Trouble Aboard the Coral Rose, a thunderbirds fanfic

Ok, after looking at the first (and only) chapter of my story 'Cruising for Trouble' from God knows how long ago, there was something about it that I wasn't very keen on, therefore I have deleated that story and I am starting again compltely with this one. I've also swapped characters slightly, with this story focusing on Scott, John and Gordon as opposed to Scott, John and Virgil in 'Cruising for Trouble' (Sorry Virg.)

Chapter One

God it was hot. John Tracy sat on a bench overlooking the port of Fort Lauderdale, his arms draped over the back of the seat, one strap of his blue 'Astronauts Do It In Zero Gravity' tank-top slipping down his right shoulder and his light blonde hair hung over his face. He ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to push it out of his eyes and glanced across at his older brother. At some point Scott had slipped off the bench altogether and was currently sat on the floor, his knees drawn up resting under his forehead and his dark hair hidden under his Kansas City Royals baseball cap. He had forgone wearing his shirt altogether and now merely had it folded in his lap.

John glanced at his watch. "It's three-forty-five; we're boarding in fifteen minutes, where the heck's Gordon with our shakes?"

Scott lifted his head and glanced up at the sky from behind his blue tinted shades. "It wouldn't surprise me if he's jumped into the harbour to cool off, I know I'm dying to."

"Well give me the word and we'll jump in together," John muttered.

"Jump in where together?" came a voice from behind them.

Scott and John turned their heads to see Gordon standing behind them, his red Hawaiian shirt tied casually around his waist and his bright auburn hair sticking out from underneath a yellow bandanna. He was holding three large shakes in his arms, the first of which he gave to John. "Here you go Astroboy, blueberry and mint just like you asked for."

John smiled and took the shake. "Just in time, thanks buddy."

"No problemo. For Top Gun here we have chocolate, strawberry, jelly bean and, uh, apple pie flavour. Seriously bro, what is up with that?"

Scott took his shake as well. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it kiddo; the jelly beans give it that extra fruity zest and, well, to be honest, you know how much I like apple pie." He removed the straw and the lid - the former of which he gave to Gordon - and then tipped the cup back to allow the ice cold contents to slip down his throat. "Ah, that's so much better."

Gordon lay on the bench with his head on John's lap. He pulled his bandanna over his honey-coloured eyes to block them from the glare of the sun. "You can say that again, Scotty boy."

"Don't get too comfy Gords," said John, "We'll need to leave in a few minutes to board the liner."

Gordon flipped his hand up in quick salute. "Aye aye Captain!"

Scott - having finished his shake in about three quick gulps - crushed his cup and, without looking, tossed it behind him where it landed straight in the trash-can ("Bullseye," John muttered.) He jumped to his feet and pulled his shirt back on before picking up one of the luggage holdalls and turning to face his brothers. "Come on Aqualad and Astroboy up you get, the open sea awaits us. Gordon put your shirt back on, I doubt people on the liner want to see you half-dressed."

Gordon slowly sat up. He pulled his bandanna off of his eyes and grinned at Scott. "Oh, I seriously doubt that Top Gun; women are constantly begging to see me half-dressed."

"Oh God, Scott, I think something's wrong with Gordon!" John had a look of horror on his face as he felt the red head's forehead. "The sun's making him completely delusional!"

"Really? I thought he was always like this." Scott cocked his head to one side and scratched his scalp with a look of exaggerated perplexity. "Well, I suppose we'll have to take him to get checked out." He sighed. "There goes our vacation."

Gordon pushed John's hand off him and stood up. "Piss off guys, you're just jealous of my womanising talents." He put his shirt back on and began to button it up. "Oh Christ, it's sticking to my back!"

"Yeah, but this probably isn't the first time something's been stuck to your back," John sniggered, picking up his own bag and hoisting it onto his shoulder. "Well like Scotty said, the open sea awaits us, everyone got their passports?"

Scott patted his back pocket. "Right here, oh brother of mine. Gordon, I hope you've got yours 'cos we're leaving you behind otherwise."

