Push Back
John tried to take a slow steadying breath but it shook. He looked at his hands surprised to find they were shaking too. He didn't trust himself to stand even though he desperately needed a drink and maybe to splash some cold water on his face.
And to think, I was concerned about facing dad after the rescue.
Now though…
John shook himself. It didn't matter. It didn't matter what dad said about what they'd done. Someone was after Virgil. John's mind slipped involuntarily to the part of the conversation that had scared him the most;
'Her pilot will know a lot more. He will tell us how the mighty Thunderbird works,' said with such calm, such certainty. This Salvatore knew he would break John's brother. It wasn't even a major part of the equation to him.
He opened a channel.
"Dad, I need to speak to you."
"Not now John!"
John winced. Clearly his father and older brother had been mid argument.
"Yes, now dad! Whatever you're discussing" as if he didn't know "this is more important. I need you to get everyone together. I have something you all need to know about. Call me back when you've got everyone."
He cut the line. He wasn't one with a flair for dramatic, that belonged squarely in Gordon's court (and occasionally Virgil's) but he needed to get this out in the open sooner rather than later and he knew that would get Scott's attention if not their fathers.
Pushing himself up he went to get that drink wishing, for the first time, that he'd bought some alcohol up with him.
Scott was losing. He might be in the right but up against a father in full righteous anger mode he'd never stood a chance. That didn't stop him from trying though.
"If I hadn't, we would have lost the bridge, and Gordon!"
"I'll be having words with your brothers about their actions as well" his father heaved in a huge breath. "You can't just abandon the command centre because you feel like it, and then to refuse to return!" he threw up his hands in exasperation. "You are the Field Commander of International Rescue. You are the one your brothers look to as an example."
"You think I don't know that?" he interjected.
"You are the one the world looks to when they think of International Rescue. I placed you in command at mobile control for a reason, a reason you agreed with."
His eyes drilled into Scott's and it took all of Scott's will power not to look away. His father was right. After what happened in the air force Scott hadn't lost his love of flying. But for a while there the high pressure, life or death situations had threatened to overwhelm him. His father had forced him to get help, which hadn't worked because Scott hadn't wanted it. He'd sought relief in a bottle instead, events culminating in Virgil carrying him home one evening and finally, finally getting Scott to start opening up about what had happened to him. It had taken a long time and for Scott to finally accept all the help offered to him - from his father paying for the best counsellors, to Virgil sometimes just sitting with him to Alan refusing to let him be sad some days with the single-mindedness only a child can manage – but he'd got there. Only for his father to want him to work as a scout and then a crisis manager with as little field work as possible. At the time he'd agreed, he wasn't ready then. He was now.
He said as much to his father.
"Clearly not" the words were a slap in the face. "If you were ready, you'd have come and spoken to me about this like a mature adult rather than springing it on us mid operation. Did you even think about your brother? The pressure you put him under as he tried to coordinate two rescues, the local authorities and then, my personal favourite, piloting Thunderbird One whilst you dangled underneath her in a gale!"
"John can handle it! He's so much better than you give him credit for."
"John is our communications specialist. Not a surrogate pilot-"
"He was communicating!" Scott's own temper had finally got the better of him. "He was doing exactly what he trained for and he did it well, better than I ever did. John has always been better at seeing patterns and processing information than the rest of us put together. We should be using that!"
"John's strengths aren't out in the field, you know that. It's one of the many reasons he is suited to Thunderbird Five. But you can't expect him to make the best call when he can't literally be in a situation. You know that, Scott."
"I'm not saying he should make the call, as Field Commander that's my responsibility. But he can give me the information faster and more clearly than mobile control could."
"So, you decided the best thing to do was to prove that with a real-world test? Lives were at stake Scott; how could you be so reckless?"