Insomnia
Chapter Four
Scott walked into the lounge quietly after finishing checking Thunderbird Three was secure with Virgil to check on his brother to find Jeff watching over John as he slept. "Dad" He spoke up softly once he was close enough.
Jeff looked up gently without disturbing his second born son, "Hey Scott, think he is going to sleep for a while now" He said quietly looking down at John, who was deeply asleep after the small breakdown he had had.
"We should move him to his room, he will be more comfortable there… I should have seen that he was holding back his emotions" Scott said with a sigh, beating himself up for not seeing how badly John was suffering from the nightmares and the stress of being attacked had done to him.
"We should, but it's not going to be easy… he's not the lightest of you five" Jeff said not moving from where John had moved in his sleep slightly to a more comfortable position. "Then once we do get him into his room, I think that we shouldn't leave him alone" He added hearing a small moan as he moved his arm to stop the cramp building up in his arm that John was using as a pillow.
Scott sighed deeply, "Yeah I know Dad, remember helping getting him across to Thunderbird Three when he had broke his arm" He said as Virgil came in to the room, still dressed in his uniform.
"Hi Dad, do you need some help in getting him to his room?" Virgil asked softly seeing John fast asleep against their father.
"Would be nice son, just have to do it gently as he does need his sleep" Jeff said trying not to move too much so not to disturb John as he continued to sleep deeply.
"Ok Virgil, let's take a arm each but we got to take it easy" Scott said moving closer to the couch as Jeff slowly freed himself from where John had moved to lean against his chest, his arm trapped behind his son's back.
Virgil nodded and stepped up closer, taking John's right arm slowly before looking up at Scott to see that he had got John's left arm before they slowly pulled him up onto his feet catching their brother's weight with a slight struggle.
"Got him boys?" Jeff asked as he got up with a slight groan and stretched out the cramps that had developed in that short time from the awkward angles he had been in.
"Y-yeah, we got him Dad but can you go ahead of us and clear the path" Scott said as he put John's arm across his shoulders with Virgil copying his action then together lifted John up into a fireman's cradle, with their arms tucked under his legs.
"If it's possible Scott, he's heavier than you" Virgil groaned slightly as they stepped forward slowly together so not to knock John out of his much needed sleep.
Jeff looked at his sons and sighed before leading the way to the bedrooms, wondering if this was the beginning of his son's long mental healing process.
Scott and Virgil sighed with relief as they sunk down onto the large comfortable orange couch with Jeff fetching drinks from the kitchen.
They could feel their arm muscles, which had become quiet strained by the time they got John lowered down into his bed starting to ache and relax after the big strain they had put on them.
"Here you go boys, now I want to hear what exactly happened once you had docked with Thunderbird Five" Jeff said to his sons in his stern voice as he set down a tray with three glasses of cool drink on it.
"I went ahead to start the tests while Virgil and John locked down Thunderbird Three as procedure, everything seemed fine then Dad but I was in Thunderbird Five" Scott said reaching across for his drink with a small wince.
"I could see that John was distracted Dad, and it seemed that he was caught up in his emotions… his fingers working on automatic but his mind wasn't there" Virgil explained, leaning back deeper into the couch.
"It was eerie but once I called out to John, he came back and so we crossed to Thunderbird Five… but that is where it began" He carried on while rolling his shoulders slightly.
Jeff nodded and watched his sons carefully, they had nightmares of their own and had come to talk to him in confidence but John just tried to get past them himself.
"I could see that something was wrong with John the moment he entered the control room, he seemed distance and caught up in a flashback…" Scott said remembering seeing John lost in thought and emotionless.
"We called out to him to see if he was ok and offered his chair back… it was then that he froze up and broke down" Virgil said looking across at Scott, who nodded and grasped his glass tightly.
"We got him back over to the rocket and it was there that we got to John, to why he had broke down like that in the satellite" Scott said with a sigh and rubbed the glass across his forehead like he often did when he had a headache building up.
Virgil sighed and remembered the conversation too well.
"I'm letting you down, I-I just thought that maybe once she was repaired then I can come back up here and t-take my place back amongst the team" John's voice sounded strained and cracked amongst the sobs that echoed through his body and along his throat.
"Why would you think that John? You're our brother before a member of International Rescue!" Scott said, as they were all closer as a family than as a team even though they didn't act like it out in the field.
John didn't answer but coughed quietly, moving his hands away from his face. "I-I-I'm sorry…" He muttered before looking at the floor of the rocket.
"What do you think is going to happen now Dad?" Scott asked, his eyes closed and part of his face covered in the glass.
"We have to wait and see Scott, see how John is once he's woke up" Jeff said his head resting on his hands with a small frown written on his face.
"In the mean time, I suggest that you two go and have a shower and get changed before going out and get some sun while its still in the sky" Jeff said looking out of the large patio doors to see cloud building on the horizon over the ocean.
