WARNING: mentions of blood, electric shocks, missing family member.

'911, What's Your Emergency?'

'This is International Rescue, what is your situation?'

'I need help,' a panicked voice shouted back. American, definitely midwestern. 'Please!'

John sighed. Sometimes it really was one of those days. You know the kind – the kind where everything just seems to go wrong all at once. Yeah, he was having one of those days. As a result, he was answering calls as audio only, no visuals.

'I understand, ma'am. If you could possibly give me a few more details, just so we can make sure we send the right resources your way? What exactly is going on?' he asked, hitting the button to run a trace.

'It's Robbie,' she cried. 'I took my eyes off him for two seconds and now he's gone! My baby's gone.'

Ah. Missing children were always tricky calls – primarily because more often than not John had to break the bad news that International Rescue would not be responding. More often than not all John could do was patch them through to the local police. There were certain protocols that had to be followed with missing children, and procedures that International Rescue didn't have the authority to enact. Then there was the fact that on more than half of the calls John received, he was contacted with follow-ups less than twenty-four hours later stating that the child had been found. In fact, on one occasion a missing child had shown up before John had even had the change to contact the police. He had, it turned out, been hiding in a clothing rack, and the father had called IR without even considering asking security first.

The hologram beside him beeped, the results of the trace coming through. He frowned. Trossachs National Park, Scotland.

There were, of course, exceptions to their policy on missing children. Because if it was a missing child in a disaster zone, of course they were going to be looking for them – they were probably already doing so anyway. And then, of course, there were situations like this. There were all sorts of dangers that a child could get into in the middle of a forest. So, in this case, it was something of a grey area.

Eyes flicking across his array of displays, he tried to come up with a solution. They were rushed off their feet today, and there wasn't really anybody to spare. Scott was rescuing some backpackers who had bit off more than they could chew on K2. Teamed up with local Search and Rescue, they were having big issues actually pinpointing their location, and Five's scanners weren't helping either. Alan was trying to stabilise a distressed freighter in orbit. He was doing well, but it was slow going, and they still weren't entirely sure what was causing the ship's problem. Kayo had been forced to take on a mission that ideally shouldn't have been solo, but she'd been the only resource available at the time. An explosion a GDF base had resulted in multiple casualties, and Colonel Casey had requested any free hands they could manage. Virgil was supposed to be meeting her there once Two had refuelled, but… plans had changed.

But Gordon… Gordon was dealing with a downed tourist sub in Australia. It was a simple rescue, and he'd probably be done in the next few minutes. It would take him some time to get back to the island, but in theory he could hop straight into Two and be in England in a few hours. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one he could offer right now.

'Hello, are you still there?' the woman was breathless, and slightly sniffly.

'Yes, I'm here,' John replied. 'Don't worry I'm sending help to your location. Now, it might be some time before we can reach you, so I'm going to alert local Search and Rescue so they can begin operations before we arrive.'

'WHAT?' the woman shrieked. 'YOU'RE NOT COMING?'

John winced, her voice piercing right through him. 'We are on our way, ma'am, I'm just trying to speed up the process by sending out local Search and Rescue. Think of it this way, the more hands-on deck, the easier it'll be to find Robbie.'

'Yes… oh yes. Thank you.'

'You're welcome.' Behind him, the doors hissed open. With a glance over his shoulder, he welcomed his brother with a nod, ignoring the judgemental raised eyebrow. 'Now, can you give me a description of Robbie? What he looks like, how old he is?'

'He's four years old and he has dark brown hair, and he's quite tall compared to the others.'

John nodded, tapping out the details. He ignored Virgil as he floated up beside him, frowning as he read the transcript on screen. 'Anything else that could help? The colour of his coat, maybe a hat that he's wearing?'

The woman sobbed. 'He – he hates hats. I can never get him to wear one. But he is wearing his special coat – it's a bright red raincoat with a hood. It's his favourite.'

'Red raincoat, no hat, got it.' Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Virgil patching through to the nearest Search and Rescue team. He smirked. No matter what they were supposed to be doing, none of them could resist getting involved in this sort of thing. Especially if children were involved. 'Have you got an item of his with you? Something that a dog could –'

'NO!' Again, the woman's voice shot through his head like a spear. 'No dogs, he's terrified of them!'

'Okay, we'll let the team know. No dogs.'

