Disclaimer: The Thunderbirds do not belong to me. They are the property of Gerry Anderson and his affiliates. No money or personal profit is made from this. Any original characters do belong to me, however.

AN: a challenge from a friend. I was a bit reluctant to post this, but he encouraged me to do it, so here goes. Set in an alternate universe, alternate reality, different timeline, whatever expression floats your boat. Bottom line, the boys aren't quite as we know them.

The other life

Every year they vowed that they wouldn't be the last ones to arrive at the monthly family gathering. Every year they broke their promise.

The car – a slow, yellow hatchback, one Alan, as a professional race car driver, loathed to be seen in – pulled up abruptly behind the other cars that were parked haphazardly on the driveway.

"Come on, Tin!" Alan cried out excitedly as he ran up the steps to his childhood home. He was like a five year old trapped in a twenty-one year old body. "I can't wait to tell them!"

Laughing, Tin-Tin followed Alan up the steps, swinging her black hair over her shoulder. "Alan, are you sure…"

"Yes!" Alan interrupted. "You've met them. You know my family aren't ogres – most of the time. Trust me; they'll be as excited as I am."

The door opened, revealing the patriarch of the family.

Jeff Tracy.

"Well, it's about time you showed up, boy. I was beginning to worry."

Alan smiled sheepishly. "How's Mom?"

"You can ask her yourself," a new voice interjected. Lucy pulled her youngest son into a hug. "And you can also tell me when you and Tin-Tin have set the date for the wedding."

Alan's jaw dropped while Tin-Tin stood there in shock. How had Lucy known? They hadn't told anyone their news yet.

"Well, don't just stand there! Come inside!" Lucy allowed the pair to step off the porch and into the hallway. "The others are in the living room. I'll get you both something to drink. You must be tired after that long journey."

Turning into the first room on the left, Alan slipped his hand into Tin-Tin's and led her into the living room. They were immediately sandwiched in a group hug and greeted.

John, having returned from his space rotations three weeks ago, looked down at Tin-Tin's left hand and echoed Lucy's statement. He also added, "Dibs on best man, Al. Us blonds have to stick together."

Alan chuckled. "Speaking of blond, what have you done to your hair? It looks like a bird has made a nest on top of your head."

John grimaced. Ever since he had returned, he had noticed slight changes to his general appearance. He had paled due to lack of sunlight and as Scott, Virgil, Gordon and now Alan had repeatedly pointed out to him, his hair resembled a peroxide nuclear explosion, coupled with frizz and all. He had been reassured that all of this was temporary and his body would revert back to normal soon, but John was still unhappy.

"Guys," Alan began, confirming John's statement, "You've all met Tin-Tin as my girlfriend. Well, now meet Tin-Tin Kyrano, my fiancée."

Cheers and cries of congratulations were accepted graciously. Tin-Tin felt a wave of relief was over her. For the entire two hour long journey, she had been wondering if she would be welcomed into the family. Now, looking around the room, she knew her answer.

"So, when did you guys get in?" Alan asked.

"Well," twenty-four year old Virgil said, "Gords was first here, obviously, Maxie and I came in second, John, Scott, Jennifer and their daughter arrived at the same time and then you and Tin-Tin checked in."

Maxie was Virgil's new wife. After a rocky start to their relationship, Virgil and Maxie had been happily married for half a year. Scott and Jennifer, on the other hand, had empathically stated that just because they had a child together, and were going to have another one by the end of the year; it didn't mean they wanted to get married. They were perfectly content with their de-facto status. Marriage was an expense they could do without.

The conversation moved on, with the brothers informing each other with the latest updates in their life. Virgil had recently gained a promotion from the engineering company he was working with. John was well on track with his career and he was scheduled for a return trip into space in the upcoming years. At twenty-two and a half, Gordon was growing up in his own right. His age wasn't a barrier when it came to playing practical jokes on his co-workers at World Aquanaut Security Patrol or his brothers, but he knew when to be serious and focus on the task at hand. Currently, he was on indefinite sick leave, recovering from a hydrofoil crash. Alan had established himself as a diligent, professional and dedicated race car driver. All four were satisfied with their current occupations.

Scott was a different story. For reasons he had never clearly explained to his family, Scott had left the Air Force with an honourable discharge and a smattering of decorations for bravery. Taking any job he could find that suited his interests; he became a pilot for a private charter company. While he enjoyed the job itself, his colleagues were making his work life hell. At twenty-six, Scott was the youngest employee there that worked as a pilot and regardless of his expertise at flying planes; his co-workers viewed him as inexperienced and constantly questioned his judgment. The only silver lining, Scott had felt, was that this job guaranteed he would always return to his home city at the end of every day, allowing him to spend more time with his family.

