Chapter Text
John suddenly found himself awake. He had no idea what had awakened him, but he sighed and glanced at the time. 3.45 am. Oh great! he thought, sighing again, then decided to get himself a drink of water. He upped his side light about ten percent so he could see where he was going and saw a piece of paper on the top of the clock, addressed to him.
Frowning, he picked it up. Scott’s handwriting, he mused. Initially he thought it might be a sentimental thank you note for his support, but his heart started thudding in his chest as he read it.
“Fuck!” he whispered loudly as he leapt out of bed. Virgil didn’t stir as he threw the bedroom door open and strode to Scott’s room. He opened the door without knocking and barged in to see that his worst fears had been realised. His big brother was gone. “No! No! Oh Scotty! NO!”
He fled his brother’s room and ran down to his father’s. Not knocking, he barged in and ran to shake him awake.
“Dad! Dad! Wake up! Wake up!”
Jeff may have been out of the military for a few years, but he awoke instantly and sat up sharply. “John! Whatever’s the matter?”
“It’s Scott! He’s gone, dad! He’s gone!”
“What do you mean, he’s gone?”
John thrust the letter into his hand. “He’s run away from home! And it’s all y…” John clamped his mouth shut before he finished that sentence.
Jeff knew what he was had been about to say, but didn’t make a response. Instead, he read Scott’s note and a flash of pain flew across his face.
“We have to go after him! He’ll be heading for the bus station! Come on, dad! You can’t let him leave, not like this!”
“Get dressed, wake Virgil and ask him to keep an eye on Gordon and Alan in case they wake up. I’ll meet you downstairs in five.” Jeff threw back the covers as John nodded and fled the room to get some clothes on and wake his brother.
Silently, Jeff swore. Why had Scott done this? Why? And then he berated himself. It is all my fault. I should have actually apologised to him. I’ve let him down again… He threw on yesterday’s clothes and ran down the stairs to grab his jacket, phone and wallet. John joined him about ten seconds later, and then they were out the door and in the car, heading towards town.
The atmosphere was tense, and not only because of the animosity between father and son. They were both worried about Scott. Walking to town in the dark at this time of the morning could be fraught with danger. Sure, the eldest was tall and strong, but he was only seventeen, not quite a man. Yes, he’d been taught self defence like the rest of his brothers, but if he was upset—which was more than likely—he might not be paying full attention to his surroundings and… Jeff tried not to go there. If something bad happened to his son, it would be all his fault for not making amends; not apologising; not telling him he was proud of him, or that he loved him.
John was keeping an eye on the verge of the road, in case they came across him, but it was deserted, so it looked like he had made it into town, which in theory should make him a bit safer. The car slowed down and made its way along main street, eyes peeled for the tall teenager.
Dawn was approaching, reducing the shadows, then in the distance they saw a truck and a couple of men that seemed to be struggling with one another. Jeff and John glanced at one another and their heartrates escalated…
…the initial shock of being grabbed made Scott freeze for a number of seconds, then his training kicked in and he stomped on the foot of his assailant, who instinctively let go and let out a curse before attempting to grab him again, but all he managed to grip was the back of Scott’s rucksack. Instinctively he shrugged it off his shoulders and started running.
“Fuck! Oh no you don’t!” the driver shouted as he put the truck into drive and went after him. He got just ahead and mounted the sidewalk, causing Scott to crash into the side of it in his headlong dash. He bounced off and fell to the floor, winded.
The driver was out of the cab in a flash and Scott scrambled backwards trying to get away from him whilst he recovered his breath.
The man who had initially grabbed him, dropped the rucksack and hobbled as fast as he could towards his fellow assailant. They’d come this far; they couldn’t let the kid get away now.
“Karl! Grab him!” the driver yelled as he advanced on the young man.
Scott glanced behind him just in time to see Karl lunge and desperately tried to roll out of the way, only the have the driver grab his legs and lean on them hard, pinning him in place, so the youngster let fly with his fists, catching him on the jaw. But the man was used to receiving blows and didn’t even flinch as Karl threw an arm around Scott’s neck in a strangle hold and began to tighten it, cutting off his air supply.
“Oh, you’re a feisty one, ain’t ya,” Karl said as he reached into his jacket pocket with his free hand for the item he was after. “We’re gonna have a really good time, kid.”
