I groan and roll over, glaring blearily at the clock on the bedside table, which gleefully pronounces the time as 2:30 am. Really? Just because I spend most of my time in space, up at all hours, doesn't mean I need to be awake at 2:30 in the morning. Especially since, technically, IR is offline until further notice. I close my eyes, desperately trying to convince my body to turn off once more and go back to sleep, but I give up after only a few moments. For now, sleep is evading me. I sigh and get out of bed. Might as well make the most of being awake.
I step out into the dark hallway, pausing for a moment to listen to the sound of muffled snores coming from the rooms down the hall, convincing me that I am the only idiot up at this time of night. Or morning. Whatever you want to call it. All the doors are closed except one. Directly opposite from my room, is Abby's and, since we came home three weeks ago, it's become an almost obsession with making sure Abby is okay and that means her bedroom door is always left at least partially, if not fully open, to make it easy for the rest of the family to check on her. Without really thinking about it, I carefully make my way over to her door and poke my head round, waiting for my eyes to adjust before trying to find the lump under the covers that signal that my little sister is fast asleep just like the rest of the family.
Only there is no lump.
I pause for a moment, forcing myself to stay calm. That she's just curled up in a corner that can't be seen from the door. Which is a really lame excuse but like I said, looking after Abby is definitely an obsession. I push the door open and walk across the room, as quietly as possible just in case she is asleep, towards the bed. My heart drops. She's not there. I turn the lamp on beside the bed to confirm it but it's true. Abby isn't in her bed. The only other place I can think of that she might be is the kitchen getting a drink – maybe that's what woke me up. I race from the room trying to be quiet but fast at the same time so I don't wake the whole house.
The living room is quiet and dark but there's a light on in the kitchen and I breathe a sigh of relief. She's okay. She's okay. I shake my head, trying to dispel some of the more disturbing thoughts I was having about my sister – reruns of what happened up at Five tend to make an appearance when we don't know where she is – and head over to the kitchen.
The sight that greets me disturbs me more than it should. Hunched over her laptop, a mug of hot chocolate by her side and a large notepad on the other, my little sister is furiously typing away. I knock lightly on the door so that I don't give her a heart attack – that would be the last thing we need right now – but even so she jumps a little in her chair.
"John." She says. It's been a long time since my little sister has sounded guilty about something but that's exactly how she sounds now. I sigh a little.
"What are you doing Abs?" I ask, pulling up a chair beside her.
"If I said nothing, would you believe me?" She asks, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head slightly, guilt and a little bit of hope that I'm going to let this drop filtering into her voice. I raise my own eyebrow. She should know she's not going to get out of the one.
"Nice try munchkin." I pull her laptop round so I can see what she's been doing.
"Essay writing?" I ask in disbelief. She shrugs and looks at the table. If it wasn't obvious before, it is now – getting information out of my little sister is going to be harder than drawing blood from a stone.
"What's going on Abs?" She doesn't meet my gaze and I roll my eyes, before leaning over and pushing her chin up slightly with my finger so she meets my gaze. It's then that I see the dark shadows under her eyes. How we've missed them I don't know but now they're clear to see. I thought Abby was getting along fine – how have I missed this. I stop and think back on the last few weeks. Abby started getting nightmares about a week after we got back. She'd wake us up screaming, not that we minded. It normally helped rouse us from our own nightmares. But they abruptly stopped last week. When Alan went back to school.
"Nightmares?" I continue, when it's obvious she isn't going to speak up. She surprises me by nodding. At least we're getting somewhere.
"Why didn't you come and wake me or Scott up?" I ask. My concern rising when I hear a isn't like Abby at all.
"Abby?"
"Because you need to sleep as well John! It's not fair for me to keep waking you guys up because I've had a nightmare!" She cries, tears leaking from her eyes. I sigh and pull her over so she's now sitting on my lap instead of on the chair, rubbing a hand on her back to try and calm her down. After a couple of minutes, she pulls back, tears still streaking down her face.
"I'm sorry." She mutters as she tries to get down from my lap. I tighten my hold on her, forcing her to stay where she is.
"Look at me. Abigail Tracy look at me." I say, staring at her until she complies. "Listen to me. You have nothing to apologise for. We've all had nightmares about what happened – we all still have nightmares about what happened. Having nightmares is nothing to be ashamed of Abby and I know I'd rather you came into one of us and I definitely know Dad and Scott would prefer you to come and talk to us rather than working yourself into exhaustion. You're twelve years old Abs, you have plenty of time to be worrying about other people but for now, let us worry about you. That's what big brothers are for after all." I run my fingers through her hair, letting it sink in. After a few moments sitting in a content silence, I shift her slightly to feel her mug which is stone cold. I smile down at her.
