Wow, my plot bunnies really have gone hyper hoppy for that Earthbreaker episode!

This fourth story for it comes from another of my lovely reviewers, Celestia 1001, who pointed out that poor Scott had just as close a shave against the Mechanic as Virgil did. And since that all seems to have fallen by the wayside - well, Celestia, hopefully this will make up for it!

Enjoy! And thanks again, Celestia, for this wonderful suggestion!

Miles To Go, Before I Sleep

Between every brother, there was a bond. Tenuous, strained, or near non existent for some, sacrificially close for others.

For Virgil Tracy, it went beyond the ultimate act he'd make to save his eldest brother's life. Or John's. Gordon's. Alan's. If any kind of deadly threat were to head towards them, he'd step out in front of it without a second thought - knowing every one of them would do the same for him.

Where Scott was concerned, though, he didn't just have a sixth sense. Or a seventh, or even an eighth. No, he had a 'Scooter Sense.' And from years of usage, his ability to sense when something was wrong came as naturally to him now as breathing.

It didn't turn off either. Just like International Rescue, this was a 24/7 thing. Day or night, it alerted him to trouble before anyone else, or sometimes Scott himself, knew anything about it.

Even in sleep, it still unfailingly reached him. And on this particular occasion, still on 'Something's-Bugging-Him-That-He-Doesn't-Want-To-Talk-About' alert from the previous evening, it snapped him awake at just gone two in the morning. On a night when he really, really, needed to get a good night's sleep.

02:07, to be precise. Yes, his eldest brother had the damnedest sense of timing. Whatever he hadn't wanted to talk about last night had chosen one hell of a moment to pop out into the open.

But then a groan of dismay turned into an even deeper frown, as 'Scooter Sense' went from subtly cuddly 'Wakey Wakey' mode to all out, 'Get The Hell Up!' If it had been human, it would make the toughest of military drill sergeants sound like Mary Poppins.

From years of practice and callouts, Virgil was out of bed as fast as One and Three's launches. His feet slid into those ever ready boots with the same ease as that favourite plaid shirt swirled over his shoulders.

Up and dressed inside thirty seconds, he then strode out of his room - and froze at what he saw there.

Because Scott... Scott was up too. Torn from his own dreams by a childhood demon, that Virgil had thought was safely done and dusted into the ground.

But no. No, it was back. Shockingly so. Because instead of just walking in his sleep, Scott was crawling along the hallway.

Crawling. Scrambling. Pausing to stare behind him, in terror at whatever was chasing him through his subconscious. Cowering against an unknown, and clearly deadly threat.

For several seconds, Virgil just stood and stared - still trying to figure out what had his brother so helplessly terrified, and how the hell to handle it. Damn, it had been years since Scott had suffered the last round of 'Nighty Walks', as their mother had called them, and - what the hell?!

"Hey, Virg!"

Back on his feet now, Scott was smiling at him - still too deeply under to understand the alarm on his brother's face. Because in Virgil's eyes, that smile was just totally wrong. Unnaturally happy. And just plain damn freaky.

It was Scott's eyes, though, that gave Virgil a thousand Halloweens' worth of the spookies. Along with their telltale squint, they were wide open. So bright and so blue that Virgil took an involuntary step backwards. Flying his crippled 'bird home, and crash landing along her runway? No problem. Facing his sleepwalking brother? Not so much.

Finally, he recovered himself enough to smile back. Surprise and worry gave way to the greater calm of his character. Its practicalities, and common sense. He'd get to what had caused this later - the knowledge that Scott wouldn't remember a thing about it causing him to shake his head now, as he slid an arm around Scott's shoulders. Yes, all that could wait until morning. Right now, his first priority was to get his brother back to his room.

"Yeah, I guess I heard the same thing you did. It's okay, though, Scooter, it was probably just a mouse, or a vole scuttling around down there. But it's gone now. Come on, let's get back to bed."

Still trapped between his subconscious and waking reality, Scott frowned as he stared down at the floor boards beside them. As Virgil then fondly reflected, once a worrier, always a worrier.

"Are you sure, Virg? No, I'm... I'm sure it's still down there."

With even more of that impeccable Scott Tracy timing, the frown deepened, as equally strong instincts fought to gain greater hold of his mind. Something wasn't right here, it really wasn't, but... no, damn it, he just couldn't figure out what.

Whatever it was, though, Virgil didn't seem too worried by it. If it had been anything serious, or posed any kind of threat to their family - no, Virgil wouldn't be smiling at him like this. He wouldn't be leading him back to his room, or hugging him so gently while he tucked him back into bed.

Snuggling down under the covers, Scott's head hit the pillow, and he was out for the count. Safely returned to his dreams, while Virgil sat in silent guard beside him. Once sure that he'd settled, Virgil thought for a moment, then reached for the data pad his brother used to record his reports.

Yes, part of him knew it was wrong, to intrude on his brother's privacy like this, but - well, needs must. And since he'd be up for the rest of the night now, to make sure Scott was all right, he might as well do something constructive to pass the time.

Glancing down to where Scott had now curled up against his side, he smiled once more - resting his hand on his brother's shoulder, while the other searched through for what he was looking for.

Aaah, bingo. Thunderbird One's very own black box. Her all seeing systems which, he hoped, had also captured what had happened to cause this little 'situation.' Wincing at how she'd also recorded his own, he watched what followed in silence - right until a blur of shadowy images made his eyes widen. Pushed out a horrified curse, that came awfully close to waking the sleeping bundle beside him.

"God, damn it... that bastard!"

Scott Tracy had an extra sense too. Just before dawn, it woke him up to full alert.

Strikingly quiet, Virgil was sitting beside him. That alone told him that something was up. His brother was also watching him like the proverbial hawk. Not in anger, or any kind of annoyance, but - no, more through sadness. Disappointment. As if something had happened, that he should have known about.

