Virgil had been delighted when Scott had returned from his business on the mainland in such a good mood. Usually, it was only when he managed to steal days off with his girlfriend that Scott came home so happy, yet Kaya had been unable to get away to be with Scott this time.

He had been looking forward to catching up with his oldest brother and just chatting, but since his return there had been two callouts in as many days, and this morning Scott had vanished on some errand, so Virgil was hopeful that there would be time this afternoon for a couple of games of pool and a beer.

It was with some surprise then, that Virgil watched Scott storm past him to his room and come out a couple of minutes later with his overnight bag. Without even looking at his brother Scott charged through the house to the hangar, climbed in his jet and took off, all without confirming anything with either their father or John.

To say Virgil was speechless was putting it mildly. As he stood there watching Scott's jet getting ready to take off, their father came rushing into the room, yelling over the comms for Scott to stop, but his brother carried on regardless. The jet took off and there was a sudden silence, one which was not comfortable for the artist or his dad.

Eyebrows disappearing into his hair, Virgil turned to his father and waited for an explanation. The man's face was like thunder, and Virgil couldn't ever remember seeing his dad so angry. Come to that, he didn't know of another time when Scott had so blatantly ignored their father either.

He waited in vain, watching as Jeff got his temper under control, nodded to Virgil and retreated to his study. Leaving a very confused man standing in the middle of the room wondering what the hell was going on.

Gordon and Alan wandered in together, it being nearly lunch time, and they stopped dead when they saw Virgil. Gordon, never one to pass up an opportunity to get one over on an older brother, saw his chance and grabbed a glass of water, throwing it in Virgil's face. It did the trick, causing him to splutter in surprise and outrage, and the next ten minutes were spent trying to throw Gordon into the pool without Alan pushing him in too.

Virgil won that round.

Lunch was a subdued affair. When Alan asked where Scott had gone, their dad merely said he'd had urgent business to attend and would be back when he was finished. Jeff didn't look at Virgil when saying this, ate his lunch quickly and left, which was also unusual behaviour.

The three men left at the table shared uneasy looks.

Scott returned to the island later that night, tired and worn. Virgil had waited up once Scott had called ahead to say he was heading home, desperately worried about what was going on. But all his brother did was smile sadly, squeeze his shoulder and turn into his own room, closing the door and shutting Virgil out. The bruising on his brother's cheek didn't escape the medic's notice.

The next week was an absolute nightmare for Virgil, Gordon and Alan.

Scott had returned in a very quiet, down mood. If Virgil didn't know better, he would have said his brother was depressed. As the week progressed Scott's mood swung from down to angry and back again, and by the fourth day his younger brothers were avoiding him since they didn't seem capable of not upsetting him. He hadn't confided in Virgil, which was very unusual to say the least, and he was barely eating anything, picking at even his favourite foods.

Jeff was also in a filthy mood, especially since Scott was refusing to talk to him beyond what was barely polite. He still ate with his boys, but the atmosphere was stifling and he often left them quickly, returning to his study and the mountain of work he always had to do.

Both Grandma and Kyrano exchanged a lot of worried looks, and if there were words with either man, then the others didn't know about it, and no improvement was really made. At least they were being civil to each other.

Alan had even asked to go up to Five early, but John had flatly refused. He could see for himself the atmosphere on the island, and there was no way he wanted to be involved. Still, Tin-Tin came home on the fifth day, and she and Alan disappeared for quite a while, giving some easing of the tension.

There hadn't been any rescues either, and that hadn't helped matters, what with Gordon getting antsy on top of everything, and Virgil's muse disappearing completely. Nothing seemed able to lift the oppressive air on the island.

Over the next week Scott's mood improved slightly. He still wasn't really talking to his dad, and he still didn't spend much time with any of his brothers, but by the end of the second week he began to eat a little more and chat like he had before. It hadn't escaped Virgil's notice that not once had he mentioned Kaya, and everyone seemed instinctively to steer clear of that particular subject, even if they didn't know why.

Then, exactly two weeks to the day of that fateful conversation, Alan made an announcement at lunch.