara, the black haired brother. Who would have guessed there would still be starvation and hunger in the world?

But it wasn't Kara, it was Finnigan. His youngest brother, Maor, sent him a card in the hopes of making him feel better. It was a sweet note, not really a card at all. It was scribbled on one of those pieces of paper you find in a pad on hotel tables.

"Hi, Finnie!

I'm in DC! It's pretty cool here, Kara took me to see this museum and there were all these old animals from soooo long ago! We saw some mammoths, I haven't seen those in a really long time. They had a land sloth like the one we used to have when we were really little!

I just wanted to let you know that even though you are not doing so much now, you are still my big brother and I love you! We should get together sometime! I think my boss is gonna let me have a couple days off so I can come see you- I told her you were feeling down. She said that you should take a hot bath and and "self care". She just had a week off to self care and said it was really nice!

Love, Maor"

It was a fine note, a little erratic and Maor had apparently been telling people that Finnigan was unhappy, but it was clear the boy cared for him.

Finnigan hated when people knew his business. How were they to know he felt down? To know that he felt unneeded?

That was most of Finnigan's issue, when you got down to it. He felt unneeded. It made sense that he was needed in the old times to start up the common cold and the meningitis and the cancer, but now that they were all operating on auto-pilot, Finnigan just didn't need to do so much.

Maybe I could travel.

Just as quickly as the thought entered his mind, Finnigan shook it out again. It wasn't like he could see anything new. If he really wanted to, he could see some of his favorite old haunts, but what really would be the point. Watching other people tromp on the beautiful wood flooring he had suggested in Versailles. Stand politely behind velvet ropes and pad behind a tour guide in the catacombs.

Finnigan loved Paris. France as a whole had been one of his favorite countries. It was so... beautiful. Regal. Dirty but clean.

Finnigan suddenly felt a little dirty himself. It'd been a couple days since he'd had a proper shower. He stood up and strode to the main help desk. The nurse made eye-contact with Finnigan, but he gestured to the hand sanitizer and the nurse nodded and looked back down at her computer.

Finnigan wrapped his fingers around the top of the bottle of sanitizer at an angle. When he pressed down, the nozzle shot liquid into his palm. It was a special formula, the 'moisturizing' kind. It did feel nice, Finnigan couldn't lie.

He felt a little better after that. He wandered back to his chair in the lobby of the hospital and observed the world around him.

There were a couple down the hall to his left. He was pretty sure it was the same couple he'd seen a few times throughout history; the woman was his little brother's boss. She didn't know who Finnigan was, so there was no reason to say hello.

She looked happier, and if Finnigan was correct (which he almost always was) she had a baby bump. Self care had apparently been a good time with her husband.

He turned his gaze to a pair of young teens in the gift shop. They were debating over baby blankets and toys. The girl was holding up a blanket, while the boy was holding a stuffed giraffe. At first, Finnigan thought they were actually arguing, but after a moment, the boy jiggled the giraffe in the girl's face and she laughed before whipping the boy playfully with the blanket.

Finnigan rolled his eyes. He's like to be that happy. Or at least with his brothers.

Maybe it wasn't so much that he hated being purposeless, but rather that he hated being alone. Even back in the olden times, he had been able to muster though long times without his brothers by claiming it was a business trip. Now, he had no excuse. His brother's didn't need him, didn't want him, and Finnigan had no business to conduct.

Finnigan felt his legs getting stiff. He'd been sitting in this chair for hours.

He stood and stretched his arms up, letting his cardigan and dress shirt ride up. A sliver of pale skin became visible, as did the hem of his boxers and his brown belt.

After feeling a little less stiff, Finnigan decided to take a walk. The hospital was huge, so he figured he could find something to entertain himself for a while if he just looked.

Finnigan did entertain himself for a while. He found the observation rooms for the surgeries. It was easy enough to get in, he just snagged a white coat out of someone's office when he saw them head down to lunch.

He watched a lot of surgeries throughout his few hours on the observation theater. He had a pretty good idea what at least four disciplines did by the end.

From there, Finnigan went to get some food. It wasn't that he was hungry as much as it was that he had developed a sweet tooth over the years and liked to indulge.

After his pudding, he headed down a couple more floors to the labs. He actually was trying to find the maternity ward, but gotten mixed up in the elevator. He was trying to find his way back to the elevator when he overheard some pathologists talking.

"I have no idea what it is."

"All the tests came back fine?"

"Yeah, the only thing we're going off of now are her actual symptomes."

Finnigan pursed his lips. This was his specialty! It was like a Jeopardy game of his own creations.

"Excuse me, but if she's asymptomatic, there is still a wide variety of things she could have. Would you mind if I took a look at the case file?"

The two men looked a little suspicious. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm a visiting pathologist from the Mayo Clinic. I was here for a seminar and just thought I'd take a look at the labs here."

The two men visibly relaxed. One shrugged and informed Finnigan that he was actually on lunch before he wandered down the hall.

The other held open an office door and showed Finnigan inside. The boy with white hair flipped through the pages of the file, lazily drinking in the information of the case. The patient had red patches along her left thigh, but they weren't itchy. She complained of fatigue when she came in, as well as some general aching in her joints. During her stay, she had spiked a fever and nurses noticed severe night sweats. Finnigan rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he doubted doctors even went to medical school.

"Its Lyme Disease. Check her for signs of a tick bite if you must, but I suggest starting her on a Doxycycline regimen, 100 grams, twice daily."

The pathologist scoffed.

"We don't have Lyme Disease in Oregon, son."

"I assure you, you do. I do believe it was 120 cases were reported in dogs in 2015, 40 to 50 human cases have been reported yearly for the last 6 years," Finnigan took a breath and then smiled. "One more thing, don't call me son."

And with that, Finnigan was out of the office. He took a few steps down the hall, then kicked up his legs and tapped his heels together. God, it felt good to have a purpose again.