"What the hell were you thinking?"
"Scott, it just happened, okay?" John. A grumpy John.
"Grandma is on the war path."
"It's Virgil. She'll take one look at him and go soft."
"That doesn't protect us." Exasperated and tired. "We either wake him up or attempt to lug him inside."
"You want to wake up Virgil?" It was said with the same tone as 'Are you insane?'
"Your choice, Grandma or Virgil, either way we're toast."
Virgil's eyes were closed, but he still managed to roll them. He groaned and realised he was lying on a mixture of hard, cold, warm and soft.
"Virg?"
Another grunt. The trek between bed and coffee was a trial he had to endure every day.
Coffee?
The air was cold, biting even, but there was the faint scent of his addiction.
He opened his eyes.
A large mug of the blessed substance was being held by a hand. The hand may have belonged to Scott, but that barely registered.
"Ah, there you are." His brother smiled down at him. "I know you miss John sometimes, but using him as a pillow?"
Virgil grunted. He was indeed using his brother as a pillow. At some point last night, he must have zonked out and curled up with the only heat source.
His butt was a frozen brick.
Movement proved stiff and he found himself creaking as he tried to sit up. John helped him with a gentle shove.
The hologram was gone, but the sun wasn't yet up. Pre-dawn gave just enough light to outline his eldest brother dressed in his usual blue shirt. The shadows added canyons to his eyes and Virgil doubted the man had slept at all.
The fact John was still sitting exactly where he had been when Virgil fell asleep pretty much proved his space brother hadn't slept either.
They had the excuse that the manor was almost on the direct opposite side of the planet to Tracy Island so night was technically day, but still...
Coffee.
The mug was shoved into his hands without a word and he took it gratefully. Hot liquid poured down his throat and triggered brain function.
The reasons why he was sleeping on a roof in England came to the fore.
His eyes caught Scott's and found a determination that had been muted by distress the night before. His brother was bleeding resolution.
A glance at John and he found a reflection of Scott in turquoise.
A decision had been made.
Virgil straightened, his hands sucking heat from the mug.
"Tell me."
Scott smiled.
-o-o-o-
They left England shortly after breakfast, Thunderbird Two lifting beyond the sound dampening and camouflage provided by the manor security system a split second before Virgil engaged her rear thrusters and tore across the English Channel.
International Rescue had automatic clearance worldwide, each air control she passed pinging automatically until she rose above domestic navigation heights.
His family sat beside him and behind him. Scott, of course, called shotgun, Gordon glaring at him the entire time. John sat behind him alongside the aquanaut. Alan sat even further back and was being lectured by Grandma regarding his manners at the manor over breakfast. The flat expression on Alan's face screamed bored tolerance. Virgil made a mental note to speak to his little brother later regarding the incident of the stolen pancakes.
And everything else.
Brains was down in the module, using the time to run a systems check on the pod assembly machinery, while Kayo had disappeared off to find some privacy. As to what she was doing, Virgil didn't have a clue and wasn't sure he wanted to know.
As to what he and his brothers were doing, he knew about just as much. John had done something overnight, Virgil was sure of it, but his brother refused to admit to anything. It was a worry and Virgil had every intention of interrogating his brother further.
But Scott was distracting him. His eldest brother had obviously decided on something, but had yet to say anything.
Conversation was minimal the entire trip back to the Island.
Upon landing, they all went their different ways. John immediately headed up to Five, Virgil barely able to give him a brief hug goodbye. Gordon claimed he was going to work on Four, but disappeared into his office, a place he usually had to be locked in when work was waiting to be done. The engineer almost followed him, but the glare Gordon sent his way as he took the first step was a clear indicator that he needed time to himself.
Virgil sighed.
Grandma took Alan under her wing and dragged him into the kitchen, possibly a fate worse than death. Virgil would have attempted a rescue, but Scott was acting weird and the alarm bells were deafening.
His eldest brother was filing a flight plan for Tracy Two with Aotearoa Air Control.
"Where are you going?"
"To see Jack."
"Why?"
Scott looked at him. "Why do you think?"
Virgil shifted where he stood. "I might know if you told me." It was unnerving not to know what the hell was going on.
The two of them usually shared everything IR related. Scott was the Commander, but Virgil was his second. That was the way it worked.
The expression his brother shot his way was considering, as if he was unsure Virgil was up to it.
Now that just pissed him off.
"What?!"
"That bruise is purpling quite dramatically."
What the hell? "What aren't you telling me, Scott?"
Thinned lips. "Do you trust me?"
"Of course."
"Then trust me on this."
Virgil stared at his brother. What was he hiding? What wasn't he telling him?
But Scott was right. Virgil trusted his brother more than anyone on this planet.
"You want to come with?"
Blink. Non-sequitur. "You want me to come with you to see Jack?"
"Sure."
All ready to muscle his way into the meeting unwanted, Virgil mentally stumbled.
His brother's blue eyes sparkled.
Virgil felt like kicking him in the shins. What the hell was he playing at?
"See you in the hangar in ten." Scott smirked and, grabbing his tablet off their father's desk, headed out of the room.
-o-o-o-