Watching From Above: As the final plans for International Rescue come together, Virgil is nursing a heartache hidden from the others. But how long can it stay that way?
Disclaimer: The characters used in this chapter do not belong to me. This disclaimer applies to all chapters.
Hello!!
I'm fairly new at this and this is my first (almost complete) story. So although reviews are appreciated, be gentle!! Although this story is based on the TV Show, I have used my own interpretation of the characters.
Okay well. Bye for now!
Kim
Watching From Above
Chapter One"Gordon!! Over here!!!" the voice wafted over across the busy airport. The young copper-haired man turned in response and hurried towards his brother.
"Scott!!" he seemed pleased to see his oldest brother and it would seem the feeling
was mutual, as he was enveloped in a welcoming bear hug.
"Its good to see you, kid" Scott pulled away smiling nonchalantly.
"Its good to see you too" Gordon re-iterated. There were a few moments of silence between the two bothers before Gordon sighed somewhat elated. "God!" he exclaimed, "How can you be so calm? Aren't you excited?" he asked, obviously puzzled.
Scott smirked "Well, yeah. I guess, but obviously not as excited as you!" he laughed. Gordon groaned.
"You haven't changed Scott" he quipped.
"And neither have you" Scott returned "you're like a little kid at Christmas!!" he scoffed. Gordon pouted "Come on. Virgil's prepping the jet, we have to get back to the island" Scott explained. "Dad needs to leave to pick John and Alan up tomorrow and the jet needs re-fuelling before he leaves, someone's going to have to cook supper too. That can be you're contribution to the arrangements" Scott smirked good naturally. Gordon returned the grin sarcastically, to which Scott's only response was a laugh. "Welcome home, Kid!" he chuckled as they made their way down the passageway and across the tarmac to where Virgil patiently waited in a world of his own. "Hey Virg!!" Scott called out succeeding in getting his attention. "I think someone gave him too much sugar again!!" Scott joked, as Gordon threw him a sideways glance and headed for Virgil who took his bags.
"Hey" Gordon enthused.
"Hey" Virgil said rather flatter then expected as he loaded Gordon's bags into the cargo hold. Gordon studied him for a while, the enthusiasm he earlier had fading rapidly he turned back to Scott who was also watching Virgil with a resigned look on his face. "Virg?" Gordon said eventually "I thought you'd be pleased to see me?" At his words Virgil took stock of the situation, he closed his eyes briefly, sighing. A wide grin spread across his face "Sorry, Gords" he said sincerely "I am, of course I am".
"Can we try that again with a little more enthusiasm?" Gordon said sarcastically, Virgil smiled.
"I am. Come here" Virgil pulled him into a hug. "We've missed you. I'm sorry, just got a lot of stuff on my mind, that's all. We could've done with you helping us sort all this out you know? Instead of being off gallivanting around Europe. Dad wants to be operational by next week."
"I know" Gordon said softly, "It's exciting though. Isn't it?" Scott rolled his eyes at that exited tone in his voice again.
"Come on" he growled, "lets get going or we'll be here all day!" He watched as Gordon practically jumped into the plane and took his seat and chuckled again to himself. The chuckle faded as he watched Virgil slowly climb aboard and heavily sit down in the pilots seat. He sighed as he followed suit taking his place next to Gordon.
"Has he been like this all day?" Gordon's soft tone snapped Scott out of his daydream as they flew steadily over land and sea.
"Erm. Virgil? Oh, yeah he has" Scott said a little distracted.
"Oh well" Gordon sighed, "At least I know it's not me"
"No, it's not you" Scott reassured his brother "I'm not quite sure what 'it' is yet, but I certainly intend to find out." Gordon nodded, understanding Scott completely. His two eldest brothers had always had a very strong bond ever since childhood that only seemed to grow with them into their teens. When they had all flown the proverbial nest, they had all drifted apart a little but Scott and Virgil still spoke more regularly then any of the others and Gordon knew that the deep bond they shared was still there. Maybe a little unconencted but still there none the less. "I thought you'd be flying" Gordon changed the subject, speaking now in a less hushed voice.
