Decisions

Disclaimer: please see Chapter 1.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. Big thanks to my beta once again. Sam you're the best.

Chapter 13: Forgiveness?

"Hi, this is Kate Langdon, sorry I'm not here to take your call but please leave a message and I will get back to you." This was becoming a familiar message to Scott now. He had been trying for over two weeks to get hold of Kate but she had not returned any of his calls. Her landline had been disconnected for most of that time but he assumed that was down to the reporters who had been harassing her, wanting stories about him. He sighed but didn't leave a message. Standing up, he made his way back to the villa.

Virgil, who had been painting nearby, watched his brother walk past. He could see that Kate's avoidance of him was really starting to get to Scott. He could understand her reasons though as his brother had in effect cheated on her but a part of him still hoped they would work things out. Looking at the canvas before him, he realized he had painted Scott into it. He thought about covering over him, knowing Scott wouldn't want to be reminded of this but found he was unwilling to do so. The saddened image of his brother sat on the sand just fit with the melancholy picture he'd created. He toyed with the idea of sending it to Kate to show her how much Scott was suffering. It was the brief vision of her destroying it that made him realize maybe that wasn't such a good idea. He wasn't sure what he would do with it but knew he wouldn't be getting rid of it.

His watch bleeped and he grinned as the image of his other older brother appeared, "Hey, John, everything okay up there?"

"Yep, how is it down there?"

"Quiet at the moment," replied Virgil. The last few days had been full of rescues so they were all tired and relieved of the break.

John nodded, "How's Scott?"

Virgil sighed, "Pretending that it doesn't matter she won't call him back."

"Still nothing then?" questioned the astronaut. He knew his brother had called Kate more than once, desperate to show the young woman he truly cared.

"Nope, I'm not so sure she's going to forgive him for this," admitted Virgil, shaking his head.

"If you were in her place, would you?" questioned John. He wasn't sure if he could forgive someone that did that to him.

"I did," he muttered, staring out across the island.

John couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice as he replied, "Really?"

Virgil nodded, "Do you remember Lexie?"

John nodded. Virgil had met Lexie when he was at Denver. The two had dated for a long time and John had expected them to end up married. Then Lexie was offered her dream job in Europe. John knew they had tried to make a long distance relationship work but in the end it was too hard.

"She and I had a massive row one night over something so stupid, I don't even remember. She stormed out and after getting drunk ended up kissing someone else," he explained.

"And you forgave her?" questioned John. He hadn't known about this. He had always thought Virgil and Lexie were so right for each other. In fact, he had always been a bit jealous of the relationship they shared.

"Yes, because I loved her and I was an utter jerk to her that night. I couldn't really blame her for it," he replied, sighing as he remembered how close they had become after that. He had honestly thought she was the one but he couldn't stand in the way of her fulfilling her life-long ambition.

"I'm sorry it never worked out, bro. Maybe Kate will forgive Scott like you did Lex," said John.

"Maybe but there's one big difference, I loved Lexie."

John nodded slightly, "Scott loves her though doesn't he?" Virgil nodded his head. "I think he may still win her back yet. After all that big brother of ours doesn't give up easy and she might not love him yet but she does care. I wouldn't write her off just yet."

"You could be right there. After all not many can resist Scott's charm," replied Virgil, remembering how easily Scott had gotten girls when they were younger.

"Nope, they can't and he has the personality to go with unlike a certain fish we both know," laughed John and Virgil couldn't help but join in.

Scott stood at Mobile Control watching his brothers' work. They were at an office block in the North of England that had been rocked by a large explosion earlier on. Gordon was in the Firefly putting out the fire whilst Virgil and Alan were in the building rescuing those that had been trapped. So far there was no evidence as to what caused the explosion but it didn't look like foul play.

As Scott turned his attention back to the console before him, a young woman ran over.

"Please, you have to help. We have someone missing," she panted.

"Are you sure?" asked Scott, having been told earlier a head count was done and bar the three people Virgil and Alan were now rescuing everyone was accounted for.