The aquanaut rolled his eyes and indicated the pocket of his khaki shorts. "Of course I've got it on me, do you really think I would miss out on the chance to practice my moves in front of all those beautiful babes in skimpy bikinis?"

John threw his arm around his younger brother's shoulders. "Oh, you know we won't leave you behind." He ruffled Gordon's hair and then said, "Although if you meet any European babes - especially French or Italian - send them in big brother's direction."

"Why?"

"I just thought it would be nice for me to practice a new language," Scott answered. "After all Johnny boy here is fluent in Japanese, Russian and Spanish, so I thought I would put a couple more countries on the Tracy map. It could come in handy at a rescue if the Translation Programme on the MC Unit ever breaks down."

"He just wants to learn how to talk dirty in a different language," John whispered loudly to Gordon who snorted slightly.

"I heard that Astroboy," Scott raised his left eyebrow in amusement as one corner of his lips turned up in a smirk. "Believe me kiddo, I know plenty of 'talk' in good old American-English, I don't need to learn another language to help me in that department." He strode past his brothers and towards the cruise liner. "Quick march comrades before we're left stranded in this harbour!"

Jumping slightly the younger two jogged after him and quickly fell in step with their older sibling as they made their way towards the exquisite Coral Rose cruise liner.

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On board the brothers found themselves standing amongst a crowd of people in a large reception room. A beautiful chandelier was suspended precariously from the ceiling, its many crystal bulbs glinting in the rays of sunlight that came through the windows and a marble staircase spiralled its way up to the upper floors in one corner. In another, a long corridor lead to the lower rooms as well as one of the twelve restaurants that were on board, each specialising in different cultural delicacies and menus; Spanish, Chinese, Indian and even Greek. Visiting each restaurant was like travelling the world just by going to a different part of the ship.

Gordon whistled. "Holy shit, just look at the size of this place, it's like an entire city! You know, I could live very happily on one of these if it wasn't for you-know-what."

"Well don't get any ideas Aqualad," said John. "We've only got seven days here and me and Scott don't really want to go back to the Island and have to break the news to Dad that we're a man down because you've decided to quit and become a sailor." He lowered his voice. "Besides, if you decided to stay here then Alan would probably be given control of your 'Bird and you know how great he is in that submarine of yours."

A look of horrified indignation passed across Gordon's face. "Are you kidding me? I'd bring Four here to live with me, Dad can just build a new sub 'cos I ain't giving mine to the runt!"

"Oh, and what would you do with an advance submarine here?" Scott wanted to know. "Where would you even put it?"

"I would store it below deck or with the lifeboats," Gordon answered, "and then I would charge people for a quick ride and make a bit of extra cash." He winked, "There's bound to be a few people who would like to explore the depths with me."

"Looks like little brother here has it all planned out, maybe we should leave him," John suggested.

"Hey, if nothing else at least it'll leave us with more food in the cupboards," Scott replied.

"Yeah right, not with you still living on the island," Gordon scoffed good naturedly. "At least with twelve restaurants on board you can snack a little and keep the others back home from starving for a week."

"I'm not that bad!" Scott insisted. He paused thoughtfully and looked around. "Are there really twelve restaurants on board?"

"Oh brother!" Gordon rolled his eyes and headed to the reception desk where a lady in her late twenties with dark hair smiled warmly at them. "Good afternoon gentlemen, welcome aboard the Coral Rose, how may I help you?"

Gordon leant on the desk and flashed her a winning smile. "Oh, there are plenty of things you can help me with," he purred.

Scott grabbed his brother by his collar and pulled him back. "Gordon don't bother the nice lady. I'm sorry Ma'am we let him out of the asylum just once a year and this is how he behaves."

"That's quite all right, " the woman reassured them. "We here on the Coral Rose welcome vacationers from all walks of life, including asylum inmates."

"That's wonderful to hear," Scott replied, reaching into his back pocket and removing his passport. "We have three first class suites reserved - the name's Tracy."

The receptionist's face lit up on hearing the distinguished name. "Of course sirs, it's wonderful to have you on board!" She took the mens passports and checked their names against the reservations. "Everything seems to be in order, I'll just get you your room key cards, you'll be staying on the upper deck and your room has a lovely view of the ocean."