'I just need you to find him. He's everything to me.'

John smiled, despite the fact that she couldn't see him. 'We'll do everything we can, ma'am. I'm going to pop you on hold while get things organised for you, but the line will still be open so I can hear if you need me. Just make sure to stay where you are, just in case Robbie finds his way back to you, okay?' He muted his end even as she thanked him, turning slowly to his brother.

Virgil grimaced. 'I've already told Gordon, he's on his way home now and he'll jump straight in Two. I assume that was your plan?'

'Yeah, he's the only one available.'

'So, I can see.' The judgemental eyebrow was back again. 'And why couldn't EOS have taken that call?'

'Two reasons. One, she's already co-ordinating for both Scott and Alan. I need her focused on them, and we've already argued about it. Two, I can still answer calls for help. Technically, I'm still in my seat, so I'm resting.'

'Did you know you're sat in a pool of your own blood?'

John blinked and glanced down. The seat was clear. So was the floor.

'Made you look,' Virgil said, grinning. 'But you get my point.'

'Not funny, Virgil.'

'I agree. Now will you let me take a look at you?'

Being stuck in the infirmary sucked. But, being a man of logic, John understood why it was necessary. Self-done first aid was rarely done well because you were usually pumped so full of adrenaline that you couldn't keep your hands steady. Virgil had made sure to tell him that while his bandaging of his thigh had been sloppy, it had at least done its job.

'Considering the circumstances,' he'd said, 'you did well.'

John had shrugged. 'Hey, bandages don't need to be pretty, they just need to keep the blood in.'

'Yeah, well usually the so-called pretty ones are just a little more effective.'

They'd come to an agreement that Virgil wouldn't kill him if he agreed to take a refresher. John found he didn't really mind that either. It never hurt to brush up on your skills.

What did hurt was slicing your hand on a loose bit of panelling because you jerked back after getting an electric shock while trying to fix the wiring behind said panel. The cut itself wasn't too bad, but he'd still needed stitches. And Virgil had treated the burns too. Really the only reason he was still in the infirmary was for observation. They didn't think the shock was too bad, but they were playing it safe.

The doors swished open, and a very bouncy Gordon appeared, Virgil in tow. John sat up carefully.

'Did you find Robbie?' he asked.

'Oh, I found Robbie alright,' Gordon replied with a manic grin. He sat on the end of the bed, practically vibrating.

John looked at Virgil, who shrugged. Apparently, that was all the information he'd been given as well. It briefly occurred to John that, maybe, he didn't want to know why Gordon was so excited. But it obviously had something to do with the rescue, so: 'And?'

'Oh, he's been reunited with his mom, and she was over the moon. He was a little rattled, but she let me give him a few treats and he soon calmed down.'

'Treats?' Virgil frowned.

'Oh, and I took a pic with him, too. Wanna see?' Without waiting for an answer, he pulled an image up on the screen.

John stared at it blankly. The image of Gordon grinned back at him, one arm around who he assumed was Robbie's mom. And in her arms, wearing a red raincoat, was a very soggy, dark brown ferret.

'Apparently his mom takes him hiking all the time.' Gordon giggled. But then he sobered up pretty quickly, a frown taking over his face. 'I mean, I thought it was funny at the time, but… anything could have happened to him. And she never even told us he was a ferret. I only connected the dots when I saw him scamper across the path in front of me. My scanners weren't looking for a ferret, they were looking for a kid.'

'What a waste of resources,' John growled.

Virgil sighed. 'Let's… let's look at the positives. Yes, it was a waste of equipment and manpower, and yes, now Gordon has to be taken off the roster on mandatory rest period – yes, I'm enforcing that, do not argue. But it sounds like that ferret is family to her. We can't change the past, so let's just celebrate that. This was a success. I guess.'

'Sure,' John agreed. 'But I'm not telling Scott.'

'Get a grip, John. No one's telling Scott – on pain of death. And Gordon? That means no telling Alan. You can't brag about the ferret.' Virgil shrugged. 'If he asks, we just say we found the kid. He doesn't need to know any more than that, got it?'

'F.A.B.,' Gordon grumbled.

John nodded. To be honest, it was probably for the best. It would probably only get his blood pressure up anyway, and he was already going to be stressing over him when he got home. John settled back on his pillows.

What a day.