Alien

by thunderbird5

My entry for the 2015 Halloween Alien challenge. It was a beautiful night out that night. She was looking forward to the meteor shower John had told her about. Little did she know that not only would she miss it, she would also almost lose her star loving friend that night.

Thanks to TB's LMC for helping me with this story.

Disclaimer: How I wish the boys were mine. But no, they belong to someone else.

Alien

It was a beautiful night out that night. I sighed as I stood on the beach and watched the stars twinkle; I missed Alan so much even knowing he'd be back at the end of the month. Somewhere up there he was on Thunderbird Five watching over us all. John, who should've been out there somewhere on the island getting the best vantage point, told me earlier that we'd see a wonderful meteor shower that night. It would have been fun to watch if Alan had been down there with me.

I turned and made my way back up to the house. Once inside I found Scott, Virgil and Gordon watching a movie in the lounge. I smiled at them and went to my room, set my alarm clock to wake me at 12am and got into bed.

I jumped out of bed, the floor vibrating under my feet. Something had or was about to happen. I stumbled into the hall and nearly got run over by my father. "What's going on?" I asked frantically as I grabbed him by the arm.

"I do not know, but we must get to the lounge quickly."

We hurried down the hall and into the lounge. Finding myself a spot next to Gordon looking out the wall of windows, I turned my eyes toward the sky. There was a bright yellow light coming near the island, too bright to be a meteor. Whatever it was, it was big.

"Hope it doesn't hit the house," Gordon breathed in awe.

"Or the trees. I don't feel like repainting the house again after that fire last time." Virgil grimaced at the thought.

The boys were so fixed on watching the light that they didn't even notice John, who was standing in the middle of the runway watching the light. Why he wasn't moving I didn't know. It was if that light had him in some sort of trance. He should've been running to safety!

Just like that the light dropped out of the sky toward the runway, straight at John. Realizing that he was about to be barbecued, I ran past his brothers and out of the sliding doors, taking the steps so fast I think I was flying. My only thought was to try and push him out of the way somehow. In the back of my mind I knew that I wouldn't be in time, that he was too far away and that the light was closer to him than I was. I could hear his brothers yelping behind me as they realized what was going on.

I yelled, "John, look out!"

But just before reaching the runway I tripped over my feet, and fell face first into the garden alongside it. I groaned in pain, got myself up onto my feet and tried to look for John.

"Are you looking for me, Tin Tin?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned around and saw him standing there, a smile on his face. "How…that light, you were about to become..?"

"Fried?" He was blinking his eyes as if he had something in them.

Something felt strange, out of place, as if something was missing. "John, don't you remember the light?"

"Sure I do, I was standing right there when it came down." He pointed to the runway. "It was beautiful, wasn't it?"

John's brothers showed up and they too looked shocked at what they had just seen.

"You okay, Johnny?" Scott looked him up and down.

"Sure, I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"Okay, now I'm worried." After all, how could he be okay after being hit by, or enveloped by, or whatever'd by, that light? I reached out and touched his bare arm. He felt really hot. "Do you know what that light was?"

"No, I have no idea what it was."

Before I could ask anything else, he fell forward. Scott was fast enough to catch him before he could hit the ground. Something fell out of his hand and rolled under a bush.

Lifting his brother into his arms, Scott turned toward the house. "I'm taking him to his room. Something's not right with him."

At least I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that.

All the brothers headed back to the house, talking amongst themselves trying to figure out what the light had been and why John was acting so odd. I watched them for a moment and then reached down to pick up the object John had been holding onto. It felt furry and warm and was shaped like an egg. When it didn't move or bite, I opened my hand and lifted it up to my ear to listen for any sound. Nothing. I decided to take it back to the house and show it to John's brothers, thinking maybe they could figure out what it was and if it had something to do with John and the light.

As I passed the kitchen, I found my father making a pot of coffee. "Father, do you know what this is?" I held out the furry egg.

My father touched the egg and frowned. "Something's not right."

"Like something's missing?" I asked.

"Yes, I cannot explain it but, I...it's as if I should know something or if it's someone."

"What do you mean?" I gently placed the egg into my shirt pocket.

"I wish I could give you the answer but I'm not sure what the answer is."