The driver grinned at him and lay a hand suggestively on Scott’s groin which made him gasp and his eyes widen in a mixture of fear and horror. “A real good time,” the driver added.
Despite the lack of oxygen, Scott continued to struggle, making strangled noises as he did so.
“Don’t make this difficult, boy,” the driver continued. “We just want some fun on our journey. The more you struggle, the more it’s gonna hurt.” He then glanced up. Something had caught the corner of his vision. “Shit! Headlights! Hurry up, Karl!”
Scott was clawing at the arm that was pressing against his throat and choking him. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears as he fought in vain to draw breath and his vision began to blur. Please… no… he thought as he began to lose consciousness. His struggles grew weaker and then suddenly, there was a sharp pain in the side of his neck and he was able to breathe again. He took a huge gasping breath, too late to realise that Karl had injected him with a combined paralytic and sleeping compound. Desperate for air he drew in a deep breath as the blood pumped the drug quickly through his system. His eyes flew open and he found himself looking at the driver who was grinning rather nastily at him.
“That’s it, kid. Breathe nice and deep now…”
Scott’s muscles began to go lax and his eyes drifted closed as the anaesthetic did its work and just as he went under completely, he could have sworn he heard a horn of a vehicle sounding…
… “Oh my God!” John exclaimed as he saw the scene unfold before him. “That’s Scott’s rucksack! Dad! They’re taking Scott!”
Jeff’s heart flew into his mouth. They were NOT going to take his boy! No way! “John, call the sheriff’s office tell them I’m with you and what we’re seeing. I’ll get close enough to get the plate number, tell them the direction. Hurry!” Jeff pressed the vehicle horn and kept it pressed down in an effort to warn the thugs off his eldest, but to his horror as they got closer, he could just about make out the fact that Scott had stopped struggling. His totally limp body was lifted and literally thrown into the back of the truck and another man joined him, whilst the driver jumped in the cab and took off down the street, with Jeff now in hot pursuit.
“Sheriff Wallace? It’s John Tracy. I’m with my dad and we’re chasing a rusty grey pickup truck east, down main street… there’s no plate on the back, but they’ve just kidnapped my brother Scott,” Jeff heard his second eldest say. “Yes, east, towards the highway. Please, you’ve got to help us. It looks like they’ve drugged him or something because he was unconscious.”
Jeff temporarily took one hand off the steering wheel and squeezed John’s thigh in an effort to keep him grounded and not panic.
About two minutes later, a police car flew past them, blues and twos going and Jeff followed them.
In the truck, the rear cab window was opened and Karl updated the driver. “Frank, the cops are onto us! What are we gonna do?”
“Shit! Let me think…” a number of seconds passed, then Frank spoke again. “Dump the kid!”
“But at this speed, it’ll kill him!”
“Do you wanna get caught?”
“No!”
“Then dump him. The police’ll stop to take care of him. Dump him, now!”
The road they were travelling along was straight and they were now almost out of town. Karl lowered the tailgate and heaved Scott’s unconscious body towards it. Behind, the police could see it all unfolding and passed on a message to John’s phone, telling them to be prepared to stop suddenly and to wait for the ambulance to arrive, as they were going to carry on the pursuit.
John and Jeff looked at one another in complete horror. “He’s not gonna survive being pushed off the back of the truck at the speed it’s going!” John almost screamed.
“He’s unconscious, so he’ll be relaxed; it may not be as bad as it seems. Call for an ambulance, let’s get them on the way.” But it seemed the police had pre-empted the call, which was just as well, for a few seconds later, Scott’s body was rolled off the tailgate onto the road. The police car swerved to avoid him. Jeff heard the order to brake hard and did so and watched as the police disappeared into the distance, whilst his eldest son rolled over and over and finally came to a stop face down in the middle of the road.
John and Jeff leapt out of the car and raced to the prone form. “Don’t touch him, John!” Jeff instructed. With the sun rising, they could see scrapes and bumps and blood on Scott’s body. In the distance was the sound of sirens and a minute later the ambulance arrived.
“Scotty,” Jeff muttered, gently carding a hand through his eldest’s hair and felt something sticky on his fingers. “Oh God… Scotty!”
The paramedics gently but firmly pushed both Jeff and John out of the way as they knelt down by Scott’s side, armed with a first aid bag, a backboard and neck brace. Shortly after another patrol car arrived to direct any traffic that may start to arrive as dawn broke.
