Disclaimer: I still don't own them, damn it.
A/N: Sorry this update is so late, but real life has that nasty habit of rearing its fugly head and making things chaotic. Oh well, I really hope you like it. Just for the record, this was a hard chapter to write, being that Scott is my favorite of them all. Okay, enough from me, read and enjoy!
CHAPTER 3
From Thunderbird Five, John had been monitoring the rescue since the 9-1-1 call had come in. He had passed on the information from the call and was listening to the communications between his brothers and father. More than a little worried, he was trying to piggyback a satellite in order to actually see the scene when he heard Scott tell their dad that it was a tanker hauling jet fuel.
John's heart actually felt as if it had skipped a beat when he heard that. His fingers flying over the keys, John heard Scott talking to Virgil, telling him to get a child to safety. Gordon and Alan's chatter filtered through as well. They had extracted survivors from vehicles on the other side of the bridge from Scott. Just as John accessed the systems of a military satellite in order to actually take a look at the scene, he heard his father screaming Scott's name. The fear in his father's voice made him look up at the monitor.
John couldn't see a thing at first. There was nothing but gray from the fog at the scene, but suddenly there was a burst of light so blinding that he had to actually shield his eyes and turn from the monitor. The screams of his father and brothers' filled his ears and deafened him momentarily as he turned back to the monitor to see a fireball running the length of the bridge.
"NO," John screamed as he rose to his feet, gripping the console to hold himself steady. "SCOTTY."
John watched in horror as Gordon ran and dove into the water. Watching closely, he saw him surface then dive back into the depths once more. Watched as his father ran towards the water then changed course and made for Thunderbird One. Listened as Alan, Virgil, and their father prayed to God that Scott would be okay and Gordon would find him.
Alone on Five, he had never felt so helpless. All he could do was watch everything unfold, as he went through the motions of letting the proper authorities know the situation. His eyes never left the monitor that showed his father in Thunderbird One putting out the flames on the water and bridge. It was the sight of his baby brother, Alan, jumping into the water and swimming over to help Gordon pull their big brother to shore that stopped his heart completely.
Even thousands of miles above the earth, John could see that Scott wasn't breathing. Something in him died at the sight. A gaping wound ripped through his soul as Gordy and Alan pulled Scott from the water and laid him on the ground. John could feel the scream building up in his throat as he watched his brothers perform CPR and prepare the defibrillator.
"Breathe, Scotty," John whispered over and over to keep himself from screaming as he watched his brothers working so hard to bring Scott back. "Please just take a breath and breathe."
"John, answer me. John?" Jeff's commanding voice finally penetrated his consciousness. "I need you, Son. I need you to concentrate so that we can get Scott help."
John had no idea how long his dad had been trying to get him to respond, but could tell that it obviously had been a few minutes because there was definitely concern in his voice. "I'm here, Dad. I already contacted the authorities and the hospitals."
"That's good, Son," Jeff said as a sense of relief washed over him. Jeff knew that John would have been watching the entire rescue from Thunderbird Five and would have seen what happened. It had scared him when his normally calm son hadn't answered him. "I need for you to be sure that they close down this area and no more vehicles get through so that we can keep Gordy and Alan safe while they work on Scott okay, John?"
"D-Dad, Scott's not breathing." John's voice cracked even though he tried not to let it. "Gordy and Alan are working on him, but he's not breathing."
"I know, Johnny, but Gordy and Alan know what they are doing and they will get Scotty breathing again," Jeff said soothingly even though he was shaking uncontrollably as he maneuvered Thunderbird One around the bridge trying to find a place to land. "Just keep doing what needs to be done and trust that Gordy and Alan will do everything they can to bring Scott back to us."
Jeff finally found a place to land and a few minutes later was running from Thunderbird One over to where Gordy and Alan were working on Scott. There he found them surrounded by the few survivors that they had rescued and two of the survivors were holding pressure on two major wounds that were bleeding. The wound in Scott's leg was serious Jeff saw as he got closer, but it was the head wound that took his breath. There were no words to describe the fear that coursed through him as he ran the last few feet to fall to his knees and reach for his oldest son.
Virgil, meanwhile, had stabilized the toddler and had him sleeping in the infirmary and was now firing up Thunderbird Two. His head filled with thoughts of Scott and how desperately he needed to get to him as he swung Two around and started looking for a landing spot on the other side of the bridge. He could hear John's continuing litany begging Scott to "breathe" and it was making Virgil's growing panic get stronger every second.
John was the voice of calm in the storm, whenever something bad happened on a rescue, so it was disturbing to hear the fear and panic in his normally calm brother. For John to panic like that, Scott was in real bad condition, because John would have been yelling for Scott to get off his ass and help if it were nothing.
Virgil and the rest of the family knew that Scott and John were close. So close sometimes that they could practically predict what the other was going to say or do before they said or did it. Scott was their rock. He was the rock that the others stood upon when things got out of control and the rock that others broke themselves upon when they tried to hurt one of his brothers. Even their Dad depended on Scott, because in a lot of ways, Scott was his rock, too.
"Oh God," Virgil prayed, "we can't lose him. You can't take him from us when You know how much we need him."
"CLEAR." Gordon yelled as he pressed the buttons and sent a shock through his older brother causing his body to arch and jerk. The minute it was over, Jeff reached over to check for a pulse and whispered quietly," Come on, Son, you can do this. Come back to us." Just as he was about to pull away, and let Alan resume CPR, he felt that faint telltale thump against his fingers of a heartbeat. "That's it, Scotty, come on. Breathe for us, Son, just breathe." He leaned close to his son's ear and stroked his cheek.
There was a sudden tensing of Scott's body, and Jeff could see his son fighting to take a breath as he twisted and fought against the hands that were how trying to keep him still. Jeff's voice got louder as he repeated Scott's name over and over, hoping that hearing his voice would calm Scott and keep him from further injury.
Suddenly, Scott's body went completely still. His arched back collapsing back to the ground only to rise again with the first coughing breath he had taken since the explosion. His cobalt blue eyes fluttered as he struggled to take in more air. Those blue eyes opened only once. Going wide with panic as Scott's body jerked and sat up with a cry of "NO", before collapsing back into the arms that were reaching for him.
Scott continued to breathe, as Gordon, jerkily placed the oxygen mask over his face and looked worriedly at their father. The water had been freezing cold, but the amount of time that Scott had been down had been too long. Now all they could do was wait. Wait to see if there was going to be any permanent damage.
Helping with the head wound, Jeff saw the worry in Gordon's eyes, but said nothing as he attempted a reassuring smile that he didn't feel. "He'll be okay, Gordy. Scott's never let us down and he won't do that now," Jeff said. To himself, he thought, "He just has to be okay."