"Maybe I should ask Brains if he knows what this thing is." I turned, ready to go search for Brains.

"He's not here Tin Tin, remember? He left this morning with Mr. Tracy for a conference."

"Oh yes, I forgot. Thank you for reminding me." Not sure what to do with the strange egg, I headed upstairs to check on the boys. I was just about to knock on John's bedroom door when a whispered "Tin Tin" made me turn. Gordon was standing there looking lost. "Is everything alright, Gordon?"

"Not sure. Something's not right. I can't explain it but it's as if something's missing."

Taking the egg out of my pocket, I showed it to him. "Do you know what this is?"

Gordon touched it tentatively, pulling his hand back suddenly. "What is that thing?"

"It fell out of John's hand when he passed out. I thought that one of you might be able to tell me what it might be."

"What might what be?" Scott and Virgil, it turned out, were standing right behind me so I asked them, "Do you know what this is?" I held out the egg for them to see.

"What is that?" Scott poked at it.

"Can I have a look at it?" Virgil took it out of my hand and turned it around and around in his hands. "Feels warm."

"It's been like that since John dropped it. Is he okay?"

I looked at the brothers as they all answered, sounding strangely lost, "Not sure."

"John's warm to the touch and I'm worried about that." Scott was staring at the John's closed bedroom door. "If he's not okay tomorrow morning we'll have to take him to a doctor or get Brains back to the island."

"Whatever that light was, it must have done something to him." Gordon looked thoughtful. "I mean, it was so bright that it blinded us all. How come you were able to run down to the runway without being blinded yourself, Tin Tin?"

"Maybe it only had an effect on men and not women?" I postulated.

"Who knows, things aren't exactly um, normal tonight." Gordon looked at John's bedroom door.

"I'll stay with him tonight," I offered.

Scott stepped in front of John's door. "No, you don't have to, Tin Tin."

"I insist. You're all tired after the training you all went through today. Please let me watch over him tonight?"

The brothers looked at each other and nodded. Giving me a hug, Scottsaid, "Please let us know if anything happens."

"Will do. Now go to bed and let me look after your brother."

Bidding each brother a good night's rest, I entered John's room and sat down at his desk. I must have fallen asleep for a few minutes because when I woke up again I gave a startled yelp as something moved in my shirt pocket. Remembering the egg I had in there, I quickly got it out and placed it on the desk. Something made me look at John's bed; only then did I realize that he was gone. A yellow light from the desk brought my attention back. The egg was glowing and John - or rather a little boy maybe 5 inches tall looking just like him - appeared before me. "Help me, Tin Tin?"

I felt frozen to the spot, like the little boy in front of me was holding me in place somehow. "J…John, is that you, what happened?"

Before the little John could answer me, he disappeared back into the egg with a flash. Grabbing it and putting it back into my pocket, I jumped up and watched as full-sized John-that-I-know came walking out of the bathroom. "Hi, you okay?" I asked him breathlessly.

He looked strange, as if he wasn't sure of himself. "Did you maybe pick something up that I dropped in the garden?"

That feeling was back again, a feeling of something that was missing. I shook my head, feeling that I shouldn't reveal what I had. "I'll go look for it in the garden tomorrow if you can tell me what I should be looking for."

Getting back into bed, John smiled…although it didn't reach his eyes. The fact that he didn't even seem to be bothered by the fact that I was in his room was enough to tell me that John was most definitely not John. "Don't worry, I'll find it myself," he said.

"Is it important?" I regretted asking the question instantly. His eyes went from a beautiful blue to inky black with strange flashes of light in them. "Um, just asking, sorry."

His eyes turned back to normal and he turned away from me. As soon as I was sure that he was asleep again, I hurried out of his room and made my way to my father's room. I knew that I should tell John's brothers that the man they thought was their brother wasn't their brother at all. That some version of John was inside of the egg in my pocket - as strange as that sounded even to me. But I needed to talk to my father first. After all, if he couldn't explain it, I doubted anyone else could.

I ran into my father's room without knocking. "Father, Father! Wake up!"

He was instantly awake, sitting bolt upright in bed. "What's wrong?"

"Remember the furry egg? It's John!"

"Slow down. How is the egg John?" He looked as perplexed as I felt.

