~#~ (Chapter 38)

Scott made his way back to his room where he sat down at his desk and mulled over the conversation he'd just had with John. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation he chuckled and a smile spread across his face. Scott jumped to his feet, strode from the room and into Jeff's office. He opened the drink cabinet, removed a bottle of Scotch and two glasses and then set off to find his father.

Jeff was sitting alone by the pool. The Tracy patriarch had finished talking to Kyrano and Tin-Tin about fifteen minutes before but had remained seated at one of the glass-topped tables. He was at a loss of what to do as he was wide awake and everyone else was winding down because the day was drawing to a close. He jumped slightly as Scott appeared behind him and reached over to gently place the Scotch and glasses on the table.

"Father?" Scott asked. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

Jeff looked across to his eldest son. "Would you believe that I'm not sure what to do with myself? I'm only going to be back here for a few days and I don't want to disrupt what you've been doing by jumping in and then jumping back out when I disappear again. Scott, you do a fantastic job, keeping everything running when I'm away and I don't want to make it look like I'm checking up on you by going and sitting in my office. Bear in mind as well that it's late and you lot have been up all day while my body's telling me that it's really some time tomorrow afternoon even though I had that unscheduled nap this afternoon."

"That time-travel thing's no fun," Scott agreed. "That's one of the good things about Tracy Industries being where it is, there's only a couple of hours difference between here and there."

Jeff nodded his agreement. "Makes life a lot easier," he commented. "Mind you, John obviously never had a problem with going backwards and forwards. It sounds as if he'd been visiting Rosie in New Zealand for years and the time difference for there is even worse."

Scott spun the lid off the Scotch, poured a generous portion into one of the glasses and pushed it towards Jeff. He then poured a much smaller amount into the second glass, resealed the bottle and sat back on his chair. Jeff looked between the glasses with a quizzical expression on his face until Scott quietly reminded him that while Jeff was equivalently off duty, he was not.

"I still can't understand how come we didn't realise John had a girl," the younger of the two men said after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence. "I mean, I know he's the quietest of all of us and that he keeps himself to himself a lot, even when he's here, but still…that's a big chunk of his life to keep completely hidden from us. Did he keep quiet deliberately so we wouldn't tease him when he left the island or do you think he just took the 'family secret' thing a little too seriously?"

Jeff took a sip of his Scotch while he composed his reply. "I…" he said eventually, "I don't know if he would have even realised that he was doing it but I think that he may have been hiding his and Rosie's relationship from me." Jeff left his words hanging as he took another drink.

"What?" Scott asked, shaking his head. "…or should that be 'why'? Why would he do that? And what makes you think that's what he was doing?"

Jeff frowned. "John…John asked me why I didn't go postal on him when I found out about Jacob," he said sadly. "Why I didn't…how did he put it? Oh, yes, why I didn't tear strips off him the moment he got back from Five. He reminded me of all the times I'd drilled into you all about the 'right order to do things' and how I'd never condoned sex before marriage or pre-marital overnight stays. I didn't realise I'd been so stringent about it but after Alan's comments earlier I've realised that I may have pushed my point across a little too strongly over the years. Maybe you should have all just ignored what I was saying, I'm just an old hypocrite after all's said and done."

Scott choked on his drink and then frantically swallowed as the wrongly-routed Scotch made his eyes burn and his nose sting. Jeff clapped him hard on his back and after a burst of raucous coughing Scott finally managed to clear his airways. "Don't," he squeaked, "…make me do that again. You might be an 'old hypocrite' but you've only ever had our best interests at heart and I think it's pretty obvious that at least three of us took what you were saying with a hefty pinch of salt anyway. I certainly did, John put his own spin on it and…no offence intended in any way but when Gordon discovered girls he didn't even bother with the pinch, he went right off with the whole barrel…and you never said a thing."

"I know. I really should have spoken to him," Jeff replied quietly. "Believe me, I know. I've been far more lenient with Gordon than the rest of you…it's just…his accident was the closest I've come to losing one of you since we lost your mother. How could I reprimand him for having a little fun after he came so close to death? How could I pull him up and chastise him after he put so much work into just getting back on his feet, let alone the time and effort it took for him to become fully independent again. How, Scott?" Jeff knocked back the rest of his drink and dropped the glass back onto the tabletop, breathing heavily.

Scott watched his father and realised that it wasn't only John's emotions that were running close to the surface. John had told him that Jeff had been a pillar of strength over the past few days but it seemed to Scott that Jeff's emotional barriers were falling away now that he was back on the island. The stress of having to remain strong for John was showing on their father and the older man was tired, jetlagged and emotionally wrung out.

Scott leaned over and grasped Jeff's right hand. "You couldn't, Father," he replied. "…and I understand what you're saying…about Gordon being a special case, I mean."

Jeff one-handedly opened the Scotch bottle and poured a small amount into his empty glass. He then sat the glass on his lap and nursed it, all the while still holding onto Scott's hand. "All five of you are special to me, Scott. Virgil has his…issues, John is incredibly bright and Alan's the baby of the family. You…you'll always be special because you were first."

Scott squeezed Jeff's hand and looked down to study the tabletop. Jeff's burst of apparent distress had only lasted for a couple of minutes and he seemed to have mellowed into a contemplative mood.

The two remained by the pool until Scott became tired and went to bed. Jeff looked at his watch and wandered into his office to call Penelope.