Family Matters

By GrumpyMagrat & Magratconvert

Disclaimer: We do not own the Thunderbirds neither are we making any money off this endeavor. This is strictly for our own enjoyment, and hopefully, the enjoyment of our readers. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note – This is a sequel to our story Cause and Effect from a few years ago. If you haven't read that and would like to, we selfishly encourage you to do that. Unfortunately, it is a very long story, and that may be a turn off to some readers. We are understanding of that point. This story can be read without it if you wish, with one important explanation of the character Christina Lucille Tracy who will appear in future chapters.

So, without giving too much away about Cause and Effect, here it goes. Tin-Tin is her mother. Although by the end of Cause and Effect, Alan and Tin-Tin are married, he is NOT Christina's biological father. Due to an extreme, emotionally distressing time, Tin-Tin and Gordon interacted one time, and Christina was the result.

Our stories have been accused of being "emotional" and "soap-operas". This one will be no different. So be warned. If you don't like those kinds of stories, please move on. We really do want to be an enjoyment to our readers.

Just for information sake, this story will also be fairly long, not as long as Cause and Effect, but still long in its own right. It is completed, but still in the beta-ing stage. A big thank you to our wonderful beta, Lillehafrue. We will try to post a chapter a week. Hopefully, we can keep ahead of it.

Now that we've rambled long enough, on to the story.

Chapter 1: An Ordinary Rescue

Gordon sighed heavily. International Rescue had been working for over twenty hours at the scene of a mall collapse. He stretched his tired back muscles, grateful that they were almost done. They only had three more stores to go through, a shoe store, a vitamin shop, and a child's clothing store. The rescue would have taken a lot longer without their specialized equipment which in the long run saved lives, but that knowledge didn't soften the blow of the eleven bodies that they had removed already, including the two that Virgil and Alan were in the process of removing from the building. Shaking his head, Gordon forced himself back to work. His brothers would be expecting him to know what is on the other side of the section of the collapsed roof he was supposed to be scanning.

Gordon was setting up the cutting torch when his arrived. They looked as worn out as he felt. "How's it going out there?"

Virgil shook his head. "Scott got word that one of the injured died en route to the hospital."

Gordon ran a hand around the back of his neck, maneuvering his head around to work some of the kinks out. "So, that brings the death toll up to twelve."

"And seventy three injured," Alan added.

Virgil could sense that his brothers were getting discouraged. "Don't think on those. Think about the hundred and twenty seven that we rescued with just bumps and bruises or no injuries at all. Those are the ones we need to focus on. Come on, we still have a job to finish. What did you figure out, Gordon?"

There's another large opening behind this debris." Gordon pointed to some marks he made. "If we cut here, we should be able to break through without destabilizing anything."

"Did you pick up any life signs on the other side?" Virgil questioned.

"Three, but I didn't get any response when I tried to call through the debris. There's no telling why. Hopefully, it's just that the debris is too thick to hear through, not because…"

"Yeah, we understand," Virgil broke in. "Well, let's get to it. Alan, can you help him cut?"

Gordon was halfway through his first cut when Alan got his torch readied. Between the two of them, they made quick work of cutting a hole.

Virgil was the first to enter through the opening. "Hello? Anybody hear me?"

"Yes! Yes, over here," a voice called out.

Alan followed Virgil to the counter of the vitamin shop. "Are you okay? Is there anyone else in the shop?" Virgil asked the three women that were huddled together, leaning against the counter.

A young woman wearing an employee nametag reading "Allison" answered for the group. "It's just the three of us. My manager ran to the bank to straighten out some problem, and Mrs. Whitehall and her sister Mrs. Stevens were our only customers at the time."

"It's MS. Stevens if you don't mind," the younger of the other two women snidely interjected. "And why are you just standing there? My sister is hurt."

With the mention of an injury, Virgil moved closer to the group, "Alan, med kit." Turning towards the injured Mrs. Whitehall, he continued, "Where are you hurt?"

She shifted slightly. "It's my wrist. I think it may be broken. Something hit it when the ceiling started to fall."

"What the hell happened?" Ms. Stevens demanded.

Virgil pulled a splint from the med kit. "All I know is that the roof collapsed. I have no idea what the cause was."

