Disclaimer: see chapter one
AN: Hey, found some spare time, so I decided to post. Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Twenty One- Shivers and Tingles
There was a deathly silence in the room, as the news sunk in.
Gordon tilted his head to the left, and started banging his palm against his head.
"Gordon, what are you doing?" Jeff asked, alarmed at his son's strange behaviour.
"I think I have some water stuck in my ear." Gordon replied. "Did you say that you were closing International Rescue?"
"Gordon," Jeff snarled, annoyed at his second youngest son. "I have told you thousands of times before; not everything is a joke. Take this seriously!"
"But, you can't!" John raised his ice-blue eyes to Jeff's stormy grey one. "You just can't close us down!"
"I think you'll find I can. We have already lost three of our permanent operatives. There are only three left. I can't risk anyone else getting hurt."
"Jeff, darling, I don't mind helping out with International Rescue if you need the numbers."
"Thank you, Penelope, but that will not be necessary." Jeff's tone was clipped and precise, as sharp as ice.
Scott and John's eyes widened in surprise. In all their years of knowing Lady Penelope, they knew their father had never spoken to her like that.
"Dad, John's right." Alan appealed. "You can't close us down. So many other people will be affected without us."
"This is not up for discussion!" Jeff yelled, waking a sleeping Leroy. "It is just not practical to run IR with our current numbers. I have made my decision, and I am sticking to it!"
Infuriated, Alan stood up carrying a screaming Leroy. He squared up to his father, and stared him straight in the eye. "This is bullshit and you know it!" He spat, before storming out of the room, Tin-Tin following in his wake.
Virgil pulled himself up with difficulty into a sitting position. He glanced apprehensively at the size of the breakfast tray in front of him. Normally, he would have been able to finish the tray with relative ease, but today, it was impossible for him to swallow one mouthful of egg.
He put it down to nerves; today was his first day of physio therapy, and he didn't know what to expect.
Placing his fork down on the plate, he wondered how his brothers would take Jeff's startling revelation, and whether they would hate him for agreeing to it.
Scott and John approached the solitary figure sitting on the bench. His back was ramrod straight, but his face remained impassive.
Scott and John sat down on either side of the figure.
"We want a word with you." John began
"And I want a word with you." Jeff nodded to Scott.
"Fine, but we want to know what's going on." Scott said.
"What's going on?" Jeff echoed.
"With you and Lady P. You've never, ever spoken to her like that before." John answered. "And don't worry; they're not here to hear this. The girls and Alan have gone for some retail therapy. I presume Alan was dragged along with Tin-Tin."
Jeff shifted uncomfortably. He should have known Scott and John would suss this out.
"I sort of did something to jeopardise our work relationship." Jeff mumbled.
"It can't be that bad. There'll be a way to get past it." John patted his father on the shoulder.
Jeff swallowed. "There won't be a way to get past this. I stuffed up, big time."
"What did you do?" Scott sounded wary and flat.
Jeff placed his head in his hands, and raked his hair. "I don't know why I did it. I don't know why I …" Jeff let his words trail of into nothing.
John groaned inwardly, as did Scott. This was like drawing blood from a stone.
"What did you do?" Scott repeated, impatience tinged in his voice.
"I kissed her!" Jeff yelled, frustrated.
The stunned silence was deafening, only broken when Scott emitted a low whistle. "You what?"
"Don't make me say it again."
John dipped his head, and swallowed painfully, not willing to let Scott of Jeff see the tears that threatened to leak out of his eyes. 'How could he do that?' John thought. 'Does this mean he doesn't love Mom anymore?'
"The thing is," Jeff looked to his sons for advice. "Why am I so confused and upset?"
"Are you confused because you kissed someone," John asked introspectively, before walking away. "Or are you upset because that someone wasn't Mom?"
Virgil flicked through the channels on his TV. Nothing could hold his interest, which wasn't surprising. He didn't even notice John slink into the room.
"There's an old re-run of Star Trek, if you wanted something to watch."
Virgil turned around in surprise. "John! I should've known it was you! Who else would want to watch Star Trek?"
"Scott?"
Virgil shook his head. "Nah, Scott prefers Doctor Who. Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, but what brings you here? I thought Dad was the person to come in first today."
"Yeah," John smiled. "I don't think he'll do that today. Gordon might come later, though."
"Why? What happened?" Virgil was immediately on full alert. When John didn't reply, Virgil eyed him beadily. "Has something happened, and you're not telling me?"
"No, no. Dad's just a bit preoccupied with… stuff right now." John reassured him.
Virgil nodded, clearly thinking about something. "John, do you hate me?"
"Why?" John was completely baffled with that question.
"Because I let Dad close IR down. Because I supported his idea."
"No. Virgil, I could never hate you. No matter what."
"So, what did you want to see me for?"
