AN: Well, only got one review, and so, mshobgoblin thanks for reviewing :). I'll hold off on the slash, I think it would be better if they would react as brothers anyway. It's like Starsky and Hutch. It's different and nicer to know they're just such close friends they dare to comfort each other with hugs and stuff, instead of immediately being gay. Resent that idea actually :o Never wrote a man/man scene in my life, and I don't think I will. I'll just read slash of Virgil and Scott and keep it at that ;) And why Scott left, weeeelll, might be for different reasons then you think ;)

Drinking a Rum Tropical Orange :P If the story gets wonky, I think you can safely guess what happened ;)

--Fixed--

----------

Juud18

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil Tracy was lost for words.

Though he was probably the most patient man, -beside his brother John-, in the Tracy family, he felt control slipping out of his fingers, anger taking over. He didn't freak out so easy, but like any other respecting man, he was loosing his precious hold on his patience.

The reason? The shared Tracy secretary had screwed up..

Again!!

It was driving the second-eldest Tracy brother up the wall and beyond!

It really wasn't the first time he screwed up, it was like the man couldn't even do the simplest things right. Virgil would've fired him if it wasn't for one little problem.

The secretary had the misfortune to look like the spitting image of the oldest Tracy brother. The secretary had claimed himself a spot in the heart of all the remaining Tracys because of it. He even managed to win over the patriarch of the famed family. It hadn't been easy when the Tracy heir had disappeared and the secretary had showed up. It was because he resembled the older brother so much, that none of the Tracys could bear firing him..

Virgil couldn'tfire him either... If he did, he felt like he was severing the last ties he had with his older brother. The likeness was so great, that Virgil sometimes had to look twice before realizing it wasn't him, but just his secretary. It couldn't be his oldest brother anyway, he was gone.. He'd left them so abruptly there hadn't even been a chance to say goodbye..

Virgil slumped down in the chair behind the Tracy desk and closed his eyes. Rather weary with dealing with Tracy Enterprises and the odds and ends surrounding it, he ran his hand through his fluffy brown hair, sighing deep, and hurtful. His body felt heavy, and he was ever so tired... He still wasn't able to sleep properly since his brother's disappearance.

He fell quiet as he stared at the wall.

He had to bring his brother up again... He just couldn't forget him.. Maybe it was because he had never been able to say goodbye. The Heir's disappearance had been so sudden, he'd been gone two hours before they found out.

Why him anyway? Why not someone else?

The last question made Virgil want to slap himself. Since when had he become so selfish?

But didn't he kind of deserve to be selfish on the other hand? Didn't the whole Tracy family deserve it? They'd lost their mother at young age, and now the Tracy heir was gone too. The eldest had been the second father to them all. Was it so wrong to wish it had been someone else? Even though his brother hadn't even had a say in the matter? Why not someone who deserved it? Someone who did so many crimes he was easy to be missed? Why their oldest brother?

Virgil pushed the chair back so hard as he stood, that it slammed against the white wall behind him, leaving a gray scratch where the top of the backrest had hit.

Oh, damn. Dad's gonna love that... Virgil thought, wincing inwardly as he imagined the older man's tirade.

Pressing down the button on the intercom so hard his index finger went white, the brown haired man said to his secretary:" Thomas, write me off for today. I can't keep my head with it.. I'll be back first thing in the morning."

"Yes sir.." Thomas the bumbling secretary answered back, as soon as Virgil released the intercom button. Grabbing the keys of his dark green 2018 Ford Thunderbird out of the mahogany desk drawer, he took his coat of the coat rack beside the door, and left the Tracy office.

Virgil Tracy had no idea where he wanted to go, but anywhere where he could loose his straying thoughts for a while was good enough for him...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the evening, a lone figure was strolling home from an unplanned visit to the bar. The streetlights illuminated him from time to time, as he stumbled over the pavement to his hotel room. He probably had drunk a whisky too many, but at least his thoughts weren't centered on hurtful things anymore. He was relieved that at least his family wasn't able to see his behaviour. If his father knew, he was probably in for it.. At the moment though, he didn't care. He didn't care about what his father would think, or what his brothers would think... Or what his older brother would think... Especially him...

Virgil Tracy passed another dark alley, and sighed deep. His mind was pleasantly blank, except for a slight case of paranoia. He could've sworn that he saw something move. He was minding the shadows more then he should. Either he was getting paranoid, or someone was following him.

