Disclaimer: I do not own the Thunderbirds or its characters. Just Amelia.

The Family Tracy

Chapter Three: Stages of Grief

It's always strange how the weather seems to know when to change. The days prior had been sunny and calm. This morning that all had changed as the Tracy family readied themselves for the worst day of their lives. This was day they said goodbye to their wife and mother and the early spring rain had decided to crash down from the skies.

Jeff Tracy stood in the grassy graveyard staring blankly ahead. He was trying to look anywhere else other then the casket in front of him. Only a harsh sob broke him of his concentration. Looking down the line of his sons who stood solemnly next to him, all with tears in their eyes, he saw his mother pick up Amelia who was almost hyperventilating from crying so much.

Jeff had noticed over the past few days Amelia's cries had become worse. She cried for the mother that she couldn't understand wasn't coming to sooth her. The father of six knew that he should be the one comforting her, but every time Amelia screamed it broke his heart and couldn't seemed to find the strength to hold her. To reassure his daughter that everything was alright because it wasn't. It was like that with all of his children as well and they were all starting to take notice. It was like Lucy had taken some of his strength when she died.

Holding the shaking little girl in her arms Grandma Tracy tried to calm her by rubbing circles on her back. She knew there was nothing she could say to Amelia to help her understand. Catching the eyes of her son looking over at her he quickly turned his head away. It was really starting to worry her how withdrawn her son had become to his children. All the boys and Amelia needed him more than ever now. She knew how devastating it was to lose a spouse, but at the same time Jeff should be finding courage in the fact that Lucy left him six wonderful children. She made a note to speak with him tomorrow. Today he just needed to grieve.

"Do you want me to take her Grandma?" Scott whispered from his spot next to her.

Sadly, she looked over at her eldest grandson. He had changed so much in the past week. He had stepped up and taken charge of his sibling. It broke her heart. "No sweetie, I got her."

The dark haired boy simple nodded at her and turned his attention to Virgil who was standing on the other side of him, placing his arm around his shoulders.

It wasn't just Scott who had changed; Grandma Tracy had now realized looking at all of her grandsons. Each one was dealing with their mother's death differently and she mournfully hoped that this tragedy had not just cost them all their childhoods. Maybe not yet she thought to herself, but if their father didn't step up soon it would.

"Mommy..." Amelia cried into her Grandma's neck.

Not knowing what to say she simply spoke, "I've got you, sweetie." but the girl continued to weep.

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Back at the Tracy house, after all the people who had attended the funeral had left, the house was eerie silent. Grandma Tracy had left and gone to the store after realizing that there was no food in the house. Gordon was in the living room with the TV on, but wasn't really watching it. In the dining room, Virgil sat at the table drawing in his sketch book trying to distract himself. Jeff had hidden himself away in his room and was now trying to distract his thoughts with some paperwork. Scott was trying to get Alan down for a nap and John was alone in his room.

Grandma Tracy had put Amelia down to sleep before she left for the store, but the little girl was now wide awake.

"Mommy?" Amelia cried out, but there was no reply. "Mommy!" and again no one came. She couldn't understand why her mother wasn't here. She had always come before. Maybe she had done something wrong.

Growing frustrated Amelia climbed out of her crib and waddled over to her door. The house was quiet, which seemed odd for the little girl. There was always someone yelling or moving around in the house. The quiet scared her. It scared her so much that she went to the next room in the hallway and knock on the door with her tiny fist.

"Mommy?" she called out, but like all the times before received no answer. So she tried for someone else. "Daddy? Daddy?"

Jeff sat at his desk, hearing the desperate voice of his baby girl, but couldn't seem to find the strength to open the door. It broke his heart listening to her and wished she would go away. He was in no position to comfort her at that moment. Burying his head in his hands he tried to block out the pleas.

"Please, I sorry," Amelia cried brought tears back to Jeff's eyes and yet he still didn't get up.

It was in that moment that the tiny girl began to believe that she must have done something truly terrible if both her parents wanted nothing to do with her. She wanted to be alone and knew that there was only one place where no one would find her. A place where no one would think to look for her.

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It had taken Scott a while to get Alan settled. The five year old boy hadn't really fallen asleep, but at least he was resting. His next stop was Amelia's room, wanting to make sure she was still sleeping. She had been up all night the night before, but when he looked into her room his heart stopped. She wasn't in her crib.

He knew not to panic right away. Amelia climbed out of bed often and was usually in another one of her brothers' rooms.

"John?" Scott asked the brother in the next room over. "Is Mia in here?"

John was lying on his side on the bed facing the window, but turned to look at Scott. "No, why?"

"She climbed out of her bed again," Scott explained. "Will you help me look for her? Grandma will kill us if we don't find her before she gets back."

Rolling off the bed, John really didn't feel like moving, but Grandma would be mad if she found out they lost her. Even though he knew she always eventually came out of where ever she was when she eventually got hungry or bored.

The two oldest Tracy boys spent the next half hour scoring the house for their sister, but hadn't had any luck. They soon employed the help of their younger brothers to cover more if the house, but after another twenty minutes they were starting to grow worried.

"You don't think she could have walked outside?" Virgil asked as they all regrouped in the living room.

"No, she can't even reach the doorknob," John pointed out.

"Do you think we should get Dad?" Gordon asked.

Scott was growing frustrated, he hadn't even been in charge for a day and he already had lost one of his siblings. Asking their Dad for help was not an option and Grandma would be home soon. He knew she couldn't have left the house, but where ever she was this time she didn't want to be found. That worried him more.

"We can't get Dad," Scott said. "Here's what we're going to do. We are going to give the house one finally sweep. Virgil and I will look upstairs and John, you and Gordon look down here."

