It was dark and quiet night. Not even a cricket could be heard. Not a streetlight was turned on. Only the stars and moon gave off light in the night.

She knew where she was though, on a sidewalk in a town she hadn't seen since she was a little kid. Then she heard it, the sound of a fast approaching vehicle, and she started to run. Her heart was racing, and the wind kept pushing her long hair into her face making it hard to see where she was going. All she could think about was running, having to run, having to get out of the street. His was after her; she knew he was after her.

The car was getting closer, its headlights were shinning the path in front of her. It helped, but not enough. All too quickly a rock appeared in the middle of the sidewalk, and despite all the lessons she took, she tripped and fell over it, landing on her side, hitting her shoulder and head on the hard pavement.

The car stopped and she tried to call for help only to find it caught in her throat. Where were her brothers? Where were the neighbors? Where was her dad?

She was grabbed, ripped off from the floor and enveloped in darkness. But she could hear his angry mutters as he pushed in her into the vehicle. She struggled, but she found herself too weak against him as he pushed back and back. Her legs hit a box, and a familiar sense of dread overcame her as she heard the creaking of the lid open and his maniacal laughter as he pushed her into the box.

It should have been too small, but then it was too big as the lid fell hard, enclosing her. She couldn't tell which direction she was in. If the darkness came from the box, or the bindings. Then came the panic; the feeling of being trapped as she pushed in every direction without effect. The walls started enclosing in on her, pushing her together and she finally managed out a scream.

Kathryn woke up to her own screaming, which she quickly stopped. Panting and covered in sweat, she glanced at her bed side table to look at the clock. 4:22 am, the big red numbers illuminating her still dark dorm room.

Still too exhilarated from her nightmare, Kathryn sat up and wrapped her blanket around herself, then made her way out of bed and towards the futon. Sinking into the cushions, she curled up under the blanket, letting a hand escape the warmth to pull the little coffee table towards her. From there, she leaned forward and hit her space bar more than once until the familiar glow of the computer lit up her small room. Even then, it wasn't enough as she remembered the darkness of her dream. So she turned on her bedside lamp to create more light.

There wasn't much to do this early in the morning for a distraction. And her go-to option was currently asleep with an exam in a couple of hours. A thought crossed her mind and before it was done her finger was running through her contacts list for her video call app. When she found the one she wanted, Kathryn hesitated over the call button. A quick glance at the clock let her know he'd still be awake since it was around 10 pm his time. Unless he was out, which would mean they all were.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Kathryn pressed the call button and settled back down on the futon, her hand returning to the warmth of the blanket. It took a couple of rings, but his face soon filled the entirety of her screen.

"Kathryn?" His voice was as surprised as she felt seeing him. Gray eyes, much like hers, looked worried even through the computer screen. It should have caused her to smile, but it gave her an uneasy feeling. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

"Hey Virgil," Kathryn said weakly as she tried to remember when the last time she'd talked to her brother was. Four years ago, maybe? No that was definitely the last time she saw him in person. Maybe a couple of months ago, sometime this current calendar year for sure. At least his brown hair was shorter now, and it didn't look like a mop growing on his head.

"What's wrong? Did something happen? Are you okay?" Virgil spouted the questions one after the other. Kathryn could see the alertness in his eyes, the way he became medic Virgil.

"Everything's fine. I just-I just wanted to talk," Kathryn spoke softly, watching his reaction. He gave off a look of surprise, confusion and maybe a little bit of discomfort.

"Oh," Virgil said, trailing off a little. "Okay...so how's school?" The way he said it so awkwardly that it caused Kathryn to laugh a little. "What?"

"Yes Virgil, school. I'm only nineteen, eight years younger than you. You know how college is," Kathryn reminded him. She brought her knees closer to her chest. "School's good," she commented. "I had a dream though..." before she could finish the distinct sound of the klaxon going off cut her off. She sighed, rather loudly and leaned away from the camera.

"Sorry Kat," Virgil started as Kathryn waved him off. "We'll talk later," he promised, though she knew they wouldn't.