Or that last whisky had been one to many...

Or the last four..

Virgil laughed at his own paranoia episode and stupidly greeted a woman that was eyeing him strangely. She huffed at him as she walked past, and Virgil started laughing harder. Years of IR were making him more weary of his surroundings then necessary.. He was worrying about nothing.

Stumbling into his hotel, he found it to be dark. Even the richly decorated hall ways were dark. And this was supposed to be the best hotel in town? The best money could buy?

Talk about very localized power outage.. Ridiculous... He thought.

"Is it that hard to pay the bills?" He muttered sarcastically, stopping at his door. He stuffed his hand into his coat pocket and grabbed for the room pass underneath the cellphone he kept in there.

"Cheap bastards.." He added, swiping the pass over the little machine on the lock. He had gotten the room at this hotel from father, while he did his month of work at Tracy Enterprises. It was cheaper to rent a hotel room for a month then rent out a small flat that wasn't used half of the time anyway. Even though the Tracys owned Tracy Enterprises, and were supposed to run it, they only spent seven months in a year there in total. They weren't required to be there 24/7 anyway.

Stupid, damn, irritating... Lock! Virgil thought. It was so silent in the hall way, his ears rang. He thought about singing, but he wasn't that far gone yet to allow himself to do that. He laughed at himself. He should've left that last whisky alone.

To Virgil's relief, the silence was suddenly broken. But not by him or the hotel guests..

The soft pronouncing of his name sounded trough the quiet halls, and as said person heard it, he first thought he had imagined it. It was like hearing the siren of an ambulance in the quiet, even though it's not even there.. He didn't know for sure, so kept on swiping the pass over the lock. He kept missing. Since when did that thing move? It was harder to unlock his door than usual. Well, usual as in, not having thrown back half a dozen whisky's before trying.

"Your room is the next door, kid." A familiar voice said to him.

At first, Virgil straightened in shock that he hadn't imagined the voice. Then he wanted to laugh as he realized he'd been messing with the wrong door. No wonder it hadn't opened.. Then something pretty much 'crashed' into place in his intoxicated mind. The voice had sounded familiar...

At least, he thought it sounded familiar..

He spun around so fast his head spun.. It took a minute to clear, and when his vision finally appeared straight again, -as straight as a gay man really, he had so much to drink- he only saw shadows in the dark hotel hall way.. Dark, black shadows, mocking him from every end. Had he finally snapped? Was he that paranoid he was imagining things?

No...

A shadow moved. Cracking of leather sounded, and a particular shadow took on a human shape. Before Virgil knew, it was in front of him, big and dark, two red eyes in the blackness of the hotel hall way.

"You gonna let me in, Virgil?" The person suggested, it's tone so smooth, it was almost like honey.

He knows my name? Virgil thought. He knew he should refuse letting the person in. He didn't know the person, even though the person seemed to know him.

He wanted to protest verbally, but he never got out the words. The feeling to refuse was soon replaced by a strange compulsion to just comply. It seemed as if something or someone was urging him to just follow the suggestion, like that little voice inside your head called your conscience. But it couldn't be that someone was suggesting it to him, right?

Virgil ended up letting the man in anyway. It happened before he could refuse. It was like being hypnotized..

The second eldest Tracy brother heard the door close behind him, but he didn't feel like turning around to see who it was. He was too tired, to frightened, and too drunk to care. The shadow knew his name, and if he had been after his wallet or something, he'd have grabbed it earlier anyway.

"Turn around Virgil.." The voice urged again, the tone slightly pleading now..

That's odd...Virgil thought.. As he fully turned, he felt his heart stop.

He felt numb first, and then dizzy. It had nothing to do with the whisky this time.. He was so shocked it was making him hyperventilate. He heard himself wheeze, and saw the shadow looking at him worriedly. His heart started up again and was speeding up to going miles a minute. He held up a hand to his chest in the ill hope his heart would stop trying to bust his ribs.

The brunet had never really fainted in his life, -only passed out from time to time because of rescue injuries- but as he saw the person before him, he managed to squeeze out one last word, before the graying edges at the corners of his eyes took hold of him. The last thing he saw was the flush red floor rushing up to meet him.

"Virgil!"

-----------------------

Leaving you here :P

Any ideas who it is? And what's with the red eyes huh:o Let the guessing begin :P

I know who and what, but I'm not telling yet ;)

Please, R&R, I'd like to know what you guys think :)

----------

Juud18