Title: Gentle Rain
Warm Rain Series
Part Two
Author: Gumnut
15-19 Jan 2019
Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS
Rating: Teen
Summary: Sometimes it is so gentle, you don't realise it is happening.
Word count: 2344
Spoilers & warnings: Virgil/Kayo, spoilers for Warm Rain up to this point in the timeline.
Timeline: After 'The Proposal' and before 'Goodbye'.
Author's note: This is for scribbles97 . Thank you to all my wonderful readers and supporters who continue to help me create more and more stories. I'm having the time of my life, you guys are wonderful :D
Disclaimer: Mine? You've got to be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother.
-o-o-o-
Waking in hospital was not her favourite. She had done it many times in her thirty years and none of those events had been pleasant. This one was proving that they didn't get any better.
She could smell the hospital around her.
A frown. Vague memories of faces, decisions, words, it seemed like dreams, all starting with that hole and the man from International Rescue.
A pair of blue eyes.
Standing on the second floor reaching out for him as the floor collapsed beneath them. Her chair tipping, the world spinning, brickwork and pain.
Darkness.
A scream and the sudden rushing halt of her fall.
The crushing asphyxiation of the building on top of her.
The need to get to him. Knowing he was there and possibly dying after all the lives he had saved.
And she could save him.
She had to save him.
The drag, the pull, the pure force of knowing what she was likely doing to herself to get to him.
Her own blood on her hands, warm in the darkness.
Timber grain under her fingernails. Rough uniform fabric.
His breath on her skin.
The sound of his voice as he challenged her.
His blood.
His bloody arguing. His fear for his sister.
The feel of his pulse beneath her fingers.
Her own thudding in her ears.
"Emaline?"
Scott Tracy, International Rescue.
"Emaline?" A female voice, persistent. "Emaline?"
Em. Name's Em.
"Emaline? It is time to wake up, honey."
Honey? No-one calls her honey. Name's Em.
"C'mon, I know you're in there." Someone touched her hand.
She opened her eyes.
White. Blue curtains. White. A white nurse. A friendly smile. "There you are. Time for your medication and some lunch."
Em didn't answer. She just stared up at the woman. There was an interesting pattern in the ceiling tiles. The nurse bustled off for a moment and came back with a little cup of pills. "Would you like me to help you sit up?"
She blinked up at the face above her and gave it a single nod. It wasn't like she was going to be sitting up herself anytime soon.
The back of the bed rose up and the world settled into a more sensible perspective.
More white…and there was another woman in her room.
"Scott Tracy." The words fell from her mouth before she could censor them.
The nurse glanced at the other woman. "Yes, you have a visitor." She straightened the sheets around her hips, making sure she was secure and not about to topple over. "Are you in any pain?"
"I'm fine." Her eyes didn't leave the frowning green eyes across the room.
"Well, your lunch and medication are here. Buzz, if you need me."
Em didn't reply and the nurse left the room, sparing a puzzled glance at her visitor.
"How is he?"
The IR woman was wearing a simple flowery summer dress, quite in contrast to the uniform she had been wearing when they met. It softened her features. She took a couple of steps closer to the bed. "Scott is recovering. Apparently, much in thanks to you." A dark eyebrow rose. "I hear it hasn't gone as well for you."
"You hear do you?" Em smirked. "I'm sure you 'hear' a lot of things."
The other eyebrow joined its partner. "It is my job to know as much as possible about the people who interact with International Rescue." Her lips thinned. "In this case, I know your recovery has not gone as well as it could have." She tipped her head to Em. "I'm very sorry you lost so much in saving us."
Em looked away. She wasn't sure how she felt about it all. It wasn't like she had really lost anything. But still...and diagnoses of her own mental state spun in her head.
"It had to be done." The words tripped out of her mouth. But then...she looked up at the other woman. "How is he really?" A pause. "Tell me it was worth it."
The slightest of smiles spread across her face. "Virgil has him tied to the bed. He's itching to leave." The smile slipped. "He hates hospitals."
Em snorted a little. "I know how he feels." A frown. "So, who is Virgil? The guy in the mechano suit who busted us out?"
