Whumptober Day Six: Touch Starved. For Sineater

Bad Things Happen Bingo: Touch Starved with Virgil for Gumnut.

A were!Virgil fic. Warnings for mentions of a recent off-screen known character death and the emotional fallout from it.

It is with great sadness that the family of Mrs Lucille Tracy announce her passing away suddenly. Lucy died at home, surrounded by her husband, Jefferson, and her five boys, Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan.

A private ceremony will be held on the 2nd of April, and the family have asked that no gifts or flowers be sent. Please make donations to the Kansas Children's Foundation in her name.

Jeff read the death notice in the local with a white-knuckled grip. He hadn't wanted to announce the death of his wife in such a public fashion, but his Mom had explained that there would be questions otherwise.

Questions they couldn't answer. Not without repercussions.

Virgil hadn't spoken since that night. Scott hadn't left his side once, grounding his eleven-year-old brother as best he could, but nothing had changed. Not since Jeff and Scott had heard the gun go off and had rushed out to the barn.

Scott, transforming in mid-stride to his eagle form, reached the barn first, swooping down and attempting to gouge the man who was standing over his Mom and brother with a shotgun. He managed to spook the guy, who stumbled backwards and out of the barn seconds before Jeff arrived.

To find Lucy dead and Virgil curled up into her side, whimpering, with a bullet wound to his shoulder. Jeff didn't have time to process the scene, he just went immediately into trying to save, to bring back his wife. Performing CPR on a wolf wasn't easy, but it didn't stop him.

He gave no thought to Virgil, trusting that Scott would see to his brother, and indeed, Scott had changed back and coaxed the pup out of the way, a t-shirt bunched up against the wound. Thankfully it was just a graze, and he picked the large wolf-pup up and carried him into the house, where a wide-eyed John was waiting.

'Call Grandma, tell her there's been an incident and Dad needs her now,' Scott ordered, and John ran to obey even as Scott flew back to the barn and to his parents. He found his dad holding the wolf-body of his mother tightly, rocking back and forth as tears streamed.

Scott reached out and touched his Dad's shoulder, only for the man to flinch away violently and pull Lucy's body closer. So he sat down, just out of reach, until the sky began to lighten and a wrinkled hand clasped his shoulder, turning him around and hugging him tightly.

Nothing was said, and Scott left to look after his brothers while his Grandmother looked after her son.

Virgil was back in human form, asleep on Scott's bed, a bandage around his upper arm telling Scott that Grandma had looked after him first.

They didn't see either adult at all that day. Scott and John took the responsibility to look after their brothers, cooking and cleaning and settling them down. Dodging questions about their parents from Gordon and Alan.

Darkness fell before Grandma reappeared, and she had with her the local Sheriff. The man looked troubled and worn, and Scott knew that this was one man that understood their uniqueness, and therefore was the only law enforcement officer that could help them.

'I'm sorry, boys, but there was nothing that could be done. I am so, so sorry.' Scott went through the motions of making coffee for the man, and with a glance to John he sat down with Grandma and the Sheriff. John took the hint and shepherded out the two youngest, amid much protest.

'I saw him.'

'Scott?'

'I saw him, and I caught him across the face with my talons. He'll have quite the injury.'

'Well, that helps. Can you describe him?'

Scott spent the next hour going over and over what he remembered until the sheriff was happy and Scott felt like he had been put through the wringer.

It was nothing compared to the months that followed.

The outpouring of grief from the community was heartfelt, but it did nothing to help the family. Jeff locked himself away from the world. Firstly at home by never leaving his room, and then at work by never coming home until the boys were sure to be in bed. Grandma tried to help as much as possible, but she had her own issues and health problems, but she did her best to come every weekend to give Scott and John a break. They couldn't risk a babysitter, not with the boys needing to regularly transform.

It was Scott who noticed first.

Virgil didn't talk for a full month. He also didn't transform. Not until the next new moon, 29 days after the murder of their mother. Then he didn't have a choice. And Scott was there for him. All that the wolf did was to sit outside the barn and howl. It was heart breaking. Scott was never so glad as he was tonight that the full moon no longer dictated that he had to change, something that only applied to wolf-shifters, and he sat beside his brother the entire night.

The next morning Scott awoke on the ground, Virgil in his arms, stiff and cold. He picked his brother up and carried him into the house. John was already there, three steaming mugs of hot chocolate waiting.

'I'm sorry.'

It was quietly spoken, a raw, rasp from a voice disused. And Scott and John enveloped Virgil in a tight hug as he quietly sobbed. It was the after that day that Scott began to notice.

As the days rolled into further months, life took on a pattern that they could all cope with, no matter how ideal it was – or more accurately – wasn't.