I got the egg out of my pocket, sat down on his bed and placed it before him. "I don't know how this happened, Father. The egg started moving in my pocket a while ago. I placed it on John's desk and then a yellow light appeared. John was standing there next to it when the light disappeared!"

"Next to it?" He looked at the small egg, then back to me and I knew what he was thinking. After all, John Tracy was six feet, three inches tall. The egg was lucky if it was six inches long!

"Well, a little John. He looked like a little boy and was maybe five inches tall or so. He asked me to help him. After that, he disappeared in a flash of light."

My father had his hand resting gently on the egg. "And John?"

"He wasn't in bed when this happened. But Father, that's not John – the full-sized one, I mean. He came out of the bathroom after Little John disappeared, and that feeling of something that's missing came back with him. He asked me if I had picked something up outside in the garden and I told him no. I then asked him if he could tell me what it was and if it was important to him."

Stroking the fur on the egg thoughtfully, my father asked, "What happened then?"

I closed my eyes at the memory of what I'd seen. "His eyes turned black with these flashes of light in them. I told him that I was just asking when I saw how he reacted. As soon as I said that, his eyes turned back to normal again. Father, something happened to John, something horrible happened to him on the runway!"

Father picked up the egg and looked at it. "So if the real John is in here and whatever it is from here is inside of his body, it would seem that we must find a way to switch them back again."

I nodded. That was about the only thing that was making sense in my world right now. "Yes, but how? How do we do that?"

He rubbed the egg purposefully, then placed it onto the bed as soon as it started to glow yellow again. "Let us see if John is able to talk to us."

I looked at my father, surprised that he was able to make the egg come to life again. My father knew more about ghosts and things than me so it stood to reason that he would somehow know what to do in a situation like this. Right before our eyes, John appeared as a little boy next to the egg as the light flashed and disappeared. He looked scared and lost. "Help me, Tin Tin."

My heart broke, seeing him like this. One thing I'm not used to seeing in any of the Tracy brothers is a scared one! "Tell us how," I implored. "What should we do to help you?"

Little John was silent for a few minutes. Finally his chin lowered dejectedly to his chest. "I...I don't know. One moment I was looking at the stars and the next a yellow light appeared out of nowhere and blinded me."

When he didn't say anything more my father asked, "Do you remember what happened next?"

"No, I don't know. It's as if I'm drifting, lost somewhere, like I'm here but not quite all here. Do you understand?"

The more he spoke, the more I started to wonder how we would be able to help him. But my father seemed to think so. "Yes, I think I understand." I looked at him in surprise. He smiled gently at me. "Those flashing lights in Large John's eyes must be pieces of the real John trying to find the other half of his soul." I just stared at him. His soul?

I looked down at the small boy version of John on the bed. "Before you, uh, that other you, came out of the bathroom, did you know that he was coming? Is that why you went back into the egg?"

Little John sat down on top of the egg and pulled his legs up to his chest. "Yes, he scares me, Tin Tin. I don't know why but he's scary."

I began to understand what my father seemed to already know. Somehow it seemed that Little John was the little boy somewhere deep within his soul, just like we all have that little someone within ourselves that we don't always want people to see. It was as if Little John was a physical manifestation of the part of him separated from his whole self!

He looked so dejected. Sad. Like he might be on the verge of crying. I reached a finger out toward him but stopped short of touching him. After all, I didn't know what effect that might have and didn't want to hurt him. I pulled my hand away and said gently, "Don't worry, we'll think of something."

"Please be careful, Tin Tin. Kyrano. If that thing did this to me, who knows what he'll do to you and my family?"

"Do not worry. We'll find a way to return you to your body again." My father reached out his hand and touched Little John's head. After that the boy was gone with a flash of light.

"Father, those lights I saw in John's eyes, could they be his other half?"

My father smiled and handed the egg back to me. "Yes, that's the other half of him. It's the side we all have to control sometimes."

I knew what my father meant. We all had two sides, a good and a bad side to our personalities. The John we got to see now, the small boy, was the kind and loving part. The other side I saw in those black eyes was the raging half. It made me shiver to think of any of our bad sides being allowed to act without the tempering our good sides brought to our lives. "Where do we start?" I asked my father. "I guess we have to let his family know."

