Katblu42 said Angstember 19: You Weren't There with Gordon and any other brother. After much thinking, I give you Gordon and Scott with a splash of John, a hint of Virgil and poor Alan.
It should have been easy.
'Do you need me to fly back, John? It's only a short hop for One and I can leave the meeting to be finished another time.'
'It's fine Scott, a simple tow. Alan can do it with his eyes closed.'
'I know that, John, but you know I don't really want Alan out on his own. What if…'
'EOS and I will be watching, and I have my exosuit. I can be there imminently if there is a problem.'
'Well, if you're sure. Keep me in the loop.'
A simple rescue. Tow the space cruiser out of the shipping line to the space hub transit terminal orbiting the moon. Alan had even asked if he could spend a couple of hours with Conrad afterwards, the two being firm friends since Alan had rescued him previously.
The simple rescue had turned out to be anything but.
'Scott, we have a problem.'
He sat outside the room, suit jacket discarded on another chair and hands running through his hair, as he waited for the doctors to let them know how Alan was. John stood in the corner, quietly conferring with EOS, Kayo and Penny.
The door slammed open, and Scott half rose out of his chair, only to sit back down as Gordon stormed through. He stopped just inside the doorway, taking in John's position, before his eyes fixed on Scott.
Before Scott could process what was going on Gordon had him out of the chair, across the room and pinned against the wall. There was fire in his eyes and Scott didn't - couldn't – blame him.
'You weren't there. You should have been there. You promised! You promised Alan would never complete a space mission alone and You Weren't There!'
Gordon punctuated the words by slamming Scott repeatedly into the wall, barely registering the hands of John and Virgil as they tried to pull him away. They managed to get him to let go eventually, but he shook them off and stormed out, Virgil following.
Scott slid down the wall, head resting on his knees and hands clasped over his neck. John crouched down beside him, one hand on his shoulder.
'He didn't mean it, Scott, you know that right?' Scott didn't move, didn't say anything. John sat down next to him. He only just caught the whispered response.
'He's right, though. I should have been there. I failed him. I failed you all.'