Ms. Stevens rolled her eyes. "Real brilliant there, Sherlock. Like I couldn't figure out that the roof caved in."

"This actually is one of the least hit parts of the mall." Alan broke in. "It looks like just the drop ceiling and insulation in here. Other places of the mall have steel girders and roofing materials scattered about."

Ms. Stevens rapidly got to her feet and squared off against Alan. "Don't you take that tone with me, young man. I don't know who you think you are, but you're nobody special. I don't care what uniform you are wearing."

Mrs. Whitehall spoke up against her sister. "Oh, Abby, please stop. These men are just trying to do their jobs. There's no reason to attack them."

"When are you going to stop calling me by that ridiculous baby name? My name is Abigail. How would you like it if I continued to call you Maddie instead of Madeline?"

Maddie gave Virgil a wink. "Actually, I would prefer that. I never was really fond of Madeline."

Abigail stuck her nose in the air. "You never have had any sense of decorum."

"And you have always…" Maddie began only to be interrupted by Virgil.

"Ladies, please, we really need to get you out of here. I'm done with the splint. Can you all walk? Are there any other issues?"

The women shook their heads. Allyson helped Virgil get Maddie to her feet while Gordon scanned the next store. "I'm not picking up any life signs in the shoe store."

"That's because they closed down last week." Allyson offered.

This time it was Alan's turn to roll his eyes. "It would've been nice for someone to tell us that."

"Maybe you should've asked," Abigail sneered. "That's what I would've done."

"You always claim that you would do things perfectly, but I rarely see you do them." Maddie's irritation was finally getting the better of her.

"Of all the nerve! You just…"

"Ladies, please," Virgil broke in again. "This isn't helping. Let's just concentrate on getting you out of here. Allyson, how about Kidz Kloze? Were they open today?"

Allyson nodded as her eyes filled with tears. "Yeah, they were. My sister, Andi, was working today. We were supposed to meet up for lunch, but obviously that didn't happen. I just hope she's okay."

"You're okay, so there's every reason to believe that she is too."

Virgil and Alan helped the three women through the maze of the damaged building while Gordon stayed to work a way to the last store. By the time they returned, Gordon had cut an opening into the shoe store and was now working on getting into the clothing store. He smirked at Virgil. "So, how's Abby?"

Virgil shook his head. "Man, she was a piece of work, complained the whole way out. First, it was 'don't touch me, I can do it myself'. Then, it's 'help me through this mess'. There was no way to make her happy."

"Yeah," Alan interjected. "She was threatening to sue the mall owner, the store keepers, even us. Anybody she feels is responsible for the damage to her 'delicate nerves' as she put it."

Gordon snorted in disgust. "If that woman has delicate nerves, I'll eat my hat."

"Me too," Virgil conceded. "I feel sorry for the paramedics we left her with." Glancing at the wall, he asked. "How are we doing here?"

"This is a bad one. I'm scanning a lot of debris." Pointing at the screen image, he explained. "We can only cut a small hole here. Then we'll have to squeeze through and stabilize the debris from the other side in order to widen the hole."

"Any life signs?"

Gordon gave his brother an incredulous look. "Do you really think I'd be doing all this if there's no one to save?"

Virgil shrugged. "Okay, stupid question. How many?"

"At least three, maybe four. I was getting really low readings. I'm hoping that it's just interference."

"Let's get at it." The three brothers worked together to get through the wall. Once that was done, Alan and Gordon shored up the opening while Virgil went in search of the victims. He found two women behind the counter. One sat with her knees pulled up to her chest rocking slightly, and the other one lay on her back with a light ballast across her upper legs. The broken fluorescent light left numerous cuts around the area. "We're from International Rescue. We're here to help."

"Finally, thank God," the woman under the light replied.

"Are you hurt anywhere besides your legs? Your head? Your back?"

"I don't think so, but I haven't moved that much. The broken glass grinds into my legs when I try."

"Okay, we'll be getting you outta here soon." Turning to the other woman, he asked. "How about you? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The other woman ignored Virgil completely and continued her rocking. He raised a questioning eyebrow at the first woman. "How long has she been like this? Do you know if she was injured in anyway? Specifically a head injury?"