"Yes, Lilly is nowhere to be found. She was going to the main storage shed behind the building but hasn't been seen since. She could be hurt or worse," explained the young woman.

"I will check it out, Ma'am, please don't panic," he said, reassuringly.

He then made contact with John up on Thunderbird Five. "John, we got a missing person in one of the rear buildings. I'm going to see if I can find her."

"FAB, Scott, I'll let Base know," replied John, adding, "Be careful."

"I will," replied Scott, signing off. He closed down Mobile Control locking it tight so no one could use it then made his way to the rear of the building. This part seemed to be relatively undamaged and he could make his way in with little difficulty. The storage shed was made up of three rooms and they all appeared empty but as Scott turned to leave the final room, he noticed a door to the back.

He pushed open the door to find a young woman lying on the floor. She had a filing cabinet lying over her and there was no sign of movement. Scott quickly pulled the filing cabinet up and was relieved to realize it was virtually empty so would have done minimal damage to her.

Scott knelt down to check her pulse and was relieved to feel a strong one. There was something familiar about the young woman but he didn't know what. As he brushed the jet black hair off her face to check for injury, he was confronted with a familiar face. "Kate!" he gasped. Her eyes fluttered at his shout. She looked different with the darker hair but he still knew it was her. Scott gently turned her head to face him and noticed a deep laceration to her temple. Her eyes flickered again at his touch and he hoped she was about to wake up.

"Come on, Kate, open those green eyes for me," he said as they flickered once more.

Finally, she managed to open them fully and stared at him complete shock, "Scott?"

"Yes, it's me," he replied, smiling at her, his hand still resting on her cheek.

"What happened?" she asked, her eyes closing again.

"Hey, keep those eyes open. There was an explosion in the main building," explained Scott.

Kate's eyes opened again, "Is everyone okay?"

"A few serious injuries but no one died. How do you feel?"

"My head hurts so badly, I can't really see beyond that at the moment," she replied, her eyes closing again.

"Hey, you gotta keep them open for me," he said, rubbing her cheek in an effort to get her to open her eyes again. "Why don't you tell me who Lilly is?"

Kate's eyes flew open at that and she frowned slightly. "It's my middle name. When the press wouldn't leave me alone, I fled up here to some friends. I dyed and straightened my hair then using my middle name got a job here," she explained.

"I'm sorry they were able to get to you," replied Scott, guiltily.

"It's not your fault, Scott. You didn't ask them to follow you," she said and smiled at him for the first time.

"No, Emma did," muttered Scott, standing up. It was time to get them out of here.

"Nice," replied Kate but the hostility was back in her voice.

Scott tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. It obviously had an automatic locking system on it. "Is there a key?" he asked, turning back to Kate.

The young woman pointed at the table near the door, "It's a card one so I'm not sure if it will still work."

Scott didn't think it would either but knew it was worth a try and as he thought it wouldn't open. "Is there a manual override for the door?"

"Yeah, in the security office in the main building," she replied, forcing her eyes to open again.

"Which is on fire. Great!" he muttered and began looking for something to break down the door. He raised his arm to call John and inform him of the situation when a loud rumbling began. Looking up, Scott knew instinctively what that noise meant and they were in big trouble.

"Scott," began Kate. The fear was evident in her green eyes and Scott could tell she had figured what the noise meant too.

As the rumbling grew louder, Scott knew there was only one thing he could do. He didn't hold out much hope that it would work but he had to try. Racing to where Kate lay, he threw himself over her, desperate to protect as much of her as he could.

Virgil and Alan raced out of the building just as the left side of it collapsed to the ground. The right side was still standing but it was evident that it would come down eventually, too.

"That was close," said Alan, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Too close," muttered Virgil as Gordon came over to them.

"Was everyone clear?" he asked, noticing that his younger brother looked rather pale.

"No," replied Gordon, his eyes drifting to the rubble. He then turned back to his brothers. "Scott had gone into the buildings at the back to rescue someone who was trapped and he never came out," he explained.