"You know," Jeff butted in after listening to Scott vent about his job, "You could always work for me. There are positions vacant in my business."

Scott nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. But that'll mean relocating and Jen and I won't be able to do that right now. Not for the next year at least."

Jeff chuckled. "Good to see you have your priorities straight, son. The offer's always there."

"Speaking of priorities, I should probably go check on the little sprog. She'll be awake by now." Scott levered himself off the couch and traipsed upstairs to check on his daughter.

"So, who does she look like?" Tin-Tin asked. She had seen photos of her soon-to-be niece, but she strongly believed that what a photo showed and what a person looked like were two separate things.

"Who do you think she looks like?" Scott had returned, carrying his slightly dozy child on his hip.

Tin-Tin studied the infant intently. "Her mother. She definitely takes after Jennifer here. But she had your eyes, Scott."

"Yeah," Scott agreed, stifling a yawn behind his hand, "We get that a lot, don't we, Nat?"

Natalie, the one and a half year old, nodded against his shoulder.

"I've gotta say," Gordon began as he took his favourite niece out off her unresisting father's hands. "I thought you would have flown here, not driven. That's why Natty's so out of it."

"He would have flown," a voice from the doorway said. "But I can't. High risk pregnancy and all that. Also, Nat's a lousy flier. She screams and chucks up. Can you imagine Scott letting his 'other woman' be defiled in such a manner?"

All the heads in the room swivelled to the noise source, only to see Maxie, a tall, willow like figure standing next to Jennifer, a shorter, heavily pregnant brunette.

"Didn't want to take the risk with placenta previa," Scott agreed, pulling his long time girlfriend into his lap so she could sit and rest. He had purposely ignored her jibe at the plane being his second love, even though it was. "How're you feeling?"

Jennifer glared at Scott. "Like a pygmy hippo. I swear to God, Scott, if you ever do this to me again…." The rest of the threat was left deliberately unsaid.

"Pygmy hippos are adorable," Scott murmured into her ear, wrapping his arms around her swollen stomach. "I just can't get enough of them."

A loud crash, followed by a shrill scream came from the kitchen.

"Luc," Jeff called out, placing his mug of coffee on a table. "You alright?"

Lucy didn't reply.

"Luc?" Jeff was becoming more anxious and worried filled the room like a thick blanket.

"I'll go check," Jennifer tried to move, but Scott held her back.

"No, you won't," he argued. "The doctor told you to rest, so guess what you're gonna do?"

"You? Am I doing you?" she responded in that way of hers when she was unhappy with circumstances. Scott just rolled his eyes as he made his way with Jeff to the kitchen.

By this time, Gordon had struggled to his feet with the aid of a walker and was shuffling unsteadily towards the kitchen as well. Alan and Virgil surrounded him, just in case he overbalanced and made his healing injuries worse. John, too, had made his way into the kitchen.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sweetie," Lucy mumbled, trying to ease the worry from her husband and sons. "I just twisted my ankle, I think. I'm sorry, boys, I won't be able to carry on cooking our family lunch."

"Don't worry about it, honey," Jeff reassured her, sweeping her up into his arms so she didn't do more harm to her ankle by walking on it.

"Yeah," Virgil chimed in. "We'll carry on with lunch, won't we, guys?"

"You just leave that to us, Mom," John added. "We'll get it all done. Five star meal."

Lucy stared dubiously at the gathering. Her sons were talented and singular individuals, and teamed together, they were a force to be reckoned with. However, there was one common link that tied them together. Try as they might, none of them possessed any culinary prowess. Lucy shuddered to think of what would happen to her kitchen if she couldn't keep an eye on her boys. Her worst fears were confirmed when her second youngest shuffled slowly out of the kitchen, holding a packet of lamb in his hands.

"How do you want your meat; rare or well done?"

Lucy facepalmed, shaking her head wearily.

"No meat for me, Gords," Jennifer supplied. "Baby Liu-Tracy wouldn't appreciate that."

"Not a fan of meat?" Lucy queried lightly, grimacing through the pain as an ice pack was applied to her ankle.

"Baby hates it," Jennifer explained, rubbing her tummy affectionately. "The last eight months have been so hard for Scott, because he insists on giving up the things I won't have, so I'm not in this alone. To be perfectly honest, I wish he'd make an exception on the coffee aspect of things."

And with that cleared up, Jeff, Lucy, Maxie, Tin-Tin and Jennifer relaxed, letting the boys handle the stress of lunch.

