A/N: This one is set somewhere after 'Signals' but before 'Upside down'.
As an aside, I'm fascinated by how the fandom seems to have almost universally taken the character backstories of the original Thunderbirds and plugged it into Thunderbirds are Go, especially with Gordon's hydrofoil accident. I've seen fan references to Scott getting shot down over Bereznik but I've never seen any canon references to it, does anyone know where that one comes from?
A third point, would anyone be keen on a series where I put my first aid tutor/EMT hat on and write some short scenes showing how different injuries would be dealt with? I'll quite happily take all and any injury suggestions.
Also I'm having trouble getting email alerts at the moment, I'm trying to fix it but if I don't respond to your comment as per usual that'll be why
"Scott, I need help."
The eldest Tracy looked up from his paperwork as Gordon carefully made his way over to the desk. He'd ditched the sling and progressed to crutches last week but he was stuck with the brace on his leg and a hard collar on his neck for a few more weeks yet.
"What do you need?" Scott asked, dismissing the file he was working on with a wave.
"I need to get back in the water." Gordon replied, jaw clenched and clearly ready for a scrap over the matter. "The stitches are out so there's no infection risk and it'll take the weight off my leg for a while which will help the bones heal."
"You can't swim yet, not with the hardware." Scott frowned as he started to calculate the logistics of the operation. "I can get Max to put the hoist back up…"
"No."
Scott stopped short at the vehement refusal wrapped up in the single word. Gordon stood as straight as he could, freeing up his weaker arm to point at his older brother in illustration of his resolve. "You are not putting me in that thing. I don't need to be treated like glass." The inferred 'again' went unsaid, a ghostly reminder of the time after the hydrofoil accident when he needed to be lifted in and out of his element by the poolside hoist because his atrophied muscles just weren't up to the job. "I've got to start getting back into the water before I lose my mind and lose my nerve. I can get to the edge of the pool, I just need help getting in and out and I want to borrow your shoulder to float for a while."
But Scott had latched onto one particular phrase in the middle of Gordon's tirade, probably an unintentional slip of the tongue. "Wait, what do you mean, 'lose my nerve'?" He asked, standing and coming around the desk to meet Gordon on his level.
Gordon paled and swallowed hard when he realized what he'd inadvertently revealed, but held Scott's gaze. "I convinced EOS to let me see the external camera recordings from the pods last night." He said, the quaver of fear in his voice barely audible. "It was a hell of a lot worse than I thought it was."
"Nightmares?" Scott guessed.
"Yeah. If I don't start getting back into the water soon..." Gordon trailed off.
"Understood." Scott nodded. They'd run into this problem last time. He could only imagine how almost dying, helpless and trapped underwater for a second time around was reopening the wounds they'd all thought had healed years ago. "Do you need help getting changed?"
"No, I've got that." Gordon's relief was visible. "Meet you at the pool?"
"I'll see you there."
0o0o0o0
Wearing his grey trunks and sitting on one of the loungers beside the pool as he waited for Gordon, Scott took a moment to order his thoughts and review what the psychologist Doctor Hayley had told him last time: Don't tell him what to do, don't control it. Let him call the shots, trust him to tell you what he needs, what he wants and what he's comfortable with.
Stepping back and relinquishing control like that had been a steep learning curve for him with his natural instinct to take charge, take control and dive straight in to fix things.
Last time, after Gordon had been released home and before she'd sat him down and made him listen, events had culminated in an explosive screaming match between Scott- who was panicking and convinced that Gordon was pushing himself too much, would make things worse and live the rest of his life wrapped up in proverbial cotton wool- and Gordon- who was panicking and convinced that Scott wanted to treat him like cracked glass and make him live the rest of his life wrapped up in proverbial cotton wool.
It had ended when Virgil literally dragged Scott away in a headlock to proverbially knock some sense into him while John and Kayo 'kidnapped' Gordon for a few days in one of their boats for some much needed space. Grandma had been on the mainland with Alan for a school event at the time and Scott was eternally grateful their littlest brother hadn't been witness to the explosion.
A few days later, when tempers had cooled and with Doctor Hayley playing referee they'd gotten to the bottom of it all. It was aided in no small part by the two brothers writing down their biggest fears about the situation beforehand and realizing they were afraid of effectively the same things. From there they figured out how to communicate again, apologized and patched things up.
A clatter of crutches drew Scott's attention back out of his introspection as Gordon made his way out, wearing the comfortable neon yellow trunks he usually used when swimming for fun, not exercise. He already had a broad lifting belt with padded handles strapped snugly around his waist in preparation for moving.
"How do you want to do this?" Scott asked, firmly reminding himself to cede control to Gordon on this matter.
"We'll go to the shallow end. You help me sit with the lifting belt then get in, I'll sit on the edge and you pick me up. We'll do the basic supine support float and you'll tow me around for a bit. We'll do the reverse to get out." Gordon instructed.