"Nah" Scott winked. "Virgil needs the practise more than I do! Besides I flew here" he paused, fully expecting a reaction from their pilot, none was forthcoming and he continued. "I wanted to catch up with you anyway. How are you? Enjoy Europe?"
"Europe was fantastic" Gordon began and continued to babble about his travels as Scott listened on, though truly his full attention never really left their pilot.
"Sorry we're late Dad" Scott apologised as he took his seat along with Brains, "We've been re-caliberating some of the machinery engines" he explained. Jeff nodded accepting this explanation.
"You just timed it right, son. We're just about to start" he looked around the meal table as they waited supper. "Where's Virgil?" he asked, a frown covering his face.
"We er haven't seen him all er day m…m..Mr Tracy" Brains said embarrassed, "We've b.been in t.t.the hangar" Though he and Virgil got on extremely well and he had grown to like Scott over recent weeks, he knew very little of Gordon and the young man's bashfulness made him a little nervous to say the least. They had only spoken twice and one of those times was when they had been introduced. He seemed to Brains to be a lot less mature then his older brothers but amazed him with his knowledge of the deep sea, marine life and submarines. Whether his relationship with the second youngest Tracy would blossom into the friendship he had formed with his oldest brothers remained to be seen.
However, this piece of information only seemed to deepen Jeff's frown. Able to sniff out a guilty conscious from a mile away; "Gordon!" he bellowed almost making him jump. Gordon's head jerked up with a look of what Scott could only describe of pure panic, "Er, he said he wasn't hungry" Gordon gabbled, "He was up pretty late last night apparently, said he was going to have an early one" he smiled cheekily. Jeff nodded seemingly believing him but Brains and Scott shared a frown, knowing that Virgil was not up particularly late last night in fact insisting that he had a headache and retiring early.
Though the meal seemed excruciatingly long to Gordon, on the receiving end of Scotts questioning stares, it actually went relatively quickly. The main topic of conversation being International Rescue and how Brains was settling into life on the island.
"Wow!! That was good, Gordon" Scott exclaimed sitting back in his seat unable to eat another morsel.
"See, I do have my uses after all!" Gordon said smugly.
"Problem is they're so few and far between" Scott muttered quietly, more to himself than anyone else, "Certainly better then my cooking" Scott smiled forcefully.
Gordon half laughed "You know for a minute there I thought that was going to be a compliment but how the hell can you compare my cooking to your cooking. I use the word 'cooking' very loosely. I'm sure cyanide tastes better then your many attempts in the kitchen" Scott went to reply to the comment but Brains beat him to it.
"Actually, Cyanide has a taste of…."
"Don't give him ideas Brains" Jeff's voice thundered across the room. Scott smirked at the expression on both Gordon and Brains' faces.
"Gordon and I'll wash up, Dad. I think Brains needs to be warned about Gordons antics" he smirked knowingly at the young scientist.
"I cooked!!" Gordon protested, his whining voice causing Jeff to cringe.
"Well now you can practise your washing up skills son," Jeff told him, much to Scott's amusement. "I'm going to pick your Grandmother up tonight and if that kitchen is anything less than spotless there'll be hell to pay," he warned. "Come on Brains, there are a few things you should know about my second youngest son there." They carried on talking down the hall way as they walked towards Jeff's study. It was only once they where inside that Scott spoke.
"So", he began casually as they cleared the crockery off the table. "You going to tell me what's going on?" He asked, hoping Gordon would play the game and talk. Gordon looked at him carefully obviously considering his answer.
"Me?" he finally said harshly "You were staring at me all the way through supper I thought I was going to turn to stone!" Scott stopped what he was doing, amazed at this outburst and clearly surprised by the role reversal.