"I don't think so. I think it's shock or fear. She's been that way pretty much since the roof collapsed, but you need to know that there is also a mother and her son in the store. They were in a changing room when this happened. I've tried calling to them, but I haven't heard anything back from them."

"Nothing at all?"

"A couple of times, I thought I heard faint crying, but I don't know if it was real or just wishful thinking."

About this time, the two youngest Tracys joined Virgil.

"What have we got?" Alan asked.

"We have…uhm…I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"It's Andi, and that's Melissa."

"So, you're Allyson's sister," Alan stated.

"Allyson? She's okay?"

Virgil smiled and nodded. "Yeah, only worried about you is all. Okay, Andi here has leg injuries from the light falling on her. I'll need help lifting it straight up to minimize any further damage. Melissa, there, seems to be in a state of shock. There is also a mother and child trapped over in the changing room area, whose condition is unknown."

Gordon nodded. "Okay, I'll go check on them, and Alan can stay and help you."

"Give a shout out once you know something."

"You'll be the first to know." Gordon turned away from the group and using the scanner, carefully made his way through the debris. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?" He didn't hear an immediate response so he kept moving and calling out. Finally, to Gordon's relief, he heard a reply.

"Help, we're here. Please, help us."

He also felt a sense of dread as he realized how soft and weak it sounded. "I hear you. I'm coming to help, just hang on."

"Please, hurry, my son…please."

Gordon redoubled his efforts to get to the woman. He forced his way through the broken door to the changing room. One look at the scene told him it wasn't good. The woman laid, eyes closed, on the floor with a piece of torn and twisted steel that had once been part of the roof support lying across her lower chest and abdomen. He could tell that she was having difficulty breathing. Her legs were covered with debris. He brushed some off and checked for a tibial pulse. He didn't find one. The dull gray skin color and coldness to the touch only confirmed serious circulatory problems. He also knew that time was critical.

Gordon knelt next to her. "Ma'am, can you hear me? Can you tell me your name?" He placed a mask over her nose and mouth. Once again, he found himself silently thanking Brains for this particular invention, an easily portable mask that pulled and compressed the oxygen from normal air. "Just try to breathe normally. I'm here to help you."

She opened her eyes and looked at him. She weakly reached out a hand to him. "Thank God, I'm Kat. My son, you have to help him." Her speech was soft and staggered by her shallow breathing.

Gordon quickly glanced around but didn't see him. "Do you know where he is?"

"I tried to protect him by putting him under the seat."

Gordon looked towards the small bench that had been built into the wall. His heart sank to see that it had partially collapsed. "What is your son's name?"

"Neil"

Gordon laid flat on his stomach to look through some of the openings created by the broken pieces. "Neil, can you hear me?"

There was no response, but he could hear shuffling like Neil was moving around. "Neil? I know you're scared, but I really need you to talk to me. I need to know if you're hurt."

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

Gordon smiled in relief. "That's a good rule, but sometimes you have to. Think of me like a fireman. I'm here to help get you out of here."

"It's okay, honey," Kat called out to him, coughing as she tried to speak. "You can talk to him. He's a good guy."

"There, Neil, did you hear your mom? She said it was okay. Can you tell me if you're hurt at all, or stuck on anything?"

"I don't hurt, but it's dark. I don't like it. Can you get me out of here? I want out."

"Soon, buddy, I'm gonna get you out of there as soon as I can." Gordon keyed his watch. "Hey, Virg, I found the last two victims, but I'm going to need help."

"Okay, we have these two victims ready to go out on stretchers. We'll get to you as soon as we are done."

Gordon lowered his voice and turned away from the victim. "I think they should wait. I think this woman is critical. She seems to be having a lot of trouble breathing."

"Don't you have an 'oxygen concentrator' with you?"

"I've already put it on her, but it doesn't seem to be helping. She has a beam across her chest. I think it's compressing her lung functions as well as her lower circulation. I need help to move it."

Virgil sighed. "Okay, I'll get a hold of Scott and inform him of the situation and get his input."

Gordon felt his own sense of frustration grow. "Fine," he snapped. "Just remember that every minute you waste is one minute less we have to rescue this woman." He abruptly cut the communication and muttered under his breath. "God damn it…treat me like a little kid…I know my job."

"It's bad, isn't it?"