"We have no proof of what it is that came from the egg and caused this split in John. You know the Tracys; they will want more answers than this. For now, if they ask, merely tell them that they should be careful around their brother. Whatever it is inside of John wouldn't show its true colors to them like it has shown to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I believe earlier you were correct in your assessment that it only affects men. It is unafraid to show you what lies beneath because it does not see you as a threat."

I frowned. "This sounds like the stories you have told me of men thinking of women as less than equals in our home country."

"Yes. Perhaps the creature from the egg is from a society where that is still how they treat their women." He shook his head, then seemed to come back to the matter at hand. "Be careful, my Tin Tin."

"I will, Father." I gave him a hug goodnight and left for my own room.

As I passed John's door, a red beam shone through the underside. I jumped over it, scooted off to the side of the door and watched it as it slipped left and right across the floor. Frightened out of my wits, I ran to my room and locked the door.

I knew I had to find a way to get rid of this thing that was inside my friend's body quickly before it could harm one of his brothers. Opening a link to Thunderbird Five from my wall panel communicator, I waited for Alan to answer. When he finally did, I told him about the yellow light, the egg and what had happened to his brother. I know my father said I shouldn't tell any of them but…well, this was my Alan and I was scared half to death! I also knew that being our space station, Thunderbird Five might be the only thing to have an answer to all of this.

"So you're saying that something has taken over my brother's soul?" Alan asked after I'd spilled the entire story out. Needless to say, he seemed skeptical.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, Alan, and my father agrees. And Alan…whatever the egg creature is, it's not friendly at all."

Alan looked thoughtful. "I felt strange a while ago."

"Like something's missing?"

"Yeah, like something wasn't right." He looked surprised. "How did you know?"

"All of your brothers felt it, just like my father and I did."

Snapping his fingers, Alan said, "I bet you that Grandma, Father and Brains felt it, too."

"If we felt it here on the island and you felt it up there on Five, it's possible they all did, too, even though they're not on Tracy Island right now. And if so, that means that John's connection to us was broken when that thing took him over."

I looked at him, wondering if he'd roll his eyes as he usually did when I became a bit more esoteric like my father.

"What?" he said with a blink like he hadn't quite picked up on what I was saying.

"Think about it, Alan."

"I guess you could be right, Tin Tin, but why do we all feel it in this case? I mean, if one of us gets hurt on a rescue or wherever, the rest of us don't know until we either see them or hear it from someone else."

I played with a strand of my hair. "I guess this is different." A thought occurred to me. "Maybe because we're dealing with a complete split of John's soul. That doesn't happen when you are injured on a rescue."

"Guess so." He didn't sound really convinced and I felt way out of my depth at that point.

I sighed. "What if you sent out a message into space, a message explaining what has happened and that we need help? We could send a picture of the egg along with the message." I touched my shirt pocket where the egg was located.

"You sure that's a good idea, Tin Tin? What if that other John sees the message?"

I looked toward my bedroom door and shrugged. "It's a risk I'm willing to take, if you are willing to risk it too on behalf of your family."

"Have you told them about this yet?"

"No. Father thought it wasn't a good idea but was very mysterious about why."

"But you told me."

I smiled. "I never could keep anything from you, Alan."

He grinned, then reality seemed to crash back in, souring his features. "Okay, send me a picture of the egg and I'll make a video message to go along with it and send it out on all frequencies. Maybe someone or something will answer."

"All right."

"Tin-Tin, why would your father ask you not to tell us?"

"I think he wanted to make quite sure before he calls your father and tells the rest of the island. Look, I don't know what's going on and this thing's totally freaking me out down here."

"Okay, I understand. Tell you what, I'll contact my brothers and tell them what's happening so you aren't stuck trying to explain the unexplainable. Just send me the pictures and I'll encrypt it and send it out. If anyone from Earth sees it, no one will know where it came from since it will bounce from one satellite to the next."

"Okay, I'll send the pictures now."

"Five out."

I made sure that no one was at my door before I took the egg out and snapped a picture of it with my phone. I quickly sent it to Alan and was searching for somewhere safe in my room to put the egg when the red beam suddenly shone under my door. Quickly dodging it, I ran straight into my bathroom and watched the beam as it touched everything it could reach, making all objects glow red under its scrutiny. A cold shiver ran down my back. Time was short and something told me that thing in John knew that the egg was somewhere in the house.

