Into the waiting room stepped Dr. Sayak, who was Virgil's general surgeon.
She looked exhausted. She lowered her mask but left the rest of her OR
scrubs on including hat and boots. She looked at the six faces staring at
her. At 5:43 AM, she didn't expect anyone around except for the people who
were there for her patient. "Are you all here for Virgil?" she asked.
Jeff stepped forward, "I'm Jeff, how is he?"
She responded, "I'm not going to paint rosy pictures. He was very seriously hurt. He did make it through surgery ok. He took 12 units of blood, 7 were from autotransfusion, his own blood. The rest was from our Blood Bank. Originally we were not going to go after the pneumothorax but that was causing too many problems so we called in our thorasic specialist. Dr. Benson, the vascular surgeon repaired the iliac artery. I stopped the bleeding in the liver, but was unable to save his spleen. When Dr. Benson and myself were done, Dr. Horvath came in and did the thoracic surgery. He repaired the pneumothorax and the ribs. Since all of the internal work was complete except for the fractured pelvis, we decided to fix that as well to save from not having to open him back up in another day or two. That is why the surgery took so long. His face will still need a plastic surgeon, but I would recommend waiting about three days so that his body can recover from the trauma and surgery. He would still need to be put under general anesthesia for his face, but that is not life threatening. We also had to stitch up his back. He had a long but shallow laceration from his left shoulderblade diagonally across his back to his right hip. That took over 100 staples. I'm sorry but with that long of a laceration, he will have a scar in his back. The surgery will definitely leave a scar on the front as well. One of the major problems with surgery of this severe nature is that he could throw an emboli. A blood clot, if you will. That is our biggest worry at this time. Bleeding at any of the repair work is another problem we need to watch closely for. Infection is always a threat and in rare instances, where patients were under anesthesia as long as Virgil was, they don't wake up. Do you have any questions?"
They all stood stunned. Gordon finally asked, "what are his chances?"
Dr. Sayak responded, "I don't like to give figures, they are too general. My biggest worry is the PE, pulmonary embolism. We have him on heparin, a clot-thinning drug. But we have to be extremely careful because if he gets too much, he will bleed to death at the surgery sites. There will be no way for the blood to clot where we did the surgery. His risks are high."
Scott looked at his dad. Jeff was chalk white.
Dr. Sayak continued, "He is presently in recovery. We will be moving him to ICU when he shows signs of waking. Now if you don't mind, if you don't have anymore questions, I have surgery in a couple of hours." And she left.
Walt and Jerry came over. "Jeff, we're sorry about the news, but keep your chin up. He has lasted this long." said Jerry. Walt added, "Yeah, he will be fine. I need to get home, but I will check back here later today to see if there is a change in his condition." Jeff looked at the two men who were most instrumental in helping get his son this far. "I don't know how to thank you two. You have been more than kind and generous." And he held his hand out to shake their hands. Jerry said, "Don't worry, you would have done the same for us!" He smiled and had that same twinkle in his eye. The two men then left.
Jeff sat down with a thud. He was drained. At least Virgil was still alive. He survived the crash. He survived the rescue. He survived the surgery. He just has to survive post-op. He looked up at Scott and over to Brains and Gordon who have already sat back down. "There is nothing we can do right now for Virgil or John. But we do need to plan out what to do next." He said.
Scott sat down next to his dad. Jeff continued, "Obviously Grandma and Tin- tin are waiting to come here. So we need to go back to base. I am not sure what we can do about any rescues that come in. We might be able to handle a few of them with just TB1. TB4 could handle any underwater problems close enough to the island. We also can handle the rare space rescue with TB3. But major rescues are out for now. We have got to figure out how to salvage TB2 and when to start. I have to consider damage control regarding security as well. I am sure several of the people have heard Brains calling me Mr. Tracy."
