A BIG warm thank you to my amazing beta, webbswoman! Thanks for helping me out and for being honest-you pointed out stuff that I would've certainly missed-and for adding and removing parts of the story that didn't flow. Thanks again!
This is a sort of detour from my current story, I just need a break from action and drama. By the by, Graduation Day will soon be reaching it's halfway point. 6 more chapters, tops. Graduation Day isn't really my best work. Expect more fics (one-shots to 4 chapters max) coming from me soon! And I'm working on more T-Birds ideas/projects with another author on here, too. (Yes you, M!)
Summary: The boys go out on a rescue, while Gordon has to stay home. He's lonely, bored, and has an injured ankle. Hmm...
Disclaimer: I don't own International Rescue. And plus, why would I? They're too much work and I'm not getting any money from this. I don't own the fabulous Ben and Jerry either, but I do have some Turkey Hill FroYo in the freezer (but it's like..months old)..
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
"So, you mean," Gordon Tracy swallowed a small lump that had managed to form in his throat, "Goodnight Moon will find the mouse?"
Gordon was sitting on the black, polished marble counter with his elbows on his knees and hands on his face, legs crossed Indian style.
Scott was leaning against the counter, his arms crossed.
The brothers had been having a short conversation about a movie they had seen yesterday, before Gordon killed it with his childish question.
Scott uncrossed his arms and reached toward the auburn-haired Gordon, who was still staring at his older brother with wide eyes. The eldest brother attempted to slap his little brother on the head for such a stupid comment. Scott turned, a crackle could be heard from somewhere in the house and fuzziness followed. Then a familiar voice came over the tannoy.
"Thunderbird 5 to Tracy Island. Come in Tracy Island."
Scott gave Gordon a hard stare, "thank your lucky stars for now, Gordon Tracy. John saved you," he whispered before answering his other little brother's call.
"Tracy Island to Thunderbird 5. Hey, John. What's up?" Answered the oldest son.
"Hey Scott! There seems to be a disturbance in the Northwest Region of the US. The local authorities haven't contacted International Rescue yet, but I think this is a situation worth checking out."
"Right," Scott acknowledged his little brother and nodded. He hit a hidden button in the Vid-Comm panel to activate the alarm.
"Hey, what's up? This is Jenny," a soft accented voice rang out of his cell phone, "I'm not here right now, so just leave me a message! Talk to you soon."
"Hey Jen, Gordy here. Hope you're OK. So, call me back when you can. See ya," Gordon cut off the line and set it on the coffee table. Jenny had been one of his neighbors back in Kansas, and she and Gordon had remained friends when he had moved to Tracy Island with his family. Picking up his phone again, Gordon dialled another one of his close friends.
"Hello, you have reached the Tracy Household," his grandma's voice announced, "your call is important to me, so please leave a message and I will call you as soon as possible. Thank you and have a nice day."
"Hey Grams. As you can tell, it's your favorite grandson. I'm all fine, the guys are out on a rescue as you probably know, but maybe you can call back soon so we can talk? You know, just Nana and Gordy time like when I was little? Well Gram," Gordon cleared his throat, "love ya. Bye. Oh yeah, by the way, it's Gordon."
Gordon placed the phone back on the table.
"Why is the world ignoring me?" The aquanaut mumbled to the device on the old-fashioned coffee table, "doesn't anybody pick up their phone?"
Since Alan didn't have much experience outside of Thunderbird 3, and the rescue that the the Tracy boys were out in didn't involve Thunderbird 4, Jeff had decided to sit Gordon out of this rescue, mainly because Alan could get some experience under his belt on a craft other than his own and partly because Gordon suffered a small injury while playing basketball with his siblings a few days back. Ever since he landed awkwardly on his left ankle after making a shot to the basket, Gordon's brothers haven't stopped the jist that land sports were not his thing and that he should just live in the water for the rest of his life. Personally, Gordon thought that joke was miles away from even a chuckle.
The red-head shook the painful thought away and plopped himself on the comfy vanilla-colored living room couch and let out a long a depressing sigh before reaching for his phone again, his fingers dialing another familiar number.
"Hey! Tin-Tin here! Currently, I'm unavailable, but if you drop your name and number I'll call back ASAP. Kisses," Tin-Tin's recorded voice gave the listener an audible smooch and a beep could be heard.
"Yo, 'Tins, how's it going on that project? I'm too lazy to come see for myself. Other than that I wouldn't want to disturb your concentration or anything. Yeah I'm having so much fun up here. I'm in the living room, in case you want to talk. Yup, anytime is Gordy time! So yeah, you know you can call anytime you want too. So yeah, later, and tell Brains I said hi!"
Gordon could have slapped himself for that stupid message. It made him sound like a teenage boy again, but there is a chance that she might call back. Please please please call back, Tin, the young man thought.
Jeff Tracy had insisted that Kyrano took a much-needed vacation a few days ago, the poor man worked so hard for the Tracy family, he definitely deserved some Kyrano-time . For his time off, Kyrano had decided to visit his old co-workers and friends at his old jobs: The Hilton, Kew Gardens and if he was allowed in, the Kennedy Space Center. He trusted that his daughter Tin-Tin would be safe on the Island and knew that she would be safe with the Tracy's. Currently, Tin-Tin was with Brains in his Laboratory, or as Gordon liked to call it, Brains' lair. They were working on some experiment that Gordon hadn't really payed attention to when they had explained it over breakfast a few weeks back. Must be important, Gordon thought, oh well. Good luck to them. The sooner they finish, the sooner they can resurface from Brains' lair.