Back in the kitchen, the boys weren't having much luck. So far, all they had managed to do was move plates, pots and pans around the various counters and argue over who was the better cook. All in all, it wasn't that productive.

"Give me the frying pan!" Alan snarled, tugging it impatiently. "You haven't cooked in over six months, John! I would so do a better job!"

"No, you wouldn't," John grunted back, pulling with all his might. "You burn water!"

"How is that even possible?" Alan queried incredulously.

"I don't know! You're the one that does it!"

Meanwhile, Gordon had plonked down on an empty chair and pulled a recipe book towards him. "Alright company, listen up!"

Four heads swivelled towards him. Two were highly amused, one was surprised and the other one fought to stifle a grin.

Gordon taking charge? Virgil cocked an eyebrow as he glanced at Scott.

Wow, talk about role reversals. Scott blinked back. It's a good thing for him. Shows he still has the ability to control some things in his life. He needs that right now.

"I need two people peeling, chopping and dicing the vegetables," Gordon began, pointedly looking at Scott and Virgil.

"Sir, yes sir!" Scott mock saluted, grabbed two graters and a bag of vegetables.

"John, you'll be marinating the meat. Alan can sauté everything. Knowing us, we should be done in three days."

"And what are you doing to help out, dear brother of ours?" John asked as he rinsed out the meat.

Gordon pretended to be shocked. "I'm here to help out with my uber-organizational skills. Within five minutes, I've ordered everyone into a job. Man, am I good!"

Virgil nodded in agreement. "How long was the drive, Scott?"

"Virg, you know I live in Scobey. In Montana. It was very long. Took about two and a half days because we stopped in to visit Jen's parents. Stopping on the way back as well. It's going to be a long week. You?"

"About ten hours. Would have taken less time, but Maxie insisted on breaks every two hours."

There was a slight pause.

"Okay Virg, what's wrong?"

Virgil looked at Scott. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"You didn't ask me about the journey here for fun. There's an underlying problem. Spit it out."

Virgil sighed. "You remember when we were kids? Dad used to talk to us about a dream he had. Well, I've been wondering; what our lives would have been like if he could have funded that pet project of his."

"I hadn't thought of that in a decade," Scott admitted. "Well, life wouldn't be like this. You may never have married, let alone meet Maxie, Alan would never have gotten engaged and Jen and I wouldn't have had Natalie or baby number two. I think it's better off this way. Can't miss what you've never had, right?"

"I guess," Virgil conceded. There was another pause. "Scott?"

"Yes?"

"What's it like, being a dad?"

Scott stopped peeling the carrot in his hand and stared at Virgil. "Is there something you and Maxie haven't told us?"

"No! No. There's nothing. We haven't even been trying for a baby. I was just curious."

"You really wanna know?"

Virgil nodded.

"It's a pain in the ass."

Virgil scoffed. This wasn't what he expected to hear.

"There's the two am feeds, the dirty diapers, the wailing at ungodly hours of the night, the lack of sleep, the tight budgeting to survive from week – to – week until the paycheck arrives and the spit up.

"But then I look at Nat, and it doesn't matter. I look at her and I see parts of Jen and little bits of me. I see her as the product of our love. And it just feels right. All of it is worth it in the end. It may be a pain in the ass, but it's great as well."

Virgil nodded and went back to peeling carrots. "Did I tell you I have to visit my in-laws again?"

Scott winced in sympathy. It was common knowledge to the Tracy family that Virgil was disliked by his wife's parents. "Ouch. Better you than me."

"Thanks for the support, Scott. Besides, the dislike they have for me wouldn't even register on the animosity between you and Jen's parents."

Scott considered this. "I really don't know why they -"

"Loathe?" John interrupted, as he had been eavesdropping.

"Detest?" suggested Alan over the roar of the gas stove.

"Abhor?" Gordon supplied, an amused smile creeping across his face.

"Someone's been reading their dictionary," Virgil snarked to Gordon.

Gordon, instead of taking offence, grinned. "Nice to know my hard work paid off."

"I was actually thinking of using strongly disliked," Scott muttered. "Don't know what I've done to deserve that, though."

"Well, Jen chose to move in with you, meaning she left Canada and her parents behind. You got Jen pregnant twice without marrying her and being raised in China, her parents view this as a violation of their beliefs, even if Jennifer and you are happy the way you are. You passed on an X chromosome instead of a Y one. You -"

"Alright, John, I get the picture."

"We could go on all day," Gordon teased, much to his eldest brother's displeasure.

"Please don't. I'd rather not hear about my inadequacies."

