Chapter 12
John sighed as his immediate younger brother paced the small room, "Virg, you couldn't have done any more."
Virgil shook his head as he turned on the spot and started his three steps in the other direction. He was convinced there should have been something more he could have done, anything instead of just CPR.
"John's right," Gordon pointed out, "The Hood poisoned him Virgil, there wasn't anything else to do other than keep him alive while Kayo's antidote worked."
Kayo looked up at the mention of her name, but was quick to look down again when she realised nobody was talking to her. A light weight rested around her shoulders, "Stop beating yourself up Kay," He murmured to her, "Without you, he'd probably be dead now."
"The gentleman's right," A doctor stated as he stepped into the room, "If you hadn't have given him those petals young lady, we'd most certainly be looking at murder."
Virgil finally paused in his pacing and looked to Kayo as she dropped her gaze.
The doctor addressed the rest of the family as he introduced himself, "I'm Doctor Hall, I specialise in poison cases here," He looked to Kayo again, "I am amazed you knew about the Devil's Child flowers, it's a very rare plant."
Kayo looked up, "It's very common around my home village, my Papa told me about it when I was just a child."
Doctor Hall nodded to her, "And lucky you remembered it."
"How is he?" Jeff asked tiredly.
"Alive," The doctor started, "Unconscious for now, but stable. He has a few broken bones and there was a small amount of internal bleeding that I've fixed. Seeing as he'd had the antidote and responded well to it once we got him going again, I'd like to leave his body to it. We'll monitor his blood over the rest of the afternoon to make sure the levels are going down as they should."
Virgil looked to the Doctor, "And what if they don't go down? There were only two petals,"
"That's possibly all he needed," The doctor assured him, "If it's still high tonight, I'll ask a nurse to put him on dialysis overnight."
Alan got up, "So he'll be okay?"
The doctor nodded, "Once the bones have healed and the poison is out of his system, he'll be fine."
"Can we see him?" Grandma asked quietly.
The Doctor held the door, "For a few minutes, of course someone can stay with him over night, but I'm afraid all of you-"
Jeff smiled and nodded, "We know the drill, thank you Doctor."
"I'll show you there now." The doctor smiled to them.
Kayo hung back as the others went ahead to see Scott, John hesitated and looked back to her, "Kay?"
She shook her head, "It's not my place to be there."
John sighed and turned back into the room, making sure the door was shut, "Yes it is Kayo, you're as much family to Scott as the rest of us. None of this was your fault."
She looked up to him, "But if I'd-"
"If you hadn't have been there, Scott would be dead." John reminded her, "He owes you his life, I don't think the others are going to care all that much about what the Hood said."
"We could have gotten him," She sighed, "Then this would all be over, he wouldn't still be out there looking for us."
"But someone else would be," John told her, "There will always be someone who wants out machines for the wrong reasons," He brushed a tear from her soft cheek as he paused, "It was just bad luck that the first one was him."
He sighed as she stepped into his arms, "It's okay," He murmured to her, "They don't hate you."
"They've not spoken to me though," She frowned, "Not-"
John pulled back and held her at arms length, "That means nothing, you should know that. We are all just in shock right now, that doesn't mean they hate you."
She sighed and nodded, "Okay."
John kissed her hair, "Come on, I expect Grandma will drag us home after we've seen Scott."
Kayo smiled softly to him, "Surely she wouldn't?"
John nodded as they began to walk, "We're no used to him here, is what she'll say, then she'll go on about how we'll be called as soon as..."
He paused as he pushed open the door to Scott's room, Grandma stood facing the youngest three, "... soon as anything changes."
John and Kayo shared a knowing grin and had to stifle their laughs as they stepped into the room.
"But-" Virgil was about to complain, sounding more like his youngest brother than the middle child.
"You know it's pointless arguing," John cut in with a look to their father, "Though maybe one of us should…"
Grandma looked over to her own son and frowned, "Hmm." She eventually nodded to John, "You can stay. The rest of you, home, now."