The medics scanned Scott’s body, then supporting him, carefully rolled him onto the backboard and secured the neck brace. The one holding the scanner looked up at Jeff.
“By some miracle he hasn’t broken anything, but he’s pretty banged up. He’s going to be black and blue all over and sore for a while. He’s cracked his head pretty hard, but it doesn’t appear to be too bad. Which one of you is coming with us in the ambulance?”
“John, you go with your brother, I’ll follow in the car,” Jeff said.
“Okay, dad.” The youngster was feeling pretty emotional at this point. It had been close! If they had been about a minute later arriving, they may have missed Scott completely and those two men would have gotten away and done God only knew what to him.
“Are you all right, John?”
“Yeah… just a little shaken; realising how close we came to losing Scott.”
One of the paramedics leant closer to Scott’s face. “There’s a puncture wound on his neck here. They’ve obviously injected him with something.”
“We saw him struggling to get away, and then he just suddenly went limp,” Jeff replied.
“We’ll keep a careful watch on his oxygen sat,” came the response as an oxygen mask was placed on Scott’s face. “Right, let’s get him to the hospital. I’m Mike, by the way and that’s Neil.” He looked at John. “You’re John, right?”
John nodded.
“What’s our patient’s full name?”
“Scott. Scott Tracy,” Jeff replied.
“Okay, thanks. Say… Tracy… you’re not any relation to Dr Sally Tracy are you?”
“I’m her son, and these are two of her grandchildren.”
“If you have a phone on you, I’d give her advance warning that we’re on our way in, as she’s helping out in emergency tonight, due to staff sickness. Wouldn’t want her to have too much of a shock when she sees Scott.”
Jeff nodded. “I’ll do that shortly.” He watched as the paramedics carefully lifted Scott onto a gurney and wheeled it to the waiting ambulance. He followed them, and carded a hand through his son’s hair before the gurney was lifted and secured inside the ambulance. He then hugged John and encouraged him to get in. Mike got in as well, Neil closed the doors and went round to the driver’s side, got in and they left, lights and sirens going.
One of the two police officers who had arrived in the other patrol car came up to him. “Are you going to be all right to drive, Mr Tracy?” he asked, “or would you like one of us to?”
Jeff was shaking a little with the shock of what had just happened to Scott, but he gave a slight smile. “I’ll be okay, Deputy Sanders, but thanks for the offer.
Sanders nodded and stepped aside. Jeff got into his car, took a deep breath to steady himself, then phoned his mother, who picked up after a couple of rings.
“Jeff, I was going to call you and see if it would be okay to come over for breakfast once I finished my shift here at the hospital. Volunteered to cover for some sickness.”
“Hi mom, I guess, er that’ll be okay. I just wanted to let you know that Scott is on his way to hospital in an ambulance, it’s not too serious. I’ll explain when I get there; John will be with him. I’m driving into town now so see you in a few minutes, but everything’s going to be okay.”
On the other end of the phone, Sally frowned at hearing the news, then in the distance heard the sound of sirens approaching. “I think I can hear the ambulance now. I’ll see you in a few minutes. Drive safely,” and she cut the call.
Jeff dropped the phone on the passenger seat and drove as fast as legally possible to the hospital to be with his two sons, but stopped briefly to pick up Scott’s discarded rucksack that was still sitting forlornly on the sidewalk where it had been dropped.
Sally was waiting at the entrance to emergency when the ambulance arrived. Neil jumped out of the driver’s seat, ran round the back and opened the doors. Sally took that as a signal and moved forward, all business-like.
John got out and seemed grateful to see a familiar face. “Grandma!” he exclaimed rushing forward for a hug, which he received before Sally released him and spoke to Mike.
“What have we got?”
“I believe this is your grandson, Scott Tracy,” Mike began. Usually relatives didn’t treat their own, but the emergency department were short staffed, so he continued. “Was thrown out of a pickup truck; doesn’t appear to have broken anything, but numerous cuts and contusions. Unresponsive, due to have been injected with some form of anaesthetic—”
“What!” Sally exclaimed, interrupting the brief. “How?”
“Attempted kidnapping, grandma,” John filled in.
Sally was confused. It was 4:45 am, had someone broken into the house and done it? She pulled herself together and paid attention to Mike who was speaking again.
