Kansas to Baltimore is approximately 1,070 miles by car. Baltimore was where Johns Hopkins Hospital was. Johns Hopkins was still the number one hospital for neurology and neurosurgery in America. Scott needed neurosurgery.

Thunderbird Two had a cruising speed of 2,000 mph. While not as fast as her sister, One, she was the fastest heavy-equipment transponder in the world. She could fly them from Kansas to Baltimore, Maryland in a little over 30 minutes pushing that speed all the way.

But Scott may not have 30 minutes.

So once the VTOL's had lifted her off the ground, Virgil throttled up to maximum speed. 5,000 mph was going to get them there in just over 10 minutes. The GDF were scrambling to clear the airspace before them and they were waiting for no-one. Once Two was set in her path, Virgil handed over control to Gordon and hurried down to the infirmary. Gordon sat grim-faced and accepted the handover. Virgil's medical expertise was more essential now.

While they had been taking off John and Alan had prepped Scott for the surgery he would undoubtedly be undergoing. They had removed his t-shirt and attached him to the ECG. The readings were not brilliant. Alan had started to clean up the blood from off his brother's ankles, desperate to be able to help in some way. They hadn't touched the cervical collar keeping Scott's head and neck still.

Once Virgil joined them he took over, directing them to get medical supplies ready. First priority: getting Scott fitted with a drip and a cannula. That was the easy part. Instructing John to keep an eye on the ICP reading on the monitor, he checked over the equipment. RSI involved administering a neuromuscular blocker directly followed by a sedative and then the endotracheal tube. He had the medication – succinylcholine for the blocking agent, ketamine for the sedative (and thank goodness Scott wasn't allergic to either), but the risks of RSI in the case of head trauma was still high.

Keeping Scott in a neutral cervical spine position would make the procedure more complicated, and they knew he had no neck injury, so the collar was removed, an extra pillow was placed under Scott's head and his head was tilted slightly into the sniffing position. Virgil took a deep breath and started. With John watching the numbers so Virgil could concentrate on his own task, it took 50 seconds from injecting the first drug to the successful insertion of the tube. John notice a small spike in ICP, but it held after a couple of seconds.

Now it was just a case of keeping Scott monitored until they arrived, less than 5 minutes now.

Sally had kept the comms open all the time, and she listened while Virgil successfully intubated his brother. Switching to the trauma team waiting at the hospital she informed them of the success and the medications already given Scott. The team were both impressed and grateful. They had already received the scans of Scott's brain and had prepped for a craniotomy.

Gordon brought Two in hot and landed right in front of the emergency department. They would be buying people new cars, but that was the least of his worries. The hospital team were already on their way over as he lifted Two up to provide easier access to the infirmary. And then he watched them rushing his oldest brother away with Virgil and Alan in tow. It didn't register at first that John had not followed, not until John's hand gently rested on his arm did Gordon look up into John's concerned face.

John helped Gordon from the chair and gave him a brief but heartfelt hug. 'You did well getting us here, Gordon,' he said quietly in Gordon's ear; and he was rewarded with a quiet sob as Gordon buried his head in John's shoulder. It was all the release Gordon needed, and he was already pulling away to leave. 'Thanks, Johnny, that means a lot,' he threw over his shoulder as he left. John grinned to himself and followed.

They were directed to Virgil and Alan in a private waiting room just of the main emergency room. Collapsing next to Virgil, Gordon asked, 'how long will the procedure take?' Virgil sighed. 'On average the craniotomy takes around three hours, but it will depend on whether there are any other issues.' Gordon nodded, satisfied with that answer. Alan eyed him and Virgil, deciding to sit next to his immediately older brother before asking what they would do during surgery. Virgil's eyebrow raised slightly – Alan didn't normally want to know details.

'You sure you want to know?' he asked. Alan nodded. John took this as a cue to go get everyone a coffee. He did not want to know.

'Ok, if you think it will help. They'll insert a catheter, we don't carry them, and then they'll shave the hair around where they're going to operate on.' All three winced at that thought.

