The bottle fell from his hand. He watched it roll across the carpet with a detached interest as it joined its brothers with a clink.

A twist of his neck to see where he could get the next bottle from.

The shock of seeing John standing there jolted Scott. He hadn't even heard him come in. But once more the detachment washed over him and he curled into himself.

He watched as John set about clearing up the bottles, listened as coffee was put on and soon the apartment was full of the smell of bacon. It turned his stomach – he wasn't sure the last time he'd eaten anything that wasn't whisky…

Scott was still in the same position when John returned. He put the coffee and sandwiches on the side table before kneeling in front of his brother.

They stared at each other. John lent forward, pulled Scott towards him and pressed their foreheads together. He closed his eyes as Scott let out a small sob but he didn't let go, squeezing Scott's neck.

The rescue had been a disaster from start to finish. And Scott had hated it. Everything had been wrong, every detail given was out of date, was wrong. And then he'd made a call and it had resulted in both Alan and Gordon being buried, and it had taken far more out of Scott when he'd found Alan unconscious and not breathing.

Scott had stayed firm until they had got the two to hospital, but as Alan stayed unconscious and results had not been favourable, he had run.

'Please, just leave me! It's not worth the risk, I'm not worth –'

'You should know by now, I'm always coming back for you.'

The sob that erupted had John pulling Scott off the sofa and holding him tight. How his brother always took the blame on himself for every hurt they suffered and had stayed sane this long had been a constant source of concern, and he had not been surprised when Scott had finally snapped under the strain of possibly losing Alan.

It had taken EOS, Penny and Kayo weeks to find him, Scott knew how to become invisible when he needed to, but they had eventually found him.

'Please, John. Please. Leave me alone. I – I'm not safe to be around.'

'Bulls***, Scott. You've protected me all my life, you've never ever been a danger and you never will be.'

'But – Alan – '

'Alan will be fine. He woke up the day after you left and the first thing he did was ask for you.'

'I – I didn't kill him?'

'Not even close, Scott. Not even close.'

John held his brother close as Scott finally collapsed.

'You idiot, don't ever ask me to leave you again. I'll always come for you. Always.'

'As will we all.'

Scott looked up from John's shoulder to see Virgil and Gordon entering the room, Virgil pushing Alan in a hoverchair. Behind them stood Kayo, Penny, Parker and Grandma.

They all surrounded Scott and John and held on tight.