For Kylorr81 who prompted: I want to fix it but I don't think I can with Scott.
'But Scotty will fix it, right, Gordon?'
His big brother fixed everything. And if he couldn't, then he knew who could. Like that time he had broken the special car that John had bought him by pulling it back too much and it stopped working. Scotty couldn't fix that, but he knew a man who could – Virgil.
But Gordon, instead of agreeing with him, just stood there, tears falling.
And that frightened Alan more than anything else. He turned from his closest brother to the one who gave them the best hugs, who he went to when he broke something,
'Virgil? Scotty will fix it, won't he?'
In reply Virgil reached across to pull him into a tight hug, but Alan was too quick for him. He knew what a hug here meant. Alan didn't want that. He wanted reassurance, not hugs.
His face screwed up, but he refused to cry. Virgil was on the verge of crying too, Alan could see the tears even if they weren't falling like Gordon's were, and it was scaring him. He didn't want this. So he did what any eight-year-old would do.
Alan pushed Virgil's arms aside and ran, yelling over and over and over again.
'No!'
He ran. Past the pool, past the beach. Into the jungle, the one place he wasn't allowed to go alone. But he didn't care because the person who told him he couldn't was no longer there,
His Dad was gone.
But Scotty would fix it. He would. He would.
Alan stayed out for hours. Scott wasn't home. He was out wherever he and Daddy had gone in One. And Alan was determined that nothing short of Scott coming home was going to bring him home. He loved Gordon and Virgil, but they were not Scott.
Only Scott would do.
He heard them calling for him, but he ignored them. He even heard Grandma calling, but he couldn't face her. He felt a little ashamed at that, but he wanted Scott. At some point he was sure he had heard John, but he knew that couldn't be. John was upstairs in space. John was watching Scott and Daddy.
There was a surge of an irrational thought. What if John couldn't see Scott? Heart in his mouth at the thought, Alan turned to head back, only to realise he didn't know where he was anymore. Everything looked the same. He sat on a tree root, hearing Scott's voice in his head.
'If you ever get lost in there, sprout, just stay still. It will make it easier to find you. And I'll come and find you.'
But Scott wasn't here. He was out with Daddy, only Virgil said that something had happened and Daddy might not be coming back with Scotty.
Scotty would fix it. He would find him, then they would all find Daddy.
As that comforting thought bounced around Alan's head there came the sound of One returning. Alan jumped up from his seat, but then he stopped. Scotty told him to wait there and wait he would. He knew it would take some time for the post flight checks to be done and the other things that the Thunderbird would need to be set in motion before Scott would even begin to search for him, so he settled for a wait.
'Alan! Alan!'
His head whipped up at the sound of his name as a tall figure in blue came crashing through the undergrowth. Before he could even say anything, Scott had scooped him up and was hugging him tightly.
Scott was crying, His face was wet and it was making Alan's top wet. It made Alan afraid. Scotty never cried. Not even that time when Alan had hit that baseball into his bits. It made Alan's chest hurt, and before he knew it he was hugging his brother back as tightly as he could and crying too.
They sat on the floor where they were, Scott rocking Alan in his arms and the two crying. Alan realised after a bit that his brother was talking to him. He was apologising, over and over and over again.
'I'm sorry, Alan. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'
And didn't that make Alan feel so bad. He wanted Scotty there to comfort him, but Scott was too upset. Eventually Alan broke the hug, reaching up and wiping Scott's tears.
'Don't cry, Scotty. You'll make it all better, you'll fix it. I know you will.'
Scott's heart broke all over again. A different pain washed over him, and he pulled Alan close again.
'I want to fix it, but I don't think I can, sprout. I don't think I can.'
And Alan buried his head in his brother's shoulder and cried again.