"I-I-I'm sorry, M-M-Mr. Tracy, I-I-I wasn't paying attention." A red faced Brains answered. "That's ok Brains, at the time I heard it I didn't care if International Rescue's security was breached or not. I am not sure if I even want to continue International Rescue. Virgil is fighting for his life because of it." Scott was about to protest, but Jeff held up his hand. "We will discuss that later. I am going to stay here today. Brains, I would like for you to do some research as to what happened to TB2. You can do it here or at base. Scott, go get Grandma and Tin-tin. It's ok to keep using TB1 as everyone here knows we are International Rescue. But just in case we have lucked out so far, keep the surname quiet. They are addressing us here as Ir. And that is fine with me. Gordon, I'm sorry, but I would like you to man the base for now. For the time being you and Scott can take turns coming here. Brains, would you also put some thought into how to get TB2 out of here? Scott while flying back, please give Alan an update. Ok, boys, that's the plan."
Scott stood there with his mouth open, wanting to protest and stay. But he knew someone had to get his grandmother. "C'mon Gordon, let's go. Are you staying or coming Brains?"
Brains was thoughtful for a moment. "I will come with you Scott. I want to freshen up, and get my computer. I will come back later."
The three men headed towards the elevator to take up to the helipad. Just before the doors closed, Scott said to Jeff, "He'll be ok dad. Bye."
Jeff sat alone in the waiting room for a few moments. When he got up, he went to the nurse's station and told her that he can be found in room 328. She smiled and said, "As soon as I hear anything at all, I will come get you."
Walt got home and freshened up. It was too early to wake his wife, but too late to go to bed. He caught a few zzz's last night in the waiting room. He felt so bad for the members of International Rescue. They have put their lives on the line to save hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives. Then to have something happen to one of them like this. He supposed that it should be expected in their line of work, but it seems so unfair. He really felt honored to have been able to help them. He cooked up some breakfast, packaged the food in plastic containers and took it with him to the crash site. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when he left his home but was glaring him in his face when he arrived. Allen got up when he heard Walt's jeep. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and swished his mouth with a swig of water. The night was very nice and he ended up sleeping in the bed of his truck with just a couple of extra blankets.
"Hi Chief," greeted Allen. "Watcha got there?"
"I thought you would like some company and breakfast. I made my own version of an egg McMuffin, a large thermos of coffee, sausage and sticky buns. No I didn't bake them. I picked them up from Mom's Bakery on the way out of town. They're still warm."
Allen's eyes lit up, "Sounds great. Did you say company too? You staying to eat with me?" Walt nodded yes. "Was it quiet last night?"
Allen said, "Yeah. Nothing much except a couple of critters nosying around. After you left I went into the pod and looked for anyone who might have been hiding. Then I went into the big craft itself. Man, she is something, but I promise I didn't take note of any secrets. But I did take a big ol' heavy plate and placed it over the tunnel opening. People can still move it but hopefully it will take so much time, that I would have spotted them before they got in. I wanted to close the door to the pod, but don't know how to. BOY, this is good!" as he sunk his teeth into the breakfast sandwich. Walt admired his young officer. He was going to be a good one.
"Hey," Allen added, "How's the fella we pulled out yesterday?"
Walt gave him the rundown on Virgil.
Looking thoughtful Allen said, "I sure hope he makes it. His group does real good work. Did you say you were there all night? Why don't you go home and take a nap or something. I slept well last night, I can handle more here."
Walt said, "Thanks Allen, but why don't you go home and freshen up a bit and find stuff to bring back with you to keep you occupied. This is going to get boring. I want to hit the hospital this afternoon to see how Virgil is doing. I also want to find out what Jeff plans to do with this thing here. And don't worry about the pod. If I can get the remote to close it I will. But it's no big deal."
"Ok, Chief, catcha later." Allen left. Walt went into the pod to check it out. It looked the same as it did yesterday. He didn't notice the new dent in the floor. He then climbed up to the tunnel and found it sealed just like Allen had said. He looked at that thick plate of steel and wondered how that skinny kid got it up there. "He's resourceful" he thought to himself.
Jeff was sitting with John when the nurse came in. "Mr. Ir, Virgil is stirring, so he is being moved up to ICU. That is on the 4th floor. When you come out of the elevator, make a left. That entire wing is ICU. Just go to the nurses station and tell them that he was just brought up."
