Tracy island infirmary Virgil TAG POV
"They are here, and they are both alive!" the blond-haired man answered Virgil and his brothers. Who were on their knees in the sand, begging for information on their lost younger brothers. EOS had found Alan's and Gordon's suit signals and were trying to contact them. Unfortunately, something was wrong, causing EOS difficulty in reaching them. The blond man in front of them had somehow figured out that they were related. The blond man then uttered, what had to be the most beautiful words in the world.
"They are here, and they are alive!" were words, Virgil knew he would never forget. They were words that made life worth living again, by giving him the greatest gift, his little brothers back.
"I thought we had lost them forever!" John confessed, the relief in his voice of being wrong, was palpable.
Virgil would not let John confess his fears for his brothers alone. Virgil gathered up courage and quietly fessed up his own fears in solidarity with John "I was afraid that we would never see them again!".
Virgil hugged both of his brothers closer, still kneeling on the beach. While Virgil was physically holding his brothers together, in what had to be the mother of all bear hugs. He was attempting to hold the three of them together emotionally, using body language to convey the pure relief of being incorrect. There were no words who could accurately describe, the tsunami of emotions they were currently experiencing.
"Please, take us to them!" Scott pleaded, having just found his voice, previously lost in his emotional turmoil. The strong, usually stoic commander of international rescue had tears threatening to spill over the corner of his eyes.
Virgil could not stand to watch his family so distraught. Before Virgil could control himself, he hugged his older brother painfully tight. Thankfully Scott, being the oldest of five brothers, was used to it and could take it.
The blond-haired man, who just connected the dots of their identities, turned around to the other men on the beach, and said while smiling "What do you say? Shall we reunite the Tracy family?".
All Virgil could think was "Yes, please! Yes, please! Take us to them!".
The oldest of the men, who had accused them of being intruders, relented after seemingly contemplating it for a moment, and said, "Yeah sons, let us reunite the Tracy's!".
Virgil couldn't be annoyed at him anymore, for rudely accusing them of being intruders. If grandma had come with them, they would have been lectured about manners. That painted a lovely picture in Virgil's head. If these men, truly reunited them with their little brothers, he would be so grateful that he could even kiss their feet. Not that kissing feet were appealing to Virgil. Not in the slightest! However, when Virgil loved someone, he loved them with his entire being. There were very few things in the world Virgil wouldn't do for his brothers' wellbeing.
Virgil felt like he was in a daze, while staggering up the mountain, hopefully towards his little brothers. He had reached the point of exhaustion long ago, and stubbornly pushed past it. Virgil was afraid to fully let himself believe, that his precious little brothers, were within reach.
He felt completely drained both emotionally and physically. The four days without Alan and Gordon had taken a steep toll. He stumbled several times up the mountain and would almost certainly have fallen flat on his face, if it wasn't for Scott, catching him when he slipped. Good, old, reliable Scott! Older brothers have their uses after all.
Virgil was yanked out of his daze, when EOS came back to them, franticly trying to tell them something. Her terrified voice worried Virgil. The words she uttered, shook him to his core.
"No! Not again! Please! I can't take it anymore!" Virgil thought, as he found out that something was terribly wrong, and Alan had collapsed.
Virgil needed to be there, now! Scott managed to get their guides to hurry up! Virgil was thankful that his brothers voice worked, when his didn't. The entire group took off running up the mountain. A massive amount of adrenaline must be pumping through Virgil's veins. His previous exhaustion pushed aside, as his body's fight and flight response kicked in.
Rushing to his little brothers, as fast as his legs would carry him. Virgil ran through all the possible medical scenarios in his head, to prepare himself. This time, Virgil would be there. This time, he would fix his brother and take them home! No matter what! Failure was not an option!
Virgil ran into the infirmary seconds after Scott, with John right on his heels.
Virgil could hardly believe his eyes, as thoughts rushed through his head "They were here! They were alive! His wonderfully infuriating little brothers were here, alive! They made it!" A sense of pure relief flooded Virgil's veins.
Gordon was standing by Alans bedside, tenser than a guard dog prepared to attack. In Gordons tense state, he was still somehow tenderly holding onto Allie's hand. The love and worry were easy to read in his body language, all his attention was focused on his only little brother. Gordon was letting the two other people present, probably physicians, attend to Alan.
Gordon would not have let them come near Allie if they were a threat to his safety. Of that, Virgil was entirely certain. Protectiveness towards younger siblings were a dominant family trait. Gordon looked ready to snap if he hadn't already.