The process of creating lunch carried on; with each brother talking about an event they were dreading. For Gordon, it was his upcoming fitness test that would determine if he would return to active duty at the beginning of next year. John had finished the manuscript for his first book, and he was going to meet up with a publishing company to see if it had any potential. For all he knew, he could be the latest J.K Rowling, weaning a whole generation back into reading.

Within two hours of taking over the kitchen, the boys set steaming plates of food on the table and called the household to lunch.

"New record, boys," Jeff smiled. "Fastest meal cooked from scratch and nothing has spontaneously combusted."

Gordon turned as bright as his red hair. "I only set fire to one thing and I'm labelled for life!"

"Well," Maxie smoothed things over, "it smells delicious."

"Absolutely fab," Tin-Tin agreed.

"What are you waiting for?" Alan asked as he sat next to his fiancée. "Tuck in."

The meal was, as Maxie had said, delicious. As soon as they had cleared their plates of their main meal and dessert, the used crockery was stacked in the dishwasher. Lucy had suggested that they all relax while watching a movie and everyone eagerly agreed. In her mind, it was the perfect way to end a light-hearted, family filled day.

However, as soon as Jeff turned the television on, he knew something was wrong. Every single channel was showing a newscast. Wild weather fluctuations had been battling its way through the northern parts of America. All the states bordering Canada had been red-flagged, and the range of disasters had caused an immense amount of casualties and fatalities.

The movie had been forgotten. Eyes were glued to the screen as the devastation played out.

"Thank God you were here when this happened," Lucy told Scott. Even though her boy was an adult and a father himself, she still wanted to keep him, and his family, safe.

"Yeah," Scott murmured.

"I told you buying that house was a big mistake!" Lucy berated, fuelled by motherly concern. "You could have been killed if you hadn't come here."

"Mom, that was seven years ago. Please, let it go. I was nineteen when I bought the house. And sometimes a mistake is a good thing. If I hadn't, Jen, Nat and I would be spending half our income on rent."

"True," Lucy conceded. However, like any mother on the planet, she would have felt better if she was able to stay closer to her sons. "But you're still paying off your mortgage."

Jeff swallowed. There should have been something he could have done. There should have been something he could have done. Deep down, he knew there was. It was a small seed that had been ingrained at the back of his mind for as long as he could remember.

International Rescue.

As a child, he yearned to do something to help others. As an adult he yearned to do something to help others, whether it was in Earth's atmosphere or not. International Rescue would have been his way of giving something back to the world.

In Jeff's mind's eye, International Rescue would be a family run venture. Five sons; five crafts. Each ship would be tailored to each of his sons' speciality. For Scott, he imagined a scout craft. It would have to be swift and nimble while also having a temperament that would match Scott's passion for flying. Virgil was more mechanical minded. He would have been more suited to the transport craft, which would house the rescue equipment in transit between rescues. Alan and John had a common love of the stars. They would interchange between the spaceship and the low orbiting satellite respectively. It stood to reason that his water baby, Gordon, would have assumed full responsibility for a small, two man submarine, which would have been utilised in underwater rescues.

But life didn't work out that way. While he was a moderately successful icon in the corporate world, Jeff had never raised the kind of cash he'd need to build International Rescue, let alone fund it out of his own pocket. He was adamant that no outside source would fund his pet project.

Even if he did have the money, Jeff may not have had his ideal team. There was no guarantee that his sons would join him in this venture. Gordon was, for the foreseeable future, wasn't able to walk unaided. Jeff was sure that wouldn't stop Gordon from living life the way he wanted to, but he also had to consider practicalities. He needed his team to be in perfect physical condition. Gordon was not quite there yet.

Would his other sons have given up their life for him? John probably would have, but the other three were loose cannons. Virgil had a wife and a stable life in Denver. He may not want to uproot on a harebrained scheme his father cooked up. Alan loved the allure cars had. There was no way Alan would give up car racing for space. Scott had a family to consider, as well as a job and a half paid mortgage.

And what about Lucy? Jeff knew she thought it was a sweet and touching gesture, but realistically, she knew that what her husband had proposed was impractical.

No, the set up of International Rescue wasn't as easy as he had first anticipated.

Sensing his guilt, Lucy slipped her hand into his, squeezed it slightly and sat on his lap. "It's okay, Jeff. If you could, you would make a difference."

If he could.

But he couldn't. Not yet, anyway.

Not without International Rescue.

Not without money.

Not without the full support of his wife, sons and their family.

But until he had all of that, he would just have to watch each disaster unfold as they occurred, and wish International Rescue was more than simply a figment of his imagination. He would just have to wait until International Rescue became more than just a dream for the future.