"Ok Dad, what about you? Are you going to keep an eye on John?" Virgil asked worried for their brother.
"Yes, I think that is best that one of us does especially as I'm not sure if the nightmares have finished with him" Jeff replied with a sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"We can take turns Dad, keep an eye on him together so some of us can get some rest while one of us watches over John… I am worried about him though," Scott said from behind his glass before lowering it to take a sip.
"I am too son we have to try and talk to him when he wakes up… but for now we just have to let him sleep" Jeff said helping himself to his glass on the table in front of him.
"Ok Dad" Scott and Virgil said together as Virgil helped himself to his drink as he rose up off the couch and headed off to the sundeck for some much needed sun, followed closely by Scott.
John muttered in his sleep as he turned over in his bed, taking his sheets with him tangling his arms and legs amongst the sheets. He continued to toss and turn in his sleep and made his arms and legs even more tangled in his sheets.
Jeff entered the room to find John muttering and rested a hand on his son's forehead, "It's ok John… I'm here, everything is ok" He spoke softly as John slowly calmed down and woke up.
"D-dad" John spoke softly with a slight croak in his breath before freeing his arms and legs from the tangled up sheets, seeing that he was covered in sweat from the small nightmare and back in his bedroom while he stayed on the island.
"It's ok John, do you want to talk about it?" Jeff asked sitting down on the edge of the bed, watching John free himself from his sheets throwing them off the bed so he can change them later.
"Maybe after a shower, I feel awful…" John said with a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, feeling the back of it cling to the back of his neck slightly with a wince.
"Ok John, I'll go down to the kitchen and get you something to eat… is there anything you want?" Jeff asked getting up off the bed, John following him to strip the sweat soaked sheets off his bed with what he could see was long time practise.
"A pizza sounds great Dad" John said with a tired smile as he rolled up the dirty sheet.
Jeff smiled with a small laugh, "Ok, a pizza it is" He said and left the room to allow his second eldest son to change his bed and have a shower in peace.
Half an hour later Jeff had finished cooking the pizza and was sat at the table with John just joining him with his hair still damp from the shower he had.
"Feel better? Made you hot chocolate too, knew that you would need your sugar from somewhere," Jeff said with a smile pointing at a steaming cup of hot chocolate sat next to the plate with a large cheese and tomato pizza on it.
"Great Dad, thanks smells great… where is everyone else?" John asked as he sat down at the table with Jeff and pulled the cup of hot chocolate closer to him before blowing on it gently then took a sip with a grateful sigh.
"Scott disappeared up into the library but I expect that he's asleep up there" Jeff said with a smile and a slight shake of his head.
"Virgil is asleep out on the sundeck and Gordon is in the gym like he always is this time of day" Jeff continued remembering that Brains was working down in the laboratory while the Belegant family was in their own chalet for the rest of the day.
John nodded as he sipped on his hot chocolate a little more, grateful for the hot sugary drink. "Sounds like everything is normal here…" He said with a smile before putting the cup down and helped himself to a slice of pizza.
"Wish it was normal John, are you going to talk to me about the nightmares?" Jeff asked watching John eat the pizza slice slowly, chewing at it a little longer than normal.
Once John had swallowed his mouthful, he placed the rest of the slice back down on the plate before holding the cup containing his cooling cup of hot chocolate close. "Just where to start Dad… I mean that there are so many of them but all ending in similar ways of either me…" He stopped feeling his throat close up and he closed his eyes as they began to burn.
Jeff watched his son waiting with baited breath hoping that John could continue to talk his nightmares through but saw that he was close to tears once more, which was a good thing.
"I talked to Scott a few days ago before you came back from mainland… he mentioned the nightmares he has had of how events could have gone differently, Virgil has been like the same" Jeff spoke quietly seeing John look up with his blue eyes shining with unshed tears.
"I have even had calls from Wharton saying that Alan had been having trouble keeping awake in class" He carried on, using the soft voice and tried to calm John down enough to have him talk.
"I have had nightmares too son, and they were bad but I was able to talk about them with the others… but you John, I wish that you would talk to us and not suffer alone" Jeff said with a smile.
"I'm sorry Dad… I just been so foolish thinking that if I ignored the nightmares then they would just go away and once that she was back online that we could go back to the way things were before…" John said with a slight croak in his voice and coughed to clear it.
"Before the attack… but that's where you're wrong John" Jeff said finishing the sentence for his son. "We have changed for the better and learnt from our mistakes so that none of our machines will ever get in danger again" He said with small sigh as he got up on to his feet to get a coffee.
"Sorry Dad…. I'm ok talk now," John said before sipping on his hot chocolate in the need of the sugary goodness that came from the hot drink.
"Ok John, let me get a coffee then we can talk" Jeff said with a smile and got to work in getting himself a coffee before sitting back down at the table.
John took a deep breath and began from the first nightmare that he had had, hoping that once he got them all off of his chest that they will stop.