Jeff thanked the nurse and left for the elevators. In the short amount of time that he was riding up, he was thinking of what to give the hospital for taking such good care of his boys. He exited the car and turned left. This floor was noisier than downstairs. Lots of beeping from the monitors. He went to the nurse's station and asked if Virgil was brought up yet. The nurse said, "Yes, but we have not set him up in his room yet. Give us a few more minutes. Our waiting room is right over there." She said as she pointed to the other side of the aisle. Jeff went and sat down. It was going to be a busy couple of days running between the floors.
After about 15 minutes the nurse came for Jeff. She led the way, "He's in room 4. Don't let all the tubes and wires scare you. It will bother you more than it does him. If you need anything, you can come ask. If it is an emergency just push the nurse's call button over here." And she showed him the callbox.
"Thank you", said Jeff and he sat down next to Virgil. He looked horrific. He had tubes around his face. He had tubes coming out of his arms. He had wires and tubes coming out of his body. His face was terribly swollen and purple. The hand that Jeff was holding was also swollen. He looked over Virgil's entire body and came to the conclusion that he was indeed swollen all over. He was there but a few minutes when someone in a white coat walked in. She gave a greeting and proceeded to draw blood from one of his arms and left. During the first hour there, Virgil had more medical visitors than Jeff thought existed in the entire hospital. Technicians came in and stuck him with needles. Nurses came in to check stats. Doctors came in to poke and prod him and check his chart. By the second hour, Jeff was getting used to the traffic going through his son's room. He was beginning to know the staff by name. Within the next hour Scott came in with Grandma and Tin-tin. The room was tiny, so Jeff asked Scott and Tin- tin to wait just outside for a few minutes while his mother visited with his son. Jeff held onto his mother as she wept. He kept telling her that he was young and strong, and that he will make it through this. Jeff just held his mother tight and kept repeating that over and over in a soothing voice. It also helped him believe that his son was going to be ok. After several minutes, the two left to visit John and Scott and Tin-tin visited with Virgil. Tin-tin like his grandmother was in tears most of the time. Scott had to sooth her just as Jeff soothed his mother.
When Jeff and his mother entered John's room, he was just waking up. He was still suffering from the anesthesia and seemed a little out of it. "Hi son, how are you feeling?" Jeff asked. Grandma joined in before John could answer, "John, my baby, how are you doing?" and she put her hand on his good arm. He responded, "Hi dad, hi grandma. I'm a little bit woozy. But I'm not in a lot of pain." He looked around a little, and you could see his brain start to sharpen a bit. "Last thing I remember was looking up at the LASER box just as it was breaking loose." Jeff filled John in with the details. "..if you hadn't covered your brother, he would have probably been hit in the head with that box. You saved his life. In fact just with all you did in there, you saved his life."
Just then Scott and Tin-tin walked in. "Hey, John, you're awake. That's great. I'm glad one of you two are still with us." Said Scott.
John asked, "When can I see Virgil?" His dad replied, "As soon as you can walk without falling over."
"Ok" he said, as his eyes started to get heavy. "Tomorrow, I will probably be up to it. Right now I think I will go back to sl..." He never finished his sentence. He was once again asleep.
Later that afternoon, after Scott took the two women home, Walt showed up. "Hi, Jeff, I just came to see how those young men of yours are doing?"
"Thanks for coming, Walt, you really don't have to. John was awake for a while and looking pretty good. Virgil is holding his own. But just the sight of him scares me." Jeff confessed. Walt patted Jeff on the shoulder. "It'll be ok. The missus wants you to spend the night at our house. And no use saying no, because I won't let you. He will not wake up tonight and you need to sleep so that you can be awake when he does wake up." Jeff started to protest, but Walt butted back in, "I will arrest you for loitering if you resist. I think our house is a little more comfortable than the jailhouse. I can probably think of a couple more charges that I can use against you until you get a lawyer. Besides, my wife would kill me if I came back empty handed." Jeff took a deep sigh. "Ok, I will ask Gordon to bring me a fresh change of clothes. By the way, have I said thank you yet?" Walt looked at Jeff long and hard, "You have thanked me probably a thousand times over already. I have to go now, I will be by to pick you up at 11:00. That will give you until late to stay with him. S'long."