And the smile returned. "Yes, Virgil is Scott's brother."
But Em had seen this woman gravitate towards the super soldier. "And?"
Again with the eyebrow. "My fiancé."
"Well, that explains a lot. Congratulations."
The woman actually flushed a little. "Thank you."
"Got yourselves a date yet?"
"Sometime in the new year."
And Em realised that this woman wasn't used to talking about herself.
Em frowned. "Your name is Kayo?"
"Yes."
Em held out her hand. "Doctor Emaline Harris. I'm so very pleased to meet you."
Another reserved smile as Kayo took her hand in a firm grip and shook it. "Kayo Kyrano, security specialist, International Rescue."
"That explains even more."
Again with the frown. The girl was going to give herself wrinkles. "More?"
"Oh, how you shook my hand as if you could have easily flipped me off the bed. Why you've scanned the room twice in the last five minutes. And why you are here at all."
"Really?"
"Don't worry, I'm not going to sell my story to the press, or make wild claims, or let the world know that the great Scott Tracy has aeroplanes on his underwear...or they could have been rabbits, it was dark at the time."
"Scott still has those?"
Em stared at Kayo and then burst out laughing. "What? He actually has underwear with aeroplanes on them?"
The security specialist stared back at her before struggling with her own smile. "He likes things that fly."
"I have no doubt."
They were both silent for a moment. Em wondered if she would ever see the man again. She felt herself lucky to be having this conversation with Kayo. After all, International Rescue was legendary. Legendary and ultimately mysterious. The Tracy boys appearing when they were needed, at the world's worst moments, always saving lives in those giant machines of theirs.
Like superheroes.
Yet Kayo stood in front of her now and Scott had been as fragile as any man, sprawled in the dirt.
She wondered what he was doing right now. How he was feeling. The doctor in her wanted to follow up on her patient, but the woman in her was just that tiny bit star struck.
She looked up at Kayo. "Is there any chance I could speak to him?"
-o-o-o-
Scott Tracy hated hospitals. He hated the smell, the colours, the whole invasion of his privacy, lack of sleep, plastic pillows, cardboard sheets, the fact his family needed permission to visit him, the pain the whole scenario put his family through, the pain he was in himself, the medication, the food, and the boredom. Oh god, the boredom. So yeah, Scott Tracy hated hospitals. The only thing he hated worse than being in hospital was when it was a member of his family who was in hospital instead, so at least he had that small grace to be thankful for, but god, he hated this.
It sucked.
At the moment he was alone. Kayo had been in earlier. In fact Kayo had been around quite a bit managing his security and he knew there was a security guard outside his door. Celebrity and all had its downsides.
Where there was Kayo, there was often Virgil, though he was there less often, International Rescue didn't stop entirely just because one of them had a building collapse on them. He had no doubt that it had immediately after his injury, but he was recovering well now and itching to get out of the hospital.
He missed his family.
He missed his home.
He missed his bed.
And he was so bored.
A beep distracted him from his moping. A blink, a moment to think, and he realised it was coming from the hospital issued tablet sitting on its docking arm next to the bed.
He stared at it as it beeped again. John had hacked the hospital system within moments of him waking from surgery. It was standard IR practise. It kept malicious hackers out and intercepted any unauthorised communications.
John's skill was unsurpassed, so that meant the call was authorised. But who would want to speak to him outside of comms?
He poked it and a purple screen with the hospital logo sprung up.
Room 7-991 - Emaline Harris requesting contact.
He paused. He owed the woman his life.
But there was still hesitation.
It beeped at him again.
Uh.
The door to his room swung open as Virgil walked in backwards, a cup of steaming beverage in each hand. He was in linen pants and shirt in accordance with the apparent hot weather outside. Not that you would know it in the hospital. He smiled the moment his eyes landed on Scott. "I bring hot chocolate for your drinking pleasure. It appears they make a decent one in the downstairs cafe."
The screen beeped again.
"I even ordered you an extra marshmallow in celebration of venturing into semi-solid foods."
Scott glared at him.
The screen beeped again.
Virgil glanced at the tablet as he put the hot chocolate on the bed table. "You gonna answer that?"
Scott opened his mouth.
