"Ready or not, here I come!" Scott yelled, not sure who he was yelling to as his brothers had scarpered, his father remained sat at his desk writing but smirked when his eldest son, who was only twelve, turned around.

"Better get going son."

Scott nodded, "I'll check all the obvious spots first."

"They know the rules."

Scott ran from the lounge and down the steps to the kitchen, he opened all the cupboards then heard a short giggle, "hmm, I guess there's no-one in here. Shame. I feel lonely." Gordon bit his lip as he spotted Scott's shoes go past his hiding spot, the eldest walked round the back of the marble island then grabbed his fourth youngest brother around his middle from where he was hiding under the table, "gotcha!"

"No!" Gordon yelped, "I had a great hiding space," he squirmed as Scott tickled him.

"But not good enough."

"I know where the others are hiding! I'll tell you."

"Gordon, I'm the seeker, don't spoil the game," Scott pressed a finger to his lips, "follow me."

Gordon laughed and copied Scott's tiptoeing along the corridor to the study, they poked their heads around the door and Scott spotted Virgil's heel poking out from under the desk, "there's no-one here Scott, I know where Kayo is, come on!"

Scott smirked, "wait a moment Gordon, I'm not done in here."

"Huh?"

Scott saw Virgil's heel twitch and decided to play for time, "nah, you're probably right. I give up on this room, I think I'll take the piano apart and look in there," he waited for a gasp and Gordon grinned.

"Virgie!"

"Don't touch my piano, Scott," Virgil crawled out from under the desk and into Scott's arms.

"Whoa, it was only to get you out of there," he laughed, "that's two to me."

"Nawh," Virgil sighed and his fringe fell over his eyes.

"You should get that cut bro," Scott stroked the black tuft back off his forehead with a smile, "come on, I have three other siblings to find."

Virgil followed, "I'll be in the lounge, is dad there?"

Scott nodded, "yep. Gordon, are you coming with me or going with Virgil?"

"Virgil," Gordon smiled gripping Virgil's hand in his, he had recently become very attached to the second eldest.

"Fine by me, I'll round up the others," Scott walked into the corridor with the the younger two and straight into John who was in tears, "John?"

John sobbed, "you didn't find me and I was scared you'd never come!"

Scott wrapped his arms around him, the boy was nine but had been deeply affected by their mother's death, and ever since, he hated the feeling of not seeing any of his family, "you can help me find Alan and Kayo," he stroked John's hair gently and smiled as the sobbing settled into sniffs, they walked off leaving Virgil to go to the lounge with Gordon, Jeff looked up at their entrance and laughed.

"Found already?"

Virgil sat down on the piano stool with a huff, "yep. I think Scott was cheating."

"He wasn't Virgil, he wouldn't do that," Gordon objected making Jeff chuckle, "maybe you're just bad at hiding."

"Don't be mean Gordon, no doubt you were found first by giving your position away?" Jeff noticed Virgil bristle.

Gordon shook his head, "nah ah."

The game was over pretty fast but there was one problem, Alan hadn't been found, Scott paced the lounge as Jeff did a scan of the island looking for heat signals.

"He wouldn't have gone into the jungle dad, he's only four but he knows the rules," Scott leant on the desk.

Jeff frowned, "someone should've hidden with him. Did any of you see where he went?"

Kayo nodded from where she was sitting beside Virgil, "he ran past me when I hid by the pool."

"That's going towards the beach!" Scott jumped up from the sofa, "I'm on my way."

Jeff grabbed Gordon by the shoulder, "wait here. Virgil, Kayo go with him, I want to keep an eye on the rest of you."

Alan clung onto a tree branch tearfully, climbing up had been easy but now there was only one way down, falling into the water below, "daddy!" He cried, tears had already streamed down his face so new ones simply skimmed the surface of his cheeks, "help me!"

Scott ran down the beach path followed by Virgil and Kayo and he skidded to a halt on the beach hearing a voice, "wait, listen."

"Help!"

"That way Scott," Virgil pointed to the edge of the cliff and Scott feared the worst.

"He can't have," Scott whispered and took off at a flat sprint up to the palm trees, he looked up and spotted Alan clinging onto a branch, it wasn't a high cliff but one false fall could lead onto the rocks instead of the sea below, "it's okay Ali, don't move."

"Scotty, help!"

Virgil's heart broke, "we have to get onto that tree."

"No, we could cause it to shake. What would dad do?"

Virgil turned his watch to his face, "dad?"

"Have you found Alan son?"

Virgil nodded, "we need help, he's stuck in a tree."

Jeff grimaced and Grandma walked into the lounge, "mother, good. Look after John and Gordon for me, Alan is in trouble."

"Of course son, come on you two, you can help me make dinner."

