~#~ (Chapter 21)

Almost an hour later, John called out quietly to Jeff who was drowsing on the step beside Alan who had fallen asleep, still wrapped in the blanket.

"Hey," Jeff called quietly back, "How are you doing over there?"

John craned his head round uncomfortably until he could see his father and then chuckled. "Much the same as you, it seems. I take it he's asleep in there?"

Jeff nodded. "Has been for some time," he replied. "What about yours?"

John rested his cheek against Gordon's forehead for a moment and then looked back at Jeff. "Cried himself to sleep. He…I knew it was coming but, Christ, when Gordon bottles it, he really bottles it."

Jeff smiled sadly and copied John's backwards-looking motion as he looked towards the house in an attempt to locate Kyrano. "I can't see a thing up there," he hissed. "Why didn't you turn more lights on?"

"'Cos you were asleep on the sofa." Alan's quietly grumbled reply made Jeff jump and then smile.

"Alan," he murmured. "I thought you were asleep."

"Was," he groaned. "Too much talking. We…" Alan was forced to stop talking when his face was split by a huge yawn which he tried to smother in the blanket. "Ugh, er, sorry. John sent me to turn on the lights but you and Kyrano were asleep so I turned on as few as I thought I could get away with. I don't think I disturbed either of you."

Jeff shook his head. "You didn't disturb me, or at least not enough for me to have been aware of it."

The patio doors at the top of the steps made a quiet 'swish' and Jeff leant backwards to see Kyrano padding silently towards him. Kyrano nodded to acknowledge Jeff's look and sat down a couple of steps above Alan's right shoulder. "I did not want to intrude before," he explained softly. "…but when it became apparent that several of you had awoken I thought it wise to offer my assistance, either with refreshments or with Masters Alan or Gordon."

He, Jeff and Alan all looked down to where John and Gordon were lying on the tiles at the edge of the pool. "I…I would like to move him," John admitted. "Even if it's just on to one of the loungers. Gords has pretty much dried out from his dip in the pool but I'm…" John wriggled as much as he could without disturbing Gordon. "…well, I'm kind of...in a puddle."

Kyrano nodded and, with a swish of silk, clambered to his feet and hurried into the house. John watched him go with a frown on his face. "Where do you suppose he's gone?"

Jeff looked in the direction which Kyrano had disappeared in and shrugged. "I'm not sure but we'll know soon enough. Alan, can I move you onto one of the loungers as well? I don't know about you but I'm not going to be able to get up if I sit here much longer."

Alan chuckled and untangled himself from the blanket so he could get to his feet. He held his hand out to help Jeff up and grinned when the older man groaned and rubbed his hip. "You should have said something sooner."

"I didn't want to wake you," Jeff replied. "…and I'll be alright in a minute. I just need to move around a bit. You can sit down again if you want, I won't be offended."

Alan smiled softly and turned to see Kyrano heading back down the steps with a pile of soft towels. "I'm going to go and make some drinks," he announced and scooped his blanket back up off the steps to allow Kyrano past. "I'll be back in a bit. Should I make a flask? Then if Gordon wakes up he can have some but it won't matter if he doesn't 'cos there'll just be more for the rest of us."

Jeff waited for Kyrano to pass them and then gently pushed his son up the first couple of steps. "A flask will do fine," he replied. "Make sure you bring enough cups though so that Kyrano can drink with us. If you only bring four then he'll feel obligated not to take the last one in case Gordon wakes up and needs it."

Alan nodded and headed off into the house. He turned and looked down when he reached the door and watched as Kyrano helped John to lift Gordon up from the floor.

Jeff rubbed the worst of the water from John's shoulders and back, wrapped a towel around his damp sweatpants and then nudged him over to the towel-covered sun lounger. It took both Jeff and Kyrano's help to get John down onto the sun lounger without disturbing Gordon but between them they managed it and by the time John was settled under a blanket, Alan had disappeared into the house.

~#~

Gordon didn't wake when Alan returned with the drinks and was still steadfastly asleep by the time the flask of hot chocolate was empty. A brief discussion was held about whether to wake him or leave him and eventually it was decided that John would remain outside on the sun lounger with him until Gordon woke himself.

Alan couldn't face the idea of going back to Gordon's room alone so Jeff took him to bed with him instead. Alan spent the rest of the night curled up against his father's back like a frightened child and was still there when Ruth finally woke them for breakfast just before 9.30.

~#~

Alan went back to his room to dress and have a quick wash while Jeff did the same in his own bathroom. They met up again once they were both ready and wandered through into the kitchen where they found John and Gordon sitting together at the table. John's plate was empty, save for a couple of smears of syrup whereas Gordon had a pile of pancakes in front of him which he was slowly demolishing.

Jeff stepped into the room and kissed John's hair before wandering over to Gordon and doing the same to him. "How are you both this morning," he asked quietly.

Gordon sniggered quietly and raised his eyes from his plate just long enough to glance at John and quickly turned back to his food. "John's all stiff," he murmured. "…in a non-specific sort of a way. He's just…stiff."

Alan snorted and then yelped and hid behind Gordon when John swiped one of the napkins off the table and flicked the back of his legs with it. "Not so stiff that I can't catch little twerps who take the piss out of me. You try spending the night wrapped in damp towels on one of those lounger chairs and see how well you can move in the morning."

Gordon looked up and batted his eyes at John in a way that was obviously supposed to look innocent but actually had the effect of making the aquanaut look like he was high on some sort of illegal substance. "I spent the night wrapped in damp towels on one of those lounger chairs and I'm just fine, look." He stood up, mindful of his plate and held his hands out beside him before flexing his rather impressive biceps. "See?"

John picked up his fork, stabbed at Gordon's last piece of pancake and stuck it in his mouth before his brother had the chance to object. He chewed slowly, swallowed and then brandished the fork at Gordon. "You did not…" he began. "…spend the night on the lounger chair, wrapped in damp towels. You spent the night on the lounger wrapped between me and a nice warm blanket. You were dry when you went into the blanket and you were dry when you came out of it again and don't forget, I spent the best part of an hour lying in a puddle before we even got onto the chair."

Gordon blushed and looked down at his plate. He frowned at the lack of pancake and sighed. "Aw, man, I was enjoying that."

Jeff patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure your grandmother will let you have seconds if you ask her nicely."

John chuckled and pointed at the plate with his fork. "That was seconds," he said with a grin. "…but I'm sure Grandma will run to thirds if you ask her reeeally nicely."

Gordon looked from John to his plate, to Jeff and then back to John who smiled at him and nodded encouragingly. "Really nicely, Gords. Ask her reeeally nicely."

Gordon scurried into the pantry where he knew Ruth was getting the things together for the day's main meal. The door swung closed behind him and there was a pause before Jeff, John and Alan heard Ruth squeal. "Put me down, young man. I've never liked carousels and I certainly don't need to know what it feels like to be a human one." There was another pause shortly followed by an exclamation of, "No. No, I don't need your help. Yes, I'm perfectly capable of reaching that shelf. For heaven's sake Gordon, will you go and sit down. I'll make you something in a moment now shoo!"

Gordon bounced out of the pantry and headed back towards the table, high-fiving Alan as he passed him. He threw himself back into his seat and sat there looking rather smug as John and Jeff looked at one another in amusement.

Jeff nodded to John and then moved to sit in his usual spot at the head of the table. Kyrano appeared a moment later and placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of both Jeff and Alan. He peered into John's mug, tutted softly and then wandered away again, returning a moment later with a carafe of coffee which he filled John's mug up with before doing the same to Gordon's.