Scott pov.
"Is that…is that really allie?" John asked, eyes wide.
He smiled, "yeah, it is," he said, looking at the child wrapped in a blanket, sitting in his arms. Alan was wearing a top and pants that the GDF had given him, they also gave him a pair of shoes, but Alan wasn't wearing them right now.
A part of him still can't believe he got his baby brother in his arms.
He looked up as he heard John choked on a sob. John had his hand over his mouth, tears at the corners of his eyes.
"It…really…oh God," John said, "is he okay?"
He sighed, "not really, he's malnourished, he been put on a special diet to help him get better but it not going to be easy, I been told that he could be allergic to some stuff he wasn't before, so we'll need to watch out for that."
John nodded, he knew that John probably already had a website up about malnourished, trying to find out all he can.
"He also can't self regulate his body temperature, that something he has to live with for the rest of his life, it's horrible," he said, looking down at Alan, who whimpered in his sleep.
"Shhh, it's okay" he whispered softly, rubbing Alan's back.
"what? Why can't he self regulate his body temperature?" John asked, concerned.
"It's head to explain, I don't fully understand it, but the gist is that when he's distressed, his temperature rises until he….it's sounds crazy but he said he catches on fire, I haven't seen it for myself, but I'm going to take Alan's word for it"
"He catches on fire?!" John asked him, shocked. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know John, this whole situation got impossible written all over it," he said, rubbing his eyes.
"Like the fact that Alan is still an eight-year-old, where's he should be fourteen?" John asked.
"Yeah" he nodded, "I don't know why he's still eight, but I don't really care, I just care that we got our brother back."
John nodded.
"He's really traumatised, we need to make sure we're really gentle with him," he said. "he's really fragile right now."
"I don't blame him, he should have never gone through what he did," John said, "none of those kids should have"
Oh, they were so lucky, he thought thinking about all those other kids. Alan could have been dead or close to death, and there would be nothing they could do….they were so damm lucky, they got a second chance and he damm well not going to waste it!
"are we putting IR on hold?" John asked.
"Yeah, I don't see a way we can do international rescue and help alan right now, helping alan recover must be our number one priority," he said, stroking alan's hair.
"Do you want me to bring the others in the call, they would like to know…" John said.
"Okay, just make sure to tell them to keep their voices down, I don't want them waking Alan up," he said.
John nodded.
Virgil's pov.
He was working on Thunderbird two, he was trying to occupy himself as they wait for Scott to call them.
The wait was killing him, he needs to know if that kid was alan or not. He would have gone with Scott, but Scott insisted that he need to stay here in case of a rescue. He didn't like it, but he knew Scott was right.
John's hologram appeared on his wrist comm.
"John, Do we have a rescue?" He asked, wiping the grease off his hands with a rag.
John shook his head, "no, not a rescue, Scott just called me a moment ago."
His eyes widened.
"Scott? What did he say? Did he say if it was Alan or…" he stopped seeing John smiling, a kind of smile that just screamed everything he needs to know.
"It's really him?" He asked, his voice shaking, his eyes going wide. "It's really Allie?"
"Yeah, it's him…" John said, tears in his eyes. "I saw him with my own two eyes, it's him….though…. he hasn't aged, he's still eight."
"What? How is that possible?" he asked, confused.
"I don't know" John sighed. "It just is…"
"I'm going to connect you with Scott now as I tell Gordon okay, just keep your voice down, Alan is sleeping," John said before his hologram was replaced with Scott's.
"Hey Virgil," Scott Said, smiling, a small child sleeping in his arms.
Getting told that it was alan was one thing up to see for himself that it was Alan? Whole different ball game, he thought as tears gathered in his eyes.
"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" Scott Said, seeing his wide eyes.
"Yeah," he said breathlessly, his eyes not leaving alan.
Alan made a tinny sound of distress in his sleep, getting both his and Scott's attention.
"Shhh, it's okay sweetheart" Scott whispered, stroking alan's hair. "It's okay, shhh."
He frowned, suddenly realising that yes they found Alan but didn't mean alan was okay. His brother was basically tortured for five years straight, they were just so lucky alan was even still alive at all.
"Is he okay?" he asked, concerned.
Scott sighed, "he is anything but okay."
He frowned, "care to explain?" He asked, his inner medic want to know all the facts.
Scott sighed, "it probably be better if I explain it all at once,"
"Okay," he said nodding, he waited this long, he can wait a little bit more.