Epilogue
He woke up to a room filled with light that slowly resolved into the crisp white surroundings of the infirmary.
The steadily flashing monitor clipped to the pale blue hospital scrubs someone had put him in didn't surprise him in the slightest, it'd been quite a day and he'd have been surprised if he hadn't woken with one. Scott scrubbed a hand over his face, paused, then touched his cheek again, surprised by the amount of stubble his questing fingers found. That...was more than a day's growth. An IV was taped to the back of his left hand and following the clear plastic tube up he could see a half empty bag of saline and a drained bag of glucose hanging from the IV pole.
"What day is it?" Scott rolled over, intending to find some form of clock, only to find his movement arrested by the blanket-wrapped bundle huddled between him and the edge of the bed. A blond head peeped out from under the edge of a red coverlet, blue eyes blinked sleepily at him, then realisation flared and Scott found himself flat on his back with most of Alan on top of him.
"Scott! You're awake!" That and a thousand other words at a speed he couldn't hope to process poured out of Alan as he clung to his eldest brother. One of Alan's hands shot out to grab the communicator on the bedside table and he shouted "Scott's awake!" into it.
A thudding of boots on tiles, and Virgil was at his bedside. Alan fell silent and shifted out the way as brown eyes flicked over Scott and then over readouts from the monitor, assessing what he saw and only when he found it satisfactory did Virgil's shoulders drop and Medic mode disengaged, the lines of his face relaxing. "Welcome back Scott." He smiled, leaning in to give a hug that Scott didn't realise he'd been needing until he was enfolded in strong arms and flannel that smelled of paint and exhaust fumes. Virgil held him for a long moment, not commenting on the shuddering deep breath from the eldest as he finally knew it was over.
"Everyone's okay." Virgil said as he released Scott but stayed in contact with him, gently catching his wrist like Grandma always did to check his pulse the old fashioned way. Alan immediately took the opportunity to wrap an arm around Scott and put his head on Scott's shoulder. "Colonel Casey says she's got something special for The Hood, off world." Virgil went on.
Scott curled an arm around Alan, reassured by the continued contact and the forgiveness it implied. "How long…?" He croaked, his voice dry and raspy from not being used.
"Three days." Virgil went for the cup full of ice chips and spoon fed some to Scott. "We set off an EMP and had you on chelation and a blood scrubber for twelve hours to make sure we got every last one of those nanobots, you just slept through it all, and we've been taking shifts keeping you company. I was getting worried but Grandma said it was just like after you came back from Bereznik- once Dad got you home you pretty much slept for three or four days, you needed the time to sort yourself out and start to recover."
"Yeah, it was like that." Scott nodded and said no more about it, not really wanting to talk about that particular part of his life right now. "Can I get up?" He asked.
"If you can stand without feeling light headed, sure, just let me get the hardware first." Virgil nodded, reaching for the IV. When everything was disconnected and a plaster had been smoothed down over the needle hole, Scott reluctantly disentangled himself from Alan and carefully sat up. When that didn't make him fall back down, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, and with Virgil hovering in front of him with hands held out to either catch him or be grabbed for support and Alan doing the same from behind, Scott carefully stood up.
"All okay?" Virgil asked, watching closely for any wobble or weakness.
"...Yeah, all okay." Scott nodded, straightening his back and standing at his full height.
"What do you want to do now?"
"Shower first," Scott glanced in the general direction of the locker room, "then family movie night." Scott went to check his watch, frowned when he saw his wrist was bare, and looked around for a clock. "What time is it anyway?"
"Five twenty eight am." Virgil supplied after a quick glance at his own watch
"And you're conscious and lucid already? That's got to be some kind of miracle." Scott teased, cracking a weak smile.
"He hasn't been to bed yet, his shift ended at midnight." Alan smugly added the details, ignoring Virgil's frown at him. It wasn't often he could get Virgil in trouble for not sleeping when he harangued them all about getting enough rest.
"Family movie morning then." Scott amended. "Something funny."
"Got it. Popcorn?" Virgil didn't really have to ask, he knew Scott's favourite movie snack.
"Extra butter?" Was the hopeful request.
"Yep." Virgil looked over Scott's shoulder at Alan. "Go get Scott's PJs and slippers, then tell the others and get food organised. I'll wait down here for Scott."
"F.A.B." Alan jumped down from the other side of the bed, bundled his blanket into his arms and jogged off.
"I don't need a babysitter." Scott grumbled half-heartedly, leaning back against the bed.
"No, but you do need someone around in case your blood pressure or blood sugar take a nosedive. I'll stay just outside the locker room, deal?" Virgil asked as he plucked the monitor from Scott's shirt, reasoning the offer of a little privacy should be enough to win him over.
"Deal."
0o0o0
Leaving Virgil at the threshold, Scott carefully made his way into the locker room and went for the cubicle that Virgil had fixed up with a high pressure rain showerhead for those days when they needed 'to wash the Thunderbird off' as Virgil had put it. Someone had evidently figured he'd want this one because there was a shower chair and his favourite soap already waiting there for him. Scott gratefully made use of both, sitting under the shower head and letting the heavy downpour of warm water cascading over him relax stiff muscles and start to wash away the invisible stains of his ordeal.
He emerged from under the spray perhaps half an hour later, feeling so much better. He didn't feel clean yet, that would take time and another chapter in his psychologist's file, but he did feel cleaner and that was a good start.
To Scott's surprise The Mechanic was also in the locker room when he shuffled out in search of clothes, a towel wrapped about his waist. Evidently The Mechanic hadn't been expecting him either, judging by the electric razor he held in one hand and can of shaving cream in the other.
"Mechanic?" Scott asked quietly.
The older man stood silently by his open locker, his expression inscrutable.
Scott took a breath to summon his courage. "I'm sorry. I didn't understand." Was all he could bring himself to say right now. To say more…it was all too fresh to say any more than that, he could only hope it would be enough to convey what he wanted to communicate.
The Mechanic looked at him steadily, then nodded, his expression softening slightly but still unreadable. "Apology accepted."
Fin.
A/N: Well. That was certainly a trip. Thank you very much to everyone who's left a comment, I absolutely love and appreciate them every time.
I'm going to go and write some fluff now, 'scuse me.
