Whumpay Day 29: Lies/Terrible Truth.

Scott's abrupt fall from the disintegrating gantry shocked his mind back into the here and now, and he snatched the last grapple pack and fired at the base of the walkway he had last seen the Hood retreating. Not that he wanted to go that way, but he certainly needed to stop falling into the fire and flame below.

He wondered if he was too late, his timing just that little bit delayed by the shocking statement, but now was not the time for indecision. He needed to get out of here, to get the fire under control, to make sure his brothers were…his brothers.

The grapple took, and he swung to the side before letting himself down to the floor. John came through on the comms then, asking if Scott was ok, that he had dropped off Five's sensors for several minutes. Scott ignored him and asked how the rescue was proceeding. It was obvious that the main building had been lost, and John was yelling at Scott to get out.

It wasn't Scott that got himself out of the building though. It was Virgil, crashing through one of the walls with his exosuit, who had grabbed his oldest brother and exited just before the building collapsed into itself.

With the collapse of the building the fire went out and International Rescue's role was over.

The flight home was weirdly subdued. Scott was silent in the journey home, shooting off in advance, and the unease rolling off him affected the others. Virgil was quiet. Gordon and Alan didn't banter like they usually did. John kept comms open, but he didn't speak either.

By the time One had landed Sally had been filled in by John and she was waiting for her grandson by his chute. But he didn't appear. By the time Two had landed and her other three grandsons appeared Scott still had not. No one was any the wiser as to what was going on, but John was very sure that whatever had happened while Scott had been lost to Five's sensors was the cause.

John looked at the screen, letting his Earth-bound family know that Scott was down on the secret cove. If anything that just ramped up the concern for Scott. No mission debrief? What the hell had happened to him? Sally watched her family. Whatever this issue was with Scott, it was causing the others to lose their orbit. John gave her a small smile and disappeared, probably going to try to find out what had happened in those few minutes.

Scott had virtually run from One, through the hangars and out into the jungle, and by the time he'd traversed the island, Two was landing and he was full out running. He arrived at the cove before he'd even realised he had been heading there, collapsing onto the waters' edge heaving for breath from his smoke-pained lungs. He wondered when he had begun crying, and furiously dashed the tears away.

Dragging himself away from the water and up to the edge where the sand met the volcanic rock, he ran his hand over the simple carved wooden sign. 'Dad's Secret Cove' the sign read, a tribute to the place where their father had first been stranded on this island in a NASA survival test years before he had actually bought it. He sat down on the ground under the sign and stared out over the ocean.

He couldn't get the words out of his head.

Lies. All lies.

It had to be.

There was no way they were true, no way that that man would ever, ever tell the truth. But. But. There was something that had shifted in his heart. He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, rested his chin on top and sat, staring. He didn't notice when night fell. He didn't hear of feel John or Virgil trying to reach him.

He felt nothing, until his Grandmother wrapped a blanket around him and sat down.

Out of all her boys, Virgil and Scott had the closest connection. It was a fact that the family had accepted from the moment Virgil had been born, the two boys being inseparable and they had come to the conclusion that they could read each other's mind. The number of times that Scott and Virgil had known exactly what to say or do, the times they had known something had happened to the other one even though they were some distance apart.

It was a connection that Virgil had felt every day of his life.

Today was the first time in his entire life he had not felt it.

He still could not feel it.

Virgil felt like something had died, only he couldn't say what it was in words. All he knew was that Scott was missing from his head and he felt…empty. He felt empty. He'd tried contacting his brother via comms but got no answer.

No one ate that night, picking at the food in front. John hadn't checked in; Scott was still on the beach. All three had offered to go and get Scott, but Sally had told them all to leave him alone for now. There was something obviously on his mind that he needed to sort through without them.

Gordon and Alan went to bed early, worn out by the rescue and the strange atmosphere that had settled over them all. Virgil wasn't too far behind, and Sally wasn't surprised when she checked on them later that they were all piled onto Scott's bed.

It was the very early hours of the morning that a harassed John contacted his Grandmother. If Sally thought her grandson was pale, it was nothing compared with how he looked now. He looked like he'd seen a ghost – or worst.

'Where are the others?' was the first thing that he asked. Sally frowned. 'They are all in bed. What is going on? John?' John ran his hands through his hair and Sally's frown deepened. 'I managed to find out what happened to Scott.' He swallowed, and Sally knew it was bad. 'I assume you have seen it?' John nodded. 'Play it, John.'

John played it. Sally paled. 'Go to bed, John.' John's mouth fell open. 'Go to bed. I'll sort this mess out.' John obeyed her. Or rather, he closed the link. She was pretty sure that he would not go to bed but would probably be tracking her as she grabbed a blanket and her way across the island to the cove. To Scott.

Her grandson was sitting under the sign Virgil had carved the first year their father had been missing, sitting with arms hugging his legs and staring out to sea. He was shivering but showed no signs of even realising she was there as Sally placed the blanket around him until she sat down next to him.

She leaned against him and Scott shifted. It made him groan as he moved for the first time in hours. He looked lost, she though, and she put an arm around him and pulled him into a hug. Sally was pleased when he didn't fight it. The whisper was almost lost. Sally only just heard it.

'Tell me it's not true. Please. Tell me he was telling another lie to hurt us, to hurt me.' He wasn't looking at her as he asked. As if he knew already. 'I'm so sorry, Scott.'

A sob broke out from the man.

'It can't be true. Please. Please. Please tell me it's not true.'

And Sally listened and her heart broke as her eldest grandson repeated the words over and over and over again, wishing with all her heart that this awful truth had never seen the light of day.

Suddenly Scott sat upright, stiff as a board, looking to her with pleading eyes.

'Are…are you still my Grandma?' If Sally thought her heart had broken earlier, well now it shattered, and she gathered Scott back into her arms as she tried to reassure the boy that she was still and always would be his Grandma.

'What happens now?'