To Guest, thank you for your wonderful reviews, unfortunately I can't reply directly to you but I have very much enjoyed them.

It wasn't until they had reached the hotel that John, Gordon and Alan caught up with Virgil. By the time they had reached their suite Virgil had already started packing, angrily throwing clothes into a case and muttering away to himself.

John turned to his two younger brothers, and Gordon got the hint immediately. Grabbing Alan's arm, he dragged him out, saying they were going to investigate the restaurant.

He watched his immediately younger brother for a short while, debating with himself as to how he was going to deal with this. Usually it was Scott he was dealing with, sometimes the terrible two, but rarely did Virgil ever need, well, need anything in this way. But the longer John left it, the more Virgil was working himself up. He walked up and placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder, and tried not to be hurt when he flinched.

'Virgil?' His shoulders tightened at John's voice. John would want to talk, and he just didn't want that right now. 'What do you want, John?' John couldn't help but sigh inside, and he squeezed Virgil's shoulder, only to be shrugged off. 'What do you want, John?' This time he was more forceful, and John was starting to think that he was angrier than John had ever seen him. He removed his hand and moved around to the other side of the bed so that he was now facing his brother.

'I just want to talk, Virg, that's all.' Virgil snorted and carried on packing. John hugged himself and almost whispered, 'please, Virgil, don't shut me out too.' That stopped Virgil dead. Keeping his head down so he wasn't looking at John, he sighed and virtually whispered, 'why does he keep pushing us away?'

'You know that's Scott's default setting, right? Don't let the younger ones know you're hurting. He's done that our entire life, you don't really expect him to change now, do you?' Virgil deflated further at that. It was true; and one of the most infuriating things his oldest brother did. He sat down on the bed. John came back around and sat next to him.

'I thought that, once he realised we weren't trying to get rid of him, he'd be fine, he'd come home. Why is he still sticking to his guns and leaving?' John sat down beside him and sighed. 'I don't really know, and he's not exactly going to tell us. Maybe Grandma can get through to him.' Virgil nodded. He was still a little annoyed though, and John could feel that tautness in his shoulder. There was more yet for Virgil to work out, he just needed a nudge. Speaking of nudges, that's exactly what John did, nudging shoulders, and he was rewarded with a small smile.

'It's just that, he's my best friend, he's been there my entire life, and suddenly he's decided that he doesn't want to be there? Scott's leaving, John. He's not just leaving International Rescue, he's leaving us. And I don't know how to process that.' John just nodded. It was a lot to deal with. Scott had always been there, even when he was in another country. Virgil was right, somehow this time was different.

'Do you want some help repacking that?' John asked, because there was no way Virgil was going to get that case closed. As he hoped, Virgil gave a small smile, then a short, huffed laugh, wiping at his eyes which had become suspiciously moist. 'I'm sorry, John. For snapping at you.' They sat in companionable silence for a moment, giving comfort and support from each other. 'It's fine, Virg. This is a very stressful time. The offer was genuine, though. Do you want help packing?' This time Virgil laughed. 'Sure.' And for the next hour the pair worked steadily packing away what they had brought.

Just as they finished up Gordon and Alan returned. Pleased that the threatened fight had not materialised, Gordon plonked down on a clear patch of bed and pulled Alan down next to him. 'So, what's next on the agenda?' he asked, watching his older brothers intently. They may have talked through the potential argument that had obviously been brewing, but there were still plans to be made. Alan still looked like a startled rabbit; he was so unsure of what was happening to them all.

'I think we need to decide if we are going to stay for Scott's surgery tomorrow or get back to the island and work straight away,' Virgil said, sitting back down. Gordon nodded, but it came as no surprise to anyone when it was Alan who jumped up, incredulous at the thought of leaving Scott behind.

'I can't believe you're thinking of just going home! What about Scott? We can't leave him like this?' Alan shouted. 'Why not, Al? It's what he wants!' Gordon, trying to be the voice of reason. 'He doesn't know what he wants! He's injured and hurt and, and…' And John enfolded Alan into a hug, cutting his rant off before Alan worked himself up into a full-blown rage. Virgil and Gordon quickly joined in.