"Here." And Virgil touched the screen. The purple logo was replaced by a face.
Damn you, Virgil.
The smirk on his brother's face proved that he knew exactly what Scott was thinking.
"Hello?"
Scott blinked and turned back to the tablet. "Uh, hello, Doctor."
In proper lighting her eyes were the palest blue, in complete contrast to her almost black hair. "Mr Tracy. How are you?"
"Good. Yourself?"
"Getting there."
And then there was an awkward silence.
Virgil rolled his eyes and sat on the bed within the camera pickup. "Hi, Doctor Harris, I'm Virgil, Scott's brother."
"Oh, hello, Virgil. Thank you so much for saving us."
To Scott's annoyance, his brother smiled and tipped his head. "It's what we do, Doctor. Thank you for looking after my brother."
She smiled back. "It's what I do." Those pale blue eyes were back on Scott. "How is he, really?"
"Bored and cranky. This is usually a good sign."
"Hey!"
Virgil smirked at him over his shoulder. "Looks like he wants to demonstrate."
"Give me my damn hot chocolate."
He made a grab for the cup, but Virgil scooped it out of his reach. "Oi, where are your manners?"
"Virgil."
"Scott."
"Fine." And he attempted to fold his arms in a huff, but forgot the cast on the left one. The resultant jumble of limbs did not have the pouting impact he had intended and the sudden movement pulled the stitches in his gut reminding him of exactly why he was in the hospital in the first place.
Virgil being Virgil didn't miss it. "Hey, take it easy."
"It was easy until you turned up."
"Really? Would you like me to leave?"
Scott sighed. "Of course not. Just give me my damned hot chocolate."
The beverage was pushed gently in front of him.
He watched the steam rise from the cup and realised he really didn't want it anyway. He closed his eyes, letting his head lie back on the pillow. God, he hated this.
"You okay?" His brother's voice was quiet and obviously concerned.
"Do I look okay? Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
Virgil didn't answer. He simply raised a single dark eyebrow.
Scott wanted to yell at him, but he knew this wasn't Virgil's fault. He just...damn it. "I'm sorry, Virg, I really am, I'm just..." He rubbed his face with the hand that wasn't wrapped in plaster. "This sucks."
A hand landed on his knee, the one that wasn't broken, and squeezed gently. "I know." And those brown eyes understood. They really did. "Tell me what you want, and you'll have it."
Scott glared at him. His brother held up his hands. "I'm not kidding, Scott, whatever you want and if it is in my power, I'll find a way to make it happen."
He meant it. Scott stared at him. "Anything?"
"Anything."
It sounded like a joke, but it wasn't. Virgil was his steadfast, straight forward brother, he rarely said it if he didn't mean it.
He meant it.
But Scott found he didn't really need anything.
He had everything he could possibly ever want. Well, what Virgil was able to give him anyway.
He sighed. "I'm sorry, Virg."
That hand squeezed his knee again. "I know. It sucks."
Virgil's comm chose that very moment to go off. His brother's shoulders immediately slumped. "Yes, John?" Scott couldn't hear what was said, but Virgil's expression said it all, followed by a quiet, "FAB."
Scott's questioning glance was answered. "Situation in the Pyrenees. Climbing party stranded."
His brother had stashed his 'bird at the local GDF airbase. The Thunderbird couldn't launch as fast as she could from the island, but she would be in the air momentarily under John's control. Virgil had stashed a pod in the carpark. His brother was minutes away from being airborne.
Something in Scott's gut that had nothing to do with his injury, twisted. His eyes caught Virgil's. "Fly safe."
That hand landed on his knee once more and squeezed. "Always. Now you drink your chocolate and I'll see you later."
"'Later."
And Virgil was turning and out the door before he could say anything further.
As the door shut, the silence in the room wrapped around him, ominous. He dropped his head into his hand rubbing his eyes. Damn it.
The chocolate was no longer steaming, but it sat there staring at him.
"You know, a lack of appetite is common after abdominal surgery."
The voice was quiet, but he jumped anyway and found that pair of ice blue eyes fixed on him, staring out from the tablet that had been sitting there this whole time.
-o-o-o-
End Part Two.