Gordon showed up a few hours later with a change of clothes and toiletries for his dad. He was by himself. He said Brains was locked in his lab. "I think he may come back with Scott later."
Gordon sat next to his dad and just looked at his older brother. He remembers his near-fatal accident. Virgil had been there the most for him. Once he gets back home, he is going to bow to his every wish and whim. He will finally get his chance to give back to Virgil what Virgil gave to him years ago. He said softly, "Virgil, payback's a bitch." Jeff looked at Gordon, but Gordon just gave him a wink and a smile. Gordon left to visit with John for a while. When he came back, he had a smile on his face. John was awake for most of the time. Gordon felt good to see at least one of his brothers doing better. Around dinnertime, Gordon left so that Scott could come back with Brains. The women will come back again tomorrow. One of the nurses came in and asked Jeff if he would like something to eat. She could have the kitchen bring a little something up. But Jeff declined. He really wasn't hungry. That entire day, there was absolutely no change in Virgil. Was that a good sign or a bad sign he wondered.
Later Scott walked in the door with Brains. He also had some food. He knew Jeff would not go out to eat, so he had to bring it to him. Brains came in and gave his greetings then looked at Virgil. He looked like he was about to cry. Instead he turned back to Jeff and said, "I-I-I think getting Thunderbird 2 out of h-h-here should be f-f-fairly easy. You s-s- still have c-c-connections, right? She should f-f-fit inside one of the army t-t-transport planes. It w-w-will be a t-t-tight fit but with her w-w- wings broken, she should s-s-still fit. I think our r-r-runway is long enough for it to l-l-land. Scott, you c-c-can fly one of them, c-c-can't you?" He said looking at Scott. Scott stood there thinking for a minute. "Yeah, I think that will work. We can check to see if the plane fits on our runway first, pick up some of our more powerful piece of equipment to pull TB2 out of the side of the hill. The area just to the north is flat enough that we don't even need an airport. What do you think, dad?"
Jeff was thinking about that, mulling it over in his mind. "Yeah, and I know just the guy to call, too."
Brains also said, "I-I-I think I-I-I know what happened t-t-to Thunderbird 2."
Jeff stepped forward, "I'm Jeff, how is he?"
She responded, "I'm not going to paint rosy pictures. He was very seriously hurt. He did make it through surgery ok. He took 12 units of blood, 7 were from autotransfusion, his own blood. The rest was from our Blood Bank. Originally we were not going to go after the pneumothorax but that was causing too many problems so we called in our thorasic specialist. Dr. Benson, the vascular surgeon repaired the iliac artery. I stopped the bleeding in the liver, but was unable to save his spleen. When Dr. Benson and myself were done, Dr. Horvath came in and did the thoracic surgery. He repaired the pneumothorax and the ribs. Since all of the internal work was complete except for the fractured pelvis, we decided to fix that as well to save from not having to open him back up in another day or two. That is why the surgery took so long. His face will still need a plastic surgeon, but I would recommend waiting about three days so that his body can recover from the trauma and surgery. He would still need to be put under general anesthesia for his face, but that is not life threatening. We also had to stitch up his back. He had a long but shallow laceration from his left shoulderblade diagonally across his back to his right hip. That took over 100 staples. I'm sorry but with that long of a laceration, he will have a scar in his back. The surgery will definitely leave a scar on the front as well. One of the major problems with surgery of this severe nature is that he could throw an emboli. A blood clot, if you will. That is our biggest worry at this time. Bleeding at any of the repair work is another problem we need to watch closely for. Infection is always a threat and in rare instances, where patients were under anesthesia as long as Virgil was, they don't wake up. Do you have any questions?"
They all stood stunned. Gordon finally asked, "what are his chances?"
Dr. Sayak responded, "I don't like to give figures, they are too general. My biggest worry is the PE, pulmonary embolism. We have him on heparin, a clot-thinning drug. But we have to be extremely careful because if he gets too much, he will bleed to death at the surgery sites. There will be no way for the blood to clot where we did the surgery. His risks are high."