“May have a grade one concussion. BP 110 over 70, sat 92 percent. Currently on oxygen. Placed on a backboard and in a neck brace as a precaution. Has remained unconscious throughout.”
“Okay. Cubicle 3,” Sally responded as the paramedics started wheeling her grandson inside. She turned to John as they reached the allotted cubicle. “John, wait out here and keep a lookout for your father. He should be arriving any moment now.”
John wanted to protest, but did as he was asked and stepped back as the curtains were drawn blocking his view of the proceedings.
“Ready for transfer, on three,” Sally said as a nurse and one of the paramedics prepared to move Scott onto the bed. “One. Two. Three.”
They gently dragged Scott, still on the backboard onto the bed and Mike wheeled the gurney out of the cubicle, whilst Sally ran a detailed scanner over her grandson’s body.
“Confirming grade one concussion, numerous contusions and cuts. Nurse Franklin, let’s get him out of these clothes.” She studied the readings on Scott’s spine and neck. “No fractures to spine or neck. We’ll clean him up before attempting to get him conscious. As this was an attempted kidnapping, he’s likely to be violent when he wakes up. He was struggling to get free when he was drugged.”
“Very well, doctor.” The nurse grabbed some scissors and began to cut the torn and scuffed clothes off him, until he was left in his underwear and then began cleaning the numerous cuts on his body. Sally cleaned his head wound and steri-stripped it together, then pulled back and eyelid to check his pupils. They were more dilated than they should have been and she realised he had been given a strong dose of whatever he’d been injected with. No doubt to keep him quiet until they got to their destination.
Outside the cubicle, John was keeping a lookout for his father and spied him as he entered. He waved frantically and Jeff saw and came over.
“Grandma’s with him,” John said, his voice shaking slightly.
Jeff pulled his son into a hug. “Are you okay, John?”
“I – I guess… numb would be the best description. Dad… you need to apologise to him, please… he’s hurting so much.”
“I know son. I should have done it straight away, but I was grieving and then it got harder and harder and… to be honest, I thought I’d gotten away with it, which was so very wrong of me. It’s hard for me to admit I’m wrong—”
“I don’t care, dad. You need to do it. We might not be so lucky next time and I don’t know about you, but I can’t lose another family member. Just do it, dad, for all our sakes.”
John walked off in search of a vending machine. Leaving Jeff to ponder what had been said.
A few minutes passed, then the curtain was parted briefly and Sally stepped out. “Jeff,” she began.
“Mom, how is he?”
“Extremely lucky. Are you going to tell me what happened?”
Jeff had the good grace to look a little shamefaced, took a deep breath and spoke. “Scott found out from John that the avalanche wasn’t his fault and—”
“Jefferson Tracy! Are you telling me you’ve let Scott think it was his fault since it happened?”
“Yes mom.”
The expression on Sally’s face said it all.
“I’m going to apologise to him, I swear. As you can imagine, he blew up at me and… and then he ran away from home this morning, and a couple of men tried to snatch him of Main Street. If… if I’d been a minute later, they’d have gotten away with it. As it was, the police chased them and they threw Scott off the back of the pickup.”
“Oh my God! Jeff!” Sally took a deep breath and continued. “Scott has a grade one concussion, contusions and cuts, but nothing is broken. His being unconscious helped that as he was totally relaxed. Had he been conscious it would probably have been a lot more serious… perhaps even fatal. We’ve cleaned him up and I’m about to get him conscious. I want you in there with me. He’s likely to wake up totally disorientated and violent because the last thing he will remember is the abduction and he’ll think he’s still been taken, so I need you to get through to him, okay?”
Jeff nodded.
“Once he’s conscious, we’ll move him up to a room. Where are your other sons?”
“At home. Virgil’s keeping watch on them.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
They entered the cubicle again. Sally asked for some sugammadex,, then looked at Jeff.
“Ready? Recovery is going to be pretty quick, so stand by.”
The shot was administered. Jeff moved to the head of the bed Scott was on. Sally administered the shot and waited. Nothing happened for about half a minute, then Scott twitched a few times and he seemed to be aware of something on his face. Managing to move an arm, he tried to remove it, but Sally stopped him.
“Scott honey, it’s grandma. Leave the mask on for the moment until you’re more with it. Scotty, you with me yet?” She gently tapped his cheek. “Come on Scotty, open your eyes for me.”
