John grinned as the sunlight hit his face, warming him to the core. It had been a hard few months for the Tracy family, ever since Gordon's hydrofoil accident which had left him in the hospital for four months and with physical therapy to follow on. The Tracy family physician had taken up residence on the island in order to help…however, they had ran into a problem…Gordon refused to do aquatic physical therapy.
Clutching his current book to his chest (The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory), John began to make his way down to the pool only to stop in his tracks. Gordon was sat on the edge of the pool, his feet lightly swaying to and fro under the cool, clean water, a frown on his face.
"Where's Doctor Sampson?" Gordon flinched at the sound of his brother's voice, his muscles tensing as pain rushed through them. John ran over in concern, placing his book down to rub a soothing hand over Gordon's back in an attempt to help the muscles relax.
"Sorry…" Gordon chuckled to himself, as he slowly straightened up,
"No worries…why aren't you with Dad and the terrible trio?" John sat beside his brother,
"I always thought you, Scott and Alan were the terrible trio. Besides, they're playing football on the beach…running around, getting tackled so hard that bruises form all over your skin…" John pursed his lips as if in thought, "….no thanks, the idea doesn't really appeal"
Gordon laughed, everyone knew that John preferred a good book rather than running about and getting sweaty for no apparent reason. John smiled gently as he began to read, simply leaving Gordon to his thoughts for a few minutes.
After five minutes of sitting in silence, feeling the sun beating down on them, John turned to Gordon,
"So…is there any reason why you're sitting here instead of sitting in the shallow end for a bit. We all heard the doctor, you need to start aquatic therapy soon…"
"….Sampson's not here…I'm waiting"
"You and I both know that that has never stopped you before…what's wrong?"
"…I'm scared Johnny" John frowned at the tremble in Gordon's voice, "…if I sit in the water instead of just dipping my feet, all I see is the darkness rushing up to meet me, the water filling my lungs and the searing…pain…in….my back!" Gordon gasped as an anxiety attack slowly began to take hold, his breaths coming in short bursts as his vision narrowed.
"Gordon! GORDON!" yelled John as he held onto his brother, gently encouraging him to take deep breaths. Slowly Gordon began breathe normally, his hands gripping onto John's arms,
"Sorry…" he gasped. John shook his head,
"It wasn't your fault…." John gently reassured, "…I should have been more considerate about everything….but you know you need to do this!" Gordon glanced at the water and then back at his brother,
"What has your therapist said?" asked John, noticing his brother's hesitance. Gordon scoffed,
"He suggested behavioural therapy, or systematic desensitization in order to get over the fear…"
"So…why don't you?"
"Do you know how long that takes?!"
"Depends on how many sessions you have…and then how often you have them a week. Four to six for a mild phobia and-"
"Alright! Alright! I get it!" John chuckled at Gordon's outburst,
"So what's stopping you?"
"It'll be another few weeks out of commission, on top of the weeks I have to spend on physical therapy! I'll go mad!"
"So, you confront your fear straight on…" Gordon glanced at the water, staring at it for a while before nodding,
"Alright…" he whispered. John nodded as he slowly began to remove his top and jeans until he was only in his boxer shorts. As he slowly made his way into the pool, John kept a careful eye on Gordon in case he started to panic again. When the water reached his chest, he smiled reassuredly at Gordon,
"Come on…" he beckoned, "…I'll be here every step of the way" It took a few minutes, but eventually, Gordon began to make his way into the water. Despite the paleness of his face and the shaking knees, John was eventually able to grasp into Gordon's hands and steady them,
"Alright…we'll take this one step at a time"
…..Cut to Years Later…..
Gordon gasped as he came up for air, the sun glistening off his wet skin. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a lone figure sitting on one of the desk-chairs reading a book.
"John!" he exclaimed in joy as he lifted himself up out of the pool, "I didn't think you were coming back for another few days yet!" John smiled,
"I wanted to surprise you, Virgil and Dad. Alan took over this morning and Scott piloted us back…whilst lecturing me on not eating enough and therefore being too skinny…smother hen" John gestured at the pool with his head,
"I see you've beaten your record again" Gordon grinned,
"If it hadn't have been for you, I never would have made it this far…I would still be sitting on the edge of the pool….remind me to make it up to you someday…"
"I'll hold you to that…"