John opened his mouth to protest, that wasn't what he had intended. Virgil was a better candidate to stay, he had the bedside manner and was closer to Scott in so many ways. He had just wanted to go home and make sure Kayo stopped beating herself up.
A look with Virgil confirmed it though, there was no arguing with Grandma.
"Here," Jeff held out the paper cup to his son, "I went to the shop out on the corner."
John looked up from his newspaper and to the red cup, "Thanks,"
"I assumed you still favoured chocolate over coffee?" The father asked as he sat back down on the other side of Scott's bed.
John smiled and nodded, "Yeah, things haven't changed that much Dad."
Jeff snorted and looked down, "I know I've said I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to say."
John looked across to him, noting his father's tired eyes as they watched Scott. He had to admit that he looked sorry, it wasn't like he was simply just saying sorry. Suddenly, it clicked in John's head just why Grandma had made him stay. John was a listener, it was all he spent his days doing, listening, watching, and processing. If any of the brothers could see that their father truly was sorry, without blowing their top, it was probably John.
"You could tell me why you went," John murmured, looking across the bed, "What it was you were doing?"
Jeff nodded, "He was sending threats, mostly aimed at Kayo, but I couldn't risk it," He paused and looked down again, "If he'd have come after any of you, I never could have forgiven myself." John saw his father's hand tighten around the paper cup, "I had to find him, your Aunt and I thought that the element of surprise would help us. We were wrong."
Jeff looked up and across to his son, "I insisted on trying anyway, if we could just get on the inside we could flush him out." He shook his head, "George, a kid about Virgil's age, volunteered to go in, he was the best in his squad. The Hood took him down, he didn't stand a chance."
He sighed and shook his head, "I told your aunt that I wouldn't risk anyone else, it wasn't fair to make people fight for my cause. So I said I'd do it myself."
John frowned and looked to Scott, thinking about what had been said in the lounge, "But he shot you down too." He looked back to his father, "What happened? Why did you have to get Scott?"
The father sighed and stood up, moving around the bed with his slight limp. He could see John watching him as he reached down to his trouser leg, "I said the same to Scott, I didn't tell you because I didn't want the sympathy."
John frowned as he looked down to his father's leg, only to gasp in shock, "You… He…"
Jeff eased himself down by Scott's feet, "I'm not certain what happened, I never asked Val. It wouldn't change anything if I did know."
John nodded in agreement, still trying to process it in his head, "Why didn't you just tell us before?"
Jeff shrugged as he rubbed his aching leg, "I didn't want you to think it changed anything," He sighed, "Prosthetics these days are about as good as the real thing once you get used to them."
"You lost your leg," John whispered, closing his eyes as he shook his head, "Sorry, I-"
Jeff nodded to him, "Yeah, it's not easy to get your head around."
John shook his head again, the entire two days finally hitting him like a wrecking ball. It wasn't his fault, he hadn't lost their father. Dad was alive, he was there, but at the same time, Scott had almost died.
"John," His father sighed as he shook, "Hey, it's okay Son."
John shook his head as his father's hands rested on his shoulders, "I thought it was all my fault, that I couldn't find you. Maybe I'd done something wrong and-and-"
"Hush," Jeff soothed, as his son leant into the awkward hug, resting his head against his father's stomach, "It was anything but your fault John, I know that you did everything you could. I wish so badly I could go back and change the way I did things, because I shouldn't have done it like I did."
"You were just gone," John whispered, "I was meant to be watching, and you were just gone."
Jeff sighed, "I'm so sorry John, I'm sorry."
John blew out a long breath and pulled out of the hug, "It's fine, you had the right intentions at heart."
Jeff rested a hand on his son's shoulder and smiled softly, "I'm proud of you, of all six of you. It took guts to keep going like you did."
John smiled, wiping the stray tears from his cheeks, "I've missed you Dad, can we just forget what's happened and move on?"
Jeff nodded with a smile, "I'd like nothing better."