Jeff smiled then ran down to the hangar under the house where the family jet and cars were kept kept, he grabbed a rescue kit containing ropes, harnesses and a trauma kit, then ran out of the side door down to the beach, he spotted the three ahead and soon reached their side, "Scott, you're the most agile, get up there with this."

Scott nodded as he took the harness from his father, "don't let me fall."

"Never son. Kayo, Virgil, guide Scott and me in."

"You've got it Dad," Virgil ran under the tree near the edge of the cliff looking up at Alan, "look at me Ali, eyes on me," he caught a tear on his hand, "don't cry sprout."

"Virg, I'm slipping."

Scott clambered up effortlessly and sat up on the branch, "okay, I'm ready!"

"Steady son, make your way across slowly, arms ahead."

"Yes sir," Scott narrowed his eyes and shuffled across the log edging closer and closer to his terrified little brother, "shh Ali, I'm nearly there, don't look back, keep your eyes on Virgil."

"More to your right Scott, your leg is dangling," Kayo called up as she watched him closely.

"Thanks Kayo. Okay, I can reach him, lean back into me Alan, I've got you," Scott bundled Alan into his lap and wrapped his arms around him pressing a kiss into his hair.

Jeff nodded as he checked the harness was secure, "let go of the tree Scott, we'll lower you down."

Alan closed his eyes and clung onto Scott's t-shirt hiding his tears in the fabric, "go."

Scott pressed his cheek against Alan's hair as he was lowered slowly to the ground, he sat down on the cliff top and wrapped his arms around the blonde child who succumbed to weeping, "shh, shh, I've got you," he rocked him gently in his lap and sighed.

Jeff unclipped Scott's harness and smiled, "well done son."

Scott stood up with Alan in his arms and passed him to Jeff who clung tightly to him, "he's going to be alright, isn't he?"

Jeff stroked Alan's hair tenderly, "he'll be fine Scott, let's get back to the house. Shh baby boy."

Kayo held Virgil's hand innocently, "maybe we should stop playing hide and seek?"

Scott nodded as they followed Jeff back to the house, "maybe."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"It's funny isn't it?" Kayo pondered as she played the piano with Virgil.

"What is?"

"Even before your father set up the business, he knew what to do in an emergency, in fact we all did."

"Which event are you thinking back to? We've got a history log of accidents on this island," Virgil looked down at his hands as he ran a glissando up the keys.

"I was just thinking back to the day we stopped playing hide and seek, or at least we moved it indoors."

"Ah, Alan's little tree adventure, the things you do when you're four," he smirked.

"You laugh now, but at the time it wasn't funny."

"No I know, it felt like the first mission when one of us was in real danger, we didn't know how our lives would change after that. What's brought that up?"

Kayo shrugged as she lifted her hand over Virgil's to play in the lower octaves, smiling as the cuff of his shirt brushed her arm, "the mission Scott and I went on recently, we were balancing on a log, and I fell."

Virgil's fingers stalled, "you fell?"

"Scott saved me, we were fine. It just made me think about what could've happened if Alan had fallen that day, I can't bear to imagine," she closed her eyes as she trailed off and brought her hands off the keys to her legs, she sighed and felt Virgil's hands on hers, warm and comforting.

"Dad knew what to do that day."

"That's right," Scott walked up the steps, "sorry, I overheard what you just said, we were young and stuck on an island, of course we would get into trouble, but we're a family that look out of each other."

Virgil nodded as he resumed playing smiling when Kayo placed her hand on his leg, "that was a great game though."

"Do you know how I found you Virgil?" Scott smirked hopping up onto his father's desk.

"I distinctly remember you saying you would dismantle this piano to come and find me," Virgil glared at him ignoring Kayo's chuckle.

"Yes I did say that, but also it was your heel sticking out from under the desk in the study, you've always had big feet."

Kayo laughed looking down at her boyfriend's feet on the pedals hidden in a pair of black combat boots, "they're cute to me."

Virgil smirked, "I would've thought my hair would have given me away."

"You didn't spike it up back then."

"True," Virgil ran his fingers carefully through the gelled spike and Kayo snorted, "what?"

"So you touch it but I'm not allowed?"

"You might mess it up."

"Nonsense, don't you remember the styles I used to try on you? They were awesome."

Virgil tutted as he played, "you can touch the back of it, but not the spike."

Alan walked into the lounge covered in mud and leaves, "hey guys."

Scott smiled, "hey," then he did a double take, "what the hell?"

"Crashed my bike, this time into a tree in the woods."

Scott face palmed before replying, "are you injured?"

"Nope."

"Then go and have a shower before you give Grandma a heart attack."

Kayo laughed as he walked off, "some things never change, apart from Scott going grayer," she tipped her head against Virgil's shoulder giggling and Scott frowned at her.

"When Dad gets home, I'm giving him my greys and dyeing my hair," Scott sulked watching them play.

Virgil laughed, "luckily for some of us, our hair is naturally coloured dark."