The prompt for this one was: 'Alan and Scott's brotherly/father-son type bond'

"And I suppose you yelled at him?"

"Seriously though John, he wants to do game design. What sort of use does that have in the rescue business?"

Scott was pacing in front of the holographic image of his brother as he ranted, and had covered the length of the room at least a dozen times since he called up to Thunderbird Five on his private channel. It was a line that no-one else could drop in to and John gave it priority meaning it was the go-to communication method for emergencies like this.

Scott thought of it as an emergency anyway, and John would too if he just listened while Scott explained. This was urgent!

"Our whole lives don't have to revolve around IR you know." John said distractedly, gesturing on a screen just out of range of the holoemitters. He clearly wasn't taking this seriously – this was Alan's entire life at stake.

"I know that, this isn't about Interntional Rescue. This is about making sensible choices, Alan should be thinking about his future and choosing a career. Not just" Scott waved a hand "playing around."

"Do you think what I do is 'playing around'?" John raised an eyebrow, pausing for just a moment before carrying on with whatever he was doing.

"Of course not!"

"Well Dad did. He didn't see a value in programming or communications and I've covered some of the same areas as Alan will."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

John sighed heavily and turned to face Scott, giving him his full attention.

"What did Dad say when you told him you wanted to be a pilot?"

"He told me it was too dangerous."

"And you..."

"I told him to go to hell." Scott said with a smile at the memory.

"And Gordon said the same when Dad forbid him to continue competitive swimming. And Virgil ignored him when Dad said he shouldn't go to art college. And I just didn't tell Dad until I'd had confirmation that I was accepted onto that first astrophysics course. And do you remember what you told me after the blazing row was over?"

Scott remembered. John, who was always buzzing with enthusiasm about his latest obsession so that he wouldn't shut up about it, was instead subdued and listless. He had been laying on his bed staring at the ceiling when Scott found him. Little brothers were to be protected, taken care of, consoled and encouraged. There was only one thing to say in that moment.

"I said 'Good for you.'"

"Exactly. You supported me when I needed you to."

"But Dad would want..."

"It doesn't matter. No, Scott listen to me." John held up a spectral hand to forestall any interruptions. "It doesn't matter what Dad would want because he isn't here. He was always planning ten steps ahead but sometimes he forgot about the more human side, and that we needed to be happy as well. Which is why we come to you."

Scott had indeed been a sounding board for the others for as long as he had been a big brother- listening to them talk about the test they took at school, a girl they liked, a cool stick they found. However important or passing their opinion Scott had wanted to hear it: never telling them they were wrong to think for themselves. The world would try and pull them down soon enough so he wasn't about to contribute to it, though he sometimes suggested some more research to their more disastrous sounding ideas. Like when Virgil - a ten year old intent on understanding everything by taking it apart and putting it back together again - wanted to build a combustion engine in his bedroom. Scott guided him in finding out how to do it safely and when Virgil learned that it wasn't a good idea to have carbon monoxide being generated in your sleeping area he made the much more sensible decision to take apart the microwave.

Had Scott really stopped being the person they talked to? Was he now someone who talked at them instead? Of course they would stop sharing their secrets if they though he would go flying off the handle like Dad sometimes had. Sadly Scott could probably pin point the day it all changed and wondered what else he had missed out on. He would have to go to the others and make them spill all their secrets.

John had been watching him think, letting him come to his own conclusion. John had always been a great teacher like that. From the other side of the world and miles above John nodded when Scott refocused on him and said:

"Alan's smart enough to weigh up his options, he knows all the objections that a parent would raise and he still spoke to you before he went through it. I'm sure you're smart enough to work out why. Now I'm way too busy for this so go talk to him."

That was a lie. John could hold four conversations, plan two rescues, watch tv and bake a cake at the same time, there was no way he was too busy. But Scott realised that he was talking to the wrong brother, that he hadn't been thinking as a brother himself for a long time. It was time to fix that.

Scott slowly opened the door, to find Alan at his desk hunched over a text book writing in a large leather bound notebook.

"Go away Scott." Alan said without looking up.

"Can we talk?" Scott asked, entering the room just a few steps.

"No, because I'm not going to change my mind, no matter how much you yell at me." Alan said flatly.

"I'm not going to yell."

"Any more. You mean you are not going to yell any more? You were yelling quite a bit." Alan looked up now – a mix of hurt and angry and stubborn and unsure that Scott could remember from being a teenager himself.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry." Scott sat on Alan's bed, within touching distance but didn't reach out just yet. "You know I'm only ever looking out for you, right?"

"Sure. Are we done now?" Alan was already turning back to his book. Was he studying anyway, despite the argument? That showed a dedication that made Scott proud.

"No we're not done. I wanted to say..." Scott took a deep breath. "Dad would want you to think more seriously, not to rush in, make better plans for the future and all that. And I've tried to do what he would have wanted, to do what's best for this family and for this organisation."

"I know that, and you're doing a great job. And I know that I needed a formal guardian after we lost Dad. And even though it's not been any different in some ways because you were the one who taught me to do my shoelaces and you've always been the one to make me do my homework or chew my food properly but sometimes..." Alan ran out of words.

"Sometimes you just want me to be your big brother." Scott finished for him, on the same page.

"Yeah."

"Come here." Scott held out an arm and Alan lumped his way over to the bed. Scott drew him in tight for a hug that the youngest Tracey resisted for only a second.

"And I always want to be your big brother. The other responsibilities have made me forget just how much I love being a big brother and how different that is from anything else. It's difficult to balance everything but I promise that I'm going to try harder and get better."

"So you're not going to be such a jerk?"

"Hey!" Scott protested, drawing back slightly, but grinned when he saw Alan's cheeky expression. "Nobody's going to be a jerk."

"Then does my brother think my further education plans are 'crazy, ill-judged and conceited?"

Alan's tone was light but Scott could sense the weight of this question. As much as he may shrug it off Alan really cared what his family thought and the wrong word in the wrong place could wreck his confidence. Gordon often put his foot in it.

Honestly Scott wasn't entirely convinced that this course would be Alan's best choice in any respect. He could offer suggestions of better options, better institutions, better paths to follow. Maybe, if Alan had been his son, he would have mentioned them. He would have tried to persuade him to take another option, lay out carrots as well as sticks. But Alan wasn't his son and so there was only one thing to say in this moment.

"As your brother, I think it's awesome."

The grin Alan gave him was the reward for saying the right thing, and Alan immediately bounced off the bed grab the prospectus and wave it in his face. Guardian-Scott might have to do some damage limitation when Alan found distance learning for a course like this more difficult than he imagined. International Rescue – Scott would have to find enough hours in the day so they didn't compromise their missions or Alan's education.

Big Brother-Scott didn't care about any of those things. Alan was happy and that was all that mattered.