THE winter months of 2069 were the most dull that Laura had ever known. Not surprisingly really due to her being confined to Tracy Island whilst the broken bones in her body slowly healed. The fracture in her right arm healed a lot more quickly than she'd originally thought - five weeks to be exact, although Wizzy's left arm somehow managed to heal in three weeks, all thanks to Rosie's advanced healing potions. Laura's legs however were taking as long as Rosie had predicted. It had been August when the incident at the mine in the South of France had happened, and now they were in October. Laura's legs were healing, but Rosie was still not satisfied that she could attempt to walk again, even with crutches, so poor Laura found herself in an electronic wheelchair created by Jodie. Daniel, Jodie and Rosie knew however that Laura was getting very down in the dumps and they were beginning to worry that she might start to suffer from depression. So they devised a plan.

Laura woke up and was helped into her wheelchair by Joanne. She and Laura had become very close over the past couple of months for Joanne and Zoë had made it their duty to make sure Laura was kept as comfortable as possible. Laura was grateful for this, but secretly she hated being waited on.

"Morning, sweetie," said Joanne as she helped Laura out of the bed and into the wheelchair.

"Morning, Jo," Laura replied sleepily. "Are the others at home?"

"Yes, no rescues so far today," said Joanne. "Let us hope there aren't."

Laura wasn't quite sure what Joanne meant, but she soon found out when they arrived in the lounge and found everyone waiting for them. The room was decorated with balloons and streamers and a huge pile of presents sat in the middle of the lounge.

Then everyone burst into song. "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Laura! Happy Birthday to you!"

Laura's face broke into the biggest smile they'd seen her make for weeks. "Awh, guys!" she cried happily. "Do you know I'd forgotten!"

"You?! Forget your own birthday?!" exclaimed Katie, grinning. "Shame on you!"

Everyone laughed, including Laura. Daniel gave his eldest daughter a kiss on the head before guiding her to the presents. "Go ahead," he said, smiling.

Laura proceeded to open the presents. There were some books, reading and colouring ones. Some crayons and colouring pencils. There was a new wristwatch, with all the modifications that Jodie made for them and much more. This was way more than Laura was used to getting but she guessed they had all agreed to spoil her due to her current condition.

"Thank you, everyone," said Laura. "I may not be able to do much at the moment, but you have all managed to cheer me up."

"Actually, Laura, that's not quite everything," said Jodie. She went round to Daniel's desk and revealed two strange-looking objects that appeared to be the same length as Laura's legs.

Before Laura knew what was happening, Daniel and Rosie had got her by the arms and lifted her up out of the wheelchair. "Hey, what goes on?" Laura asked, surprised. She looked down as Jodie placed the two objects under her feet. They then closed themselves around Laura's legs and Daniel and Rosie let go. Laura gasped. She was standing for the first time since the incident. "I…I can stand!" she gasped.

"Can you walk?" asked Cassidy eagerly.

Judging by their reactions, Laura could tell that the others didn't know about this either. She looked at Daniel and Jodie.

"Go on then," said Daniel. "See if you can do a lap of the room."

"Carefully though," added Rosie.

Laura trembled slightly. Her left leg moved forwards, then the right leg moved.

"That's it, you're doing it!" said Jodie, delightedly.

Laura went a little bit more quickly, but not too quickly. Everyone watched in delight as she made her way around the lounge, and she didn't stumble once.

Kerry then appeared on the holoscreen linked to her portrait. "Morning, everyone," she said. "How are we all?"

"Morning, Kerry!" the other replied.

"Kerry, look!" said Wizzy excitedly, pointing at Laura.

Kerry looked and saw Laura standing beside her image. "Laura!" she said. "Happy Birthday and...OH!" she gasped when she realised Laura was standing. "You're walking again!"

Laura beamed. "Not on my own yet," she said. "But Jodie's given me these supporters to keep me going until they're fully healed."

"Fantastic," said Kerry. "Did you get my present?"

"Yes, I did," said Laura. "Thank you, Kerry."

Kerry smiled. "I'll be down later for your party dinner," she said. "See you later."

As Kerry signed off, Laura turned back to the others. "Say, Dad, does this mean I can come back on missions?"

There was a brief moment of silence as Daniel, Jodie and Rosie pondered the matter. It was really Rosie's call being the medical officer.

"I don't see why you couldn't," said Daniel. "Although, I wouldn't be comfortable with you doing any groundwork just yet."

"Maybe she could just fly Thunderbird 1 and observe?" suggested Adrienne. "After all, she doesn't need her legs to fly her ship."

"That is true," said Jodie. "I'd need to modify the uniform attacher arms so that they can work around the supporters."

Everyone then looked at Rosie. "I suppose that can be done," she said. "However, Laura, I think you should give it a week to get used to those supporters before we make a final decision."

Laura nodded. "That's fair enough," she said. "Thank you."

"How does it feel?" asked Beth.

Laura started walking around the room again, a lot more confidently than she did before. "I feel awesome!" she said happily. "I feel ready to take on an entire army of aliens!"

Everyone burst out laughing, but then Kerry called in again, and this time she looked deadly serious about something. "Guys, we have a situation!" she said. "Unidentified object entering Earth's atmosphere!"

The smiles vanished instantly. "HUH?!" they all exclaimed at the same time.