"You've thought this through." Scott commented in approval as he took the crutches, set them down and then supported Gordon by holding him on both sides of his waist with the lifting belt. Technically he should have had a second person assisting but Gordon had the experience, balance and core strength to pull it off safely. Scott went down on his left knee and lowered Gordon at the same time with the belt, using his right knee as an improvised seat so Gordon could readjust his braced leg for the final drop down to the ground.
When Gordon was positioned and the belt unclipped, Scott lowered himself into the shallow end of the pool- 'shallow end' being a relative term, the water was just below shoulder high on Scott. "Ready?" He asked, coming to the edge of the pool.
Gordon shuffled himself as close as he could get without falling in, sitting side on to the pool with his knees bent and arms crossed over his chest. "Ready." He nodded.
"Okay, on three. One, two, three." Scott picked Gordon up bridal style and with a little maneuvering soon had him on his back in the water, Gordon's neck on his shoulder and supporting Gordon's lower back with both hands to compensate for the leg brace affecting Gordon's natural buoyancy. "I'm going to start moving backwards now, okay?"
"F.A.B." Gordon replied in a controlled voice, hands now at his sides with fingers splayed and staring straight up into the endless blue sky above them. His breathing was a little fast, but he seemed to be okay.
"I remember Mom doing this when she was teaching us to swim." Scott remarked as he walked backwards in a slow circuit of the end of the pool, trying to distract Gordon. Out of all of them Gordon had the best rescue 'bedside manner' and regularly talked people down in some pretty hairy situations. Scott was the first to admit he was the 'get it done' guy and his soft skills could be a little rough sometimes. He tended to keep people calm by pointing them in the right direction and keeping them busy. "She said it took me forever to get the hang of just floating." Scott went on.
"Yeah, I remember Mom talking about that." Gordon replied. "Wasn't John the one who fell asleep on her shoulder?"
"Our first clue he'd be the full time spaceman, he loved anything that felt like zero-G." Scott chuckled. "She had the most trouble with you, you didn't want to float, you wanted to swim."
"Yep. Momma's little fish baby."
Scott could hear the smile in Gordon's voice and felt himself smile in response. "Do you want to try submerging?" He asked after a few minutes. That had been something else from last time, they'd all been surprised by it when Gordon had a full blown panic attack while underwater for the first time after the accident. It had taken a lot of careful work to heal that particular wound.
"No, not today." Gordon replied after a thoughtful pause. "When I get this neck brace off, then we will."
"F.A.B."
The afternoon slid past and the sun was painting the waves with gold when Virgil came to the pool. "Hey, you about ready to come out?" He asked. "Alan and Kayo radioed, they're on their way back from Auckland, he said they've got half a plane load of snacks and John's coming down for movie night."
"What's the movie?" Gordon asked.
"Lord of the Rings marathon." Virgil grinned.
"Ooh! Extended edition?"
"Of course." Virgil smirked. "We're already taking bets on who's going to fall asleep first and when."
"Count me in!" Gordon laughed as Scott took him back to the edge of the pool. "Two chocolate bars says Alan dozes off before the Mines of Moria."
Between the three of them they got Gordon out of the water, mostly dried off and back on his crutches to make his way inside to shower and change. The older brothers lingered outside for a few minutes, Virgil sitting on a handy lounger while Scott sat on the warm ground and toweled off.
"How's he doing?" Virgil asked quietly. "John said the two of you were in the water for at least an hour."
"He's getting there." Scott told him. "EOS let him see the recordings from his rescue last night."
"Oh." Virgil's expression was far more eloquent than his words when it came to his feelings about Gordon seeing that. "Nightmares?"
"Yep." Scott sighed and stood, the wet towel slung over one shoulder.
"I'll keep an eye on him too." Virgil promised, knowing Scott would be sleeping with his door cracked to catch any sounds of Gordon in distress for the next few nights. "Should I turn his medical monitor back on 'baby monitor' mode?" He asked, referring to the more sensitive setting that would ping an automatic alert to himself and Scott should it pick up any signs of a fall, agitation or nightmares, not just the usual presets for heart rate and oxygen levels.
Scott turned it over in his mind for a minute, then shook his head. "No, ask him first but don't do it without him knowing."
Virgil nodded, looking up at the sound of rockets firing as the space elevator descended. "John's here, and Tracy 2 was about twenty minutes out when Alan called, so we've got about thirty minutes before movie time." The middle Tracy looked up at his brother, scrutinizing him carefully. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." Scott nodded. "Honestly, I am. I learned from last time, I've got an appointment with Doctor Hayley tomorrow morning and Gordon has one tomorrow afternoon."
"Good." Virgil stood up and canted a grin at him. "C'mon, let's get inside."