Tropetember Day 18. Soulmates. With much thanks to MariaSahdow for her help in this one.
Warnings: CSA, Removed from family, Allegations of abuse (unfounded)
Jeff, Lucy, Ruth and Grant took these all in their stride now. It appeared their boys were going to be unique in the world, and they only hoped to be around to see what they would accomplish.
A year after Virgil joined them, that Christmas Scott's mark began to change again.
With no additions to their family the four adult Tracys wondered at the significance, but they were at a loss. None of their friends had had any children, there were no new kids in the school, there was nothing.
They watched as the patch directly down from the top, the One, began to form into a rose of all things. As time passed the rose coloured into the palest of pinks with darker pink edges. It was no ordinary rose, however. Lucy recognised it immediately. It was a stylised Tudor rose. It didn't clear up who the person was going to be – if anything it made them more curious. Apart from Lucy's parents they didn't know anyone English.
The puzzle remained and life moved on.
Scott went to school.
Scott's school was difficult about the 'tattoo' on his shoulder. They refused to believe that it was a naturally occurring Mark and instigated a police investigation into the family.
For the first time in his life Scott found himself with strangers. While the allegations of child abuse were being investigated Scott, John and Virgil had all been removed. At first the CSA was going to separate them into different homes, but Scott had screamed until he lost his voice while clinging onto his brothers and while they could have forcefully separated them the decision was made that it would not be in everyone's interests to do so.
A mutual agreement was finally reached when one of Jeff's old army buddies offered a home for all of them. Colonels Tim and Val Casey were not the sort of people to turn down and it not only meant that the children could stay together, they provided reliable adult supervision when their parents were allowed to visit.
The boys may have known Uncle and Aunty Casey, but not to stay with. That first night they huddled under the covers on Scott's bed while Scott stood guard. He actually bit Tim when the man tried to pick two-year-old Virgil up, and after he bit him he kicked him hard where it hurt.
It was Val who saved the day, passing Scott the vidphone where his parents were trying to be brave. There were a lot of tears on both ends, but Scott promised he would be good for the Caseys, apologised for his behaviour and went to bed.
No one ever talked about the tests Scott was forced to undergo, least of all Scott, but the five-year-old was as good as his word. His parents had said to behave and they would all be back together quicker so he had been brilliant, not offering a peep when the needles hurt. His Grandma was sure later in life that this was when his phobia of needles and general intense dislike of healthcare came from.
It took eight weeks for the investigation to decide that the boys had not been tattooed. Seeing the marks on each boy helped sway the decision, especially when tests proved that they were natural Soul Marks, not tattoos in any way.
The reunion was epic and resulted five weeks later in the announcement of another Tracy on the way.
It was also the day Virgil's Mark began to appear and as the days passed it solidified into a song thrush. But the thrush was not sitting on the ground or a branch, rather it was sitting on a paint brush. Two quavers and one minim were coming from its beak.
Scott had been slightly changed by the ordeal. Now he was far more protective of his brothers, hated to let them out of his sight. Getting him to go to school was a nightmare and, bearing in mind how the school had reacted and the potential that every school would react like that, Jeff and Lucy took the decision to remove him and to home school all their kids. With Ruth and Grant helping and a tutor for the few subjects they didn't know about, Scott soon began to thrive again.
The fourth Tracy to be born was early. Too early. No one was really sure what had sent Lucy into premature labour but Gordon Cooper Tracy came into the world 10 weeks earlier than expected.
Jeff always said it was the best valentine's present he'd ever got.
Gordon didn't need to stay in NICU long. He was a Tracy through and through and he fought through every issue like a trooper. 'Daddy's lil airman' was Jeff's nickname for him. His elder brothers were besotted with him, with Scott insisting they come and visit him every day. He was a good big brother, Scott didn't hog his time with Gordon, making sure John and Virgil had equal share.
By the time Gordon came home all three of his older brothers had his mark on them, a yellow number 4.
Life carried on as the boys grew.
Gordon's Mark befit the water baby that he was, his was a squid. In another unusual turn as it solidified over the usual timeframe it turned into three squid, all very different than each other. They had needed to look them up to find out what they were. One was a Common Squid with reddish-brown mottling and another a Firefly Squid. They could tell the difference because the firefly one gave off a gentle glow when it was hit by moonlight. Wrapped around the two was the unmistakable Giant Squid, with its two longer tentacles wrapping around his wrist.
No one was surprised when the mark on his shoulder appeared at the same time, only his was bordered with what looked like kelp and tiny fish.