Allie, on the other hand, was lying unnaturally still in an infirmary bed. Alan was not supposed to look as pale as a ghost. Alan's picture could normally be in the dictionary, as a definition for "full of life". To compare Virgil's normal way of picturing Alan in his mind, with the one revealed now, was difficult to come to terms with.
Alan's preferred go to jokes, was comparing everyone and everything to words in the dictionary. The last one Virgil recalled he did it too, was the Hood with the word sabotage. Virgil fondly thought back on Alans attempted humour. He still had a lot to learn in that department.
Alan practically never slept in his own bed. Somehow, preferring sleeping on his plush carpet instead of his comfortable bed. Virgil suspected that Alan felt closer to their dearly departed mother that way. After all, mom had bought it, for his nursery as a baby, before her accident. Allie's favourite picture of them together showed both playing on the carpet with colourful baby toys. The change in sleeping habits started after her death.
Inexplicably, Alan never grew out of it. Even now, when they occasionally carried a sleeping Alan to bed, he somehow managed to find his way from his bed to his favourite spot on the carpet. Alan was almost never still, not while awake nor while sleeping.
More often than not, Virgil found him piloting different Thunderbirds in his dreams. Obviously, piloting Thunderbird three was the most common in his dreams. It was, after all, Allie's bird. Alans arms holding on to imaginary controls and sleep talking, were memories Virgil held close to his heart.
Virgil heard Scott cry out Gordons name. Virgil quickly focused his attention back to Gordon.
Gordon had, finally, turned his focus from Alan and looked towards them. Virgil felt his heart break even more. Gordon was crying! He looked so small and broken. When he asked if we were truly here or if we were an hallucination, it felt like a knife stabbed his heart. Virgil just wanted to make everything better. To make Gordons obvious pain, go away. To bring back his happy, joking co-pilot of a brother.
His little brother, who was practically sunshine personified, shouldn't look like that! It was not allowed, for him, to be that hurt! It looked so wrong! Scott managed to convince Gordie that he was real. Earning a running octopus-hug. It had been years since Gordon had to pull one of those hugs for comfort.
Virgil unconsciously shouted Gordons name and crashed into Scott and Gordon from the left, while John tackled them from the right. Crushing Gordie in the middle of a group hug. It felt indescribably good to be reunited with his brothers.
Unfortunately, Virgil's relief was cut short, when he heard Gordon's whisper "Dad, Allie almost died! We almost lost him!".
Gordon shocked his brothers to silence for a few moments.
Virgil ran through several nasty curse words in his head. Of course, that was the only thing that could affect Gordon so badly. He hugged Gordon tighter, planting a kiss on his mop of blond hair. Before reluctantly, forcing himself to let go of Gordie, to take care of their youngest brother. With that awful new revelation, it became clear that Allie needed him more right now. Why did all this misery have to affect his family? It wasn't fair!
Scott and John would take care of Gordie. Virgil would use his medical expertise to patch up his youngest brother. Virgil would make him better again! Just as he always had done for his little Alligator. The toddler who loved listening to him sing and play the piano, clapping his tiny hands together while smiling happily, squealing in pure delight. The child he protected from monsters under the bed, who sometimes escaped them, by sneaking into Virgil's bed after a nightmare. The teenager he occasionally still carried to bed after he fell asleep curled up on him, with his head resting on his shoulder during movie nights.
Scott focused on comforting Gordon after introducing them to the group of people present. Thankfully the leader of the group gave them privacy after introducing Virgil to Alans two doctors.
Virgil forced himself to snap out of his walk down memory lane and went into full medic mode. Getting out his medical equipment, while simultaneously talking to the two physicians who had stayed in the infirmary, together with the five reunited Tracy brothers.
If Virgil was thinking, that getting Alans full medical status since jumping into this universe would calm him down, he was wrong. So extraordinarily wrong!
Gordon wasn't exaggerating, Alan almost died. He literary died and was brought back to life after drowning. Virgil couldn't process this now. He had to focus on what he could do in the moment. This was quite a lot to swallow. Virgil could talk it through with his brothers later. Deciding to focus on Alan's physical body now and deal with the families emotional trauma later.
Glancing over to his brothers, who were comforting each other, Virgil took a deep breath and focused on working, while thinking "At least, we are finally together again!".
TAG John POV
John was incredibly grateful to have both his younger siblings with him again. He had hugged Gordon tighter than ever before. Gordon seemed to be in a bad way emotionally. John had only heard him call Scott, dad, seriously a few times before.
