Author's note:

This little tale is inspired by a one-shot called Memory by Lilidelafield, which itself was based on one of the chapters from her Campfire Confessions stories where Virgil tells Alan about some of the events that made him into the man he finally grew up to be. Thanks to Lilidelafield for allowing me to play for a while in her little world here. This story is actually pure FLUFF! I hope you enjoy. It is marked as complete, but if there is the request and the inspiration, I might continue this further...

Grandma was crying.

Grandma never cried. Scott had never known her to cry. She was strong and vital and supportive and funny and cheerful…she was grandma! And grandmas never cried in Scott's experience. Grandma had always been there for her family, with a seemingly endless supply of tissues for mopping up everything from tears to spilt coffee or cleaning up muddy knees.

But she never cried.

At mom's funeral a few months ago, grandma had been there, strong for all of her family. She had shown up with red eyes, so Scott guessed she had been crying, but she did not cry in front of her grandsons. She comforted them, hugged them and helped them to deal with the hardest day of their young lives. But now it was their turn.

Jeff Tracy's eyes were red-rimmed, but he was clearly trying to keep it together for his mother's sake. He was hugging her closely, as they watched the coffin of her recently departed husband, grandpa Grant Tracy, being lowered into the grave.

And she cried. They all cried. All except for one.

Scott considered his Six-and-a-half-year-old brother Virgil. Whilst John and Gordon were folded in each other's arms, tears on their cheeks, Virgil was standing slightly apart, watching everything with an expression of frightened betrayal.

After being found and rescued from the wreck, Virgil had screamed and wailed for hours until it seemed as if he had simply burned himself out. As though he had no more tears left in him to shed.

He had been taken to the hospital to check him over for injuries, but he was found to be physically fine, save for a few spectacular bruises. Emotionally though, the doctors had told Jeff Tracy that his middle son was in severe shock and trauma. He had been warned that it might take the little boy a while to recover from his ordeal…stuck in the upside-down truck for more than an hour with his dead grandpa, waiting to be found and rescued.

Scott could not imagine how awful that must have been, and so soon after losing mom. No wonder Virgie was looking betrayed.

Virgil hadn't uttered a single word yet. It had been almost two weeks since the accident, and not a single word had passed the little boy's lips. For the first week, it had been all his family could do to get him to acknowledge any of them…until they tried to leave him alone.

Scott recalled with a gulp the first time his little brother had been put to bed. Being two years younger than John, Virgil went to bed thirty minutes before his blond older brother. But as soon as dad had whispered goodnight, and closed the door, Virgil's panicked screaming had brought the entire house running.

Even though the poor kid was still too traumatized to speak, it was abundantly clear what the problem was. He was terrified of being left alone. His brothers had found that hard to understand, but Jeff had taken Gordon on his knee, and with his arms around Scott and John, he had explained that Virgil had been the last one to be with mom and John before the avalanche had swept her and John away; then mom had never come back again, and John had been in hospital for a month before he came home. Now Virgil had lost grandpa. He was snoozing in the truck one moment with grandpa chatting away beside him. When he woke up, the truck was upside down and gramps had died. He was scared that if he let any of his family out of his sight even for a second, he would never see them again.

Scott and John ached to help their little brother, but as dad had explained to them, all they could really do right now was keep showing Virgil that they still loved him and they would always be there.

Gordon did not understand at all of course, but he at least grasped that his big brother `Virgie' was very scared and unhappy, and needed a lot of love.

Of course, for four year old Gordon, showing love to a brother involved giving them lots of hugs, and sharing his huge collection of plushies. The very first smile any of them saw on Virgil's face was the morning about seven months later when John awakened in the room he and Virgil shared, and had to stuff his fist in his mouth to stifle his laughter. Virgil, although still in his bed, could hardly be seen. Little Gordon had crept into their room at some point in the night and seemingly heaped his entire collection of plushies all over Virgil's bed. Every inch of the bed and its sleeping occupant were completely covered. Virgil's face was the only part of him that could be seen through the mountain of soft toys, framed by Gordon's favourite stuffed squid Henry.

Gordon himself, dressed in his orange and yellow octopus onesie was curled up beside Virgil's feet, his head resting on a worn-looking stuffed panda.

John grabbed his phone and quickly snapped a picture, then smiled as Virgil opened an eye and found himself staring straight into the goggle-eyes of Gordon's plush squid. The little boy sat up slowly, staring at the frankly amazing sight of his bed, piled high with soft toys, and then at the curled up octopus clad figure at the end. Virgil's eyes opened wider, and a slight smile escaped before he was suddenly scrambling across the toys to envelop the little humanoid octopus in a tight hug.

Still asleep, five year old Gordon woke up suddenly, and found his beloved older brother clutching him tightly, a crooked smile on his face, his eyes shining. Gordon worked his arms free and returned the hug. He had learned better than to expect Virgil to be able to say anything aloud to him yet, but with Virgil actions had always been more important anyway. Even before grandpa…

"I love you, Virgie." He whispered in his big brother's ear. "I want you to be happy again. My plushies make me happy so they can live with you until you feel better."

Virgil replied by hugging Gordon closer.