Chapter Twelve,
Sorry for making you sweat over the weekend folks!!! Hehehehe, hey that almost sounded genuine!!!! Anyway here's chapter twelve. In this chapter there is a slight Lucille/Jeff, it may be TB historically incorrect, but I am not aware of a story of how they met or how long they dated before marriage etc, so I have just made it up!!
Chapter Twelve
Virgil yawned so hard his jaw almost snapped in two, and it was just his luck that his father chose that precise moment to enter Scott's hospital room.
"Virgil, I think you should go home you look exhausted. You haven't left the hospital since Scott arrived here" Jeff told his son kindly. Virgil shook his head straight away.
"No Dad, Scott needs me. He isn't talking" He replied to his father, his eyes pleading the older man to understand. Jeff sighed deeply, then nodded.
"I was afraid of that" he replied in resignation. "You know how Scott gets, he just bottles it up, but I agree if anyone is going to knock those walls down it will be you" Jeff told his son gently squeezing his shoulder. "Why don't you curl up over there, and I will wake you when Scotty boy here wakes up huh?" he asked gesturing to the vacant bed in the room. Virgil hesitated for a second before acquiescing to the request. He really was tired, and in his head he knew that he would be no good to his brother if he died of exhaustion. Jeff sat down on the recently vacated chair, and gently took his sons hand in his own.
"Scott boy, what on Earth am I going to do with you huh? You have got to speak to us please? Damn what am I saying, it'll be like trying to squeeze blood from a stone trying to get you to discuss your feelings" Jeff told his sleeping son almost bitterly, for a second wishing that his oldest child wasn't quite so like him. Jeff had been exactly the same as Scott when he was his age, but it had all changed when he had met Lucille.
Flashback
Jeff Tracey's breath caught in his throat the moment he set eyes on the vision of beauty before him. He had never seen someone so angelic. Her long light brown hair bounced against her face as she swayed to the music. He found himself staring at her, and was amazed when his gaze was met by a pair of hazel eyes staring straight back at him. He was even more surprised when a radiant smile appeared on the woman's lips. He almost turned and fled when she started walking towards him. For once the top-gun pilot was panicked.
"Hey there fly-boy, you going to stand and watch me all night or are you going to dance with me?" she had asked him with a cheeky grin. Jeff didn't quite know how to respond. He nodded mutely and she laughed in response, and it was the sweetest sound that he had ever heard before. He followed her across the dance floor, and he knew straight away that this was the woman he would marry. He talked to her that night as he had never spoken to anybody before and was more open with her where with others he was a closed book. Neither of them were surprised when they were married less than a year later.
End of flashback.
Jeff came to his senses as he saw his son stirring next to him. He was greeted by groggy blue eyes, so open before his son managed to slip his shutters into place. Scott winced before he could stop himself.
"Hey there Scott, I'll just go and get the doctor okay son?" Jeff asked catching the involuntary action. Scott nodded not trusting himself to speak. Jeff gently shook Virgil awake then set off to get the doctor. Virgil rubbed his eyes tiredly, then went across to his brother. Scott was covered a thin film of sweat, and his eyes were tightly squeezed shut with his breath coming in short gasps, trying to breath through the pain. Luckily for the Tracy men the doctor only took a few seconds to grab some pain meds and hot foot it back to his patient. When he administered the medication Scott immediately settled down, and his breathing evened out.
"Hello Mr Tracy. My name is Dr Domano, I am the doctor that operated on you yesterday. Has anybody explained your injuries to you?" he asked his patient gently. Scott shook his head to the negative in response. Virgil subtly moved closer to his brother, and sat by the head of the bed, to offer whatever support Scott needed. "Okay, you were brought here after you were caught up in a mine collapse; luckily International Rescue got you out promptly and safely. You sure have a lot to thank those guys for. Any way your leg was broken in six places, we have managed to align in as best as we could for the moment, but I am afraid to say that you will require further surgery on it at a later date, I am pleased to say that we expect you to recover full mobility in it however it will take some time. Obviously lots of physio therapy and such like. You also sustained a rather nasty chest injury, you broke several ribs, and we had to remove your spleen, now this shouldn't really affect you in your day to day life, whilst you recover though you will be very open to infections, even the common cold could be dangerous to you, so care is needed" the doctor continued. Scott shut his eyes briefly. "Do you have any questions so far?" the doctor asked, seeing his patient's reaction.
"How long can I expect to be in here?" Scott asked, and Jeff tutted at his son.
"Scott don't start already" Jeff cut in. The doctor simply chuckled slightly in response, to him a patient wanting o go home was a patient wanting to heal, and that was usually half of the battle, of course he didn't know Scott Tracy.
"Don't worry Mr Tracy, if you recovery stays on course you can expect to be release in about a week, subject to satisfactory care at home of course. You would need to come back here though a few weeks after that for some more tests and possible surgery" the doctor replied, and Scott simply nodded, determined that he would make it out within a week. "Now Mr Tracy, you also received a rather nasty head injury, as I am sure you can tell from the headache I am sure you have been suffering from" he told his patient, and knew from the unblinking gaze that met his that he was correct "when you arrived there was a slight swelling to the brain, although it has gone down slightly it is not yet at normal size. We are monitoring this, but in the meantime, it will cause you to have very severe headaches, dizzy spells and possibly even blackouts. This could last for a few weeks" the doctor concluded. Virgil shot his brother a sharp look, so Scott was already hiding how he was feeling? Well he would see about that! Scott refrained from meeting either of the other Tracy men's eyes, as he politely thanks the doctor. As soon as the other man had left Virgil turned to his brother.
"When exactly were you going to tell us how badly you were feeling?" he asked almost angrily. Scott shrugged, and then winced as it pulled on his fragile body. "Scott you have got to tell us when something hurts or you feel sick or anything, how else are we going to help you" Virgil pleaded with his brother. Scott met his eyes, and then nodded sadly.
"I'll try Virg, but it's hard" he replied, and Virgil was relieved by his honesty.
"I know Scott just for you to try is all I ask" he replied with a gentle smile.
End part Twelve.
