Virgil pov
"You wasn't kidding…" Gordon Said in disbelief, looking at Alan.
"You think I would joke about something like this?" John asked, sounding slightly offended.
"No, just….it's hard to believe that's all" Gordon Said.
That was true, it was hard to believe, but they could see with their own two eyes that it was true.
"I know what you mean," he said in agreement. "Scott, now that we'll all here, can you tell us what going on?"
Scott sighed "yeah, I guess I should"
"Tell us what?" Gordon asked.
"Alan may be one of the luckier kids but doesn't mean he's alright" John explained sadly.
Gordon gulped, "he's okay, right?"
"Wish I could say he was Gordo, but he not," Scott Said gently, shaking his head. "He's badly malnourished, plus a whole bunch of other things."
Malnourished? Not surprising but….it wasn't good, not at all.
"Did a medic have a look at him?" He asked.
"Yeah, a medic had a look at him a little while after I got here…" Scott Said, looking down at Alan
"Colonel Casey told me that he would not let anyone near him, the only reason he let that medic look at him was probably because I was there," Scott said softly.
He frowned, oh alan.
"Did they put him on any medication or diet?" He asked.
"Yeah, they want us to gradually introduce more nutrient filled foods into alan's diet until he is eating a high nutrient diet and gain some weight back," Scott Said stroking Alan's hair. "He's so skinny, I can see his ribs."
that didn't sound good…
"But wait, why can't he just eat those foods now?" Gordon asked.
"Because if we suddenly introduced all these foods at once like that, his body may think them a threat, even though they're not" he explained.
"Like an allergic reaction?" Gordon asked, looking fearful.
"Exactly Like an allergic reaction" Scott Said, "which he could still have by the way."
"So we need to keep an eye out for that, don't we?" John asked.
"yes" Scott nodded.
" we should keep an epi-pen somewhere in the kitchen where we can get it at a moments notice," he subjected.
Scott nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's a good idea."
Alan shifted in Scott's lap, whimpering loudly.
"Shhh, baby it's okay" Scott whispered, tucking the blanket more securely around Alan. "It's okay, shhh, shhh."
He bit the inside of his cheek, it hurts to see his little brother so distressed.
"He's not sleeping well, is he?" John asked.
"No, he isn't," Scott Sighed.
"Had he had anything to eat?" Gordon asked, "like since they found him?"
"Yeah, he had something little, didn't really eat a lot of it though" Scott Said, looking down at Alan with a worried frown.
"He's probably not used to it Scott, give him time," he said, trying to comfort Scott.
"I know, I just…..I just worry" Scott Said softly.
We all do bro, we all do….
"Why do I get the feeling that's not all that's going on with Alan?" Gordon asked.
"Because it's not" John Said, "there's some else that we haven't told you yet, but it's pretty crazy."
He raised an eyebrow, Okay?
"You took the words right out of my mouth John" Scott Said, "what I'm going to tell you guys next is, as John Said crazy, but I need you to trust me on it."
"Um, Scott? Alan is still eight when he should be fourteen, I think we've passed crazy" Gordon Said, gesturing to Alan with his hand.
"Yeah, He's sort of right," he said nodding in agreement. "What else is wrong with Alan?"
Scott sighed, "well I been told, by Alan, plus I saw a bit of it myself….that when Alan gets upset his skin gets very hot…like I mean hot, guys."
He frowned, Okay that wasn't good. That will make it so much harder to tell if Alan was sick or not. He guesses they'll just need to figure that out when they come to it.
"Like a fever?" Gordon asked.
"No, hotter then a fever, it felt like touching a hot stove" Scott Said.
His eyes widened.
"The body not supposed to get that hot!" he said, seriously worried.
"I know, and that's not even the craziest part" Scott sighed.
There's more?!
"His skin can get so hot that he….he catches on fire, now I haven't seen this, but I'm willing to believe it's true" Scott Said.
His eyes widen even more.
"On fire?….as in hot, burning fire?" Gordon asked in disbelief. "That's not possible."
"And someone not ageing in five years is?" John challenged.
"I….Okay fine, it could be possible, but how is he still alive? This is fire we are talking about here" Gordon Said.
