John noted, as he trudged steadily up the hill in the wake of his four brothers, that the further he walked, the better his knee felt. The better his knee, the more time his tired brain found to focus on other, less worthy considerations.

It was not as if he could really have reeled off a list of things that were on his mind either. He just felt low and stressed. The fall-out from their recent nasty encounter with the Hood, he knew. He was interested to notice however, that the open air, the exercise, and the company of his brothers gradually eased his mind, fondling his troubled soul. As the days passed, it was almost as if they had always been out here, hiking through the wilderness, picking wild fruit and plants, catching fish and buying odd items whenever they passed by a farm or small trader.

They carried their tents and necessary equipment with them, spreading the load evenly between the five of them, so that none of the brothers became overburdened.

As the time went on and days passed by, John noticed each of his brothers slowly losing their silent, wary expressions, the solemn depression that had settled over all of them to varying degrees.

All except Scott.

As they grew more and more light-hearted, his eyebrows seemed to grow more and more furrowed. His deepening mood did not emerge in his conversation. It showed only when he thought he was alone or unobserved. John wondered if the three younger ones had noticed?

Virgil probably had. Virgil rarely missed anything. Gordon and Alan, although by no means unaffected by the events of the last few weeks, seemed to be relishing this chance to enjoy the freedom of the outdoors with their three elder brothers, and displayed little outward signs of anything being wrong at all.

Perhaps they were just good at hiding it? Scott certainly was when he was being observed, and when he laughed, John studied him. Scott's smiles seemed genuine. His contentment in their company and his pride in all they had achieved shone from his eyes. Whatever was getting to Scotty did not appear to be anything to do with them. Was Scott in any way stressed about himself somehow? Whatever it was, was preventing the eldest from relaxing completely or enjoying himself properly like the rest of them. John resolved to ask him that evening over the campfire. That was the time and place they had agreed to tackle issues they encountered. After the evening meal, around the campfire, in everyone's presence.

oOoOo

Scott stared at John, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Unhappy John? Whatever are you on about?"

Virgil was nodding in agreement with John. The younger two looked surprised and concerned. John looked at Scott's innocent expression. If he had not known Scott so well, he might have been fooled. John looked Scott in the eye.

"I've been worrying about you, big brother. It only shows on your face when you think no one is looking. It's an expression of extreme sadness, almost… almost a self-loathing. There is definitely something on your mind, and I'm worried that if you don't talk about it, whatever it is will start to consume you."

Scott stared at him for a long moment, then his gaze switched to Virgil, then to Gordon and Alan, all looking equally concerned, and he gave a sudden gulp, tears in his eyes, spilling down his cheeks.

In less than a second, he found himself in the middle of a pile of brothers, all hugging him and anxious to reassure him that they were there for him, whatever his problem might be. Rather than find it reassuring however, Scott began to feel more and more guilty, and he started to sob aloud.

"Please don't Scotty!" came Alan's pleading voice, sounding very young all of a sudden. "Whatever it is, we love you."

That did not seem to reassure the eldest as much as he had hoped, because the sobs, if anything, intensified.

"Come here, big brother."

Virgil pulled Scott close, and wrapped him in a massive bearhug.

Virgil continued to hold Scott close until his brother began to calm down a little, and the sobs reduced to occasional damp sniffs. When Scott finally looked up, he seemed mortified with embarrassment.

"Um… about that…" he muttered, wiping away the tears that still rolled down his cheeks. He glanced around at his brothers, half ashamed of himself, but he saw in their eyes only love and compassion. They were clustered around him like chicks around the mother hen, all anxious to be as close as possible to him.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Scooter." Gordon assured him. "We've all been feeling bad lately. Please talk about it. Sounds like it hurts really bad."

Scott nodded, and shuddered again, wiping still more rolling tears from his face.

"I'm the eldest brother, and the team leader, it's been my job to help and reassure and advise the rest of you, but I…this time I just couldn't, I didn't even try! I failed you. I failed all of you! I'm so sorry!"

"Since when did you fail anyone?" Virgil demanded in an indignant voice. "Who said so? I'll give 'em a bloody nose!"

Scott spluttered in a mixture of laughter and tears.

"No, you wouldn't Virge. You're too nice a guy to bust anybody's nose."

Virgil shook his head.

"Thanks Scott, but I'd happily bust the Hood's nose for him, and sock him in the jaw, and give him a black eye, and…" he paused at Scott's teary laughter, and his expression darkened again. "He's responsible for this isn't he?"

To his surprise, Scott shook his head.

"No, I failed you all on my own, Virgil. You and Gordon had to take charge, I was useless back there. I never thought it would happen to me. I always believed I was strong enough to handle anything!"

Alan was looking confused.

"Scooter's never failed! What is he talking about?" He asked. Gordon opened his mouth to reply, but Scott got there first.