"Firstly, I'm not accusing you of anything so drop the attitude I just want to know what's going on. Secondly you looked guilty as hell when Dad mentioned Virgil so what did you expect?" Gordon didn't reply Scott sat waiting, giving him plenty of opportunity to speak. Eventually he headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Gordon asked, following him.
"Well, if you're not going to tell me, I'd better go speak to Virgil" Scott went to walk away.
"Wait" Gordon called causing Scott to turn and face him, an expectant look on his face "I went to talk to him today" Gordon said slowly "just wanted to check he was okay. Y'know?" Scott nodded.
"And?" he prompted.
"And" Gordon paused sitting back in his chair. "And I don't know Scott. Something's wrong. It has to be. That ogre stewing in that room is not the big brother that helped me grow up and it's certainly not the same person that left to go to Denver."
"I don't follow." Scott followed suit sitting back at the table, leaning into his chair.
"Its just he's dark, miserable, snappy that's not Virgil. If I didn't know better I'd say he was upset but I've never seen him like this before. Maybe he's not happy with this whole idea." He surmised. Scott just sat and listened saying very little. "I thought he was upset when you picked me up at the airport, he said he'd got stuff on his mind. So I went to talk to him today, I had questions about Thunderbird 2 and how I fitted into the design. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn't even let me in the room. Told me to just go away and leave him alone. Now that's not like Virgil in himself. But then I thought about it and people change, we haven't all been together like this since before you went to university that's a hell of a long time. We've all grown up a lot, and well, maybe I don't know him as well as I thought I did." Gordon frowned a little. Scott could tell he was upset about this.
"Well I do know him." Scott sounded determined and Gordon couldn't help but smile at Scott still playing the role of big brother at nearly thirty years old. "He hasn't changed that much." Scott continued. "He's probably finding it hard settling back into this lifestyle, being a family again" Scott mused. "But we all are or will, that doesn't give him the right to be nasty to you."
"Scott." Gordon recognised that tone, "I don't want to cause any trouble. It really doesn't matter that much." He insisted, knowing full well that if Scott was in big brother mode Virgil would be heading for an ear bashing.
"Yes it does. I'll talk to him." Scott concluded.
"Is that really such a good idea?" Gordon asked timidly, Scott frowned unsure of why. "Maybe he just needs some time to himself. None of us are used to being back together like this. Maybe he's missing his freedom, his privacy. Its hard with all us around." Scott looked sceptical.
"Maybe. But if that is what's wrong he needs to realise that it's going to get a hell of a lot worse when Alan and John get here." Scott pondered, obviously thinking over what the best course of action would be.
"Grandma gets here tomorrow." Gordon pointed out. "And Tin-tin and Kyrano on Sunday"
Scott sighed closing his eyes. "Okay. I'm going to take him some food, try and talk to him. The longer this is left to fester the worse it'll get." He began walking to the kitchen and put a plate of food together. He was surprised that Gordon hadn't moaned about being left to do the washing up on his own. If he was honest to himself he was slightly impressed at his younger brother's ability to distinguish that this was important. Whatever Virgil said to him, it certainly hit home.
He tapped gently on the door "Virg?" no reply came; he tried again getting no response. "Come on Virg, I know you're in there." He coaxed, waiting patiently for a response. "You must be hungry, you haven't eaten anything all day" still no reply. "I brought you some supper". Scott frowned this wasn't at all like his brother and the concern he had earlier had been heightened a notch, after his conversation with Gordon. In a few seconds he felt it would turn into straight out panic. Virgil hadn't quite been right since Scott had arrived on the island and though he took on board what Gordon had said he didn't buy any of it, especially the part about not being happy here. They all had the choice; there was no pressure to be a part of this. The more Scott thought about it the more he convinced himself something was wrong and something big at that. Virgil had always been the one to talk about how he felt or express it somehow through his music or art. The fact that there was no evidence of any of these worried Scott intensely and made him more determined to find out exactly what was going on. Virgil had supported him throughout his whole life and he wasn't going to let him be unhappy and alone now. He knocked again and waited, his patience steadily running out. He tried opening the door. It was locked. His hand hovered over the control panel ready to over ride the lock. "I'm not hungry." Came a small reply.
