It took an hour for everybody to come together. Most of that time was spent waiting for Gordon to wake up. Alan had been all for waking him up in the gentle brotherly way by of dumping water on him, however he was stopped by both Grandma and Scott.
Grandma because it would drench the mattress and Scott because he was horrified by how pale Gordon was, even in sleep. He knew Gordon was as tough as the rest of them, but there were times when all of them were jolted into remembering that terrible time when they thought they would lose him.
This was one of those times. Gordon, however, had another opinion.
"Scott! I'm fine. Back off. I'm tired, that's all."
"You were the first to go to sleep and the last to wake up. Are you sure you're OK? Do you want more breakfast?"
"I'm fine. I'd be finer if you stopped Mother-Henning me. I'm so fine that if you don't knock it off right now I'll put you on your ass to show you just how fine I am."
"He could, you know," Kayo mentioned offhandedly, settling herself on a couch next to Virgil who smirked.
"I definitely want to see that."
"Why not experience it for yourself?"
"Because I highly doubt Gordon could put me on my ass."
"Keep thinking that," said Kayo before turning her attention to Scott.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, John," Scott was saying. "But this is going to build on what we spoke on briefly earlier."
"Did you get any sleep at all, Scott?" asked Virgil.
"Yeah, I did. Quite a bit actually. I just woke up before the rest of you. Or rather, I was woken." He looked at John who grinned back.
"Not my fault I had a brilliant idea that I just had to share."
"E-mail, John. You don't need to wake me up to share. Or you have four other brothers you can share with."
"We can discuss that. You're currently the only one I can wake up. Remember."
"Which brings me to what we're here for. I've already roughed something out with Virgil last night and John earlier this morning. This is my idea…"
… three hours later….
"Enough," Virgil said firmly. "We've gone over and over this and it all comes down to the same thing." He picked up the yellow pad he had been scribbling on. "We have to all take more responsibility in the field. Not wait for somebody to tell us what to do – to make the decision ourselves. And to all watch out for each other. John's got the information if we only ask him for it, and Scott'll always be there on the ground with us. We don't need to change what works – only make it better."
"Thanks, Virge. Are we all agreed?" Scott looked around at his brothers who nodded agreement. "Good."