When the beam disappeared I quickly opened my desk drawer and found a padded purple velvet bag with a drawstring. It had once been the gift bag for a beautiful necklace from Alan. How fitting, I thought, that his gift should now help me in a way he could never have fathomed. Putting the egg safely into the bag, I hung it bag around my neck with the long strings and pulled a jacket out of my closet. I wouldn't be sleeping tonight, knowing that there was an alien in the house.

I tiptoed to John's room, opened the door silently and checked that he was back in bed. Sure enough, he was sound asleep. I hurried out of the villa, used the monorail to get to the roundhouse and locked myself into one of its rooms. I wasn't sure what I should do next. What could I do to help John? Sitting down on a chair, I took the egg out of the bag and held it in my closed hand.

John loves the stars so much and this is what they do to him, I thought sadly. A soft knock at the door made me hide the egg again. "Who's there?"

"It's me."

I peeped out the window near the top of the door and saw my father standing there, so I unlocked and opened the door. "Father, what are you doing here?"

"Alan told me to come here." My father held out a tablet to me.

I took it and saw Alan's worried face looking back at me. "Alan?"

"Hi, Tin Tin. I saw a red light on the CCTV cameras shining into my family's rooms. I couldn't wake them up after it left so I contacted your father and told him to hide somewhere away from his bedroom door."

"Yes, I saw that red beam, too. I had a bad feeling about it. I think that the thing inside of John knows that the egg's somewhere in the house, which is why I came here to the roundhouse." I shivered. "So, it looks like you couldn't warn them in time because that thing, whatever it is, was one step ahead of us."

Alan nodded grimly. "I'm keeping my eye on John's watch just in case he decides to search outside as well."

"Did you send the message?" I asked as my father entered the room and seated himself in the same chair I'd just occupied. He looked lost in thought.

"Yes, I did and I got a message back again." His face faded out and a screen opened with only a few words written on it. "Few hours before sunrise" is what the message said. "One will live, the other will die. Light overcomes darkness."

"I don't understand. What do these words mean?" I felt so frustrated.

"Maybe that thing doesn't like the sun or something." Alan's face reappeared on the tablet.

"Light overcomes darkness." I looked at my father who was repeating the last words over and over. "Light overcomes darkness."

"Do you know what it means, Father?"

"Many people refer to International Rescue as their ray of hope in their darkest hour."

"I've heard those words many times before," Alan confirmed.

"Yes but what do those words mean now that your family's unable to wake up?" I played with the zip on my jacket, trying to use it as a means of focusing my jumbled thoughts.

"Maybe I can give you the answer." My heart felt like jumping strait out of my chest at the unfamiliar voice as a bright yellow light filled the room, nearly blinding us.

There in the middle of the room stood a winged man. Or was it a woman? "I'm called Lia," she said, most definitely with a female-sounding voice. "I'm from a galaxy far from here. We've been after my brother for some time."

"Your brother, is he the one inside of John?" My father sounded upset and yet not at all surprised.

"Yes, since he was banished from form he tends to use others as his host, either killing them at the end of possession or leaving them damaged forever."

The light faded and the alien's wings closed. I could now see that it was definitely a human-shaped woman standing in front of us. She was beautiful and pale with long, shiny brown hair down to her waist and large wings like the drawings you see of heavenly angels, only the feathers on hers were the same color as her hair.

"Why did he take John as his host and why's our John a tiny boy in this egg?" I showed the egg to Lia.

"Why he picked your friend, I do not know. Why's your friend in the egg? Well, that wasn't supposed to happen either."

"Maybe my brother didn't want your brother to take him over?" I had almost forgotten about Alan.

"If what you say is true, it's the first time someone was able to fight him off."

"Not exactly, Lia." My father approached her and my heart raced. She seemed nice and harmless, but if her kind could do whatever her brother had done, I wasn't going to just be okay with my father getting that close to her! "John's soul has been split in half."

"Ah," she said, nodding sagely. It occurred to me it was strange she spoke English, but then I wondered about that Star Trek Gordon watches and if there was some kind of universal translator at work. "That is interesting. I wonder how he managed that."

