Characters: Scott, John, Virgil, Jeff

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Blood, Head injury, Hospital

If Scott thought that he'd got off light with only three fork-related injuries before leaving for university, his luck didn't last long.

Halfway through his first university year his family moved from Kansas to their tropical island. He'd got extra time off to assist since he'd knew the move was coming up and he'd worked hard to be ahead of his classes.

Dad had taken care of getting everything shipped over, Scott, Virgil and John were there to unpack and put the villa to rights. They'd visited the island in the winter break to pick their own rooms and plan the layout of the living rooms. Jeff had made sure that the cables were laid for the tv and internet so that calls could be made and the boys were not cut off.

There was a reason why Scott, John and Virgil had been asked to unpack and organise. Jeff was stuck in New York, unable to leave while he was in the middle of contract negotiations. Grandma was in Kansas with Gordon and Alan, both at school and quite frankly both unable to keep their current room in any semblance of order. The three oldest were far neater, Scott often being called a 'neat freak' by their fishie brother, and with hard work all three had been able to get time off for this.

They were one week in to unpacking, with the kitchen the first room they had sorted out, so that they could eat while they were working, followed by their bedrooms and the den.

Today they were beginning the living area. At the moment Virgil was concentrating on his piano while John was cooking lunch and Scott was up on the mezzanine sorting out the chairs and books. The rest of the family were due out in two days, and they would add their own touches to each room. Dad had insisted they leave the hangars alone – Scott's little jet felt tiny in the large space.

'Scott, can you come help me a moment?' Virgil's muffled voice called, and Scott looked over to see what looked like his brother head and shoulders in the piano. He resisted the urge to vault over the fencing to drop beside the piano, instead walking the length of the balcony and down the stairs.

'What's up, Virg?' He'd tried to be obvious about arriving, but his brother still banged his head on the lid of the piano. Scott winced in sympathy.

'I just want to move the piano slightly. This isn't the best angle for the acoustics, so can you help me?'

'Sure thing.'

Moving the piano was a delicate operation. It had been their Mom's piano, her pride and joy, and there had been no way any of them would have even considered leaving her behind. Scott knew that Virgil was going to have his work cut out for him this afternoon, getting the piano all tuned up – moving to a completely different climate had not been kind.

They shifted her so that she was at a right-angle to the desk, and then John called them down for lunch.

They took their time, discussing what their plans were for the afternoon. Unsurprisingly, Virgil was going to tune the piano while John talked about checking what was left of the unpacked boxes. Most were due for the Round House and the observatory, but he wanted to make sure nothing big was left for the villa itself. Scott decided this was an ideal time to fill their father in on how they had progressed since it would be evening in New York.

As expected, Virgil soon got ploughed into the piano and John disappeared. Scott settled himself at the desk as his brother began to lay out the tools he would need on the stool he'd set up beside himself.

Virgil unrolled his tools and laid them out. A tuning hammer with various heads. Some mutes, tweezers and felt strips to mute strings he needed to be quiet while he was tuning with the special tool for applying them. He favoured the aural tuning method and placed his tuning fork next to the tools and put his gloves on.

Striking the fork and listening intently to the crystal-clear sound, Virgil played the corresponding key, listening intently and leaning into the piano to adjust the peg to get the note to match the sound.

Scott wound up his discussion with his father, knowing that Virgil would need quiet to get this job done, and truth be told, he rather enjoyed watching his brother doing this. It may have been repetitive as each key was played several times until Virgil was happy that it was playing correctly, but Scott loved watching the care and attention Virgil put into the task.

He'd only done about five keys before realising that Scott was no longer talking on the phone, and he straightened up and looked at his eldest brother.

'If you have nothing better to do than to stare at me while I work, move your butt over here and help me.'

Grinning, Scott took his place at the piano, and played the notes as Virgil directed while he struck the fork and turned pins accordingly. It had been a while since he had needed to do tune the piano and he took his time. But eventually they finished, and Scott descended into the sunken lounge to prepare for a movie night while Virgil packed up his tools.

No one was quite sure what happened next.

Scott was sitting on one of the couches. Virgil was wrapping his tools in their roll while he walked, watching the screen as Scott scrolled through the movie choices. Scott was just turning to ask Virgil about which movie he'd like for the evening when there was a sharp pain and he knew no more.

Virgil wasn't sure how, but he tripped on something. The roll that he was carefully securing was suddenly airborne and heading straight for his brother's head but he found he had no voice. The hammer was a heavy tool, and even the tuning fork could do some damage, not to mention the tweezers…

One minute Scott was upright, the next he was out cold on the floor surrounded by tools. Virgil rushed down to check his brother over. He'd been hit hard by the tuning fork, which, although steel and reasonably light, had struck Scott's temple hard enough in just the wrong place to knock him out cold. There was blood too, and Virgil bit his lip as he contemplated what first aid provisions they had on the island. First things first though, he turned Scott into the recovery position while he called John.

John rushed over to find Virgil kneeling over their prone brother fixing a bandage very carefully around his head, and he collapsed on his knees beside Virgil. 'What do you want me to do, Virgil?'

'Nothing yet, John. We just need to watch him for now. Damn, I wish the infirmary was set up, we could really use it.' Virgil ran his hand down his face. 'For now we need to just make sure that is no greater injury than the cut and the probable concussion. His pupils seem fine for the moment.'