"We were at the hospital Alan. You were in a coma, fighting for your life, and for a while, John was also unconscious, along with both grandma and Gordy, having been attacked by the Hood. Only dad, Virgil Kayo and I were… then Kayo got captured by the Hood, although we didn't know it at the time and it was just the three of us, and I…"

Alan wrinkled his face in confusion.

"Why does that mean you failed, Scott? The Hood is a murdering monster. He doesn't care about anyone."

"Because I went to pieces, Alan!" Scott shouted suddenly, unable to bear it any longer. "I was so scared for you, and for the others. Even after John and Gordy and grandma woke up, I couldn't think straight. Gordon and Virgil had to give me a talking to. They arranged to bring you home to the island. I was just a useless pudding. I couldn't think straight. I…I…I think he broke me. The Hood broke me, and I…"

John grabbed Scott's shoulders and gave the older man a gentle shake.

"Scott! Scott! SCOTT! Listen to me. No one broke you, do you hear me? You didn't break. It might feel that way, but you stayed strong."

Scott shook his head, the relentless tears falling unheeded now.

"He broke me! He beat me! I should have been able to stop him from…I should have! I should! It's my job to protect you…my baby brothers! I promised mom I would always take care of all of you, never let anything happen to you, and I so nearly lost three of you! If I had lost Johnny and Gordy and Allie, dad would hate me, and Virgil would hate me, and I would hate me!"

His brothers exchanged glances. They had never seen their big brother Scott like this before. This had clearly been eating away at him for ages. Scott's deep-rooted belief that he had been put on this earth to take care of his four younger brothers, keep them safe from harm. The promise he had made to mom had taken them by surprise. They had not known about that, but it would explain a great deal of this crisis now. If he felt that somehow, he could or should have been able to prevent the Hood's attack on them all…

Scott was weeping, quietly and privately, his head cradled between his knees, his shoulders shaking. They waited silently, leaning in close to him to let him feel their presence, until he once again came up for air, his face red and wet from weeping, his nose running. Virgil wordlessly handed him a roll of toilet tissue, which Scott took with a shaky hand and wiped his face dry, then blew his nose vigorously. John glanced at Virgil, who nodded once. He lifted Scott's chin and gave him a smile.

"Thanks, bro." he said, simply. Scott looked puzzled.

"What for?"

"Caring about us all so much that you get yourself this worked up!"

"Humph!"

"We mean it Scott." Virgil insisted; "but Scott, considering our line of business, don't you think that you've taken on a bit of an impossible task if you're determined to keep all of us safe all of the time?"

"Humph." Scott grunted again. His brothers resisted the temptation to smile. Gordon picked up the toilet roll again and threw it at Scott's head. It hit him on the forehead and bounced away. Scott looked up at him and Gordon gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry bro, you are the eldest in a family of adrenalin junkies, who also happen to have rather dangerous jobs. The only way you can promise to keep all of us safe is to lock us all up in a plastic bubble!"

"So, I am being unreasonable, am I?"

"You are being too hard on yourself, Scott." Virgil told him. "But there is one problem you have that definitely needs to be sorted out right here and now!"

Scott nodded miserably, then frowning, looked up.

"What problem? Something different?"

Virgil nodded and wiggled his fingers.

"You need to pay penance for thinking even for a single second that I could ever hate you! If something had happened to the guys, then I would hate the Hood for it, not you. You're the big brother who almost worried yourself into a nervous breakdown because you love us so much. How could you think that about me? Or about any of us? You need to pay penance for that."

"No!" Scott looked almost panic-stricken. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Please no…"

He backed away from the fire as his brothers advanced on him, all wiggling their fingers at him.

"Help!" Scott cried as he was attacked from all sides by his younger brothers, in a four-way tickle-attack that had him gasping and giggling and wriggling like a two-year old, trying desperately to escape from their skilled fingers.

oOoOo

As the sun disappeared below the bank of trees, and the little camp was bathed in darkness with only the subdued glow from the fire, Scott leaned on John's shoulder, his feet in Virgil's lap. The two youngest were already asleep. Virgil was quietly humming a song that had been one of their mother's favourites. As he finished, Scott sniffed and sat up.

"Thanks, Virgil. That was lovely."

"I thought you were asleep, Scott."

"I was thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking how lucky I am to have all you guys."

"That stuff has been weighing on you for a while, hasn't it?"

Scott nodded.

"Quite a while. It hasn't quite gone you know. I know you were right, and I'm being foolish, but I can't help thinking that I should have been able to do more than I did…I still feel a little bit guilty…especially for letting John and Allie hide in Three without me."

John ruffled Scott's hair.

"You're right Scott, I think you are guilty of something."

Virgil's eyes snapped up, hard and sharp at John, and Scott's face dropped, and he nodded.

"I knew it. What is it?"

"You are guilty of being human, Scott. But since you're not the only one, if you forgive me for it, I'll forgive you. Deal?"

Virgil grinned as John held out his hand to his brother. Scott let a reluctant grin slip across his face, and he grabbed John's hand and wrung it.

"Thank you."