'Then they'll cut a flap in his scalp and pull it away and use a saw to cut out a piece of his skull. Next they cut through the dura mater, the outer membrane of the brain, and using a gentle suction, they'll remove the blood and see if there's any other damage that needs to be sorted out. Then they will stitch the tissue back together, replace the piece of bone and attach it with probably a plate or wires, stitch the skin and bandage his head.'

By this time Alan looked a little green and wished he hadn't asked. He was broken from his thoughts by the arrival of Grandma, Kayo, Penny, Parker and Aunt Val. They all exchanged hugs and settled down to wait while Parker went to help John with the coffee.

Four hours in total the operation took. By the time the surgeon appeared everybody except for Gordon and Alan was hyped up on strong coffee and nerves. The large gentle smile on the woman's face was both welcome and reassuring.

'Tracy family, I assume?' It was Sally who answered yes. Everyone here was family. 'Then I have good news. The operation was successful, a small tear in a vein was repaired and everything replaced. Barring further complications, there is no reason why Scott shouldn't make a complete recovery.' She was bombarded with hugs and questions as everyone started talking at once.

Holding up her hands, she continued, 'the next 48 hours will be crucial in his recovery – as long as there are not complications he should be fine. He is very fit and active, and this will help. The main thing to look out for in the post-op period is that he doesn't get a temperature spike due to an infection or because his brain cannot cope with regulating his temperature. This is actually quite common after brain surgery, so don't be too worried if it occurs.'

'What about his long-term prognosis, Mrs Patel?' Virgil asked. He got a beaming smile for using her correct form of address as she answered him, 'it's actually pretty good. Even only 5 years ago we would be looking at 6-12 months rehabilitation time, but this is how Scott's immediate future looks:

'He'll be here with us for one week. During this time he will be kept on oxygen and his head raised for 2-3 days, his legs will be fitted with Flotron boots to minimise any possibility of a DVT and his catheter will stay in probably 5-6 days.

'After that Scott will go home and need rehab for about 6 weeks. He may need assistance with walking and his balance, he will find he has little strength and he will need physio to rebuild this.

'Getting back to work will be a slow process, but if managed carefully Scott should suffer no long-term effects at all. And, yes I have been briefed, he will still be able to fly at the speeds I understand his ship flies at, but not for around 3 months, and certainly not before a thorough check-up.'

Virgil let out a breath he had not realised he was holding. Scott was going to be out of action a minimum of four and a half months! This was not going to be easy on any of them, least of all Scott. Gordon would help with the physio side of treatment, and the family would rally around, but a part of Virgil wished he could do more to help. After all, this was his fault.

Sally watched Virgil carefully. She had her eye on him and on Alan, already seeing signs in Virgil that he was blaming himself. Her grandsons were amazing people, but the Tracy way of taking on blame for what befell each other was one of the banes of her life. She wondered how long it would be before Alan showed signs of this. No matter – she needed to snap Virgil out of it soon, although she was pretty sure only one person could do that.

Mrs. Patel had said that they could now visit Scott, although he was still unconscious, but only two at a time and only for a couple of minutes. Once Scott was settled in a room in ICU then they could stay longer, but still only two at a time. They let Virgil and Alan go first. Sally was desperate to get Virgil to go to bed. He needed sleep, and better now while Scott was still out of it. Once Scott was awake they would never be able to tear Virgil away.

The argument about getting a hotel room and Virgil sleeping never materialised. Once he had seen Scott and returned to let John and Gordon in, Virgil had sat down and promptly fallen asleep. Penny and EOS arranged a hotel nearby, and Virgil slept through being transferred to FAB1 in a wheelchair, the drive to the hotel, being placed back in the wheelchair and taken upstairs to his room.

He awoke 12 hours later when John called him to say that Scott was awake.

NOTES:

Medical terms:

ICP: Inter Cranial Pressure

RSI: Rapid Sequence Intubation

Flowtron boots: a pair of wrap-around attachments applied to the lower legs that are attached to a pump and are inflated/deflated to stimulate blood circulation.

The medications used are standard for RSI procedures in most countries.