Gordon turned his attention back to Kat and knelt back down. "I'm not going to lie to you. It is bad, but I've called for help, and we'll be getting you out of here soon."

"My son, can you get him out?"

"I think so. I'm going to try it right now." He looked over the mess that created Neil's prison and devised a plan. "Okay, Neil, I'm going to pull on this wood above your head. It's going to be loud and some pieces may fall, but it's not going to hurt you. It's going to be the way out. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I think."

Gordon braced his legs to get the most leverage. Then he gripped the broken end of the board and pulled. With a couple of loud creaks and then a snap, the board broke away from the wall. Reaching a hand into the opening, he called. "Climb on out of there, Neil." He smiled as a little boy with wavy blond hair and blue eyes and a dirt smudged face emerged from the opening. He did a visual check and even patted down the little boy's arms. "Still okay? Does anything hurt now that you can move?"

Neil shook his head. "I'm okay." He then caught sight of his mother and scrambled to her side. "Mommy, mommy, are you okay?"

She gave him a weak smile. "I'm all right, just stuck, but they'll get me out soon."

As if prophetic, Virgil appeared through the door. He carried with him a med kit. All right, I'm here. Alan stayed with the other two victims while I came to help you. Let's see what we need to do to get these guys out of here."

"Sounds good. Our lady friend here is Kat, and this brave little boy is her son, Neil."

Virgil pulled out a medical scanner and began to take scans of Kat. "Let's just take a quick look here, and then we'll get you outta here. How's that sound, little man? You ready to go home?"

Neil gave him a wary look but nodded. "Is my mom gonna be okay?"

"Of course she…" Gordon began, but Virgil cut him off.

"We can't promise that. We can only promise to do our best."

Gordon gave his brother a questioning look. "What's up?"

Virgil motioned for Gordon to move away slightly. "We have a problem," he said quietly showing Gordon the scanner.

"Aw, damn, are you sure this is right?"

"You know as well as I the quality of this equipment."

"Yeah, but you…"

"I know, that's why I ran it a second time. Same results."

"There's got to be something we can do."

"I'm going to call Brains to double check, but it doesn't look good. So, don't be giving them false hope."

Gordon nodded and moved back to Kat and Neil. "So, Neil, how old are you?"

"Five." Neil held up one hand with his fingers spread to illustrate.

"You're going to be starting school this fall. Are you excited?"

"I'm going to kin'garten. So's my friend Billy. We are best pals. He lives down the street. He gave me a Spiderman for my birthday. He likes to…"

"It's worse than you expected, isn't it?" Kat broke in.

"What?" Gordon asked.

"My situation, you're having whispered conversations with your buddy, and since you haven't gotten this thing off me, I can only guess it's really bad and you don't want to tell me."

"Let's just say we've run into a complication that we have to figure out how to handle."

"You're a lousy liar."

Gordon smiled slightly. "You're wrong. I can be a pretty convincing liar when I want to be, just ask my brothers and coworkers. You'd be amazed at some of the things I've pulled over on them."

Kat returned a weak smile. "There's always one in every group."

Gordon sighed and ducked his head. "But you're also right. The situation is bad, real bad. I don't want to go into the 'what ifs' until I have something concrete. I don't want you to give up though. We haven't."

Virgil motioned for Gordon to his side. "Brains agreed. The lungs have been punctured and a hemothorax has been slowly forming. That's why she's having trouble breathing. We need to get her out quickly to stop that area of bleeding, but the beam across her abdomen is acting as a tourniquet for the torn spleen and liver…"

"Which if we remove it too quickly will cause her to bleed to death," Gordon finished for him.

Virgil nodded. "And then there are the reperfusion issues to contend with. They could also kill her."

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't."

"Well, the only choice we have is to slowly remove the beam and use tourniquets of our own and hope that we can get her to the hospital in time."

"Did Brains say what the chances for survival are?"

In a tired and defeated voice, Virgil replied. "Less than ten percent."

"Damn, DAMN, DAMN" Gordon picked up a chunk of drywall and threw it against another pile of rubble.

Virgil grabbed his brother by the arm. "Pull it together. We aren't giving up. A chance is still a chance, no matter how small. We've seen that proven time and again in this job."

Gordon took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I'm overly tired. Either that, or I'm not used to having the opportunity to get to know the victim like we have here. So what's the plan?"

