Rash of Life
By Sharron Ibbitson
Rating: PG-13
Okay guys I have taken a bi of a break from TB stories for a while, but since I am coming to the end of my current PotC offerings I thought I'd jump back to my delightful Scott.
This is a sequel to my other two stories 'A Child's Faith' and 'More than Angels Watching' so if you haven't read those yet you will need to for parts of this to make any sense.
Rash Of Life
Scott Tracey sighed to himself as he basked in the radiant sunshine as his younger brothers played like children in the pool. The last couple of years hadn't been easy on Scott, first he had suffered a very traumatic rescue that had resulted in the death of a young child and just as he recovered from that he had run into the only woman he had ever truly loved only for her to die in his arms just as they were growing close again. With the love and support of his family he was slowly moving on, although on occasions a sharp stab of pain shot through his heart when he realised that he would never see the sun reflecting from Lucy's hair or the mischievous sparkle in her eyes when she laughed, and that hurt him more than anything. He was pulled harshly out of his thoughts by a firm hand gripping down on his shoulder.
"You okay there son?" Jeff Tracy asked his oldest child. He was concerned for Scott, he had been through more pain in the last couple of years than anybody deserved in a lifetime, but what was even worse was the way that Scott continually held his fears and hurt inside gradually withdrawing into himself.
"Hi dad, yeah I'm fine I was just thinking is all" the younger man replied and flashed a quick grin at his father. Jeff shook his head slightly, he knew he wouldn't get Scott to open up to him, but he may be able to loosen him up.
"You know Gordon was telling the other day about how much you are slowing down in your old age, said you couldn't even compete with him in a game of pool volleyball anymore" Jeff told his son in a matter of fact voice.
"Is that so?" the older Tracy boy responded, his competitive nature spurring exactly the reaction that Jeff had countered on.
"Yep, said you and Virg stood no chance against him and Alan" Jeff continued, and Scott got to his feet pulling his shirt off to show a muscular and tanned torso, then he neatly dived into the pool.
"Hey Gordo, how'd you fancy showing us old 'uns how to play volleyball huh?" he yelled to his second youngest brother, receiving a ball slap bang in the face in response. Jeff chuckled to himself as his boys started a heated game in the pool with more splashing than actual volleyball happening. He sat down picking up his son's discarded magazine, his mission now accomplished and his mind convinced that Scott would heel just fine Jeff Tracy allowed himself to relax.
"No way! Yu didn't beat us, you and Virgil cheated" Alan argued with his oldest brother as the Tracy family sat down to eat their dinner.
"Come on Alan, me and Scot kicked your butts!" Virgil responded. Ordinarily Jeff and Ruth would get irate with the arguing going on around the dinner table yet it was so nice to finally have a sense of normality and joviality that both of the elder Tracys were willing to let it slide.
"Alan's right! You did cheat, both of you!" Gordon added to the conversation.
"Fine you're so convinced of that then what say to a rematch tomorrow?" Scott responded, throwing down the gauntlet to his two youngest brothers, a challenged that neither of them would resist. Finally with some sense of peace restored the family sat down and ate their meals with just the usual dinnertime chatter which, Jeff was pleased to see, Scott joined in with. Just as they were about to dig into Grandma's infamous desserts the radio crackled into life and John's face appeared.
"Hi guys!" he greeted, yet his expression clearly showed that it was no social call. "Father I have just had a call from the NYPD, here's the situation" he told the group and with a collective sigh they abandoned their food and crowded around to listen to the details of the impending rescue.
End Chapter One