Gordon set down the phone on the coffee table in front of him again and contemplated who he should call next. The phone was the only portal of communication he had, unless he wanted to hear Brains and Tin-Tin talk their mumbo-jumbo hakuna-matata mahalo lingo again. Oh wait. It's scientific language.
Gordon actually thought about going down to Brains' lab. Just for some company.
Thinking better of it, he picked up the phone again and dialled one of his WASP buddies.
It rang once...
Rang twice...
"Hello?"
Gordon shot out of his seat, "Markwell! It's Tracy! Man, I'm so glad to hear your-"
"Howdy, you've reached Tony Marwell's cell, this phone is for when I'm on dry land of course. If I'm not doing a stint underwater, I'll probably call you back as soon as I receive the message I hope you leave after the.."
BEEP.
"Haha Markwell. Funny voicemail. But remember: I'M the funny one in the crew. Got that? Anyways, call me if you're stateside. Maybe we can hang out again. Deal? Later dude. Tracy out."
Gordon sat down again. He thought of going down to Command and Control with his dad just to see how the rescue was going. But then again, if he went down there, it would just make him feel weird that he didn't go to the rescue alongside his brothers.
Jeff Tracy rarely went on rescues anymore, and although the guy hid behind the 'I want to be the one manning you boys on the ground' excuse, everyone knew Jeff was getting old. His sons assured him that he did enough for the welfare of everyone, and that maybe it's time to step down and let Scott control the field. Gordon rarely missed seeing a rescue, but today felt kinda crazy for him, he just wanted to calm down instead of getting racked up if his brothers got into a sticky situation. Plus, it would be awkward, Dad must be concentrating really hard on this mission. Better leave him alone. I'll check with him later.
Gordon was at his wit's end. Facing boredom, he did what any sensible Tracy would do when faced with a situation like this:
Eat.
He painfully lifted himself off the couch and limped towards the kitchen. Having already poked his head in the fridge, he reached for the freezer and took out a pint of Rocky Road ice cream. "Ah the two men in my life rejoin me again," Gordon lovingly stared at the cold pint in his hand, " I'm very loyal to y'all Ben and Jerry."
Grabbing a spoon, he limped again towards the living room and flipped on the television.
"International Rescue is handling this hair-raising situation very well. They have cleared almost all of the hikers from the flood...," the news reporter said from the television.
Gordon watched the video being taken from the mission. He had to admit, it was pretty scary. Gordon had been able to see how difficult his family's line of work was when he was interned at a hospital in the States. The aquanaut had tried to watch as much of the Thunderbirds in action as possible. Pushing those chilling thoughts to the back of his mind, Gordon dug a big spoonful of Rocky Road and stuck it in his mouth, aimed the remote control to the television and fired-effectively changing the channel.
"Hello, viewers. This is NTBS and as you can see, the Thunderbirds are working effectively to rescue these trapped hikers and have made much progress in such a short time. I have never seen a team like International Rescue before. They rely on teamwork to complete their tasks of saving countless people each rescue mission. It must have taken years for the members of International Rescue to form the bond, trust and much respect-"
Gordon sneered and cracked a smile, "Dude, you have no idea how long it took," and changed the channel once more.
This time, the screen displayed a lush view of Wenatchee and then showed a man that was said to be the director of the Forest. Then it showed a journalist reporting from a building near the flooded Forest.
"As of now, there are two IR members on the ground trying to locate the two missing hikers. We will try to bring you more information as soon as we get it..."
Gordon was getting desperate, he really didn't want to see the rescue on TV; he was worried enough about his siblings. Plus, he would hear his brothers' points of view later at debriefing. If he was awake. The whole family was aware that after Gordon got his fix of sugar he went out like a baby. The aquanaut stuck another big spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and savored its delicious flavor before switching the channel once again.
"And now," Gordon straightened in his seat after hearing the narrator's voice, "back to As the Bell Rings on..."
"NICKELODEON!" Gordon yelled along with the narrator and sat back comfortably to watch the show.
When the ending credits started rolling, Gordon sighed and picked up his phone again.
"Hey it's Alex. Leave your message after the beep...'BEEP!' no, just kidding."
Or not.
His Rocky Road was completely depleted, so he set it down on the table.
Gordon sighed again, "Why did everyone leave me? I'm so lonely. I miss my family."
From his seat on the couch, the aquanaut could hear scattered snickers.
"Gordy!" Three voices cried out in unison.
Gordon immediately turned around, a smile appearing on his face as he stood up with open arms.
As soon as he did, his two big brothers both rushed to him, giving him bear hugs and messing around with him, while his baby brother knuckle-touched him and took a seat on the couch.
"Aw man, this rescue wasn't as fun without Gordy to lighten the mood," Scott said once the four young men had settled on the couches.
"Yes, completely," Virgil agreed, "we would trade Alan for you any day."
They all laughed, even Alan.
Gordon took a look at his brothers-their dirtied uniforms, their tired faces-and realized that he wouldn't trade them for the world.
"So, Gordo," Alan said, "have you missed us?"
Gordon smiled.
"You guys wouldn't believe how much."
Aww, brotherly love. How cute. Hope you enjoyed reading and don't forget to leave your reviews!
A big warm thank you for reading!
Minnie : )