"So you are in there" Scott muttered, "You must be hungry you haven't eaten anything all day" Scott reasoned but again no reply came. "Okay. Well can I come in then? I want to talk to you not the door?"
"Not tonight Scott. I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Scott sighed at least he got a reply this time, things where improving.
"Come on Virg" Scott droned exasperatedly, "I can tell by the tone of your voice your upset. Something's obviously wrong. You want to talk about it?"
No reply came at first, Scott thought he heard Virgil say "No" but he couldn't be sure.
"Look, Virg this is stupid. Let me in. Please? Virgil I don't know what's wrong with you but I'm only trying to help here. We're all going to find it difficult being back together like this again. But it'll settle down. We've all left friends behind, we all miss them and we all sacrificed our own dreams but I promise you once things settle down a bit. Well, it'll be worth it. We can do a lot of good here and yeah, it's going to be hard at first but we'll manage. We usually get through together."
"Scott" Jeff's voice almost made him jump as it burst through the intercom. "I'm almost ready to leave. Can you come up here please?"
"Dad. I'm a little busy. Is it important?" Scott asked trying to stay calm but becoming increasingly stressed.
"Well yes it is. What are you doing? Is something wrong?" Scott sighed looking to the heavens he replied steadily.
"No, everything's fine. I'll be right there." He turned back to Virgil's door. "I've got to go." He said hoping his brother was listening. "Look, Virg. Dad's got a lot on at the moment, the last thing he needs is you going A WOL okay?"
"Go" Virgil shouted from inside "Go to Dad, leave me alone. Please Scott, just go away?" his tone wasn't nasty, in fact Scott could tell he'd been crying just from the way his voice quivered.
"Okay. But I'll be back later. We need to talk about this. You're obviously not ok" he paused. "I'll leave this tray here. I know you must be hungry but I can understand that you don't want the others to see you if you're upset"
"Scott" Jeff prodded.
"I'm on my way Dad." He said shortly.
Scott walked away reluctantly; knowing it was the last thing he should be doing but he also knew if his father got hold of this then it would throw one huge spanner in the works. He didn't want Virgil to have to explain to their father, he had a feeling this was personal and not something his brother was going to want their father to know. However one thing was for sure; it was far from over.
Scott Tracy rarely let things drop and deep down as he curled up on his bed Virgil knew that. He also knew it was unrealistic to think he could hide from him, he'd been rumbled. Scott would be back; the decision now became whether to tell him the truth? As Virgil considered his options he reached for the half empty bottle, seeking comfort he looked to her photograph resting in his hands and the letters by his bed. He barely noticed as fresh tears fell down dried tracks and further wetted his damp pillow. Attempting to numb the pain in his heart and forget the memories in his head, he emptied the bottle, endeavouring to feel anything other than how he felt right now, even if that something was nothing. He shivered as the liquid trickled easily down his throat, curling up with her in his arms. He waited for it to take effect, he waited to stop. Stop thinking, stop remembering, stop feeling.
Much later that night, once Brains and Gordon had gone to bed and Jeff was safely away to pick the others up. Scott crept slowly through the corridors of the villa eventually coming to Virgils door. He rapped on the door softly "Virg?" he whispered. "Are you still awake?" No reply came but no reply had come earlier and Virgil was awake then. He reached for the control panel, silently opening the door bar the whoosh of air as he stepped inside and it closed behind him. The moonlight shining through the open window was his only light. "Virgil?" he whispered again as he made his way passed boxes of still unpacked belongings. No reply came and as Scott spied his younger brother it became obvious he was asleep. Scott sighed, he had been hoping to talk to Virgil but evidently now it was too late. He decided he would try again in the morning and turned to leave. As he did so something caught his eye in the dim light from the balcony doors, it glinted. Curious as to what it was Scott stepped closer to the sleeping form of his brother to see him curled up in a tiny ball clutching a silver object that reflected the light. Scott frowned softly, he removed the prized item and studied it carefully. He recognised the background as Virgil's old apartment in Denver where he himself had spent the odd night or two. However, the object of the picture he did not recognise. A beautiful young brunette smiled affectionately toward the camera, she was petite but the sunlight that filled the room lit up her face like a thousand stars and conveyed both her stunning good looks and spoke volumes for her personality.