Scott looked at his dad. Jeff was chalk white.
Dr. Sayak continued, "He is presently in recovery. We will be moving him to ICU when he shows signs of waking. Now if you don't mind, if you don't have anymore questions, I have surgery in a couple of hours." And she left.
Walt and Jerry came over. "Jeff, we're sorry about the news, but keep your chin up. He has lasted this long." said Jerry. Walt added, "Yeah, he will be fine. I need to get home, but I will check back here later today to see if there is a change in his condition." Jeff looked at the two men who were most instrumental in helping get his son this far. "I don't know how to thank you two. You have been more than kind and generous." And he held his hand out to shake their hands. Jerry said, "Don't worry, you would have done the same for us!" He smiled and had that same twinkle in his eye. The two men then left.
Jeff sat down with a thud. He was drained. At least Virgil was still alive. He survived the crash. He survived the rescue. He survived the surgery. He just has to survive post-op. He looked up at Scott and over to Brains and Gordon who have already sat back down. "There is nothing we can do right now for Virgil or John. But we do need to plan out what to do next." He said.
Scott sat down next to his dad. Jeff continued, "Obviously Grandma and Tin- tin are waiting to come here. So we need to go back to base. I am not sure what we can do about any rescues that come in. We might be able to handle a few of them with just TB1. TB4 could handle any underwater problems close enough to the island. We also can handle the rare space rescue with TB3. But major rescues are out for now. We have got to figure out how to salvage TB2 and when to start. I have to consider damage control regarding security as well. I am sure several of the people have heard Brains calling me Mr. Tracy."
"I-I-I'm sorry, M-M-Mr. Tracy, I-I-I wasn't paying attention." A red faced Brains answered. "That's ok Brains, at the time I heard it I didn't care if International Rescue's security was breached or not. I am not sure if I even want to continue International Rescue. Virgil is fighting for his life because of it." Scott was about to protest, but Jeff held up his hand. "We will discuss that later. I am going to stay here today. Brains, I would like for you to do some research as to what happened to TB2. You can do it here or at base. Scott, go get Grandma and Tin-tin. It's ok to keep using TB1 as everyone here knows we are International Rescue. But just in case we have lucked out so far, keep the surname quiet. They are addressing us here as Ir. And that is fine with me. Gordon, I'm sorry, but I would like you to man the base for now. For the time being you and Scott can take turns coming here. Brains, would you also put some thought into how to get TB2 out of here? Scott while flying back, please give Alan an update. Ok, boys, that's the plan."
Scott stood there with his mouth open, wanting to protest and stay. But he knew someone had to get his grandmother. "C'mon Gordon, let's go. Are you staying or coming Brains?"
Brains was thoughtful for a moment. "I will come with you Scott. I want to freshen up, and get my computer. I will come back later."
The three men headed towards the elevator to take up to the helipad. Just before the doors closed, Scott said to Jeff, "He'll be ok dad. Bye."
Jeff sat alone in the waiting room for a few moments. When he got up, he went to the nurse's station and told her that he can be found in room 328. She smiled and said, "As soon as I hear anything at all, I will come get you."
Walt got home and freshened up. It was too early to wake his wife, but too late to go to bed. He caught a few zzz's last night in the waiting room. He felt so bad for the members of International Rescue. They have put their lives on the line to save hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives. Then to have something happen to one of them like this. He supposed that it should be expected in their line of work, but it seems so unfair. He really felt honored to have been able to help them. He cooked up some breakfast, packaged the food in plastic containers and took it with him to the crash site. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when he left his home but was glaring him in his face when he arrived. Allen got up when he heard Walt's jeep. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and swished his mouth with a swig of water. The night was very nice and he ended up sleeping in the bed of his truck with just a couple of extra blankets.
"Hi Chief," greeted Allen. "Watcha got there?"
"I thought you would like some company and breakfast. I made my own version of an egg McMuffin, a large thermos of coffee, sausage and sticky buns. No I didn't bake them. I picked them up from Mom's Bakery on the way out of town. They're still warm."
