"We need to talk," Conrad gripped Virgil's elbow and steered his brother-in-law towards the small private room the hospital had been kind enough to set up for the Tracys to sleep/eat/vent/cry in, since it was clear there would always be at least one or more Tracy there in addition to Conrad. (A few very carefully selected Spectrum Officers were manning International Rescue when needed, although Conrad was beginning to think they would need to pry out whichever Angel was flying Thunderbird One when the time came.)

Virgil wanted to pull away, but realized this might be his one chance to clear the air with Conrad, and in turn his one chance to even try to repair his relationship with Scott. He allowed himself to be pulled in and sat down at the small table, which was covered with food to the embarrassment of his now rumbling stomach. He picked up one of the sandwiches and inhaled it like a starving man. Virgil noted Conrad did much the same, and felt some small relief.

"I know that you do not like me," Conrad started without preamble, and without any pause that would allow Virgil to get a word in until he was finished, "and that you never have. I accept that. I know that sometimes a person just doesn't like another person without rhyme or reason, but I have never understood why you dislike me with such vehemence. What the hell I have ever done to you that you would go so far as to try and kill your brother? I know you think I encourage Scott's recklessness, and to be fair we do feed off of one another when it comes to our love of taking risks! But I love Scottie more! He means more to me than my own life; I trust him to keep me safe and he trusts me to keep him safe. I have never, never let us taken any risks that I thought were fatally dangerous, and stood my ground even when Scott disagreed with me about it. I realize that may not have been apparent to someone outside looking in, and I know you have no faith in me but dammit I had thought you had more faith in your brother than you obviously do."

Conrad finally paused to take a breath, his diatribe having stunned Virgil into silence.

"What is wrong with you,Virgil?"

It came out before Virgil could even think:

"You stole my best friend."

Conrad slowly blinked.

"What?"

Virgil flushed crimson.

"You stole my best friend."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Virgil shook his head, his normally fine grasp on his own emotions eluding him.

Conrad's face was a study in waves. The first wave was incredulity. The next was anger, lapping back into disbelief. That pulled back into a rip current of disgust. That expression stayed.

"So you decided to ignore every ounce of information you were given, ignore every warning from John, ignored a little girl's life was at stake, because of jealous middle-school level pettiness?" Conrad vehemently hissed, "I'd hate to see what you'd do if someone accidentally took your lunch. I repeat: What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. You?"

Virgil shrank back into himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He knew better. Scott would never put a rescue in jeopardy. And yet Virgil had chosen to ignore everything that he should have known to trust, and blindly continued a rescue plan that no longer was viable. What had he been thinking? That troubled him the most that he couldn't remember what he had been thinking. He only remembered feeling diminished, and Scott was being a show off. Which made no sense what so ever, since Virgil was, and everyone say so frequently, the backbone of International Rescue.

Conrad shook his head.

"Stole your best friend," he muttered picking a napkin apart, "insane."

"Everyone thinks John was the one that got bullied when we were kids, but Johnny could handle himself. Scott had to step in for me," Virgil said slowly, "if I did anything to protect myself, the kids would say I started it. I was usually the biggest kid in the class."

Unimpressed, Conrad raised his eyebrows, but said:

"Go on."

"But people believed Scott, even though he was my brother, when he said it was the other kids being bastards. He always stood up for me, for all of us," Virgil ran his hands through his hair, "and when I was in high school, he's the one who put the football coach in his place when I said I'd rather take the extra-curricular art classes instead of being his prize steamroller. Dad and Mom did too, but it was Scott who finally got it through Coach Stettler's head. Scott's always been there for me, and I've been there for him."

"And Scott has had other significant others, and from what he's said, you never had a problem with them. Hell, he was going to marry Nia, and she definitely had his attention," Conrad pointed out testily, "what makes me such a... such a threat?"

Virgil fell mute and stared at his brother-in-law. Conrad looked ragged, barely held together. He had only left the hospital a few times since Scott... And yet Virgil couldn't help feeling that if Conrad had to he would personally fight Death if Death tried to come for Scott.

Fight and win.

Or follow Scott if defeated.

Scott would do the same for him.

"You're the one who could take him away from us."

After a moment, to Virgil's surprise, Conrad reached over and patted his shoulder with an air of exasperation.

"Virgil, you're not afraid that I would take him away," Conrad tried to sound kind, even if he wanted to smack Virgil upside the head, "You're afraid Scott thinks I'm worth leaving the family for, as if I would ever ask that of him. You really need to talk to him. I just don't know if he's going to want to hear it."