"Not the view I'd like to be seeing," Gordon grinned.

"Gordon behave," John sighed. "I don't really want to be thrown overboard before the vacation's even begun."

"Oh, that's quite all right Sir, he's just having some fun while he's on the outside." The receptionist smiled as she handed each of them their cards. "Besides, we don't actually throw anyone overboard, of course."

"That's a relief," said John, pocketing his key card for safe keeping.

"No...We prefer to make them walk the plank; It's very entertaining for the other guests."

"I'll bet it is," Gordon laughed. "However," - he put on a hurt look - "you don't actually believe I'm an 'inmate' do you?"

"Oh no, of course I don't sweetie. I can see that you aren't 'mental.'"

Scott stared Gordon up and down. "Well Ma'am, you definitely must be seeing something we ain't."

"Yeah, it's called 'the perfect catch'" Gordon said proudly.

John shook his head in exasperation. "Gordon, you are not the 'perfect catch'. Catching you would be like catching a minnow in a river of trout, now leave the nice lady alone." He grabbed Gordon's wrist and pulled him away from the desk. "Thanks, Ma'am, enjoy your day."

As they moved away from the desk, Gordon turned back and said, "Hey, what's your name, honey?"

"Natalie," the lady replied. "Natalie Quint.

"Well Natalie, Ma'am, my name's Gordon and I hope to be seeing a lot more of you in the next seven days."

"I'm sure you will," Natalie replied, flashing him a knowing smile. "I will be working on this ship all week after all."

"Fantastico!" Gordon made an 'O' shape with his thumb and index finger at Natalie before fishing his key card out of his pocket. "I'm staying in room 502; feel free to come visit when you're off duty."

"Well Sir, I'm afraid I can't..."

Before Natalie had the chance to continue there was a cough from behind. A stearn-looking man dressed a grey suit was glaring at the four of them. "If you don't mind I would like to get checked in!"

"I'm sorry Sir," she waved the man forward before mouthing, "We'll try and talk later" to Gordon who nodded as his brothers practically dragged him towards the elevator.

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"Gordon you can be such a moron sometimes," Scott muttered as the three of them took the elevator up to the fifth floor. "What on earth was that down at the reception?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gordon put on an innocent expression. "I was just trying to be nice to that lovely lady downstairs."

"Bro, I think you scared her into never looking at another man again," John said, - "unless I talk to her of course, then she'll come running back."

"You two are as ludicrious as eachother'" Scott sighed.

Eventually they arrived at the fifth floor. Room 500 – Scott's room – was immediately adjacent to the elevator and his two younger brothers stood behind him as he took his key card out of his pocket and swiped it through the lock. The door slid open automatically and as he stepped into room he was surprised to find John and Gordon attempting to follow him: "Guys, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean 'what are we doing?' We want to see your room of course!" John poked his head over Scott's shoulder and peered into the room. He gave a low whistle; "Talk about extravagent!"

"Well what do you expect for $2000 dollars a night?" Scott replied.

The room certainly was 'extravagent' as John had put it. The floor was constructed entirely of white marble, the king-sized, four-poster bed, stood against the wall at the back and a large walk-in wardrobe that would have made any shopaholic happy stood opposite it. In one corner of the room was a bar counter with a collection of alcoholic beverages lining the shelves behind.

Gordon dumped his luggage holdall onto the floor and threw himself onto Scott's bed. The mattress wobbled slightly as he bounced up and down on it. "Hey, it's a water bed!"

"Really?" John dropped his bag and came to sit next to Gordon. Once again the mattress wobbled as the water sloshed about inside. "Man, I haven't been on a water bed for ages!" He patted the empty space beside him. "Come join us Top Gun."

Scott, who was busy unpacking his clothes for the week and hanging them neatly in the wardrobe, shook his head. "No thanks, as much as I'd love to lay on a bed with two of my brothers, I've got some unpacking to do." He gestured to the luggage holdalls, "and so do you by the looks of it."