"Yeah I know. Duty calls," she said, trying to give an encouraging smile, hoping it looked real through the pixels on his screen. "We'll talk later," she promised, knowing it was empty. But it was enough for Virgil and with those final words, Kathryn watched her brother log off and head to their dad's office. She watched the blank screen for a minute, before closing it shut. She sat in the her dorm, wrapped up tightly in her blanket, and just thought, wondering what part of the world her brothers would be flying to now. She tried not to worry about the danger they were going to be flying into. A yawn escaped her and she trudged back to her bed, deciding to get a couple more hours of sleep. She would know by the time she woke up about the outcome of the mission, and sleeping was much better than worrying.

But she left the lamp on to shine through the darkness for the rest of the night.

Virgil Tracy sat in the pilot seat of Thunderbird 2, listening to his father's voice through the comms unit.

"ETA, 20 minutes," Scott's voice came through the same communications unit that connected the entire family on a mission. His voice was leveled and controlled, as it always was when he became Field Commander.

"ETA 30 minutes," Virgil responded, after checking his own readings.

"I've informed local fire departments that you're on your way. Sounds like the fires are getting worse," John's voice sounded so close that Virgil sometimes forgot that his older brother was actually in space. "It's good that you brought the whole gang along, seems like you're in for a rough mission."

"Boys," Jeff's voice sounded calm through the unit. "Remember to stay safe. Let me know when you get there. Base out."

"One out. See you on the field Virg," Scott said before going offline. For a moment Virgil thought he was all alone again, and for a moment cherished the moment of silence. Once they hit Australia, it was going to get loud. Already he could see the faint orange glow of the fires in the night sky. He wondered if Kathryn would be watching the mission through the news.

"Virgil," John said his name rather loudly into the comms unit in his ear, making Virgil flinch. From the tone of his brother's voice, Virgil figured he'd been calling his name for a while.

"Sorry Johnny," he apologized. "What's up?"

"I was just asking you the same question. I've been saying your name for a while now. Don't tell me you're not paying attention during a mission." There was a certain tease in his brother's voice, though it was lined with worry. Distraction could be a deadly thing in their field.

"Just thinking, John. I'll be fine once I get there," Virgil assured his brother.

"About what?" Virgil couldn't help but smiled at his brother's subtle persistence to find out what was wrong. He was always looking out for them, even from his tin can in the sky.

"Kathryn. She called me tonight, right before the call came in."

"Wait, really?" John sounded surprised. "Is everything alright? Is she hurt?"

"Everything's fine. She just wanted to talk," Virgil said, still surprised himself.

"Oh really? About what?" John asked, though Virgil could hear the distraction in his voice and the faint click of the keyboard. John was trying to distract himself, probably to keep himself from showing Virgil that he was a little disappointed Kathryn hadn't called him. It would have made sense to call Virgil if it were medical related, but if it were just to talk, he would have wanted it to be him. Virgil remembered when Kathryn was little and how close she used to be to John. But the decisions made a long time ago changed their relationship, not to mention the age gaps being quite big. They saw her so little over the years, it was hard to keep connected. And with John spending so much time in space, first for NASA and then for International Rescue, her saw her even less. It was a priced they'd paid to keep her safe.

"I don't know. The klaxon went off before she could tell me," Virgil thought back to an hour ago. "She started to mention something about a dream though," he recalled. That caught John's attention, and Virgil heard the clicking of the keyboard cease.

"A dream? You don't think..." John trailed off and Virgil knew what he was thinking.

"I don't know. Maybe. I would hope not. I just wished the klaxon hadn't gone off."

"I wouldn't put much thought into it Virgil. Your ETA is ten minutes so I'd put that out of my mind for now. These bush fires are getting out of hand. Scott already has mobile control up and running. I'm glad Alan and Gordon decided to ride in Thunderbird One; they'll do a lot until you get there."

Virgil sighed, figuring his older blond brother was right. "FAB," he responded, the thoughts of his sister's worries floating out of his head and being replaced with one single, exhausted thought: Australia just had to be one of the driest countries on Earth.

A/N: This is it. It's finally up. After having it stored on my computer for over a year, I have finally published it. And I am freaking out. So much right now because now it's out in the open and aaaaah.

I'm guessing this will be a typical-esque sis fic (I think idk I really don't read them). I tried to make it another brother cause I was like, there are so many sisfics, why aren't they any like forgotten brother stories. But I ended up making it a girl and there's fluff and it makes me happy. And now I'm just rambling.

Be nice, don't just be hatin' to hate.

See you later!

Oh and all that copyright stuff. Only peeps that belong to me are the ones not from Gerry Anderson's series.