Chapter Eleven
Virgil's gifts
Gordon sighed as he guided the Tracy one closer to the island, he looked over to Alan. Alan was at the moment trying to rearrange Scott's head on his shoulder without waking him up, Scott had fallen asleep as soon as they had taken off and had missed the beauty of the Australian Sunshine coast, but they would be going back to the hospital so he would get the chance.
As Gordon landed on the island, Alan gently shook Scott awake, "Scott, come on Scottie, you got to wake up for a few minutes."
"Wha?" Scott muttered as he sat up.
"We're home Scott, come on lets get you to bed," Gordon said with a small smile as he reached out and took hold of Scott's left arm while Alan held onto his right.
"Guys I'm not an invalid, I can walk on my own," Scott said as he straightened to his full height.
"Right sorry," the younger boys said together as they released their brother's arms.
The three brothers made their way to the house, walking through to the kitchen, the house was empty, their grandmother and gone with Tintin and her parents to the mainland for two weeks and there was no way to contact them. Jeff had given Brains and Fermat time off too, so the boys were alone.
Gordon and Alan watched as Scott tilted on his feet and both started to reach out to steady him and then stopped when he sat down at the table in Virgil's chair running his fingers over his brother's portion of the table as tears started to roll unchecked down his face.
Scott jumped when he felt someone touch his shoulder, he turned to see Gordon standing behind him, and Scott gave his brother a small smile through his tears and then looked away.
"Scott it's alright, this is Virgil we're talking about, he may be the smallest but that does not make him weaker then any of us," Gordon said as he sat down in Scott's usual chair, Alan walked over too and sat in his own chair.
"You know John said something like that too, and that's what I keep telling myself, but different thoughts keep creeping into my head, like what if he doesn't make it, then what will we do? We can't just go on like nothing happened, like dad tried to do with mom's death," Scott said quietly.
Memories of his mother's death and the year and a half that followed shot through Scott's head. The avalanche covering their mother, Virgil and Gordon, then finding them one by one; Gordon had been cocooned by Virgil and was not hurt just cold, but Virgil and Lucy had been rushed to the nearest hospital.
Virgil had been hit with a beam that he had protected Gordon from, they had done surgery but he remained in a coma. Lucy had been hit by a tree and died within a half hour of reaching the hospital with Jeff and all but one of her boys by her side. They had almost lost Virgil too, he had remained in a coma for five days after the accident, he had never gotten to say good bye to their mother.
Jeff had busied himself with work after that, for almost a full year Scott had taken care of his brothers, until their grandmother finally was able to come and help them. Their father had finally turned back to them on Gordon's birthday when the ten year old asked him why he hated them so much he didn't want to come to his party.
It was then the Jeff realized what he had been doing, he had been blaming the boys for something they had no control over, all five of them reminded Jeff of their mother. It was then and there that he had started being their father again, and had never stopped.
"Scott?" the sound of Gordon's voice brought Scott out of his thoughts.
"What?" Scott asked looking to Gordon as he did.
"Are you alright? You were kind of staring off into space there for a minute," Gordon asked concern written in his big green eyes.
"I'm find Gordy, I think I'm going to go lay down for a while," Scott said as he got up from the chair brushing his hand over the table once more.
"That's a good idea Scott, we'll have a snack ready for you when you want it," Gordon said as he gently patted his brother on the back.
"You need help getting upstairs?" Alan offered.
"No thanks Sprout, I can handle it," Scott said as he slowly ruffled his brother's blond curls.
"Hey," Alan said as he tried to straighten out his hair.
"Hey Butch, you get some sleep too alright?" Scott said switching to Gordon's nickname.
"You got it big brother," Gordon said as he sighed "Butch", only Scott could call him that without ruffling his feathers. It was funny, Scott had a nickname for everyone, for Alan it was Sprout because he was the youngest, but of course Virgil had started that one, for Virgil it was Ace because of a card game, John was some times called Johnny boy but only by Scott or sometimes Virgil, and Gordon himself had gotten Butch, how he'll never know.
"Hum, I know what I should do, I should come up with a good nickname for Scott, he's the only one who doesn't have one," Gordon thought as he watched Scott walk stiffly up the stairs.