John slowly got off the bed, pulling Gordon up with him. "Come on kiddo, looks like we're being evicted." He passed Gordon his holdall before picking up his own. "We'll catch you later bro."

The only response John got was a hand sticking out of the wardrobe and waving at him.

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The other two rooms were exactly like Scott's one and after dumping his luggage in his, Gordon headed down to the place he had wanted to be ever since stepping onto the liner: the swimming pool. He undressed, grabbed his swimming shorts from inside his holdall , threw them on and then headed downstairs to one of the pools – preferably the one with the large water slide.

John, meanwhile, carefullly unpacked his stuff as well before deciding to head down to the snack bar by one of the pools. However after much contemplation he decided that he couldn't be bothered with swimming, therefore he merely picked up the book he was reading (The Count of Monte Cristo), grabbed his shades and suntan lotion and headed out the door.

As he stepped out into the corridoor he spotted Scott exiting his room. "Hey, where are you off to?"

Scott flashed him a wad of cash.

"You're going shopping?"

"Huh? No, this place as a casino that's said to rival the best ones in Las Vegas." Scott handed John a leaflet bearing the words 'Midas Touch Casino'. "I thought I would go and rejuvinate my card sharking skills; it's been a while since I've been given a decent challenge."

John studied the leaflet, which advertised an array of monetary gaming facilities; roulette wheels, fruit machines and, of course, poker tables. He frowned slightly, "I thought that Dad didn't like us gambling."

Scott shrugged nonchalently and tapped the side of his nose. "What the old man doesn't know won't hurt him."

John laughed lightly and handed back the leaflet. "You're a braver man than I, bro, if Dad finds out."

"He won't find out Johnny boy," Scott assurred him. "Unless you're planning on telling him of course."

John held up his hands. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." A sly look came over his face. "Although, if you really want my confidence, I will of course require your share of the apple pie for the next month or so when we get home."

Scott tapped his chin, feigning consideration. "Hmm, now let me see...I can either risk Dad finding out or I can lose all my apple pies for a week, but remain safe that my gambling hobby will be unknowledgable to the big guy, is that the choice?"

'Pretty much, yeah" John nodded.

"Well it seems that there's only one thing for it then." Scott a placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and leaned forward. "Johnny boy..."

"Yes?" the blonde astronaut was grinning expectantly; he could already taste those delicious pastry desserts.

"...The day that you get hold of my apple pies is the day that I let Gordon near my Thunderbird unescorted."

"Oh, I knew you would see it my...wait what?" John pouted slightly, doing an uncanny impression of Alan during on of his -not-so-uncommon sour moods, "But...but...I'll tell Dad."

Scott threw back his head and let out a barking laugh before putting an arm around his brother's shoulders and walked with him towards the elevator. "Oh, Astroboy, you aren't going to tell on me because if you did I would have to tell Dad about what happened to his Mercades." He winked at the astronaut and flashed him a shark-like grin.

John paled slightly. "That was years ago, Scott, and besides you promised you wouldn't."

As they stepped into the elevator, Scott pressed the ground floor button and then turned to John. "Tell you what, I'll make you a deal: you don't tell Dad about my extracurrecular activity and I'll zip my lips about what happened to his car all those years ago, capiche?"

The blonde thought for a few seconds and then smiled, holding out his hand. "What extracurrecular activity?"

Scott quirked his eyebrow upwards as he returned John's handshake, "Exactly. By the way, where's Gordon?"

"I heard him leave his room earlier, my guess is that he's gone swimming."

"Why am I not surprised?"

They reached the ground floor and stepped out of the elevator. Scott turned to John, "If you're a good boy I might share some of my winnings with you."

"Oh, haha, what makes you think you're going to win anything?"

"Because I'm just that good."

John pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed good-humouredly. "Well as soon as you're done feeding your ego come and find me by the pool, the big one with the water slide."

Scott nodded. "Okie-dokie, and if you see him, make sure Gordon's not up to anything, you know how he behaves when he's alone."

"The same way he behaves when he isn't alone?"

"Precisely."

…...

TBC. ...