"You're going to take Neil and meet up with Alan and his victims and get them all out of here. Then you two along with Scott will come back with the equipment he's getting together. I'll stay here and explain to Kat what is going on."

The two brothers moved back to Kat and Neil. Gordon patted Neil on the shoulder. "Okay, I'm going to go get some more equipment, and I'm going to take Neil with me."

Neil stuck his bottom lip out. "I don't want to go. I want to stay with my mom."

"I know you do, buddy, but it's safer for you to wait outside."

Kat reached a shaky hand out to him. "Please, honey, I want you to go outside."

"But I'm scared. What if you die?"

Kat caught the look exchanged by the two IR agents and knew that it was a real possibility. "Then I'll die loving you with all my heart. You know that right? I love you sooo much. Nothing is more important to me than you. That's why you have to leave. I need to know that you're safe."

Neil reached over and tried to hug his mom as best he could and began crying. "I want to stay. I love you, Mommy. Please, I don't want to go."

Kat's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Baby, but you have to go. Remember, I'll love you forever." Turning to Gordon, she said, "Just take him."

Gordon nodded and picked Neil up. He immediately began fighting and screaming. "No! No! Mommy! I want my mommy!"

"I love you, Neil. I'm sorry, so sorry."

Virgil tried to comfort Kat. "Please, try to calm down. You need to save your strength."

"Why? You don't think you can save me. It's written all over your face."

"We need to talk about that. The odds are not in your favor, but by no means is it an automatic death sentence." Virgil went on to explain her injuries and how they hoped to save her life. Once he was finished with his explanation, he asked, "Do you have any questions?"

"Not a question exactly. I need to make arrangements for my son, just in case. He needs to be with his father."

"That's normal procedure with child services."

"He doesn't know."

"Excuse me?"

"The father, he doesn't know about Neil."

"You mean, you never told him that he has a child?"

"It's a complicated situation, even more than I had imagined. I was afraid. I wish I could explain it to him. I should've done it before, but now it's too late."

"Don't think like that. You have to remain positive. You'll have a chance to make this right."

"Right…" Kat stated sarcastically, albeit weakly. "You don't think I can tell what is going on with my own body, the shortness of breath, the pain in my chest, the fact that I can't feel anything from the chest down. I know that it will take a miracle to survive this."

Virgil sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to pretend it's going to be easy, but I've seen how important a positive attitude can be. So, don't give up on me."

"Okay, but just in case, you need to tell the local authorities that there's a lockbox in my apartment. It has my will in it, along with Neil's birth certificate, social security card, and his medical records. There's also an envelope marked J.T. It has the information on Neil's father, his name and last contact number I had, some pictures of us, and a small synopsis of our year together."

"I'm sure that all of that will be helpful IF it comes to that."

"The contact number is old, from when we broke up six years ago. They may have to track him down."

"What you have is a good start, but since it won't come to that, you don't have to worry."

"Always the optimist, are you?"

"Like I said before, the power of positive thinking, but if you really want to send a personal message to him, I have an mp3 recorder that you can use. I can give the recording to child services if need be."

"That sounds like the best idea given the circumstances."

Virgil removed his watch and set up the mp3 feature and handed it to Kat. "You press here to start the recording and press it again to stop it. I'll be over there to give you some privacy."

"Thank you."

Virgil moved away, but he still heard her as she began her recording. "Hi, it's me. I know that this is a big surprise to you…" He pushed her voice into the background as he concentrated on making a plan for removing the girder.

Gordon reappeared through the opening. "Hey, Virg, any change?"

Virgil shook his head. "She's making a recording for Neil's father. Apparently, she never told him about Neil."

"That's a shame. Was there a reason? An alcoholic or abuser?"

"I don't think so. She said she wants Neil to go to him if she doesn't make it. Where's the equipment?"

"Scott and Alan are bringing it. Scott sent me ahead to check on the situation. They should be here in a few minutes."

"I've been thinking about how to handle this. I think we should start…"

At that moment, Kat called to him. "Virgil, I'm finished."

The two brothers moved back to her. Virgil put his watch back on his wrist. "I'll keep this safe until when or if you need it."

Kat looked at Gordon. "How's Neil?"

