Virgil ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath. He knew he needed to clear up and settle himself in for the night. But he couldn't take his eyes off the scarring on her arms.

Who had put them there, and why? What did they say? Had Jasmine just sat quietly and let someone do it? Maybe she had because she wouldn't have been able to feel it anyway. Maybe she hadn't and had fought not to have it done. Did Warren have them as well?

Now that he knew it was just basic short-hand he needed to know what they said. No. He wanted to know. That was completely different. His knowledge of short-hand wasn't good enough for this. But John's would be.

Could he do that? Take photos of the scars, without her permission, and send them to his brother for analysis? That seemed an unthinkable violation. It was an unthinkable violation. For the second time in a week he found himself next to a sleeping Jasmine, wondering just how on earth he'd gotten there.

Carefully he took her temperature again frowning when he found it higher than before. He moved to the kitchen to make sure there were more ice packs available should he need them and then to the master bedroom. He needed to call in.

"Virgil to Base and Thunderbird Five" he said after closing the door. He sat on the end of the bed suddenly weary.

Holograms of both his father and John flicked into existence as the connection was made. Scott could be seen on the periphery of his father's one.

"Go ahead son" his dad came back. "How is she?"

"Could be worse, could be better. I assume John filled you in from earlier?"

"He did and sounds like it could be a lot worse" Scott said.

"I've had a chance to check her over more thoroughly now. She's completely exhausted and running a temperature" Virgil continued "and, thanks to her condition, she can't temperature regulate. I'm going to need to stay with her tonight to try and keep it down."

John was nodding. Trust him to have researched it thoroughly Virgil thought.

"Did she say anything about the mission?" Jeff asked.

"Not really father, though she did win the fight."

"I'm going to need you to ask her some more detailed questions Virgil" Jeff said. "It's clear now that this group aren't particularly stable. That's something we can use."

"She's asleep at the moment and I expect her to sleep through till morning, I'll talk to her more then." His mind wandered back to the scars and whether or not he should ask about them.

"Virgil? What's wrong?"

Damnit Virgil thought. It was always Scott who noticed when he was trying to keep things to himself. He never could hide things from his eldest brother. But still he hesitated. Was this relevant to the mission? Was it his job to decide?

"Nothing's wrong Scott, it's just been a long day."

"Uh-huh" Scott replied. "But something else has happened, hasn't it?"

"No, nothing has happened, exactly."

"Virgil, you need to tell us whatever is on your mind son" his father said gently. Even Jeff knew that, at times like this, making demands of his middle son meant he'd be faced with a brick wall. Quiet concern, though, usually did the trick.

"I don't think it impacts the mission in any way. But" he worried his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment before confessing. "She's covered in scars. There's a huge one, that looks like a bite mark across her abdomen and both arms are covered from here to here" he said gesturing. "It appears to be short-hand but I'm too rusty to read it. She said they were remnants from where she grew up. She hates them." Virgil looked away for a moment before looking back to his family. "This girl has been through so much yet she's put herself on the line to help us. Every time I see her, I learn something more and it seems worse than before."

"Chin up, Virgil" came the voice of his eldest brother. "Right now, she needs us, specifically you, to look out for her. We're not here to untangle her past."

"I know. Speaking of, I need to keep up obs. I'll call in again if anything changes."

"Virgil" his father stopped him from signing off. "I think it's time I met her. Do you think you could get her to go with you to the house in the Cotswolds?" Virgil flicked a glance to his two brothers but they both looked surprised as well. Clearly Jeff hadn't discussed this before making the announcement.

"Um" Virgil was at a loss. Did they have a house in the Cotswolds?

"You've been there before Virgil" John said. "It belongs to the Creighton-Ward family. You stopped there after the mission in the Orkneys."

"Is that the one where I ended up with concussion and Gordon scratched my girl flying her home?"

"Oh yeah" Scott said. "You might not remember it. We'll send you the address. Do you think she'll go for it?"

"I don't know" Virgil said honestly. "But I can try."

"I need you to be persuasive, son" his father said, but there was something in his tone that set of a dim alarm bell.

"Why don't you just come here?" he offered. "The more rest she can get at the moment the better."

"I want to keep this under the radar" Jeff said. "No matter how careful I am, if I enter London, I end up in the business pages somewhere."

Scott was eyeing his father suspiciously but opted to agree with him.

"It does make sense Virgil."

"Alright, I'll do my best."

"You best has always been more than good enough" his father said.

"I won't wake her early though" the medic warned. "I meant what I said when I said she needs the rest."

"I wouldn't expect anything different from you, son. We'll see you sometime tomorrow afternoon."

"Alright father, see you tomorrow."

Virgil signed off and Scott turned to their father.

"That's going to be a long day for him. You know he won't get much sleep this evening if he's going to keep monitoring her temperature."

"I know, but there's not much we can do about that. You know as well as I do that telling him to get some sleep will result in, at best, him telling us he has and at worse him ignoring the call. Your brother can be damn stubborn when he wants to and when someone's health is on the line he tends to get worse."

