Kat Cavanaugh: Oh, that was so intense and I'm so sorry. That must have been so hard for you.
Scott *shrugging*: It was, it really was. But we got through it as a family.
Kat: I understand that you almost didn't…
Scott: I don't want to talk about that.
Kat: But…
Scott: No, some things are off-limits and this is one of them. Suffice to say that this was when my brothers became my responsibility.
Kat: So you could say that this was when they went from being your brothers to your 'children' emotionally – metaphorically speaking of course.
Scott *sits back, folds his arms across his chest and gives her a hard stare*
Scott didn't go away to university that year and neither did John.
Instead, they spent the year acclimatising to no mother, no grandfather, a new baby and no father.
Being only sixteen meant that Scott couldn't adopt Alan outright, but Ada's last wishes had been listened to since there was no other family on either side, and Ruth – now going by her middle name of Sally since only her husband had used her first name – had helped with the paperwork.
On paper Alan was Jeff's son. The reality was very different.
Scott and John had a sharp learning curve on how to bring up a baby, but they were both very good at it. Virgil helped a little, but the surprise was Gordon. The eleven-year-old was clearly almost as besotted as Scott was and helped out where he could.
They fell into a new routine. Scott quit physical school and finished his last couple of months online. That left him free to look after Alan and keep the house running as best he could. John would do what he could, mostly taking over the cooking and helping Virgil and Gordon with their homework. Virgil and Gordon also helped with chores they could manage.
Their father disappeared into his business and into a bottle.
Scott's life now revolved solely around his boys. He kept them fed, clean and sleeping, spending hours at night ensuring that nightmares were dealt with. Alan was a very good baby and slept well, which Scott was very thankful for as none of his other brothers were.
Life carried on.
Alan grew. He was such a happy child that brought joy to his older brothers. But as the four youngest seemed to be thriving considering the circumstances, Scott was not. He lost a lot of weight until the point that John and Virgil began to wonder how they could help him. He barely slept, barely ate, but was so active, collecting Gordon from school and taking him to his swimming lessons, taking Virgil to his piano lessons, ensuring that John continued his extra-curricular lessons. On top of caring for the house and anything else that came up.
Almost a year after finding himself a practical father to three children and a baby Scott had an accident.
It was a simple tumble down the stairs. But for the exhausted sick teen it was the last straw for his body.
John was worried when Scott didn't call at lunchtime to check everything was alright as he had done every day since the holiday. When Virgil said something didn't feel right John acted, leaving Virgil at school while he rushed home.
He found Scott at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious and with a cut that had bled but was now dried, telling John that his brother had been here some time. He was never more relieved when he found Scott was breathing.
First he called an ambulance. Then he called his grandmother. As an afterthought he called his father. John then went upstairs to check on Alan. The baby gurgled and smiled at him and was quite content to be held by John while they waited.
The ambulance arrived shortly. He sat in the doorway of the kitchen watching them checking his brother over. They had just placed him on a stretcher when Sally bustled in, plucking Alan out of John's arms and talking to the paramedics.
John wasn't technically old enough to accompany Scott to the hospital, but with there being a baby as well they agreed to let John come after Sally assured them the boys father wouldn't be too long in joining them.
Jeff wasn't too long. He'd actually listened to his messages over a short coffee break, and was rushing out of the door seconds later, shouting to his PA to cancel everything.
The upshot of the accident was a major concussion but thankfully no skull fracture, only a fractured wrist where he'd obviously landed awkwardly. There was more concern about how skinny, how ill he was.
When Sally arrived later that evening with the other three boys no one was surprised that the first thing she did after kissing Scott was to haul her son out of the room. The dressing down she gave him could be heard clearly, leaving all the boys smiling and Gordon giggling.
It was the shock Jeff needed to realise how much he had neglected his children, how much he had piled onto Scott, and from that day on they became the family they had always been before.
Sally moved in. Jeff began to split his work between home and the office. Scott was given a special diet to get him fit again, and later that summer he went to Yale and John to NASA and life returned to what it should have been, even if their Mom and Grandpa were no longer there.