It had been a while since they had all been together, let alone shared a hug, and although they broke apart reasonably quickly, by the time they had Alan was quietly crying, and even Gordon had tears in his eyes. John shepherd Alan out of the bedroom into the lounge area and onto the couch. He kept his arm around his youngest brother and effected not to notice as Alan attempted to pull himself together. Virgil and Gordon sat on the other couch.

'We're not abandoning Scott, Alan. But he is right, International Rescue has been offline fully for two weeks now. And we're not leaving him alone, Grandma's there.' John spoke softly, but his voice dominated the room. 'As for Scott not knowing what he wants because he's hurt,' and John paused, sighing. 'He knows what he's doing. Have you ever known Scott to not have a plan, a reason?' Three heads nodded in agreement. 'He's got his reasons; we just don't know what they are yet.'

Alan sighed. John was right as usual. Scott always knew what he was doing, in fact Alan had often marvelled at how his oldest brother could pull the impossible out of the hat because he saw variables that no-one else did.

'So what are we going to do about tomorrow?'

Ah yes, the big question. Virgil was torn. He wanted to go, to be there, but he also didn't. There was a large part of him that was tired of being pushed away by his closest friend. He thought that they had actually had a breakthrough in Scott's reasonings when they were camped out in the artic, but everything that had happened since made it feel that they actually hadn't – if anything things were worse. Whatever was going on with Scott, they were not going to get to the bottom of it before Scott's op. And he would not be in a position to do so while recovering, so this was going to be an issue at least until he was back on his feet.

John was in two minds. He really wanted to be there for his only oldest brother, despite Scott's words. And he truly believed what he had said to Virgil earlier – this was Scott's default setting, pushing them away so they did not see his vulnerability, what he perceived as a weakness. But he wanted to get back to work. Although, that brought up the matter of EOS and he still wasn't ready to face her yet. That would need a screwed-on head – and he didn't have that right now. Hearing that Scott and she had spoken and cleared the air between them had only made it harder for some reason he had not fathomed yet.

Alan didn't really want to go home. At all. He wanted to be here for his big brother as Scott had always been there for him. But Scott had made it quite clear that he expected them to get back to work. Alan couldn't conceive of the Island without Scott on a permanent basis, so he chose to ignore it. Maybe after his operation and his recovery Scott will feel different. He clung to that thought.

Gordon was possibly the most pragmatic of them all in this situation. He agreed with Scott that they needed to get iR back up and running, and their lives back to some kind of normality. He'd been pleased that he'd be able to help Scott when he was ready, an opportunity to repay the months of assistance Scott had given him, and if his brother was serious about quitting, it would give him an opportunity to keep an eye on him, to get to the bottom of what was really eating him.

Go home now or stay until tomorrow?

It was Alan who spoke first. 'I think I want to stay for tomorrow. It's going to be a long time before we see Scott again, so I want to leave at the last possible minute.' His brothers all murmured agreements. So the rest of the evening was spent making sure everything was packed ready, and they retired early.

Virgil glanced over to John, still sitting on the window sill although they'd retired hours ago. His brother was troubled and unsure what to do, and that was very unlike John. Like Scott, John always had a plan, a course of action. Now, he looked lost.

'John?' He looked over to see Virgil sitting on his bed, watching him. 'Yeah, Virg?' 'You ok?' John sighed. He hadn't spoken properly to EOS in these last 5 days, and before, when they were trying to work out how things had gone wrong he'd still barely spoken to her. It felt like a betrayal, but of what he wasn't sure. Scott may have made his piece with the AI, but John hadn't had time to have any real discussion with EOS at all.

'Are you worried about getting back to work with EOS?' John had his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them, head on his knees. 'Yeah, I am.' Virgil nodded. 'If you want, I'll come up with you and we can talk together?' He couldn't see it, but he could hear the relief in John's voice. 'Thanks, Virg, I think that's a great idea.' A nod. 'We'll deal with her together. In the meantime, try to get some sleep.' John nodded and climbed into his bed, relieved that they would face this together.

The look on Scott's face the next morning just before he was wheeled away spoke volumes that they had made the right choice.