I could see some small amount of exasperation on my father's face. It sure sounded like Lia was more scientifically interested than she was in making John whole. "What can we do to get his body back to being his alone, and to put his soul back together again?"

"Not just that, what will happen to him when the sun comes up?" Alan sounded worried.

"When the sun comes up John will be lost forever unless…unless we can get my brother back into the egg and swap the portion of your brother out of the egg and back to his body." The alien had a strange ring in her hand suddenly, out of the blue.

"May I ask what that ring is for and why your brother should be inside of the egg?" My father looked the alien up and down. It was comforting to know that he was wary of her, rather than entirely trusting.

"The egg form is a prison. My brother is, as you would say, evil. We didn't know that he would be able to transport himself prison and all the way he did, from our galaxy. The ring I have here is the key to set your friend free and lock my brother up again."

I looked down at my watch and saw that we only had an hour left before sunrise. "Look, we don't have much time left. Please tell us what to do, Lia!"

"Yes, time is short." Lia sighed. "You have to get my brother outside here in the open. There we'll have to get the ring on his finger and the egg in his hand to swap him and your friend."

"I know!" Alan was standing upright in the communications panel transmission, his eyes shining. "I have the perfect idea to get him down to the beach and get him to make the mistake of putting the ring on his finger in one go."

I smiled. Leave it to Alan to come up with a solution. "Alright, let's hear it, then!"

Back inside the villa about fifteen minutes later I watched my father go into the kitchen to pack a picnic basket. I hurried to Jeff's desk and got a small box out of the drawer that I'd noticed there the other day when he'd asked me to retrieve his favorite pen and journal. The box was just big enough to put the egg into. I placed the boxed egg in my jacket pocket, then watched as Lia cast some sort of spell on me to mask the egg and Little John from her brother dwelling inside Large John.

That done I went upstairs to John's room and knocked on the door softly. "John?" My hands were clammy, my pulse was racing. It was all I could do to swallow over the frightened lump in my throat.

When the door opened I stood face to face with who I now knew was Lia's brother. His eyes were John's normal ones but the feeling of something being missing came crashing over me again. "Something wrong?" he asked.

His voice didn't sound normal anymore. At least, not like the John I knew. "Well," I stammered, "I-I've been waiting for so long and, I…I'm unable to wait any longer."

"Wait for what?"

I took his hand in mine and gave him a quick kiss on the lips – something I'd never done before with this particular brother. But the coldness of his lips reminded me this wasn't Alan's brother at all. "Come with me and I'll show you." I tried smiling sweetly. He got a little furrow in his forehead as if trying to draw on John's knowledge to figure out what I was up to.

Before he could get too suspicious I started dragging him down the hall. Since he doesn't know how humans think or why they do certain things, Lia reasoned he would have no idea what was going to happen, and since she confirmed that her brother would not see me as threatening, every fiber of my being was praying this would work.

Passing the kitchen, I grabbed the picnic basket and made my way out of the house with John. At the beach I stopped and pointed to a spot which was far enough from the both the house and the water's edge to hopefully not affect any of the unconscious Tracys or get me drowned in the process. "Why don't we sit over there and watch the sunrise together?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw his eyes go black again and then he smiled. "That sounds like a good idea. Your life will change after sunrise."

I pretended to be surprised. "Really, why's that?"

"You'll see."

Unpacking the basket on the beach and making sure that the egg was safe along with the ring in my pocket, I made the best small talk I could think of. "John, are you enjoying yourself?"

"Sure, why do you ask?"

I opened a bottle of champagne and handed him a glass, dropping a small pill into it as I poured – a drug invented by Brains which would weaken him before sunrise. Taking my own glass, I pretended to be nervous. Well, actually I was nervous, just not for the reason I was supposed to appear to be. "You know, this is something big for me."

"What do you mean?"

I looked toward the sky and turned the glass in my hand around and around. "I'm about to ask you something and I can't believe that I'm finally going to ask you."

Lia's brother emptied his glass and looked at me. "I don't understand."