Scott's head instinctively snapped up as Virgil stirred, though he settled again a loud thud drew Scott's attention to the floor. The culprit bottle rolled up to his feet: empty. The contents had once been whisky. Scott sighed heavily looking down on the younger, sleeping man. He had entertained the idea that a lady was responsible for his brothers form of late and drawn the conclusion that little else could get Virgil into this state. He tutted to himself, unbelieving that Virgil would turn to alcohol rather than him. He knew of how much Virgil disapproved of his own use of alcohol as a temporary method of consigning to oblivion his own difficulties. Questions relentlessly buzzed around in his head as to why Virgil would do this and why his younger brother didn't come to him. Scott watched him sleep for a while, perching cautiously on the bed. Satisfied that Virgil was safe and deeply asleep he reached over and placed the bottle on the table to the left of Virgil's bed. In doing so he inadvertently noticed a shoebox on the floor half-heartedly tucked under Virgils bed. His full intention to put the lid on the box and place it back, he picked it up. The small shoebox was brimming with wads of paper, more specifically letters. Something in the first one caught Scotts eye and he began to read. The only words to escape his lips; "Oh God Virg..." Frittered away on the wind for only the man in the moon to hear.
The first thing Virgil felt was his pounding head, a groan escaped his lips as he reached a hand to his throbbing head.
"Hungover?"
He turned to face the voice a little too swiftly if the wave of nausea was anything to go by. His eyes refocused resting on the form of his elder brother. "Scott" he said exasperatingly. "What are you doing in here?" he asked puzzled.
"Oh, making sure you don't choke on your own vomit" Scott said sarcastically but seriously.
"Didn't know you cared." Virgil quipped. Though he regretted it as soon as the words had left his lips.
"That's not fair. If I didn't care I wouldn't have been knocking the door down last night and I certainly wouldn't be sat here." Scott returned harshly.
Virgil looked him in the eye before moving his gaze to the floor and slowly sitting up. "I'm sorry." He muttered, his voice catching in his throat. "That was unfair." He smiled weakly. There where a few minutes of silence before Scott spoke again.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on or are we going to sit like this all day?" His tone was rough and Virgil winced inwardly as Scott sat up in the chair he lounged in.
"What's to tell?" Virgil asked softly. Scott's tone of voice and attitude only served to make him more grumpy and defiant in telling Scott as little as possible about last night.
Scott sighed harshly staring at Virgil intensely, Virgil held his gaze well considering his head felt like it were about to drop off.
"You did. Last night," Scott began slowly for emphasis, "the one thing you can't stand me doing, and the one thing you lecture me for doing. What I want to know is what could make you so hypocritical? Why?"
Virgil sighed. "It wasn't working my way. I thought I'd follow your glowing example." He sneered. Scotts face set, he nodded calculatingly.
"It doesn't work" he bit his tongue to avoid his temper getting the better of him. When they where younger Scott's temper often got him into trouble but it seemed to cool off when he joined the Air Force. Now the only person who could make him angry this easily was Virgil. Probably because he was the only person that knew him well enough, he knew exactly which buttons to press. Scott liked to think he knew Virgil well too. He knew what he was trying to do now and was determined he wasn't going to let Virgil make him angry as a way of avoiding the issue.
"Well, I know that now" Virgil smirked cleverly. There where a few minutes of silence as Scott tried to fight the rising urge to shout and Virgil did his best to avoid making eye contact with his brother. "Who is she?" Scott asked calmly referring to the framed picture now placed on the table by Virgil's bed.
