Ages: Scott Carpenter-28, John Glenn-26, Virgil Grissom24, Gordon Cooper-22, Alan Shepard-17, Ada Lexis Kirk-23
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Ch2----
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"Docking sequence is complete," Alan's voiced boomed through the intercom, "We'll see you inside in a few minutes."
"F.A.B.," John smiled. Alan was home for winter break and seemed like he was taking his training in Three seriously. He and Fermat were flying solo along with Brains to relieve John of his space duties. The Hackenbackers were going to spend their Christmas holydays aboard Thunderbird Five, leaving the family of heroes to spend Christmas together. Though neither of the Hackenbackers knew it, they were also giving John the chance to tell his father about Ada.
"R...re …prepare to go home, John?" Brains asked as soon as the trio stepped out of the air seal.
"Definitely!" the young astronaut answered with great enthusiasm causing Alan raised his eyebrows. John preferred to spend his time up in space among the stars than down on earth.
"K then, let's go."
"So what's the deal," Alan pestered when they were en route to Tracy Island.
John turned to look at him from the co-pilot seat, "I don't know what you mean." Alan had to fight not roll his eyes. He didn't know anyone who was as good as keeping secrets as John. It seemed that having with brain in the sky helped him hide things.
"Come on John," Alan wined, "How come you're so eager to be back on land."
Knowing Alan wasn't going give up, John gave in, "Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not Fermat, not Tin-Tin, and definitely not Gordon." When Alan reluctantly nodded, John continued, "I want to be back on the island to finally tell dad about my fiancé."
"Oh, wait, you mean you're getting married?"
"That's the plan."
"Wait, who are you marrying, you don't know anyone….it's not an alien is it?"
"Of course not!" John exclaimed with laughter. "Honestly Alan, you've been spending too much time with Gordon. And I do know some people." Alan nodded, ashamed of his outburst. "Her name is Ada and she's great. Smart and although she has an I hate astronomy attitude, she is fascinated by it. You can say she keeps my feet planted on the ground."
"Wow," Alan whispered. He had not thought John was serious. It had never occurred to him that any of his brothers would engage in secret relationship. The youngest Tracy had assumed they would all be aware of any relationships his brothers had.
"Are you kidding Alan?" John asked when his younger brother voiced his thoughts. "You don't know half the things any of us do when we are away from the island, and trust me you don't want to know, especially about Scott."
The look Alan gave him made John cracked up, "You didn't thing Scott was a perfect saint, did you?"
Alan only glared.
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"Could I have a word," John asked his father from the door Jeff's study.
"Come in," Jeff motioned, not looking up from his work, "What can I help you with?"
John watched his father as he worked and wondered if he should return later when the man wasn't busy. "There's something I needed to tell you" he began. Jeff nodded, letting him know he was listening. "The updates Brain made to Thunderbird five have been working like a charm." John mentally slapped himself the minute the words left his mouth. He was supposed to come clean about Ada, not repeat how great his bird was doing.
Jeff looked to look at his son with concerned, "You mean the updates he put in a month ago?" John nodded. "You told me that when the update had been fully loaded," Jeff reminded his son before softening his tone, "John, you know you can tell me anything."
"I have been seeing some one and have recently asked her to marry me," he blurted out before he could change his mind. Even though John was used to having long, deep conversations with his father, he couldn't help but be afraid of what his reaction would be. Not only had he gotten involved in a relationship behind the man who conceived him, but he was also going to get married and as far as the ex- astronaut knew, John had also revealed their deepest secret.
On his part, Jeff Tracy was having a hard tome processing what his second oldest son had just told him. He was not unaware of the many romantic adventures his sons had had over the years and knew that at some point they would find the perfect woman and settle down. What he hadn't counted on, was them doing so behind his back.
"How do you know this woman can be trusted?" Jeff a bit too harshly, "How can you be sure she's not just after your money?"
John glared at his father, upset with his questions.
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Ada sat with complicated computer equipment surrounding her. What had began as simple adoring notes being sent by a student had turned into a dangerous game which she was quickly loosing. The constant notes had become threatening and harassing. The night before, while walking to her car in the supermarket parking lot, the hairs on the back of her neck had stood on its end. The last time she had felt that way had been when one of her father's employees had been assigned to look after her and had followed her everywhere she went with out her knowledge.