Allen's eyes lit up, "Sounds great. Did you say company too? You staying to eat with me?" Walt nodded yes. "Was it quiet last night?"
Allen said, "Yeah. Nothing much except a couple of critters nosying around. After you left I went into the pod and looked for anyone who might have been hiding. Then I went into the big craft itself. Man, she is something, but I promise I didn't take note of any secrets. But I did take a big ol' heavy plate and placed it over the tunnel opening. People can still move it but hopefully it will take so much time, that I would have spotted them before they got in. I wanted to close the door to the pod, but don't know how to. BOY, this is good!" as he sunk his teeth into the breakfast sandwich. Walt admired his young officer. He was going to be a good one.
"Hey," Allen added, "How's the fella we pulled out yesterday?"
Walt gave him the rundown on Virgil.
Looking thoughtful Allen said, "I sure hope he makes it. His group does real good work. Did you say you were there all night? Why don't you go home and take a nap or something. I slept well last night, I can handle more here."
Walt said, "Thanks Allen, but why don't you go home and freshen up a bit and find stuff to bring back with you to keep you occupied. This is going to get boring. I want to hit the hospital this afternoon to see how Virgil is doing. I also want to find out what Jeff plans to do with this thing here. And don't worry about the pod. If I can get the remote to close it I will. But it's no big deal."
"Ok, Chief, catcha later." Allen left. Walt went into the pod to check it out. It looked the same as it did yesterday. He didn't notice the new dent in the floor. He then climbed up to the tunnel and found it sealed just like Allen had said. He looked at that thick plate of steel and wondered how that skinny kid got it up there. "He's resourceful" he thought to himself.
Jeff was sitting with John when the nurse came in. "Mr. Ir, Virgil is stirring, so he is being moved up to ICU. That is on the 4th floor. When you come out of the elevator, make a left. That entire wing is ICU. Just go to the nurses station and tell them that he was just brought up."
Jeff thanked the nurse and left for the elevators. In the short amount of time that he was riding up, he was thinking of what to give the hospital for taking such good care of his boys. He exited the car and turned left. This floor was noisier than downstairs. Lots of beeping from the monitors. He went to the nurse's station and asked if Virgil was brought up yet. The nurse said, "Yes, but we have not set him up in his room yet. Give us a few more minutes. Our waiting room is right over there." She said as she pointed to the other side of the aisle. Jeff went and sat down. It was going to be a busy couple of days running between the floors.
After about 15 minutes the nurse came for Jeff. She led the way, "He's in room 4. Don't let all the tubes and wires scare you. It will bother you more than it does him. If you need anything, you can come ask. If it is an emergency just push the nurse's call button over here." And she showed him the callbox.
"Thank you", said Jeff and he sat down next to Virgil. He looked horrific. He had tubes around his face. He had tubes coming out of his arms. He had wires and tubes coming out of his body. His face was terribly swollen and purple. The hand that Jeff was holding was also swollen. He looked over Virgil's entire body and came to the conclusion that he was indeed swollen all over. He was there but a few minutes when someone in a white coat walked in. She gave a greeting and proceeded to draw blood from one of his arms and left. During the first hour there, Virgil had more medical visitors than Jeff thought existed in the entire hospital. Technicians came in and stuck him with needles. Nurses came in to check stats. Doctors came in to poke and prod him and check his chart. By the second hour, Jeff was getting used to the traffic going through his son's room. He was beginning to know the staff by name. Within the next hour Scott came in with Grandma and Tin-tin. The room was tiny, so Jeff asked Scott and Tin- tin to wait just outside for a few minutes while his mother visited with his son. Jeff held onto his mother as she wept. He kept telling her that he was young and strong, and that he will make it through this. Jeff just held his mother tight and kept repeating that over and over in a soothing voice. It also helped him believe that his son was going to be ok. After several minutes, the two left to visit John and Scott and Tin-tin visited with Virgil. Tin-tin like his grandmother was in tears most of the time. Scott had to sooth her just as Jeff soothed his mother.