"How did you...?"
"You fell asleep with it in your arms last night" Scott quickly told him cutting of the obvious rise in Virgils temper like a pin to a balloon. Virgil looked to the floor before taking the picture in his hands and studying it for a moment. When he finally met Scotts gaze it was not a pretty sight. Virgil was often described as the pacifist of the family, the peace maker between brothers however Scott had seen the end results of Virgils anger in the past and did not want to be on the receiving end then, let alone now. He sat taking in the look of newfound fury in his brother's dark eyes.
"Not who Scott: what. What is she? And I'll tell you she's none of your damned business. That's what. Go and sort your own life out before you start meddling in mine" the bitterness Scott heard was a rare trait in Virgil. Adding to his earlier premonition that there was something very wrong.
"Virg, please." Scott tried to defuse the situation as quickly as he could. "I'm your big brother, it's my job to look after you. I'm just trying to help"
"I'm not a kid anymore Scott. I'm big enough to look after myself now, that's my job. And in case you haven't noticed you're not helping right now." Virgil snapped in response, his anger rising further closer to the surface.
"You can't keep pushing me away like you did Gordon y'know? I'll just keep coming back again and again until you tell me." Scott insisted.
"Fine" Virgil laughed. "You do that Scott. As many times as you like but I won't talk about it because I don't want to. I don't want to now and I won't tomorrow or the day after or the day after that. Okay?" Virgils voice smacked of anger still.
Scott leant forward in the chair he occupied. "I don't understand." His eyes no longer held the fire they had before, it was like they'd been washed away and replaced with a fog of confusion. "Why won't you talk to me? We've never had secrets in the past. Virgil I'm worried about you, this isn't your style. Drinking yourself to oblivion and bottling things up. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. I know for whatever reason you're hurting right now but I can help you. Don't shut me out, please Virg. Talk to me. You're my brother, I care about you" Scott tried hard to convey the desperation he felt.
"You want to help?" Scott nodded in response to the question. "Then care enough to leave it alone." Virgil voice wavered as he got to his feet and headed for the shower.
"I can't leave it." Scott muttered. "I read the letters." He admitted softly. Virgil stopped dead in his tracks turning slowly to face his ashamed brother.
"Letters?" he asked swallowing hard.
"You have every right to be angry with me, Virgil I had no right but they are beautiful, they're so expressive yet subtle like…"
"How did you find them?" Virgil asked as if he hadn't heard what Scott just said, himself in a state of shock.
"I was trying to tidy up a bit, last night. They where on the floor." Scott looked away unable to meet Virgil's gaze, ashamed and expectant of a huge row.
Virgil simply walked passed him and plopped down heavily on the bed. "I can't believe you'd do that. Pry into my…. They where private, personal." He looked up at Scott. "Who do you think you are?" His tone wasn't angry anymore. Better described as unbelieving, the anger seemed to disappear in an instant and be replaced by this feeling of emptiness and disbelief.
"I'm sorry." Scott apologised, looking up for the first time directly at Virgil. "I had no right to do what I did, it was wrong of me and I apologise for it. But Virgil you are scaring me. I've never seen you like this before. Please, tell me? Tell me about her?" Virgil sat there staring at Scott not listening to a word he said but instead trying to stop his head pounding. "Virgil in a couple of weeks time you're going to have to trust me with your life so..." he hesitated realising that Virgil was just staring into space. He reached out and touched his arm to get his attention. "Don't you trust me?" Scotts face curved into a frown. Virgil looked up at him a little distantly.
"I'm sorry. I can't talk about this now." He got up to leave but Scott caught his arm.
"Wait."
Virgil stopped as Scotts arm fell back to his side, he stood with his back to Scott as he listened to his elder brother.
"Did you leave her behind to come here? Is that it? Virg, you're not the only one to have given up something or someone they loved to come here. We've all sacrificed something. You should have said. I know what you're going through. It was the hardest thing I've ever done to come here knowing that…."