Her first thought when she got home was to call her dad and ask him to send someone again, but her pride quickly changed her mind. Instead she had called Zid, who had been her bodyguard before and had asked him to send her the latest security installations. The equipment had arrived that morning and she had been organizing everything since then.
The cameras were easy to install and program. The motion detectors on the other hand, were complicated. They needed to be buried 10 inches into the ground, and aligned with one another and the receptors.
"Damn it," she whispered into the empty room. It seemed she was going to need Zid's help for more then placing an order. Taking her cell phone out of her pocket, she dialed Zid's number and waited for the engineer/spy to answer.
"I was wondering when you would call again," his cheerful voiced came after two consecutive rings. "What can I assist you with?"
"I don't think I need your help if you're just going to mock me," she said with fake anger.
Zid laughter filled her ears, "I'm joking, Niña, you just can't take a joke can you? Anyway, to what do I owe the honor?"
"You are so lucky I need you," Ada said, rolling her eyes, "Seriously now though, I don't think I'll be able to set up the motion detectors on my own," she admitted.
"And why not?"
"My lawn is covered in snow and the sensors need to be buried into the ground."
"Ahh and the poor princess can't get down and dirty now can she?" Zid mocked.
"You…" Ada began only to be cut off, "No need to get angry, I'll be there in two hours and installed the sensors IF you promise to take care of everything else."
Ada agreed and waited for her savior and friend to go help her.
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"How can you say that?" John growled at his dad, "You don't even know her. You haven't even given me the chance to tell you how I met her or what her name is."
Jeff massaged his temples. No matter how pacifist John was, he still had the famous Tracy temper. "I didn't mean to insult her," he tried to explained, "I'm jus trying to show you a different perspective."
"You can't try to show me a different perspective if you don't even know how I see things in the first place."
"OK John, enlighten me."
John began to pace around the room, "Her name is Ada and I met her four years ago. She didn't go looking for me," he said for his father's benefit, "I literally crashed into her with Virgil's car. Things were weird at first because we were settling things from the crash. The whole time she was defensive never letting anything about her slip. I was frustrated, because, honestly, I fell for her the minute I saw her. It was odd, but we ended up talking about random things, taking about everything yet nothing at the same time. We never really addressed who we were. You should have seen her face when she found out who I am. When we met, we only exchanged first names and basic contact information." He paused to take a break and give his father a chance to catch up. "She withdrew herself after I told her my full name and it was really frustrating; we were back to square one. It took months before we could openly speak again, but she finally understood I wasn't a Don Juan like the media likes to portray me. Things went from there and we finally started dating a year and a half ago. We have a connection; like we can share anything and everything will be OK. I asked her to marry me three months ago while I was in New York and she said yes."
Through out his son's monologue, Jeff had seen how much cared about the girl. A smile had played on his pale face the whole time he talked. Hoping he wouldn't regret his actions he said, "I have Tracy Industries business to attend to in New York. Why don't you join me and introduce me to the young lady that has stolen your heart."
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The morning sun found Ada kicking a punch dummy. Growing up her father had encouraged her to take various forms of self defense, from Krav-Maga to karate and taekwondo. She had barely practice over the last years, only going over the basics to not forget her forms. Now, paranoia was kicking in and she was practicing non stop in the morning and afternoons for an hour. No one was going to take advantage of her again because she was stupid enough not listen to her instructors. No, if anyone dared go after her, she was going to put a fight and if she was hurt, it wasn't going to be because of her stubbornness.
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Father and son entered Tracy Tower with confidence and determination. Their plan was to spend the morning working and then make their way to New Jersey in the afternoon. To say John was static would have been an understatement. His father had never seen him be more enthused about getting paper done than that day.
"Slow down John, We don't want errors," Jeff told his agitated son.
The second eldest Tracy heir nodded. Nervously he looked up, "Dad, I've been thinking, and I think it would be best for me to head to New Jersey first and give Ada heads up." At his father look he continued, "I know Ada and she will probably like to do something special."
"OK, son, it's your call."
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"John!" Ada exclaimed after she opened the door, "What are you doing here?"
"Glad to know you're happy to see," John said in response before taking Ada into his arms.
Ada relaxed in his arms, feeling safe for the first time in months. She couldn't be happier to see John; him holding her there making her realize everything was going to be OK.
"Ada," John said after he had put his stuff in his room, "My dad is going to be by later. He wants to meet you."
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