Hearing Gordon confirm that Allie almost died was tough. Seeing Gords attach himself to Scott and refuse to let go, was another blaring red flag. Gordon still had his teenage pride at age nineteen. Gordon disregarding it so completely, worried John a lot more than he would like to admit. John's heart ached for his little brother. He wanted to fix this problem, but he didn't know how yet!
After reassuring a panicked EOS, he helped his brothers sit down beside Alan. Thankfully a small problem he could easily solve. John began pulling up chairs and removing backpacks. Solving problems for his family always helped John feel a bit better. Poor Virgil had to tackle the bigger problem of Allie's poor health. John couldn't help with that problem. Maybe he should learn more about medicine after this. He refused to feel helpless again. Filing that thought away for later, he turned his focus on to Gordon.
Gordon was still attached, like a baby squid, in Scott's embrace. Showing no signs of moving anytime soon. The two youngest Tracy brothers had always leaned more into physical comfort. Often preferring it over words of comfort. Perhaps it was the childhood trauma of loosing both parents. If someone was there physically, it meant that they hadn't left them alone. Not yet anyway. Abandonment issues were still something they were working through.
Not that words of comfort didn't work wonders as well for the terrible two. John had comforted them both countless times from Thunderbird five. Where physical contact, unfortunately, wasn't an option towards his earthbound brothers. Long-distance relationships, even family ones, quite frankly sucked!
Allie looked so young, laying unconscious on the bed in front of him. Seeing his usually energetic brother lay so unnaturally still was terrifying. John just wanted to shake him to wake him up! John desperately wanted to talk to him. To hear his voice. To see, with his own eyes, that he would be alright.
Unfortunately, shaking his brother, who had almost died, awake without knowing about his injuries would be a bad idea, no matter how enticing it seemed right now. John would unfortunately have to wait a bit longer.
John usually preferred words of comfort when he was feeling down. However, in moments like this, even John had to admit to himself, that he needed to physically feel his brother's presence.
John had emotionally shattered on Thunderbird five. It had felt like nothing would ever be okay anymore. John loved both of his baby brothers. The thought that he had lost them forever, broke him completely.
Seeing as Scott was focusing on Gordon in his arms. John turned his attention from his fish of a brother to his space-bro. Not wanting to stop supporting Gordie, he kept a reassuring one-armed grip around his shoulders.
John and Alan had always shared a special bond with each other. If it was their shared love for space or something else, John was not entirely sure of. Alan was the brother John was the closest to. They often talked about their common interests. Alan was the one John talked to the most during his down time. Whether it was to check in on his schoolwork or just for a chat.
Allie called John at least once a day to check in and talk about anything on his mind. Alan dropped by John's "office" every time he could after a space rescue. Spending a few hours with him, before heading back home. Alan said that he didn't care if they were working or not. If they could only spend some time together in each other's presence. If John purposely waited, to do the more exciting part of Thunderbird five's maintenance, for when they were together, just to make Allie happy, nobody would ever have to know.
In a way, John and Alan truly understood each other. They shared their concerns with each other, for their other brothers, when they were on dangerous earthbound rescues. Alan had always been a strong motivator for getting John to come down from Thunderbird five. He nagged John the most of his brothers to get him back home for a visit. Surprisingly, this didn't bother John as Alan never complained when he wanted to go back up to his stars. Alan understood space's strong allure in a different way compared to his brothers.
John suspected that Alan understood how space, in the mist of its awesomeness, could also be terribly cold, cruel, and isolating. Alan claimed the responsibility of John's mental health, in his own, sneaky, roundabout way. With everything, from luring him down with their "dokumovienights" to visiting him in Johns second home among the stars, Allie had John's wellbeing covered.
No matter which way they communicated, John found himself always looking forward to it. Seeing his wonderful little brother, who's love for space rivalled his own, be so injured and unwell, hurt John deeply. Laying still on a bed was his brother, who always looked at John with admiration, like he hung every single star in the sky. His trusted space-bro, who always made sure John wasn't feeling lonely, even when he was physically alone.
John loved all his brothers incredibly much. But Allie had the tendency to worm into your heart and stay there.
John was sitting by Allie's head, running his fingers through his hair, watching his sleeping face, while simultaneously using his other arm to hold onto Gordy. John was not okay, far from it, but holding onto his little brothers, who weren't lost forever, was grounding him.
This time, physical reassurance, that they were real and here, was vital to John. In this moment, words ceased to matter to John. Just being in his family's presence, told him everything he needed. Here! Warm! Safe! Alive! Together!
John felt his broken soul, gradually being pulled back together. Piece by piece. Step by step. Healing the hurt, this situation caused the entire family, would be a long road. John felt sure of that, but they would do it together, as the strong family they still were!