"It must not hurt him like it would someone else," he said willing to believe Scott, even if all his medical knowledge is saying it's not possible. "But that not saying that it doesn't hurt him, Scott do you know if…."
"No, I don't," Scott said, shaking his head, "I was going to ask, but don't know how he'll react to it."
"Why?" John asked.
"He got very upset when he told me and the medic about it" Scott explained.
"I don't want to make him upset either, but we need to know…" he said, the last thing he wants to do was make alan upset, but they need to know if….when this fire thing happens, does it hurt alan? and if so, is there something they can do to help?
"I know…" Scott mumbled, leaning his cheek on Alan's head. "Another thing he told me is that he can't handle the cold, that's it make him really sick."
He frowned, he wasn't sure he like where Scott was going with this.
"The medic looked into it, and it turned out that he can't regulate his body's temperature," Scott said, pulling alan closer. "If he gets too cold, he could…."
"Die" he finished for Scott, his eyes wide. He was a medic, he knew a lot about the body and the fact that alan couldn't regulate his temperature, it was bad, with a capital B! Bad!
"What!?" Gordon said, going pale. "It's that bad?!"
"Yes, Gordon, it's that bad," John said, "Scott, do you know what we need to do to help him?"
"Other than keep him warm, no I have no clue," Scott said, "Virgil?"
He sighed, "I don't know, I don't have much knowledge on how to treat someone that can't regulate their temperature."
He'll need to look it up find out all he can.
"but I do know that you need to keep him warm, do not let him get cold Scott," he said firmly.
"I won't," Scott said, moving alan slightly, so he was sitting more securely on his lap, fixing up the blanket, so it was covering alan better.
"I'm thinking of putting international rescue on hiatus until alan is settled in," Scott said, "I already talked with John about it, but what do you guys think?"
"I won't say no to a brack," Gordon said.
"It's fine with me, we need a brack, plus alan needs us here, we can't be running around the world every second of the day," he said, crossing his arms.
"That what I was thinking, so we're all in agreement?" Scott asked.
He nodded, John and Gordon doing the same.
"Okay, good" Scott nodded, "Oh yeah, John, can you order some clothes for Alan for me?" Scott asked.
Clothes? Oh yeah, Alan doesn't have any, does he?
"Sure, what does he need?" John asked.
"Everything, he has nothing except the clothes the GDF got him" Scott Said, frowning.
"So just get him everything?" John asked.
"Basically Yes" Scott nodded.
"Okay," John nodded.
"What about toiletries? Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner?" he asked.
"Yeah, we need to get that too" Scott Said, "is there anything else we need to get?"
He couldn't think of anything, he thought shaking his head,
"Um, what about a stuffed toy? Didn't he have one before?" Gordon asked.
Yeah, of course. Alan still an eight-year-old, so of course he would need toys, plus having something to cuddle was always therapeutic.
"Yeah, he had a couple actually, I think we kept some of them" Scott Said.
That makes sense, some of those toys were old family toys that had gotten handed down all the way from Scott to alan, so of course, they would keep them.
"would you be able to pick the stuff up on the way home?" John asked Scott.
"I don't know, I don't really want to expose Alan to the public" Scott Said, frowning "I could leave him in one, it's the safest place he can be, but I don't want to do that, I don't think Alan would deal with it well either."
Scott frowned, conflicted.
"Scott don't worry about it, I'll go get them, I need to get some stuff anyway," he said, "you just focus on getting Alan home safe,"
"Um speaking of that, Where is Alan going to sleep tonight? His old room is a storage room now, it doesn't even have a bed in it" Gordon asked.
Oh yeah, Alan doesn't have a room.
"He can sleep with me until we get his room ready," Scott said, "I got a big enough bed, plus it not like I'm not used to sharing my bed."
He felt his cheeks colour slightly, yeah when he was younger he would occasionally spend the night in Scott's bed instead of his own. They all done it at least once.
"Yeah, that would work" Gordon shrugged.
"We got a long road ahead of us, don't we?" he said, thinking of all the things they need to do. ,
"That's for sure" Scott sighed, "I'm going to head home soon, so I should see you guys soon."