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Scott made it to the top of the stairs but didn't go into his room, instead he went into the one that was across the hall from his own; Virgil's room.
Scott slowly opened the door and let it fall open on its own. There it was just the way Virgil had left it. The sun was beginning to set and Scott could see the sun beams streaming through his little brother's window.
Virgil always loved this room and this was why, he was able to watch the sunset whether he was outside or in and he could draw it. Scott had lost count of how many unfinished sunset paintings Virgil had in this room, he was able to finish some of them but for some the sun just set to fast for Virgil's quick fingers to catch it.
Scott sighed as made his way over to the chest of drawers in the corner of the room, he didn't know why he felt he had to look for the gifts Virgil told him about but he just couldn't get them out of his head.
Scott reached the chest and then stopped he shouldn't be doing this, Virgil would be able to give his gifts to them himself why was he drawn to ruin the surprise. But he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he looked.
Scott took a deep breath and slowly opened the first drawer; it was full of his brother's shirts. Scott slowly reached into the drawer and started to feel around the bottom of the it and suddenly his hand landed on something's that were hard.
Scott moved the shirts to find four pieces of wood on the bottom of Virgil's drawer.
"Why would Virgil have pieces of wood in his drawer?" Scott thought and then he looked closer.
Scott picked one up and looked at it with detail and then his mouth dropped open, this was not just any piece of wood, it was a carving, and not just any carving; it was a carving of Thunderbird four. Every detail was carved into that piece of wood, the claws everything. The number four was carved into the side of it; really the only thing that was missing that Scott could see was the paint.
"Wow Virgil, when did you start carving?" Scott thought the question out loud.
Scott looked at the rest of the carvings, it was as he thought, Thunderbird one and three were nearly finished also, really the only one that still needed some work was Thunderbird five, it was only half carved out.
"You're going to be able to finish these Virgil, I know you are," Scott said out loud again as he placed the carvings back in their drawer and pulled the shirts back over them.
As Scott closed the drawer, something on top of the dresser caught his eye; he looked again and saw the paper, being held down by Virgil's paper weight. Scott lifted the weight and took the paper into his hands and then he sat on Virgil's bed before he looked at what the paper said it was a song, most of it written in Virgil's fine hand. It wasn't just the song but what was written before it that made Scott's tears start to fall again.
It was a note and song, the song that Virgil told him about, his birthday present.
To Scott;
Happy birthday to the best big brother in the world,
Love
Your little brothers,
\
John, Virgil, Gordon, and Alan.
You mean everything
Written by: John, Virgil,
Gordon and Alan Tracy.
Music by: Virgil Tracy
You don't leave us alone;
In Darkness and Shame;
You don't leave us alone;
Even when the darkness falls;
You don't leave us alone;
You stay and call our names;
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Because you are more then a person;
You are more then a friend;
You are a great big brother for me;
You are more then a person;
You are more then a friend;
You mean everything to me.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
If you could help it;
You wouldn't let us die;
You wouldn't leave us alone;
You wouldn't let us die;
You wouldn't let the darkness take us;
You wouldn't leave us alone;
You would stay and call our names.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
You are more then a person;
You are more then a friend;
You are a great big brother for me;
You are more then a person;
You are more then a friend;
You mean everything to me.
You mean everything to me.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
As Scott reach the end of the song the tears were rolling freely down his face, Virgil had written that song, all of his brothers had, but Virgil-he's the one fighting for his life right now, and the words in that song, they just made Scott realized how much all his brothers really meant to him.
Scott looked over on the night stand, there was a picture of all the boys in their IR uniforms standing in their father's office, but they weren't being serious, they had all been in a group hug when their father had taken the picture, Virgil was right in between Scott and John with a big smile on his face.
"You're right Virgil, I do my best to keep you guys with me, but those last words in the song mean more to me then you'll ever know. You four may have meant it for me, but it's how I feel about all of you, you all mean everything and I mean everything to me," Scott chocked out between sobs as he collapsed onto Virgil's bed and fell asleep still clutching Virgil's song to his chest.
T.B.C.
Author's note: The song is something that I just made up so I hope it makes since; I'm making up the nicknames too. Well except for Ace, my older brother calls me that, hint why I gave it to Virgil.