A/N: This is birthday fic for my friend thunderbird5! All the best for a wonderful day hun! Determined will be hopefully, hopefully out by the weekend. Wish me luck guys, because it's been a long time in coming!
Disclaimer: If not for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, I would not be able to play in this wonderful playground, so no, I do not own the Thunderbirds.
In addition, Sherry Tracy is a character from thunderbird5's fic, I'm Different, but this is definitely a stand-alone, as much as it fits into her 'verse to some extent. Hope you like it!
"John. Johnny. Wake up."
A small pair of blue eyes open sleepily, blinking owlishly in the low light of the waiting room, before they home in on the face in front of them.
"Scott? Wha's goin' on?" Eight-year old John asks, yawning as he stretches. He uncurls himself from the waiting room chair, and his eyes flicker towards his grandmother as she stands in the doorway to a long hallway. They've been here for hours now, and he's tired.
"We can go in and see Mom now Johnny! Gordy and Virgil are ready to go. Come on!" Ten-year-old Scott holds his hand out and John clasps it in his, letting his older brother pull him to his feet.
They follow Grandma down the hall as she carries Gordon, Virgil's hand in Scott's other as they walk. The white walls interspersed with occasional paintings and the light blue linoleum squeaks beneath John's sneakered feet as he trails behind his brothers.
Their mom is sitting up in bed when they arrive; John can slightly recall seeing this scene before, back from when Gordon was born, he thinks. He ponders that for a moment, as each of his brothers' approach without him paying attention. The sound of his name being called and his father's hand on his shoulder break through his reverie.
John steps shyly up to the bed, and he is just tall enough to see that there are two bundles in his mother's embrace. He's short for his age, and it's a little embarrassing, but he accepts his father's help in climbing onto the bed.
He moves closer to her, checking her over to make sure she's in one piece, and he realises that both babies have blue eyes, almost hidden beneath the pink, wrinkled skin that all newborns have. He grins as they blink sleepily. He knows that all babies have that colour when they're first born, but all the same, he's happy to see that they're his blue rather than Scott's cobalt.
And then he sees their hair colour. He doesn't know how he missed it. Gordy has the same hair as Grandma used to, and both Scott and Virgil have their father's in different shades, but the twins —a boy and a girl Dad had told him— are like him and have Mom's hair. He's at first a little jealous, but then he grins.
He could get used to this.
"What's the girl's name, Daddy?" Virgil asks seriously from where he's perched on their father's lap. I know the boy's Alan Shepard." He points to the baby in their mother's right arm.
John has no idea how his little brother can tell the difference, but he grins at their father's penchant for naming each of his sons after astronauts. He's wondering the same thing.
"Marsha Ivins Tracy, but your mother is already calling her Sherry." Their father's voice is a mixture of amusement and disgruntled parent, but at the same time, is full of warmth.
John smiles at the baby girl, and he rubs a finger along his baby brother's cheek. Alan grips his pointer finger in an iron grasp as the tiny hand slips from the blanket he is wrapped in.
Sherry blinks again, and then around the room, drinking in the scene as Alan lets out a gurgle and makes a damp, wet yawn.
John feels a surge of protectiveness to rival what he knows Scott gives off at times, and he knows that he's going to have a lot of fun with his baby siblings. He doesn't know how or why, but he will.
A/N: Happy Birthday 'Five! Thanks for reading, everyone else!
- Pyre. Xx