Virgil and Alan both stared at the rubble before them in shock. "Where exactly was he?" asked Virgil. If Scott had been to the right side of the building they may still be alive.

"I don't know," replied Gordon. "I've tried contacting his watch but am getting no reply," he added, feeling more worried.

Virgil could see that in his brother's eyes and squeezed his shoulder, "It's probably just been damaged." Gordon gave a slight nod.

"I think I can help you with that," said a young woman, walking over with some blueprints in her hand. "Lilly was in the secure room at the back of the storage shed," she began and located the area on the paper.

Virgil studied the plan then the scene before him. He could roughly work out where the room would have been and could see it was now well buried under the rubble.

"There's something else I need to tell you. Lilly was probably in the safest place. That room contains all our client files and a lot of financial information. In the wrong hands that information could be worth millions so the room is more secure than it appears. The walls, ceiling and door have all been reinforced to withstand any attempt to break in, fire and explosions," she explained.

"Can it withstand a building falling on it?" questioned Gordon.

"I don't know but if there is any chance of them being alive then they're in the right place. Of course rescuing them could be difficult," she replied.

"Could we use the Mole to tunnel under?" asked Alan.

"Possibly though it will depend on the damage already done to the structure," replied Virgil, his eyes not looking up from the plans before him.

"I'll use the hand held scanner and see if I can assess the structure with it," said Gordon, needing to do something.

Virgil nodded and then folded up the plans, "Alan, you go with him. I'm going to call John and Base, let them know what's going on. Be careful, we don't know how stable the rest of the building is yet."

"FAB," they chorused and ran off.

Virgil began the walk back to Two and a job he was dreading. He prayed as he walked that his brother was still alive and that his radio silence was due to a broken watch and nothing more.

As awareness returned to Scott, he cautiously opened his eyes, wondering what sight was going to greet him. He soon realized he was still in the small storage room and still alive. His eyes flew down to Kate who lay beneath him. Her eyes were closed but he could see her chest rising up so knew she was still breathing. Moving gently off her, he began to study his surroundings. Amazingly, the roof had for the most part held and they had been spared being crushed. He could see sections of it had come down narrowly missing them but the main structure was clearly more solid than it had appeared. A groan drew his attention back to Kate. "Hey there," he said as her eyes flickered open.

"How in the hell are we still alive?" she asked, staring groggily around her.

"I guess your boss decided that the information in here needed some serious protection so he had it built stronger," replied Scott, moving to sit back down beside her.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, noticing some debris lying around them.

"Something caught me on the back of the head but nothing major. What about you?"

"My chest is hurting and my head is pounding. I think I might have cracked a couple of ribs. I did it before and the pain is the same," she replied.

"Is it making it hard to breathe?" he asked, concerned he had injured her.

Kate shook her head gently, "Nope and it wasn't your fault either. Had the pain earlier but the headache was masking most of it," she replied, trying to sit up.

"What are you doing?"

"Sitting up, this floor is not comfortable," she replied and Scott couldn't help but grin at her. He then helped her to sit up but made sure she could rest against the wall. "Thank you," she said, giving him a weak smile.

Scott then turned his attention to his watch. He wanted to see if he could contact John and let them know he was okay. He swore as he saw the sight of his watch. It appeared badly damaged and pressing the buttons he could tell it was no longer working.

"Are we going to die here?" asked Kate, her voice soft but full of fear.

"No, we're not. My brothers will find us."

"Are you sure? Do they even know where we are? How strong is that roof? Can it really take the weight sitting on it?" Each question tumbled so quickly out of her mouth that Scott could only just keep up.

"Yes, I'm sure and yes, they know where we are. My brothers will find us," he said, the determination clear in his voice.

"You have so much faith in them, don't you?"

Scott nodded, "Yes, and you need to have faith in them, too. I know I haven't given you much reason to trust me but you need to trust them. They will save us."

