A/N: John's turn for some TLC from Scott. Inspired by a post I saw elsewhere: 'There are two kinds of tired. One that requires rest and one that requires peace. '
"May I interrupt you?" EOS' voice issued from Scott's earpiece, sounding a little hesitant because she was interrupting his run to contact him. Scott's morning run was treated as sacrosanct by the family- his time to clear his head, process recent events and ready himself for whatever the day would throw at them. It was only interrupted for rescues and serious problems. "I'm worried about John." She continued.
Scott took a moment to catch his breath and gulp down some water before answering, leaning against a convenient spur of basalt. "What is it, EOS?" He asked. He still had a lingering hesitance about the AI, first impressions were hard to shake and 'tried to kill John and Alan' was a hell of a first impression, but he was thawing to her.
"He isn't sleeping properly." Was the subdued reply. "None of his normal wind down rituals have had their usual effectiveness. He has attempted reduction of caffeine, exercise, hot showers, various ambient background music, blue light filters, even sleeping in the central sphere in total darkness and zero-g, but he is markedly restless while sleeping and still tired on waking. I have suggested sleeping tablets but he has refused, citing the need to wake easily and be alert for an emergency."
"How long has this been going on for?" Scott frowned, concerned. Disrupted sleeping patterns, restlessness and nightmares were a problem for all of them, even the odd bout of sleepwalking, but usually it passed or they hit upon something that worked within a couple of nights.
"I noticed it eight days ago, he started to notice it six days ago and it started showing detrimental effects four days ago." EOS reported. "He didn't want me to 'tattle' on him, but he slept through his alarm yesterday and I judged that to be of sufficient concern to alert you. He is currently asleep, due to wake up in 23 minutes." She paused. "I heard Virgil talking about John's 'off switch'? How do I employ that?"
"Ah, you can't." Scott shook his head even though the hologram wasn't engaged and took another drink of water. "He's coming down this afternoon, right?"
"Yes, scheduled for 1400 hours, barring any rescues." EOS confirmed.
"Okay, I'll try to help him tonight. Don't say anything to him, if he knows it's coming it doesn't work." Scott advised. "Thanks for telling me, EOS. Keep an eye on it when he comes back?"
"I will, thank you Scott." EOS signed off and Scott continued on his run, planning how to potentially arrange things this afternoon.
John's 'off switch' that almost guaranteed relaxing him completely required a very specific set of circumstances: John had to be in the house, in civvies and distracted enough for Scott to get close. Fortunately Scott had a family of willing co-conspirators to aid him in creating a suitable situation to bring about those circumstances.
The day passed with a straightforward rescue- an articulated truck dangling over the side of a suspension bridge- and John was able to leave his station only half an hour late. By mutual agreement amongst the family the dark bags under his eyes from nights of restless sleep were deliberately unremarked upon.
The family dinner wasn't a disaster because Brains had agreed to lend Max to Grandma for the occasion and after the dishes were cleared everyone slowly vanished from the main house. Brains went back to his lab with Max, muttering he had a new upgrade for Two's engines to work on, Grandma and Kayo went for a walk on the beach, Alan coaxed Gordon into joining him in his room for a few rounds of his newest VR game and Virgil wandered off with his sketchbook and pencils, leaving Scott and John alone in the lounge.
"A bit of peace and quiet." John sighed with pleasure as he sank into his favourite couch, tablet in hand and a cup of peppermint tea left to steep on the central table.
"Enjoy it while it lasts." Scott remarked from Dad's desk as he finalised the report from the day's rescue and sent it off to the GDF. "Mind some company?" He asked, picking up his own tablet. "I promise to be quiet."
"Go for it." John invited, gesturing to the other end of the green couch as he brought up his latest astronomy journal and began reading.
"Thanks." Scott sat beside him, supposedly reading emails on his tablet while John engrossed himself in star charts. Phase one complete- secure a peaceful environment- Scott waited for the right time to begin phase two- the off switch- in the hopes it would settle John enough that he'd actually sleep properly tonight. If that failed he had a backup plan- call in Virgil and the therapeutic massage training he'd gotten for Gordon's physiotherapy- but getting John to lie down on the massage table was a mission in itself, especially when he was this freshly down from space.
The eldest Tracy waited for about an hour until John appeared to be sufficiently distracted. Uncurling his left arm, Scott reached out and lightly stroked the tips of his first two fingers down the back of John's neck, right over the nubs of his spine. John's reaction was instant, dropping his shoulders and bowing his head to give better access, eyes half closed as he relaxed into the soothing touch.
Mom had had an innate knack at getting John to 'switch off' like this and it worked like a charm every time stress got to him. As John had explained once, for him the 'off switch' neatly bypassed any thought processes more complicated than 'mmm that's nice', and since the action was connected to Mom it made him feel safe and protected. In that regard it worked even better than the weighted blanket he'd gotten years ago. When it was really bad he'd even fall asleep on her, so soothed by the touch that it gave him the peace and calm he needed to properly rest. Scott had learned how to do the off switch but for some reason no one else had quite gotten the hang of it, either pressing too hard or too soft or some other way that was just not right.
"Good?" Scott asked after a few minutes, putting his tablet up on the floor behind him and rescuing John's before he could drop it. With more than a little older sibling self recrimination Scott realised John must have been more exhausted than he'd let on for the off switch to be this effective- normally he'd just relax but John was actually starting to doze off. How had it gotten this bad without him noticing?
"Mmmm." John hummed in reply, quite unaware of Scott's concerns. Over the course of five minutes his eyes fully closed and he shifted over to lean against Scott's chest and use him as a pillow. Scott switched hands and laid back on the couch to better accommodate John, using his left arm to cradle John close and his right to continue stroking the back of his neck. He gradually changed the timing, slowing until it was to the rhythm of his breathing. It was the cadence of John's breathing changing that told him that his brother was at last asleep. Judging by his relaxed repose, Scott was fairly sure John had finally settled enough to get a restful sleep.
Except now there was a new problem.
He was stuck.
John, all cabled muscle and long limbs, was a lot heavier than he looked and most of him was currently on top of Scott.
Oh well. Scott ruefully half smiled to himself, flicked a text message off to the others to tell them to keep it down when they came back and tucked his arm behind his head, resigned to his new career as John's pillow until someone came back and rescued him.