When Jeff and his mother entered John's room, he was just waking up. He was still suffering from the anesthesia and seemed a little out of it. "Hi son, how are you feeling?" Jeff asked. Grandma joined in before John could answer, "John, my baby, how are you doing?" and she put her hand on his good arm. He responded, "Hi dad, hi grandma. I'm a little bit woozy. But I'm not in a lot of pain." He looked around a little, and you could see his brain start to sharpen a bit. "Last thing I remember was looking up at the LASER box just as it was breaking loose." Jeff filled John in with the details. "..if you hadn't covered your brother, he would have probably been hit in the head with that box. You saved his life. In fact just with all you did in there, you saved his life."
Just then Scott and Tin-tin walked in. "Hey, John, you're awake. That's great. I'm glad one of you two are still with us." Said Scott.
John asked, "When can I see Virgil?" His dad replied, "As soon as you can walk without falling over."
"Ok" he said, as his eyes started to get heavy. "Tomorrow, I will probably be up to it. Right now I think I will go back to sl..." He never finished his sentence. He was once again asleep.
Later that afternoon, after Scott took the two women home, Walt showed up. "Hi, Jeff, I just came to see how those young men of yours are doing?"
"Thanks for coming, Walt, you really don't have to. John was awake for a while and looking pretty good. Virgil is holding his own. But just the sight of him scares me." Jeff confessed. Walt patted Jeff on the shoulder. "It'll be ok. The missus wants you to spend the night at our house. And no use saying no, because I won't let you. He will not wake up tonight and you need to sleep so that you can be awake when he does wake up." Jeff started to protest, but Walt butted back in, "I will arrest you for loitering if you resist. I think our house is a little more comfortable than the jailhouse. I can probably think of a couple more charges that I can use against you until you get a lawyer. Besides, my wife would kill me if I came back empty handed." Jeff took a deep sigh. "Ok, I will ask Gordon to bring me a fresh change of clothes. By the way, have I said thank you yet?" Walt looked at Jeff long and hard, "You have thanked me probably a thousand times over already. I have to go now, I will be by to pick you up at 11:00. That will give you until late to stay with him. S'long."
Gordon showed up a few hours later with a change of clothes and toiletries for his dad. He was by himself. He said Brains was locked in his lab. "I think he may come back with Scott later."
Gordon sat next to his dad and just looked at his older brother. He remembers his near-fatal accident. Virgil had been there the most for him. Once he gets back home, he is going to bow to his every wish and whim. He will finally get his chance to give back to Virgil what Virgil gave to him years ago. He said softly, "Virgil, payback's a bitch." Jeff looked at Gordon, but Gordon just gave him a wink and a smile. Gordon left to visit with John for a while. When he came back, he had a smile on his face. John was awake for most of the time. Gordon felt good to see at least one of his brothers doing better. Around dinnertime, Gordon left so that Scott could come back with Brains. The women will come back again tomorrow. One of the nurses came in and asked Jeff if he would like something to eat. She could have the kitchen bring a little something up. But Jeff declined. He really wasn't hungry. That entire day, there was absolutely no change in Virgil. Was that a good sign or a bad sign he wondered.
Later Scott walked in the door with Brains. He also had some food. He knew Jeff would not go out to eat, so he had to bring it to him. Brains came in and gave his greetings then looked at Virgil. He looked like he was about to cry. Instead he turned back to Jeff and said, "I-I-I think getting Thunderbird 2 out of h-h-here should be f-f-fairly easy. You s-s- still have c-c-connections, right? She should f-f-fit inside one of the army t-t-transport planes. It w-w-will be a t-t-tight fit but with her w-w- wings broken, she should s-s-still fit. I think our r-r-runway is long enough for it to l-l-land. Scott, you c-c-can fly one of them, c-c-can't you?" He said looking at Scott. Scott stood there thinking for a minute. "Yeah, I think that will work. We can check to see if the plane fits on our runway first, pick up some of our more powerful piece of equipment to pull TB2 out of the side of the hill. The area just to the north is flat enough that we don't even need an airport. What do you think, dad?"
Jeff was thinking about that, mulling it over in his mind. "Yeah, and I know just the guy to call, too."
Brains also said, "I-I-I think I-I-I know what happened t-t-to Thunderbird 2."