"You can say that again" Scott agreed. He's been the subject of Virgil's caring attention more than once and - though Scott would never admit that Virgil was completely right - he found it a bit much.

"You're just as bad as he his" his father reminded him.

"Am not!"

"Ha!" That last came from John up in orbit. "You are much worse than Virgil is. At least he has medical training. When we were kids you'd sit in our rooms if we got ill just to make sure we stayed in bed."

"It was necessary!"

"Scott, I had the flu, I couldn't have gotten out of bed if I wanted to. But you insisted on hovering."

"Boys" their father warned, not willing to hear this argument rehashed yet again. What John said was true but what he always forgot was that he was so ill Scott had been worried about John choking on his own vomit.

"Scott we'll leave within the hour. Get packed and go prep Tracy One."

"Yes sir."

"John, arrange a car for Virgil to drive and have it delivered to the London apartment."

"Yes sir."

When both sons had left Jeff waited for a moment. As if by magic Kyrano appeared with a fresh coffee in hand.

"Did you hear all that Kyrano?"

"Yes, Mister Tracy."

"Am I imagining things Kyrano?" Jeff looked up at his confidant, hoping against hope that Kyrano would refute him.

"Unfortunately, Mister Tracy, I think not."

Jeff sighed. Looks like they'd have to go through with it.

"Have you been to see Brains? Are you ready?"

"Yes, Mister Tracy. I shall make final preparations and be ready to leave within the hour."

"Very good Kyrano, carry on." Kyrano bowed smartly and left.

Jeff steepled his fingers together and balanced his elbows on the desk. He couldn't put his finger on why but there was something about Jasmine that he didn't trust. It sat uncomfortably behind his ribs but demanded attention. Perhaps it was because his sons seemed to trust her so easily that he did not? No, that couldn't be it. After all, when Hugh's daughter Penelope had struck up a friendship with John, Jeff has been delighted. In fact, girls and boys had come and gone and Jeff hadn't ever paid them any attention. So, what was bothering him now?

It's because she came out of nowhere, he realised. Offering herself as a sacrificial lamb with no reason to that he could see.

And then there were the other things, little things that were probably innocuous on their own but put together…

Either way, come tomorrow evening he'd have the answers he needed and then they could begin to move forward. He just hoped his boys would forgive him for it.

Three hours later and Virgil was concerned. Jasmine's temperature had continued to rise despite his best efforts. He sat next to her now with a damp cloth wiping away the sweat that appeared on her brow. He'd already changed the icepacks, alarmed that they had thawed at such a rate. Even with the flash freeze he was concerned the next lot wouldn't be ready by the time he needed to swap them out again.

Jasmine was restless in her sleep, her face scrunched up in discomfort, limbs tensing and releasing. She needed medication, rather than to be left to ride it out and, not for the first time, Virgil considered going against her wishes and taking her to a hospital.

Her breathing changed suddenly, becoming more rapid but all too shallow. Virgil placed a hand on her forehead and swore. She was noticeably hotter than before. Without thinking he scoped her up and took her to the bathroom. Awkwardly, he managed to turn the shower on to its coldest setting and, gasping in shock, he got them both under the freezing spray.

Despite the coldness of the water the heat radiating from her was fantastic. As the cold of the water seeped into his bones he found he was oddly grateful for the bundle of warmth in his arms. Little by little he felt some of the tension release from her and her breathing slowly evened out. After what seemed like an eternity under the cold deluge, she half opened her eyes, looking round in confusion.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

"In the shower" he said softly. "It was the quickest way to get your temperature down."

"Would'a been better without clothes" she said nuzzling against his chest.

Virgil smiled and squeezed gently in silent agreement. Then he realised what he was doing and threw his eyes heavenwards. What on earth had he done to get himself into this?

"Because you're a good man" she said, her voice only just audible over the running water. "First real one I ever met." A small smile played over features. "And you look really cute when I poke at you."

He laughed incredulously. So that was her game? Virgil was fairly certain she wasn't in entire control of what she was saying, her vulnerability leaving her more open than she would ever normally allow.

"Sleep Jasmine" he said softly, knowing this was a closeness she would never normally allow. "I'll be here in the morning."

She hummed in agreement. "You're comfy."

Virgil got the water turned off and took them both back to the living room. He made to put her back on the couch but a hand shot out and wrapped itself around his wrist.

"I thought you were staying?"

"I am" he said. "I'll be back in a moment."

He quickly fetched some towels and shed his now sodden clothes for dry ones. Returning to the couch he got Jasmine into something dry, picked her up again and took her place, gently resting her on his chest. She sighed as she relaxed, turning slightly onto her uninjured side. Still damp from the shower the water seeped back into his dry clothes and onto the couch where her legs rested between his. As Jasmine fell asleep once again Virgil carefully picked up the hand scanner, relieved to find her temperature was approaching normal.

He looked down and the girl sleeping safely against him and was suddenly grateful that she trusted him enough to allow this. He knew without asking that, in her short life, people she could trust were few and far between and Virgil also knew, in that moment, that he would do everything he could not to break this newly formed connection between them.