Good thing you don't understand, I thought. I just hope John doesn't remember this after he's returned…

"Well, in just a few minutes you'll see." I sipped at my champagne, watched John's eyelids flutter. Then, feeling my watch vibrate, I placed my glass back into the basket and took John's glass away from him as well. "It's time."

I could see when he reopened his eyes that he looked tired; that meant that the drug was working its magic already. Now was going to be the hard part. I settled on my knees in front of him, cleared my throat and said, "Please close your eyes or else you'll spoil the surprise."

He did as I asked. I took both of his hands in mine and watched for a reaction. When he didn't move, I took the box out of my jacket. Still watching him, I opened it and placed it in one of his hands with the closed side of the lid facing him. When he still didn't move, I took out the ring and held it closed in my hand.

His voice startled me. "What are you up to, Tin Tin?"

For a moment I feared that he would open his eyes. "Just getting ready to ask you the big question."

When he didn't answer, I turned the little box around in his hand. Placing the ring on the tip of his finger I asked, while pushing the ring up it, "Will you marry me?"

As he opened his eyes, I jumped up and ran. Lia had told me not to look back because then her brother would be able to kill me before I could run again.

I heard a high pitched squeal behind me and then I was sent flying off of my feet. Landing on my back in the sand further up the beach, I groaned in pain and scrambled to sit upright, only to find myself face to face with Little John, who was smiling.

"Thank you, Tin Tin." He hugged me somehow, even though he was so tiny…or at least it felt like it.

When he didn't disappear again, I started feeling worried. "Aren't you going back to yourself now, John?"

"Where?"

My father appeared next to me with Lia at his side. "Come, we must help John find his way back."

I jumped to my feet and followed them down the beach with Little John walking next to me. I stopped when I saw Large John lying on the ground. "Is he..?"

Lia shook her head. "No, your friend isn't dead, only weak without his other half."

I felt like crying, it was horrible to see him lying there like that…helpless and unable to do a thing. I looked at Little John who was staring at his older and much bigger self. "Now what do we do?" I asked.

My father lifted his watch. "Now we call the family down here and get the rest of them on the line, too."

"But, they can't wake up, Father."

My father nodded. "They couldn't wake up thanks to Lia's brother's beam, but Lia revived them while you prepared for the big question."

I watched my father as he called the Tracy boys down from the house and got the rest of the family on the line. He transferred Alan, Brains, Jeff and Grandma to a tablet which he then turned to face John and the rest of the boys, John still lying prone on the ground in front of them.

Scott took in the scene and nearly flipped out but before anyone could ask a question, Lia spoke up. "We don't have much time left now. Please join hands and repeat these words: Light overcomes darkness."

Lia moved to Little John and held him in her hand. We all joined hands and although the Tracy family both on the island and elsewhere felt confused, everyone did as we were told. Moments later the ground started vibrating and our hands started glowing with the same yellow light as the night before. Lia encouraged us to keep on saying the words. Soon the yellow light enveloped all of us and when it finally disappeared Lia was gone.

Dazed and confused, the Tracy men made their way over to their brother. I hung back with my father and watched them as they tried to wake John. When John finally started to move and talk, I gave a sigh of relief. "Is it finally over?"

"Yes, it's over." My father hugged me to his side. "You did well today."

I blushed. "Thanks, but I think Alan deserves the credit for coming up with this idea."

Alan's voice suddenly drifted up out of my watch. "Nope, it was teamwork, Tin Tin." I shook my arm, only to make Alan laugh.

Which he did, and then protested, "Hey, don't do that."

"Well, warn me next time before you start talking." We both grinned at each other as everyone started asking all sorts of questions that I was perfectly happy to let my father be the one to answer.

When I woke up later that afternoon, I heard someone knocking on my door. It was John. Without waiting for me to ask him what he was doing there, he pulled me to him and gave me a hug. "Thank you, Tin Tin, for everything you did for me today."

Hugging him back, I blushed. "I didn't do it alone, John, I had help from Alan and the rest of the family."

I saw a genuine smile on his face and this time it did reach his eyes. Our John was back and was that ever wonderful to see.

Whether John remembers everything that happened that day, I'll never know. He hasn't spoken to me of it since that hug. All that mattered then and now was that I had my friend back again and the Tracy brothers had their brother. As for Lia and her brother, hopefully they won't be returning any time soon.