"What's going on?"
Virgil stared at Scott for a solid moment, but no one answered him.
The room was frozen and it was clear he had interrupted something.
Virgil let out a breath and caught the edge of the desk with his hand.
It was like a switch, and suddenly the room was moving again. Scott darted in to steady his brother, while Gordon stepped up on his other side.
Dad…Dad stared as they moved as one.
Scott frowned at his brother. "What the hell are you doing?"
Virgil tried to wave him away, but he only had one hand and apparently that was needed to keep him vertical. "Needed to speak to Dad. To explain." He swallowed, closing his eyes a moment. He scrunched up his face before straightening up and taking his own weight again. "I'm okay." His voice was a little hoarse. "Dad just needs to understand that it wasn't your fault."
Scott's lips thinned as his brother glared up at him, forcing him to let go. "You should be in bed."
"Not until he understands and respects our decisions."
A blink.
His father flinched on the other side of the desk. "Virgil, I assure you, I do. You boys have done an amazing job and I could not be prouder."
Virgil turned to face his father, sadness in his eyes. "Even if I'm not as strong as you wished I could be?"
Oh, god, Virg.
Scott wanted to reach out to his brother. "Virgil-"
Their father interrupted, holding up a hand. "No, Scott." The man grabbed his cane and strode around the desk, the clunk on the hardwood tracked by Virgil's eyes.
Scott stepped back to give him room, but continued to stand beside Virgil. Gordon slipped up to the engineer's other side, the three of them lining up to face the man who towered over all their lives.
Their father's expression was ever so sad as he came to a halt directly in front of Virgil. "Son, I know that in the past we have not met eye to eye. You have…so much of your mother in you…" Scott's heart stopped. "But whatever our disagreements, our differences, you have always, always been more than I could ever have possibly wished for."
Virgil's mouth opened just a little, his eyes widening. But nothing was said.
"Virgil." Dad's tone was gentle. "This tattoo…it…" He bit his lip, tightening his mouth as if the words he was trying to say physically hurt. "…scared me." An embarrassed exhalation. "When you all found me, I was so happy to see all of you healthy and whole. During those long years apart…I had imagined so many things going wrong. Not knowing if I had lost one or more of you…then to find you all alive, all safe…" Dad blinked and Scott's heart lurched as glistening grey eyes turned to him. "You cannot know…" But his father gathered himself and turned back to Virgil.
Scott blinked and swallowed, his throat tight.
"To realise how close I came to losing you, scared me, Virgil. Terrified me."
"I'm still here, Dad." Virgil's voice was soft as he gazed up at his father.
"There is more than one way to lose those you love, Virgil."
An incoherent sound slipped from his brother's lips and suddenly Scott had to steady his father as Virgil stumbled and grabbed the man in an awkward but desperate one-armed hug. Virgil may be shorter than Dad, but his mass, injured or not, was considerable. "Dad, I'm sorry. So sorry."
His father buried his face in Virgil's hair and scrunched his eyes shut, his arms encircling his son as best he could around the shoulder injury.
Scott had to swallow again and a glance in Gordon's direction found blinking eyes glistening, no doubt, as much as his own.
"I just want you to be safe." Dad looked up at Scott, an uncharacteristic desperation on his face.
"We're okay, Dad." The words whispered between his lips. Scott straightened. "We're okay, I promise."
-o-o-o-
Virgil clung to his father for a long moment before pulling himself together and stepping back unsteadily. This, of course, triggered his brothers to once again tell him to go back to bed.
But his father was quiet, those grey eyes not leaving Virgil for a moment. One worn hand still clutched at his good arm, fingers tangling in the flannel.
"You should go to bed, son."
"Dad, I..." But the words of protest weren't there. The expression in his father's eyes was the same reassurance he had given Virgil on the Zero XL.
"Go to bed, son."
"Yes, father." It was formal, but the acceptance of the order felt that way.
"C'mon, Virg." And Scott was leading him away.
His father's eyes tracked him out of the room. "Gordon, can I have a word?"
"Dad?"
"What is this I hear about you dyeing Parker's hair pink?"
"Uh..."
Scott slid the door shut behind them.
"Pink?" Virgil stared at Scott.
Scott snorted as he urged him down the hallway. "Three days ago, while you were in Beijing. In my opinion, he asked for it."
Virgil focussed on keeping himself upright. "Parker? What did he do?"
"Bombed Gordon's date night last week. Claimed he was chaperoning. Penelope, thought it was hilarious. Gordon did not. Hence, pink hair dye. Told him he matched the decor."
Well, that explained a lot.
"He is aware that Parker has a long, long history that resides on various sides of the law."
Scott smirked as they approached the elevator. "I think Gordon is about to learn some valuable life lessons."
Oh shit. Virgil made a mental note to check on his brother, maybe ping Penelope and make sure nothing permanent was lined up. Gordon may be a pain in the ass, but he was his brother and he had gotten comfortable with the pain over the years.
The elevator ride was smooth, but Scott made a point of holding onto Virgil. He couldn't fault his big brother for his concern. After all, there was the incident with the morphine and the sunken couch all those years ago.
Virgil was never going to live that one down.
So, he tolerated the coddling all the way to his rooms. Because it was his rooms, not the infirmary. He was not sick.
That earned him an annoyed grunt.
But it was far more relaxing to be surrounded by his things, in his rooms with his bed...which he sat down on with a relieved groan.
"Now stay there." The glare on his brother's face was more fond than stern and Virgil had to hold back the urge to woof up at him, or take a page out of Gordon's book and imitate Igor, the mad scientist's assistant with a 'Yes, Masssster.'
Instead he just tipped himself over with a sigh, curled up on the bed and closed his eyes.
His brother, ever predictable, pulled up the duvet and literally tucked him in like he had done, oh, so many times before. Virgil murmured thanks, grateful as he always was, for his big, big brother and his caring heart.
-o-o-o-
End Part Eight
TBC