After Mrs. Tracy left to lay down and Parker was dismissed, Penelope convinced Gordon to go for a walk with her.
They padded down the beach barefoot, the soft, warm sands seeping between her toes, a deep orange under the setting sun while the stretched and elongated shadows made the young Tracy look older, hardened—at least, she hoped it was the shadows that did that.
They stopped after a while and she waited, watching as the sun finally left and gave way to the night. At first she wasn't even sure he had spoken, he was so quiet; then he said it again, looking her in the eyes.
'They're not right Penny.' He sighed, a heavy weight almost visibly crushing him and then he spilt it, all his worries and fears. John was outright scaring him, and Alan had vanished, and it seemed that Scott and Virgil had left part of their very being with that engine, and he was here and alone and he had no idea what to do. What was he supposed to do, this wasn't his area.
He looked at her, pleading, but she had nothing. So she did all she could think to do and slipped her arms about his neck and held him as he clung to her, burying his head in the crook of her neck and cried.