Taking a deep breath, Kate looked up into his eyes, "Okay." It was then she noticed just how pale Scott was looking. "Are you sure you're okay? You don't look it."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. He didn't want to admit to her that in actuality he felt really lightheaded and had a feeling he was more seriously injured than he thought.

Kate studied Scott closely, looking for any sign he might be injured. As her eyes moved down his body, they stopped just above his hip at a dark red stain forming on his uniform. Moving closer, she could see it had been torn and there was a deep wound below it. "You're hurt," she said, her eyes coming back up to his face.

Scott looked down and now understood why he felt so lightheaded, he was losing blood. "It's nothing a few stitches won't fix."

Kate rolled her eyes at him, "Oh, come on, Scott. We both know that's not true. You could bleed to death long before your brothers find us." She looked around for something to stem the bleeding but knew there was no first aid kit in here. Her eyes once more landed on Scott and the sash around him.

Realizing what she was looking at, he removed his sash and handed it to her, "I'll be fine, Kate," he said, trying to reassure her.

Kate just glared at him as she tied the sash tightly over the deep wound. Hopefully it would stem the bleeding enough for his brothers to find them but judging by how pale Scott looked Kate wasn't so sure.

Gordon and Alan slowly made their way back through the rubble. The storage building was still standing but it was weakening under the weight of the larger building. If the rest of the main block came down, it would probably collapse under the extra weight.

"Do you think Scott is still alive?" asked Alan. They had tried to search for life signs but were unable to find any.

"Yes, I do. We just couldn't pick up any trace of them because of all the reinforcement on that building. Whoever made it did a good job," replied Gordon.

"I hope you're right," muttered Alan.

"Hey, it would take more than a fallen down building to get our big brother. We know it's still standing and has suffered little structural damage. I'm not saying he won't be injured but I believe he is still alive," said Gordon. He didn't really know how or why but he did.

Alan nodded and gave a faint smile, "Time to find Virgil and see what he has come up with."

Gordon nodded and guessed that by now Virgil would have a plan to rescue them. He really admired how easily Virgil took control of the situation. He had done the same when Scott was abducted.

Scott could tell that he was losing the battle with consciousness and something told him the battle with his life, too, but there was something he needed to say first though. He leant back against the wall behind him, "Kate, I have to tell you something," he said, softly.

"It's okay, Scott. You have plenty of time to tell me," she said, seeing that his sash was now saturated with blood and he was getting worse by the second.

"I'm not so sure," he replied, his eyes closing.

"Hey, open those eyes for me. You wouldn't let me do it and I'm not gonna let you," she said, bringing her hand up to his cheek.

Scott forced his eyes open and she smiled at him. "I'm sorry, Kate," he said, trying once again to tell her how he felt.

"You don't need to say any of that, when we get out of here we can talk properly."

Scott's eyes suddenly met hers, "Do you mean that?" he asked wondering if she was just saying that because he was dying.

"Yes, I do. I care about you, Scott, I always have. I tried to forget you and ignore every call but you were still there in my mind. I couldn't let you go, even moving across the country didn't help," she replied, bringing her other hand up to the other side of his face.

Scott's eyes locked with hers for a moment and then they closed again. He fought them back open but it took him longer this time. Kate could see his breathing was slowing.

"I forgive you, Scott," she said and smiled at him.

Scott tried desperately to reply but found he couldn't. His eyes were shutting and he couldn't stop it. There was a blackness flooding his head and he was no longer able to hold it back. His eyes closed and his head tipped to the side.

"Scott!" called Kate, gently pulling his head up right but there was no reaction. She gently moved him so that he was lying on the ground and then realized his chest was no longer moving.

"Oh, you can't do this to me!" she cried, checking his pulse and not feeling one. "Come on Scott, you can't die on me," she begged as she began pumping on his chest. Her broken ribs began to protest to the violent action and she wasn't sure how long she could keep this up for. Caught up in trying to save Scott, Kate didn't hear the ominous rumbling or the large crack above her widening.