Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Thunderbird characters. George, Theresa and Beth are all my own creation.

Summary: Elizabeth 'Beth' McIntyre is the Niece of Lady Penelope. After a tragic accident she is reunited with the Tracy's (whom she knew from childhood). Can they help her overcome the grief and be happy again? Or will she remain in her deep depressive state for the rest of her life. Only John can get close enough to her to help.

Prologue

On December 23rd 1993 at approximately 7.30pm in a private hospital in London, George and Theresa McIntyre were over joyed with the birth of their daughter Elizabeth McIntyre. She had a very small family which consisted of her parents, a grandmother in her fathers native country America and an aunt whom she and her parents lived with in her country mansion. Lady Penelope Creighton Ward refused to take no for an answer when she offered for her sister and brother in law to live with her. Her excuse being that it would be nice to have the last of her family close to home.

Her life at her aunt's home was as full of joy and love. She was taken to dance lessons by her mother and aunt, and always managed to rope 'Uncle' Parker into playing tea party and dress up with her. However, on September 19th 1998 Theresa McIntyre died from complications which arose due to advanced diabetes. Elizabeth was just four years old. George was heart broken and fell into a deep depression, leaving Elizabeth to be raised by her Aunt Penelope, who soon became a second mother to the young girl. Nearly a year after Theresa's death, Elizabeth asked her father, in her innocence, if she could have a 'broked heart' so that her father would remember her too. It was in that moment that her father decided to take his daughter back to America with him in order to bring her up in an environment where he could at least concentrate on her rather than his grief. Penelope was very understanding of the situation and promised her niece that she would come to visit her over the summer.

At first, Elizabeth didn't like Kansas. In her own view, it was boring and would never be her home. She wished that she could stay with her Auntie Penny, but her father said that she would grow to love his own childhood home. They lived in a relatively small house, with a long driveway and small front garden and also a small back garden that had a small apple tree at the end.

Just a few days after they moved into their new home, they received a visit from the wife of their next door neighbor. Lucille Tracy, a petite woman of 30 years, was full love and care. She'd noticed the arrival of George and his daughter and decided to wait a few days before going around to welcome them to the neighborhood and to invite them to a barbecue with herself and the rest of her family. George was very grateful for her offer and accepted it. For Beth, however, it took a lot of convincing on Georges part to get her to meet the Tracy family. Eventually she agreed to go, as long as she didn't have to play with any of the children because they were all boys.

The barbecue was a success. George introduced Beth to the Tracy family and he finally got to meet Jeff. The evening was spent discussing the area, neighbors, schools and work. George had managed to get a job working at a local garage and got Beth enrolled into the same school as the Tracy children. They were: Scott (aged 8); John (aged 6). Virgil, the third child of Lucille and Jeff, was only 2 years old and therefore didn't go to school yet. It took many weeks, but eventually Beth got used to the Tracy family, in particular Scott and John because they went to school together. John more than Scott because they both were in the same grade together. All three children became exceptionally close over the course of the next six months, especially when George fell into his depression over and over again throughout their time in their new home. Due to this, she spent a lot of time at the Tracy home, doing homework and playing with the boys.

The only time that the two families were separated was whenever Beth would go to England for 4 weeks of the summer holiday in order to visit her Aunt Penelope. Other than that, they were all inseparable.

During the next few years, the Tracy family celebrated the arrivals of Gordon and then Alan. Beth made sure it was her job to go around to the Tracy family home and help Lucille with all of her chores and help her to look after the younger family members. This was always greatly appreciated. However, when Beth was 11 years old, the Tracy went on a Skiing holiday in the Alps. They left their Kansas home filled excitement and happiness, only to return in fear and depression. Lucille got caught in an avalanche, killing her.

Beth kept her distance for a while, not to sure how to handle the grief that was being shown by all of the Tracy's. Eventually, after the funeral and giving the family the space they needed in order to grieve properly, she began going to their home to help Scott and John take care of their brothers until their father found himself again.

Over the course of the next seven years she helped the family, along with Grandma Tracy take care of the younger boys. Jeff appreciated all of her help so much that he even gave her her own room to stay in when she needed a place to stay while her dad worked a couple of night shifts at a second job in a 24hour supermarket.

During the course of her school life, Beth continued her love for dancing and discovered a love for mechanics after spending holidays with her day fixing cars and other mechanical objects. This was soon reflected in her school work and became a major influence when choosing what she wanted to do at University.

Throughout the course of her life in Kansas, Beth and John's relationship grew more and more within each passing day. They both discovered a passion for space and the stars after listening to many of Jeff's astronaut stories. They were both quiet in class and at home, often invoking the wrath of the school bullies upon them. When they were fifteen, John was being beaten up by the main bully of their grade, Ethan Brooks It was in this particular moment that Beth finally decided that she had had enough of the way she and John were being treated. So, instead of running off to find Scott or a teacher, she jumped into the middle of the crowd and began using some of the fighting techniques her Aunt Penelope had taught her in the past. It was safe to say that the kid never went near her and John ever again. Of course the teachers found out, along with the rest of the school, the Tracy Family and her father, which of course ended up with her being grounded for a month and extra babysitting duties. Both Scott and John were grateful for what she did, John because he was always grateful for her help and Scott because by the time he arrived at the scene, Beth was already cleaning John's injuries.

After School, Beth and John went to College in order to help them get the grades they needed to get into NASA. Whilst John wanted to be an Astronaut and work in the NASA space station, Beth studied advanced Physics and engineering. She was quite happy to work as an engineer within the NASA Space Center, rather than up at the Station, due to (as she told John many times) she got air sickness, but really it was because she wanted to be on the ground in case her father needed her, and for this, George was grateful.

During the may years of knowing the Tracy's, Penelope would come to visit George and Beth in their Kansas home, who introduced her to the Tracy family, thus beginning the long friendship that later became a more professional one after the creation of the Thunderbirds.

All was happy and good in her life, until she was coming to the end of her first week of vacation at her Aunt Penelope's English Country Mansion. It was a visit that began the chain of events leading up to Beth's recruitment into the Thunderbirds. Beth and her father were driving back to Lady Penelope's home, after a trip into London to see the sights and to go shopping, when the driver of a Semi plowed into the drivers side of the car. All Beth knew of when she finally awoke after the accident was that she was laughing with her father about a particularly bad joke he told and the next thing she was waking up in a hospital bed in an empty room.

Here are the sequence of events that changed Beth for the rest of her life.

AN: This is still early days with this story. As you can probably see I have redone this entire chapter to add a little bit more information into it. Not sure when I will update next because I am trying to update my other fic 'The World We Know' and I don't know whether I will continue with my Phantom of the Opera story yet. Thanks for reading and if you can review that will be great.

Thanks!!