"Tell you what, I'll make us some fresh hot chocolate and you can shut off your laptop okay?" She looks up at me and nods, a small smile on her face before sliding off my lap. I wander over to the counter and start making the hot chocolate, keeping an eye on my sister as I do so to make sure she's not trying to sneak in some more work.
"Hey John?" She asks after a minute. I turn to look at her properly.
"Hey Abbs?" I reply making her smile.
"You know that report that dad's been asking you to do for the past week?" I grimace at the thought of all the work I had to do with that. Rebuilding Thunderbird 5 isn't difficult but when Dad needs spreadsheets and documents listing every nut and bolt that's needed to rebuild the thing, the entire process gets a lot longer. I was supposed to start it last Friday and I think I've written all of three words.
"What about it?" I ask as I cover the hot chocolate powder with the hot milk. I hear a rustling of paper behind me.
"I've done it for you." She says in a quiet voice. I spin round to stare at her.
"You've what?" She shrugs at me.
"Lets just say that this isn't the first late night study session I've had – I decided to help you out. This is for you to proof read and I've emailed you everything I've used because I'm pretty sure I've missed out a couple of things. You know your 'Bird better than I do but I think it's okay." I take the sheets off her, when I sit back down, pushing her mug towards her with one hand and flipping through the stack of sheets with the other.
'The main extension cord which runs the main computer system needs upgrading to the newest version from iTech. Although more expensive than the original cord, this newest version will provide better protection from external forces such as fire because of the protective layer of...'
"Remember ten minutes ago when I reminded you you were twelve?" I ask in shock as I read through one of the pages.
"Yeah." Abby says slurping from the mug.
"I take it back. You're twelve going on twenty two. Abby this is better than what I could have written and you've written it at two am!"
"It wasn't difficult. I just used one of the reports you've given Dad before so I knew how to write it and how you would phrase some of the words. I don't understand most of the notes I found on your desk but I think it makes sense." I hadn't even noticed those notes were gone.
"It makes sense Abs. It's really well written." I put the paper back onto the table and pull my sister into a hug. "Thank you. You've saved me at least a day of writing it."
"You're welcome." I sigh.
"I can't take credit for this Abs-"
"Yes you can. If you don't then Dad will want to know why I wrote it and not you and then he'll find out about this and then Scott will know and I don't want them too. Please John, I did this to save you a job. Can you please save me from a repeat lecture from Dad and Scott?" I chuckle and nod.
"I guess so but I owe you one little sister so get thinking about what you want." She grins at me relieved that our oldest brother and father won't find out about her little late night work sessions. I chuckle when she yawns, blinking at me sheepishly.
"On that note, I think it's time we went back to bed, don't you agree?" She nods, following me to the door, mug in hand. I turn the light off and guide her back up the stairs – the last thing I need is for her to trip and fall up the stairs. When we make it back to her room, she stops and turns to look at me.
"John?" She starts, whispering now that we're back upstairs. I bend down a little so I'm on her level.
"What's wrong munchkin?"
"Can I...stay with you for the rest of the night? Please? I don't want another nightmare." I smile and take her hand, pulling her into my room and guiding her to the bed.
"Course you can." I tell her. A lot of people often ask us how we're so close – it's very rare that you will ever see us arguing. It's more common to see us do something like this, especially for Alan and Abby. I think the reason is that we know life is way too precious to waste with arguments. Abby is living proof of that. She puts her mug on the bedside table and scoots over to the edge of the bed. I climb in after her and pull the covers over us both.
"If you need me Abs, wake me up alright?" I tell her, stifling a yawn myself.
"'Kay. Thanks John." She mutters. I smile in the darkness.
"Any time Abby. Any time."
Helloooo. I'm back! This little idea has been playing on my mind for the last few days so I decided to write it down. This is part of my Tracy Sister series but you shouldn't need to read Abigail Tracy to make sense of it. I don't know how well written this is but it's done and it's fluffy and lovely and has John and Abby bonding which is always sweet. I have at least one other one-shot & another multi-chapter story in my head for the Tracy Sister series & I'm sure this is going to expand as time passes. I hope you enjoy this little one-shot and until next, time, gooddbbyyyeee xxx