Day 31: Setbacks | "Take it easy."

Characters: John, Scott, Virgil

Warnings: Off-screen injuries, Medical treatments, nothing graphic

He stumbled in the dark and cursed quietly. And then froze as the shape on the bed moved.

Blue eyes, luminous in the moonlight streaming through the window, blinked sleepily at him.

'J'n?'

'Go back to sleep, Scott.'

John all but hissed the command at his big brother. Scott needed the sleep, didn't need to be worried about him, but he knew that now Scott was awake he'd be more concerned with why he was up and about rather than himself. Sure enough…

'Wha' you doing up, John?'

'Nothing. Go back to sleep.'

The rustling of clothes as Scott carefully slid out of the bed, doing his best not to disturb the others no doubt, told him that he was being ignored. His shoulders slumped, but he carried on making his way out of Scott's room to the kitchen, putting the kettle on and waiting for his brother to catch up.

His injured brother.

John closed his eyes and all he could see was Scott falling again, and he jerked them open to find said brother watching him, concern clear on his face. That concern was openly warring with the pain as Scott reached out for him but then stopped with a gasp as his cracked ribs made themselves know.

'Take it easy, Scott!'

'I should be saying that to you. You look like hell.'

'Me?! I'm fine, just couldn't sleep anymore.'

He turned back to the stove and began to make hot chocolate while listening to Scott carefully position himself on one of the chairs with a grunt. Maybe his pain relief was starting to fade. If that was the case Virgil would be with them shortly, and John added another cupful of milk to the pan.

Sure enough padded feet heralded their next youngest brother into the kitchen. With a sigh the man held out to Scott the meds that had been placed ready on the bedside table and had been ignored in favour of following John.

Scott grimaced but took the meds. He hated having to take any kind of medication, but he especially hated these. With his super-fast metabolism burning through medication faster than the norm Scott had to take stronger pain relief to get long enough time without pain. They screwed with his head and his emotions sometimes, but broken bones – especially ribs – made them necessary.

Virgil pulled out a chair and sat beside him, eying him with an unspoken challenge. Scott answered with a nod to John and Virgil shifted to watch their spaceman at the stove. John hadn't turned to look at either of them, but he knew they were silently talking about him.

'I'm fine, Virgil. You can quit worrying about me.'

Both his immediate brothers snorted in unison, and John smiled to himself. How the pair could ever deny that they could read each other's minds was beyond him, the two were always in such perfect sync. Well, usually.

Today's rescue had been spectacularly bad for Scott. His jetpack had failed him when he was at a height that could have killed him and when he was out of reach of Two and Virgil. The resulting plummet had been arrested by the mountainside and a ragdoll down until he'd hit a plateau. The fact that Scott had escaped with only cracked ribs and a leg broken in two places had surprised them all.

But it had brought back to the fore something that they all thought had been put to bed.

Scott's self-destructive tendencies. After almost killing both himself and his rescuee last time Grandma had taken Scott to one side once he had healed and had words. No one knew what those words were – and this was one occasion that John had not eavesdropped – but for several months now Scott had been much more careful with himself, both at rescues and at home.

This rescue, though. This one had been a bit close to home, and he had charged ahead without waiting for Virgil and had picked up a jetpack that had not been fully refuelled – something that shouldn't have happened with their automated systems and Brains had spent some time in the hangars and with One to try and find out how that had happened.

So maybe picking that jetpack hadn't been totally Scott's fault, but if he had waited like both John and Virgil had requested then someone would have been there to stop his fall and to complete the rescue.

The damage of Scott's impromptu meeting with the mountain had resulted in them only recovering a body, and while Scott looked like he was coping well, John knew his brother better.

The loss of a life that could possibly have been saved if only Scott had been more careful would weigh heavy on the man. It didn't matter that John and EOS had crunched the numbers and shown that the man had died shortly before the call to International Rescue had gone out. Nor did it matter that the post-mortem had proved this.

Scott was blaming himself. Again. It was another setback in their continuing quest to shore up their eldest brother's self-worth.

All this went through John's mind as he made the hot chocolate. By the time it was ready Virgil had pillowed his head on his arms and was gently snoring. Scott was watching him fondly, a hand gently carding through Virgil's hair no doubt having helped send the man back to dreamland. John smiled at the scene before him as he carried over the drinks and sat opposite them.

Virgil and Scott weren't the only pair to have an almost telepathic connection. It was seldom used, but John and Scott had their own connection, big brothers together looking out for little ones.

John placed Scott's drink before him and cocked an eyebrow.

Scott smiled and his eyes softened.

John smiled back then inclined his head to Scott.

Scott's smile faded a little before coming back brighter.

John frowned.

Scott sighed and carefully reached forward to lay a hand on John's wrist.

John's frown deepened.

Scott flushed a little and bit his lip.

'Will you two stop talking so loudly.'

Virgil's voice, a little scratchy from sleep, surprised them both. He roused himself and wrapped both hands around the mug, taking a mouthful and sighing in pleasure. It wasn't coffee, but it was hot and tasty.

'Scott, you're an idiot. You've always been an idiot and despite many, many talking-tos you will always be an idiot.'

'Gee, thanks for that, Virg.'

'I only speak truth, Scott.'

'John, you're an idiot too.'

'Okay. Um – why?'

'You know the Smotherhen has gotta smother, right?'

John's sigh coincided with Scott's 'hey!' and for a moment they all looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

'I just – I just keep seeing you fall, Scott.'

'I'm sorry, John. I just wanted to get there. I knew there was little time.'

'I know. I know that, but once again you put yourself in danger.'

'In fairness I didn't know the jetpack wasn't fully refuelled.'

'But you didn't think to check it before donning it and jumping.'

'No, no I didn't.'

'Scott's still here, John. And I don't think you can count this as the same. Scott wasn't purposely putting his life on the line like last time. This one we really can chalk up to misadventure.'

'I hope so. I don't want to feel like Scott's taken a step back in his recovery.'

'I am right here, John, and no, I have not taken a step back, I promise you. I am trying much harder to be safer for you guys and for myself.'

Virgil laid a hand on Scott's wrist and another on John's.

'This isn't a setback. We are all getting better – Scott's getting better at asking for and listening to help, and we are getting better at giving him that help.'

'I know, Virgil.'

Scott squeezed Virgil's hand in thanks.

They were right. His self-destructive tendencies, that 'I must do it so my brothers aren't put at risk' had been severely challenged by the words their Grandma had had with him after he had almost died. The combined shocks had jolted him back into some semblance of normality, and while he still hated that his brothers were in danger, Scott knew and trusted that they could handle it. It wasn't perfect, and he would have more setbacks, but this time he was determined to listen more and accept help more.

He never wanted to put his brothers through that again.

'Thanks for the hot chocolate, John. How about we go back to bed?'

'Sounds like a good plan.'

Scott climbed back into bed. Alan, still asleep, turned over to hug him and Virgil climbed on beside him, arm over Alan and Scott and head resting on Scott's shoulder with Scott's arm around him. Gordon, supposedly asleep at Scott's feet, moved up the bed and rested his head on Scott's hip.

'Smotherhen.'

It was said sleepily and barely loud enough to hear, but Scott gave a quiet chuckle and ran his hand through Gordon's hair and the Squid relaxed back into sleep. Scott looked up to John and held his free arm out, and John climbed in and mirrored Virgil's positioning. Snores from the artist were already sounding, and the two smiled at each other before Scott settled back.

'Night John.'

'Night Scott.'