For TsarinaTorment who asked for Care Taking Prompt: Gordon catching Scott after he fainted. Spoilers for Colony.
Taking hours to get home really wasn't a problem. While Alan watched episode after episode of some alien stuff Scott got on with the important stuff he could do to fill the time – he filled in the rescue report. He hated it that they had lost the pod, but it wasn't like there was anything else he could have done. Scott made special mention of Alan's role, especially his returning to assist the Helios to land. Sending it on to John, he then set about catching up on some of the outstanding paperwork.
By the time they had landed Scott had almost caught up completely, and he stretched out the kinks in his back from sitting so long. Alan disappeared sharpish, wanting to get on, to get to bed probably, and Scott smiled to himself as he sauntered up to the kitchen. Coffee was needed. He contemplated Alan's move. Maybe bed wouldn't be a bad idea. However, before he could even contemplate bed he needed to know where his other brothers were.
John was where he always was. Scott chatted with him about the mission, filling in some of the details that were not needed for the report. He was justly proud of Alan, and the two reminisced over memories for longer than he realised. He rubbed the back of his neck. It was getting a little stiff.
Virgil was in his studio, lost in his muse so deeply he didn't notice Scott pop his head around the door and leave a large coffee on the table for him, watching him for a good five minutes. Scott grinned to himself. It was rare that Virgil had the time to get so lost in his painting, to see him so engaged was wonderful. But he also knew his brother didn't like to be watched while he created, and so he crept out to find Gordon.
A wave of tiredness washed over him, and he stopped for a moment to let it pass. Scrubbing his hands down his face, he shook himself and carried on, back to the kitchen, grabbed another coffee and headed down to the hanger where he knew Gordon was working on Four. Sure enough, he was just putting Four to bed when Scott arrived, and he waited while Gordon finished tucking his bird in before they headed back into the kitchen, Scott to put his cup back and Gordon to grab anything he could eat.
Scott leant against the doorway watching Gordon throw a sandwich together and wolf it down, all the while chattering away about the rescue they had been on. He wanted to know if they had seen their father's footprint, if they had seen anything else, if Uncle Lee had finally got their names right. He took the multitude of questions all in his stride, a small smile as he watched a very animated Gordon talk and spray crumbs everywhere.
He reached out and snagged Gordon, mussing his hair up as the two walked to the bedrooms, Gordon still babbling away. As they reached his room Scott once again stood in the doorway while the squid bounced about his room getting ready for bed. Scott yawned. He turned away as Gordon called out 'night', raising an arm and waving as he crossed the hall to his own room.
Sitting on the bed, Scott was suddenly assailed by a wave of shakiness, something from deep inside him that caused him to be breathless and, if he was honest, it frightened him a little. But it passed in less than five minutes, and he decided that he was obviously more tired than usual. Sleep eluded him though, and he got up around three in the morning, deciding to make the best use of the time and finish the last lot of reports.
He was still there at six when Gordon got up for his daily laps, and as he watched his brother Scott decided it was time to stretch out and go for his run. Three quarters of the way back and he got another one of those weird attacks, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to double over until it passed. He felt like his breathing was a little off, like there was a dull ache to his chest. He walked back, coming out on the path by the pool, where Gordon was now drying off, shooting him a wave as Scott came up the steps.
Gordon frowned as he returned to drying himself. It wasn't usual for Scott to be walking here. Normally he didn't finish running until he reached the house proper. And as his brother came closer he noticed he had an unhealthy pallor about him, and whether he realised it or not, he was rubbing his chest. He hurried up, squid sense now tingling.
As Scott made to pass Gordon, he reached out to grasp his shoulder. Instead, he rather ungainly toppled towards Gordon and pushed them both into the pool. Instinctively Gordon caught his brother and held him close as they landed and he pushed up to the surface.
Scott was out of it. And Gordon didn't know what worried him the most, the faint or the uncontrollable shaking he could feel Scott's body doing. Hauling Scott up and out, checking his breathing and pulse. His heart was racing, and the tremors were now visible, but he was breathing, if a little shallowly. As Gordon rolled him into the recovery position he yelled for John, knowing that his brother would be able to pick his cry up. Sure enough John almost immediately appeared, took one look at left to rouse Virgil. The medic came running, Medscanner in hand.
Scott wasn't out for long. It was most disturbing for him to come round on the floor with three brothers hovering over him. He frowned. What on earth was going on – and why was he wet? Scott tried to ask, but all he managed to say was 'Whaaa?' No one was saying anything though, Gordon had his hand on Scott's shoulder and Virgil was busy looking at the scans, frowning. As he struggled to sit up, Gordon's hand kept him down.
