as promised, a quick update. i'll have another one for you tomorrow and then nothing for two weeks while i'm away. so i'll need to make the next one a good one! anyway, hope you enjoy

The bonfire sparked angrily as Scott poked at it with a stick, watching the flames swallow up the paper and logs they'd piled into it. Virgil stuck his tongue out as he concentrated on spearing a line of marshmallows onto a sharpened twig. He grinned triumphantly as he held up the line of ten marshmallows of alternating pinks and whites.

"Artistic Virg," Scott commented rolling his eyes. Virgil gingerly held the marshmallows in the fire for a moment, studying them as the bubbled and blackened. He pulled them out and quickly pulled one off, savouring the crispy outer skin before tasting the sticky melted middle.

"As good as I remember," he said, licking his fingers and nodding appreciatively. Scott raised his eyebrow before taking the stick from Virgil and cooking his own.

"We haven't done this since we were kids," he commented as Virgil lit another cigarette, his sixth since they had returned home. Scott cast a dismayed look in his direction, a look Virgil chose to ignore as he leaned back and exhaled the puff of silvery smoke into the air.

"Sometimes I think we should do stuff like this more often…I mean, we don't get to just hang out like we used to, it's always International Rescue, or someone's injured, someone's up on Five, or Lucy needs looking after…or your not here…" Scott trailed off and Virgil looked at him, his face blurred by the rising hot air from the fire.

"I'm here now," he said simply.

"Yeah, I know…sorry, I'm just saying you know…we don't hang out enough…maybe we should take advantage of being grounded." Virgil nodded absentmindedly, leaning back on his elbows and glancing over his shoulder as he heard faint voices.

"When you say hang out…you mean all of us?" Virgil asked, throwing his half-finished cigarette into the fire. Scott glanced at him and Virgil put his finger to his lips, shaking his head quickly.

"Virgil…what…" Scott trailed off as John, Gordon and Alan appeared, pushing through the bushes that separated the house from the beach, carrying a number of bottles of beer between them.

"Thought you might want to join us in taking advantage of being grounded," John said cheerily, planting himself next to Scott and handing him a bottle, condensation dripping over him. Virgil took one from Gordon and opened it with his teeth.

"Sounds like you've already been at the beers this evening," Scott mumbled.

"Not much else to do…" Gordon put in, grabbing the marshmallow stick from Scott and preparing two for himself. John hovered beside Gordon, waiting for his chance. Alan told Virgil something amusing that Lucy had done earlier that day, which soon had them both chuckling. Scott glanced at his brothers, joking amongst each other and smiled.

"What a scene," he rolled his eyes. "The perfect family." John laughed, picking at the label on his beer bottle.

"Been a long time since this has happened," he said, gesturing to the campfire, the five of them huddled around it.

"Kind of sad really," Scott continued wistfully.

"I'd call it a blessing," Gordon joked from the side, gaining laughter from Virgil and Alan, and stern looks from John and Scott.

"Dad isn't letting us take any rescues for a while, so maybe we should take advantage of this while it lasts," John said. "Hanging out, talking…"

"Drinking…" Virgil added.

"Planning Alan's stag night!" Gordon exclaimed, gaining appreciative cheers from the other brothers.

"What about strippers Al?" John asked, nudging his younger brother.

"Who do you know?"

"Um…Tin Tin, but kind of defeats the purpose," Scott said.

"What about Lady P?" John suggested. There were roars of laughter from all the brothers to this comment and Alan's face flushed red.

"I bet Scott could convince a few lovely ladies to come here," Virgil said slyly, tilting his bottle in Scott's direction.

"Shut up," he scowled, as Virgil smiled sweetly at him.

"How about a boxing match? Scott versus Virgil!" Gordon yelled, much to Alan's delight. John tried to hide a smile and even Virgil looked amused. Scott's face fell and he turned to Gordon.

"Hey, you have no idea what was going on at that rescue…" Scott began to lecture, but Gordon shook his head, waving his bottle wildly as he spoke over his brother.

"I don't mean anything by it Scott…lighten up..." he moaned. Virgil caught Scott's eye and shrugged with a smile. Scott resigned with a sly glance in Virgil's direction.

"I'm only being stern because I wouldn't like to give Virgil the ass-kicking of a lifetime," Scott said finally. Virgil raised his eyebrows as he lowered the beer bottle he'd been slugging from.

"Oh really?" he asked.

"Really," Scott replied with a smirk. Gordon, Alan and John's heads moved left and right between the other two brothers, engrossed in the tennis match of joke insults.

"I'd take you any day old man," Virgil said, getting to his feet and stepping out of the way of the fire.

"You want me to show you? Alright then." Scott got to his feet and took a few steps towards Virgil.

"Ten bucks on Scott," Gordon said to John. At this distraction, Virgil turned to look hurt at Gordon not taking his side and at that moment, Scott pounced, pushing Virgil to the sand and pinning him down. Virgil strained against his brother's grip, but Scott smiled down at him sweetly as the other brothers began counting the length of time Scott could pin Virgil for.

"One…two…three! Scott wins!" Gordon crowed and Scott got up, brushing himself down. Virgil lay on the sand, glowering up at Scott.

"That was unfair," he muttered, as he took Scott's hand to pull himself to his feet.

"It was perfectly fair," Gordon said. Virgil scowled at his cheeky brother.

