~#~ (Chapter 29)
Gordon dragged John to his feet and helped him into the shower with the promise of coffee once he was warm and dry. John leant heavily against the wall and let the hot water sluice over him for several minutes before he awkwardly soaped and rinsed himself off. He had to ask for help in removing the lid of the shampoo bottle but managed to one-handedly wash his hair once Gordon had opened the cap and squeezed a large dollop of the shampoo onto his head.
When John was done, Gordon tied a towel around his waist and propped him up on one of the beds in the sickbay. He handed John a steaming mug of coffee and smiled as his brother let out an appreciative sigh and leant back against the head of the bed.
"Don't go to sleep yet," Gordon murmured. "I know that's what you want and probably what you need but you need to finish your drink and get dressed first. OK? Your clothes are at the end of the bed. Are you going to need help with them?"
John shrugged sleepily. "I'll yell if I do. You go and get showered. I'll be here when you get back."
~#~
Gordon finished his own coffee before showering. Like his brother he revelled in the powerful spray of hot water and spent far longer than normal in the bathroom. Once he was done he wandered into the sickbay to find John exactly where he'd left him but fast asleep. He had managed to get at least part-way dressed before sleep had taken him and Gordon smiled tenderly as he pulled a dry blanket from the cupboard and spread it over him.
~#~
Once the storm abated, Virgil and Alan finally made it back to the clearing. Virgil keyed the entry sequence into the panel on the pod door and the pair trudged inside.
"No welcoming committee," Alan commented quietly. "I'd got kind of used to Gordon having a coffee ready when we got back."
Virgil looked around the pod, frowned and pointed at the pile of sodden uniform at the base of one of the dark green walls. "I can see Gordon's sash there as well as John's. It looks like the others have run into some…difficulties here while we've been swapping stories with the locals. The sickbay's the logical place to start looking, let's head there."
Alan held out his arm and waved it in Virgil's direction. "Shouldn't we…?"
"Only if we can't find them," Virgil shook his head. "Something's happened, that much is obvious and the fact that Gordon's not here to meet us tells me that he's 'A', still dealing with it, 'B', that he's dealt with it and got side-tracked onto something else entirely or 'C', that he's tried to deal with it, failed and has gone into hiding somewhere. Whichever option, he doesn't need a sudden radio call to disturb him. OK?"
Alan shrugged. "I guess so, when you put it like that. What about John though? He's not here either."
Virgil rolled his eyes and growled softly. "I haven't been out of your sight for the best part of three hours. Why would I know any more than you?"
"Hey, I was only thinking aloud." Alan held his hands up in defeat. "You didn't need to answer me, let alone bite my head off. I'm just worried, that's all."
Virgil carefully reined in what could have been a snappy reply and sighed loudly as he patted Alan on the back. "I know. I am too. I'm also tired, dirty and in dire need of a good, hot, home-cooked meal. Once we find the others and get confirmation that the Red Cross are ready to take over, then we can go home. OK?"
~#~
By now the pair had reached the door to the sickbay. Virgil put a finger to his lips, gently tugged Alan into a safer position behind him and then slid the door open.
He peered through the doorway and frowned as he stepped forward into the dimly lit room.
"What is it?" Alan hissed from behind him. "Virg? What do you see?"
Virgil quietly hushed him and beckoned him to follow as he crept across the room and paused beside the bed which he could see held one of his two missing brothers. Alan continued a little further into the room and stopped on the opposite side of the bed where he found Gordon, sprawled in a chair, fast asleep.
"Gordy looks OK," he whispered. "I think he's just asleep."
"That's more than can be said for John," Virgil replied quietly. "He hasn't had an easy couple of hours although his hair's wet and he smells clean so I'd say he must have showered before he lay down."
Alan stepped away from Gordon and stood opposite Virgil. "His arm..."
"…is injured." Both Virgil and Alan visibly jumped as Gordon uncurled himself and scrambled off the chair. "I'm not sure how badly but it's swollen and he's none too keen on it being touched. As to why it's tucked inside his shirt like that…well I guess that's the best he could do without asking me for help."
Virgil raised an eyebrow at the aquanaut who shrugged. "I left him here with instructions to get dressed while I showered. I…I guess I may have taken longer in there than I thought 'cos when I got back he was asleep; more or less like he is now but without the blanket. I covered him over and sat down to keep an eye on him but things obviously didn't quite work out how I planned."