His breath hitched, his eyes suddenly flew open and he panicked; thrashing out at anyone in reach as if he was fighting for his life. “NOOOO!” he managed to scream. “NOOOOO!”
“Scott! It’s dad! You’re safe son! You’re safe! Scotty! Listen to me son!” He felt awful as he held his screaming son down on the bed.
Suddenly, the cubicle curtain moved and John came in, white as a sheet. “Scotty! It’s John! Scotty! You’re safe! SCOTTY!”
His older brother continued to struggle for a few more seconds, whilst John continued to talk to him and finally it sank it. Scott stopped struggling, although his breathing was heavy and panicked and his eyes finally focused on his younger brother, his father and grandmother.
“Hey there, Scooter,” Jeff said softly. “You’re safe, son. You’re safe.”
He tried to be brave because John was there, but the after effects of the drug had made him feel disorientated, emotional and he was shivering, which was a common side effect.
Hardly able to breathe, tears coursed down his face as he tore the oxygen mask off. “D – dad,” he mumbled. “D – dad.”
“It’s okay Scotty, I’ve got you, I’ve got you.” He took his shivering son in his arms and held him close. “You’re safe, son. You’re safe. And… and I’m sorry. This was all my fault. I’m sorry.” He kissed the top of his head. “I’m sorry for everything; for being a bad father; for not being there for you. I love you son, I love all of you.” He carded his fingers through his hair, trying to soothe him; feeling him almost hyperventilating as his son looked at him through wide, wild eyes.
Sally put an arm around John, seeing him white-faced and anxious for his brother. “He’ll be all right, John. It’s the drug they gave him, the side effects. He’ll be fine once it’s completely out of his system.” She looked at her son. “And Jeff, you need to have a proper talk with Scotty once he’s recovered, hear me?”
“Yes ma…. When can we take him home?”
“When that drug is completely out of his system, just in case of further side effects. We have no idea how much they actually gave him, so he could feel nauseous and disorientated for a few hours yet. The best thing we can do is move him to a private room and let him sleep it off.”
She glanced at her watch. It was coming up to 6.00 am. Too early to collect the other children, but she was off duty soon.
“Let’s get Scott settled, then I’ll go and look after the other three, get their breakfast sorted out, and I’ll bring them back with me, okay? That means you and John can stay here with Scott.”
“Thanks, mom.”
She nodded and went to get a room allocated for Scott to recover in before returning and overseeing his transfer there. The backboard was removed along with the neck brace and within fifteen minutes, Scott was fast asleep again in a bed in a private room.
“He’s likely to be more with it when he wakes up next time, but he may be in shock, so be prepared for that,” Sally told them as she stroked Scott’s cheek. “I’ll come back with the rest of the boys at 9.00 am. We may be able to take Scott home by then. Jeff, he may need some counselling after what he’s been through, but promise me, you’ll do the right thing by him. Make peace, please. Or next time, we may not be so lucky.”
With that, she turned and left John and his father looking at each other.
John, having recovered from the shock of it all and having his elder brother back safe, glared at his father.
“Don’t look at me like that, John,” Jeff said quietly.
“Why not? This is all your fault!”
“Don’t you think I know that! Don’t you think I’m feeling really bad about what I let happen and what’s happened?”
“That’s just it, dad. No. I don’t know. I mean, you’re the great Jeff Tracy, you’re never wrong, are you?”
“John…” the tone was edged with anger.
“No dad, you’re gonna listen for once. I may be only 15, but I have eyes and ears. We nearly lost Scott today! If something hadn’t woken me up earlier this morning, we could… we could be looking at a dead body! Scott could be dead! I can’t lose anyone else! I just can’t! You have to apologise to him because… because…” John burst into tears.
Jeff was shocked. Of all his children, John was the least emotional. He was the cool, calm detached one, with a voice that could have a pH of 0.1 when he wanted it to. He found himself moving quickly to his second eldest and enfolding him in his arms, hugging him tightly.
“John, it’s okay, it’s okay. You’re right, I need to be a proper father again, even though you’re all growing up so fast. You all still need your dad especially at times like this. I admit I’ve let you all down, especially Scott. I put far too much on him. I promise to do better, I swear.”
John sniffed as he attempted to get his emotions under control again. “I – I just want us to be a family again, dad,” he finally managed to mutter. “You have to apologise to Scott. I need your word that you’ll do that. Will you give it?”