"He's okay. He calmed down when a fireman offered to show him the fire truck."

"Can I ask you one more favor?"

"Sure, whatever we can do to help."

"Keep on child services; make sure they get Neil to his father. I don't want to risk him being that rare case that fell through the cracks."

Virgil shook his head. "Oh, I don't know. They may consider it interference on our part, and it's not IR policy to interfere with local authorities without them asking for help."

"But I'm asking for your help."

"It's just that…" Virgil began but was interrupted by Gordon.

"Don't worry about it. We'll make a few calls if necessary."

"Gordon," Virgil hissed. "We can't make promises…"

"Just a couple of phone calls. If done right, it shouldn't ruffle too many feathers. Besides, we may not have to follow through with it."

The two approaching Tracys could be heard. "I'm going to go help them." Virgil announced.

"He's not real happy with you." Kat observed.

Gordon waved the comment off. "It's no big deal. He's more of a stickler for rules than I am, but I'll take care of it."

"Thank you. No matter what happens, I really appreciate everything you and your partner have done."

The Tracys gathered around Kat, and Virgil explained his plan for removing the girder. They went about setting up their equipment. Once they were set, Virgil knelt next to her and set up two IVs. He only set the flow on one, and kept the other closed. "Are you set?"

"I'm a bit scared. This is it, one way or the other."

"I have the medical scanner, but I still need you to tell me how you're feeling, and remember, positive thinking."

Kat nodded. "Right…positive thinking. Okay, let's do it."

Virgil motioned to his brothers. They began cutting away small sections off the ends of the girder until all that remained was the section across Kat's body.

"Okay, this is where it gets tricky," Virgil said. "Scott, Alan be ready to lift. Gordon, be ready to help me. On three, one, two, lift."

Kat let out a cry of pain when the girder was lifted. Her eyes rolled back and slid closed.

"Bp's dropping," Virgil barked. "Gordon, get that other IV open. She needs volume. Scott, we need to get the pressure wrap around her…"

"Virg…she stopped breathing," Gordon interrupted.

"Damn, I lost the pulse. Start CPR. Alan, grab me the defibrillator." Scott jumped on the order and began to pump her chest.

Alan handed Virgil the portable defibrillator, and he worked around Gordon, placing the pads on Kat's chest. "Hold compressions." He pressed the button on the machine to begin its cycle.

The mechanical voice called out. "Accessing patient…defibrillation approved…please stand back…shocking…" The body arced as the electricity coursed through it.

Virgil checked for a pulse. "Damn, nothing, let's do it again." He sent the machine through its cycle again. "Still nothing, continue CPR. Scott, grab me a syringe of adrenaline." Gordon took over the CPR while Scott handed Virgil the preloaded syringe. He injected the drug and waited a minute for the CPR to circulate it as best it could. "Hold again." The defibrillator cycled a third time. For a third time the body was shocked, and for the third time there was no response. Virgil did another medical scan. He sighed heavily. "No cardiac activity, no pulmonary function, and no active brain waves. There's nothing more we can do. She's gone."

"Damn," Gordon exclaimed.

"We all knew that the odds were against us," Virgil replied.

Gordon looked like he was about to cry. "It's just not right. A boy shouldn't have to grow up without a mother."

The brothers exchanged looks, they understood Gordon's frustration, but unfortunately, they couldn't save every mother, wife or sister. It was just a fact of life.

Scott spoke quietly to Virgil. "You two have borne the brunt of this rescue. Why don't you head out of here? Give yourself some down time. Alan and I will take care of this."

"What about the boy?"

"I'll make the arrangements with the police when I get out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I can tell how emotionally draining this has been. Take some time to process it."

Virgil nodded and headed to Gordon's side. He placed an arm around his shoulders and gave it a slight squeeze. "Let's get out of here."

Gordon looked back at Kat's body. "What about…"

"It's being handled. It's time for us to take a break."

Gordon paused for a second, his gaze still on the body. "Number thirteen…unlucky thirteen." He then let his brother lead him out of the destroyed building.

TBC

Author's Note #2 – Well, here we are back. It's been a while since we posted in the Thunderbird fandom, and even then it was just short stuff. We don't know how many of our previous readers are still around. Old or new, we hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Drop us a review if you want. Hopefully, you'll come back for more next week.