#no 8

A hand crept along the ground at an astonishingly slow rate. Virgil was aware of it, glad at the sign of life, but Gordon was oblivious and jumped when it touched his leg. He couldn’t take his eyes it as the hand tried to grasp onto his pant leg.

It only took three tries before the hand stilled, still touching Gordon’s leg, and still Gordon couldn’t tear his eyes away from it…

And with a squeal of brakes the bus pulled in front of them and paramedics took over. And Scott was gone. And Virgil was left alone with Gordon.

He had plenty of practice dealing with someone who was dissociating, but usually it was Scott who was elsewhere, not Gordon. This was new territory for them both.

Even when Gordon had needed to go WASP in the past he’d never dissociated before. But then…he’d never killed his brother before. Almost killed his brother.

No one had been too surprised when the three of them had stumbled into some kind of heist. They were Tracys, it came with the territory. And Virgil had not been surprised in the slightest when both his military brothers had immediately switched.

Being held at gunpoint was nothing new to any of them – even if people rarely used actual guns these days – and Scott immediately began to try and defuse the situation. With John’s help he soon had them at each other’s throats and all they needed to do was to wait for the police or GDF to arrive.

What surprised everyone was when guns were suddenly going off in the fight that suddenly broke out. Or how Gordon ended up with one of the guns.

Or how exactly he managed to shoot Scott.

Whatever had happened didn’t matter now. Scott was on his way to the hospital and he would be getting the best care. Virgil could have gone with him, but Gordon needed him.

It looked like his brother hadn’t even noticed that Scott had gone, he was still staring at the spot on his leg that Scott’s hand had rested on.

‘John?’ ‘Kayo’s on her way to the hospital. Grandma and Alan are taking the slow route. I’ll be down shortly once I have all the footage of what happened.’ ‘Thanks John. I have Gordon.’ ‘Do you need a hand?’ ‘I don’t know. I’ll holler if I do.’ ‘FAB.’

Virgil ignored the looks from the GDF officers who were just starting to arrive and inched himself closer to Gordon without touching him.

He started with making his breathing obvious. In. Out. In. Out. And he was so relieved when unconsciously Gordon began to breathe with him.

Shuffling even closer so that their thighs were almost touching, Virgil murmured quietly.

‘Five things you can see.’ Silence ‘Five things you can see, Gordon.’ Silence. A breath. Virgil opened his mouth. ‘Ch-chair. Table. L-lamp. Paper. Car.’ ‘Good. Four things you can touch.’ ‘Carpet. Knee. Watch. Er…brother.’

Virgil risked gently placing his hand over Gordon’s.

‘Three things you can hear.’ ‘Sirens. GDF. You.’

Virgil was rewarded with a shaky smile as Gordon looked at him and then immediately looked away. Two more to go, and if Virgil was honest, these were the two that would make or break his brother.

‘Two things you can smell.’ ‘Gunpowder. Bl-blood.’

Squeezing Gordon’s hand, Virgil finished off.

‘One thing you can taste.’ ‘Iron.’

Gordon whispered the last word before collapsing against Virgil, who immediately pulled him in close.

‘What have I done?’ ‘Nothing. You’ve done nothing.’ ‘I shot him, Virgil. You saw me! I shot Scott. And it was a kill-shot!’ ‘Gordon. No one is blaming you. Everything happened so fast. And you know Scott, he’s always jumping in the way…’ ‘Don’t – please. Just tell me Scott’s going to be alright.’ ‘John?’ ‘Scott’s in surgery now. Prognosis is good.’ ‘I – I didn’t kill him?’ ‘Gordon…EOS and I have reviewed all the footage from all angles. It wasn’t you that shot Scott.’ ‘It wasn’t?’ ‘No. I’ve already sent the footage to the GDF. And a cab should be pulling up right now to bring you both here. I will see you in fifteen.’ ‘FAB John, and thanks.’

The promised cab was waiting for them and they made it to the hospital in exactly fifteen minutes to find John waiting for them. With cups of hospital coffee and a reassuring smile.