I'm so sorry for the wait with this one! For those of you who didn't already know, the document I'd been writing this story on deleted itself, so I lost a fair amount of work and my motivation for a while.

Slowly gaining my mojo back now!

Oh Gordon…

Scott's hands gripped the steering wheel of his father's car tightly as he tanked it down the highway in the direction of Marineville, his commander's haunting words still reverberating in his mind.

"Tracy, we need to talk."

Scott addressed his commanding officer with a salute.

"At ease, soldier. I've just received some urgent news from your father."

Scott tensed up. "My father? What news?"

"It seems your brother Gordon has been involved in quite a serious incident which happened during a naval training exercise. He's been flown to a hospital in Marineville and your father is flying out there now to see him as we speak. He wanted me to let you know."

Scott remained calm despite the hard-hitting news, not wanting to crack in front of his superior. "I see. If that's the case then, sir, I wish to request some shore leave immediately."

"Granted. You may take leave of absence for one week."

Scott's clammy hands tightened around the wheel. He violently overtook slower cars as he hurried across state, knowing he'd probably wind up with several speeding tickets by the rate he was going. At this moment in time though, he really didn't care. Getting to Gordon was too important to him. He didn't even know how injured his brother was, but judging the restrained tone in his commander's voice, he knew it was bad.

REALLY bad.

The fact he'd immediately been granted time off without question told him that.

After a stressful drive, Scott finally found himself at the Marineville border, waiting in a moderate queue of traffic towards the checkpoint. Impatiently, Scott tapped his fingers on the car dashboard as the drivers of the vehicles ahead of him slowly showed their credentials to the guards, before being allowed access to the heavily guarded town.

Soon it was Scott's turn to drive through the barrier, and after showing his ID to the burly helmeted man at the gate, he headed in the direction of the hospital.

Shortly he arrived. He hurriedly pulled into one of the available car parking spaces then jumped out of the car before hastily locking it. He took a fast walk into the building and made his way to reception, where he was instantly directed to Gordon's private room on the fifth floor.

After taking the elevator up to the penthouse deck, Scott quickly strode down the corridor. As he turned a narrow corner, he spotted a short figure standing outside the door of what he believed was Gordon's room, hands locked on his face as he leant against the wall in a defeated manner.

Scott's tension skyrocketed as soon as he saw the shaking shoulders of his brother Alan, who was too distressed to even notice Scott approaching.

"Alan?"

Alan's head shot up. His watery eyes locked with Scott's stern ones. After a few silent moments, the teenager closed the gap between them, throwing himself into Scott's arms. He hugged him tightly, trying to restrain his sobs.

Scott just watched him in shock. Alan had seemingly reverted back to his five-year-old self, who would fling himself at his older brother with no hesitation when he wished to be comforted. The same thing was happening now.

"Alan…" Scott murmured into his hair, not quite being able to find the words.

"H-He's- he's-" Alan started, trying to speak through his cries.

Forcing himself to remain steady in front of his brother, Scott gently guided Alan towards the room. He opened the door and shut it behind them, watching as his brother scampered to a corner at the back of the room, wanting a little privacy while he cried.

As Scott turned away from his trembling brother, he was greeted with one of the most sombre scenes he'd ever laid his eyes on.

From where he was standing, he could see a plain hospital bed surrounded by all sorts of machines. A lone, still figure was laying inside the bed. Scott could hardly see him though, instead focusing on the man kneeling beside it, his firm hand wrapped around a dead one.

At the foot of the bed was John who was standing tall as always, tearful, yet restrained eyes locked to the window. Flanking him on the right was their grandmother, who was clutching John's arm and looking directly at the unconscious figure in the bed. On John's other side was Virgil, who had his face pressed into his older brother's sleeve.

Scott didn't say a word. He slowly crossed the room, eyes honing in on the bed. He made his way over to his father and gently dropped his hands on his shoulders. Responding the the gesture, Jeff stood up and turned to his oldest son, his weary expression revealing to Scott just how much his father was struggling to cope.

Scott stepped closer to the bed and for the first time since he'd arrived, looked at Gordon. Biting his tongue to stop himself yelling out in grief, Scott balled his hands into fists. He couldn't even describe what his brother looked like, aside from a mess.

A truly heart-wrenching mess.

Scott leant down and touched Gordon's hand, resting his palm on the frozen slab. He found himself taking his father's position on his knees next to the bed, gently rubbing Gordon's hand to induce some sign of life from him, to no avail.

It was if Gordon was already dead.