*surfaces from pile of bagels*

Okay, okay - I'm done with the cliffhangers!

So, poor Scott is still in a really bad way. Luckily, he's got Virgil with him, so you know everything's going to be all right.

I've noticed, too, that Virgil tends to use the same phrase when he's dealing with traumatized people at rescues. I can't think of a better time for him to use it than here.

I hope you agree. Thanks again, for all your comments and encouragement, and enjoy this latest (cliffhanger-free!) chapter :o)

Crash 'n' Burn

Chapter Three - I've Got You

Virgil studied the kit he'd brought with him with a baleful glare. Yeah, some use it would be to him now. Those blankets would bring his brother as much comfort as slapping a Band-Aid on a badly gashed knee.

Then again, he'd had no reason to plan for this either. The situation that he now found himself in. Stuck on Thunderbird One's conveyor pad with a brother who was so frozen by fear that he couldn't bring himself to step onto it.

Still, it was no use dwelling on that now. Nor did he want to think too much about what was happening. His fearless brother, whose courage held no bounds - unable to take two simple steps to safety.

He needed another option. Luckily, that alternative was already within reach. Just over his brother's shoulder.

"Okay, Scott... I'm just gonna move you back inside, okay? So I can check you out," he said at last, forcing a reassuring smile back to his face as Scott stared back at him in a flash of unnatural panic. "It's okay, Scott. I'll be right back with you... through her passenger hatch, okay? Just down there."

Too late, he realized that making Scott look down from such a height hadn't been the best idea. Gently lifting his head up again, he looked directly into his brother's eyes, hating the fear and confusion within them. It took real effort now, for him to keep his voice calm and level enough for Scott to trust it.

"Scott, I need to check you out, but I can't do it out here. Just sit tight, I'll be right with you. Okay?"

For what felt like hours, Scott continued to stare blankly back at him. Then, at last, he nodded.

"'kay."

Forcing another smile onto his face, Virgil added a gentle hug to extend its encouraging comfort - pressing the controls on Scott's armband that lifted his seat back into the cockpit behind him. And even when the conveyor started to retract away from him, Virgil kept his eyes locked on his brother's. Kept this vital contact between them, until the moment when he had no choice but to break it.

Even then, he didn't waste any time, or effort, in getting back to his brother as quickly as humanly possible. Denied the use of Brains' mechanical genius, he'd have to do it the old fashioned way - sliding down the stair rail when he could, and taking the steps three at a time when he couldn't.

By the time he got through the passenger hatch and back up to the cockpit, his legs felt like jelly. The sight that met his eyes when he got there was as reassuring as it was a cause for new concern.

Scott had moved. He was out of his seat now. Sitting at its base, his arms looped round his knees. Clearly watching for him to arrive, he greeted his brother with the bravest attempt at a smile.

But his eyes, as ever, gave him away. Stricken with returning memory. Bright with imminent tears.

"Yeah, you were right, Virg. Yeah, it sure has been one hell of a day," he said at last, the emotions that cracked through his voice turning to chasms as they inevitably overwhelmed him.

"Johnny..."

"...he's fine, Scott. It's okay, he's fine. Everything's okay now, it's over," Virgil assured him, wrapping his brother into a hug that instantly tightened as he felt that brother fall apart in his arms.

"Easy, Scott, it's gonna be okay now. John's fine, he's safe. It's okay now, Scott, it's over."

He'd put everything he had into those words. Said everything he possibly could to comfort him. Everything to try and convince his traumatized brother that this worst of nightmares was over. But it hadn't been enough. He knew it, saw it, as soon as Scott's head finally lifted from his shoulder.

The bright blue eyes held just shadows now. The eternal horror of what he'd been forced to do.

'John, if this thing can't be stopped, you know what has to be done.'

And when his brother finally spoke, Virgil knew the nightmare wasn't over yet. Nowhere near.

"I wish to God you were right on that too, Virg, but... no. No, it isn't over. Not for me."

He was trembling now. Tremors of emotions that swept his defences aside as if they were paper. Shock, Virgil realized, his own face paling as that of his brother lost what little colour it had.

'Oh, damn it, he's going into shock.'

Glancing down at the kit he'd somehow remembered to bring with him, he quickly opened it. Wrapped a blanket around Scott's shoulders, then another as his brother still shook against him. When that wasn't enough either, he tugged off his shirt, and tucked it tightly around Scott's body - easing him away from the chair base he'd been leaning against into a warmer, greater comfort.

Cradling him against his chest, Virgil wrapped his arms around him. Held him as tightly as he dared. Closed his eyes against their own helpless tears, as his brother's kept coming in an unstoppable tide.

Whispered them again and again. Words of comfort that, he knew, could just never be enough.

"Easy, Scooter, it's okay, I've got you... I've got you... I've got you..."