John rocked back onto his heels and sighed deeply. A simple job of unpacking could never be that easy. John briefly placed his hand on Virgil's shoulder before standing up and moving over to the desk.

'I'll call Dad and fill him in. You stay with Scott.'

'Good idea, John.'

While John was filling their father in Scott began to stir. He seemed lucid enough, albeit with a banging headache, and they helped him to the couch while they finished clearing up and put a movie on quietly. The two kept Scott talking for the first half, and Virgil was pleased when his brother had no difficulty carrying on a conversation. That and the fact that Scott's pupils were fine meant that the trainee medic was pleased to allow him to fall asleep before it was even halfway through.

The rest of the family were due to fly out in two days, but with the news of Scott's accident Jeff decided to fly out. It was 1am currently, making it around 8pm on the Island. It would be about a 10-hour flight in Tracy One. If Jeff flew them all out at 11 am that morning, they could be on the island by 1-2pm the next day. He needed to check that Scott was alright, as would his Ma when he called her to explain why they were leaving a day early.

Scott slept mostly well that night, and the next day they kept activities light. Apart from changing the bandage there were no further issues with Scott, and Virgil began to relax, pleased when their Dad called to say they were coming a day early.

Lunchtime the next day and that was the first indication that something may not be quite right. It wasn't something totally obvious, but Scott was irritated over nothing. He rarely showed irritation, but he frowned all through lunch and barely spoke other to growl at them.

But it was just before their family arrived that Virgil really began to worry. Scott had left the table to go to his room and get something, but he came back raging about someone moving his room. John shot Virgil an alarmed look and Virgil's response was not reassuring. Their brother was becoming more confused and irritable by the minute.

The crackling of the radio as Jeff checked in had both boys sighing in relief, and John engaged their father while Virgil chased after a Scott who was tearing through the house looking for his room and yelling about why couldn't his brothers just leave things alone…He really didn't want to tackle his brother when he obviously had delayed concussion, but he also needed to get Scott to calm down before he did himself some real damage, and preferably before their youngest brothers arrived. Scott would be mortified if Alan and Gordon saw him like this.

Thankfully John had managed to fill their Dad and Grandma in without the youngest finding out, and John had met them at the hangar and took them on a tour of the hangar and beaches while Grandma made her way into the house to help Virgil.

She found her grandsons in Scott's bedroom and sighed. Sally had prepared herself for anger and shouting due to the concussion, but Virgil was huddled in the corner with an unconscious Scott in his arms. Her middle grandson looked up at her entrance, eyes bright with unshed tears. She rushed over with the portable Medscanner she'd picked up from the plane.

'He just passed out mid-rant, Grandma.'

'Ok, Virgil. Lay him on the bed and let's have a good look at him.'

The Medscanner bathed Scott in yellow light and flagged an expected red light at his temple. What had seemed a simple minor head injury was actually a small, depressed fracture. Thankfully there were no loose pieces of bone, but there was a slight pressure on his brain.

'Virgil, go get your Dad. Scotty's going to need more treatment than we can give him here.'

'Ok, Grandma.'

He rushed off. Sally sat down beside her eldest grandson, gently moving his hair off his forehead, murmuring nothings. Virgil returned with Jeff quickly, and after a short discussion Jeff and Virgil were flying to the nearest hospital in New Zealand while Grandma and John comforted a very upset Gordon and Alan. Virgil had offered so that their Grandma could go, but Sally knew that Virgil needed to be with Scott.

The trip to New Zealand felt like it took forever. An hour was a long time when a brother was injured. Jeff flew while Virgil kept an eye on Scott. His brother didn't regain consciousness and was perfectly still. It unnerved Virgil very much.

Medics were waiting for them and whisked Scott away with Virgil while Jeff flew Tracy One to the nearest airport and took the waiting car over to the hospital.

More waiting.

Eventually a nurse appeared and ushered them into a room where Scott was asleep on the bed. Virgil immediately took a seat and held Scott's hand, while Jeff spoke to the doctor. There had been no need for surgery, there were no bone fragments to worry about so they had bandaged Scott's head and had him on strong pain relief. They would keep him in under observation for three or four days, depending on how he progressed. Standard treatment was just rest and observation since surgery was unnecessary.

There would need to be words between his eldest and middle boys, but right now Jeff sat at the foot of the bed and just contented himself with watching and listening to Virgil humming to Scott as he held his hand.

Sally had not been surprised at the treatment decided on; she was just relieved that Scott hadn't needed surgery. John had offered to fly everyone else over in Scott's plane, and Jeff readily agreed, booking a nearby hotel for them all. Then he called the office and changed all his meetings for the upcoming week to online.

Scott slept for almost the entire day. When he woke up his Dad was beside him, talking into his phone, but he hung up as soon as he realised he was awake.

'Dad? What happened?'

'Scott, we need to think about doing something about all these injuries you keep getting from forks.'

'Forks?'

'Yeah. First the pitchfork, then the garden fork, the toasting fork and now the tuning fork.'

'Wow. That's a lot of forks.'

'It is.'

'I can't think of any more forks, other than the actual eating ones, so maybe I'm safe now.'

'Let's hope so, Son. Let's hope so.'