Disclaimer: see chapter one

AN: I'm writing this while listening to the 'please hold- your call is important to us' message, so I apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes. I have tried to correct all of them, but a few may still be somewhere in the text. Ugh, this message is making me fall asleep… zzzzz.

Chapter Thirty Eight- Homecoming Surprise

Virgil sat of the edge of his bed, swinging his legs impatiently. When would he be getting out of here?

"Relax, Virgil. You'll have a heart attack if you don't." Gordon said. "And then you'll have to spend a few more days in here, and we don't want that, do we?"

"No. I really want to go home and have some real food for a change."

"I thought so." Gordon leaned over Virgil, checking Virgil's discharge papers. "You've forgotten your moniker on this piece of paper."

"I have?" Virgil snatched the pen from his table, and scrawled his signature on the paper in question. "Sorted."

"Sweet. Now we just have to wait for admin to collect them."

"Flaps?"

"Check."

"Brakes?"

"Check?"

"Fuel tank filled?"

"Check. John, can we just go?" Scott asked. "I'm tired and all I want to do is go home and crash. Is that possible?"

"Alright, alright." John replied, annoyed. "Don't take your temper out on me."

"I'm sorry." Scott sighed. "I just… I really want to get home."

John placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you do. Let's get this plane up in the air then."

For the first time in over a month, Virgil Tracy stepped out of the hospital doors, knowing he didn't have to return, well, for a while, at least. "This feels so unbelievably good!"

"Tell me about it." Gordon grinned back. "What do you feel like doing? According to Alan, Tin-Tin and Lady P have gone on another shopping trip, and Alan took a trip to the Silverstone Racing Track. We have a whole day to waste before we can go home."

Virgil slowly smiled; an idea had formed in his mind. "How would you feel if we went to another hospital?"

John rummaged around in the medical cupboard in the cockpit.

"What're you looking for?" Scott asked, without taking his eyes of the skies.

"Painkiller. Headache."

"It's in the bathroom. Drawer under the sink."

"Which idiot put it there?" John muttered as he walked out of the cockpit to find the required analgesics. "Seriously, I would never have thought to look there. Why wasn't there a sign or something?" he complained as he swallowed the pill and closed the door to the cockpit.

Scott stood up, wrenched open the door, and pointed to a sign. "If supply in question is not found, check bathroom cabinet. If there is none there, replace item as soon as possible. Its right there, Pinky." Scott peered at the stitches on John's head. "Are you sure you haven't got a concussion or anything?"

"I'm fine, Scott." John dismissed. "I just have a killer headache. Which won't affect my piloting," he continued, as Scott was about to interrupt. "Since we are nearly home anyway."

Scott looked down at his radar. "Tracy One to Base?"

"Go ahead, Tracy One." Jeff's voice filtered through the speakers.

"Requesting landing permission." Scott said into his headset

"Affirmative. You have landing clearance on the west side of the island on runway seven."

"Runway seven; roger that."

"Boys," Jeff smiled. "It's good to have you home."

Virgil ambled through another hospital corridor, full of confidence.

"Virg, why are we here?" Gordon asked. "I'm not sure about you, but I've been in enough hospitals over the past few years to last me a lifetime. You're voluntarily visiting hospital just hours after you left one."

"This is an idea that separates the great minds from the weak. Now please, be quiet, and don't embarrass me."

Virgil sailed up to the central desk, and stood behind a figure that was unmistakably Gus. "When you get off your shift?"

Gus jumped about three feet in the air. "Virgil! You surprised me."

"You ready to go?"

"Almost." Gus squirmed. "I have two more patients to see."

Virgil kissed her hungrily. "I don't think I can wait that long."

Gus pushed him back gently. "Try. As soon as I'm done, I'm all yours."

Scott had crashed on the sofa, while John was sitting behind his laptop and Tash had gone for a walk on the beach.

"How was the flight, son?" Jeff asked as he entered the room.

"It was fine. The log books are on your desk if you wanted to have a look." John replied, knowing Jeff was staring at the stitches in his head.

"What happened to you, John? You like you've been to war and back."

"Psycho-stalker." Scott mumbled. "We dealt with him. No biggie."

"A stalker?" Jeff echoed, dangerously quiet. "An actual stalker? And none of you thought it was prudent to inform me about it?!"

"What would you have done, Dad?" John challenged. "You were hundreds of miles away from us."

Jeff perched on his desk. "Tell me everything. Start from the beginning. I think you two owe me that much."

"There was this guy," John began. "At the hospital in Sydney. He pinned Tash to the wall. Luckily security managed to remove the guy before he could hurt her."

Jeff's tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

"But he was still following us. On our last night there, Scott had the feeling someone or something was watching us. We decided to split up and travel home separately in order to lose the person stalking us. They left Scott and Tash alone. They followed me instead. He chased me across the road, just as a car was coming. That's how I ended up with twenty seven stitches in my head."

Jeff sucked in a deep breath of air, trying to calm himself down. "Did you report it?"

Both boys shook their head.

"Again Dad, what could they have done?"

"They would have done something, Scott! You don't have to put up with this! Don't cop shit if you don't have to!"

Scott blinked, while John's eyes widened. Did their father just swear? Yes, he did.

An incoming call alert diverted Jeff attention. "Go ahead."

"Requesting landing clearance on runway five, if you please." The unique, nasally drawl of Parker's voice rang around the room.

"Clearance granted. We'll see you in a few moments." Jeff disconnected. "Looks like Virgil and the others came with Penny. We'd better go down to see them."

Slipping of the table, Jeff, John and Scott made their way to runway five, where they could hear Parker landing Penelope's sleek, albeit pink multi-functional car.

Gordon was the first one to appear from the car, followed by Alan, Tin-Tin and Virgil. Unexpected to Jeff, one more person, who wasn't Lady Penelope, exited the car.

"Gus, lovely to see you again." Jeff greeted with a forced smile. "Please, feel free to go up to the villa. The boys will show you the way."

Virgil made a move forward, but Jeff stopped him. "Virgil," Jeff spat out through gritted teeth once the brothers were out of earshot. "What do you think you're doing? You'd better have a good explanation for this!"

Virgil stared Jeff straight in his eyes. "She knows, Dad. She knows."

AN: please review.