'Well, he's not trembling now,' remarked Virgil, 'but his heartrate is too fast.' Scott huffed. So intent on his scans he hadn't noticed Scott had come round, but Virgil glanced up and his frown softened. 'How are you feeling, Scott?' It was his turn to frown. How was he feeling? Actually, he wasn't sure. Something had evidently happened.
'What happened?' Virgil was still looking over the scanner while Gordon answered. 'You fainted. Right onto to me and we both fell in the pool.' Fainted? That can't be right. 'I thought that you didn't look too good as you came up the steps, but even so, that was a bit of a shock. And then you were trembling so much I, I thought you were going into a seizure.' Oh. That would not be good at all.
'We need to get him to the infirmary. Now, please.' The sudden abruptness of Virgil's words galvanised them into action, and Gordon helped Scott to stand and the three made their way through the villa. Gordon helped Scott settle onto one of the beds while Virgil set up the big scanner. As Scott settled Grandma bustled in, obviously called by John, and all he could do was wait patiently while he was x-rayed, bloods were taken, an ultrasound of one of his arms and eventually a CT scan. Thank goodness their father had been adamant on getting every piece of medical equipment he could.
By the time they were finished Scott was exhausted, which in of itself told him something was up. Virgil squeezed his shoulder and left, dragging Gordon with him, while Grandma sat down beside him. This did not feel good. Especially when she reached up and brushed his hair out of his eyes and cupped his cheek.
'Scott, honey, did you injury yourself yesterday on the rescue?' He thought about it. He couldn't remember injuring himself, even when the Helios crashed on Mars he'd been tightly strapped in the chair with nothing nearby or anything loose to crash into him. 'I can't think of anything, Grandma.' She frowned at her eldest grandson. Scott seemed to genuinely not know. But then, she supposed he couldn't see the back of his upper arm, nor the massive bruise there. It was shades of blue and purple, with a large black part, and Sally wondered how on earth Scott hadn't realised it was there, it must ache. But then again, they all worked through pain occasionally, it probably hadn't even registered to Scott.
It didn't really matter where it came from, it was there and was the cause of something far more deadly. Judging from the colour it was around three days old, predating Helios anyway. 'You have a small pulmonary embolism that temporarily caused an issue. It looks like it came from the large bruise on the back of your upper arm, and it was probably the jostling about in the pod and the doomed spacecraft caused part of a blood clot to work its' way loose and lodge in your lung.' If he hadn't collapsed when he did, goodness knows what could have happened if he had needed to fly… Sally shuddered at the thought.
Scott was stunned. As a pilot he was very aware of the dangers of blood clots, but this was, well, it wasn't something he'd ever contemplated. 'So I have a blood clot and I know I won't be able to fly. What's the treatment and how long am I likely to be off rota?' She patted his arm. 'Virgil has gone to the mainland to grab the meds you need. You'll be on a three-month course of a blood thinner called Rivaroxaban which you need to remember to take with food once a day.'
He groaned. Three months! His grandmother's smile broadened. 'You'll not be allowed to fly until your baseline lung function returns to normal. We'll have a monitor on you for 24 hours at least, the strain because of the clot has pushed your heart into fibrillation and a vast ventricular rate is not brilliant. Once that's settled back to normal and your lung capacity has too, there will be no reason to still be grounded. However, it will be a few weeks, and you need to rest during that time, only light exercise.' Thank heaven for small mercies, Scott thought.
Virgil and Gordon were back within half an hour, Virgil carrying his meds and Gordon noisily slurping a milkshake. Sally shook her head fondly. Trust her fishboy to try to lighten the atmosphere. Setting the bag on the table, Virgil grinned at his oldest brother. 'So. Has Grandma given you the diagnosis?' Scott nodded. 'And prognosis?' He nodded again. 'Where's mine?' Scott demanded, only to see Alan coming through munching a breakfast muffin. Virgil handed him the bag, and Scott withdrew his own big breakfast burger complete with hash brown.
He could cope with a few weeks off if his brothers were going to treat him like this! Scott knew the implications of what had happened, he'd heard of people dying suddenly from undiagnosed blood clots and he had been lucky. Very lucky. His only regret was that he was up-to-date with the reports now, so he wouldn't have them to occupy his time.
Oh well. Reports would always be there, and so would he.