"Stop" Virgil snapped as he spun to face Scott. Standing now face to face it had finally sunk in. "Stop it. Okay? Just stop." Virgil seethed in frustration, Scott was taken a back by his sudden reaction. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have left my private belongings out in the open in my private room but you sure as hell had no right to come in and read them."
"I know that and I've said I'm sorry. I really am, Virg. But at least you know now that you're not on your own. I understand. You can talk to me, you don't have to do this on your own." Scott reasoned.
"Look Scott, you're right I don't have to do this on my own. I've already done it. And 'this' is a part of the past, a past I'm not overly keen on revisiting so lets just drop it. Okay? We're starting a new chapter here, the past is exactly that, its gone there's nothing you or I or anyone else can do about it." On seeing the resistance coming form Scott he continued. " Scott, the last thing I want to do is fall out with you. We've both made mistakes. Lets just forget yesterday ever happened?" Scott studied him for a moment; it was obvious he wasn't going to talk about it now anyway. And knowing Virgil he might as well agree, Scott couldn't physically make him talk. And Scott knew that a rift between them would hamper International Rescue a great deal, quite simply it wasn't worth it. Slowly he nodded his head in agreement. "Okay. On one condition."
"What?" Virgil asked.
"You never do that again. Whenever you need to talk you go to someone and talk. It doesn't have to be me just anyone. Okay?" Scott crossed his fingers hoping that Virgil would agree.
"Okay." Virgil agreed happy for the situation to just be left alone.
"Promise?" Scott wanted something concrete.
"I promise. As long as you do. This applies to both of us" Virgil smiled knowing Scott would hate the idea of being bound to talking about how he felt.
Scott smirked exhaling, he'd been caught out but he relented. Nodding his head he agreed to Virgils amendments "Okay. I promise"
After a long pause Virgil broke the silence. "Well, I suppose I ought to go and get a shower and take some tablets for this head. I promised Brains I'd help him out in the lab today"
Scott nodded "Okay. Well, give me a shout if you need a hand with anything"
"Sure." They both headed for the door.
"You mean FAB" Scott corrected him.
"Hey! We're not in the danger zone yet!! Who's idea was that anyway?" Their conversation trailed off as they headed for their respective bathrooms.
Scott stood under the warm water feeling the stress and anxiety run away with the water off his skin. He wasn't entirely sure if letting this thing with Virgil slide was the best course of action but he didn't feel he had a choice and convinced himself his younger brother would be okay. Under his own watchful eye, of course. Whatever it is that's bothering him he can't hide forever and eventually it'll come out. And Scott felt guilty for reading those letters he had managed to stop himself from reading them all but they where so beautiful. He found, once he started it was difficult to stop. They where so full of all the things he wished his past relationships could have been; love, passion and desire, honesty and truth, innocence and a sense of belonging. He thought bitterly of his own lost love or rather left love, his mind wondered into a daydream of memories and what could have been.
Meanwhile across the hallway, Virgil too slipped under the warmth of an exhilarating shower, he felt he needed to wash the impurities of last night away. A million thoughts buzzed around his head; although he was mad with Scott he could understand why he did it. He was concerned and had the boot been on the other foot Virgil knew he probably would have done the same. Though he definitely would not have read private letters Virgil could also see that Scott was his big brother and despite their close relationship as friends he was and still felt like the protector to his younger siblings. Virgil included. Besides there was nothing he could do about it now, what's done is done and it can't be undone. Scott still didn't know the truth though, Virgil knew that one day he would probably find out but right now he couldn't bear to tell him. The memories were too painful and reciting them was a depressing thought. As he pushed the remainder of thoughts and memories concerning his past to the back of his mind and allowed the water to drain away last nights grief and turmoil. It was over for now. She was gone. She wasn't coming back. A new chapter in his life began today, a chapter he was going to live to the full. He stepped out of the shower - a new out look on life - not the past but the future.