Advice

It was a truth universally acknowledged (in the Tracy household, anyway) that a man capable of dispensing good advice must be in want of the ability to follow it himself.

Take Virgil, for example. Despite having been scolded on no less than seventeen occasions for trying to get out of bed before proclaimed fit to do so by the island's chief medic, Scott was having a hard time convincing his younger brother to stay in bed. Gordon had offered to strap him in with bungee cords, and Scott was beginning to seriously consider letting him do just that.

Virgil pouted, sniffing miserably from the nest he'd made for himself on the couch. A recent rescue during a monsoon had ensured a thorough soaking for the entire team; however, whilst Alan and Gordon had been able to dry off and warm up during the flight back, and Scott had powered on ahead to do the same, Virgil had endured the entire flight in his soggy uniform and caught a chill. He was now banned from rescues and his piano, and was, as Alan so succinctly put it, like a "bear with a sore head. Literally."

"Virgil, if it were any one of us, you'd be ordering us to bed-rest."

"Yeah, and you wouldn't let any of us get away with whining, either."

"I'b nod whining," growled Virgil thickly.

"But you are being stubborn," sighed Scott, folding his arms. "C'mon, Virge, you're supposed to be the medic; you know you should be resting."

"I ab resding." Shifting slightly, Virgil somehow managed to sink deeper into the cocoon of blankets surrounding him. He'd snuck into the lounge whilst Scott and Gordon had been on a rescue- mostly to make sure Gordon wasn't abusing his 'bird- and had been discovered by an exasperated Tin-Tin, who'd been hunting for him medicine bottle in hand. Virgil had been surprisingly meek and accepted his dose without complaint, but he was now refusing to budge.

"Resting means not hanging around listening in on rescues and threatening Gordon every few minutes."

"I would hab beed buch worse if I hadchoo!- had stayed in bed."

"How do you figure?" Gordon cocked his head to one side.

"I'd hab beed worrying aboud whad Gordon was doing to by 'bird wiboud knowing whad was going on. I wouldn'd hab beed able to sleeb."

Scott laughed as Gordon's left eye twitched, fingers tightening around the bungee cords reflexively. "True." He took the bungee cords from Gordon before the aquanaut decided to use them on Virgil after all. "But we're home safe and sound now, and so's Two. So you can go back to bed."

Virgil looked sheepish.

"Actually… I can'd mobe."

"What do you mean, you can't move?"

"I'b a bid… trabbed." Virgil flushed, sinking even further into the blankets. "I god tangled ub-"

The rest was cut off by Gordon howling with laughter. Scott shoved a pillow at him, chuckling lightly himself.

"Fine, Virge, you can nest here."

A little bit of sniffly Virgil after all the angst and contemplation ;) And yes, I've been on a bit of a Pride and Prejudice kick, how did you know?

So, this kind of took a different direction from what I originally thought advice would be about- more about Virgil ignoring his own than anyone dishing out advice- but I like how it turned out. And this is part of the point of these titles; to see where they take you.