'You promised me, Scott. You promised. You promised you'd never leave me.' Gordon's pleading to his big brother fell on deaf ears. Scott wasn't responding to him, or anyone else for that matter.

And it was all his fault.

Six-year-old Gordon was not the best skier of the family. Hell, even three-year-old Alan managed to stay upright on his skis! But Gordon was determined that this year, the third year at the cabin, he was going to master it. It just wasn't done that the youngest could do something an older brother could not!

After a week spending more time on his bottom than on his legs, Gordon was about ready to give up. Scott and Virgil were naturals, John was even elegant. Lucy had told him to keep trying, he would get there in the end. But nothing helped.

That night, halfway through their holiday, Gordon announced to the family at dinner that he was giving up. There were various protests from every member of the family, even Grandad was adamant he should continue. But it was Scott who volunteered to teach him, as long as Gordy promised to do what he said.

Gordon was a bit sceptical. At eleven, Scott had begun to get very irritated with his younger brother's antics. Of course, that drove Gordon to more ridiculous pranks, culminating with Scott ending up with bright red hair the morning before they came on holiday. How a six-year-old had even managed that was still a mystery to his family.

Scott hadn't spoken to Gordon for four days. His mom had told him that this was a prank too far and he would need to do some serious apologising, but that wasn't in Gordon's nature. He didn't think it was in Scott's nature to hold a grudge, but he had. Even when Scott started to speak to him again, it wasn't as before. Gordon didn't really understand what Scott's problem was, the dye remover had got rid of the colour the same day.

So when Scott offered to teach him, Gordon wasn't so quick to take up the offer. Who knew what vengeance big brother had in mind, and visions of being abandoned in the snow were playing out before him.

Unfortunately, Lucy was not a mind reader, because she had agreed before Gordon had even blinked. At least, that is what it felt like.

It took Scott two days to teach Gordon how to stand and how to move his body on the skis. They were excruciating days for both of them. But by the end of the second day something had clicked, and Gordon was freely skiing down the biggest nursery slope. He was ready!

The third day – or tenth if he included the week before – Gordon was determined to ski the 'normal' slopes, the ones where John and Virgil regularly skied. Scott was trying to get Gordon to spend one more day on the nursery slopes so that he could learn safety better, but Gordon was having none of that now he could stay upright on his skis!

It was after lunch that it all went wrong.

Gordon had had such a great day, and by now he was actively ignoring Scott's advice. He knew what he was doing, and he had convinced himself that Scott was just a buzzkill. Gordon was great!

He didn't notice he was straying into the expert slopes, even though Scott was yelling at him. Scott was charging over, he knew how fast the skiers were on this slope, and Gordon was nowhere near good enough to just get out of their way, let alone ski there.

But he was going to be too late. Scott could see the whole scene. The skier in the blue was coming straight for Gordon and his brother had not seen them. Putting everything he had into getting there to protect Gordon, Scott shot off on an intercept course. He had less distance to cover than the blue skier, but they were faster and would probably reach Gordon first, so his aim was to intercept them, not get to Gordon.

Barrelling into the skier was one of the most painful things Scott had done up till then. The momentum still carried both of them into Gordon, but at least he wouldn't be seriously injured. Scott had a vague idea that he could hear John and Virgil shouting, but everything was blurry.

By the time Grant, Jeff, John and Virgil had made it to Scott and Gordon, the other skier had climbed out of the tangle of limbs, absolute fury emanating from them. They were limping but nothing worse. Gordon was still on the snow, but he seemed only shocked.

Scott was out of it. Unconscious, an obviously broken leg and possibly a broken arm. Gordon was mortified. This was all his fault, he had refused to listen to Scott, and now Scott was badly injured.

Jeff swopped details with the skier, who had threatened legal action if their holiday was cut short by his son's actions. By this time the medics were also on the scene and had stabilised Scott on a stretcher. They confirmed a broken leg and arm.

It was a sorry bunch that trekked back to the cabin. Grant had taken them back while Jeff went to the hospital with Scott. Once back, they piled into the two cars and drove off to the hospital. They did not wait for long, Jeff's excellent healthcare package meaning that Scott was seen very quickly. He needed a minor operation to set the break properly and to apply the regenerator so it would heal quicker. Scott would be out for the rest of the day and probably the night too.

It was sitting at Scott's bedside that he uttered the plea for Scott. Virgil clipped him round his head, then pulled him in for a one-armed hug. Glancing fondly at the others, Virgil grinned at his immediately younger brother.

'Scott's only sleep, you overdramatic idiot. He's not dying.'

Gordon had the good grace to look embarrassed.