"Scottie!" Alan voice called out as they got to the top of the stairs.

"What is it Allie?" Scott asked knelling down to his level.

It appeared as if the little boy had just woken up as he was rubbing his eyes. "There's a noise coming from my closet."

"A noise?" Virgil questioned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, a noise," Alan whined. "I think there something in my closet. Can you check for me?"

Following Alan into his room, the two older boys approached the closet and Scott opening the door fully. At first he did see and thing other then the toy racecar set thrown in there, but then he heard a noise. It was so quiet he was almost sure he was hearing things, but then it happened again. It was almost like a whimper. Something then dawned on him.

Crouching down he spoke, "Mia?"

The tear stained face of his baby sister appeared as she crawled out from the back of the closet. She immediately put her tiny arms around his neck.

"Have you been in there this whole time?" Virgil asked, watching his little sister cling to their older brother.

"I sorry. Sorry. I sorry. I so sorry," Amelia cries into Scott's shoulder.

His heart broke at the pleas coming from her mouth. "Sssh, it's going to be alright, baby girl."

"What were you doing in my closet, stupid?" Alan complained at her.

"I not stupid!" Amelia yelled pulling away from Scott.

"Yes, you are!"

"Grow up Allie!"

"Quiet down."

"Yeah, do you wanna wake Dad up?"

Listening to his siblings argue, Scott was close to exploding, but he didn't. Keeping his voice calm, but stern he called out, "Everyone needs to be quiet!"

The quarrelling quickly faded out and five pairs of eyes all stared up at the eldest Tracy sibling. Scott had had enough of this. All six of them had been on edge and at each other's throats since the accident. Now was the time to rectify that.

"Everyone, go to my room," Scott ordered. "It's time we talk."

John stood up first, "I agree. Come on."

-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-

The Tracy siblings all sat on Scott's bed. It was amazing that they all fit. Amelia sat on John's lap with Gordon sitting closely next to him. Alan had attached himself to Virgil, who had his arm around him. Scott sat at the end of the bed facing them.

"Listen…" Scott began with a sigh. "This fighting and bickering has to stop. We are all we have left now and if you can't rely on your siblings to support you then all this pain we're feeling is never going to get any better. Mom..." Scott's resolve broke for a moment. He took in another breath and tried again. "She wouldn't want this. She'd want us to be strong and stand together."

With tears in his eyes, John added, "Scottie's right. We have to take care of each other."

"Let promise right now that no matter what we will be there for each other," the eldest sibling suggested. "No matter what happens or how angry we make each other, we will stand together."

"I promise," John spoke immediately. Scott nodded to him.

"Me too," Virgil said next.

"And me!" Alan squealed.

Gordon nodded, "I promise."

Trying to keep up with what her brother's were talking about, Amelia knew it was her turn to give some sort of response. Which she let out in the form of a high pitched squeak and nodded her head in an exaggerated motion. This brought small smiles to her brother's faces.

"What about Dad?" Alan asked his blue eyes big and round with innocence.

"Dad has his own demons he's dealing with right now," Scott explains looking down at his hands. He is only twelve years old he should have to be the one to tell his younger sibling this. That there was a good chance their Father was never going to be the same again.

"So, we'll just have to make sure to extra good care of each other," Virgil said. "Until Dad stops feeling sad."

Scott gave him a sad smile and ruffled his hair. "That's right, Virge."

The room was silent for several moments. No one knew what to say. There was much more to say on the subject. After a while Amelia grew bored of this company and yawned as wide as her tiny mouth would allow. The yawn was effective as Gordon yawned and then Alan after him.

"Looks like we all could use some more sleep," John pointed out fighting back the urge to yawn himself. He pulled both Gordon and Amelia closer to him and rested his head back against the head board.

Moving up the bed, towards Virgil and Alan, Scott sat next to Virgil so that he could lay on him and Alan was lying on Virgil. It wasn't a comfortable position, but he didn't care. All six children were all sound asleep within minutes.

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From the confides of his room, Jeff stepped out into the hallway. He had grown concern over the past hour with how quiet the house had become. The concern only grew when the first three bedrooms he checked were empty. Heart racing, Jeff opened the fourth bedroom. Normally the sight of sons and daughter sleeping huddled together would have made him smile, but when his first thought was to tell Lucy he fought back tears once more. Slowly he turned away from the sight in front of him, but voice pulled him back.

"Daddy?" Amelia sleepily spoke rubbing her eye with her tiny fist. For a brief moment she was happy. Her Dad was here, but he heart sank when he didn't go to her. Instead he reached forward and closed the door to the bedroom. Snuggling close to John a stray tear ran down her cheek.

Jeff felt guilty for ignoring his daughter, but it was in no position to comfort her.

"Son?" Grandma Tracy said from behind him. She had seen what had happened. "You can't push them away."

"I just…" he looked down at his hands in shame. "Why is it so hard Mother?"

Gently she rested her hand on his shoulder. "It will get easier and never forget you have six amazing reasons to keep moving forward. Lucy may be gone, but take pride in those children she has left you with so much of herself in them."

Jeff wanted to believe her in the worst way. Oh how he wished he could believe his Mother.

Soooo yeah… If you follow my Weebly you know there was a bit of a delay on this story but have no fear I have every intention of continuing it. It's just been a struggle with theses first few chapters and getting the characters right. Comment and let me know what you think please! Next chapter there is a little time jump by four years and maybe things get better or maybe not… you'll just have to stay turned to find out.

Until next time my loves…

P.S. An extra awesome shout out to Bedlamx28 for their review. It was the kick in the pants I need to finish this chapter. Lots of love is being thrown your way right now!