Jeff was conspicuous by his absence. Grandma came every weekend. And Scott and John cared for them all.

Despite Virgil beginning to talk, he began to withdraw as well. He would sit with them and sometimes laugh with them, but he wouldn't touch them. When Scott reached out to him Virgil would move slightly enough to be out of reach without making it obvious to his other brothers.

And then one day John had an accident. A major accident that required hospital treatment, and Scott wasn't old enough. No matter that he had been acting as an adult, but he was only fifteen and couldn't authorise treatment.

That was the turning point for Jeff. Coming close to losing John made him realise that he had not spent any time with his boys since the funeral, and he was disgusted with himself. So he got himself together, moving back home and working from home more of the time.

Grandma moved in too and with the extra help Scott and John began to be more like the teens they should be. Home life relaxed.

But not for Virgil.

He continued to withdraw, and soon Scott and John were noticing. Their brother was barely talking. He refused to play the piano or paint, he sat with his brothers but he didn't get involved. And he still wouldn't transform outside of the obligatory monthly moon-induced one. He lost weight. He barely slept, a fact that he thought was hidden from his eldest brothers, but both Scott and John had been watching him.

Virgil stopped eating. He was a shell of himself, and Scott took measures – he talked to Grandma.

Grandma took Virgil to the doctor who said that Virgil was understandably depressed. Another doctor said he was stressed. A third said he was anxious. Sally knew all of these diagnoses, but the one she suspected was not mentioned.

Since the day they had lost Lucy Virgil had felt guilty, and that had not been addressed. Oh sure, his brothers had tried to reassure him that it wasn't his fault, but there was one person who was conspicuously absent in that.

Jeff had been a very hands-on father before, but now he barely did anything with the boys. He had returned to them, but he wasn't' the man, the father he had been. And Sally spent time watching how he interacted with his children.

He was getting better with them, but there was a notable exception. Even John, the most reserved person Sally knew, had been touched by his father, a hand on the arm on occasion.

But she had yet to see Jeff even look properly at his middle child. And she knew. Seven months after the death of his wife and still he had not forgiven his son. She needed to take her son in hand before they lost Virgil completely.

Getting to talk with Jeff was another thing, and eventually Sally settled the matter in a very unique way. She made an appointment with his secretary, who thought it was funny but went along with her.

Jeff's 2 o'clock appointment was blank. His secretary had blanked out three hours for the appointment but written no name and no information. It was very unlike her, but he said nothing and waited. Dead on two the door was knocked firmly and he got up to let in…

His mother.

She bustled past him and sat down, back ramrod straight and she tutted as he was still at the door.

'Jefferson, close your mouth and sit down.'

It was the jolt he needed, and he quickly moved to shut the door and sit down.

'Ma? What's going on?'

'I've been trying to talk to you for days, and you are always too busy. This seemed the best option.'

'Ok, Ma. What is so important that you need to talk to me like this?'

'Your son is dying.'

Jeff's mouth dropped again. What the hell?

'Wha…what?'

'Son, I know that you have found these last few months so very difficult, but you have got to get it together.'

'What do you mean?'

'Virgil is not at fault. You knew from the start that there were people who hunted shapeshifters, Lucy made that perfectly clear to us all. You knew that, so why are you punishing Virgil?'

'I am not! I – I know all that, and I know it's not his fault, Ma.'

'Then maybe you should tell him.'

'Tell him?'

'Jeff, Virgil is withdrawn, he doesn't interact with his family anymore, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat.'

'What?'

'I took him to see some doctor friends. But I didn't need to. He's starving.'

'Starving? Then why isn't he eating?'

'Not that kind of starving. He's touch starved, Jeff. When was the last time you even looked at him, let alone touched him?'

'I – '

'Sort it out, Son, before it's too late.'

She patted his hand as Jeff let out a strangled sound. Then she got up and opened the door, ushering in a very bewildered Virgil. Jeff was horrified when his boy took a step back away from him. He stood up quickly, pushing his chair over in the hurry. Virgil looked terrified and backed into his Grandmother.

Jeff hadn't crossed the room so fast, pulling Virgil into a tight hug and clinging to him. His son was as stiff as a board, but he soon relaxed and clung just as tightly. Jeff was saying sorry over and over again, and Sally slipped out to talk to the secretary. She'd persuaded her to book the rest of the afternoon off, and they shared a coffee while Jeff and Virgil talked behind the closed door.

Scott and John exchanged happy glances when Jeff walked in, holding Virgil's hand, the two of them chatting, and for the first time in months the family sat down for dinner all together. They may still be a broken family, but at least they had made a start at healing.

Scott was delighted when a large black wolf settled on his legs that night.