Be told about. If this new threat to their family had tried to kill its leader and chief protector, then... well, yes. Virgil would want to know about it.

Uh oh.

Still, Virgil was here with him, and not seething over this latest 'need to know' attempt to keep him in the dark. That at least was a more reassuring sign. Enough for him to risk a cautious smile as he sat up, and gladly accepted the mug of coffee that his brother passed into his hands. Hot, and strong, just full power caffeine - just the way he liked it.

For once, though, this rocket fuel sensory boost couldn't answer the questions that were lining up behind it. Okay, so Virgil now knew what had happened the previous day, but - how?

Only the answer to that question would explain why Virgil was sitting there beside him, as he'd clearly done for at least part of the night. Why there were all those clouds of worry in his brother's eyes, and - damn it. Why he was tired enough to finish his own drink without its usual cream and sugar.

To his greater frustration, Scott couldn't answer any of the questions that now niggled his conscience. Instead, it was Virgil who finally, and very quietly, put him out of his misery.

"You were sleepwalking, Scott. Re-living what... happened to you yesterday."

It was a good thing he'd finished his own drink now, or Scott might have choked on it. If not for the seriousness on Virgil's face, he'd swear blind his brother was teasing him. But the empathy and concern in his brother's eyes held no such frivolity. Just the same promise of understanding and forgiveness that filled his next words.

"I wasn't the only one who almost died because of that maniac, and... God, Scott... why didn't you tell me?"

As always for times like these, there was no anger or recrimination in his brother's voice. Such negativity wasn't going to help either of them. No, all he wanted was what Scott now needed to understand himself. Why, after cheating death so many times before, this latest close call had dredged up a long dead childhood demon.

Scott still couldn't believe it. He'd been sleepwalking? God, he hadn't done that in years! And after everything he'd been through the previous day, surely Virgil deserved a better reply than this?

"I'm sorry, Virg, I - I don't know. I mean, yeah, this thing was trying to bash me to pieces, before Kayo managed to stop it, but -"

Ah. From the way Virgil was staring at him, that was maybe a bit more graphic than his brother wanted to hear. But then Virgil smiled, that smile too full of love and affection to let such things come between them. Instead, his brother stood and re-settled himself at his shoulder, in a way that made Scott smile too as he relaxed back against him.

The family bear was also the family counsellor. God, they'd be lost without him, and - whoa! Damn, could it really be that simple?

"Because you weren't there," he said at last, watching the same realization start to dawn in Virgil's eyes. "You weren't there, Virg. Your life was in danger, and... and I wasn't here to help you."

Okay, so he'd found at least one of his answers. But as Virgil quietly reminded him, there was far more to it than that.

"Yeah, Scott, I can't argue with that. But we've both gone through the same situations before, without anything like this happening, so... okay, let's break this down some more. Why was yesterday different?"

Dryly thinking that his brother's side was a damn sight comfier than a psychiatrist's couch, Scott then frowned. For every puzzle he was managing to solve, more questions kept coming to replace them, with answers that continued to maddeningly elude him.

But then something else began to surface through his mind. A wild, stormy night, that he would never forget. The second time in their still vulnerably young lives, when he'd faced the tragic loss of his brother.

The first had claimed their mother's. Her final, ultimate sacrifice to save her third born son. Its aftermath had almost taken Virgil's. As that confused, frightened little boy had discovered, a grieving, bitter father could also be heartbreakingly cruel.

As he then softly confirmed, the final pieces to this puzzle were slipping into place. To a wince of dismay, the mystery was solved.

"Oh, God, Virgil... the date. Yesterday was the same date when you -"

"- ran away from home, after we lost mom," Virgil finished for him, wincing too at this less than happy memory.

It had hurt like hell then. Shared through his brother's eyes, it hurt like hell now. But from the sadness of its memory, both of them had their answers. More to the point, they had each other - wrapped into a mutually comforting hug, that neither were in any rush to break.

Even when they did so, both kept a rallying arm around the other's shoulders. Repeating the gesture that they'd forged that night, their foreheads touched gently together. And when Scott finally spoke, as he felt duty bound to do, the single word he whispered spoke infinitely greater volumes.

"Wow."

"You said it," Virgil agreed, smiling too now as he stretched the kinks out of his back. Anything more he'd been planning to say then disappeared down a cavernous yawn.

For Scott, too, the relief of solving this bout of sleepwalking was having the same effect. Tiredness was catching up with him fast now - but it had reckoned without the trait that formed so much of his character.

"Yeah, that explains a hell of a lot, and... hey, so we're... uh... okay?"

Answered by a cross between a smile and a snore, Scott grinned - heartened enough by this return to normalcy to suggest another of his favourite, early morning routines.

"Well, if you're sure, we should really get up now. Try and run out all this caffeine you've kept tossing down me."

Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, Virgil stared at him as if he'd grown an extra head. Then again, if his fitness mad brother wanted to leave this luxurious haven for a five mile run, that would leave all the more sleeping room for him.

"Hey, if you want to go get yourself all hot and sweaty, be my guest. I'll just stay here. Keep your bed all nice and cosy for when you get back."

Yeah, like he'd ever agree to that. Grinning too, Scott settled back again, resting his head against the world's best pillow. Yes, this one came with a heartbeat. And if there was any better way, for an exhausted body to drift back to sleep again, he had yet to find it.

Resting his cheek on top of Scott's head, Virgil, too, was just as rapidly lost to the world. Safely held in the depths of his dreams, he slept as soundly and peacefully as his brother. And in the depths of his mind, his 'Scooter Sense' slipped back onto 'All Clear' standby. Yes, it would always be needed, no doubt sooner rather than later. But there'd be no more need for it tonight.