"I just wanted to know how you've been doing, son." Jeff placed his arm on his son's shoulder.
"I'm fine." Scott replied, with false cheeriness. "No worse than I was before."
Jeff was clearly not fooled by Scott's façade.
"I am." Scott insisted, but they both knew Scott was trying to convince himself of the fact.
"You're not. I know you're not."
Scott gave in. There was no point trying to hide this from his Dad. "I just wonder if I'm doing the right thing."
"Doing the right thing?"
"With the treatment. Sometimes it seems easier to take my chances, poor as they are."
"But, Scott," Jeff stammered. "Why?"
"It doesn't seem worth it now." Scott looked glumly at his feet. "Sometimes, I wonder how much better I'll feel if I stop the treatment."
Jeff couldn't believe what he was hearing, and an eerie tingle lingered in the air. He knew mood swings and depression were a side effect of Pentacibil; he just thought it wouldn't affect Scott.
"There are days when I just want to feel… normal again."
Jeff's brain finally began to work. "You can't stop. Think about how it will affect your children."
"But it is affecting them." Scott argued. "I can't make them suffer anymore."
"If you stop taking the chemo, you'll feel fine, for a short while." Jeff hated what he was doing, hated spelling the harsh reality out in black and white, but he had to make Scott see sense. "You won't make it to your twenty-seventh birthday. And then Mel and your son will have to grow up without a dad." Jeff raised his eyes to meet Scott's. "Scott, you know how hard it was without two parents. Don't let your kids suffer the same fate."
Scott rested his head on his shoulder. "What would you do, Dad?"
"Me, son? If I were you, I would carry on. You've more to gain than you've got to lose."
Virgil head swivelled to the door, and John drew his eyes away from the re-run of Star Trek.
"Oh, I'm sorry," a voice called from the door. "I must have the wrong room."
"Don't worry about it." Virgil called back.
John's eyes flicked from the door to his watch. "When will the physio come?"
"Gus should be here soon."
Almost as if it was a sign, the door to Virgil's room opened once more.
A pair of brown eyes blinked rapidly at the person on the bed. "Wait," she paced slowly towards the patient. "You're Virgil Tracy?"
"Yeah, I am." Virgil replied, almost defensively. "Why?"
The blonde mixed with light brown shook her head slightly. "I thought you would be…" she hesitated, searching for the right word. "Different."
"Different?" Virgil echoed.
"Yes. Different." She tilted her head to the side. "OK, we'll start with the introductions. I'm Gus, and I'm your physio."
"You're Gus?" Virgil interrupted.
"Last time I checked."
"But, but," Virgil stammered helplessly. "You're female."
Behind Virgil, John slapped a hand to his forehead. 'Smooth Virg, real smooth.'
"I know I am." Gus dismissed, before thinking on what Virgil had said. The penny dropped. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no. Gus, short for Augustina. But no-one ever uses that name."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Virgil flushed.
"It's OK. Now, the first thing I want to do is a physical examination. Just see if there have been any scars or soft tissue damage, and then chart them. Standard procedure."
Gus eased Virgil onto his side, and began taking notes. Her face pulled into a disapproving, but puzzled frown. "You have had a lot of injuries over the years, haven't you?"
"Yeah, living with four brothers makes you kind of accident prone." Virgil winced a smile.
"I don't doubt that." Gus replied dryly. She prodded his left shoulder, sending shivers down his spine. "Now this, this is older than the others. Small tissue damage. Quite deep, given the scarring. Small indentations that look like… teeth marks. There's only one thing that is consistent with this, and it's going to strange, but have you ever been hit by a furry animal?"
Virgil sighed, before summarising his tale. "It was an otter, I was ten, it was dead, someone threw it at me, can we move on please?"
"Sure." Gus placed a carbon copy of her chart into a file, before adding details onto the data pad attached to Virgil's bed. "Well, tomorrow I'd like to start building up your leg muscles. This will involve some simple exercises, and we might try some hydrotherapy if time permits. If any feeling returns at any point, no matter how insignificant it feels, please let me know, because it could be important.
"Sure thing." Virgil agreed, with a flash of a half smile.
Gus had to smile back. "I'll see you sometime tomorrow."
After the door had closed behind her, Virgil let out a soft laugh. "Wow. What do you think, John?"
"I think you need to pop your eyes back into your head." John sounded surly.
"What's up with you?" Virgil asked mildly, taken aback by his viciousness.
"Virgil, she is your physiotherapist. You cannot start something with her. It is ethically wrong."
Virgil continued, as though he had not heard John. "I reckon physio is going to be a lot of fun tomorrow."
AN: So, what will Scott do? Will Alan ever forgive Jeff for closing IR? Will Virgil heed John's warning? And what about the otter that hit Virgil? Yep, there is a story behind that. Find out soon. Please review.