Virgil leaned across the bed and patted Gordon's hair. "You're wet."
"I know," Gordon replied with a frown. "I just told you I took a shower. Are you feeling alright, Virg?"
Virgil shook his head to clear it and then put his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, you're right. You did say that you'd showered. Look, I think we need to tell Dad we're going to take a break and we need to lock the birds down and sleep. I'm in no fit state to fly home and neither is he…" Virgil pointed at John and frowned. "You're going to have to take One back, Al and you…" he leaned over and jabbed Gordon in the chest with his finger. "…haven't told us how John got in this state, nor why you needed to shower. We saw all the uniform in the pod. It was completely soaked, almost like you'd been swimming in it or something."
Gordon looked down at his quiet brother on the bed. "I kind of did…and so did John. He…he…" Gordon bit down hard on his lip as he tried to stop himself from crying but failed and a tear rolled slowly out of his eye and down his cheek. "He should have never tried to leave One. He was safe over there. I tried to tell him to stay put but he either didn't see me or he didn't understand what I was trying to say. Dad's already given me a balling out for going into the water and now you're having a go as well. I wasn't going to just leave him semi-conscious in the ocean without at least trying to get him back. Even if I didn't manage it then at least I could have said that I'd tried."
Virgil reacted instinctively to the tear on Gordon's face and hurried around the bed, elbowing Alan aside in his haste to reach his second-youngest brother. He wrapped the aquanaut in a hug and rocked him gently. "I'm sorry. We're all tired, tempers are frayed and one of us is hurt which makes things a good hundred times or so worse. Just be glad Scott's not here, he'd have no doubt been worse than both Dad and I put together."
"If Scott was here then none of this would have happened," Gordon argued quietly. "He wouldn't have left One in the first place so he wouldn't have ended up in the water. He'd have locked himself in the cockpit and stayed safely out of harm's way."
There was a quiet cough from the bed. "And you'd have still been stuck in the pod. You were so happy that you'd finally managed to go outside, Gords, don't let anyone, Dad or Scott or anyone put a downer on that. You got over your fear and you came out and saved me. If anyone says that's not one of the bravest things ever then send them my way. I didn't hear all of that but shame on you, Virg."
Colour flushed into Virgil's cheeks as he released Gordon and sat gently on the edge of John's bed. "You look like crap, Johnny," he said softly. "Whatever possessed you to go for a dip in weather like we've just had?"
"I guessed it seemed like a good idea at the time," John replied and chuckled softly. What started as a chuckled ended as a cough and the blonde Tracy rubbed at his chest with the hand of his good arm and groaned. "Doesn't seem like such a good idea now though. You and Al got back with no problems?"
Virgil nodded as Alan murmured a quiet 'yes' from behind him. "We did. I suggested that we might lock down the birds and have a decent break before flying home though. Will you let me check you over first, in case you need to get home more quickly than that? Your arm looks like it could do with sorting out properly too, rather than being tucked in your shirt."
John looked down and nodded vaguely. "Gords stuck me with a pain killing jab earlier but I guess you'll want to start me on something as a precaution against whatever might have been lurking in the water."
"Correct assumption," Virgil nodded again. "Al, go and get yourself changed and have a word with Dad. Get him up to date with what's going on and tell him we'll be staying put for the time being unless I find anything particularly urgent wrong with John." He looked apologetically at his injured brother. "I'm not expecting to, I just want to warn him, just in case."
John nodded and allowed his head to roll slightly to one side so he could see Gordon and smiled at the aquanaut who was standing beside him looking lost. "Virg's got me now, Gords. Why don't you go keep Alan company and then crash in the crew quarters. The beds in there are way more comfy than that chair could ever be."
Gordon shrugged and blinked hard before he realised that Alan had moved to the doorway and was waiting for him. "OK," he replied. "…but will you two…will you be alright in here?"
Virgil stood up and gently turned Gordon towards the door. "We'll be fine. I may be tired and somewhat rough around the edges but I still remember how to patch up broken astronauts. Now go, talk to Dad and then sleep. I'll crash down here with Johnny once I've patched him up."
