Part eight
Okay now to respond to my fantastic reviewers!!!
Ladybird6- Glad to hear you are enjoying this story so much!!! I was very nervous about writing a TB fic, but you have really help to make me feel better about it!! Please continue to review!!
Canadian Lynx- Glad to see you like the flashback and more emotional scenes! Plenty more to come, hope you keep reading and reviewing!!
Jules47- Always a pleasure to hear from you Julia, please continue to R+R, as I always look forward to reading your reviews, as much as you look forward to reading my story!!!
On with the Chapter, which by some miracle I have managed to get done despite being back at work for the first time in nine weeks!! Hehe
Chapter Eight
"Jeff, for heaven's sake your pacing isn't going to help young Scott now is it? All you are doing is wearing a hole in the floor" Ruth Tracy reprimanded her worried son. She was equally as concerned about Scott as the rest of the Tracy clan, but Jeff's continuous pacing was fraying her nerves even further.
"Sorry" Jeff muttered in response, just as Virgil and Alan rounded the corner, they looked almost as shaken as Gordon and Tin-Tin had previously.
"Well dad, he is all yours" Virgil told him attempting to lighten the mood, but knowing that he was failing miserably.
"Yes come on Jeff, let's go and get the boy out of bed" Ruth told her son tugging on his shirt sleeve. As much as Jeff wanted to see his son, he was almost scared about what he would find when he entered that hospital room. He took a deep breath then followed his mother to his son. The sight before him was almost worse than what he had imagined. His son looked so lifeless and his face so pale, that Jeff had to suppress a sob. Scott looked worse than Gordon had after his hydrofoil accident years ago. Ruth didn't hesitate she simply walked up and stood beside her Grandson.
"Hey there Scotty. It's your Grandma here, which you'd know without me having to tell you if you would open those lady-killer eyes and see for yourself. Boy who is going to eat all of the delicious apple pie I have got cooked up at home, if you don't hurry up and get out of this place then I am going to have to give it all to Alan, and then what would you do?" Ruth continued, aware even herself that she was rambling, but seeing her usually so vibrant grandson laying comatose and wounded so badly her heart was breaking, and it was either keep talking or completely lose control of her emotions and cry. She certainly didn't want to do that as she needed to support her son through this difficult time, he had enough to deal with without her breaking down. She looked around when she felt a gentle squeeze of her shoulder, obviously her son knew her better than she thought.
"It's okay ma, Scott's going to be just fine, and scoffing all the apple pie you can cook before you know it" Jeff told her, and just those few optimistic words made her heart lift even a little bit. She nodded slightly "Why don't you go with the others and try and find a hotel. We can't all spend the night here and Virgil and Gordon must be exhausted, and if they don't have someone to make them, they will go the whole night without food or sleep" Jeff continued. Ruth knew exactly what he was doing for she knew Jeff better than he was giving her credit for. Yet she still gave in, she sighed slightly.
"Okay dear, I will go and shepherd the troops off to a hotel, but you mark my words I shall be back here first thing tomorrow to do the same to you" she told him, and he knew she meant it. She turned her back on him and gently kissed Scott on the cheek, repeated the action to Jeff, then left the room. Jeff sighed almost in relief. He had wanted to spend some time with his son. He felt he had a lot to say to Scott, and didn't necessarily want anyone else to hear it.
"Alone at last huh Scott? Sure I am sure you would rather have a leggy blond, but I am afraid you are stuck with me." Jeff paused and swallowed deeply. Of all his sons Scott took after him the most. It maybe because he had always been so close to his father, or because of their common profession of the air force. Either way Scott had certainly the same stubborn streak as his father, and his inability to express his emotions. Sure it was obvious to those he loved when he was hurting, but yet he always held it inside, his feelings shuttered behind his striking blue eyes.
"Son, I can't help thinking I have failed you. All those years ago you gave up so much for me, And yes I do remember what you said about sharing the dream, but at the end of the day it was my dream that we all now share to make it a reality. I should never have asked that of you, you are so young, hell you all are, yet you so willingly gave up everything for me. Don't think I don't know about young Emily, and how much you loved her. Your grandma told me all about her about how you were hoping to marry her one day, yet you walked away because of me and my stupid ideals." Jeff bit back on the sob about to escape. He had never felt so wretched. He loved all of his sons deeply, but he had always been so close to Scott that seeing his eldest lying like that hit him hard and rocked him to the core.
"Son I guess what I am trying to say is I am sorry. Day after day I send you and your brothers into untold danger, yet you all do it without question. I never even thank you, I love you all so much, yet I never tell you, and even worse because of me you are the same way. You are such a gentle kind hearted person, yet you never let anybody close enough to see. I don't even your brothers realise the depth of you. Of course Alan knows more than most about your protective streak, doesn't he? Huh didn't think I knew about that did you? Well you should know by now that Jeff Tracy has spies everywhere, and no action goes unnoticed, but I was proud of the way you acted that day, and come to think of it everyday since. Please Scott please wake up. I need you more than I think you know" Jeff told his son, finally giving in and openly sobbing into his sons hand that he held tightly clasped in his own. From the doorway Virgil Tracy wiped the tears trickling down his cheeks away. He had never seen his Dad act that way. Sure he had seen him concerned and worried before, and even devastated when Lucille had died, but he had never ever witnessed such a display of raw emotion coming from his father. He stepped back into the hall to compose himself, took a deep breath then went back into his brother's room, sure his grandmother had tried to ship him off into a hotel, but he wasn't going to let his father go through this alone. He silently walked across the room, until he was stood next to his father, he smiled slightly to himself, when he saw his father's rhythmic breathing, he had drifted off cradling his son's hand. Virgil quietly walked across to the other side of the bed, and pulled the other chair in the room closer to the bed.
Voices penetrated the deep fog surrounding him, that voice sounded familiar yet he couldn't quite place it. Hazy memories swirled around him, just out of reach yet taunting him with their proximity. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't catch hold of them, nor push them away. He just continued to float, faces flashed before him, four boys slightly younger than him, and a young girl. Lots of pain and shouting, and a young girl's voice.
"Its okay sir I believe in you" Inside his own head Scott Tracy screamed and squeezed his eyes shut against the painful memories, and in the outside world, his heart monitor went crazy and two Tracy men leapt to their feet.
Okay that's it for chapter eight! You want a chapter nine? Then please R+R!!!!!!