"Don't talk to me you traitor," he sniffed, sitting down beside John and gratefully accepting another beer. Scott sighed and lay back in the sand.

"Like I said, perfect family."

XXXX

"My boys have regressed to being teenagers again…Scott and Virgil hitting each other, now they are wrestling down on the beach there…" Jeff sighed as he sipped from the coffee mug, so well used it seemed to mold perfectly to the shape of his fingers. His mother smiled softly as she heard the faint cheer from the beach.

"Looks like Scott won," she commented. Jeff glanced at her before moving towards the couch, sitting down, resting his wrists against his knees.

"Do you think I've been too hard on them?" he asked. His mother turned to look at him before moving to sit next to him on the couch, touching his arm softly.

"Everything is going a bit crazy just now, but the boys understand. They are frustrated…none more so that John, Gordon and Alan who have been stuck here."

"I couldn't send them out though, could I?" Jeff asked her, seeking some parental comfort.

"Well, whatever choice you made, you stuck to it. That was a good thing Jeff…you've kept your attitudes and decisions constant through this turmoil, it's brought some kind of stability…to most of them…" she trailed off as Jeff sighed loudly and shook his head.

"I should have been more understanding with Scott and Virgil," he said. "I was so angry with both of them…none more so than Virgil when he locked himself away for weeks on end…but I didn't listen to them, I didn't take their concerns on board…what kind of father does that make me?" His mother rubbed his arm gently, her paper thin skin and veiny hands still providing a warm touch against his tanned arms.

"A normal father," she replied. "And you ask any of those boys and they will tell you you've been a good father too."

XXXX

The smoldering embers of the fire began to fade as the earliest traces of sunlight became visible on the horizon. The two remaining brothers squinted as the sunlight speckled across them, pulling them from the surrounding violet darkness.

"Are you not dying to get to your bed?" Gordon asked the eldest of the brothers, who was gazing out towards the ocean silently. He shook his head, continuing to stare at the streaky sunrise. Gordon watched him silently for a moment. He knew something was wrong and he wondered if Scott would want to talk about it with him. But that wasn't really Gordon's specialty. He wasn't sure he'd be of any great comfort to Scott…he'd probably crack a joke at the wrong moment or something. Usually that could cheer most people up, but not Scott. When Scott was this quiet and this preoccupied, there was a pretty serious problem cluttering up his thoughts.

"You don't need to wait up you know," Scott said, feeling Gordon's uncomfortable glances lingering on him.

"It's just…well, you seem a bit down, a bit…sad about something," Gordon said slowly, proceeding into the conversation with caution. He held his breath as Scott glanced at him…Gordon prayed he wasn't going to tell him, or cry…he had no idea what he'd do if Scott started crying now…

"It's…I'm concerned about what happened at that rescue site," Scott said finally.

"Concerned about Virgil's uncharacteristic show of violence towards you? His awesome right hook…man, he sure kept that one hidden…" Gordon trailed off as Scott looked at him, his lips set in a thin line. Gordon cursed, always the badly timed joking…

"It's not your concern," Scott said, obviously not impressed with Gordon's wisecracking. When it came to bad patches in Scott and Virgil's relationship, there was no joking.

"Sorry Scott…but you guys seemed okay here earlier?" Gordon said.

"It's not about me and him…it's…" Scott trailed off, running his fingers through the silky, fine grained sand he sat on. Gordon waited for him to finish, but Scott said nothing else. Shrugging, Gordon pushed himself to his feet, shaking out his stiff legs and looking towards the house.

"Well, I need my sleep. See you later," he said in a rush, not waiting for Scott's reply. Someone else could deal with Scott just now.

XXXX

The warm blueberry muffin appeared before his eyes, startling Scott from his daze. He took the muffin, ripping it open and sniffing the delicious aroma that emerged from within.

"I took them from Grandma when she wasn't looking so I'm gonna be in trouble…the things I do for you Scott," Virgil said, sitting down in the sand next to him.

"Thanks," Scott mumbled, chewing on it slowly.

"So I guess you stayed here all night," Virgil said.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Gordon was here for a while…he left at sunrise," Scott said quietly.

"Yeah, he told me. I didn't sleep much either to be honest…he found me at the piano when he came in…he was more than a little concerned…" Virgil trailed off as Scott looked at him apologetically.

"I guess he thinks we're arguing or that something is wrong between us. I didn't feel the need to tell him otherwise," Scott explained. Virgil kept his eyes on Scott and he frowned.

"What?" he asked.

"You want to tell me what's occupying your deepest thoughts?" Virgil asked. "I have an idea but…" Scott looked away. The idea had been running through his mind all night. Whenever he hadn't been wondering about Virgil's earlier outburst in the cockpit of Thunderbird 2, he'd been thinking about his own dilemmas and how he might resolve them. Well, if he couldn't confide in Virgil, who could he?

"You can say no Virg…" Scott began hesitantly, "…but I was thinking about going to see Jen…and my son…" Scott looked at Virgil apprehensively.

"You want me to come with you?" Virgil asked gently, knowing this was where his brother was heading. Scott looked at him, smiling and shaking his head.

"You know me too well," he said. "But…if you would…?"

"Scott, I owe you remember?" Virgil joked. "But this would call us even, right?" Scott pretended to count events on his hand before hitting his brother's shoulder.

"Not even close Virgil."