“I give you my word, son. I will apologise.”
“Today? You’ll do it today?”
“If Scott’s up to it, I’ll promise, I’ll do it today.”
John sighed, straightened up and stepped back, wiping his eyes as he went.
“Look, you sit with your brother and I’ll go get us some breakfast, okay? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“That’d be great, thanks dad.”
John went and sat next to his brother’s bed and Jeff disappeared to get them some breakfast, returning about 10 minutes later with what smelt like a bacon and egg roll and some coffee which they both devoured with relish.
Scott woke up again at around 8.30 and seemed to be more cognisant as he stared into the concerned faces of his father and younger brother.
“Scotty?” Jeff asked tentatively. “How are you feeling, son?” He put as much warmth as he could into his voice.
“Welcome back, Scotty,” John said. “I’ll er… I’ll leave you two alone for a bit. Dad.”
Jeff sighed and nodded and John left the room.
Scott felt his dad take hold of a hand and squeeze it gently.
“You scared me son. I need to say some things, so please bear with me, okay?”
Scott was consumed with turmoil. On one side he was desperate for the love of his father and on the other, he still felt anger and he was having issues reconciling the two, but he nodded, still not speaking.
“I know I haven’t been the father you all deserve. I know I deserted you all after your… your mom and grandfather died… I made you grow up overnight; I made you lose your childhood and… and I let you take the blame for something that was never your fault and allowed you to carry that for years because… because I was a coward. I should have apologised to you as soon as I found out the truth; after I received that confession from The Hood, but I didn’t. You were unconscious again, and the longer the time went on, the harder I found it and in the end, didn’t apologise at all… I’ll try to make it up to you, son, I’m saying sorry here, but it seems so little after what I’ve put you through, but I promise I’ll try harder from now on.”
The silence stretched on… and on…
“Say something, Scotty, please.”
Oh how Scott wanted to believe what his father was saying. “You… you’ve made promises before,” he finally said quietly. “Promises that you’ve broken. How… how can I believe anything you say anymore?”
Jeff winced at that. He had no comeback because it was true. “I know,” he finally said. “My promises have been empty, but this has made me realise that I need to step up, I can’t lose you Scotty, I can’t lose any of you, I’ve lost too much already, so if that isn’t an incentive to step up, I don’t know what is.”
Scott took a deep breath. “I… I’ll give you one last chance,” he said. “You break one more promise and… and that’s it,” he finally replied. He shifted and winced, suddenly realising as the drug was expelled from his system how much he hurt, all over.
“Understood,” Jeff replied, then he frowned as he saw his son wince. “Son?”
“What… what happened to me? I hurt all over.”
“Well, to cut a long story short, you underwent an attempted abduction. Two men grabbed you just outside the bus station, injected you with something and tried to make a run for it, but John and I saw this and called in the sheriff who went in hot pursuit. Seeing they weren’t going to get away, the two men threw you out of the back of the pickup truck, thinking that would stop the pursuit and allow them to get away, but it didn’t because we were right behind. The police caught them just before they reached the highway.
“You’re bruised all over from the fall from the truck, but fortunately nothing was broken. So you’re gonna be sore for a week or so, but you’re safe, and for that I will be forever grateful.” He stood up, leant over Scott and kissed his forehead. “I love you son, never ever doubt that, even though I’m a complete jackass on occasions. My sons mean everything to me even though I haven’t shown it these last few years. I’m going to do my best to change and I want you to pull me up if you see me slipping. I want all of you to pull me up on my behaviour.”
Scott sighed, winced and tears once again, slipped down his face. “D – dad…”
Jeff immediately hugged him, offering comfort and that was how the rest of the family found them when they all arrived at just after 9.00 am.
“Scotty!” they all yelled, rushing to the bed.
“Whoa! Steady on there!” Jeff ordered them. “Scotty’s a little bit delicate, he’s a bit battered and bruised, so gently now!” He lifted Alan onto the bed and then stepped back to allow the brothers to all hug.
“Scotty…” Virgil whispered into his neck. “You scared me, bro… John told me to watch the others because he was going with dad ’cos you’d run away…”
“I’m sorry, Virg. I’m sorry. I – I didn’t know what else to do…”
“Are… are we going to be okay now?”
Scott looked up at his father, who nodded confidently.
“Yeah… I think we are, Virg…”
o0o0o0o